The beautiful city of Sevilla and day one in Cordoba 1/29/09

After returning late from my late-night navigational experience, I chilled in my room for a little while, wrote down my blog entry about the experience, and then went to sleep. Once again, I didn’t get enough sleep because I had to wake up at 0700. By 0730, I had eaten breakfast and was in the Union with a HUGE group of students who were all signed up for the SAS-sponsored trips to Sevilla and Cordoba. We waited for everyone for a while, and then piled onto the buses. Our trip leader was an awesome guy, and I was sad to find out that he would be leaving us in Morocco.

The bus ride was 2 hours long, and I….uh, well, I don’t remember much to tell you the truth. The thing is, I was soo tired that I fell asleep as soon as the bus departed, and I woke up in Sevilla. Apparently, most people on the bus joined me in taking an AMAZING 2 hour nap. I heard from the guy sitting behind me that I was completely out, my mouth was open most of the time, there was drool on the side of my mouth, you get the picture. Anyways, I woke up and was stunned. The city was beautiful…there were very pretty buildings all around us of all different sorts of architectures, from Spanish to Gothic to Moorish. I had read in a city guide that the city was spectacular and IT WAS.

Our first stop was the Plaza de Espana (Spain Plaza). The guide explained that there was a cultural conference in Sevilla several years ago, and each country had its own building/plaza. Of course, the Spanish Plaza was the best, since the conference was held in Spain. Then we saw the plaza, and it was stunning. It was very large, with tall bell towers, and a large courtyard. Pretty impressive for a cultural conference center.

Next, we went to the Alcazar, or the old Moorish fort. I thought it was also very pretty, with amazing Moorish architecture. It’s hard to describe what all this architecture looks like precisely, so I think it’s much easier if you go to my website, and check out all my pics of Sevilla. The site is http://picasaweb.google.com/yashbhatt

Finally, it was time for lunch. We were starved to death. Lunch was included in our trip fee, so I had a bad feeling about vegetarian options. And I was correct. We sat down, and ate the bread, and everyone ordered drinks, which were also included. I decided to go with just water, although most people around me went with the vino tinto (red wine), which was supposedly really good in this restaurant. So many people were surprised that I had never had an alcoholic drink, and many more even said that I would try one in Spain. But I think if you have some ideals or rules that you hold yourself to, it’s important to maintain them. I still had a blast in Spain, even though I didn’t have any alcoholic drinks. Some people had told me it would be very hard, because everyone has a drink with meals, but if you really want to, it is possible to drink water or get a soda instead. Just because everyone does something in a certain country does not mean you have to. Most people understood that, but I definitely met some people who thought I was stupid. Of course, they were the ones who were trashed later, and didn’t remember their experience in Spain, which I think is very sad. Also, alcohol is not cheap in Spain, and many people spent a ridiculous amount on alcohol over the 4 days we were in Spain. I guess I saved a lot of money in that regard that I can spend on buying gifts for family and friends, which, I think, will be a lot more meaningful. Anyways, that’s enough said about the drinks…sorry about that. The meal started, and Achal and I realized that the veg. options were going to be very limited. Of the 18 million courses that were served through the meal, only a few were vegetarian, and, to my dismay, they were all things I did not like at all. So, that restaurant experience kind of sucked.

After that, we continued sightseeing Sevilla for a little while, and then got on the buses again to go to Cordoba, another 2 hour road. Once again, don’t ask me what happened during that trip, because I was out cold most of the time. I woke up shortly before we reached Cordoba, and saw huge green fields on all sides of the road. They were gorgeous, and although the roads were similar to the US, these fields looked nothing like I had ever seen. We shortly arrived in Cordoba, and dropped off our bags in the hotel. It was a lot nicer than I expected, and we even had a balcony. I was rooming with a guy who went by TJ. He was pretty cool and nice, and I introduced myself and talked with him for a few minutes. Then, I joined a group of people and we ventured off to check out the city. It was very different from Sevilla. It felt like more of a modern city, but that was because we were in the modernized region. Our group of people included Sonya, Achal, Adam, Ruth, Andrew, Jerry (the trip’s videographer), and of course me. We had a great time walking around, and we pulled a “turista” (read my last post if you don’t know what that means) move once again. We were very hungry, and dinner didn’t start until 2045 at our hotel. It was still 1900 (yes, you have to convert that into non-military time if you have no idea what 2000 means ;) ), and we walked into a small restaurant. The waiters looked at us and chuckled, probably whispering “turistas” under their breaths, since it was way too early for dinner in Spain. I didn’t order anything, since dinner was included in our trip fee and was less than an hour away, but we all enjoyed a great conversation.

Afterwards, it was dinner time, so we started walking back towards the hotel. But the story doesn’t end there. We found a playground on the way back, and all memories of our childhoods rushed back to our heads. I busted out my camera as everyone else climbed up the huge jungle gym. Then, we found a large see-saw that was powered by a huge spring. It looked awesome. We took turns riding the see-saw. I had not ridden one since I was in elementary school, and it was SO MUCH FUN!! Because of the spring in the middle, whoever went up would almost fly out of the seat. After several minutes, we reluctantly left the playground since we were getting late for dinner, but we promised the playground we would be back after dinner (yeah, not such a good idea riding a see-saw after eating dinner, I know).

Dinner was all right. It was buffet style, but there weren’t too many vegetarian options. Achal and I did our best, and ate a lot of pasta and salad as usual…lol. After a long conversation with everyone at our table, we headed out. I went up to my room, and I was exhausted. I decided it would be a better idea to get a good night’s rest, so I told my group I wouldn’t be going out. I took out my laptop, downloaded pictures from my camera and camcorder, and then passed out. Not going out was the best thing I did, because I woke up the next day feeling GREAT and rested, for the first time in over a week.