Valencia para Las Fallas (festival)

Admittedly, when I was junior in high school I distinctly remember a former student visiting my Spanish 4 class and explaining her adventures abroad in Spain. That was probably the defining moment as to why I chose a second major in Spanish and ultimately a semester in Spain. The one story in particular of hers was her description of Las Fallas: a very large festival in the city of Valencia in Spain that occurs in the spring. I wanted to go. Hence, I chose to study abroad in the spring. It also helped that I could travel in the following summer.

Fortunately as this was an event I had long anticipated, I began months early to plan such an adventure. This was incredibly necessary because more than a month out from the festival all of the hostels were booked. The unfortunate part was that the culminating night fell in the middle of the week this year and we were only able to attend the weekend portion. The festival lasts from March 15-19th every year.

¡LAS FALLAS! (the "torches")

This unique festival is famous even outside of Spain. It is a traditional celebration held in commemoration of Saint Joseph in the city of Valencia, which is one of Spain's largest cities behind Madrid and Barcelona. The term "fallas" refers to the celebration itself but also to constructed floats that range from small statues to several story tall demonstrations. Each neighborhood organizes their own group (called Casal faller) who spend a year constructing an elaborate falla that will be placed on display in the street of their neighborhood to be ultimately cast on fire the final night of the festival. The smaller fallas as referred to as ninots. These fallas can be described as "elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and paper-mâché artistic monument" (wikipedia).

The fallas themselves vary significantly. Although they may have once been religious icons, they are now most composed of humorous social and political commentary. One personal favorite chronicled the apple all the way from Adam and Eve to Isaac Newton to Steve Jobs.

Well, this is only the basis for the festival. Aside from the hundreds of fallas placed around the city streets there are thousands of people enjoying the street-vendor-sold churros, drinking merrily, marching bands, dancing at numerous street concerts, parades of traditional gowns, and launching firecrackers at their own free will. On more than one occasion my friends and I were briefly deafened by the sound of an exploding firecracker launching several feet away from us by young children. Parenting seemed much more lax in such circumstances.

Its interesting to note that although Valencia is in Spain, their native language is not Spanish. It is Valencian (valenciano), which is more-or-less of the Catalan language spoken in the Barcelona region. This language is very similar to Spanish in some instances and very different in others. This made street navigation difficult as sometimes the streets were in one language, and then the exact same street had a sign in the other language. Google maps struggles. Likewise, subway navigation was slightly more difficult than expected given the slight language barrier.

The line-up of events lasted all day at various parts of the city and in the meantime, there were festival celebrations occurring everywhere in between. Around 8 o'clock in the morning each day (following a very late night) La Desperta is a brass-band group that marches down the street blasting incredibly loud music with men following behind throwing firecrackers to start the new day of festivities. Following this each day is the Mascleta which is an event my friends and I attended twice, unsure the first time as to what was to happen. Thousands of people fill a large city plaza where in the center is a large fenced-in cage filled with explosives that all explode for several minutes of incredibly intense sound. It is a sound-display more than a visual-display. We were fortunate to make friends with some Valencian girls around us who explained much of the festival to us as we awaited the noise. The one girl gave me a flower clip-on  hair piece that conveniently matched my dress perfectly; she was very sweet. Following the sound display, your ears will need to recover.

One of my favorite parts to the festival was the nightly fireworks displays. I have never seen as spectacular of displays nor as long in my lifetime. What is with the obsession with explosives and fireworks in this city? Valencia is the pyrotechnic capital of the WORLD! They even had fireworks that, when oriented correctly, formed smilie faces in the sky. Just all around, their displays are unbelievable.

There is a religious undertow to the festivities, however, in recent years it appears to be more of a tradition than for true religious reasons. There is a large wooden statue of the Virgin Mary and one of the processionals through the streets consists of women in traditional clothing carrying flowers that they adore all around the base of the statue. Aside from this particular processional, all day there are processional of men, women, and children in traditional attire. For the women, their iconic hairstyle is reminiscent of Princess Lea from Star Wars. The children are beyond adorable.

We enjoyed some late nights out in the streets of Valencia and I thoroughly enjoyed the festival. I would love to return again in order to see the final night for the spectacular fire parade. As fire the symbolic spirit of the festival, this parade consists of even more explosions and fire displays. Then ultimately at midnight on the final night, the fallas, laden with fireworks, are burnt in massive bonfires while the entire city becomes an open-air dance party.

Valencia itself is a beautiful city. It is on the Mediterranean coast, so my friends and I were sure to visit the beach during our visit, although we did not spend a lot of time sight-seeing the city itself. Paella, the famous Spanish seafood-rice dish, is said to be the best in Valencia. I found it to be incredibly expensive, but it was delicious (though my host-mother perhaps makes it even more delicious). We were mostly concerned with the extravagant festivities all around us and so it looks like I will just have to return to Valencia one day to know the city as its usual self.

Roma, Italia and the Vatican

One of my main interests in choosing the API Program in Madrid was the included excursion to Rome. This is one city I wanted to see right, yet surely enough I could not see it all. I was there the weekend of March 1st-3rd: a brief period in time when Italy lacked both a reining Pope and a reining government. We all held our breath for the white smoke to appear during our visit, unfortunately it came a few weeks later.

Upon arrival into the airport in Rome, we launched immediately into a bus tour of the city. This was crucial in gaining one's bearings on the historical-overload that is such an impotent city. Bursting with excitement of sites to visit, we took to the streets at the hotel in an effort to cover as much ground in the remaining Friday evening.

This was my first adventure outside of Spain since my arrival in Europe. Immediately I recognized the similarities between Spanish and Italian, but also recognized the inherent differences between the two countries. The men were bigger and hairier. The fashion styles are bolder. However, Rome is a special place within Italy, so I'll save Italian observations for my subsequent trips to Italy.

Although one would expect a 2000 year old structure so have experienced some wear, I had not expected the iconic symbol of Imperial Rome to have been quite so "holey." Even after many centuries of earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum still stands mostly-strong today. I did not enter the structure, due to my lack of finances, however, in circling the building several times I had seen a large enough portion of the interior to be satisfied. It once held 80,000 spectators, which is more than the Lane Stadium of 21st century Virginia Tech!

Absolutely everything in Rome is historic for one reason or another, and for this, getting lost in Rome is not a pity in the least. Wandering around the streets only leads to more and more finds. There is a minor subway system in Rome, however, they are struggling to expand it since every time that they begin in a new tunnel, some major archaeological remains are found. The interesting thing about Rome is that the city was built literally upon itself. 10 meters (roughly 30 feet) below the modern city, much of Ancient Rome is still to be excavated.

For the first time, Friday night I had both gelato and real Italian pasta. It was strange to be able to order a bottle of wine to split with friends, as I am under-age in the United States. As much fun as it was to enjoy such a privilege, mostly I found that anything alcohol-related was far too expensive for me to blow my precious budget on drinks when I could buy a train ticket to another country. That being said, everything is delicious in Italy. The gelato is to die for. One day years from now I'm going to find myself pregnant and all I will be craving is Italian gelato. It's going to be an unfortunate craving. Its just simply delicious and beats regular ice cream several times over. Obviously, the pizza and pasta was equally unmatched.

On Saturday night, my girlfriends and I had a great time when we had a very flirty waiter who was "playfully" pursuing my friend Anna. This progressed throughout the night, and it was the classic example of flirtatious Italian men. As the night continued we eventually learned that he was engaged which is why he wore a silver ring (a European tradition for some men) and he showed Anna a video of him kissing his fiance. Everything is very open in Italy we had learned. He even gave her a kiss on the cheek goodbye when we politely turned down a trip out with him that night. All around it was a hilarious evening as the other four of us watched in on the interactions. The joke was that Anna had cheated everyone else by throwing extra coins into the Trevi Fountain earlier that day. The food was delicious as was the tiramisu.

All kinds of good stories came from the API trip to Rome. We were a group of around 50 students. Two kids found themselves lost in Rome, only to be offered a ride by an older couple in their car. Hesitantly they accepted the offer only to realize as they closed the door that the car doors were locked. The couple, who barely spoke English, immediately tried to explain "child-proof" locks. Thank goodness, no one was taken that night and these people were genuine. Another friend was "blessed" enough to become sick inside the Vatican. Fortunately, in a restroom and not in the Sistine Chapel.

Roman water is said to be quite good for the body. Fontanelle (little fountains) are placed all around the city for drinking water, which is one thing that Rome certainly does not have a shortage. After just recently recovering from my mono escapades, I decided that it may be best to not drink the water. I will just have to return to Rome. I threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain after all.

In attempting to do all of the "classic" Rome things, my friends and I also made our way to the Mouth of Truth, which by rumor was used as a lie-detector centuries ago as the mouth would close down on those who told a lie. We also sat on the Spanish Steps, walked down the streets of shops such as Burberry and Gucci, and journeyed along the Tiber River.

Perhaps another absolute must of any visit to Rome is a stop in the Vatican City. We were fortunate enough to enter the city the last day before it was closed in the decision process for the new Pope. Although, I am not catholic myself, from simply a historical as well as religious standpoint, the Vatican was interesting. It is first off not a part of Italy at all but rather an independent sovereign city-state with a total of 110 acres and a population of 840 people. Without even entering the city, the outside is truly remarkable.

St. Peters Dome is surely the most eye-catching of the Vatican City. It is the tallest dome in the world and was designed by Michelangelo himself. Like everything else in the Vatican, elaborate is to say the least of St. Peters. I found that the interior of St. Peter's Basilica was even more outstanding that the Sistine Chapel, which was surprising as it cost money to enter into the Sistine Chapel but not the Basilica. Gold and other fine metals and jewels are everywhere. It is truly an impressionable building inside and out.

Vatican City

To be completely honest, I was sickened by the Vatican, much as I was often sickened by many famous catholic cathedrals. It is nothing against Catholicism (as protestants were still united at such a point in history), but such wealth and spending is unimaginable in a world where peasants were likely to die of disease or starvation before they were 30 years old. The church seems to have had far too much greed. Today, we are blessed with impressive historic buildings as a result, however, at their time of construction the amount of resources necessary could have improved the lives of thousands of villages and millions of lives. In my trip to the Vatican I took with me an impression of the power of man to create and build unbelievably beautiful buildings and ornaments. I also took it as a prime example of the greed of the church in the early part of our history, and as a strong Christian myself, this was disappointing as it served as a strong tribute as to why many other religions despise us as a culture for our hypocrisy.