The people have spoken...

....and after substantial demand (one person asking why I had only done one post and the other whether or not I had a blog) I am writing another post for my dedicated fans. I have not been updating periodically for a couple of reasons: 1) I have better things to do 2) I now have things to write about 3) My fans have spoken. I am well, I am alive, I am happy, I am not alone and if that is all that you care about you can stop reading here.

Thanks for continuing. Valencia is a cool place with lots of things to do and things to see. Some say (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19682049) that it is a useless and poor city with nothing going for it anymore. This may be true to a degree but once you look beyond Paul Mason's fantastically optimistic view of the world, you will see that it's a pretty good place to be spending a year with a bucket (€2500) of free cash.

University is well under way now and the work load is ever-increasing but it is all very manageable once you realise that the difficulty level is the same as a translated first year in England. I am still pretty baffled by the timings here. Every time that you want to buy something in a shop, it is shut. Nightclubs kick off around 0300 and lectures start at 0830. Dinner time is 10pm. It took a while to adjust to but I now feel that, although I'm sleeping far less, I'm getting far more done.

I bought a padel racket the other day and hope to get out on court soon. Padel is a Spanish sport which is an exact mix of tennis and squash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KORFX7LdFE) and it is quite popular here. I called up Christina a few weeks ago to book a lesson and when I turned up to my lesson she kindly told me that it was full and that she would call me on two days later to rebook. When the day came I waited and waited and waited for her to call but she never rang and my Padel dreams were shattered. Three weeks on, I've finally picked myself up and I'm ready to get on the court again and prove to Christina what I'm made of.


I'm getting my exercise dose from running along the river bed. There used to be a river here but in 1957 a huge flood devastated the city and so they diverted the river elsewhere. Today the river bed is a beautiful park where you can run/cycle/walk and so this is where I go. A very bizarre thing that I run past is a children's slide park in the shape of Lemuel Gulliver tied down with ropes (see left). It's a fun place to go and I would highly recommend going there if you like slides. Further down the river bed is one of Valencia's main tourist trump cards: the Ciudad de las Artes y Ciencias. A futuristic and architectural triumph that plays host to many events throughout the year, one of which being the high recommended dolphin show which I am yet to go to.

My most recent passion is football and my favourite team is Valencia CF. I live right next to the stadium and now own a football shirt. I am their number one fan. This is the view from the cheapest seats, and it's a pretty cool view. I live on the street directly behind that stand opposite and so it's easy to get home from the games. When I'm not watching football, I'm playing football. Number one fan. For those of you who think I've changed, I've changed for the better. For those of you jealous of my life thus far, don't hate me cos you aint me. OK?

The 9th October is Valencia's celebration of its independence from the moors and they commemorate this with a 45 minute firework display at midnight. 45 minutes of fireworks is a very long time. On the day itself I went to a corrida de toros and it was great to this controversial tradition in full swing. When the bull dies, two horses drag it away to be chopped up. You can access the area where they do it and I was able to stand 3m away from where four men hacked away at the corpse and reduced the mighty beast to mere bits of meat. This is slightly gory so don't look to the left if you don't want to see four bull's heads in buckets surrounded by their own blood.

If you've reached this paragraph I congratulate you for your persistence and thank you for spending your time reading why my life is currently (probably) better than yours. I could continue and complain about how bad it is and all the negative aspects of my year abroad but miraculously whilst writing this I've been hit by a wave of positivity for the first time ever in my life and as I'm sure it's going to end soon I better wrap things up. My Spanish is gradually improving and I'm appreciating living here more and more. If you fancy visiting me, you should. Molly Murphy found the place to be "warm, exciting" and I'm sure you will too.

Laters.

2.5% done

Setting up your life in another country is very tiring. I’ve been in Valencia for a week now and I am only just starting to feel partially rooted. There are so many things to sort out in a place where there are so many things you do not know. However, having found a property, left the hostel, moved into a temporary property, enrolled in the university, queued in long queues, set up a spanish mobile number, set up an Oyster-style transport card, it is now time to make friends. This is no easy task. You must find them, approach them, convince them that you are not yet another dull Erasmus. I’ve been fortunate in the fact that I have a few friends out here who also can go on friend expeditions and so together, one day, we will have friends. It is also hard to not be naive about potential friends. The other night in a club, I was approached by a beautiful Spanish girl who asked me whether I wanted to meet her friend. To my dismay she then pointed me in the direction of a podgy man wearing a cap who looked a little like Peter Griffin and he was looking in my direction smirking in a cheeky way. “Lo siento tengo novia” I said, but she misunderstood this and told the podgy man that “tiene novio”. Obviously my English style is attractive to the Spanish male predator and my rusty Spanish gives of a different impression of what I would want to give off. I escaped unscathed. The search continues but I seem to be making progress. We attended a pop-up Oktoberfest in the centre of the Plaza de Toros the other night for a quick drink. The two for 1 offer came in useful as we stayed until closing time. An eventful evening. I met the Presidente del Gobierno (?), some journalists in training and had a terrific bike ride home. The following day I found myself walking around town looking for una batería for my phone having lost it on a patch grass frequented by dogs going to the toilet. I’m still getting settled but it’s increasingly looking like I’m going to have a fantastic year. Laters.