Episode 5, 5/15/09 – New friends, old friends, one gigantic city.

Today was rather surreal. Like a Dalí painting, a Sevilla native himself. Imagine (if you will), un calle Sevillano. It’s lined with cafés, tapas bars, “farmacias,” and of course, creative graffiti. Picture Sevilla orange trees, clustered with oranges, more plentiful than Christmas tree ornaments, adorn the sidewalks and one’s visage. Sitting on a café bench (cleverly avoiding paying for a drink, mind you, by saying “I’m waiting for my friends”) is me.

The morning was uneventful enough, save making plans with Holli, David, Katie and co. for Angeles y Demonios later in the evening. So I’ll skip to the afternoon. On this aforementioned street, I met up with Paige and Zhenya, old homies of mine who have been studying in Seville since January, along with their friend Molly. This is when the surreal part comes in, folks. I walked Eduardo Dato (a very prominent street for all you Americanos. Get used to me referencing this) for quite some time earlier. During this time, I heard only Spanish, saw only Spanish people, spoke only in Spanish, and tried to think in Spanish. Being in a Spanish country and not knowing the language well, one is constantly trying to turn on “Spanish mode”. Preconstructing sentences in Spanish, learning the Spanish street names, etc. Imagine the delightful shock to my brain when I see walking towards me my American friends, the very same people who I said goodbye to last year.

We began the catching-up process and walked to las jardines (gardens) de Catalina de Ribera for a medieval festival. I’d never been to a medieval festival, save once when I was very young, but this one was interesting enough. No jousting, but plenty of falcons, medieval-looking food, candy shaped like a pork bone, commercial/kitchy crafts and gifts, horse rides and Spaniards in medieval dress. Lots of pictures were taken, and Zhenya, Paige and I did some excellent catching-up with our lives. Afterwards, Zhenya and I continued on to el Parque Maria Luisa. It’s an extremely large park with some of the prettiest natural scenery I’ve witnessed thus far in Sevilla. Not incredibly touristy, and filled with Spaniards walking their dogs, wives, and children. The trees were fully in bloom and the heat was countered by a pleasant breeze and the shade of the trees and la Plaza de España. It was excellent and easily one of the best memories I’d had thus far. Zhenya and I bid adieu at some point, and I rested a little for the main event of the evening: Angeles y Demonios with Katie, Holli, David, Nick, Sarah etc.

The walk from our place to the Plaza Nueva was a little intense, but very much worth it. Expect a forthcoming blog post on the nightlife in Sevilla. But let me tell you, 00:30 is a hoppin’ time en el Centro de Sevilla. I got my first glimpse of the famous Catedral de Sevilla, which further piqued my quest to visit it. Also expect a blog post entirely devoted to it. And a blog post devoted entirely to what I thought of the movie (sorry, but I gotta keep you in suspense).

The walk back was epic-in-scope, as we made ties between the movie and “real life” (eg. that Angel is pointing to this building! It’s a sign!”). Afterwards, met up with Michael again, walked home and goodnight moon.