Maycation

Andorra decided that since there was such a long time between Easter and the end of the school year, we would get the last week of May off… Maycation. This was probably my most unorganized trip, but I enjoyed it all the same. In fact, it was more of a vacation than a trip, since I was visiting friends rather than traveling.

My first two stops were short, since I was on my way to Jerez to see my friend Ellen from study abroad (she has been an English teaching assistant there this year, and I was lucky to get a chance to visit her since it was her last full week of school). First I had to spend the night in Barcelona to be able to catch an early flight to Sevilla. I split a taxi with some other tourists, and the taxi driver gave us an interesting tip on staying awake while you’re driving: eating raw almonds and hazelnuts. And if that doesn’t work, drink a coke. I don’t have a car and haven’t driven in almost a year, so I guess you’ll have to be the one to try it out.

Anyway, I got into Sevilla early and had time to wander around before meeting Ellen on the train to Jerez (she was coming from Cordoba). I checked my bag at the train station and headed toward the city. As I had never been to the train station before, I had no idea where I was going, but I saw La Giralda in the distance (the church tower), so I just followed it until I began to recognize where I was. My contentment at being able to find my way to the city center was a little dampened by the fact that I got lost trying to get to the Museo de Bellos Artes (the fine arts museum) despite the fact that I’d lived there for almost four months and had a map. I always manage to get lost at least once every vacation. Oh well, by the time I gave up, the cathedral was open so I went there instead. Even though I was in Andalucía for some reason I couldn’t stop thinking in Catalan.

Jerez was my main destination for the week and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did many of the touristy things in Jerez, including going to a show called “Como Bailan los Caballos Andaluces”: horse dancing! It was one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen. Ellen and I also went on a tour of the Gonzalez-Byass bodega. Jerez is famous for three things: flamenco, horses, and sherry. Jerez is the only climate where they can make sherry using their special techniques. Gonzalez-Byass makes Tio Pepe, one of the most famous sherries. We got to ride a train through the bodega, see where they make brandy and sherry, and have a tasting of two different types of sherry: Tio Pepe and another kind that’s only sold in Britain (Ellen’s favorite). The best part of the tour: the mice. There is a tradition at the bodega of leaving a glass of sherry (and also some tapas) with ladders for the mice to come and drink. We saw one mouse, but it was too shy to climb the ladder with all of us watching. And of course, we also went to the beach in Cadiz.

Aside from the touristy things, I also got to experience some more day-to-day things in Jerez (including sleeping in). The first day I was there I went to Ellen’s school and sat in on three of her classes. She had even asked her older students to prepare questions to ask me! Her school is a lot smaller than mine and has a very different atmosphere, as well as a different program for the English teaching assistant, but that also has to do with the culture in Andalucía. Speaking of Andalucía, I have to mention Andaluz, the type of Spanish spoken in southern Spain. It is very difficult to understand, especially in smaller cities and villages, since people tend to cut off the end of their words and slur sounds together. I had a hard time understanding some people, though usually I could get the gist of what was going on. During the week we also had lunch with the family of Ellen’s roommate, Faby. Lots of Andaluz and typical Spanish food, including gazpacho. Paquita, Faby’s mom, thought I had the strangest name. She also can’t understand why Catalans insist on speaking Catalan when they live in Spain, which I think is kind of funny. This is a common in places outside of Catalunya. Ellen also took me to a restaurant that I think we need to have in the states: it was called Poti Poti and was dedicated to different type of tortillas. One of my favorite things here are bocadillos de tortilla (Spanish tortilla / omelet on a baguette).

Oh, and Ellen revealed to me the secret of all the middle-aged Spanish women with purple-ish hair: henna. I had no idea

The best part of the visit was getting to spend the week with Ellen talking about our year teaching abroad. While our programs and locations are very different, our experiences have also been very similar. We joked that it was a sort of debriefing before heading home, since she only had two weeks left. After spending so much time in Andorra being completely different from everybody I know in age, language, personality, culture, etc., it was nice to be around somebody I can really relate to!

After I left Jerez I had two days to spend in Sevilla, revisiting old places and getting to hang out with my host family Maru and Enrique. I wandered around the city (this time not getting lost), saw the cathedral, the Alcázar (an Arabic-style palace), and the Museo de Bellos Artes. I was excited to go to the museum to see the painting La Servilleta by Murillo and I even bought a poster of it, which I lost somewhere between the airport in Sevilla and Neus’ apartment in Barcelona. But when I was talking to Maru about the museum, she said that sometimes buying reproductions reduces the impact of seeing the original. The museum also had a special exhibit of Murillo which I absolutely loved. I studied Murillo while I was in Sevilla so it was fun to get to see his work again, and I can honestly say that this is one of the first times I have truly enjoyed visiting a museum.

Visiting Maru and Enrique was also a fun part of Sevilla. It was funny when I called them because at first Enrique thought I was Ludmila, the Ukrainian maid (she was there when I lived with them too). Anyway, I talked with them awhile at their apartment and then Maru and I went out for a walk and stopped to get chocolate con churros (not the cinnamon type churros you get at Disneyland). You can either sprinkle them with sugar or dip them in a chocolate pudding type substance. When we got back she showed me how they’ve changed the apartment (the studio and the student bedroom are switched now) and I tried to show her how to use Skype and Facebook, but unfortunately their internet wasn’t working.

Overall it was nice to be back in Sevilla, but it felt different, which I expected. Part of it was that there was a metro, and part was that I was there in a different season. I studied in fall/winter, but this time it was spring. There were flowers everywhere and the parks were beautiful, and the city was full of purple jacaranda trees. Maru even showed me parts of the park where the sidewalk is lined with jacarandas making the sidewalk look like it was covered with a bright purple carpet. I loved wandering around the city and the Barrio Santa Cruz, exploring places I hadn’t ever seen before.

Speaking of, one thing that was funny about living a year abroad versus studying abroad is the perspective you gain and how much better you really know a place. I saw tons of new things I hadn’t seen when I studied abroad. How much do you really see when you are so focused on traveling and studying? How much of real life do you experience when you stay within your American university bubble?

Anyway, my last stop was Barcelona which I spent with Neus and her boyfriend Hubert. I tried horchata for the first time (made of tiger nuts instead so different from the Mexican version), and we also went out for Senegalese food with a group of Neus’ friends before going out to the discoteca. Hubert thought it was a bit silly since it’s what he eats at home, but we all enjoyed it. And the best part: I bought my first pair of pantalones bombachos/Aladín/árabes/hippy (basically Aladdin pants). These pants are also called pantalones cagados, or “shitted pants”. Haha. They are great! That’s one thing I love about Barcelona, they have a unique style all their own (have you ever seen the “Catalan national mullet”? Short on the top and dread locks on the bottom. It is also common to see a normal haircut with one or two long dreadlocks or the rat tail that was popular in elementary school). I often think I could live in Barcelona. Anyway, after another long bus ride, I was back in Andorra ready for my last two full weeks of school (only three full days left, then ¾ of the school goes on class trips!).

I’m not counting down the days till I leave, since technically the school hasn’t told me the last day I need to come in, but I have been working on planning my summer. It’s exhausting just thinking about it!