Autor: Fanlai Huang

Work was slow this week. I didn’t have much to do on Thursday or Friday, so I started my own little side project: I’m trying to build a simple AI that can recognize positive and negative emotions. Just a fun challenge to keep my brain busy.

After work on Thursday, my boyfriend picked me up and we went for a walk in this huge park that basically stretches across the entire city. There were so many joggers out and a bunch of tents set up everywhere. That little outing somehow turned into spontaneous day drinking (oops), and we ended up inviting the others to join us too.

On Friday, we went on a mission to find a better Asian supermarket (because I NEED my instant noodles), and we actually found a huge one! Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Korean BBQ at an all-you-can-eat place for €25 per person. It was delicious, but oh man… we felt so gross afterwards. Our clothes reeked of smoke the entire night. To make things worse, we tried to take the metro home at around 10:30 p.m., only to find out that it doesn’t run to our area that late. So yeah… long walk home.

Saturday was much more wholesome – we finally visited Oceanogràfic, the biggest aquarium in all of Europe! And wow, it really lived up to the hype. They had sharks, beluga whales, and even dolphins. We got to see a dolphin show, which was honestly way better than I expected. What’s even cooler is that Oceanogràfic is actively involved in marine research and conservation, including breeding programs.

We ended up staying there for nearly four hours and were completely wiped out afterwards. But since we’d heard from the agency that there was going to be a fireworks show in the evening, we forced ourselves to go out again. Well… they started 30 minutes late, lasted 10 minutes, and were kind of underwhelming. But hey, fireworks are fireworks, I guess?

And then… on Sunday we checked into another hotel. Yes. AGAIN. This one even had a pool and a sauna on the ground floor. Definitely a highlight. I swear these hotel stays are becoming a bad habit.

After a long and slightly chaotic week, my boyfriend and I decided to spend Sunday at a hotel and wow, it was exactly what we needed. Peace and quiet, a huge bed, everything clean, and our own private bathroom… I could’ve cried from happiness. Honestly, it might’ve been a mistake to treat ourselves like that, because now we’re completely spoiled and kinda want to escape to a hotel every weekend. Oops.

Coming back on Monday felt rough. The contrast hit hard. From peaceful hotel vibes straight back into our overstuffed apartment. Eight people, squeaky bunk beds that feel like they’re one shift away from collapsing (they’re literally children’s beds), and wardrobes that fall apart when you open them. Plus, the place gets messy faster than you can blink. Still, Monday was a public holiday, so at least we could take it slow and continue resting. My boyfriend was feeling much better by then, which was a relief.

Tuesday, it was back to work. Christina (yes, I’ve been spelling her name wrong this whole time… sorry Christina!) and I finished our shared Google Docs draft and started building our presentation with Gamma AI. I had no idea AI tools were already this advanced. The whole process was super smooth and fun to work with.

The next day, I continued polishing the presentation and added some screenshots, just like Rafa had asked. After work, my boyfriend and I went into the city for a little outing. I had heard about a cookie place called „Keksy“ and wanted to give it a try (it was okay, not mind-blowing). While walking around, we randomly stumbled across a huge indoor market. My boyfriend even tried oysters for the first time and he didn’t hate them, which was a pleasant surprise!

Later, we aimed to check out a burger spot called HUNDRED. We didn’t want to barge in right when they opened, so we aimed to go a bit later – turns out, that was a mistake. When we arrived about 30 minutes after opening, the place was already packed. So, we settled for a nearby ramen spot instead – not a bad backup plan at all.

PS: Still no pictures… we’re running low on blog storage!

Thursday was already the last workday of the week since Friday was a public holiday! We had a meeting with Rafael, Liz, and Christinas to check on the progress of our presentation. During the meeting, we got a new task: we’re supposed to write a more detailed explanation of how AI can be used for specific tasks. It’s definitely more hands-on now, and I’m excited to dig a bit deeper into the topic.

I also got to meet another employee named Fernan. He, Christinas, and I ended up having a really wholesome conversation about life in Valencia and what it’s like to live here. Christinas is honestly such a sweet and friendly person – working with her has been really nice so far.

After work, I met up with my boyfriend in the city center because (of course) I forgot my laptop charger at home… We tried our luck at MediaMarkt, but sadly, the one in Valencia isn’t quite as good as the ones in Berlin. In the end, I just ordered a replacement from Amazon. On the bright side, we also checked out this little Asian dumpling spot!

Unfortunately, my boyfriend started feeling a bit unwell, so we ended up spending the whole weekend at home so he could rest. I tried to take care of him as best I could. I’m honestly just really glad that Monday is also a holiday – fingers crossed he gets better soon!

My internship at DLQ Consulting officially started on Monday at 9 a.m., and I met up with Luca from the agency to get there. The commute only took about 30 minutes by metro, but wow – it was packed. Definitely rush hour chaos.

Once I arrived, I quickly realized that punctuality isn’t exactly a priority here – everyone showed up late, though I didn’t really mind. I was introduced to Liz, who thankfully speaks English and originally comes from South America. She gave me a quick overview of their current project and told me to explore it a bit to see where I might be able to contribute.

But when I came back the next day, Liz wasn’t in. Instead, I got to meet Rafael, the CEO of DLQ Consulting. He gave me a different task: helping prepare a presentation for an upcoming course he’s teaching in early May, targeted at people aged 50 and up – he calls them the “silver economy” (because of the silver hair, obviously). Together with another intern, Christinas, I’m working on making the slides more visually appealing. My main responsibility is to add more context and explanations related to AI, since that’s one of the key topics of the course.

That’s what I’ve been focusing on over the past few days – researching, writing, and figuring out how to present AI concepts in a clear and interesting way for beginners. It’s a pretty cool challenge, and I’m curious to see how it all comes together!

PS: No pictures this time because the whole blog only has 500 MB of space and we’re trying to save some of that for later posts!

Our first week in Valencia continued with more Spanish lessons – this time we learned the names of weekdays and months, how to tell time, and all kinds of useful vocabulary related to food and kitchen basics. It’s been really helpful to build up a foundation, especially since we’re surrounded by the language every day. I still have a lot to learn, but it already feels easier to understand signs and little phrases in everyday life.

After class, we decided to take it slow and had a cozy movie night at the apartment. We watched Avengers: Age of Ultron – sometimes it’s nice to just stay in, especially with so many impressions and new experiences throughout the week.

To end our Spanish course, we surprised our teacher Jesús with flowers. It was a small gesture, but he really deserved it – his energy and humor made the lessons fun, even though we were all beginners. On the last day, we reviewed everything we had learned and took a short final test to see how much we had improved in just five days. I think we all felt a bit more confident afterward.

Later that day, my boyfriend and I went out for tacos – and the best part? They were only 1 Euro each! Honestly one of the best deals we’ve found so far. Afterwards, we explored the area around Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. The architecture is stunning – modern, futuristic, and super clean. But if I’m being honest, it also felt a bit too empty and quiet. You end up walking a lot, but there’s not that much going on once you’re there.

We also checked out more of the city center and took a look at the historic Bank of Valencia building. That area had much more life – busy streets, cafés, people everywhere. I really enjoy just walking around and discovering these little corners of the city.

One morning, we treated ourselves to a nice brunch in a neighborhood called Ayora. The toast I had was so delicious, I’m definitely going to try and recreate it at home. The area was lovely, but again, strangely quiet. I’m starting to wonder if we always pick the oddest times to go out – everything seems to be closed or empty when we get there!

To round off the weekend, we met up with Herr Maier, at the beach. We had a couple of drinks and talked about how things have been going so far. It was a really nice and laid-back way to reflect on our first week here.