Today, our main plan was to attend mass at the Seville
Cathedral. Katie, Gina, and I set out around 9:45 to go get breakfast. We had
coffee and hot chocolate at the same place as yesterday, and the same guy was working
there and remembered us. After, we ended up getting muffins at a different
place than either of the bakeries we’d been to previously because pretty much
everything is closed here on Sunday. It was a cool restaurant, though, and we’ll
probably go there for lunch sometime.
We made our way up to the cathedral, which is probably at
least a mile and a half walk, but a really nice walk. I thought mass was at
noon, but it turned out to be at 1:15. To kill some time, we went to one of the
several Starbucks locations in the city center so Gina could get a pumpkin
spice latte and I could use the restroom (which was out of toilet paper. Sooooo
classic). We sat on the steps outside the cathedral for a while and enjoyed the
not-too-hot weather.
The mass itself was not exactly what I was expecting. Well,
I expected the altar to be beautiful and for the whole service to be in
Spanish, and both of those expectations were met for sure, but other things
were weird. There wasn’t a whole lot of seating, but it was filled. Almost
nothing was sung, there was hardly any kneeling (probably because the kneelers
weren’t padded and to get to communion you basically had to walk on the
kneelers), each reading began with a sort of preface or summary (I think), and
we had no sort of book to even attempt following along in (could’ve really used
a Breaking Bread 2015…or even just the “Padre Nuestro” on a piece of
cardstock). Overall, though, it was a great experience. And at the very least I
got to receive communion.
After mass, we grabbed lunch at a little place close by. I
had a four cheese crepe, which weirdly tasted like blueberries, but was still
pretty good. We also successfully ordered tap water, which actually tastes a
lot like the tap water at home, so I enjoy it. (In case you’re ever in one of
Spain’s major cities and want to order it, it’s “agua del grifo”). Don’t laugh,
but then we actually went to Starbucks—though a different one than before—again,
because I wanted a mango and passion fruit frappuccino.
We wanted to go see Plaza de España in the daylight, so we
went there next. Unfortunately, there was a HUGE breast cancer run this morning
that I think started and ended there, so they were de-setting up from all of
that, making it difficult for us to get any good pictures. Tired anyway, we
went to the hostel for siesta time.
Look what I picked off a tree and played with! Love all the magnolias here. Also saw a crepe myrtle tree today...just like home!
Of course, Katie and I don’t nap, so we actually Skyped with
Anarita for about two hours. It took a while to get started because the Wi-Fi
in this hostel is pretty awful, but it ended up working out okay. After that,
we just chilled for a while before meeting back up with Gina to go have another
“early” (aka pre-9:00) dinner, this time at a Mexican restaurant we had coupons
for.
I’ve obviously had lots of Mexican food in my life, but I
gotta say, this place is waaaaaayyyyyyyy up there on my list of favorite
Mexican places now. The food was indescribably flavorful and amazing. Our
coupons allowed us one free margarita with a purchase of any dish, so we
ordered two appetizers and an entrée to split: nachos, something like queso
(definitely different, but still delicious—kind of like the queso you’ll find
at the Mexican restaurants in NYC), and spinach and cheese enchiladas. We ate
every bite of every plate! Also, the margaritas were super tasty. I ended up
getting a second one (they were pretty little). Katie and I also split a
chocolate and caramel brownie for dessert, which was pretty amazing. Katie and
Gina didn’t order a second margarita because they wanted to go get tinto de
verano at Mercado Provenzal, but by the time we got there, they were closed.
(Feeling pretty clutch about getting my second marg).
So tomorrow I’m going to have to get up at 7, which I’m not
super thrilled about. I guess I am excited to see what my classes are like this
module, though, so that’s good. No matter what, I’m glad that my first weekend
here was as totally fabulous as it was!
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