love is this place, love is these people.

reasons why i love sevilla.
the smell of naranjos. the hour commute each morning to upo. manoli being my alarm clock in the morning ‘desayuno?!?’ the guadalquivir. 62cents vino from dia. tostada galletas and stealing them in a plastic bag each morning. intermedio class with penelope and how people speak in english. walking to school with ali in the mornings. calle betis. how amir is a hater. ana claudio. el ambiente de Sevilla. the triana bridge. holiday in spain. how everyone is always running out of saldo. “Hola lola! Corre corre corre!” the boys and their absinthe. getting antibiotics from the pharmacy without a prescription. UPO bus treintayseis. getting acietunas from the mercadillo on Sunday mornings. parque maria luisa. En serio?!? De verdad?!? Si!?! how Merillat eats 6 apples a day. cruzcampo. how amir hates sweating. being one of manoli’s ninas. big ben. making history the first day the metro opened. friday morning breakfasts with maryalice. plaza de espana. how my saldo never doubled. café de indias. tinto de verano. how we are always late to carboneria on monday nights. how we are always running to get alcohol from the market before 10pm. el mercado de triana. hanging out at amir’s apartment. going to boss on wednesdays. spending time in the downstairs of mama t’s. talking to Antonio about futbol. robotica mojitos. dinner at 9pm. brian’s obsession with schwarmas. buying strawberries by the kilo at the gypsy market. amir being a picture hater. café con leche. manoli’s cooking. Sabor a Chocolate. giving people a toke because i ran out of saldo. being on djamer’s guestlist and being able to cut the entire line at discotecas. paella from rio grande. andalucía. how triana is the best barrio in all of Sevilla. mal pal/val pal. learning to dance the sevillana. never getting my sevici. reading/doing homework in puerta jerez. our 30day bonobus passes. laying by the river. getting kitkats at al campo. how mal is always losing her phone. and her credit card. ali and i chugging a cup of café con leche outside of longisland. how fc Sevilla is better than betis. ron miel. peanut butter from corte ingles. manoli asking me “cuantos vestidos tienes??” bottelon-ing in plaza san salvador. semana santa. staying up on la madrugada. oh, and how we almost got trampled that night too. luke moriarty and how daniela thinks his music is gay. “cuando queries comer.” parque de los principes. the trambia. the way ali says “him.” listening to Manoli sing. how apparently “the sun is good for your clothes.” giralda – pronounced hiralda. illegally feeding the fish at real alcazar. taking a siesta, daily. trying to explain the carpool lane and my hippie family to clara. "studying” with djamer… because he’s always focused. mer, christine, and i being the monday/wednesday crew. pedal boats. "hombre.. claro!” bonding time with mal on the bus on tuesday thursdays. how Antonio calls everyday during lunch. colonealous for tapas. listening to amir sing and play the guitar. buddha on thursday nights. how the story of ali’s life is “puri made me something nasty for lunch.” la corrida de toros. discoversevilla trips. sangria. sopresas from Manoli. the monkey pipa. feria de abril. tortilla de patata. “oh my golly” –mal. having tinto with erica & ali at school. going to gary’s. flamenco shows at casa de la memoria. open cor. lunch at 2:30pm. alameda. How Daniela loves loves loves sweets. how I wrote a paper for Ana about los excrementos en los calles. the vosotros form. the monkey pipa. Calle Doctor Rodriguez de La Fuente. isla magica. meeting ali at our spot. asking the waiter for the check because he doesn’t want to rush me. April 10th, 2009-4:30, brown sugar. how brian loves to dance. teaching mal a song for claret & singing on the bus. daniela’s lateness. eating everything with olive oil. “buzon movistar el telephono seis zero nueve…. no contesta…” hanging out in bathrooms with ali at abril and bandalai. chupitos at longisland. enrique’s class being ridiculous with merillat. saying ‘hasta manana’ every night to Manoli as she walks by my room to go to sleep. going for early morning snacks at the churro stand. walking to santa justa at 6am with mal and daniela and thinking it really wasn’t that far from prado. “Hola guapo.” walking by mama t’s and running into someone I know everytime I look in. besitos. fruta ensalada on sunday nights.

hasta luego, sevilla.

Last last Thursday night was the perfect way to say goodbye and we all went to Colonealus for tapas with Mal’s family, then the International Beer Bar, and then we headed to Buddha. On Friday morning, Mal, Brian, Amir, Daniela and I got up early to have breakfast together and say our last goodbyes because Mal was leaving at noon with her family for Granada. We met at Coliseo and had traditional Spanish breakfast (toast with olive oil & tomatoes, and café con leche ofcourse) and spend our remaining time together. And Friday was just one of those hardest days to live through kind of days, so it even started rough. Mal told me she woke up crying that morning, which is exactly how I felt too. so of course when she walked up upset, I couldn’t help but cry too. In true Daniela fashion, she was 30 minutes late and but we all had a good laugh about it, while we sat and reminisced about what an amazing semester it’s been. after we were done with breakfast, amir and brian went to go run a few errands because amir was leaving that afternoon. And Daniela and I went to climb up the Giralda tower, as our last adventure together.

After we were done with our Giralda adventure, Daniela went home to pack and I went over to Amir’s to hangout before lunch and before he had to leave for the airport. I didn’t cry when saying goodbye to Amir because I’m going to see him in like a month. But during lunch, was a different story. Mer’s parents were in town and Manoli invited them to lunch. And when I came home I was already upset so when Traci and Mer said that it was there last meal at Manoli’s the flood of tears came. and we all sat at lunch and cried as Manoli said “no lloras, no lloras’ (don’t cry, don’t cry). Because lunch was so hard, I decided it would be the best idea to leave for isla magica before merillat said goodbye to Manoli because if I stayed around for that I would have been a mess.

So Brian and I took autobus C2 to isla magica to go on some rides before the UPO farewell reception. It was fun and we got to go on three rides – one of which being the log ride where brian sat in front and got real wet. The reception was at 7pm and all our teachers were there. it was good because we got to have drinks and tapas with our friends and professors as our last goodbye. I chatted with Ana about jumping off the bridge into the river with some friends and she strongly advised me not to. Christine, Amer, and I talked to Penelope about her wedding this coming Saturday and how she was super stressed about it. It was a nice way to end things with UPO. As people trickled home to leave for dinner, I was avoiding leaving because that meant saying goodbye for good. But all good things must come an end, and so I hugged Ana and told I’d miss her sooo soooo much. Then Jacob, Matt, and I walked off to go catch the bus home. Of course, as we walked out the park, I started bawling because I was so upset.

Later that night, after dinner, a bunch of us met up at Phoenix to have drinks. We sat on the patio and talked until it got late and people with early morning flights had to go home. Daniela and Brian walked home with me and we hugged, promised to call each other all the time, and talked about the next time we would see one another.

Because I really couldn’t bear one more goodbye on Friday, I woke up early on Saturday morning and walked to the airport bus with Brian. We met on Niebla (the street he lives on) and took the metro from Plaza de Cuba to Prado. I gave him a big hug as he hopped on the airport bus and waved goodbye.

Sunday night, djAmer and Jeffrey left for Madrid with some friends and so again, we all met for drinks and goodbyes at Phoenix to reminisce and give abrazos y besitos por la ultima vez (hugs & kisses for the last time).

This week has definitely gone by fast. I have been packing, hanging out with Christine, going out with Mal and Rob, spending more time with Manoli, said goodbye to Clara, exploring more of Sevilla for the last time, and trying to wrap up my life here in my final days. It is most definitely full of bitter sweet feelings. It’s incredibly hard to fathom that after 36 hours of traveling, I am not only in a different place, but in a different life and different world. I was devastated to say goodbye to Manoli and Mal. There were lots of tears and hugs and all of the above. But Mal got up early came to my house, met Manoli, and help me lug my bags to the airport bus in tears. On my last walk down Febo, we laughed at talked about all the amazing memories we’ve had over the past four months and it was a wonderful way to say goodbye.

My entire four months here has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and adventures along the way, and I’m not sure I’m ready to get off yet. But this adventure is clearly coming to an end and my life will resume as normal in the coming weeks, because I’m back in fort worth and start summer school this morning.

pictures: Amir, Mal, Daniela, Brian, and I at the International Beer bar, 2. Melissa, Alison, Brian and I at Isla Magica, 3. Clara (my intercambio) and I 4. Ana Claudio and I at the UPO farewell reception