I ended up spending 6 nights in Granada, which, in retrospect, was a few too many. It's a great town and I really liked it, but I would have loved it if I had some climbing gear and some peeps to go out with. I took a train to Sevilla on July 1st - the last day of my 2 month, unlimited Eurail pass. I definitely think that thing was worth the cash, and I probably saved some serious money over buying train passes individually. And that day also marked exactly 2 months in Europe, which just seems weird to me. My 23 days in Nepal seemed so long, so did the 33 in SE Asia, but these 61 days really flew by. Each leg of my trip has been roughly a month, at the end of which I took some time to look back on that stage, but I haven't stopped and thought about how great these last 2 months have been.
So why start now right? I made it to Sevilla and immediately got ready for the Euro Cup Final. I was told to go to the Plaza Mayor, also known as "Las Setas" or "The Mushrooms," a giant, elevated area set in the middle of a large square in the middle of town. When I got there (wearing my Germany jersey), the policia were blocking off the stairs to the area where the screen was. Like any big crowd with beers in hand, it was getting pretty rowdy. Then we saw a couple dozen people running up a ramp on the other side of the stairs, apparently having jumped the barriers on that side. All the policia (all of them) ran to stop these few people, and as soon as they abandoned their posts, hundreds of people threw down the barricades and stormed the stairs. It was funny to see the cops faces when they turned around and met eyes with the mob bum rushing them.
I stayed for the first half of the game - enough to go apeshit twice at the Spanish goals and to have some Spaniards come up to me saying, "¡Alemania Alemania!" (Germany Germany!) Some actual Germans came up to me saying "Deutschland!" followed by a stream of Deutsch, which made me feel like a total poser when I told them I didn't sprechen. It was a crazy atmosphere, comparable to ACL, and was really fun, but I decided to go to the party that my hostel was throwing to watch the rest of it. After the win, I walked towards the center of town, not knowing what to expect. I made it to the cathedral and saw everyone walking to my right, so I went ahead and followed and got what I had hoped for: fiesta. People were chanting, "¡Yo soy Español, Español, Español!" and just going insane. I'm very glad I was in Sevilla when Spain won and glad I got to see how crazy soccer really is here.
People were honking and going cray until the wee hours of the night, but I did make it to sleep eventually, and the next day I just walked around and hung out at the Plaza de España. I don't know what it was, but I really, really loved this place. It's made almost entirely of red brick decorated with ceramic tiles and the occasional marble pillar. All along the inside of it are small benches with the name of various Spanish cities, along with unique and beautifully decorated tiles along the wall. I went back again late that night and just sat around until I got kicked out around midnight due to closing.
Today I did some more walking around, including a third trip to the Plaza de España. My sister took a trip to Sevilla with some friends about 7 years ago and I had always loved the pictures they took. I spent a good chunk of time looking around for this beautiful bench they took a picture at, and when I saw it from afar I instantly recognized it and got some guy to take the picture for me. I had brought my computer so I could make sure I got both pictures from the same angle as the original and actually had a lot of fun doing it.
I met a couple from New Jersey (while we were watching Jersey Shore, actually) who had been traveling in Europe for 7 weeks now. They were pretty tired of traveling, didn't really care to see any more cathedrals or landmarks, and were just worn out. I was thinking, "oh 7 weeks and you have your boyfriend with you? Yeah that's rough" but didn't say anything. It's hard to describe the mood I've had lately... When I was in Bolzano, I was just in a bad mood and wanted to go home. Now, I'm excited to be here, but, like them, I'm just tired. I have two weeks left and that is motivation to make the most of it, and I realize that some people would dream all year for 2 weeks in Spain, but... it's still hard to get off the computer and leave the hostel. And especially since this hostel is the first hostel to have air conditioning since... holy crap I don't think I've had AC since Singapore... wow that's depressing. And they have a slammin freezer that I've been throwing my nalgene in three times a day.
Some other random tidbits: there's an old crazy lady that is always at the hostel and creeping everyone out. She talks to herself a lot and just takes naps all day. Also, today I saw someone wearing a UT shirt, so I got ready to give them a Hook'em and a smile, then saw a girl next to him wearing a YoungLife shirt - and it was an Austin West YoungLife shirt too. I walked up to them and said, "excuse me, where'd you get that shirt?" She said, "uh... Austin?" I don't know what kind of answer I was expecting, but then I mentioned that I was an AWYL leader and it turned out she was a Murkison wYLdlife leader. Maybe I'm awkward, maybe I smell, or maybe it was the beard/mullet, but she seemed a bit weirded out. Whatever - small world either way.
So why start now right? I made it to Sevilla and immediately got ready for the Euro Cup Final. I was told to go to the Plaza Mayor, also known as "Las Setas" or "The Mushrooms," a giant, elevated area set in the middle of a large square in the middle of town. When I got there (wearing my Germany jersey), the policia were blocking off the stairs to the area where the screen was. Like any big crowd with beers in hand, it was getting pretty rowdy. Then we saw a couple dozen people running up a ramp on the other side of the stairs, apparently having jumped the barriers on that side. All the policia (all of them) ran to stop these few people, and as soon as they abandoned their posts, hundreds of people threw down the barricades and stormed the stairs. It was funny to see the cops faces when they turned around and met eyes with the mob bum rushing them.
We were actually on a playground, so under there is some jungle gym
Anthem
Sign of the Horns, alongside the middle finger, towards the Italian players
"an accusation of having an unfaithful wife"
I stayed for the first half of the game - enough to go apeshit twice at the Spanish goals and to have some Spaniards come up to me saying, "¡Alemania Alemania!" (Germany Germany!) Some actual Germans came up to me saying "Deutschland!" followed by a stream of Deutsch, which made me feel like a total poser when I told them I didn't sprechen. It was a crazy atmosphere, comparable to ACL, and was really fun, but I decided to go to the party that my hostel was throwing to watch the rest of it. After the win, I walked towards the center of town, not knowing what to expect. I made it to the cathedral and saw everyone walking to my right, so I went ahead and followed and got what I had hoped for: fiesta. People were chanting, "¡Yo soy Español, Español, Español!" and just going insane. I'm very glad I was in Sevilla when Spain won and glad I got to see how crazy soccer really is here.
Same place the next day - I didn't realize they were standing on a fountain until later
Workers fixing all the broken lights and cables
People were honking and going cray until the wee hours of the night, but I did make it to sleep eventually, and the next day I just walked around and hung out at the Plaza de España. I don't know what it was, but I really, really loved this place. It's made almost entirely of red brick decorated with ceramic tiles and the occasional marble pillar. All along the inside of it are small benches with the name of various Spanish cities, along with unique and beautifully decorated tiles along the wall. I went back again late that night and just sat around until I got kicked out around midnight due to closing.
Beautiful clouds
Plaza de España
Benches
Madrid
Granada
Today I did some more walking around, including a third trip to the Plaza de España. My sister took a trip to Sevilla with some friends about 7 years ago and I had always loved the pictures they took. I spent a good chunk of time looking around for this beautiful bench they took a picture at, and when I saw it from afar I instantly recognized it and got some guy to take the picture for me. I had brought my computer so I could make sure I got both pictures from the same angle as the original and actually had a lot of fun doing it.
Lonely
Me: "I need you to stand right here and point the camera exactly that way"
Photographer: "...ok... that's very specific..."
I met a couple from New Jersey (while we were watching Jersey Shore, actually) who had been traveling in Europe for 7 weeks now. They were pretty tired of traveling, didn't really care to see any more cathedrals or landmarks, and were just worn out. I was thinking, "oh 7 weeks and you have your boyfriend with you? Yeah that's rough" but didn't say anything. It's hard to describe the mood I've had lately... When I was in Bolzano, I was just in a bad mood and wanted to go home. Now, I'm excited to be here, but, like them, I'm just tired. I have two weeks left and that is motivation to make the most of it, and I realize that some people would dream all year for 2 weeks in Spain, but... it's still hard to get off the computer and leave the hostel. And especially since this hostel is the first hostel to have air conditioning since... holy crap I don't think I've had AC since Singapore... wow that's depressing. And they have a slammin freezer that I've been throwing my nalgene in three times a day.
Some other random tidbits: there's an old crazy lady that is always at the hostel and creeping everyone out. She talks to herself a lot and just takes naps all day. Also, today I saw someone wearing a UT shirt, so I got ready to give them a Hook'em and a smile, then saw a girl next to him wearing a YoungLife shirt - and it was an Austin West YoungLife shirt too. I walked up to them and said, "excuse me, where'd you get that shirt?" She said, "uh... Austin?" I don't know what kind of answer I was expecting, but then I mentioned that I was an AWYL leader and it turned out she was a Murkison wYLdlife leader. Maybe I'm awkward, maybe I smell, or maybe it was the beard/mullet, but she seemed a bit weirded out. Whatever - small world either way.
It's ok, I've fallen asleep reading the bible too
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