Amigos Nuevos

Buenos Días!

It is 4:30pm in Sevilla and Copeland and I are still in bed- obviously we are having no trouble adapting to the life style here in Spain. Don't worry we got up for breakfast and lunch. It was our first night out on the town last night and we had a great time! We walked down to another area in Sevilla called Plaza Nueva (fitting because we met amigos nuevos). It is where all of the sites like the Cathedral are and it is GORGEOUS!

We ended up at a bar we heard about through a friend who was here last semester called Flaherty's, an Irish pub. We sat at the bar and (legally!!) got two beers called Cruzcampo, which was the bartenders favorite (I agree- it was really good). We got to talking to a patron of the bar who asked us where we were from and the second we said "Somos de Carolina del Norte" a spanish girl turned around and told us she had been to Chapel Hill! What a coincidence! Her name was Clara and she had a great friend named Ana. We immediately began chatting about the US, North Carolina, and Sevilla. Clara loved Chapel Hill, particularly the night life. She told us she thought kegs were crazy because she was forced to do a keg stand and that she loved house parties! She also loved our usual spots like Bobs and Deep End! Clara and Ana were so nice and we talked for a couple hours- Ana even shared with us her secret crush on the bartender! They informed us that we must order what Ana was drinking- tinto de verano- or summer wine. My official new favorite drink. Tinto de verano is wine and soda so almost a sparkling wine and muy barato (cheap)! Ana told us it is very popular in Spain and at most places it can be 1 euro or less (my kind of drink)! They helped us a lot with our spanish and we helped them with their english and we had a great time! They informed us that we should not call Matilde our "señora" because it can seem like she is our maid or slave-YIKES-but instead casera, which more or less means caretaker. Of course we exchanged names so we can friend each other on facebook before they left!

Next we met Alvaro and Alvaro, two spanish friends who were also great to talk with and helped us a lot with our spanish. Alvaro #1 did not speak any english but Alvaro #2 could speak english pretty well and was our official translator. Alvaro #2 loved movies and was a cameraman. One of his favorites was Avatar! They were so funny-picking on each other and calling each other names. When we looked down it was 3am and we decided to head home! (Mom/Dad don't worry no one hear goes out until 11:00 so coming home at 3am is normal). Of course we exchanged names again for facebook purposes!

We were so tired when we got back but so excited that we were able to meet locals, practice our spanish, and have a great time! And when we arrived home we had a couple of facebook friend requests! Matilde woke up us for breakfast and about 10:30 and told us we should go back to bed after since it is raining here. We willingly obliged and slept until lunch! Now we are planning to go and grab an expresso down the street! School starts tomorrow :( but we had a great first weekend in Sevilla as you can see!

Adios a todos!

Amanda