John in Spain!

I got back from London Saturday night and John flew in Sunday morning! His plane ended up being delayed but he got in around 2PM. I was planning on running up to him and giving him a hug but I had so much stuff at the airport that I couldn't leave it behind nor run with it...so it was kind of a lame first hello but at least my luggage didn't get stolen! We took the airport shuttle bus and then a taxi to the hotel. It was a gorgeous hotel and made for a great week! My parents and sister and brother in law are all staying there when they come visit in just a couple of weeks so I am living in luxury for half of April! The week John came we also had a week break because of Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Sevilla. It basically consists of about 30 Catholic men carrying "pasos" which are huge wooden boards decorated in gold paper and have the Virgin Mary and Jesus carrying the cross pictures on them. You can see a picture below of what I am trying to explain. It also consists of other Catholics wearing all black and tall black pointy hats and they walk in front of and behind the pasos (yes, it looked like the KKK). There were just huge processions and the pasos are meant to show the journey of Jesus' last days.

With that said, John and I went into el centro where the pasos were taking place and experienced this cultural event a couple of days but also saw the rest of the city. It was raining on and off all week but we managed to “dance in the rain” and still have an awesome week in Spain!

Here is a breakdown of our week:

Sunday:

- Got dinner at a local Spanish restaurant near the hotel

- John bought a Sevici bike pass that was the best purchase of the entire trip because we used it ALL week long! …Even got caught in the pouring rain a couple times while biking

- We went on a late night bike ride to try out the bikes and keep John awake due to his jetlag. On this bike ride, I may have overestimated my ability of lifting the front tire to hop up on a curb and completely fell off my bike in the park. I have never fallen off a Sevici bike and I was pretty embarrassed. I even scratched up my arm and hip…at least I had something to show for it! Side note…when I was on the ground after my fall, John just stood there in complete shock and laughed. Thanks bf :)

Monday:

- John got to see my neighborhood and school

- We went shopping in Nervion Plaza and bought John a new “euro” outfit

- Got dinner at a burger/milkshake place and I was loving the “American” food

- We went to the Sevilla vs. Mollorca Soccer Game and I bought a Sevilla scarf. Sevilla won!

Tuesday:

- We saw the Cathedral and Giralda and were able to go inside. We weren’t able to go up the Giralda because of Semana Santa but at least John still got to see the inside of the Cathedral.

- We went to las setas (the mushrooms) in el centro. You get a gorgeous view of the entire city.

- We met up with my intercambio Jose and he showed us around el centro a little bit and took us out to eat at a really fun Spanish restaurant

- Later in the night, we went out with Jose for a couple of drinks

Wednesday:

- We spent most of our morning at Alcazar… the beautiful gardens in el centro. It was so nice just to relax and there were lots of peacocks!

- We went to 100 Montaditos for dinner (because everything is 1 euro on Wednesday’s) and John was able to see what I do every Wednesday night!

Thursday:

- We took the train to Cádiz (the beach)! It luckily didn’t rain while we were there so we were able to enjoy the weather and gorgeous beach and city.

- We ate dinner at Telepizza once we got off the train in Sevilla.

- We went to Buda (a club/bar) with Lauren and Gonzalo and had a fun night getting dressed up and hanging out with them! Gonzalo and John bonded over cars :)

Friday:

- We went to my apartment and my señora and her husband had John and I over for lunch!! They were so excited to meet John. My señora brought out her nice tablecloth and placemats and fancy china glasses (that I had never seen) and she even bought apple wine (when we never have anything besides water). She went all out and it was so great to see her so excited about meeting him! She is 83 and her husband (my grandpa) is 87 so this was truly an event for them.

- John and I went to a café right by my apartment and got drinks while we waited for the rain to pass.

- Then we went to the park and rented a boat to go around the Plaza de Espana! It was really fun and John taught me all of his mad rowing skills.

- We went out for Italian food with Gonzalo and Lauren and walked by the river and Torre de Oro and got some good pics. Then we got ice cream (it tasted so American…it was thick and I was loving it!) and went and saw one of the night pasos. 

Saturday:

- We went to el centro and did some more shopping and looking around.

- We ate at a really cute Italian restaurant outside in el centro.

- We went to the park and rented bikes. I always see people biking around on these bikes so it was really fun to finally rent one!

Sunday:

- John’s flight left at 6:55AM so we were up by 3AM. We wanted the taxi driver at the hotel to take us to the airport shuttle bus because it would save us a lot of money but he tried to tell us there were still strikes and he had to just drive us all the way to the airport. Little did he know, I live in Spain and know the buses are running so we ended up walking about 40 minutes with all of our stuff to the bus at 4AM just to save money (learned from the best…our parents) and caught the bus. It was really hard to say goodbye to John for a second time and on Easter. But it was so great to see him and it was such a blessing he was able to come!