My EVS in Andalusia 11

Last week, I had amazing four days in Sevilla, visiting my Spanish friend Emi whom I had met in Scotland last summer. Now working in Liverpool, he was free from Thursday to Sunday to fly to Spain and see his friends and family.

The bus journey from Purchena to Sevilla (with a long stop in Granada during which I had a delicious second breakfast with something like “pain au chocolat” and coffee) took about 7 hours. Fortunate as I was, my bus arrived a bit later than Emi's plane, so he could come directly from the airport to fetch me up from the station with his entire family in the car.

The first stop was his parents' house where he went to take his dog Trabu. After spending seven months without each other, both were exceedingly enthusiastic about playing and romping around.

In the afternoon and at night, we took the dog for a walk, had a chat with the neighbours, ate and went out with his friends, who are (as well as his family) very funny and kind.

Friday morning, we had a delicious breakfast in Emi´s parents' house, with “tostadas” (large toasted bread slices), “jamón” (typical ham), salami and cheese. Afterwards, we went to town to carry out some formalities and continued the day having drinks with friends and family. Obviously, there was a lot to tell: a good challenge to practice my Spanish.

In the afternoon, we had lunch in a tapas restaurant and visited a stunning roman arena and village with beautiful mosaics.

At night, we went to a basketball match to see some of Emi´s friends playing and afterwards to the cinema to watch the new Star Wars. On our way back, it was pouring down with rain and it made me happy to listen to the noise of the drops on the car roof and observe the water running down the windows in the darkness. How strange it may sound, but I enjoy every drop of rain since the moment of living in dry Purchena.

Saturday morning, Emi sent me to buy “churros con chocolate”, the famous fried pastry with chocolate. It was superb. After that, we drove to the beach in Huelva where Emi´s family has got a house, about one hour by car from Sevilla. It was high tide and we were the only ones ambling along the shore and playing with the dog. We cooked lunch in the house and went back to Sevilla in the evening. After dinner and after a desperate struggle with technology to watch a film, we started playing a quiz game.

The following morning, we had to tidy up the flat and pack our things again. Trabu the dog got very sad, feeling that her master had to leave her again.

My journey back was ridiculously long. Leaving at the same time as Emi, I arrived in Purchena almost at the same time as his plane landed in Liverpool.