York United

Monday was the day for academic orientation for my faculty. So, I went to the location where it was held, and thank goodness I didn't go to the wrong place. I heard a lot of French and German going on so I knew I was at the right place. The funny thing I noticed that I was the ONLY Asian in the entire room of 400 students I think? I felt a bit left out, but it was a minor feeling.

Just when I was waiting for the orientation to start, someone approached me shouting, "OLIVER!!!"

I turned around and saw Kristen!!! She's also from York and I was so estactic to see her in the same room! I thought she might have been at a different place because she was studying different than what I had. But at that moment I felt so much better just to be able to talkin in English!

The orientation was really straightforward and course enrollment wasn't to bad to understand, just a bit unorganized with the schedules and lists. After orientation Kristen and I hung around the faculty building, and updated on each other's lives since being in Valencia. I am so thankful to have people from my university studying here in Valencia with me.

We later talked about where we're living, and it turned out she might be living close to me! So we decided to go to her place, do groceries, then to my place, and then search for cellphone booths to get SIM cards. As we approached her apartment, I noticed that she lives DIRECTLY across from the gorcery store I shop at!!! NOT FAIR. That'll be soooo convenient for her!

Her place was really comfortable! Very bright with lots of natural light! When I was in her room she had her curtains on so it was a bit dim, and it honestly made me want to have siesta at that moment. :D

We went to the grocery store ACROSS from her place (GRRRR, still jealous), bought lots and lots of food. We decided that she can put her stuff first before going to my place. So we went to the apartment entrance door and she just COULDN'T open the door! The key fitted the lock, but she just couldn't turn it! For 15 minutes, I tried, she tried, I tried again, and she again, but it just wouldn't work! I was like, that's not good...

Just when we were frustrated about the door, she looked up and was like, "Weird, I don't think I ever saw... OMG!!!" At that moment she broke out with laughter and fell to the ground.

I was like, "HUH?? Is everything okay?"

She said, "It's the wrong apartment... This one is 40, but mine is 42..."

I went silent, ".................................................................................................................."

Wow. I can't believe we were so stupid to miss that! Both entrance doors of the apartment had the same design...

Anywayyyyyyy

We went back to her apartment and I waited as she put her groceries away.

So we later went to my apartment to put away my stuff and we set off to find SIM card!

But we got lost... We were walking fine until we saw this tourist shop, and later walked around the Central Market that smelled like intense GARBAGE! BLEHHH... We tried to get back on track finding the way to Plaza de Ayutamiento, but we got more lost and decided to rest at Starbucks. There we just relaxed and I talked about Barcelona since she hasn't been there. After Starbucks we got to Plaza de Ayutamiento but the cellphone store ran out of SIM cards so... :S

We walked back to our apartments, and since we were meeting Larissa Strong (I think coordinator of York International?) at 7, we decided to meet up around 6:15 and go to her hotel. When we met up, she was talking to Chris, another Yorkie, and he was trying to get directions, LOL. So Kristen and I took the metro and went to Larissa's hotel. We were pretty late because Chris and Larissa were outside waiting for us... (We thought Chris would be late since he looks pretty clumsy, LOL)

Since Larissa's hotel was close to the beach, there were a lot of restaurants, one of which is La Pepica, very famous. Many politicians and celebrities and well-know people, like Ernest Hemingway, has dined in the restaurant. But when we got there it was 7:30 and it doesn't open until 8:30....

So we decided to walk on the beach! And it was greaaaaaaat. The Valencian beach is not as beautiful as the ones you seen on Pacific Islands, but it was really really really relaxing. And it was wide! You could probably walk like an hour and still not get to the end of the it.

While we were walking, we talked to Larissa about our experience in Valencia, how much we love it, and how much we have felt and changed since coming here. The three of us all agreed that we made the right decision to come over here, and that we've grown and discovered all these qualities we have after coming here. We would also recommend future students to do the same. Larissa commented and assured us about our experience. It was so nice of her to come to Valencia just for us. She was so nice and very encouraging.

So around 8:30 we went back to the restaurant, and Larissa said it was on her. At first I felt bad but... considering the menu was expensive and it was the school (well, our tuition) paying for the bill, we decided to order el menu del dia! We talked a lot about different things, such as personal lives, work expereinces, etc, while enjoying great wine and fabulous food! It was epic.

But when we finished dinner, it was 11:30. OMG... no way! Larissa was obviously very tired, so we walked her back to the hotel and said our farewells, wishing her a safe trip back to Canada.

Afterwards, we decided to go to Chris's apartment. On the way we joked so much, and the streets was so quiet that our laughs pretty much echoed. LOL. We got to his apartment, which was situated at a nice neighbourhood, but we didn't use the elevator because Chris got stuck in there once for some hours...

His apartment is very nice and basic, and we got to meet his roommate, Jan, from Belgium. We were supposed to go to this club for ERASMUS party with free mojitos and agua de valencia (until 1:00), but we just chilled and talked and joked until 1:30, and it took us like 30 minutes to walk to the club. And it was SKETCH!!! Like, yea, it was free entrance, but it was soooo stuffy with bad music and no space to dance! After like 30 seconds we decided to leave...

And since it was 2:30, we were pretty much tired, so Kristen and I took a cab home, and Chris walked home.

And that was the first day York united in Valencia. And I felt great, just to be able to talk in English again and associate with people whom I can relate a lot...