SEVILLA: Día 1

The beautiful city of Sevilla

After months of deliberation and anticipation, on Friday 25th April 2014, my friend Katya and I boarded a train at Estación Atocha headed south to the wondrous city of Seville. Why you may ask? Well apart from Seville being a gorgeous city that we wanted to visit, our friend Grace that we went to Voronezh with is currently living there and teaching English. So not only were we lucky enough to fit in a little holiday down in the south of Spain, but we also had out own little (literally!!) tour guide to help us get the most out of our whirlwind trip. We left Madrid on Friday morning, and didn't get back until late Sunday, but in those few days we got a hell of a lot done, so much so that I'm going to have to split this into three separate posts! So, I hope you enjoy the tale of our trip down south...

The Journey:

At precisely 5.45am, my alarm began to beep, and I knew it finally time. I'm not usually one to be seen up before 9am, so you can imagine how much of a shock to the system this was! Luckily, being my organised self, all I had to do was get up, get dressed and head out the door. Strolling along the streets of Madrid at 6.15am is different... so quiet and still so dark! Anyway, after a quick stint on the metro, I was met by Katya at the main train station in Madrid, Atocha. After a few mishaps (it isn't the easiest station to navigate) we were finally onboard an impressive looking train, and were settled in for the journey ahead. The journey itself was a little over 2 and a half hours, and was travelling at an impressive 270km/hr for the majority of the time. Being the intelligent girl that she is, Katya spent most of the trip sleeping, but every time I tried to nod off, I couldn't help but be amazed at the changing landscape outside the window.  I must have taken 50 or so photos - which trust me isn't easy at the speed we were going! By the time 10am rolled around, we were pulling into Sevilla Santa Justa train station, and off on our way to meet Grace...

The train station in Madrid as the sun came up.

Snazzy train for only £23!

Tired but excited to go!

The sun rising over Madrid

Some of the stunning scenery we saw along the way...

After only 50 minutes we had travelled so far!! The train was going 270km/h after all.

Bienvenida a Sevilla!

Trying to find a bus to somewhere where Grace could meet us.

Lunch and wandering:

We couldn't actually check into our hostel until 12pm, but luckily we were able to drop our bags off and go for a wander. By this time, we had met up with Grace and she gave us a quick tour of our surroundings. Somehow, we had managed to pick an amazing location to stay in, nestled right between the Alcázar, the Seville Cathedral and the Plaza de España. We had a quick wander to get our bearings, and then quickly headed to refuel. Right under the Metropol Parasol (another fascinating site in Seville that I'll talk about in a later post) there was one of my favourite tapas places, La Sureña. This time, however, our visit to La Sureña felt rather more appropriate as it actually means 'The Southerner'! After the obligatory glass (or two) of Tinto de Verano, and plate of Patatas Bravas (amongst other yummy plates of tapas), Grace had to head off for a couple of hours to teach. So, Grace went to catch her bus, and Katya and I headed back to the hostel to check out our room, promising to reunite in time for evening drinks and a spot of tapas later. 

Jewellery market stall

Beer and Tinto de Verano

Tortilla de patatas

The Hostel:
The hostel was interesting to say the least, but frankly amazing for the price we paid (about €40 each for 2 nights). We were on the ground floor, and after we entered the room and went to open the only window, we discovered that it in fact opened out into the lobby! Katya and I luckily found the whole thing pretty hilarious, as we could actually open our window and casually chat with the receptionist, but it did mean that we didn't get any fresh air!

The lovely lobby, with our window at the bottom centre of the photo (little did we know...)

Our room

Katya 'casually' browsing the brochures available, oh, and the receptionist in the background!

The Bus Tour!

Now if you know me well, then you know that I don't visit a new city without going on a bus tour (I've even been on the one in Bath... more than once!) Before we made our way to the bus stop, we had to pop into Starbuck to grab some coffee to enjoy on our journey! We then proceeded to wait at the bus stop for about 45 minutes, the whole time being told it would be only 5 minutes (typical Andalusians!) Luckily, the bus stop was right next to the extraordinary Torre de Oro, which was used as part of the city's main defence when it was one of the major ports of Spain. We can't really complain about waiting either, because we got to take in some sun and comment on some very interesting outfits that passed by! Seville isn't huge, so it was one of the shorter bus tours I've been on, but it was still thoroughly enjoyable as we got to take in our surroundings whilst catching (perhaps a few too many) rays. Once we had done a full circuit, we got off and met Grace at the Plaza de Toros for the next leg of our journey!

Obligatory caffeine stop before touring.

The Torre de Oro (Golden Tower)

The gorgeous river bank

The Torre de Oro from the bridge over the river.

Some random fake spaceship build for the '92 Seville World Fair.. strange to say the least!

A view from a bridge crossing the river

Much more artistic graffiti than here in Madrid!

Plaza de Toros / Bullring

La Macarena and Dinner:

Once we had reunited with Grace, we headed to (yet another) tapas bar to grab (yet another) glass of Tinto de Verano in order to decide our next move. Our options; take it easy, walk uptown and go to see 'La Macarena', or go to see one of Grace's favourite flamenco show. Initially we decided to head to the flamenco show, but it was so popular that it was sold out, so instead we purchased tickets for the next day and headed uptown. La Macarena is actually a neighbourhood in the north of the city, but it's known for housing the Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza Macarena (Our Lady of Hope Macarena). The procession in the early morning of Good Friday is one of the largest and most popular in the whole of Spain, and they parade La Macarena down the streets of Seville. We visited said church ourselves to see the ever-so-famous lady in all of her glory, and boy was it spectacular. After that, we headed back in the direction of the centre, and stopped for dinner. Grace took us to this fusion tapas place which was delicious. You can see from the picture that we enjoyed some more sangría, but to be fair, we had walked a lot and all of our drinks were very spread out. Well that's my excuse anyway! Before long I could hardly keep my eyes open, so Grace headed back to the bus station, and Katya and I headed back for a well deserved snooze!

La Macarena

Soaking in the sun

Tapas galore!

Sangría anyone?

The Seville Cathedral at night.

I told you we got a lot done, and that was only day 1! How I managed to stay out until after dark is beyond me, but the numerous sangría stops along the way must've helped! The day two should be up in a couple of days, so keep your eyes peeled!!

Until next time,

Isobel x

Semana Santa

Semana Santa (Week of the Saint) or Easter week here is Spain is a big thing - processions, festivities and religious celebrations, all cumulating in a week full of fun and games for anyone that happens to get caught up in it. Unfortunately, this is the only week I have off from university, so I made my way back to England for a few days, but I was back in time for the weekend rush. When I got back to Madrid on Saturday afternoon, I went home, sorted myself out and then headed out for tapas and drinks with my friends Charlotte and Catherine, and Catherine's lovely flatmate Jimena. In order to beat the rush, we headed out before everyone else (at about 8pm - very early in Spain!) and went to one of my favourite spots, an area between Sol and Plaza Santa Ana. It was a gorgeous evening (albeit a tad chilly with the occasional bluster of wind), but we decided to sit outside nevertheless. I had been hinting all week that I wanted to head to one of my favourite restaurants, a tapas chain called 'Cervecería la Sureña' which serves amazing food and drinks for insanely low prices. We enjoyed Patatas Bravas, Tortilla de patatas, lágrimas de pollo, all washed down with delicious Tinto de Verano (sangría w/o the fruit bits and cut with lemonade) at only 2€ a glass. ¡Delicioso!

Tinto de Verano before tapas!

La Plaza del Sol

I headed home reasonably early that night as I was pretty tired from travelling, but the next day we all met up again (Charlotte, Catherine, Jimena, and my lovely flatmate Elsa) in the centre to see what celebrations Easter Sunday would have to offer. I booked my flights to get back for the Sunday as I thought there would be huge celebrations, but it turns out that Easter Sunday is more about spending time with family in Spain, and not much was going on. We made our way to Plaza Mayor, as I heard that there was going to be something going on there, and we were welcomed by a large crowd and the banging of drums. We couldn't see much, but it was amazing to see that many people in the plaza, and as the weather was lovely, we were able to take in some sun whilst nose-ing around. The drumming got old after a while, so we decided to go for a wander around the surrounding area. We ended up getting some ice cream and basking in the sun for a few hours, before heading home to get some dreaded homework out of the way! 

Plaza Mayor on Easter Sunday

Plaza Mayor

Charlotte and I

Elsa (one of my flatmates) and I

I thought we had escaped the матрёшки? 

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last post, but there really hasn't been much going on. Life here is much more normal than it was in Russia, so there isn't as much to document! However, this weekend Catherine and I are taking a trip down to Seville to visit Grace and hope to do a bit of sightseeing whilst taking in some sun. I'll be taking my camera so I'll have a post up shortly after I get back with lots of lovely pictures and stories from our adventure!

Until next time,

Isobel xx

P.S. If you want to make the photos bigger, just click on them :)

Students on strike.

600,000 Alumnos sin beca / 600,000 students without grants

Faculty closed for educational strike

A note from our professor saying that class is cancelled because of the strike.

So something kind of weird happened today... As normal, I crawled out of my bed at just gone 7.30am to get to my Russian class for about 8.45am (it's supposed to start at 8.30 but the teacher doesn't have a great concept of time!) I left the flat at 8.10am and went on my merry way to the metro station. As per usual, I got to uni about 30 minutes later, and noticed that some new graffiti had been added to the already expansive collection all over campus. There were banners up outside the metro station saying '600,000 alumnos sin beca' (600,000 students without grants), but to be honest, I hardly batted an eyelid as this has become a regular occurrence - the Spanish youth sure do love a say in things (more on this at a later date...) On my way to class, I notices that something was a bit... off. There were a fair amount of people about, but they were all just hovering, not really going anywhere. It usually takes about 10-15 minutes from when you leave the metro station until you enter your classroom, but it's usually fairly uneventful - that was until today. I went to cross a road, and noticed that a police car was blocking the traffic from going the direction of my classroom. How strange! However, it was only 1 policeman so I just assumed that there has been some sort of collision further down the road. Anyway, I carried on, but as I got closer to my destination, I noticed more police vehicles - and this time they were't just cars. There were probably 20 (if not more) full on police people-carriers lined up down the road, yet it was pretty much silent. Again, I continued, but when I reached the building of my Russian classroom, I noticed that loads of people were again just standing around outside, and a larger group of people were looking over a balcony, in the direction of all of the police cars. I looked down, and saw more police cars, and then a large group of students barricading the entrance of one of the other buildings in my faculty, all surrounded by police in their full get up - batons and shields at the ready. As you can imagine, I was quite confused - what possibly could be going on to need this many police?! I asked a fellow confused student, and she told me that the students of our faculty (and a few others) were striking because of the cut in grant money and were therefore blocking this particular building. I still didn't quite get why so many police officers were needed, but I saw other students enter into my building and decided to follow suit as my class would be starting any minute. 

I arrived at my classroom, and to be honest, I wasn't all that surprised to be the first one there - despite it being about 8.55am at this point. Convinced that someone would be arriving soon, and that they must just be delayed by the commotion going on outside, I decided to wait... and wait... Whilst waiting I decided to Whatsapp my friend from another class saying how everyone one was late. The reply I got was a bit worrying..

"What? You went to class? Did you not see the news?" 

Um, no? I don't have time to be watching tv at 7am! He then went on to explain the situation...

"They started a fire, they're occupying the buildings and they're attacking the police! You should probably go home"

It all seemed so calm and quiet outside, but now I was starting to worry. Is this why no one had bothered to come to my Russian class?

"How is the situation now?" I told him what was going on, and asked him if there would be any classes today, as I was supposed to have another two hours after my Russian class.

"It's not that there aren't any classes, the teachers aren't on strike, the students are. Classes will depend on whether the teacher can get there or not"

So, after an hour of waiting in my empty classroom, I decided to text my friend Katya (who I had my next class with) to tell her what was going on. We didn't know whether or not we would have our next class, and as she was already on her way, we decided to show up and go from there. When we got to the classroom, we were greeted by a piece of paper stuck to the door (last picture) that explained that the class was cancelled because the teacher physically could not get to the building due to the strike. So not only was this craziness going on outside, but I also woke up at 7.30 for nothing!! As there was nothing left to do, we both headed back to the metro (where Katya had been only 20 minutes before!) to go home again. On the way back, more police were blocking the main avenue of the campus and then we could hear chanting in the distance. Before we knew it, crowds of students were marching from both directions down the avenue, and all we could do was watch from the sidelines. As we got closer to the metro stop, we saw more and more police vehicles, and still loads of people hovering around. Now I think about it, all of the people who didn't know what to do with themselves were clearly foreign. As per usual, the foreigners were left out of the loop - so the only people on campus were protesters, police, and a confused bunch of foreign students wondering what the hell was going on. A warning email would have been nice... Didn't think of that one now did you ERASMUS office?

Luckily we were able to escape without any further drama, but it was overall an utterly confusing series of events. Nowhere but Spain would you have students on strike! In the UK, the teachers may occasionally go on strike, but everyone is pre warned and it is generally for a good reason, but no, things are the other way around in Spain! You certainly wouldn't have the police getting involved in the UK either, and I'm actually really lucky that I only ran into a few police vans, because as you can see in the video below (that I didn't see until I got home), things actually got pretty serious. Fires started, police beatings, 53 arrests, and it turns out that the students that had been barracading themselves in one of the buildings had been in there for a week! Just another day as a Year Abroad student - I'm actually starting to feel like I'm back in Russia!

Now, I'm not familiar with all of the facts, but I did do a little research to see what caused this strike in the first place, and to be honest, it sort of backs up my 'Spanish youths don't know how lucky they are/they'll protest about anything' theory (again, more on this later). So, let's just take a quick look at what caused this kerfuffle;

- Students have been taking part in a 48-hour protest against rising fees and harder access to grants.
- It costs the average student approximately €18,000 (£15,000 or £3,750/year) for a 4 year language based 'grado' (undergraduate) degree at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (prices depend on subject)
- However, many students have access to 'becas' or grants and there 6 different types of 'becas' available depending on your need/status.
- As with grants, these 'becas' are non-repayable, so basically free money to help students get through university.
- If you compare that to the situation in the UK, the Spanish are having to pay only a third of the price per year, and also receiving 'becas' to help them fund it, whereas a typical student studying in the UK would be able to take out a loan, and grants are fairly hard to come by.

I am obviously no expert, but it all seems a bit ridiculous to me! What are your thoughts? Do write me a comment if you have anything to add/dispute, I'd like to hear what you think!

If you want to read a bit more on the subject, here are two links to articles written by El País - a national Spanish newspaper: 

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/03/26/inenglish/1395835412_287554.html

http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/03/27/inenglish/1395917283_458509.html?rel=rosEP

Until my next crazy adventure!

Isobel x

*Sorry that some of these photos aren't great - I didn't want to get too close to all of the action!