Traveling and Love

So, I don't think I have blogged in a bit...but that is because life, all of the sudden, got busy. My friend Estibaliz came to Valencia to visit me, and then the same weekend Lee came. I was a little sick the first day that Estibaliz was here, but we still ran around the city looking at different things. I showed her the center, the different plazas, a couple of coffee shops, and the beach. We also went to the City of Arts and Sciences (This is made up of 3 or 4 huge modern buildings...it contains an aquarium, a museum, a theater, and a place for fashion shows.) When Lee arrived, Esti, Lee and I went to the aquarium. I LOVED the aquarium. It had penguins, a dolphin show, walrus', seals, birds, sharks, giant fish, little fish, starfish, jelly fish ect. Like seriously SO many animals. It was such a cool experience. That night Esti left, and Lee and I started our vacation. I showed him where I work, and my life here. I thought it was very special that he could see where I am living, and how things are. We walked LOTS and just had a great time in Valencia. Then we decided to go to Italy. We flew from Valencia to Milan. We only stayed in Milan for about 5 hours, but we enjoyed walking around, watching people, checking out the fashion area, and seeing the Duomo (the most giant church I have ever seen). We were both sorta awestruck about the architecture in general. We left Milan and took a train to Florence, which is where we were for the rest of the time. In Florence we went sightseeing. We checked out the Duomo there, and decided to go to a couple of museums. We saw Michelangelo's famous "David" which was gigantic and rather amazing. Each place we entered we were amazed at how beautiful and detailed everything was. We saw the city from two different areal views and I think that was actually my favorite part of Florence. I LOVED seeing Florence from above just because it is so beautiful and it feels like it is out of a movie or from some other world. The day that we got engaged, Lee had bought me flowers, and so that was a wonderful way to begin the day :) We then went to a food market and actually ate Lasagna for breakfast that was pretty amazing...then we walked around a bit....had coffee, and then rented bikes. We ended up seeing a park and went for a really long walk (uphill) in order to see the city from a distance. We both LOVED the view there. We walked and walked...and biked and biked, and just generally enjoyed the day. Then we got ready to go out...I wore a dress, and he wore dress pants and a nice shirt. I didn't know he was going to ask me, but he was acting so weird...so I had my suspicions...So he took me to a nice restaurant on the river, and we had a light dinner, and a light dessert. Then as we were walking back to our hostel, he stopped on the bridge (Ponte Vecchio), got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :) :) :) I cried, and was like “really, are you serious? Omg!” We continued walking back, but it took us forever cuz we kept stopping and being like “omg!” 

So, now we are happily engaged and have started talking about a date and all :)

So, to say the least, Italy was great!


I also wanted to write a little about my time in Spain as well:

So, I wanted to buy a wedding book...you know to organize my ideas and just sorta start planning. So literally, I went to 5 stores, and finally I realized that wedding preparation books, do not exist here....weird right? Like they do not exist. So, I decided I would buy a notebook that had a section where you could put stuff in it...like folders, but this was also impossible to find. They either have simply a notebook, or a calendar/agenda book...but they just don't have a book that is for organizing things...so I found this to be so strange. Ha. It's not a super big deal, but I just had a moment of cultural shock (though small) because it seemed like such a simple thing. Anyway, so I have concluded, from conversations with people, that Spanish people do consolidate things...they do not shop in one store for everything, and they do not expect 1 notebook to be everything you need....interesting right? It just made me think that Walmart is crazy and that it has created an attitude in me that I can get precisely what I want, when I want it....which is probably not good.

Anyway, so that was something not super positive, but on the more positive side... I am really enjoying my roommate, and I have just recently met the new roommate, and I think she is really cool. I feel really fortunate that I have the opportunity to speak Spanish everyday, and just chill out with local people. I have been invited to one of my roommates’' hometown, and also I am going to go and visit Estibaliz in Navarra soon, so I am pretty stoked about both!

I hope you all are doing well! Take care and God Bless!

Vicki