Whoops, I forgot I had one of these

So, after all the exciting vacation times with my parents, and before that seeing Anna, and before that going to Mallorca with Max and Isaac and Fallas happening and seeing my brother and all, this past week has been pretty tame.
On my way back from the train station, I ran into a guy who started talking to me, and we decided to meet up sometime to chill. I got back home and spent the evening with my host family, then went out with Dotty for the triple purpose of getting out of the house, determining when and where we should meet to do the rest of our project, and seeing some Flamenco. We met at a little bar called La Claca, which hosts Flamenco dancing and music live every Sunday night. Dotty and I arrived a little late to get good seats, but we could see standing by the bar, and sat down and caught up, which was nice.
Monday, which was actually a holiday thanks to another saint (one good thing about a Catholic country is all the random holidays), so Dotty and I met up in mid-morning to get some work done. We accomplished little, distracted as we were by the good weather, and consequently spent the afternoon at the beach instead. We returned to her place to finish up some work and divide up the remaining work.
Tuesday classes started again, and passed as usual. My culture class visited IVAM, the modern art museum in Valencia, which was actually pretty awesome and enjoyable. I spent the afternoon working on my paper and presentation, then went out for a walk with Alex. I caught up on my TV show that night, and spent some time online to catch up with friends back home.
Wednesday my second class was cancelled, so I did some shopping on the way home and finally found a couple of needed gifts. I did more work, then went out with my host family. It was Italo's birthday, and we were meeting all of Alba's family in the area and going out to a restaurant where we would eat and talk and Italo's band would play some music. I was pretty excited to be invited along. We drove about fifteen minutes to another part of the city and took over the little bar/restaurant. Italo, his son Alberto, and two other guys set up their music things and started playing as the rest of us sat down and we ate traditional Columbian food. It was delicious, and the music was good, and I got to film and take lots of pictures. Everyone brought gifts for Italo, who accepted them graciously, and more music ensued. I talked mostly with Noelia, Alba and Italo's daughter-in-law, who is really cool and chill. She's the only Spaniard in the family (that is, actually from Valencia), and I have a much harder time understanding her accent, but oh well. It was only slightly awkward since everyone there was a couple and they were all really close, but still lots of fun. We didn't get home until about six, at which point I had to run to get online and figure out travel things for the summer, which was also, in its way, pretty exciting.
Thursday I spent most of the day after class in the ISA office, Skyping and working on my grammar class presentation. I fortunately remembered that I needed to write an article for the Retriever, and hastily did that, although I was a little embarrassed to submit it. I had dinner at home but went back out for a little to finish some conversations and e-mail pictures and my article. (Apparently things like jobs don't wait for you to get back from study abroad, so I also had to take care of some paperwork things).
Friday morning was pretty relaxing, since I have no class. I got some work in, then walked to the stadium to meet my ISA group for our trip to the Albufera. The Albufera is both a huge lake and a national park, protected for its importance to migratory birds between Africa and Europe. I was imagining more of a park than a lake, but the lake pretty much is the park, so you don't really walk much. We took a ride in some flat-bottomed boats and saw lots of herons and other birds. It was gorgeous out and it was nice just to be on the water, and also see everyone I hadn't seen in ages, thanks to two weeks of spring break. It was a little weird seeing them all too though, since everyone is already preoccupied with going home and taking care of last-minute things here, saying goodbye to people and places, cramming some last late-nights in before going home.
That night was fairly boring; Dotty and I planned to go find some dancing but I wasn't up to it so we decided to pass on that, so I stayed in, worked, chatted with some friends back home, and read. Saturday morning I worked some more (I really haven't been working as much as it sounds, I only ever did about an hour at a time, and at a fairly lazy pace at that). I cooked Mexican tacos with Alba, which were perhaps the most delicious things I've ever consumed. I am very excited about cooking them on my own when I get back home. I don't remember the afternoon really, which is good because it was fairly dull. I know at some point to left the house to recharge my phone, but didn't go running since it was cold and gross outside. Dotty and I tried to make up our dancing-date, but unfortunately Saturday night she wasn't up for it, and Ken was still hungover from the night before and not up for a night out.
I went to bed not too late, which was actually fortunate because Sunday morning I got up fairly early and got a lot done. I worked a little, then went out to the center of down, did some more gift-shopping, then caught the bus to the beach. I had my picnic lunch there and napped and read and enjoyed the sun and the sound of the waves. I joined Dotty for a last-minute revision of our ten-page paper and presentation. We decided to celebrate the termination of our project with frozen yogurt (which here actually IS yogurt, not ice cream) and mojitos at Dotty's favorite bar (which is perhaps now MY favorite bar as well, with an Irish bartender with an adorable accent and an Italian bartender who looks exactly like Johnny Depp, but with a more attractive accent and younger). We hung out and talked, and Johnny Depp bartender bought us keychains from a guy coming in to sell things, which was cute. I had to get home for dinner eventually, so we left, and I caught the bus home, where I ate and then read, and then slept.
Monday we turned in our papers and listened to lots of presentations in class. I walked home with Dotty, stopping at the futbol store for her to get a gift. I had lunch at home, then helped Alba cook Arroz al Horno. Now that I only have two weeks left I'm catching up on all the recipes I wanted to learn before leaving. I also learned Alba used to go to cooking school for five years back in Columbia, which explains how she knows things about cooking, and makes so many delicious foods. I did more homework things that afternoon, or tried, but ended up napping instead for a good hour and a half. I met up with Alex again and we walked up to the train station and back. It's interesting getting to know other peoples opinions from such different backgrounds and lives (he's from Africa, and has been living in Spain for some 8 years or so). Anyway, I came home, chilled, had some dinner, and went to the locutorio for a little before going to bed.
Today, Tuesday, I had class, did my presentation (the one all that work supposedly was on) which went alright, and we finally finished talking about Don Quixote in my literature class. Not that I don't like Don Quixote, but Cervantes was a little long-winded. Afterwards I had lunch at home, did my homework, (it's so easy to be a good student when it takes about an hour a day or less, and you only have twelve hours of class a week), then talked with Max for a while. I came back home to cook Spaghetti a la Carbonara with Alba, which is also surprisingly easy and delicious. It was past 6 by the time we finished, and I got some studying done, and finally some writing.
So my last week wasn't all full of adventures, but still pretty nice to chill in Spain. I have yet to revisit and say goodbye to all my favorite places in Spain, and go back to my favorite bar at least once, and go salsa dancing (I know it's not a Spanish dance, but still fun). Oh! And one last visit to the park for some bouldering, and hopefully seeing my climbing friends there. I can't believe I'm leaving so soon, or how the time still manages to go really slowly and quickly at the same time.
Hasta luego!