Sevilla, Spain!

So while on my Trip of Awesomeness 2008 I bought postcards in every city and wrote down the day's activities in them. This was to record my every movement and my every meal (ok, this second one was REALLY important... I had every intention of eating my way through Spain and Italy). This, I must say, was a stellar idea because we all know I have the memory of Dory from "Finding Nemo." So I now give you some stellar bullet points...

• arrived in Sevilla @ 3pm
• picked up by Chelsea @ bus stop, met her roomie, Sydney, adn their Italian roommate
• found tea with D
• met up with Chelsea, Syndey, Will Findk, and hostel-guy Chris

Ok! That got boring! So I'll try to spice it up a little bit...

DAY ONE SEVILLA
We parted Granada for Sevilla at noon on Monday. D and I had a lovely pre-bus walk through the city as we got maps for our upcoming cities (Sevilla and Cordoba) at the tourist office. Can I say that I learned to say "Can I please have a map for ____" in Spanish!? Holler I totally did. I even went back TWICE to say that sentence. I was quaking in my smelly Adidas the whole time. We also spent the morning finding the WORLD'S CHEAPEST espresso shot at only 88 cents. Gracias, Granada, gracias!

Bus rides through Spain? Easy as pie. I love public transportation.

Arrived in Sevilla to this red-headed girl I know named Chelsea running for me. AWESOME. We embraced, despite the bus-smells emanating me. I can't really explain how amazing it is to see people from home while I've been here. For me, reunions started in December with me seeing my English family (hi, guy!) and then there was Alice in Cannes (remember our New York Times wedding photo?) and then there was Chelsea. Chelsea, my former co-worker and friend. This girl is awesome with a mop and boxed wine. Skillz like whoa.

After my tea with Darija and her cousin, I returned to Chelsea and her roommate and a few others to find a typical Spanish meal. And by typical Spanish meal I mean a meal after 10 pm. Ok, I love learning about new cultures as much as the next person (read: a lot) but holy crap I was freaking starving! But ca vaut la peine, though, my friends, because we hit up a vegetarian restaurant and ate amazingness.

This is the part where I tell you about what I ate for my first meal in Sevilla!

Appetizer: FALAFEL. omg.
meal: cornmeal roll with black beans.
drink: red wine. yes.

Then the group of us set off in Sevilla for a night of debauchery. Didn't get home till way late and much, much fun was had.

DAY TWO SEVILLA
Before leaving for Spain, I made it a point to contact a friend from U of M who had lived in Sevilla a few years ago on her study abroad to make sure I knew what to check out from the city and the area in general (all the peeps in Sevilla make day trips to Granada and Cordoba, my two other Spanish cities). She promptly wrote me with a list of things to do and see and each sentence ended with exclamation points because she was excited for my adventures and all of that. So I tried to be true to Lisa's agenda and I checked out what she said...

Stumbled out of bed and met Darija and her cousin at the STARBUCKS NEXT TO THE CATHEDRAL. I swear, that's blasphemous. 1) A Starbucks in Spain. 2) next to a Cathedral. 3) A STARBUCKS IN SPAIN NEXT TO A CATHEDRAL. Um yeah, that's how I feel about that.
(make no mistake, though: I did indeed go to this Starbucks and get a mocha frapp. That's the American in me coming out like whoa).
The three of us went to this enormous Plaza de Espana which is all beautiful and the Parque de Maria Luisa. Took our touristy pictures and wandered around looking at orange trees. Sevilla's oranges are sent to England every year for marmalade-making purposes. Cubca uses 'em so I was more obsessed than the average Michiganian would be, shocked at seeing oranges on trees in February. ORANGES. Yum.
Parted ways after a stop at Starbucks (I swear, the corporation will NOT be in every paragraph about Sevilla) and I met back up with Chelsea and crew to go to their local market. It's like Les Halles here in Avignon but smaller. And so amazing. 3 kilos of ORANGES for ONE EURO. Have you heard anything better than that in your entire life? Heck no. I took it upon myself to "profiter" from this adventure because I felt like all my money was leaving me too early so I bought a garden to feed myself over the next days. And by garden I mean like 4 apples, three kiwis, two pears, two carrots, one red pepper, two bananas, etc. I went all out and it was amazing. I really feel like I could rock a raw food diet for a little while and be totally content.

This is another time where I tell you about what I ate in Sevilla!
Our post-market lunch was: vegetarian sandwiches!
Sauteed onions and garlic with seta mushrooms. Avocado spread on the bread, lettuce, tomato, adn balsamic vinegar. Does anything sound better than that? HECK NO.

After we got through our food coma post-sandwich, Chelsea and Sydney gave me a personalized tour of Sevilla. We checked out the Alcazar (famous cathedral and surrounding area), we walked down by the river, saw the famous tower that commemorates the return of conquistadors with their booty (pictured with the palm tree), took some pictures, and discussed plans for Amsterdam. (pictured: Sydney, Chelsea, me)

That night? Went to a FLAMENCO SHOW. It was a special night of combo Arab-Spanish music so there was a guy rocking the guitar, another guy singing in Spanish, another guy singing in Arabic and playing the violin like it's a cello, and a male flamenco dancer.

I have to say, the hour-long show was STUNning. The flamenco dancer was how we (I) imagine Spanish men: long-ish curly dark hair, deep, myserious eyes, etc. He was amazing. I didn't know human legs and feet could do what his did and DAMN was he gorgeous. So that was fun.

Day 3 in the land of Sevilla was actually to be a day-trip to Cordoba which I will write about in the next post.