Maravilla

Oh Sevilla, where do I even begin? My art teacher told me before I left that there was a famous saying in Spain, "quién no ha visto Sevilla, no ha visto maravilla." In other words, those who haven't seen Seville, haven't seen beauty/splendor/wonder.... This trip truly lived up to such expectations.




 Woke up early early early ( I can't imagine how I woke up at 5:30 every morning in high school) on Friday morning to meet at the bus stop with the rest of the students from my program to go on our one trip all together. Despite our delayed flight, we arrived in Sevilla 1:00 in the afternoon and were given the rest of the day free. Our hotel was alright, but there was nothing I wanted more than to get a taste of Sevilla, because what I had seen thus far was absolutely unreal, therefore we set out to find food. Never have I ever ordered wine with lunch, but since all the others at our restaurant had it, we decided to join in. It was fabulous.

After eating, we set out to explore. I was in complete awe of this city. Sevilla is said to be a bit snooty and stuck up, however, I thought it was absolutely perfect. It reminded me a little bit of Rome, but a Spanish version; nothing at all like Barcelona. Rather than being a bit city, it was more like a small town. The streets were cobblestone, the buildings were bright and colorful, and best of all... the people were warm, friendly, and helpful. When I fumbled with my Spanish, they were patient and forgiving, when I walked into a store, they greeted me and in the restaurants, they were kind. Not to be negative about Barcelona, but I guess that's just the difference between a Spanish town, and a city that's stuck in an identity crisis between Catalans and Spanish.

After a couple of hours of shopping and exploring, we went to our rooms to regroup, then met in the hotel lobby at 7:30 to go to a flamenco show. Because I am passionate about dance, I was extremely excited about this show, nevertheless I had no idea what to expect. The show was set in a small covered porch, in the middle of the city. It was wonderful. The show began with an incredible guitarist, one with talent unlike anything I had ever seen before. As he continued to play, two more men entered the room, one singing and one clapping. The three of them acoustically made the music for the dancers.

After a few minutes of music made by these three men, the flamenco dancers came on stage. The woman was dressed in a long dress, heels, and the passion with which she was dancing made me long to dance again. Though this was extremely different from the dancing I previously did, the dancers were putting their heart, soul, sweat, and actual tears on the stage in order to convey a dramatic story. I was in heaven.

After the show we went and got dinner, a couple drinks, and called it an early-ish night in order to enjoy our free Saturday.

Woke up around 9, ate breakfast, then decided to get our Saturday started. Because the whole day was free, there was absolutely no stress, no worry, no commitments until a dinner at 8:30; it felt SO GOOD. So I set off with some girls to find the shopping areas. Fortunately for me, my kind of shops (little antique jewelry and knick knack stores) were everywhere... the upscale shopping was a bit more difficult to find. In search of the shopping, we encountered a large square playing music where we danced and sang, got some MORE spanish coffee, and scarily got stuck in a protest march. Though it wasn't violent, it was pretty overwhelming and intimidating, therefore we escaped the area as quick as possible.

Come about 2, we were starving, therefore we got some picnic supplies and set out to a beautiful park. I never realized how fun picnics were, but it was truly paradise. We sat in the sun (sun burns in February are WONDERFUL), ate lunch, and tried to soak in the fact that this was an experience we had only dreamed about; unfortunately there were two different instances of getting pooped on by birds, as well. Once lunch was eaten, a post lunch rest was completed, and we had regained our energy, we made our way through the rest of the park, found a perfect bench, and took the opportunity to dance once again. This time, rather than having music, however, we had an audience.

Saturday night was the perfect end, to the very best day. After an amazing dinner at a nice restaurant across the street, we hung out in the hotel for a while, then went across the bridge to a couple of local bars. For the third time that day we danced, we sang, and we made some local friends with whom we could practice our Spanish.

Once those around us started to be too friendly, and get on our nerves, we made the joint decision to walk home. Sevilla is very different at night than it is during the day. We made it to the hotel safely around 4 (way past my bedtime) and slept for a very short time.

Sunday, our last day, we ate breakfast, had a little free time, then went to see the Cathedral in Sevilla; the largest Gothic Cathedral in the world that is still open. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful, but the best part was the view from the top. We were sent by the tour guide up a twenty minute long flight of steps, to the point of the Cathedral to witness the view of Sevilla from above. This is my new favorite place in the world... besides home.

And then we had to say goodbye to Sevilla.
The trip was wonderful, every place we go gets even better. I am off to Paris this weekend, and hopefully I will have half as much fun as I did this weekend.