Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Viva Italia! (and heading home!)


Get comfy, because I’m about to recount our entire Italy trip. I had intended to update as we went, but it turns out that our internet connections were more limited/expensive than we were expecting, so it’s all gonna have to happen at once. That’s why at several different points, I say that I’m on a train going somewhere and they’re never the same; it’s all chronological though. So bear with me, and enjoying reading about our adventures J
We left the apartment on the 19th after dealing with our landlord and the checkout process. It was surprisingly easy; we just handed over the keys and she gave us back our full deposit. We all took one last picture in the chateau, took Peter (we named our elevator) down to the ground floor, and said goodbye to 25 Eduardo Dato, Apartment 2A forever. Then we hopped in a taxi and Ally, Trevor and I had to say goodbye to Chuck and Jodi, which was hard. But people that know me know that frequently, things don’t hit me until they’ve already happened and it’s too late. That’s why I’m so bad with goodbyes. I never feel like I’m actually saying goodbye and by the time I realize that it could be a very long time before I see them again, I’m on a plane headed towards Rome.
When we got to the train station, we still had a mission; sell an extra ticket that we acquired thanks to a special promotion. We’d already gotten a discount on our tickets, so any money that we made off of the extra ticket was 100% profit. The trick was finding someone to sell it to. We asked people as they walked into the station and every person in line if they needed a ticket to Madrid at 11:45. We received a lot of judgmental rejections and had a lot of uncomfortable moments before one guy ended up needing it and not snubbing us off. An AVE ticket to Madrid is full-price 83 euros and we sold it to him for 50 euros, saving him 33 euros and giving me, Ally and Trevor each 17 euros. It also happened that he was super friendly and spoke English. For the entire 2 and a half hour train ride, we flipped through Ally’s book of Spanish idioms with Jose telling us which ones were actually used by people in real life and discussing the differences between the expressions in Spanish and English. For example, the Spanish equivelant of the expression “When pigs fly” in English is “Cuando las ranas creen pelo” (“When frogs grow hair”) Needless to say, it was a very amusing train ride.
When we got to Madrid, we met up with Jose, Ally’s friend that lives in Granada but was studying at the University of Florida last semester and will also be there next semester. He is possibly the most efficient person I’ve ever met and is great to travel with. I like the dynamic that has developed out of this trip. It’s kind of turned into a couple’s trip, but not in a weird way. We all have a really great time together and I’m really glad that things worked out the way that they did. Ally and Jose are leaving to go back to Madrid on the 27th, and Trevor and I will be continuing on our own to the Amalfi coast. We are definitely going to miss traveling with them! It will be sad to see them go.
We caught our delayed flight with RyanAir (last RyanAir flight of the trip!!) and made it to Rome later that evening. We got some pizza from a little place near the hotel that, even though it was a little hole in the wall, was still a wonderful first meal in Italy. The next day, we went out into Rome and did all the necessary things to do in Rome. It was very strange for me since I was just in Rome last summer because I could recognize certain parts of the city. But it was all random things, like a café with delicious crepes near the Vatican, some churches and statues and a few metro stops. It was nice to go back, but Rome is just so overwhelmingly large and chaotic that I’m glad that we started in the big city and are working our way to the smaller ones. In comparison to Florence (and I’m hoping that the other cities will be like that as well), I feel like Rome isn’t as authentically Italian as some of the other places we’ve been. Everything is a tourist trap and it’s hard to distinguish which things are genuinely Italian. The Coliseum was genuinely Italian before it was overtaken by box offices and men standing in the plaza out front dressed in gladiator uniforms taking pictures with tourists for tips. The Trevi Fountain’s magic is decreased by the sea of people that you have to push through to throw your coin for good luck. Of course, every major city has an element of that, but I feel like Rome has it the worst. On the other hand, there are plenty of genuinely Italian things in Rome that we didn’t have time to see. As a tourist, I am of course biased because I encounter all the tourist traps. But even when I was there for 10 days last summer, I still felt overwhelmed by all the things that there were to see and to pay for. Overall, Rome is just to much for me; there’s so much to do and see that are the touristy checkpoints, that even if you spent weeks and weeks doing those, then you’ll never see it all and then you’ll never being able to experience all the authentically Italian parts that don’t require a Roma Pass and a wad of cash.
That being said, we still enjoyed our time there. I’m definitely glad that we started with the big city and are working our way to the smaller ones, but we still had a great time in Rome. One of the best parts of it was looking for the Path of Illumination. Anyone that has ever read Angles and Demons by Dan Brown is familiar with this. Basically, it is the historic path that is located in Rome, which was the epicenter of the ancient brotherhood of the Illuminati, that members of the Illuminati would follow to the headquarters of the organization. The entire things is a giant scavenger hunt. There is a poem to send you to the first checkpoint, and then 4 checkpoints afterwards, each one leading to the next and then ultimately ending at the headquarters of the Illuminati. It’s a real thing and the checkpoints still exist today. I was annoyed last year because I read Angels and Demons right after I went to Rome and had wished that I could have followed the path while I was there. So when I went back, we found some of the checkpoints and other Illuminati symbols all over Rome. If you’re keeping an eye out, you’ll find a lot. We didn’t have time to see them all, but it was really fun to be able to see them up close and in real life. The other thing that made Rome worth it was our trip to a famous (and famous for a reason!) gelato place called San Crispino. The flavors are unique (I had a scoop of honey and scoop of ginger-cinnamon) and made with the highest quality ingredients. Before San Crispino, I had always just believed that gelato was gelato and never really tasted the difference. Not anymore! I wish we had more time in Rome just so we could have gone back again. I wonder if they ship internationally…
After a long day of walking and discussion conspiracy theories, we got some delicious (which goes without saying; we’re in Italy!) dinner and tried to head back to our hotel, only to discover that the metro was closed. Luckily, or so we thought, there was a night bus running that would take us right to our stop. Once we finally found the bus stop and waited for it for about 30 minutes, we were relieved to see a bus with N1 written on the front. Once the bus got closer, however, we were not relieved to see that the bus was jam-packed. I mean like people pressed against windows, rubbing up on strangers, leave needing to take a shower kind of jam packed. Somehow we made it on the bus (others at the stop were not so lucky) and settled in for our 40 minute ride to our stop. Jose kept terrifying us because he had to step off the bus a few times so that other people on the bus could get off and then quickly get back on. Every time it happened, Trevor, Ally and I would look at each other with a “what do we do when the bus leaves without him?” stare.  Miraculously, we all made it to our hotel in one piece, exhausted and ready for another exciting day in Italy. 





We are now on a train on our way to Venice. We have been on the move the past few days. Just today, we will have done 3 cities by the time we get to our destination; Florence, Pisa and Venice.We just decided to take a vacation from our vacation from our study abroad. We have been staying in the Florence for the past 2 days, but this morning we decided to just pick up and go to Pisa for a few hours. It’s only an hour and 7-euro train ride away, so why not? Of course, we did the cheesy touristy pictures. We thought we were being creative but I can only imagine how many people have done the exact same thing. The funniest picture we took all day though was the view of all the people down the whole sidewalk who were trying to get the perfect picture. We had a delicious lunch in a hidden treasure type restaurant for Ally’s 21 st birthday, including a ridiculously wonderful pineapple tiramisu.



Then we got back on the train and headed back to Florence, where Trevor and I wandered around the city with no particular direction, just taking whichever street looks most appealing and not even taking out a map once, which is one of my favorite things to do in an unfamiliar city, especially one as beautiful and charming as Florence. I loved Florence so much and I’m not quite sure what to expect from Venice (other than gondolas and even more amazing cuisine). This trip has just been so wonderful so far, everything I could have hoped for from an Italian vacation. The food has been delicious, the company has been enjoyable, the smiles have been constant, the laughs have been frequent, and the sights have been beautiful. We’ve spent a little more time in the TrenItalia Customer Care Center than we would like, thanks to a lack of confirmation emails, having to guess what time our train is, and then having to arrive at the train station an hour early than our train to check our seat numbers and ensure that we are on that train, but fortunately, we have made it to all of our destinations thus far. Cross your fingers that we make it to the rest of them without any complications! Every time we confirm that we are a train and get our seat numbers, we make a scene, exclaiming that we are actually going to insert city name here. It’s exhilarating, really. 







Now we’re on a train from Venice to Milan. As you can probably guess, train time is about the only chance that we have any extra time to rest and blog. Venice, like I’ve always imagined it to be, was amazing. We walked out of the front of the train station on a bright and warm day, staring at the Grand Canal filled with gondolas and speedboats. It was unreal. It almost made my heart stop because of how picture-perfect everything was. And it just got better as we started walking. Ever corner we turned looked like it could be a painting or a set of a movie. We joked a few times that it looked like it was a section of theme park; like the doors didn’t actually open and the boats were on secret tracks under the water. We spent all Thursday walking around the main island, never getting bored because every bridge, canal, plaza and street was something new to see. It also has such a relaxed feel to it. There are no cars or vespas or bicicles, because there are no roads and there are bridges with stairs everywhere. The only way to get around is walking or boating, 2 of my favorite things to do. Today (Friday 25th), we took the water bus (basically like Venice’s version of a metro system) to the island of Murano, which is known for its beautiful glasswork. Murano was beautiful and was just like a smaller scale Venice and was really nice place to spend the afternoon. Even just taking the waterbus to get there was so nice. We had about a 45 minute boat ride where the entire time, we had a backdrop of water-front buildings painted warm colors with flowers covering their window sills, the smell of saltwater and mozzarella cheese, the cloudless sunny skies and the perfectly temperate ocean breeze. By the time we got to island of Murano, we were already in a wonderful mood that practically nothing could have ruined. Even sitting on the train right now looking out the window at wide open plains with backlit mountains in the background, I can hardly believe that I am city-hopping around Italy right now, have been for 6 days, and will continue to for 6 more days. 







We just left Milan, where we only had one day to spend. But for me, that was enough. Going from sweet little picturesque Venice with no cars or roads to big busy Milan was overwhelming. After we saw the Duomo (Cathedral), the Galleria (The super fancy and apparently famous mall) and the old fortress, we had basically seen everything that Milan had to offer in terms of sightseeing landmarks. Being in the fashion capital of the world, I thought I would be able to find a lot of little boutiques and do some shopping, but all the stores were just enormous and ridiculously busy and expensive chains, like Prada and Louis Vouitton. I’m sure that there are little original boutiques somewhere, but Milan is a huge city and I had no idea where to look for them. We found a few while we were walking through the city, just strolling to kill time, but nothing looked like anything that I couldn’t find on Park Avenue in Winter Park or the Millenia Mall. We decided to give up on the shopping and go spend some time in the big park that we found earlier that day. It was a nice break from the crowded streets. We spent about an hour or two just sitting in the grass, eating gelato, watching some people slacklining and other people watching and just letting our feet rest. After walking all day every day for a week straight, our feet are begging us for a break. So in a way, this 5 hour train ride is just what we need. Not to mention that the views of the Italian country-side are lovely. 

Our relaxing park where we spent the afternoon
After the park, we started on our journey to go find dinner. We had a suggestion from Jose that he got from Lonely Planet, and even though it was a little far out, we decided to go ahead and make our way over there and check it out. I’m really glad that we did because the part of town was really cool. There was a little canal and either side of it was lined with all types of restaurants that were all filled with people. I was afraid that I was going to leave Milan feeling like it was just an uncomfortably busy, crowded and expensive city. Everything that we had seen earlier in the day was just overrun by tourists and the places that weren’t overrun by tourists (with the exception of the park) wasn’t that nice to look at and wasn’t very enjoyable. We had never actually witnessed the culture of Milan until we found this little section of town. There was everything from little dive bars to upscale restaurants and no matter where they were, people were talking and having a great time. We ended up going to the restaurant that Jose suggested, and it was so worth it. We split some crostinis with bruschetta and parmesan ham and a delicious pasta dish with shrimp and a pistachio sauce and a dessert with sweet cheese, white chocolate and fresh strawberries. I think I could actually eat Italian food for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.  
The street in Milan where we had dinner
Now we’re on our 5 and a half hour long train from Milan to Salerno. From Salerno, we’re going to take a bus to Amalfi, where we will be spending the rest of our trip until we go back to Rome to fly home! From all the websites that we’ve been reading about Amalfi, it sounds like it’s going to be the perfect place to finish up our Italian tour. It’s a small little city right on the Amalfi coast with lots of access by ferry to other little nearby islands, caves and beautiful blue waters. It has a high elevation so there are several nice hikes and bird’s eye views as well. Trevor’s asleep right now so I don’t have anyone to share my excitement with (except for the ladies sitting next to me that only speak German, but that could get complicated) and I’m having trouble containing myself. 
Amalfi was the perfect place to spend our last few days. We were finally able to relax and be in a city where we didn’t feel like we had a million things to see before we left. Amalfi itself is a small little town, but there are plenty of other towns along the coast to visit, some notable ones being Sorrento, Positano, Ravello, and the island of Capri. I would love to go back one day and spend a few weeks just going to all the little towns along the Amalfi Coast. As our friend Jennie put it, “the Amalfi Coast is where Jesus vacations.” After being there for several days and seeing some of the beautiful sights and charming places and meeting so many pleasant people, I can absolutely see what she meant. On our first day there, we arrived just in time for dinner and through our new favorite travel tool, TripAdvisor, found us a perfect quaint little hotel called the Hotel Amalfi, that had a balcony overlooking the water and the mountains where we ate breakfast each morning. It also found us a fantastic restaurant called Donna Stella on a beautiful rooftop with lemon trees and a perfect view of the surrounding mountains.  I felt so comfortable and welcomed in Amalfi, and am so glad that we were able to conclude our trip in such a picturesque tranquil town. 


Donna Stella



The view from our hotel room

The gardens in Ravello


Now we’re finally on the plane on our way to Philadelphia. It’s been a long way coming to this point and it feels good to be headed home. Even though we had a fantastic time, don’t get any ideas that I wasn’t missing home the whole time, because I promise you I definitely was. I am so eager to get home, sleep in my own bed, speak English and have everyone around me understand me, and hug my dog. Nothing beats a hug from a big, fat, fluffy dog like Maggie. (Except maybe a hug from by beloved friends and family of course! ;) )

All in all, I gained a few pounds, some really great friends and more memories than I could count. Even with all the trouble I went through to get there and the setbacks that I had while I was there, I can honestly say that I would do all again in a heartbeat if given the chance. 




Sevilla, todavía y siempre, no me ha dejado <3


Hasta Luego, Sevilla

So I know that it took me wayy longer than it should have to post this (about 2 years too late) but better late than never right? Anyway, these posts are written from the perspective of the time they were happening, so sorry if my tense is off or my topics seem a little irrelevant.Without further ado, here is the conclusion to my study abroad in Sevilla!...

As my time in Sevilla wraps up, I've been forced to do a little reflection on everything. And at various
points during our time abroad, people have asked me some serious thinking questions. Here’s some answers to those questions:

The first thing I’m going to eat when I get back in the states:
This answer changes depending on my mood, but what has been my most consistent answer is good barbeque. Fall of the bone ribs, barbeque sauce that doesn’t taste like it’s made with sugar, and fried okra. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I’ve also been looking forward to bottomless food. Queso with chips that just keep coming, endless salad and breadsticks, and most importantly, the neverending trail of Cheddar Bay Biscuits at Red Lobster.

The foods I’m going to miss from Spain the most:
1) Choco Boms. I discovered them in the vending machine at school the first day of classes. They are just nothing-special chocolate chip cookies covered in nothing-special white chocolate, but I would pay 85 cents for them every day for the rest of my life.
2) Jamon Iberico. A type of thinly sliced ham that comes from a special breed of pig that is only in Spain and has a diet of strictly a special type of acorn. There has to be a way to find it on the black market.
3) The mojitos at El Robotico. I’ve never even liked mojitos before…
4) Tinto de Verano and Sangria. You can find one of these at any restaurant you go to, regardless if the food is Spanish or Japanese.

Things I wont miss:
The inevitable hunt for toilet paper in bathrooms
The lack of air-conditioning and heating
The constant
The ever-present smokers and their lingering cigarette smell
Birds in buildings
Flavors of chips that shouldn’t exist. Throughout our travels, we encountered shrimp flavor, jamon flavor, and even steak and potatoes.
Being charged for the bread that waiters put on your table. If there’s food there, I assume it’s a gift and I’m going to eat it. And then the bill comes and they charged me 70 euro cents for that stale roll and some crackers.

Things I will miss:

While the apartment that we ended up with wasn’t quite the romantic Spanish apartment on a small windy cobblestone street lined with flower plots and friendly neighbors, we still ended up in a great place in a great area. Living in a real apartment building has its ups and downs. We had a great location, in the middle of the city, walking distance to pretty much everything except for school, which was easily connected by metro. It was nice having our grocery store be on the same block as our building, and everything else that we could need within a 5 minute walk. We found some great restaurants (Depi Kofino and La Chaparitta, just to name a few) and became regulars at several stores and coffee shops nearby. By the end, our little apartment really did feel like home and I know that I will miss it dearly.
We spent our last few weeks in Sevilla doing all the things that we put off until the last minute, like souvenir shopping and scouting out and trying to replicate the pictures that are in a little coffee table book that we bought from the Museo de Bellas Artes. We went back to our favorite places, found some new favorite places and spent a lot of time in the city just trying to soak up as much Sevilla as we could before embarking on our trip to Italy. We finally crossed off something off our list that we had been putting off the entire semester due to it “never being the right time”: going out and staying up all night and eating eating churros with the sunrise. After going to several different places and forcing ourselves to stay out until 7:00, we were disappointed to find out that the place that we had heard was infamous for early morning/late night churros closed before the sunrise. So we bought some to save for the walk home as we started to see the sky start get bluer and bluer. By the time we got to our apartment, Chuck, David, Trevor and I (the final four, as we like to be called) it was 7:30 am and completely light outside. I’d call that a successful night out.
After we finished finals and wrapped up our semester, the international office at UPO held a farewell reception for the students and staff at a theme park in Sevilla called Isla Magica. Of course, it’s nothing compared to Universal or Disney, but it had a few good rides and a lot of really strange half-thought-through concepts for rides. It’s randomness was definitely entertaining. After we were given free reign of the park for a few hours, they held an outdoor reception with free food and drinks. While there weren’t montaditos and jugs of Fanta as we’ve come to love and expect from the events hosted by the international office, it was a really good time. The majority of our classmates and professors were there, and it was a great chance to get some closure and say our final goodbyes. Of course, it was sad, but we left with the promise to return again as soon as we got the chance. Esperanza, Lucia, Miriam, Pierdro: If you all are reading this, we will make it back to Sevilla!! Hopefully that chance for me will be to come back and get a Perro de Agua, the breed of dog exclusive to Spain that I developed an obsession for over the past few months. Our last night was spent watching Anchorman for Chuck’s 21st birthday. Then the next morning, everyone (Chuck, Jodi, Ally, Josie, Josie’s friend Rebecca) came over for a traditional American breakfast. We made the works; pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, mimosas. What could be a better send off for our Italian vacation?
For the concerned parents, here’s how our schedule will look over the next few weeks: We will leave Sevilla on the 19th of May and will be traveling until the 31st, when we get on a plane in Rome to come home! We will go from Sevilla to Madrid to Rome, stay there until the 21st, stay in Florence until the 23rd and will be in Venice until the 25th, then in Milan until the 27th, then we will be in Amalfi until the 30th, then back to Rome just to stay the night to get up early the next day to catch our flight from FCO to PHL to MCO. We’ll be arriving at about 9pm on the 31st, hopefully just in time to eat some dinner and fall asleep to hopefully wake up at a normal hour the next day. Trying to fight jet lag takes some serious planning.
Sevilla, Adios para ahora pero no para siempre! Hasta luego :) …Adelante por Italia! 
We got to go to Isla Magica, Sevilla's premiere theme park, for our end of the semester celebration with all of the international students at UPO!

Our last meal in our apartment


Saying goodbye to Jodi and Chuck and Ally :(


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

We're so Sevillan!

 The beautiful portada (the entrance to the Feria grounds)
Feria de Abril

            We put our Sevillanas lessons to good use this week! Feria de Abril lasts for one week, from Sunday April 22 to Sunday April 29, with fireworks from the river on the last day at midnight to end it. Feria, meaning “fair” in Spanish, is a full week of dancing Sevillanas, drinking rebujito (a mix of Manzanilla (a type of white sherry) and tonic water, or just white wine and 7up if you’re cheap college students), eating churros with chocolate, and going on carnival rides. The international office at UPO taught us how to dance the traditional dance of Feria, called Sevillanas, which is a series of 4 short dances, each one more complicated than the next. We had a really fun time learning it and by the end of our lessons, could dance it well enough to be able to participate once we actually got to Feria. The people that know how to dance it in Spain have been doing it since they were toddlers, so by the time they’re older, they’ve add all sorts of flair and style to it that we were lacking. But nobody seemed to mind that we weren’t experts at it. It was obvious that we were foreigners and just trying to have fun. We got a few judge faces from snobby Spaniards, but we’re used to those looks by now. Most families have casetas (private tents with places to eat and dance), but there are also some public tents. We were lucky enough to be invited to our friend David’s tent. We met David while my parents were visiting. He studied in Miami during his college years, and now treats all Americans like family. He gave us his phone number and was kind enough to invite him into his family’s caseta. He introduced us to his family, and we ate and drank and chatted for a few hours. We left each other with the promise of him coming to visit us in Orlando with his wife and 3 children and repaying him for all the kindness that he showed us and I truly hope that he does! 
Getting ready to go out to Feria!


There are horses and carriages all over the place

Just a sample of some of the beautiful and extravagant dresses that the women wear

Notice the judge faces from all the people around us. What?? We can't dance a little?





The classic and always delicious way to end a night: chocolate and churros



The grand Finale of Feria!
Feria, like any proper fair, has lots of carnival rides, junk food, and expensive games to win silly prizes. We took advantage of all these things. The first night, Trevor, Preston, Britney, Chuck and Ally all wanted to go on the Barca Vinkinga, a terrifying boat ride that swings back and forth. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s much worse than that. On either end of the boat, there is a cage, which 5 or 6 people can fit in. And you just stand there and hold on while the boat swings back and forth. I declined and Jodi and I went on a roller coaster. It was a lot scarier than it looks, I promise. We ended the night with some bunuelos (small donuts covered in chocolate) and churros with chocolate. The next day, we came back for more and somehow Jodi and I were coerced into going on the Barca Vikinga. Because you’re just standing there and it goes so high so fast, when the end of the boat gets high enough, gravity becomes nonexistent and all of the people in the cage become weightless. The first few swings, I glued myself to the floor and held on for my life. But after a few, I slowly stood up and allowed myself to be lifted into the air and stay there for a few seconds before being lowered again. It was really really fun and probably illegal in the US. Good thing I took advantage of it while I was here! After that I was on an adrenaline rush and played a stupid dart throwing game where you have the slim chance to win an awesome prize, but are at least guaranteed something small. Of course, I lost and got to pick from the collection of small prizes, and I chose a plate with some fish on it. At least its useful and everytime I eat my Spongebob Mac and Cheese off of it at home, I can remember my amazing experiences at La Feria de Abril en Sevilla!
Me with my consolation, I mean, highly sought after, carnival game prize


Before going on the Barca Vikinga

During the Barca Vikinga

Love those Bunuelos! I promise they taste a lot better than they look
  The bullfights during Feria are supposed to be the best; they have the best bulls from the best breeders, the most famous matadors, and the most packed seats. To me, it was just 6 bulls being killed, and I can’t see how that deviates much. Of course, I had my eyes closed for a lot of the show so maybe I missed the critical “best” moments. For me, just being in the stadium with all the Spaniards for whom this a pastime, was more interesting that the actual bullfight. Bullfights are very culturally important to the Spaniards. They dress up as if they were going to church. The men wear suits and the women wear beautiful dresses. To Spaniards, bullfighting is not a sport, but rather an art. The men even brought cigars to smoke during the match. Looking out over the crowd, we saw just as many puffs of smoke as we saw sunflower seed remains scattered all over the floor. The fights are very social events also. While we were waiting for the fight to start, we watched as people walked by our section greeting all the people that they knew there before moving on to the next section and greeting everyone that they knew there. People also use the minute or 2 minute break in between each bullfight to talk with the people around them, standing up, stretching and chatting, before sitting back down a few moments later and resuming the complete silence to watch the fight. The only time people made noise during the actual fight was either to whistle, which means that they are tired of the fight and want to move on, or to cheer on the matador after a good pass with the bull. If the matador does something really good, like kill the bull on the first try, then he gets white hankerschiefs waved at him and gifts thrown at him. We even saw a man throw a live chicken. Still trying to figure out how he got into the stadium with that…

Here's how a traditional bullfight goes: 
Heads up: some of these pictures are kind of graphic. I'll leave some space between the pictures and the next post so you can skip straight down to that if you don't want to look.
First, the bull is released into the ring with several men who get the bull running and angry
Then 2 men on horses come out with a spear to stab the bull on the back

Then 3 picadores come out and each stick 2 barbed spears into the bulls back
Then the one-on-one face off of the bull and the matador


...before the bull is dragged out of the ring and workers prepare the ring for the next bull
Intense, right? I was covering my eyes while the Spaniards were snacking on sunflower seeds.
          
 
























After almost a full semester, we finally got our act together and made it to a soccer game. Although I had previously declared myself a Sevilla fan, I had to suck up my undying pride for my team, because the cheapest and most convenient game for us to go to was the Real Betis vs Atletico Madrid game. I guess green looks OK on me too. The game was a really good time though. Soccer is a relatively simple game to follow and the fans around you definitely let you know when the appropriate time to scream is, so I don’t think I looked totally clueless. The fans were too busy screaming at the players to notice whether I knew what was going on or not anyway. Spanish soccer fans are some of the most intense sports fans I’ve ever encountered. They’re outspoken and loud, and have so much pride for their teams. They get so hyped up and intense during the game, that they have to smoke weed to calm themselves down. No joke. Not sure what the marijuana laws are like here, but the group of 50 year men sitting in front of us didn’t seem to concerned about hiding the fact that they were rolling up right in the stands, so I guess they’re not that strict. The game was really good though and the two teams were pretty evenly matched, so it got pretty exciting. It ended in a tie: 2-2. A little bit anticlimactic, but still worth the 35 euros! 

When something really good happens, they wave and circle their scarves. Good thing I was wearing a green scarf!

¡Viva la Betis!

 I was really happy to be able to spend this break in Sevilla. We haven’t spent this much consecutive time here since we arrived, and I’m glad that we were able to do all the Sevilla things that have been on our checklist for a while. We also got to experience the entirety of Feria, which is magical, so colorful and lively, a bullfight and a soccer game. Also, just being in Sevilla this time of year is amazing. All the flowers are in bloom and the city is so alive!
We go back to school tomorrow after a long 12 days off, and it’s going to be hard to get back into study mode. Especially since the semester is wrapping up and we have finals soon. Not to mention getting everything in order for our 12-day excursion around Italy! We’ll be starting in Rome, then going to Florence, Venice, Milan, and the Amalfi Coast, then flying out of Rome and heading back towards home. It’s all part of the adventure that is study abroad. We should probably start packing…
Love from Spain! Besos :)