How to be overwhelmed by a street

It takes a pretty little street, with beautiful houses and balconies with plants and flowers and with a lot of minuscule antique bookshops with old, crooked bookshopkeepers in them. The street should be near a place you have passed a thousand times without noticing it. You should be leaving the place within a short time horizon and you should be under the impression that you have seen about everything there is to be seen in that place.

All of those conditions were fulfilled as I wandered past the little park near to the hostel where I spent my first week, on my way to the bus. I have taken the bus at the big bus stop just outside El Corte Inglés at least a hundred times, and yet, I have managed never to notice the beautiful little street hidden between Calle de la Paz and El Corte Inglés. I just stood there, at the beginning of that little street, bordered with plants, occupied by half a dozen tiny little antique bookshops, a subterranean café, and small art gallery. I just stood there and thought: "How come I never noticed this street before?" And it dawned on me that there must be so many streets unwandered, so many places undiscovered, so many sights unseen by me in this beautiful city that I will be leaving behind in less than two weeks... and it made me feel melancholic... and cheesy, for the writing matter.

Free & more or less dry

Towards the evening it stopped raining. Fed up with sitting down in my room and the library all the time, I decided to go swimming. Proof of the weirdness of human nature: to wait until it is dry to go get wet voluntarily.

After sitting down 14-15 hours per day (and laying down the rest of the hours), it feels really good to get that lazy butt of mine moving. Amazing how free one can feel gliding through the water, and how contradictory that is to the fact that you're actually moving in a human-size aquarium not more than a few cubic meters big. Yet again proof of the weirdness of human nature.

I had more or less expected to find Cécile there in the pool, because she swims every day. And indeed, there she was, so between laps we chattered away about nothing and everything. Nice to have a friend around... and to feel free in that little human aquarium.

Water

All the rain that did not fall in the past few months is pouring out of the sky right now. I woke up this morning hearing the wind howl between the flat buildings and hearing the noise of what seemed to be a gigantic shower. I closed my eyes tightly hoping that the sound would just be some white noise from a vanishing dream, but no... water continued to pour down as I got up.

The wind is so strong that taking an umbrella is absolutely useless. Guillermo just explained to me that in Valencia, it doesn't rain vertically, but horizontally. So I set off to campus trying to protect myself - in vain - from the liters of water flying around with nothing but a light raincoat on.

It didn't work. I got to the exam completely soaked, down to my underwear. Trying to explain the exceptional treatment of agriculture in pre-Uruguay Round GATT trade in wet tweed pants is less than ideal. I was happy to get out of there as soon as possible!

The soil seems to have lost its capacity to absorb all the water, because the rain just stays on the streets and pavements. No matter where you walk, when you get out onto the streets you're walking through almost half a centimeter of water, trying to make its way to the lowest point.

Meanwhile, I just saw on tv that it is snowing all over Spain! There are 5cm of snow at a mere 30km of Valencia! Seems this whole spring thing was just another quirk of nature...

The rain wouldn't bother me so much had I not decided that this afternoon would be off-time and had I not made plans to go walk in the centre, to go to the cinema,... with this rain, I'm not going anywhere. Sigh.

If you can't beat them...

... join them, or... get someone else to join them for you! Hehehe! Yesterday Guillermo went to the library at 8 to study and he got me a seat before the masses occupied the library-castle again. (It makes me think of Al Pacino in Angels in America, saying: "Clout!" - grin!)

Today I was less fortunate and I had to get up myself to be there in time to get a seat for me and Lena. I just spent 13 hours in that building... no wonder I have absolutely nothing to tell you.

So... that's all I had to tell you. Really.

Freaky Early

As during the exams the library is quite a popular place to be - all the fashionistas go there, as I have told you before -you have to be there early to mark your spot for the rest of the day. So I got up at 7:45 and arrived at the library at 8:45 - which in a student's world, is early - and it was... full. Spanish students are freaky early people, and it fills me with guilt!

But the surprising thing is this: the library opens at 8am, has 8 rooms with place for about 120 people to sit down, so you do the math and calculate exactly how many people have arrived withing the 45-minute span in which I was completing my morning ritual. And with all do respect to all you people out there who do go to places at 8am: I refuse to be seen anywhere outside my bed at 8am unless I'm being paid for it!

So that's how I discovered the studying spaces in the aulario buildings - oh, how exciting my life is! - where I spent the morning with Lena, Steffi and Carola and -yawn- my notes from Economia Social for the zillionth time.

For the rest, not much news. Life isn't very exciting this time of the year, regardless of whether you're living in a city filled with palmtrees and parties. I guess the most exciting thing that happened yesterday was that I burnt my broccolis to coal while sewing the hem of my new trousers.

It's still a strange notion to me that in 3 weeks I'll be home again. It seems like I still have an eternity to spend here. Time flies - and some day I'll wake up and say: "Oh my god! I'm 40!". And I suppose that's how it happens... that in three weeks time, I'll wake up and say:"... How come it's such lousy weather? Oh yeah..."

Staring

I've spent quite some hours in the library now, and I have observed one thing: people do two things in libraries: studying and... staring. As ANYTHING is more interesting than the book in front of you, anything that moves or breathes suddenly becomes fascinating. And so it happens that I think I have never had so much male attention in my life. Every time I cross the room to go to the bathroom or to get something, dozens of eyes follow my steps. And I'm not free of sin either: everytime anyone moves around the room, I watch him or her carefully, judge what he or she is wearing... which is particularly fun here in Spain, because the dressing habits are... let's say, slightly different. Very entertaining for the observing outsider I am, but hard to imagine to wear those outfits myself as the girl I am. No hair on my head would consider pulling myself into a tight black outfit adorned with a 25cm-broad red lacré belt and matching -matching!!- shoes. Oh. my. god. Equally interesting was her friend who wore silver-colored boots and a matching bag. (They do like to match, those spanish girls.) There are skirts the size of post-its and heels the height of the cathedral tower. There Barbie pink sweaters and scottish-checked blazers with big golden buttons. And all of that is so interesting... so much more interesting than the book here before me.
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Spring

It's so warm in Valencia you'd swear it's springtime. I think today we reached temperatures of over 20°C! As I am a person that the spanish call 'friolera' (it means I am often cold), this is a true blessing! Today after lunch I just sat outside for half an hour soaking up the sun! Look at Lena and me having lunch outside in t-shirts! I'm sorry that I keep going on and on about the weather, I know, I'm a grandma and a bore, but I can't help thinking every day again and again how wonderful this is!

For the rest, not much exciting news, as the final exams are approaching, I spend my days in the library, studying, like most of my fellow students. The library is so crowded that it's difficult to find a place. And you have to know that this library is everything but small. Also, all those brains working at full speed in confined spaces produce an enormous lot of heat, so the library feels like a sauna! It's incredibly hot in there! But again, as I've told you, I'm 'friolera', so I don't mind the heat.

A lot of people are skipping class in order to have more time to study. Today was the last class of economia agraria... and I was the ONLY student in the classroom! The professor and I ended up having an interesting conversation about linguistic and cultural issues in Europe and especially about the difference between Flemish and Dutch vs. the difference between Valencian and Catalan. I love that the professors are so open and communicative here. I can hardly imagine myself having such a conversation with a professor in Leuven, and I'm really sorry for that, in fact. Going abroad really opens your eyes and shows you that things can be different and that there needn't be such a thing as an age gap. Or am I just saying that because I am getting old myself...? :-D

The Christmas Holiday Report

As all reports should be in the environment in which I am to work (European politics), so is this report: late! But still, I'd like to tell you a little about the Christmas holiday, if it's not for you, then it's for me so I will remember these delicious times in the future. On Wednessday 20th December my Mom arrived in Valencia, in part to help with the preparations to receive the rest of the family, and in part because flights were a lot cheaper on that date. I still had class the rest of the week, but as my Mom is already familiar with the city, she got around by herself while I was on campus. On Saturday morning my brother and father arrived, and holidays and tourism could officially begin! We took a stroll through the city, had tapas at Sagardi, a very good tapas bar, and went to see a flamenco show, on the first row! The woman danced with such fervor that she was scary in some bits! A good flamenco dancer can be so impressive...

On Sunday 24th we visited the Mercado Central, la Lonja, the Cathedral; the works. We had lunch in a cerveceria that serves 100 different mini sandwiches! Then we took the bus to Ciutat de les Arts y Ciències to visit the Science Museum, of which I had been told it would be open on the 24th. Indeed, it had been open on the 24th... in the morning. Luckily Valencia is such a versatile city that you can make up a plan B in no time. So we just walked back to the city through Turia park and had a coffee at Mercado Colón. We still climbed the Cathedral tower and saw the sunset from up there, and watched the lights of Valencia as the night descended. On Christmas eve we had a meal of Spanish cheeses, Spanish jamón and chorizo, and bread.

On Christmas day my father and Thomas went to visit the America's Cup port, my Mom occupied the kitchen with her brand new paella pan and the recipe we got from the paella pan sales woman in the Mercado Central, and I went to the airport to pick up my aunt Anita from Rio! Now the family was as complete as it would get this holiday! We had the best paella ever at my apartment and exchanged Christmas gifts afterwards. Then we went to visit the Science Museum (which oddly enough did open on Christmas day) and had great fun measuring our blood pressure, checking our reflexes and more (and supposedly learning while doing all those things, if we had read the texts accompanying the activities). Then we took the bus to the city centre and had a horchata at one of the two centuries-old horchaterias in town, Santa Catalina. And that was Christmas...

On the 26th Dad and Thomas returned home, because as Thomas is in his first year of university, he had to start studying for his first exams. I actually don't quite remember what we did the rest of the day... Old age, it must be... After all, I'm 22 now. :-p At night, we saw a flamenco show, but this time, the dancer was a man, really impressive!

On Wednessday morning my aunt, Mom and I visited the Mercado Central, la Lonja, la Plaza Redonda - once again: the works and had lunch in Cacao Sampaka, a chocolate store annex restaurant, where you can have a menu that consists of a salad, a sandwich and assorted chocolates with the most exquisite fillings, like violets or cinnamon. Then my aunt and Mom visited the Oceanografic, which is the aquarium of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, while I went back home to... study. Yep, I have exams in January and I better start preparing for them...

On Thursday we went back to the city centre to go shopping! (Which is inevitable if you leave 3 women with a creditcard in a foreign city.) We had lunch at the Cerveceria 100 Montaditos and walked all across the Turia park to burn the calories afterwards. At night, we had dinner in La Vintara, one of my favourite tapas restaurants. After dinner, we took a stroll to see the city by night, and on the Plaza de la Virgen there was a young girl dressed like a 'fallera' posing for a brochure of falla organizations. The clothes she is wearing are the typical Valencian clothes worn on festivities like, for example, las Fallas.

On Friday, my aunt took a plane to Madrid, and Mom and I took one back home. It was good and weird at the same time to be back home. I suppose it's because I have changed a lot in these last few months, but home hasn't, excluding the fact that I left Belgium in the greeness of summer and came back to it in the greyness of winter. But it is home, what can I say? No matter how comfortable you feel being abroad, coming home has got something to it which is hard to explain. As I really needed to start studying with a certain degree of seriousness for my exams in January, the days I spent at home were not very exciting. But they didn't need to be, just being home was such a pleasure that I feel I should write about it with the same excitement with which I write about every new discovery I make in Spain.

I spent New Year's Eve in the kitchen with Kobe and his grandmother, making home made tortellini with experimental fillings. It's a lot of work, but fun to do. It makes me remember Play Doh, the colourful clay I used to play with. After a lot of work, the tortellini look like this:



Kobe and I were planning to go to Mechelen to see the fireworks, but the weather was stormy and a lot of firework spectacles were cancelled, so we decided to stay in and celebrate the new year –once again- in front of the TV with a glass of fruit champagne.

The rest of the days I spent as I described above… Making successive efforts at studying…

On Friday the 5th I returned back to Valencia. Before getting on the plane I wondered again what I was doing over there, in a place with no family, only new acquaintances (friends?), an empty apartment awaiting me… but as soon as I got off the plane I somehow knew again what it was that I came here to do. Just don’t ask me whát exactly. I know, and that’s enough.

And that’s the end of the Christmas Holiday Report.

Happy Birthday to me..!

Another birthday over, another year gained, and what a fun day it was! It didn't start all that fun, with class on Monday morning at 8:30, but a cup of tea with Lena in the university cafeteria did help, and then receiving a call from Mom and Thomas when I got home, and then from my boyfriend! And I opened up the gifts my family left behind here for me to open on the 8th! Thank you guys! I love my little Valencia toro!

As it was my birthday I decided that I deserved the day off from studying, so I took the metro to the city centre where the 'rebajas' have begun, which is Spanish for 'Hell of Shrieking Women', ups, I mean, 'Sale'. :-p I bought two sweaters and a lovely necklace for a good price, always a pleasure for an economist. ;-) Then I went back to go to my afternoon class, after which I called my boyfriend again to show him the catches of the day.

At 6:30pm I had invited some friends to have a 'merienda', which is an afternoon snack, at my favourite place, Café Soret. More people than I had expected showed up, given it's the time right before the exams, which was a real pleasure for me! We had so much fun that the merienda lasted until 10pm! (I also had so much fun that I completely forgot to take pictures even though I had taken my camera, for which I'm really sorry now because it would have been a great opportunity to show you my friends!) When I went to the counter to pay for the many pieces of delicious chocolate brownie and the many chocolate milks we had consumed, the waiter asked me what I had drunk and eaten. Then he invited me for my birthday, 'on the house'! What a great surprise! It's true that I go there so often that they must know my face by now, but this was a really lovely suprise!

Afterwards, I still went to a Chinese restaurant to have dinner with the girls, Eliana, Lena and Morgane. I wanted to go to a good pizzeria near my house, but it was closed. Darn, Monday evening. But the Chinese was good and we had a good time. When I came home around 11:30pm, I found José half asleep on the couch, watching tv, holding a big wrapped box on his lap. 'Guys!', he yelled, 'She's here!'. They remembered my birthday, those angels! And they gave me a big bottle of wine of denominación controlada from Segovia, Saul's town. (That's the wooden box you see on the picture). Wow! And we had some very tasty cake, a leftover from Reyes but not less festive for my birthday! Poor guys, I thought they had forgotten as they were all studying quietly in their rooms when I came home at 5... so I left them waiting here to surprise me until 11:30pm!

So all in all I had one of the best birthdays ever, when I had expected to be rather lonely today... It's the suprises that I love best, and I won't forget this day for a long while!

I will soon write about my family's and my aunt's visit to Valencia and post a bunch of pictures, so do no worry, all those of you who have requested it! But just not today, because my birthday ended one hours and 15 minutes ago and I should get to sleep...

January in the sun

It's January but it feels like spring. The sun shines, the sky is a stark blue and I spend my afternoons on a bench in the park studying. Fan-tas-tic! All around on the street are kids playing with the gifts the Reyes Magos brought them last Saturday: wiggly wobbly kids trying to keep their balance on brand new red bikes, equally wiggly wobbly kids trying to get ahead with their new rollerskates and helmets, girls pushing miniature carts with miniature plastic babies in them, and many, many noisy remote control cars zzzzzumming from one side of the park to another, scaring the cats and dogs that normally peacefully share the little park near my apartment. About cats: there's a pair of cats in this park, one black and one perfectly white; they're the cutest couple of cats, totally designer style!

Other than that, not much news, I've been alone in the apartment this weekend as the boys were still home for the Christmas holiday. It's a little lonely not to be able to talk to anyone in more than 24 hours, except for the bakery shop lady, but that doesn't count as a conversation. So I was glad when Lena called me yesterday to have a drink with her and her boyfriend. We had a good time tasting belgian and german beers at Café de las Letras, and trying to teach me german. I think I'm going to learn german next year. At least now I know some nice germans to learn it for. :-) I did go to bed scandalously late for the time of year... So I shall go to bed early now, in compensation. And also because tomorrow I have class again at 8:30. Sigh. And that on my birthday... By the way, the telephone number that I posted before was wrong. I'm not going to post the right number for security reasons. You may just e-mail me. :-p

By the way, the cat on the picture is not the park cat. It's just a nice picture I found on the internet which I thought was illustrative to the bit in which I write about cats. The picture is from the blog of Michiel Hendrycks , a belgian photographer. Check it out: http://standaard.typepad.com/michiel/

Magic Kings in Valencia

I arrived back in Valencia yesterday, on the eve of Reyes Magos, which is widely celebrated here in Spain as the day on which children also receive gifts. I was sitting in my room with the curtains closed, studying, when I started to hear a growing multitude of voices, of which a particular high amount were children's voices, and puzzled, I opened my window to see what was going on. It was the three Magi on horseback, throwing confetti and candy to the hord of chilren following them! I quickly put on shoes and a coat and ran after them! It was delightful to see the parade of the Magi through Valencia, and right here in my street!

So well, I'm back again after being home for a week. It's weird to return to a city that isn't yours, in a country that isn't your, yet to find everything familiar. The weather was fine, a springtime-like 16 degrees Celsius, the city is as beautiful as ever as seen from the air, but still... this is going to sound so very terribly cliché, but it's true: it's not home. But I suspect my longing for home has got more to do with a longing for getting away from those damn exams than a real longing for BEING home...

Happy New Year!

I wish everyone the very best for the 363 remaining days of 2007! May they be filled with joy, success, love and friendship!

I get tired just thinking of how much I have to tell you about the past two weeks, in which so much has happened! I am currently writing from my old, cosy room in Belgium, spending some days at home with my family and my boyfriend. I spent Christmas in Valencia with my family, i.e. my parents, brother and my aunt from Rio! We had some wonderful days together.

But I will tell you all about it in more detail later on, because now it's 11pm and I am really tired after a whole day of studying... But here is a belated Christmas greeting for you all from me and my family!