Well, not quite chaos. Aside from the annoying crowds of tourists that have filled our beloved city, not much is different. I love not having class since it’s the main thing that brings down my spirit while I’m here, but it’s basically just like a preview of spring break except I’m not leaving the country. Maybe it’s different for the actual Valencians that are part of casals that build fallas because they do have some RAGERS at night, but for the rest of us, it’s pretty much the same old same old.
Monday we got up (relatively) early, took our bocadillos our mama made us, bought some 40s, and headed to the Plaza de Ayuntamiento to wait for the mescletá. We got there an hour early, and there were already a lot of people waiting around, so we claimed a spot about 10 or so rows back. We sat down in the crowd and picnicked right in the middle of the sidewalk while the crowd kept getting bigger and people kept trying to step on us. And who did we run into? None other than Valle, the DIRECTOR of the UVa program. He was looking pretty casual in his Hanes white tee and he was playing host to some former students that we there for the week. Valle was leaving for Bologna, Italy, the next day (as all true Valencians FLEE the city during this week), but was hanging out with the students before he left them with the keys to his apartment! (Seriously, Spanish people are so hospitable. I can’t name a single American who would entrust his apartment for the week with a former student). We chatted with them for a bit, but it was a little weird seeing him outside of the university, especially while we were drinking 40s in the middle of the crowd. We finally stood up in time for the fallera to ask the señor pyrotechnic to light the fireworks and the whole city started shaking. I felt like I was in the front line of a war. The fireworks only last for like 10 minutes, but everyone dead silent during the whole thing, only adding to the eeriness. My mama had previously warned me to keep my mouth open during the whole show so my eardrums didn’t pop, and I could definitely feel why. After the crazy finale ended and the plaza was filled with smoke, I was temporarily deaf.
We then went to Laboratorio, a restaurant/bar that our friend Marc (the fabulous guy from British Guyana who also owns Café de las Horas) owns. Pree and her sister who was visiting (yes, MB, her SISTER came to visit her) were hungry and wanting some lunch since they didn’t have the sweet bocadillos Amaya, Penny, and I had. When we walked in, Marc was there! We chatted with him for a while and ordered some drinks, and then he had some champagne sent over to us! That is why we are best friends with him. We had gone to his 80s dance party last week to dance to Madonna with him, and now he was giving us free champagne.
Next, we decided to do some exploring. We actually went on an extensive search for our favorite professor’s falla, which was supposed to be a giant dollar sign with Donald Duck and some other characters on it. We never stumbled upon it, but we did get to see some pretty cool fallas around the city, and Pree went and made reservations for us at a restaurant.
Our fireworks for 8-year-olds. Hombre literally laughed at us when we bought them.
After we had dinner there, we were walking around Barrio de Carmen looking for something to do and we ran into every single person we know! It was a huge group of our friends from the intercambio program and their friends from Erasmus, the European study abroad program. They were headed to Radio City, so we joined forces and went to dance the night away. We stayed until it almost closed, and then hung out for a little bit and headed back home.
Tuesday we went to the mercadona and got some cheese and crackers and lambrusco and picnicked in a little park with a bunch of grassy areas. Everyone was enjoying the sun and we just relaxed and napped a little. It was all pretty calm and I was wondering when the excitement was going to happen. We were talking in English, as is our custom when we’re outside of school, when a group of rather attractive guys sat down beside us. We continued talking and started a long debate over whether the guys were gay or just European without any attempt to conceal our conversation, owing to our belief that no one actually speaks English in Valencia. Well, upon closer examination, we realized the words coming out of their mouths were in fact English with a British accent. I’m not sure how much they actually heard of us, but I’m sure it was too much. That is why I have developed a new practice I think the government should implement that forces everyone to wear a badge or something that states what languages they speak. It would really make my life easier. We did end up talking to them for a little bit, though, and they told us the festivities didn’t really pick up until Thursday, so I guess that explains why there wasn’t much going on right then.
That night, we met up after dinner to go see the fireworks in the rio that started at 1 am. We were a little early, so we decided to go hang out at a bar called Beer for a little bit until it was time. Well, when we walked in, for the first time in Spain we were actually asked if we were really 18! NO ONE IDs in Spain, and the fact that they really couldn’t tell we were over 18 was really offensive! When I told him we were actually 21, he looked SHOCKED. When it was time to leave the bar, there were little teenage annoying stupid brats outside throwing fireworks and watching the crowd scurry out of the way right before they exploded. Once one went off, we decided to make a run for it, but they threw another one right in front of us that rolled right under my feet. I had to push Amaya out of the way to escape from the explosion. I hate fireworks. I hate teenagers. And I certainly despise stupid teenagers with fireworks. Too bad no one actually has curfews here.
Today is la ofrenda, when all the people go to the Plaza de la Virgin where there is a giant statue of the virgin that everyone fills with flowers.
I think I’m going to meet Pree and some other people there to watch it. Then maybe it will be hoppin’ tonight. I can definitely tell the energy is picking up. I was woken up at 7:30 this morning to some lovely fireworks and then again by a lovely marching band. In fact, there are fireworks going off right this second. And seeing as how you only have to be 8-years-old to buy some fireworks, they are CONSTANTLY going off. I don’t think I’ll be able to really relax for another week.
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