sevilla y mas

i have survived four full days in spain without any mishaps, and i´ve done it all by myself!! okay, if by myself, you mean with the help of Agustin in madrid and Felicita in sevilla, then yes, by myself. but hey, i´m trying!

so, before i begin to tell you all about my time here in sevilla, let me back up and give you a highlight of madrid that i forgot to mention. Agustin and i went to lunch (la hora de comida), and we decided to order paella because i can´t leave spain without having paella. well, when agustin asked the server what was in the paella, he said that in addition to the traditional seafood, there was also rabbit. so, apparently i ate rabbit. because there was also chicken and pork in the plate, i´m not sure exactly which one was rabbit, but i have a guess, and if i´m right, it was definitely gamier (remember this description from some of the meats i tried in south africa?) than most meats. if nothing else, i´ve definitely become much more adventurous in what i will and won´t eat...or at least try once!

i made it to sevilla with little trouble. i took the high speed train from madrid, and it only took two and a half hours to get here. i jumped in to a cab at the train station to get to my hotel, and unfortunately the cab driver definitely upped the price on me, but since i don´t speak spanish, fighting with him was not going to happen. but he only charged me €1,40 more than the meter said, and i no longer felt badly about not tipping him!

my hotel is located right at the beginning of the barrio de santa cruz, which is the historical area of sevilla. i am within a three minute walking distance of the cathedral, la giralda and the alcazar, all must-see monuments in the city. my room is extremely small, but very nice. it is on the first floor of the hotel (which would be considered the second floor in the states) and is a corner room, so i have two balconies overlooking the streets of santa cruz. i love to sleep with windows open so that i wake up to natural light, so it´s been great to have two sets of glass doors in my tiny room.

so i dropped my bags off and headed to get something to eat. i met a very nice american couple on my way to the cafe. they were also staying at my hotel and were given the same recommendation by the man at the desk as i was, so they caught up with me on the street and said, ¨we´re going to the same place as you.¨ i was taken aback at the sound of english and was glad to have someone to talk with during lunch. they had spent the last week exploring andalucia, so they had a lot of good recommendations for me, and they were kind enough to treat me to tapas! i was very thankful for their generosity and felt more confident about my time alone in this great country.

after lunch, i strolled through santa cruz just to get a feel for the area. the streets of the neighborhood are narrow and lined with cobblestone. every building has iron balconies, and it definitely has that european charm that is missing from most cities in the states. i slowly made my way back to the hotel, where i was very happy to get some rest because the night before i didn´t sleep very well. (jet lag is such a pain!) fortunately, siestas are welcomed in this country, so siesta i did!

after my afternoon rest, i figured out how to make a local phone call and phoned up my dear friend and former RA Felicita, who is studying this semester at la universidad en sevilla. when she picked up the phone, it was so good to hear her voice. she happened to be sitting at a starbucks (don´t worry. she wasn´t drinking starbucks...the shop just happened to have outdoor seating, and she needed to sit because she was feeling very overwhelmed by her new surroundings) right around the corner from my hotel, so i threw on my coat and ran over to meet her. i can´t tell you how nice it is to be so far from home and be able to walk around the corner and see a familiar face.

so for the past two days, feli and i have enjoyed exploring sevilla together. we´ve been to the cathedral and to the top of la giralda and through los jardines de la alcazar. we´ve spent a good amount of time talking about the fabulous john adams staff members (past and present), who i miss desperately. we´ve had great cups of coffee (which is hard not to do here in españa). she also has been helping me use my spanish, which has been extremely helpful, especially as i prepare to venture to a new town where there are no familiar faces to bump into (at least not that i know of!)

today, we are going to wander down to the famous bull fighting ring and find some of the roman ruins that are being discovered and uncovered as the streets are dug up to put in a subway system. tomorrow i leave for granada, and i don´t know much past that. i´m proud of myself for being so flexible in my travels, and so far, so good!