Valencia

Today I returned to my Cádiz home from a long weekend in Valencia. It was an interesting experience... Valencia is a really lovely city with a lot of cool things to see. My favorite part about it was the arquitecture, in Cádiz there isn't really any of that to write home about, but in Valencia it was beautiful. And of course La Ciudad de las ciencias y las artes was incredible. It is like a cluster of 5 or so buildings designed by a famous dude named Santiago something, modern art stuff. We had entradas for two of the sites: the aquarium and the science museum. The aquarium was really quite neat, we saw all sorts of marine life and at the end of our visit we saw a dolphin show, one of the most detailed and organized things I have ever seen in Spain. By the time we got to the science museum we were all pretty exhausted from walking and the day before's long bus ride, etc. However, I wanted to see as much of the science museum stuff as I could stand. Of the three floors I looked at everything on the third floor, nothing on the second floor (it was a very small exhibit filled with biographies about people I had never heard of), and maybe half of the first floor. I am satisfied with what I got out of the visit.

After the science and art stuff I went with my friends Britney and David to have food. They wanted paella but I do not like paella so I had tapas. After we ate the three of us walked back to the hotel and Britney and I took a nap. After the nap we awoke and strolled over to the centro comercial (mall) that was basically next door to the hotel. I bought a cute shirt and she bought some shoes, then we went to the grocery store for some snacks. After that we returned to the hotel and people tried to convince us to go out to some bars but we declined and instead chatted with another girl, Erin, and went to bed relatively early.

Let me back track to the beginning of the trip... We set out at 1AM Thursday morning, so it felt like Wednesday night... The trip took forever because our bus driver was nuts. Finally we got to our hotel at noon Thursday. We all checked in to the hotel, got settled, changed clothes. Then David suggested we rent bicycles and ride around the city, it sounded like a fabulous idea to me and Britney agreed so we headed out to find the bike rental place. We paid 10 euro each for 4 hours with the bikes. In Valencia there is an enormous park that covers a huge part of the city, in this park we rode toward the old part of the town. Once we got close we entered into the twisty, windey rodes of the old city and enjoyed the scenery: really cool graffiti, old buildings, pleasant plazas, and many churches. We had some beers and then an ice cream and set back on the bikes. We passed through some more of the old city then decided to head back to the bike shop. David told us the wrong way to go so we ended up way far from the bike place, had to turn around and back track a lot, but finally made it back to the bike rental shop before our time expired. It was a really fun ride, something I hadn't done in a long time. Afterward my bum hurt SO BAD though. It is still a little sore where I sat on the bike seat, but almost back to normal.

Later that night David and I went out in search of cool bars. Earlier in the day we had asked a waiter where the good places for going out were, he did not fail us! We went to the street with the cool bars and clubs and found many. We went in one very trendy bar and danced until 3:30AM, walked back to the hotel, and went to bed. So I was pretty tired for the next day's activities (the museum and aquarium stuff).

Saturday we left Valencia around 10AM to drive to a small town called Baeza. There we had a hotel to spend one night. When we arrived Britney and I decided to be motivated and walk around the town to see all of the touristy sites. We walked for maybe an hour and a half and saw basically the entire town. It was nice and had enough interesting stuff to look at, but small and not really anything important. David and Britney and I went out that night, the club was surprisingly good for such a small town. We danced and had fun, chatted with some Spanish people. Britney and I headed home earlier than David because Spain lost an hour today and we were already pretty tired.

This morning we got up and the bus took us to a town called Úbeda, about ten kilometres away. It was equally as small as Baeza but I think the buildings were prettier and more important and more plentiful. I walked around by myself because most of the group was really tired and bored with siteseeing by this point. I was also tired and bored of siteseeing but didn't want to waste my time there. I saw most of the tourist sites on the map that I had (there were like 30 sites) and I even entered in a small museum of the arqueology of Úbeda. I think I probably got the most out of the visit than anyone else in the school group.

After the short visit we all got back on the bus and drove the rest of the way (at this point 450 kilometres) back to Cádiz. Here I am now, tired of doing homework and trying to get prepared for my three day school week.

Next it is off to Barcelona, Madrid, and Italy - on THURSDAY... so soon!

Valladolid

For the third weekend in a row I got to play ultimate. This time it was in Valladolid, a 7.5 hour car ride north of Cádiz. We left Friday afternoon with five people in the car. I was lucky enough to get to sit in the middle seat the entire way there, minus the last 1.5 hr but on the way back I got to sit in the middle the ENTIRE time! Lucky me :)

Aside from the brutal car ride, it was a very fun weekend. I played with Frisbillanas, the team from Sevilla, but also some newcomers from Puerto Real (a suburb of Cádiz). We placed third out of the nine teams who were there.

We all stayed in these really cool little cottage-like houses called Casas Rurales. They were really cute and comfy and nice! The weather also treated us well and I came home a little morenita (tan).

Nora the Spanish cat is yelling at me to pay attention to her so I will end this post here!

Palmela

This past weekend I went with some of the ultimate players from Sevilla to a tournament in Portugal. I took the train to Sevilla Friday afternoon and met up with the rest of the people who were to go to the tournament. We had a diverse group: three Americans (myself and two guys, Thad and Ryan), three Spaniards (two from Sevilla, Rafa and Alberto; one from Barcelona who was just a spectator for the weekend, Enric), and one Colombian (Camilo).

Friday we drove and drove and finally arrived in Palmela, a town just south of Lisbon. Saturday morning we got up at a decent hour and, since games didn´t start until 2PM, we all went to Lisbon to check out some touristy stuff. We spent just a few hours in Lisbon and then drove back south to the fields to start the frisbee fun.

I was the only girl on my team so I had the pleasure of playing every point of the entire tournament. I had a ton of fun and the weather was very pleasant as well. I love all of the ultimate players in Portugal, everyone is so cool and nice and fun to be around. My team was also lots of fun.

The first day we won only one game and the same the second day. The team we beat the first day ended up winning the entire tournament! Lástima. The party Saturday night was a bit boring, no dancing, just drinking and talking. After a few drinks that was good enough for me though. Having played all of the points the first day and getting up sort of early, I was tired.

On Sunday we played more ultimate and watched the final game and then packed up and drove back to Sevilla. I had to spend the night in Sevilla because we arrived around midnight and the last train or bus leaves at 9:30PM back to Cádiz. So I had to get up pretty early on Monday to take the train back to Cádiz so that I could make it to my class.

It was a good weekend and I think it was well worth the trip. I got to see my friends in Portugal and play ultimate on really nice grass. My leg is not happy but I am.



Doing touristy stuff



Ready to play



Looking silly with David





My team!

Carnaval

I realize I have not posted here in quite a while, but that is mostly because nothing exciting has really happened. However, I think from now on I will be busy and doing exciting things until the end of the semester.

Carnaval started on Saturday. It has been a whirlwind of craziness filled with lots of drinking and lots of Spanish speaking. I have this entire week off from school so there really isn't much to do besides go out and party with the Spaniards. Here is a timeline of what I have been up to the last few days...

Saturday - I met up with my friend Lindsy who I met in December at the ultimate tournament I attended. She came to Cádiz with people from Granada to participate in the Carnaval celebration. We hung out a bit and I showed them around Cádiz and then I went home. At home I put my costume on and had some dinner, waited for Gema to get home from work, and then we went out. Gema and I met up with her cousin and his friends and drank in the street like everyone else. Then we went to a place called La Carpa, which is like a big discoteca that they set up only during this week. It is like a circus tent...sort of. We got home at 7:30AM Sunday morning.

Sunday - I slept until around 2PM. Eventually I got up and ate some food and took a shower, then Paqui and I went to pick up Gema from work and we went to watch some parade thing. It is called the Cabalgata... It was the most unorganized parade I have ever seen in my life. Ridiculous! It was very cold and windy and kind of miserable, but I'm glad we stayed to watch it. After the parade we went home, I ate dinner and got dressed to go out. I took the bus to meet up with Juan Antonio and Jesus and a group of their friends. Ended up staying out until like 5:30AM that day.

Monday - I stayed in Monday night. I played Dr. Mario and watched a movie on my computer. Regained some energy.

Tuesday - I went to the gym and then took a long walk by myself on the beach. It wasn't very sunny or warm but it was nice to get out of the house. That night I went out with Gema and her friend Chari. We ran into lots of their friends and a few of mine, chatted with people in the street, had beers, ate some junk food and then went to the other Carpa. There, we danced and had one more beer. The dancing was very fun, I like to dance. We left the Carpa at like 5AM, I think.

Wednesdady - Today I haven't done anything except eat toast and coffee and take a shower. My friend Jocelyn called me a while ago and I think I am going to get together with her to do some homework or something. She is fun and I am very glad to be getting out of the house to do something that isn't just drinking. Not sure if I will be going out again tonight, if Gema goes then I probably will too. She is the best host sister :) lots of fun

This weekend I get to play a bit of ultimate! Very exciting.

I miss home a lot, but try to not think about it too much. I miss my family so much!

La vuelta

So today is the day. I am leaving home again to return to Cadiz for spring semester. I've had a wonderful month here; I got to spend a ton of time with my family, I was able to see a lot of my awesome friends, and even play a bit of ultimate. Oh! And I got to snuggle my kitties and give them lots of kisses, that alone was worth the hellish trip home. Kiki is on my lap right now, she must know I'm leaving because she is being very loving which is super unusual. She is SO cute. I am going to miss the babies so much.

Looks like today I have a ten hour flight and then a two and a half hour flight and then a one hour flight. Sounds fun, huh?

Tortitas

Last night I made pancakes for my host mom, she absolutely loved them :) I'd never made them from scratch before but they turned out pretty delicious. My host mom had some real maple syrup as a gift from some other student a while back so we ate them with authentic syrup. Deliicoussssss... I am definitely in the mood to get back home now. Plus John texted me last night and said it was snowing in Seattle?! Crazyyyy and excitinggg! Now, who is going to take me to Blue Star when I get back? I LOVE BLUE STAR!

Me encanta Ultimate

This past weekend was by far the best I've spent in Spain. I went to a beach ultimate tournament and met a ton of awesome people and played ultimate on the beach all weekend and thoroughly enjoyed myself. It was so nice to be around ultimate players again... Now all I am thinking about is going home to Seattle for the holidays and also planning trips to tournaments in the spring time when I'm back in Cadiz. I think possibly going into debt in order to go to awesome tournaments is worth it, right? Right.

Photos from the weekend!

















My team placed somewhere in the middle but we won SOTG!! I had such an amazing time, I didn't want it to end :)