The Bulls

With the Chicago Bulls snagging first place in the NBA, home court advantage throughout the playoffs and home to everyone’s favorite for Most Valuable Player, I thought it’d be fitting to blog about The Bulls.

Los Torros that is.

It’s about that time of year, in Sevilla, where the bulls come out to play. During la Feria de Abril, Sevilla hosts a week long marathon of bull fighting. All day, every day.

It’s such a big deal that it attracts millions of people from around the world to Sevilla. The Kennedys and Kings and Queens from the European Union are some of the famous celebrities that have strolled around the streets of my city.  

A few friends and I are looking into buying tickets for this sought after Corrida (Bull Fighting) event. To our surprise, most of the tickets are already sold out…or out of our price range. The only seats left are way up in the stadium, out in the beating midday sun of Sevilla. Doesn’t sound too bad until you check the weather around that first week of May. Temperatures will reach higher than 100F. Yikes.

I decided to talk to my host parents before purchasing my tickets, hoping to get persuaded out of buying them. But I discovered that La Corrida isn’t just a bunch of bull fights, it’s a treasured art form.  If it weren’t for La Corrida, there would be no use for bulls in the world. A sad thought.

For years the bulls are fed, developed and trained in a particular way to get ready for these fights. Their stamina is built up in such a way, that even the smallest jab, during a fight, doesn’t affect them much (sound familiar ahem*Chicago Bulls*ahem). And when they are finally killed, they feel pain…but never suffer.  Apparently Torridos (the men) train for years and years and have become experts at what they do…each fighter earning anywhere from 30,000 to 90,000 Euros per fight (and mind you, each fight last 20-30 minutes).

And you thought Derrick Rose was making bank.

I decided that I’d give this whole bull fighting deal a chance. Manolo (my host dad) said I wouldn’t be able to handle it, that it took a certain strength and tolerance to watch a Torrido struggle to prevail over this large, dangerous creature.

Little does he know, I’ve patiently watched my Bulls struggle to return to the main stage and regain the glory that once belonged to Chicago, for the past 13 years.  

It’s not a matter of having the stomach to stand the two hour show, it’s a matter of believing that the opponent with the most hunger, desire and heart will come up on top.

A Tourist in My Own City

I was held back in Sevilla this weekend for yet another class field trip. As fate would have it, the field trip to McDonalds (of all places) was cancelled, due to scheduling conflicts (of course). Our professor promised us a make-up visit in the near future, in place of a class period. Let’s hope McDonald’s pulls through.

So I was left celebrating the end of midterms in good ol’ Sevilla. Like the tourist I am, I made sure I made the most of my weekend at home…packed from Thursday afternoon (post Finance) until Sunday afternoon.

As you are well aware, this past Thursday was St. Patrick’s Day (and the last day of midterms). As the (metaphorical) bell rang at 4:30PM, my classmates and I rushed out of our Finance classroom and quickly made our way to O’Neils, one of the few Irish Pubs in Sevilla.  When we arrived, we found fellow classmates already comfortable in their outdoor seats, with face paint and St. Patty’s Day hats to get the celebrations started with a bang (see pictures). We spent the whole night chatting about how glad we were to have ended the LONG week, but how sad we were to hit the HALFWAY mark in our study abroad program.  Turkish food and a U2 cover band were also included in the night’s mix.

(Side note: At some point during the night, I realized that it was on this day, one year ago, that I was celebrating St. Patty’s Day with a group of wonderful Kelley’s in GHANA, AFRICA! Here’s a shout out to some of my favorites…and the great memories created that spring break…see below!)

The next morning (Friday), while the rest of my peers were recovering from the previous night’s festivities, I was woken up by BW (at 9:30AM mind you) to finalize plans for that morning. I scurried out of bed, ate some cereal and was out the door for a day of exploring. BW, CR and I were off to Triana to visit its famous market, el Castelo de San George and the Feria Grounds (Feria is a HUGE festival held in Sevilla during April). Friday night, we had coffee with some intercambios (Spanish friends) and practiced our Spanish (while they practiced their English). I also caught up on trip planning, skyping and some cleaning.

Saturday CR and I headed to Plaza de Espana to soak in Spain’s history…and of course a LOT of sun.  That day temperatures hit a high of 88F (yes, I’ve got a healthy glow) and was perfect for touristy fountain and garden pictures. BW joined us for a stroll through the beautiful Parque de Maria Luisa.  We continued the day walking around el Centro and then ended the night with a Tapas Crawl (trademarking that name…it’s the most creative idea I’ve come up with). The three of us and KS went from Tapas Bar to Tapas Bar trying new dishes. BW was the bravest of us all having Octopus, Bull’s Tail and Dogfish (Squid) all in one night. 

My biggest accomplishment of the weekend took place on Sunday. I went on yet another Senderismo (hike), except this one was NINE miles long, in the Northern Sierras of Huelva.  Little did I know that when the program ups the number of miles, it also ups the difficulty level of the route. Oh my, did I struggle at some points of the hike, but I was lucky enough to have three wonderful hiking buddies (MF, AS and EH) to motivate me for five hours. Thank you girls! My words wouldn’t do justice to the beauty I witnessed that afternoon…so check out these pictures!



I’m grateful for having the opportunity to learn more about my city over the past two weekends, but I’m itching to start traveling again. This Globe-Trotter has a packed itinerary for the next 5 weeks (I’ll announce my locations as the weeks progress…there needs to be air of mystery, and a reason for you all to continue reading my blog!). However, I will say that I’m headed to Morocco this weekend and am really excited for this trip. One of my best friends has been studying there for the semester and has absolutely loved his experience. He’s also been kind enough to teach me a few bargaining phrases for when I shop at the Medina (local market).

To end, Navroz Mubarak to my fellow Muslims; I hope this new year brings happiness, prosperity and many exciting experiences for you all.