¡Hola!
So after last post I said we were going somewhere on a field trip with one of my classes and I didn't know what or where exactly it was. Well, Sagunt is a town 20 minutes north of Valencia. It is a Roman city that used to be walled, but the wall has recently been destroyed. There are remnants of the wall, but still standing is a HUGE ancient castle, a theatre that's been restored and a cathedral. When we arrived, we walked to their main plaza, on one side of the plaza begins the "ancient" district and on the other side begins the "modern" district. Sagunt has always been a major industrial city because it is so close to a port. They have a rock quarry that was used more-so in the "ancient" times for mining, etc. and now they have a huge technological sector. We toured the ancient side of the city and first we went by the cathedral, our teacher has never been able to go inside as she doesn't know when it's open to the public. So from what I saw on the outside, it was pretty! Then we started walking up the hill towards the castle, but on the way we stopped at a museum that had artifacts from the Ancient Roman times in the city and then at the Theatre. This theatre has recently been restored so that the city can use it for plays, etc. like it would have been used in the ancient days. According to our teacher, some people didn't want it to be restored because they thought it was better kept ancient, but if it was kept like that people could only see the inside through barred windows and not be able to use it so I'm glad they restored it. Then we made our way up the hills to the castle. It is beautiful when you get to the top, you can see over the whole city. And we were able to explore a lot of things "inside" the castle. I say "inside" like that because a lot of the middle has been destroyed so it is pretty much made of ruins inside with a still standing external perimeter. After spending a while in the castle, we made our way down and went by a small church that looked like it was supposed to be in Greece, not Spain. It was all white with blue windows, absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, my camera died so I only have pictures up until we left the castle. After the small church, we walked back down to the center, had gelato and boarded the train back to Valencia! It was an awesome excursion.
This Friday, ISA took us to La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias (the City of Arts and Sciences) to see an IMAX 3-D movie about Sea Monsters in the Hemisferic. It was pretty cool. Then, we went to the Oceanographic building which is the aquarium. While it was awesome to see the shark tank, etc. it's not as cool as it's hyped up to be. Every time I googled something about Valencia, it was ALL about Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias and the aquarium. Honestly, I kind of think the Baltimore Aquarium is cooler, but nevertheless, this was still fun!
While some people stayed to watch the dolphin show, my friend and had signed up to volunteer at 4 (the show was at 3:30) so we couldn't watch it, but that's ok, we've both seen dolphin shows and volunteering with kids is more worth it. So, at the school, we just pretty much played with the kids, playing dodgeball, jump rope, etc. I was kind of surprised at how un-disciplined these kids were though. They were all adorable and nice, but some of them were so poorly behaved and rather than yelling at them, the teachers were like ok you're in the red group (which is the worst) or you're in the yellow group (which is like they did one thing bad). I don't know if later they don't have as many privileges as other kids if they're in the red group or something but it was interesting how the teachers were like well you did that, ok you're in the red group. Not sure if it's more affective than saying ok go sit over there in time out, but just interesting to watch. The kids here did know though that when a teacher says something, she absolutely means it.
So, that was Friday and Samantha and I were both exhausted just from walking around all day and then I volunteered so I was even more tired. In short, we both fell asleep at 11:30 and slept for a little less than 12 hours. It was great. Then, we got up and went to the Center City with two of our other friends to shop, then drink sangria, and then go to a bull fight!! The bull fight was at 6 and one of my friends here had talked to Roberto (the guy at the sangria place) and he said if you buy a normal ticket, to call one of his employees who also works at the Plaza del Torros and he can get us good seats. So, we called him, and not only did we get like VIP seats, we got to see the before and after of the fight. During and after the first fight, I was on the verge of tears, not so much because it's sad but because I didn't really know what to expect. It is sad, but it is an art (after number 3 I tried to really only watch how the fighter moved, because they are impressive in how quick and nimble they have to be. Now, I know it may sound really gross that we also saw "the after" part of the fight, but it made me realize that it IS actually humane how they use the body. Immediately, it was being washed and cared for and every part of the bull is used for something. The whole thing, I'm not sure whether I liked it or not; I would never go to one again, but I am really glad I got to see one, complete with the VIP packaged tour we had because it is tradition, and it is impressive.
The reason there was a bull fight yesterday was because this weekend is a festival/holiday in Valencia. After the fight, we ate dinner and then went to Roberto's to thank him and his employee and decided to stay there to watch the fireworks. Well, little did we know that Roberto had talked to the apartment land-lord above him and he took us all onto the roof to watch the fireworks. It was incredible. The fireworks in the states are really cool, don't get me wrong, but these were really cool and lasted at least twice if not triple the amount of time normal fireworks last. AWESOME.
Anyway, today we are going to the Center City again to see the Mesclata, which is a firework show during the day (it's main purpose is to be really loud while also kind of making a beat). The same thing happens every day during the Fallas festival.
Buenos dias!
