A touristy weekend!

Hola familia y amigos,

Well this past weekend was full of quite the adventure. My friend, Amanda, and I decided to be tourists in Sevilla on Friday! Our day went a little like this:

• In the most famous plaza in Sevilla, Plaza de Espana, there are rowboats that you can take around the semi-circle water-path. So we paid 2.5euro for a 35 minute ride. Let's just say that rowing the boat was not as easy as it looked as we were laughed at for several minutes by the guys in charge of the boats. Well, we had a good laugh the whole boat ride and realized rowing is not one of our finest talents. And the view around the Plaza was just breathtaking, especially, because it was almost 70degrees and sunny!

photo credit: Amanda

• Then, we headed off to the Torre de Oro (Tower of gold). It is called the Tower of Gold because when the sun shines on it it looks like gold. The tower sits along the Guadalquivir River that runs through Sevilla. Amanda and I climbed to the very top (it's not very tall) to see a beautiful view of the city, the river, and the Cathedral. 

Photo credit: Amanda

• After the beautiful view, we traveled down alongside the river to a Churreria (a churro stand). We enjoyed some fresh and quite delicious churros with chocolate sauce. We sat in shade of the stand and people watched for almost an hour. It was so relaxing to just take in the sights and smells.

• Then, it was off to do some much needed shopping to try and look more European! I bought my first pair of shoes, a short, brown pair of boots. Also, it is fashionable, here, to wear "pleather", but fabulous looking jackets here so, of course, I have been looking for one for a decent price. I was so very lucky to stumble across a store called, "Lefties." I always try to go to the stores that the Spaniards walking around have bags from.  Lefties is a store quite frequented by Spaniards because it is decently priced and has very cute clothing. I found a nice "pleather" jacket for only 22euro (about $30). It is so cute that my host family was making a big deal out of it and telling me it was so nice! 

• After an exhausting few hours of shopping, we headed to Plaza Nueva (a plaza in the city center) to relax, reflect on our day, and people watch like it's our job. It was around 7:30/8p.m. so the lights were starting to come on and families were out and about. It is a thing here to go for walks with your family and meet up with other families before dinner. We watched a TON of kids play soccer around the people in the Plaza. It was a nice end to an incredible day. 

Saturday:

My friend, Hannah, and I trying to be like Wreck it Ralph!

• As most of you know, I work at the Discount Theater in the States and thoroughly enjoy movies. So my Saturday consisted of a fabulous adventure with two of my friends to the local movie theater to see Wreck it Ralph...or in Spanish, Rompe Ralph! The theater sits on top of a mall. We had to buy our tickets outside that cost 8euro. The three of us had to purchase our tickets together in order to sit together because they have assigned seats! We did not show up really early for the movie because we figured that Spaniards do not do too many things on time that this would not be any different. WRONG! Wanting good seats makes them show up on time. We had row 3, seats 11, 12, 13. We get into the packed theater (looks just like one at home) and people are sitting in our seats. So, we decided to sit in the second row, then, a lady showed up and said those were her seats. We did not want to cause a scene so we moved to the very first row in the theater (no one argued to have those seats). I really did not care where we sat as long as we did not cause a scene in front of everyone, plus, it was my first Spanish movie! The three us enjoyed our front-row seats, Spanish movie popcorn (a little salty, but delicious), and almost a liter of diet coke. The movie was fantastic and I could understand it! I really recommend this movie for anyone of any age. Oh, and at the end of the movie, they open doors at the front of the theater that goes outside so no one leaves out the other door and tries to sneak into another movie. I thought that was very intelligent. I think there is another movie in my future! I would really like to see Oz the great and powerful. 

I cannot explain how much I am falling in love with this city. I already know it will have a special in place in my heart. Feeling so incredibly blessed to have this opportunity! Thank you everyone for your support, encouragement, and love. 

besitos y abrazos (kisses and hugs),

Courtney