work hard, play hard

So last week we had another "puente"... Tuesday was the Day of the Spanish Constitution which celebrates the Constitution of 1978, and Thursday was the Day of Immaculate Conception. In my program, we were given the entire week off, which I took advantage of to purchase some cheap Ryanair flights to Italy. (In case you don't know, Ryanair is the most well-known of the numerous low-cost European airlines. They have extremely cheap tickets, but are also infamous for being extremely picky about the luggage limitations.)

Now for the work part... this next week and a half will be extremely tough... I have 4 exams (for Energy Auditing, Energy Markets and Regulations, the electricity party of Introduction to Energy Technology, and Wind Energy) as well as one project to turn in.

The 21st will be the last day of class (also the day of 2 of the 4 exams), and then I have more play... on the 22nd my mom and I are flying off to Marrakech, Morocco! We'll be there for about 15 days, and then after coming back to Valencia in January, I'll be hitting the books again to finish class projects and prepare for more exams.

Anyhow, since I don't take photos of the work part, here's some of my travel photos.

After flying into Bergamo, Italy, we spent 2 day in Lecco couchsurfing with Omid and Ben who are Iranian students studying a Master in mechanical engineering. There's an international branch of the Polytechnic University of Milan in Lecco, and the classes are given in English there. However, it's still been tough for Omid and Ben because they haven't made any Italian friends at all.



Climbing San Martino (Omid is a mountain-climbing beast and told us it would be about 2 hours to reach the church and then the peak of San Martino where the cross is located... the entire trip took us nearly 6 hours!)






Omid and Ben were extremely nice, and even though I know more about Persian culture than the average, I was really glad to hear about their hometowns, their experiences in university, and hear about the ridiculous ideas that people have of their country (for example, that Iran is all desert, that Iran is in Africa, that all of Iran is a huge war-zone, etc). We also cooked together and met their friends (they have a really tight community of students from Iran).



Then we spent 2 days in Milan, couchsurfing with Massimiliano, who was still working on fixing up his flat. He has an extraordinary sense for design, and even though it looks new almost everything in his flat is reused or second-hand in some way. He's also passionate about cooking... in three nights, he taught us so many Italian recipes like risotto, Baci di Dama (hazelnut cookies with chocolate), Italian mayonnaise, roasted pumpkin, and different ways to cook fennel. There was also a ginormous artisan fair in Milan with sections for each province of Italy (selling sausages, cheese, focaccia, chocolate, pickled peppers, turron, olive oil, etc. and cooked foods of each province) as well as an international section with vendors around the world. I don't think I've tried so many great cheeses in one day! Needless to say, I had a very food-filled experience in Milan.

Here's dinner at Massimiliano's.





And here's the artisan fair. The various sections of Italy had extremely high quality products, while the quality of the international section varied from country to country. For example, the India section was quite large and had many vendors selling jewelry, scarves, etc. The two stalls representing the U.S. sold beef jerky, vintage license plates, and cowboy hats.









Next on the itinerary were Genoa and Cinque Terre. Unfortunately, about 2 months ago Cinque Terre was hit by flooding and many of the trails are still closed. Three of towns (Riomaggiore, Manarola, and Corniglia) are ok, while Vernazza and Monterosso are still quite damaged and undergoing relief efforts. Anyhow, I'm sure that they'll make a speedy recovery in time for the summer tourists.







We finished the week in Bergamo, a small town an hour away from Milan with a beautiful old town. Our host was Andrea, a Bergamo local who is extremely well-traveled and has a passion for languages (he speaks about 4 languages fluently, has a fairly high knowledge of Arabic, and is currently learning Mandarin). He had 2 bookcases full of language books, and his English was so textbook-British English that it was hard for me to think of him as Italian rather than British!

Dessert shop opening, philosophical talk, and artisan glass exhibit- all with Rotary!

In the past 24 hours, I've gone to 3 Rotary events! Each one was quite unique, and Brianna (another Ambassadorial Scholar in Valencia) and I were invited by a different club each time, but each of the events allowed us to see a different side of Rotary.

Thursday night we attended the opening of a dessert shop called Torreblanca, which also happened to coincide with Valencia's Fashion Night Out. The streets of Colón were filled with extremely well-dressed and, well, fashionable individuals. The shop was absolutely filled! I guess who wouldn't want to grab some free champagne and delicious pastries?



After that died down, the three members of Rotary Feria Mediterraneo took Brianna and I to a restaurant by the port, owned by a friend of the president Sergio. As an appetizer we had "foie" which is like the French foie gras but the kind we had was extremely smooth and buttery. For dinner I had fish grilled in olive oil..simple and fresh.


Today, we attended a talk that was part of the University of Valencia's "Week of Solidarity for Cooperation." The presentation was called "Further from a society of high consumption: the thought alphabet and cosmosociety." The talk was given by a professor of economics, although the topic was extremely philosophical. We were invited by Pascual, a member of Rotary Cid, who helped organize the event. Here's a photo:



After the talk, Brianna and I went straight to an exhibition held by Rotary Rey Don Jaime for Fet de Vidre. This is an artisan workshop that employs disabled people, and the Rotary Club held this event to promote their work and help them sell some of their glass products.





After the exhibition, Rotary Rey Don Jaime invited the guests (Brianna and me, the representatives of Fet de Vidre, and a representative from the Ayuntamiento) to lunch, and we were treated to more great food. Here's the dessert:

some more culture and observations

After living in Valencia for almost 5 months (ah!), sometimes I don't even notice these blatant cultural differences anymore. And at other times, I just think that something is so entirely weird/illogical/different that it will always remain that way to me. Anyways, here are some observations that I've made.

1. Dress: Spanish (and Europeans in general) dress way better on a day-to-day basis than Americans. Never have I EVER seen someone go to class in work out clothes, or, god forbid, pajamas. Actually, I never really see anyone in work out clothes (except people who are literally working out) or pajamas in public, whereas during finals week in Westwood there's definitely more people in pajamas than not. Americans are just more casual. Also, generally the 'soccer moms' of the U.S. are not considered very stylish or trendy (celebrities excluded) but here, the fact that they have children doesn't seem to prevent Spanish women from being trendy.

2. Self-image: Compared to Americans, Spanish (and I guess Europeans in general) seem to have a better self-image. From what I've seen, people tend to worry less about their weight, dieting, or a being a certain size. And from my limited surveying among my friends, of course there are peoples and especially adolescent girls with eating disorders in Europe but it doesn't seem to be as common as in the U.S. I saw this infographic and the fact is that Americans consume the most and spent the least amount of money, relatively, on food. Add our sprawling walking-unfriendly cities and Hollywood to the mix...

3. Customer service: Unfortunately, customer service is practically nonexistent here. The hours of service are inconvenient, the quantity is awful, and of course the quality is lacking.

Let me explain about my Bancaja experience. Every time I visit the branch of Bancaja where I opened my account, it amazes me how incompetent and unfriendly the bankers are. First of all, there is usually only 1 teller and there's a line of about 10 customers waiting. Secondly, each person working at Bancaja seems to tell me something different every time I go there (you do qualify for the under-26 account with no fees, you'll be charged maintenance fees until you get your residence card, you do not qualify for the under-26 account with no fees, etc). I'm not exaggerating one bit when I say that I have to get myself prepped, mentally, for going to the bank because it can be a test of patience and determination. Another time, a customer was yelling at the teller and the teller yelled right back to him. It doesn't even matter who was right or wrong (in this case, both had their points) but this just shows that what is law in the U.S. -"The customer is always right"- does not exist in Spain.

Take another example- let's say a restaurant. Generally all over Europe tax and tip are included in your meal. The plus? You don't end up paying 30% on top of what your food cost. The minus? Horrible service. I don't mean that all waiters are rude, because I've had good experiences. But on the whole, the fact that tip is included means that there is no incentive to serve customers with respect or with even a smile.

4. Religion: For being so intensely Catholic in history, Spain is quite areligious- people (especially middle-aged and young people) seem on the whole indifferent about religion. It's just not something that concerns them, nor a topic that surfaces so much in politics. I guess that's because I'm used to the U.S., where we have much more diversity and extremes. Religion is extremely important to some people yet extremely unimportant to others, and despite of the Freedom of Religion we have a hard time agreeing on any issue where religion has influenced the way people think.

5. Racial diversity: What can I say, I miss the diversity of California! Sometimes I travel and the local people say, "Oh, my country is very diverse! There's quite a few people from X country and immigrants from Y." Yes, globalization is increasing racial diversity everywhere but it's hard for me to consider a place diverse when 90% of the population is of the same origin. I guess after living in Los Angeles for 4 years, it's hard for another city to compare. Also I do have to admit that even if Spain seems racially homogenous, Valencia itself has a 14% population of foreigners, the majority of which from Latin America but also others from the rest of Europe, Africa, and Asia. (Just for comparison, 40% of the population of Los Angeles doesn't have a US passport. In terms of diversity, that's not even counting the second and third generation that probably make up more than half of those who are considered American.)

Desfile de alta moda-

A couple weeks ago, I was invited by R.C. Valencia-Cid to Rotary Valencia's "Cena y desfile a beneficio de LORCA." In May 2011 the city of Lorca (which is located in the Comunitat Valenciana) suffered a 5.1 magnitude earthquake, which damaged many public buildings, homes, and the historic center. The event was organized by Rotary Club Valencia but members from all of the Rotary Clubs, as well as their friends, attended the event to support the cause.

At the event, we ate dinner and then there was a "fashion show" of winter coats (all of very high quality I'm sure but a bit disturbing to me as an American to see so much animal fur). All in all, it was a very pleasant evening and it was very nice to see the Rotarians very active and supportive of a local cause.

living and studying

After a few challenges and changes in my living situation, I've finally settled into a third flat. It's spacious, in a good location, and I like my flatmates. Also, my room has a ton of character- there's one wall that has a vintage wallpaper (some would call it ugly, some would call it vintage, tomato tomahto) and other walls that are painted blue, peach, and yellow. In the morning, I wake up to the retiree neighbors talking in the kitchen... at least it hasn't happened before 9am yet *knock on wood*.



Looks like the key to a castle, eh?


Also the bathroom is really quirky- there's handmade cutouts of sea creatures on the fixtures, and quotes written in sharpie on the walls.









And now some updates about school... the workload is definitely getting heavier. I have 1 exam on Monday, 1 quiz on Monday, another quiz on Tuesday, and a presentation to turn in on Tuesday. In every class there's also a project, which can be a group assignment or an individual simulation (for example, for Solar Energy we're designing a solar water heating installation).

Here's some photos of campus (the walkway leading up to the main library, and the shiny cactus sculpture that I like):




Also, thanks to some well-planned "cenas de máster" the people in my class have gotten to know one another a lot better. So far we've had 2 cenas and they've been really fun. Basically after class (around 8:30) we get drinks, then we go to a restaurant for dinner around 10 or 10:30, and then we go out after that. In the first cena, one guy made everyone stand up and give a toast (some people were kind of nervous, but in the end it didn't matter at all since we cheered for any and everything).

Here's us with our tapas and pitchers of cerveza and sangria (which by the way get refilled during the entire dinner):

A long weekend in Castilla and Madrid

Last weekend was a four-day weekend, thanks to el Día de Todos Los Santos. To take advantage, I went to Castilla and Madrid with some friends in my master program. We went to Consuegra to follow the steps of Don Quixote...


The sunset and view were breathtaking.






Madrid was incredible, and the great atmosphere and weather only added to the beautiful sights. My favorite neighborhood in Madrid was definitely Malasaña, an artsy and hip area with small alleys, cafes, and playgrounds. Apparently this area is where the artists emerged after Franco's death in the 80s.




Stumbled across a jamón festival in Plaza Mayor:


I met up with Kirstie, my friend from UCLA, and we made the obligatory visit to Parque del Retiro, Madrid's greenspace analogous to Central Park in New York or the Englischer Garten in Munich:


Having tortilla española and tapas:


Here's Templo de Debod, an Egyptian temple that was donated to Spain for helping Egypt in the 1960s in relocation of Abu Simbel (an enormous rock temple that would've been drowned by the damming of the Nile River and the creation of Lake Nasser). So Spain (along with UNESCO and many other countries) helped Egypt relocate an entire rock temple, and in return Egypt donated an entire temple to Spain.



It was also interesting to see how Halloween is celebrated in Spain.. it is celebrated in that people go out and dress up at night but the commercialization is nowhere near the degree in the U.S. Trick-or-treating, pumpkin carving, and eating sweets don't happen much.

A spin in the mountains

Finally, I got out of the city and explored the beautiful mountains and pueblos that are outside Valencia. My friends Sarka and Hannah and I took the train to Sagunt with bikes, and from there we biked through some tiny towns and into the mountains. We ended up quite high and had some great views of the surrounding towns and the ocean! (We also ended up on a narrow hiking trail and had to carry our bikes down the mountain for about 1.5 kilometers... I was definitely very very excited to see some bike-friendly asphalt!)