I awoke very early to catch the 8am train to Sevilla with a few friends. It is a two hour train ride, so we got into Sevilla around 10am. We took a taxi to downtown, and had some breakfast by the big Cathedral. Breakfast in Spain is usually light, maybe a croissant and coffee. They have delicious prociutto, ham is a staple of the Spanish diet. The coffee in Spain is also amazing, I usually don’t drink coffee but I loved it here. After breakfast, I went with my three friends to find their hostel. It took awhile, the streets in Sevilla are winding and often poorly marked. It was a fun adventure though, I love to just walk along and observe what is going on around me. I think walking around and seeing, smelling, and listening to the things around me is the best way to really get a feel for the culture. Eventually we found the hostel and put their bags down. With perfect timing, Max called! He got out of class at 1, and his campus was very near the hostel we were at. It was a quick 5 minute walk to meet him, and then he gave us a mini-tour of Sevilla. We stopped for tapas con amigos at a small outdoor café near the Cathedral. We ate tuna and quiche. A SAS tour had just finished at the Cathedral, so I found a few more friends to hang out with for a bit before they had to get back to the bus. We went to the Plaza de Espana, a beautiful building. It was built in the 1920s for an international faire. There was a moat crossed by four bridges, symbolizing United States, Chile, Portugal, and Peru having bridges with Spain. The tiling on the building was incredibly intricate. There was a large fountain in the middle, I loved the geometric patterns of the square. I loved all of the architecture in Spain. Sevilla is a very beautiful city. It is famous for its orange trees, which were fruiting and fully ripe while we were there. There are 18,000 orange trees scattered across Sevilla. The oranges are sour (we tried one), and are not eaten. They are sent to England to make marmalade. The thousands of trees line the streets, and make for great photos.
After lunch, we wandered around some more. We found Heather, who had just finished a SAS tour. It was getting to be mid-afternoon, so Max, Heather, and the three boys I was with earlier, Steve, Hussein, and Keith, walked across the river to Max’s apartment. We played a few card games and rested. Most everything closes between the hours of 4 and 6 in Sevilla, for siesta. Shops open up again in the evening when people start coming out again. So around 6, we reemerged and went shopping! My nice shoes somehow got ruined in transit from San Francisco. There is a dress code to go to discotecas (clubs). I bought two cheap pairs of shoes, both cute. Unfortunately, the pair I wore that night turned out to be terribly uncomfortable boots. The other pair, cute red heels are wonderful though!
We tried to get more tapas around 7; we couldn’t get enough of them! However, no restaurants are open until 8. We sat in a bar and had a Cruzcampo, which is pretty much the only beer in Spain. A soccer game was on, Sevilla vs. Valencia. It was a very exciting game, Sevilla scored in the last few minutes to win the game!! The energy in the bar was contagious, I may have to become a soccer fan. A few of my friends actually went to the game, they said it was wild! The crowd went wild! It led to quite a party atmosphere in Sevilla that night. They have great discotecas in Sevilla. The first night there we went to this club Buddha, which was craaaaazy. The first floor was a hookah lounge and bar, the second floor was, as I can best describe it, a floor for people who wanted to hear music but talk instead of dance, and the third floor was a hot, loud, sweaty dance floor. It was the most jam packed club I have ever been in! It was fun too, because in Spain they all dance in a circle, instead of grinding all over each other. Buddha probably had like 500 people in it. It was a lot of fun, because a lot of SASers were there too, I ran in to so many people I knew. It was a great "hey we are finally in Spain!" party. It was a great introduction to Sevilla!
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