I'm a few days late with this, but Happy Fourth of July!!! While everyone back home in the states was busy waving American flags and sparklers all weekend, I was having a pretty good time of my own here in Valencia.
So the question remains to be asked... what do you do for the Fourth of July when you spend it in Spain? It's not like spending it in London where you can rub your freedom in the faces of the Brits we separated from oh so long ago. Its not like spending it in Paris where you can humbly give thanks for the help the French provided in winning the war (although lets be honest, Americans are anything but humble when it comes to our independence...) But Spain? Spain didn't really play a part in the American Revolution (I mean, I guess you could thank them for discovering America to begin with, but there's a whole other holiday for that, and it isn't until October). So the answer is you don't do much. That is, unless you're in Valencia and it just happens to be a Saturday during la Feria de Julio, in which case there are plenty of ways in which you can pretend the city is celebrating American Independence. But all that happened in the evening, and I really need to start with Saturday morning.
Saturday we had the one group excursion scheduled for this part of the trip. The excursion was through Euroace, the company that placed the internships and holds the classes and intercambio sessions. There were a wide variety of people on the excursion from all over the world, all in Valencia to study, intern, or in my case, both, through Euroace. I met people from Brazil, Germany, China, Italy, and many different areas of the United States. The fun part about the Valencia part of the program, as opposed to the Salamanca part, is that I am meeting people from all over the world! It's cool to talk to these people and just hear about their lives and experiences since they are all so different.
For the excursion we drove about an hour and a half outside the city to a river to go kayaking. The entire drive there the people from Euroace kept telling us there would be some rapids and white water that we had to kayak though, and that there was a high probability that we would all flip at some point. That was an over exaggeration. There were some mild rapids and there was one area of white water that we actually had to go down like a slide, but it wasn't too difficult. Actually, the hardest part for KC and I-- we were in the same kayak-- was trying no paddle straight and not run into the shore. The trip was a peaceful way to spend the early afternoon. We kayaked down the river for about two hours through mountains, flowers, and greenery, and when we finished we had a quick swim and then a picnic. At the picnic area, there was a beautiful view of a nearby town sitting over the river.
Now the worst part of the day: I went to take a shower after the kayaking trip, and after about a minute in the shower, the biggest cockroach I've ever seen crawled over my foot. Needless to say, I was out of the shower in about half a second. I also haven't been back in that particular bathroom since the incident. The bug is gone, but I'm not taking any chances.
After the cockroach incident resolved with KC bravely killing it while I watched on in horror, we both threw on our most patriotic red, white and blue attire and headed out on the town for the evening. We decided to head back to the little carnival I had walked around Wednesday night, where we got burgers and fries for dinner. At the carnival I rode one ride and KC played about a thousand games. The ride was a spinning, up and down ride kind of like Dumbo at Disney World, but way more intense. It spun fast, went backwards, and instead of controlling your own height, the guy in charge of the ride bounced you up and down and up and down like a hopping kangaroo. It was also one of the longest rides I have ever been on. Just when you thought the ride was over (for the third time!) it started bouncing again. I definitely made the right call making that the one ride I went on! KC on the other hand didn't ride any of the rides, but she was determined to win a stuffed bear. She kept trying and failing at the balloon pop dart game and at the end of the night left the carnival with out a bear and without a decent chunk of the money she came with.
After we left the carnival, we concluded our evening and our Fourth of July celebration with a fireworks show put on by the city. Technically, like the carnival, they were for the Feria de Julio celebration, but we all know that fireworks on the Fourth of July can only have one real meaning... America!
So there you are. How to celebrate the fourth of July in Spain. And I would be willing to bet that my celebration was just as "American" as many of yours at home, excluding the obvious fact that I wasn't actually in America. After all, I hit almost all the major points that make up a truly American fourth-- the red white and blue ensemble, the day by the water, burgers, and a fireworks show-- and I even threw in the bonus American style carnival.
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| The river we kayaked with a view of the town at the end |
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| The Carnival Lit Up at Night |
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| The first of many attempts... she never did win that bear. |
Hasta Luego!
Aubrey
