Ok, so this post is kind of long so I have made a table of contents in case you are not interested in it all.
1. Life in the Streets
2. Getting Lost
3. Horchata
4. Museum Geek
5. Tapas and Discotecas
6. To Come
1.Life in the Streets
One rather interesting cultural difference between life in Spain and life in the United States in the relationship to the home. In Spain, the home is a very intimate, private place. If you want to socialize with friends, you do not invite them over to the house or apartment. You go out to the streets, to the sidewalk cafes, parks. . . And if you invite someone to get a refreshment, tapa, or dinner, you pay for them and yourself. Oh, and a helpful hint about tipping in Spain: it is considered rude to tip a waiter or waitress because it conveys the sense that you view him/her as a servant. Or at least, this is what I was able to gather from my Spanish civilization, culture class.
2.Getting Lost
This weekend was my first full weekend in Valencia. On Friday, I got lost walking back to the apartment from the Universitat. I eventually got back, but by 3:00, I was hot, tired, frustrated, and hungry. Luckily, Carmen is a sweetie and comforted me. Do not worry, after that I studied the map and found the best full-proof route that I have been using since then so I will not be walking around in circles again. The problem was that I was on the right street but going in the wrong direction. All of the streets angle in towards the old, central part of the city so there aren't really any streets going east/west or north/south, and there are lots of round-abouts where multiple streets converge and sometimes the signs aren't always the best- or there. Although, when it comes down to it, the fault lies with myself. As most people could tell you, I am not the best with directions, but I feel like this experience is forcing me to improve.
3.Horchata
Friday night, I met up with my friends Sarah and Katy (Kendra spent the weekend with her visiting family) at a little cafe in the street where I live. Sarah and I shared a horchata which is a Valencian drink made up of ice, some kind of ground root, and some sugar. I tasted like icy milk with earthy undertones and was very good. It is really nice being able to just sit somewhere with friends and enjoy a refreshing drink, people watch, and not spend a ton of money.
4.Museum Geek
On Saturday, I walked on my fool-proof path to the downtown (about a 50 minute walk at a leisurely pace) where I drew for a while, looked at the beautiful floats and flower arrangements for the Catholic Corpus Cristi celebration, and walked around. I climbed up one of the Medieval towers to look out over the city and went to the el Museu de Prehistoria y Etnologia which was so cool! It is quite possible I was the only one there, but I wouldn't mind going back again. There was a whole exhibit about ancient burial sites and how archeologists can extract information about how the person lived and what he/she died from based on the bones. There were also displays showing the progression of funeral sites from pretty basic to more elaborate with ties to the development of religion and socio-economic hierarchy within a community.
Upstairs, there was a floor dedicated to the history of money in Spain from seashells to credit cards, and then another section explained the ancient history of the Valenciana region from before the Mesolithic Period to the Roman occupation. The third floor contained information about life in Valencia during the early part of the 20th century. Something I thought to be very interesting was the stratification of class in each building. I assumed it simply dividing by neighborhood, but I guess this is not so, and I wonder if it is still like this today. In the diagram, the ground floor was a bakery with rooms for the baker's family to live in the back. The next floor was a tailor shop and also had quarters for living. The two floors above where the apartments of the wealthy, but then each floor above those two were less luxurious and housed people of lower class. In a way it makes sense. The shops needed to be close to the ground floor where customers where coming and going; the wealthy were away from the noise and dirt of the street, and for those who could not afford much luxury, ended up with the rooms that required the most stairs and were probably the hottest when the heat from the floors below rose up to the top of the building.
Anyway, I thought it was interesting, and I found out that the museum hosts free movies during the summer in the outdoor courtyard. The only downsides to the museum was that it was all in Spanish so some of it was hard for me to understand (but, hey- I guess it was more practice), and the other was the fact that the security guards kept following me around. What did they expect me to do? Pull out my glass cutter, plop a Greek vase into my purse, and escape through the ventilation system? Hmm, maybe they were just bored.
5.Tapas and Discotecas
Saturday night, I met up with Sarah, Katy, another Rachel, and Molly to see the night life. We went to a little cafe that my professor had told me was the best place for tapas where Katy and Sarah tried out a few dishes and we talked. Then we walked to one of the plazas where we saw a band go past with lots of people (mostly older or middle-aged with kids) following behind for one of the Corpus Cristi celebrations. We joined in with the progression and followed them through streets where it would stop below balconies decorated with banners and beautiful floral arrangements. The people on the balcony would ceremoniously bring out another banner and everyone would clap and cheer and drink something. It was great. We didn't really know what was going on, but it was fun!
By then we were a little tired, but instead of heading back, we decided to try out our first discoteca experience at a place where it was free for chicas. The discotecas, or dance clubs, do not open until 2:00 a.m. and a lot of people stay until 6:00 or 7:00. It was. . . interesting? There were a lot of creepy-ish older men so we decided we will try to go to a discoteca again but probably a different one, and I will not bring a huge side bag with me. That was annoying for dancing, and I kept worrying about pick-pockets. Afterward, we caught a cab and headed home. I think I went to bed before my house mom, Carmen. Haha- Spain runs on a much later schedule than the states.
6.To Come
This coming weekend is a three-day weekend so Katy, Sarah, another girl (Becca), and I are headed off to Barcelona. It should be a lot of fun, and although I do have classes, they do not require much work. Plus, I have been able to get quite a bit done since I do not have a TV or internet most of the time. I hope all is well wherever you are.
Adios!
No comments:
Post a Comment