Dia 11: GOOOOLLLLL

¿Que pasa?

Today we got up at 8am to meet our program to head to La Aracena which is a small pueblo outside of Sevilla where there are cuevas (caves). When we got there it was FREEZING and super windy. We took the tour through the caves which was una maravilla. However, our tour guide had a really heavy accent and he used vocabulary that I didn't know so I don't have any awesome facts to relay to you because I didn't really listen and instead just looked at all the stalactites and stalagmites. The caves were super wet too because they are below a giant lake. I literally almost ate it 5 times. It was pretty terrifying considering it would have been an epic domino effect with everyone that was in front of me.

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures in the caves so I don't have any awesome documentation to entertain you with. However, we went on a small walking tour of the town and I took many great photos of that! 
The pueblo was gorgeous and it felt like we were in Greece... not like I've been to Greece. It was just because all the houses were white and had bright flowers in all the windows.

We climbed to the top of the big hill to where a big cathedral is located. The views from the top of the hill were spectacular!

We then climbed back down the hill and grabbed some lunch at one of the little restaurants in town. I ordered chorizo frito (fried pork... it sounds gross but it was super delish) and tortilla de jamon. Both were pretty tasty. Afterwards, I went with Cassie to one of the touristy shops and we bought Maca a little fridge magnet that says Aracena on it because she collects magnets from all the cities that her study abroad girls ever visit. 

Nothing too spectacular happened in this city. Don't get me wrong, the caves were very beautiful. Nonetheless, it was a semi-lame excursion.

When we got back to Sevilla, Cassie and I went to an heladeria. CLARO!!! That makes for 3 days in a row.... call it a weakness :) 

Went home, chilled out and then GOT READY FOR THE FUTBOL GAME!!! AY AY AY!!!!!

We met our friends at the metro station at 830pm to head to the stadium. When we arrived people were milling around everywhere outside the stadium all dressed in their sports gear. It was getting me pumped!

We went into their souvenir store which was awesome and Cassie bought a bufanda de equipo Sevilla (a sevilla team scarf). This is a thing that happens in the futbol world. Everyone wears scarves for their team and they take them off and wave them around like they are terrible towels. 

We couldn't believe how great our seats were for only having cost 15 euro. It was AWESOME!! People were going nuts in the stadium. There was a section right behind the soccer goal that was packed with fans that were chanting and jumping around and waving their arms. It looked exactly like the student section at a Gator game. Those fans never sat down. They were belting out all of the cheers, which I wish I knew because they sounded awesome. 

Futbol fans are serious fanatics. There was a 3 year old sitting behind us with his father and he was singing all the songs and banging on the chairs and just sooo excited about the game. We were dying from how freaking cute he was. The only thing mal about our seats is that legit everyone sitting near us was smoking cigarettes and it felt like all of their smoke was blowing right into our faces. We managed regardless. 

I can't believe how exciting the game was! I definitely expected it to be much slower because soccer games very easily can be 0-0 the whole time until the last second. Well lucky us, this game was very exciting and there were tons of shots on goal. Within the first 15 minutes Sevilla had scored the first goal. It was awesome because they scored in the goal that we were sitting closest too. You would have thought they won the championship game. The dad behind us was throwing his son into the air. Everyone was hugging and just in general losing their minds. 

Then, less than 5 minutes late, Real Sociedad scored the net goal.... peeps were not happy about this. People were screaming "Puta Madre" (bitch mother... which sounds hilarious in english) and they were lighting stress cigarettes (which we hated) and in a terrible mood. 

Then Real Sociedad scored AGAIN. No bueno. Todo el mundo was super angry. Good thing that Cassie and I didn't really care who won because Sevilla ended up losing. It was super entertaining though! Everyone is soooooo passionate about their team, it's awesome. 

(I'm pretty proud that I snapped this pic!) 

This was definitely my favorite night thus far in Spain. There are two teams in Sevilla: Sevilla FC and Real Betis. Since we had such a great time watching the game, we are going to try to go to the Betis game on the 26th against Zaragoza.

Hasta Luego,
Raquel