From Valencia to Verona…

So, before I even got chance to settle down in Verona, the whole ‘Covid-19’ became a thing meaning we were put into quite a difficult position. 5 days into life in Verona, whilst I was in a hotel for two nights. I was watching the news and saw that the coronavirus had broke out in northern Italy, which is where I was! My mum had left the day before, so it was quite worrying for me. After a few days, we finally moved into our apartment and tried to begin our year abroad which would have been by finding the local bars, restaurants and seeing what the university had to offer but unfortunately, we couldn’t do any of that due to Covid. At first, we didn’t know what to think of the whole situation, my parents told me not to worry and that it was being made out to be worse than it actually was by the media. So, we thought about it for a few days, more and more things began to close.  We really did not want to be stuck in our flat during quarantine, and preferably wanted to be with our family. After a few days deciding what to do, we figured it was best to book a flight home, we thought we would only be home for a couple of weeks and so left everything there. We definitely did not think that we wouldn’t be going back to Italy. So, we booked our flights for the 29^th February, a few days before Italy declared state of emergency so we were really lucky, our flight was more or less completely empty and we each had a row to ourselves and the flight was really cheap too. 

Whilst being back in England for lockdown, I wasn’t able to do any online learning for Italy as we hadn’t fully enrolled at the university which was a shame and I feel I have lost out on lots of valuable language learning because of this. 

Despite being back in England, I had left all my belongings in Italy so was in regular contact with my landlord and I decided that it was probably best if I asked him if he would pack up my belongings and send them to me, which he did. Thankfully! Unfortunately, like many others we were still required to pay rent during the pandemic which I personally don’t think is fair, and I also lost my deposit of €400 which in my opinion isn’t fair as I continued to pay rent until I received my stuff.

Gabriella

After a few weeks at home, seeing friends and family and celebrating my birthday it was time to start the next chapter! Being half Italian myself, I was very excited to go and live in Verona for 6 months although very nervous I knew it would be easier than it was being in Spain in regards to the language etc. 

I arrived in Verona on the 17th February with my mum who had to fly out with me as I had so much stuff to take with me, safe to say I don’t know the meaning of packing light. We arrived in Verona quite early on the Monday morning which wasn’t really ideal with all the luggage we weren’t able to check into the airbnb until later in the afternoon and there were no luggage lockers nearby. My mum stayed for 5 days, this was nice for us to see the city together and also have a relaxing week. 

I found it quite difficult to find a flat in Verona, one of my friends from uni messaged me and suggested we find one together which was a big relief! This made it slightly easier, however it seems in Italy single beds are very common and also shared rooms… not ideal. After a lot of searching we finally found someone who had a 3-bed apartment, all double beds so after a few phone calls to the landlord as we were still in England, we decided to chose this one. I found that flats in Italy are a lot cheaper than Spain, I was paying €500 in Spain for quite a standard flat, not the biggest room or balcony and a small kitchen whereas in Italy I pay €390 for a much bigger apartment. One thing I have noticed is that general cost of living in Italy is a lot more expensive especially food etc.

After what has been the best 5 months in Valencia, unfortunately its time to pack up my room and get ready for my next adventure. Valencia has been an absolute dream, I would recommend this city to anybody and everybody. From 36 degree heat in September, to the warmest December i’ve ever had, I can certainly say that the weather has been amazing, minus the 2 storms which apparently Spain isn’t used to and went on complete shut down, I’ve made friends I’m sure I will be friends with for life and a bunch of amazing memories. 

I honestly can’t believe semester 1 has finished and I’m off to another country! I am very grateful I made such a good bunch of friends in Valencia and I am sure that we will keep in contact. It’s quite weird that after living in Valencia for such a short time, I feel like I know the city like the back of my hand and would easily be able to show someone around there with confidence. 

One of the few downsides to moving countries is that I feel like I could improve my Spanish a lot more but unfortunately don’t have enough time here so I plan on joining a Spanish language school in Verona in a few months time. Quite a few of my friends have said that they wouldn’t be able to move country at this point as they don’t feel their language is at the stage they want it to be at. However, I don’t have a choice so have to get on with it!

Now I have finally packed up all my things, I will advise anyone to pack lightly when they go on their year abroad, I came to Valencia with 2 big cases and one hand luggage and they were all over, I am leaving Valencia with 4 big cases (one which my mum had to fly out to take home) and a small hand luggage, this is going to be a fun journey. Leaving Valencia has been very bitter sweet, although I’m so sad to leave and leave all my friends behind knowing they won’t be leaving Valencia any time soon, I’m also so excited to go home and celebrate my 21st just before beginning semester 2 in Verona!

Plaza de Torros- The bullring in Valencia is a very important landmark, right in the heart of the city centre and doesn’t cost much at all to enter and some days is even free. You can go in and walk around the bullring and then go and have a look around the museum. Concerts are also held in the bullring if you have a look online there are a few in the warmer months, I heard a few as my apartment was just around the corner. 

Plaza de Ajuntamiento- The town hall plaza in Valencia is lovely to see, right in the centre and filled with shops. During December there is a giant lit up Christmas tree and an ice rink in the square, definitely a must see!

Oceanografico- The famous aquarium in Valencia, Oceanografico is 100% one of the best places there. Entrance is around €30 which is quite pricey but definitely worth it! the restaurants there are a bit rubbish so I would recommend taking a picnic and I would certainly go to watch the dolphin show!

The central market- Valencia’s market is a huge market just by the centre, definitely worth going for fresh veg and meat however things such as prawns are cheaper in the supermarket’s fish monger section. the market is also nice to have a walk round there and see what they have. 

Bioparc- The Bioparc in Valencia is amazing! the entry is quite cheap too, I think I paid €23. All the animals are really free and have so much space, there’s also a cafe which looks out on the giraffes! Theres also times during the day where you can watch the animals being fed, so literally feeding time at the zoo. 

Playa Malvarossa- The beach in Valencia is lovely, we went here until late October as it was so hot but the season had ended so there were no sunbeds, bars or stalls open. It’s really relaxing any time of the year, especially for some ‘me’ time. 

Jardin del Turia- The gardens that run through Valencia! Perfect for a walk on your own or with friends, to sit and read a book or to ride electric scooters round!

As I am studying on my year abroad, I think it’s essential I do a blog post on what life as a student is like. Me and my friends arrived in Valencia a few weeks earlier than the semester start date because we had a welcome meeting at the university, this was quite helpful and gave us a lot of information that we needed however, we only had one email about this in July and that was it, so if you missed that email you wouldn’t have a clue about the meeting so I’d say preparation is key, although that long summer break before moving away might be the time to do nothing, you certainly have a lot you need to prepare and I wouldn’t have had any idea about the enrolment or the term dates if I didn’t go to this meeting. Everybody was given a date and time to go and enrol, and although the welcome meeting was helpful the enrolment process was terrible. It was very much unorganised, and I got the feeling that the staff didn’t want to help you. I didn’t have enough credits to begin with as they said the classes were full but after I got in touch with NTU, and NTU got in touch with Valencia university, I got given the classes that I originally asked for. Luckily, I was eventually given a timetable with enough credits to pass the year so I could start to attend more classes, although attendance isn’t compulsory, I think it’s a great opportunity to get better at the language and make new friends. I am loving Valencia so far, I 100% made the right decision coming here and I am glad that I knew a few girls who were coming from NTU and got the chance to make some new friends here too. Valencia is the perfect place for a nice meal and some drinks, I would recommend trying Agua de Valencia if you haven’t already! It’s a mixture of cava, orange juice, vodka and gin and tastes amazing! My favourite places to visit in Valencia are Oceanografico, Atneo Sky bar, Bioparc (which is amazing if you love animals!) I will write more on places to visit in another post.

Since arriving in Valencia on the 28^th August, I have been looking for accommodation and familiarising myself with the city. I am currently staying at the Purple Nest hostel which is in great location, about a 10-minute walk from Benimaclet and right near calle de Colon which is the main shopping street in Valencia. I travelled here with one of my friends, and I am so glad that I did because it was somewhat comforting to travel with somebody who was just as nervous as me to begin our year abroad.

Finding accommodation wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. I imagined that we would find adverts on lampposts, ring them up and get an apartment but no way was it that easy. We began by walking around Benimaclet and Blasco Ibanez on our first day and looking out for posters on lamp posts advertising flats, we had been browsing websites such as: idealista, erasmusu, amigoflats and tecnocasa. We did try a few agencies but none of them were very helpful at all, they refused to speak English and told us that all flats were booked up in Valencia by now (quite possibly impossible for them to even know that) and most tried to con us into thinking that we wouldn’t find a flat with wifi and bills included, but we have found that. Thankfully after a week of searching for accommodation, we found the perfect 10 bedroom flat on spotahome. With spotahome you can’t actually go to view the flat, but they do have videos, so some may see it as risky, but we decided we were going to take the risk and book it. We are still the only 3 people in here, but hopefully we will meet a few more students as we get closer to the term starting. I would advise getting a room with an outdoor view rather than an internal view, it can get quite lonely if you are in your room and can’t hear people outside, seems strange but to hear cars, busses, people etc makes a very big difference.