PM in Sevilla was probably my last conference as an active aiesec member. its a weird feeling, after being to over 20 conferences all over the world that i wont be going to anymore! during the conference, i was the conference manager as well as a faci. being conference manager for a conference this big was challenging, very challenging. i was doing sessions at 5am after a party challenging. i was working with a great OC team and a great faci team that made the conference easier. and the delegates were amazing, always trying to help out and being supportive. i dont feel like this experience in aiesec is coming to end... it feels like we still have so much to do. it was very sad though, the last time i will be seeing some of the amazing spanish members that i have met and gotten to know over the year.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Sevilla
After the conference, we had a free day to explore sevilla. it was beautiful. i filled up my memory card with pictures! we visited the Giralda, the Real Alcazar and went to a flamenco show. i dont have all of the pictures, but enjoy the ones below. i really enjoyed the city - it was very relaxing and amazing. also the food was cheap and fantastic (we ate like kings)
Ferias de Sevilla
Luci and I went to Sevilla early before a conference to work and enjoy the ferias! the feria of sevilla was nothing like i had seen before. i had been to a feria in valladolid and it mostly involved drinking and hanging out.. but this was different. the feria ground is covered in like 1000 "castas" which are tents. but these aren't regular white tents that you rent for a reception, they are built like little houses or restaurants with walls, picture frames, waiters, bathrooms, a bar and dancefloor. it was amazing! you can only get into the casetas if you know someone or work somewhere - they are based on tickets so its not full of tourists and stuff like that. there are a few public casetas but i was told they were ghetto.
in the tents, you drank, ate and danced sevillanas. it was amazing dancing and watching the live band and all of the women dressed up in sevillanas. the women dress up in the dress, the flower i the hair, the earings, the heels, the makeup, the earrings, everything. its amazing! doesnt matter how old you are (75 or 3)..everyone looked amazing. i really enjoyed it and im glad i went early!
valladolid
i went to valladolid for 2 days for LC visits (aiesec translation: work). its a city that is about 2 hours by train north of madrid. the people there are incredibly hospitable and nice and always wanting you to have a great time! although i was there for work, i was able to hang out with the aiesecers there and go out! something of note in valladolid is kalimotxo. i think its basque, but! i have only ever had it in valladolid. its half wine and half coke and its AWESOME! they serve it to you in a half liter cup and its only like 2 euros.
i also learned some new awesome spanish words/phrases like mola and in la leche... thanks aiesec in valladolid :)
Fés
Luci and I found cheap tickets to go to fés, morocco for April 5th - 7th on good ol ryanair. we went to print the boarding passes 3.5 hours before our flight..but we couldnt! it closes the online check in 4 hours before boarding... so we had to pay 40 euros EACH for boarding passes at the airport...ridiculous really. so that doubled the cost of our trip already.
we stayed at a hotel near the train station which was a bit sketchy at night time. we couldnt really go out when it was dark. there weren't any other women on the street and guys were just a little bit more creepy. this means we stayed in quite a bit - watching BBC and going to bed early (that part was great!)
we explored the medina (medieval city) for a day. the medina in fés is the oldest living medina in the world. we ate moroccan bread, drank mint tea and shopped. we also had fresh squeezed orange juice which was AMAZING. we went really early (like 9 am early) which was early for the medina too! nothing was really open, but it was cool to walk around. it is full of winding alleys and shops with everyone having the best things to buy. we did buy quite a bit, but we tried to bargain everything. it was funny because half of the people there thought i was from india (yelling NAMASTE in the street) or moroccan and speaking in arabic to me. a guy led us on a tour of his carpet store, showing us how the carpets were made and trying to get us to buy them (which we didnt obviously) but the guy said that i seemed like i was moroccan, from marakech!
speaking of people trying to con you into buying things, 2 boys (probably like 8 years old) who knew a LOT of different languages tried to get us to go to the a leather tannery that his father owned (but it smelt reallllly bad, so we didnt even want to go near :P) so they took us to his mother's shop where she sold spices and soaps and oils. they were very persistent.. to the point of annoyance and asked for money as well at the end (which we felt uncomfortable about and didnt pay)
we also visited the royal palace which had huge golden doors (but thats all you could look at). overall the first trip to morocco was very cool. the next time i would like to go to another city and visit people from morocco - i think that would be a very different experience and i would be able to see moroccan culture.
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