Stuck in Santiponce

Me and Chelsea at Italica

For those of you who consistently read my blog, the story I am about to tell might sound vaguely familiar (see crises in camas post). Way in the beginning of my time in Seville, I went to a town right outside, Camas, with my roommate Chelsea. We were new in town and didn’t realize that EVERYTHING here closes on Sundays. Ill start with that…

Since this is my last week in Spain (super sad face), I am trying to get everything done that I didn’t get around to in the last 8 months, oops. Today, a Thursday, but a holiday in Seville, Chelsea and I decided to take a trip to Santiponce to see some ancient ruins they have there called Italica. It is actually really cool, I felt like I was transported to a completely different place and time, although the heat was the same! I wouldn’t say the ruins are as impressive as the ones you see in Rome, but still a worthwhile trip.

just chillen with some ruins

Well, anyway, given the holiday in Seville, and lack of reliability of Spaniards in general (sorry Spain but its kinda true-called the bombona man to come before 10am today and at 4:20 he still hasn’t showed) we didn’t really know when the bus was coming. If the bus was following the holiday schedule, it should have come at 10:30, if it was following a normal day schedule it would have come at 11. Well, it came at 10:50, go figure. Good thing we were running late anyway and got there right at 10:30, so we didn’t have to wait too long.

Upon arriving in Italica, my small bladdered and amazing chef roommate reallllllllllllllly (like always) needed a bathroom. So we found her one in the ONLY bar that was open in town. Since we didn’t want to just go in to pee, we sat down and had a coffee and a media tostada doused in olive oil, yummmmm…Gotta live like the Spaniards do for my last week here! I have no pictures since I forgot my camera, but I did take this one picture of my sugar packet. I’m not exactly sure what it means but I think it’s fitting that it has to do with being asleep:

After fueling up on a wonderful breakfast, although an iced coffee would have been nice given the 90 F/32 C degrees, we went to explore the ancient city of Italica. (For free I might add because we were considered European residents by the ticket taker, despite our awesomely American accents)

The signs that explained what everything was were in Spanish, and included a ton of Spanish words I didn’t really understand. So, we didn’t exactly know what we were looking at, but nevertheless, it was cool.

Well, on the way home, it was still a holiday (surprise, surprise, it was only 2 hours later). So we didn’t know exactly when the bus would be coming. We figured the best way not to miss the bus would be to wait at the bus stop, even though it was like sitting in a frying pan. As soon as 15 minutes had passed, Chelsea decided to put her music on and dance around, despite the unbearable heat. I couldn’t help but compare it to our trip to Camas in the beginning of year. Except that time was even worse because we didn’t even get to do what we went to Camas for. For the first 10 minutes I really enjoyed the dancing, it was very entertaining. And I liked it all the way until the bus came, but waiting for something you don’t know when/if will ever come is slightly miserable. I did find it amusing that all the other 3 people waiting for the bus didn’t want to wait with us at the bus stop, even though there was a free show going on.

Finally the bus came (after approximately a 50 minute wait), and we drove right through CAMAS on the way to seville!! It’s strange how things work out. I feel like I’ve come full circle now that I’ve had the same experience twice, but 8 months apart. It is nice to look back and think how much I have changed in these past months. But I’ll save the sentimental blog for later.

Now I’ve got to get started on the packing (another super sad face). It’s not real until the packing begins, so my denial officially ends now. But Chelsea has kindly just brought me a mimosa to make the packing a little more fun (after waking me up with coffee and cooking me lunch). How I am going to miss her!

can't believe i ever wore this stuff!

Don’t get me wrong America + American friends, I am super stoked to see you!

Can’t believe there’s only three more days!