Two weekends ago was awesome for a few reasons:
1.) It marked my two month mark of officially arriving in Spain.
2.) A few friends and I traveled to a city just an hour out of Sevilla to our Spanish friend's beach house.
3.) It marked the day that I fully realized how ridiculously lucky I am to be here.
2 months?! (now almost 3) Get out of town-- It seems like just yesterday I was sitting around a table with three strangers, eating strange food, who were rambling strange words. People are typically a little reluctant to choose the home-stay option, but I'm so happy I did. I really lucked out with my family. They are SO sweet and patient. I really wanted to do something nice for them for the two-month mark, but I wasn't sure what was appropriate for a husband, wife, and little kid. I ended up buying my host mother a bouquet of flowers. When I gave them to her she was so surprised and grateful that she almost cried. "Por qué, Nicole (knee-cole)?!" What for Nicole? (It's really not common to do that here, I guess). They actually are still on the table, slowly dying haha. SO.. two months was a crazy reality check. And not to mention thinking about the fact that I have only known my friends here for a little over two months? It truly feels like years. (They are great and there shall be a post about my family and friends soon, I promise).
Thursday and Friday were just awesome days-- walking around the city and such. Finally tried this one restaurant we've been dying to go to, Eslava. Super good. Stumbled upon this little place one night and it was the most perfect, tranquil night ever. The reflections of the Plaza de España on the water were crystal clear. Pretty breathtaking.
 |
| The Cathedral, Eslava, and mi amigo Jon |
Islantilla Beach- Huelva, Spain
On Saturday morning, my friends Alex and Nicole, and I went to our friend's beach house in Huelva, Spain. When we arrived, we were extremely excited! It was like a little resort right on the beach. The best part about it was that it was so peaceful and empty because it's March and the summer weather isn't quite here yet. Also, I didn't have my phone or any connection to the outside world which it made it even more of an experience.
So it was us Americans with four Spaniards from Sevilla. We pretty much only spoke Spanish the whole time, which was very fun/interesting. Half of them know English so they really tried to help us practice and learn different things. It was SO much fun. Of course we thought that we were pretty much fluent when we left. Alvaro made us some delicious Paella, a typical Spanish plate. We then went down to the beach and relaxed. It was a gorgeous day. We also walked around the little town and it was so quaint and cute, it kind of resembled the Lake George village area.
Later that night, we had burgers and relaxed on the balcony area. We played some games and spoke a lot more Spanish. Alvaro then took out his guitar and played a bunch of new Spanish music that we LOVE. I told them about my nickname, "Coco," and they loved it. They even dedicated a song to me, naming it, "Cocquito's song." It was great. We really wanted to learn some Spanish dances, so Carmen taught us how to dance Sevilliana, a typical dance from in Seville. We had a great time.
How often can you really say that you packed up a car and went to your Spanish friend's beach house when you were abroad. We were so happy we went. Not only did we have a ton of fun and practice our Spanish, we really got a taste of the true Spanish culture. I'm so glad I got to do that. We love our Spaniard friends!
Most importantly, there shall be a post on my complete manifestation with Seville!
No comments:
Post a Comment