A bend in the road: May 2010

Xativa is a town about 45 minutes inland from Valencia, famous for it's castle on top of the hill looking down on the historic town. Unfortunately they didn't really tell us that much about the town, so we didn't exactly know what we were looking at. For example, this picture below. I read in a guidebook somewhere that Felipe V or some name like that did something to anger people so they hang his picture upside down. I took a photo with it just in case it turns out to be a really big deal.

And on the gruesome uphill treck to the castle, what did we see? OH HEY, spanish lavender!!!! Love you mom. ;)

However we eventually made it up to the top, which was sooo worth it because the views were awesome. Hard to believe that this place has been here for so long.

Last night after Xativa I came back to my casa and took a nap, showered, skyped my actual madre, and then went to McDonalds. Yes. How American you might say? The Spaniards def love it. I was supposed to meet people at around 10:40 to go to this welcome UVA students bar thing at a place called Corona 15, but I was really hungry so I made a stop at good old Mickey D's. Best decision ever. You just can't beat comida rapida (fast food). The Spaniards don't believe in doing anything fast. Everything is drawn out and a major pain. For example today (Sunday) I wanted to buy some coca cola. I walked 10 or so blocks until I found some random sandwich place that sold bocadillos and coke. thank goodness. Then turns out right next to it was a place that sold helado (ice cream). So win for me. Recreation of my Dairy Queen adventures in the states? I think yes. ANYWAYS back to McDonalds last night. Turns out that McDonalds has free wifi. Who knew? So I was amusing myself with my phone sitting in the very active intersection of the Xativa metro stop and McDonalds and Carrer Ribera etc. when 4 guys sat down and proceeded to gorge themselves on McDonalds and beer. They chatted with me - they said they were hooligans....which they were. They were also somewhat intoxicated, but nice enough and I spoke to them in Spanish for a while. Then my friends came and we decided to walk to this Corona Bar....sketchiest experience ever. So many randos out at night. Anyways we made it after about 20 minutes and all the UVA people were there which was nice because I met a lot of people I hadn't met before. My friend Jessica and I talked to these 2 random Spanish guys for a while - they didn't speak any english, which is more fun for us! Unfortunate incidents did occur however - someone stole Alex's phone. She thinks she knows who it was and it was like a 10 dollar phone, but still. Anyways we moved on to other bars, met some American guys who have been studying in Valencia for a year, met some Spanish guys who do not understand the value of personal space and do not take rejection well. I wouldn't either if I were 30 and creepy. Took a cab home at 3:00ish and went to bed, thank goodness. :)

Today, Sunday I started the day going to church at the Cathedral in the old part of Valencia, which was a bit of an experience. I asked a woman working there on Friday what times Sunday masses were and she said 11, 12, and 1 - which seems a bit odd bc normally mass is an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. Anyways Alex and I went (she isn't Catholic, she just wanted to come see!) and there is no opening procession, just a Priest - no altar servers. He just stands there and reads and sings everything. No one really kneels (about 50% during the transubstantiation), and for communion there is no organization it's just if you are going to receive it you walk up like a herd of cattle to the altar and wait in a clump of people until a Priest gets to you. Hilarious. And it was only 45 minutes long. Then we went to the beach (see pictures below) which is super easy to get to you get on the green line metro take it to the end of the line and then transfer to a tranvia (which is the equivalent of a monorail on the ground - think Disney here). The tranvia takes you across from this go-kart track and you walk about 100 or so yards to the beach. The beach was HUGE. I haven't seen a beach so wide. Oh yeah and it's topless...which is i guess semi-normal? It's not nude because everyone wore pants etc. but def saw a ton of cleavage just hanging there from women of all ages. Most of them older. But on a less disturbing note, I have officially swam in the Mediterranean Sea!

Today was the first day of classes! So technically I have been here for 2 full days now. I am enrolled in a Spanish Literature class that is a pre-requisite for the spanish major, and a class on modern art...both seem really interesting so I'm quite excited! I have spent time exploring the center of Valencia and feel like I know it pretty well after 2 days. Yesterday I met up with some friends (after buying a spanish cell...Paloma and Sofia have informed me that it is called a mobil here) and we basically just walked around and oriented ourselves to the calles (roads) etc. Today after classes my friend Alex and I went to a cafe near the UVA school. We finish class at 12:30! I love my familia but I don't think they prepare a lot of red meat....so that is a bit different, but easily fixable. :) Also I haven' technically had the huge spanish lunch yet that everyone talks about because yesterday I spent 3 HOURS buying a mobil and today i was sight-seeing. Anyways, today Alex and I took the metro and walked around for 5 hours. yes. We literally walked for 5 hours. We went everywhere. The highlight of our own self-guided tour was the Torres de Serranos, which is an old gate at the edge of the city - I think the oldest gate remaining (the other remaining gate is called the Torres de Quart). The Torres de Serranos had spectacular views of the city...best 2 euros I have spent since being here! I will post pictures :) I think I will pick one place every day to go to - that way I can see everything! hahaha.

Torres de Serranos