Bull Fights and the Aquarium

Dolphin Show

The Planetarium (foreground) and the Opera House (background)

About to stab the bull for the kill...didn't work out

Recently, I have had the pleasure to enjoy some of the fun activities right here in Valencia when I cannot travel or don't have any other plans. Two of those highlights include my trip the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias and the novice bull fight. The Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (CAC) is the very aesthetically pleasing and futuristic complex devoted to the advancement of, like the name suggests, the arts and sciences. I went the first weekend in March. We had no classes on Friday, so I originally planned to go to Paris that weekend but the plans fell through. I also was going to go on a day trip hike with some other students who didn't travel that weekend on Friday, but my alarm was off by an hour for some reason so I also didn't go on that as well. I woke up around 10 am, decided I couldn't find the hiking group and realized I had yet to visit the CAC. The buildings were completed around 1997-1998 by the world renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrave who also is from Valencia. They remind me of the Sidney Opera house and something out of a science fiction movie. The complex is made up of a Opera house, science museum, planetarium, green house and, Europe's largest aquarium. I only wanted to visit the science museum and the aquarium. It was a kind of dreary/overcast day but I still decided to take the 45 minute walk down El Rio (dried out riverbed, now a park) that leads directly into the CAC. My priority was the Océanografic (aquarium) so I went there first. The ticket price was a little expensive (21 euros) but after I made my way in I definitely thought it was worth it. It is designed so some exhibits are above ground and others are below. Mostly animals that require some land like penguins, birds, sea lions and, dolphins have outside exhibits. The large fish tanks are all located under ground. Visitors make there way up and down throughout the aquarium to see all the animals. There are about seven distinct areas that include the Mediterranean, the red sea, arctic, aviary, tropical and, the dolphinarium. Going by myself was nice because I could spend the time I wanted to on the things that interested me the most. I think my favorites was the dolphin show and the sea lions. Both were sufficiently entertaining. Also the architecture was very interesting, along with the rest of CAC. After I wandered around the aquarium and decided I had seen all there was, I made my way across the street to the science museum. According to the wikipedia article, it is supposed to resemble a whale's skeleton which I kinda sort of noticed but it would not be my first comparison. Then again, that fact came from a wikipedia article so it could be wrong. The museum was significantly cheaper than the aquarium (7 euros) and it was the typical interactive science museum. It had all the standards like outer space, physics, electricity, human anatomy, aviation, history and, animals. Still fun and entertaining on a rainy afternoon. After I finished the science museum, it began to rain and I brought my new, very compact, umbrella with me. It was a nice stroll through the rio, in the rain back up to the dorm. I stopped and got McDonald's for the first time since being in Europe. It was good. That Friday was a nice "me day." Later that night, I went out with the few of us who didn't travel. Definitely a great but slow weekend.

Another recent activity I participated in was my first Spanish bull fight. Every week UGA en España organizes cultural activities to do around the city in the afternoons. Two weeks ago, one of them was a novice bull fight for young matadores to hone their skills with an audience. It cost only 9 euros and you got to see at least 6 bulls be "fought." Even though it was more like a slaughter. The fight started out, a little unfair to me, with 7 matadores running around the bull with pink blanket like objects used to distract the bull. After they pissed off the bull to a sufficient level, one of the matadores would take over and continue the fight. Before that, men on horses covered in special armor to protect the horses from the bull's horns, would come out and stab the back of the bull with a lance-like weapon. I think they are called picadores, but I'm not sure. After that, the lead matador assigned to that bull would take these short, spike like sticks and try to pierce the bull's skin on its spine and get them to stay. The weapons were festively decorated with bright colors but they all turned a dark red from the bull's blood. After several pairs of them were stuck in the bull, the matador would take out the infamous red blanket-thing and begin a series of dance-like moves to dodge the bull. Some included kneeling on the ground and getting up as the bull approached. Other would be the matador twirling around the bull using the red blanket to distract it so the bull would just barely brush up against him. It was quite an interesting choreography. When I was there, I felt I was getting a truly quintessential Spanish cultural experience. Some of the girls that went had to leave as soon as it started because of the violence. All I kept thinking was, you knew they were going to die, so why even pay to get in. After the matador was done with their little routine, they would take out a saber and try to kill it. They aimed to stab them in between the shoulder blades and I'm assuming get at their heart. This is where it was easy to tell that these were novices. All of them had to attempt that stab at least three of four times before the bull would go down. Even after they were speared with sword, another matador would run up when the bull was on the ground and start to hack away at its neck until the animal was really dead. This part was a little hard to watch. It looked like they were just sawing away at the neck until they cut through the spinal cord. I don't think they were familiar enough with a bull's anatomy to know where to stab it so it would die in a somewhat quick manner. I did enjoy the fight and I think it is something everyone should try to see if they travel to Spain.

36 hours in Barcelona...

At the Parque Guell

Over looking the City on our tour

Getting Ready to go out on the first night

What an eventful 36 hours we had in Spain's most famous city on the Mediterranean! The group left on Friday afternoon at 1 pm from La Lonja (old gothic building near our dorm). The bus trip took 6 hours to make its way up the cost to Catalonia,the province where Barcelona is located. The road trip wasn't all that interesting. We stopped at a Spanish truck stop and they are almost universal in how similar and ordinary they are to the ones in the states. Right before we got into the city, the bus broke down briefly on the road into the city and the air conditioner also seemed to crap out on us as we approached the hotel. We all started to suffer on the bus right as we arrived at the Hotel Catalonia Ramblas. UGA en España must have had some extra cash lying around because this hotel was a major upgrade from the Hotel Tryp Gran Vía in Madrid. The room had a waterfall shower and very comfortable beds. Scott (roommate) and I got our key and rested a little bit before we went out to dinner. I decided to call my friend Alice Lee, who is studying in Barcelona, with the University of Chicago. We met up in the lobby, she was coincidentally staying in the hotel next door to mine. I had about 45 minutes before I had to go to dinner with the group, so she showed me around the Las Ramblas neighborhood. It was nice to catch up with her and chat for a little while. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet up later in the weekend but it was still nice to visit for a while. After, I ate dinner with the group at a very good pizza and salad buffet chain in Spain called Fres Co. It was refreshing change from the dorm food. The vegetables and pizza were really fresh and they had a wide variety of dishes including desserts too. They had a self-serve pizza and salad bar which I enjoyed. After dinner we all headed back to the hotel and started to get ready to go out. Around 11:30 or midnight, a small group of us (Scott, Maryella, Rebecca, Diego and me) left the hotel to find a bar or discotecha that had been recommended to us from other students/try to find some other people in the group. This didn't really work out too well in hindsight. We asked around or directions and started to make our way down Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas avenue is the main commercial/touristy area in Barcelona right in the center of the city. The street in filled with sketchy characters at night. During the day its a perfectly nice attraction for tourists but at night its infested with regualr hookers and transvestite hookers. Our little group had a run in with the ladder. As we were walking, we soon noticed that we were surrounded by very scary and ugly transvestite hookers. They seemed to want to stop and converse with us, but we kept moving quickly and tried to put some distance between us and them. We then arrived at the port of Barcelona, which was cool to see how big it was and filled with very expensive yachts and tall ship sail boats. At this point we didn't know where anyone else was at so we decided our night at been significantly sketch so we called it quits and took a taxi back to the hotel because we didn't want another run in with the crazy street folk of Barcelona.

The morning of the second day we had a group tour that lasted from 10 am to 2 pm. The best part of the morning was the breakfast at the hotel. It reminded me of Waffle house because it had all the comforts of home plus the usual Spanish food at breakfast. Everyone took a little longer to savor the breakfast than they normally would because it was so good and filling. The tour included a knowledgeable local tour guide who told us a lot of interesting facts about some of the historical and interesting places in Barcelona. Many of us were very tired and/or hungover from the previous nights festivities but I was more tired just because we had to get up early. We saw the Sagrada Familia, the port of Barcelona, Park Gruell, some other architecture by Antoní Gaudi, the Olympic complex, a viewing site that overlooked the city and other cool places around Barcelona. The Park Gruel feels like you stepped into a Doctor Suess book because all of the architecture is very surreal and has an almost fantasy appearance. We stopped and spent an hour or so wandering around the park and enjoyed the sites and the street performers. After the tour we ate lunch at Fres Co again which was still good the second time around and then we had the afternoon free to do whatever we wanted to. The options included the Picasso museum, the Sagrada Familia, buying footbal tickets to the Barcalona game or go to the hotel. I was really tired and I knew I was coming back to Barcelona before I leave for the states again, so I choose to nap at the hotel before dinner. I figure I will be able to enjoy the city the second time around when Emily and Scott come at the end of this trip to visit and travel with me. That night, everyone was responsible for getting dinner on their own so Rebecca, Scott and I went out to dinner at a Pizza place on Las Ramblas. We got 2 pizzas and a pitcher of Sangria for under 25 euros so it was pretty cheap by Barcelona standards. After that we went to the hotel to decide were we wanted to go out for the night. Some of the group went to a discotecha/club called Razzmatazz the previous night so those of us who didn't go last night decided it would be fun to go there. We had to take the metro to get there which was a little worrisome because at this point I already thought Barcelona was sketchy at nighttime, but I survived and we made it to our destination quickly. From the station it was a short 10 minutes walk to the club. All I saw was a huge line to get in that had formed around the block. The line moved surprisingly fast and while I waited I talked with a group of guys from New Zealand. They explained to me the difference between an Australian accent and a New Zealand accent. I still couldn't tell you the difference. The inside of this club seemed to be a converted warehouse, the place was at least 3 or 4 floors tall and had about 6 gigantic rooms filled with people and music. The music and lights drowned out any ability to speak or communicate with anyone around you. We went in together with a group of about 10 of us then we quickly separated into smaller groups because it was nearly impossible to stay together. It was fun for a while but at one point Diego and I split up from the rest of the group and could not manage to find anyone, so we shared a cab back to the hotel with some students from Wisconsin studying abroad somewhere in the Netherlands but I can't really remember. Barcelona is a great city with a lot of stuff to do, see and, experience but I definitely prefer Valencia. Its much smaller and not as intimidating. I don't feel like I'm constantly going to be robbed every time I leave the dorm. But hopefully I can do more and explore the city when Emily and Scott come to visit me. And also I really want to go to a Barcelona game!

The Alhambra, Granada Adventure Part 2

The Nasrid Palace

Leah, Dave and, me at the Alhambra

At the Alhambra with Granada in the background

My last post explored the snowed-in adventure we had on the mountain in the Sierra Nevadas of Andalusia. This post will recap the incredible experience of the Alhambra in the heart of Granada and some of the cool things we found in the Albaicín neighborhood.
Suzanne had an excellent guide book that told us about the different areas in Granada. Our hotel was situated next to the Albaicín neighborhood which is where many Moroccan immigrants live. The narrow streets are bursting with shops that sell leather, jewelery boxes, tea, shows, artwork and, other touristy things. The really interesting shops in the neigborhood were the tea houses. It was cold and rainy that afternoon so the idea of a tea house sounded even more appealing. Sean, Eliza, Taylor, Suzanne and, myself found a quiet one called Asurat. We walked in and noticed a table perched on top of an alcove in the restaurant accessed by a tiny little ladder of a staircase. We immediately requested to sit up there and a polite waiter granted our request. The menu consisted of at least 100 different teas with many exotic ingredients in creative combinations. Sean, Taylor and, I ordered the mint tea which is very typical of Morocco. Suzanne ordered a tea called 1000 nights. And Eliza ordered the Dreams of Alhambra tea. Each one had way too many ingredients for me to list/remember. Everything from jasmine to caramel. The atmosphere was very inviting and the staff was friendly. Our waiter wanted to practice his English on us and we tried to speak to him in Spanish instead. That has happened to me alot here, I'll begin in Spanish and they will reply in English. After tea, we continued to wander without an agenda and took in the sights around the city (Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the hotel this afternoon.) We went out to a bar that night but no one stayed out too late because we were still very tired from Friday's activities. We also wanted to be well rested for Sunday's activity of the Alhambra.
For those of you who don't know, the Alhambra is a stunning example of Moorish and Arabic architecture from the time when the south of Spain was part of a Muslim kingdom ruled by the Moors. Our group took the entire day on Sunday exploring the vast complex of the Alhambra.
During our lunch break, we split up into smaller groups to find a place to eat. Dave G., Leah and, myself decided on a Doner Kebab place to get some unhealthy Turkish food. The Menu del Día included a chicken kebab (pita stuffed with chicken, vegetables and, two different sauces), french fires, a drink and, some mystery dessert (not good at all). It was filling but as soon as we started walking we began to regret it. It felt like a cinder block was just settling in our stomachs. After we adjusted to our post-lunch regrets, we decided to not meet up and find the rest of the group but rather to go exploring on our own as a smaller group. There was a bus you could take to the top of the Alhambra, but we wanted to save our money after the skiing fiasco and walk. The walk up was very hilly but scenic at the same time. The imposing walls of the complex began to take shape half-way through the walk and we noticed how large all of it was. At the top, we saw the line to buy tickets and we heard the multi-language announcement that the morning tickets had all sold out and we had to buy an afternoon session pass to get in. The Alhambra is so popular that even after you enter the grounds, you cannot go into the Nasrid Palaces (the main site with the ornate architecture) until your specified time printed on your ticket. We purchased our tickets and waited until 2 pm to enter. Our palace visiting time was not until 4 pm. Luckily, there is no shortage of interesting gardens and smaller buildings to wander around in and enjoy. Dave, Leah and, I meandered through to the Generalife (a smaller, but still interesting palace). One unique aspect of the Alhambra is there is a running stream/system of water/irrigation throughout the entire place. We would be walking up a staircase and on the sides there would be a stream of water flowing parallel to the stairs. The streams would end up in fountains or small reservoirs...the very intricate nature of all the buildings and the engineering was quite impressive when you consider that this was all built in the late 1400s.
Four o'clock finally rolled around and we began our tour of the Nasrid Palaces. The attention to detail was breathtaking in its accuracy and beauty. The intricate carvings of arabic letters and symbols looks like a state-of-the-art computer executed these carvings. I don't know how the large amount of artists and workers managed to create a very streamlined look to the place. One of the famous fountains (the ten lion fountain) was removed for renovations. The fountain is supported by ten stone liones all facing outward. The construction still didn't take away from the experience of the Alhambra. Afterward we walked back down to the center of Granda and got a sandwich and some gelato. Since our train didn't leave until 10 pm, we still had plenty of time to leisurely explore the city. The Hotel was nice enough to store nine big bags behind their tiny reception desk until we picked them up later that night. Despite a late train ride and an absurdly early/late? arrival in Valencia, my weekend in Granada is not one to forget!

Sierra Nevada and Granada Part 1

First Run! After a day on the mountain

This past weekend was epic in its adventures and length...to say the least. I know that statement is very overused and has lost its hyperbolic shock value, but I can safely say that no three day weekend of travel could compare to the unexpected fun a group of nine students could have. This was the first weekend the program allowed us to have no Friday classes on. With that date set, it took a good two weeks of procrastination and discussion to decide on how to best maximize our time and budget to make travel plans. Sean, Ryan, Taylor L., Dave G., Hope, Leah, Eliza, Suzzane and, myself settled on an ambitious weekend to Granada and the Sierra Nevada mountains. The train schedules to get from Valencia to Granada were few and far between, so much that the only way to get there was to take an overnight train there and back. The train to Granada left Valencia at 00:51 or 12:51 AM (not the European way) and the return train left Granada at 21:55 and arrived at 5:05. Brutal, but we didn't have anymore options. That took care of our transportation issue. Next we had to settle on lodging and skiing arrangements. The ever-handy hostelworld.com and hostels.com once again provided us with ample cheap hostels and one-star hotels that fit nicely within our meager little budgets. Hotel Niza won our business and at 28 euros/night it was a great find. I highly recommend it as do other users on the website. Now, 28 euros isn't much if you actually stay two nights and don't book another hotel the same weekend (I'll get to that later). Now all we had to do was figure out the logisitics of skiing. Luckily, the Sierra Nevada mountains are only a 45 minute bus ride from city center. Our scheduled arrival time at 8:30 in the morning allotted us enough time to get to the hotel and change into our ski gear and catch the 10 am bus to the Sierra Nevada Resort.

Surprisingly, our group managed to change and catch three cabs to the bus station, then make it on to the bus to get on the mountain right around 11 AM. The weather was clear and not too cold and the mountain were gorgeous. It was really interesting to be in Granada and see the mountains in the distance and then to take a short bus ride and be among them. They looked like the Rockies and less like the smaller mountains on the east coast of the US. Rentals and lift tickets came out to 62 euros. We received a student discount on our rentals, always a plus. It felt great to start skiing again. I hadn't been since 2006, when I went with some friends in high school to New Hampshire and Vermont. The runs were not too crowded and the snow was great (it got even better!). I somehow managed not to fall at all during the whole day but, I really couldn't do some of the more challenging ones because they had yet to open for the season. During the day, all of us noticed the deteriorating weather situation and how a snow storm begain to roll in around 3:30. At the time it made skiing even more fun and challenging because it was white out conditions at the top of the mountain and fresh powder everywhere. At some points I could not distinguish between the horizon, where the ground ended and the sky began in front of me. It was especially eerie when I ascended the mountain on the chair lift. It was like taking a chair lift into a great white void. It was very peaceful and serene, a wonderful way to clear the mind.

Despite the enchanting winter wonderland our group enjoyed during the day, the weather soon became a nuisance and source of trouble for us when we turned in our rentals and began to wait on the 6:30 bus to take us back to Granada. Our group was very eager to change out of our cold ski gear and get back to the hotel to refresh ourselves and rest up before we went out that night. We started to notice a slight problem when the bus didn't show up on time and the snow continued to fall and cause the cars there to stop moving. My deductive reasoning led me to believe the bus was canceled or never made it up the mountain. What also didn't help was our language abilities in trying to express our concerns with people there and resort workers who couldn't really give us any helpful information. After an hour, we attempted to call the bus station but it was expensive on our pre-paid phones and we were put on hold. So, without knowing anything about the expected arrival time and the road conditions, we settled into a nearby bar/restaurant to get some hot drinks and discuss a strategy for the night.

We began to hear several differing reports on whether or not the bus was going to make it up the mountain. A married couple from Belfast, Northern Ireland told us to not worry and just take the bus because this happens all the time. An English couple told us we needed to find a hotel room for the night because the road was closed because a car/bus careened off the edge of the road. Another English snowboarded said his father had to hitchhike up to the resort to come get him/still hadn't arrived. A pair of Belgium skiers kept asking us what we thought we should do. It was an international problem affecting many Europeans and Americans to say the least. After some deliberation and consulting all of our parents that we would be spending some more money on an extra hotel room, we booked two rooms at the Mont Blanc hotel right near the restaurant where we were eating dinner. It was only 48 euros, which was still alot but not as bad as being homeless during a snow storm or dead at the bottom of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Despite the fact that we had no clean clothes to change into, we all took some hot showers and made the best of our time in the hotel. The Mont Blanc staff were very friendly and we even got a "free" breakfast with our stay. The next morning it continued to snow but the bus did come! The rude bus company employee did not honor our tickets from last night claiming the bus came sometime late at night, but who knows if that is true. We bought another 4.75 euro ticket and boarded the bus to finally return us to Granada. We all relaxed in the hotel and didn't get up until late that afternoon after recovering from our snowed in adventure. More posts to follow on our Granada exploring!

Futbol, Playa and the Mestalla

The last week in Valencia has been yet another entertaining experience in a new culture and city. A week ago today, a large portion of our group navigated our way across Valencia to spend a day at the beach. After much deliberation and consulting many maps/metro routes, we decided taking the tram to the beach would be the best option. The Valencia tram is a large "street car/trolley" system that winds through the city and stops at the places the underground metro system does not. It reminded us of the monorail at Disney world as we snaked through the crowded streets until we reached our final destination at the beach. The Mediterranean was calm and quiet that afternoon and we found a nice spot on the beach to sit, relax, take pictures and, play a few games of pick-up football (never soccer here). The sand was very fine and provided for an interesting experience when playing football on the beach. January is not a big tourist season here in Spain and it was refreshing to have a large and spacious beach to enjoy ourselves. After a couple of hours of relaxation and socializing, some of us decided to sample the local cuisine. Several little restaurants were nearby and we assumed they would have good paella/seafood. Paella is a Spanish dish and is also closely associated with Valencia. A smaller group of us (Nikki, Ryan, Grace, Chelsea, Hope, Greg, Ryan, Diego, Lauren, Joe, Sean and, myself) broke off from the main group that went and we searched for a moderately priced place to eat some paella of some kind. Since it was only 6:45 most of the restaurants were closed/had not opened yet for dinner. The place we choose was opened and the waiter explained all of the specials to us right as we requested to see a menu to look at the prices. After some discussion and comparing our lack of other options we decided on this place (I forgot the name of it.) We wanted paella and the only way you could get it at this restaurant was to order it family style. The waiter informed us that the kitchen would have to specially make our order for 11 people. He said it would only take 45 minutes (which we didn't believe). Most of us thought it would take about an hour, no longer than that. Little did we know that it would end up taking more like 2 hours. The waiter would tempt us that it might come out by repeatedly telling us that it was almost ready. Or he would periodically bring out the plates, then come back with the silverware, then another time with the cast iron plate to hold the paella dish. At one point, some of us took out our iPods in the hope of distracting ourselves from the God awful service and constant lies we were being told. When the Paella Valenciana (rice, chicken, rabbit, chick peas and, green beans with saffron) finally came out, it was like Christmas morning for us. We marvelled at the size of the dish and took pictures and then proceeded to pile it on our plates and feast.

Paella Valenciana

After our beach adventure concluded, it was time to get ready for another week of classes. All of us have been assigned different dates for presentations and homework is slowly becoming a regular occurrence, unfortunately. Some of the the highlights of the cultural activities from this last week were Churros y Chocolate and the tour of the Mestalla stadium. On Tuesday, our activity to learn more about Spain and Valencia required us to sample churros. These fried tubes of sweetend dough are a great afternoon snack to enjoy with some nice conversation. To compliment the churros, each person received a melted cup of chocolate served in a coffee mug. This decadent dessert is typical of a light delicacy here to hold oneself over until a late evening dinner.

On Thursday, the afternoon activity was a tour of the Mestalla stadium. The Mestalla is the name of the staduim where the Valencia CF team plays. CF stands for Club Futbol. The Mestalla is about 90 years old and definitely shows its age when seen from up close/behind the scenes. Nevertheless, the tour was a great way to see parts of any professional sports facility that even the best seats cannot show. For only 5 euros Diego, Ryan, Sean, Taylor, Dave M, Greg, Leah, Rebecca and Ally got to see the locker room, chapel, trophy room, the press room, VIP seats/boxes and, go down to the pitch. The tour guide told us about the players and how most of them are very short. We noticed the small number of sponsors of the club and quickly found out about the financial problems the franchise was having. The facilities paled in comparison to the Real Madrid stadium but it was still a very fun tour of a place not many people get to see.




After our tour of the Mestalla, we were so excited about the stadium that we purchased tickets to go watch Valencia play Real Vallodolid this past Saturday. 20 euros got you into the nose bleed seats but that was fine with us because a large group of us wanted tickets and we wanted to sit together. The only bad part to the game was that we didn't all arrive at the same time so some of our seats were occupied. The very unhelpful and incompetent security/usher staff did nothing to help us out in our predicament. They either told us to sit down and kick the person out or to find another seat without moving up towards the vacant seats (which for some reason you could not sit in). The morons then complained that we were not sitting even though they were the reason we were blocking the aisles. Despite these problems, we eventually found places to sit and enjoyed the game and all the crazy fans that were there. Valencia triumphed over Real Vallodolid 2-0! Just another week in Valencia!

Karaoke Night in Valencia

So what better way to import our American culture in Spain than to go out and find a karaoke bar and belt out some classic staples like Sweet Caroline. That's what a large group of us decided would be a fun way to spend last Friday night. The nearest karaoke bar was not really that close to the Colegio Mayor where we are staying so we flagged down three cabs and proceeded in a motorcade to the pub/bar. The taxi ride was very reminiscent of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney World. The driver seemed to think that getting to the bar was some sort of emergency because I could have sworn we drove up onto the curve at one point. When he stopped to ask for directions, he "forgot" to turn off the meter. Despite this cheap tactic to get more money out of us, the total fare was only 8.85 euros. Since there were 5 of us, the cost per person was not too bad.

The bar, as usual in Spain, smelled of smoke and was very tiny for the amount of people inside.
The stage could only comfortably fit 5 people and there were only two microphones. I only think one worked because the singing just turned into yelling at one point. Immediately we requested the DJ to play some American songs by bands like Queen, Neil Diamond, Alanis Morissette and, of course Britney Spears. The first requested song was the bar staple Sweet Caroline. Ryan, Sean, Eliza and, Taylor (from left to right in the photo) did Neil justice in passionately leading the rest of the bar patrons in a rousing chorus of everybody's favorite song to enjoy at any drinking establishment. By the rest of the bar patrons I mean the other members of our group who were busy laughing, filming them or, enjoying the spectacle on the stage or the looks on the local's faces.

The next performance came from Hope and David G (below). They chose the catchy 2003 hit Toxic by Britney Spears; someone every American hopes foreigners associate with the US. The two managed to impress the crowd and never fell behind on the lyrics. At one point, I think the DJ decided we shouldn't be granted our requests anymore; every song thereafter was either someone elses choice or the DJ's. However, that did not stop us from having fun or providing ourselves with entertainment. We think that karaoke night might become a regular event on this trip. I look forward to other small adventures in Valencia that will make this trip worthwhile and memorable.

First Day of Classes

So we finally have (officially) started our Spring Semester here in Valencia. While everyone in Athens has been slaving away at UGA, the group here has enjoyed an extended vacation at home and a three day party in Madrid before we began our classes to day at the Universitat de Valencia. Yesterday we received our schedules and unfortunately we were all disappointed to find out that we had classes on Fridays. This was a blow to most of our travel plans because its pretty difficult to plan a fun weekend of sightseeing and travelling with only one full day to do activities and see the destination of choice. Fortunately, our classes are done at 2pm at the latest so we always have our afternoons free to do whatever here in Valencia. Yesterday after our orientation, I, along with Caroline and Mary Clare, ventured into the downtown/business district of Valencia to find the Corte Ingles. Now Corte Ingles is the Spanish version of Walmart meets Macy's. Each of them is about 5 to 6 stories high and has everything from designer clothes to dish washing detergent. Needles to say it is a popular shopping spot for students traveling abroad that seek all the comforts of a supermarket and a mall. They also sell cellphones so most of us have purchased our temporary cell phones there as well. After wandering around and missing the store by several blocks, we finally found it and proceeded to stock up on shampoo, snacks, laundry detergent and other sundries. It is a very convenient store and often there will be two buildings next to each other that has clothes/grocery store in one and the adjacent building will have furniture and electronics.
On Tuesday, we all had our first FULL day of classes. Even though most of us only have two per day (an unlucky few have three), each class is a solid 90 minutes. We get a short 15 minute break and/or a class period break depending on the schedule. I luckily only have one class on Monday and two back to back on Tuesday through Friday. The first class I had was Topics in Spanish Culture. Our profresora's name is Maria Estelles. She is very enthusiastic and bubbly. She said that to appreciate and understand the Spanish culture we will have to truly make an effort to interact with Velancianos and other Spaniards, learn to dance and sing traditional Spanish music, explore the city's cultural offerings and, pick up the nuanced differences between the Spanish and American lifestyles. All of us enjoyed her class. We spent the majority of the time telling her what differences we have observed since we have been here. She then proceeded to explain them and why we see things differently. I really look forward to learning the culture to improve my Spanish.
My second class of the day was 20th century history of Spain. Our Resident TA Aitor Esquerrez teaches that class. All we did today was go over the syllabus and view a slide show of some famous places in Spain. I think that class will also be interesting because I feel not that many people outside of Spain know a lot about the history of this great country. I guess I'm glad I signed up for it then. Tomorrow I have Spanish for Business and Spanish "Cine" or film in English.

Move in Day

So after a fun beginning in Madrid, the group finally started our way to Valencia. Most of us were looking forward to getting settled into our dorms and meeting the other regular students. The bus ride from Madrid was four hours and the scenery wasn't that impressive. Mostly it looked like we drove through the Iowa of Spain. Farms and some small rocky foothills dotted the roadway. As we drove through the out skirts of Valencia we noticed the poorer neighborhoods and how it wasn't exactly what we thought it was going to be. But then the surroundings started to change. The streets narrowed, the architecture turned into what one thinks of when imagining a quaint European coastal city. The building are very old and distinguished looking and all of them are complete with a balcony and french doors.
The Rector Peset (the dorm) we are staying in is deep within the oldest parts of town along very narrow one way streets, so of course the coach bus couldn't pull us up in front of it. I now know why they stress the importance of not having bags that are over the weight limit...for roughly 400 meters we schleped our bags through the winding streets to the entrance the the Rector Peset. Unless you knew it was a dorm, the buildings modest exterior would lead you to believe otherwise. As soon as we stepped in, we saw in the courtyard an assembled group of regular students cheering for us as we walked past them on our way to our rooms. This welcoming made us all of feel a little bit more comfortable because most of us were intimidated about conversing with the students in Spanish.
The dorms at UGA have nothing on the charm or convenience of the Rector Peset. Every room has its own private bathroom, the dorms also have a two lounges, several study rooms, laundry room, gym, separate breakfast and dinner cafeterias, computer labs and, a music room. The layout is still a little confusing because the rooms are blocked of in corners of the building and Im still not sure where everyone else room is. But after getting unpacked, we had our first dinner in the dinning hall, the food was OK. I wasn't really expecting anything better but its pre-paid so I can't complain. I'm definitely looking forward to classes starting and seeing the rest of the campus. I already want to start planning some weekend trips with the group. Hopefully, the classes won't be too hard or too much work.

Llegada a España!

After a long and tiring day and a half, I finally started my semester in Spain. I flew out of Atlanta on Tuesday evening around 8:30 on British Airways. It was a "quick" 7 hour and 20 minute flight according to the captain. The flight went well except the food was less than stellar. I have flown British Airways before and the service was about the same but the in flight entertainment and food wasn't exactly what it was the last time I flew with them. Luckily my friend from UGA, Diego, was also on the same flight so I had someone to talk to. We enjoyed each others company and the free wine also made the flight somewhat more entertaining. I can never really sleep on long haul flights like that so I always feel out of it when I land.
Diego and I were worried about navigating the leviathan of an airport that is London-Heathrow International. I had about a 2 and half hour lay over and Diego had about 45 minutes longer than myself. Heathrow is such a crowded airport that they park most of the planes out on the tarmac and bus passengers in to the terminal. After our first bus trip into terminal 5, we had to figure out where the Iberia departures were and the British Airways European departures were for myself and Diego, respectively. Again we were fortune enough to both be leaving out of terminal 3. So we followed the signs to another bus that took us on a short 1o minutes ride around the airport. From there we had to jump through the hoops of security and Diego made the mistake of forgetting to take out his liquids in his carry on. 45 minutes later and a completely unpacked bag, he finally made it through. We caught our connecting flights and met up in the Madrid airport. I arrived first and bought an hour of wifi while I waited for Diego. I got my first test of my Spanish conversation skills when a young cab driver started to ask me who I was waiting on and if we would need a ride. I spoke with my best ability and I think he half understood me with frequent requests to start over. This made me feel a little overwhelmed with the fact that I have to do this for the next three months to function in Spain but hopefully with time my skills will improve. I also thought the cab driver, his name was Gabriel, was a litlle sketchy. I told him we were waiting on Diegos aunt to take us on the Metro to the hotel. She lives south of Madrid and took off work to come meet us. I felt grateful that we had a friendly local to help us navigate the Metro all the way to the Gran Vía stop that was right next to our Hotel. She spoke quickly in Spanish with Diego who is quite proficient because both his parents speak it at home with him. We finally arrived at the hotel and walked around for about 15 minutes after a shower and ate dinner with the rest of the group. Everyone seemed very eager to meet each other and we all felt nervous about the new people we would meet and what life would be like for the next three months. I will post more about the night life in Madrid and our journey to Valencia to start classes on Monday. Pictures to follow when I have more internet available!

Jumping Off...

So I decided to start a blog...very typical and trite thing to do I know. But I want to eventually turn this into something useful and make it presentable to the world. I doubt I'll reach many readers but never say never. I am about to study abroad through a program with the college I attend, The University of Georgia. I will be spending roughly three months in Spain and I figure my adjustment to new people, curriculum, culture and a new city should supply my blog with some interesting material. I will be going to Valencia, Spain and immersing myself in a new world of Spanish culture...complete with the lisps they speak with....