Yesterday morning, class ended two hours early so that we could go on tours of a few different sites in Sevilla. We were divided up into three groups, each with a professor or two as our guide. My group went to the Cathedral, so I was able to see it in more detail. I took some pictures, but there is no way they can possibly convey how giant and grand this place was. It used to be a mosque, but after the Reconquista, los Reyes Católicos turned it into a cathedral. But there are still remnants of the original mosque, including La Giralda, which is the giant tower and the tallest building in Sevilla (although the very top part is not original, as there was an earthquake that knocked the original top off) and the Patio de Naranjas (Patio of Oranges) with the fountains where the Muslims would wash to purify themselves before worship. The Cathedral itself has elements of Gothic, Baroque, and Renaissance architecture. Also within the Cathedral is the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Apparently lots of different places claim to have the real remains of Columbus, but, according to my professor, these are the real ones (of course, my professor may just be biased in favor of Sevilla). I’ll try to post some pictures here, when I have internet that’s more reliable.
That afternoon, after my dance class, I went with a group from our program to take a short tour of one of the buildings of the University of Sevilla. The university is divided into facultades, which are like the colleges in an American university. But they are not located together one campus. Rather, the buildings are spread out all over the city. We went to the Facultad de Filología, of humanities, which is where I will be taking my literature class. It used to be a tobacco factory, and is actually the tobacco factory in which the opera Carmen is set. The building is gorgeous, with many interior patios with fountains, and shiny marble floors and marble statues of naked men in the staircases. I must say, it was extremely intimidating. Not like American universities, which do all they can to make visitors feel welcome. There was just this sort of cold face to the University. In Spain, students don’t generally live on college campuses, and they usually just go to the university in their home city, so going to college isn’t the same sort of undertaking as it is in the States. We got a lot of odd looks, as we were a group of fifteen to twenty Americans, taking pictures. I felt like a prospee (prospective student), but I imagine the Universidad de Sevilla doesn’t exactly get prospees.
After the University tour, there was an open-air market going on in the Plaza Nueva. Kerry, Alicia, and I poked around for a bit, and I bought a scarf for 5 euro. There were a lot of different things, like scarves and hats and jewelry and food. I also bought some honey roasted (or some such thing) cashews to munch on, which were thoroughly delicious. I haven’t had a lot of nuts since I’ve been here, so I enjoyed them a lot.
Tonight, Tiffany, a friend from TU who is spending the full academic year in Granada, came into Sevilla. She is heading to the Carnaval in Cádiz this weekend (sort of Spain’s Mardi Gras), but she’s staying in Sevilla for a few nights. She, Laura, Kerry, I, and our roommates went out for tapas. We went to a place that the manager of Tiffany’s hostel recommended called Taberna Colonias. The prices were fairly cheap, with good portion sizes, and our waitress was extremely friendly. Among the dishes we tried was patatas a la brava, which consisted of fried potato coins with a spicy red sauce and a white sauce that can best be described as being like ranch. I really liked this one a lot. It also had no pork, which was definitely a plus.
I am starting to feel more integrated into the culture here. On Thursday, my group returned from our visit before Alicia’s group, and since I wasn’t sure when she would get back, I went ahead and headed home. Walking alone through the streets of Sevilla gave me this thrill, because I felt like I fit in. I wasn’t yapping in English, I knew where I was going and didn’t have to pull out a map, and the public transit didn’t faze me at all. I felt like someone could look at me and maybe mistake me for a sevilliana. Although, according to one of Carmen’s neighbors, I have a very English face. Not exactly sure why, and I don’t think I could recognize an English face, but I’m ok with looking English.
All for now. ¡Hasta luego!
No comments:
Post a Comment