Catching up

I've been slacking!! Sorryyyyy.  

SO. Let's see. Tuesday was Valentine's day.  I went to my class which is only an hour long on Tuesdays which is nice and didn't do much.  I went and bought myself some Kinder bueno chocolate and hung out at my flat.  That night, my friend Natacha and I decided to go out and eat! We had been invited to go to dinner with my dorm mate Marci and Josh and some of her friends, but thought the price they were going to pay was too much...So we headed out around 9:30 to find a good restaurant! We had planned at first to eat at an Indian restaurant close to my flat, but I forgot to check the street, and after walking around trying to find it, we went back to my house with internet to find the place! Well after all that trouble, it was closed. Go figure.  So we wandered down the street looking for a place to eat that seemed nice.  Well after much searching and browsing, we decided to eat at a place where you could split 5 tapas, a main dish, and tea for 13 Euros each.  Not bad considering everywhere else was at least 20 Euros for much less.  Delicious. It was so good and I was already full from the tapas before our main course got there.  We had salad with goat cheese, cheese and cured ham, some sort of bean dish, sausage, patatas bravas, and our main dish consisted of potatoes, ham, and fried eggs. :) We were hoping our meal came with dessert, but it didn't so we decided not to order it. It's interesting, I don't know if I have mentioned it or not, but solicitors and street vendors I guess you would call them are able to come into restaurants and clubs and ask people if they want to buy things.  Usually it's flowers or sunglasses or watches.  That would not fly in the U.S. That and the restaurants usually have someone outside the restaurant at night asking people if they would like to eat there and they let them know what the special is that night.  We then went to a dance club because Natacha hadn't gone to one yet, but no one was there since it was a Tuesday night and as the minutes passed, the DJ got worse. haha So we went back to our apartments.  

Wednesday...I slept in. haha I missed class in which I heard we learned about early English history.  Not much else went on on Wednesday.  We went to a cafe and hung out there by Josh's apartment and then went over to Josh's and jammed out on his guitar, practicing the song I am learning and Natacha came with.  We hung out there then once their next class started, I headed over to my flat and hung out there.  I finally bought a card for the bus! yay, cheaper transportation. I was nervous to use it on Thursday though, worrying that it wouldn't work. haha

Thursday, yesterday, I didn't have class because it had been canceled! I slept in late....1.....haha and then got up and cleaned my room and went to get some things over at my dorm.  I then met up with Josh at his apartment when he told me he was going to a movie with a French girl and her friends that we had met on the excursion to Sagunto last Saturday, so I decided to join.  By the time we got to the cinema,  it was about right as the movie they wanted to see started.  Josh called them to make sure we were at the right cinema, but the one they were at was full, so Josh and I decided to still go see a movie since we were there already! We went and saw Katmandu, a Spanish film! It's about a Catalan teacher who moves to Nepal to start a school there.  I understood all of it too!! Oh man I was so excited about that.  I was worried when we decided to go see a movie that I wouldn't understand anything and that it would be really difficult, but I was wrong.  I am happy I was wrong! It did have some parts in English with Spanish subtitles and some Nepalese? as well. So that was the only part that would throw you off for a sec, deciding which language they were speaking. haha.  The movie theatre was HUGE.  It had like 6 floors and one whole floor was solely for bathrooms haha.  We bought 2 large drinks and a large popcorn for 7 Euros, better than the U.S. at least! The popcorn didn't have butter on it, but we were happily surprised that there was plenty of salt on it :) When the movie was over, we walked around and sat outside a cafe to listen to a guy with some awesome dred locks play the guitar.  I got to take my cameras out and that made me happy. I haven't been able to use them enough yet.  Then I went home and hung out with my flat mate.  

Today! I woke up early to go pay for this 7 Euro bill from the school at a bank.  I got there and they wouldn't let me pay! They told me to come back on Tuesday? Weird.  Oh well it was nice not to be rushing for the bus. Then I went to my English/American culture class with my friend Jonas and Juan in it.  Jonas is freaking hilarious! That kid's awesome.  Then Juan and I went to lunch which was super good for the 3 Euros we paid for a sandwich, coke, and tea! Their sandwiches are much different than the ones in the U.S.... They don't put lettuce and stuff on them, the one I got today had "bacon" which is like ham here, and fried potatoes on it.  I would have never thought to put fried potatoes on a sandwich! and they always use hoagie like bread instead of sliced bread for sandwiches.  I had Pu Erh tea, which I had never tried before, not bad!  I then went to my friend Carol's house to decide when we were going to go on a trip to Portugal!!! I'm super excited.  My first trip! I was really bummed when there was no room to go on this group trip to Andalucia for a weekend, so Portugal it is instead! Cool.  After that, I went to my other class and we learned about how to tell where someone is from depending on the way they speak Spanish. the [s] and [j] really give it away.  Interesting.  The professor is crazy.  She cracks me up.   Then I got out an hour earlier than I thought I would, so I walked to the Jardin Real (gardens with statues and such) to sit and draw.  It was so nice. :) Then I walked home to my flat and here I am! Great day.  Great week! Here in Valencia.  I love this city so much already.  It's weird to think that I've almost already been here a whole month! It's been fantastic. 

Long blog, but it was worth writing the stuff down so I can remember details! Until next time :)