A server who customers know as Nacho brings popular espresso drinks to guests.
Paola and Patricio Lavin’s niece Danka works the cafe’s inside counter, calculating the price of an FSU student’s order.
The heart behind the corner cafe
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fter a full day of traveling from the U.S. to Valencia, luggage in hand and a big tower overhead, Florida State students have finally arrived at their home for the summer. Program assistants show the new arrivals to their apartments, so they can unpack and relax before FSU Valencia’s welcome dinner. Students’ excitement is accompanied by hunger, but the apartment refrigerators are empty. After such a long trip overseas, the energy required to go grocery shopping is nonexistent. Instead, all a student could ask for is a quick snack to hold her over until dinner. Voila. Only a few steps from the Garnet building is a small café on the street corner: Café Lavin. Café Lavin, named after its hard-working Chilean owners, opened in 2009 when Paola and Patricio Lavin moved from Santiago, Chile, to Valencia for business purposes. Besides Paola and Patricio, other family members at Café Lavin are Catalina, their daughter, and Danka, their niece, who work as servers. The Lavins also employ servers who are not family members. As at many family restaurants, the hours at Café Lavin are generally long. In the summer, the café workday can run 16 hours or so. At 7 a.m., Patricio generally sweeps and mops the patio in front of the café. The servers then fill the empty patio with tables, chairs, and umbrellas for customers to enjoy, many of whom are on the lookout for a café con leche to start the day. For many FSU students, Café Lavin is the
20 Nomadic Noles // Summer 2018
Article and photos by Alexandra Wendling social center for meeting new friends. Manuel Muniz, a senior program assistant (PA) and returning study abroad student, thought back to his first experience at Café Lavin. “From the beginning, they (employees) were very nice to us,” Muniz says. “They knew we were new to town and did not know much about Valencia.” Although the owners of Café Lavin are originally from Chile, they are able to provide new
study abroad students with advice on how to get around Valencia. Moreover, with almost 10 years of experience, the Lavin family has learned to adapt to FSU students’ schedules and needs. For example, Americans are accustomed to busy workdays and generally visit restaurants just to order food and leave. At Café Lavin, cost efficiency and a quick pace keep students coming. When working the morning shift, employees are prepared for students to ask for a coffee or croissant “to-go,” or para llevar. Students can expect to get a pastry and beverage for less than five euros. But in the Valencian dining culture, lunch is the biggest meal of the day, so employees are prepared for customers to sit for longer periods and to enjoy their meal and some conversation with their lunch companions. The building in which Café Lavin is housed has been next-door neighbors with FSU since FSU moved to the neighborhood. In the fall of 2007, the Valencia study abroad program relocated from the dorms in the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia to its own study center nearby the Torres de Serranos, making the current FSU study center two years older than Café Lavin. As a result, Dean and Program Director Igancio Messana has watched Café Lavin grow throughout the years. “They have been very hospitable and professional—they always go above and beyond,” he says. Due to the consistent business that Café Lavin receives from FSU students, Messana
