Practica Fallas

Well this blog has kinda become my study break so here is another quick blog. I find it amazing how quickly I can type on page in English but how it takes me like 2 times as long to do it in Spanish… anyway this blog is going to be about my Practica which is kinda like a service learning internship with the fallas.

The Fallas are a huge celebration March 15-19th in Valencia. I really wish I could be here to see them so someday I will just have to come back! Anyway the celebrations started because the carpenters of Valencia all would burn there winter light holders on March 19th the feast of St. Joseph patron St. of carpenters. The celebration has since evolved into the burning of ninots which are life size figures made out of paper mache. The some of the fallas are huge. Think of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade floats and now imagine like one of those placed on every street corner and these things are ornate. The process that goes into making one is incredible. They design them on the computer, make molds for them then put wood strips to make the basic shape then they cover it with paper or other burnable materials then they sand them so they are smooth and then finally they paint and assemble them. The commission I was working with doesn’t make the huge fallas but they were working on smaller ones for children right now. Most of the time the fallas criticize current events in Spain and globally, when I visited the museum fallero there were ones of George Bush, Luis Zapatero (president of Spain), Juan Carlos (king of Spain) and many other people and things. Last year the commission I worked with did one that criticized the lack of parking in Valencia. The super small scale model looked really cool but the real one was all burnt up.

So basically the festival goes like this… March 15th all the different fallas (floats) are planted on street corners, in plazas and all over Valencia and the surrounding communities. On the 16th prizes are awarded for the best fallas in each category (determined by the amount of $$ spent) and there is a judging to determine which one ninot (doll) out of all the dolls will be saved from burning and put in the museum fallero, on the 17th there is a procession from all the different fallas commissions bringing flowers to put in front of the virgin in the plaza de la virgin by the Cathedral. The 18th is the “night of flame” and this means a huge fireworks display (my professor said it is like Disney fireworks quality if not better) which I would LOVE to see. During this whole time the entire city is just one huge fiesta and on the 19th St. Joseph’s day, is the burning when every falla and ninot (except the one chosen to be saved) are burnt. I can’t imagine what that has to look like, probably like the city is burning. In my practica I helped out with making some of the ninots for this year’s float which I would love to see painted but unfortunately won’t be able to unless I get some pictures sent to me. We’ll see.

This really wasn’t much of a study break since this is all stuff I have to know for my final. Oh well it was good review! See you all soon!

Rome Day 2

Today, we headed out for our hop on hop off tour of Rome. Just a brief explanation for anyone who doesn’t get it basically we were able to get on and off a bus at 17 different places throughout the city and while riding the bus you could listen to a tour about some of the stuff you were seeing and such. My speakers never really worked so I just took pictures.

Well we started the day at a Church Santa Maria Maggori or something like that and after that it was go go go! So much to see in Rome and only 2 days, not enough time at all but I was glad we had this tour because we really did get to see a lot. After we explored the church and plaza back to the bus. Next stop that I remember was the Coliseum complete with people dressed up like gladiators. We didn’t go in but It was still cool to just see from the outside and we did peek in and saw some of the inside. Also the area around the Coliseum contained other ruins like columns and I think some super old houses in the caves nearby but we didn’t wander all the way over that way.

Back on the bus again we drove past Nero’s circus. Which was another stop but we didn’t get off this time. Next stop that we did disembark on was a small Island with Basilica on it. It was great because the bridge and island were great scenery to get a picture and the church was cool too… lots of photo opportunities today! :) Back to the bus again and the next stop was a archeological dig site where they had uncovered what they were pretty sure were the remains of 5 different temples each built at different time periods. That was one of my favorite parts of the day. I don’t know why but seeing things so old is just not something that I see every day so it is pretty cool at least to me. The site was also a local adopt a cat site.
They seriously were all over!

After that next stop was St. Peter’s which we didn’t get off at (well I did just to get a picture of the bus) so we waited while the driver took his break. Next stop was the castle Sant Angelo. Again we didn’t enter in it but it was cool just to walk up to the bridge leading to it had 12 different angels on it each with some object of sin I think. Not quite 100% sure on that anymore… anyway back to the bus.
Next stop I remember was the Pantheon but before that we went and explored plaza navona which was a cool plaza with and Egyptian obelisk that was somehow related to Ramses. Yeah I don’t remember much more than that about it. Pantheon was great though so cool just to see. The inside was all redone by the Christians when they took over so it wasn’t a place for pagan worship and sacrifice. The floor sloped slightly so that liquids would run off. The inside and outside were both pretty impressive, and hard to describe. A picture is worth a thousand words so ask me to see pictures sometime!

Next stop I remember was the font de trevi or fountain of trevi. It was a pretty cool looking fountain again with an Obelisk in a plaza with some tents and such for shopping which we didn’t even stop at! We were on a mission to finish out tour before time ran out! Next and last stop I remember was plaza republica. Which had a fountain a church to go into which we did that was interesting because it had a bunch of stuff up about Galileo only problem was it was getting dark so picture taking got kinda hard. After that stop we went back to where we started and actually went to mass in the Basilica Maria Maggiore. We didn’t really understand a word but Alleluia and Amen but it was still cool to hear a mass in Italian. There was a lot more singing in the Italian mass than the Spanish but maybe that was just the church. After that more delicious Italian food and then bedtime because the day was exhausting! And tomorrow I was leaving to go back to Valencia. It was great to see my parents and Grandma and I can’t wait to see everyone in a week or so when I get home!

Sorry that the descriptions are so bad. Should have wrote when things were fresher in my memory. I do have about 450 pictures of just this day though so hopefully that will make up for the bad descriptions.

Vatican City

Rome!!! Italy!!! So much to say, too bad I am writing this like a month late. I probably won’t even remember half of the stuff we saw… but in my defense there was so much to see I honestly don’t even know if I knew what I was looking at half the time!

Well as I said in my last blog we left for Rome Thursday late afternoon and arrived Thursday in the evening with plenty of time to find our hotel, which was really close to the bus station luckily and someplace close by to eat. The first Italian food I had had in a long time! It was delicious. First night was pizzas mmm… so good. Anyway then it was to bed for us because we were getting up early to be the first in line to get into the Vatican tomorrow.

We weren’t the first in line but we only had to wait a little while. I was kinda chilly just because I have gotten used to the warmer temperatures of Valencia. (Bad news since I will be in snow covered WI in a week.) Anyway, soon we were entering into the Vatican museum which was amazing. So much history there it was amazing. It started with Egyptians and such and just kept getting more and more recent. It was really amazing! Anyone traveling to Rome I recommend it highly it wasn’t interactive and fun like other museums I have visited but there was just so much cool historical ancient stuff there. There was so much to see and walk through I can’t even remember it all. Raphael’s room was great and of course the Sistine Chapel was INDESCRIBABLE! I have a couple illegal photos from in there but really you have to see it in person to get the full feeling of awe! Everything about the room is ornate the painting and everything. That is where the cardinals elect new popes, it was crazy to be standing in a place like that and just looking around thinking of it.

Well after a full morning and most of the early afternoon in the museum we decided it was time to eat and then head outside to St. Peter’s Square and visit St. Peter’s Basilica. The queue for that was also rather long but as they are accustomed to massive amounts of tourist it was moving pretty quickly. We actually met and chatted with another American couple waiting in the line that had just finished a biking trip in Northern Italy (I think). They said it was beautiful which I don’t doubt.
Before we knew it we were through the line and walking up and into St. Peter’s Basilica. The inside was HUGE with so much to see. We walked around looking at all the art, crypts, statues, and just everything. The structure itself is also amazing. Gigantic columns, huge domes, everything so ornate… yeah… really indescribable. Anyway, we admired and everything for quite awhile it was really a cool experience. Later we visited the mausoleum where many popes and such were buried also some cardinals and a queen I believe. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of that but it was amazing just to see. And lastly for the day we climbed the cupola to get a great view of all of Rome. Dad and I took the stairs all the way and mom and Grandma took the elevator halfway and the stairs the rest. The stairs were interesting because the walls we sloping in since it was a cupola so I was leaning to one side the entire time with my upper body and then trying to walk straight… not a great idea and I didn’t even fall! The view from the top was absolutely spectacular! Which made the climb well worth it; we were also lucky because it was just about time for sunset so yeah just the icing on the cake!

After we met up again at the bottom we headed back to the Hotel and then to eat. More yummy Italian food tonight was pasta! Buenísimo! And then off to bed to be ready for another day of sightseeing!

Grandma mom and dad in Valencia

A shorter blog about my family visiting me in Valencia…

It was my midterms week so they kinda had to entertain themselves and I think that they did. The language barrier of course brought them a couple of adventures in restaurants and such but at least they got a great experience ;) Mondays and Wednesdays I have 3 classes so on those days they were really on their own until night.

On Tuesday we visited the beach yes the beach in October… for me it was kinda chilly but really it wasn’t bad at all and the water wasn’t quite as warm as I had remembered but it also wasn’t freezing cold like when I jumped into the Gilman’s pool to help get the stairs out last year in October or when we went swimming after cleaning up the beach front at the Emerging Leaders retreat in a lake last year in October. So I guess I can’t complain.

Grandma also really wanted to pick a wonderful Valencia orange and try it but she never got a chance. I have since tried now that they are in season and they are delicious and huge... bigger than my fist!

We also went to a Flamenco show that night which was my first Flamenco and it was really interesting but not quite what any of us were expecting. I think it is safe to safe we were expecting a girl in a pretty dress to be the dancer but that wasn’t what we got. We actually had a super sweaty man as the dancer. He was super good though, I couldn’t believe how quickly he was moving his feet! The music was really great too. The singer was amazing (I have been another show since and can compare) and the guitar… I just wanted to listen to it forever! So wonderful!!! Also completely indescribable, so I am not even going to try I have a video (I think) so just ask when I get back.

Wednesday night my host parents had invited them over to our apartment for a meal and just so they could meet. It was a super fun night and a delicious dinner. My host mom knows what I like so well that instead of a seafood dish she made a dish with cerdo (pig) just so I would eat it. It was delicious I still have to get the recipe (time is running out!) Most of the night I was translating back and forth between English and Spanish so that my family and padres could talk to each other. The fun thing about translating is you don’t actually have to be 100% sure about ever word because really the people you are translating don’t know what was said so you can just fill in the blanks of what you don’t know! My host padre recently told me that he can understand written English pretty well and I am sure some spoken too but he seemed satisfied with my translations. :)

Thursday was our last day in Valencia. Class in the morning for me and then we were on a flight to Rome! The next adventure!!!

Barcelona

Hello readers of my blog… if there are any of you left out there. I apologize for being so terrible at keeping up. I am about a month behind or more! But better late than never, hopefully you agree.

So first a quick update, things are crazy here. I can’t believe the time has gone so quickly it feels like the time has been going twice what it normally would. I have been engulfed in projects, papers, presentation and my soon to come finals! Plus some traveling and other fun experiences :)

Anyway, so I left off in Barcelona when my parents and grandma came to visit me. I think I can speak safely for all of us when I say that we had a great time even though we were only there for a day and a half. Friday night was a chill night because by the time we all met at the hotel it was basically time for supper and bed, especially for the grandma, mom and dad who had been traveling all day in planes and car. I will share though whether my parents like it or not, that they were more or less driving around Barcelona lost for I think nearly 5 hours trying to find out hotel. To illustrate my point we basically arrived at the hotel at about the same time but my flight didn’t get in until at least 5 hours later. So now I think we all know that it is genetics that gave me my bad sense of direction! Back to Friday night though, I can’t express in words how great it was to see some familiar faces which makes me really excited to come back home and see so many familiar faces! As I mentioned we basically just went to eat which was great because the family got to experience Sangria, a Spanish specialty that is delicious. For those who may not know it is wine that is mixed with some different fruit juices. Sounds simple and maybe it is I don’t know but it is really delicious! After dinner it was back to the hotel for a good night’s rest for all of us because we had an early morning.

Saturday, our only full day in Barcelona was busy one. We started the day with a tour to Montserrat, a pilgrimage sight in the mountains just outside of Barcelona. We had a great tour guide who spoke at least 3 different languages but for us only Spanish and English. Montserrat was about an hour bus drive away but for the entire hour there and back we were listening and learning while watching out the window as Barcelona passed us by. When we got there we were guided to the Monastery where it is tradition to touch the hand of the virgin of Montserrat. There also was a museum that we didn’t have time to enter and other things to see like statues and art. The view was also amazing seeing as we were in the mountains. One funny thing happened that I recall… I asked a lady to take a picture of the four of us and she complimented me on my English. So I guess I haven’t forgotten all my English yet!
After our tour we had lunch and then hit the town. We walked down the Rambla which is a street of small touristy shops and people standing all dressed and painted to the statue of Christopher Columbus because that was more or less my parents focal point as they attempted to navigate the streets of Barcelona and then we took the metro to the Palacio which is next to the Olympic grounds from 1992. We walked around the Olympic grounds; saw the different building where event were held and the spire that was the Olympic flame. Oh and I have to mention because it was beautiful that we were there at sunset so I think the pictures are pretty awesome! Then we headed to the Magic Fountain show, which was impressive. The water pressure and light of the fountain were programmed to change and such to with music and stuff. It is hard to explain. Hopefully the picture will help. After that we went back to the hotel for bed.

Sunday morning we woke up and packed and then left for church at the Catedral de la Sagrada Familia (the Cathedral of the Sacred Family). I could understand most of what was going on but I am sure everyone else was a little lost. (The mass was in Spanish).It is a really an impressive building. The outside depicts scenes from the bible and the inside which is still under construction and has been for like years and years and years. It is a must see for anyone who want to do some traveling! After that we had to check out of our hotel and we commenced our drive to Valencia. Which was actually quite easy... just one highway. Even I didn’t get us lost!
Hope you enjoyed this one. Hopefully I will be able to get a few more blogs up before I come home!

Hope you all are well and I am excited to see you soon!
p.s. sorry for all the rambling I am kinda tired…