These weeks of adaptation have gone well, little by little I am finding my space here and I feel more comfortable with everything and everyone. I am not doing this adventure alone, we are 6 volunteers in total from 3 different projects.

As you already know Fiona and I work with SE.M.I., she is Irish, 26 years old and loves animals and I am Spanish and I am the youngest of the volunteers with 22 years old. Marina and Emeline work with PiGreco, Marina is Spanish and 24 years old, she is from Guadalajara and loves cooking and books and Emeline turned 24 a few days ago, which we celebrated in the flat with a special meal and cake for that day, she is from France and loves pasta. Finally we have Majia and Cecilia; Majia is 25 years old and has been the last one to join the group but it seems that she has been with us since the beginning, she is from Latvia but she speaks Spanish too, she prefers the heat than the cold… Cecilia is also 25 years old and she is from Logroño, Spain, …. mother mia how many Spaniards in the same project, isn’t it? When I thought about doing a long stay project I never imagined that we would be so many people from the same country together.

A couple of days ago we went for the first time to Bologna where we spent a great day discovering this magnificent city. It was the first time we went there but I don’t think it will be the last since the proximity and the price of the train (5 euros) made it very profitable for us. This year here I want to invest it in getting to know as many Italian cities as I can in my free days but I prefer to go little by little as I need to adapt a bit but from now on everything will go like a rocket. Everybody asks me why I don’t travel more but I tell them that I have a whole year to do it and that it wouldn’t be funny to see everything now because otherwise I wouldn’t have any plans for the weekends…

In a week I am going back to Valencia to spend a few days of holidays as the best time of the year for anyone from Valencia is approaching, LAS FALLAS, a centenary tradition that was interrupted by the coronavirus in 2020 and that this year is back to “normality ́ ́. In my next post I will explain my experience this year and what is done during that week, as well as explaining my roots to this festivity. Last 27th of February FALLAS started with a proclamation in front of one of the most important monuments of the city, the Serranos towers, as every year, on the last Sunday of February. This year I was unable to attend for obvious reasons but I was able to watch it on the internet. It was a bittersweet moment for me and there were many feelings all at once, I also have to say that some tears came to my eyes while I was watching it, as my friends were there and I was here, because of the amount of time we have had to wait to live a moment like this again and because of knowing that in a short time I will be back home and be able to see everyone.

I hope to enjoy my stay in Valencia a lot, even if it is only for a week, but seeing my friends will give me enough energy to continue this experience. I see this as a once in a lifetime experience and I want to make the most of it and I know that the situation is not always going to be easy but you have to know what to do at all times. So much for my blog this week, see you in a couple of weeks with all my experience.