Sports Nutrition and the Mediterranean Diet / May 29th:Interview with rowing athletes and Flamenco show

Before the trip, I asked Maria about fun things to do in Sevilla during our free time. She told us that she highly recommended the Arab baths of Sevilla. It’s kind of like a spa made from the ancient Islam bath house from when Muslims ruled Spain. When Christians retook the country, they didn’t tear down the bath area, so now it is restored and used for the same purpose it was built for! There were many options for spa visits we could choose. Some included massages, a visit to the rooftop bath or the wine bath. Hanna, Brooke and I chose the option where we could wander through their 6 main baths: warm bath, hot bath, cold bath, salt bath, steam bath and jet bath. When we got to the Arab baths, we were allowed to sit in lobby and drink tea while we waited for our session. Then we were lead upstairs to a locker room where we put on soft robes and aqua socks on our feet! We were then free to wander through the maze of baths for 90 minutes. The cold bath reminded me of taking ice baths when I did track in high school so I couldn’t stay in that one for very long! The steam bath was more like a sauna, with fragrant essential oils. The warm bath smelled like oranges. The salt bath was my favorite because I could float in it and it was about my body temperature so I felt very at peace. While walking in between baths, we were given tea poured from a cast iron teapot and fruit kabobs to enjoy. It was such a cool experience. I have never been to a spa before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this was almost like a museum! You could see that the walls and ceilings were preserved and authentic from when the structure was originally built. After our session was done, we showered using the spa’s showers and the most wonderful smelling soap. At 12 we left the Arab baths and met at SAIIE for class. We worked on our reports that we would be talking to the athletes about today. We used their height, weight and amount of training to calculate how many grams of carbs, protein and fat they need. We also used their 24 hour dietary recall to determine what they could do to improve their diet such as nutrients they may be lacking or times they should be eating. After we had our information all planned, we headed home for lunch and siesta.

After that, we met at the bus stop to go meet again with the rowing athletes at Club Nautico. The two rowing Athletes I am working with are Ricardo and Cataya. It was so much fun counseling these two athletes, I felt good that I enjoyed it because that means I have chosen the right field!

After counseling the athletes, we took a bus back into town and went to a 9pm Flamenco show. I didn’t really know what Flamenco was, I expected a dance like salsa or tango but Flamenco is very unique. I learned quickly that flamenco is so much more than just a style of dance, it includes singing, rhythm and passion. There were three people that made up the flamenco show: a guitarist who opened with a solo guitar piece, a singer/rhythmist who sang boldly and loudly while he kept a rhythm through clapping, stomping, snapping and clicking his tongue, and finally there was a dancer in a signature ruffled Flamenco dress. The dancer was so passionate in her dancing that it was almost like acting. Her facial expressions were so dramatic, I could feel emotion coming from her performance. Her feet moved so fast and kept perfect rhythm. In terms of dance, Flamenco reminded me of a mix of tap dance, interpretive dance, and step team dancing. I feel like Flamenco reflects much of the culture of Spain, it is vibrant, loud, exciting and very fun! After the show, Sean took us to his favorite pizza place. Sean has done a lot of traveling from Italy, Chicago, London, and he said that this pizza place in Sevilla is better than any other. It was very good! The crust was thin and crispy and I ate way more of it than I planned on!