Well this past week and weekend were just amazing! To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember a whole lot of my school week other than sitting behind my desk and anxiously tapping my pen and jiggling my leg in anticipation because I knew that my boyfriend, Brent, would be arriving to visit me for the weekend on Thursday evening! So during the week, I made sure to keep up on all of my homework and assignment that way I was stress free while Brent was here.
On Thursday, Ebony and I mapped out the route from our house to the train station where we would go pick up Brent. It was a little less than a half an hour walk, and it was a nice afternoon so it was a good walk. We found the station with ease (which is good, since I will need to go there myself this coming week) and figured out what terminal Brent’s train was arriving at and waited for it to arrive. I couldn’t help but run down the stairs and hug him when I saw him get off the train! It was such a good feeling to see him after almost two months apart!! The tree of us walked back to our house from the station and Tony made us all dinner (crema verde and alfredo with ham and bacon). It was slightly difficult for Brent because he doesn’t speak any Spanish, and Tony and Manuel don’t speak any English, so I had to translate for all three of them in order for them to communicate. After dinner, we walked to our hostel, which was about ten minutes away from my house. It was clean and organized, and I was impressed since it was my first hostel experience since being in Europe. After we got settled in and put our bags away, I took Brent out for his first night out in Sevilla! It wasn’t anything fancy or involved, since he was tired from a full day of travelling and we knew we both wanted to get up early to have a full day of sightseeing on Friday. We went to one of my favorite places in Sevilla, Cervezeria Cien Montaditos, and got some beers and just talked and caught up. Brent is one of my favorite people to talk to, so it was great to just have a good long conversation after being apart for so long with only limited communication through internet. Since we were so close to it, I took Brent to see the Seta, which means mushroom. It is a big modern structure that you can climb and see all of Sevilla from at night, when it is all lit up. After that, we returned to the hostel and went to bed, because we were up and out early on Friday morning!
We started Friday at the Alcazar, which is the royal fortress in Sevilla (see previous blog posts for more info on this). We explored our way through the interior and then went through the amazing gardens, hedge mazes, and palm trees. After, I took Brent through Barrio Santa Cruz, which is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sevilla. We stopped at a café and got some genuine Spanish style breakfast: café con leche and thick toasted bread with jamón Serrano, aceita de oliva, and queso blanco! Brent loved it! Once our bellies were full and happy, we walked to the Cathedral. We toured the inside, I showed Brent where I go to mass, and then we climbed the 34 flights of ramps up to the top of the Giralda and he got to see the view of Sevilla from the top. We came down and walked around the city some more so he could see the daily Spanish life. I took Brent on a walk along the river and we got smoothies because it was so hot and sunny out. We crossed the bridge and went to Triana, where Brent bought a nice spring jacket for the weather in Prague. Then we went back to my house for lunch. Tony made some garbanzo bean soup and fried calamari and fish, which Brent loved. We lounged around and did some travel planning for our London trip, and then we returned to the hostel to change and get ready to go out for the evening. We went to the bus station to inquire about tickets for Italica on Saturday. We walked around the city and went from bar to bar to stop for a drink and chat at each one. We went to get tapas at an outdoor restaurant and we shared meatballs and rice, Spanish ribs (which I was not too keen on), croquettes de queso, and tortilla de patata. I had to have Brent try some typical Spanish dishes! We walked back to the plaza near the hostel and sat outside in the outdoor restaurant and had some drinks and talked for a long time. Finally, we went to bed for another long day ahead!
Saturday, we got up and showered and had breakfast at Café de Indias, and ordered Brent’s new favorite thing: jamón Serrano! After breakfast, we walked to the bus station and hopped on a bus to Italia, the first Roman Capital! We spent the morning walking around the ruins and the third largest coliseum in Europe! Even though I had been there before, I still enjoyed it very much and it was a beautiful sunny day. When we were done exploring, we waited for the bus to come back, since it runs every half an hour. However, we accidentally missed the first one, so we went and picked oranges off of a tree and ate them, which has been one of my Spanish Bucket List goals! It tasted like a regular orange, but the juice was just bitterer. You can eat the oranges off the trees, but you have to let them sit a few days before you eat them. Then after waiting for a few minutes, we got on the next bus back to Sevilla. Once we got back into the city, we went to Montaditos and got a platter of them to try. We sat in the sun with our cervezas in the crowded plaza and watched the people go by. After we finished eating, we walked to the best ice cream place in the world and walked with our cold treats to Plaza de Espana! We walked around the Plaza and sat there and rested for a while since it was hot and we were tired from a long morning and afternoon. Then we walked through the entire Parque de Maria Luisa, and sat and watched the ducks in the ponds for awhile. We walked through the winding garden paths across fountains and flowers and running children. Eventually, we walked farther into the park than I have ever been before, and we discovered two free public museums! An archaeology museum and a museum of people, art and culture! We decided to go check out the archaeology museum, and it was very interesting, and there were a lot of the original artifacts from Italica in there! But by the time we left, we were both so tired from walking all day, and starting to get hungry again. We made the long walk back to my house, and we wearily flopped down on the couch and continued planning our England trip. Then later Tony made dinner (tuna pasta) and we all talked about her world travels and she showed us all the things that she has brought back from around the world. It was very interesting! And we also talked about Reindeer Racing in Finlandia (claroooooo)! Finally, Brent and I headed back to the hostel so that he could get his glasses, and we went out to grab a few drinks and talk some more. When we returned to the hostel, we went up on the rooftop terrace for awhile and just watched the city and the night sky. Then we looked through all of our pictures from the weekend and fell asleep.
This morning, we checked out of the hostel, and went to get Brent’s last Spanish coffee and breakfast. Then we walked to the train station, where I sadly had to say farewell. Although I was sad to see him go, we had a great weekend together, and we will see each other again in just four days when we meet up for a weekend in England together! We are going to London for a night, and then spending two nights in Bath with our friends Brittany and Wesley for St. Patty’s weekend. I am looking forward to it, and I know that school this week is going to go by super slow waiting for another weekend to come! I can’t thank Brent enough for coming to visit me and spending a great weekend together in Sevilla. I hope in the future both of us get a chance to come back here together again :) I love you, Brent! <3
