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Back in Ireland, things are about as soggy as they were when I left. Although now there are crocuses and daffodils and a noticeable lengthening in the days; spring is coming! It’s nice to go away for a while, enjoy a new (warmer) place, but then to realize that every country has its own beauties and struggles, and to feel a renewed appreciation for one’s own home. I celebrated my return with a long-intended hike up the Sugarloaf. Even though my work placement was challenging, I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity of this whole experience. I gained so much more comfort and familiarity with horses, expanded my Spanish language abilities and bravery to try speaking, saw many incredible sights, met cool people, and developed a lovely connection with Spain. It was truly an invaluable experience. I would certainly recommend that any future students apply to Erasmus+. Wherever your placement is, I’m sure it will be awesome, and whatever work you may fall behind on while away, you’ll catch up with!

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Lila Baisley

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During my stay in Valencia, they were experiencing an unusually windy period. We are more used to that here in Ireland but the Spanish kept telling me, “this is not normal!” One afternoon, a section of the roof ripped off, and while it luckily did not fall inwards on the horses below, they were all on edge. It took a few days for it to be replaced. Most days, I felt like Sisyphus rolling his boulder up the hill as I tried to shovel loose wood shavings into my wheelbarrow in a wind storm… But, thankfully (for an Irish person), very little rain!

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Lila Baisley

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I spent a lot of my free time outside, exploring the city as best as I could. I liked trying random cafes I walked past, and looking at all the street art I saw on the way.

I went to several museums, including the museum of fine art. It was free and very well curated, situated inside a nice old building and with quite a variety of pieces. I was there with my flatmates, and I had a fun time exploring it together with them.

I was only at the beach once, and I found it somewhat underwhelming. I think we are spoilt in Ireland in terms of dynamic and visually interesting coastline, whereas this was quite flat and tame. It was nice having sea air in my lungs all the same, and I was glad I had ticket it off my list.

I really found the travel card useful, and got around using metro, tram and bus. Valencia is a very pretty city, with all kinds of different architecture.

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I found working remotely somewhat challenging, as it is not something I had ever done before. Organising and timetabling my day myself was new to me, and it took some getting used to.

While the accommodation was nice it was quite noisy with all the wind, and some nights were quite restless. We didn’t have a hoover for most of the stay either, and dust settled quickly.

Most of the challenges I faced were fairly trivial, and none of them significantly impacted my stay in Valencia.

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As much as I had a nice time, I was looking forward to being back home. I missed the Irish Sea and good cups of tea, and it had been a while since I had seen my friends. Valencia was lovely and I would definitely return, without the added pressure of a work placement.

With all that said the work too was enjoyable, and I was glad AIP organised so many activities for us.

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Before I left I was excited but quite nervous, as I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It had been a while since I had been away from home for so long on my own, and I expected it to be somewhat of a challenge.

I packed my bags well in advance and included all kinds of camera gear, both for my work placement and my own use. My family was looking forward to hearing about the trip and getting lots of pictures.

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I had a single room in quite a large flat share, and became good friends with many of my flatmates. They all insisted on speaking Spanish, which I at first found intimidating but soon found to be very enjoyable and helpful in my learning of the language.

The area I lived in was interesting and diverse, with people from many different cultures. There were a lot of South Americans, evident in the various bakeries and shops in the area. There was nice art everywhere and I always felt safe.

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For anyone who intends to go on in the future or has already signed up for Erasmus plus, I would tell them to get out there as much as they can and make the most of their time abroad.

Their work placement of course takes first priority, but after that I think mingling with flatmates as much as possible and speaking the local language at every given opportunity to be very beneficial activities.

Eat the local food, go to museums and make small talk with anyone and everyone who is willing.

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Really got to re-live my childhood fascination with dinosaurs:)

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I forgot to write about this we were given a tour around the inner part of the city . The old part with the statues and renaissance era buildings we saw churches and also learned about the statues that point to the old red light district which was interesting. The. Me and Byron’s separated and just wandered around the city for ages until I went home ( after getting quite lost ) and fell asleep

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Day 12: This was my last day of work experience and was let off early. I had to do a few samples for labelling and then thanked the employees for having me there. I took the 2 metro home and got lunch at the market, I then got paella at a restaurant take out place and they gave me a free cheese cake and I reviewed them for being extremely nice. I then finished some assignments and called it a day.

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Day 12: This was my last day of work experience and was let off early. I had to do a few samples for labelling and then thanked the employees for having me there. I took the 2 metro home and got lunch at the market, I then got paella at a restaurant take out place and they gave me a free cheese cake and I reviewed them for being extremely nice. I then finished some assignments and called it a day.

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Byron River Warren

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Day 11: I started the day off with more labelling samples, but then was put to filtering and weighing samples of filter paper and recording the weight of each using the balance. I then had to put it in a log book for each weight and put the identification of each sample into the book. After that I finished and took a different way home as I got the 2 metro train to Angel Guirmerà

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Day 11: I started the day off with more labelling samples, but then was put to filtering and weighing samples of filter paper and recording the weight of each using the balance. I then had to put it in a log book for each weight and put the identification of each sample into the book. After that I finished and took a different way home as I got the 2 metro train to Angel Guirmerà

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Byron River Warren

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Day 10: I woke up at half 6 and took the bus to work, I had been assigned to do more sampling before being put to do more filtering of different samples. I had gotten help from my partner which sped up the process and made it more effective. After I finished, I had to add NO³- indicator and use a machine which showed the concentration of it. I wrote down the different concentrations accordingly and finished the day off.

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Day 10: I woke up at half 6 and took the bus to work, I had been assigned to do more sampling before being put to do more filtering of different samples. I had gotten help from my partner which sped up the process and made it more effective. After I finished, I had to add NO³- indicator and use a machine which showed the concentration of it. I wrote down the different concentrations accordingly and finished the day off.

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Byron River Warren

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Day 9: I started my work by labelling samples again, I was then asked to filter different water samples to get filter paper samples to be used for calculations later. When I finished that I was able to go back home

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Day 9: I started my work by labelling samples again, I was then asked to filter different water samples to get filter paper samples to be used for calculations later. When I finished that I was able to go back home

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Byron River Warren

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Day 8: I woke up at 6:30am to get on my bus. I was tasked with doing labelling sampling for the first 3 hours, when I finished I was assigned to filter samples of ammonia through filter paper with a vacuum pump. Some of the samples took a very long time to filter due to there being a lot of residue. When I finished that, I was assigned to add 250ml of water samples to bottles which previously had nutrients in it and HCl. I finished my shift and went home and did assignment work.

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Day 8: I woke up at 6:30am to get on my bus. I was tasked with doing labelling sampling for the first 3 hours, when I finished I was assigned to filter samples of ammonia through filter paper with a vacuum pump. Some of the samples took a very long time to filter due to there being a lot of residue. When I finished that, I was assigned to add 250ml of water samples to bottles which previously had nutrients in it and HCl. I finished my shift and went home and did assignment work.

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Byron River Warren

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I used google maps throughout the whole trip trying to figure out what metros i was getting. Having the free travel card made everything so much easier not having to try undertand how to buy tickets. Having the free travel encouraged me to get out more whenever i had nothing else to do even if that meant just going in to the centre to hang out or get something to eat. Overall I thought the transport was easy to use and very efficient

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We had a few organised meals with the erasmus group, my favourite had to of been the massive pizza from a pizzeria in xativa. I usually went out for lunch after work and tried to cook dinner in the apartment to try save money, although eating out wasn’t too expensive and was a good price most the time for what your getting

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My advice for future students thinking or going to do Erasmus would be to just put yourself outside of your comfort bubble and get to know other people, everyone on the trip is in the same situation and it’ll be easier than you think to make new freinds. I’d also advise to make the most of it and do as much as you can in the time your there, both during the day and going out at night

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Sibh and I were sharing an apparent along with two italian girls who were doing erasmus for much longer. The apartment was nice, it had everything you would need and had a nice small kitchen, I found it very easy to make food in the kitchen. The bedrooms were small but comfortable

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my favourite night was when we went out to club spook to see Max Dean. The place was packed which really added to the experience

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The work in the third week was similar to the second, still had all the tasks given to me in the first week and then just finishing the report of the remote patch management software. Once I completed the report, my tutor asked me to implement it in one of the classrooms to demonstrate its functionality again, using one of the laptops as a server to host remote management. Once that was completed i was asked to fix one of the student-used desktop pcs as its backup software was malfunctioning and preventing the computer to accses networks
I think my tutor was already trying to fix it, but couldn't get it to work. But when I got there t just kinda fixed itself, so i wasnt really sure of what went wrong. Then, the final task I was given on the last day was to try to control the computers in the classroom with a tablet and showcase it witch ended up not taking long, so I just ended up sitting for the rest of the day felt a bit sad when I left, as I started to get in quite a nice routine
In my free time i wanted to walk every where i havent been in the city yet so each day i picked a new location and just walking in that direction before i did that though i got food at a ramen place that was nearby while not very spanish i new i would be disappointed once i left i wont be able eat there so i just decided to go get ramen from there each day before i left and i do not regret making that decision as it was incredibly good.
I did take one day of a break from walking as my legs started to get tired, so I just stayed home and did some light packing for coming home to ireland the thirk week went by incredibly quickly, and I was a bit disappointed to leave, but I was very happy with the entire experience

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The second week i was still preforming the same tasks that i was given on the first couple of days and on monday i was asked if i would go collect a package from a an office else where in valencia to which i said yes it was in a different part of than i have been to so far so my work on monday was pretty much what i have been doing in my freetime so that was quite pleasant.
The rest of the week's work was much more demanding as I was told to try out test and then write a brief about the pros and cons of multiple different remote patch management software that would be used in the school's network as i going to have to create a mini network to operate and run tests on i had got a few more laptops to run tests on and in total i ended up having 5 laptops open on my desk although i really only need 2 extra laptops to run all of the tests one as a server and one as an endpoint
I ended up trying and testing 4 different softwares each being quite different.  I was quite surprised when I got given this task, as it's something very new to me and something I have never done before, so it's really fun to learn new things and to mess around with the different software. That task ended up taking me the rest of the week
Outside of work, the second week was mostly quiet for me, as Iwas still trying to find new places to eat and try different places,s but then I just went home after eating. The weekend was a bit more exciting compared to the rest of the week. On Sunday, I went out with Lila to go for a walk along the park that goes through the city, which has a museum at the end. They had 3 different museums, but we ended up going to the science museum. It was pretty fun; there were loads of interactive pieces on the top floor of the building, as well as an entire Mars section in it.
Afterwards, we went to get food at a restaurant that I was recommended by a coworker, then we went our separate ways as I wanted to continue exploring around to a different area of the city
The next day was another scheduled event at a restaurant in a town outside of valencia then a boat trip afterwards. There was less of us that harrived at the restaurant than was planned, so to arrive and there was a lot of leftover food after we ate even though the food was quite nice
It ended up getting a bit windy when we got on the boat, and the ride was quite short, so I was a small bit disappointed with it. That being said, it was still nice to look around the horizon to the surrounding area. After that, it was just back on the bus to Valencia.

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on Monday our day was mostly planned out for us. in the morning we had a tour with a tour guide of the old city while I already walked around the area the day before it was nice to have the guide explained the significance of the buildings and the history behind them at the end of the tour she brought us to the train/metro station in the center where we then took it to get to our second event of the day which was a tapas style lunch at a tapas bar and it was quite tasty once we finished our meal we walked to the aip building where we had a welcome meeting and where told things regarding our internships and the school. the was the first day of the internship when I came In I met with my tutor and he handed me a brief for the maintenance of the computers In the classrooms the whole brief was in Spanish which made it a bit difficult but I ended up taking images of it on my phone and using a translator app as my Spanish was not good enough to read the entire thing once I read it he took me to a classroom and demonstrated what I will be doing and how to perform the task once that was completed we went to another classroom where I would then perform the task on my own and that was pretty much my first day of work. the next day was similar I was given another brief but this time it was for setting up the computers and laptops that are to be used by the students then once I finished reading the brief I got handed a laptop and a USB drive and performed the tasks listed In the brief this took me quite a while so I ended up having to continue the following day once I completed setting up the laptop my tutor won't over the laptop to make sure I set it up properly then handed me a new laptop this time for disassemblely to remove the screen in the computer then reassemble it ended up doing that a few times with different computers and did that for the rest of the first week of my internship outside of work I was pretty much just walking everywhere after finishing work I would stop by a cafe get something light to eat and a coffee then just go somewhere the first few days I was only walking and I wasn't taking any public transport but once I got quite familiar to the nearby area I would take a tram to somewhere a bit more distant and then wander around would get food aswell would find somewhere I haven't been yet that looked interesting and get something to eat the city is really pretty and I really like the architecture of the areas especially near the beach so many of the buildings there look absolutely amazing often covered in colourful tiles there is also a lot of graffiti all over the place while that some people might not like that I think it adds a lot of character to the different areas and it made it much more entertaining to go to new areas.

on the weekend we had a planned excursion to 2 towns south of Valencia the first town had a castle on top a small mountain we ended up taking a "train" that drops you of at the entrance of the castle then we where allowed to wander around the castle I didn't really pay to much attention to the castle it's self as the views of the surrounding area took up all of my attention it was fairly high up compared to the surrounding area so you could see so much of the surrounding landscape then we walked down from the castle back into the town, the tour guide that was with us brought us through the old streets and they where incredibly pretty. we where given some time to walk around freely and to get something to eat before we had to get back on the bus to get to the next town I was told the group I was in went to a pizza place so I ended up meeting back up with them and got food then once we ate we went back on the bus and went to the next town I think most people ended up having a nap on the bus ride to the next town but it was a very pleasant ride as the next town was at a much higher elevation so I was just listening to music while looking out the window to the surrounding area and it was very pleasant. had a very long sleep on the next day and decided to sleep in, so it was mostly a quiet day, although I went into the city center to buy some things and got something to eat before going back home to get ready for my next day of the internship

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We arrived in Valencia on Sunday morning, and it was around midday that I got to the apartment I will be staying at, and the room that was assigned to me was larger than my room at home. Then, once I put my clothes away,y I went for a walk around the area near the apartment to get to know the area a bit. I saw there was a park nearby, so I decided to go and walk there, and it was really pretty, although I didn't stay for too long as the exhaustion from the early flight started to catch up to me.

the next day I wanted to explore a bit more and I also need to buy towels for the apartment as I didn't bring any with me I found myself walking Into the old city in the center of Valencia seeing all the narrow streets and the old architecture was really butiful and I ended up walking around the center for the entire day almost it was also quite difficult to find somewhere to get towels and most shops that would sell them where closed although thankfully I managed to find a shop that was had them on the may back to the apartment

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Taxpayers

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This was the first time I’ve ever come across pedestrian crossing lights with the symbol of a woman. They were interspersed all over Valencia. I was pleased to see this step away from maleness being the default representation of humanity and the centre around which all else revolves. Small but significant action.

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Lila Baisley

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Our guide in Bocairent told us that the town got its name from the Latin (?) word for beehive because of the homes and storage rooms carved into the cliff faces giving the appearance of a beehive 🐝 This was one of my favourite days. Such a fascinating history.

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Lila Baisley

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We took a day trip to the town of Bocairent and were lucky to catch the festivities where extravagantly costumed locals paraded and recreated a battle between the Christians and the Moors. Being an equine student, I was particularly interested seeing the horses, beautifully groomed, dressed up, and performing very impressive routines for the crowd. A very cool day.

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Lila Baisley

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For the last day i went out for food with the Americans, walked around for a bit to enjoy my last moments in Valencia and went out for a few drinks with the friends i made before heading back and getting myself ready for the taxi. It was bittersweet. I’m grateful to Bife for this opportunity as it was an amazing 3 week experience away.

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For my final week of work at Luna Nera it was the same as the rest except i had to say goodbye to anna, carmen and alba who helped me alot with ideas on places to go and practicing my spanish talking. It was sad but i was ready to go back home

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I went to this museum with a friend, it was pretty big and had alot of portraits and sculptures. We got some food before and explored a part of the city i hadn’t been to yet. It was a fun day.

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One of the local bars we’d go to most nights to predrink was Chupitos. It was a cool spot with a list of about 100 shots all for 1-2 euro and they all came with some fun feature. The place had foosball, beer pong and darts too. This place was a great memory and i enjoyed it there alot

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In all honesty the best nights over there were the nights i went out with the Americans, I really enjoyed the nightclubs over there like mya, spook, oven, akuarela, LA 3. It was handy because on the erasmus website there was nearly always something on that night and you could get tickets for free entry and even get free drinks if you arrived early. The new music was fun to experience and the clubs were always filled with cool people to meet. Video from one of the nights at spook when the place was packed out of it

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Some advice i would give to future students going on erasmus would be to buy your own food to cook instead of eating out alot, especially if you’re on a tight budget, makes things easier and youve saved yourself some money. Be friendly to people and try make new friends. Enjoy the time that you’re there and dont be worried about whats going on back home. Take lots of pictures and videos.

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In my free time in Valencia, i spent most of my time exploring the city, trying new foods, going out to pubs and clubs with the Americans, going to the beach to play volleyball, i went to the museum one of the days with a friend i made over there and it was interesting. I had a good bit of free time as i didnt working Friday and Saturday and the hours were reasonable in the shop.

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Some of the difficulties on the trip were figuring out public transport, trying to improve on Spanish speaking and understanding what was being said but i did get some help off of my coworkers so it was handy, feeling homesick, missing friends, family, dog. These difficulties weren’t really that bad and it just got some getting used to which i did by the end.

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I spent a good bit of my free time exploring the city by taking metro and buses, trying out new foods, going out to pubs and clubs with the Americans, going to the beach to play some volleyball and just doing as many new things as i could in the 3 weeks. I had a good amount of time off from work and i wasn't working friday or Saturday so it was great to be able to relax and do what i want.

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On the 7th of February we took a bus to Castell de Xátiva. The view from the top of the castle was beautiful and it was fun to learn new things from the guide and take photos. I enjoyed the trip because the Americans came with us and i had already made friends with the 2 lads from the apartment so it was nice to meet some of the rest of them. At the end we got food from a burger place in the village after we walked down.

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For my accommodation I shared an apartment with 4 other people, 2 American lads, Liam and Raf, a German woman, Thuja, and a German man, Philip. They were all in their 20’s but didn’t matter because we all got on pretty well. There were 4 rooms, 2 bathrooms and a shared kitchen with all the necessities. My room had a good amount of space in it with a closet, bed and desk. It was a handy place to spend 3 weeks in apart from the amount of stairs i had to go up to get to the apartment.

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I’ve been back about a week now since Valencia and it’s been nice to be home and see my family and friends and get back into a routine, definitely miss Valencia but it was a great experience and I go to speak about it on the BIFE open day with EastCoastFM very grateful for that opportunity and I definitely recommend Erasmus to everyone who has the ability to go!

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My last day was memorable I got to do some computer maintenance and work on the hardware of the store laptops which made me very happy because it was a nice chill day doing what I love, my supervisor was also very nice and printed me out a 3d printed engraving of boxing gloves because he knows how much I like boxing I thought that was very nice very grateful for the experience

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I spent alot of my spare time shopping in the center. I loved the cheap clothes but also loved the architecture and buildings in the city, I loved being able to go in and get something to eat after work

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went to the beach a few times in the last week when the weather started to get better after the wind warning. Was so nice to be able to enjoy the sun after being in work

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we went to the parade in Bocairent where a parade was taking place. The streets were packed, there was music everywhere, and everyone was in great form. It was an unusual experience

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During my final week I finished off some of my final cad drawings and done some of my own drawings in my spare time. I really enjoyed getting to know what is like in the architecture work environment and it has really helped me get to know wether this is a career i want to pursue

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Everything is good, but all end. Little bit sad of soon ending of internship. So many places I want to visit and discover. But time goes fast and need to prepare for return. Valencia is beautiful town with own atmosphere and vibe. To hot on sunlight and cold in the shadows. Great experience, nice people's, but not enough time to explore everything. But I will be happy to return to Ireland, which has become my second homeland and home.

I already miss the coolness, eternal emerald green and humid air of Dublin. Grateful to the Bray Institute of Further Education and the Erasmus Program for the trip and the opportunities.

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Nice view, wild nature, ducks swimming around and fly away when scared. Enjoy every moment of this trip. Very appreciated Erasmus for this and all opportunities at that internship.

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Enjoy this launch before lake journey. Trip before was trough rise fields and orange gardens.

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It was hard and lonely at times but I find the work helped a lot with keeping myself entertained and not thinking about how far from home I was, since it is quite an overwhelming thought.

The work fascinated me, I am now looking to work at the same position I had there, here in Ireland. It suits me perfectly and feels natural, the placement made me realize new things and areas of work I am really interested in, which is hopefully going to add an interesting step in my career.

Overall, a very interesting and culturally rich experience, with great people. Learning and working was made very easy with such pleasant surroundings

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Be ready to fight a little bit with Google maps, and public transport info on Google maps. It tends to not be the most accurate in terms of arrival times, and the dimensions of the streets read weirdly on the map.

Everything closes on Sunday and usually for a few hours at lunch, even though it is a more known fact, you might still forget. I recommend checking opening times often, specially before taking a long trip to get there.

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A few of us caught the flu while in Valencia. The hospital was somewhat easy to navigate but I cant talk for non Spanish speakers.

I find navigating the city completely alone would have been hard, specially for doctor and emergency visits

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Caught the beginning of the celebration of Fallas, a traditional Valencia holiday that started around 250 years ago.

I worked on Fallas content with the school I worked with, it made me sad to miss out on Fallas since they fully started after we left. However, I did miss Ireland terribly, my family friends and more than all, my cats, so I don't mind missing out on the celebration, because now I have a good excuse to come back

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The apartment was very clean and spacious, my housemates were all from different places so I got to exchange some language and cultural ideas. They were all very welcoming and organised so that made living in the same place much easier

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A little struggle I came up against while living in Valencia was food. Cooking with different brands and less kitchen appliances (blender, oven, etc) made it hard to enjoy my food and made it so I mainly ate for sustenance. So having paid meals out was definitely nice

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Well, in the second week of work, I have already studied all possible transport routes and also on foot. But still, given the changes, I tried to come earlier. The team became familiar, but new students are constantly appearing for practice. Within the scope of my work authority, I conducted an inspection of fire exits, fire extinguishers and started working more with CCTV. The experience is interesting, but not complete. Overall, I rate the practice at 6 out of 10. I did not manage to work with filling out forms, since there were no incidents. And it is more difficult to communicate in Spanish, and I am still far from confident conversational. But in general, this kind of practice in another country, in another language reveals personal shortcomings and inspires development.

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Enjoy every step, views are amazing

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This was one of my working days, great music, positive vibes and atmosphere. I wish more days like that.

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the feeling of being in the ocean... but dry

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the feeling of being in the ocean... but dry

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Beautiful and very interesting expedition

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Entradas, Precios y Horarios | Oceanogràfic València

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Entradas del Oceanogràfic, precios y todos los horarios. Puedes comprar tus entradas online, sin colas ni esperas, o directamente en taquilla.

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The nightlife in Valencia is quite nice, my boss at my work placement recommended me some Queer clubs and I felt very welcome there

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The first few days in Valencia I walked around 20.000 steps a day. It is a very walkable city and I barely noticed the effort because the views make up for the exercise

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A new horse moved into the stables the other day. He’s a little funny looking but very sweet 🥰

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A wonderful evening was had at Café del Duende yesterday. We watched a Flamenco show, the first I’ve ever seen, and I absolutely loved it. It was very intense in the best way, passionate and expressive and quite stunning 💃🏼 It was also my first time trying Sangria which was delicious 🍷 

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Nerón helped me muck out his stall today, very considerate of him :) This week had a little more variety which I was grateful for. I got to tack up a few horses for lessons, observe a group lesson, and lead some horses around the arena for a class of students with disabilities who came to ride. I have been really enjoying the organized trips to sites in and around Valencia, including El Albufera last weekend where they grow rice in shallow flooded fields and we got to take a lovely boat ride. I have braved two chilly swims in the sea and they were well worth it. I will certainly miss the beach, the sun, the horses, and would love to come back in the future 🌞

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Packed and cleaned the apartment

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We went to see a flamenco dancing show be me and Byron got a tad bit confused and ended up being a little late but we barely missed anything .. just the seating wasn’t as good and then went out for a meal had a rum and coke that was mostly rum and went to sleep

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This week was just kind of slow for me as it wasn’t the new world and I was nearly going so I don’t know I did most of all the same stuff I had been doing for the last 2 weeks in work .. enjoyable but repetitive cycle

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Boating trip I woke up at 9 ish and went to meet the rest of the group at this restaurant a little bit outside of town where we got this big rice dish ( I know what it is but I can not spell it) and it had rabbit in it which isn’t really a common meat but it seems to be a very good one then after the dinner we all went and got on a fishing boat that brought us around the rivers of Valencia autonomous region

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Mostly not busy me and Byron went out to walk aimlessly around I got some sea food 🥘 it wasn’t really very much a day of much more the weather has significantly improved though

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I went to work made it there by 8 weighed the samples paper out for maby 3h and then finished and moved to filling tubes with Byron finished at 2 pm and went home to bed rot ( was very tired )

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Today I worked with the ph testing again with the spinning magnet to mix it all up ( which I found quite interesting as it’s far easier than manually mixing ) I also checked weights of different samples and recorded them but most of what I did today was the ph related task

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I was sorting sticker with Byron and putting said sticker on the tubes full of a mix of drinking water and water residue anyway it was a very repetitive task. Then after work finished at 2 pm I went to a cafe to do down work for school and then went back to my apartment

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As much as I enjoyed myself in Valencia, I am looking forward to being back in Dublin again. I haven’t missed the wind and rain, but I have missed my friends and my own bed. I found the whole experience quite challenging, but am glad I went.

I know now that I am no ideal candidate for remote working, and that I am quite fond of a time and a place. I had fun editing promotional video content at a faster pace than I am used to, and I enjoyed admiring the different kinds of art throughout the city. I still find it quite surreal that the EU paid for my rolling tobacco and those little fruit sweets from the shop down the road.

More than anything I am appreciative of the privileges that I enjoy as a result of where I live and the country I am a citizen of. I think it is very nice that different people from different backgrounds can go away to another country and experience life there, and have it all funded by the European taxpayer. Thank you

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I really enjoyed going out to Albufera, I thought it was really pretty. There were all kinds of lovely birds, and a fancy village cat also. The scenery reminded me of Vietnam somewhat, with the canals and rice fields. The sun was shining and the mood was good, and I made sure to eat my fair share of croquettes.

It was nice being out on the water, it was quiet and peaceful. The bus back into Valencia was less fun, and reminded me of summer holidays somewhere. Stuffy air and clothes clinging to you, as if it wasn’t only February.

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I went to the museum of fine art with my flatmates, which was lovely. I was surprised by the broad range of various pieces in their collection, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The building and grounds was also very nicely done.

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I am finding working remotely difficult, but at least the content I have to edit is interesting. A new city and nice weather creates pressure to go out and see things, and increased disappointment/annoyance at yourself when you do not. I really wish we had a hoover, I don’t like sweeping endless dust-bunnies around.

I had paella which was nice but unremarkable, I had a conversation in Spanish with a woman at the tobacconist promoting smokeless cigarette technology.

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The first full weekend has come around, and I’ve really been enjoying the weather. Though it is windy at least it is not raining much, and the temperature is something you would be happy with at any point during an Irish summer. I went out to the “museum of illusions” with my flatmates, which I wouldn’t really recommend. It was the company alone that made it enjoyable, the museum itself feels quite mass-produced and bland.

I then got really sick and was out for the count all weekend, just my luck.

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My first working day here in Valencia was a mixed bag, but it all panned out eventually. I arrived on time to meet the AIP worker to go to the handover with my work placement mentor, but said worker was unsure how to get there and seemingly not fully aware of the short meeting window my mentor had. So we arrived late and missed the window, and my mentor had to leave already.

Such is life, and I still got the documents signed. I went for a little walk around the centre and got some food, then I went home and began to assess and itemise all the video clips and images I had available to me.

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The placement has been so fun and it's so great to have my work be received so well!

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Living my best life going for walks around the city with headphones on. I love doing this 💜

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Living my best life going for walks around the city with headphones on. I love doing this 💜

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Me watching the people i work with go thru the details of a new music production device. They were talking in spanish so i didnt know what they were saying hit was trying to pick it up. Seems its for stage set up.

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Me watching the people i work with go thru the details of a new music production device. They were talking in spanish so i didnt know what they were saying hit was trying to pick it up. Seems its for stage set up.

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Tour around the castle of knights. So cool to think they were just walkong around here years ago.a cool experience.

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Tour around the castle of knights. So cool to think they were just walkong around here years ago.a cool experience.

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Went for a solo breakfast again in DDL boutique! It was unreal, first but of food that wasnt so different from home. Was only €13 for all of this!!

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Went to a nightclub called “spook” with some of my friends from erasmus. It was really good and you get a free drink with your ticket if your in before 12. Deffo recommend. You will need to get an uber there and back tho but not expensive when split.

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Went to a nightclub called “spook” with some of my friends from erasmus. It was really good and you get a free drink with your ticket if your in before 12. Deffo recommend. You will need to get an uber there and back tho but not expensive when split.

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This is the theatre i am working at! There is 2 sides & i am in the artea lab part. O just basically go on my laptop 10-2 and work on my own music stuff.

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This is the theatre i am working at! There is 2 sides & i am in the artea lab part. O just basically go on my laptop 10-2 and work on my own music stuff.

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I was abit anxious about going out to eat on my own, purely because of the language barrier. But a man outside this cafe invited me in for food and was so kind & helpful. My breakfast didnt come out as i thought it would, but i gave it a go with they’re traditional “oil&salt” duo on bread and was so nice! 

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I always admire old buildings as they put in so much more detail & effort compared to modern. So seeing these buildings in real life was class!

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First tour with the group in valencia city

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First tour with the group in valencia city

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This week I’ve been continuing to observed how the team worked on projects and what they do in the day which gave me a good insight into the profession and what it would be like working as an architect. I also worked independently on tasks they gave me, including drawing and developing plans on CAD. It was a great experience because it helped me build my skills while seeing what working in architecture is really like day to day.