Nerdy in Valencia

I figured it would only take a few months to expose my true nerdiness.  Most people head to Valencia in the south of Spain for tapas, flamenco, and the nightlife.  I went for the museum, weather, and research.  I know, boring right.  The museum was wonderful and the weather was, well, better than Bilbao.  And as far as research goes, Valencia is not for us (for those of you who may not know yet, we're planning on doing this program another year, but are not quite sure where we would like to set up shop).  People are way more sketchier, public transportation is uncharacteristically terrible, even for Spain, and there are way too many tourists.

That narrows the list to two: Santander and Murcia.  Santander pluses--Ryanair airport nearby, beachfront property, not too warm, less tourism, and less sketchy people.  Santander minuses--it rains on average 173 days a year!  Murcia pluses--warm, Tony is going to live there, traditional Spain, cheap, and only 32 days of rain! Minuses--hot, touristy, traditional Spain, sketchy people, and well, the south.  (Open to suggestions, please post comments on which you think would be better or other options).

Valencia.  Beautiful, traditional Spain.  Beach, sun, fun.  These are all words that come to mind when you mention Valencia.  The truth is that all that is said about Valencia is true.  It is a great place to visit with an emphasis on the visit part.  I don't think that I could live there, but I could visit.  Its strange because the south of Spain draws striking similarities to the south of the United States.  Their speech is much more simple and accent relaxed, they are generally a kinder, gentler people, and people from the north like to visit, but don't want to stay.

One thing that Liz and I did while we were in Valencia was eat.  We ate at a restaurant, cafe, chocolate shop, or ice cream stand for every meal.  Which means I gained 10 more pounds and that my mentality on what to spend money on while on vacation has changed.  I would never have even thought of eating out two meals a day when I studied abroad 3 years ago yet alone all three/four/five (depending on ice cream, etc).  Then again, I suppose one major thing that has changed between then and now is a paycheck.  Man, is it nice to explore Europe on an income. Until next time...

Spanish
"Qué fuerte"-How bold, I can't believe he/she did that.  Someone backs into a moped, knocks it over, and drives away--Que fuerté!  Also, it has to be said with some anger and disbelief, maybe a hand gesture into the air.

Basque
Kaixo (Kii-show)-Hello

British English
Proper-very, really.  "That was a proper good disco we went to last night.  I was proper drunk last night." As I have recently been told that anywhere you can use "very" or "really" in a sentence, you can use "proper".