I am not a big fan...

So, I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I am still loving it here in Valencia and have tons of pictures and stories to share. The bad news is that the fan on my laptop died about 3 weeks ago and it is currently in a repair shop being fixed (I am on the very slow host-family desktop computer). There are currently no official Apple stores in Spain, so I had to find an authorized reseller and they directed me to an authorized service shop. This took up about a week because they weren't open due to the festival of Fallas (Which was ridiculously amazing). Then, in typical Spanish fashion, they told me they would look at it Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning and give me a call. I had heard nothing by Wednesday morning so I called. They said they were still diagnosing the problem (Which was obviously the fan, as I had heard it die a seemingly painful death). I finally heard from them on Thursday afternoon and I found out that the price was much lower than I expected, which was a glorious thing to know. So now, they are ordering the new part and will be calling me when it is done. The super good news is that tomorrow morning I am getting on a train to Barcelona to meet my mom at the airport. We are going to be checking out Barcelona, Pisa, Florence, Cinque Terre, and Valencia. I am very excited to see all of the artwork in Florence and to chill in the beauty of Cinque Terre (Google image it). Thus, I will not be back in Valencia until April 9th and I am hoping my laptop will finally be ready to roll so that I can unload the 800+ pictures from before this post and the crazy amount I will take during this trip. So, my life will start getting more hectic after that as final projects start being due, but I will try to start blogging up a storm and making up the gaps. Thanks for anyone who reads this! ¡Hasta luego!

Throw your hands in the air if you's a true playa.

Barcelona from the Olympic hill.

A few weekends ago, our ISA group made the trip to Barcelona. It was only about 3.5 hours by bus (plus stops) and the ride was filled with stellar views of the Mediterranean and mountains, including the sunrise over the sea (Nothing that compares to the fields of South-central Minnesota, of course). When we arrived, we took a short guided bus tour of the city which took us up a pretty immense hill that is near the coastline. It was where all the Olympic stadiums were built for 1992 when Barcelona was the host city. We stopped and took some scenic panorama shots of the city and continued to our hotel. 

Spain is nice.

The rest of our day was free, so we walked a few blocks to the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral. It is unfinished (Construction started in 1882 and isn't expected to be completed until at least 2026). It was huge and beautiful (There are multiple architecture styles due to time passing) and the picture we saw of what it will eventually look like was unbelievable. It is considered the masterwork of Antoni Gaudí who seems to be Cataluña's favorite son. The rest of the evening was spent gathering sandwich supplies at a grocery store (You can eat for crazy cheap if you enjoy sandwiches as much as I do) and walking a bit to explore the city.

Tourism.

That night, we went to check out a bar that is based on the New York Stock Exchange. It was such an awesome concept. There were 5 categories of drinks and the prices varied depending on popularity. If someone bought a Guinness, the prices of all the other beers would go down. It became a waiting game where we tried to watch for the lowest possible prices before buying anything.

La Sagrada Familia is gigante.

The next morning we headed to the Gothic quarter and had a guided walking tour. Our guide was from Barcelona but when she would repeat phrases in English to make sure people understood, she had absolutely no accent. She sounded like she was from America, it was unreal (I hope someday I can become that good at Spanish). We got to see cathedrals and buildings that have been around for centuries (There were even marks in the walls from when the soldiers used to sharpen their swords). This area is often used in movies to portray medieval cities. There is also a set of pillars that are encased in a building that are from the Roman era (It is so crazy to see things and realize how old they are as well as the quality of the architecture). In one small plaza we encountered, there were still holes in the wall of a church from bombing during the Spanish Civil War. Franco, the Spanish dictator died in 1975 and the wounds are still very fresh. My host-father actually almost shook Franco's hand when he was young (That recent).

The Passion façade.

After our tour, a few friends and I headed down to the beach. Throughout the weekend, we constantly compared Barcelona to Valencia (Valencia wins) but I must concede, the beach in Barcelona is slightly more gorgeous. There were awesome sandcastle artists and lots of overpriced food along the boardwalk. Next, we headed up Las Ramblas, which might be the most touristy few blocks I have ever walked in my life. It is known for pickpockets and so I was in turbo guard-my-stuff mode and had my camera in a kung-fu grip. However, there were some pretty sweet caricature artists and street performers. There were people dressed up as demons, princesses, painted entirely gold, and juggling soccer balls (Unfortunately not all at once). One guy could keep juggling a soccer ball whilst climbing up and down a ladder, ridiculous. After lunch, some street performers picked my friend Chris to be in a group of 3 that a guy was going to jump over. He is well over 6 feet tall and yet no blood was shed, it was impressive. Before dinner that day we watched part of "¿Tío, Dónde está mi coche?" (Dude, Where's my car?) It was still a really terrible movie, but we learned new words like mola (sweet) and it was a good way to rest our tired feets.

The Nativity façade.

One really interesting thing about Spain is that it is made up of 17 autonomous regions which are similar to states but with more power. Historically, Spain was united by combining kingdoms and there are some groups that are not very happy with the arrangement. Two of those groups are Basque separatists from Pais Vasco and Catalan separatists from Cataluña. There is even a Basque terrorist group called ETA that does political motivated bombings and killings in an attempt to pressure the government (They are far north of me, don't worry). In Barcelona, the Catalan culture is very evident and people prefer to speak Catalan more than Castellano (Spanish). This led to people speaking English to us because they would rather not speak Spanish. Nearly all the signs in the city and on store fronts are in Catalan, which is similar enough that we could normally understand them. From what some Spaniards have told me, the Catalan separatist movement gains a large amount of support due to the fact that it is a wealthy region and they don't want to pay taxes to the central government when other regions don't contribute as much (Sound familiar?).

The tallest towers aren't yet completed, but it is crazy tall.

The next day, we had a guided tour of all things Gaudí. We started out by visiting Park Güell, which was originally supposed to be a housing development within Barça. It is incredibly awesome. The colors he used and the mosaic style is so unique (It was build between 1900-1914, I can't imagine what people thought). It features the longest continuous bench I have ever seen (Which is crazy comfy). There are two buildings that are beautiful and multiple sculptures of reptiles that are part of the incredible water system. It collects rainwater from the bench area and holds it in a giant chamber before it is used in the  fountains.

A vertical view from the area next to the Roman ruins.

After the park, we headed to see two houses designed by Gaudí. The first was Casa Milà which has beautiful curving lines and although we didn't get to go inside, the roof looks like it has some sweet surreal designs. It was almost demolished back in the day because it broke construction zoning rules. Next was the Casa Batlló which is only a few blocks away and was superguay. It has a lot more color and has a skeletal aesthetic. Our guide described the roof as being built to resemble the back of a dragon and the turret being the sword of Saint George (Gaudí was very religious and Saint George is the patron saint of Cataluña).

I really dug this guy smoking a pipe and selling art.

Like a boss.

We were once again left to our own devices for a few hours before the bus ride home. We crossed through Las Ramblas once again to the giant statue of Christopher Columbus and the port area. There was a really cool little used goods market going on and so we checked that out and walked around the port. We stopped at the beach for a few minutes and there happened to be a guy, just totally naked and strolling along the beach. No one else was even in swimsuits (It was quite brisk), but this dude was just living it up. Things are a bit more laissez faire here.

Catedral de Barcelona which started being built in 1298.

It was a lot of fun to see Barcelona and I am excited to spend a bit more time at the Gaudí buildings with my mom when she heads across the pond in late March. There are also Dalí and Picasso museums there that I didn't get to see. However, upon arriving back in Valencia, I was very relieved. I hadn't realized how much I enjoy this city until I had another to compare it to. When we got back, Valencia felt like home. I am going to miss this city and its semi-small city vibe and the fact that even though it attracts some tourists, it is not touristy at all. I am never spoken to in English and actually a few weeks ago, I was asked for directions in Spanish by an American and I was able to help him  out and he thought I was a Spaniard (Bonus).

The boardwalk (Note the guy doing the Abbey Road)

Las Fallas is coming very quickly (< 2 weeks) and Valencia is already changing. It is the city's biggest festival  and the population of the city doubles for the week. It is essentially all about fire and explosions (Yes, it is as awesome as it sounds). More on that next time.

¡Fotofiesta!

This sandcastle had a working fountain.

The Mediterranean is a good place to be.

This is my buddy.

He was absurdly good at juggling.

The guy throwing him kind of looks like the Green Goblin.

Passionate.

I didn't see that person until later and then it was full of folks. Bummer.

Gaudí was a crazy tío.

Park Güell was so beautiful.

This picture makes it look like the girl is famous. Paparazzi.

This bench is way comfortable and gives an excellent view of the city.

Casa Batlló, unfortunately without a view of the roof. Still chulo.

This man's face looked like a mask.

This was below the Columbus statue. Choice.

Hitchcock tried to warn us.

Lines and tourists.

Overall the trip receives: Two thumbs up and an overenthusiastic smile.

Cuenca very much.

The view from the river.

A few weekends ago my friends and I decided to make a day trip to Cuenca (About 2-3~ hours away by train). We got up fairly early and met at the train station and then took the subway to a satellite station (Unfortunately not actually in space). We arrived in time and settled in on the train as the sun started to rise. It was mighty fine to get out of the city a bit and see the countryside. There were tons of little pueblos and one stop was a single house in the middle of the mountains and only one guy got off the train (Talk about service).

Casas colgadas

As we got near Cuenca, the train started to shake quite heavily from side to side. It made it pretty tough to sleep as my head smacked into the wall (a lot). When we rolled into the city, we got a map from the help desk and walked towards the older part of Cuenca. We immediately noticed the smaller town vibe compared to Valencia (80k vs. 1 million). We walked up to a small river and headed up a hill towards the "hanging houses" which the city is known for. There are only about 3 or so that are truly built on the edge of a cliff and share a wall with the rock face. It was pretty crazy to see them in person and to imagine living in one of them (Constant fear of houseslides?)

Upside down nose rock.

Nearby was a giant bridge that crossed the valley to a monastery. I took a pretty intense amount of fotos here and eventually we wandered up near the hanging houses and saw that one was a restaurant. However, it was about €30 for a meal (Totally within my budget). So we moved on and walked through the narrow and hilly streets until we found the main plaza and the cathedral. Inside there was some pretty sweet stained glass that cast colors all over the walls. It is interesting to see all the cathedrals here which are hundreds of years old and then compare them to the churches and cathedrals in America (Such history).

Cuenca was a bit colder due to its inland location.

 Next we continued up the hill to a lookout at the top that gave some wonderful views. We ate lunch at a nice and cheap restaurant and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around. Later, we chilled at a park and eventually caught the train back. It was a lot of fun to take a side trip, but we started to run out of things to do after seeing the sights (We were avoiding things you have to pay for).

My host mom told me she doesn't like this bridge. Too high up.

Last Saturday night, MTV España put on their annual enormous free concert in Valencia. This year the headliner was the Arctic Monkeys who are from the U.K. There were also some local bands that we didn't arrive in time to catch. It was a pretty cool experience being there and seeing thousands of Spaniards hanging out at the edge of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias while the policia patrolled on horses, dirt bikes, and 4-wheelers (But never stopped any illegal behavior). The weather wasn't great that day, but it had stopped drizzling in time for the show and so there were at least 10,000 people there. They drained one of the giant wading pools in the CAC and so the stage was set up where it is normally watery. The music was excellent and although we were separated at the beginning, somehow by the end my friend Tanner and I had found everyone we came with and a bunch of other ISA people. It was pretty ridiculous.

There were creepy guys walking around offering to take pictures for people (I think for a price).

One of the most interesting changes with regards to Spanish culture is that interrupting others while speaking is not considered rude and is constant. If I don't interrupt at the dinner table, I won't get to say anything at all. At first it was hard to try to catch the Spanish when they were all speaking at once, or knowing who to follow. Now I am used to it and my friends and I interrupt each other all the time. I am sure I will accidentally interrupt someone and appear rude when I return to the States. Multiple conversations going on at the table are completely normal as well.

At the base of the hanging houses.

In other news, I have started watching a television show in my free time that is called Aguila Roja (Red Eagle) which is about a school teacher who moonlights as a Samurai-Robin Hood in Medieval Spain. It is pretty ridiculous (evil men plotting to kill the king and all that jazz), but a good way to keep working on my listening comprehension skillz. The main character is kind of like Zorro and has a Sancho Panza-like sidekick.

I enjoy Spanish architecture.

Random thought: We never drink milk here. The only time I have it is in my coffee every morning. It is also kept in non-refrigerated parts of stores and sold in 1 liter boxes (Weird). My family does refrigerate it once it is opened at home, though. At meals, however, we drink water 99% of the time. I wonder if there is an osteoporosis problem here. I worry for the structural integrity of Spaniards.

Bonus Photos:

Haphazard.

This tiny tunnel was choice.

The sky was mega blue.

Proof I didn't steal the pictures from Google Images.

No Spain, No Gain.

VLC from the top of Miguelete (Tower on the Catedral)

Hola everybody, I apologize for not blogging much lately and my new goal is to start doing shorter blogs with greater frequency. It is harder to find time/motivation with 60 degree weather outside and a city to explore. However, I will try my best to shape up.
I really love it here and have yet to experience any of the culture shock or stages of adjustment that I had to read about 20 times during the process of applying to come here. I honestly think that returning to the U.S. will be much harder (Except paying in USD's will seem awesomely cheap). However, there is one thing that has gotten on my nerves to some extent. In Spain, everyone wears their shoes all the time in the house. We usually chill out in our room for a bit before meals and so we take off our shoes to give our feet some freedom. However, when we head down to a meal, we have to put our shoes back on and then when we come back upstairs, take them off again. In reality, it doesn't really bother me that much, I actually find it pretty funny. Fun fact: I have never seen my host family in socks.

This is mi casa. I will try to get a better picture and a picture of my street another day.

I noticed how quickly terrain changes in Spain on the day we left Toledo and drove to Valencia. Near Madrid, the soil is red and it is fairly steppe-y, but once we were within 40 minutes of Valencia, we started seeing mountains filled with green trees. There was one specific spot where a series of mountains were hanging out with a big lake between them. It was so scenic it was almost unfair.
When we arrived in Valencia, we drove along what was previously the Turia river. It was diverted south of the city after a terrible flood and the old river basin is now a huge park that runs through the city (It is extremely useful for navigating when you don't know the city well). It was fairly odd to see a park filled with green plants and palm trees in January.
 Next we drove past la Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias which is a crazy futuristic complex filled with buildings designed by a Valencian architect named Santiago Calatrava. I am planning to take absurd amounts of pictures there and will hopefully be able to soon (It was built with nighttime reflection shots in mind). It is essentially like being in the future (The buildings were actually featured in a spaceship on the show "V").

El Mercado de Colón.

We finally parked next to the Mestalla stadium where Valencia Club de Fútbol plays. I haven't gotten to a game yet, but I plan to go to the next home game. We met up with our host dad, César. We threw our bags in his car and set off driving through the city. It is funny to think back on how driving through a roundabout seemed so weird to me. Now, I don't even have to think about when the little green walking guy will appear. Call me a communist, but I think they are much more efficient (plus they provide a green area for sweet statues).
We walked into our house (which I had creepily viewed through Google Maps Street View) and met our host mom, Matilde and host sister, Marta. Marta had some friends over and so we sat at the dinner table and were immediately offered pastries (The Spanish stereotypes of continuous food offering are so true). We tossed our bags in our room and headed out with Marta and her friends to a beach on the Mediterranean slightly south of Valencia. It was pretty crazy to think about how I would be living on the coast for the next few months (I am stoked for swimming weather).

La Plaza de Ayuntamiento

Then we went to the Albufera which is a giant lake near the ocean that is magically filtered underground through science to make it freshwater (Sort of like the Everglades in appearance but minus the alligators) Sometime in the near future, we get to come back with ISA and do a boat tour, which should be excellent. The view was pretty sweet with mountains in the distance and we got to practice Spanish during the drive (or Castellano here, as Spanish could be any language spoken in Spain such as Catalan or Valenciano). Initially, conversations were like intense brain workouts, but have significantly improved. We came back and unpacked and then hung out with our family and watched Spanish TV. The shows here are fairly ridiculous and basically anything goes in terms of making fun of people.

La Lonja is where the silk trade went down back in the day. (The pillars are designed to look like palm trees when they go into the ceiling)

Our family is great and I am super grateful to be with them. César is a very kind man who is working on his English which helps a lot in conversations. Matilde is also super warm and loves to laugh. They are both very fun to talk to, especially about current events. I have three siblings, but only one who still lives in the house. César is 32 and mostly visits for meals but speaks English fairly well. Marta is 29 and recently got her own apartment and Miguel is 28 and still a student. They are all really nice and happy to help with our Spanish. My roommate Chris is from Colorado and is a good guy. I am glad that I got a roommate who is interested in working at Spanish and that we get along well.

Dynamic lighting.

Our house has two stories and is super nice. There is a little porch thing that starts on the ground floor and on the second floor has a spiral staircase to a terrace on the roof. We have our own bathroom and the house has heating, which isn't very common here. We also have 3 fish, 3 turtles (They live in a little pool thing in the terrace) and a cat named Trasto. Overall I give it two thumbs way up.

The floor was an optical illusion.

The next day we had an orientation of sorts at the ISA office and the University of Valencia. I am taking Spanish Grammar, Mediterranean Society: Past and Present, Panorama of Spanish Literature, and Spanish Culture. My schedule isn't too bad. I have class at 8:45 2 days a week, but to counter that, I have no class on Thursdays. Our Culture prof is hilarious. He is the most scatterbrained person I have met. When he hands out papers, he doesn't give out a stack to pass out. He gives out random numbers of papers to certain people and it takes about 20 minutes for everyone to get papers. It is quite excellent.
Our house is about a 35 minute walk from the University and instead of spending money on the bus, we walk everyday.This 70 minutes a day plus walking whenever we go anywhere in the city has been a great way to counter the sheer amount of food consumed here.

Valencia is slightly larger than Decorah and New Ulm.

The meals here are quite different from in the States. Breakfast is a cup of coffee (Soooooo good here) and a little muffin thing or two. La Comida is at 2:30~ and is a feast of epic proportions. It usually consists of 2 large main courses followed by dessert and fruit. La Cena is at 8-9pm and is smaller and usually has soup or vegetables with a small portion of meat. We eat fruit every meal for dessert and the mandarin oranges here are incredible. Also, we have fresh baguette style bread every day for comida and cena. It is sooooo good.

The Basilica and Cathedral

Our host mom is an amazing cook and I am hoping to learn a dish or two from her. We eat a lot of seafood and vegetables here and I know I am probably eating more healthily than I ever have. Mom, I know you will be surprised, but one of my favorite meals here is peas with little pieces of chorizo and a pepper based sauce. Crazy, right? Our ISA group went out for horchata one night, which is a mega sweet drink. You dip bread things called fartons in it and it's nearly too sugary to handle. (at least farton presented many pun opportunities) (P.S. I am mature). We also had the wonderful experience of chocolate con churros. It is a cup of melted fondue-like chocolate and delicious sugary churros that you dip in the cup. You feel like a sinner just looking at it.

The cranes in the top right look like giraffes if you click on the picture.

In other news, my relatively new shoes have developed a penchant for squeaking upon every step. I am too cheap to buy new ones and am currently opening an investigation into the source of the noise. I may just become a clown for a new source of income.
This entry seems more scatterbrained than previous ones, but such is life. I am going to try to do one entry per week. Even if that means without fotos or maybe it will force me to go on more photo expeditions.

Mis amigos Max, Tanner, y yo at the top of Miguelete.

Posdata: I recently was informed that I have been selected to go to Oslo, Norway for 6 weeks this summer as a part of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum program at the University of Oslo International Summer School. I am fairly enthused. Quadruple bonus: The flights, housing, food, and classes are... Free. ¡Super guay!