Thursday 7/7
So this past weekend should probably be recorded as one of the busiest weekends of my life. I have never felt so full, so completely exhausted, but yet so accomplished in one weekend. And for this, I am dividing my post into each day of the weekend.
Thursday… I basically had no class, which was a wonderful feeling! My Spanish Literature class was cancelled, because many students in our class were attending the Spanish Culture field trip. And I had no idea of what to expect… All that I knew was that we were going to a special place to eat Paella – the traditional food dish of Valencia. My Host Mom hadn’t yet cooked Paella for me, so this was definitely going to be a new “food experience.”
We met at the school around 1:45 pm to take the Metro to a town on the outskirts of Valencia called Meliana. We follow our professor down some random beaten path to a hidden restaurant. Not only would we eat Paella, but we would also taste 9 other famous Spanish dishes with unlimited water, Coke, Sangria, and Beer. The word “unlimited” is key, because in Spain, NOTHING is unlimited. We were in complete shock. We thought that we would just try some Paella. The restaurant’s owner was a good friend of our professor, as he actually lives in Meliana. By far, this was the best field trip that I had been on in my entire life. Way better then meeting Jimmy Carter at the Jimmy Carter Museum in Atlanta. We all sat at a table together… My class of like 35 students all sat together and ate our 10-course meal. We were so full afterwards!
At the Metro Station with our Culture Class.
The beaten path that we took to get to the restaurant. Basically, in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.
Pictures of the delicious 10-course meal that we had...
I had mussels and actually liked them!
Before we started eating, we were able to get a tour of the kitchen and how the Paella was made. And to end our meal we all toasted with champagne.
The wonderful man that cooked our Paella!
“Wikipedia says that Paella (Valencian: [paˈeʎa], Spanish: [paˈeʎa]) is a Valencian rice dish that originated in its modern form in the mid-19th century near lake Albufera, a lagoon in Valencia, on the east coast of Spain.[1] Many non-Spaniards view paella as Spain's national dish, but most Spaniards consider it to be a regional Valencian dish. Valencians, in turn, regard paella as one of their identifying symbols.”
The reason that this Paella was so much better than the Paella that you would eat in the actual city-part of Valencia is that this restaurant (run by this one man) grows all of the ingredients and kills all of meat for the Paella himself. And we thought that the field trip was definitely over after eating the Paella, but that was not the case…
The traditional Paella of Valencia.
Me with the famous chef, Toni Montoliu.
The man that ran the restaurant, Toni Montoliu, gave us a tour of his property afterwards. We passed by all of the animals that he had on his land and all of the crops/vegetables/fruits that he was growing. We were given special hats for the tour due to the intense sun. We toured an old church in the area and even took a horse-carriage ride throughout his many acres of land as well. This field trip was truly about experiencing first hand Valencia’s culture, and for that, it was a favorite amongst us all.
Getting ready to walk around El Campo.
Farm Animals...
Horse-Carriage Ride.
The Restaurant that we ate the Paella at. These signs were literally everywhere in the town of Meliana.
Walking around el Campo.
An old church in the area.
After a LONG day in Meliana, I returned to my house to eat dinner and quickly get ready to leave for Pamplona. I had an overnight bus ride to Pamplona to see the Running of the Bulls the next day. About 35 people from our ISA group decided to go, so we were all waiting anxiously for our bus to leave at 10:50 that night!
Waiting for our bus to leave for Pamplona!
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