Sevilla 5/16 – 5/17

We hit a lot of weekend traffic coming back from the beach house, so José drove me straight to the airport to get Caitlin after dropping off Justyna and Javí so I didn’t have to waste more time taking the bus which was really nice of him. I was about an hour late and was worried that Caitlin would be sitting in the airport confused and worried because I wasn’t there to pick her up but when I walked into the airport her plane had just arrived. It had been delayed for an hour in London, so we miraculously got to the airport at the same time. Seeing Caitlin after 4 months apart was so exciting! We’d video chatted a lot via Skype but it’s just not the same as being together in person. Poor girl had been traveling for so many hours and was jet lagged and tired and all sorts of things. We took the airport bus to Prado bus station, walked to Lourdes’ apartment to pick up the rest of my things and headed to our hostel.
I’m pretty proud of myself, I somehow managed to fit everything from my semester abroad into an enormous backpacking pack I borrowed from Teddy before I left, my school backpack, (to be worn as a front pack. Super cool.) and a box of things that I paid way to much money to mail home. I left an entire suitcase full of clothes and things behind for Maria to give to her nieces etc. I know that I sill have too much stuff with me but I’m trying to get by without doing laundry until I get to Sweden. I will be leaving many things behind at hostels along the way to be sure.
After getting checked into our hostel Caitlin and I went in search of food. We ended up at the kebab stand because that was the only thing open at 12:30 on a Sunday night. My friends that were left in Sevilla met us here and we sat by the river for a while, not wanting to say goodbye. After an hour or so we really needed to get Caitlin to a bed, so we all said our final “hasta luego” and went our separate ways with lots of hugs and a few tears.
In the morning we got up, packed our bags up (which we left in the hostel lobby until later) and walked all the way through Sevilla to mail my box of school things and souvenirs that I don’t want to carry throughout Europe with me. Oh my goodness, it was so expensive to mail that box home! But it’s worth it, it saves my back a little more weight and I need my school materials to arrive safely at my house so I can submit them to Beloit next semester to get Anthropology credits for my courses in Spain. I feel safer having these important materials mailed via something that can be tracked vs. taking a 3-week boat trip from Spain to the USA.
Trying to plan this trip was way confusing with Caitlin being in the US, me being in Spain and Laura being in Italy. We never were able to get all of us online at the same time to discuss our plans so everything was done via email and Caitlin and my Skype chats. Thus, we had yet to actually make our train reservations which is a decision that may come back to bite us. I called the train station from my cell phone but all I found out was that it’s essentially impossible to do anything unless you are physically present in the train station with your Eurail pass. So Cait and I got on the city bus to the airport to try and get as many of our tickets figured out as we could. What a process. I am so thankful that I speak Spanish well enough to communicate effectively because if I didn’t we would have been lost. The process of making ticket reservations isn’t posted anywhere; it’s like some big secret with as many unnecessary steps built in as possible. Anyway, to make a very long story short we eventually found our way through all of the correct steps to find out that the night train we wanted had no available space, so we would have to take a train the next morning, and we reserved our trains from Barcelona to Nice.
We went back to the hostel to make a reservation to stay an extra night, took a nap and then called Erica to go out for one last dinner and drink. We went to the bar where my friend Susan’s señor works and had tapas and Cruzcampo in Sevilla one more time.