SEVILLE Day 1

Turns out that I was the only one in the bus that ended up having two seats to myself. After 6 hours of off and on sleep we finally made it there, but we were too tired and it was too dark for us to start enjoying it yet. It was only 7am and it was very cold and I had just a t-shirt and shorts on.. not the smartest choice, but I was in a rush. But one thing I did manage to bring or do that no one else remembered to do was to get directions to the hostel from the bus station. Fortunately I had taken a picture of the email they sent us about how to get there so after the deliberation and imminent slow action of any large group, we made our way over to the hostel which was near the center of the city and about 15 minutes away walking. Unfortunately we couldn´t check in until 10:30am so we sat around and ate breakfast on some park benches for an hour or so until we dropped ourself off hesitently in the commonroom of the hostel. They said it was safe but I wasn´t quite confident about it considering it was my first stay in one. Then we made our way together to the absolutely amazing Cathedral which is the 3rd largest in the world and the 2nd largest gothic structure as well. It wasn´t open yet for tourists, but what was running was a tour of the city by horse and carriage.. I was in and we got together a group of 4 to do it. It was just 10 euros and it was worth it. It wasn´t amazing but it was very relaxing and gave you a quick look at everything in the city and many things we would not have otherwise had time to see. The driver was this old Sevillan man who was the quinticential carriage driver.. it was like he was out of a movie and he was very nice although a bit quiet at times. Went by the Cathedral, the bull fighting arena, one of the oldest and best in Spain, the University of Seville (70,000 students) which is located inside of the city´s old tabacco factory which is massive and beautiful and has a moat around it, the Palace of Alcazar, the Plaza of Spain, the Gardens, and much more. After the tour we did some tourist shopping, relaxed a bit and then went into the Cathedral as soon as it opened. It is spectacular inside.. kept in tremendous condition and is the proven resting place of Christopher Columbus or at least a large portion of him.. I can´t explain it all but please check out the pictures that will be up this Wednesday! We then walked over and got lunch... took almost 30 minutes to find the place that had been recommended to us but we eventually found it and it was very good.. maybe not worth the walking.. but it was affordable. But one thing I like here is that although they say that in the US everyone is Capitalistic and out for the money, but here they charge for everything.. eating outside.. 30 cents per tapa ordered.. 7% tip included.. the bread which we didn´t even ask for.. and sometimes they even charge for the bathrooms here. But we spent about 2 hours eating and talking. It was very nice and was just the 4 of us. It was an interesting group.. I don´t know if I´ll be great friends with all of them but they definitely have different perspectives and come from California or Mexico so have had very different lives than I. I´ll spare the details about each of them but two had a little thing going on between them although they are very, very different. I don´t see the relationship going far especially because one of them has a girlfriend back in the States.. but according to him it´s a don´t ask don´t tell kind of agreement when abroad..
After lunch we joined up with the main group back at the Hostel to take a much needed nap. The Hostel was nice.. or definitely good enough for our purposes. And the room I was in was with just BC people so I didn´t have to worry about my stuff as much although it would have been nice to have been with others in order to meet new people. From then on I stuck with the other group while the group of now 3 hung out by themselves for the majority of the rest of the trip. I like the new group better and found them more fun overall. After waking up we went over to get Flemenco tickets but they were sold out for the night unfortunately. Then picked up some wine and sangria for our botellón later and then went out to a nice tapas place for dinner. Got chiken kababas(thought they were going to be more like the bonner kabab sandwiches which are delicious, but they weren´t) which were good but nothing special.. I wasn´t very hungry. Then I ended up eating half of Margarita´s dish which was a squid in a black sauce of some sort which was great although a bit salty. Definitely more like what I wanted. I need to learn some more spanish food words so I know what I´m ordering moreso. I just want to try something native and different everywhere I go. Pizza would be nice at some point though..haha After talking about cameras with Melinda and other things at dinner we went back to pregame a bit on the roof of our Hostel with a view over all the city. Then we went over to the free, ameteur Flemenco show which was not very impressive and I got a bit tired afterwards, but after leaving I decided to stay out with 3 other girls and explore the city a bit more at night because it was only 1am.. Earlier I had walked around on my own for about an hour and so had established my bearings in the city, so I guided everyone around to Plaza España and a bunch of other buildings and places which looked magnificent at night. We ran into this Fair of the Nations and a outdoor restaraunt next door which looked informal, yet very romantic where people were eating on velvet beds outside. It was very interesting and refreshing becaues we had no expectations. Before heading back we found the party district.. but we weren´t in the mood to go out late that night and were all starting to get a bit tired but it did seem like a lively and young party scene. Didn´t get lost surprizingly given the very thin and winding streets and then went right to bed.