Eres la mejor parte de mi...

11 Marzo

I had such an amazing time with Bennett, I still can’t believe he came all the way to Spain to visit me! On Saturday afternoon I picked him up at the airport and we found his hotel, which was very nice and had a beautiful patio area. We walked around for awhile, took a quick nap since he was exhausted from his flight, then we went out to dinner at a good restaurant. After dinner he tried churros con chocolate, a very famous dessert here in Spain! and I got my favorite ice cream - vanilla with caramel, walnuts, and nata (a type of cream). Later that night we met up with some of my friends from my program here, I was excited to show him off to everyone. We went to a few bars with them and had a fun first night.

Sunday we planned to get up around 11 but didn’t end up waking up until 1 because I never set an alarm! Bennett definitely needed the sleep though after a long day of traveling and then going out that night. We walked over the the river in the beautiful weather and hung out there for awhile – I am already starting to get a tan, it’s been in the 80’s in the afternoons! It’s funny because all the foreigners are like wearing skirts and sun dresses and all the sevillanos are still in sweaters and jackets because this is winter for them and 80’s is still chilly – it gets well over 100 here in the summer! Later on Bennett and I rented a paddleboat for an hour – it was fun but very tiring, an hour is a long time to be paddling! While we were out on the river a group of Spanish people was yelling at us from the shore and we didn’t understand why, then we realized they had lost a soccer ball in the river! So we paddled over and got it for them, the little girls were so excited that we rescued their ball! That night Bennett came over to Carmen’s for dinner, I was glad he got to see my house and meet Carmen and my roommates. Carmen didn’t sit with us for too long but she told me how much she likes Bennett, which was very nice to hear. After dinner we hung out with SJ and Karen for awhile, and then headed to bar since not too much was open on a Sunday night.

Monday was the busy touristy day – first we took a tour of the plaza de toros, the 2^nd oldest bull fighting arena still in use today. The museum was very interesting – I didn’t know a lot about it before going so I enjoyed hearing about all of the different traditions. I didn't realize the specific way the bulls are supposed to be killed, or that all the meat is sold after the fight and that the best bulls get their heads hung up in the museum, or the specific breeding/raising of the bulls ( females charge straight on and males come from the side but if you leave a male calf with his mother he will learn her technique! and bulls tend to use one side the most, just like humans) or that yellow is the bad luck color! Then Bennett went to the cathedral while I went home for lunch. I met him again after and he got paella for lunch and a delicious pastry for dessert. Then we walked to the parque maria luisa (we were going to take a horse and carriage ride but it was way too expensive!) We enjoyed the nice weather some more in the park and took a lot of pictures in the plaza de espana (someone was getting married while we were there!) That night we went on a river cruise, the city looks so beautiful all lit up at night and reflected in the water, even though it was cold on the boat. After the cruise we got tapas and went to carboneria, a bar that has free flamenco and good sangria.

Tuesday we visited the alcazar (royal palace). The architecture is always beautiful to look at and I love the gardens there – plus it’s free for students, which is awesome. We had a very nice time relaxing that afternoon. I had class that night but afterwards we met up and went out for dinner at one of my favorite places. Bennett got some sort of meat that we have no idea what it was (I’m still not very good at reading menus because I don’t eat out very much) but it was very good. We also ordered a bottle of wine which was very exciting – we just got the cheapest one but the waiter came over and showed the bottle and I nodded and then he poured a little for me to try and I nodded again haha –of course I don’t know anything about wine, but I felt cool doing it! It was actually pretty good – I’m definitely learning to like wine!

Wednesday morning was obviously very sad when Bennett left plus I had three midterms that day but it was a fun trip overall, I had a great time and I’m really glad he got the chance to come visit and see where I have been spending my whole semester.

Also, I can’t be too depressed because Jackie, my really good friend from home who is studying in the Netherlands this semester, is coming to visit with her parents this weekend! I have had so many visitors!

Thanks again for reading and enjoy the pictures!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81700&id=535832790&l=63c3a

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81709&id=535832790&l=c3d4a