Wednesday, April 16th, 2025 Wednesday marked my last day at the university for this week, as the Easter holidays officially begin tomorrow. The work went well. I got to support Adrian again. He is been incredibly helpful throughout this project, always willing to assist with any kind of question, whether it’s directly related to the project or just general stuff. In the afternoon, I went for a jog.
Thursday, April 17th, 2025 Since the university is on break, I stayed home and used the day to dive deeper into Python programming. It was actually pretty fun. In the evening, I met up with Adrian again. This time, he brought a friend along who’s also a programmer. Turns out he’s currently developing a new computer game, which sounded really exciting. Both of them are from Valencia, so they had a lot to share: local tips, stories, and of course, plenty of tech talk.
Friday, April 18th, 2025 I took it easy for most of the day we didn’t do much, and honestly, it was nice to just relax a bit. After lunch, in the early evening, Thaddäus, Timur, and I decided to take a walk down to the beach. It’s about a 60 minute walk through the countryside, and on the way. We saw jumping fish.
Saturday, April 19th, 2025 Saturday started slowly, with a much-needed sleep-in. Later in the evening, a few of us went out for dinner at an Asian restaurant. I had gyoza and miso soup. Simple, but so good. There are no pictures.
Monday, 14th April 2025 The day started with Jacky and me heading to the University of Valencia for our first workday. We were introduced to the whole team and got a short overview of the project we’ll be working on. The main goal is to explore how artificial intelligence can support the collection and analysis of different weather data.
On the way to the store in the evening, I spotted a funny-looking cloud. What do you see in it?
Tuesday, 15th April 2025 The next day, we met the professor who is leading the project at the university. He gave us some more detailed background and explained our roles. For the first few days, my main focus is to dive deeper into Python programming, since that’s the language used throughout the project.
Wednesday, 16th April 2025 Today was all about understanding the project on a deeper level. I spent most of the day reading a 64-page document explaining the whole concept, its purpose, and potential impact – quite a marathon. In the afternoon, I played a bit of basketball with Thaddäus, which was a nice change of pace.
The day began, as always, with our Spanish class with Jesús. Today we tackled the numbers from 1 to 100. I can now count fluently and finally order the correct number of croissants at the bakery (usually “cuatro,” let’s be real). In the afternoon, we turned into master chefs and cooked Nasi Goreng together – an explosive combo of Asian food, Spanish olive oil, and general chaos in the kitchen. Despite several near-disasters, it turned out surprisingly tasty. Later, we played some football on the dusty pitch nearby. We kept going until the sky burst open and it started pouring rain.
April 11 – Hables espanól?
Today was the last day of our Spanish course. We learned a few last-minute useful phrases like “¿Dónde está la cerveza?” (essential for survival), and then we had a final exam covering everything we’d learned that week. Did we pass? Hard to say. I think Jesús was just happy to be rid of us. We chilled in the afternoon – our brains were mush after all the grammar. At night, we headed into the city to check out a few bars. At was very fun and we met nice people from Columbia
April 12 – Balling with the Ball
Saturday was a chill one. I wandered through the city, bought a basketball (best impulse buy ever), and played with a young guy from Ukraine who didn’t speak much English but could seriously hoop. We communicated with gestures, smiles, and three-pointers – sports really do bring people together. In the evening, I crashed in bed with some chips and watched a Spanish movie with subtitles. After that i fell asleep.
April 13 – Beers and Drums
Sunday was full of surprises. We met up with our teacher, Herr Meier, who just happened to be on vacation in Valencia. It turned into a beach-side beer session filled with wild stories – the kind that get more dramatic with every drink. Later, we strolled through the city and watched a Catholic procession – drums, incense, giant holy statues, and people in traditional robes. It felt like a historical movie, just with better weather. Valencia keeps throwing unexpected things our way.
Day 1 – Arrival in Valencia (Sunday, April 6, 2025) After weeks of anticipation, we finally touched down in sunny Valencia! We were warmly welcomed at the airport and driven straight to our home for the next two months. The excitement was real — blue skies, palm trees, and the promise of tapas just around the corner.
Once we arrived at the house, the reality set in. Let’s just say… it’s functional. The place is okay, but pretty basic. The kitchen has just the bare essentials (we might need to get creative with cooking), and cleanliness wasn’t exactly the priority of the last guests. Some rooms are tiny — like, “can-barely-fit-two-bags” tiny — but hey, it’s all part of the adventure, right?
After settling in and choosing rooms we spent the evening unwinding, soaking in the first vibes of Valencia.
Day 2 – First Day of Spanish Classes (Monday, April 7) Today marked the start of our Spanish course, and we were all a mix of nervous and excited. Our teacher Jesús turned out to be an absolute gem — super friendly, patient, and full of energy. We dove right into the language and were already forming basic sentences by the end of the day.
Post-class, we went grocery shopping. We whipped up a simple dinner together — nothing fancy, but it felt good to eat as a group. Later, we took a walk through the city center, enjoying the warm evening air and charming streets. Valencia at night has its own kind of magic.
Day 3 – Finding Our Flow (Tuesday, April 8) Another day, another Spanish lesson. The rhythm is starting to feel natural — class in the morning, then the rest of the day to explore and enjoy. After class, we hit the local market again and cooked a delicious meal together. This time we got a little more adventurous with the ingredients.
In the afternoon, some of us decided to go for a jog — ambitious, considering we aimed to reach the beach. Turns out our route planning needs some work, but we got a great workout in and discovered a few new parts of the city in the process. No beach this time, but we’re getting closer.
We wrapped up the evening on our little patio, sipping cervezas, laughing, and sharing stories under the stars. It already feels like we’re forming our own little family here.
Day 4 – A Slower Morning & Spicy Evening (Wednesday, April 9) Today’s Spanish class didn’t start until the afternoon, which meant we had the morning free — a rare treat! Some of us did laundry, others took care of the kitchen situation (we’ve now declared a mild war on the lack of cutlery), and a few even squeezed in a mini workout session in the yard.
Class in the evening was once again a lot of fun. Jesús really knows how to keep us engaged, and we’re picking up phrases that are actually useful for daily life here.
Dinner was good tonight: red lentils with roasted vegetables and garlic-chili shrimp. We’re slowly turning our basic kitchen into a gourmet zone — not bad for not bad when you consider that one knife was more than just blunt and the other was a tiny swiss knife.
