Welcome to Sevilla - I´m wearing pleated pants

 ¡Hola my faithful blog-readers!  I hope all is well wherever you are!  I am back home in Alicante after a wonderful weekend in Sevilla in Andalucía (IN SPAIN).  I went with four of my other friends - Morgen, Carly, Sara and Mike (aka Miguel).  And we had a blast and came home with a few pretty good stories...
First story:  Friday morning we woke up before the crack of dawn in order to meet our cab at 5am.  We are all there except Miguel and the cab had already arrived.  So we call Miguel and the first thing he says is ¨I´m leaving¨ which we all knew was a complete lie and that he had just woken up.  About 7 minutes later we see Miguel sprinting down the street towards us, looking completely disheveled.  Best part about it was that he was wearing pleated dress pants....  which of course coined the phrase of the weekend - ¨Welcome to Sevilla.  And I´m wearing pleated pants.¨ If you don´t think this is funny, I guess you have to know Miguel and I guess you needed to be there.
Second story (also about Miguel):  When printing off his boarding pass the only option it gave him was to be a Member of the E.U. not of the U.S.  So when we arrived at the airport we all held our breath as the lady looked over his boarding pass which said he was from the E.U. and then looked at his United States passport... luckily it was our day and nothing was said... or else Miguel would have been walking to Sevilla :)
The hostel in Sevilla was also quite interesting.  It was very bohemian and pretty but a little sketchy.  Por ejemplo, our room did not have a door... and our ¨roommates¨ took both our lockers so we had to share with Morgen and Miguel the whole weekend.  The kitchen was pretty much outside with a tarp as a roof which leaked terribly when it rained on Saturday.  But it had character... it was charming, in a way.  And for 11.50€ a night - none of us could complain.
Our first stop in Sevilla (after coffee of course) was the cathedral and La Giralda (which was the tower built by the Moors in which the cathedral was attached).  BEAUTIFUL.  Words can´t even describe and of course my pictures can´t even capture a fraction of its beauty.  When we climbed all the way up La Giralda, the view was amazing.  Sevilla is just full of quaint and colorful buildings and plazas...  There are orange trees everywhere and cafes wherever you look.  You could get lost in the winding, stone streets... (which we did quite a few times but luckily we had our faithful mapa).  Later we went to the Torre de Oro which is on the river running through Sevilla and was built in 1220 by the Moors.  It served to close off the river... as a guard tower.
A few fun facts about Sevilla - It was conquered in 205BC by the Romans and bore two great Roman emperors - Trajan and Hadrian.  Sevilla is also the birthplace of Velázquez and Murillo.  (We actually went to an exhibit by Murillo - qué guay).  Cervantes also began his famous literary piece ¨Don Quixote¨ in debtors´prison in Sevilla.  Again, qué guay!
On Saturday when it was raining we went to the Plaza de España which was built in the early 1900s as a World´s Fair exhibit.... lots of mosaics made with tiles of places in Spain.  There is a picture of the mosaic of Alicante.  Honestly even if you didn´t know any of the history of Sevilla or didn´t go into any of the buildings, you would love it!  Everything is beautiful.  Everything.  One afternoon we sat at a cafe and just people watched.  On Sundays, the streets are always full of families and other people.  I don´t know if I mentioned this before but everyone is always very fashionable in Spain - men and women, young and old.  But you should SEE the way the children dress (or the way the parents dress their children).  They are absolutely precious!  They look so put together and just adorable!
Well that´s about it for Sevilla.... as for the rest of my life, it´s hectic as usual but amazing.  I am just so blessed! I´ll update more soon but right now I should probably get some other things in order before this week happens!
Un beso,
Sarah
PS Christopher Columbus´ tomb is supposedly in Sevilla... at the cathedral... I had mixed feelings about seeing his remains.... hmm