When I first got to Spain, I was a bit disappointed. The sky of Madrid didn't have the deep blueness of Sevilla; the three lane, one direction, roads didn't compare with the streets where a person had to plaster oneself up against the wall in order to make room for an economy car; nobody spoke with the lisp that had taken me so long to conquer understanding. I had spent almost two years waiting to return to Spain, only to find that it was the city of Sevilla I truly missed.
But during Fulbright orientation, I talked to one of the Fulbrighters from the year before (Ryan) who had been living in Sevilla and he told me something I haven't forgotten. He said that Sevilla is like your first love: everything is perfect, you're crazy about it, and you can't help but remember it with rose colored glasses. On the other hand, he said, Madrid is more like the guy you marry. No, the city isn't breathtakingly gorgeous or particularly unique on the surface, but it is has many hidden qualities. Madrid is a living, breathing, city, unlike the static memory of Sevilla. There are always things to do and it continues to surprise me with it's vast number of streets to explore, restaurants to try, and cultural events to experience.
From a book written in the 1960s...
Ryan's description of Sevilla/Madrid stuck with me over the past 9
months. I intentionally tried to
forget about Sevilla and appreciate all that Madrid had to offer. I knew, after
all, that it made more sense to spend a year living in a bigger city… Sevilla
would have just been more of the same.
By the time I had the chance to go back to the South of
Spain, I had almost lost a desire to go. I didn’t want to be disappointed or to
ruin my picture perfect memories of what I considered to be my favorite city in
Spain. But after some consideration, I decided a road trip with Napala, Sierra
(her friend from the states), and Gregoire (my friend/co-worker/French teacher)
through the South of Spain would be the perfect way to re-visit Andalucía.
Day 1
We took off in our rental car (another almost new
rental car… why do they always give them to young drivers?!?!) from Madrid
around 10 AM and headed to Córdoba to see the Mezquita.
I won’t write a novel about the Mezquita since you
can read about it here, in my blog
entry from 2 years ago. But it was fun to show off all of the
Islamic-influenced architecture, something that is unique in the South of Spain
and is so different from the majority of churches throughout Europe.
Juxtaposition
of the Islamic and Renaissance architecture
After our visit to the Mezquita, we explored the
streets before enjoying some tea at an Arabic teahouse. I have definitely
developed a taste for coffee, but I was quite pleased to have such a wide
variety of teas to indulge in.
Flowers on
the walls of a small side street
Cinnamon tea
I hadn’t slept much the nights leading up to the
trip since my tutee was about to start finals week and my choreography group
needed to get the first recording of our dance piece done. Between leaving dance
rehearsals at 12 PM and squeezing in philosophy readings during every free
hour at school, I felt like I was in finals
week. Nevertheless, the 8 months of waiting to see the streets of my beloved city
fueled me with a bit of adrenaline,
enough to continue the drive to Sevilla without feeling tired.
Aka... I’m pretty sure Napala was convinced my mouth was
stuck with a smile plastered on.
Once we arrived, I didn’t let a moment go to waste before walking
along the river, heading to Molly’s and my “secret” bar, and calling up some of
my old friends.
The four of us alongside the Guadalquivir
Casa Diego
Fran, Gabri, and I hanging out almost 2 and a half years later!
Day 2
Our second day in Sevilla consisted of hours
walking around the city. It didn’t seem like much to me but after googling a
few distances, Sierra and Napala estimated that I made them walk upwards of 10
miles (not kilometers… MILES) throughout the day. Again, I blame adrenaline.
Some highlights were: checking out the ceramics in
Triana, stopping by my old apartment building and literally just ringing the different
apartments until Margarita answered the door, walking around
Plaza de España, exploring the Álcazar, stopping by a young flamenco singer’s
showcase, accompanying Napala to her first show of flamenco dance, and seeing
the new sculpture (I guess that’s what you’d call it?) downtown.
At
“Madrid” in Plaza de España… since Madrid was the only city that had a puente,
there seemed to always be a group of people crowded around this spot for a picture.
Giant setas
(mushrooms) in downtown Sevilla
The sightseeing was rather calm for me since I didn’t
feel like I had to take any pictures. I already had all of the pictures I
wanted of Córdoba and Sevilla so I passed off my camera to Napala, letting her
try her hand at being the trip’s official photographer. I just let myself fall
back into the memories of the walks that were so oddly familiar.
As for Margarita, it was a wonderful surprise to
see her. She hadn’t seen the facebook message I sent her but with the encouragement
of Gabri and Fran, I ignored my worries that it would be rude to show up at her
house unannounced. We chatted for about 15 minutes while she finished polishing
her winter shoes and then made plans to have lunch when I return to Sevilla
with Jackie in July. It’s bizarre how natural it felt to be back in that
apartment, back in a place I considered home for a time.
Margarita, me, and Mom in November of 2010!
(Excuse our hair, it was very rainy that day...)
Day 3
On our 3rd day of our road trip, we
headed off to Málaga, the city where one of Napala's and my good friends studied abroad. The day
was very relaxing, as days often are when you are in a beach town of any sort.
Walking
along the port in Málaga
“Malagueta” is the neighborhood in
Málaga where this beach is
Check out
how blue and clear this water is!
After dinner, Gregoire caught a bus back to Madrid
and us three girls headed to bed early to prepare for our next adventure. (This
was quite handy since my adrenaline rush had officially ended and I was feeling
quite exhausted.)
Day 4
If I haven’t mentioned it before, now would be a
good time to mention that Napala is obsessed with pinterest. This is how we
decided upon an afternoon trip to Nerja. The fact that many Spaniards hadn’t
heard about it seemed like a good thing… we thought it must be a hidden gem
that only we were lucky enough to find.
In photos, Nerja is absolutely gorgeous:
Gotta love
the mountains along the Mediterranean Sea
Who
doesn’t like a few palm trees lining their sidewalk?
The view
from our terrace restaurant
Yep, Nerja is prime pinterest material. The
pictures look like they came out of a vacation brochure book and… they probably
did. Because pretty much everybody there was on vacation from the United States.
After lunch (at an Italian restaurant... literally every restaurant was Italian... weren't we in Spain?!), Napala and Sierra sipped on U.S. sized hot chocolates and we discussed the odd town we were in. I couldn't help but think of the people visiting who would go home and tell their friends and families about Spain. Yes, it's beautiful (as many cities in Spain are), but the odd resort town tiene nada que ver (is nothing like) the rest of this amazing country. It was bizarre and fake and frankly, I would never recommend it to anyone. But to each his own I suppose.
Luckily, we could hope back in our car and drive along la Carretera del Mediterráneo (a highway that has a view of the Mediterranean the majority of the drive) back to M
álaga to continue our adventure. And that we did.
View from the Moorish castle
Local cheese plate for dinner
I scream, you scream, we all scream for helado!
The church at night
Day 5
On our last day of adventure, we hit up a juice bar and then packed up the car to head to Granada. In Granada we perused the tea shops (I bought a delicious red cinnamon tea), we enjoyed some free tapas, and then I hit up an Arabic tea room while Napala and Sierra went to the Generalife. Since I had already been to the Alhambra and Generalife twice in the past few years (read about it here), I decided it was better I relax for the drive and get myself prepared for Monday's classes. Good thing too, because on our way home (a 5 hour drive that included waving at the people who were stationed at every single bridge we passed... they were out supporting a massive motorcycle ralley) we got ourselves into a sticky situation.
Literally. Sticky.
This is where I admit that I was not at my finest and that Sierra and Napala are awesome. Because when we found gum rubbed into the seat and we had to find some way to fix it to avoid the minimum 100 euro special cleaning fee, I was not exactly a ray of sunshine.
After discussing our options with the Hertz agent, we made a plan to have someone clean it professionally the next morning and then return it to Hertz by 10 AM. But we're living in Spain, where things often don't open by 10 AM (and certinaly weren't still open at 10 PM on Sunday night), let alone complete order
s with enough time to get the car halfway across the city by 10 AM. Awesome.
Thankfully, vinegar works miracles, my neighborhood has free (and safe!) parking on the streets overnight, and my classes started late enough on Monday morning that I could get the car back on time and still make it to my first class. It seems a lot simpler written in a few blog sentences but the multiple ice attempts, confusing rush hour roundabouts, and lack of patience on my part after so many hours of driving did not make the situation a fun experience.
Moral of the story? Traveling is character building, my friends.
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Although the stories are interesting, I’m sure you’re thinking, “How was it to be back?”
To be honest, I’m not quite sure. I was delighted to go back to Casa Diego, la
Repositería Asunción (although they didn’t have my favorite chocolate triangle
croissant-type thing), and my old apartment. I was delighted to see Gabri,
Fran, and Margarita. But it wasn’t a simple delight.
Gabri and Fran said to me, "I don’t remember you like
this." They were focusing on my language abilities, but in so many ways I’m not the
same girl that first walked the streets of Sevilla. I’m not an ignorant, naïve
young woman anymore. (Okay, maybe I still am in some ways, but not quite as much….) I don’t only have questions about Spain; I have
ideas and experiences to share. I’m not waiting to finish studying so that I
can start my future; I’m living my future and embracing learning as part of the
rest of my life.
I’m not the same girl that Gabri and Fran once
knew, but I am the girl they met on that Wednesday night because of the experiences
I had during my semester abroad. The semester was an incredibly formative
experience in my life and they are part of the reason that I even know how to
open myself up to people of different cultures.
When I e-mailed Professor Woolsey about my renewal
with Fulbright for the coming year, he wrote back joking, “I seem to remember a
conversation way back when with a very conflicted young lady who wasn’t sure if
she wanted to continue in Math (was it Math?) or go out on a limb and do
Spanish….”
I responded with, “I vividly remember those
beginning semesters of college, trying to decide if I was willing to give up my
plan to get a chemistry degree. I was convinced chemistry would lead me to the
“ideal” career of medicine and I wasn’t sure if Spanish would lead to a very
fulfilling career. Boy was I wrong. It’s a good thing we aren’t permitted to
settle for the 19 year-old versions of ourselves!”
I am glad to say that I am not the same as my
19-year old self who was following the pre-med track, or my 20-year old self who
first explored living in another country. New experiences are constantly
changing my worldview and allowing me to connect with people differently.
I am not the same girl I used to be, but those past selves are what made me
into who I am today.
When Sierra asked me the other
day what my favorite city in Europe is, I answered quickly and easily,
“Sevilla.” It was easy to fall in love with the city again, all it took was a walk in the Parque de María Luisa or a glimpse of the Guadalquivir at sunset. Sevilla has a place in my heart that is incomparable to any other city I
will pass through because it gave me a whole new sense of what home could feel
like. But it's not easy to think about because it didn’t last forever. It's a memory in the same way that Madrid will be a memory for me in my future and that's a rather emotionally taxing topic to think about for too long. However, I'm starting to think that sometimes it’s the
brevity of experiences that make them so beautiful.
