Back in the city where it all began...

Yesterday Sara, Luisa, and I ventured off to the beautiful city Sevilla.  Like always, the adventures began before even arriving in the city.  Sara's car decided to make a lovely noise as we were driving.  Terrified for our safety, we pulled over to the side of the road.  Thankfully a Spanish man pulled up along side us not long after and was decent enough to get down on the ground and take a look at the car.  Apparently, a piece of plastic that was protecting the bottom of the car was broken and dragging on the road.  He told us not to worry; just make sure to get the car checked out once arriving in Sevilla.  How reassuring of him -_-

We finally arrived to Sevilla and headed straight to a mechanic.  The man was nice enough to remain open passed his normal closing hours to take a look at the car.  To start, I don't know whether this is old fashioned or just plain smart, but instead of lifting the car up into the air, the man removed some boards from the floor and climbed down into it.

That's Sara in that secret hidden room under the floor looking up at her car with the mechanic.  After the mechanic used some rope to temporarily tie the piece back into place (again very reassuring), we parked the car and headed off to join some of Sara's friends for lunch.  The place we ate at was seated outside right along the river in Sevilla.  It was a typical Spanish lunch filled with lots of food.

After lunch, we parted ways from the group and headed off to the center of the city.  Walking around brought back so many memories from when I was visiting back in September.  It was kind of strange being back since it was with different people.  I spent my days in Sevilla with my best friends here in Spain-- Maggie, Maura, Katherine, and Ben.  We were inseparable during that time, so being back without them brought back a lot of memories and yearning for them to be back there with me.  I was fortunate enough to reunite with my old host madre.  She was with her sister and another friend and the six of us enjoyed tapas and drinks.  My proudest moment was being able to finally communicate with her!  Back in September, my Spanish sucked.  So talking to each other was like pulling teeth.  Last night, we had full conversations about everything!  It was wonderful!  The six of us were having so much fun, they decided to join Sara, Luisa, and myself out at the discotecas.  I felt like a kid who had just turned 21 and was out drinking with her parents.  I had never seen my host madre drink before let alone party.  It was quite the sight, but a ton of fun!

Attempting to flamenco... I'm clearly really good at it...

They parted ways with us around 1:00am because they were tired.  The three of us then decided to have fun with the Spanish boys.  Sara and I essentially swapped lived-- she told them she was from the United States and I pretended to be from Spain.  These boys were rather stupid to believe us because Sara doesn't sound American even in the slightest with her spanish-english accent nor do I even look remotely Spanish.  Poor boys.

The three of us called it an early night around 3:30am.  And as for today, we made it back to Priego in one piece (thank goodness).  We even had a nice picnic lunch outside of pizza and pasta.  (You would be surprised at how good Spanish pizza is!)

 The three of us last night!

Intentional Side Post...

Photos of the week

 

 This ladies and gentlemen is the most unappetizing plate of food ever to be seen.  However it is soooo delicious and I eat it at least once (okay really three times) a week.  It is Goulas (which I haven't figured out the English word for yet), eggs, and onions.  Basically Goulas is a type of seafood that looks like gray spaghetti.  I think its the tentacles to some sort of squid?  But anyway it is delicious and mixed with scrambled eggs and some sauteed onions makes for a heavenly lunch.  Sounds gross, but you can't knock it until you try it.  Get ready Mom and Dad for me to come home make this for dinner one night!!

 I spy a lady...

  ...cleaning the road.  Yes, that's a bucket and a mop.  This is a normal sight in Priego.  And while I do appreciate the cleanliness of knowing I could drop my gum on the ground and pick it up and chew it again, it still blows my mind.  The street continuously gets dirty, but the Spanish insist on continuously cleaning it.  It's a vicious cycle.