For blue, blue skies.

Sevilla

Lately, the weather has been amazing. For some reason I expected to come to Sevilla in January and have blue skies and warm weather every day. Not sure why I believed this, but I did and was very disappointed when it proceeded to rain every day. The forecast seems to always say that it is going to rain for some part of the day. Waking up and checking weather.com (which is so “reliable”) to see pictures of rain is always a buzz kill. But I am happy to report that the last few days have been perfect (sunny, blue skies) even when the “reliable” weather.com says it will be raining all day.

Friday I went on a CIEE day trip to Carmona (a small town about an hour away from Sevilla) with Abby, Kayla, and Tamar. Our tour guide was Ángel, my Novela y Cine teacher and a CIEE favorite. We walked around the town for a few hours, visiting various historical monuments. The town is beautiful, everything looks old and the streets are cobblestones. The trip was fun and a nice way to spend a Friday morning and early afternoon.

Carmona

That night I went out for tapas at Levies near CIEE with Abby, Alyssa, Rozina, and Victoria. The food was amazing and so was the sangria. I realize that I go out to eat a lot more than I probably should (for my bank account’s sake). There is so much good food in this country and apparently I’m trying to sample it all before I go back to America. Wish me luck.

Saturday was an overnight trip to Granada with CIEE. I vaguely remember going to Granada when I was in Spain in 2003, so I was happy to go back and do all the touristy stuff again. We got to Granada Saturday afternoon and had a massive buffet lunch at the hotel. After lunch we went to tour the Alhambra and Generalife. The weather was picture perfect, sunny and no clouds. After spending the afternoon at the Alhambra and Generalife we went to a Tetería. Teterías are places that have tea, hookah, and sweets.

The Alhambra

Granada

Saturday night we attempted to experience the nightlife in Granada but apparently it doesn’t get started until 3:30 or 4am, so we were slightly unsuccessful. We went to a bar/club where the bouncer told us the cover was 5 euro. We said we didn’t want to pay and he let us in for free. Score. Then we went to a chupiteria, a bar that only sells shots (there were over 100), and some rando spilled a shot all over the back of my silk shirt. I tried to start a fight with her (I really like my shirt) but could only make angry faces and say “la chingada” over and over while she shrugged her shoulders and walked away. BUT, we managed to find the most amazing food: SHAWARMA. Shawarma is kebab goodness. Any description I give won’t do it justice, so my recommendation is to go get some right now.

Sunday we walked around the old neighborhood in Granada until it was time for lunch. Another amazing buffet, of course. I’d forgotten how much I miss choosing what I get to eat at every meal. We got back to Sevilla Sunday night and the week has already gone by very quickly. Its been sunny the last few days and I’m loving every minute of it.

I’m off to Madrid tomorrow night with Adam to meet up with friends from Tufts for the weekend. SO excited to see Sarah, Lindsay, Kate, Royi, Austin, Bobby, Ben, and Hunter!