pov: El Primer Fin de Semana

Saturday, January 31 // Sábado, 31 de enero

ENGLISH

I have now been here for one week.

I cried with my parents in O'Hare airport as I left last friday, seeing the pride and love in their eyes and not able to hold back my tears. I then flew to Spain by myself. I stayed in a hotel by myself. I explored a city by myself.

Now, I have met people from all over the world, I have taken hundreds of pictures, I have felt every emotion under the sun, and yet I have not had time to myself. It's funny how that status changed so quickly.

Yesterday was the first day that we did not have orientation, so we took advantage of that and walked the streets of Sevilla exploring, looking for sales, talking, and making memories. Later in the day we had a welcome tapas dinner, which was probably one of my favorite moments of the week.

We met at SAIIE and walked to the oldest restaurant in Sevilla, El Rinconcillo, which roughly translates to "Corner Granary" in English. There were multiple tall tables spread out toward one side of the restaurant for our group; we stood around them and talked while drinking, chatting, and trying various tapas. We had jamón serrano (freshly cut cured ham from the hind leg - legs are commonly hung from the ceiling in tapas bars in Sevilla, as jamón serrano is the most popular tapa), fried calamari, croquetas con patatas (fried mashed potatoes and cheese with what reminded me of shoe-string potatoes), cooked eggs with asparagus and jamón serrano, and solomillo al whiskey (whiskey marinated steak over french fries). The overwhelming favorite was the steak and fries. The sauce was seriously incredible.

The atmosphere was pure sunshine. Although it was dark outside, the SAIIE students were all mingling, laughing, and bonding over the new experience of trying different tapas. The SAIIE staff was there too so we were able to ask questions and chat. I got to know new people a little better thanks to this event, and it made me feel like I belonged in the SAIIE group of students because we were finding things in common and sharing stories.

After the tapas dinner, Talia and I returned to our apartment to quickly shower and change our clothes so that we could go out later with other SAIIE students. Of course I had to pull out all the stops and pull together a cute makeup look too - what else am I good at? ;)

We put on an insane amount of steps that night. First we went to a club to find friends but did not succeed as it was so packed and hot that we left. I think it was full of international students, which I thought was a little funny -- they were even playing American rap music.

Next, we experienced the other extreme. We found our friends at bars by the river, which are apparently more expensive and up-scale. Talia and I walked in despite being warned that we might not be able to get in because we possibly looked young or were not dressed adequately (apparently sometimes there is a dress code.. couldn't be me). We were so excited that we got in so we got drinks and danced a bit while we waited for our friends to come in.

It wasn't enough for us, though, because it was too expensive and rigid -- nobody was really dancing. I thought that a lot of people looked like they had come from work, wearing blazers and such. Unexpected.

We moved on, but never really found another place that was successful for all of us. We eventually split and one group went to a well known club that has five floors while one looked for a cheaper place to sit and talk. While searching for a place, we had lots of hilarious moments, including a legendarily spontaneous outburst of the song "Lip Gloss" by Lil Mama, which I haven't sang in too many years. We were laughing so hard. I think it's so cool that you can meet new people and discover commonalities in childhoods and things like that.

We ended up finding a place that reminds me of a pub from How I Met Your Mother, or another similar sitcom, called The Merchant. It was nice to sit down and have good conversation, and the bartenders were really nice and accommodating.

I have been told that Spaniards do not typically take part in a culture of binge drinking and shots like some students in the United States, and I understand why this is significant even after one night. While I only had a few drinks, I had a better time drinking for socialization than ordering a drink to get into a club and then stand there and wait for a song I knew. I like dancing but I don't need loads of alcohol to have a good time.

While this may sound ridiculous to older and wiser readers of my blog, I think it is important to reflect on these things because the drinking culture has been quite refreshing here in Sevilla. In my opinion, drinking in the United States appears to be very intentional and competitive, while drinking in Spain appears to be social and casual. This dichotomy is quite intriguing to me. I'm not sure if it has to do with the types of drinks that are popular in each area, the drinking age, or the the personalities of the people, but I will continue to observe as I continue my stay.

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:)