Friday, December 16, 2011

Light the Night

Sevilla put out all the stops for my last few days. I woke up and got some yummy yummy churros with Livy at my local place. Not going to have that in America. Probably for the best, considering I feel my arteries tensing up at the thought. Alexa then joined us and we took the 2.5+ mile stroll down to the river and across the bridge to the Triana neighborhood, famous for ceramics. Souvenir time! Grandparents, prepare yourselves. I cashed out! By noon, I was in a t-shirt, no jacket. The sun was blazing down, smiling at me, begging me not to leave. If it's 70 degrees in the middle of December, I must be psychotic for leaving.

I metroed home for lunch. Nothing too exciting or memorable happened besides your average flamenco dancing and complaints about the economic crisis. Typical. We had some really good purple cabbage. My palette has so expanded since I came here. (No, mom, I'm still not ready to eat beets.)

After lunch, we ran around our favorite shopping center and I picked up more unecessary items, like a sweater, three scarves, and a keychain of FC Sevilla, the best futbol club in the whole world ever to which I will always be a loyal supporter.

So much for relaxation, Tessa and practically ran to the metro to get down to JYS's program closing ceremonies. We enjoyed some coffee and pastries and too many sugar cookies before a brief speech and presentation of silky Spain red and yellow sashes that would look awful on Northwestern purple at actual graduation.

Celeste, our program director, commented that our group was really something special, really the best ever. And I'm sure that ever year is 'the best' but at the end of the day, this group was incredible. We all bonded within days, all forty, no exclusivity. No one made plans without inviting EVERYONE and I know that I would be happy to sit and talk anyday soon with any small group from our crew. We roll 40 deep. Sevilla would've been next to nothing without all of them.

A bunch of us left the hotel only to be distracted by the millions of bright shiny Christmas lights. We stumbled upon an incredible audiovisual light show, projected onto the back of the government building, where hundreds of people had crowded around to watch. Then, I got famous.

Whoa, what? Canalsur, the main television channel, interviewed us! Six guiri americanos, looking incredulous, being loud, and in awe of how cool the lightshow was, we were perfect for their 10 o'clock segment. I gave an elongated discourse extolling the virtues of Spain, Spanish culture, and the stellar lightshow.

The reporter asked if we had anything like this in America. I responded, "No. No tenemos nada como esto, como teneis aqui en Espana. Esto es mejor, impresionante, increidble."

And I wasn't just talking about the light show. Everything that Spain has shown me, America doesn't seem to have it with quite the same finesse, nor funness. It is better, awe-inspiring, and incredible to me. I am like a kid at Sesame Place when I walk around here.

We ran around the city at night, walking another five miles and stopping at most of our favorite tacky bars like Long Island, Demo, and Betis 56, and almost got kicked out of Lo Nuestro because Americans don't have flamenco in their blood. Still, I got to see three of my friends show off their newly learned moves and listen to some live music, an appreciably better sound than David Guetta. The night included free chupitos, dancing Italians, and  life contemplations. I musn't disclose all details, but I can definitively say it was a class A 'last night, do it right' out.

And now I have 15 hours left.






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