I spent my first 5 days here with my Dad who kindly took some time off work to come over and help me find somewhere to live and settle in a bit! Besides flat hunting and other tasks such getting a Spanish phone number, getting an NIE number etc we also managed to fit in some touristy things and lots of eating out! On Saturday we went to see the Plaza de España, I didn't really know anything about it before we went so I didn't know what to expect but it was stunning! We also had to make a few trips back there on Tuesday to get my NIE (numero de identidad de extranjero) since the foreign office is actually in the Plaza de España!
The Plaza de España
On Sunday we visited the Real Alcázar which is a royal palace and former moorish fort. It consists of various rooms, courtyards, fountains and massive landscaped gardens and it was only about 3 euros for students to get in!
The Real Alcázar
Me and Dad at the Alcázar
We also went to see the flat that I ended up moving into, it's a 3 bedroom flat in a residential area about 10-15 minutes walk from the university. It was only the second flat I'd been to see but I really liked it so that evening I emailed the landlord to say I definitely wanted to take it and the next day I went to meet her and pay the deposit. After that we visited the cathedral and the Giralda- which is the cathedral tower which was built to resemble a minaret of a mosque. Inside the cathedral there is also Christopher Columbus's tomb. The Giralda tower was unusual because instead of steps to reach the top there were 35 steep ramps!
View from the top of the Giralda
Tuesday was mostly spent going back and forth trying to sort out my NIE but after that was sorted out we had time to visit la Casa de Pilatos which is another moorish influenced palace, admittedly not as impressive as the Real Alcázar, but still beautiful!
Casa de Pilatos
Dad left on the Wednesday and I stayed in the hotel an extra 2 nights until I was able to move into my flat on the 1st February. In those few days I mostly spent my time sorting things out with registration at the uni, but I also fitted in a visit to the 'Metropol Parasol' which claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. On the top level there is a panoramic viewing platform so I had a little wander around and took some photos.
Metropol Parasol
I don't want to speak too soon as according to the culture shock graph I'm probably still in the 'honeymoon phase' where everything is new and exciting, but I feel like I'm going to love it here :)
Culture shock graph
There are many reasons to love Seville but here are a few in particular:- According to Wikipedia, Seville is the second hottest city in Europe and on my first full day here (26th January) it was 24C! (Okay so it's going to get unbearably hot, but for now it's great!)
- It's a really beautiful city with some amazing architecture, including the world's biggest gothic cathedral, many moorish influenced houses and even a couple of palaces, the Metropol Parasol, several pretty bridges over the river and not forgetting the stunning Plaza de España.
- Once again, according to Wikipedia, no other European city has so many bars per inhabitant than Seville! Sounds good to me! And what I've seen so far of the nightlife has been pretty good and apparently it gets better when it gets warmer and there are many open-air clubs! Although I'm not sure how I'm going to adapt to the nocturnal lifestyle- nights out start and end much later here (think getting home at 6 or 7am) I like my sleep too much :P Many of the numerous bars also serve the famed tapas which brings me onto another point- the food!
- From what I've tried of the food here so far, I love it! Especially the tapas since I'm really indecisive and can never decide what I want in a restaurant but with tapas it's like you can order a few mini meals :P And although a lot of tapas and traditional spanish meals contain red meat which I don't eat, there are also many other choices, there are a lot of good fish dishes here for example.
- Everything is sooo cheap! Although this obviously isn't specific to Seville and applies to most of Spain, and it probably isn't seen as a good thing by the Spanish as it's a consequence of their economy being in a pretty dire situation! But with a 3-course meal for as little as 5 euros, beer from 40 cents, and tapas from 90 cents, I can't say I'm complaining!
- Also, the main reason I'm here- the university, it's massive and my department is in an amazing old building which used to be a tobacco factory and when it was built in the 18th century it was the second largest building in Spain! Although it seems a little disorganised and classes are going to be pretty tough, on the whole the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. There are a lot of Erasmus students here and there is an official Erasmus student network as well as many other clubs for Erasmus students which offer discounts throughout the city and trips around the area as well as to Morocco and Portugal, which I'm hoping to do before I leave!
- There's also various little things that just make it nice to live here, before I came I'd heard that Seville was famous for it's orange trees but I didn't realise that they would literally be everywhere! And apparently the council hires people specifically to go around the city and clean up the fallen oranges! There's also lots of horse and carts around the city that you can pay (a lot!) to have a ride around the town in. It's just a touristy thing really but it gives an olde-worlde feel to the city.
Anyway, that probably gives you enough of an idea about why I am loving it so much here!
It's been two weeks since I started classes at the uni and I've been slowly (and not so surely :P) muddling my way through all the paperwork and trying to decide what modules I'm going to do. And I'm not enjoying starting classes at 8.30am 3 days a week! But it's not all work and no play! I've been out quite a few times with my lovely flatmates- Aleisa and Elisa from Mexico and Italy respectively and some other friends that we've met, including Iris and Olivier, and Gary who is also from Sheffield Uni. Last weekend we all went to the Cadiz Carnival with the Erasmus club. We got a coach there which took about an hour and a half, we got to Cadiz about 9pm and left again at 4.30am. Arriving in Cadiz was very surreal- the streets were absolutely packed with thousands of people all in fancy dress! There were some very original and inventive costumes such as flamenco dancers riding horses, a man that looked like he was walking around upside down, and slightly disturbingly- a lot of men in drag! We seemed to spend most of the time there wandering around trying to find places, people or toilets! But nevertheless it was a really fun night and we got to meet up with some other people from Sheffield, including Rhian so it was a nice little reunion!
Waiting for the coach to Cadiz
Soo many people!
Sheffield reunion!
On Monday I went to see my first football match! There was an offer on for students so tickets were only 10 euros and Real Betis are quite a big, famous team so I thought it would be good to go along and see what this football lark is all about :P I didn't really know what to expect but we got there to find the stadium was huge- it seats about 55,000 people, but unfortunately we were right near the top and the seats were very steeply tiered which made me feel a bit wobbly-kneed but the steepness meant that we still got a good view! The match itself was quite exciting and Real Betis had lots of attempts at goals but sadly it ended 0-0 which was a bit disappointing!
Me at the football match
Of course Tuesday was pancake day so I introduced my flatmates to the English tradition of pancake making and flipping! I think it's safe to say they enjoyed them! I've decided to give up chocolate for lent so I made the most of smothering my pancakes thick with Nutella and that evening we also went to try out the infamous 'chocolate con churros' which are deep-fried dough pastry type things that come with a really thick hot chocolate to dip them into-yum!
Pancake making and eating
Me with my chocolate and churros
Our romantic dinner :P
Cupcakes!
At the club
We've decided to take it turns to make a traditional meal from our country in our flat, I think I'm pretty lucky because I love both Italian and Mexican food! So last night Elisa started off with an Italian meal. She made gnocchi from scratch with a sauce of cream, mushrooms and chicken as well as little pasty type things filled with cheese and tomato. It was very yummy, me and Aleisa have a lot to live up to! And I still don't even know what I'm going to make!
Homemade gnocchi!
Yummy meal :)
Plans for the next week or so include a picnic by the river, sightseeing in Seville, and hopefully booking a weekend in Morocco! I'll try and write again a bit sooner next time!
