1. Things To Be Missed

    It’s sad to think about how I’m leaving Spain in less that a week, and I can’t help but think of all the things I’m going to miss about here. I’ve compiled a short list of “Things To Be Missed” from Spain.

    1. The shops: panadería (bread store), frutería (fruit store), chinos (convenience stores run by Chinese people), droguería (toiletry store), etc. Instead of running to WalMart, I run to the nearest specialty shop for what I need.
    2. The fact that my señora only needs to shout out the kitchen window for the panedero (bread man) when she runs out of bread.
    3. The egg man: instead of buying a dozen at the supermarket, a man who sells eggs comes to the door with fresh eggs and my señora buys them almost 2 dozen at a time.
    4. Tostada con tomate y york (toast with a tomato sauce and ham) for breakfast.
    5. Sevici: a kind of bike rental where there are stations set up all over the city, and you use your card to take a bike to get to where you want to go or just to ride around.
    6. 1€ cerveza ($1.30 beer) between classes. -> or tinto (wine mixed with lemonade)

    The list could go on and on, but I’ll stop it short here. I’m sure over the next few weeks I’ll be adding to it. Also, keep a look out for its counterpart: “Things That Were Missed” - a list of all the American things I’ve been missing for the last 4 months that I can finally enjoy.

  3. When I realize the coins in my pocket are worth more than just cents

    thetimeistudiedabroad:

  4. Feria de Abril

    Last week was the spring celebration of Feria, which literally translates to “Fair.” Feria is basically a week long fiesta where the people of Seville and Andalucía get together and eat, drink, and dance. There is a specific part of Seville called the Feria Grounds that is only used during this week; it becomes it’s own small city almost. The streets are lined with casetas, which are kind of like booths or tents. There are 1,046 casetas, so needless to say it’s a pretty huge celebration. Most of the casetas are private, but there are about 100 that are public. Families, individuals, associations, etc. can buy a private caseta. Each caseta is decorated really nicely, most of them look like the insides of homes and have 2 parts: a front part with tables opening into the street and back part with a bar and kitchen where you can buy food and drinks all day and night. In order to go to a private caseta, you need an invitation. Luckily, my señora had an invite to one with her and her friends, so I spent Saturday with my Spanish family and their friends. The picture is my señora dancing with one of her friends in the caseta.

    One really cool part of Feria is what everyone wears. The women (all ages!) dress in aflamenco dress. My señora let me borrow one of her old ones. People here are even more serious about their flamenco dresses than girls are about their prom dressed in the states. My señora sews, and made about 3 dresses this year and tailored probably 20 more than that, so I got to see a bunch of different kinds. My host sister’s dress was pretty modern - it was green and backless with black lace sleeves. The mean wear suits with ties (you can see my friends dressed up in the picture below). The most fun was seeing how everyone looked all dressed up. You can barely see in the background of the picture the person on the horse. They have a specific outfit they wear, but only if they’re driving a carriage or riding a horse.

    As I mentioned earlier, people at Feria eat and drink and dance and that’s pretty much it. The “official” drink of Feria is a rebujito, which is sherry wine (manzanilla) mixed with 7 Up or Sprite. Most people would relax in their casetas talking with friends, drinking rebujito, and eating tapas. A lot of people would also dance. The style of dance everyone does here is called sevillano, which is similar to flamenco dancing. Everyone from Andalucía pretty much knows how to dance sevillano and knows almost all the words to every song. It’s actually pretty amazing to watch because it’s a great demonstration of their culture. I posted a video of people dancing sevillano last week.

    Another great thing about Feria was Colleen and Eric coming to visit me! They got to see an extreme of Sevillan culture, but it was great that they got to experience it with me. We mostly jus

    t hung out and ate tapas. I took them to the Catedral, Plaza de España, and Parque María Louisa. They also got to meet my Spanish family and see where I’ve been living. I loved seeing them, but it made me a little homesick.

    I definitely want to come back sometime in the near future for Feria because this was an amazing experience that I want to repeat over and over and over again!

    More pictures at Facebook.

  5. Portugal Paradise

    My weekend trip to Portugal was one of the very first trips I signed up for when I got to Spain. I went through a program called WeLoveSpain, who organizes trips for study abroad students in Spain. It was great to have someone else do all the work and the only thing I had to do was show up and have a good time - which I did.

    What really made this trip was the fact that almost half of the people from my program were also on the trip. We spent 3 days and 2 nights lounging on the beach, making our own food, and just generally living it up. The weather was fantastic that weekend even though we expected mostly clouds and cooler temperatures. I even got a bit of a sunburn. 

    We stayed in apartment-style hotel rooms, so we had our own kitchen, living room area and even a small deck. This was probably my favorite part because it allowed us to cook our own meals. The first night we had a pretty classy dinner with chicken, pasta, and vegetables, but I think my favorite meal was the breakfast sandwiches we made the last day. 

     

    They also took us to some really beautiful places. El Fin del Mundo (“The End of the World”) is the most western point of Europe, so it was thought to literally be the end of the world when people thought the Earth was flat and before the Americas were discovered. We also some amazing caves that I can’t quite remember the name of, but I have a few pictures. 

     

    This trip was a great break from school and everything else. I like to think of it as the equivalent to Spring Break in Cancun or Panama City Beach for college kids in the US. But even when we got back, it was the very beginning of an amazing week-long party in Sevilla. Keep an eye out for my post about Feria.

    As always, more pictures at Facebook.

  6. My señora and her friends dancing in their caseta during Feria

  7. The very first night of Feria de Abril in Sevilla. The whole week is filled with dancing, music, and flamenco dresses.

  8. Home Sweet Sevilla

    This weekend was the first full weekend I’ve spent in Sevilla since early February. It was so nice to be able to stick around and relax, hang out with friends, and enjoy everything the city has to offer. Quite a few of my friends stayed in town this weekend, so there was no way it would have been boring.

    I spent most of my Friday by the river with my friends, just hanging out and catching up. That night we decided to do a “Fancy Friday” where the boys wore ties and the girls wore their best dresses. We went out to a nice dinner at an Argentinean steakhouse called Gauchos. It was some of the best food I’ve had since I’ve been here. Although we planned to go out afterwards, I was really tired (we finished dinner at 11:30pm) and we ended up going for one drink before calling it a night.

    The next day we hopped on a train to Jerez, about an hour ride from Sevilla, to visit a winery. The company is called González Byass, but the wine they’re most known for is Tío Pepe. It was really interesting to see how they make the sherry wine and brandy, but it was raining all day. Nevertheless, it was a great way to spend the day/afternoon instead of doing homework which I am currently avoiding right now.

    It’s strange to think I have less than 4 weeks left here in Sevilla. Even though I feel like it’s gone by so fast, I think back to everything that I’ve done and how it felt when I first got here that it seems like a lifetime ago I was packing up my things and leaving the Midwest behind. I’m sad to be leaving such a great place so soon, but I must admit that there are some things about home that I’m looking forward to (Panchero’s, El Rancherito, Aurelio’s Pizza, The Hamburg Inn II…. just to name a few). Even though I’m excited to see my friends and family again, I will definitely be making the most of it while I’m still living the dream here in Spain.

     

    More photos @ Facebook.

  9. The Elusive Duomo

     I could very easily sum up my long weekend in Italy in 3 words: wine, food, duomo. Of course, that really wouldn’t explain very much, even if it is a nice summary. We flew into Milan and immediately made our way to the Duomo. My friends had a fairly heated debate on whether the Duomo was in Milan or Florence - turns out they’re in both. The one in this picture is in Florence. We later came to find out Duomo means “cathedral” in Italian. Our first meal was Italian-style pizza at a nice restaurant close to the Duomo. We only spent a few hours in Milan before catching our train to Florence. After taking the Amtrak train to Chicago several times, I figured I had trains figured out. Not the case. The Milan train station was confusing, and that’s putting it lightly. When we finally did get on the train, we didn’t realize that the people are very particular about their seating assignments. After getting yelled at in Italian, we figured out we all had to sit separately in our assigned seats.

    Once we arrived in Florence, we were on a mission to find our hostel. The directions told us to find the Duomo and then turn right. Upon exiting the train station we saw a church that we thought might be the Duomo because none of us knew what it should have looked like. We quickly realized that was the “fake” Duomo once we saw the dome peeking over the rooftops. Our hostel was absolutely adorable and we stayed in a suite-style room complete with living room, kitchenette, and terrace. Dinner that night was a classic spinach and cheese ravioli with wine. 

    The next day we were up nice and early, somehow managing to get 6 girls showered and ready in under 2 hours, and off to find breakfast and explore the city. Florence is quite small and everything was in walking distance, which was great because we were able to really see the city. We walked along the river and then crossed it to try and see a palace with beautiful gardens. The price to see said gardens wasn’t exactly what we planned on, so we made our way to Piazza Michelangelo. With its panoramic view of the city and fake statue of the David, it made for a perfect photo opportunity and place to relax with a glass of wine. Afterwards we waited in line to see the real David and it was breathtaking. It’s crazy to me how someone can turn a slab of marble into something to beautiful.

    That night we ate a lasagna dinner next to the Duomo and then headed to the nearest convenience store to get supplies for the night. It’s been so long since we’ve been able to relax and get ready to go out together, so it was a nice change. Florence nightlife was unexpectedly lively, and I had a blast. We even met up with our waiter from dinner for a drink! The next morning we were back on a train to Milan to do some shopping and get a good night’s sleep before flying back to Sevilla in the morning. We were all exhausted from the night before, so after a quick lunch at Luini’s - an amazing sandwich/pita/calzone place - and a little bit of shopping we rested in the hostel until dinner. We went to a rather ritz-y place, but it was close to the hostel and delicious! I’ve never had a more delicious spaghetti carbonara.

       

      It’s good luck to spin on it               The fancy shops                   The Duomo - Milan

    I should have taken more pictures (or any at all!) of the food I ate but you can still find more pictures from my trip on Facebook.

  10. London Calling

    “God Save the Queen” and “Anarchy in the UK” were the close runner-ups to the title I’ve chosen, but really any cliche would do. While in London the past 5 days, I feel like I really soaked up all of the typical English tourist fare. Big Ben, the London Eye, St. Paul’s, and Piccadilly Circus were all stops on the list. Of course we can’t forget the classic fish and chips meal, can we?

    My friends and I arrived very late Wednesday night into Stanstead airport, and after a long line at customs, an even longer bus ride to the city, and a scam cab driver, we finally got to spend exactly 5 hours in our hostel before taking off to find ourselves an English breakfast Thursday morning. I finally got to see my mom after three months which was so great! Luckily for us, the weather was fantastic all week, so we walked through Hyde Park to Buckingham Palace, Westminster, and the House of Parliament (Big Ben). We found the perfect red phone booth for a classic London photo op:

     

    The next day we did a walking tour of places related to the Harry Potter series - a favorite of mine. We saw where some things were filmed, where JK Rowling may have gotten inspiration, and some generally cool places in the city. We met up with my friends at Tower Bridge, which until then I had always incorrectly called London Bridge. We walked through this amazing open air market and took a break with some happy hour drinks before heading back to the hotel to find some dinner. 

    On Saturday, my mom and I rode the London Eye. It was very cool, you can see a ton of things even though I wasn’t quite sure exactly what I was looking at. Saturday was the only day of “London weather” where it was in the 50s and cloudy. We went to watch The Hunger Games at the famous Odeon theater - where all of the Harry Potter premieres took place. Fantastic movie! Of course I had to get my American food craving out of the way, so we ate lunch at Chipotle (the closest thing I can find to Panchero’s). The amount I miss American food is indescribable.

    Sunday we went to the Museum of Natural History where we got to see dinosaur fossils, a giant Sequoia tree, and a bunch of mammal replicas. My mom and I went to see Jersey Boys in the West End that afternoon. It was a really great performance - the music was just incredible. The British Museum was our first stop Monday. It was absolutely huge! The exhibits were amazing, I was able to see remains from the Pantheon, Egyptian mummies, and even the Rosetta Stone. My mom really wanted to see St. Paul’s Cathedral and while it’s a magnificent structure, I’ve already seen too many cathedrals to waste £14 (≈$23), but my mom went and she said it was amazing. I took some pretty cool pictures of the outside though. We finished with a bus tour of the city and made sure we saw everything. 

    (PS - more pictures on my Facebook)

     

              

                  St. Pauls                Museum of Natural History           British Museum

About me

cosmopolite /käzˈmäpəˌlīt/ [koz-mop-uh-lahyt] :: one who is at home in every place; a citizen of the world
My status