German Oktoberfest in Spain

My card to Barbara for the TOEFL :)

9/15 To start my weekend off, I had another intercambio with my new friend Sandra at Sal y Pimienta. We shared some patatas bravas and talked for about 2 hours, half in English half in Spanish. Luckily for once it was nice outside, without being unbearably hot. While I was there, poor Barbara was busy taking a super-important exam for her entry into a Master’s program in Wisconsin. Being the sweet roomie that I am, I bought her chocolate that morning (since it helps your brain function!) and I wrote her a nice little encouraging card. I know, I’m too kind J Next up, I went downtown to Calle Colón with Marissa and Bárbara to go shopping. It was to celebrate Bárbara’s test being over, so we hit up some good stores and I got a little black dress. It’s so hard to go shopping in Valencia and not buy anything! We all had a lot of fun though; shopping with those ladies was very entertaining! After that, we took the bus back to our piso. There we tried on each other’s dresses as typical girls would, and I decided to wear Bárbara’s orange dress and she wore one of mine.  We listened to some good music and had a few drinks, and then we were ready to go out on a Saturday night! We met up with Josep, Rachel, Ruben, Pablo and an American girl named Nicole at a restaurant in the city center called Montaditos. It’s a cool chain restaurant where you order up from a list of tiny cheap little sandwiches. We all were sitting outside chatting, and I got Nicole’s info since she’s living in Madrid, and I’ll be going there with my friends in about a month.

Oktoberfest in Valencia!

Marian, Marissa, Me, Sandra y Barbara!

After debating what we should do after dinner, half of the group decided to go to the Plaza de Toros. It had been converted into a German beer fest for the week: The Oktoberfest of Spain. The only ones from our group who decided to go were Marissa, Bárbara and I. Once we got there, we met up with some of Bárbara’s other girlfriends Sandra, Chus and Marian. Just like the Hofbrauhaus in Northern Kentucky, we ordered some super tall beer steins, sat down at the long wooden tables, and listen to German polka music- but sung in Spanish. It was a little strange at first, but there were even pretzels so all was good! It was also weird to think I was standing there dancing and drinking on a table on the actual field were the bulls were killed at the fight I went to in July. So, Marissa thought we should go ahead and play the card game “Kings”, and before we knew it these two guys Bárbara had met at her exam that morning had run into us and decided to join. It was all fun and games until the Honduran guy kept inching closer and closer to me and was totally invading my personal space. Basically, I was being hit on to the point where it was really uncomfortable, so we did the typical “girl escape route” and went to the bathroom. After that, we stuck around Bárbara’s friends and I tried my best to hide from that creepy guy. Basically, the evening ended with the security guards telling us that it was time to leave, and my friends yelling at them that they should be allowed to finish their beer first. It was quite hilarious. We all then walked to the El Carmen district, and after a brief stop at another bar, cabbed it home. I wanted to go to bed early because in the morning I was going to pick up my boyfriend at the Valencia airport!! Yay!

Plaza de Ayuntamiento at Night

Shopping, Bars, and Birthdays

Blue Moon in Valencia

8/30 In the aftermath of the Tomatina, I spent the next day going to my conversation class at Don Quijote and then cleaning our piso from top to bottom. To treat myself, that night I went shopping with Bárbara at the Las Arenas mall in the Benimaclet neighborhood. My best purchase was some fake clip-on hair from Claire’s. I tried it on as a joke but it amazingly matched my hair color perfectly, so I bought it, why not. On Friday (8/31) I went to my last class of the week and enjoyed the 30 minute walk in the blazing heat... I then made one of my tri-weekly stops at the grocery store under our piso (Mercadona), and then I had a girls night with Whitney! I took the tram and we met up near the beach for some tapas, and to enjoy the ocean breeze. Finally the heat wasn’t unbearable! After we ate we took a stroll on the beach, and it was extra beautiful because it was the night of a blue moon. The reflection of the sky on the water was perfect, and of course very photogenic.

El Carmen District

To get the weekend really going, on Saturday (9/1) Bárbara and I went shopping at the “rich people” mall downtown by the City of Arts and Sciences called Aqua Mall. We didn’t buy anything but it’s still nice to look! For dinner we were invited to Marissa and Josep’s apartment, and Marissa cooked us a delicious meal of tortilla soup. Rachel and Ruben were there, as well as their friends Pablo and Miguel. It was a good group and we had a lot of fun playing this drinking game called 21. It was hilarious and I laughed the hardest I had in a while. After the pre-game was done, we headed out to the bars in the El Carmen district of the city. These bars are smaller but still crowded, and thanks to the bar employees who walk around handing out promotional coupons like free entries or drinks, we got into the bar we wanted for free. A highlight of the evening included Marissa and Bárbara shot-gunning a beer in an alleyway, and the Spanish guys hanging around who had never seen this before (apparently it’s just an American thing) being amazed and making them do it again. For some reason we also decided to lie about where we were from, and so people thought that shot-gunning was a German tradition. They also thought Bárbara was American and that Marissa was Russian. Not sure why, but it’s fun to make up your nationality and then successfully convince people it’s true. Also Bárbara bonded with a random Indian guy who was selling 1 euro beers on the street. You know, the usual. To finish up a great night out, we had some greasy pizza from a store that was still open at 5:30am when we left the bars. Pablo drove Bárbara and I home, and we called it a night. The next morning (9/2) poor Bárbara woke up way too early (considering how late we went to bed) to set the piso up for her Mom’s birthday celebration. Her parents came over in the afternoon and we all shared a nice lunch of paella and tortilla. Bárbara made her mom a really cute card and then we had some cake as well. After that we just hung out and chatted, and once we had wished her mom Nuria a Feliz Cumpleaños, they headed home. 

Me and the Gasquet Family