Café del Valle
Hola from Sevilla, the most beautiful city in the entire world. I have been here for four days now, and I am already so in love with this place, the people, the culture, and their way of life. The past few days honestly seem like a dream, and I’m still having trouble believing that this is what life will be like for the next few months. We arrived in Sevilla on Wednesday night in the pouring rain. I found it funny because when I toured USC it was also raining, but even in the rain I could tell how spectacular it was. The same instinct happened when we first got to Sevilla, and it has only gotten more breathtaking with each passing day. Sevilla is located in the Andulcia region in Southern, Spain, and I am seriously convinved a place couldn’t be more beautiful than this. The architecture here is incredible and everywhere you turn castles or palaces or the Rio Guadaquiver that runs through Sevilla surrounds you. The streets are filled with precious little cafes, bars and restaurants and the shops here are amazing. The way the Spaniards live their lives is so much more laid back than in the U.S. and is something I have come to love very quickly. Especially in Sevilla the people make it a point to go out and meet with friends for a café (coffee) or una copa (a drink) and tapas. No one is ever in a rush and they work much less than in the U.S. and generally seem to be happier. There are a million thoughts running through my head that I want to share, so I figured it would be easier to categorize different aspects and post in small amounts of what I have experienced in Sevilla so far!
Here are some of the things we did in the first few days!
Thursday – First day in Sevilla
Tour of the Universidad de Sevilla- The building is massive and so beautiful. It was the first tobacco factory in Europe and is a million times nicer than any factory I have ever seen (I really haven’t seen many).
Bike tour throughout Sevilla – We biked for two hours all around Sevilla and ended at the Plaza de Espana. Sevilla is extremely bike friendly and I have almost gotten run over by people on bikes about 12 times now.
Friday
Toured the Alcazar - Another old castle with unbelievable architecture and design. The film some of Game of Thrones here.
Universiy Reception – It was basically a short orientation and they served coffee and little pastries after. The pastries were my favorite part.
Fashion Show – Our host mom invited us to a fashion show. I had no idea what to expect but it was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life so far. The show was a charity event to benefit kids with cancer and was held at this outside venue. We got to go behind the scenes of all of it while it was happening and see all of the models and designers. Then we found out our senora used to be a model. They had multiple different designers and high fashion clothing lines. It was such a surreal, once in a lifetime kind of opportunity.
Our first night out- The nightlife is a huge part of the culture here and goes well into the early morning hours. I am planning on writing a separate post but for our first night we went to a Spanish disco and were some of the only Americans there. We had a blast dancing until 4 A.M. (which believe it or not is considered an early night here)
Saturday
Our senora showed us this amazing little café down the street that I see myself visiting frequently. My roommate Sam and I went and had cappuccinos and just sat there for a few hours. We also did a little shopping for some necessities and went to a flamenco show to start the night. After we went to another open air disco.
Sunday (today)
This morning we finally got to sleep in and rest a bit and then I went to mass at the Cathedral. The catholic religion has such a strong presence here and it was so interesting to hear mass in Spanish at one of the most beautiful churches I have seen (I’ve seen about 15 this week alone). After lunch today I took a much needed siesta and then met some friends for gelato. We then went to the Café del Valle (second day in a row) and got cappuccinos and worked on booking some trips around Europe. I already have Prague and Barcelona booked and am planning on booking a trip to Italy tomorrow! I can’t wait to travel around Europe but I have also realized I love it so much here and want to stay more on the weekends then I originally anticipated.
Tomorrow is the first day of classes and I’m actually very excited to finally be starting school!
Buenos noches desde Sevilla (goodnight from Sevilla!)