Valencia

Me, Hollie and Ali in the Torres de Serranos

This past weekend I finally went on my first excursion!!! I went to Valencia, Spain with two other CMU students, Hollie and Ali. We had such a great time and Valencia is an amazing and beautiful city and I am so glad I chose to go there. To me it seems that Valencia is overlooked by a lot of tourists in favor of Madrid and Barcelona, for example I had never heard of it until I started learning more about Spain in my classes. However, I recomend it; I think it is definitely worth it to go.


We took the train, which only takes about 2 hours from Alicante, and my first experience with RENFE, Spain's train company (comparable to Amtrak), was nice. The train ride actually seemed a lot smoother than when I took the train to Chicago to get my visa and the RENFE employees were pretty friendly.

As soon as we got off the train (and finished gawking at the beautiful train station Estació del Nord) we found our hostel and they let us keep our backpacks there why we walked around the city. As we were walking we came upon the Catedral de Valencia (Cathedral of Valencia), which wasn't the hard to find since it has a giant bell tower, plus it's in the center of the old city.

The Cathedral has tons of amazing works of art such as statues and paintings and has a history dating back to the 1200s when the Christians conquered Valencia from the Moors and built a church where the mosque used to stand. And a few of other cool things about the Catedral de Valencia: one pope, Pope Alexander VI, came from Valencia and used to preside over the Cathedral as the Archbishop of Valencia; two popes from modern times, John Paul II and Benedict the XVI, have both visited it; it holds the left arm of Saint Vincent, the patron Saint of Valencia; and it claims to have the Holy Grail. All of this information I found out because the ticket (which only cost 5€) comes with an audio tour, which I chose to listen to the Spanish version to test my skill.

The façade of the Catedral de Valencia

The Cathedral´s Altar

Museu de Belles Arts

After the Catedral de Valencia, we hung out for a little along the fountain in la Plaza de la Virgen, the plaza behind the Cathedral, before heading to the Museu de Belles Arts/Museo de Bellas Artes (pretty much everything in Valencia has two names, one in Valencian and one in Spanish) or the Museum of Fine Arts. Much like the Smithsonian in Washington, the Museu de les Belles Arts is free all of time because it is run by the government (in this case the state government). It focuses on art by Valencian artists or artists such as Francisco de Goya and Diego Velázquez, two of the most famous Spanish painters. I really liked the exhibit about Joaquín Sorolla, who I gather is one of the most important Valencian painters.

Self-portrait by Velázquez

Self-portrait by Sorolla

Las Torres de Serranos at night

On our way to check into the hostel, we decided to check out the Torres de Serranos (Serranos Towers), two towers that make a gate as part of the old city walls. The walls no longer stand, but the old entrance into the city still does and is one of the most recognized landmarks of Valencia. For only a euro we were able to climb to the top and get some amazing views of the city.

Hollie and Ali

We checked into the hostel, which was really nice. Our room came with free lockers and a balcony overlooking a Gothic building called La Lonja. We decided to eat at our hotel (it had a communal kitchen), so we went to a supermarket to get some food. Then we walked around Valencia some more, including the Jardí del Turía/Jardín del Turía (Turía Garden) which used to be a river, but after flood over various years they diverted the river and turned where the river used to be into a park. Then we went to dinner, where I had paella valenciana (rice seasoned with saffron with rabbit, chicken, green beans and some sort of white bean too) because paella originated from Valencia so paella valenciana is the original paella; it was very delicious!

The view from our balcony
(with part of La Lonja on the left)

Pallea valenciana

On Saturday, we walked through the Jardí del Turía to the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències/Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences) which contains a few museums and the largest aquarium in Europe (and 4th largest in the world), L'Oceanogràfic. They had probably every single species that lives in the ocean/sea including dolphins. In L'Hemisfèric, the Imax theater, we saw a documentary on Las Fallas, a festival in Valencia from the 15th-19th of March (so unfortunately we just missed it) where giant statues made of wood are burned to demonstrate the beginning of spring (March 20th); they burn away the old to make way for the new. Although we did miss the festival, we were able to see them finishing building the statues and they already had lights hung above the streets all over the city.

An 70m(230ft) underwater tunnel

Playa de las Arenas

 Sunday was a fairly peaceful day because all we did was go to the beach and had lunch. Unfortunately we missed the train because either we didn't catch the bus in time or the bus was running late, or maybe a mix of the two. Either way, we had to buy another ticket, but we definitely learned our lesson. When I got home I relaxed a bit after unpacking and then did some homework I put off in order to go to Valencia (another lesson I learned: do your homework before going on a trip!).

This weekend I am going to Granada, a city in the autonomous community called Andalucía in the south of Spain. It's most famous for being the last city held by the Moors (and therefore the last city conquered by the Christians). It was conquered by the "Catholic Monarchs," Isabel I de Castilla and Fernando II de Aragón, and now they are both entombed in a chapel off of the Cathedral; I'm very excited to visit their tomb because they are arguably the two most important people in the history of Spain. But I am most excited about going to the Alhambra, the palace used by the Moors until they were expelled from Spain; it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the place of interest that makes the second most amount of money for the Spanish Ministry of Culture because it is visited so often.

¡Hasta la semana que viene! Until next week!

The Pre-Valencia Week

Well, this last week was a little boring for me; however, that's ok. Saturday afternoon, Carnaval but before any of the main festivities had kicked off, Dolo and I met up with some of her friends (Javier and Raquel, who I met my first weekend here, were there) at a plaza where a restaurant (which I was later told was a pretty high-end place) was giving out paella (a rice dish which Spain is famous for) and two drinks for only a few euros. After we ate in the plaza we went a couple of blocks down to a bar, but I suppose it was really a tapas bar because we ordered a few small plates of food, but I didn't read the sign so I can't be sure. The food was amazing and so was the company, Dolo has a lot of really nice friends.

I ended up not going out for Carnaval, in the sense of dressing up and staying out all night, like most others do. I did, however, go out for a walk to see the people dressed up and La Rambla, one of the major streets in Alicante, all decorated. Above the street, lights were hung depicting the more traditional Carnaval masks. Now people dress up as all kinds of different stuff; kind of like our Halloween, the tradition started out as dressing up as something scary and now you can dress up as anything you like. Unlike our Halloween people here just dress up for fun, not to get candy.

La Rambla during Carnaval

One of the foods that I have enjoyed here the most is called longaniza, it's a sausage similar to chorizo, but not spicy; it is super delicious. And one of the great things about it is that it comes in two ways, as a sausage (which I think is more common) and also as something similar to salami (that tastes just as good). The other day Dolo, my amazing host mom, bought some for me and when I cooked it the other night for dinner (at 9pm local time - the Spaniards eat late), I snapped a picture of it.

Longaniza

Speaking of Dolo, I would just like to say that she is awesome. Sometimes she's more like a roommate than a host mom, but she always treats me like I'm part of her family. She has been really helpful in showing me the city, and, as I have said in the post about Pinoso (her hometown), other places as well. She is also really great to talk to; she has helped me improve my Spanish a lot, probably more than the classes at the University have (but of course they have helped too).

Hollie, Ali and I bought our train tickets to Valencia this evening!!! I'm super excited to finally be going to Valencia! I may have mentioned it in a previous post, but Valencia is the 3rd largest city in Spain and the capital of the autonomous region (i.e. - the state) to which Alicante belongs. We're going to be staying in the center/old part of town so I'm hoping to see some old buildings with cool architecture. Some of the places we plan on going to are: the Cathedral of Valencia where we will be able to see "the Holy Grail," the Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia, and possibly the Botanical Gardens of the University of Valencia.

Plaza de la Virgen, Valencia
Disclaimer: not my photo, but I promise to take
some great ones like these to share will all of you!

Elche

Dr. Calvo

Last Friday Dr. Calvo, our adviser/coordinator, met us at the train station and accompanied us to his hometown, Elche. It's about 18 miles or so west of Alicante and I think it only took about 30-40 minutes in train to arrive there. He showed us all of the main attractions of Elche such as the Parque Municipal (Municipal Park), part of the Palmeral (palm tree park/farm) and the Basilica de Santa María (Saint Mary's Basilica). Elche is a beautiful city, and we were so lucky to have Dr. Calvo show us around.

The 6 of us CMU students at the Parque Municipal

Basilica de Santa María

Arroz con costra

I really enjoyed the Parque Municipal, or as some of the locals call it Parque de los Patos (Duck Park) because of ducks of course. But there were other types of birds too such as a swan, pigeons and doves. When we went to the Palmeral we got to see people sewing/knitting with palm leaves; it really cool and all of the pieces were, in my opion, works of art. One of the women there gave us a little demonstration and some of us were allowed to keep some of the things she made (I got a fish for example). Then a man showed us how to climb the palm trees, which people do, not because they are crazy (although they still might be a little), but because they need to trim the leaves off of the palm trees to help them grow better. After walking around a bit more we went to a restaurant and we all tried arroz con costra, a dish native to Elche, which is rice with chicken and rabbit and topped with egg (kind of like an omelette) filled with various types of sausage; it was super delicious. Dr. Calvo had a former student of his, who is a professional photographer, take pictures of us while we were exploring the city, so not all of these photos are mine, but they were too amazing not to share.

A palm leave work of art

Me, Ali, Amanda & Hollie with our "prizes"

The 6 of us with a replica of the Dama de Elche an ancient
statue found near Elche and a source of local pride.

On Saturday, I met up with Ali, Hollie and Amanda and we went to the castle; the three of them hadn't been there yet and I felt like going again and I'm glad that I did because it was a nicer day on Saturday then when I went a couple of weeks ago.

Classes have been going well, I'm really enjoying my translation class, even though the professor likes to point out the many mistakes us foreign students make when translating from English to Spanish. And I am also enjoying my class on the recent history of Europe (1945-present) focusing on the European integration (the European Union in particular) because it's a class I know I would never get the opportunity to take at CMU or at least not from the same perspective, the perspective of actual Europeans living under the European Union system. Plus the professor of this class is super understanding that being from America we know hardly anything about the European Union and is willing to help us with anything we don't comprehend.

Hollie, Ali and I are going to Valencia next weekend and this weekend is Carnaval, or the festival just before the start of lent, a Catholic period of fasting before Easter. It is kind of like Mardi Gras and Carnaval celebrated in Rio de Janeiro but on a smaller scale, of course. So the next week and a half or so is going to be really fun and exciting.

While researching Valencia I found this video that I really enjoyed of the people of Valencia lip-syncing to Happy by Pharrell Williams; it shows some of the main points of interests in Valencia. It makes me even more excited to visit the city!

MARQ

This weekend was a bit more tranquil than the previous; I didn't do a whole lot. However I am in the process of planning a trip to Valencia, which is about 100 miles north of Alicante and it's the capital of the autonomous community Comunidad Valenciana. Also I booked my ticket to the Alhamba, a beautiful palace constructed originally by the Muslim kings who once ruled southern Spain, in Granada; I'm not going for another month however, so it's going to be a long wait.

The MARQ

Anyways, back to this past weekend. On Saturday I went to the Museo Arqueológico Provincial de Alicante, or the Provincial Archaeology Museum of Alicante, which is abbreviated into MARQ. There were some really cool exhibits there, such as recreations of an excavation site, a Gothic cathedral and a Roman ship. The MARQ has tons of artifacts from every era of Spanish history, but focusing mainly on the region of Alicante of course. I liked the sections about the Iberos (the native people of the Iberian Peninsula and from whom the Peninsula received its name), the Romans and the Arabs the best.

Plaque stating that the MARQ was
inaugurated by the Queen of Spain 

La Dama (The Lady) de Cabezo Lucero - A statue
made by the Iberos (reconstructed a little)

Replica of a Roman ship

Muslim funeral inscription

Replica of a Gothic Cathedral

On Sunday, I didn't do much. Pacho, a friend and coworker of Dolo's, came over for lunch; he has been studying English for two years he said and I helped him practice it a little. Then Dolo suggested that we go to a tea house that she likes called Omaire Tetería, a lot about 15-20 minutes outside of the city. Those of you who know me very well, will know that I don't like tea, but they had other drinks too; I tried some sort of lime-mint drink, the waiter described it as a mojito without alcohol, it was very delicious.

Me at the tea house

Castillo Santa Bárbara & Pinoso

On Saturday Dolo, one of her friends, and I went to Castillo Santa Bárbara (Saint Barbara Castle) located near the center of Alicante on Monte (Mount) Benacantil. It was built by Muslims during the 9^th century when they had control over most of Spain, and their greatest influence was in Southern Spain. It was captured by the Spanish in the 1200, first by a kingdom in Central Spain known as Castilla (Spain used to be made up of different kingdoms, and Spain as we know it today was not unified until the 1500s) and they named it after Saint Barbara, and it was captured from Castilla by a North-East kingdom of Spain known as Aragón.

It offers an amazing view of Alicante, the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains surrounding Alicante. The sentry boxes reminded me a lot of the ones in the castles built by the Spanish in San Juan, Puerto Rico, so I enjoyed that bit of nostalgia. On the way down we were able to walk along the castle wall, which I thought was super awesome!

Castillo Santa Bárbara 

The view of the center of the city and the Port of Alicante

Sentry Box

Alicante with the mountains in the background

Me & a sentry box with Alicante & the Mediterranean in the background

Walking along the castle wall

The view of the castle from the wall

On Sunday, Dolo took me to the town where she grew up, Pinoso, which is about 40 minutes west of Alicante. On the Sunday closest to February 12^th, the town celebrates its independence from another city about 10 miles away (which happened on February 12^th of 1826); the festival is called el Día del Villazgo (Village Day) and commemorates not only its independence, but also its heritage. A lot of people were dressed in the traditional clothing of the town and a lot of artisans set up stands along with the local restaurants serving the traditional food such as paella, which is rice, vegetables and some type of meat and fasegures (the valenciano named; called pelotas in Spanish) which is more or less meatball soup; both dishes were extremely delicious!

Pinoso's City Hall with giant dolls dressed in traditional clothing

People dancing in traditional clothing

Clock tower in Pinoso

Universidad de Alicante

The Universdad de Alicante (University of Alicante) is actually in a town right to the north of Alicante called San Vicente del Reispeg or Sant Vicent del Reispeg, depending on whether you speak Spanish or the regional language, valenciano. For being so small compared to the United States, Spain has a lot of diversity it has 4 co-official languages, castellano (Spanish), euskera, gallego, and catalán (valenciano is a dialect of catalán, but is sometimes considered it's own language, especially by people who speak it). Since Alicante is in the the Comunidad Valenciana (Valencian Community), one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain (they are basically states), pretty much everything written in Spanish and valenciano; for example Alicante is also called Alacant and the Universdad de Alicante is also called Universitat d'Alacant. Luckily I find that Spanish is more prevalent, because I don't speak a lick of valenciano.

Well, enough of the linguistics lesson. The University of Alicante has a beautiful and huge campus with tons of buildings. I think about every college (i.e. - the college of arts, the college of science, the college of law, etc.) has at least two buildings if not three. They also have five of what they call Social Clubs, which are basically cafeterias. There are tons of trees and other various plants decorating the campus; for example they have a lot of orange trees (which I was told the Valencian Community prides itself on its oranges) a row of cacti, not something I see everyday at CMU.

Cacti and other plants you will never see outside in Michigan

La mano (the hand)

A walkway lined with trees

An orange tree (one of many)

The last week or so has been pretty low-key. I'm essentially still settling in, but now I'm settling in more at the University rather than at my new home. Classes have been going great, and now I am not so panicky like I was the first week. Friday Dolo and I are going to Castillo Santa Bárbara (Saint Barbara Castle) and also some Spanish students are going bowling with me and the other five CMU students.