Here's Vaughn!
The hotel room wasn't ready when we tried to check in (strike one, Vincci La Rabida) so even though R was beyond tired (and had probably been awake for longer than she has ever been in her life), we started the tour of Sevilla. I took her to Plaza de Triunfo outside the cathedral and we ate oranges, starting to catch up. I could tell she was a delusional as my dad was on the first day, but by the time we could check in it was already the afternoon, and I didn't want her to not be able to sleep at night if she napped now, so I made her power through. We showered to wake ourselves up some (I did get up early enough to pack a hiking bookbag full of winter clothes to bring to the hotel and send back with her, go to the bus stop at 6 to be there when her plane landed in Sevilla, and waited in the airport with all my heavy bags [the bus driver was very confused as to why I was buying a same-day ida y vuelta airport bus ticket when I had that much luggage in tow] when her plane was delayed), and the showers were simply amazing. Huge white cotton robes and slippers awaited us when we were finished, so we ate more fruit and lounged in the room with our hair wrapped in warm towels, enjoying the feeling of this being our room for the entire week ahead. The TV had maybe 14 channels, 10 of which were news showing very chaotic and violent scenes, 1 was static, 2 had English shows like Jersey Shore and sci-fi movies (the relation between the two...?) that still played the sound in English but had German translators speaking over top of the original sound, making it just one huge raucous to listen to, and 1 Spanish game show channel. Guess which one we watched... I was actually surprised at my skills to guess the Wheel of Fortune phrase before the Spanish competitors, but some other shows (Pasapalabra!) were just way over our heads and all we could do was watch everyone's reactions to see if a certain person was winning or losing.
Then it was out to explore. First stop: Plaza de Espana and Parque de Maria Luisa. Second stop: Rayas with MC (of course). We ran in to some other Americans on another study abroad program in Sevilla that we've gotten to be friends with over the semester, so we ended up sitting in the park, reminiscing about some experiencing over the past 5 months, enjoying our mango/strawberry/lemon gelatos. It's so weird discussing how everyone is packing up to leave, about to go back to the U.S. or embark on the European travels for the rest of summer, but they'll no longer be in this little bubble that is Sevilla. Especially for Mary Carr! I don't know Sevilla without her, and I feel like we really discovered it together, right from the beginning on our adventure runs when we'd take a map (and I'd take all my extra layers because it was absolutely freezing) and just run until we lost ourselves and then found our way back home. My experience with Cristina is one that really only she can get since she's seen it all with me. All our good meals and definitely all the questionable ones, all Cristina's quirks and wacky habits, and just all that comes with living in such close quarters with someone for half a year. Having Rachael here took my mind off the fact that she was leaving, but when she finally does leave, I'll have to learn how to do things differently, even if for only a couple weeks. More on that later.
One thing that happens fairly frequently around here is that time just slips by you without you realizing it at all. For one, you have no obligations, basically no places you need to be at a certain time, aside from lunch at 2 and dinner at 9. And without phones (I don't even own a watch) glued to our hands at all times, I look at the clock a lot less. We were in the park until almost dinner time. At least what I wanted to be dinner time for Rachael and me while we had the opportunity to control when and what we ate for the whole week. I was so excited about the prospect of this, but I learned quickly that I can't escape the late dinners, no matter how hard I try. We tried to go to Los Coloniales at 7:30 and, hombre claro, they don't start serving dinner until 8 or 8:30. Hey whatever, still earlier than at home so I'll take it I guess. We ordered drinks and sat outside until we could order tapas. I got a salad, hoping it would be normal, but it wasn't. Oh well, I'm no longer disappointed by these things. I just eat what's in front of me, knowing that in 3 weeks I'll return to normalcy, and there's no need to fret about the little stuff. On the plus side Rachael is also a tapas fan, like my dad. They both like to munch. Easier on me to find a place to eat I guess, since its literally only tapas everywhere I look. We crashed early Thursday night and I had big plans of letting Rachael catch up on sleep while I went back to Cristina's early to grab more things, help MC pack, go to the gym and take a cycle class, and go back to the hotel early afternoon to start our day together, but the room was so dark and the bed was too comfortable that I didn't even hear my alarm. I woke up at 11:45, and my big plans were down the drain. Still, Rachael was sleeping soundly so I did go back to Cristina's and hung out with MC for a bit, just the two of us like good ole times. When they left to pick up MC's custom-ordered coral ring from the jeweler around the corner, I made sandwiches muy rapidamente. I wish I had a video of myself in the kitchen when no one is home. I'm scavenging for hidden treasures, looking in parts of the kitchen I know don't house food, but hoping C might have stashed something somewhere, and opening the fridge multiple times hoping to see something different a second or third time around. The PB and J's had to suffice since there was nothing made to-go in the house. I did steal 2 yogurts, 4 apples, 2 oranges, and a knife to spread the PB on the bread later. It's all too comical when I think about it. I just can't wait to walk in my kitchen at home and open the fridge without having to literally be walking on my tip toes and trying to not make a sound so that I don't have to explain myself. "I'm HUNGRY! And it's only 12 and we're not eating for 2 more hours and you're stewing peas and eggs and I really hate that meal so I'm trying to fill up a little bit so I don't have to eat the entirely too huge bowl you're going to serve me come lunchtime." No, that just wouldn't go over well.
When I got back Rachael was still dead to the world, but I woke her up and told her there is much to be seen, so let's get a move on. We ate our sandwiches on the river and afterward, rented a canoe for an hour! This was on my bucket list, and I'm so glad I got to cross it off! I'd seen the rental place along the river since January, but it only recently opened, and even on the day we rented the canoe, the man looked at me like I was so strange for requesting such a thing. No one was out on the water. It was so awesome to A. have the whole Guadalquivir to ourselves, B. to see the river and the city from a different angle, and C. to lounge in the hot sun with my best friend.
Today R saw Sevilla without the clouded eyes of a weary traveler. She was fascinated by the Triana Bridge, even though we saw it briefly yesterday, but today she wanted to take pictures and kept saying things like "It's just so beautiful here!" Trust me, I know. We went to the ceramic markets in Triana and a craft shop near our hotel where we got some gifts for people (like the coffee mug for MC). But the purchase of the day that I'm most proud of was from my new favorite place in Sevilla- La Fiorentina, gelateria. Better than Rayas, I've decided. With the flavor of lemon basil, so it's already number one in my book. Plus the ladies are much nicer and give you much bigger samples when you ask for them. New favorite flavor: Palmera de chocolate. I love that it's like a whole new Sevilla every time some one comes to visit me! This day I did 3 things I'd never done before, and I've been living here for how long now? I love that I can constantly try new things, that there's always something different just around the corner you've passed so many times before, but if you take the time to actually round it you'll no doubt be pleasantly surprised. And yet the old things never seem to get old, either. It's magical.
I wanted to eat dinner at a place near my house in Nervion so that we could meet up with MC afterward, so we showered and got ready to bike up that way, but we still had time to kill before they started serving dinner (at 9). We went to the rooftop bar (and were the only ones, because again, we are so early to do everything- still- in comparison to Spaniards) and ordered a glass of wine, and overlooked the city from an aerial view. I swear, the rooftops of Sevillan buildings are like their own separate world. You see so many different things when you're above the winding streets rather than getting lost in between them. The cathedral from up high, so massive next to everything else, was breathtaking.
Even after all this, we were early to dinner and had more time to kill. I showed Rach a normal grocery store (in order for her to see how tiny it is, how small of a selection it offers when compared to HT) and bought a pack of Principe double-stuffed cookies. I will be stocking up on these before my flight home. And they will be one of the few things that I'll sorely miss from the grocery stores here. Our dinner was, interesting, to say the least. I'd been to this place once before with the woman who works in the pharmacy next to my apartment building. Pepa is a young woman who MC befriended (as MC does with almost everyone she meets), and she's moving to Atlanta in August with her fiance! She's such a sweet woman, and she wanted to practice some English so MC, Georgia, Sonya, and I went out to eat with her one night a few weeks ago. Cristina loves Pepa, too. ("La mujer mas simpatica de todo el mundo", she says every time we mention her). The night with Pepa we ordered a calamari and seaweed pasta that was to die for, so that's what I tried to order with Rachael. Turns out, I did point to the right thing on the menu, but the waiter still recorded it wrong and he brought me this:
when what I actually tried to order was this:
It turned out to be really good, albeit salty as can be. With MC we walked to Avenida Restauracion, the place where the two of us got ice cream for the first time on our Sevici excursion, way back in January. Chloe, Time, Eric, and Emily all met us there and we had churros y chocolate and talked for hours. It was probably one of my fondest memories of all of my study abroad experiences. Reminiscing on old stories, crazy things that have happened to each of us, trying to top each other's stories about who had the worst night or the most ridiculous or unbelievable thing happen to them, and laughing now about the things that were SO not funny at the time when they happened was how we spent the whole night. And I couldn't have been more content with that. MC was leaving early the next morning, and it was a great last night to have with her, with all of us. The friendships we've built over the past semester are stronger than some that have taken me all of college to forge. When you're thrown into a situation like this with complete strangers, you have no choice but to get to know everyone on a very personal level, very quickly. But I love that! And lucky for us, we have all these new friends once we get back to Chapel Hill, while lots of other study abroad kids meet when they're abroad and then go home to their own colleges all over the U.S. and will probably never see most of their new friends again. Our program was directly through UNC, with only UNC students enrolled, so while that has its downsides, it also means I've made some friends that I can see for the rest of college, friends I never would have met otherwise. I so look forward to being at home with all of them, but it will be so weird. The way we know each other is through our lives here, meeting by el rio or people-watching in Parque de Maria Luisa, botelloning by Torre de Oro before going to Alfalfa, going to a 6 person class at EUSA where work doesn't actually mean "work" in the sense that we know it at Chapel Hill. It will be a whole new experience seeing them on Franklin Street, but I can't imagine it will be anything less than awesome. And I loved being able to share my friends here with Rach. Again, like the collision of two worlds, sitting at one of my fave ice cream places with an old best friend and 5 new ones, this was one night that was altogether weird and sad, but still so sweet and one I'll remember always.
No comments:
Post a Comment