We are Canadian, Eh.

Yesterday started was a bit of the struggle in the morning since we had all stayed out so late the day before. The entire program had a free trip scheduled to the hill town of Xátiva, which is about 45 minutes outside of Valencia. Xátiva was a Roman (later Arab) municipality established in the 10th century A.D., and was ravaged and burned by Felipe V in 1707. The city was the birthplace of three popes and the famous Spanish Paintor Ribera. And if any of this is wrong it is because I'm writing this really fast and I'm translating it from a pamphlet we got on the trip, but it should be pretty accurate.

Anyway, we left from Valencia on tour buses around 11:30AM (it was a struggle to get out of bed early), sleeping most of the way there. Once there we visited the cathedral and the art museum. There was a group of at least 60 of us, so we crowded the tiny back streets while the natives stared at us. I even heard one shop owner go into his store telling everyone inside "que viene un crisis," which made me laugh. Xátiva's reputation for a tourist town owes itself to the castle at the top of the city. And when I say top, I mean a good 30 minutes of inclined walking up a winding mountain side in the middle of the Spanish sun. But the views atop were spectacular. We ate lunch and explored the castle for a while. We took a shortcut down the mountain, boarded our bus, and headed back to Valencia catching a nice snooze in between.

Yadda yadda yadda. Got home exhausted but failed to take my siesta because even in Spain running on a little more than 4 hours of sleep a night I am still a really bad napper. Anyway, dinner that night was DELICIOUS. I had my usual salad before the main course (the best part of the salads are the aceitunas (olives)... they taste unbelievably good). The main course was chicken that was friend in flour and oil and covered with una salsa de apio: milk, pepper, celery, and queso. It tasted so good, and I was starved from all the walking we had did earlier that I ate in record time. We had Cappuccino icecream for dessert.

We had a conversation after dinner that I think is worth telling. We were watching the news, and she brought up the fact that when she first got my email she was worried that I was some "tall, bulky, goon." The reason: when I first emailed her I used the Ud. (formal) way of addressing her. To her, this was tonto because in Valencia Ud. doesn't exist; everyone is addressed in the informal. Definitely shows you how subtle differences in culture and language can have a really large impact on people's interactions. Nevertheless, she admitted that the complete opposite was true telling me that I was "un chico majón," which can mean either nice or handsome in Spain (perfect word choice since both apply). She said she was sad that I was only going to be with her for one month. Even after 3 days here, the same holds true for me. Definitely.

The UVa Program had scheduled a welcome party for that night at a bar on the northwest area of the center called Corona 15. I went with my usual group (since we all live close) and we walked over around 11PM. The bar was really cool inside: two big trees in the middle with neon fiber optics interwoven in the branches. They played really good music, all of which was American from about 3 years ago. In fact, they seem to play American music exclusively here, which I didn't quite expect. Anyway, the bar was open to only us students until 1AM, and we got discount drinks (cubatas y chupitos)and a free Agua de Valencia. This is the signature drink of the area which consists of champagne, orange juice, gin, and vodka. It was nice to have all of the program kids in one place to mingle: we met some new people, made some toasts, and danced. We left around 2AM and headed out to find a discoteca. The streets were filled with people at this time, and there was something going on at every corner. We found a place called "The Music Box" with some help from a native, but he told us there was a cover charge (which can be 15-20 euro per person) but that we could negotiate. Me and my friend Chris went up to the bouncer (I suppose that's what they were) and started talking to them about letting us in. We managed to convince him to let all 15 of us in the club free-of-charge. Success. The atmosphere was really cool in there, and the scene was much more international. I met some college kids from Australia that were touring Spain, talked with some Italian guys (who were ridiculous), and two girls from Canada.

This is where the title of this post gets explained. My host mother told me a story the second night here that a couple years ago a group of Americans (likely the very American type that want nothing to do with the Spanish culture besides the partying) got harassed by a group of Spanish teenagers (she kept calling them Nazis, but I think she meant it in a different sense). Anyway, she told me not to worry as long as we spoke Spanish when we went out and told people we were from Canada. I passed this story along to the people we were out with, so when we would meet people and talk to them, we would say we were from Canada (Toronto, usually). The people we talked to were usually nice, it was mostly just to avoid being overheard by others. As you can tell, this kind of backfired last night when we actually MET two Canadians. Anyway, all the people we have met and been around have been super nice and helpful, so I don't think we really have to worry. It's pretty obvious when we are out that we really appreciate Spain and the language and customs. Still, the whole "we are from Canada" bit is becoming a kind of running joke among all of us.

We all shared taxis on the ride home, got in around 5:00AM and asleep by 5:01AM. Crazy thing was that as we were leaving the discoteca, there was a line of at least 30 people waiting to get in. Such is the Spanish nightlife. I'm getting used to not sleeping as much... or at least, sleeping less but more frequently. I am amazed at how habitual Valencians are; there are a lot of aspects of there culture that I wish we had in America, but our way of life just wouldn't suit it. It turns out (not surprisingly) that the first Saturday in Valencia was a success: I met some new people, got to know some acquaintances better, and had a ton of fun with the great group of friends I have already made here.

Pictures are: Me, Kara, and Maggie on top of the castle at Xativa, a shot of the castle, and a picture of a little chapel that was on the side of the mountain.

Hasta.