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..