No es Adios, es hasta luego Sevilla

Here it is. My last week in Sevilla. I could not believe how fast the time went. At one hand I felt like I had just arrived in Seville a few weeks ago, but on the other hand I felt as though I had been there for years. My life was so different and wonderful in Spain. I did NOT want it to end!! But all good things must end. 

After not putting too much time into studying all semester, I pulled an all-nighter for my finals...oops! But it was worth it, because I got straight A's this past semester :) After finals we had a long weekend, the last weekend in my beloved Sevilla. Many people took this time for any last minute travels, but my close friends and I decided to make the most of our last few days in Sevilla by staying home. This long weekend was probably one of my favorite weekends in Sevilla. My friends and I spent afternoons drinking tinto de verano by the river, went shopping at the markets and European stores while we still could, and visited our favorite restaurants and bars one last time. 

Sarah, Me, and Casey going to a market by the river

We also made some pretty cool memories that weekend going to a Sevilla FC futbol game, swimming on a rooftop pool of the hotel Casey's host mom works at, going to the end of the semester party at CIEE, and (not pictured) randomly deciding to go to a karaoke bar one night and singing in Spanglish to a wide variety of music with some friendly Spaniards! Oh I miss this :(

GO SEVILLA! 

It was SO HOT! Pool time was needed.

Saying goodbye at the end of the semester party 

After a great weekend more fun was to be had..FERIA!!!

Feria is the HUGE flamenco festival full of lots of dancing, singing, drinking, eating, horse rides, and carnival rides. It is the epitome of la cultura Sevillana. Flamenco includes the combination of singing, guitar playing, dancing, and clapping. Flamenco is a huge part of Spanish culture, which originated in Andalusia with the Gitanos (gypsies). The typical flamenco dress is also based on the Gitanos. Flamenco is in the blood of every Sevillano. Everyone grew up knowing the four different types of dance of flamenco, ready to dance at any occasion and of course every year at Feria. 

So the fair grounds were just down the road from my apartment, which was very convenient! Every year they rebuild the arch and all of the tents and then take them all down again a week later. It takes a lot of effort! Feria first begins at midnight on Monday night. That is when the lights to the main entrance arch light up and people start the festivities! 

In the morning I went and met up with my good friend, Amy Lang, at the bus station. She had been studying abroad in Florence, Italy the same time I was in Sevilla and flew over to meet me in Sevilla to experience feria before we took off on our 3 week Eurotrip! She is an old high school friend and a fellow Badger, so I knew that we were going to have a great, memorable time together. It was awesome showing her around Sevilla! 

At the top of the Giralda 

Later that night, the whole gang and more met at our favorite bar outside our apartment before feria to have one last drink together.

During the opening night of feria no one dresses up in flamenco dresses, but instead dresses up in nice clothing for the event.

Sarah, Jen, me and Beth waiting for the lighting of the arch!

It's midnight!!

All of the decorations and lights were so pretty!

There are two parts to feria. One part consists of all of the casetas, which are the food and drink tents owned by different groups in Sevilla like businesses, clubs, neighborhoods, families, etc. There are a few public tents, but for the most part you need to know somebody to be able to go into a tent. The tents are wear the drinking, eating, and dancing happen. Each one is decorated beautifully in the feria style. The second part is the carnival! It is pretty much the same as a carnival in the United States.

The Ferris wheel ride was quite the adventure. It started out as a nice, classic ride and then we started to pick up some speed...

The next thing we know we are flying through the air at high speeds like a roller coaster...is this even safe!?

After a late night riding rides, we got up the next day to start preparing for the first day of feria. My host sister let us borrow her old dresses that my host mom had made. My host dad then presented me with a hand painted fan that he made for me for feria. How cool! He even made five others for all of my sisters and my mom. I seriously had the best host family ever!! My host sister and mom then spent the whole morning doing our hair, make-up, and accessories to make us look as Sevillana as possible.

Getting ready in the bathroom!

Finished product!

Pretty ladies!

 

Me and my beautiful host sister, Laura!

Pepe, Ana Maria, and me! 

After getting ready, my friends and I met up and we headed over to the fair together. Upon arriving we were bombarded with tons of people asking for our photo..even a photographer for the newspaper! I felt like a celebrity! All of the Spanish were staring and calling us "muy guapa." I don't know if it was because we were a large group of pretty, young women dressed in a variety of flamenco dresses or because we were American...either way I had never felt so loved in Sevilla!

Using our fans like pros!

It was one HOT day out! To keep cool we spent the day hopping from one caseta to another ordering soda, water, and of course the typical feria drink, Rebujito! 

Me striking a fierce pose

A giant part of feria is the hundreds of horses and horse drawn carriages riding around. The streets were full of them! We were going to have a ride, but it was waaaay to pricey to be worth it!

The casetas were almost as hot as the air outside...my fan saved my life!

Me, Sarah, and Hannah

Even though we didn't know how to dance flamenco, we participated as well as we could!

Feria was an amazing, cultural experience that I am so thankful to have had. How many Americans get to dress up in an authentic flamenco dress and be able to dance and drink with a bunch of really cool Spaniards all day? It was a great way to end my time in Sevilla.

That night I had to tearfully say good bye to all of my amazing friends that I had gotten so close to that semester. Considering they live all over the U.S., it was a pretty hard goodbye :( After those hard good byes I had to get up the next morning and make more good byes, this time to my host family. They kept reminding me that this wasn't a goodbye, it's a see you later. But still I left never knowing if I will see them again. After all I shared with them and my friends it was over. Getting on that train leaving Seville was one of the hardest things I have done.

Me saying goodbye to my abuela

 I miss my time in Sevilla so much every day. It was an amazing place with amazing people. It was the best semester of my life and I can not thank my parents enough for allowing me to have this invaluable opportunity. 

El pueblo de americanos

After my crazy week in Germany and Czech Republic then rushing home for a day of watching Pasos for Semana Santa, my host family proceeds to tell me, "Oh yeah, we are going to our beach house tomorrow..pack up!" Whaaa!? So I threw some stuff together, hopped in my family's car, and rode 1.5 hours to the small beach town, Rota. If you want to picture this tiny town, imagine any typical Florida beach tourist town. Lots of ice cream shops, burger joints, and dorky bars surrounding a beautiful and very crowded beach. Wait....ice cream and burger joints in Spain?! Well, this very popular beach town also happens house one of the United State's most important naval bases. It is right off of the Straight of Gibraltar, which is about the half way point from the U.S. to the Middle East. This base is actually shared with the Spanish, but "shared" is a loose term. The U.S. dominates with huge ships on the coast, giant jets landing and taking off frequently, and a few thousand Americans (soldiers and their families). Inside the base are baseball diamonds, movie theaters playing American films, and even a Ben and Jerry's! The American influence has spread into the town of Rota as well; the first burger joint in Spain was in Rota. 

The U.S. first started using this base in 1953 in a deal with Franco that the U.S. would supply military, economical, social, and political support to Spain in exchange for use of the Naval base. The base itself is HUGE, with most of its land just being trees and open fields...my host family was a little bitter about the wasted space. 

When we got there my host family and I went to their favorite bar and ordered flamenquines...the best things ever!! They are pork wrapped in ham with cheese, all breaded and fried, yum! After lunch my host sister, Laura, gave me a tour of the small town. The beach was beautiful! We relaxed for a bit on the beach, but it was a little too windy, so we continued to walk around the town.

Like any Spanish town there was a old castle! They restored it and now it is the Town Hall. Pretty cool!

Cute alleyway by the castle! 

After our tour, we settled in for dinner and t.v. with the family. The next day was raining, so we all relaxed in the apartment, spending time together and catching up on sleep!

Rota Visit #2

Just a week after visiting Rota with my host family, I took a field trip there with my class about U.S. History through Spain's perception. For educational purposes we were allowed onto the base to learn about the lifestyle of the Spaniards and Americans who live there. We learned in class, that when the Americans were settling there it was a sight that no Spaniard had ever seen. Everything seemed giant and very modern. Up to this point Spain had been isolated, so American influence was very strong. 

When we arrived we went through Spanish security. It seemed a little relaxed for being an American base, but I guess the Spaniards are in charge of security, so the American's there don't get a say! We first went to visit the air crafts and we were amazed by the size. These planes were huge!! The Americans leading us around were giving their talks all in English of course, but after being in Spain so long it was really weird to hear our tour guide speaking in English and watching our professors struggle to understand for once! 

Our tour guide said that this was one of our newest models and cost millions to make. I asked how many we had and he said 50...of just this model..Wow!

The huge inside of the plane

You had to climb this steep ladder to get to the place where soldiers sit. It looked like a regular commercial jet up top! 

So many buttons!!

After the tour of the plane we watched a presentation with one of the officers from the base. It was very interesting to hear the soldiers view of life here in Spain. The officer made sure to point out that this is a Spanish base and we are just using it. They are very respectful of that and hold several charity events for the Spanish living around the base. It was a weird experience to be away from American culture for so long to all of the sudden be thrown into an American military base. It was like two worlds colliding!

I was amazed at how little I knew about the culture of our serving men and women abroad. They are living in a foreign country, not being able to speak the language, having to raise their children on the base with the facilities they have. I am even more grateful now for the serving men and women and their families who sacrifice so much for us. It was a very eye-opening experience to see this in person.

After the presentation we looked around outside a bit and then headed to the beach where we saw the port from a distance. The ships were huge! There was even a section of the beach inside the base just for the soldiers and their families living there.

It was also interesting that the Spanish professors kept saying how the inside of the base was like a mini-America. How the buildings and everything were huge and had American style. I don't know about you...but these buildings in the picture below do not look American at all! But anyway it was fun to see how my professors got so excited to be in mini-America and taking tons of pictures in the huge jet.

The port 

We then had a bunch of free time where we relaxed on the beach while our professors went to the local bar and had a good time. We ended the day with a short tour of the castle. It had great views!

An old church by the castle

It was a great experience visiting the naval base and seeing how my two cultures collide in a small beach town on the coast of Spain. Traveling brings you to unique places.

Also, remember to thank one of the many men and women who are serving or who have served!