WARNING: This is really long, you may need caffiene to finish

Just a note to begin with: If you notice any spelling errors, I apologize, but I do have justification. Occasionally when I’m writing my thoughts collide, the results of said collisions are either a new compound word that hasn’t been discovered, like ‘thend’, which is a combination of ‘the’ and ‘end’, or the usage of a completely different word then intended, like ‘I bought a new scary’ instead of ‘scarf’. I don’t know where ‘scary’ came from, to be frank, but I must have been afraid of something at the time. I am also constantly changing from Spanish to English, so the language conversion does take an affect on my brain. Ipso facto, I apologize for the spelling errors.

We have had an eventful last few days here in Denia. Friday afternoon we took an excursion to the castle here in Denia. We had another overcast day, so it wasn’t as brilliant as it could have been, but it was very exciting. The castle is really well kept and there are lots of trees within the walls. There are actually 2 large outer walls, and one smaller inner wall. As most castles go, this one was build for defense and still has holes from cannons and things like that. There is a lot of flora inside the castle walls and it is really well kept to look good for tourists. If you look on my Flickr site there are some pictures of the castle. I plan to make another trip there on a nicer day to get some better pictures.

Saturday morning we had to get up bright and early to travel to Valencia. Valencia is about an hour and a half north on the bus. It’s a lot bigger than Denia. Denia is like living in Holland and Zeeland, but push everyone together in downtown Holland, and put them all in apartments. Inwards and upwards. Then add more stores to the downtown, because lets be honest, downtown Holland, although very well kept, is lacking in the store options department. Valencia is more like Chicago but with older buildings and less electricity. Hopefully now you get the picture: Holland and Zeeland = Denia, Chicago = Valencia. Valencia is a beautiful city with an interesting mixture of old building and new stores. It is shoppers heaven with everything from Rolex, to Mango, to El Centro Ingles, to Tous, to anything else your heart desires. I didn’t go on a spending spree although I could have easily blown my savings and my parents annual income in a few hours. (By the way, I am accepting donations for the purchasing of what I like to call “souvenirs” of Europe. E-mail me at krd22@students.calvin.edu if you want to contribute to this wonderful charity ☺)

The highlight of our day in Valencia was visiting the Oceanografico, which in English is an Aquarium. But not just ANY aquarium, the biggest aquarium in the world. I don’t know how to put this so you can comprehend how amazing it was… but I will try. Ready? Okay.

¡ ¡ ¡IT WAS FLIPPING AWESOME! ! !

It was beyond phenomenal. The architecture was cutting edge, they had animals and birds from all over the world, and it was massive! They had areas according to climate types. Here is a list of the areas you could visit:
1. Temperate
2. Oceans and Sharks
3. Artic, Belugas and Walruses
4. Antarctic and Penguins
5. Dolphinarium
6. Islands
7. Tropical
8. Mediterranean
9. Aviary

I was like a kid in a candy store. It was the most exciting thing I’ve done in months. It was so awesome to see so many types of animals, in all different climates. We watched a dolphin show, which was the best one I’ve ever seen. You should check out some of the pictures I got on Flickr, but they do not compare to what it was like to be there.

We got back kinda late and so I ate dinner here and then went to a friend’s house. I dyed my hair an awesome color. It’s a little red, but it’s mostly brown. I really like this color. I was going to dye my hair back to blonde, but at the last minute, I decided to just go dark again. Otherwise, I’ve been relaxing and doing homework, not too exciting.

Funny story though. My Spanish mom, who I will now refer to as Yaya, since that means Grandmother, came home on Sunday and was all worried. I had spent Saturday night at a friend’s apartment, and when I got home on Sunday she was gone. I took a nap, and while I was napping she came back and left again. But apparently all this time she had been trying to call me on my cell phone to get a hold of me, but couldn’t. So she walks in the door at 9:30 at night and says “Where have you been?! I’ve been trying to call me and you haven’t answered! You need to tell me where you are! I haven’t seen you all day” on and on. All this time, I was sitting in shock wondering what in the world she was talking about. All day I sat in the apartment doing homework, and then I took a nap, got up, and did homework again. So I told her that I had been here since 1 PM and hadn’t left. She pulls out her phone to show me that she’d called my twice and left voicemails both times. I told her that I hadn’t received any missed calls that day or any voicemails. So she says, “I’ll call you right now to see what the problem is.” She calls “my” number, and some guy picks up. She asks who it is, and it’s Juan, not me. So she asked me what my number was and I told her, and all the sudden she stopped and calmed down. She had been calling the wrong number. So HA! It wasn’t my fault! I was here all the time! I apologized, and so did she. I told her that if she calls me, I promise I will call back.

Anyways, time to start another day. Wow… I am long winded. But I guess I am the same way in person. If you made it through that in one sitting, I’m highly impressed. Next time I write a lot I will write a warning at the beginning, something like ‘WARNING: Reader may need nap caffeine to finish’, the other option is adding an “Intermission”, which I find intriguing. Anyways! Check out Flickr!! Love you all, thinking of you always.