Sad in Valencia

I hadn't planned on going to Valencia.  Venice was flooded and my best friend raved about this small, Spanish town as her favourite destination -- somewhere she could see herself living.  I was so excited to go (so I thought).  

I arrived in Valencia around 10pm and headed straight to the hostel.  I liked the town at first -- it was very inviting and really warm for a December night.  I checked into a very large, very institutional hostel and met my Polish roommates -- they were just getting ready for a night on the town.  Despite it being a Sunday, it was a holiday weekend and everyone was heading out around midnight.  I was exhausted and headed straight to bed.

I woke up early on Monday and was excited for my first day in this new town.  Delighted, I found a Starbucks and learned that Grande Nonfat Latte is the same in every language. (Apparently the coffee chain doesn't have Italian locations for fear that their brand would be seen as inferior). Fortunately, I emerged from my withdrawal. Sadly, this was the best part of my day.

There wasn't a lot to see in Valencia.  A beach town, I am sure it is fantastic during the summer, although it just lacked any kind of sparkle as a European town in the winter.  I saw the historic quarter in all of three hours and sat myself down on a bench and realized just how overwhelmed with sadness I felt.  I really had a sense of losing a piece of myself in Florence and was not yet ready to move on.  

I found my way back to the hostel around 2pm and then the rains started.  Now, I am a born and raised Vancouverite.  I can do rain.  I cannot do crazy Spanish typhoons.  Really, the rain put Vancouver to shame (pardon the rhyme).  There was nothing to do but stay in.  The other residents of the hostel -- most of them Spanish and in town to party for the long weekend -- were in small groups and uninterested in meeting new people.  I met one guy -- a 45 year old man from Mauritius named Norbert who adopted me and tried to make me feel better. If I have not already mentioned, by this point I was crying and was just so lonely and lost.  I was wondering how I had come to find myself alone and in Europe.  I fed into my emotions -- in some ways, the rain coming down justified my mood and my tears, so I gave into it.  I spent a lot of time online that day -- and so began my communications with S.