turds in my hurr

Also I’m just amazed by how beautiful this city is. I’ve been going on evening runs after class (at like 8 because the sun doesn’t set til like 9:30), and the scenery here is just amazing. I went once to the beach, which I live only 10 minutes away from, running. It was so beautiful, and there were these boardwalks right by the beach lined with palm trees, and it was gorgeous. The last few days I’ve been running in the other direction (because the way to the beach goes through sketchy neighborhoods) and so I’ve been going to La Ciudad de Ciencias y Artes. It’s a series of really architecturally interesting buildings and this big fountain that surrounds several of the buildings. It’s basically gorgeous, and when I go usually the sun is just starting to go down and it’s breathtaking. 

I’m long overdue for a post! Gotta recap some of the things I did at the end of last week/this weekend.

THURSDAY | So Thursday I had my first hospital visit class for my nursing class, and we actually visited the University of Valencia Medical School. It was the first time this visit had been done so it was really kind of not planned well and kind of derpy. Like we spent a ton of time just standing around, but the one redeeming part of the visit was that we got to visit the Anatomy Department. They took us into the huge freezer where they keep all of the cadavers, and they were all in these body bags (bloody, might I add). A bunch of them had Sin cabeza written on them which means “without head” and there were also a bunch of human brains and other organs just sitting there in like plastic storage bins lol. Afterwards, we went to the big room with all the exam tables, and we got to see a cadaver which was really cool. The legs were like wrapped up to try to contain the moisture, but they lifted up like all the skin and bones and stuff so we could see into the body cavity and we saw the intestines and all that stuff, and it was really interesting. First time I’ve seen a cadaver before, and it was a bit unsettling tbh. We also saw this display of a bunch of deformed babies that died before birth in these different jars. Sounds kind of gross/gruesome but it was actually really really cool. One baby had anencephaly so it was missing most of its brain, and it looked really interesting. 

So after class at 7 we went to a cooking class which was organized by the school. It was at this cooking school place in Valencia, and it was really cool! I’ve never attended a real cooking class before. The teacher chef was this little guy like probably up to my shoulder but he was super nice and he knew so much about cooking. He taught us how to make 2 types of paella, which is a very traditional Spanish dish. One kind was with chicken and one with squid. The one with squid we died black with squid ink so that the rice at the end was black, called arroz negro which was pretty cool. We also made a traditional drink called horchata which was amazing; it’s made out of tiger nuts and it tastes like almond milk basically but better. After cooking for like 1.5 hrs we finally go to eat the stuff, which was really good! 

Later that night, we went out to this bar called Portland because it was Ladies’ Night aka 50 cent shots lol. I met up with Katie, Zoe, and Robbie at the school and we took a cab over together. The place was really packed with this huge group from Iowa State, and a bunch of people we knew were in the back and had already had like 4 shots LOL. So we went to the bar to buy shots. It was so crowded and it took forever. We got 8 shots of strawberry vodka to bring back for everyone, but they were topped off and so we just decided to take 2 each at the bar LOL. Then we just hung out outside on the patio area and just talked which was nice. All the girls got sex on the beach which is so good btw, and Robbie got a nice beer (which was hella expensive, like 5 euros lol). Afterwards the rest of the group was going to go to Radio City, this bar they go to a lot in Barrio de Carmen, but I didn’t really want to go because it’s kind of far from where I live and I didn’t really want to stay out til 4 again. So Robbie wanted to walk off his drunkenness so we just walked around while the rest of them went to Carmen, and we were just like in awe of the architecture LOL that’s like all we could talk about for like half an hour. We ended up walking down some street that had a walkway down the middle lined with palm trees, and eventually we realized that it was getting kind of sketchy so we haled a cab and went home. But it was pretty fun and probably a lot more fun than going to some American bar we’ve already been to lol.

FRIDAY | After class today, I went to a wine tasting with some people from my nursing class, as well as my teacher. It was actually liek a class activity because he wanted to teach us about “Mediterranean diet” but really he just wanted an excuse for us to go out and drink together I think lol. My teacher is quite the character btw. So a group of like 10-15 of us went there but we were early, so my teacher ended up treating us all to a bear at this bar lol. After hanging out there for a bit, we went to the wine tasting place where we were served 4 different wines with 2 tapas for each. It was so good omg. The first was this sour white wine, and we had sun-dried tomatoes with hummus and tomato marmalade with guacamole and marinated anchovies on it. 

Then we had this red wine with these little triangles with vegetables in them and these artichokes with gorgonzola cheese in the center.

Next we had another red wine, which I liked much better (the former was really bitter) and we were served like french fries with a fried egg and Jamón serrano which this really yummy Spanish ham. Then we had like these fancy chicken tenders lol. For dessert we had a white dessert wine and a slice of chocolate cake. YUMMMM. Overall it was lots of fun, and I learned a good deal about how to properly taste wine too! Although it still all tastes really similar to me lol. 

After the wine tasting, Robbie and I decided to walk around again. Our half-drunken random wandering around the city has actually led to a lot of adventures and is something I’ve really come to enjoy lol. This particular night we ended up in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento where a lot of the government buildings are. It was super pretty at night because the buildings were all lit up. After that, we just wandered around and ended up in the Plaza de la Virgen where there was a special display for the upcoming Corpus Christi celebration the next day. We literally had like no idea where we were, but then we got to the Plaza de la Virgen where we had been before, and we got some gelato (my first time!) and sat at this table and talked about random shiz while eating our gelato lol. Gotta say it was so nice like sitting outside eating gelato and chatting in the middle of the Plaza de la Reina which is the heart of the city/Old Town basically. After that we ended up walking to the Rio which is this dried out river bed where they’ve built like a big park and some other stuff. We ended up walking into this music/international food festival called like Ferria de las Naciones and we saw some other UVA students there. On stage like some random people dressed like cowboys/cowgirls were teaching little kids Gangnam Style lol. Robbie and I were like lolwut. After that we kind of just walked around some more and eventually we got a cab and went home lol. Good stuff. 

SATURDAY｜　On Saturday we went on a day trip organized by the school to a place called Xàtiva which was like an hour drive from Valencia. It’s this town outside Valencia that was really important during the Spanish Civil War, and there is pretty notable castle there that kind of looks like the Great Wall of China LOL. Seriously though before I went I googled the place and I was like wtf why is it giving me pics of the Great Wall. gg. Anyways first we got a guided tour of the city. The coolest part was probably hearing the story of the cathedral and how many times they had to rebuild it due to an earthquake, it being burned down by the enemy, etc. And you can see it all in the actual building like the different materials they used each time. Then we hiked up the mountain to the castle. It was pretty hot that day, and I think I seriously got like 5 shades darker lol. But it was worth it, it was a beautiful view up there and I really enjoyed seeing the castle ruins. There was a prison on one side, and basically i twas just this big dungeon lol but on top the plaque said like some important guy died June 1st 1423, and we were there June 1st 2013 lol pretty interesting. 

One guy on the trip had been to a bull fight the night before at this pueblo outside Valencia called Bétera, so we got all the deets from him and we went with him on Saturday night after dinner. We were supposed to take the metro, but I took the metro from place to meet them at Aragon, and I already knew we were going to miss the last metro to the place which was at like 10:25ish. So that was a fail, and we ended up having to all take cabs there. It ended up being like 25 euros which we split 3-ways on the way there and 4-ways on the way back so it wasn’t too bad. Plus to get into the actual place was free. Basically we entered that part of the town, and the entrance was barred. There were shops/bars lining one side of the place, and the rest was just this huge open space with like a bunch of cages and places you could climb up to escape the bull when it was charging at you. Basically they had the bull in this big truck, and you could see like the whole truck moving while the bull was moving inside I guess. A ton of people went up to the truck to watch it be let out, and then they like promptly ran away lol. These torches were attached to the bull’s head which were on fire, so I guess you could see the bull better/it looked cool. Yeah the whole thing was pretty interesting and really cool. Basically people would taunt the bull, like run up and wave something like a torero or try to go up and touch it, and people were making like a lot of noise to try to get the bull aggrevated. It was so cool seeing the bull actually like do those moves…idk what even you would call them but like getting ready to charge basically like putting its head down and scraping its foot on the ground. And anytime anyone like went to taunt the bull and made a narrow escape, the whole arena would clap. There were literally like hundreds of people there watching, and the energy there was really great. Overall it was cool just to experience a cultural event like that. Definitely wasn’t a real bull fight or a running of the bulls really, but it was still very cool. It made me kind of sad though to see that the bull was liek branded on the side, and honestly he just seemed bored/mad that people kept provoking him and by the end he was like really tired and just didnt gaf about the people lol. So that was meh, I don’t think I could ever watch a real bull fight cuz it would be too sad. 

my spanish host mother is so funny lol. it’s just me and her in the apartment, so we spend a lot of time together and talk about random stuff, especially at dinner. the other day she was telling me that she likes the bad boys lol and that good guys are too boring for her. another time we were about to eat lunch, and she likes to play music while she’s preparing lunch like she is now. and she sings along, and when i got to the table she started dancing for me and i was like lololol. last night at dinner, we were watching the news and it was covering that story about michael douglas and how he almost died of throat cancer or something that he got from oral sex. apparently 1 in 4 cases of throat cancer are caused by oral sex and she was like BE CAREFUL EMILY!! lol yeah. so diff from my real mom, but it’s pretty entertaining. 

It’s been a week now since I’ve been here, and I’ve had some really good days/times already! I’ll recap on a few.

1. BARRI DE CARMEN: Went out for the first time last Thursday to experience the Spanish night life. It’s totally different from here if just for the simple fact that Spanish time is so different from U.S. time. The sun doesn’t even set until like 9:30, so the days are very long, and the nights are even longer. Lunch isn’t until 2-3 PM usually, and dinner isn’t until 9-10 PM usually. So people don’t really even go out to clubs until like 1 or 2, and sometimes they go until 7. There are a bunch of places here that are open until 8 lol. From like 12-2 a lot of it is botellón which is pregaming. Anyways, that night I met up with some people outside of discoteca m.y.a. also known as l’umbracle. That place doesn’t even open until 12 lol, so we ended up wandering around and then going to Barrio de Carmen where there are a bunch of bars. We ended up at this bar called Radio City which is has a lot of foreigners, where some people had already been the night before. The place was pretty chill, and we ordered a few pitchers of Agua de Valencia which is a drink with champagne, vodka, gin, and orange juice. Pretty good actually. Some of us girls took shots of caramel vodka which was so smooth; I was really surprised. Anyways we hung out there for probably almost 2 hours. I will say drinks in Europe are so expensive, it’s 2.50 E for a shot, and it was like 12 E for one of those pitchers. Yeah….anyways then we met some Australian guys who have a bunch of connections with the bars here, and they ended up taking us to this other bar called 47 and we got a free shot. And then we went to a place called Music Box and got a free shot, which tasted like  a blue raspberry dum dum. YUMMY. We danced/hung out there until like 4 basically, and then I went home. Good first night out!

2. PENSICOLA. So on Saturday the school organized a day trip to this beach destination around 2 hours outside of Valencia called Peniscola. So we took the bus there, and the place was gorgeous. Just the color of the water was this breathtaking cerulean. We just chilled on the beach. The water here is still pretty cold, but I waded in for a bit and some people went in anyways. The whole time I was just afraid I was during into a dark crisp, and I ended up sitting under this umbrella/on this chair to eat my bocadillo for lunch. Except apparently you have to pay to sit there, but the guy said I could sit there and eat my lunch if I wanted to. Afterwards, we walked through the town up to the castillo, the castle, where Papa Luna lived. The view from up there was incredible, and it was like each time we would go up a little more and see the same view, it would just take my breath away over and over again. Afterwards, some of us went to get some tapas and we tried jamón serrano and some other stuff. 

3. PLAZA DE LA REINA. So Tuesdays I only have class from 3-5, so after class Zoe, Robbie, Darian and I went to Plaza de la Reina, down in the heart of Valencia. It’s in the Old Town where a lot of other buildings are and where the cathedral is. I simply love European architecture, so being down there was just awesome seeing all of the beautiful buildings and the really picturesque narrow roads. It really just looked out of a movie. The cathedral was GORGEOUS, and it was amazing just standing  in front of the cathedral at the door and looking up at the immenseness of the building. It was awesome. Afterwards we went to a panaderia/pasteleria and bought some delicious pastries! It really reminded me of when Kevin and I used to visit all of these panaderias in Ecuador to buy really cheap bread/pastries. But here they are like 10x more expensive lol. Afterwards we just walked around, it was a beautiful day and the whole place was just beautiful and really quaint. So that was a really great day. I will definitely be going back there one afternoon to drink some coffee and sit outside and read at one of the cafes. Oh yeah something I love about Spain is that there are a bunch of people who just sit outside cafes/restaurants and drink coffee and smoke, just like you see in movies/photos lol. I just thought that was cool. 

Greetings from valencia, spain! Today is Day 3 of being in Spain, so I’ll briefly recap the trip and my first day here.

DAY 1: My dad sent me to Dulles, where Robbie and I flew around 7 hours to Charles De Gaulle airport in none other than PARIS. The flight there was kind of brutal; I couldn’t really fall asleep like I normally do, and I was getting pretty nauseous from plane sickness. I watched Skyfall which was aight and The Perks of Being a Wallflower which was pretty meh. Emma Watson is pretty, but she looks so young and small. Anyways, finally that plane ride ended. CDG is actually the airport I was in when on the way to Toulouse in junior year of high school for my foreign exchange program. We were even in the same terminal area, sitting on the floor just like last time. This girl sat beside me to use the outlet, and I realized it was a girl, Zoe, from my Business Spanish class last semester, so then we talked to her and hung out with her until the plane. We got like 15 minutes of free wi-fi at the airport, but my iPod was displaying like this really ghetto version of Facebook only where there was only Times New Roman text and no formatting. Also I couldn’t navigate away from the notifs page, nice. Robbie had like 3 devices, but he opened them all at once so he wasted like all of his free wi-fi haha. We went and bought croissants and such at this little cart in the airport, and I got to use some of my French which was cool. Glad to know I haven’t lost it even though it’s been 3 years since I’ve used it. Made me really miss those amazing croissants/pain au chocolat I used to get for breakfast at my host family’s house. So then next plane ride was from Paris to Valencia. It was basically a 2 hour nap; I was knocked out the whole way there. I think the guy next to me even tried to wake me up for drinks, but no luck. I was actually really disoriented, and when we were about to descend I was so confused about what was happening. I just saw the attendants with the trash cart, and they were frantically trying to finish and get out of the aisle, and I thought we were like about to crash or something. I couldn’t really understand what the people were saying on the intercom because it was really fast and I was half asleep, but I thought they said there wasn’t enough oxygen in the cabin, and I was waiting for the oxygen masks to pop down from the airplane. But, no. We landed around noon, and tried to buy some cellphones but there was no where that sold it in the airport. So I called my host mother from a pay phone. She was like what do you look like so I can identify you at the metro station, and I was like I’m Chinese. And she was like ok this is going to be easy then LOL. So I rode the metro with Robbie. This is Robbie’s first time even out of the country, so it was pretty eye-opening for him. He kept thinking we were on the wrong line, and I didn’t know how to explain that I was 100% sure we were on the right one. And he almost got off to switch to another one and i was like STOP LOL. PLS. 

Ok anyways, my house mother’s apartment is like 100 feet away from the metro station, which is so convenient. The apartment is very small, with one bedroom and basically a tiny bedroom that’s almost just like a closet. She lives by herself because she’s divorced, and her kids are like 40. Almost all the house mothers for this program are divorced women or women who aren’t married haha; I guess it’s an easy way for them to make money. This is pretty different from the last host family I had because the last host family was actually a family and weren’t getting paid to do this. So they were more like a family like my own, and they were super super nice to me, and I even still keep in touch with them. Doña Carmen (my house mother) is really nice, but it’s just her and me which gets kind of lonely. The first day, I thought there wasn’t any wi-fi here so I was using her ancient turtle computer for like an hour trying to talk to people. And then I figured out how to access the wi-fi hallelujah. First day I basically just napped (jetlag) and ate. And then skyped krevins.

DAY 2: d’Carmen took me to school today, how cute. She taught me how to use the metro to get to school, and we had orientation today for a few hours. Met all of the teachers, got some helpful info, etc. Then I went home for lunch which is pretty typical for here. Also, lunch is like 2-3 PM, and dinner is around 9 PM lol. I was starving at first because for breakfast she only gave me literally 2 cookies and a cup of milk. Afterwards, I went to the beach with Zoe and her friend Katie. It was kind of a nightmare finding them because they were at a metro stop that was really hard/indirect to get to from where I live. I had to ask people for help on three separate occasions, but it was a fun little adventure by myself and got to practice my spannies. The beach is so big and long here, it stretches on for forever. The water is pretty cold, so we just laid on the beach and chatted. It was really nice actually. It’s not that hot here yet, so it was pretty comfortable. Except I was hiding under a towel so that I wouldn’t get too tan lol. It was a fun time though and cool getting to know Zoe and Katie better. We actually have some random unexpected connections haha. After that I went home, ate dinnies, and watched some Spanish TV with my madre. Then I slept for 12 hours.

DAY 3: Talked with my real mom today on the phone! I got a cellphone here, and I think receiving all calls is free which is nice. I ate lunch with my madre but I was kind of nauseous so I didn’t eat that much. Then I asked her to teach me how to walk school, and I did that because I didn’t have class until 5. I paid for some of my trips/activities, and then I chilled in the supermegaguay cafeteria place and just did some productive stuff on my laptop. Then I realized that my class was from 3-5 not 5-7 GGGGGGGG so I missed class. So I went to talk to her afterwards and told her about my fail, and she didn’t look surprised or anything lol. So that was a fail. Then I walked around with Robbie and this guy named Darian, and then I walked home. I passed by some really nice garden things that are in the middle of the street. They’re just like huge medians that are actually little parks which is cool. Bought some stuff at the little supermarket beside our apartment, and now I’m home. Think we’re going to go out tonight maybeeeeee

something refreshing after all of the tragedy that occurred today.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/moments-that-restored-our-faith-in-humanity-this-y

listening to christmas music while studying for bio final makes it so much more bearable!

it’s finals season!!!

which means….it’s time to find things to get addicted to to prevent you from studying for finals yay. i’ve successfully become addicted to survivor (watched 2 seasons already) and am readdicting myself to pretty pics on tumblr (as you may have noticed)