Sunday, April 29, 2012

La Feria de Abril

La Feria de Abril... definitely the most fun week I have had in Sevilla!!!  We have 2 weeks off of school for this, but really it only lasts Monday-Sunday of the first week.  La Feria is basically a huge party/carnival (including rides!) and people from all over Spain come to Sevilla.  There are thousands of tents (or casetas), which are mostly private and you have to pay a lot of money to be a socio (partner) of the caseta.  These tents are individually decorated and are temporarily built on the fairground.  They are extremely nice inside and all of them have a personal bar, bathrooms with running water, a stage for dancing, and tables for eating.  All of the girls wear flamenco dresses, put flowers in their hair, and wear huge earrings that match their outfits.  Here are a couple pictures of the dresses (one taken at Parque de María Luisa and the other on the way to la Feria).


Many girls in my program wore old flamenco dresses that their Spanish families had, but unfortunately mine did not have any that would have fit me or Rebekah.  If you do not wear a flamenco dress to Feria, you are still expected to dress very formally (this gave me an excuse to buy two new dresses and a jacket from Zara hahahaha).

The first night of Feria I went with Gonzalo to see "El Alumbrado," which is the lighting of Portada (front entrance) at midnight (picture on the left).  This was really cool!  Each year the portada is a different shape.  After that we went to Gonzalo’s friends caseta and I was the only American for once (this barely ever happens!).  I tried Rebujitos for the first time, which is the famous drink of the Feria.  It is Manzanilla (an apple wine) and Sprite- very good!  After that one of his friends tried to teach me how to dance Sevillana but it was super difficult!  This is when I realized how very uncoordinated I am.  All of the Spanish people are amazing at it though because they have been dancing all of their lives.  I pretty much made a fool out of myself but it was still fun!

The next day Gonzalo and I went to José (Rebekah’s intercambio)’s caseta.  Rebekah parents were there too!  After that we decided to go to the carnival rides and we all went up la Noría (ferris wheel).  It was cool seeing the Feria from way up high!

The next night we went around with my friend Alyssa.  The host dad of a girl in our program was offering dance classes for any Americans who wanted to learn how to dance Sevillana before Feria.  Unfortunately, I was in Barcelona during this time so I couldn't learn, but she went and now she can dance like a pro!  (Bottom right is a picture of her dancing with a random Spanish man hahahha)


Here is a picture of me, Alyssa, Gonzalo, Pepe, and some of their friends...


The fourth and final night that I went to Feria, I went with a bunch of girls from my program.  At first we were by ourselves (without any Spanish people) and decided to go into a public Caseta.  As soon as we walked in, we decided to leave because it was absolute craziness.  It was so crowded and we could barely hear each other speak.  This made us very thankful to have friends as nice as Gonzalo and José to bring us around to their casetas!  Instead of wandering around the Feria, we decided to get buñuelos while we waited for Gonzalo to come.  Buñuelos are like Churros (fried dough) with powdered sugar that you dip in chocolate sauce.  My señora makes a special trip to Feria every year JUST for the buñuelos.  SOOOOO good.  After that we met up with Gonzalo and my best friend Naomi!  Here is a picture of Gonzalo teaching Naomi how to dance Sevillana (Their height difference is hilarious.  Naomi is also wearing heels in this picture)...

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Also during Feria week, Rebekah’s family was visiting so they took our host family and us out for lunch.  I know many of you have been wanting to see a picture of my Spanish family, so here it is!  I am going to miss them so much!


Only 12 days left until I come back to the U.S.  SOOOOOOOO sad!  But I can't wait to see everyone!

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