Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 17th

Alcazar de Sevilla

Thursday May 17

I woke up to a flight attendant offering me coffee and breakfast. My watch said 11:55pm but it was nearly 7am in Spain so we had to get on the new time zone! We landed around 8am in Madrid. We went through customs and had a 3 hour layover. I was getting really tired so for 2.5 euros I got a Café con Leche. The literal translation is “coffee with milk” but it is more like a latte or cappuccino. It was so delicious and it woke me right up! After that, I had no trouble sticking with the new time zone. While waiting at the terminal, I met a really nice man from Iowa. He was visiting his daughter works as an English tutor is Spain. This was his 3rd trip to Sevilla and he gave us the tip to try ALL the food you are served because sometimes the food that doesn’t look that good actually tastes the best! At 11:30 am we boarded our 3rd and final plane for the day. And at 1:30pm, we were in Seville! We were given packets with our senoras address and phone number as well as some information about her. We read that Senora Lucinda is married with 3 children. We met Senora Lucinda at the bus stop and she greeted us with a kiss on both cheeks! That was thi first time I had done that! We walked us to her apartment which was close to the train station. She was so sweet but spoke no English, we relied on my high school Spanish skills and translation apps to communicate! Her apartment was tiny but quaint and comforatable. There are 2 other students form the Georga here through a different school program (not SAIIE). They are Spanish majors and are staying for 7 weeks. They are very sweet and help translate! At lunch I gave Senora a mug that says Chicago and has an American flag on it and a bar of hand soap. I gave our Senor a bag of American cookies, and I gave the children fruit leathers because I thought they might like to try unique food from America! For lunch we had potato beef stew, salad and bread. This was my first meat in almost 5 years! Surprisingly, it did not upset my stomach. I decided I would eat meat while I was here so I could really experience the culture and not put my senora through any trouble. Senora placed the 2 bread loafs directly on the table and everyone just tore off pieces with their hands! We sat and ate for about an hour, then senora brought out a bowl of fruits to the table (bananas, apples, oranges, kiwi) and we all had a piece. After lunch, at about 4, we took a little nap, I never fell asleep, bit it was nice to lay down! At about 5 we got up, got ready for class and played with the kids in the living room. I refreshed my Spanish animals by quizzing Roul, the middle child, with his animal toys! 

At 6:30 we left the apartment and met the class at the university at 7. The city is spelled Seville, and pronounced like “Civil,” But in Spain its spelled Sevilla and pronounced “Sev-ee-ya.” We learned that Sevillan culture and architecture is greatly influenced by Jewish and Muslim populations. The we toured Barrio de Santa Cruz: Old Jewish town. Our tour guide spoke English very well. 

Catedral de Sevilla

We saw the cathedral, built in the 15th century, it is the largest gothic architectural structure in the world! We saw Alcazar: the huge palace that Spain’s royalty stays in when they come to visit. The palace had functioning gargoyles to protect the sides of building from water damage. We saw countless other buildings, most of which are older than the united states!

After the tour, we had a tapas dinner. It was delicious! They had bread and olives on the table for us. I was so thirsty and was told to order “agua sin gas” if I wanted water without bubbles. Sean ordered us 5 tapas dishes. 2 came out first, then about every 20 minutes another plate came out so dinner lasted about an hour and a half.

After that we said Buenos Noches! and walked back to our apartments. When we got back, senora had a visitor over who looked about our age. She was an exchange student, from Virginia, for a semester last year and was in traveling through Sevilla so decided to visit Senora! She spoke perfect English and Spanish so she translated for us a little bit before heading out.