Midterm Week

February 23

This was the first time, since November-ish that it hit 70 degrees Fahrenheit here. I went for a run in the morning, and I was expecting 50 degree weather, so that's what I was dressed for...I swear, I almost died. It was sooooooo hot. I had to walk to Corte, quickly, before class so I showered and threw on shorts. People looked at me funny, and I looked at them funny, because I was not dying from heat exhaustion. They say the Spaniards dress for the season and not for the weather, and they are correct. I was wearing shorts and I passed people in their bulky winter coats and scarves wrapped around them. What?  They thought I was an idiot, but I though they were, so, we're even. 

During English class Brittany spent most of her time looking at projects that can be put up in our apartment next fall. She's so excited. She's trying to find something that we could hang up that has all of our states (Ohio, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Georgia) along with Spain and Florida. We suggested for the FSU/FSU Valencia portion of her design include an FSU flag and a Spain Flag, cut in half and sewn together...but that might be disrespectful. We'll see. We're excited. 

The model is about 3 ft. tall
The calf of the structure can be
seen behind the model...
it's HUGE!

Later in the night FSU took us to the Ninot studios, for our "fire hall," as they call it. Each sub-city within Valencia creates their own structures to burn at Fallas on March 19th. FSU donates to the structure making, so we were allowed in to view the process. This particular structure cost 170,000 Euros to build and it will be approximately 75 ft tall. Overall, there are about 400 of these huge structures that are shown around during Fallas...and all are burned on March 19th. Valencians vote for a "winner," to save before the day comes. The structure itself is still burned, but a piece of it is "saved," and placed in the museum for years to come. 

This whole process probably sounds insane, but this is where cultural differences come into play. This is how Valencia celebrates St. Joseph, a carpenter.

February 24

I had a writing composition test in Spanish, that I think went alright and then a midterm in trig. I don't think trig went as well as it could have, because I got stuck on something really simple, but she gave us a little hint because she felt sorry for the 3 of us. I'll take it, though. So, overall I think I still passed it.

Then that night I made a kick-butt dinner. We're leaving for spring break on Friday, so we're trying to use up everything in the fridge. I used some left over hamburger to make spaghetti, and part of a baguette to make garlic bread, and I used up most of my fresh broccoli. It was delicious. I also helped Lia with her pre-calc work while making dinner, and she told her mom I was going to be her tutor. Hmmm...

February 25

Today is cleaning day so I woke up a little early to go for a short run. Then I came back, made a really quick breakfast and headed to Spanish class. Today we had to do an oral interview...which was really, really rough. It was so bad. She said I passed, but it wasn't pretty. The whole interview was about our past trip to Andalucia, so we have to speak in past tense. Past tense includes preterit and imperfect and we have to differentiate the two, conjugate the two and whatnot. It's awful. It's even worse when I get stuck on what a word is, for example, to walk. Walk, it's simple, one of the first words we learned, but for the longest time I could not remember it. My first thought, and only though for a while was 'marcher,' because that's what it is in french, but I'm not taking French, I'm taking Spanish. In Spanish walk is caminar, I knew that...it just took way too long to get there. Then, conjuagted to present is camino, imperfect is caminaba, and in preterite is caminado. Anyways, I passed, at least, but it's just really sucky at the moment. 

Now I have to back for spring break. It is supposed to be in the low to mid 40's everywhere we go and some days call for rain and other call for snow...it'll be fun to pack for that. I have my trail mix made though, so I'm on top of snack for break, already. We leave Valencia tomorrow at 2:45, so I can sleep in and then just get up and go, I'm pumped.

*Here's a picture of me and Aleesia from Breaking Bar on Saturday.

February 22

I SIGNED MY FIRST LEASE TODAY

Alright, so the excitement today didn't start until 2:50pm (CET +1). We were given an extra credit assignment for precalc to learn a section and teach the class. Our section was on solving nonlinear equations...it's algebra, it's a joke, and it was simple...for me, others struggled, but I won't comment much on that. Jacqueline was standing up "teaching" with us when her housing availability opened. The only option available to her was Salley Hall. Salley is known for it's prison cell sized bedrooms and appearance, and lately has been making headlines around campus as the "moldy" one. Once Jacqueline refreshed her options about 5 more options appeared in an all girls dorm, Broward, but there were not a lot. We were freaking out, casually, in front of the class and professor, but once she let us go back to our seats, we had a group discussion. Mine and Brittany's openings are not until tomorrow (the 23rd) and Lia's was not until 6pm tonight. 

We started looking up apartments and places available to us off campus, because Salley is not a place we want to be. The FYA program guarantees us housing, but it does not guarantee us good housing. Upon further inspection of the housing agreement FSU is "unable to provide a dust, allergen, mold, or mildew-free accommodation." What? OSU has spoiled me with thinking that campus housing is great, FSU has obviously not figured itself out yet. One of my friends has made the point of saying that FSU is outgrowing itself, and it is. 

With all of this in mind, and taking the advice from those here last semester, and the upperclassmen this semester, we all seriously looked into living off campus. Dad called many, many apartment complexes for us, which was a lifesaver. 8 hours later, we have a nice 4 bed, 4 bath, apartment 3 minutes walk from campus. We talked to other FYA who were planning on living there, and they had openings and it all just fell into place. 

I'm kind of upset that I am not living on campus, because I'm not getting that "college experience," but at the same time, I am also not getting the average college experience to begin with. I signed my lease while in Valencia, Spain, and within the next 10 days I will have traveled to 3 different countries for Spring Break. That's insane, and not normal, but it's working out really well for me. 

I'm super excited to be living with Jacqueline, Brittany, and Lia next year. We don't think it will be too overwhelming, because our schedules won't be the same (like they are here) and we won't be traveling with one another all the time. We can be out and make friends, but still know we'll be coming back to a clean apartment with great friends at night. I really am stoked! (I also feel like I've had my fair share of roommate experiences in my time here, so, in a way, I've got part of that "college experience," already.)

This program really has been life changing. It was the best choice for me and I have made really great friends by being a part of it. We've been through so much together, travel wise and personal wise. We've had those all-nighters where we just talk about life, and we've fought about travel plans before and during the travel, but we make it through. This is just a really cheesy paragraph so everyone reading this, and future me, knows how grateful I am to have made such great friends here. 

February 21

Today my roommates, Logan and Brielle, both turned 19. 19 isn't that big of a deal at home, nor here, but we were in Spain and we are going to celebrate like it was a big deal. We celebrated last night, so we all had Sunday as a recovery day...and because midterms start Monday morning.

We started the night off with tapas and sangria. Then we came back to the apartment to fancy ourselves up a bit before going out. In total there were 11 of us, until we began splitting off, but we all left around midnight for the clubs.

From the top left is Alyssa, Marilyn, Logan, Aleesia, and myself.
 Below Alyssa is Emily, Cici (Sierra), Brielle, Brittany, Jacqueline, and Lia

We started with Fox Congo, an FSU-Valencia must-go, at least once, but seriously, once is enough. We got a free bottle of champagne because it was their birthday, and we weren't going to turn it down. The next stop was the Breaking Bar, it's a bar based around Breaking Bad. They have chemical equations on the walls and yellow jump suits you can take photos in. They also serve 40 shots for 18 euros. The shots come in test tubes, but they didn't have enough at the time, so we just got 20 regular shots instead...After Breaking Bar we went and danced a bit at Unique, before making our way back to Garnet for a pee break, and then to Chupitos. 

Chupitos was a once in a lifetime experience and I am going to leave it at that.

We started splitting up here so Jacqueline, Emily, Alyssa, Brittany, and myself headed back home around 3 am. We stopped for doner fries on the way back and we also ended up making chocolate chip cookies. Everyone else got back in around 4, and by then the cookies had been made and eaten. It was a spectacular night. I got to bed around 4:30 and my roommate was away, so the air was on full blast and I was out. 

This morning Aleesia and I made the birthday girls breakfast, at 2pm, and the majority of the day for all of us was spent studying. I am not included in the "all of us," because my computer was being derpy all day and I was super tired still, but I helped Lia with math, so I basically studied.

February 19

Today I went to the City of Arts and Sciences with FSU, again. I didn't even make it to the second floor last time, and I didn't want to buy 17 Euro tickets...if I already have... We went to the aquarium too, it was not nearly as cool as the first time around. The dolphin show was really short compared to last time, and a lot of the exhibits are closed. I went to McDonald's for lunch and got a kids meal for 3,60 Euros. 3,60! I got a fish sandwich, french fries, a toy, a water, and a mini McFlurry! All for 3,60! It's ridiculous, we really underestimate McDonald's it delicious.


We all came back and crashed for quite a few hours and then Aleesia, Logan and I went to the cheque crepe place for dinner, the one that gives you crayons. Aleesia tried to draw a map of the world, and honestly, for being "world travelers" we're really bad at map drawing. It was great.

Currently there are 7 people sitting in my room talking about life. It's really great actually...it's different from our average living room area, and it's good. Good time, good people, good life.

February 17

I'm currently sitting in tutoring for math with Brittany, Jacqueline, and a few other people...I don't need help, but I got my homework done, so, that's a plus. It's like Radabaugh's class all over again...I'd just sit and do my homework, because I didn't actually need help, I just needed a place to do homework and someone to ask questions when I didn't understand. Anyways, I'm finished. Also, in trig today, the two guys I'm in class with don't understand anything and it's so simple, I don't understand how they don't get it. They don't care, so, there's that, but, still. Woman power (in math and sciences)!

OOOOOOOOOH, AND I GOT MY LONDON SCHEDULE AND INFORMATION TODAY! So, if anyone would like to come visit me in London, just let me knew, and I'll tell you when I'm free. ;)

We have day trips galore planned, 3, 3 day long trips, about 33 days of class, and two (almost) week long breaks...summer semester will be amazing! I'M SO EXCITED!

February 14

Today was a very unproductive day for everyone in my apartment. Most of them did not get out of bed until 1 in the afternoon and when they did, they never really left the apartment. I actually got up around 10:30, put on my running clothes, looked at myself in the mirror and then decided against running. I haven't decided if it was because I didn't feel like running today, or if I was just sick of wearing those clothes. I went for a nice long walk around town instead. I actually walked down a bunch of back roads on the outskirts of the city-city and found my way home, I was super impressed with myself. On my way out Rocio told me that I had a package at Garnet, which was weird, because normally we get e-mails, but I swung by on my way back to Gold. Jacob actually sent me roses, with a note and a cheesy stuffed animal for Valentine's Day and I was very surprised. Carlos was the one to hand them to me and he just shrugged his shoulders like, "I dunno, but they're yours." Rocio was super excited when I walked back into Gold because she knew what was at Garnet for me and she just though it was the cutest thing ever. She's adorable.

I had to makeshift a vase, because what college student has a vase handy? So I used a wine bottle...I think it really adds pzazz to our apartment. Oooooh, and I got an ensaimada from my favorite bakery here, because it's Valentine's Day, so I can spoil myself. Also, Sammy, an FYA, went around placing Valentine's for the other FYA's on the doors.

Besides all this fun I, like everyone else, haven't done much. I struggled to get out a 1,000 word, research essay, but it was great when I realized I didn't have any math homework due for tomorrow. We basically had a homework party in my apartment today, not a whole lot got done, but we were at least all putting in the effort to pretend we were trying.

February 13

Tonight we walked about 2.5 miles (there and back) for all you can eat Domino's Pizza. I honestly thought it was well worth it, but no one else enjoyed the walk. I had been craving American style pizza (large, with melting cheese) for a while now, so I was super excited. They take cheques, so we through them all in and ordered 4 pizzas for 7 of us. We didn't finish them all, and they told us we couldn't take it with us (which is absolutely the stupidest thing I've ever heard, we paid for it, we'll eat it, we just need a box...why just throw it out?) we came prepared though, and Alanna and I stuffed some in bags to take home.

On the walk back home we came across this huge group of people crowding the streets and sidewalks. There were cars parked along the side of the road with hazards on, it was insanity. As we walked, we realized that these people we saw, all appeared to be about 15/16 years old...dressed like they were much older, with butts hanging out of their shorts and wearing basically bras. We decided we stumbled upon the 17 and younger club zone, because they were everywhere and parents were parked along the road picking several of them up. It was very interesting and slightly terrifying, but it was really neat seeing a non tourist side of Valencia. The Domino's was on the outskirts of the touristy part of the city, so we had no idea where we were until about half way home. It honestly was really nice seeing that part of town especially with everyone out. We might go explore around that area there later in the year.

We just finished "Friends with Benefits," our movie of the night and it was an experience I won't ever be able to forget. Brittany is sick and can't laugh, and when she tries it just sounds terrible. Lia talked through the entire thing, but it wasn't like commentary it was, as Brittany and Jacqueline put it, "why is the dog crossing the road?" & "oh, it looks like he got hit, is he dead?" I honestly loved every minute of this night. Good vibes. Good people. I love my friends..

February 12

Yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens for Spanish class, again. It did get us out of the classroom, but there wasn't any other purpose behind it. Later in the day some FSU students were going to the UPV to play basketball, and they had used Brittany's UPV Card to sign up for the courts, so she had to go. Emily and I went to sit with her while they played. We ended up not having to stay for the entire time, so we walked around campus. Emily doesn't have classes there, so she'd never been. We walked by the track and the soccer stadium...which we sneaked into to watch some guys practice. The clouds were turning this nasty red color, and it had rained earlier in the day so we decided to head back to catch the tram home and get gelato.




Today everyone went to an FSU Friday event thing. FSU takes us places on Fridays, if we sign up, and whatnot. This trip they gave us one day to sign up, and someone wasn't even there to sign up with for part of the day. Many people were trying to get on the trip (limited bus spaces) and it was mayhem on the Facebook Page. I decided I would survive if I didn't go, as I didn't want to fight for a spot, it did not seem that interesting to me. They ended up getting another bus, but by then I had already convinced myself that I wasn't going and that it wasn't worth it, so I didn't go. After running through the park in 70 degree weather I was super glad I didn't. They left at 8:30 this morning and took a 2 hour bus ride over there with which they were greeted with 40 degree weather and rain. Apparently the 2 hour bus ride there and the 2 hour bus ride back was not worth it, so, I'm not feeling bad at all.

February 9

Yesterday I made kick-butt banana, oatmeal, Nutella pancakes. They were fantastic.

Today I went for a run and came back to Hans fixing our sink, showers and bathroom ceiling. He's the "fix-it" guy here. Our sink was leaking water and so are both showers, so he fixed one and we have to share the tiny one for a day, but, we'll survive. We also had this vent thing, in our bathroom, that looked like it was about to fall on us whenever we stood in front of the sink, so he was nice and fixed that...except now there is small hole above it, but, whatever.

English class was boring, so Aleesia, Jacqueline and I looked up London details. Then we went to Decathlon and Consum for groceries and whatnot and now I'm back here doing homework, and avoiding homework, but I'm being productive at the same time. :)

February 7

I went for a run, made some food, did some homework and that was about it. About an hour ago, though, Jacqueline decided that we were going to make zucchini bread at 11 pm at night. This is our pre-super bowl party, I guess. With 3 Carolinian's in our room at the moment, we're obviously watching CBS online to watch the Panthers win. We're thinking we won't stay up for the entire time, but it's the thought that counts.

February 6

The past two days have been filled with running, homework, and Netflix. The only people in my apartment are myself and Brielle, and Jacqueline, occasionally. Jacqueline and I just kicked butt in finishing Spring Break travel plans, like the hostels and buses to get from one city to another. It's amazing how simple it was with only to of us. We also purchased tickets to see James Bay in concert in Barcelona, as a day trip. We're taking a casual day trip to Barcelona for a concert, no big deal. It's been an exciting day. I only have, like, 20+ more trig problems to do, after completing 20 already. I finished my English essay, which was a dreadful 2 hour feat. We have to write, in "documentary" form, about the Andalusia trip, it was honestly terrible.

As I walked through the streets of Valencia tonight, and actually ended up on streets I've never been on before, and also, maybe, possibly, got a little lost in my own city...I thought about how grateful I am to be here. I remember that Madison was the first person I told about being "accepted" to go to FSU Valencia and we jumped around Ben's room all excited. I'm here now, and I've been in the USA, Amsterdam, Valencia, Cordoba, Granada, Sevilla, Alicante, and Venice all within 30 days. How insane is that? I know what back roads to take to get me around all of the tourists. I have a favorite breakfast item at a bakery here. I run through the riverbed daily, with 500+ other people, I pass so many people it's crazy to think how many people here just run...or sprint, they're really fast, it's disturbing. I'm glad that I made the friends that I have and this semester is just flying by. I cannot wait for London with Jacqueline and Aleesia, but I know that I will be upset leaving this place I refer to as, "home." Tallahassee will have nothing on Europe.

Here's the most recent photo of me, (Aleesia), Brittany, and Jacqueline

Here's the first photo of me, (Dara), Brittany, and Jacqueline

ISN'T IT INSANE?!

Andalucía Trip

Day One: Cordoba

We rode on a bus for 6 hours before reaching Cordoba, I slept the majority of the way. Once in Cordoba we took a small tour of the mosque-cathedral and hopped back on the bus for another 2 hour drive to Seville. We arrived in Seville around 8:30pm and waited in a huge line for our room key. We made it to our room around 9 and were out searching for food by 9:30. We finally got to sleep around 1am, after we basically slept all day.

Day Two: Sevilla

This morning we woke up for breakfast at 8:45 and went down early to get a head start. It was a great plan because breakfast was amazing. Amazing. There was an entire counter dedicated to different types of bread, rolls, and baguettes then there was a yogurt bar, smoothie bar, and custard bar all with various toppings available. Then there was the selection of pastries, cheeses, and meats. It was insane, we decided that, because we weren't going to eat again until 2 or 3, that we should stuff up, and that's exactly what we did.


We took a tour of Seville, the palace and the cathedral were the most important aspect of the tour. The cathedral St. Maria's is the third largest in the world. Our tour group was small so it was more enjoyable and I could listen, interact, take photos, etc without it being an issue. After we ate lunch, at a tapas bar, we got back on the bus and headed towards Granada.

Day Three: Granada

Our breakfast this time was not nearly as great as the day before, but that's okay. We took a bus up to La Alhambra, which was pretty neat, but I don't think it was nearly as spectacular as Seville. The whole place looked the same, so every room and every view of Granada was exactly the same. We had free time for lunch and I had this amazing french fries with a fried egg and sausage on top thing. It was delicious, then we went for Haagen Daz and I got banana brownie, it was amazing...Amazing. Later we went with FSU to a flamenco show and dinner. The dinner was okay, the dessert was the bomb, chocolate lava cake with strawberries, it was a good day for desserts. The show started a bit late, and Jacqueline and I left early to meet her friend at a bar. Her friend, is really her friend Zoey's sister, but same thing. It was really cool. She's teaching English to children ages "0-5" in Granada for a year. She's very hyper, and all over the place and it was a great change of pace for a few hours. Recently (as in, when I was writing this), Lia and I were having a heated argument over everything we could think of, which happens on every trip. It's a good time, I enjoy it. :) Things eventually started to get deep though and we didn't go to bed until 3. Nights like these really do make me appreciate the friends I have made here. The four of us, Brittany, Lia, Jacqueline and myself have all been together since day one and anyone could tell how close we've become in only a few short months.

Day Four: Alicante

We're on the bus for several (8/9) hours while we drive back to Valencia. We stopped for lunch in Alicante, which was amazing. We stopped by the beach and the weather was perfect and it smelled like Florida and I had a McDonald's sundae, so overall it has been a great day.

The end of enero

We started Saturday off with 'okay' pastries. We walked to St.Mark's square, which was the center of the festivities. It took us about an hour to get there, but we did it. Once we were there we were rallied up with thousands other people. People were dressed up with cloaks, masks and 1800's attire. Everyone was scrambling for photos, and at one point we were all pushed away by the police, and it was slightly terrifying, but we made it out and never lost one another. After walking around the square and watching the hosts on the big screen we went on a search for lunch, and somewhere warm to sit. Lunch was alright, except here they included a service charge and an extra tax, so even though my pasta was only 11€ I had to pay an extra 5€, which is ridiculous. We really just explored and we bought ourselves masks. Brittany's is a full facial covering, Jacqueline's is a cat, mine and Aleesia's are half masks with lots of sparkles, and mine has feathers. Of course we had to get real masks, an Italian man actually scolded Brittany for taking photos of the masks made in China, sold on the street, because they are, "not Italian," but you can't take photos of the real masks...it's weird.

 

Once we had our masks and took a few photos, we hoped on a gondola, because I'm in Venice, and I was told I had to...I'm not so sure, it wasn't anything spectacular. It might have been better in the summer, but I think it's overrated. It started to get dark around 3, but it was cloudy and foggy all day, so it wasn't super noticeable, but we tried to keep warm. We stopped for hot chocolate and milkshakes (weird, I know) as we walked to the Arsenal, where fireworks would be shot off at 7. After walking for a few hours and waiting at the water's edge until 7:15, with no fireworks in sight, we started walking back to the bus station...about an hours walk away. It was great waking around Venice because there was confetti all over the street. You child buy confetti in large bags for 50 cents and children were throwing it all over the street and in their and their parents hair. Anyways, we heard fireworks on the distance at 7:34, and we could see the fog light up, but we decided, from what we could hear/see it wasn't that exciting and we weren't missing much. We ate, a not so great, dinner and got crepes for dessert. We made it to the bus and got off at the correct stop this time, though, so that was a success.

 

Sunday: we went back to the island for breakfast and to catch the train. The trains were nice and we passed miles and miles of vineyards. It felt like home, except instead of corn or soybean fields we just passed grape vines, it was ridiculous. We ate the cheapest, and best lunch we've had the entire trip in Bergamo. I'm on the airplane writing this and I'm so grateful that I got to experience this weekend. Jacqueline, Brittany and I were all placed in the same row on the plane 6A, B and C, and it's a great way to end this journey. Tomorrow we have to be on the bus by 8:30am for our FSU trip to southern Spain and I still have to pack. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed again. Traveling is exhausting... but most of my apartment will be gone the next weekend, after the trip, so I'll have some quiet, relaxation time. Jacqueline has told me though, that we might have to take a bus to a random location because we don't know how to stay in Valencia for that long.

On the way back our taxi driver got us back in ~8 minutes, even the average time to and from the airport is 20. We all saw our lives flash before our eyes and I'm utterly terrified of Spanish taxi drivers, they're insane.