Dia 41-42: Hasta Luego Sevilla

Hola chicos,

This day was the saddest day ever: the day we all had to say goodbye to Sevilla. A majority of us met up in Plaza Alfalfa with Vicky, Quique and MJ to have a farewell breakfast together. It was really great…. But I got all emotional because it was the last time we were all going to be together, so of course I cried. It sounds lame, but all of us had grown so close to each other and had had such an unforgettable experience that I couldn’t bare thinking that it was all ending. Quique, being the amazing person he is, bought all of our coffees and breakfasts. I hugged Vicky goodbye and ALMOST cried. Randi, Michelle and I decided to do something fun to take our mind off of the sadness, so what did we do??? PARTY PANTS SHOPPING! That’s right, I bought a 3^rd pair… #sorryimnotsorry. We got our final fix of Stradivarius, thank heavens…. Ohhh Strad, one of the millions of reasons why I HAVE to come back to Spain.

 Alright, after our retail therapy (literally though), I went home for lunch. HALLELUIAH, we had the most delicious lunch. Sevilla was having unseasonably cold weather for the summer so my house parents decided to make us a dish that they don’t usually serve until the fall/winter, but since it was so cold, it made sense. This was DA BOMB. It was like a pork and beef stew with rice and some divine white sauce. Ohhh it was mighty tasty.

After I finished packing (yuck), Cassie and I met up with Michelle, Randi, Sara and Maggie to go have a final hangout with Juan. We went to a nearby restaurant and ordered a jarra of sangria. We chatted about random things, like Spanish Slang, since Juanito is the expert on that. Afterwards, we went back to ISA to have our fashion shoot.

(happy to be together... except Juan because he doesn't smile in photos...lame)

(sad to leave)

(it was a mission to get him to smile with his teeth)

After this final hurrah… all that was left to do was sadly wait at home until it was time to drag our luggage to the meeting point.

When that moment finally came, we said goodbye to our house parents and decided that the only way we’d survive such a sad evening would be with some HELADO!! Ohhh Helado… I don’t know who I love more, you or Strad...

(my last helado)

Well here comes the most depressing part. We were all crowded around a giant bus, carrying all of our massive luggage… and BALLING. It was one big cry fest. Obvi, I was participating. We were hugging each other goodbye because some of the group wasn’t getting on the bus back to Madrid because they had other traveling plans afterwards. We were consoling each other. It was like we were at a funeral: The Death of our Sevillian Study Abroad… was that too dramatic? No. It wasn’t dramatic enough. This was seriously sad stuff man.

Then, I said goodbye to Quique, let’s not even talk about that one. Now, don’t let this seemingly happy photo fool you, I was a wreck. 

Randi and Michelle presented all of our personal notes that we had written to MJ and Quique and then we all were corralled onto the bus. MJ was later texting with Quique and he commented that the notes were soooo nice and that he was going to miss us all so much. Igualmente, Quique.

The bus ride was uneventful, until we arrived at the Madrid airport where AGAIN the cry fest resumed. This was even sadder because it was rushed. Everyone had to get all of their stuff off the bus and say their final goodbyes in 5 minutes flat. No bueno.

Fortunately, my flight wasn’t until 5pm and Deonna was on the same flight as me, so we decided to get dropped off in the city center to spend time there rather than waiting 12 hours in an airport. In Madrid, we went and had coffee and a snack and then wandered into the Parque Retiro. I had remembered it pretty well from the last time I was there with Val, so I navigated us to the main square in the park and we took some pictures.

After relaxing here for a while, it was time for me to say goodbye to MJ at the train station. It was sad BUT I know that we will see each other again. Por eso, nos dijimos “hasta luego”.

Then Deonna and I hopped on the metros to navigate our way to the airport. It never ceases to amaze me how much camaraderie there is amongst people who speak English in a country where that is not the national language. On our hectic metro experience (we had to change metro lines 4 times) we met 5 different people who just decided to befriend us because they heard us speaking English.

Finally, we arrived at the airport. Eventually made it to our gate, waited until I unwillingly boarded the plane back to the US.

FINALLY but very very sadly, this concludes my “Me Llamo Raquel” blog. After all of my amazing experiences that I will never ever forget, I have only one thing left to say:

 

 

 

Hasta luego,

Raquel 

Dia 39-40: Alcazar y Alfalfa

¿Que tal tios?

On Sunday, we got up late, tired after a late night out. I relaxed and studied a little bit for my Literature exam and then enjoyed a very delicious paella con cerdo. It was bittersweet since it was our last paella of the trip.

After lunch, I skyped my parents for about an hour to update them and wish my dad Happy Father's Day. It was great to talk to them but I was quite jealous of the delicious meal they had made to celebrate the day and the LOVELY bottle of champagne they were about to pop.

That evening I met up with Esteban, Maggie, Sara, Michelle and Wendy to have Granizada at Mascarpone in Triana. We sat at a table on the street and all chatted about our experience abroad and reminiscing on some of our hilarious times together. None of us allowed each other to speak about how the next day was our last full day in Sevilla. Living in denial was the motto. Como siempre, the Guadalquivir was beautiful as I was walking home, so naturally I documented its glory.

On Monday, I met Sarah Diamond at ISA on the roof top to lay out and study for Rey-J's Lit Exam at 11am. Well of course we chose the cloudiest day of all time to try to lay out, so instead we just sat outside together and chatted/studied. After the exam, we had time to kill before Vicky's Culture class, so a big group of us went to a Cafeteria to enjoy a coffee and pastry. We all sat together chatting and REFUSING to admit that our last day of the program was tomorrow. I enjoyed a chocolate covered donut and coffee as we made plans about RAGING for our last night in Sevilla. Then, we met Vicky outside of ISA to head to the Alcazar together.

When we got there, Vicky's original intention was for us to complete a worksheet in groups about the history of the Alcazar as we walked around. However, we quickly gave up on that and decided we just wanted to enjoy its beauty, meander through and take pictures. 

Minor history, the Alcazar is an ancient Moorish Castle (Alcazar is arabic for Castle). 

 (one of the many insane ceilings in the Alcazar)

(deff the coolest ceiling in the whole palace, it looks like one of those fancy foil wrapped chocolate covered oranges)

My ABSOLUTE favorite part of the Alcazar was Los Banos de Maria de Padillas. I was mainly excited because I had seen lots of pictures of the spot online and they were all breathtaking. Everyone in my group referred to them as the Chamber of Secrets (Harry Potter reference) because they REALLY did look like that. These bathrooms were created for the King's Mistress who actually had more power than the Queen because the King was in love with her. The mistress basically demanded to have her own private pool/bath and so they made it for her.

We continued wandering around and taking pictures of the gorgeous palace. 

Once we reconvened with the whole group we stopped back at Los Banos to take a group pic and then took some pics out in the gardens.

 (un pavo real... a royal turkey jajaj)

 

(I made a peacock friend)

 (one guapo grupo if you ask me!)

(VICKYYYYY!!!)

Afterwards, we all sadly said goodbye to our Culture Class but we convinced Vicky to go to breakfast with us the next morning with MJ and Quique. 

I headed home and had lunch... which ironically was the ONE meal that my house parents had made before that I didn't like: Spinach soaked in EVOO with Garbanzo beans... no bueno. 

That afternoon I met up with MJ to have tapas and drinks for dinner. We met at Plaza Alfalfa and decided to go have a tapa at a restaurant near the Setas. Here we enjoyed a beer and an awesome tomato appetizer that had a bold flavor almost as if they were sundried tomatoes with bell peppers. Everything was beautifully enhanced by the delicious Spanish Olive Oil. We then went to our next stop which was in the Setas plaza where we had caracoles and another beer. This evening was proving to be as awesome as I had anticipated. We chatted and reminisced about my trip in Sevilla, it was lovely. Then, we went to a bar in Plaza Alfalfa where we had AMAZING tapas that included Bruscetta Andaluza which is a baguette toasted and covered in salmorejo (similar to gazpacho) with melted mozarella on top and bacon. This dish was DA BOMB. Then we finished it all with a Chocolate Torte. Our final stop on our tapas bar crawl was in a little plaza where we had another beer and some tasty aceitunas.

 (MJJJJJJJJ)

 (delish chocolate torte... and some beers, duh)

I was sad for our evening together to end because I had been looking forward to it for several days, and then POOF the time had passed. Afterwards, I headed over to meet up with everyone to have our grand finale out on the town of Sevilla... and OF COURSE we decided to hit up our standard stomping grounds of Plaza Alfalfa. This time honestly everyone in our entire program was out. We were all running around, taking pictures with everyone, chatting, just doing everything we possibly could to soak up every last second of the last night on our incredible study abroad experience together.

I can honestly say that I love my whole study abroad group so much. I couldn’t be happier that we all go to the same school that way we can continue our strong friendships back in Gville. Sadly, Sarah is the only girl in our group who doesn’t go to UF so obvi I will miss her mucho.

 (GOOOOOS... feel yours)

 (Esteban straight flexinn)

The first bar we were at closed at 230am, which was such a buzz kill... but it was only a Monday, so it was understandable. Fortunately, the bar next door was still open and POPPIN so we just hopped over there. This bar had louder music and more of an environment that promotes dancing, so we were digging it. We would wiggle on the “dance floor”… we MADE it a dancefloor... and then stop and talk or walk around in search of meeting new people.

While I was standing at the bar waiting to order a drink, a guapo named Javi came up and started talking to me. He was pretty silly. He was asking me why I wasn’t dancing anymore and started dancing for me which was hilarious. He was with a group of friends that he introduced me to. They were all pretty guay. I introduced them to some of the girls and we continued chatting/dancing. I found out he was 23 from Sevilla and studying at the university of sevilla and working part time as a waiter.

 (me and gatitaaaaa)

Sadly, bar numero dos closed at 330am, BUT Javi knew of a bar named Berlin that is the only one open extra late, so a group of us went there with him and his friends. Fun fact: he had a tongue ring and when I commented on it he told me he also had his nipple pierced!!!! AHHH. I was freaking out. The Spaniards are soooo down with piercings. Honestly its way more common to have a piercing if your between the ages of 18-25 then to NOT have one. Quite a different social norm from Estad Unid, but I was bout it, no pasa nada. 

I ended up staying out at the bars till 630am... legit saw the sun rise as I was walking home. I'd say my final night in Sevilla was one hell of a success!!!!

Hasta luego,
Raquel