Semana Santa and Closing Remarks

After an amazing four days in the Canary Islands, it was time to return back to Seville in order to experience the well anticipated Semana Santa, Holy Week in english.  Holy Week is from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday every year and it is a chance for the churches to display their icons and altarpieces in their church.  Everyday is very similar with procession after procession and let's not forget the amount of people on the streets is ridiculous.  The processions are based around the center of Seville, near the Cathedral.  The history of this celebration dates back in the 16th century when many of the citizens were illiterate, and so in order for the Catholic Church to remind people of the importance of Easter, they displayed the sacrificing of Christ.  Every since then, it has been an annual event for all the churches to display their icon, the most popular being the Virgin Mary.  The people that are involved with a procession belong to the brotherhood that run the church.  Many people just stand on the sidewalks and gaze at the processions that go by.  It takes one procession about an hour.  During that hour you see, kids in these costumes above giving candy to other kids, music from the band, senior members holding these wooden crosses, and the most important the float.

This magnificant golden float is being carried by about 30 men.  It is an honor for these men to be appointed for this job and even to be in the procession to begin with is a great honor to represent your brotherhood.  These men practice and train two to three weeks prior to Holy Week and now I realize why.  I can't imagine the weight that is being applied to the men below and also on this specific day it was about 80 degrees.  You stand on the side gazing at the kids and members of the brotherhood walking by and then when the float appears everyone goes silent.  Some people will even reach out a hand and touch the float and then pray.  It was quite a sight and an experience especially coming from the US where going to church and praying on Easter is huge but there are so many distractions.  This is a week long celebration where even kids are involved learning to give candies to other kids at a very young age.  The city and people focus around this celebration and the significance these floats and processions have on this city is incredible.  Many business owners rely on Holy Week to make all their profits for the year and without this celebration Sevilla would not be Sevilla.  Getting around the city and even just eating lunch or dinner is near impossible due to the combination of people and processions.  Many places are completely blocked off for people that rented chairs in which all the floats go past certain areas.  These seats are very expensive but after experiencing Holy Week walking around and trying to see different processions, I can see where those seats might be a great investment.  

This past week was my last week of school in Seville.  My exams ended on Wednesday and then last night was our going away party.  It was at the same restaurant that our welcome party was located and it was weird because I felt like I was just their a couple weeks ago meeting all of these new students.  This time we were there recalling the special moments we had together, and the friendships I have gained through my travels here will stay with me forever.  It is amazing to talk to people who all had different reasons for coming here.  Some are here because they want to be spanish teachers.  Others are here because it was a great opportunity that they could not pass up.  Then there are others that came because they felt as though their lives were stuck in the same routine with the same people. My primary reason for coming to Seville was to play soccer.  Academics were a side note especially seeing the few amount of credits that are actually transferring over to CNU.  I did not expect the experiences that would ultimately change my life and my character.  Before coming to Spain, I was a confident person but like everyone I had my doubts.  With stress of soccer, school, and my future always in my head, there are always doubts that will arise.  I've lived in a foreign country for over three months now, having to speak a language that I really just started learning a year ago.  I have lived with a family that speaks zero English and I have played soccer with a semi-professional team that has the potential to becoming pro in Spain.  I have seen different cultures and realized the life that I want to live in my future.  Those stressors that I had  four months ago, are now looked at as challenges that I have the confidence to overcome, and know that my life will turn out the way I want it to.  I feel as though I can handle any situation or circumstance that comes my way no matter the difficulty.  What I know about the world and the people that live in it will never truly be complete, but my openness to others and their cultures is even more clear now.  My soccer ability has grown to a confidence that I never thought I would obtain just by practicing with a team.  I realize now that my "dream" of becoming a professional soccer player is now more a goal.  Lastly, my love for my family and friends is even more apparent then before.  You never truly understand the amount of love and necesity you have for your family until they are gone from your life.  The excitement I have to see my parents here in Seville is through the roof and the opportunity to travel Europe with my girlfriend, Becky, is something I have been trying to contain every since the plan to travel intiated.  Returning home to see friends and my siblings will be bittersweet because this city has completely changed me and I will never forget the moments and experiences I have had here.  I want to thank everybody that have kept up with my blog, there has been many posts and descriptions about my time here and I know at times it gets repetitive.  I hope I have done a good job sharing my thoughts and experiences through my eyes and it is because of you all that kept me blogging and remembering those moments that will always be here for my disposal.  I am not sure whether I will continue blogging during my travels around Europe but I will say that there will be one final blog when I return home.  A saying that I am going to leave you all with has been thrown around a lot within this past day, always remembering our time here in Spain.

No me ha dejado

(It has not left me)

Thank you all so much and can't wait to see you all back in the states! Especially, this little guy,

¡Adios amigos!

   

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria aka Shred camp

After my incredible week of soccer, a group of four students from SAIIE took a flight down to the Canary Islands for four days.  Our destination, was Las Palmas, which is the northern most beach on the island Gran Canaria.  We attended a surf camp for three days, a total of 6 hours taught on the water and then an additional 10 hours to go out and surf whenever you want.  My first trial surfing was in North Carolina this past summer and it ended badly.  This trial was ubelievable, I was able to stand up on the first day and then on the last day I was able to actually ride the waves at an angle, as shown on this awesome picture above.  The waves were absolutely perfect for beginners.  They were all about the height of the above picture, obviously a little bigger on some days but very consistent, with one wave rolling in right after the other.  The weather was beautiful everyday and the water was a little chilly when you first entered but then your body got used to it.  It was actually quite refreshing because of the heat especially on the black sand that covered the beach.  The four of us, Riley, Zaire, Chris, and I stayed in a hostel with 8 or 9 other kids also attending the camp.  They were from all around Europe, France, Barcelona, Sweden.  It was awesome to meet these people and get to know their backgrounds and why they were there.  Most of them, it was just a great excuse to get away for a week.  

This was the hostel with about 3 other rooms like this one.  There was also an upstairs that was for hanging out listening to music or watching tv or if you wanted to just take a nap on the hammock.  The nap was essential especially after a couple hours out on the water.  Fortunately, my friend Riley and I really took advantage of our 10 extra hours outside of class and we might not have completed all 10 but certainly came close.  We had a great time exploring the the nightlife of the island, it is definitely a surf town.  Everyone knows everyone and there is no worries.  What a life it would be to have the opportunity to wake up to sunshine everyday, teach some kids how to surf for a couple hours, take a break and go surfing, then head back home to get ready to go out and meet friends every night.  It was a great vacation with a lot of relaxation because our return to Sevilla for Holy Week was the exact opposite.  Let's just say we were not ready for the amount of people on the streets at a given moment.  An update on going home status, I fly back home in 37 days, crazy how time flies.  ¡Hasta Pronto!

 

Football Week

There is so much to update on that, I am going to have to blog in stages focusing on the main parts of my last week.  First, we are going to start with my soccer game on Tuesday.  Our last game of the semester was played in the newest college that was opened up in Sevilla that has the same format as a college in the US, with a campus and everything.  Unfortunately, we could not find another team that was available to play for this day and time so we had to scrimmage against ourselves.  The weather was perfect and the field was a lot newer than the ones we have been playing on so everything seemed to line up for a good night.  The coach stuck my roommate and I at forward together and let us try and do our thing.  The Triana team plays right through the middle of the field with little involvement with the wingers, so this style suited us really well because we got the ball often.  Especially me, because I took advantage of when I was not getting the ball often, I would drop into the center mid and try and impact the game that way.  It was perfect I was very much involved with every build-up and after going a goal down, I made this run where I beat one player on the dribble and had a shot with my left foot that winded up going upper 90 on the near post.  It was a great start to the game because for the rest of the game I had the confidence.  We then went another goal down just to bring it back even when I received a pass from the outside back, flicked it to the running outside mid, who then fired away another goal.  Goal and an assist for the first part of the first half, I was feeling really good and this definitely showed throughout the whole game.  The second half was wide open with not much build up and more of a counter attack method.  Although, it was sloppy at times I was able to find myself another goal and almost rack in a third to complete my hat trick, but the pass to me wasn't made.  We ended up losing 4-3, but can't be too upset with two goals and an assist.  It was a great way to end the soccer program here in Spain because I really focused on what I learned while I was here and tried implementing that as I played.  I train for a couple more weeks so I am not officially done but what an experience it has been.

My next soccer experience was on Thursday, where I had the opportunity to go to the second leg Europa quarterfinal game against Sevilla FC and FC Porto, a Portuguese team.  In the first leg FC Porto won 1-0, and so Sevilla had to come out attacking in order to get a couple goals.  There was a big section of Porto fans that traveled for the game and they were crazy.  They were loud from the minute they entered the stadium singing their chants and taunting the Sevilla fans until the whistle blew when their team went a goal down very early on.  When it was time for the fans to enter into their section there were about 25-30 cops lining up around their area.  Things got so heated that the fans were hitting and throwing bottles at the cops and in return the cops were hitting the fans with their sticks.  It was crazy, very close to a straight riot.  The atmosphere of the game was amazing, the fans sang their chants and songs loudly and you could feel the pride in everyone of the Sevilla fans' voices as they motivated their team to win 4-1.  It is great to see the passion that these fans have for the game of soccer and their teams.  It is nothing compared to soccer or even football back home in the US.  It is addicting, you find yourself wanting to be apart of the chants and you want to become those old guys that buy season tickets every year, that have the same seats for years and years.  From a player's point  of view, I can't imagine playing with that many people chanting and screaming your name.  I know for the most part you just tune out everything around you but wow the feeling of playing for people that would literally die for you would be such an amazing experience.  Even after the game, the fans were still going crazy.  Chanting continued to the streets and eventually when they couldn't be heard chanting in their cars, they started honking various tunes.  People on motorcycles and mopeds were honking and waving their scarves and flags all the way until we got home, which is about a 30 minute walk.  It was a great week for soccer and then the surfing started in the Canary Islands on Friday, which is the next topic to look forward to, ¡Hasta Luego!

Save the Best for Last

An exciting second to last week spent in Sevilla.  On Monday, the two other students involved in the soccer program and I were able to visit a practice of one of the local professional teams, Sevilla FC.  Currently in their season, they are playing about two to three games a week so the practices are only in order to get their foot on the ball and stretch out the legs, nothing more.  The practice was boring to watch because you could tell that there wasn't a lot of desire to go hard in practice but it was awesome to take some pictures with some pro players that drove out.  The guy in the picture above, is currently the starting center mid captain called, Ivan Rakitic.  Obviously, he was as thrilled as I was to take a picture. The rest of the week was filled with classes and soccer.  This coming week I should have my last soccer game of the semester, which will be a nice sending off and hopefully it will go as well as the last game.  

  This week is the last week of classes.  Amazing how time flew by, you all are probably thinking that you just started reading this blog a couple weeks ago, maybe you did, but the times and experiences have been something I will carry with me the rest of my life.  Today,  I walked around Sevilla truly thinking that this is considered my city, a place where I could give people directions if they needed it.  Today, also marked the start of some very warm weather, it has been great all spring but today it was close to the lower 80's.  I took full opportunity of basking in the sun and watching some local soccer.  This week is going to be one of the best weeks because of everything planned.  Tuesday, hopefully we have our soccer game.  Thursday, my roommate and I have tickets to go see a Europa game against Sevilla FC and FC Porto.  Friday, our flight to the Canary Islands takes off and the start of our surf camp begins on Saturday.  Money well spent I would say.  Seeing that I will be in the Canaries next Sunday, most likely hitting the gnarly surf, I will not be able to update you all on my travels but don't worry when I get back I will have pictures and information regarding the amazing week.  I am missing home and the states, although I love it here I am definitely going to be excited to return home.  I also hope that everything goes smoothly with my sister and my soon to be nephew or niece.  I have no doubt that everything will be perfect and a new member of the family will be with us next week.  I want to thank everyone that has been keeping up with my blog and my life in Spain.  She might not like this, but I want to thank my girlfriend, Becky Sease, for being very supportive and patient with the means of communication while I've been here.  It has been difficult but in about a month she will be here in Spain traveling Europe with me and all the patience will soon pay off.

   Until next week, ¡Adios!

Not sure whether I posted this or not yet but I really liked it,

"Imagine all the people in the world living life in peace"