Padres in Sevilla

I must say I was extremely excited to show my parents around Sevilla. To me this city is just so beautiful, and I knew my parents would love it just as much I as do. The apartment they had here was in a great location in the historic center of Sevilla. Although they had to deal with a small kitchen and two twin beds, I think they still loved their apartment. (I once again don't have any pictures to post yet, but I'll post them next week sometime when I get them from my parents!)

After getting settled in, we went to try and find the open air market that Fernando, a non-english speaking but very friendly worker from the rental company, had recommended. I should have known better though because most things close on Sundays in Sevilla. We didn't let this get us down though and decided to stop for a "second lunch" as my mom calls it at this restaurant right along the river. We sat up on the rooftop and had a variety of fried fish and beers (a combination that we enjoyed quite frequently throughout the week). After walking to another closed grocery store, Colleen met up with us and we went out for a beer at one restaurant and then a cafe con leche at another. For dinner we went to a tapas restaurant called Coloniales that 3 different people had recommended to me. We ordered some delicious honey and goat cheese salad, fried cod, fried zucchini, octopus, and the tapa del dia which ended up not being a tapa but was bread with peppers, onions and fried eggs. Delicious all around. Then came the sad part: the UNC game. We watched in at Tex Mex and even though we were tied at half, losing Kendall finally caught up to us in the second half. It wasn't the best way to ring in my mom's birthday, but as I pointed out it wasn't her birthday in America yet when we lost!

On Monday morning, I lugged all of my heavy winter clothes and extra stuff I wanted to send back home with my parents over to their apartment. All that weight combined with having to carry over a cake I bought from a bakery Pilar recommended made for quite the workout. My mom opened (although I don't think I should count putting presents in a plastic bag as wrapping) her birthday presents of a bowl, pashmina scarf and wallet that I had gotten in Morocco. After a very challenging yoga with my mom, we had a site-seeing filled day of walking through the Reales Alcazares (and smelling just about every flower in the gardens--they are all starting to bloom in Sevilla right now and the smell is extraordinary), seeing my University, eating burgers and drinking beers at Cien Montaditos, walking through the always impressive Plaza de Espana and Maria Luisa park, walking along the river and eating some of the most delicious salads and sandwiches I think my mom has ever fixed! Overall I think my mom had a pretty great Spanish style birthday, although the dinner at the Italian restaurant wasn't the best (but it made for great omelets in the morning!) As she put it, if she had been back home my Dad would have been at work for most of the day and she would have had to teach her spin class. Being in Spain and hanging out with me and my dad all day was a pretty good way to celebrate!

On Tuesday, we successfully went to the Triana open air market and picked up some apples, cheddar cheese and strawberries (all the makings for good tapas!) We walked around on the other side of the river for a while  and eventually wound our way back to the house for lunch. I had to go to class at 5 and 6:30, but while I was there my parents went to the top of Las Setas (the waffle-like building in Sevilla) and had beers at the top. They then took the tram (which my dad was very excited about) to meet me over by my apartment. We picked up the essentials for dinner with my spanish family: 6 40s of beer. At 9:00 on the dot, we opened the door up to Pilar's "welcome to Sevilla dinner" that she was kind enough to host for my parents. I think my parents really enjoyed putting a face to all the stories they'd heard about my family. The kids were surprisingly well behaved (even Carmen only shook her butt at my dad once) and Pilar opened the night by pouring my parents beer (in wine glasses of course) and giving them a sort of tour of the apartment--including their own bedroom which even Colleen and I had never been in. It was also very interesting to hear our parents speak English. As you might have read in my early posts, they both studied for multiple summers in Ireland and so they both are very good at English (I'd even venture to say Pilar is fluent). She was so sweet to fix a sort of sampler of typical Spanish foods (although from what I could tell they were all either store bought or made by Chari). My dad was especially impressed with her beer drinking skills and I think by the end of the night they had finished all 6 of the 40s my parents had brought. Then of course Luis brought out lemon cello for my parents which they politely drank. Pilar was so sweet and got my mom a birthday cake! My parents stayed til around 12:30 and we talked about everything from bullfights to spanish marriages and showed pictures of our families to one another. All in all it was very fun (and a much less awkward night than I had originally invisioned). Pilar and Luis both thought my parents were very funny, and I think my parents really loved seeing where I live and meeting my spanish family.

On Wednesday, I unfortunately had to go to one of my UNC classes, but met up with my parents around 12. Lauren Fetter (a girl who actually lives in my neighborhood back home) wanted to see my parents while they were in town so she and Colleen joined us. Pilar had written a sort of itenerary of bars and restaurants for us to try so we set off on a sort of bar crawl. We started off at a bar called Casablanca and had a beer there. We then moved on to try and an area where she suggested we get a cafe, but seeing as it was a Wednesday and everything was a euro at Cien Montaditos, we naturally ended up there. For 9 euros, we got 5 huge beers for us all, 2 things of nachos, 1 plate of olives, and a hotdog and chips. Walking around after that my dad somehow spotted with his eagle like eyes a place that had 70 cent beers, so naturally that was our next stop on the tour. The place had tapas that you could pick up from little glass doors at the bar. The price varied according to the toothpick size and the concept itself was pretty cool! After that Colleen and Lauren headed back to their homes, but we continued walking around. After picking up a thank-you and happy 14th anniversary card for Pilar and Luis, we went to another bar she had recommended called Esclava. I never realized how many back roads Sevilla has but I'm starting to realize it would be impossible to know this city like the back of your hand. All the places Pilar sent us to were completely new to me and very fun to try!

After a quick siesta, we went back out with wine, beer, cheese, bread and apples to sit and relax by the river. It was lovely just to enjoy the fresh air and really take in the beautiful river. After that we went to another place Pilar had recommended and had some fried fish that turned out to be anchovies--who knew we would like those! From there we went to this flamenco bar called Carboneria. Now that I think about it Pilar was actually the person who first recommend Colleen and I go there back in January! I guess we're lucky to have such a hip mom! The show itself was great although the singer wasn't quite as loud as he should have been if you ask me. But the dancer had just the right amount of emotion. Colleen and my friend Molly met us there, and afterwards we went out to a street called Alfalfa that was kind of "scary" according to my dad. But them coming there was absolutely awesome in my opinion (not to mention my dad bought the 3 of us a round of drinks at carboneria and at alfalfa). Pretty sweet deal if you ask me! Everyone was pretty impressed that they came there...definitely won them the cool parents award (and I'm not just saying that because I know you two are reading this! You really are the coolest parents I know!)

Thursday was a nation wide strike for Spain. I know that sounds like a very crazy event, but apparently they are way more common here. The strike was against a proposed law that would limit workers rights. I'm not going to give a political lesson here, but if you're interested I'm sure you can find some english articles online. Luckily the strike didn't close too many of the things we wanted to see, although the streets by my parents apartment were especially noisy with people chanting and launching firecrackers that sounded like guns in the streets. My parents went inside the cathedral and to the top of the bell tower. Since I forgot my student id at the apartment and the lady wanted me to pay the 9 euro price, I opted to just sit outside and wait for them. I had a great time people watching though. The "gypsies" as the spaniards refer to them always stand outside big tourist attractions trying to trick unsuspecting people into taking somesort of weed from them that they call a "gift". Well of course its far from a gift and as soon as some one takes it from them they say its 2 euros and then insist on reading their palms. Reading both palms apparently costs extra which none of these people realized. A couple people tried just walking away only to find themselves being chased by 6 women yelling at them. Then there were the even unluckier people who only had 10 or 20 euros and once the gypsies saw that they would thank them repeatedly and act as though the didn't have change. Very interesting to watch!

After the cathedral, we went back for another one of my mom's delicious salads and then toured the plaza de toros (bullfighting ring). I was expecting it to be much bigger than it was, but the entire place was beautiful and filled with history. Although I really don't think I will like watching it, I'm definitely going to try and go to a bullfight while I'm here. Hey, when in Spain, right?

My mom and I then did another yoga video before I headed to class. When I got back to their apartment I was pleasantly greated by some tapas my parents had thrown together and a glass of wine. Pretty nice way to end a class if I do say so myself. We sat out on our tiny little balcony and just enjoyed the fresh air and street noise. Unfortunately, we accidently locked ourselves out of the apartment when we left to go to dinner. But after a couple beers at the bar in front of the apartment, Fernando had come to the rescue to let us back in. We had a fancy dinner at a restaurant right next door (I'm telling you we were in a great part of town!). I had some delicious lamb with spinch and pine nuts in a balsamic sauce while my mom had lamb chops and my dad had seafood soup and salmon. All in all it was quite the yummy meal! Afterwards we were so full and I was happy to walk around for a little while. We walked by the waffle building at night and then headed back home.

I decided just to sleep at my parents apartment on their last night rather than going home late and coming over early the next morning. Luckily for me my dad surprised me in the morning with a triple chocolate muffin from down the street and a delicious cup of coffee from the french press Fernando taught us to use. If only I could wake up to that every morning! After getting all packed up, we had just enough time to go to this store my mom had seen colorful pants in she liked. We were in and out in twenty minutes and now she has 2 pairs of pants that she'll forever be able to say, "Oh these? Oh my husband got them for me in Spain."

I rode with my parents in the taxi to the train station since I live about 10 minutes from there. I was sad to have to say goodbye to them again. It's funny how quickly you can get used to seeing your parents everyday! I know I will miss them, but I'm so happy they were able to come and visit me! But there is truly no time to be sad because in the morning I leave for Dublin! I'll be there until Tuesday when I'll fly to Amsterdam. On Thursday we'll take the train to Heidelberg, Germany and stay there until Saturday.

I think I'm finally starting to realize why 19 is the age I've always wanted to be!