So I still have not
improved this blog writing thing. One of these days I may catch you all up on
the trips in between but for now I have jumped ahead. Just so you know how bad
I am and how much I do try, I started writing this blog when I returned from Ireland
at the beginning of May. Now here we are and its almost June…. Anyways… Like I
mentioned in my last post, we had a week off school for Feria de Abril and I
spent Monday and Tuesday here in Sevilla at the fair. On Monday night I went
with my friends to the Alumbrada or lighting of the giant door. This was really
cool to see as each part of the entrance lit up separately and the entrance was
huge. So was the crowd that had gathered around to watch it and getting through
this crowd to enter the fair grounds was next to impossible. At times I felt
like the only way we were even moving was because of the huge mass pushing from
behind us and it was as if we weren’t consciously taking steps. Once inside the
entrance though the crowds thinned and we got to see why feria is such a big
deal. The fair took up blocks and blocks and lining every street were casetas
which tents but made out of wood and filled with tables and chairs and even a
bar and they are extremely well decorated. There are a couple big public casetas
but most of the casetas are privately owned and you have to be invited and on
the guest list to enter. They even have bodyguards at the door. The professor I
work with and teach her kids invited me to the caseta they were sharing with
their friends but as she was not there any of the times I was able to go I
didn’t feel right going to her caseta even though the way they are set up it
would have been no big deal. Instead I spent my time hanging in the public
caseta and walking around the streets. In the Calle de Infierno there were tons
of attractions and while they all looked fun, they were a bit on the pricey
side so we settled on the Ferris wheel. It had a great view out over the fair
and really put into perspective how big the whole thing was. In the public
caseta we tried “rebujitos” a combination of manzanilla and 7 UP which is the
typical drink of feria and actually is only drunk during this time of the year.
It was all right but definitely not as great as it had been made out to be. We
got to listen to Flamenco music and watch as the people got really into their
Sevillanas dancing. I was too embarrassed to go attempt to piece together the
little bits I knew so I just watched. On Tuesday we went back after lunch and
walked around the colorful streets. We tried “bunuellos” which are basically
mini doughnuts and they were made right in front of us so they were hot and
fresh when we ate them, SO good. All the dynamics of Feria during the day were
so different than the evening. There were people riding around in their horse
carriages (a sign of wealth) or they would even just sit on their horses
sipping rebujitos. Everyone was so decked out. Tuesday is the first day the
girls wear their Flamenco dresses and it really adds a lot of color to the
streets. These dresses consist of so much fabric and frills and have got to
weigh a ton. The girls have to be dying of heat in them too especially since
some of them are so tight that I don’t understand how it was possible to walk.
The dresses were so pretty though and perfect for dancing Sevillanas and I wish
that I had had the chance to wear one. Some of my friend’s host parents had
dresses for them but I was not as lucky in that aspect. Although I would have
liked to see more, after spending a couple hours there I felt that in order to
fully enjoy and love the feria, you have to have access to a caseta, know how
to dance Sevillanas, and have a dress. All those things are such a big part of
Feria and it is so exclusive that you really have to be on the inside in order
to get the real experience of it. I had a lot of fun though and then on Tuesday
I left straight from Feria, ran home to grab my bag and then caught the bus to
the airport to head to Dublin. I got into Dublin around 11 pm and Katie, my
Irish buddy from when she studied abroad at UNC and Morgan, my best friend and
roommate from last year, met me when the taxi dropped me off and it was so nice
to be welcomed with familiar faces. Both of them along with Kim, one of my
other Irish friends and some of the girls Morgan had met there, especially
Sarah, who just so happens to go to UNC too, adopted me for the week and they
all did a great job of taking me around the city and showing me an insider’s
perspective. I loved Dublin. It was so quaint and just had a good personality
to it but of course, to hold up its name, Ireland rained the first day I was
there and pretty much every day thereafter with a couple relatively nice days
and even sun on one of them. On Friday after exploring Dublin and making Katie
be a tourist in her own city Morgan, Sarah and I went home to Katie’s parents
house with her in Lucan and it was such a cool experience to see how the Irish
family functions. Her siblings are absolutely adorable too and her parents have
the type of relationship that I can only hope to have after being married for
that long. Her mom was baking for Katie’s cousin’s first communion and the
cakes she made were something that I have only seen in a bakery before. They
were incredible. One of them was a bible spread open with the photograph of her
cousin on one side and even had the gold edges on the pages. Her mom made apple
tart and that with some custard is heavenly. On Saturday we went to Howth,
which is a little town along the coast about a half hour train ride away and as
a blessing, it was actually warm and sunny that day. We walked along the harbor
and got to see the cliffs and the sea lions and we went to the Prawn festival
they were having there that day. Sunday Morgan and I went on a bus tour to the
Wicklow mountains and Glendalough which was a ton of fun. Everything was so
green and gorgeous and we got to stand on the bridge where PS I Love You was
filmed which was awesome since I love that movie! Guinness Lake was also really
cool to see and I guess Guinness had a bunch of sand imported in to add the
texture at the top in order to make the lake look just like their signature
harp to film the lake for one of their commercials. In Glendalough we went to the cemetery and “St. Kevin’s
Kitchen” which actually is an old church that just got the nickname because it
looks like it has a chimney and then hiked up to the upper lake and the
waterfalls. After being in Sevilla, which is still a city, for so long, I
welcomed the nature with open arms. That had been one of the things I had
missed most about home. We went to lunch at the famous Fitzgerald’s Pub and
then we got to go to a weaver’s shop and see each step of how the weaving
process works and they had some of the softest blankets I’ve ever felt and I
really wanted one but knew that not only could I not afford it but I also had
no space in my suitcase so I used my better judgment and withheld. I loved
seeing the countryside and wished I could have seen more. It was so cold and
windy though that every time we stepped out of the bus we almost regretted it
and even with 5 layers on I was still huddling into myself. I was so lucky
though that I had Morgan to deck me out in warm clothes because even combining
all the warm clothes I had in Sevilla would not have been enough. Although I
loved Ireland and had such a great time, I left knowing that by choosing Spain
over Ireland to study in I made the right choice. I truly found my niche in
Sevilla and every aspect of it helped me grow and become such a stronger more
confident person. But Ireland will most definitely be a destination to return
to as I am still dying to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Giants Causeway.The pictures that follow are a pretty good description of Dublin and the countryside and then also of what Feria was like. I am not sure why the uploaded as they did with the Feria pics in the center but despite what people may think about our generation, I am not tech savy enough to alter it! So the Feria pics split Howth from the Wicklow trip! Cheers!
Lindsay
