The beautiful things about Sevilla and Spain

I decided to begin to keep a list of things I like about Spain, Spanish culture, and Sevilla (maybe also just Europe). I will probably expand on this list as more things come to me, but I wanted to post it now to let you all know about things that I’m actually enjoying (or not enjoying) about the place in which I am living.

Things that I enjoy:
1. Manchego—a brand or type of cheese specifically created and probably only found in Spain that comes from Sheep’s milk (qué es eso, eso es queso, qué queso es, manchego!) <--that's the commercial advertisement that Elisa taught me back in the day. You write the letters queso on your five fingers and you spell out all those words; it's pretty fun)

2. Chorizo—a type of slice sausage I believe, I actually don’t know what it is but it reminds me of a thicker pepperoni or maybe a strange type of salami. It’s not either of those things, but maybe you can just imagine.

3. Jamón Ibérico—the pride and joy of Spanish ham. Once I was told a story that after the dictatorship, the Spaniards take advantage of their pig, in that they eat literally every part off the pig. This part I think is still regular ham, but it’s Iberian ham, special to the peninsula (really?). It has a distinct taste, but once you know it, you love it.

4. Pescaito Frito—the Andalucían way to pronounce fried fish, which is their famous course down here (more than the former three). I mean, what else is there to say about fried fish? It’s salty, it’s a white fish, and that’s basically all there is too it, but it’s delicioso!

5. Rioja—Spain is part of wine country over here in Europe. While I have not had many glasses of wine since I’ve been here, I only have had the chance to try a few, but Rioja is one of them. One of the most popular types around here, and it tasted pretty wine-y.

6. Cruzcampo—since I’m on the subject of drinking, I’ll have to put Cruzcampo in here, although I certainly have had better beers in my life. But this beer will hold a special place in my heart because it is typical Spanish and it is EVERYWHERE. So is Mahou, but Cruzcampo is better.

7. Kinder—Why are my posts so far only about food? Well, I need to remember the good food too, if I ever come back. Kinder chocolate is not specific to Spain. I think it’s actually German, which means it’s all over Europe, but I’ve heard that they stop selling it in the summer. I don’t understand why. But Kinder chocolate, the many types that exist, always have that sweet milk chocolate flavor, and then some kind of milk cream in the center that adds so much wonderfulness. There are also types that include hazelnut cream too—even better. Any type of hazelnut cream (you can find that in nutella, which we have in the states) is just delicious. Types of Kinder: the regular bar, Kinder Bueno (a wafer-ish thing), Kinder Sopresa (for the kids, even though I just had to have one too-it’s in an egg shape and inside is some strange toy), and Happy Hippos (a wafer in the shape of a hippo with hazelnut cream on the inside). Those are the only ones I know of, but I’m satisfied.

8. Orange trees—Finally, onto something that isn’t food. Well, I guess oranges are food, but you are not supposed to eat the oranges off of these trees. Don’t worry, everyone really wanted to in the beginning just because they looked so pretty, but after enough people warned us not to do it, I didn’t try one (and none of my friends did that I know of). So apparently these oranges are very bitter and terrible, and I guess they probably would be when half of them probably are fertilized with beer and pee from people walking around bars at night (well just the ones by bars I guess). But you get the picture. They are purely for your viewing pleasure and I think maybe some are used to make jams or something. It’s nice though to walk around and there are orange trees everywhere.

9. Cathedral—On that note, it’s awesome to be in a city with an extremely historical Cathedral. I made a post about that already, so I won’t get into specifics, but it’s amazing to walk by it almost everyday and sometimes even forget what is there. I have to remind myself constantly what a historical and beautiful building it is and not take it for granted now that I live here.

10. Benches/Parks/Rivers—Something my friend told me about was that Spain was full of benches around the city. People just sit down and enjoy the day whenever they feel like doing it. And the same goes for the beautiful park by my house, and especially the river. The Guadalquivir river plays a big role in Sevillian culture. People are always hanging out by the river. People are always even in the river (doing crew and stuff, not swimming). But the atmosphere around the river is just wonderful. If there wasn’t a house in the back of my house, I could see the river from my roof. Whenever I want, I can just walk over there and see tons of people riding bikes, hanging out with friends or family, having a drink or just relaxing. Saturdays and Sundays are the best. They really take weekends seriously! The streets are packed with families enjoying each others company and soaking up the sun. It’s a beautiful thing to see people enjoying life so much.


Things I may not enjoy:
1. Coffee—Well, this of course isn’t a great one to start out with. I mean, I love the coffee here, but their motto is quality over quantity. They have very rich and flavorful coffee, but it comes in the tiniest cup. Even though they tell me that it would probably be wayyy too much coffee if it were in a normal sized mug (at least) because it is so rich, I think it’s a mental thing that’s really stopping me from enjoying it. It’s just never enough. I want a 16 oz size cup of that stuff and no one will give it to me. I drink it in about 5 minutes and I’m left wanting more. I apparently can’t be satisfied by that little cup, even though it packs all the coffee in there.

2. Conversations—The speed of spoken Spanish, or in another manner, the impatience of Spanish speakers to let me finish my slowly drawn out (but maybe almost grammatically correct) sentence and cutting me off before I can finish. What’s up with that. Why do you feel the need to say everything for me and not let me finish speaking? And why do you have to then say what I am thinking so quickly that I can’t understand it and then we are both at a loss?

3. Pretzels—They simply do not exist here. Why is that? Pretzels are like gifts from the earth in the form of deliciousness. I know that Spain isn’t a snacking country, like the US, but I mean, PRETZELS!! You just can’t go wrong.

4. Bocadillos—Or sandwiches. They aren’t bad, but they are no supersandwich in the US. They usually consist of some sort of bread, ham and cheese. You know, I finally started to get into putting everything on a sandwich, and how I miss that now. No lettuce, no tomato, no sauces (well they love mayo here), no nothing. But it’s okay because there’s plenty of other food to eat.

5. Salads—which brings me to another topic. They don’t have big salads here! Or none that I have seen. I think this point is more important than the sandwich point. When it comes to salads I could careless about the sandwiches. I just want a big salad, maybe with dressing instead of olive oil, but I’m still okay with the olive oil, and TONSSSS of things in it. More than just pre-washed lettuce, but some variety of light and dark greens, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, maybe some cheese, olives, onions, beans, I don’t even know what else but anything else you can put into a salad, do it! I think I’m going to eat at the former Intermezzo everyday when I get back to Berkeley.

This is my short list for now. I wanted to post it before I left for Barcelona this weekend because I knew I would forget.

But yeah I'm going to Barcelona! Woooo.

Besos,
Haley