Mallorcan Mensajes: Hot and Cold

Can someone tell me where October went? Without real seasons I’m finding it easy to lose track of the date. Last year at Colby we got our first snow of the season on Halloween. I’ve been here almost two months and I have yet to be rained on (except that it’s starting to drizzle right now as I write this). How the tables have turned. Rain has been in the forecast here all week but I’ve only seen sunshine. Guess you can’t trust weathermen in any language.

Just got back from Sevilla on Sunday night. It was great to see my friends again, make some awesome new ones and also get a taste of what Andalucía has to offer. My flight to Sevilla on Thursday got delayed about an hour so I got in at around 1am on Friday morning. Met up with my friends shortly after and swiftly got rejected from the club for wearing shorts. Classic. Not a problem though, we ended up having a good time throwing ambiguous citruses (look like limes, taste like lemons, but we’re told they’re oranges) into the river. Once the arm pain outweighed the fun of fruit launching we proceeded to a 24 hour churros y chocolate stand on the side of the road. After eating roughly 18.3x more churros than are recommended by the surgeon general of Spain, we finally walked back to our respective places of residence (mine being a very nice hostel). After about 1.5 hours of sleep my alarm went off at 7:45. Remembering the brilliant words, “I can sleep when I die” of rapper ‘Young Jeezy’, I made my way to the bus station and got on the 9:30 to Granada, another popular Southern Spanish city. Mesmerized by the sea of olive trees, I quickly passed out for the entirety of the 3 hour trip. I got off the bus with no idea what I was going to do so I talked to a really nice girl at the information desk for a good 20 mins (all Spanish; winning). She highly recommended that I buy a ticket for a two-hour walking tour around the city, so I obliged. Before the tour I had time to enjoy the unique feature of Granada. That is, I ordered a drink at a café and received a free tapa (I got a small portion of paella). I proceeded to the tour, which ended up being in English because my companions were a group of Australians and a group of Irish tourists. I didn’t have the time nor required ticket to see the Alhambra (the most famous attraction of Southern Spain) but the walking tour was a nice way to see the city and get a few different views of the Alhambra from afar. After four hours in Granada, I took the bus back to Sevilla. Got in around 7:30, met my friend and we walked around the city for a little bit. Another late night ensued (which, if you haven’t realized yet, is the norm in Spain) but we still all managed to wake up and meet at 10am on Saturday morning.

All day Saturday was a tour of Sevilla. We went to the cathedral, alcazar, the historic university, and even rented a 4-person bicycle thing in the park. Nothing better than being a classic American tourist. After a quality day of touring and a much needed siesta, we rendezvoused for dinner then enjoyed the rio the way the Spaniards do (ambiguous beverage in hand). Learning my lesson from night numero uno, my decision to wear pants paid off when we gained admission to a club for a birthday party of a girl in the same CIEE group as my friends. It was refreshing to see so many Americans (probably about 60) in one place. A sight that has gone unseen for a significant period of time.

Another short night of sleep later, it was already Sunday and we were congregating at the hostel to head over to a Real Betis soccer (futból) game. We got to the stadium without tickets, and while trying to find the ticket office, we were accosted by a scalper. We bargained with him for a while, exchanging concerned looks with each other during the entire process but eventually ended up buying tickets from the guy. I would define the proceeding events as being “borderline hustled” by this mystery hombre because after paying him we were soon let into a specific area of the stadium with plastic cards (which the scalper then took with him). Once in, our only option was to walk up, and so we did. All the way up. Atop the stadium, we felt as if we were playing FIFA. A perfect view of the entire green field below, we found a row of seats at random and sat. After being kicked out of these, we found another row and thankfully didn’t get questioned again. Not the greatest seats, but a true (and my first) Spanish soccer experience. Our section of fans seemed to be the working class locals, who were a lot of fun to be with. Songs, angry rants at the ref, and utter despair when Betis got scored on provided us a whirlwind of emotion that you just don’t get at baseball games in the U.S. Betis ended up losing 2-0, but as much as we pretended to be as distraught as the rest of our section, we really didn’t care. Our day (and my trip) ended with a very good lunch at a tapas restaurant. It rained briefly while we were there but our giant plate of patatas bravas eased the pain of our first run-in with inclement weather. We left and it was magically sunny again. A few hours passed and it was time to return to Palma. A sad goodbye to a great weekend, but a happy hello to Palma.

This wouldn’t be “Mallorcan Mensajes” if there weren’t a mensaje, so here it goes. Sevilla was a lot of fun and my friends are really happy there, which is always good to see. They have a big group of nice people and there’s always someone to call or text to find something going on. I don’t have this, (and I’ve made a big deal of it in my past posts) but when I was walking home from the bus stop along the water on Sunday night, I felt at home for the first time. There’s something about the fresh ocean breeze, the sight of the port in the distance and the illuminated cathedral that I’ve really taken for granted up until this point. Sevilla has a lot going for it, and I wouldn’t mind a semester there, but coming back to Palma reminded me of the reasons why I chose this program. I came for the small city and the island lifestyle, and even if the rest is not exactly what I expected, I’m starting to appreciate it more. It’s about time; I have less than two months left.

In other news, I just realized that if I skip one day of classes in December I have a 10 day break, but being the good student that I am, I decided that I’m going to skip two days to make it an 11 day break. This is unconfirmed, but I’m definitely doing the 10. Paris, London, Venice and possibly one other stop are on the agenda. I just need to find internet fast enough to find some flights. Wicked excited about this discovery. It’ll be a nice last hurrah before returning to Los Estados Unidos. Anyway, that’s all for now. First weekend in a while without exciting plans. Very sad. But my friend who is studying in Milan is here visiting so there’s no way that we won’t find something fun to do. If you’re in New England, enjoy the beginning of winter. I hope the thought of me in a tee shirt and shorts warms your heart. But not really, because I don’t even know what that means. Just be jealous. Until next time.

Matt