23rd Birthday

After my classes on Thursday I took a tour of the Museo de Bellas Artes.  The Museum of Fine Arts is considered the second most important art gallery in Spain because it houses a significant amount of religious themed paintings that were hidden and preserved throughout the Muslim rule.  One of the reasons why religion is such a common and important theme here is that many people who were illiterate learned about the story of the religion and faith through these paintings.  The building of this museum actually used to be a convent so the architecture was very different than a standard building.  There were 3 main patios and also a part that used to be the actual church.  The church was incredible because the ceiling was art itself – it had paintings of biblical scenes as well as designs related to the kings and queens of Spain.  My favorite paintings were the more contemporary ones because the reflected the culture of Sevilla.  There were several that depicted scenes from the processions of Semana Santa or the festivities of Feria.  Others showed toreros (bullfighters) in their traditional outfits.  I will briefly explain the historical significance of 2 other paintings.  First is a picture of the Tabacalera (tobacco plant).  The fábrica de tabaco was once a main source of income for Seville and it’s supplies came from America.  Many women worked here by either grinding up the tobacco or rolling it into cigars.  Today, this famous building is actually the Universidad de Sevilla!  So the university building where I have one of my classes has a very different function in the history of the city.  The other painting I want to explain is of the barrio (neighborhood) known as Triana.  Seville is a city with a population of 800,000.  The city is divided into a variety of these neighborhoods and smaller towns surrounding the outskirts of the city.  A majority of the students live in Triana, los Remedios, Puerto Osario, or el Centro (where I live).  Originally, Triana was the neighborhood where all of the gypsies in the city lived, so the painting shows their houses along the Guadalquivir River.  

Fábrica de Tabaco

Triana

Thursday night, my friends here helped my celebrate my 23^rd birthday!  Although my birthday wasn’t actually until Friday, we needed to wake up really early on Saturday to visit Granada so we decided to celebrate if Sevilla a day early.  As I mentioned before, homestay students are scattered throughout the different neighborhoods, so we generally like to meet up at one our favorite landmarks – Torre de Oro (where the gold brought back from America was supposedly stored) – before going out.

My program offers us the opportunity to be in an interest group, where we meet and do activities as a group related to our theme and also take a trip together.  Naturally, I signed up for the sports interest group.  We had our first activity on Friday morning, biking!  There are about 25 of us and we all got to ride bikes around Sevilla with a guide, it was an absolute blast!  The route was one of the most interesting rides I have ever been on...we going so slow and stopping so often that I definitely would not have considered it exercise though.  We started out near the river and then crossed the bride into Triana.  From there we took over the street named Calle Betis in Triana (it was fun but hectic with all of us biking through main areas of the city).  This street is well known because it has many bars and restaurants right along the Guadalquivir River.  We then made our way Maria Luisa park, home of Plaza de España and Plaza de America (where the museum of archeology and customs are).  The park is massive and each turn reveals something beautiful.  I have been there a few times already, but we took a route with fountains and gazebos that were new to me.  At one point when we were stopped to learn about one of the sights, everyone sang happy birthday to me!  Everyone in my interest group is nice and I had so much fun snapping pictures and laughing while riding cruising through the city.  After “exercising” almost all of us decided we needed to enjoy a treat, so we got ice cream cones from McDonalds and ate them sitting by the river.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and I loved being able to soak up the sun for a while before heading home for lunch. 

Friday night I went to birthday dinner with a couple of my friends at a rooftop restaurant!  There was rumor about this restaurant and we made plans instantly when saw it on our bike-ride .  The restaurant is right on the corner of Calle Betis and one of the Triana bridges, so it overlooked the river.  The view was incredible.  You could see the Cathedral, La Giralda, and Torre de Oro all light up - pictures could not do it justice.  Remember that the Spaniards primarily eat/share tapas (smaller servings of food and you are supposed to get several different types) instead of dinner plates like in the US.  We chose some of our favorites: croquetas, a pork dish, asparagus revuelto (asparagus with a bit of scrambled eggs), and a glass of wine.  For desert we stopped at the most famous chocolate churros stand in Sevilla.  Churros = fried pastry dough, similar to funnel cakes, that you dip into a cup of thick chocolate, needless to say they are delicious.