Greetings from La Vall de Almonacid. Today, I am in another small village, this one situated in the mountains north of Valencia, Spain. This town is so small that one of the streets is named after my host dad’s grandfather in honor of his service to the village by helping them get running water. The other streets sport names like Calle Larga, Calle Alta, Calle Campo, Calle de la Iglesia, which respectively mean Long Street, High Street, Field Street, Church Street. Don’t you love original names?

On a walk

I wrote about La Vall in my Valencia blog. I spent a couple days there this summer and it was very nice. It has quite the different vibe in winter. It’s so cold! I mean it’s barely 60 degrees Fahrenheit! And it rained a whole one time last week! The weather is truly miserable. I don’t know how I’ll make it through my time here. Please send good weather vibes my way.

Hooke preparing to brave the weather

Another big difference here in the winter is that all of the summer residents are gone. Boasting a population of 281 people, the village is quite calm in the winter. Many residents spend their weekends here, while living in a more populated area with more work during the week. My host family is from Madrid, so they usually only make the four-hour drive on long weekends.

Starry Night

In the summer, the whole village gathers together for three weeks of festivities. Bulls run down Calle Larga. They share paella at a very long table (the villagers, not the bulls). They have costume contests, live orchestras, disco parties and lots of other events. There is something for every age group. Of course, I wasn’t here for this week of good fun, but my brother Jared attended in 2023.

Village life is very different from city life. Growing up in suburban CNY, I went everywhere by car. Syracuse has a public bus system, but I can count the number of people I know who have made use of it on one hand. Everything is so far apart, so I needed a ride until I was old enough to drive myself. This made it hard to make spontaneous plans with friends (aside from my cousins whom I practically live with). Outside of cities, I’ve found I have much less freedom of mobility, especially when I was younger.

Cousin Carpool!

In contrast, I love how easy it is to move around in the city, at least in Paris and Madrid. The metro and bus systems are very well laid out. I can easily be anywhere in the city within an hour. The metro runs every few minutes from roughly 5:30am-1am and only ever stops if there is an emergency (i.e., someone is on the tracks, someone is throwing up on the train, the workers are on strike again, or someone forgets a bag and we need to bring in the bomb squad), which happens more often on some lines than others. In the city, I feel like I can go anywhere I want whenever I want and that I don’t need to depend on anyone to drive me.

Paris Metro Map

Public transportation works great for me right now because I am generally not in a hurry and try to avoid rush hour. I might be able to get where I’m going a little faster on four wheels, but in the metro, I do not have to deal with the stress of the road and can instead focus on reading or watching a show. Another reason I like public transportation and cities in general is that walking is built into getting places. Walking around town is a great way to get to know the layout of the city. You don’t really get that experience when you get door-to-door service with a car.

Driving in a Winter Wonderland

Now, there are some places where that door-to-door service comes in handy. This weekend, we drove to La Vall and in France, we drove to Bouville, because they are both at least a 20-minute drive from the nearest train station. Basically, you need a car to get there, no matter what. Having a car is sometimes necessary and has quite a few benefits: you can transport a lot of stuff, you can go exactly where you want, and it’s often a little faster.

You can also stick your head out the window

Over the course of my life, I will spend a lot of time going places. I have no idea where I’ll be in 10 years. I don’t know if I’ll be driving everywhere or if I’ll get around by metro or by bike. For now, I am enjoying the public transportation in my European cities.

Don’t look down!

Gran Vía

The other big difference I have found between the village and the city is privacy. In the city, I am never alone. Even if no one else is in the apartment, the neighbors upstairs will hear me if I decide to sing some show tunes at the piano. I certainly miss my car where I can blast my music and sing as loud as I want. It’s hard to find a place where I won’t bother anyone. In the street, in the metro, I am always surrounded by hundreds of people. But the trick here is realizing that all of those people are strangers. Especially once I wander a little ways from my neighborhood, I probably won’t see any of these people again. I can dance down the Champs-Élysées, singing Let It Snow, without any fear of meeting someone I’ll know. If I did that outside of my local ice cream place Sno Top, I might only bump into a few people, but it is much more likely that I would know someone. But hey, if you want to sing out, sing out.

Aux Champs-Élysées

All this considered, am I a city mouse, a suburban mouse, or a country mouse? I love the ease of travel and endless activities in the city, the safe private space of my car and my house in the suburbs, and the countless stars and fresh air of the countryside. I have lived in all of these environments and will continue to do so, enjoying the charms of one place, while missing those of others. Whether I’m dancing through bustling central Madrid, sledding with my cousins in our neighborhood, or reading on the dock on an Adirondack lake, I try to make the best of where I am. Maybe I’m not just one kind of mouse—maybe I’m all of them.

Puerta del Sol

Sledding

A boy and his dog

What about you? What do you look for in a hometown? Take a moment to think about the things you appreciate in your environment right now. What will you miss when you move on to a new home? Think about it. I’ll talk to you soon.

- Justin Dunn