Monday: I ran to Triana, which is a neighborhood on the other side of the river. There is a ceramics market there and it was cool to see all the different bowls, tiles, plaques..etc.. Monday afternoon I sat by the river and drank tinto with some friends as we soaked in the sun as well as all the memories from the semester. It's my last Monday in Sevilla, so I of course made a trip to cien montaditos with some friends for buy one get one free mondays!
Feria starts Monday night with the lighting of the feria. At midnight, the large archway entrance (which changes each year) is lit up along with all of the lanterns and other strings of lights on the feria grounds.
What is Feria? Well it used to be an "Exposition Fair" like the Chicago fair.. but it has now turned into a weeklong event of drinking and dancing. The girls all wear their big fancy flamenco dresses with shalls and a big flower on top of their head, and the men wear suits. Everyone gets all fancied up! There are a lot of horses-- and people ride them throughout the faria grounds. There are also ride and attractions-- like a carnival! The big part of Feria is the casetas. There are casetas, which are fancy tents, that families, businesses, and sports clubs own. The casetas are either green striped or red striped and that signifies which soccer team you root for-- since there are two different teams in Sevilla. Sevilla is red and Betis is green. In the casetas there is usually space for dancing in the front of the caseta, with some tables and chair to sit and talk with friends and family. In the back of the caseta there is a bar and kitchen, so the drinks and tapas keep coming all night long! And when I say all night long, I mean it. People stay out until past sunrise! Then they go to sleep until around 3:00 pm and then return to feria to start drinking again!
If you go to Feria, it's a much better experience if you know someone with a caseta. There are public casetas, but they are loud and crowded and not as much fun at the private casetas. Monday night after the lighting of the entrance we went to my friend's intercambio's caseta. They were so nice and such great hosts. They were constantly bringing us jars of rebujito, which is the drink of feria-- wine mixed with something like sprite-- it's delicious. We danced and drank rebujito until past 4 in the morning--by far the latest I've stayed out in Sevilla. When I was about to head home with some friends, they said that feria was just beginning.. crazy Spaniards! but I kind of understand why they party at night-- because it's SO HOT during the day!!
Tuesday I got to see Feria during the day. My ethics professor invited us to her caseta so we decided to go there for a while. It's really rough if you don't have a caseta because it's over 90 degrees outside and standing in the sun is not fun-- I especially can't imagine how hot it is for the girls in the big flamenco dresses! At my professors caseta, she kept bringing us rebujito-- whenever your glass was empty she would come over and fill it-- I've never seen anything like this. Her 6 year old daughter was there as well and she was adorable. She takes Sevillana classes (Sevillana is the dance of the feria) so she was teaching me the steps of the dance. It was precious and she was such a good dancer!
We stayed there for a while and had some more rebujito and some tortilla espanola-- a typical tapa de feria-- and then I went home for my last dinner with Virginia, which was coincidentally, Tortilla espanola-- not complaining-- I love that stuff!
After dinner I went back to Feria with some other friends, we went to a public caseta and danced for a little bit and then went to the Tennis Club's caseta because one of my friends was a member of that club, so we were able to get in! They played classic Sevillana music, but they also played some American music, like Grease Lightning-- so that was a blast! And of course there was lots of rebujito.
Wednesday: I walked through el centro with a friend and got some nun muffins for the last time. I ate lunch with Gema and Carlos and then took a much needed nap. I went to feria with Rachael and we went back to my profesoras casetas. She brought us so much rebujito and when she had to leave her caseta, she told us we should stay and gave us tickets to buy more drinks... it was insane.
i danced with her daughter lola.. well she tought me how to dance
When she left we stayed at the caseta for a bit longer and talked to some Spaniards. One of them was possibly moving to wisconsin, so we were talking about the states and what we were studying and such! We also used the drink tickets that my professor gave us to order a tortilla espanola-- and it was so good!
Then we went to Rachael's family's tennis club tent! When we were there we ran into Sara and her family (real family and host family!) We chatted a bunch, drank rebujito and then I went back to my host family for dinner. Upon arriving home, I realized since this was the day I was technically supposed to leave the homestay, there was no dinner.. haha. So I had a banana and then went back to Feria! I went with my friend Zach and our Spanish friend Eto, we roamed around and bounced from caseta to caseta, drinking rebujito and dancing Sevillana!
Thursday: TODAY-- It's my last full day in Sevilla. I am going to stay at a hostel tonight because I have to leave my homestay. I'll probably spend some last moments walking through el centro, getting tapas and checking out the Feria one last time. It's been an incredible experience and I will most definitely be writing a blog post on my closing thoughts! But for now, I've got to head out and find my hostel! Hasta luego casa!
Sending Smiles From Sevilla,
Rebecca
Feria at night!
Feria during the day!
Virginia in her Flamenco dress!
At my professors caseta! My profesora, Miriam, and her daughter Lola!
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