Right now...

I am sitting at the keyboard of a computer in our hostel in Sevilla during siesta time. Actually at the end of siesta time. I know it´s the end because we just had to wait outside the grocery store for 10 minutes for them to reopen. We bought some fresh bread and jamón to make sandwiches for dinner and some bottled sangria for 1€ with some citrus fruit to give it some class. I have two things to say about this: 1) I always thought it was odd that there is no differentiation in Spanish between lemon and lime but now I realize that this is because they don´t use limes, they don´t even sell them in grocery stores, and 2) alcohol is SOOOO much cheaper here than at home, I mean the few things they have here that we have at home are about a quarter of the price. This is good for me now but will be bad for me in a couple months when I return. Oh well, both McDonalds and Ben & Jerry´s are way cheaper at home (and I consume them in greater quantities than alcohol) so I suppose it all evens out in the end.

I adore everything about Sevilla. The city is beautiful and it´s been warm with occasional rain showers. It reminds me a lot of southern California with the weather and the green. Madrid is still in the end/middle of winter and for the most part everything is still brown. It´s much more humid here (with palm trees no less) and the scent of orange is always in the air because there are an abundance of orange trees. These oranges are too sour to eat but the nuns in the closed convents here make marmalade (much of this fruit is sent to England and they make their marmalade with it as well). Also they make their regional drink, vino de naranja or orange wine. We tried this as soon as we arrived and it tastes just like port but sweeter and orange flavored. I´m not a big fan of port but I really enjoyed vino de naranja.

ANYWAY... our hostel is great as well. White with blue azulejos (Andalisian tiles) and very clean. It was only opened within the last year so it´s pretty much new. It has a huge terrace on the roof where there are hammocks, tables, couches and lawn chairs. You can see over the edge to the street and orange trees down below. It´s beautiful. Last night the hostel was full and we made some sweet new friends:

There was a REALLY tall, REALLY hot guy from The Hague who is writing his master´s thesis on social networks of Amterdam´s homeless and was here on vacation.

There were three guys from University of Illinois (I think) who are studying in Barcelona. I had an extensive argument with one of these guys (originally from New Jersey) about which was better between Barcelona and Madrid. Neither of us have been to the other so this seems now like a moot discussion. One of his arguments was actually that Barcelona is so much more touristy and he never has to speak Spanish. I considered this to be a negative and decided that I won. But seriously, we made friends with them and all of us decided that to prove our city was the best we would exchange phone numbers and show the others the best time there is to be had when we visit. This was a good solution I feel.

Also there is a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong who is studying in Berlin. He told us just to call him Freddie because it would be easier but Lauren and I decided that it would be horrible to have to go by a name other than your own because nobody could pronounce it. He taught us how to say his name in Cantonese and Mandarin but it WAS really difficult and we kept forgetting it all night. But at least we tried.

There is also a German kid who is 20 but has a full beard and looks like he is 30. He´s not a student but was very mysterious about the reason he is traveling. He gave us a very "to find myself" kinda Jack Kerouac hippie answer. He´s cool, though. He´s from Bavaria and was teaching me to say things in German and chatting with Hong Kong.

Brazilian girl, too, who is actually sitting at the computer beside me right now and speaks the most beautiful English I have ever heard. We also found out throughout the night that she speaks perfect French and Spanish. Plus she´s gorgeous and tiny. I hate her (but really I like her and my hate stems from jealousy). Cut to me tilting my computer toward the other way because she can probably read English better than I can as well.

The point of explaining all this was to follow it up with the tale of how we all went out together and had a truly fantastic night out in Sevilla. It is a large city and we were shocked to discover that it is really quiet at night compared to Madrid. We went to the club everyone told us was the hopping one downtown and it was a very medium-sized, nothing special dance club. It was a great time, though, and we danced forever. Great, great time.

We have been doing quite a bit of sightseeing as well. Today we went and walked through the palaces, fortress and extensive gardens of the Sevilla Alcazar. It was amazing, way bigger than any of us had expected. We spent all afternoon walking around and admiring the greenery. One thing I adore about Andalucía are the azulejos. These are the unique, world-famous tiles that decorate everything here. They are from the Mudéjar people, those Muslims who stayed after the Reconquest of the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabella. Their style was a perfect mix between Catholic Spanish and Islam. They are very symmetrical plants and designs in bright colors. The effect of walls of these is stunning. Our hostel is actually near the neighborhood where the most popular azulejos makers are and we´re going to see their stuff tomorrow morning.

We will probably be needing more sleep than usual (which for me is a ton anyway) because tonight is Owen´s 21st bday and I have big plans for him. We have already had a few 21st bdays in Madrid for kids on the program and I have carded/harassed each and every one of them properly and thoroughly. They needed the experience. I told Owen that I plan on throwing him in the Guadalquivir tonight (even though I PROBABLY won´t). I don´t want to have him start drowning and then have to jump in after him. He had to go home early last night to console the gf over the phone about something so he ditched us before we hit the nightclub. He got plenty of sleep so he´s ready to go.

That´s all for right now, although I will most likely think of something else to add in a few minutes. There are 3 computers here and everyone is mostly out doing stuff already so I will hop on again if that is the case. Until later...