whatssophiedoing
whatssophiedoing
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Week number 1

Udgivet: 24.01.2018

It's almost been a week since I sat in my plane heading south, eagerly looking forward to the start of my semester abroad. At the latest when my seat neighbor immediately started talking to me on the flight and gave me hundreds of insider tips for Valencia, I was once again aware of how much I appreciate the Spaniards for their openness, helpfulness, and sociability (and apparently Valencians are no exception to the rule). On Tuesday evening, after a 4-hour flight and a 1/2-hour taxi ride, I arrived in the sweet neighborhood Benimaclet, which immediately impressed me with its colorful, low houses and its peaceful location. On the left side of the page is the entrance to my AirB&B, where I am staying with a Valencian woman until the end of February. Angélica warmly welcomed me to her apartment when I arrived and has since contributed mostly to making me feel very comfortable and welcome here. Benimaclet is a bit off the beaten path of the student district, but it offers a much more pleasant and peaceful atmosphere. In addition, my university campus is only 2 tram stops away (about 10 minutes) and a metro station is just around the corner ;-)


I enjoy my morning coffee + breakfast on our extremely cozy sun terrace when the weather is nice (which is almost every day), where the first rays of sunshine often sneak in early in the morning. Most of the time, our 2 playful house cats keep me company, as you can see.

PS: The saying on my mug also means that you should enjoy the little things in life, which fits quite well with my daily breakfast situation. ;-)


During my first 3 days, everything was mainly university-related. We received our preliminary timetable for the upcoming week, our student ID cards, and almost all organizational information for this semester. I also had 2 workshops where I already met some Erasmus students from all over the world.


I also took advantage of the nice weather on Thursday and Friday and put on my running shoes to go for a nice run in the Jardin del Turia. Turia is the name of the former river bed, which was transformed into a 9 km long green oasis (due to quite heavy floods) in 1957 and now surrounds Valencia's entire historic center, as you can see on the map below. really SUPERDUPERNICE!




I ended my Friday with a lovely and cozy girls' night out, lots of tapas, and my first Valencian Sangria. The restaurant was called TodoGigante and lived up to its name: the portions were giant for €1 and the name 'tapas'. BUT they were also really delicious.



On Saturday, we decided to take full advantage of the wonderful weather and joined a free walking tour at lunchtime. I swear, I am usually absolutely NOT a fan of long city tours, but our tour guide was really great ;-) The 3 hours (!) flew by with humor and totally interesting information. It may also have had something to do with the fact that we were simply fascinated by what Valencia's old town had to offer.



Our tour guide Eduardo, also known as Hahn im Körbchen, also gave us a whole list of insider tips and then took us to an interesting restaurant. Since we girlies were pretty hungry after the tour at 3.30 pm and without lunch, we decided to stuff ourselves with the classic Paella de Valencia (with chicken, rabbit, and beans). (see the 2 huge pans in the photo)

PS: Yes, the classic paella does not include seafood because Valencia (5 km from the sea) is not actually a port city. And why are there rabbits in it? Well, to summarize briefly: the name España originally comes from the word 'Sepanim' (Phoenician) and refers to rabbit-like animals that hopped around all of Spain a long, long time ago, especially in the Valencia area. It may sound strange, but a little rabbit tastes really delicious ;-)

(more photos, see above)

Today it's raining and stormy here, so we need a bad weather program. I'm going to the Institut Valencià d'Art Moderna with the girls to check out some modern Valencian art ;-)

So I'm going to end my Sunday rather comfortably and tomorrow morning will be my first day at university.

Wishing my followers a nice Sunday - I will do my best to keep you updated :-)

Kisses, Sophie

Svar (1)

Katharina
Purer Neid (bis auf den 🤢🐰!!!!!) Bussis aus dem nicht so schönen Wien❤️🌴🚫