This past weekend I had the most fun I've had since I've been here. A group of 7 of us (Mary, Lisa and Maria (my 3 favorite roommates), Justin (Mary's boyfriend), Dan and Andy (2 of Justin's roommates)) went to Valencia, Spain. On Friday morning we had to get up at 4am to get the airport for the 7am flight and we all stayed up pretty late the night before packing and being excited... so needless to say Friday was a long day.
We sat on the runway waiting to take off for about a half hour after we were supposed to have left and we could hear someone sawing something on the plane, very unnerving, and then we finally took off. Once we got in, got our bags, got to the hostel and got checked in it was not even 11am yet and we were not allowed into our rooms until 1pm so we locked up our bags and went out to explore the town.
The architecture in Valencia is out of this world, almost literally, its futuristic looking and everything is so beautiful. we were about to walk over this bridge to head towards the beach but decided to go below the bridge instead cause its over this huge long long park. Our first stop was at this big rope climbing thing that was so much fun, it looked like a pointy spiders web, I have a lot of pictures on facebook for everyone to see. After that we saw a lot of fountains that the boys decided to jump over, orange trees that had sour, lemon tasting oranges (apparently it is not recommended to eat those, woops!). After that we found a huge climbing thing with ropes and slides and stairs and it was actually a plastic man so it was like we were little mice running all over him, it was a lot of fun. After that we walked around the pathways of the beautiful park and then went to lunch at a small little place in a corner with great great food.
After that we made our way to the beach and then headed back to the hostel for a long nap before dinner at a Chinese restaurant (i know i know, we go all the way to Valencia to have Chinese, but it was really good and really cheap, haha). After that we were all so tired still that we went back to bed so we could get up early the next morning.
On Saturday we got breakfast (where I made a promise to myself to face my fear of sharks... it'll make since in a minute) and then headed out to the museum area that we had passed the day before down by the beach, it was a rainy day so it was perfect to indoor activities. We first went to what was basically a big science center. It was pretty interesting, learned some new cool stuff, saw a baby chick hatch, learned that I cannot jump very high, saw a three legged rooster, built an arch, and passed out in Captain America's arms. Then we went to Europe's largest aquarium which was awesome, saw just about every water animal I could think of including beluga whales, walruses, flamingos, penguins, sea horses, eels, sharks, etc etc. Speaking of sharks.. I am violently afraid of them, to the point where when I saw them on Saturday in the tank that was surrounding us I ran out crying (pathetic, I know, but the story has a happy ending), but then a friend came out to see if I was okay and helped me work up the courage to go back in to face my fear which I did and I ended up taking a bunch of pictures of them and followed one around! So proud of myself! Whoo hoo!!!
That night we found a lovely little restaurant that served great wine and the best paella I have ever had, it was amazing, and worth the number at the bottom of the bill (so glad we had saved our money the night before at the Chinese restaurant). That night was a lot of fun, we stayed up at the hostel telling jokes and laughing all night.
We slept in that morning before having to check out at noon, but our flight wasn't until 9:40 so we again locked up our bags and went out to explore. We were all really tired but walked around all day, trying to stay dry, had some oranges (regular this time around) which is what Valencia is known for (oh my goodness they were delish!). That day was pretty relaxing, went to a different Chinese place for lunch and then headed to the airport early which ended up being a really good idea because our flight was canceled but they put us on an earlier flight which ended up being perfect.
Valencia is hands down my favorite part of Spain I have been to so far, if anybody ever visits Spain, you have to go to Valencia. Amazing!!!
Oh I almost forgot to say that this trip was in celebration of mine and Mary's birthday, (Mary's birthday is actually also February 2nd... what are the odds??).
