Productivity
Well, yesterday was a rather productive day, at least by Spain standards. I paid my internet bill, successfully talked to the post office guy and sent things by mail, made more porgress on the thanksgiving planning, and took my first test in Spain. I'm pretty sure I passed the test, but if I didn't, I'd need to give up on life becuase the class is in English. I'm not too worried though.
Speaking of bills, I don't like them at all. I hate having to give money to stupid companies who only give me a week to find the time to pay them, and who tack on extra taxes and fees that they didn't tell you about, so you are quite shocked to see how big the number in the total line is when the bill finally comes. For example, with my internet bill, I have to pay at a bank, and can't pay at their store, or send a check in the mail. And what makes it really frustrating, is that I can only pay at this bank from 9-10:30 AM on Tuesday and Thursday on the second and third weeks of the month. I wish I were still a kid sometimes so I wouldn't have to worry about such things.
In other news, my trip to Barcelona was fabulous! Even though we only had two days to see the city, Hannah and I used those two days well. We saw the Sagrada Familia temple which is huge, Las Ramblas which is a series of streets with tons of cool shops and old buildings, the Picasso Museum where the entrance was free that day, and the port with the statue of Cristopher Colombus pointing to the new world. This may sound weird considering I'm living in Valencia, but I really needed to get away for the weekend. Valencia was getting a bit stifling, and I was beginning to settle into a melancholic lethargy that was not helping my mood, or my studies. Barcelona really broke that, and now I feel much better.
What Hannah and I discovered about Valencia after being in Barcelona is that although it is Spain's third largest city, it really is at heart, a small town working-class community. While that means that Valencia is quite safe, things are a bit cheaper, and the neighborhoods are strong, it also means that it doesn't have the energy and life that cities that size usually have. I think that the whole city is stuck in this semi-productive rut that I have been in. It is true that I would rather live here in Valencia than anywhere else in Spain because although I am foreign, and obviously so, people don't automatically think I'm a tourist. They will speak to me in Spanish, and because of the large student population, they know that I am a student living here. Hannah and I were quite frustrated in Barcelona becuase everyone would talk to us in English, and although we would reply in Spanish sufficently well, they would still continue to talk to us in English. There are a lot of British and American tourists in Barcelona, so they just assumed that we were on our fall holidays and were simply clueless tourists.
I have definitely decided that a vacation is needed every few weeks, so we are now looking at going to Rome or maybe Paris, or somewhere else in Spain on the weekend of Dec. 15th depending on price. I will post some pictures soon.
Speaking of bills, I don't like them at all. I hate having to give money to stupid companies who only give me a week to find the time to pay them, and who tack on extra taxes and fees that they didn't tell you about, so you are quite shocked to see how big the number in the total line is when the bill finally comes. For example, with my internet bill, I have to pay at a bank, and can't pay at their store, or send a check in the mail. And what makes it really frustrating, is that I can only pay at this bank from 9-10:30 AM on Tuesday and Thursday on the second and third weeks of the month. I wish I were still a kid sometimes so I wouldn't have to worry about such things.
In other news, my trip to Barcelona was fabulous! Even though we only had two days to see the city, Hannah and I used those two days well. We saw the Sagrada Familia temple which is huge, Las Ramblas which is a series of streets with tons of cool shops and old buildings, the Picasso Museum where the entrance was free that day, and the port with the statue of Cristopher Colombus pointing to the new world. This may sound weird considering I'm living in Valencia, but I really needed to get away for the weekend. Valencia was getting a bit stifling, and I was beginning to settle into a melancholic lethargy that was not helping my mood, or my studies. Barcelona really broke that, and now I feel much better.
What Hannah and I discovered about Valencia after being in Barcelona is that although it is Spain's third largest city, it really is at heart, a small town working-class community. While that means that Valencia is quite safe, things are a bit cheaper, and the neighborhoods are strong, it also means that it doesn't have the energy and life that cities that size usually have. I think that the whole city is stuck in this semi-productive rut that I have been in. It is true that I would rather live here in Valencia than anywhere else in Spain because although I am foreign, and obviously so, people don't automatically think I'm a tourist. They will speak to me in Spanish, and because of the large student population, they know that I am a student living here. Hannah and I were quite frustrated in Barcelona becuase everyone would talk to us in English, and although we would reply in Spanish sufficently well, they would still continue to talk to us in English. There are a lot of British and American tourists in Barcelona, so they just assumed that we were on our fall holidays and were simply clueless tourists.
I have definitely decided that a vacation is needed every few weeks, so we are now looking at going to Rome or maybe Paris, or somewhere else in Spain on the weekend of Dec. 15th depending on price. I will post some pictures soon.