Valencia

The next weekend my travel partner, Katelyn, and I went to Valencia. Valencia is located on the Eastern coast of Spain. This was my first trip within Spain but outside of Andalucia.

It is a beautiful city with an interesting past, but most importantly it is a city charging into the future. It has innumerable cool bars and cafes, it has the architecturally stunning building of Arts and Sciences and best of all is home to the paella dish.

The Arts and Sciences building is like something right out of Minority Report. Valencia is the only city to have the vision of creating this Arts and Sciences mecca with its spectacular futuristic layouts, concepts and contents. On the inside the buildings resemble OMSI, the Portland Children’s Museum, Montaray Bay Aquarium and Florida’s Seaworld all in three buildings next to each other. These concepts are more recent in Spain and people come from all over for their family vacations to visit the new center.

The first thing we did when we arrived in Valencia was take a bus tour of the city. I think when traveling, if there is time, taking a bus tour of the city is always a good idea. You get a good feel for the layout of the city as well as an opportunity to see all the main sights and then you can go back and fully tour the one’s that interest you the most.

Katelyn and I spent a day in a half touring the most interesting places and then we spent a day on the beach. This was the first time ever dipping my toes in the Mediterranean Sea!
What we found on the nearly deserted beach was a few naked Spanish women and nearly naked us. As the day grew warmer more tourists dotted the beach, most of them topless regardless of age or shape. So this is what the Mediterranean brings, nudity. Small price to pay to view the expanse of tropical water as far as the eye can see?

The only thing I really knew about Valencia going into this trip was it is home of the Spanish rice dish, Paella. Valencia is the place where paella first simmered over a wood fire. Let me tell you, I found it to be delicious. Paella consists saffron flavored rice with chicken, pork, chorizo, seafood or vegetables. When you find a scrumptious dish you can bet its perfectly seasoned and served on a sizzling plate topped with toasted garlic and savory gravy. In fact it was so appetizing and mouthwatering we found ourselves going back again the next night. They serve the paella in one huge pan based on the amount of people it is serving.

(Small sidenote: When I met up with Shannon in Barcelona I wanted to make sure she tried some of my favorite Spanish dishes. So one of the nights we went out for Paella. Shannon ate so much paella she was sick for the rest of the night and had to sit out all of the dancing at the discoteca).
P.S. Thanks to Guadalupe's husband I have learned how to prepare Paella and I will be making it upon request after my return home.

My Mullet

Recently I have been getting many questions as to why the sudden change in hairstyle. I can understand why people would be curious as to why I went from long curly locks to short straight ones. Well it has taken me quite some time to come to terms with my new hairstyle and I am still not sure how I feel about it. Some friends have already read this note and I recieved good feedback from it so I decided to share it with anyone who keeps up with my blog.

So I originally wrote this note while sitting in one of my sisters lectures at UCD, some sports management class, surrounded by fellow red heads and beautiful accents... I was trying to find some humor in my current situation/ newest bout of bad luck.

Now I would like to share this story with you... I like to call it, My Mullet.
I went in for a haircut about a month in a half ago. All I wanted was a trim. Basically she did a horrible job and the layers were all f***ed up but then I broke my foot and wasn't capable of getting it fixed.

Then, finally able to walk on my own again, I venture back to the salon. Let me remind you I live in a small town and my choices are limited... Having said that I still don't know why I take my business back to the same place.

Anyways, I told her in the best spanish i'm capable of, that I wanted the layers fixed and one part to be blended into the rest of my hair better. I also told her I didn't want it any shorter. I'm not really sure what happened next, its all a blur, but I left the salon with a mullet. So i'm thinking "what does this say about my Spanish skills?"

To give you a visual... I look like a dyke who lives in a trailer park with her girlfriend.
Pre, My Mullet phase, When I thought of the mullet what came to mind was an American icon. The Mullet is just about as American as pick-ups with rifle racks, tractor pulls, Wal-Mart, wet T-shirt contests, slapping your girl upside the head with a frying pan, oh and living in the woods.

For awhile I was horribly unhappy with how it looked, but luckily enough the rat tail in the back was long enough to pull up into a bun. When i took my hair down to show Shannon while I was in Ireland she began rolling on the ground in laughter saying "It's SO much worse then I imagined..." Oh great, Thanks Shannon!

Needless to say there were tears shed and some epic "80s rock" photos taken.
I kept thinking it was too bad I didn't have an AC/DC or Bob Seger concert to go to because I would definitely have been the "belle of the ball." I did consider taking some friends' advice and "rocking" the mullet or at least letting it loose and taking it for a test drive. I do have to admit that the business in the front, party in the back idea is appealing. Anyways here's a taste: (thanks to Linda for Photoshop help! and yes thats my real hair.)


So now I have it cut extremely short because I told the hairdresser in Ireland to do whatever it took to get rid of the mullet.... Good thing hair grows, right?