Sevilla y Fiesta

Faceoff
The rooster
The blidfolded horse and the guy with the spear

Draggin the Dead Bull's carcus out of the stadium


How they killed the bull


Me, Mike, and Khalid at the Bull fight
Alcazar gardens
A man and some boys in their traditional suits riding horse back
Inside of a Caseta
Casetas on the right
Feria de Abril gate and horse drawn carriages (they were everywhere)
Bul stadium
Annie Damron and I eating lunch in plaza Alfalffa
Feria de Abril (the street Feria)
The view from my room



I arrived in Seville at 17:10pm and met Annie Damron (from CK). I stayed at her place, which is amazing. It consists of all these American students that basically rented out this new apartment building for all of them. One of the people she is living with is named Khalid from Alex Schechter’s frat, which I knew before and also lives in Atlanta on T.I.’s block!!! Haha pretty cool! Before dinner, Annie and I walked around to get a feel of the city and checked out this cool public display of African Photography. We came back to the place (which is in an amazing part of town) and Khalid and Mike cooked us Paella. We sat around had a few drinks and headed towards Feria de Abril, which is this huge traditional festival that basically celebrates the month of April. The students do not even have class during this month because it is such a big deal. It is lined with casetas that are like tents decked out. Some are private and some are public. People are doing traditional Sevillanas dance, which is a more joyful and fun dance similar to Flamenco. Everyone is dressed in the traditional dresses and suits of old Spain. There are also a ton of horses and horse drawn carriages. This is because originally in 1847 the festival started as a horse trade show, which just turned into a huge party. There was also a huge carnival attached to it. The entrance was this huge door/archway looking thing that had 22,000 lights on it. Once we arrived we walked around the casetas and took in the view and culture. We also saw Chocolate with Churros being made, which was kind of cool. Then we headed to the carnival and went on the fastest Ferris Wheel I have ever been on. Annie kept her eyes shut the whole time. Then we stopped by a caseta and saw some teenagers do some Sevillanas. It was cool and relaxing. The beat seems simple but it is hard to replicate as well, same with the dance. Afterwards we headed home and I we went to bed. Oh at Annie’s place I had my own room, with my own bed, a view of orange trees in a plaza, and I had industrial blinds (it keeps the room pitch black no matter what). It was great. And this was even possible with a ton of people visiting because of Feria de Abril. They were practically holding a hostel for the weekend.

The next day we woke up late and Annie and I had a late and long lunch on Plaza de Alfalfa. Then we went to the Bull Fighting stadium to get some tickets for tomorrow’s big game. Then we headed to Feria during the day. It is the same at night haha. A big party 24/7 for the month of April. It was cool to walk around during the day. Then we went back and went to go see Barca vs. Madrid at one of their friend’s local neighborhood bar. Barca crushed Madrid!!!! After, we headed back to the place and Annie’s friend Allison cooked us some great pasta. I had some Cruzcampo (the famous beer here) too! We all went back to the Feria and went inside a Caseta this time, but no one was there. We called it an early night and as I was leaving I met up with Leslie Garner from Gtown to say hello.

The next day I woke up late and Annie and I went to get some lunch around the Cathedral that is the 3rd largest in Europe. The lunch was great. We then went to Alcazar, which is an unbelievable palace and gardens. It is still used when famous politicians visit for their housing. It is the thing to see in Seville. I cannot really explain it except it had a lot of Islamic influence on it, but the Christians funded most of it. The Muslims built it and put Sanskrit in some of the tiles, which said like Allah is great, Allah is Love, etc… No one knows if the Christians did not know about it, if they thought Allah was translated for God, or if they thought it was just a cool design. It also had the room where Christopher Columbus met with the Queen after his first voyage to America. Anyway unbelievable palace/gardens. Then we headed to a café/bar on the river to hang out before I met up with Khalid and Mike for the Bull Fight. Here I saw Ashley and Hannya (form Georgetown) in a paddleboat randomly. After our relaxing time, I headed to the Bullfight.

This was really cool and reminded me of a gladiator fight or something of that sort. I had Khalid bring some sunscreen from the house because I thought we would be in the sun section. We were, but we sat on the top row that had shade and there was no one sitting in front of us, which was awesome because there was no room to put my feet otherwise. The only down fall is the columns from the arches would get in my way from time to time. But no complaints. The fight starts by everyone who was involved came out and basically just stands there as if they are being introduced. Then it started. At first they let the bull out. The bull is filled with energy and a little confused with being let into a big stadium. Then they have these matadors sort of like rodeo clowns. They tire the bull out a little by doing similar things the real matador does. They also function to funnel the bull to certain areas of the stadium. For example the next step, when these blindfolded horses come out (oh every new step of the show is usually accompanied by some typical/traditional music) with a guy with a spear riding the horses. The horses have padding and basically what happens is the bull rams the horse and the guy on the horse stabs him in the muscle part of the back. This gets the blood going and damages the nerves in his neck so the bull cannot lift his head anymore or not lift it as well. This can happen up to 2-3 times (by that I mean stabs). Then the horses leave and the real matador comes out.

He takes these colored sticks and runs at the bull and sticks them in the back of the bull near where the guy on the horse stabbed the bull. They get three tries with two sticks. If they don’t stick him they move on. Then the real matador goes out and tires the bull out with typical matador moves. Once it gets really tired they go and get a sword. Do some more matador stuff and tire the bull out even more. Then he stabs the Bull. The good ones only need to stab once the bad ones had to do it multiple times with different swords. Then the rodeo clown matadors and the matador confuse it and turn it around in circles. Sometimes it just collapses or it just stands their exhausted and the matador cleans up. The matador rodeo clowns come in and make sure the bull is dead and then these decorated horses come out and drag the bull out of the stadium. This happened six times. It seems the goal is to basically control the animal as best as one can, while exhausting it. It is also to do it with the most grace and style. One time the matador did really well and everyone stood up and waved these white towels. Then some guy cut the ear off the bull and gave it to the matador. He walked around the stadium like a victory lap. People would through their hats and other things at him (fan, water jug, and even a rooster (yes a rooster)). He would put some dirt on it from the bullring and throw it back in the stands.

Another time, some guy from the crowd jumped in the ring with his own cape and actually did some nice matador moves before the security could get him off. The people really did not seem to care. They were just kind of like good job, now leave. This guy also looked like an old Asian, which was not what we were expecting. During this same fight, the bull was not a strong enough bull so they had to change the bull. They brought out all these cows to call down the bull (which has already been stabbed by the guy on the horse). They got the bull out of the stadium and entered a new one. This bull actually hit the matador and made him bleed with his bull. This matador did not even really get applause.

At the end of the fight, we left and headed to Colonialis, which was this amazing tapas place. I saw Tamara there with her boyfriend BJ, both of which who go to Gtown. It was also supper cheap like all of Seville is compared to Barcelona. We went back home and called it a night since I did not have enough energy to make it to the fireworks for Feria. On Monday, I woke up late and went for a run. I also went to the Park Mary Luisa near the bus station. It was cool. I ran home to meet Annie and some friends for some lunch (after their classes) in the plaza near them decorated in the background with this small church. It was great. Then I came home and edited photos and wrote my blog. Hours later I met up with Leslie Gardner and Natalie Lescroart from Gtown. We walked around, ate some ice cream and caught up. They have a lot of work coming up, including a 40 page paper in Spanish. Wow! That night Annie and I went out to a nice restaurant near by. I had some sort of tuna and pepper cold salad. It was delicious. We went back to the place and pre-gamed a bar called Garage Bar by the river. Then we went to Fundicion around the corner and met Leslie G there. This was America but in Spain. It had beer pong and all American songs. I felt back at home. We went back and I got to bed around 3 a.m.