We have a lot of free time in Sevilla. Usually, we're exhausted from all of the academic and not-so-academic activities from morning till night. Today, I took my first ever real siesta nap, passing out for a full 45 minutes, only awoken by that horrible pay-as-you-go ringtone I'm about to change. I overslept my alarm and it was time to walk down to grammar.
After the longest hour of my Sevillana life, agonizing over the subjunctive, a verb form that totally doesn't exist in English, I needed some solace. (Maria, you're a great profesora, grammar is just less desirable than siesta. It's really not a contest. Lo siento.)
Once I walked outside, ambushed by 90 degree humidity, all I could think of was jumping into the fountain in the plaza, dedicated to a generation of revolutionary Spanish poets we learned about last week.
However, no one would go with me, and then I'd have to walk home soaking wet. I settled for a stroll in the park with three companeras, and then we decided to ir de compras aka go shopping!
I have been wearing flipflops for 20 days straight. I am no position to admonish Spanish fashionfails because I have been a total faux-pas. My feet have been too blistered and beaten to wear anything else, but they're finally used to the 5 miles a day ('used to' to be interpreted loosely, as a synonym for 'numb' or 'dead'). So, when I saw a pair of sandals for 6€, I was almost sold. I decided to ask to try them on. Because that's what you do with shoes in America.
Ha. The saleswoman could not fathom why I would want to try on both the left and right shoe, why I might want a 39 and a 40 to try, or anything else I said in Spanish. When she spoke to me, I realized her command of this foreign tongue was of about the same or lesser caliber as mine - she was Chinese and we had 0 languages in common. I saw a German girl ask to pay in English and get a response that sounded like choking and morse code mixed with Spanese.
Ultimately, the price and my need for non-flipflops for everyday use triumphed over the incredibly awkward shopping experience and I left with the shoes. I'm still not sure if I can return them because the sign above the register said: No devolver dineero.
They spelled 'dinero' wrong. I don't care what language you do or don't speak, but in SPAIN at a store you would think they could get the word for money right. The store itself was called 'Shopping,' an incredibly thoughtful and creative name for a retailer. Once I had my shoes (I'm a 39 for sure), we zipped out of there, perhaps never to return. Until the next too-hot afternoon deadtime.
Next, we ended up at Lefties, - a store that can only be described as the European lovechild of Forever21 and Urban Outfitter's sale rack. Save the odd shirts with awkward English writings that don't make sense ('Girls' Only Access California State of Missouri,' for example) As I frantically tried to convert Euros to dollars at a rate of 1.36, I ultimately just realized that a steal is a steal and you know one when you see one, no matter what country you're in.
Day total: 9.98€ for 1 pair of shoes, a lime green tank, and awesome speckled shorts. StefFTW.
While I may not have seen monuments, I feel eurofashionable, one step closer to looking like I go here.
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