First Week in Sevilla

Jah Work by Ben Harper

During my first week stay in Sevilla I managed to do quite a bit of sightseeing. I went to the Museo de Bellas Artes, the 2nd largest Art Museum in Spain (2nd only to the Prado in Madrid)! It was wonderful! I also went to the Museo de Artes y Costumbres Populares and Museo Arqueologico. I walked around the Plaza de Espana where the beginning of the second Star Wars movie, Attack of the Clones, was filmed. It was spectacular. I visited the Cathedral in town and also the many bell towers. (Picture is of the Giralda, originally constructed in the 11th century... still the tallest point in the entire city!)

My failed endeavor of the day: There’s this churro stand (they’re pretty common here) which is just a block or two away from where I take my classes. I’ve seen crowds of Spaniards lined up in the morning to get churros con chocolate (a typical breakfast or mid-morning snack), so I figure it’s the place to be if the locals love it so much. After only toast with jam for breakfast at 8:30, by around 11-12 those churros start to sound very appetizing. I had tried to go there a day or so before with another student, but the vendor informed us that they were sold out already, so this was my second attempt. Unfortunately, he once again had to share some bad news: they don’t sell churros on Monday, that’s potato chip day (duh!)… Oh well.  (Picture is of Plaza de Espana).

A very fun event while I’m staying with my host family is today is Jesús’ birthday (party was Saturday, real birthday today), I went next door to the parents’ house and finally got to meet the whole family! It was pretty great; there are at least 11 people (I kept losing count), and everyone was laughing and singing and clapping and hugging and kissing and banging on the table and EATING! When I came up the stairs, I was greeted by 11 pairs of two kisses (the common Spanish greeting) and the padre had everyone applaud for me, haha… also the first thing that the madre said was, “Ay si que guapa, que linda eres!” (The Spanish have no tact with words, they just say what’s on their mind, so I’m glad this was her response and not “que gordita!” Needless to say, I felt sufficiently welcomed to the family. (Picture is Jesus on his birthday).

We had this reeeeally good gazpacho (it was red and very thick, made with tomato, other veggies, olive oil, and some famous Sevilla jamón), followed by some brothy, curry-y, potatoes and chicken (not the technical name of the dish, but close enough, I’m sure). Lunch was concluded with several dessert items (all of which, of course, were placed on my plate), including bananas, chocolate/vanilla ice cream, and some kind of caramel whiskey cake… estaba completamente llena!