Today is the fourth day of class and I´m really getting into the rhythm. It´s actually very easy to find the classrooms, because the buildings are organized very logically, so I already don´t worry about getting up early to leave half an hour in advance to search the classroom. I just leave 10 minutes before class starts, because that´s how long it takes me to walk from the apartment to campus.

Today I had a class of Economia Social. It looks interesting, because we will study the economic behaviour of entities like NGOs, who do not behave like companies, whose goal is to maximise profits. I very much appreciate that at this university, there is a place for such studies, contrary to Leuven, where everything that does not fit into classic economic theory is simply not taught or treated as a side remark. We´re even going to have a practical class on how to found an associación, whatever that may be. :-)

I´ve made a habit of introducing myself to all the professors after the first class, so they know there´s an erasmus student in their group for who everything is not obvious, especially not if they refer to previous courses, which I, of course, have not taken.

Today I met a nice German girl, with whom I went for a cup of coffee - well, coffee for her, cola for me because I still hate coffee - after class. That´s also such a great thing about this university: there´s a restaurant-bar with a terrace right on campus! With waiters in suits, no kidding!

I also discoverd that you can get a free university agenda, so I went to pick up mine at the faculty. It´s big, lots of space to write things down, and full of information for students. The only disadvantage: it´s completely in Valencian. Well, at least now I will learn the days of the week in Valencian. Good for my cv!

I still haven´t really gotten hold of this Valencian thing here. Contrary to Barcelona, I haven´t heard many people speak Valencian around me. The groups of students I pass on campus all speak Spanish. Yesterday I heard one girl speaking Valencian at the secretariat, but that was all. When people adress you, it´s always in Spanish, not Valencian. So you would almost forget that this is a bilingual city, were it not that all the signs on campus are in Valencian, that the website is by default in Valencian, and that the agenda, among other things, is completely in Valencian. I don´t get hold of exactly hów important Valencian is to Valencians.

Well, I have to get going, to a ´práctica´ of Análise y Gestion Bancária. But first I have to pass by the professor´s office, to ask him whether he has the powerpoint slides in Spanish, because I can only find them in Valencian...

And, before I go, some more pictures!

This is the top of the façade of the Mercado Central, a big permanent market with all kinds of food for sale: vegetables, fruit, bread and pastries, meat - lots of it - and cheese. The building itself is in Art Nouveau style and on the outside it is decorated with glazed tiles. On the inside are all the little market stalls with yelling salesmen and critical housewives smelling melons and poking apples. I don´t have any pictures of the inside, because my memory stick was full at the time! But I will surely go back there and take lots of pictures to show you!


This is the Mercado Colón. It´s a beautiful building in Art Nouveau style, very playful and colourful. It used to be a permanent, roofed marketbuilding, like the Mercado Central. But this market has been refurbished and given a new destination. Take a look on the inside...
On the inside are a series of glass cubicles which house hip restaurants and cafés! I actually discoverd this market completely by chance while looking for a store that sells cheap blankets (which I eventually found in the Zara Home, in the same street, fyi). This is what´s so much fun about studying in a beautiful city like Valencia: while looking for other things, you discovere nice things such as this market!