Dinner, Parade, Fireworks, and BBQ

Sorry for the long wait since my last blog... I was going to write this on Monday, and here I am Friday. My only excuse is pure laziness... oops.

I will just talk about last weekend, as I want to talk about this week (Fallas) all at once in my next blog. Friday night I got together with a bunch of people that I met on the trip to Granada. We met for dinner, and then went to two clubs (Studio and Zenith). Dinner was fun, especially getting to talk to some of the people again. We ate at a place that served plate after plate of food... like the tapas I ate in Granada. It is always good to get a nice variety of food, but I rarely am full after that type of meal.

Maybe I should have taken the picture before we ate everything...

After dinner, we went to the clubs. Studio is free entrance, so we went there first before it got too crowded. I randomly met 3 Californian girls there who were just passing through on a trip through Spain. When I first got here, I didn't care too much if I saw another American. Now, it is fun because there aren't many of us here! Then we went to Zenith, which isn't the best but we had free entrance tickets. There weren't many people there at first, but more started showing up as the night got on. I ended up at home at 7 am... yes, another late night, but I am starting to get used to them.

I love stealing group photos... they never knew...

So, Saturday night Jessica Potter invited me to tag along to a colorful Mascletá and Ninot Parade in the center. We met up with Mike, a guy from Missouri, and a Peruvian-Irish girl and a Columbian girl. Before the fireworks, they had the parade in the streets... and I have never seen anything like it before in my life! Most of the floats were very political in nature (complaints about lack of water, water prices, lack of parking, etc.). I didn't understand a lot of the floats because of their political nature, and because most signs were written in Valencian, instead of Spanish. There were also a lot of cross dressers... both of the male and female variety. Really scary drag queens. Also, there were bands and choreographed dances to music. There were so many not Politically Correct floats and costumes that such a parade could never occur in the US... lawsuits would be filed faster than one of those drag queens could put on lipstick. After the parade, they lit of the "Castillos", or fireworks that go up in the sky. Not as varied and interesting as US firework displays, but much louder (as is the style here in Valencia). Here are some pictures and a video of the night:

Falleras and Drag Queens!

The Pope and Superheroes?

Cowboys (Americans) and Indians!

Buñuelos and Chocolate! Yum! Chocolate bad though.

Sorry for the bad quality...

I ended up getting home around 2:30 or 3 am that night... not as late as Friday, but later than I had expected. Then, Sunday afternoon Jessica invited me to a BBQ at her place! There were about 10 or so of us, and it was a lot of fun. One of the people is another Montanan, Kelsey, who just started studying here this semester. She was Ellen Story's roommate in Bozeman (and Ellen was the roommate of Chandra Shaw, whom a lot of my family should know). I had a pork chop and a hamburger with no bun :). I had my camera with me, but once everyone arrived I just forgot about taking pictures. After that, I went home... did some homework, procrastinated a lot... you know the drill.

  BBQ for me and you! And some other people I guess...

Now here I am in Fallas! Things are getting crazy... I saw a kid get taken in an ambulance after getting hurt by a firework. There are definitely a million or more people tightly packed in the streets of Valencia at all hours of the day and night, and people are launching fireworks into the crowds! Everyone just has to be careful for the next few nights... hopefully after Fallas things will calm down a little.

Ok, that is all for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and see you next week with information of what I did during Fallas!!!!

Fallas

Well, it is that time of the year... Fallas are upon the Valencians, and things are already starting to get crazy. Loud parties, fireworks going off at all times of day and night, girls wearing pretty dresses... ok, maybe I should explain what I know about this celebration first.

The Fallas are a Valencian celebration of St. Joseph's Day on March 19th. Each neighborhood, or barrio, has a group that organizes the celebrations for Fallas. This includes getting bands ready, decorating, constructing the Fallas, and probably much more. What is a Falla? It is what we would call a Float in the US, as it is a giant construction that is NOT paraded around the city. (Edited: The Fallas just sit in the plazas, "awaiting their doom" according to Paco, a true Valencian. Thanks Paco, it sounds way cooler now!) The Fallas typical represent people, including a Falla of George W. Bush in 2005 apparently. The difference between our Floats and Valencia's Fallas, however, is that at the end, they light them on fire! How cool is that!

Under construction... hurry up already, I want to light it on fire!

During the month of March (I accidentally wrote May earlier, thanks Victoria) leading up to the 19th, many celebrations happen. One of them is La Mascletá, which is a fireworks display. However, while we go to fireworks shows for the sights and sounds, Valencians tend to just like the "sounds" portion... la Mascletá is 5 minutes of the loudest firecrackers I have ever heard in my life. It also is about the only event that Spaniards are punctual for (just joking) as it happens every day at almost exactly 2:00 PM. I went last Sunday with my Tandem partner Paula, and it was definitely alot of fun. She also showed me several interesting areas of the city center.

Here is a video of the Mascletá:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDJViPMNF18

Here are some photos:

  Walking, dancing, Fallas!

  Behind the fence lies an entire nations weapon supply...

Boom! and Look at the sun!

Apparently, there is a lot more to come... with most of the excitement centered around the week of the 19th. I will keep you updated on what will probably be the most exciting Fiesta of my life!

For more information, please visit the link below... it is far more informative than this post :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falles

One final note... my parents, sister, and Aunt Kathy are coming to visit me in less than 3 weeks... yahoo!!!!

Granada!!!

Sorry for the delay in posting this. I have been sick since Monday, and haven't felt up to writing my blog... but more about that later, first the good stuff:

So, last Friday I got on a bus with a bunch of UPV and University of Valencia students and headed to Granada. The trip was a long one, but definitely worth it. We took a break after a couple hours for lunch number one... than a couple hours later for lunch number two [and yes, I ate both times :) ]. When we got to Granada, we got off the bus and started our first tour immediately. It was of a couple of neighborhoods in the center of the city, just so we would know our way around the next two days.

 

The stones on the ground were kind of nice... they gave a nice massage to your feet as you walked. Since I was wearing my Converse All-Stars, I could feel every stone. After walking around for a bit, we got back on the bus and headed to our hostel. It was nice for a hostel, as it was triple-rooms with individual bathrooms (small, but individual nonetheless).

I picked the short straw and had to sleep on the bottom bunk...

Ok, so some went out that night for Botellon and such, but I decided to try and sleep so I could go out the next night. I started going to sleep at 11 pm... and couldn't fall asleep until 6 am!!! Factors: noisy neighbors, snoring roommate, people knocking on walls at 4 am, cars driving by at night, stuffy room, etc...

Whatever. The next day I felt fine even after getting only 2.5 hours of sleep. We ate breakfast, and then left the hostel to visit a couple nifty places. First on the list was the St. Jeronimo Monastery. Sadly, we weren't able to hear the monks singing, but were still able to see some interesting artwork and sculptures... especially in the chapel:

We also got to visit the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral. No photos were allowed inside, but it was interesting because we were able to see the coffins of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand. Click the following to visit the Capilla Real-Granada Website. Outside of the Chapel and Cathedral we were accosted by old ladies trying to give us Pine or Romero sprigs, saying "It's a gift" but obviously expecting money from you if you let them slip it into your hand. I wanted to yell at them "Stop touching me!!!"

Luckily, there were some people I didn't mind loitering around the Cathedral:

 ¡Abrazos Gratis!     Free Hugs!

That's right, Free Hugs campaigners! I got a free hug... it was great, and I want another! After that, we had lunch in a Minotaur bar, and then free time to see the city. I was in a group with a couple of girls, and they kind of guided us into the shops... maybe next time pick a group with more guys than girls so I can do more sight seeing and less shopping :). There also was a Moroccan street area, with vendors and such everywhere... and we stopped in one of the tea shops. I ordered a "Tranquil" tea, and hated it. Oh well, at least I got to sit for awhile in this cozy nook:

But not for long, it was uncomfortable!

That night, we ate dinner at the hostel and then hung out in one of the rooms for awhile before heading out for some crazy club action. We got to the club just a little before 2 am, which was good because the line was short. They almost didn't let me in, thinking I wasn't even 18! The club was called Mae West, and interestingly enough had Oscar Award Statues outside the place... interesting, because the Oscars were given out less than 24 hours after I was in that club!

 Screeeeeaaaaaaamm!!!!!!

I wanted a bit of sleep, so I left early: around 5:30 am. The next day I got up at 9, got packed, and got on the bus around 10 am. Our last stop in Granada would be the most interesting: The Alhambra. I will spare you the historical details, but the Alhambra is probably one of the most well known pieces of Islamic architecture in the world, or at least in Spain. The massive number of arches, and the amount of detailed carved into the walls and ceilings was amazing.

I found the golden arches, but no Big Mac was in sight...

There was also a bell tower that allowed you to see a complete panoramic view of The Alhambra and of Granada:

Don't' fall!

And that covers about A-Z of my trip. One last thing though: before getting on to the bus to go back to Valencia, I decided to buy a Doner Kebap to eat. It was the fastest thing to get, and I really needed to make sure I didn't hold up the bus. It made my stomach a little queasy, but I thought "Whatever" and finished it. The next day, Monday, I started feeling sick. By the end of the night, I was throwing up everything I had eaten in the past 5 years. So, the rest of this week has been recuperating from what I believe was food poisoning. I am finally feeling better today, although by the end of the day my stomach always starts acting up again. Hopefully I will be feeling completely better by the weekend. I also hope I didn't miss too much in classes, because I was only able to make it to one lab session out of the entire week.

On a final note, March is here, and so in Valencia Fallas have officially started. The craziness wont begin for another couple of weeks, or so I think. As such, I should have some interesting things to talk about over the next month. Until next time!