Un paseo por Sevilla

It's taken me two months to finally get to this, but I want to share some pictures from early December when Hilary came to visit me. She spent a weekend in Granada, four nights in Sevilla, and then two nights in Extremadura with me. It was an amazing week, and weirdly enough actually my first chance to be a "tourist." We hit all the big Sevilla sites - the Giralda, the Catedral, the Setas, Torre de Oro, the Alcázar, exploring the old centro of the city, Plaza de España, Parque María Luísa, and the lovely Triana neighborhood - while in Extremadura, we worked our way through Cáceres and Trujillo - both of which boast impressive old neighborhoods, churches, towers and castles.

A significant part of our visit was spent taking advantage of the local cuisine: in Sevilla, Hilary was able to eat with my host family including some wonderful Moroccan cous-cous, we visited cafés and bars around the city, and most importantly went twice to my favorite ice cream place; in Extremadura we sampled the local jamón, migas (a bread-crumb dish native to the area), sheep cheese, and an amazing comida (the 3:00 meal) in Trujillo in the main plaza. We traveled as Spaniards - rising late, eating a big lunch, walking it off while sightseeing, an afternoon coffee, and grabbing tapas and drinks at night.

One of the most impressive things about travelling within Spain is the hodge-podge of cultures and time periods that are built amidst and on top of each other. In Sevilla we have ancient Roman ruins beneath the Setas, a modern wooden architectural piece named for its mushroom shape; one finds Baroque churches next to Gothic cathedrals; half of the Giralda is of Moorish origin while the top was built by the Christian invaders; the Alcázar Real (Royal Palace) was partially rebuilt form its Arab mudéjar style to the simple Renaissance columns and arcs. History is entwined and out of order and amazingly close here, and my History of Art class has been a wonderful opportunity to embrace that closeness. From my new house I can walk to the famous Puente Triana within minutes and I run by the Torre de Oro every day, and I have to remind myself that this city existed before my continent had even been discovered by Europeans. I'm amazingly blessed to be able to spend a year in this beautiful city of Sevilla. I find I have to quote one of my entries from June before leaving, when I had no idea what this year had in store for me:

"The bad part is not that the sevillanos think that they have the most beautiful city in the world... the worst is that they might be right." 

 --Antonio Gala

Found in Helarte, my favorite heladería: "This is not a freezer... it is a first aid kit full of rich homemade cakes that are a remedy for: sadness, lovesickness, exhaustion, apathy... and a celebration of love, friendship, encounters, care, the sweetness of living. That's why this isn't a freezer, it's a first aid kit."

Plaza de España at night

The Arab style windows in the ramps up the Giralda

The view towards the northwest of Sevilla from the Giralda

The view south from the Giralda

The view east from the Giralda... I think

The Giralda and Cathedral

The Miller sisters inside the Alcázar

Sunset over the Guadalquivir and behind the famous Triana bridge and neighborhood

TOP MOMENTS OF 2013

I KNOW, I KNOW... it's been way too long. I finally stopped procrastinating and decided to update this lonely and deserted blog with a very unoriginal post. My sister told me to write about the top moments of 2012 and I can only assume she meant 2013, so here we go: some of my favorite moments from the past twelve months. I'm almost guaranteed to forget some, mostly just because life in the US feels like four years ago instead of four months, so in chronological order...

1. January - I went to our Outbound orientation in Hopkinton and waited, literally shaking, to be called up, told my country, and pin it on a world map. Somehow, I ended up with my first choice and stuck a little red pin in Spain before running outside to call Hilary and tell her. That was the first time I started to believe this might actually be happening!
2. January/February - Ski Team! I could never pick just one moment, but our whole season was pretty amazing; I will never forget our interesting bus rides, the crazy amount of ice we faced last year, our Friendly's trips and pasta parties, and getting to compete in GS at States. For all of you who have or will have graduated, I love you and will miss you. Everyone else, I'll see you next year for our 2014-2015 season!
3. January... possibly - our CD recording. Wind Ensemble got to play professionally (at a going rate of $1 per musician) to record the soundtrack for a short movie. As a musician, it was an amazing experience and I also got to be part of our wonderful group of friends and artists.
4. March... I think - Spirit Week 2013 was awesome as per usual with Disney Day (I went as the rose from Beauty and the Beast) and Animal Day or something like that (lobster!). It's one of those traditions that you can't really explain to someone who hasn't experienced it (the Spaniards were pretty confused when I tried) so kudos to Timberlane for being unique.
5. April - All State! As 4th oboe in NH I got to spend three days in Concord practicing, practicing until our lips ached, practicing until our lips went numb, and playing some more. It also meant that I got to spend the weekend with my favorite people in the world during breaks, meals, and in our hotel. 
6. April/May - Les Mis. Being part of the Les Mis pit was one of the most time-consuming and stressful things I've done; playing the English Horn and oboe part in a two hour long musical four times meant almost constant focus, 5-6 hour long practices, lip endurance, and also trying to fix my oboe in the middle of a show when it broke. Nonetheless, it was an incredible experience, an incredible show, and incredibly talented young artists.
7. May - Outbound orientation weekend. All the District 7870 Outbounds spent three days at a camp in the woods talking about our exchange years and experiences, getting to know each other, and also doing volunteer work. This is another incredible group of people that I feel so lucky to be included in, and the relationships we built before leaving are so valuable this year. I hope your exchanges are all going well and I can hardly wait for our Rebound orientation when we can share our experiences again.
8. May - I got my first correspondence from Spain and learned I was going to live in Sevilla! I happened to check my email during Chemistry class and got permission to call my sister, who was sleeping at 8 a.m, but still picked up the phone for me. 
9. June/July - Summer Gym. This one barely makes the list, but jumping off a bridge with my best friends into a river was pretty fun, even though I was sunburned so badly even the water hurt.
10. July/August - Hiking. My dad, Hilary and I went up to the White Mountains on a few amazing trips to Franconia Ridge and the Northern Presidentials that made me remember how much I love hiking. The views, the time together, and off course the ice cream and pizza when we made it back to the car are some of my best memories from the summer.
11. August - Going away parties! The most genuinely frightened I have ever been was in the split second that I got to my kitchen and like fifteen people all jumped out at me shouting "SURPRISE!" My going away party with friends was so much fun and I miss you all. Later, Hilary, my cousin and I had a joint going away party with our extended family that was tapas-themed. We had great Spanish food and I got to say goodbye to Pine Point in Maine along with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
12. September 7-8 - flight to Spain. I flew out of Boston at 8:30 p.m. with Hilary (after trying very hard NOT to fly with her, I eventually accepted fate) to Madrid; there, we said goodbye and I caught a connection to Sevilla. At 1:00 p.m. I left the airport with my host family, overwhelmed by everything about Spain but most of all the language, the Andalusian accent, and my beautiful city.
13. September 13-15 - the Inbound Orientation outside of Madrid. We spent the weekend up in the mountains getting to know each other as our exchange began. Most of the Inbounds in Spain are Americans, with a few Canadians and a few other nationalities as well, but we communicated almost entirely in English. The camp was beautiful and we also took a long hike to an outlook onto Valle de los Caídos and El Escorial.
14. September 17 - starting school. Honestly, there are too many landmarks in my four months in Spain to count them all but I have loved attending my instituto here and have met some really amazing friends and teachers. I'll have to make a post at some point about the differences between Spanish and American high school, but I have learned and grown so much at school here.
15. October 12 - my birthday party. I invited a bunch of friends over to my host family's house and everyone brought food and drinks to share; the night turned into trying to teach the Americans how to dance sevillana and singing Disney songs in both English and Spanish.
16. November 2-3 - going to Sanlúcar. This was my first chance to get to see a town outside of Sevilla - on the coast of Cádiz - and I got to explore the small but beautiful coastside town, including a walk on the abandoned Spanish beach.
17. Fall - Betis games with my host dad. Anyone will admit that Betis is terrible this year, bottom of the league, but I was lucky enough to go to at least six or seven Real Betis Balombié games in their stadium, Estadio Benito Villamarín. I even got to see them win once!
18. November 9 - Seeing Los Miserables! I went with a few friends to go see Les Mis performed live in Spanish. The show was amazing, there was a live pit, and it was a beautiful theater. Some of the songs were insanely hard to understand in a foreign language (especially when five people are singing different lines at one) and I was completely able to pick out the oboe parts. Afterwards, we got to say hi to some of the actor while they were leaving and got our pictures taken with Marius.
19. December - Sevilla and Extremadura! I got to be a complete tourist for the week as Hilary visited and I showed her around the city, hitting the Giralda, the Alcázar, the Cathedral, the Setas, the Torre de Oro, the Museo de Bellas Artes, Plaza de España, the Triana neighborhood, and my favorite ice cream place Helarte. We spent two nights in Cáceres, taking a day trip to Trujillo as well, and lived like real "Spanish" tourists. A definite highlight of that trip was the Extremaduran food (including their cheese, jamón, and migas). 
20. December 20 - Holiday/end of trimester/birthday/costume party. As a way of celebrating the start of our winter vacation and a few birthdays among my friends, we all got together and dressed up - costumes included from a Mexican, a cat, a mime, Rapunzel (me) and many others - and spent the night together until about 1 a.m.
21. Christmas vacation - the past two weeks. I switched to my second host family who live near Plaza de Armas as opposed to my old neighborhood, Los Bermejales, on December 22. It felt weird changing so close to Christmas but I have had an amazing time so far. We celebrated Christmas Eve with a huge family dinner (about 25 people) with delicious food and desserts. Christmas Day isn't as important in Spain so I spent the day relaxing, reading, and watching TV. For New Year's Eve I went to my host-grandmother's house for dinner at 10:00 and ate my twelve grapes with the family (for those who don't know, Spaniards traditionally eat one grape for every stroke of 12 o'clock on la Nochevieja, New Year's Eve, to give them luck in each of the 12 months of the coming year). This is not technically part of 2013 but I then went out with my host cousin to meet her friends and celebrate the start of 2014.

That's the year in review, although I'm definitely forgetting some of the highlights! Thank you for everyone who has supported me during some of the tough moments of exchange, happy holidays to everyone, and happy 2014!

un beso,

Meg