Liz Weeden - March 17, 18

Seville, Spain You know it’s bad when the professors ask ME to help them park the vans. I didn’t have to drive them, but I came along in the passenger seat as we attempted to find somewhere in the city of Seville to place our homes-on-wheels. The area around our hostel had tons of construction and the group had to jump out and run to the gated sidewalk, hoisting our heavy suitcases along the way. Then it was me and Michael with Linda and Tim respectively, passengers in the constant puzzle of parking. An hour later we found two spots in a parking miracle. The first night in Seville our hostel gave a tapas tour which ended in a flamenco show. The tapas were fun and delicious; we ordered multiple little snacks as we sat in a square where tons of young Spanish people chilled out before the night’s escapades. The flamenco show was fabulous as well. We even got seats right next to the stage. I learned that flamenco dancing is insane. It starts out with just a guitar player and singer who play and sing straight from their souls. Then the dancing begins, and let me tell you, it was fantastic. Flamenco is very dramatic with loud stomping and clapping in unison, all to the beat of the music. Each dancer literally feels the music throughout their body, heart, and soul. It’s completely captivating. The next day we took a walking tour of Seville guided by a girl who had grown up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She had moved to Seville on a whim the year before and gave a great tour. Just a few of the things we learned: *Seville holds the tomb of Christopher Columbus – at least 10% of his bones. Woo! *The Moors started building the original city wall but the Catholics finished it and you can see the difference in building style from the Moor’s large blocks to the Catholic’s small red bricks. *There are many orange and lemon trees throughout Spain. The trees used to be used as markers; orange trees were planted outside mosques while lemon trees were planted outside of cathedrals. *The original symbol of Spain was the bunny rabbit. They have since changed their symbol to a mighty lion. Seville is beautiful and it helped that the weather was amazingly warm and sunny while we were there. In my opinion, Seville was one of the best stops so far.