"Mañana..."

So it is the end of my third week and the start of my fourth week in this amazing country. The biggest thing I have learned since my descent in Europe: picking up a language from scratch is NOT easy. I spend most of my days surrounded by some sort of American or English influence. The television channels often have American TV shows (LOST, Simpsons, Man vs. Wild, etc) and many people here speak enough English to accommodate my lack of ability. The concept is strange since in America, foreigners are often scorned and ignored because they "can't speak our language". Yet, as I travel about places with thousands of years of history and language, I'm eagerly greeted with my own language and welcomed by Spaniards yearning to learn more of what plainly isn't theirs. Needless to say, I'm trying my best to learn their language with as much diligence as they have learned ours.

Moreover, the Spanish seem to operate in an extremely relaxed way. Requirements for courses are an incredible contrast to the harsh torture that James A. Clark School of Engineering calls education. First of all, the focus of each class is very abstract. No homework, no tests, no grades, just pure knowledge. One class, Physical Concepts, is a philosophical discussion on the existence of physics. Our Einstein-look-alike professor spent his first transcendental lectures on the existence of energy. As schoolwork is incredibly rare, I have enjoyed adjusting to the mandatory daily routine which includes a three-hour-long siesta.

From the Spanish lifestyle, we can coin the term "Mañana." To anybody educated with a semester or two in Spanish, or for anybody equipped with Google Translator, this word simply means "tomorrow". But here, "mañana" exemplifies the greatest outcome of Spanish lifestyle. Relaxation feeding procrastination. To say "mañana" and to be "mañana", you are doing what every one of us has been cautioned against our entire lives: procrastinating. But "mañana" in Spain is perfectly acceptable. It may be mañana in registering for courses, or mañana while buying tickets for a movie. Even mañana in skipping class as a teacher (true story). Mañana mañana mañana.

As the Spanish say, "tranquiloooo". It literally means chill. So what if something doesn't get done TODAY, there is always mañana. In Spain, the important things are appreciated: great food, great weather, and fantastic company wherever you go.

Hasta luego!

(And some photo peeks)

MTV Winter Valencia

 

America's Cup, an international sailing competition. America brought the Cup back home!

City of the Arts and Sciences

Wine-tasting and Tapas

Oceanográfic - the largest oceanography aquarium in Europe

Livin' the life.

This past week I've just been taking my time getting situated in the piso, learning my way around the area, checking out the local bars & clubs, and feeling and eating all the great Valencian comida y vino. This week we also started escuela, and despite having such few classes, finding each one was a backbreaking task. There's actually no place online or in the school to check where the class is. You either wander around the building you THINK it's in, or frantically hop from information desk to information desk, looking for an English speaker.

Actual proof that the Oficina Internacional is only open for an average of 2.5 hours a day. We FINALLY got our paperwork in after going in every day for about a week. We have yet to receive our student cards, but at least the hard part is over.

Botéllon... early-ish on (about midnight)...

Botéllon an hour later:

It's really just a big party outside. THOUSANDS of young people, erasmus and Spanish locals gather on this block and drink till dawn.

Paco comes over every Monday and Friday, always bringing some delicious Valencian cuisine. This week, it is Lara's birthday, so he whips out the paella!

Paella de pollo conejo (paella with chicken and rabbit... sorry wellie!!)

Happy birthday to Lara, our Spanish roommate & Paco's daughter!

El Piso de Paco

Buenas dias! we just moved into a piso situated right outside of our universidad, owned by a guy named Paco. The search was long and taxing; we looked through hundreds of ads and visited 6 in person. We finally found a place super close to the university, right off the block of the main bar street, Avenida de Blasco Ibañez, living with three other international estudiantes. Paco welcomed us with a homecooked meal: Spanish steak with potatoes, goat cheese, and fruit marmalade. One of the girls is Paco's daughter, who speaks only Spanish and helps us along with the language.

We're right down the block from a square where Botellón takes place. Botellón is a Spanish traditional nightlife practice of buying alcohol from the supermarkets (before 10pm, per law) and drinking outside in plazas. Yesterday there were hundreds of people outside! Spain's relaxed lifestyle is starting to grow on me. Today I woke up at 10, ate a meal, walked around outside, ate another meal, hung out with mike & andrew, ate another meal, and now it's just about the right time for siesta before my 4th and last meal.

Also something rather inconvenient: the Spanish don't seem to work much. Especially at the international office at school, where we need to get our paperwork filed. In fact, they only seem to work two hours a day (4 hours on tuesdays and thursdays). Not to mention, just about everything is closed between the hours of 2 and 6, which is why we are relaxing in these lengthy four hours. No complaints though, the Spanish are incredibly laid back. I could get the hang of this.

Now it's time for siesta. Adios, hasta luego!

Valencia at last!

Finally. Finally finally, I have arrived at Valencia.

A breakdown of my travels so far:

January 31st

7pm BWI: Say goodbye to loved ones. Meet Michael at the airport. Endure a whopping ten minutes of security.

9pm BWI: Board our flight to Valencia! Scratch that. Board our flight to London. We embark on leg 1 of our journey. There is free wine and beer, it can't be so bad.

February 1st

Somewhere in the central Atlantic time-space continuum: A seat uncomfortable enough to keep me from the 7 hours of sleep I should have had.

9am LONDON: At last we land. We are exhausted, but London is great! There are signs forbidding "sharps" and trams that drive on the left of the road. Our stay in London goes like this: Get off the airplane. Get on a tram. Get off at a terminal. Walk to a different terminal. Get on a tram. Get off at a gate. Walk to a waiting area. Walk to another gate. Get on a tram. Arrive at our plane.

3pm BARCELONA: ESPANA at last!! We repeat our procedure in London... This seems to be common. Our plane parks in a seemingly random spot in the center of a runway; we board a tram which repeats the process. We recheck a few bags. We leave for Valencia.

6pm VALENCIA!!: It is gorgeous and sunny! I practice my Spanish: Donde esta el taxi??? 20 Euros later, we arrive at the Purple Nest Hostel. A few hours are spent wandering the city. After incredible difficulties navigating (we speak 2% Espanol, 98% Ingles), we return with a working phone, some paella, and unfortunately no cervezas. Turns out Valencia doesn't sell alcohol from stores after 10pm. It's ok; we find canned Heineken from the friendly hostel vending machine. After a few with some new traveling friends, it's a night.

February 2nd:

10am: Awaken, eat nutella on bread, and gather our bearings. The goal: depart Purple Nest at 11am, arrive at UPV around 11:45, sit down in orientation at noon. The reality: depart Purple Nest at 11am, get distracted by a concrete wall crashing from the top of a 20-story building, arrive UPV around noon, walk to the wrong building, finally sit down at orientation about 35 minutes fashionably late.

1pm: We receive more information in the preceding 25 minutes than in our entire fall semester preparing for this. We meet up with fellow Terrapins, Joey and Hannah and grab some salad. We then visit TWO more international offices to gather paperwork in preparation for the challenge to come: Registration.

3pm: We find Andrew! He seems proficient in the language. We do quite a bit of exploring the area. The campus is beautiful and there are orange trees everywhere. Valencia feels awesome. Andrew is kind enough to help us along in finding a piso (apartment/flat). After a few calls and texts, we realize that it is not so easy. Stuttering out "Habla Ingles?" is challenging and mostly invites responses of "Poco, poco" or straight up "No". Our search returns no feasible options. We return to the nest.

6pm: Shit, it's already 6? We missed all of siesta! So in Valencia and probably all of Spain, the locals like to engage in the sport of siesta, extreme napping, which occurs inevitably daily from around 2pm to 4pm or 5pm. This explains their daily routine of two mid-day meals, dinner around 10pm, and waiting until 1am to hit the club. We have been doing it all wrong this entire time. We're still American.

8pm: We successfully make it to the supermarcado! A few interesting things about Spanish grocery stores: they do not refrigerate eggs or milk. They do not sell soup. They do not refrigerate large smoked legs of ham and meats. And it is possible to purchase a 6-pack of longneck bottles for 1,25 euro. That is about $0.25 a bottle. And it's better than Natty. I conjure up a forged statement of Health Insurance coverage, as they can’t seem to understand that we are covered indefinitely as students, and we hang in the commonroom.

February 3rd

1:39am: I await the premier of LOST. Sadly, I don't think I'll be seeing it tonight. Unless there are any volunteers to Skype me the 3 hour special. ...Anybody?