Sunday: My parents got here around 2PM and were pretty jet
lagged but we rented the Sevici bikes and took a bike ride right away, of
course! They loved the bikes…or just loved the experience of us biking around
Sevilla together. We ate pizza at
an Italian restaurant by our hotel, rode our Sevici bikes to the park and Plaza
de España and ate dinner in the hotel.
Monday: We slept in and met up with my intercamio Jose a
little later in the day. We went
to las setas (the mushrooms) in el centro where you get a gorgeous view of the
city. We walked around the city and did a little bit of shopping, saw the Barrio
de Santa Cruz (a quaint little neighborhood in el centro) and went to a
very Spanish bar for a drink. Later, we got dinner at a Spanish
restaurant. My parents were not feeling the Spanish food but tried it a couple
of days and then said it is all Italian from here on out. Something to note is
that here in Sevilla, it is either tapas (authentic Spanish food) or
Italian. Good thing we all love
Italian because that is basically what we ate the rest of the week.
Tuesday: We got lunch with my Señora and Señor (the whole gang pictured below left and my Spanish family below right). The extent of my dad’s Spanish is hola and sabor and therefore, it got quite exhausting trying to translate everything but it was still so much fun. After lunch
they wanted us to come over and look at pictures of their children and past study
abroad students (they have had students for 13 years!). It ended up being almost
a 5-hour outing but it was worth it! Then we met up with my intercambio Jose
and went to Feria (a fair in Sevilla where companies and families have tents, girls dress up in these
gorgeous dresses and there are lots of horses and caballeros). The main gate (portada) is pictured on the right. It was really
fun to have this cultural experience. We met up with Jose’s friends and Lauren
and Gonzalo and some of my other friends later in the night. We also went on
rides because I love Carnival rides!
Wednesday: We went to Cadiz! We took the train down to the beach and when we got outside the train station it was cloudy and cold; we were starting to count down the number of hours we had before our train back. But once we got on the beach, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we spent the whole afternoon laying out and eating at this cute restaurant right on the beach.
Thursday: We went to el centro and went to Alcazar (the
gardens) and did some shopping. We bought a suitcase so that my parents could bring back a suitcase for me (so I will be bringing back 3 suitcases now in total...ah!) But then Matt and Sarah came in Thursday night! We went out to eat at a Spanish restaurant and my parents got the Spanish experience once again... the fish still had their heads and tails on and none of us ate too much tut it was a cool experience. After dinner, Matt, Sarah and I went to Feria and met Jose there. It was another fun night but we may have stayed out too late because...
Friday: Friday was the last day mom and dad were here and Matt, Sarah and I slept in too late. But once we got going, we went to the park and Plaza de España (dad and Sarah on left) and then ate in el centro and saw more of the city together. At night, we had a birthday dinner in the hotel for Matt and dad. We went around and told birthday stories about the two of them...love this tradition!
Saturday: Mom and dad left for the airport at 4AM. When Sarah, Matt and I got up, we went to el centro and went to the Cathedral and climbed to the top of the Giralda (tower attached to the Cathedral) and went to Alcazar (una vez más). Then Sarah and I went shopping and bought jeans for her, me and Elisabeth :) We then went to La Carbonería, a Flamenco bar, and Jose met us there. It was really cool to see Flamenco again because I hadn't seen it since the first week I was in Spain. On the right, is a picture of us there.
Sunday: Matt and Sarah dropped me off Sunday morning and drove to their next destination in Spain. It ended up being more of an emotional week that I was expecting and I think this was because I am leaving so soon and am trying to deal with so many different emotions and feelings but it was such a great week and weekend!
- A few other differences in Spain that I can think of…mostly
pertain to school/numbers:
- Kilometers instead of miles.
- Celsius instead of Fahrenheit.
- Military time.
- Different decimal and comma use in numbers. Ex: 67,000.5 = 67.000,5 (Notice the . and , are switched and this stumped me the first couple days in my Finance class).
- I leave in just 8 days. I can't believe 4 months has gone by this fast! I have my 4 exams next Wednesday and Thursday and then I am leaving on Friday. I am trying to finish up strong and make the best out of my last days here. Praise God for such a stretching, growing and awesome semester. I will be posting once more to close up my study abroad experience when I get home.
xoxo, Rebekah
