week 2

so i haven´t updated in a few days, but that´s really because we haven´t been up to all that much. monday after classes/siesta, sam and i met with sean, one of the institute staff, and we took a walk around sevilla. well, a walk turned into drinks, drinks turned into tapas, and tapas turned into dinner. it was really nice to have a native of sevilla take you around, though, because we got off the beaten path and found some tucked away little places that had excellent food and ambiance. sean is hilarious, has a great sense of humor (blunt sarcasm--my favorite), and has an interesting perspective on the world, which made conversations interesting. see, his mother is british, his father is from california, and he and his siblings were all born and raised in sevilla.

the next night (tuesday), we went to la real maestranza, the bull ring of sevilla. it´s one of the oldest, and it is still active. the tour guide, however, had clearly given this 25 min tour so many times in both english and spanish that she was incredibly bored by it. and there was this couple who listened attentively during the spanish portion, but then talked loudly during the english part, right in front of whatever it was. the tour guide was so bored that she didn´t even try to stop them. sean, however, had enough, and he (who is incredibly fluent in spanish, english, and french) confronted them about it.

then last night, we again went out with sean, for a tour of el barrio de santa cruz, the old jewish quarters. they´re quite pretty, and sean knows his way around the most ridiculously confusing and windy streets in the city because he grew up there.

tonight we are going to el parque de maría louisa, which has plaza españa inside of it (see title picture above). this is also where anakin and padme walk over a bridge on a plaza to her home on naboo in the 2nd star wars movie. sweet.

weekend plans: ronda on friday, granada saturday and sunday. i´m also working on getting all my photos uploaded online, but so far i´ve been unable to do so, due to lack of internet connection, so don´t hold your breath... more adventures to follow soon :o)
-kl