Look out for the falling oranges

Just got back last night (muy tarde) from Sevilla. Wow. What a gorgeous city. To be honest, I originally would have liked to wait until it was super warm outside to go there, but I am so glad we went. I even wore flip flops (maybe not the wisest choice in the end but whatev.) We arrived after an overnight bus at 6:30 in the morning. The bus ride was fine, though, thanks to this extraordinarily kind Chilean guy. I had originally been placed on the bus next to this extremely creepy old man who had a glazed over eye and reeked like spoiled milk. He blabbered unintelligible Spanish in my ear for about half an hour before this guy across the aisle leaned over and said, "Switch with me. You are not comfortable." I had never been more pleasantly surprised, and this guy seriously restored my faith in kind strangers. It's the little things like that, ya know?

OK so over the weekend we saw all of the major sites in Sevilla— the Cathedral, Alcazar, Torre de Oro, Guadalvivir River, Plaza de España, orange trees lining the streets and teeming with fresh fruit. Like I have always said, I love nothing better than walking in a foreign city and absorbing all I can about the place. My host father, before I left, told me to forget about the museums and all the cliché tourist attractions. Instead, he said, ask local youth where the botellón is, where is the best place to grab a café con leche and sit for hours. I loved every minute of this weekend. Except for Saturday night, circa midnight.

My parents were supposed to call around then so I could wish Neita a happy birthday. I thought I would check my e-mail while some friends killed a few drinks at the hostel bar. I learned Lily died. Our poor little pug, more like a third little sister to me. I could not help but burst into tears right then, in front of everyone. I just kept thinking about how badly I felt for my family at home and about how young the poor little thing was. She is, at least, as I have reminded my sister, in good company with our old lab, Danny, up in dog heaven. 

I still went out that night. Ended up turning back around and being as fun as it could be.