Week number 1

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