Valencia

So I began my final trip. Destination #1 was Valencia, but first I had to leave Caceres and my host mommies... It was so much harder than I thought. I made it though finals week with my tests and essays. During the last day of classes my favorite professor took our whole class to the school cafeteria and bought us all coffee and breakfast. That night we had a farewell party with all the students and professors. It was a lot of fun to hang out and talk with our teachers outside of school, but it was really sad to say good-bye to them...

My last weekend in Caceres was bittersweet. We all hung out a lot as a group because most of the students were going to leave Monday or Tuesday. It was really sad saying bye to all of them too. I know I'm going to see them at Iowa State, but it won't be the same. We won't all be together like this, or have this experience, again.

The hardest part was packing. I hyper-ventilated in 4 minute intervals while packing because I honestly didn't think everything was going to fit in my 2 suitcases! I packed my big one, and it was already over-flowing, then I looked back at my closet and realized it was still completely full of clothes! It took a lot of strategically planning and sitting/jumping on the suitcases to get them closed, but I did it!

While Steph and I were packing, our mommies came into our room and asked for our apartment keys. I cried. Then we had to say good-bye to one of them that night, because she wasn't going to be able to see us off at the train station. I cried again. Go figure.

Our train left Caceres at 5am. Our other host mommy took us there, which was a good thing, considering Steph and I each had 2 suitcases, a backpack, a purse, a laptop, the tickets/passport, and a sack lunch. We were a show trying to get through the station.

Our mom helped us get all of our stuff on the train, and we were trying to get the beasts (as I refer to our suitcases as) on the storage rack in the train car, and we realized that the car was pulling away and our mom wasn't on it anymore! I ran to the door and asked the conductor if I could get off and hug her, but we were already leaving. So all I could do was wave... Steph and I were sooo sad! We didn't get to say good-bye to our mommy...

We slept for most of the 4 hour train ride. When we got to Madrid, we had to get the beasts off the train, up an escalator, into the station, and outside to the luggage storage. You can't imagine the looks we were getting from people. We seriously must have looked ridiculous trying to handle all our bags and suitcases...

We each stored one suitcase at the train station so we would only have one to travel with. We took another 4 hour train to Valencia and took a bus to our hostel, where another girl, Lauren, was meeting us.

That night we went to the Quart Tower and climbed it. It had a really great view of the old city of Valencia. Valencia is... not that pretty. It's a neat city, but kind of ugly. Not what I was expecting...

The next day we went to the beach first. It wasn't hot enough to go swimming, so we just sat in the sand. The beach is very beautiful. We had heard that Valencia has one of the best beaches in Spain. After that we went to the city of Arts and Sciences. It is a huge cluster of museums, an aquarium, an opera and music palace, a mall, and other buildings. The arquitecture of buildings was amazing, it was like a city from the future.

We walked around and did some shopping. Lauren and Steph had paella for lunch. Paella is the rice and seafood dish that is very typical in Spain. It was actually originated in Valencia, and everyone says it tastes the best there. We also bought orxata, which is a famous Valenica drink. It is sold on almost every corner in the main part of the city, and it takes like coconut milk. I loved it.

After that we ate kabobs for dinner. Doner Kabobs are everywhere in Valencia and the other students told us we have to eat them. They were very delicious. We went back to the hostel because our bus to Barcelona left early the next morning. I'll have more updates about Barcelona soon!