Sevilla--¡Olé!

I woke up from 2.5 hours of sleep at 3 AM Friday morning to get ready and catch our 5 AM Ryanair flight from Barcelona to Sevilla.  There was 11 of us kids on this trip, seven of us girls from my apartment buildings and four other boys, all of us on the internship program with IES.

For those of you who don't know Ryanair, it's known as "the low-cost airline".  There are a number of ways they obviously cut costs:

1.  They don't assign you seats.  The seating is first come first serve so all passengers line up at the gate up to an hour before boarding so they don't have to choose from slim pickings.

2.  They don't serve beverages or snacks and don't even have tray tables on which to place such comestibles.

3.  They definitely don't have any entertainment systems

I just hope that they pay their employees fair wages because it would be just a little too ghetto if they didn't.  I wasn't convinced that they were even fully license pilots considering that our landing on our return flight felt like the plane was crashing.  They obviously didn't go to the same flying school as Korean pilots who land their planes so smoothly it's like the plane-tarmac equivalent to slathering margarine on toast.

It comes as no surprise that after just 2.5 hours of sleep, I along with the others on the plane passed out for the 1.5 hour flight from the northeastern coast to the arid south of Spain.  When we got to Sevilla, we took one bus to a train station and then wandered around lost for a bit before catching a second bus to the city center.  Upon first look, there was nothing impressive.  It seemed like a smaller, dusty Middle American city.  Little did I know...

Considering it was but 7 AM when we got in, first stop was breakfast:

Churro y chocolate

The traditional matter of eating the two together

I got a traditional Spanish breakfast of churro y chocolate, a combo especially popular in the winter.  The hot chocolate is nothing like the Swiss Miss stuff we get back home but a steamy little cup of hot, semi-liquid chocolate that is more like heated dark chocolate pudding than anything else.  The churros are also completely different than what I know from back home.  It's a crispy fried dough that looks like the type of churro that's sold at street fairs but joined in a circle without the sugar and sugary filling.  The chocolate isn't sweet either and is rather served with an optional packet of sugar, which I left aside.  Overall, it was delicious just the way I like it with minimal amounts of sugar but will I order it again...probably not; a little too rich for my tastes.  Maybe I'll get some with my mom this weekend to share as an early afternoon snack.


Then it was time for our 3-day exploration of the city of Sevilla:

Peeling an orange from one of the many orange trees lining the streets

Just because there is fruit on a fruit tree doesn't mean you should pick it.  It was awfully sour and I threw half of my piece at JP who taunted me that I would get food poisoning after not even enjoying the orange itself.

Along the Guadalquivir river

 The river was beautiful, much like the Seine only wider walkways and more greenery.  Sevilla is a smaller city but the water was still the ugly murky green that tends to characterize urban waters.

Papery pink and purple flowers by the river

Men fishing with lazy cats near by waiting for scraps

El Torre del Oro

Inwards from the river, we found the famous Sevilla cathedral, a Roman Catholic church to be reckoned with.  I have to say, it was one of the most impressive churches I've ever had the chance to visit.  

Catedral de Santa María de la Sede

A cyprus tree growing tall by an antique outer wall by the church

Entrance to the church

The line was huge by this time so we went for lunch at Cien Montaditos before venturing back in.  The restaurant-bar is a chain all over Spain (except Barcelona apparently...) that sells these montaditos which are a type of tapa on baguette.  Each is between 1 and 2.50 euro a piece served with potato chips.  Not bad, not bad at all.

We got into the church after lunch and at times like these, humbled by the sheer magnitude of the place, I wish that it meant something more than just architectural genius to me.  But then I remember that the Inquisition and child molesters that give the Catholic Church a bad name and then I don't regret the lack of an association between us.

The organ

Gold plated wall of biblical figures

Based on its geography, it's no surprise the incredible Moorish influence that can be found throughout the city. La Giralda is a famous minaret that was converted into the bell tower of the cathedral.  It's a characteristic feature of the city and speaks of the clash and fusion between two opposing cultures of the region.

La Giralda

La Giralda

Right across the way is an old Moorish fort that was converted into a royal palace by the name of Reales Alcázares de Sevilla or The Alcázar of Seville in English.  2 euro admission for students and 8 for adults.  I strongly suggest you get over to this place before it's too late and to do it when you're a student and furthermore with a loved one.  

Chilling in the shade of a garden alcove

Walkway in the gardens

The various ponds in the gardens house massive koi

The gardens behind me

La Giralda in the distance

The gardens seemingly extend forever

One of the garden walls covered with flowers

I was famished after touring the palace and gardens so I ventured to get batidos or milkshakes with one of the boys.  Strawberry-banana for me and after-eight "better-than-mint-choco-chip" for him.

Milkshake

Good but lacking in iciness

After traveling in the morning and spending all afternoon in the hot sun, we all went back to the hostel to take a much needed siesta.  The eleven of us got a room for 12 and didn't realize until he walked in, that we even had a twelfth person.  Our buddy BrEpstein put his bag on the first bed he saw and while on the phone, was met with a seemingly unfriendly individual who started off stone-faced asking if he had slept on his bed.  BrEpstein, however, did not look up and when after each of us had told him to turn around so we all yelled at once and there it was: Awkward first encounter.  One bed, two strangers, a whole roomful of onlookers...Needless to say, we took our friend's side and began a three-day hatefest of Arthur, unlucky #12.


Well we all passed out one by one, some faster than others, some snorers and others haters of snorers.  I took some incriminating photos but those don't belong on the internet.  At least not yet.


We scouted out a local place called La Rueda in our neighborhood for an amazing dinner at just 10 euro a person.  We got beers and tinto de verano, an amazing drink that resembles sangria but better.  It's 1 part red wine and 1 part orange or lemon soda.  Yes, it's as good as it sounds.  For our meal, we shared different types of fries and tapas and then most of us ordered 3 euro cheeseburgers.  We had patatas asturianas which was a dish of french fries covered in a sauce made from blue queso cabrales.  No picture but you can imagine how good it was.

Tinto de verano

Cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, onion, fried egg, cheese, and bacon (I took my bacon out)

Additional salsa brava (Spanish hot sauce) on the side, not pictured here

Around the corner on the way to our new favorite neighborhood joint was Duffin Dagels.  Dunkin' donuts in a parallel universe you could say...Still perplexing.

Why?!

We had to take Day 2 easy.  #1 it was way hot and #2, some of the kids had major hangovers from a pub crawl the night before.  So after yet another meal of cheeseburgers at La Rueda, we headed back to the hostel for, in spite of the hangovers, day-drinking.  I spent a few hours reading first and then sat down for a game of Kings with Dora the Explorer cards and bottled tinto de verano.  The cards are jammed under the tab because each card a person drew had to be placed under the beer can's tab until it popped and that person who popped the can had to drink it in one go.  I took the photo because I just thought it was a cute/bizarre juxtaposition of a pre-K children's TV series and alcohol.

Dora <3 cerveza

Then we had half an hour before dinner so I went shopping for new shoes because I destroyed the pair of sandals I brought with me and took two kids with me.  The expedition was a failure but it was still fun.

Trying on floppy sun hats!

We had a cheap dinner of paella and cured hams for dinner and then headed out to a famous bar where they have flamenco performances.  What was nice though was seeing the city lit up at night because all we saw were grungy little bars the night before.

La Giralda at night

Little girl capturing a moment for her parents

La Catedral at night

BrEpstein strikes a pose

The bar was well-hidden in a maze of narrow, winding streets.  It had an unmarked red door and when we walked in, the bar right by the entrance was deserted.

Bar by the entrance

The outer chamber

And then inside the inner chamber...

A packed bar, zero seating area, and a flamenco show

Half of the group, having already purchased alcohol to fiesta for the weekend, decided they would HAVE to finish it before leaving.  Well, five people was not enough to finish the amount of alcohol that was left but someone had to kill the caramel vodka and so it was that things like this happened:

A former gymnast climbs some walls

We somehow ended up at a club that had Buddha statues everywhere.  It had a terrace on the second floor with white beds with canopies and a ton of lounging areas with hookahs being run back and forth from inside the club.  Overall, a very mediterranean atmosphere indeed.

A fuzzy photo of friends in the club

The one on the right, JP (and my bunkmate), disappeared at some point in the night.  My roommate and I ran around everywhere looking for him until we managed to call him but then his answer when we asked him where he was was "I don't know..we're getting food in a plaza."  What plaza and where and with who?!  The rest of us were together so just JP was missing.  So I asked a security guard where the nearest plaza with an open restaurant was (it was 4 AM a this point) and he told me to turn the corner and I would see a McDonald's.  And believe it or not, there he was on line just having finished his order completely alone and he greeted us with a goofy smile and the following question, "you got any money?"  The teller was waiting so my roommate paid her and out shot two cheeseburgers.  This would be the third cheeseburger in two days I was sinking my teeth into but this one had pickles and does anyone know what a big difference pickles make?!  A lot.  And that's the story of how JP was forgiven.


Anyway, we headed back home at this point but after having turned my back for just five minutes asking for directions, the two in that blurry up there were gone.  After roaming the streets for half an hour trying to get back, they were already home and in bed.  An hour later, the three of us remaining folk were still lost and it was 5 AM and I was pissed.  As I power-walked through the streets with two boys trailing a hundred paces behind me looking more weary and pathetic by the minute, this greasy sorry asshole sitting on the sidewalk next to some girl called out "ni hao" to me at the most inopportune of times.  So I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around and crouched down to his height so I could ask, "¿Perdóname?"  He got shifty-eyed and looked nervous and I hope he was as unnerved as he looked and maybe even scared because I just killed two stereotypes right then and there: (1) Not all Asians are Chinese (2)  Not all Asian women are submissive and will keep walking when you throw some racist mouth-garbage their way.  He finally managed to stutter a "¿Japonesa?" and I answered with "Quizás..." ("maybe...") while maintaing as much of a grip on unforgiving eye contact that I could hold.  Then he asked "¿Coreana?" and again the same answer "Quizás..." and then "¿Vietnamita?" and still I gave the same answer.  Before he could ask again I asked him with as much condescension as I could where La Catedral was because at least I could get back to the hostel from there and this jerk could make himself useful after having offended me.  I got the direction I wanted and when I got up and walked up ahead a bit he called out, "Pero, ¿qué es?" (But what are you?)  I finally told him in one word, "coreana," and while I somewhat regret it now, I still hope I sufficiently embarrassed him in front of his girlfriend or whoever that girl sitting next to him was.


I asked one last man for directions I saw in at a desk in an office on the second floor through the open balcony doors.  We at the very least had our address so he printed us a map and we finally, after turning one last corner, found ourselves in an area we recognized.  When I got inside our room, there were at least four people snoring in some deep deep sleep and I was still angry but I managed to shower and get in bed to sleep for the next five hours in peace.  And that's the story of how JP was un-forgiven.


Because he has epilepsy, JP has a tendency to black out when he drinks and didn't remember a thing that happened the night before when we woke up the next morning.  In spite of everything, we had a good time piecing the night back together.  And that's the story of how JP was un-un-forgiven.


We spent our last few hours at a beer festival on the way to the famous Plaza de España in Sevilla.  Our visit was cut short because we had a flight to catch but it was beautiful and grandiose beyond belief.  I just wanted to live there and fill my rooms with candy and unicorns.

We wanted to go on a boat ride but didn't have the time

Our friends, the American tourists

It was an exhausting weekend but an overall successful one.  We were a rowdy crowd but a good one and there couldn't have been any more we could have asked for.


And now, with hours of sleep debt to catch up on, I need to go to bed.