Tapas
Sevilla and Spain are famous for their tapas, which a little finger food bites that people eat for dinner all the time. Instead of restaurants in the states with bit plated meals, there are tapas bars where people order 5 or 6 tapas to share with their friends and get a taste of all the different specialties from that restaurant. During the first week, I was able to experience tapas because our tour guides would take us there and order for us. I never knew what I was eating, I just knew it was good. Since then, I hadn't really gone to a tapas bar because I didn't know what things meant and when my Senora cooks for us every night, I didn't really see the point. However, like I said, I felt like I was getting into too much of a routine, so I decided to try a different tapas bar once a week in a different location of the city. We've been to 3 different tapas bars and all of the places that I have gone to have had this thing called Solomillo con Whiskey. I'm pretty sure it's just a type of chicken with whiskey sauce maranade. It is my all time favorite! Its really fun going to the tapas bars because you just ask the waiter what he suggests and then you get the best food from the restaraunt!
Another place that isn't really a traditional tapas bar, but is more like a chain restaraunt is my favorite place to go for quick cheap food. It's called Cien Montaditos (or 100 little sandwiches). The menu is filled with 100 different sandwiches to chose from and the prices range from 1 euro to 2.50 euro, so they are really cheap and really good. I usually get 2 iberian ham with olive oil sandwiches (the ham is to die for in Spain) and then 2 tortillas with some kind of ranch sauce. (the "tortillas" aren't tortillas from Mexico, they are so much better! They are little pie shaped things with potatoes and onion mixed into it. I think they are called Spanish omelets in America, not sure though) Anyways I get those 4 things, and then for dessert a montadito with a chocolate bar and raspberry sauce inside! Its delicious! On Wednesdays, they have beer and tinto de verano (what I always get here, its like wine mixed with fizzy lemonade) for 1 euro, and they are HUGE glasses. Cien Montaditos are always packed on Wednesdays because of this, so it's a lot of fun!
 |
| As you can see, this isn't a latin american "tortilla", its not even made with a tortilla, but potatos onions and cheese. Its the best! |
El jueves en Calle Feria offers absolutely everything and absolutely nothing. I had read about this in exploreseville and thought I should check it out, so on a Thursday before class, Attie and I explored the street of Calle feria. It's actually hard to describe what the thursday market it. Its like a mile long garage sale or flea market, but with the weirdest and most random objects you could ever think of. I seriously was befuddled at why anyone would want to buy half of the stuff they had. A lot of the stuff looked like just really old house decorations or things from the 1950's that weren't good anymore. Attie was looking for a white sheet for a decoration and found one. Well, you know it is considered a flea market, so we thought it'd be cheap. Nope, 35 euro for a WHITE SHEET! Maybe it's because we were American's, but I mean, come on, who else is going to buy a white sheet from you lady? I know I'm not describing it well enough, so let's see if these pictures can help!
 |
| the entire street is lined with venders selling things like this. Although there wasn't anything I would ever buy, there sure were a lot of people who definitely came and shopped! |
Expo of 92
I was able to see a whole new side and area of Sevilla a couple of Fridays ago when I went with my interest group to see the Expo of 92, which was held on an "island" in Sevilla. The expo is a world fair that is held in different cities every year. (There doesn't have to be an expo every year and there can be more than one or none at all. For example, Genoa held one the same year as Sevilla). The expo of 92 was HUGE for Sevilla. More than 20 million people visited (the fair lasted 6 months). They now consider Sevilla as the "before and after" based on 1992 because of all the construction and modernizing the city did to get ready for it.
The theme of the 1992 expo was "Age of Discovery" because it was celebrating 500 years since Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas. Sevilla hosted the Expo of 92 on the Cartuja island because this was really close to where Columbus set sail to go to the Americas. So, for the expo, there were about 100 different countries represented who came in and built their own "pavillon". Basically they could build whatever they wanted to show just how great their country was. There were so many pavillons and so much to do in the pavillons that the tourists usually spent a whole week at the Expo trying to see everything. It's really funny because during the 1990's, the United States was like the only big dog in the world. However, their pavillon was so horrible that it was the first one taken down after the world expo is over (there still remains a few pavillons left for memories sake, which we got to walk by, but not go in). Now the place is used as a business/discovery park and the location for Isla Magica (a theme park that open starting in April!). I didn't bring my camera to this because I didn't know what it was and I didn't think it'd be cool, which really stinks because it was so neat! To make up for it, I've found a few pictures from the internet that I remember from our walk!
 |
| Morocco's Pavillon |
 |
| Thailand's Pavillon |
 |
| Japan's Pavillon. |
You know what I cannot believe?! I don't think I have blogged about my roommate Annie yet! Annie is from Wisconsin but goes to school at Purdue with me. We didn't know each other before hand, but a mutual friend kind of set us up. She is in the business program here in Sevilla (while I'm in the liberal arts), so we started out making different friends and bonds before we even met each other in the house (since I arrived 3 days earlier then she did). I think just like all people that live with each other have to do, Annie and I went through some bumps and bruises to get into a comfortable groove with each other. We would have never had any rough patches if we weren't roommates. Butttt when your two small twin beds literally touch each other and you can't just go into a TV lounge for quiet and alone time, it takes some getting used to. Also, it's hard because, although we have a lot of the same views and beliefs on things, we're two very very different people. She is a night owl for sure, and I am usually in bed by 1230-1am. She also loves to talk no matter what time of day it is. So, it took some adjusting when she was still up at 230-3 in the morning and skyping with her friends and family at home when I was trying to sleep. However, we've both kind of worked on it. I am now really good at sleeping through everything and don't even wake up and she tends to go to bed earlier too. Also, like I said, Annie loves to talk and I like my "me" time and my quiet time. I think Annie realized that because now we can go for quite awhile without talking. Now that we've got into the groove of things, the roommate situation is great! It's so nice to have an English outlet and someone to share a room with. Since the apartment is small, we can literally only be in our rooms or in the combined dinning/living room, where the family always is.
Well, I think that is about it for now. My friends and I have lots more things planned that we're going to try. However, it's been at a pause since we have midterm exams dispersed throughout this whole month, so it has been a lot harder to find a time to get together like before! This weekend is a relaxation weekend with a day trip to Cadiz on Saturday planned! I will write about that later this weekend! Miss you all! (And just would like to say hi to my Grandpa Sam and say thanks for always reading my blogs! love you :))
Hasta Luego,
Lauren
No comments:
Post a Comment