Valencia

semana santa. aka easter break. in march my dad was planning on coming, then that got delayed. then I was planning on going with my host family, but they couldn't find a ticket. then my counselor said we were going to the pyranees. but guess what, we went to Valencia instead! which was fine with me because I hadn't been there yet. so we got off school on Thursday, I went to my counselors house on Friday, and we left for Valencia on Tuesday. meanwhile, I hung out with a couple friends and wandered around the neighborhood.

 

the first tree I've climbed all year. it was amazing

 

I played chess with alex (which was a 5 minute game because he said he "didn't want to think," he "got too bored". but then I played with his friend and got beat. barely, though ;)

 

 



so those couple days were good, especially since I got to sleep in. then we headed off to Valencia. only a 3 hour car ride so it wasn't too bad. for those of you who don't know, Valencia is the region on the east coast of spain. we went to Sagunto, about 30 km north of Valencia city, where they have an apartment. the reason we went there instead of the mountains was because my counselor's dad wasn't feeling well, so when we arrived he went off to see him as we sat around the house.

the next day we went to la playa, and it was fantastic. the water was cold, but Barbara (11 years old) and I swam anyway. there weren't many people because it was a work day and their vacations are different.

 

that's barbara

 

it was really, really great

 



so we went to the beach for a couple days, and then went to Valencia, the city. its one of the biggest port cities, and its famous for paella. if you don't know what paella is, what are you even doing. im actually not a huge fan of it, but when its made with chicken and not sea food, its amazing.

 

this is a store only selling paella pans. the one in the back left is huge. they love their paella.

 

this is a little map of part of the town.

 

the great cathedral. although these days I feel like I've seen every cathedral there is...

 

 

 

 



we had been looking online for interesting things to do in Valencia, and alex found this thing called the xroom. its basically where youre in this room for an hour and you get certain clues that lead to codes that lead to more codes that open locks and you have to get out. it was pretty fun, actually. we also went and got delicious ice cream. then walked around a bit more and went home.

over the last few days we went and visited the underground caves (pretty, but kinda boring),  and the castle (pretty fun).

 

view of sagunto

 

meeee with view of Valencia in the way way back

 

Susana

 

 

 

so overall it was just super fun. i wish I had brought my nice camera, but its nice not having to worry about taking pictures. ALSO, we got ice cream like twice every day so that was amazing. I tried so many different flavors. and at the end I got this orange thing but it turned out to be not an orange thing and ended the streak terribly. but thats okay, now i know.

 

anyway, now we're back to school and im going to try really hard this trimester so I can pass all my classes.

 

also, if all goes well, i'll be traveling to the canaries for a couple days, but I dont have all the permission stuff done yet, so we'll see.

 

M