Rome and Florence

Our first full day in Rome started with a 9am breakfast at the hotel. Jose, Ally, Kelsey and I enjoyed croissants, cakes, ham, salami, cheese, cereal, coffee and orange juice before we started our long day. Breakfast was included in the price of our room so you better believe we took full advantage of it. After taking a bus and metro into the center of the city we went straight to work. Our first stop was Basilica Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri whic h is situated right in front of the Roma Termini metro and train station. The Basilica is amazingly spacious and the organ player was a great touch to the amazing feel of the place. After a few minutes of walking and ducking into a few other smaller churches we arrived at the Basilica Papale Santa Maria Maggiore.  This basilica was huge. With giant pillars lining either sides of the pews and the decorated ceilings, we were more than astonished. We tried to see all the chapels but had to try and keep to our schedule if we wanted to make it to everything we had planned for that day.

      While inside the basilica Kelsey thought of the Illuminati. If you have read the book Angels and Demons by Dan Brown it is about a secret group of scholars who planted messages in famous works of art all around Rome. The sign of the Illuminati is an eye and usually seen inside of a triangle (like on the dollar bill above the pyramid.)

While in the basilica Kelsey was reminded of the book and the "path of illumination" which Robert Langdon has to follow in Angels and Demons to solve the mystery. We quickly stopped at an Internet shack and printed out the cheat sheet of how to find the path of Illumination that would take us all through Rome. We found a few things but didn't finish it all.  This would be a very cool thing to do if I ever go back to Rome any time.

Anyways, as we were "Roaming" around we kept talking about how amazing it is that all of the ruins and Coliseum is still there.

 We didn't go into the Coliseum because it cost a bit more than we were willing to spend and we wanted to see more things. As we walked towards the Trevi Fountain the four of us had a discussion that really sparked my interest. I asked the group, "At what point did somebody start charging money to see history?" Some time ago, somebody decided it would be a good idea to make money from people coming to see the Coliseum and Forum in Rome. I completely understand why they made that decision (to make money obviously) and I'm jealous I wasn't there to come up with the idea before them. This also happens in the U.S. I thought to myself. When did somebody decide to buy a whole mountain in Colorado and charge people money so they could strap some wood to their feet and ski down it all day long?

These are just things I think about while I've been traveling over here. My friends and I call this game "have you ever thought about" and we've been playing it all semester. Some good ones we've had recently are...

        Have you ever thought about how many steps you've taken in your life?

        Have you ever thought about how much time you've wasted in your life?

             

Have you ever thought about how many different faces you've seen in your whole life? Have you ever seen that person twice and not known it? How many people are on this planet and how little you've actually seen?

Ok sorry about the tangent. Anyways, we walked to the Coliseum, didn't go inside but walked around it and tried to avoid the 1,000 people selling umbrellas. It was raining on and off for a little while but nothing the Florida weather hadn't taught me before. Ally and Kelsey had two small umbrellas and Jose and I had our rain jackets so we were all perfectly dry, but that didn't deter the stubborn salesmen. Every 20 feet was another man with his hands full of umbrellas telling us we should buy one or two. Every time we told them no and still more came up ahead. We thought to ourselves, "if we wanted umbrellas then we would approach you and ask to buy them."  So our walk to the Trevi Fountain was full of saying no to umbrellas and laughing at different ways to tell them no. Ally really liked my idea of just frowning at them and giving them a stern "no" if they approached.

When we got to the Trevi Fountain I told the group about how you are supposed to throw a coin into the fountain in hopes that you will one day come back to Rome.

When I previously came to Rome with my family we all threw our coins in the fountain and I guess mine was the lucky coin because I got to come back first! Also when I was here with my mom, dad and brother we went to a gelato place near the Trevi Fountain a few times. It is called San Crispino and is an amazing treat. They have about 20 flavors that are all delicious. (They don't even offer samples because they know you'll love whatever you pick.) I decided on coffee and dark chocolate while Kelsey picked honey and cinnamon ginger flavor. Outside of the shop the 4 of us ended up sharing all of our gelatos because we all wanted to try the different flavors and they were all so good. Definitely find San Crispinos if you make it to Rome and don't eat it too fast, it's a sad feeling when your gelato cup is empty.

After our gelato break we walked to the Spanish steps.

We made sure to get some pictures of us "Spaniards" on the steps and then we walked all the way up them. At the top were more people selling umbrellas and some men selling roses. One man saw Kelsey and I holding hands and he immediately came for us. He held a rose in her face and was telling her "que bella, bellisima" and plenty of other compliments in Italian. We knew the trick that if she had take the rose then we would have to pay for it, and we would rather spend our money elsewhere. So he moved on to Ally and Jose but was turned down by them too.

Dodging more umbrella and rose sellers we eventually made it to the Piazza Novona where the 4 Rivers statue is. This is a piece by Bernini and is one of the checkpoints on the "Path of Illumination."

The Piazza is lined with cafes and restaurants that jut out into the street with tables and terraces. On the inside of the Piazza were artists selling "original paintings" and lots of tourists like us taking pictures of the amazing architecture and beautiful atmosphere. When Jose and I were satisfied with all the pictures we got the 4 of us followed the Tripadvisor.com guide to a great restaurant where we enjoyed a nice meal of....pizza and pasta as you may have guessed. Dinner was great and talking with friends about this trip was a lot of fun. We've already accumulated so many stories and it's always great to laugh and relive the experiences we have gone through. The following story is one that became the running joke of the entire trip. We like to call it "The struggle bus."

After finishing dinner we had to get back to the Roma Termini metro station and get to the bus station. From there we would catch a bus that would leave us at a stop right next to our hotel. Sounds easy enough right? Well we lost track of time while we enjoying our dinner and storytelling so we had to hustle to the metro before it closed at 11:30pm. We got to the bus station and quickly wondered around trying to find the right bus that would get us home. Jose found out that the "n1" was the bus we needed and we were about to take the last one of the night because it stopped running at midnight. We walked to where the n1 was going to stop and stood at the platform along with about 100 other people who looked just as stressed as we did. After standing there and watching a few buses go through the platform we realized that we wouldn't have to pay for the bus. When a bus pulls in to the stop it opens 3 doors on the side, one in the front, middle and back. You are supposed to pay at the front where the driver is but everyone just runs to the back and gets on the bus there without paying.

So 10 minutes of waiting and watching buses go through we see the (now haunting) letters lit up on the front of a bus that say "n1." As it turns the corner we see that it is already packed to capacity. Kelsey said she saw someone literally pressed up against the window. The 4 of us looked it each other with astonished faces and all I said was, "well, here we go." When the bus stopped most people already on the bus were trying to get out but had the swarm of people trying to get on the bus. We all locked arms and pushed our way into the already crowded bus. Kelsey and I remained together but somehow Ally and Jose were cutoff from our group. Ally was only 5 people behind us and Jose was still trying to push his way into the doors. All we could do was watch and hope that he could find space on the bus and eventually we would all get off at our hotel. Unfortunately Jose could not fit in the space he was in and was blocking the doors from closing so he ran out of the bus and around to the middle doors. In the middle of the bus he found enough space to fit between a few people. Everyone was crammed tight and all we could do was laugh about it once we were all on the bus. It was around 30 minutes of standing pressed up against people and constantly turning to talk to Ally or Jose who were having their own problems. We finally got to the hotel and agreed to repress that memory for the rest of the trip and never saying "n1" ever again.

The next day we woke up and had a hearty breakfast before leaving the hotel and taking a bus into the city. We went to the Pantheon and Kelsey, Ally and I came up with a new game that's called "Where's Jose?" (similar to "Where's Waldo") When we got to the plaza where the Pantheon is located Jose immediately went off to take pictures of the amazing building.

The 3 of us were talking about what we would be doing later that day and looking at a map and before we knew it Jose was gone. We spent 5-10 minutes scanning the plaza looking for Jose before we decided to go into the Pantheon and look for him there. Kelsey was the first to spot him and was awarded 1 point for finding him. He was peacefully taking pictures as usual and happy to see that we found our way over to him.

When we saw as much of the Pantheon as we wanted to we started walking towards Vatican City. Ally was determined to see the Vatican before leaving Rome and we were happy to see it too. As we approach St. Peter's Square we see the line is almost wrapped around the entire plaza.

We find the end of the line and talk about if we have time to wait in line and still make it in before our train leaves for Florence.

       (Diversion so you can understand some stress we had that day)

The day we went to see the Vatican we were also getting on our train to Florence. Unfortunately for Kelsey and I the train company (Trenitalia) did not send us confirmation emails when we bought our train tickets a few weeks earlier.  We bought 5 separate train tickets that would be taking us to Florence, Venice, Milan, Amalfi and then back to Rome during our whole trip. We were worried that we were charged for buying the tickets but hadn't received emails confirming our purchases. We emailed Trenitalia and looked online about people who had similar problems but eventually just left it up to chance. In the morning we had to check out of the hotel and carry our luggage to Roma Termini, where we would be boarding the train later that day. Jose and Ally put our luggage into storage while Kelsey and I went up the stairs to talk to Trenitalia about our ticket problems. After a few minutes of telling the lady at the customer care desk that we had nothing to show that we were on the train later that day she told us what we had to do. She said that we can show up to the train 1 hour before it leaves and the she will be able to see the passenger list for the train. From there she could look up our names, we would show our passports and she'd give us our seat assignments.  So now the 4 of us have our luggage in storage, Kelsey and I have to get back to the train station an hour before our train and Jose and Ally have their own separate train to catch after ours.

(Back to us in line at the Vatican deciding what to do)

Since Kelsey and I have to get to the train station an hour early and figure out our tickets to Florence, we decided we wouldn't have time to see the Vatican this time. We took two luggage tags that would hopefully match up with our respective luggage and told them we'd hopefully see them at the hotel in Florence. After a quick metro ride to Roma Termini we got our luggage out of storage and paid a few euros for the fee (we ended up getting my bag and Ally's bag instead of Kelsey's but that wasn't a big deal.) We went back upstairs to the customer care desk and told a woman about our ticketless situation. We knew we were on a train from Rome to Florence that was leaving at about 5:45 so that narrowed down her search quite a bit. After working some magic on her smart phone she was able to find Kelsey Fuller and Trevor Brown on the 5:46 train from Rome to Florence. We thanked her so much and Kelsey and I were so relieved that we'd be making it to Florence that night. A train and a bus ride later we were at our hotel in Florence. An hour and a half later Ally and Jose were there too and we were extremely happy that we all made it OK. We exchanged luggage (Kelsey had Ally's bag and Ally ad Kelsey's bag) and got some well-deserved sleep.

Florence

Our first day in Florence started with a big breakfast and some coffee to keep us energized throughout the day. After our 9am breakfast we caught the bus into the city and Jose (who had been to Florence before) led us to the Piazza where the Duomo is located. (if I haven't previously said it, Duomo is Italian for Cathedral) The Duomo in Florence as like nothing I had seen before. It is decorated with white and green walls on the inside and just beautiful architecture all around.

On the inside is the cupola or dome, which is painted all around. The sheer size of the Duomo was absolutely impressive and the work that went into painting the inside of the cupola bewildered us.

After a half hour of walking around the Duomo whispering about how amazing everything was, we got in line to go to the top of the cupola.

This dome in Florence is the famous one constructed by Brunelleschi. It was the biggest dome built at the time and was achieved by building a smaller dome as the foundation and support for the bigger one. We climbed the many steps leading to the inner dome and got a closer look at the painting inside the cupola. Kelsey got a little nervous when she saw the huge cracks in the structure of the walls running the entire wall up the sides. We eventually made it around the inside and kept following the stairs that led us to the outside dome. The view from the outside took my breath away. We were in the middle of Florence, higher up than anything in the city and could see everything from the top of the cupola.

After taking a lot of pictures of the city and some pictures of Ally and Jose we all descended the stairs back down to solid ground.

All the climbing made us work up an appetite so we stopped and grabbed some lunch before continuing on our adventure through Florence. The streets of Florence were lined with shops selling clothes, shoes, art and jewelry. We walked by the Rolex store on a main street in the city and I had to stop and take a picture of what I saw. There was a watch in the window that grabbed my attention because of the price tag.

10,160 euros. Yep, ten thousand euros for a watch. Thats about $13,000 US dollars if you're wondering what the conversion rate was at the time. It cracks me up that we were being stingy about a restaurant that charged 9 euros for a pizza and someone will buy a watch worth that much money.

So after I stopped gawking at the outrageous prices of some more jewelry we followed Jose up to a vista where he said we could get the best view of Florence. He was not wrong at all. We sat at this place for about an hour just taking in how amazing the city looked from this view. Along with about 100 other people who made the hike up to this place we watched the sun go down over the beautiful city and then walked back down towards the Duomo. The trip advisor app came in handy once again and we all shared some pizza pasta and wine before heading back to the hotel.

The next day the 4 of us decided to take a day trip to Pisa. We went to the train station and bought our 7 euro tickets to get to Pisa. Once there we headed straight to the leaning tower and were amazed by the tourists there taking the typical leaning tower pictures.

They were aligning themselves in the picture to make it look like they were holding the tower up or pushing it down. The 4 of us tried to do something a little more unique. Kelsey made it look like she was karate kicking the tower down and she and I posed for a one of a kind picture.

 After our pictures we went to get lunch and then bought some train tickets back into Florence. Kelsey took a short nap and I couldn't help but get a beautiful picture with her on the train.

When we got back to Florence again we tried to go see the statue of David. On our way there we learned that it costs 11 euros to get in to the museum and you can't take pictures of anything. Instead of waiting in a long line and seeing the statue of David, Kelsey and I decided to spend the 3 hours before our train to Venice walking around the city of Florence and get a little lost. After some more window shopping and walking by the river we met back up with Ally and Jose and boarded our train. This time we got to be on the same train and we sat together and talked about David, the city of Florence and what we can expect from Venice.

Since this blog post is already incredibly long I'll leave Venice for the next update. Also sorry that these haven't had pictures going along with them. The hotel internet isn't quite up to speed and uploading pictures is proving difficult. I will add the pictures to the blog when I get back to the states so make sure to check these pages again in about a week.  I'll start working on the post about Venice and check in soon. Ciao!

Leaving Sevilla and going to Italia

First of all I am sorry for the lack of posting recently but I’ve got a ton of news so buckle up and enjoy.

Studying for my finals was great fun and all but you can imagine how I felt studying in a library while the weather was the best it’s been in the past 6 months. I was studying marketing strategies and product life cycles while the summer sun was shining and more of Sevilla was waiting to be discovered. I’m sure I did great on my tests but it was so difficult to stay focused while my last 2 weeks of being in Spain were quickly fading.

On the Friday after finals week the international office of the university took everyone to a theme park called “Isla Magica” for a day of fun and a farewell reception. We spent the day walking around the park in our bathing suits and sandals, riding roller coasters and water rides to cool off, taking pictures with all of our friends and saying goodbye to those who were heading back to the states after the reception.

We were given free tapas which included Spanish tortilla, jamón sandwiches and of course cervezas.  We sat with our friends and talked about all the best times we had while we were in Spain and talked about how we would all stay in touch and maybe see each other again some time. After some really drawn out goodbyes we had to leave the park and walk back to the apartment.

The last night in the apartment was a depressing one to tell you the truth. This foriegn place was where I lived for 6 months of my life and although the apartment had some faults it was still my “home” for the whole time. The day before Kelsey and I did an intense cleaning of the entire apartment (because the owner would be coming over in the morning and checking to see if we had kept the place clean enough to return our 1 months deposit). We packed away all our luggage, cleaned everything in sight and made the place look like new. As I said before, this place was my home and Kelsey and I had added our own little flare to it. When we had to pack everything away the apartment lost all of it’s style.

On Saturday May 19th, Kelsey and I left Sevilla and started our Italian vacation. We had our friends over for breakfast (pancakes, eggs, bacon, fruit, and mimosas) 

then we cleaned up the kitchen, got the deposit money from the apartment owner and started for the train station. Kelsey, Ally and I walked with Chuck and Jodi to the street outside and said our final goodbyes before we caught a taxi to the train station. Hopefully I can see Chuck when I go see Kelsey at App State (he also goes to App) and maybe I’ll see Jodi the next time I go to Canada, but I know I'll see Ally again when we both go back to UF.

We got to the Sevilla train station with plenty of time before our train left because we had some business to do. When Kelsey, Ally and I planned our Italy trip a few weeks ago we knew the 3 of us would be taking a train from Sevilla to Madrid together so we bought our tickets together. For the train we wanted if you buy a “mesa” (table) you get a great discount on tickets. A normal ticket costs 80 euros and if we bought the mesa (which seats 4) we would pay a discounted price of about 42 euros per person. The only problem with this deal is that we didn’t want 4 tickets because there were only 3 of us. The man selling us the tickets said the discount is only available if you purchase all 4 tickets at once, then we could sell the 4th ticket that we wouldn't be using. So back to present time when we are about to leave for Madrid, we have 4 tickets in hand and need to sell one. This process was very similar to selling a football ticket at the University of Florida. I approached strangers with a ticket, asked them if they were going to Madrid (which most of them were not) and usually walked away awkwardly still stuck with my ticket. If we didn't sell this ticket then the 3 of us would have paid around 60 euros to cover the price of 4 tickets but luckily we found a buyer.

I was taking a break from trying to sell our ticket and gave Kelsey and Ally a shot at it. Maybe somebody would be more likely to sit with 2 cute girls on a train to Madrid rather than a 6'2" American guy who was asking them about where they were going. Anyways it worked. Kelsey and Ally found a Spanish guy named Jose who actually lived in Madrid and was in line to buy a ticket home. He told the girls that he would love to buy the ticket because we were selling it for less than the 80 euros that he would have to pay at the counter. We met up at our seats on the train and were speaking a mix of Spanish and English the whole time. We got on the topic of idomatic expressions and if they translate from Spanish to English. Ally actually had a book of expressions and Jose went through the book and showed us which ones are actually used in daily conversation.

The English expression "when pigs fly" is translated to "when frogs grow hair" in Spanish. We had a lot of fun going through the book and laughing at why we say some of the things we do.

Eventually our train reached the Madrid station and our time with the first Jose was up and our time with the second Jose was began.

      

Here is a breif explanation of who Jose is and how we got to know him.

Jose is a Spanish student who normally lives in Granada, Spain. He did a semester abroad at the University of Florida during the spring, just as we were doing our semester in Spain. By some chance he actually found Ally's friends through the UF housing website and lived with Ally's best friends during the spring semester. Her friends told Ally all about Jose and they would talk about how their study abroad experiences were going all the time. We planned our trip to Italy with him and Ally talked with him more and more. Since Jose's semester at UF ended earlier than ours in Spain, he came back to Granada and invited Ally to visit him in Granada. Ally took a train to Granada to officially "meet" Jose for the very first time. They had skyped a lot before but 2 weeks before we were leaving for Italy, Ally got to see Jose in person. She came back after the weekend with hilarious stories about him and his family, communication troubles and how we are going to have so much fun with him on our trip. We were ecstatic to meet him in Madrid when our train arrived.

Jose was waitng for us as we walked through the Madrid train station. He is a very smart guy who has an amazing capability to adapt to the situation at hand. Even though he only studied the language for 2 years; his English is amazing, he has the inner compass of a military grade GPS and he is just great to be around.

So our trip began with making it from the Madrid train station to the Madrid airport. After packing up our entire apartment, our luggage is extremely heavy. Every people mover (moving sidewalk, whatever you call the things in airports that move you around without you actually having to walk) was a godsend. At every chance we got we would drop our bags and catch our breath. We eventually made it to the RyanAir check in counter, checked some bags, got through security and boarded the plane. After a few minutes of settling in and talking about what was next on the schedule, the plane started to put us all to sleep.

Now I've taken my fair share of trains, buses and planes in the past 6 months but no matter what I do I cannot keep my head upright when I try to fall asleep while I'm sitting. If I don't have a wndow seat then I have to sit straight up and my head always falls forward when I drift off to sleep. Now the hilarious thing (especially to everyone watching me try to sleep) is when I wake up when my head drops down and it immediately snaps back up. What usually happens is that I'm so exhausted from the traveling that I don't even wake up when my head is bouncing up and down.

Anyways, I didn't sleep that well on the flight to Rome but we had to keep moving. We got all our luggage off the plane and took the metro from the airport to a bus pick up area then took a bus to our hotel. After a pizza dinner in a restaurant close to the hotel we planned the next day and fianlly went to bed.

OK, now the real fun starts. Right now Jose, Ally, Kelsey and I are on vacation in Italy! We have already purchased train tickets to Florence, Venice, Milan and Amalfi with places to stay for 2 nights in each city. Unfortunately Ally and Jose are going back to Madrid after Milan while Kelsey and I will be continuing to Amalfi for the rest of the trip. After a few days in Amalfi we will take a train back to Rome, stay a night in the same hotel as the first night in Rome, then catch our flight back to USA the next morning (May 31). 

Our first full day in Rome was great to say the least. Jose has the Tripadvisor.com application on his phone with recommendations, user comments, schedules, prices and everything we need to know about Italy and all the cities we are visiting.

I've got a lot to write about but not enough time right now so I'll leave you at this and try to update later about our amazing trip through Italy later. Adios! 

Studying and pulling all-nighters

It's been really busy this last week with finals coming around the corner, presentations to complete for classes and things to do before we leave Sevilla. Kelsey and I have been studying and working on papers like crazy people and decided we needed a little break this weekend.

We've seen and heard that Spaniards stay out much longer than people do in the U.S. when we party and have even heard they can stay out until the sun comes up. We've had our fair share of long nights but have never actually seen the sun come up before we head home. This time would be different.

We went to a really great dance place that is 3 floors tall and has an amazing outside terrace. The place was packed but we were having an awesome time dancing and laughing with our group of about 8 friends. We were determined to make it until sunrise but Kelsey and I started placing bets on who would actually make it all the way. As the night wore on our group of determined dancers started to dwindle and we were left with only 4: David, Chuck, Kelsey and I. 

     Also I got another haircut. It's getting really hot here 

After leaving the club at around 5:00am we tried to find a place to get churros (our favorite after party snack.) The place we found actually said that they don't open until 9:00am but none of us could make it that long into the morning. We walked by a Dunkin Donuts that also wasn't open yet but they had a huge stack of donuts outside the store. We didn't know if they were fresh donuts being brought in or old donuts being taken out, but we took one anyways. It turns out that they were old ones being taken out. We could tell by the taste and staleness of it. 

Later on our walk home David found a hub cap on the side of the road and as the scholarly man he is exclaimed, "Guys, I found a hub cap!" We continued walking until we reached our apartment and had to go our separate ways. We took a picture of ourselves with the light of morning starting to show and our smiling faces as we had just conquered the night. It was 7:30am when we finally got inside and went to bed. Our favorite part of the night was seeing some people waking up early to go to work or go for a run in the morning and we were walking home from a long night partying. 

That's the story of my all-nighter in Sevilla. Now to get back to the real work ad studying. Adios!

Feria, fútbol and fireworks

Over the long break we had off from school of Feria (12 days) I have experienced so much in this amazing city. We went to Morocco, saw a bull fight, went to days and nights of Feria, saw a soccer game and watched a great fireworks show to conclude the Feria season. 

    Our last night at Feria included a lot of dancing, some eating and going on some carnival rides. 

Chuck and Ally decided that since they matched so well they would be dance partners for the night. 

We made our way to the carnival rides again and talked Jodi and Kelsey into riding the Viking with us this time. They were almost in tears before the ride started but felt so empowered after the ride. 

YOLO (You Only Live Once)

At the end of the night Kelsey decided to gamble 2 euros on a dart throwing game. The sign said that no matter what score you hit, you will always get a prize. She had 5 darts and depending on what numbers she hit her prize amount would increase. Unfortunately Kelsey got the lowest score possible and only earned one point. But as the sign promised, she did get a prize...

Kelsey used her "1 Vale" to get a plate that was hiding behind some key chains and bouncy balls. She was happy with her plate and ate breakfast off of it the very next morning. It also helped her stay dry when some rain came down as we were leaving. 

After some much needed sleep we got up the next day and enjoyed a nice bacon and eggs breakfast. We made sure to stay in touch with our friends who we would be meeting later at the soccer stadium. We met at a bar that was central to everyone and had some pre game drinks and appetizers. After about an hour and a half we caught a taxi to the fútbol stadium to watch Real Betis play Atlético Madrid. We weren't really cheering for any team in particular but we just wanted to go to a game and get the experience. By halftime it was still tied but we were sitting in a section full of Betis fans (a Sevilla team.) Madrid scored the first goal but then Betis tied the game at 1-1 soon after. Betis took a lead at the very end of the game and all the fans were ready for their team to win. Kelsey even started to cheer like the Betis fans using her green scarf like the Spaniards do. 

After the game we headed to a bridge in the city and looked out for the end of Feria fireworks celebration.  It was a really amazing way to end the great Feria festivities that Sevilla loves so much. 

Now that Feria is over and we're heading back to school soon, Kelsey and I are finishing up a lot of homework that we left until the last minute (typical students) and having a great time looking through all the pictures from the long break. Hopefully you have enjoyed all the pictures. I'll be back in the States in about 1 month after our trip through Italy after the semester ends. See you all soon, adios!

2nd night at Feria

Our 2nd night of Feria started when Ally, Chuck, Jodi and Preston met at our apartment last night and got ready to go out to the fair grounds. The girls were putting on their dresses, trying to find the perfect place to put the flowers on their heads and complaining about their shoes and weight of the dresses. We finally made our way over to the closest metro stop and met Britney in front of the big door to Feria. Kelsey and I split off from the group because we knew somebody with a public tent and wanted to go see him today.
      This story goes back to when the Fullers were here and we went out to lunch on their first day here. We went to a restaurant that Kelsey and I had been to a few times previously but this time they were having a special event. There was an oyster bar set up and a special on oysters and champagne. We got a table and ordered some oysters and shared a bottle of champagne and enjoyed the boisterous restaurant full of locals doing the same. After a few minutes Mr. Fuller walked outside and began to talk to some men who were just outside the door that we had talked to before going in to the restaurant. (They were the ones who told us about the special on oysters.) Mr. Fuller came back and told us all about what he talked about with the men outside and relayed it to us.
      One man he talked to was David. He was the one who owns the oyster company and he is catering  the event in this local restaurant using his own oysters for the special offer. When he was 17, David went to the U.S. to study business and stayed there for 5 years. He studied Miami and Mr. Fuller told him that we were all from Florida. This really got David excited. He came inside the restaurant a few minutes after Mr. Fuller came back in and sat down with Kelsey and I and started talking with us. Mr. Fuller had told him that we were studying in Sevilla and we would be in the city until the end of May. He told us that when he went to America he was treated so nicely and everyone was so helpful to him that he felt like he had a debt to pay back to any Americans he met. He told us to call him every Thursday and he would tell us where the next special event would be in the city for the following Friday. Because we were traveling so much this semester we could only make it to one of his events but he welcomed us with open arms and we got to talk some more and share more stories about our life here in Sevilla. This was about 2 weeks ago just before we were leaving for Morocco.
     He told us that we needed to experience Feria and that he would love to have us come to his private tent during the festival. We told him thanks and we would definitely take him up on his offer. So yesterday when we split off from our group of friends we called David to find out where his tent was. It wasn't hard to find at all and he walked us right in.
      There were families eating at a few tables and there was a bar serving drinks and tapas behind the eating area. David introduced us to his wife, his wife's sisters, his friends and their wives then Kelsey and I immediately forgot all their names. He ordered us a pitcher of Rebujito (which is a mix of sherry and 7-up) and a spanish tortilla. We talked with his friends about our stay in Sevilla so far and one of his friends was excited to practice his english with us. We stayed in his tent while a live band played typical Sevillana music and lots of people danced. The 4 hours we were there flew by and we had to go meet our friends to head to the tent they had found. David would not let me pay for anything that Kelsey and I drank or ate, using the excuse that he owed a debt to all Americans because of the hospitality they showed him as a student. We thanked him so much and said goodbye to all his friends and family then met back up with our friends who had a table in a public tent.
      Sorry for the long story but when I look back at these stories and pictures I want to remember as much as I can about the people I meet and David definitely left a lasting impression on me. He barely knew Kelsey and I but treated us like family without any hesitation. David joked that when he returns to Florida with his wife and 3 kids I can pay the tab when I take them out somewhere.



We got to the public tent a few minuted after leaving David's and immediately started dancing. None of us are professionals in any sense and don't have that much style either, but we all had shared some drinks and that was enough to get our confidence up.

After a few hours of dancing we made our way to the actual "fair" part of Feria. They had tons of rides, games and places to buy carnival food. We made our way to a roller coaster called "Super Raton" which means "super rat." Kelsey had a really fun time as you can see by her expression. 

After the roller coaster we went on "Barca Vikinga" which means "Viking Boat." It was a classic swinging boat ride but had cages on the ends where you could stand if you wanted. Chuck, Ally, Britney, Preston and I loaded up into the cage and held on as the boat swung up into the air then straight back down to the ground. A fun thing that we figured out was to jump at the very top of the swing. If you have ever been going up in an elevator and jumped as it reached the top you get a feeling a floating. That is exactly what we did in the cage and we were pulled back down by the boat swinging back down towards the ground. 

It was about 2am by this time and we had been dancing and walking around Feria for 6 hours already. We decided to get some churros and then head home. I ordered churros and chocolate and paid 5 euros for about one pound of churros and a cup of melted chocolate. We all shared the amazing fried dough and ate as much as we could but still didn't finish it all.

Feria is a terrific experience and on our way down the street I had to take one last look at the beautiful sight that Sevilla has created in order to celebrate one of it's greatest traditions.

This week has been amazing so far to say the least. We will be going back to the Feria grounds again today because we are really trying to immerse ourselves as much as we can in the festivities. Right now Kelsey and I are booking hotels and trains for our Italy trip at the end of the semester. It's pretty stressful booking everything but we know it will be a great trip in the end. We've got a few more days of Feria left to go and then we go back to school on Wednesday, May 2nd. After we get back to school we will only have 2 weeks left to finish all of our presentations, study for finals, (hopefully) pass our finals and pack up for our trip to Italy.
     It's going to be really strange packing up our apartment and leaving it behind. It's been our home for almost 6 months now and we'll be leaving it in just about 3 weeks. Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to come home and be with my friends and family so soon, its just I know this Spanish apartment will always be a great memory of mine. I've also been thinking about what I'm going to do when I get home to all the "stuff" I have laying around that I have lived without for 6 months. If I really needed all that stuff then I would brought it with me. Since I haven't needed it for 6 months, I may not need it at all. So when I get back I may have a donating spree of clothes and random things. haha, we'll see what I think when I actually get back to my house though.

Hope you enjoyed the stories on this post and another round of pictures from Feria will be coming soon!

Bull fight in Sevilla

After our long night of dancing during Feria we slept in before the big day of the bull fight. Kelsey and I met Chuck and Jodi at a metro stop near the Plaza de Toros and prepared ourselves for an amazing experience. None of us had seen a bull fight before and didn't know much about them. We got to our seats a little before the fight started and watched the whole arena fill up with Spaniards.

I kept trying to compare the bull fight to an american football game but I couldn't do that in any sense. During the fight the audience was almost completely silent.

While I took this picture it was so quiet that I could hear a man eating sunflower seeds 10 seats away from me. I even got a stare down from somebody who heard my camera shutter when I took the picture. Everyone was on edge and they really show a lot of respect for the art of bull fighting. 

Each bullfight has 3 matadors and 6 bulls. Every matador has to kill 2 bulls and if his kills are good he can be awarded “trophies.” The 3^rd matador we saw had a great first fight and after killing the bull with a clean stab at the end, the crowd exploded with cheering. They started waving white handkerchiefs and clapping for him to be awarded a trophy. An official cut one ear off the bull and awarded it to the matador who then took a bow and took a lap around the plaza. People threw their hats, roses and one person even threw him a live chicken!  

After the 6 bulls were killed the 3 matadors and their respective groups of helpers made a lap around the plaza and accepted the applause of the crowd with tipped hats. It was amazing to see how much influence the crowd has on the fight and can control different aspects of the fight with whistling, hissing or clapping. It was an amazing experience that I am glad to have spent the money on. I'm sure Kelsey could have done without the whole killing part of the fight but that is all part of the culture.

This week we are going back to the Feria festival and later this week we are going to a futbol (soccer) game. I hope you all have enjoyed these blogs and I'm glad to say that as of now I am all caught up on my posts. I highly recommend reading up on Feria and bullfighting in general if you want to know more about them. I know I have been brief when talking about these things but they really do deserve some more reading into.

The next post may be coming soon with more pictures from Feria so keep an eye open for that. Adios!

First day of Feria de Abril

Feria is celebrated every April in Sevilla and is basically a festival with rides, food, drinks and lots of dancing. The famous dresses are worn by the women and the men dress to impress. This first picture is of the main door that was constructed for the 2012 Feria. At night it is lit up with thousands of bulbs and can be seen from anywhere in the fairgrounds. 

This is one of the public tents that our group spent a lot of time in. Lots of families were here singing and dancing for hours together. Not wanting to stick out as foreigners, we did the same. During the semester we practiced the Sevillanas dance with other people from the international program. When we got to the tent our teachers, Esperanza and Mariam, were there waiting to dance with us.

 We were in this tent from about 5pm until midnight passing the time by dancing the Sevillanas, eating and drinking with great people and enjoying the festivities.

Kelsey and I had a great time practicing our dances and it was a lot of fun seeing everyone together enjoying the he party. I even got a little help from a local who told us some tips for the footwork of the complicated dance. 

We spent the entire night walking around the fair and dancing in different tents with our friends from school. At the end of the night we headed back towards the main door and looked back at the amazing view that Spaniards love to see every year in April. Each year the door is different and more extravagant than the last. I can't imagine what next year will be like. 

The day after our first Feria experience we went to see a bullfight in the Plaza de Toros. Chuck, Jodi, Kelsey and I bought our tickets before the Morocco trip and had been looking forward to seeing one of the most traditional Spanish experiences we could see. That will be coming up in the next post. Adios!