Las Aventuras en España

¡futbol!

yesterday we went to a professional futbol (soccer) game on the other side of town. we took the bus, which was only a euro, so that was nice. we rooted for the team real betis (which is currently the 6th place team in spain-pretty impressive). real betis means royal betis, and it was named after a street in sevilla. the stadium was huge, comparable to wrigley field or comiskey. they did not sell much food inside, but outside there were hamburger and hot dog stands, and lots of tables with candy and peanuts and stuff. i was disappointed at the lack of nachos... gotta get some of those when i come home. they did not allow alcohol in the stadium, nor cans of any type of beverage. they allowed plastic bottles but they took away your caps and you had to walk around with your drink open. the alcohol thing is soooo different than the u.s. where people go to sporting events just to get drunk. i guess here the police don´t want to have to deal with drunks at the futbol game. our seats were really high, but we still had a good view of the field. the game ended 0-0 but apparently it was this huge tournament, and the teams play at both their home field and the other team´s home and then the scores are added together; real betis won the other game 3-1 so they ended up winning overall. the game was really fun. all the fans are SO intense. they are screaming cheers and songs the whole time. but they are not mean to the other team or the other fans, they are really humble, which is much different than in the u.s.. the only thing i did not enjoy at the game was the bathrooms. they were clean, but there was absolutely no toilet paper! there was not even a toilet paper dispenser in any stall. that was not cool. and there was no soap, and not just no soap, but also no soap dispensers. eww. but the game was cool.

i just finished my last class, yay! it was actually not a bad class, we did not get much homework and there was no grade. we mostly just talked in spanish with our teacher about all kinds of issues; life in the u.s. compared to spain, spanish culture, current events, etc. this afternoon our cultural activity is to visit the cathedral, which is the biggest and probably oldest building in sevilla. then we have a farewell dinner with our teachers from the school here. tomorrow is a free day and then saturday we leave for madrid. i will be sad to leave sevilla, but i miss everything and everyone at home.