Football VS Futbol

Each person that I’ve skyped or emailed with has asked me the same question: what’s the best thing you’ve done so far in Spain? Answer. Daily double!

This past weekend our great little group from TCU got to experience something extraordinary. We scored tickets to the Sevilla vs Betis futbol match! On Thursday afternoon, we made the 80-minute walk to the Betis Stadium to wait in line with the locals for tickets. We waited for the gates to open & grabbed some pretty cheap tickets, or “entradas.” We were very pleasantly surprised that we got 11 seats together because this game was sure to be packed!

The rivalry between Sevilla & Betis is to say the least, intense. It’s difficult to explain. Both teams are from the city of Sevilla, so bragging rights are on the line. Betis boasts green and represents the poor country folk, or people from “el campo” & the Sevilla fans bleed red and typically represent the wealthier citizens of Sevilla. The teams don’t play each other every season because of division classifications, but when the stars align, oh man, it’s ON!

My roommate Claire and I decided to root for Betis because our señor, Miguel, is from Betis! Plus, it’s the “people’s team.” Power to the people. Miguel did warn us, however, that we shouldn’t wear too much green to the stadium because fans tend to get violent. Um, violent?

We took a taxi to the stadium, got there pretty early, and grabbed our seats. Hello, nosebleeds! The stadium started to fill up with green shirts & scarves once the starting time of 10 o’clock approached. It got to be about a quarter ‘til and we all realized that there was not a single Sevilla fan to be seen in the stadium. What? Also, we realized that the section where we were sitting was practically empty, but the rest of the stadium was full. Then we saw that our section was the only one partitioned off with bullet-proof glass. Uh... oh...

Notice the dispersion of fans...

Betis fans started to run up to the top row where we were sitting & looking over the edge of the stadium. I went to check out what they were looking at & then my jaw dropped. The Spanish SWAT team was escorting hundreds of rowdy, loud, proud Sevilla fans down the street. It looked like instead of parting the Red Sea, Moses just decided it would be easier to send it raging down the streets of Sevilla. At that instant we realized that all of those angry fans were going to be sitting in our section. Aw hail.

We ran down the stairs and the sweet SWAT teamers (never thought I’d say that) let us foreigners escape the danger zone and sit with other Betis fans. Once the Sevilla crowd started filling up their partitioned-off section, the stadium was a rage with middle fingers, cuss words, and derogatory sexual gestures aimed at their section. So many new things I got to learn! The sheer hate that Sevilla and Betis fanatics have for each other could be heard, seen, felt, tasted and even smelled. It was completely hilarious! Slightly frightening, but mainly hilarious.

Well, the game started and toilet paper started to fly. Hundreds of fans threw toilet paper and red streamers from the stands like they were TPing the stadium – it actually was slightly beautiful. Ironically enough, there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms. Rough. There were huge, intricate, offensive signs too! I’m telling you – the spirit in that place was crazy-go-nuts.

The actual game was a doozy! So fun to watch. Betis scored first, then Sevilla. With the score at 1-1, the tension in the stadium was palpable. My favorite part about the game was hearing/learning the cheers and chants from each team. I learned so many new offensive words! About halfway through the game we realized that 2 of our friends hadn’t made it over to the Betis section, and were trapped among the raging Sevilla section. Whoops! Another great part of the game was watching the SWAT team interfere when fans got too riled up on opposite sides of the glass. Classic.

Typical friendly neighborhood SWAT team

The game ended in a tie: 1-1. Betis clearly played better, but just couldn’t get that ball in the goal. The Betis fans left first, then the Sevilla fans were released about 45 minutes later so there wouldn’t be any intermingling or murdering. Good idea. All in all, the game was such a fun cultural experience! I’m really glad that the timing worked out for us to see the biggest, most passionate game of the season in Sevilla.

Me and my sweet friend Veronica!

Well, we’ve recovered from the aftershock of the big game and now classes start today. That means that the honeymoon period of studying abroad is coming to a close. Here’s to a great semester on the campus of Universidad Pablo de Olavide!

Vale la Pena

“I like being able to eat a big meal, take a nap, and not feel terrible about it.”

- Tyler Branson, our TA

If you want to just scan this post, honestly, read just this sentence and you’ll get the gist: I made it to Sevilla and I really like it. If you want to know the details – read on, read on.

I've been in Sevilla for a week now. I know I'm still in the honeymoon stage of studying abroad, but man, I am loving this country! I'll start from the beginning. Feel free to skim.

Last Thursday morning, after my last Chick-fil-A meal for a long time, I met up with my fellow travelers Nyla and Claire at DFW. We flew to Boston, had a two-hour layover and then hopped another plane to Madrid. We made friends in the airport (shout out to Bruna from Brazil and Spencer from Clemson and Dell from Morocco/Ft Worth!) and then made our final connection to Sevilla. Sevilla has a very small airport so GET THIS: we got to walk on to the plane from the ground!! I’ve always wanted to do that. Bucket list item: completed. Somehow, we made it to Sevilla with all of our luggage and sanity in tact. Boom.

We checked into Hotel Zenit Friday morning and then hit the town! Sevilla is relatively small for a big city if that makes sense. It’s got the extremes of very metropolitan and very quaint parts of town. First stop was Café Charlotte for lunch. First culture shock experience: how in the world do I order, eat and pay in another language? Actually speaking Spanish was not the issue – but the cultural context is impossible to pick up on without making a fool of yourself. We looked like “stupid Americans” for the first several meals, but we're finally starting to get it down.

After exploring the streets for a few hours, a big siesta in the hotel followed. Later, we got to meet up with everyone from the TCU program and our director, Mary Alice. We have a great group – 10 estudiantes strong! We are from all over the place, but we all get along wonderfully – seriously a great group.

Our first full two days in Sevilla were full of orientations and great meals paid for by TCU... score! We got to practice Spanish with some Sevillanos (people from Sevilla) and ended up hitting it off and we all went out together that night... talk about starting strong! They’re very friendly and proud of their city. Gotta like that.

On Sunday we got to meet our host families! This is what I’ve been most nervous about for the past couple of months. I am pals with the TCU girls that stayed with my host family, Carmen and Miguel, last spring. Thankfully, they gave us the DL on what to expect in the casa. Big thanks to Sarah & Kaitlin! Honestly. Carmen and Miguel are 2 of my new favorite people alive. After about 17 minutes of discomfort, we’ve been blessed blessed blessed with great relationships with them! I’ll do a post soon solely about Carmen & Miguel because they deserve it. But for sparknotes: they’re in their 60s-ish, originally from towns right outside of Sevilla, have 3 grown children, are retired, live the relaxed life, love olives and watch plenty of game shows

We live in a flat on what in America we would call the 4^th floor, but in Spain they call the 3^rd floor. Confused? Yeah, me too. We live in an incredibly great part of town named Triana. It’s where Spain has its folkloric origins... famous for pottery and flamenco. It’s right on the Guadalquivir River, which runs though Sevilla and is just beautiful. I also have a great roommate, Claire! She is from Arkansas and we have gotten to experience the adventure of every day together.

Since Monday, we have been going to intensive Spanish classes, drinking great coffee, speaking broken Spanish, trying to get used to the time difference, making friends from across the globe and enjoying siestas. New things have assimilated into my vocabulary... like Spanish idioms and “It’s only a 30 minute walk.”

Each day we wake up at like 7:30, eat cornflakes, walk a couple of miles to class, learn from 9-10:40ish, coffee break, learn from 11-1, walk home, eat lunch made by Carmen, siesta siesta siesta, meet up with friends for coffee or a drink, hang out with Miguel and watch a game show or two, eat dinner at 9ish, then “salir” con amigos and then go to sleep around 2. Viva la vida!

If you’re into it, keep praying that the Lord keeps bringing the good times, health and safety that I’ve been given so far. This trip has been full of opportunities to step out of my comfort zone. It’s usually worth it though! Pray for confidence and courage in the Lord, the ordinary, and even in my Spanish-speaking.

I’ll end with a cheesy thought that I have every day: I’m glad smiling is the same in every language.