9/24 At 4am that morning, John left out little piso and
headed to the airport and back to the USA. I was too tired to be sad, but I
felt it later. It was so great to have him in Spain, and the visit of course
went way too quickly. I spent the rest of my day editing photos and being lazy,
and then once Bárbara got off work I went with her and Nathan to get some
drinks at the little café on our street. We were celebrating Bárbara’s high
score and the fact that she passed the dreaded TOEFL exam she had been studying
so hard for the past few weeks! I had some tinto
de verano, and then later we ordered Telepizza and ate it on the couch in
the piso. A nice relaxing day in Valencia! The highlight of my day on 9/25 was an impromptu meet up of some friends
at the park near the old river. The river Turia used to flow through the whole
city, but once it flooded in the 60s it was drained. It is now a park full of
running trails and gardens that follows the path that the river once did. It’s
a little strange that you can sit in grass under the old medieval bridges, but
it is a very fun and pretty area. People still refer to it as “the river” though-
(it took me a while to realize that there actually is no river anymore). We all
packed bocadillos, chips and some vino, and we sat down on a blanket
in the park. It was dark by the time we were all there, but the lights from the
city were good enough. It was myself, Bárbara, Nathan, Whitney, Rachel,
Marissa, and a new couple I met that night named Carlos and Christie. Christie
is American and met Carlos, her recent fiancé, while studying abroad in
Valencia 1.5 years ago. All in all there were 5 Americans there, and only 1
doesn’t live permanently/forever in Valencia- me :( . Sadness.
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| Flamenco Themed Restaurant in Valencia |
So
the next day 9/26 while Bárbara was
at work, I walked around in the Benimaclet neighborhood of the city with
Nathan. It is an older less developed part of the city, and as a result there
are a lot of really cool old buildings and plazas. It makes you feel like you
are really in 19th century Spain or something. Bárbara and her
family grew up in this neighborhood, so it was nice to see her childhood
stomping grounds a little. We also randomly ran into her friend Vicente, small
world! We stopped and had some horchata
at a café, and then we made the long walk back to the piso on Calle Menendez y Pelayo. At 7 that
evening, I had a Spanish tutoring lesson with Whitney at her apartment. I
walked down the long street of Blasco Ibañez to her apartment, and I got in
some quality Spanish knowledge! On 9/27
Nathan and I met up with Bárbara and her co-workers for lunch at Taberna Jaen near our piso. The funny
thing about her co-workers is that they used to be my study abroad program
advisors 5 years ago. If someone told me back then that 5 years later I would
be sitting in a café having drinks with them and speaking in Spanish, I doubt I’d
have believed it- oh how far I’ve come ;) After a smoke filled hour of drinks
with Manuel, Sara, Raquel, and Bárbara, Nathan and I took the bus downtown to
the center. We shopped around for a little bit and went to the bookshop. I got
a nice coffee table book on the city’s history! We also ate lunch at a Flamenco themed restaurant that was too touristy, even for me! That evening, the three of us
had drinks and bravas before they left on their 12-hour-bus to Santander,
where Nathan lives. That night, I was alone in the apartment. It was a little
creepy. I thought every sound was a serial killer and I slept with the lights
on!
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| Some of the downed trees from the wind storm |
9/28- To start out my weekend, I slept in super late on
Friday. It was awesome. I walked around the city a bit and just people watched
and explored. I did some cleaning, and then around 6pm I packed my bag and was
picked up by Whitney and Raúl in his car. They drove me to their apartment, and
on the way the weather took a crazy turn for the worse! I’m used to Valencia
being perpetually sunny and dry, so the fact that it was thundering, rainy, and
super windy was strange. I saw a car wreck, which is rare there, and several
trees were starting to blow over. We parked on the street and in order to get
in their apartment we had to pass through a “wind tunnel” in between 2
buildings. It was seriously intense wind! I felt like my body could have been
lifted in the air- it was crazy. Once we were safely inside we got a carry out
pizza from the place in their building, and then we watched a movie! This was
my “slumber party” night with Whitney, and I’m glad I wasn’t alone during the
storm. During the course of the night we kept looking out the window and saw
more and more trees or bushes that had come down. They have a guest bedroom
there so I got to stay in my own comfy bed, and all in all it was a great deal!
One sad thing about the evening though is that the abandoned bird they found
and have been taking care of, named Tallina, had broken its foot somehow and
was basically dying…
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| Barbara's Note to Me on the Frame we made! |
Saturday
morning 9/29, we assessed the damage
outside. Wind is crazy! At about 1pm Whitney and I headed out and got some
tapas at a little place near her piso. She also gave me another Spanish lesson,
and I must say she is a really awesome tutor! I get personalized lessons, and I
really do feel like I’ve learned more from my sessions with her than I did at
the Don Quijote classes. After that we just hung out, then I made
the 25 minute walk back to my piso. Marissa had invited a bunch of people over
to her apartment in Benifer for game-night that night. I didn’t feel like
navigating the metro, so I took the slightly pricy cab to her apartment on the
other side of town, and got there right at 9:30. Rachel was there too, and we
were joined by Josep, Ruben, Miguel, and Pablo. We played “Uno” for a while,
and then I taught them how to play a drinking game called 21. Somehow we all
stayed up laughing and having an amazing time until about 5:30 am. I love how
late Spaniards stay up! It just fits my life, haha. A highlight of the evening
was Marissa & Josep’s dog Coco pooping on the floor because they put a
diaper on her and she didn’t know how to react.
Not sure why, but it was hysterical to us at the time. Pablo drove Rachel
and Ruben home, and then was nice enough to drop me off to my piso. So, after
that fun-filled evening, I of course slept in crazy late on Sunday 9/30. I cleaned and did some laundry,
and then around 8:30 that night Whitney came over to hang out with me since Raúl
was at work and she was bored. I made us some bravas and we basically just
watched tv and chatted. I went to bed around 2, and Whitney stayed on the couch
until 6am when Raúl was coming home from work and could just pick her up from
my place. Bárbara came in around 5am from Santander, so luckily I was never
alone in the piso that weekend again!
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| Our little balcony in the Piso |
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