Sevilla

View from Grant's side of the river over Sevilla (Torre de Oro is the tower).

Today I woke up late after staying up fairly late with my CS host last night.  After working on a column for work, I got ready and Clara (my host) walked with me to the spot where I was to meet my old Spanish TA Grant who is working in Sevilla this year.  Clara had some things to do and then went to a Portuguese class from 5-7, so I had the whole day to kill.  Grant took me to a tapas place that was really yummy and fairly cheap. We split a large goat cheese and nut salad, chicken filled with bacon and covered in a delicious almond sauce with fried potatoes, and tuna with some sort of sauce on it. It was all great.

On the bridge

From there we walked to the university here where he works and I got to see that building which was beautiful - an old tobacco mill converted into the school. We then walked to the train station because we both needed to buy train tickets for tomorrow (mine to Cadiz, and his to some little town that I can't remember the name of).  We took the metro to the other side of the river after that and he went home and gave me directions for walking about and seeing nice scenery.  I walked from about 5 to 6, then ended up at Plaza de Espana where the education protest was scheduled to start. I got some great photos of the Plaza right before the protest started, as everyone seemed to clear out and it was eerily unpopulated.  Then, at 6:30, the first protesters arrived shouting chants and blowing whistles and megaphone horns.

Grant had told me about why they were protesting - they have made many recent cuts to education and teacher pay, as well as raising prices for university here and the people feel entitled to what they used to have (even though it is still way cheaper than in the US).  In the states, we see higher education as a privilege - here they see it is a right.

Plaza de España

On my way home, I stopped by this new structure in Sevilla that looks like these giant mushrooms.  Apparently it's some sort of shopping complex, and also has a bunch of old Roman wall preservation, and also you can go to the top and walk along these walkways which offer great views over the city.  I glanced at the ruins, but I've seen so many lately, I mainly just wanted to go to the top of the mushrooms.


I also have to mention that it was a GORGEOUS day with a high of 84 and a perfectly blue sky.  Perfect for walking all day, which is what I did.

Plaza de Espana.

Again.

Anyway, I got back to Clara's house around 7:40 and she got there shortly thereafter.  We went to the grocery store and got some food for dinner, then came back and right then we started hearing a lot of noise in the streets from the balcony.  Upon going out, we saw thousands of protestors coming down her street.  In the end, we just sat on the porch and ate while watching them all for a good hour.  It seemed like the entire city was involved.  I've never witnessed a protest of any significant size, so it  was pretty amazing to see - especially from the 6th floor balcony on a main street.  There were probably 10,000 people!  Luckily, it seemed that they were being peaceful about it (not burning or trashing things).  We were also lucky we went to the grocery store when we did, for we would never have made it home if we'd gone any later.

Right before the protest began it got eerily quiet.

Tomorrow I'm taking a train to Cadiz and staying with a girl who lives there named Samantha who is from Wisconsin. She is also here in Spain teaching English. lol  I'm excited to go there because Grant said it's his favorite city in Spain and that the beaches are wonderful.  I was planning on going Thursday to Gibraltar on my way to Malaga, but transportation to Gibraltar seems very difficult, so I think I'll just go straight to Malaga on Thursday evening.

By the cathedral.

On top of the mushroom thing.

The protest going by Clara's balcony.