My Birthday In Sevilla!

Yesterday was my twenty first birthday, and my first birthday away from my twin, Shelby. Though it was difficult it wasn't quite as difficult as I was expecting, because I had so much to keep me busy.... I know at the very least my mother will be curious of what I did for my birthday in Spain so here it is.

Unfortunately one of my first steps onto the streets of Sevilla was right into a pile of dog poo. I'm going to take it as a sign of good fortune...like rain on your wedding day. haha. I managed to remove all traces of the event during my ten minute walk to school as I scraped my foot with the pavement with every step. My spanish class consisting of about 16-20 students sang Happy Birthday to me in broken spanish. After class my wonderful roommate, Kati, took me out for a cup of cafe con leche in a cafe where she and I are now regulars. :)





After my little coffee break my roommate and I returned to our temporary home with Carmen for a birthday fiesta. My Spanish mama is very good friends with her neighbor across the hall, Maria Jose. Maria Jose is also hosting Texas Tech Students in her home which is where I had my spanish fiesta! We had a dish native to Spain, paella. Paella as far as I can tell primarily consists of chicken, shrimp, peppers, and rice. Carmen also made a delicious cake to celebrate my birthday. My birthday song was sung in both Spanish and English. It was quite humorous when the host mothers sang the English version.... " Happy Baby do jew!" I can only imagine what I am saying in Spanish... :/

After I feasted I would have usually taken a small siesta, but on Mondays and Thursdays I have to leave right after lunch for English class. Ironic that while living in Spain I am taking an English class, but in order to fulfill graduation requirements I needed one more English class and this one happens to be Creative/Travel writing. After this night class a couple of friends and myself went out to have dinner on the streets of Sevilla. We ate at a Restaurante called El Cordobes.

After dinner we walked mere minutes to a red door that houses a flamenco dancing performace everynight at 10:30. It was a very small venue, but it had so much character. Unfortunately the flash on my camera was being disobedient so I don't have much aside from my own memory to capture the moment. The place had a lot of very unusual, yet beautiful, artwork on the wall. It was very small which made the performace more of an intimate experience, and was suggested to my friends and I by a couple of local students from the University of Seville. A part of the program allows us to speak with University students about three times a week to provide us with insights into the city we can't get from our host families here in Sevilla as well as a little extra practice speaking the language. This is definitely a place I plan to visit frequently in the hopes of a better seat near the performers. It was an excellent way to celebrate my birthday! (below I have attempted to upload a video from the performance. Only a small clip that doesn't give a good enough representation for how wonderful the night, the performers, and the location actually were.)