El Arte en Sevilla

Friday, 19 September 2008
I bought a guitar! I got a really nice small bodied classical guitar for 100 euros cash. I plan to sell it back at the end of the semester, but who knows, maybe I'll keep it. It took me forever to restring it though. I really wish I had learned righty haha.


Last night after me and the guys went shopping and had dinner (lol), Allison and I decided to walk around the city because her host mom said there was a lot going on. Brenna was supposed to come, but she hung out with Christina (her casa-mate) instead. Oh well. (The guys were going to go out to the club, but ended up getting drunker than expected and just wandered the city and going to random places lol.)

The first thing we stumbled on was this crazy video exhibition about flamenco and Sevilla. One of the videos involved a woman dress in black dancing flamenco in a white room with her hands tied on top of a table under which lay a naked man. ::shrug:: I have the explanation in Spanish if anyone wants to read it. Another video was a man and a woman at a table tapping a beat with their hands, and another one was a POV shot of a woman dancing flamenco in her room.

"Buenaluz"

Anyway, after that we walked around for a while, exploring barrio de Santa Cruz and other locations. We made it back to Plaza del San Francisco and saw a crowd forming. It was around 12:15 a.m. It's so weird to see little kids and families out so late, but it's normal here. Next to where this stage was getting set up, there was a little exposition about the history of Seville and other things about Spain.

There were all these old plans and maps of the city as well as these tapestries and articles of clothing. Oh and paintings, lots of paintings in a little room about the size of a floor lounge in Denton. As we were leaving, we saw these two guys dressed up funny and wearing masks and epeés (fencing swords) adjusting each other. Then we saw the microphones and realized that they were part of the play. We figured it was about to start (12:30ish lol), so we went outside.


The play was interesting, albeit hard to follow. It's very hard for me to speak/understand Spanish if I haven't been speaking/listening all day in class. But I gathered that these two caballeros had a mutal acquaintance and had received orders or something because they read letters that the other person had. And then this nun came on and talked to one of the men, and you could tell she was a gossip and that he liked this one novitiate. She gave him a key, presumeably to the convent lol. And then they had a scene where the nun talked to the younger girl, and it was obvious that she loved him...and then we left. Our feet hurt, and a lot of Sevilla is cobblestone. What was interesting to me was the Spanish was not castellano. It was Argentinean--they used the vos form a lot, which took some time to get used to.

Anyway, after that we went home (around 1:15-1:3oish). I rode back on a bike. By the way, Sevici--the public bike system here--is awesome. We've kind of turned it into a verb: "You going to walk or Sevici it?"; or "I just Sevicied over to class." Sure you have to make sure the chain works and that the tires aren't flat, but it's so convenient. Oh, and cobblestone sucks for riding.

Saturday, 20 September
Today I woke up to meet Allison at Torre del Oro to check out Sevilla's Museo de Bellas Artes. It was great--I haven't been to an art museum in a while. There were a lot of religious paintings (this is Spain), but also a lot of non religious paintings. Check the facebook album (http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2316455&l=a4c72&id=5738646).

Afterwards we walked to Cortuja across the river with the intention of visiting the Museo del Arte Contemporáneo and the old monastery/ceramics factory. Note the "with the intention." First we got really lost because there was construction and it threw us off, and then when we finally got there, the guy at the desk said that the monastery/factory was closed for a conference/gathering, and that the art museum wouldn't open until 2 or 3. Still, we walked to the other side to see the art museum, and were told by the police that it wouldn't open until 4. Boo. So we walked back to the city central to see what was going on by the river--there had been a lot of setup the past few days and that morning.

Apparently it was this big celebration/gathering of Andalucia (Sevilla is the capital of the state), so there were speed boat rides, a jetski competition, games for children, this big tent with music pumping, etc. It was really cool to see the streets so lively (at 10 or 11 it was as dead as College Park on a weekend morning).

Then I Sevicied home after stopping by M.A.S. (the supermarket I've grown to love) for some juice, tea, and soda. After eating lunch (spaghetti con gambas--shrimp--and a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich), I took a big siesta. Then Anji randomly messaged me on facebook (I haven't really spoken to her since Orientation), and said that she and Sarah were probably going to see a movie. I met them by Plaza de Armas at Buddha (the nightclub in the mall by the bus station). We had an hour to kill before the movie, so we got ice cream at this stand at the mall. Milkshakes here are pretty much milk and melted ice cream. Tasty, but not really worth the 3 euros I paid for it.

We saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona, the newest Woody Allen film with Scarlett Johanssen and Penelope Cruz. It was really good. It was in English (version original as it's known here) with Spanish subtitles. Which would have been fine, except there were times when the lead actor and Penelope Cruz or his fatherwould talk in Spanish, which was unsubtitled. But I was able to get the gist. Stephen Davis (our program director) was right--I found myself reading the subtitles and going "that's not how I would have written it." But it was really good--y'all should see it.

The guys are going out for the evening soon, Allison's going dancing with some Spanish dude, Brenna, Josh, and others from her casa are going to a gay bar...I'll pass--my feet are just done. Tomorrow we're going to see La Catedral. Hopefully, I'll get to go with people and they won't sleep in lol.

Until next time.