American Friends Arrive to Valencia!

Our mass amount of tapas at Taberna de Jaen

10/13 The long awaited moment of my American friends flying over to visit me had finally arrived! I left the empty apartment with what I thought was enough time to meet the girls at the airport right when they got off the plane. I kind of forgot how my metro stop only has a train that goes to the airport every 25 minutes, and I missed the first one by about 30 seconds. Even though I was a little late, everything still went smoothly. I ran up to the girls in the subway section of the airport and gave big hugs to Liz and Julia. The first thing they said to me was that I looked tan and like I had lost weight. Never a bad thing to hear! After the brief struggles of buying metro tickets before the train leaves, we navigated their big roll suitcases on the metro, towards my “Facultats” stop. We wheeled their bags over the cobblestone streets (making quite the nose) and after three trips up in our super tiny apartment elevator, the three of us and the luggage made it safely into the piso. Surprisingly, the girls weren’t too tired or jet-lagged, and so wanted to squeeze in all we could on this beautiful Saturday afternoon. Our first stop? Food of course! I decided to take them over to Taberna de Jaen (the notorious location where Bárbara dressed up like a bull, remember?) I was so excited to introduce them to their first tapas that I went a little overboard and we ended up ordering an obscene amount of food. I think we got strips of ham, a cheese plate, calamari, two servings of bravas, bocadillos for each person, olives, and a pitcher of sangria. Amazingly, we downed most of it! It was surreal to me though, having these friends from Kentucky suddenly transported into my own personal little world in Valencia. It was a strange feeling seeing them there.  I was so happy though to share the customs, culture, and city I love with some eager to learn friends!

Walkway that runs along what used to be the river Turia

From the restaurant, we walked up a main street, passing the soccer stadium, and headed towards the river (it’s not actually a river though, remember). We went down the steps and strolled up the old river Turia enjoying the fountains, gardens, and parks along the way. We also made a brief stop at the children's playground that is modeled after the "Gulliver's Travels" story. It is a playset made out of a huge plastic man laying down, and it looks like the kids climbing on it are the "tiny people" from the classic story. During out walk we caught up on each other’s lives, and just enjoyed the nice scenic Valencian stroll. After about 45 more minutes of walking, we arrived to the City of Arts Sciences / Ciudad de Los Artes y Las Ciencias. The girls were very impressed with it of course, but how could you not be? The architecture and overall size of the place is awesome. We explored around and took lots of photos, and then swung by the mall to get a drink and chill. At this point, clouds started rolling in. I was a little sad, but luckily we still managed to get some good CAC photos anyways.

Liz and I enjoying the fountains on our walk

City of Arts and Sciences on a cloudy afternoon

Authentic Valencian Paella- yum!

We were pretty tired at this point, so we hailed a cab and I had them drop us off at the fancy beachside hotel Las Arenas. I wanted the girls to see the Playa Marlvarrosa beach area of the city of course! We walked along the scenic beach walk and then headed down to the sand. We got to enjoy a gorgeous sunset over the ocean, and both girls dipped their toes in the Mediterranean for the first time. Around 8pm, we decided to begin the hunt for a good paella place for dinner. We strolled up and down the walk, and finally selected an Italian place called La Divina Comedia. We shared a pitcher of sangria, and the girls had their first paella valenciana (yay rabbit meat). The ocean breeze was great and it was a perfect temperature- not humid and sweaty like it is in the summer. We went shopping at the little places on the walkway, and then we sat down a bench looking out at the stars and the water, and had some quality girl talk. I wanted us to take the tranvia back to my apartment, but our feet were sore so we cabbed it back.

Julia and Liz- their first time touching the Mediterranean!

At the piso, we freshened up and changed, and headed back out. The girls wanted to check out the bar scene- but nothing too crazy (no discotecas just yet!). We headed over to the street Polo y Peyrolón and strategically walked around so that we could get free drinks and entry passes from all the promoter people. We got some sangria at a little place on the tiny street, and then we basically just bar hopped around that area. We got lots of free drinks, but didn’t get in much dancing. We stayed at this one place with really loud music for a while, and then it hit the girls that they had been awake for a really long time. The 6 hour time difference can get to you! So, around 1am we headed back to the piso, and off to sleep. Buenas noches!

Normal Life in Valencia

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. 

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 19^th 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!

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…

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!

Our little balcony in the Piso