Sevilla Craziness

Ah, I just got out of the shower. Time to post on my blog. Sorry for the long absence.

I knew it would be a crazy trip after the way it started out. The bus to the Barcelona airport costs 3,90€. I was going to give the guy 5,40€ so I could get rid of two 20 cent pieces and in return get a 50 cent piece. What happens? The guy gives me back my two 20 cent pieces and a 10 cent piece. Darnit! Instead of having 1 coin I had 3! I'm telling ya, change in this country is something else. But I'm here to talk about Sevilla.

I suppose my trip started out even crazier than a Spaniard not giving me the change I wanted. Derek and I went to a club and stayed out until it was time to catch the bus to the airport. The club was right by my place, so I just threw his bag in my room and then got it when it was time to leave. We got to the airport a little earlier which was nice because it gave us a chance to catch some quick Zs.

We get out of the Sevilla airport and searched for the bus to town. We finally found it and were on our way to Sevilla (Seville in English). It's a nice, small town. Smells like olives. No joke. It is also known for its windy streets, and that is so true. They are tiny, and sometimes not very pedestrian friendly. Kinda confusing to get around, but it is small enough so you pick up on it quickly.

Our hostel was nice. We decided to get situated and rest up a bit. After all, we were a little tired. Instead of getting a regular room for 18€, we got a double room for 20€ a person. We figured that would just be a bit better. Little more privacy and security. Haha, well, we got it, kinda. Here's our bed.
We weren't really expecting to be sharing one. And there wasn't a lock on our door and we were by the bathroom, so a couple times people poked their heads in. Someone definitely came in while we were napping. That was slightly awkward and weird.

The hostel also had wireless Internet, but it was terrible and only worked by the stairs in the main area, not in our room. That's a major reason why I didn't post at all. Here's Derek on his laptop. The window in the bathroom opens up to the main area. Oh, and there was a light in our room that we think ran on a timer. It would randomly turn on. We'd come back, and it would be on. We would wake up, and it would be on. Just odd...

Man, the Internet is being really slow again. Uploading pictures is taking forever. Sorry.

Anyway, we were starving when we were ready to head out, so we looked up a place from my book and headed to a pizzeria nearby. It was the best pizza I've had outside the U.S.

We then saw the Catedral, the Cathedral in Sevilla. It used to be a mosque and was converted into a church. It holds some Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest cathedral. It has something to do with surface area or something. Regardless, it is huge and it was cool to see the Islamic influences on it. Sorry, but I'll only upload one photo of it.
Here's the menerat that was changed into a bell tower. And yes, I decided on two pictures. Here's just a side of the church.
And the Internet got faster, so I went back and poster this. Inside this church is the place where Christopher Columbus is supposed to be buried. Let's see. Ah, we walked around a bit, had some tapas (we did some authentic Spanish tapas hopping. It was cool). We then went to this bar called La Carbonería. It was a big place. Hard to find, too. While we were trying to find the right street to turn on, we ran into this American who is studying in Sevilla. He took us right there. It just so happened that we got there right when a flamenco show was starting. It was cool to see. I mean, it wasn't amazing (I've seen some before) but it was still cool. We then chatted it up with the Americans and ended up talking to this one girl and her visiting friend. We then ran into these other two girls who are studying in Barcelona with us and some other Americans. Pssh, we ended up closing down the bar at 3am. It was a good time.

At one point, there was a group picture being taken in the corner. Then others starting piling in. And then they called everyone in the bar over. We joined in. Here's a picture I snapped afterwards.
Wow, the Internet is being so slow.

We thought about going to a club afterwards and were shown the way by some Spaniards from the bar. It cost 12€, so we decided to just go back and get some sleep. Man, my shirt smelled like smoke. Ah Spain. And I only brought one shirt to Sevilla...

The next morning we went to the Alcázar. It was an old Muslim palace. Very pretty, and interesting to see because I'm learning about this stuff. Here just some random pictures. There was also a big, nice garden. And the Internet just picked up, so I'm going to be uploading more photos.

Us being "cool."

We then saw some other sites, like the Archivo General de Indias, an archive of Spain's explorations in the New World.

We then ate and met up with those girls from Sevilla. We went to this plaza and then into a club (we got free passes). It was fun, but we decided to go to this other club. The one girl said we could get in for free. They kept saying that we had to take a cab, even though Derek and I were pretty sure we could walk there easily in this small town. The unnecessary cab ride was short and we couldn't get into the club. That's when Derek and I decided to go back to our hostel. We walked.

Ah, here's a picture of a tapas place we went to. It was cool.We checked out of our hostel on Sunday morning and got on a bus to Itálic. It's 9km outside of the city. It used to be an old Roman city. It was cool to see. Here's some pictures.We then got back to Sevilla. Here's some random photos, ah, and me climbing an ancient Roman aquaduct.
Sevilla's soccer stadium.

Our plane was delayed and I finally got to Barcelona after midnight. Got on a random bus that wouldn't accept the 20 euro bill I offered him (I didn't really understand the guy. So I just went with the crowd and didn't pay) and got off at Plaça de Catalunya. Walked and finally got home around 2am. I went to sleep, woke up early, wrote my Spanish paper, and went to class. Whew.

Okay, and that was my trip. I hope you found it interesting and not too long. It was a great time.

Today I got my Spanish midterm back. I got a B+ on it. Darnit. I wanted a higher grade. However, I learned today that yes, your progression is factored in. We had to take a placement test to see what Spanish class we'd get into and I'm pretty sure I bombed it. Hopefully I do a ton better on the exit exam. Enjoy the week!