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| City of Arts and Sciences |
I know I haven't written in awhile, but in my defense, I honestly feel like I am doing so much and experiencing new things everyday, there is hardly a free moment to sit down and write! It just means I'm having a great time over here, so rest assured that I have fun and do something memorable everyday. Because of this, I get paranoid I will forget things so I keep a notepad in my purse to jot down things quickly throughout the day...yes I know it's a little excessive but I don't trust my memory. I'll provide a quick overview of what I've been doing with the group here accompanied with a picture to set the scene!
I guess it must be important to first state that I got stitches in Spain because I clearly can't handle Spanish knives. I admit the one I was using was no different than an American butter-knife, but for some odd reason fate wanted me to take a trip to the clinic that day. It should be mentioned that I probably will never hear the end of the fact that I cut myself on a dull butter-knife in the apartment kitchen, everyone finds it funny. I ran downstairs to the receptionist (who speaks only Spanish) and couldn't form the Spanish words in my head to tell her I was hurt, so I ended up just sticking my finger in her direction, to which she let out a little yelp. That was reassuring. So I ended up taking a taxi to the clinic into a room full of people who only spoke Spanish. I was laid on a table and wasn't really told what was being done to me. All I caught out of conversation was puntos, vacuna, doler, and cortar... which mean stitches, shot, to hurt, and to cut. Periodically when I wasn't really nervous I would ask "Como se dice?"and point to something and the doctor would let me know what it was. I took this experience as a great vocabulary lesson...when I wasn't thinking about how much I didn't want to be stabbed with another needle. Although the stitching up did hurt it was over in about 10 minutes, and I even made it back to my class at 3 o'clock. However, before my return to the center, the wonderful María, who works in the student service offices here and escorted me to the doctor, introduced me to my new favorite panadería (bakery) on our way back to catch a taxi. Here I found my favorite pastry called an "Ensaimada", aka the most delicious crescent roll bread, rolled into a spiral, and doused in powdered sugar.
Since the initial visit to the clinic, I've had to go back nearly 4 or 5 times for them to clean and change the bandage, and eventually have the stitches removed. I looking past all the annoying taxi fees, I really did like riding to a new part of town during the week and seeing things I wouldn't normally see around our location near the Torres de Serranos and the old city. On my route to the clinic I would drive past the fútbol stadium, la Universidad de Valencia campus, and other sites. I also never failed to stop by that phenomenal panadería "Pan Estellés" each time I went to the doctor and bought myself an ensaimada with no regrets. When in Spain and you have stitches in your pinky, eat ensaimadas.
One of the first things I haven't reported on yet was visiting the famous City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. I almost feel like I need another day to visit again and get more pictures. When we are in groups it's hard for me to stay at a subject for awhile and get a better shot because everyone is moving so quickly. We walked in and had a few minutes to explore an area that had many different science experiments and fun hands on activities. This included a great mini show inside of a closed off room where a spanish robot talked to us about the solar system, which I found hilarious. Then we all proceeded to go watch a dolphin show, which was the highlight of my day, considering I hadn't seen dolphins since Sea World in 1997. After the dolphins flipped, jumped, and waved goodbye to us, we explored the aquarium and saw everything from penguins and jellyfish to walruses and beluga whales. There was also a really cool exhibit where you walk through a tunnel that is underneath a giant shark, stingray, and other assorted fish tank. This included a fish called the Sunfish which I thought had to be the most hideous fish ever, google it if you must. It looked like it was straight out of Jurassic Park. I would love another day to visit this main attraction of Valencia. The futuristic look of the entire building the the surrounding monuments was amazing and unlike anything I've ever seen. Our group was very large and there were some brief moments for photography but sometimes I couldn't switch settings fast enough. I think I could have taken better pictures if I spent a good amount of time there, so hopefully this means a trip back for me!
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| Back end of City of Arts and Sciences |
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