¡Sevilla y Ronda!

Two whole weeks. That is how long I have now been in Sevilla, just enough time for it to begin setting in that I am here and I am staying here for three months. I can also successfully navigate my way to school and a few primary spots without getting lost, and even gave directions to some lost French women. Cade and I are now usual’s at a café, where our friend Miguel "accidentally" forgets to put things on our bill. Classes are going well, although it seems strange to be doing business homework in a city like this. I am running on tons of energy after going to bed embarrassingly early last night at 12:30. So here we go.

 

We went to visit Las Setas (The Mushrooms) with ISA, our group over here, on a very rainy day. I have to admit it killed the effect a bit, but I visited them again with some friends for sangria on a beautiful night. Las Setas, is the largest wooden structure in the world and cost 120 million euros to build. Needless to say, the Sevillianos don't like it too much considering the financial crisis in Spain right now (25% unemployment rate!). However, for us tourists, it was pretty cool. You take an elevator up to the top where there is a little bar/café where they serve incredible sangria. Then, you can follow a path that winds across the top of Las Setas and ends at an incredible viewpoint. Some people think Las Setas will turn into an Eiffel Tower of sorts for Sevilla, others, like my business professor, go on long rants about how ridiculous and ugly it is. 

Las Setas was built on top of some incredible ancient ruins. Beneath Las Setas is a little museum of the foundations of old Roman (?) homes and wells that you wind through on a little path. On top of the ruins, but still below Las Setas, is a market where you can buy all sorts of fresh fruits and vegetables along with meets, cheeses, and countless other things. The market is only open on the weekends, so I have yet to attend. 

On another equally rainy day, we went on a day trip to Ronda, an adorable little city about two hours from Sevilla. Unfortunately, the pouring rain (imagine a high powered shower . . .) diminished the magic a little. However, we still got to see the largest bullring ever built, where the first bullfight as we know them today was fought. Bullfighting originally began as a way of training for battle on horses and thus men would fight the bulls from horseback. Then, a man named Francisco Romero decided he could kill a bull from his own two feet and thus the sport begun. 

We also visited Puente Nuevo, which is this beautiful old bridge that spans a massive canyon separating the city in two. Nuevo means "new" which is definitely relative as it was built in 1751, however it took 42 years to be completed. The most amazing thing about this bridge is that it was built with such little technology. It is the tallest bridge in Ronda (390 feet) and is really long. Architects back then really had their work cut out for them. 

After visiting Puente Nuevo, Cade and I decided to hit up a pub for a local favorite: Rabo De Toro. Three guesses as to what that is. The meat of the bull's tale is really tasty. Not joking. It was an awesome meal . . . even with the complimentary french fries. All in all it was a great trip. I would have loved for it to have been a little less wet, I think I am still drying off. 

Last weekend, as some of you may know, I complained about my Spanish phone not being able to call German phone numbers. Actually, I am just an idiot and couldn't figure it out. However, due to my extremely intelligent roommate, I was able to make the call. Cade and I ended up going out for drinks with our new friends Alex, Denis (the Menace), and Slovak. They were in town because Slovak’s older brother is on Sevilla’s fútbol team (he actually made the first goal in the game, even though they ended up losing). We had an awesome time and it was a really neat experience to get to talk with them and hang out with some other Europeans. Not to mention actually meeting up with the random (attractive) stranger who gives you his phone number. When in Rome, er, Sevilla . . .

Although there are a million other things I could talk about, I will wrap it up with another astonishing cultural experience. Some friends and I went to a flamenco show at a spot our host family recommended called La Carbonería. We watched flamenco over glasses of tinto and had a lovely time. Flamenco isn’t the dancing I had envisioned; it is more like stomping, actually. It also includes singing, clapping, music, and other rhythmic movements such as snapping. It was a really cool thing to be a part of, especially at a very local spot. So there are a couple little videos below if you feel so inclined.

   

I could go on and on, Sevilla is beautiful. I have spent almost every morning sitting at café’s after classes with my friends drinking café con leche and chatting about all things under the sun (literally, the weather is beautiful). Most weeknights have consisted of going out for tinto de verano or sangria with friends, hitting some local heladerías (ice cream!), or grabbing tapas at Miguel's (no, that isn’t the actual name of the restaurant, but we go there for Miguel, so that is what we call it.) Our host family continues to be extremely gracious, although Claudia, our 10-year-old sister is becoming more and more like a little sister. She is a little sass; it is adorable, most of the time.

Emails, comments, Facebook messages, letters, smoke signals, telegrams are all welcome . . . I wish more and more that I could be sharing all of this with the people back home. If you think of me, prayer for “living in the moment” would be awesome. The planner in me has been going a little crazy, and planning is definitely not the way the Spanish do things!

Thanks for reading. <3