On Thursday night I left work a few hours early in order to get to Stansted airport to make my 6pm flight. Unfortunately, a bad chain of events took place that wound up with me getting food poisoning at the airport. In the morning, I realized someone had taken my bread out of my refrigerator, so I couldn't make a PBJ sandwich to take to work for lunch. So, I grabbed a Marks & Spencers pre-made soup that I had bought and brought it instead. It served two people, but by the time I ate lunch I was starving enough to eat both servings. Needless to say, the soup must have been expired, because by the time I was on the Stansted Express train to the airport, I was already nautious. I wont go into detail about the goings-on at Stansted and on the airplane. You can just use your imagination based on what you know about food poisoning.
However, the actual journey to Spain went very smoothly. The trip to the airport was fairly easy. I took the Central line from Bond Street to Liverpool Street, which is a big station. It was a little challenging to find where to buy tickets for the Stansted Express, but luckily I speak English so I could read the signs. I bought a ticket for my return trip, too, because I knew I'd need to hurry to catch the last train at 12:30am Saturday night. The Stansted Express takes about 45 minutes from Liverpool Street. Then, at the airport, I was able to use a self check-in machine. I recommend bringing a carry-on duffle if you study abroad, because it really came in handy that I didn't need to check baggage this weekend.
The actual plane ride seemed smoother than plane rides in America, too. Much less turbulent. I think my plane flew at a lower "cruising altitude" so there was less choppiness. Also, with RyanAir, all of the drinks and food on the plane cost money, so I recommend bringing cash with you. On my flight home, my water cost 3 euro...but it was necessary. A final thing to mention, RyanAir lets passengers off on the tarmac, so bring a coat on the plane if you don't want to stand too long outside in cold temperatures.
When I arrived in Spain, Derek was there to pick me up! It was so amazing to see him right away. He had taken the bus to the airport to pick me up, and then helped me find out how to take a bus back to the center of the city. From there, we found another bus that took us on a long journey to a stop close to our hotel. However, since Derek was not familiar with the hotel (and many of you readers know he's not exactly Mr. Rand McNally), it took us another half hour to meander around the area and find our hotel. In Derek's defense, though, the streets were not labelled too well and it was dark ouside.
When we arrived at the hotel, I was astonished with how nice it was! We really lucked out on the price of our room. We stayed at a 3-star hotel called the Hotel Eurostars Regina. The people at the front desk spoke English and Spanish, and the whole place was extremely nice. It even had a courtyard we could look out on! Our room was on the second floor, and, although it was a double, somehow we had three beds (you can only see two in the picture). The shower was really nice, too - which was a relief. Here's some pictures from the hotel:
The next day Derek had a test until 2pm, so we were not able to start sightseeing on Friday until later in the day. The weather was gorgous, though! It was much warmer than London and even though it was supposed to rain all weekend, it only sprinkled once for a little bit! I really lucked out. We walked around Sevilla for a while to find food (I had nothing in my stomach), and I was really surprised to find how annoying it was to find cheap food in the afternoon. Most of the stores and restaurants were closed for a siesta, and the tapas bars that were open were like 5 euro per tapa order. Finally we walked to the Universidad de Sevilla, where we found a restaurant called Casa Blanca that sold inexpensive bocadillos (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly), which are sandwiches.
After eating on Friday, we went to the Plaza de Espana, which was AWESOME! There were people playing music, a cute puppy, and it wasn't very crowded. It was so pretty, and we went when there was really great lighting because it was late in the day. Also, we ran into some other Kelley Honors friends, which was random but fun! Here's a picture of me and Derek at the Plaza de Espana, as well as the group we ran in to.
After visiting the Plaza de Espana, Derek and I went to his homestay so that I could meet his senora. She was a very nice Spanish woman, and humored me a lot with my out-of-practice Spanish. I kept trying to tell stories in Spanish that failed miserably because I was rusty with my past-tense conjugation as well as limited with my vocabulary. However, I was still able to hold my own and understand the majority of what was being said. At her house, I also had my first Sevilla cafe con leche which was delicious!!! I also really enjoyed the pasteles that she served, even though they were basically cookies and donuts. But as many of you readers may know, I love anything that has chocolate on it.
After that, Derek and I went to El Centro Ingles to go shopping and have him fill up his cell phone minutes. Then, we met Ethan and Alan (two other Kelley Honors students) for a tapas dinner. It was very yummy, and I never asked what I was eating. I thought that would be the safest option.
After dinner, we met up with Clarisa and went back to our hotel room to chat and drink wine. I was able to hear about everyone's experiences so far with their families and their adjustment to the Spanish language. It was very interesting to compare their experiences with my own. Honestly, I feel like the two programs are total opposites.
The next morning Derek and I began our sightseeing much earlier. We first went to get cafe con leche y tostados in a nearby cafe that was close to the Museo de Bellas Artes. Then, we went into the Museo, and I saw a TON of beautiful paintings. There was a lot of religious artwork, which contrasted greatly with my experience at Tate Modern.
Then we walked along the river and saw the bull ring and the Torre del Oro. Next, we walked to the Royal Castle, where we both were able to get in for free (I used my international student ID and they let me in free...I'm not sure if they were supposed to do that). The castle was probably my favorite landmark because the architecture and the gardens were so big and gorgeous! I can't choose a picture to post because I wouldn't be satisfied with just showing one part of such a beautiful place.
Then we walked to the cathedral, which happened to be closed for an important religious service. We were kinda bummed about it, since apparently the cathedral is the third biggest in the world and going up in the bell tower is really cool. So instead we walked around and went to find some food before we started heading back towards the hotel.
After we checked out from the hotel, I went straight to the airport, but we got there really early compared to what was needed. I'm very used to the long lines at O'Hare, and I barely needed to wait in line for anything at the Sevilla airport. My flight home was uneventful, but then getting back to Palace Court was a journey.
The Stansted Express was late at 12:30am, so I didn't get back to Liverpool Street until around 1:45am. At that time, I was surrounded by a lot of drunk people and trying to figure out which busses ran at night to take home. (The tube closes at midnight.) Then, I finally got directions to take a bus to Thorsby house, which was close, where I waited outside on the steps for 40 minutes for some of my friends to get home and let me in. I was able to stay there until the morning, when I finally took the tube home at 11.
That concludes my adventure to Sevilla. Right now I have a really bad cold, and I'm trying to get healthy. Wish me luck on improving my health this week!
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