El Valle de Iruela, paella and the start of the bittersweet last week

Saturday was our last Nebrija excursion. We went on this small nature walk in El Valle de Iruela (we were more looking at nature than being in it, but whatever) and learned how to make paella! El Valle de Iruela is a nature reserve. There are hiking routes at different altitudes, a lake, endangered species of birds, and plenty of green! It was pretty but our nature walk wasn’t anything special.

After the “hike” we drove about 30 minutes to a hotel/cooking school and learned how to make paella. There was a meat paella, seafood paella, and a vegetable paella. I was in the vegetable paella group and at the end we had a little contest to see whose tasted the best. We came in third place, you can only do so much with vegetables and rice! 

To make paella, you saute some vegetables, and make a vegetable broth from others. When the vegetables are cooked, you make a canyon down the middle of the pan and fill it with uncooked rice. You then add the saffron and the yellow dye, and stir until mixed. You ladle in the boiling vegetable broth and that’s how the rice gets cooked. When you determine the rice is ready (by sampling of course), EAT!

We had an extra 3 hours after making paella. We were all grumpy and ready to go back but no matter how many students asked, we had to stay for the 3 hours. It passed really slow at first, but then the program director brought out water balloons and things began to get more fun. 

Saturday night, we went to Kapital. Kelsey, Brianna, Alyssa, and Emily hadn’t been yet so it was an absolute must! It was so much fun, more fun than the last time I went. Emily and I stayed the whole night and ran into Kyle and Sean around maybe 4:30. The 4 of us left the club around 6:15 when the metro opened again and I was in bed by 6:45. And to think that if I had lasted another 20 minutes I could’ve seen the sunrise!

Sunday morning I went back to El Rastro to pick up a couple last minute souvenirs and birthday presents. I got 4 hours of sleep so after the flea market I went back to sleep. It was a lazy day, and the rain in the afternoon didn’t help. It did cool off the city though! I had a little bird take shelter right by my open window. It was there for about 4 hours, and I was so worried it would fly into my room so I quickly shut the window after discovering it. 

I finalized my plans for the rest of my time here in Europe. I come home August 10th so I have some time to explore! I leave for Munich on the 29th, and from there I visit Berlin, Amsterdam, and London. It’ll be me, Matt, Mallory, and her 2 friends. We are so lucky because the days we’ll be in Berlin is the 17th International Berlin Beer Festival,and there’s no better way to embrace the German culture than through a beer fest! I’m still finalizing what to do and where to stay in London, but all the big stuff is done. By the end of the night on Sunday, I felt like this:

I’ll be keeping this blog up until I get home, so don’t think the stories stop here! I’m excited to wander with Matt, and hang out with Mallory. We’re in the same pledge class and are friends, but not in direct friend circles, so it’ll be nice to know her better. And going to Germany let’s me practice that one semester of German I took freshman fall. I do have to refresh my German though, I have a couple phrases memorized and one of them is, “I have a cat”…