Sevilla: Tapas y Flamenco
Trip Start
May 15, 2008
1
60
Trip End
Jul 24, 2008
Seville,
Andalusia,
Spain and Canary Islands
Friday, May 16, 2008
Hello from Spain! My journey began when I arrived in Sevilla, where I will live for six weeks while studying history. While I'm here, I want to improve my daily use of Spanish, increase my vocabulary, and visit many places in Andalusia.
No, I'm not going to write this whole journal in Spanish then translate it into English, it just seemed appropriate for an introduction to my time in Spain. I am so excited to be here, especially since I've traveled through many other parts of Europe, but I've never been to the Iberian Peninsula, so I made it my next destination. It also helps that I speak Spanish pretty well; not great, but definitely at the high intermediate level so I can communicate pretty easily (which definitely beats last summer when I knew no German or Czech)
Sevilla - My Favorite Tree
. My new favorite word is vale, which means "ok/good/alright" and is used mainly in Andalucía.So, after flying through Philly and Barcelona, I arrived in Sevilla at 2pm on May 15. I went straight to the orientation hotel for a Sevillian lunch. One of the first things I've noticed about Spain is that they are quite unused to vegetarians, which is unsurprising and similar to my experience in East Central Europe and Latin America, but the lack of variety of vegetarian dishes has caught me quite off guard. So far, I've had some form of tortilla (which is eggs, sort of like an omelet, often with potatoes and sometimes with cheese) for just about every meal, sometimes plain and sometimes on bread as a sandwich. The idea of a sandwich simply with cheese or with vegetables and cheese is a foreign concept. Anyways, luckily I'm not a vegan and I do like eggs, so it hasn't bothered me too much so far.
Another thing that I've had to get used to is the eating habits and daily schedule here. Breakfast is served around 7 or 8am, then shops and work usually begins at 9am. People usually go home for lunch from 2-3pm, and afterwards take a siesta (nap) until around 5pm, during the hottest part of the day. From 2-5 many shops are totally closed. Then people return to work from 5-8 or 9pm and dinner is usually served between 8:30 and 10pm. It is quite different from an American schedule (and the schedule in other parts of Europe that I've traveled to). After a while though, the siesta seems normal, and I've gotten to really like the fact that most shops are open so late.
So, after checking in and eating lunch at the hotel on my first day, I went exploring and bought a Vodafone that I can use here. I found the building which I'll be studying at, quite centrally located, which was constructed in 1725
Sevilla - University
. I wandered down Sierpes, one of the main shopping streets, around the Iglesia Salvador (San Salvador Church), and through Alfalfa Plaza, which is really close to where my classes are held. After my little walk, I had dinner (another tortilla), and we had a horse-drawn carriage ride around the city at 10pm, which was quite pleasant - the gardens and the Plaza de España were beautiful at night!The next morning, I had orientation sessions more-or-less all day. After tapeando (eating tapas) for lunch, I had a quick siesta before the orientation resumed. The idea of tapear is one of my favorite things about Sevilla and its laid back, no pasa nada attitude. Sevillanos will order one or two tapas (tapas here aren't even that small), then order another if they're still hungry, then another, slowly eating and enjoying a Cruzcampo, the local beer, or a sangria. My favorite lunchtime tapas are bocadillos, which are mini sandwiches. An order of 2-5 will fill you up, and you get a variety to choose from (mine, of course, included tortilla).
That night, we went to a flamenco show, the quintessential Andalucian dance, at La Casa de la Memoría, a museum that features performances at night, in Santa Cruz. The show was great but very different from what I associate flamenco with - the lady with the rose in her hair with the red ruffled dress. Actually, flamenco is traditionally a man's dance - women were only allowed to join in during the 1940s and 1950s
Sevilla - Torre de Oro
. The chemistry of the dance is mainly channeled between the dancer(s) and musicians. There was one full dance with only the man, who taps his feet (quite loudly) in rhythm (and out of rhythm) with the music. The sound of the dance is much more important than the actual movements. Then, there was a dance with a man and a woman. The woman wore a classy black dress with some ruffles, but it certainly wasn't one of the brightly colored dresses you see in the movies or in the tourist shops around the cities. Overall, the dance was a great experience that I'd recommend.After that, I had my first night on the town in Sevilla, going down to some bars by the river on Calle Betis. From what I've seen, the nightlife lasts later (and gets started later) at night than many places in Europe, but the bars I've seen are pretty much typical for Europe.
The next morning, we had a tour of the city, passing by Sevilla's most recognizable landmarks like the Alfonso XIII Hotel, the Universidad de Sevilla, El Torre del Oro, the Cathedral, and the Ayuntamiento (City Hall). Afterwards, I moved into our Residencia, which has both Spanish and foreign students. It's near the Plaza del Duque de la Victoria, where El Corte Ingles and a small market are located and the north ends of Sierpes and Tetuán, the two main pedestrian shopping streets of the city, loaded with purse and shoe stores as well as European staples like Zara, Mango, and H&M. Those are definitely my two favorite streets of the city, so it's great that I get to walk up and down them daily.
On Saturday, we moved into the Residencia where we'll be staying while in Sevilla. I'm in a nice but small double room with its own bathroom. My roommate is another girl from the program. When we were unpacking, two boys, neither American nor Spanish (I'm not sure exactly who they were or what nationality they were) sprayed the fire extinguisher through our window (it faces a hallway corridor)
Sevilla - Bullfighting Ring
. Our entire room was covered with the white-gray powder that it took hours to clean up. Because we were unpacking, all of our stuff was out. I still even feel the powder when I walk around, but there's not much I can do. All I can say is it wasn't the most welcoming greeting, but everything turned out alright.That night we decided to tapear again, this time on Calle San José, near Calle Santa María la Blanca. The tapas were excellent; our table of 8 ordered about twice as much food as we needed including three cheese croquets, spinach empanadillas, fried potato circles with multiple sauces, baguette sandwiches, and meats, all with a heaping serving of ali oli, a local mayonnaise based garlic sauce used to season many types of food.
