Tuesday: I visited el Alcazar, a stunning Spanish palace that was originally a Moorish fort. Whenever royalty comes to Sevilla, this is where they stay. For my language immersion class I had a very challenging reading I had to do (in Spanish, of course) about the palace so I decided to sit in one of it's many gardens and breathe in the experience first hand as I read about it. This place is nothing short of magical.
So much fun! The palace is only a 15 minute walk from my house and basically on my way to class, I definitely plan to go back.
Wednesday: My program hosted an intercambio party at a club and invited students from the University of Sevilla to come mingle with us so we could meet locals and practice our Spanish! I met an awesome guy named Roman who goes to the university and speaks fluent english but wants to help me practice my Spanish, so hopefully we'll start meeting weekly to chat!
Thursday: I stayed in to study for my midterm on Friday (what? a midterm?) which I took after only a week of class, but I suppose that makes sense if the 3 credit class is only 2 weeks long!
Friday: After dinner, I botelloned for the first time since being here! Botelloning is a growing trend in Sevilla where people buy a box of cheap wine (1 euro!), some cups, and some ice and then drink outside by the river. Public drinking is apparently illegal on the street but legal down by the river? It was a really fun, lively environment and a great way to participate in the local culture. Because the unemployment rate is so high in Sevilla (23%) botelloning is becoming very popular because it's a super cheap and fun way to socialize without having to pay to go to bars and clubs.
Pretty dark, but you get the idea.
After botelloning by the river, I proceeded to have THE GREATEST night that I've had since being here! I went to a dubstep show at a reggae club and got to listen to performers from both genres. The night started with reggae and began to evolve once the DJ started intermittently dropping bass over reggae beats, I've never heard anything like it! The music finally developed into full blown wompy dubstep and my friends and I all had the time of our lives, it was so great to experience that aspect of Spanish nightlife! We also ran into the doorman from our first flamenco show here and shared the front row with him and his companeros! It was a late night.
Front row
Saturday: I went out with some amigos and ran into my high school friend Lauren Fetter at a club!
Today: I am pretty sick :(. The only time I've left my bed today was to eat lunch and go to el Museo del Baile Flamenco (which was STUNNING) for my Spanish class because I have to write a paper on it tonight. As a side note, my Senora is SO FUNNY. Apparently all the Spanish women believe that the only way to become sick is from the cold and either not wearing slippers in the house (I made the mistake of walking down the hallway barefoot one time after a shower and she nearly had a heart attack) or not going out with a scarf at night (keep in mind nights here are probably 45-50 degrees and I go to school in Colorado). It's hilarious and endearing because there is a little bit of a logic gap in her reasoning yet it's such a vehement belief, although I suppose she did prove to be right as I'm pretty sick right now.
The following are her reasons why I'm sick:
-I don't sleep with a scarf on
-I don't sleep with socks on
-I walked down the hallway once while barefoot
-I let my hair air-dry (instead of blow drying it)
-I don't go out with a scarf every night (queeee FRIO que FRIOOO por la noche!!! vas a ponerte enferma sin bufanda!!)
I should also add that her dog Bobi has a full blown red rain suit complete with a visor to shade his eyes from the rain, utilized if there is so much as a drop of moisture in the air. It lightly drizzled for about 15 minutes the other day and she had him all suited up for protection so he could go outside and pee. I WISH so much that I had taken a picture.
Here are some photos from the Flamenco Museum!
Just some flying chairs and orange trees
And on that note, I am going to go start my paper! Hasta nos vemos! xo
No comments:
Post a Comment