09.07.22 Kabobs and Fries!
Today was a very relaxing day. My classes don’t start for another week but I wanted to figure out the route to get to class. While walking around Calle de Colon after class, K and I ate the surprise picnic our host dad made us. Lunch was a toasted ham and dairy-free cheese sandwich, it was delicious! After walking around the area and looking in some cute shops, we decided it was siesta time so we headed back home!
For dinner, we met some friends down near the beach and decided to get takeout Kabob’s and fries. We all took them back to our friends’ apartment and had family dinner. Then it was time for UNO and a dance party. Tonight truly reminded me how lucky I am to have such amazing friends while abroad!
Since the beach is quite a distance from E, K, and I’s building, we decided to call a taxi so we wouldn’t be walking forever. It was super easy to do using the FREE NOW app.
09.08.22 Exploring and Tapas!
K and I didn’t have class today so we met E for coffee at Panaria, where I got my 1.20 euro cup of coffee. After chatting for a while, K and I headed to the Ruzafa district to explore for a bit. We wandered the streets and found a cute little park to sit and eat lunch. Our host dad made us espinaca, it was delicious! We walked around for 3 hours and then decided to head home for a siesta, BUT our sheets were in the wash so we couldn’t take a nap….
We ended up watching the Elvis movie in Spanish instead of napping. It was way more dramatic in a different language. After the movie, it was time to head to the ISA office for a meeting to discuss our group trips and activities. Our supervisor also suggested a tapas restaurant, Tanto Monta, it was amazing and super inexpensive. Each person was able to order 3-4 tapas and a drink for under 10 euros each. After we all finished dinner, we headed to one the our friend’s apartments near the beach to get ready to go to an Erasmus event.
After the event and meeting new people from all over the continent, we called a taxi to return to our side of town to head to bed for the night.
09.09.22 Paella!
K and I woke up at 8:00am for an ISA activity. We woke up so early because we had to catch a bus around 9:00am to ensure we made it to the ISA office before 10:00am or else they would leave us behind! Surprisingly, us three were the first ones there! We boarded the bus and headed to the south side of Valencia.
After the bus ride, we hopped on a fisherman’s boat and were given a tour of the river area where a lot of fresh seafood is caught. ISA educated us on the history and the current state of the area. It was very interesting. Once we were dropped off back at the bus we headed towards the north of Valencia to learn about and try paella.
A lot of people fell asleep during this ride because it was on the longer side and the bus was air conditioned. We were dropped off outside a rice farm and paella restaurant. Half of us helped prepare the green beans for the paella while the others were given a tour of the farm. When it was time to start eating, we all headed inside and were given a 5 course meal. Course number one was bread with hummus, then it was bread with a pepper medley, and next up was papas breves. Papas brevas are potatoes with a red salsa and a bacon grease garlicky mixture, very delicious. The fourth course was salad followed by the paella. It was amazing, all the flavors and spices were more than I expected. I would recommend to anyone traveling here to definitely try authentic Valencian paella!
After the huge lunch, we all hopped on the bus for a short ride back to the ISA office. E, K, and I hopped on a bus to return home and made it an early night. I think we all fell asleep by 23:00, which is super early to go to bed here!
09.10.22 Xàtiva!
K and I made our own coffee, without our host dad’s help, for the first time. It was a success! After breakfast, we got ready for our day trip to Xàtiva. We met E outside around 11:50 and headed to the Valencia-NORD train station for our 12:19 train that was a straight shot to Xàtiva.
E and K both fell asleep on the train but woke up as soon as we arrived, around 13:30. We decided to eat lunch before heading to the castle and headed to “El Restaurante de Abuela” to try the Valencian “arroz de horno.” It was a baked rice dish with vegetables and different types of meat. We tried everything in there but some of the ingredients were not our favorites. But overall, the dish was amazing and I absolutely recommend trying it!
After lunch it was time to trek up the mountain to the castle. The hike was extremely hot and steep but much shorter than we anticipated. Entrance to the castle was 6.00 euros and we explored for almost 3 hours. They have an excellent brochure to orient yourself during the stair climbing work out. My legs were sore the next day from all the stairs, but to reward ourselves we sat at the restaurant up there and ordered drinks with a view.
We started our descent around 18:30 and headed into the little town to explore the shops. After a while we headed back to the train station to find our train headed back to Valencia city center. Navigating the Renfe website and boarding the trains was super easy and I can’t wait to continue doing it.
Our host dad made us pizza for dinner, mine had dairy free cheese. It was so good and revived us all. We decided not to go out, as we were super tired and running low on social battery juice. E’s host family has a terrace so we sat out there talking and planning our weekend trip to Madrid. All in all, an amazing day with amazing people!
09.11.22 Beach!
Our host dad woke us up with dairy free yogurt and fruit and then we made our own coffee. We had zero plans for the day but then he recommended the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia. K and I headed towards the museum, and found it without using directions! The museum was amazing, it has one of the largest religious artwork exhibitions in the world. It was a bit too much for me, so we headed to the Joaquin Sorolla exhibit. His artwork was my favorite part of this art museum. I recommend doing a short trip to this museum because the artwork is stunning and it has free entrance!
K and I headed back home for lunch, our host dad had left a delicious potato and green bean salad for us on the table. Then, it was siesta time!
After the nap, we headed to the beach. The water was surprisingly a little chilly, not like San Francisco chilly but not as hot as we thought it would be. We floated for a bit and then laid on the beach for a while before heading to a tapas restaurant for snacks and drinks. E and K wanted ice cream before we headed home, so we stopped at Glasol to snack before calling a taxi home. Today has to be one of my favorite days so far!
09.12.22 BBQ!
My poor roommate had to wake up at 7:00 today for her class. I woke up a couple hours later because my classes don’t start until Wednesday! For breakfast, my host dad made me a bowl of walnuts and honey, it was delicious. I spent most of the morning working on these blog posts and working on plans for our weekend adventures to different countries.
For lunch, our host dad made us sandwiches and I walked them over to Torres de Quart to meet up with K. We ate them near the towers and then headed into the shopping area to explore for a while. K had been up since 7:00, so we went home for a short siesta, of course. After the siesta, we headed to the grocery because I needed face sunscreen lotion because it is so sunny here all the time and K needed mosquito spray because it is so buggy. My grandma accidentally called me on WhatsApp, but I got to talk to her for 10ish minutes and it made my day!
K and I headed up to E’s apartment for a while to find a cool restaurant for our weekend in Madrid. We decided on a 360 degree sky bar at the top of a building. It started to rain, so we headed downstairs and outside to dance in the rain. After dancing and walking around in the rain, we were a little hungry and our host dad had dinner ready. K and I enjoyed wings and BBQ sauce with pickles, it reminded us both of home. It was a really sweet thing for our host dad to do, he is truly the best and most thoughtful person!
After dinner, we started getting ready for an Erasmus event, an international party with students from all over Europe. It was lots of fun to meet people from Croatia, Netherlands, and Portugal! We danced the night away and headed home via taxi using the FREE NOW app, I can’t recommend it enough! Overall, today was amazing!
09.13.22 First Rainy Day!
This morning was a lazy morning with my roommate and I sleeping until 11:30. When we woke up, it was raining outside, which is super rare in Valencia. We decided to make the most of the weather and walk to Dulce De Leche. I ordered a café solo while K ordered café con leche and a chocolate cookie. The coffee was delicious, per usual, but we were able to sit outside under an umbrella watching the rain and the street. It was a magical European morning, just sitting enjoying the company, the rain, the coffee, and the peace!
After coffee and wandering around, we returned home for lunch. Our host dad had made his famous paella, we thought it was better than the restaurant’s version. K and I each had 3 or 4 servings because it was so amazing! Of course, after lunch, it was time for a short siesta before going shopping. Sadly, we returned home empty handed from the stores.
This evening we had a meeting to discuss travel plans for the weekends and see if we had any breaks that aligned for group trips. We were able to arrange 3 or 4 weekends to travel as a big group, so we are all very excited to get planning and traveling! After coming up with a tentative schedule, we headed down to a restaurant that served mini pizzas as tapas. It was delicious!
Erasmus was having another event for students, so part of our group headed out to get ready before meeting up with new students. I wasn’t planning on going to this event but my class for Wednesday canceled at the last minute. It was an okay event, overall today was not one of my favorite days but it had amazing parts to it!
MY TIPS:
- Plan your weekend trips in advance! As the weekend gets closer, the travel and accommodation prices also increase and options decrease. Sit down with your small group and knock some plans out.
- Buy sunscreen and mosquito spray as SOON as possible. Save yourself the heartache of being covered in bug bites. I wear sunscreen on my face, shoulders, and tops of my feet everyday since it does remain sunny here all day, with very little to no cloud cover. Be smart and protect your skin!
- Go out and explore even when you have no plans! Don’t sit in your room by yourself all day, it is okay to rest, but don’t waste your precious time there sulking in your room. Enjoy the city and your new friends!
- Download WhatsApp before you leave and make your friends do the same. This way when you have a different cell phone carrier you can still call them and text them without worrying about extra charges that add up after a while.
- Make the most of your short time here! Is it raining? Okay, so go dance in the rain or go grab a cup of coffee with your friends. These are memories that will last a lifetime, don’t sit inside and waste them!
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