Roman ruins

Pictures!
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This past week has been nice and steady here in Sevilla. The weather has been on and off nice with occasional clouds and rain. On Ash Wednesday I went to la Iglesia de San Lorenzo and was able to see the church decorated in beautiful splendor. The Virgin was on the alter and surrounded by many beautifully lit candles. There was some sort of special occasion going on for the members of the church or some sort of brotherhood they call a hermandad. On Friday they had initiations into this organization and for a few days had a guest priest whose sermons were excellent. I was happy I could actually understand most of what he was saying! Sometimes it depends on the manner in which people talk whether I can understand their spanish or not as some slur their words more than others.

On Saturday, we visited the Roman ruins of Itálica which is located about 25 minutes away from the center of Seville by bus. They were really interesting with the stone structures and foundations of houses and columns. With a good enough imagination, you could almost see the Roman people bustling about their daily lives. We saw the Ampitheater there which was huge. However you could see the wearing away of the bleachers where people would sit. But for being dated around 206 B.C. I´d say the city was pretty intact. Before being preserved, many of the artifacts were stolen in earlier years and then resold in markets.
A woman in Seville actually turned her house into a museum to preserve some of these Roman artifacts. It´s called la Palacia de Lebrija.

On Sunday we had a picnic by the river with some Spanish girls that we had met a few nights before and talked with them quite a bit, going to a Cafeteria to get coffee after it started getting chillier outside. We talked about the differences and similarities between here and the U.S. Some of them had actually visited the U.S. in an exchange program and hope to go back. Hopefully we´ll all meet up again!

This weekend my roommate and I are looking into Valencia, which is known for Paella, a sea food, meat dish with rice. Or we may look into Jerez de la Frontera which has Wine tastings and is close to some nice beaches.

Next month we have plans for Morrocco and England.

The beginning of Holy Week we are going to Ireland and then I hope to return to Sevilla for the end of Holy week as it is known to be spectacular.

Then my Dad comes! We´ll stay in Sevilla for a few days and I´ll get to show him the town. Then we´ll go to Fatima and possibly Barcelona.

Times going by quite fast here, which is ironic because the Spanish lifestyle can be quite slowpaced.
Fact del día : People in Spain wear their wedding rings on their right hand!
Best wishes, besos, & abrazos...