Going over American pastimes can make you realize how much you miss them. For this reason, I was glad to have planned a trip to visit an old friend, Cameron Mellin, in Valencia. During this time of year, our friends from high school usually reunite in our hometown (Cary, NC) and catch up so it was nice to carry on that tradition with at least one person from the gang.
Cameron is obtaining an International MBA and his program is unique in that it incorporates a partnership among several Universities around the world including one in Valencia. He will complete his second term at UNCW (Wilmington, NC) starting in February.
Upon my late Thursday arrival (Thanksgiving day) I was greeted with the leftover Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes that Cameron had eaten with his roommates and other fellow students. Among Cameron´s two roommates is Hunter Outen who actually is from my hometown as well but was unfortunate enough to have attended our rival high school, Green Hope. Lucky for me, Hunter decided his economics class on Friday was not worth going to so I had someone to walk around the city with.
A main attraction in Valencia, the the Cathedral of Saint Maria of Valencia is something I had the priviledge of seeing when I spent a weekend in the city two years ago. The church was consecrated in 1238 by the first Bishop of Valencia after the Reconquista. Aside from being an impressive piece of architecture, this church is the supposed home of the holy grail.
One of Valencia´s other main attractions is the City of Arts and Sciences, a unique complex devoted to scientific and cultural dissemination which is made up of five main elements: the Hemisfèric (IMAX cinema and digital projections), the Umbracle (a landscaped vantage point and car park), the Príncipe Felipe Science Museum, the Oceanográfico (the largest aquarium in Europe with over 500 marine species) and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (which takes care of the operatic program). The Ágora gives the complex a multifunctional space.
Below are a few of my pictures from the area:
Hunter and I decided to pay entrance into the aquarium as he still had not yet been. The Oceanográfico is divided into sections based upon geography and climate. We covered them all, the arctic, the antarctic, the mediterranean, temperate and tropical, islands, wetlands, oceans and the dolphinarium.
Here are a few pictures from inside the aquarium:
My favorite weird fish:
Little Guys!
One of the highlights, the dolphin show:
After touring the aquarium, walking around the city and even getting lost in a random dead end trail that smelled like sewage, Hunter and I met back up with Cameron.
Thanks to the uniqueness of their program, Cameron and Hunter´s group of friends in Valencia is extremely diverse with students from Spain, France, Malaysia, Germany and Romania to name a few. Of course, these differences and language barriers make for interesting, and often hilarious conversations.
Some of the group, Friday night:
Mi hermano, Cameron:
The following morning Cameron made his roommates and I feel bad about ourselves by continuing on with his P90X routine in the living room.
Later that day we got ready to go to a traditional paella dinner. Many cities in Spain have a signature dish. As is the case with Valencia, where paella is the specialty. There are many different variations of this rice dish (seafood, mixed, etc.) but two key ingredients are olive oil and saffron.
After dinner, the group hung out at Cameron´s apartment before one more night out. This night was especially entertaining due to a few Spaniards who liked to tell everyone what they learned about the United States from the TV show, American Dad: ''I learned on American Dad that you have to chew tobacco to be a man and have a gun.'' Obviously, they were joking for the most part and really just making fun of us Americans - and it was pretty funny.
At the apartment haha:
The next day I caught an early train back to Extremadura. Once again I had completed a successful weekend trip. I hope to meet up with everyone from Valencia again before they leave Spain in February.
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