Valladolid Memories: Love is Everywhere!

UVa (The Law Faculty) at Plaza de la Universidad

July 4, 2010. That was a date when I stepped my feet for the first time in the purple city. ¡Bienvenido a la Pucela! Valladolid is a city in northwest of Spain and the capital of Castilla y León region. I arrived in Valladolid Campo Grande Station at 16:00 pm after spending 2,5 hours trip on train from Madrid. The sun was shining so bright. It was a beautiful summer!

After 30 minutes of wandering every bus stop around the train station, I finally found the right bus to the apartment where I planned to stay for 4 weeks. Hopped on to the bus, and hopped off after 20 minutes. The apartment was not exactly located near the bus stop. I had to walk for another 10 minutes in the hot afternoon dragging my heavy suitcase.

Cardenal Mendoza, it’s a name of the apartment. The staff in the apartment office was very nice. He explained everything to me even though I only got 10% of his explanation. He didn’t speak English.

Apartamento de Cardenal Mendoza

My room in Cardenal Mendoza was in 3^rd floor. It was very quiet. Most of occupants were in holiday. There were a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, a bathroom, and 2 bedrooms. I simply loved the apartment. It just like the apartment I had wished to live for so long. If only I could afford this type of apartment in Jakarta.

As I said earlier, not many students stayed in the apartment during the summer. But whenever wherever I met anyone inside the apartment, they always greeted me and said "¡Hola!". I was very impressed with this habit. I have found love and warmth in this apartment.

I studied at Universidad de Valladolid or simply called as UVa. I decided to stay in university apartment because I thought it’s located near the university building. But later as I got there, found out that the class for Spanish course was held in The Law Faculty in Plaza de la Universidad. So, I had to take bus to get there. It got 5 minutes walking to get to the closest bus stop from the apartment. As I got off from the bus after 15 minutes, I still need another 5 minutes walking to reach Plaza de la Universidad. Yep, when you live in most of the city in Europe, walking has to be one of your hobby.

July 5, 2010. It was the first day of the course. I stared to the building and muttered: “Wow, the next 4 weeks will be awesome!” I never imagined that I’d studied in the building which was constructed in the end of the 15^th century. I love the architecture. It has high ceilings just like most of the historical buildings. There is an open small square-garden inside the building with lot of park benches around.

That first day was the placement test. A few minutes before the test was begun, one guy came to my table and suddenly introduced himself to me. Well, I knew he already kept looking at me before we entered the class. However it still surprised me though.

The test finished in one and half hours. Next thing to do was exploring Valladolid. We first gathered in front of the university building before heading out for the city tour. Well, I didn’t exactly remember where they took us. What I remembered was that we moved from one historical building (like churches, museums, etc) to another one until we ended up in Plaza Mayor. 

Plaza Mayor is the main square of the city. Like most of Plaza Mayor in Spain, it also has a rectangular shape and surrounded with restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, and offices. There is a statue of the city founder Pedro Ansurez situated at the center of square.

Plaza de Zorrilla

Besides Plaza Mayor, there is another square which was built to honor Jose Zorilla, one of famous Spanish writer who was born in this city. I ended up in Plaza de Zorrilla as the city tour with fellow students finished. It’s located in one of the main street in Valladolid ‘Paseo de Zorrilla’, 10 minutes walking from Plaza Mayor. This square is marked with the statue of Jose Zorrilla himself and small fountain next to it. The great building of Academia de Caballería is situated at the opposite of the square. There is also an entrance to Campo Grande at one corner of the square.

The placement test result was out on the next day. I was in A1 class. Yep, I had to study from the first level again, but never mind! There were 3 classes I had to attend everyday: grammar, conversation, and culture. My grammar teacher was David Perez. He’s such a lovely guy yet funny. Rocio taught us in conversation class. She’s a bit serious, but so friendly outside class. Our culture teacher was the funky one. His name is Ivan. All my classmates were from USA. Well, later some Italians joined our class for around two weeks.

Me, David, and Classmates

The class ended at 1:30 pm. I used to go back to apartment when the class finished. It was siesta time from 2 pm till 4 or 5 pm. Most of the shops were closed, only a few food stalls and cafes were opened during that time. I preferred to cook myself for lunch. I’d go out again at 4 or 5 pm if I decided spending my afternoon exploring the city. Besides siesta, another new thing I had to adapt here was that everything was closed during Sunday. In Spain, Sunday is holiday. So, you better spend your Sunday at home.

Morning was my favorite time during summer in this city. I really love the warm-windy weather in the morning. The humidity is low, so you won’t sweat too much like in a tropical country even though it’s very hot in the afternoon. But as the result of adapting to this subtropical climate, I had to deal with lips and feet bleeding.

Playa de las Moreras

There is one unique place in Valladolid. If you look at the map of Spain, you would think that there would be no beach in this city. You were wrong! There is a beach called ‘Playa de las Moreras’ situated along Isabel la Catolica street. You can get there via the beautiful park lay along the street. Well, it’s actually a small part of Pisuerga river which was turned into a beach. You can do the common beach activities like swimming and sunbathing, but of course with no waves. It was very quiet and lonely that day. It was July 11, 2011, World Cup Finals Days! It seemed everyone preparing for World Cup Finals Match in the afternoon.

Plaza Mayor was the place where thousands of Valladolid people gathered to give support to La Furia Roja. I got there a few hours before kick-off. The big screen was erected at one corner of the square. Reds and yellows were everywhere. ¡Valladolid con La Roja! I loved the atmosphere.

Everyone enjoyed the game. They sang, shouted, hugged and kissed each other. There was a couple standing just right in front of me. They kissed almost all the time during the match. I guess they only stopped for like 2 minutes and then they kissed all over again. They were totally in love. We all did. We were totally in love with a beautiful football battle being showed on the screen. Spain finally claimed their first ever World Cup Trophy, Valladolid and all of the cities in Spain were partying!!

Plaza Mayor during World Cup Finals Day

The next day at the last class, my teacher Ivan said that the players would arrive in Madrid in the afternoon and having a parade there. It’s fast! It’s only one day since they were crowned as the world football king. But it didn’t get me to think twice that as soon as the class was over, I rushed to the train station.

Me and Ivan

I was grateful that it only took about 2 hours to reach Madrid from Valladolid by using train. I was able to witness the parade of La Furia Roja squad with the World Cup trophy and to share the happiness with million of Spanish people. It was really remarkable day! If Ivan didn’t talk about it at class, seeing Iker Casillas lifted the World Cup trophy with my own naked eyes would still remain in my dream. Mil gracias, Ivan! Love ya..!!

It’s already late when the parade finished, so I ended up staying at Irene’s flat that night. I took morning train to return to Valladolid on the next day. I skipped the class. Actually, I could attend the last class, but preferred to head up straight to my apartment as I touched down Valladolid. I guess it was not a good idea to show up in class with the same clothes with the ones I wore a day before.

I used to spend time sitting on the bench in front of the classroom during class-break. One day, a guy joined me. He gave me a little paper. That was the same guy who came to me and introduced himself on the first day of the course. He said there was a deposit of 1 euro that I could claim in my apartment. All I need to do was showing that paper to the staff in the apartment. I took the paper and later told Flora about it. “What? He only gave you 1 euro?”, Flora commented. Since that time, Flora nicknamed him ‘one-euro-man’ and I never claimed that 1 euro. The next few days, I met him again during class-break. I was shocked when he asked me to be his girl-friend. I didn’t expect that he would confess his feeling for me so quick. I knew he got a crush on me since day one, but asking me to be his girl-friend was kind of weird. It was only 2 weeks since we met for the first time. I said sorry to him. I couldn’t return his love.

Every Saturday, we had an excursion to some cities near Valladolid. It was a trip to Segovia that morning, I overslept. I jumped out from apartment and rushed to a bus stop. In front of the apartment, I heard two guys shouted seems calling someone. I didn’t think they were calling me. So I just kept walking. They still kept shouting that made me finally stopped and turned my back.

First guy: “Are you from Turkey?” 

Me: “No, I’m from Indonesia”. 
Second guy: “Do you study in UVa, don’t you?”
Me: “Yep, I study Spanish. But the class is held in Law Faculty campus in Plaza de la Universidad”
Me: “Hmmm, sorry. I’m already late. I have to go.”

First guy: “Oh Ok, if you need any help, we stay in room number .…”
Me: “Ok, thanks.”

That was the first time I met them, which happened to be the last time. I never knew their name. If only I was not in a rush that morning and had more time getting to know each other, I might be in love with the first guy.

July 29, 2010. That was the final test day. In other word, it was our last class too. Ivan brought us snacks and a bottle of wine. When he handed me a glass of wine, it was kind of hard to refuse. There was a whisper from the evil side of me encouraging me to taste it, at least once in my lifetime. But the angel had won my ‘love’. I gave mine to Flora.

It was a beautiful sunny morning on July 30, 2010. It’s graduation day. The graduation ceremony took place in Palacio de Santa Cruz. One by one student walked to stage to receive their certificate. This graduation was bit weird for me as we only studied for one month.

Me and classmates at graduation party

We had a little party after the ceremony! It’s a farewell to my classmates: Flora, Adam, Kevin, Sarah, Heather, Tequila, Michel, Chris, and Stefani. It’s also a good-bye to my three fantastic teachers: David, Rocio, and Ivan. Very warm hugs marked our last day with the hope we’ll meet again one day in the future. The one-euro-man gave me a bracelet. He also gave Flora earrings. “Come on Ezi, you have to give him a hug!”, Flora teased me. I just smiled. I didn’t hug him.

At the afternoon, I spent time with Flora strolling around the city. Later, the Spanish family where she lived with joined us. They took us to one of the bar near Plaza Mayor. I ordered an apple juice. If the bar only served an alcohol drink, I might end up drinking mojito or chupito. 

I said good-bye to Flora on our way home. Hugged her and promised that we’ll visit each other if there is a chance in the future. I really loved every moment we spent together during our one amazing month in Valladolid. 

July 31, 2010. That was my last day in Valladolid. Everything was already packed. The room was already cleaned. The sun shone so bright just like the first day I set my feet there. The two guys whom I met before on my saturday morning rush, came up to my mind. Thinking to leave a note to them, but I completely forgot their room number. Adios, chicos amables!

When I returned the key to the apartment office, the same staff I met on my first day was there. He told me that he already searched for my country in internet. He said he would love to go to Indonesia one day. I said to him that he has to.

As I said good-bye to him, I dragged my suitcase and walked to the bus stop. To get to the train station, I need to change the bus in Plaza de la Universidad. I started panic after spent 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15 minutes, but there was still no sign the bus coming. At the end, I arrived in front of train station just 5 minutes before departure time. It’s difficult to run while you had to drag the heavy suitcase. As I walked down from the escalator to reach the platform, the train was leaving. The train left right in front of my eyes. I lost my 16,35 euros.

I departed 15 minutes later with faster train. I had no choice. I had to arrive in Madrid around 12 or 13. With heavy heart, I grabbed 35,70 euros from my wallet. Using this express train, only need 1 hour and 15 minutes to reach Madrid, 1 hour faster than the regular one.

Adios Valladolid! Thanks for the love!!