Week 13 and 14

Hello my family and friends,

Wow, time flies by. I have been here now for over three months. Next Friday I will go back home for Christmas and to celebrate the 60 years anniversary of my grandparents. I am really looking forward to that.
So the first of the past two weeks I didn’t do that much special because I had to study a lot. So I will be brief about it.

Monday 28 November – Dentist!

As I wrote in my last blog I had to go dentist because of my wisdom tooth. I went there feeling a bit scared because I did not know what to expect. If he was able to talk English, if he was going to take my wisdom tooth out and how much I would have to pay. So I got 500 euro cash to be sure and went there. The clinic was in a very fancy building and I had to get a card to get in. After a view minutes waiting the dentist came and spoke perfectly English to me. I felt less scared immediately, also because he was very nice. After a quick look in my mouth he asked me how much pain killers I took. He thought I was really though because I did not take that many. He said: ‘Nordic people are way more though than Spanish people.” He told me I had to do an x-ray but that he wouldn’t take the tooth out that day. A big relief again, although I wanted the pain to go away. We looked at the x-ray together and he explained to me the inflammation was very deep in my mouth and I had to take antibiotics to heal. I only had to pay 50 euro’s which I think is very cheap, he said that a lot people from the north of Europe come to Spain because it is so much cheaper. I got some extra strong painkillers and the antibiotics. He told me I should feel better in two days. In the evening I went to a Chinese supermarket which was the best thing ever. They had so much, I bought a litre gluten free soy sauce!

Tuesday 29 November – Homemade pasta Carbonara and Sarah’s birthday party

During the day I went to my lectures and studied a bit. In the evening Marieke and I thought we deserved a really good meal so we decided to make pasta Carbonara. I hate pasta Carbonara from a jar, but everyone always tells me that homemade is the best. And it was!!! My god, it was delicious, we made the sauce for 4 people and pasta for just 2 so we had a lot of cheese and bacon. We felt really proud and full afterwards. Sarah from my study here was celebrating her birthday that night. It was in a really nice, cute bar very close to my old home and I didn’t know it before. Such a shame.

Wednesday 30 November – visiting a mental health centre

I woke up with a lot less pain so I was very happy about that. In the morning I did some studying and in the afternoon I had my last visit to a psychology centre. This time we went to a mental health centre called ACOVA. It was very impressive because we got to see the whole place and patients were walking around. One gut was really funny, he came to talk to us a few times and told us he was half Belgic and half Spanish. He was talking about how he thinks the French accent is the worst and that he dislikes French people. It was an inspiring visit I will remember for a long time.

Thursday 1 December – Nothing special

I went to my lectures and I studied a bit. I had a lot less pain which almost caused me to forget my antibiotics. In my Spanish course, I had to do a presentation about a typical holiday of the Netherlands. I did a little presentation about the fourth and fifth of May.

Friday 2 December – presentation for sleep disorders

Another not really interesting day. In the morning I had to do a presentation for my sleeping disorder course. I had to choose an article related to sleeping disorders. I found an article about the influence of scents on dreams. They found that a negative smell (eg. rotten eggs) resulted in negatively toned dreams and positive smells (eg rose) resulted in more positive toned dreams. The rest of the day I relaxed and studied. At night the Brads came by for a bit, Sara invited them but she was showering and eating so I had to entertain them.

Saturday 3 December – el Classico

Because I needed to do something fun I went with my roommate from Libya, Fares, to watch el Clasico, the football match of FC Barcelona against Real-Madrid. We went to a shisha bar which was very nice. Unfortunately, the match was very boring but it was good to be outside the house a bit. In the evening I received a lot of pictures from home, both my family and Ruben’s family were celebrating Sinterklaas, a Dutch holiday. That caused me to feel a bit homesick.

Sunday 4 December – setting a fallas on fire (NOT)

On Sunday I had to study again because Pim was coming on Wednesday and I had to finish some stuff. Las Fallas, the carnival of Valencia was declared world heritage and to celebrate that they would set a Falla, a wooden statue, on fire and have fireworks. I went there with Meike, unfortunately, it was raining all day so they cancelled the event and told us it would be on Friday. It was nice to be a little outside so I didn’t really mind.

Monday 5 December – SINTERKLAAS!!!!!

On Monday I went to my lectures and afterwards I should have had volleyball training. But just when I was about to leave I received a message the training was cancelled. That left me with more time to prepare my things for the Sinterklaas party we would have with all the roommates. Meike and I baked a lot of pancakes and the Italian girls made parmigiana (sooooo delicious). After eating way too much, everyone did we started with giving presents. I had to buy Sara a present and write her a poem. I bought her a timer because she is often late and a statue that looked a bit like me. Meike bought me the best presents ever; a whoopee pillow ( I’m not sure if that is correct, but it is in Dutch een scheetkussen), slimy, a little baking tray and a heart to warm your hands with. We continued with a game, we all bought some small presents and with a dice we divided them between all of us. It was really funny to introduce everyone with the Sinterklaas experience.

Tuesday 6 December – no classes

Because the constitution of Spain was signed on this day, at least I think that was the reason, I had no lectures. So I studied the whole day and cleaned my room in preparation for Pim.

Wednesday 7 December – PIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

During the day I had to study a lot because I did not want to study during Pims visit. At half past 8, she arrived finally. I was really happy to see her again. We had dinner with Marieke, Sara, Chris and the brads were also there. We stayed up late talking a lot which was very nice.

Thursday 8 December – walking around the city

Another holiday, this time we celebrate La Inmaculada Concepción, which is the day holy Mary is conceived ( Voor meer informatie: http://www.verrassendvalencia.nl/la-inmaculada-concepcion.html ). I showed Pim the city, that was crowded because of the holiday. We went to the cathedral and climbed it. Afterwards, we walked inside and saw a big mass was going on. We watched a bit and went to see the holy chalice in a chapel there. I expected it to be big which it wasn’t at all. Afterwards, we thought we deserved some ice cream. Pim tried the best ice cream of Spain, fourth in the world, she liked it a lot. Afterwards, we walked through Turia park, Pim was feeling really happy because the weather was so good and there were palm trees everywhere. Also, the ripening oranges in the trees were very pretty. We walked to the city of arts and sciences and I showed Pim the secret there, if you want to know it you should come and I will show you! At seven in the evening, we again went to see the Falla set on fire, only to find out it was on the next Sunday. We walked around a bit looking at all the pretty street art Valencia has. At night we went to eat sushi, unlimited but we got stuffed way too soon. Because we felt too full to walk we decided to take a cab home.

Friday 9 December – shopping and TINTO FINO!!!!

I had a practical for my sleeping disorder course so I had to wake up early. The practical was a disaster, but I finished it as almost the only one from the whole class which made me feel smart! When I got home Pim was ready to go out for breakfast. We went to Paprika of course and she also liked it as much as I did. Afterwards, we went to Mercat Central and bought al sorts of food. From 12:30 till 14:30 I had a lecture so Pim watched series in the canteen. Afterwards, we went shopping in the el Corte ingles outlet. We spent more than 3 hours there trying on a lot and not buying that much. I bought a really nice skirt and prom dress. We had dinner at Tinto Fino, that is really the best tapas I ever tasted. After eating too much again we walked home enjoying all the Christmas decoration everywhere in the town.

Saturday 10 December – shopping more and party!

Because Pim still wanted to buy some things we went shopping again. We walked around for a few hours, but after getting lost in the el Corte ingles, the biggest most chaotic store I have ever been in, we were done. We had lunch at 5 with paella and patatas bravas, two things everybody should eat while in Spain. Once home we relaxed a bit having trouble getting up again until we heard music outside. We went outside really fast with Meike. We saw some girls dressed in the dresses they wear during las Fallas and a marching band. They were walking and we followed them not knowing what they were up to. They stopped in front of a house and suddenly loud fireworks went off scaring the shit out of me. A girl came out of the house followed by a traditionally dressed man. They started walking again and stopped at another place. We asked someone what was happening and they explained to us the new fallera was chosen. There are small groups, societies, that each build their own Falla each year. They have a fallera, a girl that represents the group. Each year they choose a new one. We went home and lied down some more. But Chris had a party and it was also Pims last night so we forced ourselves to get up. We played some card games with Meike and went to a flat party afterwards. It was super crowded and after an hour the police came to end the party. We went to Piccadilly, the best club I have been so far in Valencia. All sorts of people were walking around, all ages but also many gay people. Some were dressed really extravagant which was awesome to see. Upstairs they had a silent disco, we spend almost the whole night there dancing our feet off. We finally went home at half-past 5, because my feet were killing me. I will never go out on heels again.

Sunday 11 December – saying goodbye again… and finally, fire!!

We woke up a bit late on Sunday, not really a surprise. We had ‘breakfast’ at paprika again and walked around Rusafa, Pim had pie at Dulce de Leche, also a must see, or must eat actually. The weather was great so we went to the beach afterwards. We walked along the see but unfortunately we did not have time left because she had to catch her plane. After being in an overfull bus with Spanish people that were standing way too close we had to say goodbye. Still, something I dislike a lot. At eight I went for the third time to the place where they would set the Falla on fire with Meike. When we arrived we saw so many people we were sure it was going to happen that night. They did a light show, and someone talked. All the people were shouting and singing the whole time, being very proud at their festivity. Next, they had a firework show on music. I have never seen anything like that, the fireworks were perfectly synchronised to the music and just kept on going. Finally, after being covered in ash, they set the Falla on fire. It was beautiful to see and I really want to go back to Valencia in March when they celebrate the Fallas for real.

I hope you enjoyed reading this blog.
Kisses!