Day Trip to the Beach

My 21st birthday was on February 3rd, which was about three weeks ago. It was an interesting day; one I don’t expect that I’ll ever forget.
It started off with checking out of the luxurious hotel that I had been staying in, a perfect gift that my aunt had given to me for my birthday. It just so happened that Michael’s parents had actually booked him a room in the same hotel, so we left together. The previous day we had been out looking for flats and had been told that we could move into one that we were really happy with on my birthday. However, the guy that was renting out the rooms in the flat called us at 11:00 p.m. the night before and said that was going to be out of town on the day that he had told us we could move in, but that he would be back sometime in the evening and would call us when he was back.
As we were checking out of the hotel on Wednesday morning, we had to figure out what to do with all of our luggage since we didn’t have our own place yet. Luckily we had made a friend that was kind enough to let us store all of it in her flat while we waited to hear back from this guy. Dragging my heavy suitcases filled to the brim with all of my belongings around the city was pretty stressful and incredibly tiring.
Once we dropped off the suitcases we decided to go to the beach for the day. Neither of us had been yet and were both eager to see what it was like. Plus, it was the first sunny day either of us had seen since our arrival in Castellón. We found a bus that went to the beach and got on it. The actual beach is not within walking distance from the city, but it was only about a twenty-minute bus ride. Since it was a weekday and technically still considered winter, the beach was virtually empty. It was gorgeous! Absolutely amazing! We spent a couple of hours just walking around barefoot, testing out how cold the water actually was (and it was pretty cold!). Once we had both soaked up enough pleasant sun, we decided to enjoy a traditional Spanish lunch on the port. We order bread with some delicious sauces and seafood Paella. And since it was my 21st birthday, we even ordered a bottle of wine to go with lunch! It was such a lovely afternoon!
It wasn’t until the evening when we still hadn’t heard back from the guy that told us we could move in with him that we began to freak out. At about 7:00 p.m. we decided to start calling around and going to look at other flats because I had a gut feeling that this guy was never going to call us back. And to make a long story somewhat short, we ended up going all over town looking at different flats and starting to accept that we probably weren’t going to get to live together because most of the places only had one bedroom to rent. At that point, we both just wanted to find a place to stay, regardless of whether it was together or not. At 10:00 p.m. the guy we were going to live with finally called us back and said that we could stay the night in the two empty rooms he had, but that he wasn’t going to be able to rent us the rooms because the landlord was only willing to rent to people that were going to be staying longer than five months. So essentially Michael and I were homeless for a night. All the while, our suitcases with all of our stuff were still at our friend’s flat and we had obligatory meetings at school the next morning. Needless to say, it was unbelievably stressful and nerve-wracking. It was most certainly a birthday that will never be forgotten.
The next day, we heard back from the girls who’s flat we liked the best out of all the ones we looked at. When they first called us, they thought that they only had one of the rooms available. But when we got there, it turned out that the other room was also available! I’m not sure that I had ever felt more relieved in my entire life. We were going to get to live together after all! And in our first choice, nonetheless!
To give some sort of description of our flat, it is a four bedroom, two bath, fairly spacious and clean apartment. We live on the eighth floor, which has a nice balcony that overlooks the street. From it, you can see the mountains in the distance. From my bedroom window, you can see the Mediterranean Sea when it’s clear outside. Our roommates are two Spanish girls named Miriam and Isa. They have both recently graduated from UJI and are currently working. They are as nice, friendly and empathetic as they could be! In fact, they have both studied abroad themselves in England and therefore completely understand all that Michael and I are going through. They also speak English, which made agreeing upon the lease much easier. Ever since finding a place to live, things have only gotten better.
Letters and care-packages can be spent to my address, which is:
Sarah Effinger
C/ Peñiscola, 18 °, 8 °, 15pta
12003, Castellón de la Plana
España

It's about time . . . (literally)

Perhaps I should name this Fail blog . . .
(If one didn’t already exist, I would seriously consider changing it)
I have promised to update this blog numerous times over the past few weeks. There have been many new developments with school as well as with my living situation that have been worth mentioning, but somehow time always manages to slip away from me.
I suppose that is where I will begin: time. More specifically, Spanish Time. It really exists. At first, I didn’t believe it. I had read and heard from friends that everything in Spain is a few hours later than what most people are accustomed to. After being here for nearly 3 weeks, I can testify that that is completely true. Besides most things taking place later than normal here, time honestly feels like it passes differently. It’s not just for me, either. My travel partner Michael says he feels the same way. A typical day here starts off in almost the same way as it would back home. My alarm goes off at 7:00 a.m. I roll out of bed (which seriously feels much more difficult than it ever did in Oklahoma – I attribute it to the AMAZING industrial-like blinds that cover the window in my room. They make it pitch black whenever I want, even in the middle of the day), and then I get ready for school. I have to make it to the bus stop by 8:30, which is about three blocks away from my flat. Castellón has a wonderful public transportation system. I can get anywhere in town in twenty minutes or less. It takes about fifteen minutes to get to UJI, or Universidad Jaume I. It’s pronounced like “Eww. He,” like the sound that you would make when tasting something disgusting and then HE, as in “he has the car.”
At UJI, finding classes that I am allowed to take has been difficult, but after two weeks I think that I’ve finally gotten classes and a schedule that will work for me. The classes that I’m enrolled in are:
Intensive Spanish that lasts until March, followed by a semi-intensive class that lasts for the remainder of the semester
History of Europe
Spanish to English Translation
Contemporary Spanish History
Culture and Society of Spanish-Speaking Communities
The past two weeks have been filled with frustration concerning school. UJI’s enrolling system is completely different from that of OU’s. I suppose that’s something I should have expected, but it still doesn’t make it any easier when trying to make a schedule. It’s just that UJI’s website for enrolling is very misleading and difficult to understand. For example, you can't tell if the classes are taught in Spanish or Catalan, which is essentially a combination of Spanish, Portuguese, and French. Then some classes are yearlong and others are only for the first semester and some only for the second. It's just hard to get the information that you need to select classes from the website. The past two weeks have pretty much been trial and error. I think that next week will be a lot smoother!
When I finish my classes, which is around 5 p.m. or 7 p.m., I usually take the bus into the main part of town and walk from Park Ribalta back to my flat. The park is incredible! I consider it to be the “Central Park” of Castellón. Although it’s not nearly the size of New York’s Central Park, Park Ribalta is an applaudable project by the city. Part of it is still being renovated. Apparently, the city had to temporarily stop working on it because of the economic crisis, but I saw people working on it the other day. When I say “working on it,” the city workers assigned to the task are actually excavating caskets. Yes, caskets. Part of the park is built on an old cemetery. There is a fence around where they’re digging up caskets, but you can see still see what they’re do if you peek in between the cracks.
On my way home, I literally pass a hundred little shops that are all just starting to reopen from “siesta.” Nearly all the shops close between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m. for the traditional Spanish siesta. Then they reopen from about 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Restaurants and café/bars stay open quite a bit later than that. But, on my way home I typically stop at a bread store or little grocery store and pick up a fresh loaf of bread, which costs about 50 cents and couldn’t be more delicious!! Bocadillos, or sandwiches are the most common things to eat for lunch. They’re sold everywhere! I prefer to make my own at home though. Somewhere in between making a sandwich and finishing up my homework, time slips by and when I catch a glance of a clock, it’s 9:00 p.m. Dinnertime! Or really, time to start cooking dinner. Michael and I have been doing a lot of cooking at home, which I like a lot!
Speaking of Michael, I need to note how thankful and fortunate I am to have such an amazing travel partner! I honestly don’t think I could ask for better! Just from the few travel experiences that I have had in the past, I know how difficult it can be to travel with people. All of the frustrations, differences and stresses often wear people down and can result in arguments or resentments. It’s been three weeks and I have not had one ill feeling towards Michael, nor do I have any complaints about living with him. I have actually stopped several times and thought about how lucky I am to have someone like him to share this experience with. Resentments and arguments have the potential to ruin a trip. With Michael, I don’t foresee any events that would cause either.
Once dinner is over and the kitchen gets cleaned up, on Friday and Saturday nights, most people our age meet on a street located in the central part of the city called Las Tascas, to get drinks and tapas, which are essentially just extremely tasty appetizers. The calamari here is to die for! The usual time to meet there is 11:00 p.m. Once the bars start closing down on that street, people generally head out to the clubs, or discothèques, which don’t close until 6:00 or 7:00 a.m.!!!!!!
This is a fairly decent explanation of what I mean by Spanish Time. The days are longer. The nights are shorter. Time is just different here.

Seeing really is believing!

I have arrived in Castellon de la Plana, Espana safely!
The city is absolutely beautiful! I will be posting pictures as often as possible. However, even the pictures cannot do this place justice.
I do not have the internet for very long right now so I don't have enough time to write a worthwhile post, but whatev.
More to come!