The end...finalmente!

Ok this was a long time coming, and even though I've been home for almost 3 weeks I feel like I still need to tie up loose ends on my blog.

For my last week in Valencia, I had a few things that I had been wanting to do but never got around to, so it was definitely time to actually do them. The main thing I wanted to do was make Paella, that traditional spanish rice dish that I've shown on here before I'm sure. According to my host brother Luis-Miguel, Lola, my madre, makes the best Paella in all of Spain, and I don't doubt it, so I got to learn from the master. It turned out really well-Lola said I was already a pro, but I'm not going to lie I had a lot of help from her. We'll see if I can make an OK paella in the US.

I also visited some of the sights around Valencia that I hadn't gotten a chance to see, such as the main tower in the city and a few churches. Exams were also tied into everything here, which made for a busy and stressful time, but they went smoothly I think.

On the night before our last day, Lola made us a "cena divertida" or a "fun dinner" which she kept talking about but never made and which involved a bunch of different things. The next day the whole group met at a restaurant and had a "comida de despedida" or a "goodbye lunch" where we ate paella (I finally got to compare Lola's to something else, and there was no comparison, she makes the best I've had). We also had the typical goodbye chats and said adios to all the professors and students, etc.

The whole week my roommate Zach had been planning a last meal we would have with Lola and Luis-Miguel, that we would cook and american style dinner. I have to admite, at first I was skeptical because finding american ingredients in Spain is not that easy, but we found everything we needed in the international section of "El corte inglés," minus something for cornbread, but we managed. The meal was awesome. We had chicken fried steak, fried green tomatoes, bean chili, cornbread, mashed potatoes and for dessert we had bread pudding. Lo and behold we even made sweet tea--this was the ultimate southern american meal. Lola was incredibly impressed and kept saying that had she known Zach could cook this well before then she would have made us make dinner all the time (Zach had the recipe for everything, I was just the sou-chef). It turned out to be a great night; Lola made a farewell speech and it was a fitting goodbye.



My flight the next morning left at 7, so I had to be at the airport by 5. My roommate's flight was at 6, so he had to be there by 4, so we came up with a brilliant plan to not go to sleep that night. Kind of a bad decision, because I couldn't sleep on my plane from Paris to Philadelphia, so I was incredibly tired when I got back. But, I was very happy to see my family at the airport waiting for me, and I was glad to be home.

Well, that's it for my Spain blog. I had an amazing 4 month experience in España and I hope you all enjoyed coming along with me for some of what I did. My madre Lola always says to never say "adios," just "hasta luego," or "see you later." You never know if I may come back to Spain, or anywhere else in the world, and make another blog, so here there is no adios from me, just an Hasta Luego.

Update! Corrida de Toros Video

I uploaded a video of the torero who got owned by bull because he was being a show off. He did get up and kill the bull later, though, so props to him. Here it is!

Sevilla y La Feria de Abril

This weekend Katie, Charlotte and I went to Sevilla for an amazing last trip in Spain. This week was the Feria de Abril, or the April Fair, where everything that is Andalusian comes to Sevilla for a big fiesta. To start off with, we had a hard time getting there in the first place. I tole Lola, my madre, that we were planning on going to Sevilla about 2 weeks before we left, and she said that if we didn't already have a hostel then there was no way we were going to be able to go! Nevertheless, we tried and after calling around 30 hostels, we finally found one with availability, what luck! My madre called it a 'milagro' (miracle). After that, we had to find a way to get there. After finding that the train was full, we headed to the bus station to get tickets on a night bus to Sevilla. It was a lot of work, but Lola kept saying 'vale la pena para ir a la feria de Sevilla' meaning that it was worth all of this trouble to get there.

Finally we left on Friday night, and it was one of the most uncomfortable 10 hours of my life. Riding on a bus in the Andulusian country side is not the most fun thing, as the bus kept turning through the hills and I really only slept a couple of hours. Nonetheless, I kept saying 'vale la pena' to get me through. It really was worth it. Aside from Sevilla being a great and beautiful city, the feria was nothing short of amazing.

The feria is set on fair grounds, of course, and a big arch leads the way. In the streets, all the men ride horseback, dressed in traditional caballero outfits. The women ride sidesaddle, and pretty much all of them are dressed in flamenco dresses, ready to dance the sevillana flamenco all day and all night.




The streets are lined with hundreds and hundreds of 'casetas' or large tents, which are decorated for the fiesta, and people eat, drink and dance flamenco for hours on end.

I was also very surprised to see that the fair is also actually a fair like we would define it in the US, with fair rides, games, cotton candy, etc. Katie and I went on one ride, called 'La Cárcel' or 'The Jail'. And that it was, as we were locked in a cage and sent round and round, feeling some zero gravity at the top and floating. I'm not going to lie, it wasn't the safest thing I've ever done in my life, because there were no straps or seat belts, we just stood in a cage and were slammed around for a few minutes. It was fun, though.


Most of the tents were private, but we found a public one for the Triana neighboorhood, which happens to be where my sister lived when she studied in Sevilla. We sat in wonder as we watched the Sevillanos dance the sevillana flamenco for hours and hours on end; literally they just keep going and going.

Also, in one of the tents I was very surprised to see a certain prize that someone won at a game...

...the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Nascar! Who knew I would see this while in Spain...since the brand is already here, maybe I should open a shop in Madrid?!?
The weekend was far from over. On Sunday we walked around the city, toured the Cathedral and the Fortress.



In that last picture you can see the Plaza de Toros, or the Bullfight arena, which brings me to my next activity...
Una Corrida de Toros! We were lucky to get tickets, I think, because the Feria de Abril is Sevilla's main bullfight season.

*WARNING* I'm posting these pictures for those who want to see them, but some people understandably do not want to see the blood and gore of a Matador slowly killing a bull, so if you would rather not, this is the last part of the post and you don't have to scroll down.

In fact, neither my madre nor my spanish brother have ever seen a bullfight, and many spaniards these days don't agree with it. But, I have no problem with it because the bull is raised very healthily and has a good life before his fight, in contrast to bulls who are raised solely for meat, and the bull is also sold for food after the fight. Plus, I couldn't miss out on this very entertaining part of Spanish culture.

In a bullfight, there are 3 matadors and 6 bulls, and each bull is taunted and stabbed for a while before the matador tires him out before delivering the final blow, a sword straight through the neck. The bull then wobbles around for a bit and then falls over to the cheers of the crowd and the matador then kills it for sure, and horses then drag the dead bull out of the arena. If the bull was particularly brave, they take it around the arena before leaving so the crowd can give its cheers and thanks. Our bullfight was particularly exciting, as one horses was knocked over, and one matador was either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid. He got down on his knees before the bull came out, like so...

The bull comes out and slams right into him becuase he started to move too late, he gets thrown into the air, everyone panics and thinks he's dead, but he was actually OK and continued with the fight. The crowd loved it. After a good fight they wave white handerchiefs and they definitely did that after this fight. Here are more pictures:



Ok that wasn't so gory after all, but I have some good videos that you can see when I get back. After the bullfight, we had some good tapas and then headed back to the feria for one last taste of the sevillana, and the next morning got on a train to head back to Valencia!

Speaking of heading back, I leave in 4 very short days. That means I'll probably only have one more post, so stay tuned. Sorry this was such a long post, but I couldn't leave anything out of the great weekend. I hope you enjoyed! ¡Hasta luego!