On to the next one...

I'm sitting on the train from Sevilla to Madrid (then catching another train to Toledo for 1 night) listening to some Alicia Keys and staring out the window once again at fields and fields of sunflowers. I love trains (more than polka dots). It's hard to get a good pic when you're going over 200km/hr but I tried.

My last day/night en Sevilla turned out to be pretty great. After finally getting a good night sleep (for some reason I have no problem staying up til all hours and no problem waking up early leading to no sleep) I went for an excellent run along the river. Given how beautiful and clean most of Sevilla is I was surprised by the amount of trash and graffiti BUT I do live in Philly so I can't really judge I guess.

I was so proud that I made it to the river 1st try without a map. Unfortunately, the way back was not as smooth and included my being lost for about 30 mins literally around the corner from my hostel. Argh. Gotta work on that!

Sundays are dead in Sevilla (and I'm guessing all of Christian countries in Europe) so after touring the bullfighting ring, having my tapas lunch and successfully ordering 1 scoop of strawberry gelato in a cone en espanol I decided to just go chill in my room until the Argentina v Mexico game.

I was talking to Ernesto, "the world's greatest receptionist" as he calls himself (trying to convince Ernesto to go to Amsterdam a day earlier than he's planning to meet up with me), and up walks a woman asking if I was from North America and had a power converter. My 1st thought was "yes, but will she steal it." My next thought was "wait! Maybe she can come watch the game with me." So I lent her my converter and that's how I met Shannon from Toronto, Canada.

Shannon and I wandered out and found the first tapas bar that had the game playing. And sat for hours eating paella, baked goat cheese, olives and bread while we drank and chatted. Shannon just graduated law school and is about to start clerking and decided to travel on her own for 4 weeks through Spain and Portugal. It was excellent (or wicked as Shannon would say) to meet someone in a kind of similar place in life to me.

We tried to rescue some younger guys from a table of cougars. The guys spoke French (were from Montreal) and the cougars spoke Italian. It was excellent entertainment as was our waiter who kept forgetting what table ordered what food.

We then decided to go to Blues Bar to look for Pepe. Pepe was unfortunately not there but we met 3 guys from Argentina (Pablo, Pablo, y.....David (I really wish it was 3 Pablos)) who live in Mallorca and were in town for an AC/DC concert. One of the Pablos loved Shannon a bit too much so we moved on to a group of Americans (who I also hope meet up with me in Amsterdam) and some guys who lived down the street, including Anyelo the Cuban percussionist and chef with the dog named Konka. Fabulous night!

Thanks to Pepe I've been trying harder with my Spanish and thanks to Anyelo I spent 3 or 4 hours practicing. I might not be perfect but my confidence is building. I almost wish I could spend more than my 2.5 weeks here to truly immerse myself in the language.

I've also gotten a ton better at interjecting myself into groups or just talking to random people. Hopefully as I get to new cities and out of my Sevilla comfort zone I can keep it up and not regress.

Oh, and in the next 4-5 days I'm going to have to wash my underwear!