Tuesday, May 11, 2010
El Fin
Ayy dios mio.(My goodness.) I can't believe I am to that dreaded time...the final days. I have been swamped studying for finals, packing, and tying up all the loose ends here. Goodbye's began today with Araceli's son, Alvaro. Today, Tiffany and I surprised Araceli with a mini-birthday party because her birthday is on Saturday, one day after we leave. We bought her a blueberry cheesecake, flowers, and a framed photo of the three of us. She loved it! It was pure coincidence that Alvaro came over for lunch, but it was perfect. After lunch Tiffany, Alvaro and I hung out and spoke english, cause he is learning! When the time came to say goodbye, it was weird...what do you say to someone, that was basically your sibling for four months, and now you don't know if you will ever see them again.... it went well though. We wished eachother luck, exchanged emails, and facebook...and he assured us he will be in Chicago in the next few years, because he loves traveling. It was a beautiful afternoon.
The past weekend was also great. I made the most of Sevilla, going out each night with friends, going to my preferred discotech for the final time, and went on a tapas-tour. We hit up all of our favorite tapas bars, had our favorite dish at each one, and a drink. Among the savory tapas, I have come to love: goat cheese with raspberry marmalade, croquetas, mini-sandwich of pork-chop, potatoes in ali-oli (famous spanish salsa...garlic and mayonese...soo good!), complimenting them with Spanish wine, local beer (Cruzcampo), or sangria! It was quite the Saturday afternoon. Beforehand we went to the futbol stadium because, the best team in Spain- FC Barcelona, was in town, we watched their bus pull up with a huge mob of futbol-obsessed Spanish people!
Among missing my American friends, Spanish friends, and Spanish family, I have come up with several other things that I'll be missing, here it goes:
-The food
-Senoras chatting either in the street, or from the windows of their apts, to the street
-Crazy double and triple parking!
-Spanish Salutations- always very affectionate, and sound better in Spanish but they are: mi vida (my life), hija (daughter0 which they call everyone), tia (slang), etc
-Neighborhood playgrounds full of children all aftenoon with the parents neaby chatting away
-Dogs that don't need leashes..ever.
-On the flip side----they never pick up their dog's doodies.
-La vida en la calle
-Drinking a cafe
-Orange trees- you never eat the oranges, they are bitter and used for marmalade
-Fruit stands- that aren't self-service, or the same for produce departments.
-Eveyone walking around in the afternoon- dar un paseo.
That is enough, it is obvious I'll miss everything a lot. I'm going to post some photos of the last week, then back to work! See you all soon!
The past weekend was also great. I made the most of Sevilla, going out each night with friends, going to my preferred discotech for the final time, and went on a tapas-tour. We hit up all of our favorite tapas bars, had our favorite dish at each one, and a drink. Among the savory tapas, I have come to love: goat cheese with raspberry marmalade, croquetas, mini-sandwich of pork-chop, potatoes in ali-oli (famous spanish salsa...garlic and mayonese...soo good!), complimenting them with Spanish wine, local beer (Cruzcampo), or sangria! It was quite the Saturday afternoon. Beforehand we went to the futbol stadium because, the best team in Spain- FC Barcelona, was in town, we watched their bus pull up with a huge mob of futbol-obsessed Spanish people!
Among missing my American friends, Spanish friends, and Spanish family, I have come up with several other things that I'll be missing, here it goes:
-The food
-Senoras chatting either in the street, or from the windows of their apts, to the street
-Crazy double and triple parking!
-Spanish Salutations- always very affectionate, and sound better in Spanish but they are: mi vida (my life), hija (daughter0 which they call everyone), tia (slang), etc
-Neighborhood playgrounds full of children all aftenoon with the parents neaby chatting away
-Dogs that don't need leashes..ever.
-On the flip side----they never pick up their dog's doodies.
-La vida en la calle
-Drinking a cafe
-Orange trees- you never eat the oranges, they are bitter and used for marmalade
-Fruit stands- that aren't self-service, or the same for produce departments.
-Eveyone walking around in the afternoon- dar un paseo.
That is enough, it is obvious I'll miss everything a lot. I'm going to post some photos of the last week, then back to work! See you all soon!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Lagos, Portugal
This past weekend, since it was my second to last, we had our last hooray! Over 250 American students went through a student travel program to Lagos, Portugal. We stayed at/took over a four star hotel, and traveled there in 5 coach buses! In only a three-hour drive from Sevilla, we had arrived to beautiful beaches walled in by cliffs! The water was unbelievably blue and the rocks in the ocean made for great jumping points, although I didn't try it, too many people came back all scrapped up! After a full day of beach on Friday, our guides took us to the most western corner of Portugal, called Cape Saint Vincent. This is where Christopher Colombus originally thought the world ended, and I can see why, as far as the eye can see, there is just water. I have never experienced such strong, incessant wind as I have at the "end of the world." It was truley amazing, and it felt like I could fly. After a night of dinner and bars with drink specials in the city center, we called it a night. Saturday was filled with a beach party, and a sangria booze cruise! We took out a small speedboat with a guide from the larger sail boat and explored the grottos...nature is a true wonder. The rocks of the grottos are oddly shaped like figures, for example, a skull, a camel, or an elephant. The water in the grottos literally appears as though it is has a light underneath it to illuminate the blue. On the sail boat, I did jump off for a dip in the middle of the Atlantic. As you can imagine, on a trip with 250 kids between the ages of 19-22 and led by guides no older than 29, it could be likened to a Spring Break in Panama City Beach...it was crazy, and sooo much fun! By Sunday, eveyone was tired, but trekked onto the beach and soaked up more sun. The sun in Portugal is so strong, I wore sunblock the entire weekend, and still got burned! All in all, it was a beautiful, extremely fun trip where I got to spend time with all the kids in our program. Luckily, eveyone in our program, there are 90 of us, have gotten really close. Anyone can feel comfortable showing up somewhere because everyone is welcoming and friendly. I would say that stems from the beginning, when you all show up in a different country, friend-less, anything goes for making friends. Everyone has pretty much the same motives, so that makes it easy...and made the Lagos, Portugal beach weekend, a blast!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Feria Photos
All of these photos are either of Feria, learning to dance with my Senora, GIANT cotton candies, or the futbol game, I forgot to mention I attended!
Trip to Italy was cancelled...So I did the next best thing...FERIA!
So this past week we had no school as it is the feria de abril in Sevilla. This celebration is famed around the world and draws in over 1.000.000 visitors during the week. For the most part, Sevillanos don't work on this week, but rather party...and I must admit, they do it right. The fair began in 1847, when it was originally a livestock fair, in true sevillano style, two years later, the fair had transformed into this "feria." The feria begins on Monday at midnight, when the main gate to the fair grounds is illuminated, it is completley covered in lights. Also at this time, they illuminate all the lights on the streets through the grounds. Each year the design of the main gateway changes! Each day the fair begins with horse-drawn carriages parading through the streets, and also men on hoseback dressed in traditional costumes, it isn't rare to see their novia (lady-friend) riding side-saddle on the back in her traditional flamenco dress. Almost all the women wear flamenco get ups, complete with a flower in their hair. These dresses are what I would compare to our prom dresses, very expensive, with styles changing every year! Let me quickly explain what a caseta is, this way when I refer to them later, it is easy to understand. A caseta, is basically a party tent, pretty narrow, normally, and long. In the back you'll find a bar and in the front tables. They are each ornately decorated with lace covering the walls, and the ceiling is draped with lace also. Often there are crystal chandeliers and paintings on the walls, each one is beautiful in its own way. The catch about the casetas is, that they are often owned by a prominent family, a group of friends, a company, a church, a political party, etc. There are public casetas, but they are crowded, and dirty. To really enjoy feria, you need to know someone with a caseta, or have your own. They owners hire secuirty guards, cooks, bartenders, people to set up/tear down, clean, etc. This way when they show up with guests, they just enjoy. Everyone goes to their caseta and normally spends the enitre day and night and morning, enjoying the Sevillana music (similar to flamenco), dances, eats, laughs, and drinks the traditional feria drink. The drink is called "rebujito" and is made of sherry-like white wine mixed with 7-up. There are no rules to feria, or age limits. Everyone drinks, and everyone dances. To the Spanish it is like Vegas, what happens at feria stays at feria...no shame. I don't know how they do it ,but they drink the rebujito out of dixie cups and after 3 or 4, they are slap happy drunk....and I thought I was a light-weight. On the nights I went with Americans, it was easy to convince people to let us into their casetas by saying we were American tourists and wanted to experience the real feria. I even learned a few steps of the Sevillana along the week! Truely, though they really know how to party and celebrate their culture. Never before in my life have I experienced such a wide-spread physical manifestation of culture. It was beautiful! Also during every day of feria there is bull-fight, usually with a prominent fighter.
So, since my trip to Italy was cancelled, thanks to the Volcano, I spend Monday-Thursday at feria, and blended in as a Sevillana by not going home before 5 am any day! I went a few times with Spanish friends and others with Americans. I don't know how they do it, but you can see people of every age at feria, still at 5,6, or 7 am! One spectacle I saw that particularily struck me was when I was waiting in line for a taxi. There was a live band in one caseta, and honestly, every single person that walked by, couldn't help themselves but to dance a little. I watched for about 10 mins, and it was amazing, man,woman, child, old, young....they are did a few steps of their sevillana(the dance) passing by...it was surreal. Needless to say all the dancing and walking, and drinking, and eating , and talking, and celebrating...I spent the rest of the week at home, sick. By Sunday I was up and ready to go for one more dose of straight Spanish culture. I went to my first bull-fight! Sevilla is one of the best known cities for bull-fighting as it originated in Andalucia. The bull-ring here was built beginning in 1749, that is older that our U.S.A! The bull-fight, although, grusome, is something truley artistic and very astounding to see. Each matador, there are 3, kill 2 bulls each. First the bulls are tempted by the young matadors, then by horses, and finally killed by the head matador. I won't get into too many gross details, but a lot of stabbing goes on. I did get to see two bulls that were especially tough, one they even had to take out of the ring for a bit to repair some damage, and get him riled up to play/fight. The manner of maneuvering the bull back out of the ring, alive (usually they only take them out after they have killed them) is by sending in 6 white bulls to try and lure him to them and back out of the ring. I have to say, watching the bulls come out and just start chasing the matadors, I couldn't help but think of them as testosterone-jacked teenage boys. Wanting a fight, no matter what, win or lose, just want to fight and get super physical. Needless to say, this definitely added to my culture-heavy week. The feria ends on Sunday night at midnight with some fireworks, Iwent to one of the bridges over the Guadalquivir River and watched with some Spanish friends.After this amazing week, I think I can begin to understand how each Sevillano/a that I have met has an enormous amount of pride for thier land and thier culture. They all grow up celebrating it, learning it, living it. Unfortunately this is something I think we are missing out on at home. I met a girl this week that said her parents went to Paris and Italy for a trip, saw all the big sights, and came home and said, "it was nice, but it wasn't my Giralda." (The Giralda is the tower to the Cathedral of Sevilla, originally built by moors.) This epitomizes the sentiment and pride of nearly all the Sevillanos that I have spoken with, I think it is a wonderfully strong, and beautiful attribute.
I can't say I regret not getting to Cinque Terre, Italy, because I had such a rich week here in Sevilla.
On another note, I don't want to talk about...things are getting busy in classes/ winding down, which I realized I never mentioned. I am in four business classes, all taught in Spanish: International Services Management, International Corporate Finance, International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, and European Economics. These next few weeks will be sweet, and busy, but I'll be sure to soak up every last minute and fill it with more and more memories!
So, since my trip to Italy was cancelled, thanks to the Volcano, I spend Monday-Thursday at feria, and blended in as a Sevillana by not going home before 5 am any day! I went a few times with Spanish friends and others with Americans. I don't know how they do it, but you can see people of every age at feria, still at 5,6, or 7 am! One spectacle I saw that particularily struck me was when I was waiting in line for a taxi. There was a live band in one caseta, and honestly, every single person that walked by, couldn't help themselves but to dance a little. I watched for about 10 mins, and it was amazing, man,woman, child, old, young....they are did a few steps of their sevillana(the dance) passing by...it was surreal. Needless to say all the dancing and walking, and drinking, and eating , and talking, and celebrating...I spent the rest of the week at home, sick. By Sunday I was up and ready to go for one more dose of straight Spanish culture. I went to my first bull-fight! Sevilla is one of the best known cities for bull-fighting as it originated in Andalucia. The bull-ring here was built beginning in 1749, that is older that our U.S.A! The bull-fight, although, grusome, is something truley artistic and very astounding to see. Each matador, there are 3, kill 2 bulls each. First the bulls are tempted by the young matadors, then by horses, and finally killed by the head matador. I won't get into too many gross details, but a lot of stabbing goes on. I did get to see two bulls that were especially tough, one they even had to take out of the ring for a bit to repair some damage, and get him riled up to play/fight. The manner of maneuvering the bull back out of the ring, alive (usually they only take them out after they have killed them) is by sending in 6 white bulls to try and lure him to them and back out of the ring. I have to say, watching the bulls come out and just start chasing the matadors, I couldn't help but think of them as testosterone-jacked teenage boys. Wanting a fight, no matter what, win or lose, just want to fight and get super physical. Needless to say, this definitely added to my culture-heavy week. The feria ends on Sunday night at midnight with some fireworks, Iwent to one of the bridges over the Guadalquivir River and watched with some Spanish friends.After this amazing week, I think I can begin to understand how each Sevillano/a that I have met has an enormous amount of pride for thier land and thier culture. They all grow up celebrating it, learning it, living it. Unfortunately this is something I think we are missing out on at home. I met a girl this week that said her parents went to Paris and Italy for a trip, saw all the big sights, and came home and said, "it was nice, but it wasn't my Giralda." (The Giralda is the tower to the Cathedral of Sevilla, originally built by moors.) This epitomizes the sentiment and pride of nearly all the Sevillanos that I have spoken with, I think it is a wonderfully strong, and beautiful attribute.
I can't say I regret not getting to Cinque Terre, Italy, because I had such a rich week here in Sevilla.
On another note, I don't want to talk about...things are getting busy in classes/ winding down, which I realized I never mentioned. I am in four business classes, all taught in Spanish: International Services Management, International Corporate Finance, International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, and European Economics. These next few weeks will be sweet, and busy, but I'll be sure to soak up every last minute and fill it with more and more memories!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)