An Ode to Villarrobledo

I know I have been travelling a lot, but amongst all this travelling, I have come to grow very fond feelings for Villarrobledo--the place that I am temporarily calling home!  There really isn't a whole lot to it at first glance--it's a medium-sized town where you can get pretty much anywhere by walking.  It would probably take half an hour to walk from one side of the town to the other, but everyone drives anyway :).

Anyway, Villa has quite a lovely Plaza and Ayuntamiento.  The Church is very old too, and BEAUTIFUL on the inside and out!  I may have posted this before, but here is a picture of la Iglesia de San Blas y la Plaza:

There are some other gems in Villarrobledo as well, like El Desvan, my friends and my favorite bar/hang out place, Quo - another hang out place right on the Avenida we live on, Esther Comestibles, the best place to go for bread when mercadona is closed!! Ganesha, Pisoton and Picari, my favorite clothing and accesories boutiques...I could go on and on!  It's not a very commercial town, we don't have a lot of brand name stores, or big companies, but I like it that way.  It's a smaller town feel, and I'm really enjoying it!

I think that what I am enjoy most though, are the people that I am meeting!  People here have been so welcoming and generous!  If anyone ever tells you that Spaniards are not the warmest people, ignore everything that comes out of their mouth because it's just not true!  Well okay, maybe in Madrid or some annoying big city, but that's anywhere really.  Here are some lovely people that have made my time here in Villa so special:

Maria Jose and Leo, my neighbors!

Anna, Daniel, Me, and Krista at Quo!  This is such a silly picture, I love it!

My friends and I hanging out for Reyes (Jan 5th. On Jan 6th, the 3 Wise Men come and bring presents to children in Spain!  If you are not a child...then you go out the night before with your friends!)
Here we have...Mary, Mariajo, Tara, Daniel, Merxe, Esther, Ashly, Ana Rosa, and Silvia!

I would like to upload more picture, but the library connection is super slow and it is taking forever (although I am thankful for the free internet and movies to rent!).  Right now, it is time for comida, so I'm going to go home and make myself some 2:30 pm lunch.

More on Villa later...Have a lovely day!

Valencia Weekend!

Yesterday I returned from a weekend in beautiful Valencia! I really enjoyed it, it wasn't that warm, but it was beautiful nonetheless!  Krista and I arrived in Valencia on Friday morning and hung around for a little while until the rest of the girls arrived.  We had a great time catching up on holiday stories and enjoying some early afternoon sangria, tapas and lunch before taking a much needed nap!! Traveling tires you out, man!


Valencia is just a beautiful part of Spain.  On the train ride there, I saw countless orange groves and palm trees, and once we got there, I noticed that every building, even the train station, has it's own little bit of flair.  It's a very decorated city.   I usually judge whether or not I like a place by the atmosphere that it gives me.  For example:  Madrid's atmosphere, to me at least, is pretty commercial.  There's a ton of great shopping, a lot of tourists, and a lot of really good places to eat.  It feels pretty rushed and busy though, so although it is the capital, it's not my favorite city.  It's nice for a day trip though!  Barcelona, on the other hand, has a real chill and laid back atmosphere.  It seemed really artsy and it is on the ocean, I loved it!  Valencia was somewhere in the middle of that, I think, but more towards the relaxed end of the spectrum.  I loved being there and am hoping to go back when it is a little warmer!

I just thought this was cool!

An interesting fountain

Cathedral in one of the main plazas.

La Lonja.  We weren't exactly sure what La Lonja was...but it was pretty neat anyway!

Inside of La Lonja.

The Valencia Aquarium

Anyway, after exploring, eating, and napping, we decided to get dressed and eat some more! Before going out to enjoy the Valencia night life.  We had a great night and got up in the morning all ready for the Valencia Aquarium--the largest in Europe! It was AWESOME!  

It was so fun to see all of the sea animals, I really enjoyed it a lot!  My favorites were the beulga whales and the dolphins.  We even got to see a dolphin show, which was really cool!  Here are some pictures from that:

After the Aquarium, some of the girls went shopping while Corinna and I went back to the hostel to take a nap.  Apparently I was ridiculously tired because I fell asleep about a minute after arriving there!  When the rest of the girls got back, we all got ready to go out to dinner.  Our goal was a to have Paella, so we went to this restaurant that had been recommended to us called El Rall.  When we got there, we found out that all of the tables inside were full.  Because we are so very smart, we said "Well, we can sit outside!", so they turned on the outdoor heaters and we had a nice Paella dinner outside :).  It wasn't too cold, and it definitely made for a memorable night! 

Me, Jaclyn, and Krista enjoying Paella

Paella Valenciano -- Chicken and Rabbit!

Well, that's about it!  I had a great weekend in Valencia and am looking forward to lots more little trips and whatnot :).  I also am looking forward to spending more time in Villa!! woohooo!  

He regresado...

Happy New Year, or Feliz Ano, as the Spanish say :).  I had such a lovely time in Holland with Nicki, and had a great time in Barcelona ringing in the New Year as well!  Krista and I met up at our hostel in Barcelona on the 30th, and then next night we were shoving grapes into our mouths as it chimed midnight on Jan 1, 2011, and enjoying the adventures that the Barcelona night life offers.  It really is a beautiful city, and we got to see some of the famous sites that Gaudi designed, like Park Guell and Sagrada Familia, which is now a church!

I've been back in Villarrobledo enjoying doing nothing and stealing my friend's internet (ours is STILL broken!  apparently things here take an eternity to fix).  I've been really enjoying this doing nothing thing...and hoping that the rest of today and tomorrow don't go too quickly ;).  It will be nice to see everyone at school again though!

This is going to be a very short blog entry because I'm feeling rather apathetic today and want to get back to my doing nothing before that changes on Monday ;).

In sum, good Christmas, good New Years, good friends, good break.  Later!

M