Repost: Sevilla - Las dias siguientes

Hola chicos y chicas!
So this is my second update on Seville and I wanted to write a little more since this time I’m writing it prior to going to CIEE (my abroad center) where I get internet so perhaps I can write more in the comfort of my room. Seville is so much fun it’s absolutely absurd. Right now is the time to be here for all you shoppers out there because they are having andalucian rebajas (sales).These are the normal 10-20% sales, we’re talking 50-70% off. Anyway, it certainly makes for some fun shopping when fancy dress shirts are 9 euro instead of 30-40. On another note, this city is so EXTROADINARILY clean. They ayuntamiento de sevilla (town hall), has a cleaning company running 24 hours a day 365 days a year constantly washing down and scrubbing the streets, picking up garbage and things of that sort. In the end it lends itself to an extremely clean city, by far the cleanest city (Canadian, US or European) that I’ve ever been too. Somehow I’ve randomly managed to learn all the streets and can pretty much walk anywhere without getting lost, which is odd considering I’ve never really needed to master a walking city. I live in a placed called Triana which one of the barrios of Sevilla. It’s nice because I’m across the river from the Centro (the business place), and the historic section, and live in a more neighborhood-based area. Our senora (I have a roommate) is super nice, she cooks amazingly (minus the one time she forget we had a meal), and provides a good chance to practice our Spanish. Although our rooms are quite basic (and currently without Internet, although this might change as Andrew wants it, and I can’t disagree that it would be nice), I rarely spend any time here except to eat, sleep, and of course ciesta (the best part of Spanish life). It’s a totally different operating schedule here for kids, jovenes (us), and adults alike. Little children are out until 12-1AM all the time, and even later on Fridays and Saturdays. As a couple of the girls here noticed, that means babysitting ain’t so easy, cause the kids don’t just pass out at 8PM. However the more normal schedule is even longer. The sun rises around 8-830AM here (Katherine you were right!), and that’s when businesses typically start to open. Then they close around 2 (banks for the DAY), for the ciesta. During this time most people have lunch (2-3:30PM) which is really the first meal of the day. They don’t do breakfast, and if they do it’s just a piece of toast and maybe a coffee or a fruit. Then a quick ciesta (or a longer one for the lazy or the hungover), leads right into the full swing of things. At 5PM everyone takes to the streets, and they’re busy until 1AM. After 1 the streets aren’t so busy because everyone is in bars, or discotecas around the city. In fact our second night, me and two other guys from the program met some sevillanos who introduced us to Sevilla’s most infamous night bar, because it’s the only one that’s designed specifically to OPEN at 2:30AM, and closes 6 days a week at 9AM (only day it doesn’t is Sunday cause they all gotta go to church). It’s crazy here, in fact my senora laughed at me when I said I’d only come home at 5AM, because that’s absurdly early for someone my age when there are no obligations the next day. I quickly learned to toughen up, as did my roommate. The food here is amazing and caters to almost everyone’s tastes except only the few vegetarians. Although they’ve all given up that misguided choice here. You tell someone you are a vegetarian here, and that means you just don’t eat beef. Chicken isn’t really considered meat, and Jamon (ham or pork) is considered its own food group and you would be laughed at if you even considered not eating it (well maybe that’s a slightly exaggeration, but you’d certainly get some weird looks). Classes started today and my class is great. Although technically labeled intensive grammar review or whatever, mine focuses on learning how to speak Spanish like Spanish people speak it. We are acquiring all the phrases, and expressions used by Spaniards and learning how to use them, as well as learning the culture of Sevilla. We went to a church today on our first day and got to see the official church of Santo Claus en Sevilla. He’s a hit here, and the church (albeit small by La Catedral’s standard – europe’s second biggest church located in Sevilla), was extravagant. We later learned that originally it was a Synagogue, then a mosque, and now a church, and there is evidence to suggest that it was founded on pre-hebreo (Hebrew) religions. Pretty cool place, and FULL of history. Otherwise I’ll be putting up photos soon, and writing more as I think of things to say. It’s super cool here, my legs are burnt out from walking and dancing in the discotecas. All I keep thinking is how lucky I am this city has literally millions of oranges growing all around the city and the countryside, Europe’s second most fertile region in fact. The vitamin C is certainly helping!

PS Eat your meals at 9-10PM every day, it makes going out SOOOOO much easier, because you never get hungry halfway through your night.