Discovering Sevilla

After countless trips through security in Minneapolis, O'Hare and Madrid, too much bad airplane food, not being able to sleep on the plane and lugging around my huge duffel bag, which gave me a nasty bruise, I finally made it to the airport in Sevilla. It was a crazy experience to see and hear all of the Spanish in the airport. We landed about 10:30 am or 3:30 am MN time, but suprisingly I wasn't too tired. A group of a bout fifteen of us were all on the same flight from O'Hare to Sevilla so we made our way to baggage claim together. We all anxiously awaited the arrival of our bags, however, after about ten minutes it became clear that something was wrong. There weren't nearly enough bags and soon a man came out and yelled, "No más maletas" aka "no more suitcases", which needless to say wasn't good news. Myself and about seven other people I was traveling with didn't have our suitcases, but we got it all straightened out and my bag was delivered to the hotel the next morning. I'm glad I was traveling with other people, it made dealing with a lost bag much less scary. 

After a fifteen minute bus ride we arrived at the Hotel Sol Meliá Sevilla, which looks pretty gross on the outside but is very modern and nice on the inside. I checked in and received my registration packet from the CIEE helpers, and headed off to my room to meet my roommate for the next few days. After about half an hour it was time for us to go down to lunch where I met up with some people from Madison, at this point most of us hadn't slept in twenty-four hours so we were definitely out of it. After lunch I took a four hour nap, and then it was time for more orientation. We met the CIEE staff and got into small groups of ten, each with our own guide. Later, we all ate dinner as a group and got to know each other, it was fun but I was exhausted, so while some people went to explore Sevilla, 90% of us just went to bed. 

The next morning we had to be at breakfast by eight, and I should mention the food is really good! There is an enormous variety of fruits that wouldn't be in season in the US, they are so delicious. Some things that I thought were funny about breakfast was that there was a huge cold meat and cheese spread, wine and champagne offered, I don't usually associate any of these things with breakfast so that was a change. There is a chocolate croissant that I have my eye on for tomorrow though. I am still having a hard time getting over the time difference, when I woke up I saw people posting about heading to the bars back at home, it will just take some getting used to. 

After breakfast we headed off in our small groups for a four hour walking tour of Sevilla. 

One of the many tiny streets of Sevilla

We saw so many amazing old buildings, I was constantly turing my head to look at all of the fountains, monuments and architecture that I kept almost running into things, but that's pretty typical for me. One thing that I find really beautiful about Sevilla is that the streets are lined with orange trees, it is just so unexpected. 

One of the many orange trees that line the streets

We also got to see the main building of the Universidad de Sevilla, I won't be taking classes there because those end a month later but it is a pretty building and a lot of the CIEE activities will be taking place there. While we were still in the old part of Sevilla we also saw the Catedral de Sevilla, which is a breath-taking old church where Christopher Columbus is buried, I want to tour it when I have more time. 

Entrance to la Universidad de Sevilla

Catedrál de Sevilla

We also went to see lots and lots of shops. It was just the end of the King's holiday here so that means sales, think black friday deals but for weeks on end, they have lots of cute clothes for as little as 5 euros, I'm starting to wish I had packed less. There is a lot of modern architecture in some places too. We went to lunch at a tapas place today, which is basically like shared appetizers, they were okay some of the food was really strange. I tried all of it though. Tonight we will be going to a Flamenco show and I can't wait! Adios.