Amunt Valencia!

At the end of last year, some friends and I went to watch a 'partido de fútbol' at Valencia CF's Mestalla stadium.

The game was between Valencia CF and Real Sociedad, a football team from the north of Spain.

Emily, a fellow erasmus student here in Valencia to my left, and my friend Chloe, from home, and I enjoyed watching the game together...

The game got off to a good start, with Valencia scoring in the first 2 minutes!!

But...

It all went down hill from there!!

Real Sociedad equalised...













And scored again...

And again.. (we fought back a little bit too!!)

And again, and again! To make the final score 5-2 to Real Sociedad. Needless to say, the Valencian fans weren't too happy, so much so, half of the stadium left ages before the end of the match, many started shouting 'you're useless, go home', at the players, and the organisers of the game even switched off the main screens, to save themselves the embarrassment of the defeat!! 

Sore losers I say!

¡Felices Fiestas!

¡Feliz Navidad y Feliz Año Nuevo desde España!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and New Year! This is me and my flatmates (plus some extras!) enjoying an early xmas dinner before they went to their respective homes for the Christmas holidays!

Deciding to make the most of my year abroad experience, I stayed here in Spain for the Christmas and New Year holidays. My family came to stay with me here in Valencia from the 18th until the 29th of December.








Despite being almost 1300 miles away, I still enjoyed a roast turkey dinner with all the trimmings here this Christmas!














Buying the ingredients for the dinner was a challenge in itself though, as our typical tradition of turkey and a roast isn't common at all here. Instead, families eat together on the 24th (so Christmas Eve), and enjoy typical regional dishes, so for example, as Valencia is a beach resort, sea food is typically enjoyed here for the Christmas meal. My brother-in-law and I spent about 3 hours in Carrefour, running up and down isles, frantically trying to find a pavo (turkey) and jamón (gammon) but to no avail!!

Check this photo out! This was taken during a trip with my family to Javea, in the Costa Blanca on 23rd december - the weather was beautiful and sunny as you can see, and about 24 degrees... I even managed to sunburn my arm enjoying the rays - hope I haven't made you too jealous!!

 From the 31st until yesterday, 7th Jan, I stayed in the capital, Madrid, to see the new year in with some friends!

The New Year celebrations here in Spain are very similar to that in the UK, some enjoy a meal with family, others a night out with friends, but come midnight, when the clock chimes the first 12 'dongs' of the new year, the tradition here in Spain is to eat 'uvas' (grapes in english), one for every chime of the clock, and the aim is to finish the grapes before the 12th chime!

Attempting to de-seed the grapes, ready for midnight!











Here in Spain, 6th January is celebrated too. The holiday is called 'Los Reyes Magos' and this is traditionally the day that the children get their presents. Like Father Christmas for us, Los Reyes come on the night of the 5th, and leave gifts under the christmas tree for the children to open on the day of the 6th. Los Reyes Magos, are the three wise men we know from the Bible who were said to have presented the new born baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

Similar to us in the UK, children in Spain visit Los Reyes Magos in the days before the 6th January, to sit on their lap and tell them which present they would like

Also it is typical for the children to write a letter to their favourite king, saying why they have been a good boy or girl that year, and therefore why they deserve the present they have asked for!


Now we are in 2013 (where the heck have the last 5 months gone?!!) I'm suddenly in my last month or so here in Valencia, and starting to prepare for my Austrian adventure! I shall keep you posted about my last few weeks here in Spain...

¡Hasta pronto chicos!