So, today I got into Valencia. I woke myself up at 6:00 am, so that I could get all of my gear packed up. I took a cab to the station, and remarkably, did not have to wait two hours for my train; it was a mere 45 minutes. This go around was much slower than the trip to Zaragoza. Some parts of it were interesting, but that was interrupted by my perpetual worry over the fact that I was going to develop blood clots sitting in one place for so long. I got off the train one stop too early, so I ended up having to take a cab through the center of Valencia, which was an ordeal in itself because the streets are all closed with the festival going on. I gave the cabbie an extra five euro for his trouble when we finally arrived at the hostel. It took me a good five minutes to figure out that I had to ring a buzzer to be let in. I then proceeded to haul my bags up the stairs (the hostel is like a loft) and I was the first to check into my room. There are no lockers, but there are in other parts of the hostel, which is slightly irritating. My first roommate then checked in, Rosie, and I met her friend who was staying in another room, Olivia. They are both from London and are 19. After I finally unpacked, we found that our keys didn't work to open our door, even though they had five minutes previously. This ended up leading to an hour long saga, where a locksmith had to come in and change our lock. I was still really tired from waking up so early, so I took a nap before heading off to the grocery store to buy something for dinner. Rosie and Olivia contributed a few beers, and I chipped in some pasta, and we had a low maintenance dinner. I have learned that the way to make friends while traveling is either through food or through booze. After supper, Hatti, another one of their friends arrived. My final roommate is from Japan, and she is named Shogo. I'm convinced that she ate the cookies from under my bed... Anyways, we headed out to see what was going on in the city, which was still quiet at 11 pm. We had a look at some of the festival statues which are massive! They think that they are gaudy, but I think that they are actually very impressive. We stopped off at the bar for a drink, and then went to look at the street parties. Hatii was tired at 1:00 am, so we didn't end up seeing much. Friday night we will see more. We made our way back to the hostel, avoiding the firecrackers which were exploding in the streets. The first time I heard one, I thought someone had gotten shot. I spent an hour trying to get to sleep, but between the fireworks and my roommates snoring, it took me a good while. Time to invest in some earplugs...