Viva Valencia

Peniscola, View from the Templar Castle

Field Trip to Pago de Tharsys Winery

Reading in the Riverbed Park

The last week or so in Valencia has just been so amazing that I can't even begin to explain how sad I am to leave this beautiful city. After a hectic weekend in Roma, it was just so great to come home and relax with the roommates. We started our weekend off by heading to the discotecca, Luna Rossa, a massive four story club located directly on the beach. Although drinks require a down payment, they are worth every cent. We spent the majority of the night on the dance floor with the locals learning moves I've never even witnessed before. By 7 AM, the booze was wearing off so we decided to take the party to the beach and watch the sunrise. This was definitely one of my favorite nights in Espana so far and something I will never forget.

Rather than sleeping away our hangovers the next day, a few of us decided to wake up and head to the Riverbed Park across the street. Words cannot even describe how amazing this place is. It is a 10 mile long stretch of colorful trees and flowers where all of the local Valenthians do anything from take a leisurely nap in the grass to practicing Tai Chi in the fields. We were able to find an amazing climbing tree where all of us found our little niche and read our books and listened to music. It was a perfect ending to a fabulous weekend in Valencia and now my favorite park in the world. Since then, I have been going back as often as possible and plan on purchasing a canvas and some paints and spending a day there expressing my creativity (a.k.a. drawing stick figures).

We had a pretty busy upcoming week of school, ranging from seeing Slumdog Millionaire in Spanish at the theatre to visiting the vineyard of Pago de Tharsys with our Food and Wine class. The vineyard was beautiful and definitely a memorable experience. We were able to actually witness the workers picking, fermenting, freezing and bottling the cava (a Spanish champagne) and then were able to finally taste it. It was a very small vineyard, but made it a comfortable and intimate experience where we were treated like royalty. Although I decided not to purchase any wine or champage, I was able to pick up a little something for mis padres :)

Although it was a busy school week we were still able to make time to hang with Mr. DiPasqua, who were in town visiting after spending a week in London. After missing my parents so much, it was so great to see him and get a big bear hug. After some delicious meals at some of our favorite tapas bars and endless bottles of wine in the plaza, we were all pretty ready for our weekend trip to Barcelona. Unfortunately first, we had to witness the slaugher of the Magic in Los Angeles. The only good thing about our night was the fact that FSU was able to convince a local bar, Max Max, to stay open until 7 am in order for us to watch the game "live." Rather than sit around and watch Dwight Howard suck it up, the entire program decided to get extremely drunk and trash the place. It was a ridiculously fun night with all of my fellow students, but needless to say, Max Max will not be inviting us back. Rather than sleeping in the next day after going to bed around 8 AM, we were all forced to wake up and take a bus to Peniscola, a beach town about three hours a day. Normally, this trip would have been an amazing one with gorgeous views of the Meditteranean and huge templar castles to explore but the hangover just killed it for all of us. That, and the fact that it rained the whole day. Even still, Peniscola was a very cool little town and I am very glad I was able to make it.

The next morning, bright and early, was our train ride to Barcelona to meet up with Mr. DiPasqua. After a three hour trip (where we obviously slept the whole way) we were greeted by an amazing hotel, the Fira Palace with a double bed for each of us and huge walk in showers. After spending some awful nights in some real crappy hostels, this place felt like the Ritz. Barcelona was an amazing city and one that I will definitely be visiting again. We were able to tour the Sagrada de Familia, a church they have been building for over 100 years and don't expect to be finished until 2030, and other amazing sights. The food was amazing, some of the best seafood I have ever eaten in my life, and the conversation even better. I am so thankful for such an amazing weekend with Mr. DiPasqua and it was definitely a trip I will never forget.

So this week is a pretty relaxing one, consisting of lots of cramming for our final exams, considering we haven't really been doing much with school lately. Dominique and I are planning on going to the market in the morning and cooking dinner for our roommates tomorrow night. We are planning a white fish cooked in a tomato sauce with mussels, shrimp, and fennel (complements of Ina). This Friday we leave for Switzerland to hopefully bungee jump off of the world's highest bridge in Interlakken, the same jump done by James Bond in Goldeneye 007. Watch this video and you will probably pee your pants for me (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69NtkkwSl4s)! On Saturday we are waking up and going canyoning, something that Katey highly recommended, and I am so excited, as long as I am still alive after the jump. Wish me lots of luck, I wish all of you could be with here with me. Love you all and miss you tons, although still not enough to come home just yet. Until next time, hasta luego.