The end's not near...

it's here.

I can't believe my three month vacation from life is coming to an end. These past three months I've experienced more than I ever thought I would. I visited some amazing places in Spain, Europe, and even Africa. I adapted to a new culture including a new language, new foods, a new sport (LOVE me some futbol), a new drink (tinto de verano YUM), a new way of life, new everything! I improved my Spanish tremendously (though no thanks to fake school), and also met lifelong friends along the way. We had some epically crazy nights, and many adventure-filled days. I've made memories here that I will never forget, and this experience has definitely changed my life for the better.

I've got one more night in Sevilla then it's an overnight bus to Madrid to catch my flight on Saturday at 1pm. I'll be touching down in the good old USA around 9:20pm Saturday night, and I can't wait to see my family and friends. I'm definitely ready to go home, but honestly right now looking back on the past three months, I'm getting a little emotional. I'm sad to be leaving this place I called home for three months.



Spring 3 Love

 I will never be in the same place again as all of these friends who live all over the US, nor will I ever again have classes this easy (hah). No more buying a decent bottle of wine for a couple bucks. No more pre-gaming with said wine and my friends on the streets. No more going to clubs at 3am until dawn. No more attending mass in the third largest church in the world on a regular basis. No more ordering tinto de verano at any bar or restaurant and no more eating and drinking for 1 euro on Wednesday nights.

Cien Montaditos Love

No more intense futbol games at the local bar. 

Real Madrid Love

No more flying for under 20 bucks nor staying in a hostel for less than that per night. No more sight-seeing places that are as old as the world we know...

This is sad. I'm sad. I'm leaving a piece of my heart here in Sevilla. I know I'm going to miss this place the second I leave, but isn't that how it always is? The grass is always greener on the other side of the Atlantic.

Sevilla Love

NO8DO...what does it mean? Sevilla has not abandoned me. And it never will.

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Lunes Santo

Here are some pictures from Holy Monday. A bunch of us (who didn't go anywhere for Spring Break) went to my friend's apartment to watch the pasos from her balcony. Prime seating! I was so glad we didn't have to fight the crowds below.

Got some typical Spanish snacks. Ruffles Jamon chips are amazing!

Calle Francos woop woop!

Our sweet setup.

Glad we weren't down there!

Paso with some cool purple flowers.

Incense-filled streets.

 Annnd a couple more pasos.

I think we saw 4 pasos total from her balcony, from about 9:30 to midnight. Hope the pictures aren't boring you. Semana Santa is just such an amazing and unique experience!

Isn't the music amazing during this paso?!

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Semana Santa

So yesterday began the first day of Semana Santa, or Holy Week as we call it in English. Yesterday was Domingo de Ramos, "Palm Sunday" and I think the festivities began officially around midnight-1am Sunday morning. There are parades throughout Sevilla basically 24/7 until next Sunday. These are not normal parades, though. Are there marching bands? Yes. Are there floats? Yes. However...there are also thousands of nazarenos marching as well. Okay, now that everyone is decently confused, I shall explain.

At the heart of Semana Santa are the brotherhoods. The oldest existing brotherhood is El Silencio, and it dates back to when Semana Santa in Sevilla began...1340. Los Negritos and Jesús el Gran Poder date back to the 1400s. All brotherhoods are headed by the Supreme Council of Brotherhoods, Hermandades and Cofradias de Penetencia. Members of the Council are chosen every 4 years by elders of the different brotherhoods. The brotherhoods are associations of Catholic leypersons organized for performing public acts of religious observance, and to perform public penance. They also undertake other self-regulated religious activities including charitable and community work. Any baptised person can be in a brotherhood, but they all have different internal rules (some still have rules against women joining). Membership in a brotherhood is usually family tradition, neighborhood, or personal preference.  There are approximately 60 brotherhoods and each of them have 2 floats. One float carries Christ during a distinct stage of the Passion, Death, or Resurrection and the other carries the Dolorosa, the Virgin Mary usually represented in pain. In addition to the 60 brotherhoods, there are about 50 other independent non-penetencial Catholic brotherhoods in Sevilla.

Okay, now that you have a general idea of what's going on I'll explain what you actually see during the processions. The brotherhoods march from their home church to the Cathedral, usually through a central viewing area, and back. Some processions take 14 hours...thus, the 24/7 processions.

• The procession begins with a giant guiding cross, Cruz del Guia

• A great number of Nazarenos follow. These people are dressed in colored robes (depending on the brotherhood) and a pointed hood which symbolizes repentence and grief. There are about 60,000 of them total and they carry long wax candles; some are even barefoot. They all walk in silence.

• After the Nazarenos comes the altar boys, or acolytes. They are dressed in vestiments and carry chandeliers and incense. Yesterday we figured out that when you see or smell incense, a float is sure to follow...
• The Paso, or float. Now folks, these aren't normal American parade floats we're talking about. These are massive structures made of solid gold, silver, or adorned wood with real flowers covering the base, with life-size statues standing on top of them. As I said earlier they either depict a scene from Jesus' Passion, Death, or Resurrection or the Virgin Mary under a giant canopy lamenting the fate of her son. These floats are CARRIED BY MEN, they are not motorized. Depending on the float, there may be 24-54 men underneath it.


• A band, or choir usually follows the paso.

• And at the end of the procession will be the penitentes, who are making public penance by carrying wooden crosses. They wear the same robe and hood as their brotherhood, but the hood is not pointed. These folks are serious about penance...I don't know if I could ever march around for hours carrying a wooden cross, the most I've done is say a rosary! I admire these people from the bottom of my heart.

 

I can explain this a hundred times, but until you experience it you will not understand. These people march for hours on end; some carry big wooden crosses, others carry massive precious metal floats. Some march in silence to an a capella choir, others  march in silence to the crowd-calming, minor-key tune of a brass band. I wish you all could experience it like I have, it will absolutely make your soul shudder. 

The climax of the week's festivities takes place on Thursday night, when the most popular processions set out to arrive at the Cathedral on the dawn of Good Friday. If my friends are up to it, I hope we can make it out for those processions! Yesterday we began around the Cathedral and there were THOUSANDS of people in the streets, we could hardly move! We got a couple views of some pasos but we weren't very close to either of them. We decided to arrive at the Parque Maria Luisa early enough to get a good view for the last pasos of the night.

I thought it was very interesting that we saw one float in particular in the Centro of the city. We then went walking across town to eat dinner, and then went to the Parque at least 3-4 hours later. We saw that exact same float at the Parque...it took THAT LONG for them to walk and for the float to be carried maybe a mile. These people are dedicated. These parades are unlike anything I've ever seen before. Saturday we went into a big church in town and saw their floats up close and they just took my breath away. The amount of detail on each float was amazing. Of course I didn't have my camera, but I got a few up close ones yesterday. Holy Week in Seville is the most important tradition of the city, and people come from all over the world to experience it here.

Today my host mom was cooking something in the kitchen I had never seen before. She was taking white bread and dipping it in a sweet milk and wine mixture, then frying them. When I asked her what they were, she told me it was called torrija and it was a typical Semana Santa food. It reminded me of french toast, but with honey instead of syrup. It was really good!

Torrija

I'm not sure where we'll go today, it's pretty cloudy out and I think it's going to rain a few days this week unfortunately. The floats cannot go out in the rain or they will be ruined. Some of the floats in procession today are from the 16th century! I shall keep posting pictures, and hopefully videos. Enjoy!



My favorite float of the day, but we could never get close to it!



Close-up of the gold float.

Procession down Sierpes

The band following the paso at Plaza Espana.

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