Kelsey and I started off by waking up early, and running to the train station to check and see if our train was still leaving! We were notified the night before that the public transportation was having a strike, and that some trains would be cancelled. Turns out, ours was just fine. Which started our trip off in an amazing way.
We get on the train, sleep a bit - and arrive in Bologna. We go to an internet cafe to print out our boarding passes, and then we stop at a random place for lunch. After eating a tuna fish sandwich (the tuna here in Italy is so completely amazing I can't even describe it) we look through the menu and find CREPES. HUGE CREPES. I try, to order one crepe, but mix a bunch of toppings on top, (of course I would make it as complicated as could be) and surprisingly my Italian worked....ALMOST. Instead of one crepe with everything we asked for, we got two crepes one with gelato and one without. Not wanting to waste it, of course, we decided to split both and start in! We finish the crepes and head to the bus station to grab a bus to the airport.
Oh Ryanair...I can't even explain how much of a pain in the ass airline you are. The only good thing about you, is that you are CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP. So we get to the airport and figure out what terminal we need to be at, after a lot of scrambling and freaking out. We realize we need to be at terminal EST. We were on an aerobus, so not a city bus. Meaning it is an airport shuttle. We thought the bus would stop at each terminal, because that's what the Italian man told us sitting next to us. But NOPE...we watch our terminal float away in the distance behind us. We get off at the main terminal, and ask the info desk what we need to do. She tells us we need to go back to a separate terminal, even though we checked in online - to check our passports for ryan air, and take a yellow train, then take the train back and then go through security... this train. was HILARIOUS. It was a small old fashion yellow 2 car train. I will post a picture below. After a bunch of scrambling we get to our terminal, and wait for our plane to board. Wondering why everyone was crowding around the entrance 30minutes before boarding started, we realize that Ryanair doesn't give you seats - it's a free for all. STRESSFUL. So we run to wait in line, get on the plane - and of course they check our passports and our boarding passes 3 times. I put mine away in my bag and couldn't find it for about 15 minutes as I was standing outside the plane waiting to board and the flight attendant wouldn't let me on. EMBARRASSING.
Anyway, we fly, I sleep. We arrive in SPAIN! 5:30pm sun shining and clear blue skies.
We take a taxi to our hostel, and it was just gorgeous. The city is 15 degrees warmer than in Florence. It was 65 out, sunny, and beautiful. Our hostel had so much character. It was really pretty, our room was not bad at all. And we checked in just fine with no problems. Dad told me of a place to go he found online that was cheaper but had typical Tapas and was not a touristy restaurant. So we got out our map, circled our hostel and went out to find the restaurant. After getting lost a few times, we made it to the restaurant at about 8:30 and it was absolutely empty. This was our first hint that Spanish culture is so completely different than Italian. Dinner was extremely good. It was very typical Spanish tapas - we were the only Americans in the restaurant, which was very new to us. Who knew Florence was so touristy? It can be nice at times, but it was a definite breath of fresh air to be the only Americans in a place filled with Spanish people! Over the course of the weekend I really got my Spanish back, and I loved it. I loved having to speak Spanish - and not having the choice to speak English. In florence, almost everyone you encounter speaks English. You walk down the street and every other person you hear talking, is speaking in English and is either an American study abroad student or just a tourist visiting and wandering around the city. Any way, dinner. The menu was very small - which is always a good sign. We ordered about 15 tapas for the two of us, drank a lot of wine, and ended up drunkenly walking home to our hostel to get ready for the night out on the town! As for Seville, I found the city extremely safe. No guys harass you as you walk home, like in Italy. The streets are a lot wider than streets in Italy - especially Florence, so it feels more safe and open. Not once over the weekend were we harassed by any Spanish person. The second I came back to Florence, a guy made kissy noises at me and called me "bella bella". Obnoxious. Any way, dinner was fabulous, we get back to our hostel and get ready for the night. We danced around our room listening to music, and headed out to a bar called "Big Ben". hehe. Kelsey's friends studied in Seville and they told us a few places to go out. So we ended up at Big Ben, and of course, it was empty.
Spanish Life: People don't eat dinner until about 10pm in Spain. And they do not go out until about 1am. Kelsey and I were out until 4:30am one night, and the Spaniards told us we were going back too early, the night had just begun. It's a really amazing culture. I'm not sure if it is because it is SO cold in Florence right now, and Spain is so much warmer, or if it's because the culture is just very different - but there were just hundreds of people in the streets at night and during the day. Hanging out - talking, drinking coffee, drinking beer on the streets outside of the bars. It was really cool to see and experience for the weekend, but it was also extremely tiring.
We meet up with some guys at Big Ben that are studying in Seville for the semester, we all drink a bit at the bar and head over to a huge club called Budda. We stay there for a long time, dance, drink more, and then head home to crash at about 4:30AM.
Saturday morning wake up call: 8:30am. Kelsey and I only had the short weekend in Spain, and most of our time was spent traveling, so we wanted to make sure we really had time to explore the city and site see - so we got up extremely early on Saturday morning and headed out. We saw the beautiful cathedral - and walked around the streets and ended up at a palace. We went inside the palace, not realizing exactly what we were in for. This place, was one of the most beautiful places I had ever seen. It felt like it just went on forever. There were Gardens, and courtyards, and waterfalls, and mazes, and mosaics, and paintings, and rivers... I can't even express how absolutely serene and wonderful this palace was. We ended up staying there for about 3 hours exploring - finding more and more places to go!
After our day of site seeing, we went to a sandwich place recommended by Kelsey's friend called "Cien Montaditos" Which means 100 little sandwiches. This was one of the BEST sandwich places I have ever been to. The sandwiches are mini, like tapas - and you choose about 4 or 6 to eat by yourself. We ordered a few and sat down with our "Tinto De Verano". If you guys haven't had this drink, it is to die for and a special drink to Spain. I think actually to Seville too? It's Sangria, with sparkling wine, and some soda and lemon in it? It's basically heaven! The sandwiches were amazing. They had different Spanish sauces on each sandwich, and we even went back before returning to Florence - to take a box with us for the plane ride!
After lunch we walked around a bit more, went to the shopping district and just explored. At about 5 everything started to shut down - and I begged Kelsey to let me go back to take a quick nap before going to dinner and going back out for a night out on the town! Siesta in Spain is from about 6-9? Basically it's when our dinner time is. So I got to nap! YAY.
Before coming to Spain my friend from camp, from a long long time ago messaged me because she saw I was coming to Seville and she is actually working there for a year. She has been there for about 5 months and wanted to meet up. So we ended up meeting up with her and her Spanish boyfriend for dinner around 8:30 at an amazing tapas restaurant. This time, we were told to eat dinner "EXTREMELY EARLY, at about 9" (Ha...like that's early?) Because this restaurant is so good and so popular, it crowds up and you can wait for hours for a table. At 8:30 we got a table right away, and 30minutes later there was a chalk board with 20 names written down waiting for tables. The food was to die for. It was so amazing. We had Jess and her boyfriend ordering for us - so we knew exactly what to get. We had blue cheese sauce with potatoes and meat. We had quail eggs with ham on toasted bread. Almond chicken with potatoes. I think I ate more than I thought I could fit in my stomach. I need to start going to better restaurants in Italy! I end up cooking for myself more times than not, because it's fast and cheap and after class I get home so late i'm starving! But on the weekend I am going to make more of an effort to find the amazing Italian restaurants. Because god only knows they are EVERYWHERE.
Jess and her boyfriend took us out to an outside bar after dinner where 100's of people start their nights and were crowding outside the bar drinking beer. We were there for about 2 hours and their Spanish friends met up with us. Boy did I have to jump right in with my Spanish and I loved it. I ended up speaking a lot, mixing with English and hand motions. Kelsey and I were really the only two people there not Spanish! It was really fun. Then we went to another popular street, that everyone was waiting to go to (because it only gets "good" around 12...) and on the streets i actually ran into my friend from Scripps. She is studying in Seville for the year and I had no idea! What a small world. So we hung out with her and her friends for a while, and went into a few other local bars and hung out on the streets with some Spaniards! My idea of an amazing time!
Any way - it was really fun to experience the local Spanish life, and I'm so thankful Jessica was there to show us around and introduce us to all her friends! They were all extremely friendly and nice and the city was beautiful.
Sunday we woke up early again, walked around for a long time (although nothing was open because on Sunday everyone sleeps in until about 3pm because they stay out until 6am the night before...) I had a starbucks which i desperately miss. Seville from what I noticed was not touristy at all...but there was a strabucks on about every corner. Florence, very toursity - and no starbucks in sight. I miss regualr hot chocolate. Hot chocolate in Italy? Actually melted chocolate. You can't really complain about that though either :) Then... we headed home to Florence! And BOY was it nice to know exactly where we were going. It was the first time that Florence really felt like home.
I arrived in Florence at about 10pm, went out for Gelato because I missed it all weekend hehe - and then went straight to bed!
What an amazing first trip <3
-Dev
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