First off, let me clarify the following: no, the above photo of a masterpiece of urban artwork was not my own doing. I simply have a great appreciation for this particular piece, though I can't exactly explain why...
Anyway, this was one of the many pieces that my friend Jordan and I saw while biking through downtown Valencia all afternoon. Here they have a really neat system called "ValenBiSi," in which you can buy an annual pass for €30 and can rent bicicles from the stations located all over the city, then just drop it off at another. The only slight downside is that you only have 30 minutes before they would charge you slightly extra, so every 25 minutes we would frantically ride around looking for the nearest Valenbisi station, then check our bikes back in and out. It was a pretty fun day, riding around with no particular purpose, admiring the street artwork in certain parts of town, checking out parks and areas we had not been before, and cautiously weaving between pedestrians and occasionally traffic. Being able to use the bikes is very convenient, as we can go almost directly to our final destination without having to worry about which bus line or metro to take, or how long we would need to wait for transportation to arrive. As an example, this week I made a few more trips to the historic center of town than usual, and the bikes cut my trip from a thirty minute walk down to about ten. I may have been born to ride.
Another fun activity a few friends and I did was visit the top rated café and bakery in town (at least according to tripadvisor). Between classes on Tuesday, we made a stop at La Petite Brioche to see if they could live up to the expectations. Of course we pulled out all the stops and went for the chocolate brownie cheesecake, and the consensus was... Yeah, it was very good and I am not at all surprised that the honor of best bakery in town was bestowed upon them. One of the girls I was with thinks it was rated so high because all of the guys working there were handsome (which may have something to do with it) but I say that the dessert takes the cake. Ha. But we might have to go back, because I forget to run into the story and say "Congratuations! Valencia's best bakery!" (obviously in Spanish), and it is also likely that we will have to try some more places, just to get a better taste as to whether there are any close competitors.
Finally, I wanted to share a little bit about how much I have appreciated getting to know Christians here through several different groups. First, I have really enjoyed going to a Spanish-speaking church and being able to worship and pray to God in another language. Plus, they have a weekly meeting just for praying, and there is a group of young adults that gets together to eat or play soccer, so I have been able to become a part of this church family while I am here. Secondly, I joined a Bible study group that meets at one of the nearby universities. It's through GBU, which is InterVarsity here in Spain. Right now we are going through Colossians together, and we have a great time of not only study, but lunch beforehand and coffee afterward, so I have gotten to know the students there a bit better as well. Also, they are having an outreach event in a few weeks, and though my speaking ability is still a little shaky, I am taking a step of faith and already committing to being able to help with it as much as I am able! Finally, I have also gotten to make some friends from a different church through the other Americans that are here. The other night we went over to one of their houses to spend some time together before going to a café/pub to chat some more and play billiards. Really neat to see some of the opportunities that God is allowing me to have here in Spain and I am looking forward to many more in the upcoming weeks!