Tag: 2. Mai 2025

So I said it, didn’t I? “The Germans are coming.” And no, I wasn’t making a war joke—our trainers actually flew in from the land of bratwurst and bureaucracy just to visit us and get a taste of our incredibly professional internships here in sunny Valencia.

Well… kinda. Technically, they came to visit me and Ruben. Because the others? Either off-duty, mysteriously sick, or pulling a Houdini on the whole work experience. Classic.

Anyway, their first stop was our university. And what a place! They met the mighty professors who command the great AI-powered tourist app project—aka, my life now. We even gave them a quick tour, and oh boy, hold onto your brains: they’ve got a full-on VR room, a motion capture lab, and a multimedia studio with a monster green screen. I’m talking Hollywood-level wizardry. Did we take pictures? Of course not. Forbidden. Top-secret. Government-level security. (Or they just don’t trust us with cameras.)

Then came the real field trip. I took the two on a magical journey to a burger joint disguised as a laundromat. Yeah, you read that right. Imagine grabbing your food from a freaking washing machine. I’ve never eaten anything that close to freshly rinsed socks, but hey—YOLO, right?

Since no one from the agency responded (hello? anyone home?), we ended up giving our trainers the grand tour of our apartment. They said it was cozy. COZY. I mean, sure, if sleeping on a mattress that screams „back pain 24/7“ counts as cozy. I swear, if they stayed here another night, they’d both be booking chiropractor appointments faster than you can say “Herniated disc.”

And of course, no German-in-Spain saga would be complete without trying paella by the beach. Not bad, honestly. Tasted like sunshine and burnt rice in all the right ways. And let me tell you—Mr. Gierschner and his never-ending dad jokes? Almost killed me. Laughed so hard, I saw the digital afterlife. Worth it.

More Blog with pictures and videos here: https://afib-in-spain.tumblr.com/

On Monday, we checked out of our beloved hotel and decided to treat ourselves to brunch before returning to our charming home… We found the cutest little café with an Alice in Wonderland theme, and everything looked super promising… until the power suddenly went out. At first, we thought it’d be a quick flicker, but then we noticed the shops nearby also had no electricity or phone signal. Not a good sign.

Realizing our food dreams weren’t going to come true, we luckily didn’t wait around. Turns out the power and network didn’t come back until late in the evening. We figured we’d just head back to our apartment, but surprise: the metro wasn’t running either. So began our quest to find a functioning bus. It was total chaos. Buses randomly changing stops, traffic lights down, and a street festival happening in the same area (why not, right?). After what felt like a side quest in a video game, we squeezed into a packed bus and somehow made it home.

Everyone at the apartment was also low-key panicking but in that “this is so bad it’s funny” way. At first, we had spotty signal, but by the afternoon, it was completely gone. It was honestly a little spooky not knowing what was going on and not being able to reach anyone. Still, we were lucky. I heard some people got stuck in gondolas, elevators, or were even evacuated from long-distance trains.

Fun fact (or not): that was also the day we were supposed to meet our instructors. Coincidence that the entire city/country shuts down just as they landed? Hmm…

Anyway, the meeting got moved to Tuesday. First, they visited Jacky and Ruben’s company, and later they came by our lovely shared apartment for the full Valencia housing experience. After a short catch-up, we headed to a beachside restaurant I’d found on TikTok for some classic paella. We went big and ordered the lobster paella and wow, it was chef’s kiss. At least for Herr Bavar and me. The others either thought it was just okay or didn’t like it at all. Not everyone has the tastebuds of a connoisseur, I guess!

It was also super cold and windy at the restaurant, so fingers crossed no one catches a cold. After a few rounds of beer, Agua de Valencia, and incredibly sophisticated conversations about RAID 5, sausage lollipops, and “Lutschter” (our new term for a lobster you lick??), we called it a night. It was really nice seeing familiar faces again!

On Wednesday, it was back to work for me. I continued tinkering with my little AI project. Google Colab has some seriously cool tools and it’s a great place to start if you want to dip your toes into AI stuff. Oh, and I tried Popeyes for the first time. Let’s just say… it ranks second to last on my fast food chicken wing list.