La vida en Valencia

So I have been living in Valencia for about 8 weeks now, and I'm really settling in well to the spanish way of life, I could definitely get used to the constant sunshine and warm weather!

I live in a flat right in the centre of the student area 'Avenida de Blasco Ibanez' in Valencia. It's about a 20 minute walk from my university faculty, and the same distance away from the beach... you can guess where I prefer going!
I'm living in an erasmus flat with two french boys, 3 other english students (one  is actually from Cardiff too, which is nice for a bit of home comfort!), a spanish girl from Ibiza, a dutch boy and an italian girl. We all get on really well, and it's really interesting to live with such a diverse mix of people.

                        

Aquí tenéis algunos de mis compañeros de piso: Elena, Priya, Me, Quentin, Leo, Toon and Grace

                                                               

                                                      
 Aquí tenéis la vista desde la terraza de mi piso y mi habitación

Lectures at university started at the beginning of October, and I'm finally starting to get my head round the spanish way of studying. Classes can start as early as 8 in the morning, and some don't finish until 9 at night... a very long day and not at all like university in Cardiff. Recently, there have been a lot of strikes by students and professors who oppose the planned education cuts here in Spain, so this has meant a lot of my classes have been cancelled over the past few weeks.

I've taken advantage of my ample free time and the glorious weather by taking some trips and exploring this great country I now call my home...

Dos fotos de la playa en Javea, Costa Blanca

 La playa 'El Saler', unos 20 kms fuera de Valencia

                                 
                                                          Alicante

At the end of september, some friends and I took a trip to the island of Ibiza for a few days. 

As you can see from this map, Valencia is just a short ferry ride away from the so called 'white isle'. 


On the thursday night of our trip, my friends and I went to a club to watch David Guetta perform in his closing party for the season. Somehow, with some great luck, a friend managed to get us into the VIP area, where low and behold, we had the great pleasure of meeting... Jonathan Ross! I was so excited (as I'm a bit of a sucker for celebrities!!) We chatted with him for a good while, he was a really nice and down to earth guy, and even told me he knew where my hometown, Chepstow, is because he enjoys visiting the Wye Valley... who'd have known! 

Mis compañeros de piso Priya, Toon y yo con el cómico britanico Jonathan Ross!

Besides my trips around the local area, I've also had some friends from the UK come to visit me out here. It's been really great to show them around my new home, and of course, as nice as my new friends are, it's always lovely to see your home friends! The flight to Valencia from Bristol airport only takes two hours, and is pretty affordable, so my friends really have no excuses in not taking advantage of there free accommodation in Valencia!

Mis amigos Jess, James y yo, enfrente de la catedral de Santa María de Valencia





Aquí están mis compañeras de piso en Cardiff, Sammy, Rosie y yo enfrente de la Plaza de Toros, Valencia













The end of summer has seen Valencia hosting numerous fiestas and holidays. Some of these I attended with my friends and housemates

Disfrutando cerveza a la fiesta de 'Oktoberfest', en septiembre

La Tomatina de Buñol en augusto

I have also been enjoying the doing touristy things like visiting the city's aquarium 'Oceanográfic' en la Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias de Valencia









y 'Bioparc', un zoo en el corazón de Valencia...




The past few weeks in Valencia have been great fun and I am enjoying my spanish adventure so much! I feel very lucky to be able to live and study in such an amazing city... I'll keep you all posted with my new tales of 'mi nueva vida en Valencia!'

Hasta pronto chicos !