Adiós, Sevilla!

Me with my youngest class

I had a wonderful and bittersweet last week and particularly weekend in Sevilla. I had my last week of school where the kids bid me very nice farewells, and I took pictures with the classes. I will miss their enthusiasm to practice English and them giving me high fives while walking through the halls.

Yery with some snails

Night out!

On Friday night, I went to a very local tapas place with my gay Spanish friends. I tried caracoles (snails) for the first time. They were a little hard to get down at first because you can see the whole snail when you eat them, but they were really yummy. Later, I met up with my European friends to hang out by the river and go to a club. We tried to get into the opening of an open-air club but it was way too crowded so we ended up at the nearly empty Bandalai. As always, it was fun dancing, but the music was not amazing and I was exhausted after a week of work. Nevertheless, it was great catching up with my friends.

Paddleboating!

Saturday was lovely. Julie invited me to go paddleboating on the river, something I had been meaning to do all year. It was absolutely gorgeous and perfect weather. Then we shared a meal at a Chinese restaurant and got full off of only 3 euros. I’m going to miss the low food prices when I get back to America. I said goodbye to her, which was very sad, and went home to do some errands and start packing. That evening, I went over to my German friend Nora’s house for a girls’ night. It was very nice, but it stopped being a girls’ night when we got invited to a pool party in a pueblo. I was tired from the night before but decided to be adventurous, seeing as it was my last weekend in Spain. The party was okay in the beginning, and I got to speak a lot of Spanish, but then I had a terrible allergy attack and was stuck to tissues for the rest of the night and not feeling very social. Since we were far from Sevilla, I couldn’t get back on my own so I had to wait until 5 am for our ride.  It wasn’t quite the night I was hoping for when I decided to be spontaneous.

I slept pretty late on Sunday and did loads of packing. I had shipped a big suitcase home earlier in the week, so now I am traveling for two weeks with only a carry-on suitcase and a backpack. This is a big step for me, a notorious overpacker. In the evening, I went for a lovely stroll through the Alcázar for one last time. It was a beautiful as ever and made me really sad to be leaving Spain. Boston just doesn’t have anything like it. At night, I met up with some friends for the prettiest of evenings on the terrace of Hotel Doña Maria. It looks over the Cathedral, which is all lit up at night. We finally tried Agua de Sevilla, a delicious cocktail that I had somehow avoided this entire year but that was incredibly fitting for one of our last nights there. After nursing our drinks for a few hours, Rebecca and I strolled through Santa Cruz. This made me even more unsure as to why I was leaving.

View from the top of Las Cetas

On Monday, I packed some more before having my last tapas at Los Coloniales. We feasted on some of my favorite foods, including a lot of patatas bravas. Then I went over to the house where my European friends live and knocked on every door to say goodbye. It was hug after hug after hug, and I have no idea when I will see these people next. They have truly made my experience here a great one since I have met amazing people from all over the continent. After that depressing rendezvous, we got our final gelato in Sevilla and made our way back towards our apartment. We decided to go up Las Cetas, those weird structures near my house. It was beautiful from up there but very surreal. I’m shocked I wasn’t abducted by aliens or at least didn’t fall through the many holes. We eventually got home, at which point I was bombarded by calls from people coming to take my extra stuff. I’m very glad that almost everything I couldn’t take home found a good home in Sevilla. The chaos calmed down and we chilled on our terrace for a while before it was actually necessary to finish packing. At about midnight, my friend Paige called to say some American friends were in the Alameda, so I strolled over in my packing clothes to bid everyone goodbye. I hadn’t expected to get a chance to say bye to most of them, so I’m so glad I got the opportunity. It was wonderful catching up with some people and hearing their plans. Almost everyone was leaving Sevilla today, like me. When they kicked us out, I went home to get a few hours of sleep while the mosquitoes in my room ate me alive. Spain really needs window screens.

This morning, I said goodbye to Rebecca before her early flight to Barcelona. At least I know I will see her in a few weeks. I finished packing, took care of some errands, and lugged my stuff to the bus stop. Now I’m sitting in the airport, waiting for my flight to Amsterdam, where I will stay with my friend Nite who was studying in Sevilla last semester. I can’t wait to revisit this city of which I only have a vague memory. I’m not sure I’m mentally prepared for two weeks of intense traveling, but I’m super excited for the cities I’m visiting and will obviously enjoy my last days in Europe.

I love you, Sevilla! I can’t wait to come back and visit soon! This was one of the best years of my life and certainly the most exciting!