Citrus City baby!

Mar 10

For this past weekend Hope and I decided to piggyback off our friend’s plans and join them for a quick trip to Valencia! It was a very warm weekend spent mostly on the beach, Valencia is the closest ocean access from Madrid!

Mar 6

We met at the bus station for an 8am departure, and 4 short hours later, we rolled into Valencia! We were able to drop our bags at our Airbnb and head to our first (of three) paellas of the weekend. Valencia is the official birthplace of paella, so NATURALLY we had to try a different one each day. For science purposes of course. We then took a quick (windy) walk along the beach before going to the store for groceries. Because we had a well stocked kitchen, we decided we would cook dinner in both nights as to enjoy our cooking privileges.

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Feb 7

Saturday morning we deciphered the Valencian metro system and ventured into the city center. We went to Mercado Central, one of the oldest markets in Europe still in use today. Unknown to us, we were in Valencia the week before their biggest festival, Las Fallas. Teams from across the city build large paper mâché sculptures and a group of judges votes on their sculptures and their performances, and the winner gets placed in a museum while the others are burned (which apparently is the fun part of the whole thing?). But, this weekend we were here, there were groups of performers walking through the city performing to gain popularity for their teams. We saw a team perform in front of Mercado Central as we were shopping around.

After our second meal of paella, we went to El Plaza de Ayuntamiento for the daily firework show that is put on from the beginning of March until the 18th, the last day of Las Fallas. As it was at 2pm, there wasn’t much to see but a LOT to hear. Which is the point! I think! I’m glad we knew it was happening beforehand as it would’ve been awfully scary hearing the loud bangs midday without warning.

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After the firework display, we wandered through the old city center and saw many old towers and buildings, including the Valencia Cathedral, which claims to house the real Holy Grail!

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Pasta dinner this night with a night walk along the beach and through the various parties being thrown on the streets for Las Fallas.

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Feb 8

With almost a full day on Sunday before getting on our 6pm train, we decided to walk through the City of Arts and Sciences, an architectural complex in the city designed by Santiago Calatrava. We went into the aquarium, which was absolutely gorgeous.

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After our third and final paella lunch (this one with squid ink) we headed back to the airbnb to pack and head out. It was such a fun weekend with Hope, Hunter, and Lo!

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Unfortunately, the state of our study abroad program is currently up in the air because of the spread of coronavirus. Starting tomorrow, March 11, the Madrid province will suspend all classes for schools and universities for 15 days as a measure to hopefully stop the spread of the virus. For now, SLU Madrid has informed us that after this 15 day period they fully intend to continue classes on campus, but as the situation only gets worse and the number of cases only continues to grow, we remain unsure of what will really happen. Other schools with students at SLU Madrid have begun to pull their students and send them home, and the SLU students in Italy have also headed home as all study abroad programs in Italy have been cancelled. For now, I can only hope for the best as any decisions are out of my control, and continue exploring this amazing city I have been so lucky to call home for the past two months.

Much love, Grace