You never quite know what you'll find...

Last night we wanted to do something low key. We decided to find a bar close to our homes, and we found one that was only 5 minutes from mine. It's called Tea & Coffee, not a Spanish name, but the place was packed with locals. Ash and I got there first and were trying to find a place to sit down. We found an open chair and then another one next to a group of guys. She asked if she could us the chair, and then they invited us to sit with them. They ended up being professors from some university around here, but very young professors. There was one guy from mexico, one from peru, one from Spain, and a guy and his wife from Colombia. The first thing they asked us was "Do you shop at Walmart?" It took us a while to figure out that they were saying Walmart, since that was such a random question! The mexican guy was an industrial engineer too, que loco! He teaches some technical class, one taught marketing, and another taught speech. At one point the Spanish guy was telling us he wanted to move to Toronto. I told him there was nothing in Canada but hockey, which he doesn't even like. He agreed there was nothing in Canada but Toronto, and the only thing they had was the CN tower. So why would a Spaniard ever want to move to Canada? Beats me. It was fun to sit there with them, drink beer, and talk mostly in Spanish. 

Ash, Rachel, Lanae, and Me

Us with our new friends

Then this morning Ash and I went to the Archivo de Indias. It's a museum about the exploration of the "new" world. The building it was housed in was very old, and very interesting. We watched a little video on it. Sevilla used to be a big trade city because of the river here and this building was used for lots of trade. When the trading was moved to Cadiz, a city on the sea, the building was left behind and so they put all the archives there. The building itself is from somewhere around the 1750's, but definitely does not look like it. We saw lots of retratos (portraits) of all the Spanish generals, and different documents from all the American conquests. It was interesting to see and learn about.

Flags of Andalucía and Spain 

Archivo de Indias

Intense treasure chest

After we weren't sure what to do, since we still had some time before lunch. We walked out of the museum and saw a very nicely dressed young couple. The lady had a hat on, and Ash's family told her before that they wear hats to weddings. The day before one of of ISA directors told us if you have a chance try and sneak into a wedding at the cathedral because it's amazing. So we followed them. They went behind the cathedral, and there were a bunch of other people all dressed up. Inside the cathedral we could see all these girls dressed up in more traditional attire. We weren't exactly sure what was going on, but we stood and watched the goings on for a little bit.

Fancy hat-- Ash is really good at creeper pics

Girls are dressed up for something

We walked back towards home through Santa Cruz, which is an old neighborhood with narrow streets. There were lots of cute bars and little shops. We took our time wandering through it. It turned out to be a very nice day. The sun finally came out, and it got a little warm. Then I got back for lunch and had minestrone type soup with an egg it in. After lunch I relaxed a little and then meet up with Ash, Rachel, and Lanae. We took a while to find a cute bar for wine, but we found one. We sipped wine and talked for a while, while enjoying the many bulls decorating the place.

I Love Tapas!

Cute Ceramic Store

Paintings in Santa Cruz

There are little yellow flowers growing on the roof

Crocheting

crocheting 

flowers

bulls

bull

Ash with her wine

We finished up, and walked home. I decided since it was such a nice day, I should go for a run. And go on a run, I did. I started off going towards plaza de España, then I went through to huge park there, climbed up the top of this little waterfall hill, went by the river, and finished by going through the neighborhood right near my home. I went for a whole hour and probably around 5.5 miles! It felt so good and it's fun when there is so much to see. I made sure to take my phone with me, so I could snap a few pics along the way.

cute little hill in the park

Waterfall in the park

the park

frog fountain

frog fountain

Guatemala something or other for Ana & Carlos

Palm Trees with the sunset

possibly plaza de Americas

15% of Christopher Columbus

Today we had an ISA visit to the cathedral. I'd been in it before, but it was nice to be able to hear more information about it. We started in the courtyard of the cathedral. The ground was all brick and there were little little waterways all the way around. The cathedral used to be a mosque, so the water was very important to them before they prayed. We went in the main part and learned how the choir area was put in the middle of the cathedral because it was trendy. The rich people would sit in front of it, while the poor people were in the back. They wouldn't be able to hear much, but it wasn't a big deal because they didn't know latin (the language used in church) because they couldn't afford to go to school. We walked by Christopher Columbus's son's tomb and then by Columbus's tomb as well. A few years ago they did a study to see if they had the real Columbus here or not, since many different places claim to have his remains. They were able to use the DNA from his son to match to him. Turns out they house 15% of Christopher Columbus here in Sevilla. In the cathedral they also have a treasure room type thing. They had all these fancy silver pieces. Then we went up in the grinalda. In the old days they used to go up it to yell to everyone is was time to pray (when it was muslim) and to get up there they would take a donkey. So instead of having stairs all the way up, it has 32 ramps. From the top we could see the whole city. One random story we were told was that at some point in time there was a guy who asked a girl to marry him. He wanted to get her something that she would never get from anyone else. So he got her an alligator. Now in the doorway to the courtyard there is an alligator statute hanging from the ceiling.

The Cathedral

                                                                      Inside the cathedral

La giralda 

The courtyard with the water running through

funny face in the courtyard 

Alligator

the son's tomb

here lies 15% of Christopher Columbus

stabbing a pomegranate. it's the symbol of granada 

Fancy silver thing

San Fernando, who became a saint. You can see his body every year

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

View of Sevilla from la giralda

Then it was time for lunch. We had chicken and french fries. I took a little siesta, which felt so good. After I had to go meet Ashley, cause she wanted to go to temple. We decided to get gelato beforehand at the yummy place, since it was close by. I got cheesecake and chocolate gelato, both were so good! I don't think they have a bad flavor there. We sat at the parasol while we ate our gelato and then headed towards the temple. It was supposed to be a 6 minute walk... but it took us a while longer. Ash had directions, but there was construction going on and streets signs are hard to find, so we got a little lost. Ash asked 3 people for directions, and they didn't even know what street we were on. I think the first two people led us the wrong way, but the third one got us to where we needed to be. It was a tiny little temple and there were only 10 people there. They insisted on handing me the book with all the reading in it, because of course I can follow along with all the hebrew... It was a quick service, they just recited what ever it was in Hebrew, said the prayer for Ash's dad, and then we were done. They told Ash when she left, that she better come back, or else they would come to the US and hunt her down. We headed back for dinner and I had tortellini and salad. Oh and on the way home Ashley found 10 Euros on the street. A good reward for going to temple!

My Gelato

So many flavors!

A pet store

And it kept raining...

It has been pouring for the last half hour at least, but it's been raining all day long. I had class at 9 this morning, but we got out at 10 due to technical problems. He was trying to show us videos on youtube, but the computer needed the new version of flash player, but he needed the password to download it. It was a good start to the day. After Ash and I walked to the mall and corte ingles not too far away. We walked through the mall, I wasn't looking for anything, but I found cute black rain boots for 70% off. I am sick of getting all wet while walking around, so it was a perfect find. It's funny how many America things there are in stores. In one store we walked in today there were America leggings, sweatshirts, shirts, scarves, and more. In corte ingles I wanted peanut butter, but decided to get some chocolate spread instead. I'm guessing it's similar to Nutella  and since there were so many kinds of it there, I figured it had to be pretty good. I also got a brownie mix, so hopefully soon I can make them. For lunch today we had spinach with garbanzo beans. It was delicious. Then I took a siesta, and am currently watching como conocí nuestra madre (how I met your mother). Last night I watched some grey's anatomy and sponge bob, both in Spanish. If I were a Spaniard, I would get so sick of watching dubbed American television.

Update of what else I've eaten
Wednesday lunch was so good. It was white rice with a poached egg, and some thick tomato sauce. Then for dinner we had a some cheese, salchica (kind of like hard salami), croquettes, and lasagna.

Rain Rain Go Away

Yesterday I had class till 7. I was halfway home, when it started down pouring. I had my umbrella with me, but by the time I got home I was extremely wet. For dinner we had tortilla and those fried ham and cheese things.

Today it stayed raining. So that was a blast walking to school in the rain, but at least it was lighter than yesterday. The class got out early, which was nice, but I had to wait around till 12 to meet my intercambio. It's a program where you are paired with a Spanish student, so that you can practice your spanish and they can practice their english. Mine is a girl named Mar. We met at the university and went to get coffe across the street. She is in here 5th year here and in majoring is something to do with English  literature, and latin. The major takes 5 years to complete. Last year she studied abroad in Edinburgh and and next year she is coming to the US to study at Cornell for a year. She says because of the economic crisis in Spain, there isn't much to do but get more schooling. It sounded like the year at Cornell was just for fun, and then she was accepted into a masters program in London. I wish I could study in so many places, but the again I'll be able to have a job when I graduate. She's from the canary islands, and moved here to go to school since she has family in Sevilla. Today we just talked in Spanish, but we'll talk in English next time. It was really fun to talk to her, and be able to get to know a Spanish student at the university. She laughed when she saw I had a water bottle. Apparently it is a very American thing to carry with you. And she said at least in her major not many Spaniards are concerned with getting high grades or job experience. She said engineers probably cared little more, but it's definitely a different learning environment.

Finally this afternoon it stopped raining long enough a little bit of the sun as it set, but it's supposed to keep raining this week.

La Discoteca

Saturday Ash, Tara, and I decided to go out. We started out by getting delicious sangria at Bar Toro Toro, and sat out on the patio enjoying the night. After we made out way to Alfalfa, which is a neighborhood with lots of bars. We met up some people who Tara met before from all over Europe. We stood outside for awhile talking to people from Italy, France, Belgium, and some other countries. It was really cool to meet people from different places also studying in Spain. Lots of them had never studied Spanish before, but since their language is so close, they have no problem picking it up. Then we decided to go to a discoteca. They played mostly American music there, with a few Spanish songs mixed. It was a fun night and we didn't leave till 5 in the morning. So I slept in late on Sunday. I lounged around the house for most of the day, but did take a walk with Ash around Nervión, which is the neighborhood near our homes. It was really quiet because it was Sunday and everything is closed except for restaurants. We did find a shopping mall, movie theater, what we think was a Cruzcampo (beer)  factory, and the Sevilla soccer stadium, but there wasn't much else there. After I decided to go for a run. I went towards plaza de España, and ran through the park they have right there. I didn't realize how big it was, and I want to go back and see it. Yesterday for lunch we had seafood paella. It was so delicious! It had so much fresh seafood in it. Then for dinner we had a mixture of vegetables and croquettes. I think we have finally gotten the portion sizes down to a normal amount. Today for lunch we had salad and garbanzo bean soup.

Today Rachel and I were sitting in Plaza de Jerez during our break. After we had been there for awhile, the plaza was taken over by lots of little kids, maybe 6/7 year olds. They were everywhere eating their luches. The benches were double sided, and there were kids on the other side. They started to surround us, and watch what we were doing. Rachel finished her lunch quickly, and then we escaped the little kids.

Random fact about the milk here:

It's different here. It doesn't have to be refrigerated, which seemed a little strange. I decided to Google it and find out about it. The milk here is UHT (ultra high temperature). Instead of pasteurizing at 150ish degrees it is at 275ish for a few seconds. It kills all the bacteria and can stay good for 6 months on the shelf. Apparently most of Europe, Asia, and Latin America drink this kind of milk. It is less expensive to transport because there is no refrigeration required along the way, which also makes it better for the environment. It's interesting that so much of the world is drinking this kind of milk, while we aren't.

View from the patio

Sangria

Tara, Ash, and me at the discoteca

Possibly the cruzcampo factory

Sevilla Fútbol Stadium