February 14

I woke up, gathered all my stuff, met Diego and was out the door at 9:30 with Daniel (a Nicaraguan exchange student that’s on a study abroad program as well) headed to el Rio. It was pretty chilly out, but the sun was shining and we were all commenting about how excited we were to play.

We were there a good thirty minutes before any of the other players so we had to kill sometime before we could get our uniforms. When Alfonso arrived, he rationed out uniforms (I’m number 19) and we got ready to take the field. My pants didn’t fit me and I didn’t have a belt so I had to ghetto rig my pants up with a string. I looked pretty ridiculous but at least I could run now without my pants falling to my ankles.

We were playing an all Latin American team named Los Indios that looked a lot more intimidating than they actually were. We warmed up a while and got loose. The sun was warmer and I was really excited to play. I played left field, which was a lot of fun. Our pitcher, Nacho, prefers to use the off-speed pitch so I saw a lot of ground balls and action out toward me. Batting wise, I went 0-1 with two walks (one of which I was pegged in the chest with a pitch), and a run scored. In regards to my grounder out, I was just happy I put the ball in play.

We were winning until the top of the fifth inning when they opened up the score and had an twelve run inning. I had a three run homer sail over my head and the fence during their slaughter fest. We got to bat one more time but they called the game because of mercy rule with a final score of 16-5. I had so much fun.

Diego and I got back just in time to grab lunch. We walked in and there were a bunch of people in our group just waking up so we had people to talk to. After, I went up stairs, skyped Laura to wish her Happy Valentines Day, and showered. The rest of the afternoon, I spent catching up on homework and reading a little bit of my book I have been loving so much.

Mary Claire was using my Magic Jack to call her mom who had just got in to Valencia for a few days and she extended me, Caroline and Ashley an invite to come get tapas with them. We quickly said yes, excited to try some good tapas and meet Mary Claire;s family. Her family is so cool, her Mom is a Delta flight attendant and has been doing so for over 30 years so she has some really funny stories. Mary Claire’s older sister is a Georgia grad that works for Phillips Arena, the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers as an event coordinator.

We ended up going to three different restaurants and tried a lot of different tapas. My favorite was the Mussels at Bar Pilar, they had a great spice to them and the broth was so good. We tried Agua de Valencia; I can’t wait for my mom to try it. It is fresh squeezed orange juice, white wine, sugar and vodka all mixed together. It honestly tastes exactly like orange juice and is delicious.

We ended up staying out until just before one, pretty late but it still allowed me to get a decent amount of rest before having to wake up at 8:00. It was a great day.