I'm being terrible at this blogger thing, I know.

Don't even remember what day I ended off on my last post!

Let's see, toured my parents around Valencia until Tuesday morning where we picked up our rental car to start our adventure. That could be the end of my post.

But that's someone who doesn't care about any detail. I am all over detail. I like it too much.

It's almost been a week, bad news man, I'll get better I swear.

Saturday!
Seems like an eternity ago. Let's see. Took my parents to the Mercado Central, which they had a ball at. I always tend to get really stressed out because of the huge number of people that always seem to be there. We made sure to grab some shrimp for dad, a tomato for mom to try, and a meringue. Those are delish by the way. We then made our way to the jardines botanicos (Botanical gardens) since it wasn't going to be that hot that day. We passed the Torres de Quart as well on the way. I love that they have so many cats in the gardens!!! I miss my kitty, so it's nice to at least see a cat haha. I think Mom really enjoyed that. We went through the jardines de las hesperides (garden of the nymphs) and had some old crazy homeless lady yell at us because she thought we were taking pictures of her. We walked back on the Turia. It's so nice. I should have gone running on it more, but it was either me not wanting to wake up or it getting too hot for me to want to go out and run. Oh well I've walked on it a lot back home from school. We then went to relax at my apartment until dinner. I took them to my favorite little Spanish place. It has the best food. Seriously. It's called La Rentaora. It has awesome brie with violet jam and chorizo and jamon serrano and all the very authentic Spanish dishes. Even paté which we had. When we got back to the Plaza de la Virgen near my house, there was an orchestra setting up to perform...at 11:15 at night! haha That would never fly in Pocatello. So we stood behind them and watched them play the symbols. Pretty sweet. Then we had some fancy Italian style gelato at a place that just opened up by my street. and sat to look at the Torres de Serrano.

Sunday.
Went to the second hand market they always have on Sunday mornings behind the big Mestalla football stadium. Mom had a ball looking at all the little trinkets that they were selling, also all the junk. haha Some guy gave us handfuls of keys and such when we asked how much one key would be. It was great. My dad took a nap on the sidewalk. LOL some cop thought he was a homeless dude and honked at him. We ate at the same little cafe that I had eaten at the first full day I was in Valencia. We had paella and I realized the whole time I ever ordered paella here I kept thinking it was made with chicken, but it was really rabbit. hahaha I kept wondering what part of the chicken they were using because the bones were so little and everywhere. Duh Em. We went through the Jardines de Real and made our way over to the Fine Arts Museum. Always amazing to see the stuff inside there. Went and took a break at my house again. Went to my favorite Italian restaurant that night for dinner! Delicious. Seriously. Best food ever. Love it. Cous Cous pesto, lasagna, tiramisu...all so good. and so fancy!

Longest week of my life!

So as of 11:53 a.m. yesterday, I am done with exams and school here in Valencia!!! Relieved. So relieved. I guess I can't be TOO relieved until grades are published, but for now I'm going to rest easy. The exam I had yesterday though took me almost the full 3 hours to complete!! Lot's of writing and stuff. I am usually a fast test taker, but definitely not on this one, compared to the one I had on Tuesday that took me all but 3 minutes to complete, multiple choice. :)

Lots of studying.

Cleaned like a mother yesterday because my parents were arriving today! They were the last people to get out of the gate, I kept wondering if they had missed their flight here! It's so crazy seeing them here I wont lie. I'm so used to manning it alone ya know? But it's great to see family. You don't realize how important family is until you've been away for a while. It'll be great to see the rest of you when I get back!!

It's so insane. I have less than 2 weeks left in Valencia. My parents are hanging out with me here until Tuesday, and on Tuesday we go rent a rental car and take off on our epic tour of the majority of Spain! Starting in the south and driving up to the north and taking a peek at France as well. :) We get back after almost 2 weeks of traveling and my parents leave the next day to go home! Then I have one more week here, and then it's off to possibly France and then to Denmark! I'm pumped to see my cousin Martin! And hang out with Jonas there!

So today, we took the metro stop Colon to show my parents the center while heading to my apartment. They loved the architecture around. I like showing people around. It makes me pay more attention to things I usually just walk past since I'm so used to living here. We dropped off their stuff at my place and went to look at the big statues and shrines they had out for corpus christi and the Torres de Serranos. and ate gelato. Yum. Then we walked down on the Turia and saw all the pretty flowers in bloom. We walked down to the "Festival of the Nations" which has a whole bunch of shops and restaurants from all around the world; Brazil, Argentina, Peru, India, Morocco, France, Australia, Dominican Republic, etc. They had kangaroo kebabs at the Australian place, Guarana at the Brazilian place, and for the American food stand they were serving up some delicious chicken nuggets, and OBAMA RIBS. hahahahahahahaha whilst playing AC/DC. Ridiculous. Dirty deeds. Done Dirt Cheap. That's 'merica. I got curry. I love curry. Mom got a churrasco kind of hot dog thing at the Argentinian place, and Dad got a kebab from the Brasilian place. We walked around the shops. They were pretty awesome. And then found there was a little tea/shisha place in the back! So we went over there and sat on the small little chairs and drank Moroccan mint tea. The guy working there was so impressed that I knew the singer of the songs he was playing (Amr Diab) and was so excited that I knew some Arabic that he gave me a free little pastry hehe. It was awesome though, we payed 7 euros for 3 glasses of tea, and in the end, we got to KEEP our glasses!!! I was going to ask how much it would cost to buy them themselves, guess I didn't have to!

Walked back home and realized they had started the procession of taking all of the figures to Plaza de la Virgen so we went to the Plaza and watched them wheel in the other ones with bands playing and just enjoying the beautiful weather and such. Great day in Valencia. Great day. So happy my parents are here and I get to share my city with them. It's gonna be wonderful. Give me a reason to go see all the touristy places I haven't seen yet as well!

Well, I'm off to sleep for a bit. I think we are getting up early to see the sights!

"It is said with every language you speak, you gain a new soul."

infestation.

We have killed 3 Cockroaches in our apartment in the past week or so!!!!!

I hate them.

I would so much rather deal with spiders. At least spiders are little things where these buggers are freaking huge!!

This morning I woke up and Ana had left a note on the door to our living room and bathroom and such that was closed. It's never closed. But it read. There's a cockroach in the bathroom. I couldn't kill it! I had no desire to open the doors. But I really had to pee so I opened the first door, nothing. Opened the bathroom door........................................nothing. I was like what?! Did she imagine it? So I went about my day as normal.

When both of my flatmate's got home tonight, we went out to eat tapas and talk. It was at a nice little place that was very Spanish and authentic. Great food. Kinda expensive though, so I didn't get much. Fried brie with blueberry jelly, squid, some bocadillo kind of things, patatas bravas, etc.

So, we get home and had closed the door. Then we opened it to find the COCKROACH. chilling in the corner of our living room. Ana and I refused to kill it, it's just too gross, and Natalia was like fine I will kill it, give me a minute to get out of the bathroom! So Ana and I hid in the hallway while Natalia used the leg of a chair to kill it since she didn't want to use her shoes. Hahahaha we are so terrified of them! They are so scary!

Totally a bonding moment for the three of us hahahahaha.

Back to studying!! I have an exam tomorrow! Wish me luck!

remnants of Morocco

So if you look down at my hand, there is still the faint outlining of my henna I got in Morocco. I love it. I must have been SO much whiter before I got my henna. It's pretty faint though, I don't know if I could capture it in a photo. It's awesome though.

I went to dinner with some friends to an Italian place. It was my friend Juan's last Friday in Valencia, he is leaving tomorrow! So we had some pizza and pasta to hang out with him, and we then went to this discoteca that is outside in the botanical garden thing by the big modern museums and buildings "la ciudad de las artes y ciencias". It was pretty chill.

Today I went to the beach. I love swimming. I never want to get out of the water. ever. It's the perfect temperature too. You don't ever get cold. Though a storm was coming so we had to ditch early. Me Josh and Jonas I mean.

We worked on our Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions as well. Jonas wins. He is obsessed.

Went grocery shopping in the nasty wind and stormy looking ness. Our gas stove is out of gas, so I've been trying to buy groceries that don't involve cooking.

Very unmotivated at the moment to study. I don't want to. But I just have to keep thinking that by this time next week, I'll be finished with school finally. Hopefully. Cross your fingers. I have 2 classes passed, 2 to go.

Here have a picture! I haven't put any of those up lately.

My henna before

Ah. I love when this happens. The towers make my city look so magical. :)

Weird fashion

By the way. On my way to school if I ever take the bus, I go past a boutique with a whole window display of clothing and attire with the American flag on them. That is all the rage here. Our flag is 'so in right now.'

My blog is almost to 1000 page views!!!! :D

Woooo!!! I didn't think my blog could be so popular as to get 1000 page views, but it seems possible with only 2 more page views left to hit it! Cool!! :)

So. Not much going on. Just been trying to paint and draw and read more between study sessions. I realized not including the time my parents will be here, I have 2 weeks on my own left in Valencia virtually. That's really scary! I'm trying to think of things I haven't done yet or places I want to go visit before the time comes to say goodbye to my home away from home.

I went and ate 2 time in the past 2 weeks at 100 montaditos. It's a mini sandwich place. pretty good, and super cheap. No wonder it's always crowded, especially on Wednesdays where you pay only 1 euro for anything on the menu pretty much.

I just want to be at the beach every day! but. I have to study. Jonas came over on Tuesday for the whole day essentially because his internet was out at his place. So that made me have to study and chill on my computer all day. haha. I'm trying to wake up early to go running. That's not working. hahaha. I wish it was. but. My bed is so much more comfortable.

I am writing a bucket list!! How fun eh? I have never actually had an official one, so I decided to start one. Also one of the things I can already cross off my bucket list. That list might end up to be WAY too long. Both of them! So, tell me, what kind of things are on your bucket list? I may have to steal some of your guys' ideas!!