Just a little BOTELLÓN.

Thursday night I decided to do the “going out” thing. I stopped at El Jamón on my way home from CIEE and picked up some classy alcohol (El Smirnoff), a bottle of lemonade, and a bottle of orange juice. I was ready for an evening of the finer things.

Botellón, or “outdoor drinking session” according to my pocket dictionary, is a big thing here. Americans love it because it’s illegal to drink in public in the US. Since hanging out or doing anything in people’s houses is taboo here, people get together and pregame in the streets. Not the classiest thing to be taking shots out of water bottles in the streets, but it works. There are many spots to botellón in Sevilla and Thursday I went to Toro de Oro with Susan (from Tufts). Toro de Oro is right along the river on the Centro side of Sevilla, across from Calle Betis (in Triana). Susan and I hung out there for bit, just drinking and hanging out with other Americans.

When we finished our classy lemonade-vodka concoction, Susan and I went back over the river to Triana to Long Island Bar to meet up with some girls from Tufts. Long Island is off of Betis and is my new favorite place. They have a shot (chupito) for every state, so of course I had to try the California shot. It was very sweet but good. The bar was filled with CIEE kids and a few locals. Another wonderful thing about Long Island are the American college flags on the ceiling. And there is a TUFTS flag. Naturally, I freaked out and took a picture. There was also free “sangria.” I use quotes because it came from a large plastic bottle. Sketchy, but still “good.” After Long Island ran out of “sangria” and I had a free tequila shot from Sarah, a group of us headed over to Buddha. Buddha is a three story club/bar in Centro where people go every Thursday. Had a lot of fun dancing with kids from CIEE and headed back to Triana with Susan around 4am. We stopped for churros y chocolate on the way home and they were fantastic.

Basically, I was a waste of life all of Friday. I don’t understand how people can go out at night and stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning and be a real person the next day. I woke up late and went to the bar for breakfast then went home and promptly got back into bed. At the bar I tried to tell Charile that was a chance I was still drunk. Not sure I used the right words or if that was appropriate at all. Whoops.

Still feeling the effects of large amounts of sugar and alcohol. Tried to look up “hungover” in my pocket dictionary but alas couldn’t find it. Apparently the word is “resaca.” Probs going to be using that word a lot this semester. Sweet.

In other news, I got a haircut. It was a little bit of a disaster. Basically my hair hasn’t been this short since I was five or six. I tried to explain that I didn’t want short hair, or for it to be a lot shorter, but that must have gotten lost in translation. Not quite sure what to do with it, but it will grow. For now I should probably buy a hat or something.