Hola!
Firstly, apologies for the silence on the blog
front – There’s so much to do out here, I’m rarely at home but I’ve dedicated
some time to discuss the past few weeks in Spain, so here we go!
Three weekends ago (time is flying scarily quickly
here, as it did in France,) Alex, Anya, Chris, Sam and I packed up a car to
drive to Paris for an impromptu weekend away. We left Valencia at 6pm on the
Thursday evening and Chris estimated a 14-15 hour journey to Paris. The first
few hours in the car were fun, we were singing to the radio (Will.i.am and
Britney Spears’ latest collaboration (scream and shout) seemed to be on every
radio station every 15 minutes – needless to say it became our ‘roadtrip song)
and excited for a weekend back in France – it seemed that those of us who had
been in France last semester missed speaking French a little. Three hours
later, we arrived in Barcelona where we had decided to stop for some dinner. It
was Valentine’s Day, there were couples EVERYWHERE but we were on a ‘romantic’
road trip for five to Paris via Barcelona – it’s the stuff dreams are made of!
I visited Barcelona many many years ago on a daytrip when I was on holiday and
all I could remember was my mum trying to take a photo of the entire Sagrada
Familia – the sheer size of the building meant she didn’t succeed. It was great
to see it again and from here we made our way to La Rambla, perhaps one of
Barcelona and Spain’s most famous streets. At dinner we were treated to free
champagne and dessert (as it was Valentine’s Day) and from the restaurant we
wandered around the city centre and the harbour which was beautifully lit.
A few hours later, we piled back into our little car
to continue the journey north. Chris estimated it would take 10-12 hours to
reach Paris, so we should’ve been there for breakfast. Chris had decided to
save money and therefore not rent a sat nav with the car and he didn’t invest
in a map either... indeed we had to resort to following road signs and at the
moments when we were completely lost, the Google maps app on my iPhone. Around
4am, Chris and Sam were tired from driving and we decided that they had to stop
and have a rest – this left us all sleeping in the car in some truck-stop off
the motorway. It was an experience to say the least - Uncomfortable would be an
understatement and I didn’t really sleep. After a few hours of sleep, we set
off and soon stopped at a service station to fill up with petrol, get some
coffee and something to eat. Speaking to an Italian truck driver (in broken
French,) he thought we were crazy to be making such a trip by car and it was now
that we discovered we had taken the longest route possible. Rather than
travelling past Toulouse and heading north towards Paris, the boys had taken us
around the Eastern coast of France and we were close to Lyon, and incidentally,
Chambéry.... We were all exhausted and restless (Anya, Alex and I were cramped
in the back, though Alex and Anya had few issues sleeping the entire trip,) and
so continued the journey. We eventually arrived in the bainlieus (outskirts) of
Paris at 5pm, discovering that Chris had booked us a hotel which was 40 minutes
from central Paris – no wonder it was so cheap! Nevertheless, we’d only be
using the place to sleep and the train journey would be worth it, to get into
Paris. Chris was staying in central Paris and so dropped us off before
venturing alone into Paris.
After freshening up and having a rest, Sam, Anya,
Alex and I travelled into central Paris where we met Beth, who went from
Chambéry to Paris for an internship when we came to Valencia – It was soooooooo
good to see her again and we spent the majority of the weekend with her. It was
equally as good to be speaking French again – Following 5 months in Chambéry,
French felt much more natural than Spanish was currently feeling and I felt
much more confident and comfortable speaking French compared to when I had
first arrived in France, it seems my French did improve after all!
Friday evening we had dinner and wandered Paris and
later visited the Latin Quarter which had a great atmosphere and some delicious
cocktails, if not pricy... but we were in Paris after all! However, due to
staying out until the early hours, we were forced to catch a taxi back to the
hotel which cost a healthy 60 Euro. Saturday was our ‘Tourist’ Day and we
visited all of the necessary monuments and locations – Eiffel Tower,
Montmartre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and we also visited the Pont de
l’Archevêché where I found the lock Cat and I had left there in December and we
added another with all of our names. Later that afternoon, we returned to the
hotel to relax for a few hours before going back to Paris for a night out. We
started with drinks in Beth’s apartment – She is living with a Count and Countess
and they had a crazily eclectic but cool apartment a few seconds walk from the
Champs Élysées and my personal highlight was the fact the bathroom walls were
decorated with cigarette packets – interesting! We tried to visit several
different nightclubs but we weren’t allowed in (they didn’t seem to be letting
anyone in at all) but we eventually came across a bar-come-club where we spent
the night. Unfortunately, we had to get another taxi back to the hotel and
being a weekend, it cost 80eur... it was worth it though!
We spent Sunday morning
catching up on some much needed sleep before visiting Beth in Paris for the
afternoon. There was a little confusion on the Monday as we believed we were
leaving Paris at midday, however Chris had planned to leave at 5pm – this left
us sitting around in the Paris suburbs with little more than a takeaway
‘restaurant’ to sustain us. His phone wasn’t working in Frane and he had no map
so he struggled to find us, eventually arriving to collect us at 7.30pm, 7 and
a half hours after the rest of us thought we were going to leave. At one point
we’d even began to ponder what we would do if he never found us. We knew the
journey back was going to be long, tedious and cramped even though we would
travel the quicker way back and needless to say, nobody was looking forward to
it. Nevertheless, a mere 18 hours later the stadium opposite Alex’s flat came
into view and we had thankfully made it back to Valencia in one piece. I had
such a great weekend and it was as equally awesome to see Beth and speak French
again, although I can honestly say there is no such thing as a cheap weekend in
Paris and I will never ever do such a journey again!
We arrived back on Tuesday afternoon and that
evening, my American flatmate Maddie along with her American friends Alyssa
(who lives with Alex,) and Pooja, plus her flatmate Phillipe and I all spent
the evening having ‘brinner.’ This is apparently a thing they often do at University
in America where they take the various conceptions of American breakfast foods
and indulge in them for dinner. We had American pancakes, fruit, oatmeal,
pastries, cakes, juice and a ton of other things. It tasted deeeelicious and I
appreciated not having to cook after such a long journey – We’ll definitely be
doing that again sometime.
Valencia is renowned for Las Fallas – a fiesta which
takes place in March which commemorates Saint Joseph. Throughout the year, each
neighbourhood throughout the city holds fundraising events, the money of which
goes towards the cost for their ninots, large statues usually made of
papier-mâché (statues can be anything from historical figures to current
cultural figures.) During the week of Fallas, the whole city comes to a standstill
(schools and universities are closed, adults have a week of no work) and there
are street parties, competitions and many firework displays. During the five
days of fallas, the ninots are paraded through the streets until the final
night of Fallas when they are all burnt in huge bonfires surrounded with
firework displays and the best ninot is selected.
As a result, Valencia is currently in preparation
mode with white tents popping up everywhere, there are lights thoughout the
streets (reminding me of Christmas in the UK) and there’s a huge buzz around
the area. A few weeks ago there was ‘La Criada,’ the first event of Fallas and
there was an enormous firework display, hundreds of bands meandering through
the streets playing music, stalls selling all sorts of food and items and many
adults donned traditional costume – It was a sight for the eyes! Since that
date, everyday at 2pm in the Plaza Del Ayuntamiento (the square where the town
hall is) there is something called La Mascletà – a huge firework and
firecracker display which attracts thousands of people each day and it can be
heard from across the city. During Fallas itself, the frequency of these
displays will increase and it is certainly going to be a noisy affair.
I’ve finally enrolled in classes too: Spanish
Translation, Norms & Uses of Spanish, Spanish in America, History of
Spanish Art and Teaching Assistant. The latter sees me helping out in English
classes along with marking some work and spending time with a tandem practicing
our Spanish/English. I was left off the email list and so have started this a
little later than the others but hopefully I’ll catch up and acquire the 70
hours I require to pass the module by the end of the semester. Whereas in
France we were offered Erasmus-orientated classes, this is not the case in
Spain. Also, I’ve been somewhat frustrated with classes as we arrive on time
and lecturers are often 10 or 20 minutes late and we do nothing in the classes.
Each Spanish in America class seems to consist of watching a video which has neither
value nor purpose for 2 hours while translation is extremely tedious and we
only ever seem to complete a few lines of a text in the two hour class. It has
been quite frustrating as I feel I am wasting my time in class and, more
importantly, have not learnt anything of value and I then question how I am
supposed to complete an exam in a few months time. I have spoken with María, my
Spanish flatmate, who is very much in agreement with me and she said that the
Spanish education system is very lax, unchallenging and neither lectures nor
students really seem to care about it. I’m hoping things will improve, but
currently, I’m kind of missing the education system back home where I feel like
my time is being productively spent. Last week, students decided to go on
strike for 2 days, just like that – crazy!
Alex turned 21 this week but was at home celebrating
with her family and friends. She returned to Valencia on Wednesday and on
Thursday we had a surprise party in her flat, inviting all the people we had
met during our time in Valencia so far, and inviting them to bring along their
friends too. Along with Justine and Alyssa (her flatmates,) the three of us
decorated the flat with balloons and banners and I had bought a large chocolate
cake and a ton of candles. Lots of people came along and it was a great night!
Hannah, Anya and I bought Alex a clutch bag from El Corte Inglés (which is
Europe’s biggest department store and Spain’s most famous shop – think John
Lewis.) The colour was something we hadn’t seen her have before and we were a
little cautious as to whether she would like it, but she loved it!
The weather has been a little up and down over the
past few weeks (we had horrendous storms last week) but the temperature seems
to be rising once again and the sun certainly has his hat back on – hopefully it
won’t be too long before we’ll be daily visitors to the beach!
FINALLY, Great news is that Hannah is finally here
in Valencia! Following a successful operation, she flew into Valencia last Sunday
and Anya and I met her at the airport. I was expecting her to slowly come
limping through the arrivals hall with hardly any mobility, perhaps even on
crutches but it’s quite incomprehensible to think that she’s had such an
operation as she is walking nearly perfectly and the only main challenge for
her currently seems to be climbing stairs. She was so excited to be here and
for us, it was almost weird as we’d had to adapt to life without her being
around but it’s so good to all be back together again and we’d all missed her
lots!
So, Fallas is about to arrive and I doubt there’ll
be much sleep during this period (what with fiestas all day and night) but it
looks set to be a highlight of my year abroad! J After this it’s time to celebrate Anya’s 21st
birthday and after that, I’m going home for Easter and Alex is having another
birthday party – lots to look forward to!
Hasta Luego!
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