Un Viaje to España!

*Two warnings before you read this: a lot happened this weekend, so many blocks of writing will be below. Also, this entry may dissolve into mushiness at some point. Read at your own risk.*

Since my last entry, life has been relatively...how shall I put it...amazing. Thursday found me at my usual place on Thursdays, which was my internship. Thanks to everyone being sick in the world, I managed to catch a small cold that manifested itself in the form of a cough, runny/stuffed nose and general tiredness. Therefore, while working while on some drugs (mostly DayQuil, God's greatest gift in an orange capsule) I managed to down an entire 2 litre bottle of water in 12 hours...twice, so I also peed a lot. Thanks to my mom's careful medical teachings, I knew that this would clear out my system. Nick also informed me that my writing is actually being published in multiple publications, including the NASN website, The American Hour and American in Britain, a magazine marketed toward the titled audience. It isn't glamorous, but it is completely worth it! After work, I took the tube back to the flat, where we booked our flights and trains to Venice, Florence, Rome and Paris for spring break. Yeah yeah.

However, it was Friday that got the adrenaline going. I left for Heathrow around 9:15 and flew out of the airport around 11:15 a.m. en route to Madrid and eventually to Sevilla, Spain!! After a four and a half hour layover in the crazy Madrid airport, it was off on another Iberia flight to Sevilla. I landed around 9:40 p.m. and made my way to the terminal, where Norah and Laura were waiting for me. When I walked through the entrada (entrance) to the gate, there was Laura, waving her arms and standing on her tiptoes to tell me where she was. And then there was Norah, who squeaked (allowing me to locate her) and immediately started jumping up and down in the midst of the crowd. It was the best airport greeting anyone could ask for. So after we had a classic movie slow-motion run toward each other and embraced in the midst of a Spanish mob of people, we took the airport bus to el centro (the center) of the city, where we walked along the Guadalquivir, the river that runs through the city, and wandered around for an hour and a half until we found the hostel I was staying at. After that, we went out for some tapas, which are small snack-sized meal portions, at a bar and then met up with Eric at a bar, where I tried tequila. Not as bad as some people make it out to be, actually. After that, Norah and I wandered around the city, talking and walking and doing some sightseeing until about 3 or so.

The next morning, I got up around 7 a.m. and made it (after two phone calls and getting lost near la biblioteca publica) to a street corner near the developing metro station, where I met Norah and a group of her friends and we took a bus to the Santa Justa train station to catch the train for Córdoba, a city about an hour and a half northeast of Sevilla. Once we got there, we stopped at a café for some café (which is so much better there than anywhere else) and then began to make our way around the city. At first it was raining, but then it stopped. Almost the entire day, we were scheduled to have rain, but it stopped within 15 minutes of us arriving anywhere. But yeha, we stopped at a house with a bunch of really nice gardens around it and then walked around for a bit until we came to La Sinogoga, Córdoba's oldest Jewish house of worshipfulness. We stopped briefly for lunch and then walked for another hour or so before going inside of la Mezquita Catedral, a 12th century cathedral that became a mosque and then a cathedral again. It's notable for two things: its famous red and white striped arches and its size, as it's the world's 3rd largest cathedral. Norah kept calling it the mosquito. Oh Norah, you're so typical, haha. Ella es muy gracioso.

After meandering our way around the beautiful edificio de Dios and having Janette inadvertantly make us laugh in the presence of an eerily realistic crucifix, we went into the Alcazar de los Reyes (Castle of the Kings), which has some of the most amazing gardens that I've ever seen. There were paths everywhere and fuentes (fountains) abundant in numbers, by which more than one cute picture was taken. One of the best parts was getting to walk up to the battlements on top of the Alcazar itself and look out over the city of Córdoba itself, as well as the jardines. The girls I was with said that the Alcazar in Sevilla was better, but it's hard for me to see that. Guess I'll have to find out at some point. And don't worry; I'll link in a photo album at the end of the entry.

It was starting to get dark at that point, so we started back toward the train station and walked along the Guadalquivir for a bit, which was practically non-existent in that city. Along the riverbank, we saw a couple sitting on a bench engaged in some openly public displays of their affection. Janette informed me that PDA is pretty prevalent in Spain. Ver nice. After taking the train back to Sevilla, we went out to an Indian restaurant for dinner and walked around for a bit longer before Norah and I split off to meet Eric and Melanie. Sadly at this point, our luck with the rain didn't hold up and we were stuck walking in the pouring rain until 2 a.m.

Bright and early at 7 the next morning, Norah met up with me to take a quick walk around the Parque de Maria Luisa and the Plaza de España before taking the bus to the airport. We were both exhausted and just ended up sitting on the steps to the plaza for a half hour in near silence, soaking up each others' company and talking about the currency of the European Union. Desafortunadamente, the Sevilla Marathon started almost immediately after my flight left, so I didn't get a chance to see the 3,000 runners straining and goading themselves toward the finish line. However, I did get to see Norah and Laura and Eric and meet some new people, as well as see my first Spanish city.

Spain really is a great country with an incredible amount of history, almost enough to rival London. But more importantly, you can exchange your pounds for Euros there and get MORE money, something I'm not used to. That and they serve cerveza in the McDonald's at the aeropuertos, which is a little odd, but it's Spain. That's why I went there, as well as why Norah and Laura are there: it's weird. And awesome. Like me. And both of them.

And as promised, here are the two albums of pictures from Sevilla, selected from the 260 pictures originally taken:

¡Vamos a Sevilla!
¡Vamos a Sevilla: Parte Dos!

Now it's time for Seth to go to bed because he deserves to sleep in after not sleeping very well for the past 4 days. Huzzah! Hastan luego, huevos!