¡Espana ganó la copa mundial! I still am in shock (Me quede helada) that I was actually here when they won. The game started here around 8:30 Sunday so we told MariCarmen that we weren't going to be eating at home because we wanted to watch the game with our friends out at bars and the like. We ended up stopping at a Burger King, haha, on the way and got some sandwiches, then we headed over to the bar behind the soccer stadium. I bought una vuvuzela, which is one of those noisemakers that you can see me using in my current profile pic on caralibro(my new spanish term for facebook). There were a ton of people there and we found Michael, from our texts/interpretations class, and headed over to another bar closer to our school center. We hung out there for awhile and could actually see the game. Then around half time we headed back to the original site where the crowd had multiplied since, haha. It was insane! Beer, food, trash EVERYWHERE and people shouting all the time. I was standing on a platform in a mob of people so I couldn't see what was going on. Whenever everyone cheered we were always asking around, what's going on?! haha...and this one Spanish guy behind us was in his own little world yelling cuss words like crazy at the tv...he had no clue that everyone around him was watching him asking "dude, what's up with this guy?!" haha, it was hysterical. When Spain scored a goal, the crowd went wild with people throwing beer everywhere jumping up and down, man it was crazy! So the rest of the night was spent wandering around the city observing all of the crazy antics...La Plaza Central and many of the other main plazas were packed with people shouting, waving flags, climbing street light poles, the works. Haha, it was so entertaining. I ran into some random spanish guys on the streets and we took a bunch of pics with them, ha, it was ridiculous. I think I went to bed around 2, would've stayed up later but had class at 8:40 am, bleh. But yeah, Spain winning the world cup: talk about AWESOME.
Oh, I forgot to mention, on Sunday at noon I went to a Catholic mass with Amanda and MariCarmen. The church building was AMAZING. It was very old and everything was very traditional, but the chapel was gorgeous. I didn't have my camera with me, so I need to go back and take a picture for sure. The service was hard to pay attention to: one, because I'm not Catholic and I didn't really know what was going on, and two, because it was all in Spanish, ha. It was pretty cool though. I liked it.
Ok so on Monday, nothing too exciting happened. Everyone was still super amped on the winning of the world cup (duh) and I managed to grab a newspaper that day with the huge front page cover about it. Totally saving that. Class was long, and then we headed back to the house for lunch at 2:30. I'm pretty sure I spent the whole afternoon just hanging out at the house, doing homework and the like. I had to start studying for a test that I had today and write a paper that was also due today, bleh.
Let's see...on Tuesday I had class in the morning again, and afterwards Amanda and I caught the bus to the beach for an hour or so until the movie hour at the school center at 3 pm. It was a Spanish comedy, and it was sooo ridiculous. It was about this one guy who was a famous soccer player and he falls in love with another guy, but there's a girl that likes him too, and I don't even know. So essentially, we watched a Spanish gay comedy and learned a ton of new cuss words, haha...oh geez.
After class, the beach, and the movie, I was exhausted, but headed back anyways to study for the exam and finish up that paper. I'm still not completely done with it. I studied a lot and eventually went to bed around 1ish I think?
Today was the last day of Las Corridas de los toros de la fiesta de las Fallas. We watched the running of the bulls on tv this morning, it happens every morning at 8 as we're finishing up breakfast. MariCarmen always watches it with us and shouts "Ay! Ay!" when people get hurt. It's such a crazy, dangerous tradition, but fun to watch. Once we got to school, I had the exam in the first class, which wasn't that bad at all, and then we had a guest speaker in my texts/interpretations class. She talked about El ángel del hogar and the like and then we analyzed a short story. Que bueno!
Let's see...other random things I've noticed here. I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but everyone talks so loudly here all the time. Amanda and I can sit in our room and hear every word of every other conversation that's going on in the apartment, no matter where they are. Not that we understand every word, ha, but yeah, it's entertaining. Except at 8 or so in the morning, ha. Oh and mi bolsa, my school bag, broke so I had to ask MariCarmen for a needle and some thread. Thankfully she had some and I fixed it! haha. Though seriously, sometimes I ask her questions and try to talk to her and she just looks at me with a blank face, haha. She is very nice but sometimes I get very annoyed that she doesn't even try to understand what I'm trying to say. My spanish isn't that bad, haha...geez-oh-peak. Y creo que eso es todo. ¡Hasta la próxima!
miércoles, 14 de julio de 2010
domingo, 11 de julio de 2010
and all that jazz!
So I'm a little behind, but that's just because things have been so busy lately! So starting with Thursday night, I went over to the nearby park (which is huge) where they were having a huge Jazz event. There was a singer on stage singing jazz music and a bunch of people just hanging around, dancing, drinking, etc. It was a really fun atmosphere. Our friend Kyle met up with us there for a little while and then when it ended around 10:30 we walked a little ways and ended up at a night jazz club called Black Note. The bartender lady tried to kick me and Amanda out because we didn't buy anything, but we stuck around for a few more minutes to hear the band when they started playing around midnight. The band was pretty sweet, and the drummer was absolutely incredible. We didn't stay too long though because so many people were smoking and the smoke was giving us headaches, bleh. It was really cool though. Then we walked across the street to a discoteca that Kyle said he went to his second night here. Apparently it doesn't get lively til about 3 am, ha. We didn't stick around that long cuz we had class in the morning on Friday. Having morning classes is definitely not ideal for livin' up the Valencia night life. But what are ya gonna do?
So then on Friday, we had churros for breakfast (awesome!) and then went to classes in the morning. Our conversations class was actually pretty interesting. We talked about Las Corridas de los toros, or "the running of the bulls." A bunch of our classmates headed out yesterday to Pamplona on a charter bus to go witness the running of the bulls, but Amanda and I opted to stay here. So yesterday after classes we walked around to the Plaza de la Virgen and that area and went in some shops. I bought some earrings at one tienda, and we made friends with the guy who owned it, ha. I also bought an awesome looking pouch to keep money and my camera in, and then bought an Espana jersey from another store. I'm stoked to wear it tomorrow night to the futbol game.
I took a little siesta Friday afternoon and then after dinner, Amanda and I headed out to see if we could find some mercados (markets) that were supposed to be open that night, which is usually weird for a market because they're usually only open in the mornings. Well, needless to say, that turned out to be un fracaso de proporciones epicas (failure of epic proportions, haha) so then we walked to the Plaza, got some gelato/granizado, and headed to the discoteca, La Bolseria. It was just the two of us, since most everyone else was already off to Pamplona. Ok, so we went to La Bolseria for about five minutes around 1:15 am, and it wasn't that exciting. Like I said, things don't really get going until about 2 or 3 am, so we decided to just sit in the plaza for awhile amongst all the other people out there. Shortly after we sat down, there was a relatively older man sitting near us and he asked us if we wanted a beer and kept offering us one, even though we kept saying no. Then he proceeded to tell us his whole life story, ha. His name was Yuri and he was Russian. He seemed surprised at how much spanish we understood after we told him we were from the states. Then, one of the guys selling beer that was patrolling the plaza (there were a ton of them) sat down next to us and started being a creeper, asking us how old we were and all sorts of stuff. So after awhile, we were like, "vamos a salir" aka "we're going to leave" and then dashed off to find a taxi. And THEN, Vicente, the guy who we met last weekend and has been stalking me on facebook, appeared out of nowhere and looked really angry when we got in a taxi before he got a chance to say hi or something, ha. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure he's a creeper too. So we got back around 2ish, watched the Swan Princess on a laptop (hahah, we just really wanted to watch it) and then went to bed.
This morning at about 8:30 I heard all sorts of chaos. The whole family was up and at it, ha. It's so ridiculous how loud they are so early in the morning. I think I heard someone say "shhhh!" but it didn't make much of a difference, ha. We got up around 10, ate breakfast, and headed over to the stadium to catch the charter bus to Peniscola! Oh my goodness, I'm pretty sure that Peniscola is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my entire life. I took so many pictures. The water at the beach was so blue and we got to tour the Castillo de la Peniscola, which is a huge castle/walled-in city that juts out into the ocean. God has certainly created some breathtaking places, and this is definitely one of them.
We hung out at the beach for a few hours before touring the castle, and then got to check out all of the nearby shops. I bought two bracelets for 5 euro, and then ended up buying a very cool looking Spanish bowl for about 2 euro. Not half bad. We caught the bus at 6 and made it back to the house around 8, just in time to shower and have dinner. Dinner was pretty awesome tonight. We had gazpacho, bread, a rice concoction, salmon, and honeydew and pineapple. ÑAM ÑAM. Gabriel didn't eat with us, and he usually doesn't, though I'm not sure why. He was chilling in the living room where we were eating though in his bathing suit and pj shirt, haha. He always lounges around the house in his bathing suit. He says it's comfortable, haha. I mean, cool. And then he loves to sing so he's always singing Spanish songs and national songs, some of which most of what he says is "viva, espana!" haha. I love living here. It's always so entertaining.
After dinner tonight, we took a taxi towards the beach and went to a dance exposition of Bailes: Ritmos del mundo at ll pm. It was sooo cool! I thought it was awesome. It was like a dance recital with kids, adults, teens, people of all ages in it, and they did dances to all sorts of different kinds of music, from Mary Poppins to salsa, to flamenco, and tango. They tried to capture different dances from around the world, and even did a number that looked similar to a Michael Jackson style, ha, but not quite. I took a few videos of the dancing. And at midnight there was an intermission to see the nearby fireworks. So cool. And tomorrow is the big World Cup Soccer final! It will be a very sad night in Valencia if Spain does not win tomorrow. Cross your fingers that they do!
Hasta pronto!
So then on Friday, we had churros for breakfast (awesome!) and then went to classes in the morning. Our conversations class was actually pretty interesting. We talked about Las Corridas de los toros, or "the running of the bulls." A bunch of our classmates headed out yesterday to Pamplona on a charter bus to go witness the running of the bulls, but Amanda and I opted to stay here. So yesterday after classes we walked around to the Plaza de la Virgen and that area and went in some shops. I bought some earrings at one tienda, and we made friends with the guy who owned it, ha. I also bought an awesome looking pouch to keep money and my camera in, and then bought an Espana jersey from another store. I'm stoked to wear it tomorrow night to the futbol game.
I took a little siesta Friday afternoon and then after dinner, Amanda and I headed out to see if we could find some mercados (markets) that were supposed to be open that night, which is usually weird for a market because they're usually only open in the mornings. Well, needless to say, that turned out to be un fracaso de proporciones epicas (failure of epic proportions, haha) so then we walked to the Plaza, got some gelato/granizado, and headed to the discoteca, La Bolseria. It was just the two of us, since most everyone else was already off to Pamplona. Ok, so we went to La Bolseria for about five minutes around 1:15 am, and it wasn't that exciting. Like I said, things don't really get going until about 2 or 3 am, so we decided to just sit in the plaza for awhile amongst all the other people out there. Shortly after we sat down, there was a relatively older man sitting near us and he asked us if we wanted a beer and kept offering us one, even though we kept saying no. Then he proceeded to tell us his whole life story, ha. His name was Yuri and he was Russian. He seemed surprised at how much spanish we understood after we told him we were from the states. Then, one of the guys selling beer that was patrolling the plaza (there were a ton of them) sat down next to us and started being a creeper, asking us how old we were and all sorts of stuff. So after awhile, we were like, "vamos a salir" aka "we're going to leave" and then dashed off to find a taxi. And THEN, Vicente, the guy who we met last weekend and has been stalking me on facebook, appeared out of nowhere and looked really angry when we got in a taxi before he got a chance to say hi or something, ha. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure he's a creeper too. So we got back around 2ish, watched the Swan Princess on a laptop (hahah, we just really wanted to watch it) and then went to bed.
This morning at about 8:30 I heard all sorts of chaos. The whole family was up and at it, ha. It's so ridiculous how loud they are so early in the morning. I think I heard someone say "shhhh!" but it didn't make much of a difference, ha. We got up around 10, ate breakfast, and headed over to the stadium to catch the charter bus to Peniscola! Oh my goodness, I'm pretty sure that Peniscola is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my entire life. I took so many pictures. The water at the beach was so blue and we got to tour the Castillo de la Peniscola, which is a huge castle/walled-in city that juts out into the ocean. God has certainly created some breathtaking places, and this is definitely one of them.
We hung out at the beach for a few hours before touring the castle, and then got to check out all of the nearby shops. I bought two bracelets for 5 euro, and then ended up buying a very cool looking Spanish bowl for about 2 euro. Not half bad. We caught the bus at 6 and made it back to the house around 8, just in time to shower and have dinner. Dinner was pretty awesome tonight. We had gazpacho, bread, a rice concoction, salmon, and honeydew and pineapple. ÑAM ÑAM. Gabriel didn't eat with us, and he usually doesn't, though I'm not sure why. He was chilling in the living room where we were eating though in his bathing suit and pj shirt, haha. He always lounges around the house in his bathing suit. He says it's comfortable, haha. I mean, cool. And then he loves to sing so he's always singing Spanish songs and national songs, some of which most of what he says is "viva, espana!" haha. I love living here. It's always so entertaining.
After dinner tonight, we took a taxi towards the beach and went to a dance exposition of Bailes: Ritmos del mundo at ll pm. It was sooo cool! I thought it was awesome. It was like a dance recital with kids, adults, teens, people of all ages in it, and they did dances to all sorts of different kinds of music, from Mary Poppins to salsa, to flamenco, and tango. They tried to capture different dances from around the world, and even did a number that looked similar to a Michael Jackson style, ha, but not quite. I took a few videos of the dancing. And at midnight there was an intermission to see the nearby fireworks. So cool. And tomorrow is the big World Cup Soccer final! It will be a very sad night in Valencia if Spain does not win tomorrow. Cross your fingers that they do!
Hasta pronto!
jueves, 8 de julio de 2010
no soy español español español
Ok, lots to catch up on. Let's see...yesterday I went to classes in the morning and after class we came back to get to work on our essays. I managed to write most of mine yesterday, all four pages. So that took up most of the afternoon. Amanda and I took a break around 5 pm to walk around and stretch. We walked over to la Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias which is a really amazing looking museum. The architecture is very modern and it doesn't really fit with the rest of the city, but it's very pretty. I'll definitely be putting pictures up, either on here or definitely on facebook.
Then last night was the Spain/Germany World cup semi-final game. So we had tapas at around 8:30ish in the apartment, and let me just say that I tried some really weird foods. First of all, I ate octopus, without even knowing it was octopus. I think if I had known what it was, I probably would not have tried it, ha, but it was actually not that bad. We also had crackers with salmon, chips, cheese, and dates wrapped in bacon? I don't even know, ha. But we left the apartment around 9 pm, even though the game started at 8:30, and we headed to the bar/restaurant behind the stadium where we went to watch the last game. Again, there were a TON of people there and when Spain scored a goal, the crowd went LOCO. They were flinging beer all over everyone and using noisemakers and jumping all over the place with the flags. I took a couple of videos, but I don't think anything can capture the essence of that experience, ha. The police were everywhere and the end of the game was just as crazy. We hung around with the rest of our uva/valencia program group, but they were all super drunk, so we hung out for a little while and then headed back. Walking the streets was so much fun, what with all of the honking and shouting. One of the chants that they all do is "yo soy español, español, español" which means that "i'm spanish", i guess. But all of us usually say no instead of yo, because we're not spanish, haha. Yeah, we're creative.
And today, I went to classes again. Pretty boring, just long and blah. During a break, I walked with some friends over to una zapateria, a shoe store, to look around. I think I'm definitely gonna buy some shoes here, ha. That store had some pretty cool ones. And I need a new bag because mine that I'm using for school books is almost broken, ha. But after classes Amanda and I had lunch in the apartment and then headed off to the beach with Kyle. This time we walked around the beach street and looked in all of the little shops there. They have a ton of cool stuff like Spanish abanicos(fans), jewelry, dresses/shirts, flags, purses, the works. We both bought some fans. We also found some horchata, which is a spanish fruity drink that is very popular here. I think it's made of water, sugar, and chufas, which are tiger nuts. It cost me 3.5 euro for one cup of it...so expensive! Everything is so expensive here. It's crazy. But it was really good, I definitely liked it. And tonight I think I'm going to some sort of jazz concert in the nearby park...es gratis! So we're going to check that out, and then maybe head out to a discoteca? Not really sure. I don't really like going out when I have class in the morning because it is so difficult to get up, but ya veremos (we shall see)...
Then last night was the Spain/Germany World cup semi-final game. So we had tapas at around 8:30ish in the apartment, and let me just say that I tried some really weird foods. First of all, I ate octopus, without even knowing it was octopus. I think if I had known what it was, I probably would not have tried it, ha, but it was actually not that bad. We also had crackers with salmon, chips, cheese, and dates wrapped in bacon? I don't even know, ha. But we left the apartment around 9 pm, even though the game started at 8:30, and we headed to the bar/restaurant behind the stadium where we went to watch the last game. Again, there were a TON of people there and when Spain scored a goal, the crowd went LOCO. They were flinging beer all over everyone and using noisemakers and jumping all over the place with the flags. I took a couple of videos, but I don't think anything can capture the essence of that experience, ha. The police were everywhere and the end of the game was just as crazy. We hung around with the rest of our uva/valencia program group, but they were all super drunk, so we hung out for a little while and then headed back. Walking the streets was so much fun, what with all of the honking and shouting. One of the chants that they all do is "yo soy español, español, español" which means that "i'm spanish", i guess. But all of us usually say no instead of yo, because we're not spanish, haha. Yeah, we're creative.
And today, I went to classes again. Pretty boring, just long and blah. During a break, I walked with some friends over to una zapateria, a shoe store, to look around. I think I'm definitely gonna buy some shoes here, ha. That store had some pretty cool ones. And I need a new bag because mine that I'm using for school books is almost broken, ha. But after classes Amanda and I had lunch in the apartment and then headed off to the beach with Kyle. This time we walked around the beach street and looked in all of the little shops there. They have a ton of cool stuff like Spanish abanicos(fans), jewelry, dresses/shirts, flags, purses, the works. We both bought some fans. We also found some horchata, which is a spanish fruity drink that is very popular here. I think it's made of water, sugar, and chufas, which are tiger nuts. It cost me 3.5 euro for one cup of it...so expensive! Everything is so expensive here. It's crazy. But it was really good, I definitely liked it. And tonight I think I'm going to some sort of jazz concert in the nearby park...es gratis! So we're going to check that out, and then maybe head out to a discoteca? Not really sure. I don't really like going out when I have class in the morning because it is so difficult to get up, but ya veremos (we shall see)...
martes, 6 de julio de 2010
ahhh valencia
Pues, hoy es el martes. That means that today is Tuesday. I definitely started writing this in Spanish before I realized that no one would understand me and I needed to write in English, ha. I guess it's a good thing that I'm thinking in Spanish all the time. So classes today were long and pretty insignificant. I learned how to say "que rabia!" when I'm angry about something and I also learned how to say "that's the last straw. I'm not putting up with this anymore!" haha. Ya never know when you'll need phrases like that I guess.
Well, after classes I paid for the upcoming weekend trips to Barcelona and Grenada. Those are coming up in a few weeks and we had to pay for them in advance. I'm so excited to see other cities in Spain, though this one is big enough as it is. Then Amanda and I walked to la Plaza Rotunda and looked through some shops as most of them were closing. Almost everything closes at 2, but we found one shop that we definitely want to go back to. The guy selling stuff knew a little English but he was showing us his scarves and necklaces and was really friendly. He was like "te gusta mi tienda, si?" which means, you like my shop, right?! And of course we answered yes, ha. I like conversing with the locals. It was so hot today too so we went back to the school around 3 to watch Pan's Labyrinth. The school center plays movies on Tuesdays so it was cool watching it with other students. It's such a weird movie though. Thankfully it was in Spanish but had English subtitles.
Then we hung out at the house, trying to do homework. We have our first paper due Thursday and it has to be 4 pages long. in Spanish. Talk about gross. So I started that today. It was finally time for dinner at 9:30ish. We had fried fish and an egg/potato concoction and tomatoes. Of course we took pics of the food, and I need to post them on here. Gabriel and MariCarmen started arguing at dinner about vegetables and plants because Gabriel says that he doesn't like eating meat because he doesn't like violence or killing and eating animals. But MariCarmen kept saying that plants are alive too, they grow and prosper, so why is it ok to eat them. haha, it was a hysterical argument to witness. They talk so loud all the time. It's so funny. And then when I logged back on to my computer to do more homework (ha, yeah right) I found that Vicente, one guy I met Saturday night at the bar, Corona, had facebook friend requested me. hahah, all I want to know is how he found me. ¡Que ridiculo! Well, that's all for now. ¡Buenas noches!
Well, after classes I paid for the upcoming weekend trips to Barcelona and Grenada. Those are coming up in a few weeks and we had to pay for them in advance. I'm so excited to see other cities in Spain, though this one is big enough as it is. Then Amanda and I walked to la Plaza Rotunda and looked through some shops as most of them were closing. Almost everything closes at 2, but we found one shop that we definitely want to go back to. The guy selling stuff knew a little English but he was showing us his scarves and necklaces and was really friendly. He was like "te gusta mi tienda, si?" which means, you like my shop, right?! And of course we answered yes, ha. I like conversing with the locals. It was so hot today too so we went back to the school around 3 to watch Pan's Labyrinth. The school center plays movies on Tuesdays so it was cool watching it with other students. It's such a weird movie though. Thankfully it was in Spanish but had English subtitles.
Then we hung out at the house, trying to do homework. We have our first paper due Thursday and it has to be 4 pages long. in Spanish. Talk about gross. So I started that today. It was finally time for dinner at 9:30ish. We had fried fish and an egg/potato concoction and tomatoes. Of course we took pics of the food, and I need to post them on here. Gabriel and MariCarmen started arguing at dinner about vegetables and plants because Gabriel says that he doesn't like eating meat because he doesn't like violence or killing and eating animals. But MariCarmen kept saying that plants are alive too, they grow and prosper, so why is it ok to eat them. haha, it was a hysterical argument to witness. They talk so loud all the time. It's so funny. And then when I logged back on to my computer to do more homework (ha, yeah right) I found that Vicente, one guy I met Saturday night at the bar, Corona, had facebook friend requested me. hahah, all I want to know is how he found me. ¡Que ridiculo! Well, that's all for now. ¡Buenas noches!
lunes, 5 de julio de 2010
la tarea...¿qué es esto?!
Pues, thankfully yesterday and today have been much more relaxing than my Saturday excursions. I slept in until almost 11 on Sunday and then got up and had breakfast. Then Amanda and I headed to el mercadillo, where there are a bunch of little shops; however, we found out that it is closed on Sundays. Most stores apparently are closed on Sundays and the city was very calm. So we walked back cutting through the park in the rain, ha. The rest of the day we just did homework and uploaded and edited pictures. I'd say it was a successful day!
So today, Monday, we went to classes. And my first class today was actually pretty stressful, bleh. We were doing an exercise with our maps of Valencia; however, I just happened to forget mine today and so did everyone else in my group, so we had to get maps there at the center and they were sooo confusing. I was so confused and lost trying to say directions to different landmarks in Valencia using that map. Oyyy vey. But we survived and let's just say I won't be forgetting my map anymore. And the other text interpretation class was much better because the night before, Amanda and I read the story together, taking turns reading sections out loud, and then talking about what was happening. It helped a lot. So classes are good. :)
After classes we went to la Mercadona and we bought snacks because we're not really allowed in the kitchen much in the apartment and we get hungry waiting around for lunch until 2:30 and dinner around 9:30 every day. So, we bought some Spanish cookies to try and I found Golden Grahams! haha, I love cereal. Then, after coming back for lunch, we took the bus to the beach! I still can't get over how many topless women there are everywhere. It's so weird. Pilar, our professor, was talking today about how the way los valencianos view the human body is very different from how we see it, which is definitely true according to how they dress. It's ok to walk around a beach topless, but it's frowned upon when women here wear shorts? Geeez, no comprendo. So Amanda and I actually got some reading for class done on the beach, which was awesome. Also, there were a couple of guys sitting nearby us on the beach and they were obviously Spanish, but I guess they heard us speaking in English so they asked us in English to watch their stuff while they went swimming. And then when we wanted to go swimming, we asked them in Spanish to watch our stuff, haha. So we were both trying to accommodate the language of the other. ¡Qué interesante!
One other thing that Amanda and I were talking about today is that all the people here say "vale" o "vale vale" ALL THE TIME. It's kinda the same thing as saying "está bien" or saying "everything is ok, it's fine, don't worry about it." It's one of those phrases that works in any situation. Apparently, if you don't know what to say, just say "vale." It made me wonder what los valencianos would think of Americans and how we talk. What would they think was funny about us? Maybe when we say the word "like" between every other word? haha, who knows?
Oh and the title of this entry definitely applies because we have so much homework! Lots of stories to read in Spanish and analyze and vocab to learn and papers to write. ¡Estoy en España! No quiero hacer la tarea, ja. Ohhh well. Tomorrow I think I'm going to try to see if el mercadillo is open after classes and then a bunch of us are going to watch a Spanish movie at the center in the afternoon. Well, until next time...¡Hasta luego!
So today, Monday, we went to classes. And my first class today was actually pretty stressful, bleh. We were doing an exercise with our maps of Valencia; however, I just happened to forget mine today and so did everyone else in my group, so we had to get maps there at the center and they were sooo confusing. I was so confused and lost trying to say directions to different landmarks in Valencia using that map. Oyyy vey. But we survived and let's just say I won't be forgetting my map anymore. And the other text interpretation class was much better because the night before, Amanda and I read the story together, taking turns reading sections out loud, and then talking about what was happening. It helped a lot. So classes are good. :)
After classes we went to la Mercadona and we bought snacks because we're not really allowed in the kitchen much in the apartment and we get hungry waiting around for lunch until 2:30 and dinner around 9:30 every day. So, we bought some Spanish cookies to try and I found Golden Grahams! haha, I love cereal. Then, after coming back for lunch, we took the bus to the beach! I still can't get over how many topless women there are everywhere. It's so weird. Pilar, our professor, was talking today about how the way los valencianos view the human body is very different from how we see it, which is definitely true according to how they dress. It's ok to walk around a beach topless, but it's frowned upon when women here wear shorts? Geeez, no comprendo. So Amanda and I actually got some reading for class done on the beach, which was awesome. Also, there were a couple of guys sitting nearby us on the beach and they were obviously Spanish, but I guess they heard us speaking in English so they asked us in English to watch their stuff while they went swimming. And then when we wanted to go swimming, we asked them in Spanish to watch our stuff, haha. So we were both trying to accommodate the language of the other. ¡Qué interesante!
One other thing that Amanda and I were talking about today is that all the people here say "vale" o "vale vale" ALL THE TIME. It's kinda the same thing as saying "está bien" or saying "everything is ok, it's fine, don't worry about it." It's one of those phrases that works in any situation. Apparently, if you don't know what to say, just say "vale." It made me wonder what los valencianos would think of Americans and how we talk. What would they think was funny about us? Maybe when we say the word "like" between every other word? haha, who knows?
Oh and the title of this entry definitely applies because we have so much homework! Lots of stories to read in Spanish and analyze and vocab to learn and papers to write. ¡Estoy en España! No quiero hacer la tarea, ja. Ohhh well. Tomorrow I think I'm going to try to see if el mercadillo is open after classes and then a bunch of us are going to watch a Spanish movie at the center in the afternoon. Well, until next time...¡Hasta luego!
domingo, 4 de julio de 2010
chicos chicos chicos
Oh my goodness. Can I just say that yesterday, Saturday, was probably the longest and craziest day of my entire life. It was insanity! So here goes my play by play of what went down in this awesome country.
Ok, so Amanda and I had breakfast around 9ish, and then started walking towards the soccer stadium to catch the bus with our friends from the program to the beach! The bus ride was about an hour long, and our first stop was at el Real Monasterio de Santa Maria de la Valldigna. We took a tour of the monastery and learned a little bit about its history. The inside was breath-taking and we all got some awesome photos. After the tour, we got back on the bus and arrived at la Gandia, which is another huge beach in Spain. It ended up being a gorgeous day to go the beach and we had a blast. I took a picture with Gina in one of the pedal boats that they had for people to rent. And while me and three other girls were out swimming, we said hola to some guys on a pedal boat nearby, and they took off in our direction! Haha, it was crazy. They were from Spain and they introduced themselves to us, then one of them, named Musta (I think?) proceeded to pick me up in the water and carry me to their boat! So we all ended up sitting on their boat and trying to communicate for a little while. There were four girls and 5 or 6 guys, so it was definitely cramped. It was so crazy. There names were Miguel, Andres, Jonathan, Musta, and I can't remember the others, but Andres kept splashing us and telling us to hang out with them later. We told him (in spanish, por supuesto) that we had to catch a bus back to valencia and he was like, I have a car, I can drive you! hahah, ohhh experiencias en las playas de Espana.
We left the beach around 5 and finally made it back to our apartment around 6. I was already pretty tired, because the sun at the beach can wear you out, but we showered, asked Mari Carmen if we could have la cena early, and then headed out to watch the soccer game of Spain vs. Paraguay in the streets! It was complete and utter insanity! We found one restaurant that had a fairly large TV set up outside outside. There were a ton of people just standing in the street wearing Espana shirts and waving flags and banderas grandes y pequenas and food and beer in everyone's hands or at their feet. They had these really loud noisemakers that almost never stopped. And when Spain got a goal, it was just crazy and awesome to watch. During half time Amanda and I headed over to the grocery store nearby (along with half of the other people watching the game where we were) and we talked with some random Spanish guys there. I think one of them was named Pablo, ha. And then we finished watching the game, with la policia circling everyone and making sure nothing got too out of hand. Psshhh, yeah right. It ended around 10:20ish and after that we started walking towards La Corona, un club, en El Carrer de Corona (a street name) because the Valencia Program invited us there at 11 for drinks and hanging out. We got so lost on the way there, I'm pretty sure we had been walking for at least an hour before we found it, but it was actually really fun! I tried Agua de Valencia, which apparently had slightly more alcohol in it than we all anticipated, but it was really good. That was my only drink for the night, but I think everyone else went crazy. They were playing a lot of American songs at this bar, like Lady Gaga and Rihanna, but I had a blast. There was a lot of dancing and I met some other random spanish guys there and let me tell you...it is very interesting and difficult trying to communicate in spanish when there is very loud music playing and people everywhere, ha. But we did manage to get some pictures with some of those guys. I'll definitely have to put them on here, I think one of them was named Vicente. I still haven't met an Alejandro, ha. Darn.
So again, the real night life doesn't begin until about 2ish, so around 1:45 or so a huge group of us headed out to look for una discoteca. There was one called Umbracle that we wanted to go to, but we got very lost (as usual) and ended up at Las Animas, after taking a taxi there. We had to pay about 15 euro just to get in, but it was so worth it. I don't think we left until about 4:30ish. I have NEVER stayed out that late partying in my life. And I do not think I'm going to make a habit of it. La discoteca was huge and packed with people. Seriously, there were sooo many people! It was partly indoor and partly outdoor, everything looked really cool, though I didn't get to take any pictures. I danced with a few guys from the program, and didn't get to talk to many natives there, but it was cool just looking around and seeing again what the night life is like here. Woahh, so at 4:30 I walked outside with Amanda and we were looking for a taxi, but most of them were full, so we had to walk a little ways before we could flag one down. We shared one with a friend, and then crashed. Luckily we got to sleep in some, but yeah. Crazy long day. I don't know how los valencianos do this almost every night. It's just crazy.
Oh and yeah, I'm starting a list of all the cool Spanish names of the guys we talk to, ha. There were a lot in this entry, but we'll see how many more interesting ones I can learn in the next few weeks.
Ok, so Amanda and I had breakfast around 9ish, and then started walking towards the soccer stadium to catch the bus with our friends from the program to the beach! The bus ride was about an hour long, and our first stop was at el Real Monasterio de Santa Maria de la Valldigna. We took a tour of the monastery and learned a little bit about its history. The inside was breath-taking and we all got some awesome photos. After the tour, we got back on the bus and arrived at la Gandia, which is another huge beach in Spain. It ended up being a gorgeous day to go the beach and we had a blast. I took a picture with Gina in one of the pedal boats that they had for people to rent. And while me and three other girls were out swimming, we said hola to some guys on a pedal boat nearby, and they took off in our direction! Haha, it was crazy. They were from Spain and they introduced themselves to us, then one of them, named Musta (I think?) proceeded to pick me up in the water and carry me to their boat! So we all ended up sitting on their boat and trying to communicate for a little while. There were four girls and 5 or 6 guys, so it was definitely cramped. It was so crazy. There names were Miguel, Andres, Jonathan, Musta, and I can't remember the others, but Andres kept splashing us and telling us to hang out with them later. We told him (in spanish, por supuesto) that we had to catch a bus back to valencia and he was like, I have a car, I can drive you! hahah, ohhh experiencias en las playas de Espana.
We left the beach around 5 and finally made it back to our apartment around 6. I was already pretty tired, because the sun at the beach can wear you out, but we showered, asked Mari Carmen if we could have la cena early, and then headed out to watch the soccer game of Spain vs. Paraguay in the streets! It was complete and utter insanity! We found one restaurant that had a fairly large TV set up outside outside. There were a ton of people just standing in the street wearing Espana shirts and waving flags and banderas grandes y pequenas and food and beer in everyone's hands or at their feet. They had these really loud noisemakers that almost never stopped. And when Spain got a goal, it was just crazy and awesome to watch. During half time Amanda and I headed over to the grocery store nearby (along with half of the other people watching the game where we were) and we talked with some random Spanish guys there. I think one of them was named Pablo, ha. And then we finished watching the game, with la policia circling everyone and making sure nothing got too out of hand. Psshhh, yeah right. It ended around 10:20ish and after that we started walking towards La Corona, un club, en El Carrer de Corona (a street name) because the Valencia Program invited us there at 11 for drinks and hanging out. We got so lost on the way there, I'm pretty sure we had been walking for at least an hour before we found it, but it was actually really fun! I tried Agua de Valencia, which apparently had slightly more alcohol in it than we all anticipated, but it was really good. That was my only drink for the night, but I think everyone else went crazy. They were playing a lot of American songs at this bar, like Lady Gaga and Rihanna, but I had a blast. There was a lot of dancing and I met some other random spanish guys there and let me tell you...it is very interesting and difficult trying to communicate in spanish when there is very loud music playing and people everywhere, ha. But we did manage to get some pictures with some of those guys. I'll definitely have to put them on here, I think one of them was named Vicente. I still haven't met an Alejandro, ha. Darn.
So again, the real night life doesn't begin until about 2ish, so around 1:45 or so a huge group of us headed out to look for una discoteca. There was one called Umbracle that we wanted to go to, but we got very lost (as usual) and ended up at Las Animas, after taking a taxi there. We had to pay about 15 euro just to get in, but it was so worth it. I don't think we left until about 4:30ish. I have NEVER stayed out that late partying in my life. And I do not think I'm going to make a habit of it. La discoteca was huge and packed with people. Seriously, there were sooo many people! It was partly indoor and partly outdoor, everything looked really cool, though I didn't get to take any pictures. I danced with a few guys from the program, and didn't get to talk to many natives there, but it was cool just looking around and seeing again what the night life is like here. Woahh, so at 4:30 I walked outside with Amanda and we were looking for a taxi, but most of them were full, so we had to walk a little ways before we could flag one down. We shared one with a friend, and then crashed. Luckily we got to sleep in some, but yeah. Crazy long day. I don't know how los valencianos do this almost every night. It's just crazy.
Oh and yeah, I'm starting a list of all the cool Spanish names of the guys we talk to, ha. There were a lot in this entry, but we'll see how many more interesting ones I can learn in the next few weeks.
sábado, 3 de julio de 2010
no hay tiempo para dormir?! Ay Dios mio!
So I am running on the 4 hours of sleep that I got last night, but las discotecas and the night life in Valencia is crazy and so much fun! It was definitely worth being tired today. Last night, I went with Amanda to meet a friend en la Plaza de Reina, and we ended up running into a bunch of other amigos in our Valencia Program. We hung out at some tables outside of a bar named Finnagins (where we could order drinks in English, hahah) from about 11 pm until 1:30 am. The night life here in Valencia doesn't really get going until at least 2 am. I was having a hard time staying awake, but it was really fun getting to know other students in the program and hanging out in the streets anticipating the craziness of las discotecas. We all walked to one discoteca that was called La Bolseria, but everyone needed IDs to get in and some of the girls forgot to bring theirs, so Amanda and I and some other girls and a couple of guys wandered towards another one called Radio City because we didn't want to leave anyone out. We went in and there were a ton of people dancing and getting drinks and the music was very techno and upbeat. We danced and ambled around in there for awhile and caught a taxi back. We made it back to our apartment around 3 am. It was definitely an experience. Next time I only want to go out with only a few other girls that we know because then it'll make it easier to get to know some of the locals, and have fun talking and dancing with them. I'm excited to go out again tomorrow night.
Well, since I only got four hours of sleep, classes this morning were so rough, ha. There are only seven people in my 10:45 texts and interpretations class and we were all struggling to stay awake. But I made it back to the apartment around 1ish with Amanda and tried to rest before el almuerzo. The food wasn't quite as good today, we had a salad with chick peas and apple bits and tomatoes and it was ok. I want the mango salad back from yesterday though, ha. After la comida, we headed back to the streets in search of the soccer stadium, which is on our way to class, in order to meet up with some friends for a walking tour of Valencia. However, we soon realized that we were actually supposed to meet at La Plaza de la Virgin. Por eso, we ended up flagging down a taxi to get there. The tour was actually really cool, but it was long and it was sooo hot outside today. Being in the heat was pretty brutal. We took a tour of a museum, which was a little dull, but looking at all of the architecture in the downtown area was really interesting. We looked around and took pictures of La Catedral (a cathedral here) and found a lot of interesting shops. I got a ton of good pictures that I should put in here. Amanda and I took a picture with a police car, ha, and we asked the policeman if it was ok...podemos sacar una foto con tu coche? jaja. I have a picture with Lemongrass too, which is one of my favorite restaurants in Charlottesville...I was pleasantly surprised to see they have one in Valencia too!
Then tonight we chatted with Mari Carmen and su marido, Gabriel, in the living room before dinner. We asked Gabriel if he could tell the difference between different accents that people have, like if they're from Spain or Mexico or Colombia or other countries. It was hilarious hearing him mock how he thinks los mexicanos talk. I love Gabriel, ha. Dinner at 10 pm tonight was a fried egg, fried onion rings, chips, and fruit. MariCarmen is really into these fried foods, ha. Oh well. Yesterday's meals are still my favorite so far.
After dinner tonight, Amanda and I heard music through our sliding door in our bedroom, so we went exploring the streets and into the nearby park in our t-shirts/comfy clothes, haha. There was a really cool beauty pageant going on for little girls in the park. They had a huge stage set up and some singers and the girls were wearing very elegant dresses and it was quite the sight. There were a ton of people everywhere, just milling around, and sitting and watching the pageant. It was so cool.
Pues, manana voy a la playa! (aka. the beach!) More to come!
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