Adios a España

First of all, please enjoy this picture of the Mediterranean Sea.  I went for the first time today.

Four months ago, I left my family, friends and home to study abroad in Valencia, Spain.  I was really scared to leave.  However, as time passed, I adjusted to life here and realized I had nothing to be scared of.

I have seen so many things and learned so much about the world around me.  I have had the amazing opportunity to be in the countries of Germany, France and Spain.  I have seen the Black Forest, four Spanish cities and a Medieval castle.  I have lived and experienced Spanish culture and life.  I have made friends from all over the world.

I also learned a lot about myself.  As much as I have enjoyed my time here, I figured out that I cannot live without my family, especially my mom.  Previously, I had thought about moving South after college, but now I want to stay near my home if I can.

Don't get me wrong.  If I have the chance to go back to Europe, I would go, but I don't think I can ever live so far away from my family again.  I have loved my time here, but it is time to come home and face reality.  I graduate college in two and a half years and then my life truly begins.

Thank you for following my amazing journey. Thank you to Dr. Esperanza Roncero for making this possible!  And thank you to all who had made this experience memorable.

Hasta Luego España.

Christmas Market

Friday night, Nancy and I spent time with the grand kids.  We sang Christmas carols and then they danced to some upbeat tunes, like Happy and Shake It Off.  It was so much fun and I am going to miss them a lot.

On Saturday, I went down to the City of Arts and Sciences to see the Christmas market.  They had an ice skating rink which honestly surprised me.  It hasn't been below 55 degrees here.  Then I saw all the generators that were keeping the rink cold and it suddenly made sense to me.  The market had wooden buildings full of shops that sold jewelry, liquor, baked goods, wood works and all sorts of different things.  They also had a craft stand for little children.  After walking around the market, I decided to walk around the rest of the buildings of the City of Arts and Sciences.  Of all of the things I will miss here, this will be the place I miss the most.

Today, we had a lunch with Rosa and Jose.  We ate chicken wings in a soy sauce, salad, Iberian ham and cheese.  For dessert, we had chocolate ice cream.  I really like the chocolate ice cream here.  The chocolate flavor is much stronger.  At night, Nancy and I headed back down to the City of Arts and Sciences.  There was supposed to be a fire cracker show but when we got there, there was nothing.  Instead, we walked through the buildings and enjoyed the night lights.

Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas, Catedral y Comida

Yesterday, I headed into the center of the city to see some of the historical buildings.  I started my morning in the Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas.  A Marques is a nobleman of hereditary rank.  In the English system, he is above an earl but below a duke.  Half of it has been restored to its original grandeur and the other half houses a beautiful ceramics museum.  Unfortunately for me, there were school groups everywhere but I was still able to enjoy my visit.  The building is four floors high with beautifully painted ceilings and walls.  The one staircase makes you feel like you are actually in a palace; it has red velvet carpeting and a crystal chandelier.  I have been hesitant to take pictures in museums since Barcelona, especially when I see workers throughout it.  Therefore, I took the picture on the right from online.  That is the ballroom of the palace.



After, I went to the the Valencia Cathedral, a cathedral that appears in many of my pictures.  I went inside for the first time yesterday.  The Cathedral was absolutely huge.  It is decorated in the Gothic style although some of the chapels are of Baroque.  In one of the chapels, there are two paintings made by Francisco de Goya, a famous Spanish painter.  There is also a small worship space attached to the cathedral by a small hallway.  The worship space was built in the 1400s and smelled like it too.  In the hallway, there were two paintings, one so badly decomposed that it was brown with slight outlines.  The other was half restored and you could only make out the top half.  After the cathedral, I went to the Basilica that is next door to the Cathedral.  However, I did not take any pictures since it was an active worship place.

Today, I had a nice lunch with my friend from Brasil, João.  He wanted hamburgers so we went to a restaurant that is all over Valencia.  It tasted like a real hamburger from home.  I haven't had one in four months.  It was very nice to spend some with a good friend before I leave.

Paella y Las Fallas

Yesterday, we celebrated my friend Naomi's 21st birthday.  We went to a small restaurant and ordered paella.  Paella is a typical dish in Valencia.  It is baked rice or small noodles with vegetables, meat or seafood.  After, we walked down to a frozen yogurt shop.  Naomi and her friend Sarah leave on Thursday.  I am glad I was able to meet and become friends with them.  Good luck at school!

Today, I had my last day of classes at the university.  That also meant saying good-bye to the friends in my class.  Most of them are from America and are leaving in the next few days.  Good luck ladies and if you are in the Niagara Falls area, send me a message!

After class today, I went to the Fallas Museum.  Fallas is a huge festival here in Valencia that occurs in the Spring.  Unfortunately, I will be gone so instead I went to the museum!  Every year, many artists build "fallas" or monuments made out of carton, cardboard or paper mache. Often the mock an aspect of society and portray the artist's personality. All of the fallas become part of a giant parade and on the last night, they are turned into giant bonfires.  The festival is five days long.  People dress in traditional and historical costumes and eat paella.  This festival shows off the beauty of the culture of the city.  To the left is a picture of a fallas from the museum and below is a picture of the burning:

La Navidad

On Thursday, my anthropology class and I had an end of the semester party with a Secret Santa gift exchange.  We ate pizza and snacks, played a game of movie Charades and exchanged our gifts.  The movie game was quite difficult for me as all of the American movie titles have different names in Spanish and I don't know any of the Spanish-made movies. Thank you Judith for an awesome gift!

Last night, Nancy and I went into the city center to finish our Christmas shopping and to have some Sangria before exams.  Valencia is completely decorated for Christmas, or La Navidad.  Two giant trees are set up in the two most important squares and the main roads have lights strung above them.  The one tree you can even go into.  The center was beautiful, even if it was a little crowded.

Today, all of the grandchildren came over to decorate the Christmas tree and to set up the manger and Bethlehem.  All of them dragged us in to participate and for once I was tall enough to put the star on top of the tree.  Even though I didn't get to decorate my own tree, I still was able to with my Valencian family.  I am getting excited to come home for Christmas!

Keep your eyes open this week.  Classes end Tuesday and I have a week full of activities planned before I leave Valencia!

Segovia

This weekend, I had a wonderful opportunity to visit my friend David.  He lives in a small town thirty minutes outside of the city of Segovia and about an hour outside of Madrid, the capital.  We arrived in Madrid on Friday and headed to his town for a relaxing night.  

On Saturday, we started our day at a soccer game of David’s, in which he played goalie.  It was an informal game but it was pretty cool to watch.  Later,  we went into the city of Segovia, one of the major cities of the province of Castile y Leon.  We walked through the old cobblestone streets and looked at the beautiful architecture.  On our walk, we came across a Roman aqueduct, built back when the Roman Empire was in control of what is now Spain.  It was amazing.  Apparently, you don’t have to go to Italy to see Roman architecture. 

After the aqueduct, we went to the main plaza where we saw the outside of a large and beautiful cathedral.  Next, we went to the castle.  It was built in the 1120s for the King, Alfonso the Sixth.  We were able to all of the rooms, including the throne room and armory.  Also, we climbed 150 narrow stone steps to the top of the tower.  From the top, you could see all of the city of Segovia, including the sunset.  It was beautiful.  When we got back to the village, a group of David’s friends came over for dinner.  All of them eat, sleep and breathe soccer.  They watch it, play it, play it on Playstation and talk about it.  

On Sunday, we took the bus into Madrid.  We walked up Gran Vía, the Broadway of Madrid.  We saw the Plaza España, which houses a beautiful fountain.  We went to the Puerta del Sol.  There, you can see the symbol of Madrid, a bear with its paws on a tree.  There were street performers everywhere.  Cutting through the plaza was a long line to buy lottery tickets.  On New Years Eve, Puerta del Sol will be packed full of people, waiting for the New Year.  During the twelve bells at midnight, everyone eats a grape per bell, to bring good fortune in the New Year.  After, we walked to Plaza Mayor, the main plaza in Madrid.  It was all decorated for Christmas and was very busy due to the Christmas market. In the outer buildings that closed in the square, there were little souvenir shops and restaurants.

Yesterday, we mostly hung out with David’s friends and walked through his village.  We took a drive to another city called Avila, where we saw an old wall, encompassing the inner city. It was beautifully preserved.

Thank you to David and his family for making this trip possible and for opening up your home to us.

At Last

This weekend was more of a relaxing weekend.  On Friday I met up with my buddy from the university, Mavy.  On my way to meet her, I passed a cello and guitar duet playing Christmas music.  I love street entertainment when the musicians are good and this was amazing.  As I am watching and slowly start to walk away, I realized that I was in the middle of Asian tourists who were the definition of tourists.  Their group leader even had a flag.  I met up with my friend Mavy, ordered some take-out Chinese food and sat in front of the steps of the train station.  We ate, talked and enjoyed the night.  Thank you for a wonderful night.


After weeks and weeks of Nancy and I planning to go to the science museum, we made it there at last.  It was unlike any museum I have ever been to and was the definition of the Spanish way.  The museum was open space bright space with makeshift walls making exhibits.  There were  exhibits on the human body, communication, future home improvements, furniture from old to new and many more.  It was a cool museum and I am glad that I finally had the chance to see it.

El Día de Acción de Gracias

I was very sad and homesick yesterday since I was not with my family for Thanksgiving but I was able to celebrate with the other American students here in Valencia at a restaurant.  When I first arrived, it was me, my teacher, his wife and our Vice President of International Relations.  It was a little awkward but I was able to practice my Spanish and I had the chance to see the inside the kitchen where they were cooking 10 turkeys!

Dinner included appetizers of toasted bread with ham and tomatoes, stuffed mushrooms and celery with a cheese sauce.  For dinner, they served mashed potatoes with some time of curry sauce and of course turkey with gravy.  They also had homemade cranberry sauce which was AMAZING.  To drink they served red and white wine and beer.  And for dessert, we had pumpkin pie squares.  It was absolutely delicious.

Fun Fact: Spain celebrates Black Friday but it actually begins on Friday.

A Relaxing Weekend

Yesterday, Nancy and I took a trip outside of the city to a town with a lake with our friends from Ireland, Naomi and Sarah.  Online it gave the town such a high review but after arriving, we quickly figured out that the high reviews were because it was the nearest "nature point" outside of the city.  Nevertheless, we ate our picnics down by the lake and enjoyed the fresh air.  I even was able to have an animal fix since I yet again pet a random cat on the street.  This one looked like a house cat and appeared to be much healthier than the last one.  As much as I like Valencia, I hate living in a city.  The air isn't as pure and there are too many people around.

My weekend really started on Thursday with a dinner with my Anthropology class.  I met my one classmate at the nearest metro stop and we arrived at the restaurant together.  We were on time and there were only three other people there.  The rest of my class arrived a half hour late.  They were running on Spanish time.  We ordered a variety of tapas: fries with sausage, fried cheese, breaded calamari and seasoned chicken wings, and pitchers of Sangria and beer.  It was a great time and due to the kindness of one of my classmates, I didn't have to take a taxi back home.  His parents were in the area and they live near me.  They walked another girl and I home.

On Friday, we had one last dinner with Matthias.  We ate at a Korean restaurant where I ordered a noodle dish with vegetables and meat.  After, we had a drink with cinnamon and other herbs which helps with digestion.  It was absolutely delicious.  Everyone went their own ways after dinner but Matthias and I went to a cafe and talked for awhile before returning home.  On Saturday, Nancy and I woke up to say "hasta luego" to Matthias and later, I went to the city center to buy more Christmas gifts for the family.

Hasta Luego

"Hasta luego" is a common phrase used here when you part ways from someone.  The direct translation is “until later” but it is used no matter who you are leaving or if you will see them again.  It is said when you leave your family to go to school.  It is said to the random person in the elevator or the cashier at the store.  It doesn’t matter if you might not see them again because who knows, you just might.

                

Tomorrow I have to say a huge “hasta luego” to my dear friend Matthias.  He is finally heading back to his home in Switzerland after spending six weeks in each of these cities: Montpelier, France; London, England; and of course Valencia.  Tonight, all four of us, Nancy, Rayni, Matthias and I, are going out to dinner to celebrate our time together in Valencia. Over the last six weeks I have had the chance to get to know him and I will miss him.  I am proud to call him my friend.  Good luck in the future, Matthias, and hasta luego.

Friday the 13th

First, I would like to begin this blog post about Paris.  It is a shame what happened in that city on Friday.  It is horrifying that someone can put so much thought into killing innocent people.  My heart is with those families.  But my heart isn't just with the people of Paris.  It is with the people in Japan who survived the earthquake, with the people who witnessed the funeral bombing, with the people who face misery in their countries everyday that the news doesn't report.  Innocent people shouldn't have to die.

That being said, I would like to talk about my weekend.  On Friday, I visited the Museum of Bellas Artes.  I was instructed to go for class but I also wanted to go because of my own interests.  I did not take any photos even though I saw other people using their phones to do it.  I do not want a repeat of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.  (A link to the post from Barcelona is at the bottom of the page.) The museum was beautiful.  There were walls two stories high of religious paintings and little rooms with paintings by famous Spanish artists such as Francisco de Goya and Joaquin Sorrolla.  There was old pieces of furniture.   Above is a picture of the outside of the museum, courtesy of Google.  Just by seeing the outside, one can imagine the grandeur of the inside.  And it was free!

On Saturday we were supposed to go to a lagoon but we missed the bus so instead we walked around the city and had lunch in the park.  It was a very nice day to spend time with friends, especially Sarah and Naomi who are from Ireland.

On Sunday, we celebrated the birthday of my host father Jose.  All eight of the grandchildren, from age 3 to 12 were over.  We had paella, the traditional Spanish rice dish, and a cake of three chocolates.  It was absolutely delicious and I enjoyed spending time with my Valencian family.




On the way home from the museum I couldn't figure out the bus route so I walked and took some pictures of the city.  To the left is the Puente de las Flores.  This bridge goes over the old river and is covered with beautiful flowers all throughout the year.  To the right is a fountain near the museum.  It is part of a garden/park called the Jardin Real de Valencia.

To read about my adventure in Barcelona, read this post: http://saliciaabroad.blogspot.de/2015/10/barcelona.html

Los Gitanos

There is a minority group here in Spain called Los Gitanos.  In English, they are known as the gypsies.  They are a cultural group originally from India and there are populations of the gypsies all over the world.  Here, they make up less than 1% of the population and face heavy discrimination.

In my first Multicultural Society and Education class in September, my teacher began the semester with a lesson about discrimination.  We determined that we discriminate against people who are different than us because we don't understand them or we are afraid of them.  We are afraid of what we don't understand.  My class, as a whole, decided that discrimination is a horrible thing.

Two weeks ago, we began our discussion about the gypsies and my teacher asked us to talk about some of the traits of a gypsy.  There was nothing good said.  My classmates called them dirty, poor, thieves.  I was the only one who knew anything about their culture.  My teacher was surprised when I knew so many things..when I knew the positives.

As we talk more and more about the stereotypes and issues with the gypsies, I watch my classmates turn mean, nasty and rude.  It's hard to watch because I have befriended some of them. These girls welcomed me into their group. I a foreigner.  I do not fully speak their language.  I am not a citizen of Spain.  I am not from this continent.  Why do you welcome someone who isn't from this side of the world but not someone who lives in your same city?

Their blindness sickens me.  They have had these stereotypes drilled into their head and they cannot see past them.  It makes me realize how far America has actually come.  When I am in class and we talk about the discrimination of the African Americans or Native Americans, no one scrunches their nose and calls them dirty.  Yes, we do have a ways to come until racism is erased from our society, if it is ever erased.

I give my teacher credit.  I didn't like her at first but now I look up to her.  She is trying so hard to make them understand that this group of people is not what everyone makes them to be.  She assigns videos which I know none of them watch and she has discussions about it which they whisper through.  Not all of them are blind to this but a lot of them are.  My teacher is trying to make a change, to make this world a place where discrimination doesn't exist, and I look up to her for it.

Churros, Dinner and Gandía

I had a pretty good weekend.  On Friday, Matthias and I went downtown and I had the chance to try churros with chocolate.  It was so flavorful and filling that I couldn’t finish it.  The chocolate was pure melted chocolate.  It was very tasty.

On Saturday, Nancy, Matthias and I went to a restaurant for dinner.  I have been to this restaurant before and it is my favorite here in Valencia.  We ordered a jug of homemade Sangria, nachos with a cheese sauce and guacamole, seasoned meat, mushrooms, potatoes and toast with cheese fondue, stacked and seasoned vegetables with goat cheese and chicken fajitas.  The meal was absolutely delicious and I enjoyed spending time with friends.  If you are ever in Valencia, I recommend Maria Maniles for tapas.  After dinner, we went to a little café for coffee and wine.  The inside was very interesting.  It was decorated with Romanesque paintings and sculptures.  Everything was made of dark wood, including the chair and wall panels.  The ceiling was made of midnight blue velvet with good stars to represent the night sky.  It was a very cool café.

Yesterday, Nancy and I went to a small city named Gandía with our Irish friend Naomi.  We mostly walked around the historic city center.  We saw the inside of a convent that was built in the 15^th century and an old church.  We also went to two museums: a museum of archaeology and a Catholic religion museum.  I really enjoyed the religious museum because it was something different.  There were different paintings and portraits of important Catholic figures and scenes from the bible.  There were different sculptures made of stone and metal.  All throughout the museum, you could hear acapella religious hymns, sung by male voices.  It was a wonderful experience.

Some Interesting Facts and Differences

1I have talked about the meals before but I haven't mentioned the restaurants.  At night restaurants don't open until at least 8 because of the late dinner time and are open late into the night.

2. Las Fiestas.  The parties start at one in the morning and end at eight.  People take the last metro into the city, eat dinner, go to the clubs and then leave the city when the metro opens.

3.  La siesta.  Yes it is true.  At the lunch hour, it is nap time.  All the local shops and restaurants close and it is time to rest. 

4.  It is uncommon to go away for college and if you do, you live in an apartment.  There is no on campus housing.

5.  Teenagers aren't allowed to drive until they are 18 and then they have to go to driving school.  There is no other option.

6.  Obviously there are not dollars here.  Spain uses the European Union's currency, the euro.  There are many coins: 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents. 10 cents, 20 cents, 50 cents, 1 euro and 2 euros.  There are only 5, 10, 20 and 50 euros.

7.  Food prices are cheaper but clothing prices are more expensive.

8.  There a couple stores like our Walmart and Tops but if you want fresh food, you head down to the markets. There you find whole ham legs, intact fish and seafood, frsh fruit and vegetables and local bakery stands.

9.  American-made songs are all over the place but they aren't used in context. The song "Freedom" was used during a news piece about monkies.  Talk about random.

10.  Movies, tv shows and their titles are all translated over.

12 Things You Need to Know Before You Go To Valencia.

1. When I began this post, Netflix wasn’t in Spain so I was going to say this: There isn't Netflix in Spain.  Don't even try to log on.  You will be disappointed.  However, it arrived while I was here so head this warning: DON’T LOGGIN TO NETFLIX.  Don’t let your addiction follow you to Spain.  You know it absorbs your life at college so it will probably do the same here

2.  When you arrive at UCV, you will not have a schedule because you are not technically registered.  Contact you international coordinator ASAP!

3. Everyone speaks English and they want to hear you speak English.  It is nice when you are having issues, like going to buy medication when you are allergic to certain pills or having to deal with the mess that is your schedule, but other than that it is BAD.  Also, the international students try to talk to you in English because it is a common language and they are comfortable speaking it.  DON'T. Talk as much Spanish as you can.

4.  Your host parents are a wonderful resource.  They can help you find routes to school and show you where to go to buy things and where to visit.  They might even offer to kick butt if people are doing you wrong.  And if you get my host family, Rosa and Jose, consider yourself lucky.  They are wonderful people.

5.  At least half of the people smoke here.  Chances are that you will have a couple friends who smoke. It really shocked me at first because I wasn't expecting it.  I am an asthmatic and the smoke bothers my lungs.  Now it barely bothers me.

6. Another thing that you should be prepared for is the way people greet each other.  At home we give the awkward hello nod and smile, maybe a handshake.  If you know someone well you give a hug.  Here, if you are a girl, you greet everyone, boys and girls, with two “kisses”.  By kisses, I mean you touch cheeks and make a kiss noise.  You do not actually kiss someone’s face.  If you are a guy, you kiss the cheeks of girls and give a handshake/bro hug to another guy.  It’s little awkward at first because we value our personal space in America.  I still don’t know which direction you are supposed to start when kissing cheeks and it is still a little awkward to be at someone’s face, especially a face of the opposite gender.  In general, people are a lot touchier.  Things that would indicate a boyfriend and girlfriend, actually indicate a friendship.

7.  Some signs are in the dialect of Valenciano.  Don't worry, you aren't going crazy.  It isn't Spanish.  It is okay if you cannot read them.

8.  Socialize with your classmates.  At first they will look at you as if you are an exhibit in the zoo but once they warm up to you, they can be very helpful.  They are very patient about your Spanish and like to know people from other countries.  They also can help you with your homework assignments and show you places to go in Valencia.

9.  Water is not free here.  If you order water in the restaurant, it will be bottled.  It is not from the soda machine.

10.  Whenever you go to a museum or the City of Arts and Sciences, bring your student I.D.  Often you won't have to pay full price or you will get in for free.

11.  Don't be alarmed if you walk into a cafe or stare and see hanging pig legs.  This is customary here as it keeps the ham juicy.  Also, stores sell whole seafood, eyes and all.  The smell is disgusting but is how it is sold.

Finally, the most important:

12.  Enjoy your time here in Valencia.  You don't need to travel everywhere while you are here.  I highly recommend visiting Madrid and Barcelona but Valencia has a lot of things to do.  If you are gone every weekend, you will miss out on festivals and seeing friends.  It is not about where you go, but what you do.  Valencia is a beautiful city and a wonderful place to study.  Please enjoy every minute of it.

Festivos

Over the weekend, I was asked multiple times if Spain celebrated Halloween.  The answer to every question was yes.  Halloween is celebrated here like it is at home: costumes and trick-or-treating.  So after hearing this same question time and time again, I decided that I wanted to do a blog post about "los festivos" or the holidays. So, here is some facts and information about different holidays:

1. Spain celebrates all the same major holidays such as New Years Eve and Day, Easter and Good Friday, and Christmas.

2. In addition to Christmas, Spaniards celebrate the "Three Kings Day" which symbolizes when the three kings brought Jesus gifts after his birth.  Children leave their shoes out the night before and in the morning they find candy from "the kings."  That day, there are parades throughout Spain.

3. Spain has a Labour Day but it is on May 1.

4.  Most areas have a community day.  I made a post about Valencia's Community Day in early October.  There is also a National Spain Day which was on the same weekend as Valencia's Community Day.

5. "Las Fallas" is a holiday only in Valencia during the spring where artists make these beautiful paper mache characters and at the end of the festival, all of them are burned.  (Fallas pictured to the right).

6.  In December, there is a Constitution Day.

7. There are many public holidays dedicated to Saints.

Felipe

Remember when I went to the castle in the town Xativa?  Well, with the pictures on Facebook, there was this photo of King Felipe V..upside down.  Today I learned the reason why the portrait isn't right side up.  King Carlos II, the king before Felipe, died in 1700 without an heir, ending the Spanish Hapsburg dynasty.  There was a great debate about who would rule the vest empire which encompassed Spain, half of Italy, Holland, South America, Central America, Mexico and the western and southern states of America.  The French and Austrians fought over the successor and in the end, French King Louie XIV won and his nephew Philip, or Felipe, took the thrown.  The people in Eastern Spain (Valencia, Barcelona...) opposed the new king and tried to fight it.  When the troops of Felipe V surrounded Xativa, the citizens ran into the local church, which the troops burned to the ground, people included.  From that point, Felipe V and his descendants have their portraits upside down in Xativa to show their dislike and disagreement of his dynasty.  The most recent kings, Juan Carlos I and his son have the honor of correctly orientated portraits.

I know that the weather at home is a bit chilly, but we have been in the high 60s, low 70s everyday.  On Tuesday, my anthropology class was outside.  So we wouldn't have to sit in the dirt, my classmate took a bench off its rails and put it on the ground.  It was so funny.  It was wonderful to be able to be out in the warm, fresh air.

One thing that interests me is how people my age interact with each other.  When you greet any person, no matter the gender, you kiss their cheeks.  For me, it is very personal.  This stranger is in my space and it makes me a little uncomfortable.  At home, half the time you don't even shake hands when you meet someone.  Here, it is also very common to hug and drape arms around someone of the opposite gender, whether you are good friends with them or mot.  It is interesting on how different Spanish and American cultures are about social interactions and what is socially acceptable.

Fun Facts:

The first Spanish Pope was born in Xativa.

In Spanish, there are two words for the word "you."  One is used for people you are familiar with and the other is more formal.

El Fin de Semana

My weekend, or "fin de semana," was fantastic.  It started Thursday night when Nancy, our roommate Matthias and I went to a bar with some of Matthias's German and Swiss friends from International House.  We had some great Sangria and met a girl from Switzerland that we would like to go out with again.

On Friday night, Nancy was off with some friends from the University so Matthias and I went down in the center to a small bar that had a jam session.  Matthias is a very talented piano player and musician so as we were watching the group, we were whispering little comments back and forth.  For one, the singer had no stage presence whatsoever.  The violin player was very good though.  What confused me at first was that he was playing notes that were too low for a violin.  I looked at his pegs and sure enough, he had five instead of four.  He had all the strings that a violin and viola have.

For the evening on Saturday, Nancy and I went over to our friends's apartment for a movie night.  They are both from Ireland.  The movie we watched was a horror/thriller called "You're Next."  It was about the slaughtering of a family when the four children and their significant others came home to celebrate their parents's anniversary.  The movie was more suspenseful than scary with an exciting plot twist that you didn't expect.  After, we met Matthias, the Swiss girl, a different girl from Germany and a guy from South Africa for some drinks in the city center.

My buddy Marta on the left, some girls from my class and I.

Today, we had an activity with the Buddy Program at the University.  About a quarter of my anthropology class was there since my teacher was running the activity.  We went to the Valencian History Museum which is in an old building that used to be part of the water system of the city.  So, the inside was a system of brick arches.  It was pretty cool.  After, we ate our lunches in the dry river bed.

Medieval Politics: A Sitcom.

The weeks keep getting better and better.  I am making more and more friends and everyday my Spanish improves a tiny bit.  I can understand my teachers more and I can form sentences without major mistakes.  Although some days I feel like I take one step forward and then take two steps backward with my Spanish, I know that overall I have improved so much and I have two months to make it better.

I am really enjoying my course on Spanish history, not because it is in English but because history really interests me.  Recently, we talked about King Fernando and Queen Isabel of Castile y Leon.  They were each rulers of the two Christian Kingdoms in what is now modern day Spain.  Their marriage unified the two kingdoms.  This is where it gets tricky though. They rule their respective kingdoms only.  Their children can rule both but if one dies before the other, they no longer have any input in the other kingdom.  When Isabel died, she named her daughter Joana the Mad (a story for another time) as her heir and made Fernando regent until Joana's son Carlos was old enough to take the throne.  However, Fernando wanted control over the kingdoms and he didn't want to have Joana on the throne because he didn't find her competent.  So he started to plot against her.  And get this, Joana's sister Catherine was the the first wife of Henry VII of England, the king who created his own church to divorce her and had a habit of beheading his other wives.  Joana's grandson Felipe II then marries Henry and Catherine's daughter, Bloody Mary.  European Politics: A Giant Sitcom.

Fun Facts:

Christopher Columbus was an Italian Explorer who was sent by Isabel and Fernando to the Americas.  He never discovered the mainland, just the islands of the Caribbean and the Bahamas.

Spanish has two words for the word "for."  They are "por" and "para."

Spaniard cannot pronounce certain sounds in English because they do not exist in Spanish.  Some of these letters are "j", "i", and "w".

Pobreza Cero

Last night it hit me that my stay in Valencia is half over.  As I walked through the streets, with all the lights shining, I thought, how did I get here?  Valencia is simply amazing.  It was scary at first and at times, I really wanted to come home.  But I am glad that I stepped onto the plane back in August.  This experience has been absolutely life changing.

Yesterday I went into the kitchen for lunch and discovered that Rosa, my house mom, had prepared a full course meal for us and her daughter's family.  We had lasagna, salad, ice cream and the egg desert flan.  It was absolutely wonderful.  After, we spent time with the grand kids, showed them the real version of the song "Let It Go" and helped Rosa's daughter with her English homework.

Last night, Nancy and I went down to the city center to do some Christmas shopping.  We were walking around when we came upon a crowd and some drumming noises.  It was an organized protest.  The cops were helping them and everything!  There was a percussion ensemble marching in front followed by people with signs that read "Pobreza Cero" or "Zero Poverty." It was just amazing to walk through the streets and then all of a sudden happen upon a protest.

Catalunya: A Political Debate

One of the major political issues in Spain is that of the province of Catalunya.  Catalunya is in Northern Spain, along the French border. Barcelona is the capital city and everyone in the province speaks Catalan.  There is a movement in Catalunya to become independent from Spain.  Half of the people want to be their own country and the other half wants to be part of Spain.

There are many reasons for this.  There are some theories that it is because Catalunya isn't happy with the Spanish government taking their tax money and putting it toward the poorer provinces. Also, most of the regular Spaniards look down on the Catalans as dirty or aren't really Spanish because they don't speak Spanish or have dangerous cities.  But these are all stereotypes that aren't true.  I have had two professors from Catalunya and they are great.  I have been to Barcelona and I didn't feel threatened.

Really this issue started back in the thirteenth century with King Jaime I.  When he wanted to take over the island of Mallorca, near the Eastern coast, he enlisted the help of the city of Barcelona.  After they took it from the Turks, the people of Barcelona settled on the island.  Soon after, they started to cheat the King out of the money from the harbor on the island.  From that point of Jaime segregated the area.  They had Jaime as a king but they were generally independent.

This whole political debate started 800 years ago.

Update on School:

I had a very good week.  On Tuesday I made a presentation about the Iroquois to my anthro class and they loved it.  My teacher even told me that I speak Spanish very well.  My classmates have also been more friendly with me.  I feel much more included.

Fun Fact:

Arizona's name comes from the words "arida zona" or arid zone because of the desert.

Barcelona

So after a mix up of trains on Saturday, Rayni, Nancy and I were off to Barcelona.  Barcelona is toward the north of Spain, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and is part of the province Catalunya.  It is the second biggest city in Spain and addition to speaking Spanish, they have a dialect called Catalan.  It is a mix between French and Spanish.  All of the signs in Barcelona are in Spanish and Catalan.  The train ride was beautiful.  It took us up through the hills and along the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.

After we arrived in the station and settled into our hostel, we went into downtown Barcelona.  There, we saw the outside of the Sagrada Familia, a large basilica designed by Antoni Gaudi, a famous Spanish architect known for his abstract designs and his use of mosaic tiles.  The outside was unlike any other basilica or cathedral that I had ever seen.  The outside was so abstract, even though it was under restoration.  However, we weren't able to go in on Saturday.

Following the Sagrada Familia, we went to the museum dedicated to Pablo Picasso, the Spanish artist who helped to create cubism.  The museum was full of years worth of paintings and sculptures.  You aren't allowed to take any photos.  I made the mistake of pulling out my phone to write down a note for my blog and a security girl saw me.  She called something over the walkie talkie and I don't think that she knew that I knew Spanish.  I overheard about half of what she said and my suspicions about what she had said were  confirmed when Nancy and I were obviously being tailed by the security people.  Everywhere I went, I was being watched by security people.  And we made it obvious that we knew.  The one guard, not much older than us, knew that we knew and he just looked at us, smiled and laughed.  Leave it me to cause trouble in an art museum.  We did see some incredible art and did get in for free because we were students.

After the art museum, we went to the Plaza de Espanya to see a fountain show.  We walked around the plaza, which was on a hill.  At the top was what appeared to be a palace and then the fountain.  Going down the hill was a line of smaller fountains.  The show was pretty awesome.  The water looked like smoke and fire.  They lit it up in a variety of colors and varied the height and type of water jet.  It was amazing.  I didn't know it was possible to do something like that with a fountain.

Later, we met up with a friend in Rayni's from South Africa.  He studies at International House Valencia but before he had studied in Barcelona.  He had plans to meet up with some students and teachers from the International House there.  So we went with him and I saw another Flamenco show.  This one was pretty good but the one I saw in Valencia was better.  We ordered an array of tapas for the table.  I think I may have eaten squid.  The food and the sangria were really good, even though I didn't touch the mussels.

The following morning, we woke up and headed back into the city center for breakfast.  To my surprise, they were playing football highlights on the big TV screen.  And I don't mean "futbol" or soccer.  It was real American football.  I even got to see the bills playing in the Ralph.  It made me miss home so much and it was awesome to see a little bit of it.  After breakfast, we walked around the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.  It is full of old beautiful buildings, some dating back to the Roman Empire.  We also walked down Las Ramblas, a famous touristy street.  I didn't see what the big deal about it is but it was nice to see.  On our walk through the Gothic Quarter, we saw two buildings built by Gaudi.  The one was supposed to model the bone structure of the human body.  Both buildings were beautiful.

After our walk, we finally saw the inside of the Sagrada Familia, the large basilica built by Gaudi.  It was unlike any church, basilica or cathedral I had ever been in.  There was stained glass everywhere, flooding the open worship space in red, blue, green, orange and yellow light.  The ceiling was all made of mosaic tile.  There were carvings of leaves in one entrance and another had the story of Jesus from the book of Matthew engraved on it.  There was also a wall full of different languages.  It was beautiful.

Next, we hiked up a hill for a good half hour to see Park Güell, a park completely dedicated to Antoni Gaudi.  It was nice to see and walk in.  He was an architectural genius.  His work is unlike anything  I have ever seen.  He constructed this giant platform that overlooks the city and it was absolutely beautiful.  As great as it was to go there, I was expecting a lot more.  There really wasn't much to do there.

Later, we met up with the guy from South Africa and he took us up this hill in the middle of the city.  From the top, you could turn 360 degrees and see the whole city.  We went at night and it was absolutely beautiful. You could see all of the twinkling lights and, in the distance, the Mediterranean.  While watching, a guy pulled out a guitar and started singing.  It made everything feel so surreal.  We then hiked own the hill and went to a Vietnamese restaurant for dinner.  I tried a traditional dish called "pho" which is a beef and noodle soup.  It was really good.

It was a wonderful trip and I highly recommend a visit to Barcelona, if you are ever in Spain.  However, I definitely prefer Valencia.  It is a much better place to learn Spanish since in Barcelona, most people use Catalan instead of Spanish. Also, Valencia is smaller and less touristy.  I am used to a smaller city so Valencia is perfect.  During these two days, I have missed my Spanish home.

Fun Facts:

"Nevar" means to snow in Spanish. Could Nevada, which has snow covered mountains, possibly named because of that? It did used to be under Spanish control.

We saw a tourist hater in a square.  He had a paper hat that said "go home." Funny thing was that he was speaking in heavily accented British accent.

Europe values education.  If you have a student card, you are given a discount.

The metro in Barcelona reminds of the New York City subway.  It is very old and sketchy at times.  Also, when two lines meet up, they aren't in one station.  You literally walk to that line's station but underground.

El Día de La Comunidad Valenciana

The family!

Last night, Nancy, my roommates and I went out with some of the students from one of Nancy's classes.  All of them are natives of Spain, which meant having many conversations in Spanish.  I am proud to say that I did really well.  I was even told by the one girl that I wasn't making any mistakes.  Granted, I had to ask people slow down and clearly I have an awkward American accent, but I was surprised by how well I did.  I was effectively able to communicate with people my own age.  It has made much more confident!

Today was the day of the Valencian community.  Today marks the day of when the Christian Kingdoms kicked the Moors out of Valencia... obviously centuries before.  Nancy and I went to the morning celebration which consisted of a larger firecracker display that shook our bodies and made us cover our ears.  I believe the loud booms were supposed to symbol the fighting that took place in Valencia.  We then walked around the city, where there were small stands full of scarves, jewelry, purses and other things.  We didn't see the parade, but chances are that I wouldn't have been able to see anything anyway.  The city was crawling with people.

Tomorrow, at 6:30 in the morning we are off to Barcelona, so keep your eyes out for photos and blog posts!

El Puente

Today was the tradition day of class.  We are learning medical terms in my Spanish grammar class and in my history class, we are talking about Christopher Columbus.  Did you know that Christopher Columbus had actually asked the King of Portugal before he asked the monarchs of Spain? When he landed in our hemisphere, he actually landed in the Bahamas.  We started a movie about him, too, even though it has some historical inaccuracies. And then I waited for my other class and SURPRISE! It was cancelled....somehow I always miss the memo.  Tonight, we were are going down to the mall for some free dinner.

This weekend is very special for Valencia.  First of all, it is a long weekend.  They use the word "puente" to describe it, which translates to "bridge."  Tomorrow marks the anniversary of when the Christian Kingdoms retook Valencia from the Moors.  There is supposed to be a large parade, representing the Christians chasing out the Moors.  Then on Saturday, we are off to Barcelona! I can't wait!

So, keep looking for some blog posts tomorrow and Monday! And, of course, pictures.

Horses and Homework

So last week I got a message from my host father about an event going on over the weekend in the dried up riverbed/park.  It was a horse event.  So I made Nancy walk about a half hour with me in the heat so I could go pet some ponies.  There wasn't much there but pony rides and a tiny Friesian show but I did look at the tack stall and I was able to pet a horse! And, on the way back, I was able to pet a very friendly stray pregnant cat.  It felt good to be able to pet some animals.  I really miss mine.

The last two days were filled with classes and my internship.  In my Spanish class we are studying comparisons.  In my society class we had a debate about if it was humane and relevant to still having the running of the bulls.  In my history course, we are continuing our talk about the Moors and watching the movie El Cid, one of the great warriors of the Christian Kingdoms.  The movie portrays him as an honorable man but in reality, he was a mercenary.  In my anthropology class today, we were watching a movie in Spanish.  So I asked if we could have Spanish subtitles.  Usually I am fine if I can read what I am listening to.  Well when the boy that was setting up the movie was doing it, he put on Spanish subtitles but then accidentally changed the sound to English!  He played it and everyone was like Oh Please No!  My teacher just looked at me and laughed.  The rest of my nights have been taken up with homework and my internship.

Xàtiva

Yesterday I went on a trip with the International House to a town outside of the city called Xàtiva.  The city is positioned on the side of the hill and at the top is a castle and its fort.  They were built in the 13th century.  The town speaks the dialect of Valenciano.  The town is older and has cobblestone streets.  It is the capital of its county.

Once we climbed the mountain and entered the castle, we watched a twenty minute movie of the castle and then we ate a small lunch.  After, we were free to roam the castle as much as we wanted.  It was amazing, we walked through the ruins, taking pictures and breathing in the fresh country air.  Every now and then there was a plaque saying what used to be there.  I walked into a room that used to be a jail and saw an outline that used to be the stable.  We saw old chapels and archer towers.  I climbed higher than Nancy and I am proud to say that after a lot of huffing and puffing, I made it to the tippy top.  I have never seen a man made thing that was that old before.  It was absolutely amazing.  I kept imagining how it might have once been with all of the knights and lords.  Those men must have been in great shape cause I could barely make it up the hill and they were wearing metal armor.

Fun Fact:

It is common to see rivers that are dried up.  They can remain dry for many years and then all of a sudden be full from a heavy rain.  The river in our city, that was redirected, is currently dry.  I heard one story of a village who's river was dry for ten years.  They began to plant gardens and then eight years later, a heavy rain came and filled the river back up.

El Hemisferic

I don't have classes on Friday so I decided to head down to the City of the Arts and Sciences.  There is a building there called the Hemisferic.  It´s the gray oval-like spherical one in my picture.  There, you can go and watch documentaries about different things.  They give you these weird things to put on your head that provides sound for the showing.  They then have you walk down this long corridor and then into the central sphere.  Inside, it is an advanced movie theater.  The seats practically go straight up a wall and are reclined.  The screen is huge.  It extends from the bottom of the theater to behind the last row of seats.  It also extends really far to either side. Basically you are laying down and watching life go on around you.  I saw one about space. The movie talked about how we look and discover things in space.  It talked about the new advances in telescopes and showed many beautiful pictures of space.  It was amazing.  It was like the stars were all around you.  I will definitely be going back before I leave Valencia.

A Day in the Life

Today I had my first fourteen hour day.  My first class began at 8:45, an forty-five minutes North of where I live, and my internship ended at 8:30 at night.  So if you add in all my travel times: 14 hours.

I have three classes on Thursdays.  The first is a Spanish grammar, culture and vocabulary course.  It is similar to the Spanish courses at home. The second is my Spanish History course, in English.  The third is an Anthropology course.  That one is in Spanish.   During my first class, we talked about a Spanish type of music: La Copla. This is a style of song which is usually sang by a woman and is very dramatic.  Very Whitney Houston like, but in Spanish.  You can view one of them at the bottom of the page.  Warning, this one is not like Whitney Houston. During my history course we talked about how the Muslims conquered Spain between the 700s and the 1400s.  After my history course I have a two and a half hour break in which I do my homework and mentally prepare myself for my Spanish course.

Today I actually understood generally what we were talking about in the class's discussion about the text.  Last week when we talked about the author, I learned that he was an honorary member of the Seneca tribe and studied the Iroquois at length.  So, guess who gets to do a presentation on the Iroquois? Yeah, this girl.

What is easier to learn: Spanish when you speak English or English when you speak Spanish?

After talking to many people about this, here is the general consensus:  

Learning Spanish grammar is harder than learning English grammar because the verb changes whenever there is a different subject and there are many irregulars.  Learning English pronunciation is more difficult than Spanish pronunciation.  In Spanish, the pronunciation is what you see on the page normally.  But in English, half of the words do not look like they are pronounced.  Like the word colonel or choir. 

Grammar Note: Also in Spanish, they do not have contractions or really use the apostrophe.  To say "It is Halle's phone" in Spanish, the dierct translation would be: It is the phone of Halle.

A little Spanish history:

See that sign? It is all over Valencia. Way back during the Middle Ages, Valencia was part of the Christian Kingdom named Aragon.  That was the symbol of the kingdom.

When the Muslims were in Spain, they documented and preserved all of the knowledge from the Roman Empire.  Later, when the Christians controlled Spain, they translated  all of the information over to Latin.  Without either of these groups, we would know barely anything about the Roman Empire.

Fun Facts:

Every time I go to the metro station, I think about when Aunt Susan told us not to stand really close to the edge because some homeless guy might push us in.

Cats really can climb trees. I watched one stick to the middle of a tree trunk today.  I thought it was a squirrel.