Meike in Valencia

UPDATE - Finally :-)

2007-09-18T19:52:00.000+02:00

Hola!

I must admit that I have been really bad with updating my blog *shame on me*.
Since I am here, I have been so busy cause there is always something to do. Of course, the last week I did a lot of sight- seeing, most of the time together with two girls named Anne- Marie (Ami) and Ruth. Both are from Germany and also staying in Valencia as ERASMUS students. Ami studies architecture and just lives across the street - my room- mate Iván is her mentor and that's how we met. Ruth also lives around here, but studies medicine at the Universidad of Valencia.

The city of Valencia: I love this city!! There is so many things to see! Wonderful places like Place de Ayuntamiento with its famous post office and town hall and of course "Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias" - you can check out the pics!! We have already been several times to the beach and I am slowly starting to get tanned :-) *yeah*. Of course, I should not forget all the great possibilities for shopping! There are two mall we have been to: El Saler and Nuevo Centro. Especially one store has attracted our attention, it is called "Bershka" and it is well- known in Spain and Portugal! Now, I am planning to visit a "Corrida" (Stierkampf) and a soccer match of Valencia CF!I am trying to get a ticket for the Championsleague match against Schalke - that would be so great!!:-P
Apartment: I can be really happy with our apartment. My room-mate Iván is really nice and I was accepted immediately. On Thursday, Laura from Spain will be joining us. My room is pretty small, but it is okay... I can live with that ... I don't plan to spend my whole time in here anyways :-) The only thing which I don't like is that most of the aparment including kitchen and bathroom is a little bit dirty - especially the floor - I cleaned it several times but a few hours later everything is dirty again. Spanish people really do not have an affection for tidiness :-) But okay: as long as my room is allright and I feel comfortable, that's fine ... A really big advantage of our flat is the geographical position. All the bars and clubs where most of the ERASMUS people hang out are in spitting range, so I don't have to bother myself with trying to find a taxi or even get home earlier (the Metro closes at 22 or 22.30 pm). Also, a supermarket is just across the street and the Metro station is not that far either.
Spanish way of life: Well, I still need time to get used to the "slightly" different way of life here:-) It is normal that dinner takes place between 10 and 11 pm which is really awkward for me cause I normally don't eat that late. Moreover, nobody goes out before midnight and between 3 and 4 am the clubs are totally crowded.

University: Last week on Monday Katha and I went to our University (UPV = Universidad Politécnica de Valencia) where we met Katha's mentor María who was supposed to help us with the enrollment procedure. It was really hard to pick all the classes and make a schedule out of it. Normally, classes are taught in Castellano or Valenciano and sometimes also offered in English. You have to attend two parts for one class - a theoretical part and a more practical part. I am not sure but I would consider the so- called "Práctica" as a tutorial. I picked 5 classes but until September 30th I won't know if I can really attend all of them. Until now my classes are: Dirección Estratégica y Política de Empresa which will be in English, Dirección Financiera, Economía Espanola y Mundial, Economía de la Empresa 2, Emprendedores y Creación de Empresas - on Thursday, September 20, classes are about to start and I am excited to see if I will understand at least something :-)
Sports: Can't do without! UPV offers a wide range of sports activities for everybody - for free!! I am planning to sign up for a fitness class and maybe a class which improves your condition. Moreover, I am already in contact with someone who is responsible for volleyball. The university has two teams - one is competing on a national level, the other one against other universities in the greater Valencian area. Tomorrow the "national team" is going to practice, maybe I will stop by ... cause at the moment I am still waiting for my package from Germany with my sports shoes:-)

Buenos días from Valencia:-)

2007-09-06T22:19:00.000+02:00

Katha and myself arrived safely in Valencia. We had a little bit of trouble at Stuttgart Airport concerning the weight of our luggage:-) but nevertheless we made it to Valencia with about half an hour delay.

My room- mate Iván picked us up at the airport and then we dropped Katha off at her hostel where she is going to stay for the next 3 days until she finds an apartment.

The flat is pretty cool - I have everything I basically need. My room is pretty small about 12 m² - a bed, closet and desk are in it. With me are living Iván and on September 15 a girl named Laura will be joining us. But at the moment the flat is full of people- Iván's friend Carlos, a girl named Franzi and on the weekend we totally will have full house:-) but I don't mind - I don't plan to spend my whole day in here so I don't care.

Carlos meanwhile had prepared our dinner which was delicious. Of course I had to taste some wine. I normally don't like wine but this one was really good:-).
And after Iván told me that "Mathilda" (a plant on the balcony) needs to be watered twice a week:-), we all went to bed.

The next day:
I got up pretty early cause Katha and I planned to visit our University and see if it's already possible to sign up for classes - but of course it wasn't. We have to wait until Monday. However, we got to see the beautiful campus and our faculty which is about 8 minutes walking (just straight) away from where I live. Just perfect and I don't have to get up that early anymore like I had in Germany:-).

On campus we met Francesc, a former ERASMUS student in Heilbronn. He showed us around and gave us a lot of good hints. Afterwards, we took the tram and metro to the center of Valencia. As we were about to starve, we hit McDonald's - yeah, I know, shame on us...after lunch Katha called several people hoping to find an apartment.

At 9pm we had to check out an apartment for Katha which was really disgusting- of course she is not gonna take that one. Tomorrow we have another chance and luckily this apartment is really close to mine so hopefully it will work out!

For tomorrow we already planned some things: we wanna keep continuing looking for an apartment for Katha - we need to buy a Spanish cell phone - check out Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias - another flat viewing - and at last a meeting with ERASMUS people from Germany.

So,long day ahead of us and that's why I am gonna hit the bed now:-)

CU guys

Meike

Guestbook

2007-09-04T17:17:00.001+02:00

Departure!!!

2007-09-04T16:54:00.000+02:00

Well, tomorrow is THE day! I am leaving for Valencia from Stuttgart Airport at around 6.30 pm.
Katharina is going to join me and we will hopefully make it safely to Valencia!

Iván, my room-mate, told me that he would pick me up - so,let's hope that everything is going to work out that way!

The weather in Valencia is damn good :-) - 28 to 30 degrees!I can't wait escaping cold and cloudy Germany.

Allright, I am gonna go back to packing! I will write another post as soon as I get the chance to do so!

Hope to hear from u!!

Meike

VALENCIA - some facts

2007-07-31T16:59:00.000+02:00

September 5 - my departure date is coming closer and closer and I thought that it would be a nice idea to start my blog off with some facts about Valencia:

Valencia is the third largest city in Spain and with more than 800.000 inhabitantes (1.8 million in the metropolitan area) the capital of the Autonomous Community of Valencia. Situated in the centre of the Mediterranean Coastline in the east of Spain, the city is blessed with an enviable climate and thanks to the recent transformation Valencia is considered as one of the most attractive and liveable cities in Spain and Europe.

Valencia is known for "Las Fallas". Las Fallas - undoubtedly one of the most unique and crazy festivals in Spain which takes place every year in March. Moreover, the "Paella Valenciana", the traditional Valencian ceramics and the eye- catching new architecture of the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias) are characteristics which distinguish Valencia clearly from other Spanish cities.

A great honour was bestowed upon Valencia this year - it became the host of the 33rd world- famous America's Cup.

From September 15 till the end of late January I will be attending the "Universidad Politénica de Valencia", short UPV, which is one of the biggest and most famous universities in Spain. It offers a wide variety of courses to students of all faculties.

Well, I hope that I gave you guys a good first impression about Valencia... Keep on reading my blog!:-)