Spain, Spain, Spain. You amaze me every day. I love that there are constant things to do and explore!
On Saturday morning, we were supposed to have a bus tour of Sevilla with our program. However, Ebony and I woke up late, and therefore rushed to eat breakfast and ran out of the house. The bus tour left from La Plaza de Espana, which is about a 30 minute walk from our casa, on the other edge of the centro district. However, since we had never been there before, we didn’t know the way, and we didn’t know how long the walk would talk. Before you know it, its 11:15 and we are still walking. The bus was supposed to leave at 11. We were disappointed that we missed the bus, but when we got to La Plaza de Espana, suddenly it was all worth it. I didn’t want to be on a bus at all once I found the Plaza. It is the most beautiful piece of architecture that I have ever seen. The Plaza is shaped like a large and open semi circle, with two large towers on each end. In the middle, there is a large and beautiful fountain. But it was very windy that day, so the water was spraying everywhere and it was cold! I will definitely be returning there a lot during the rest of my time here. Once it gets scorching hot, I’m sure that the water will feel good.
La Plaza de Espana has the most beautiful tile work I have ever seen, and that is saying something, since I worked in an Italian Art Gallery for three years! There are tiles that represent every region and city in Spain. The columns that hold up the Plaza are beautiful and Corinthian, looking like they came straight from Italy. The Plaza was built in 1928 and showcases the renaissance revival style in Spanish architecture that a lot of the city has in other buildings.
Gardens and pathways surround the Plaza, and it feels like you can get lost in them like Alice in Wonderland. Although, in some ways I feel as if I have already fallen down the rabbit hole, and this is just a dream that I will wake up from soon, too good to be true. After we walked around the Plaza for a long time, a group of us girls walked around the city more, making our way home slowly, enjoying all the sights of the city. We walked across the bridge of el rio Guadalquivir, making our way into the neighborhood called Triana. We walked along the river and admired the city and the smell of the oranges. We walked back across the Triana Bridge, which was designed by the same architect who designed the Eiffel Tower. Closer to home, we stopped at a café and had chocolate suizo, swiss hot chocolate. In Spain, hot chocolate is really just like a melted chocolate bar: thick, creamy, rich and hot, with lots of whipped cream on top. But their whipped cream tastes better than anything that I have ever had in the states! Mmmm! Then Ebony and I went home for dinner, which was fantastic as always; a soup with garbanzo beans, potatoes, and some tiny little noodles, with fried fish, fresh salad, and of course, fresh bread and oranges. After dinner, we rested a bit and got ready for our first night out on the town in Sevilla!
In Spain, the days typically go like this: wake up fairly early, go to work/school, and then around 2, everything closes down for a few hours for “siesta” which really just means “rest/nap”. Everyone returns home to eat together and rest or take a nap. Then everyone returns to work/school for a few more hours. After this is done, people walk the streets, meet friends for coffee, or return home to rest and be with family. Resting and family are two very important things in Spanish life. Dinner is usually between 8 and 9pm, but it can even be later, up till 10pm! Very late, in American perspective. But here, nightlife is also very important. Everyone, young and old, goes out late, and stays out late, often until the sun rises. My madre described Sevilla as a city where people “live in the streets” because everyone is always out and about in the plazas socializing and enjoying the weather and fresh air.
Our first night out was good. We didn’t really know exactly where to go, so we wandered around a bit trying to find kids that looked our age. The drinking age here is 18, so it is pretty typical to see young people in the streets or out at the bars at all hours of the day and night. My madre even had beer with her breakfast this morning! Drinking is just a casual part of the culture here. We ended up at two different bars. The first one had more of an “adult” atmosphere: casual, calm, quiet, refined. The second bar was a discoteca where lots of young students our age were, dancing and socializing with loud music and flashing lights.
We returned home “early” by Spanish standards, at 2am. We went to bed and slept for quite some time. Sundays are days to relax, go to church, and be with family. Today, we ate lunch at 3pm, and then we went to a “tienda chino”, asian store, to buy some notebooks because our classes start tomorrow. We also went to a chocolate café to eat churros con chocolate. SOOO delicioso! But very filling and we accidentally ordered wrong because one order is meant for four people, which we didn’t know! First cultural mixup haha.
Classes start tomorrow. Voy a mi cama ahora para dormir! Buenas Noches <3
