“Ronda”

So for those of you who do not know, I didn’t get to do any crazy travelling this weekend because Megan’s (my roommate’s) parents were in Seville. However, this weekend was an absolute blast! Last week started off really well… Monday, I had an easy day of classes (including my Flamenco dance class; yes, expect a dance video soon!) and it was about 75 degrees out. Tuesday, just like any other, crammed 3 classes in the day with the Beer Pong league/free sangria at night. Wednesday, however, was particularly fun! Long story short, Megan and I were walking down by the river and were approached by quite a large group of gentlemen speaking poor, broken Spanish. I calm, yet smoothly, respond “I speak English, and GOD knows that’s your better language.” Using our “Sevillana” charm, we helped the boys find some local tapas bars for dinner and were kindly on our way. Little did I know, these boys were from the U.S. submarine that just entered the port earlier that day! Not only were they from the States, but they also knew one of my friends from high school! Can this world get ANY SMALLER!? We exchanged numbers and my friends and I (boys included) decided to meet up with them later that night to show them what Sevilla was all about!
Megan and I ate a quick dinner with Aurora and were on our way. First we started off with a little Agua de Sevilla which is the “famous drink in Sevilla.” It consists of tequila, champagne, orange juice, and whipped cream, basically a creamsicle with ice! From there, we took them down the bar street because it was ladies night at the local discotecha that our friend was putting on, which meant the boys were NOT ALLOWED until 1:30am. As we were on our way, who knew it was to be one of the MOST fun nights I would have in Sevilla! I was with about 60 other girls in this club: free drinks, free strawberries with whipped cream/chocolate, free dj ALL NIGHT! WITH NO MALE BARTENDERS OR ANYTHING! Safe to say, they put on a little Nsync, Britney Spears, and 80s dance music and the ladies went NUTS! As we were off having a ball, the Navy boys strolled in around 1:30. I introduced them to all of the ladies that were there from our school (about 35 or so) and let’s just say it was a match made in heaven! The boys thought I was queen b of the night introducing them to all the ladies, and the girls thought I was top dog for introducing them to new, fun guys (other than the 7 in our group! Hahaha).
As for the next day, Megan’s parents arrived and we began the tours! Throughout the weekend I can honestly say that we hit EVERY tourist attraction in Seville. We went to Plaza Hercules (quick story: so this little boy was biking around the plaza while we were lounging around and he started crying… He was lost and couldn’t find his mom. So Megan notions for him to come over and he does. She starts speaking to him in Spanish and he turns to her with tears in his eyes and says, “no hablo ingles (I don’t speak English).” Then the little boy walks over to me and starts crying and speaking to me in Spanish. I actually spoke well enough that he could understand me; to the point that he thought I was Spanish! Although that awesome moment made me want to rejoice, I helped him find his mom and calm him down. However, when the mom walked over she said, “oh… Are you English?” which pretty much ruined my glorious moment I had 15 minutes prior to that! Short story, but I was proud… Moving on!), Nirviana gypsy market, Plaza España, the Cathedral, Alcazar, Barrio Santa Cruz, and SO MUCH MORE! However, I did get to adventure off with them to a brand new place on the map: Ronda!
As you guys will see in the pictures, Ronda was BEAUTIFUL! So let me tell you a little about the city. Ronda is a little city about 2 hours out of Seville. It is built around a giant gorge and the base of the city is literally a rock foundation! However, the bottom of the gorge used to be FILLED with water, so everything up and down, side to side in the gorge is completely green vegetation! It was amazing! So, while we were there, we got to visit various churches, tapas bars, the tower, the bridge connection the old and new side of town, and the bullfighting ring. It was phenomenal. We took about a 2 hour bus ride there and back for about 30 Euro and it was the perfect day trip! The weather was pretty nice, but began to rain when we were walking to the bus station, perfect timing. After that, MJ and Mike (Megan’s parents) were pretty beat so they went to bed early. However, every other night they stayed out almost as late as we did! They completely wanted to learn everything about the culture, but to their dissatisfaction Megan and I wanted nothing more than semi-American food! Hahahah. Try eating tapas every day!
Then Sunday/Monday we just visited local sights, ate local food and just got to relax while visiting our favorite places in Seville. The rain ceased, and it was about 75-80 degrees both days, beautiful! Glad that they got a little sunshine while they were here!
All in all this weekend was a blast! Not to mention a breeze! Monday there was no school because it was an Andalusian holiday (the area in which Seville is in Spain). So, just like a Sunday in Europe, NOTHING WAS OPEN! But, that didn’t mean that touristy places weren’t!
Anyway, make sure you look at the pictures… The ones from Ronda are breathtaking and UNREAL! Let me know if there is anything else you guys would like to catch you all up on!

Love and miss you all! Athens --> London (hopefully)
*****LAGOS AND MAORCA WILL FIT IN SOMEWHERE (BEACHES BABY!)

Quote of the Weekend: “¿Si tu eres Española que es mi?” “If you´re Spanish, what am I?” --- What all of my friends said after I told them my proud moment of being called “Spanish” twice in one weekend! :)