FC Sevilla vs. Atletico Madrid

This is passion. And pride. This is love. And this is hate. Above all, however, this is undying, all engaging, heart wrenching, stomach churning loyalty. They call themselves ‘sevillistas’. It isn’t just somebody from Sevilla, but it is a diehard supporter of the Sevillan Fútbol Club. ‘Sevillista’: it is their identity. They live and die with the team. From birth they are raised to love Sevillan soccer, it is in their blood and it will be in the blood of their children, their children’s kids and so on down the line. When was the last time you rode 17 hours in a bus to watch a game, then, when it finished, got right back on that bus and rode another 17 hours home? When was the last time you cried because your team won? There are over 50 songs that every sevillista knows by heart and from the moment we stepped off of our 12 hour train ride to Barcelona (we were the lucky ones) to the moment that everybody passed out from pure exhaustion on the train ride home it was as if you were in a concert.

The game was against Atletico Madrid, one of Sevilla’s most hated rivals. It was the final of the Spanish Copa (Tournament) ‘El Copa del S.M. El Rey’ and the drive from Sevilla to Barcelona was over 1000 km – the farthest any participant in the copa del rey had ever had to drive. Not even that, however, could stop the sevillistas from coming in full flow. Over 150 buses, 4 trains and a few planes specifically reserved for sevillistas left Sevilla Tuesday night. In order to get tickets for the game you have to be a member of Sevilla Fútbol or know a member (each member is given one extra ticket). Luckily for me, one of my good Sevillan friends got me a ticket and I went with him, my other friend, both of their Dads and two of their cousins to the game. We were lucky to have the train, though it still took a good 12 hours to arrive. We got to Barcelona, after about 3 hours of sleep, at 10:00 in the morning – 9 hours before the start of the game. We spent the next few hours wandering around Barcelona, engaging in some touristy activities then around 3 we went to the designated sevillista ‘campo’ (an area reserved for Sevillan fans about 1 mile away from the area reserved for Atletico fans in order to avoid conflict). That was the ‘pep rally’ – as if anybody really needed it. A famous Spanish DJ performed, playing pump up music and sevillista songs for a full 5 hours. Just when I thought I was going to pass out from exhaustion, 7:30pm rolled around and, at long last, the stadium gates opened.

Almost half of the stadium was reserved for us, for the sevillistas, and the other part (a little bit bigger because there were more of them due to the proximity of Madrid and Barcelona) was reserved for the Atletico fans. The next two hours were a competition between the fans to see who could sing the loudest/who had the best songs. Being that I have converted to a Sevillista my opinion could be a little bit biased, but I think we won that competition fair and square.

When the team came out the whole crowd jumped on its feet, waving flags, scarves, hats (Del Nido, the president of Sevilla, is famous for wearing a ---- hat and almost every Sevilla fan in the stadium had a replica of it) and burst into the famous, and beautiful, song of Sevilla. (If you want to listen to it, go to YouTube and type “himno official de Sevilla Fútbol Club).

The game itself was incredible. The noise in the stadium never let down and the play was of the highest of quality. All analysits expected that Atletico would beat Sevilla going into the game, so when we scored the first goal with 6 minutes in our part of the stadium went absolutely loco. I have never hugged so many unknown people in my life. The rest of the game was a nail bitter until the 83 minute when the fan favorite, Jesus Navas, scored the second goal of the game. When the game ended I turned around to hug everybody I was caught off guard to find that tears were filling up their eyes. That’s how much this sport, this team, means to them. It isn’t just a college sporting event where the fans go crazy all game and then, whether or not their team wins, they go party afterwards. This is true, undeniable loyalty. Passion at its fullest. I mean, I love the Broncos, but I don’t think that I would cry if they won the Superbowl.

The 12 hour train ride home wasn’t exactly what I was craving when we finally left the stadium, 2 hours after the game ended, but that was without a doubt one of the most amazing experiences I had in Spain and ‘la glinda de la tarta’ as my Sevillan friends kept saying, ‘the icing on the cake’. The celebration still wasn’t over the next day though. The soccer team started its parade through the city at 6 pm and the celebrations continued on to 2 that morning. 

La Feriaaaa (April 19 - April 25)

Craziest week of my life. That's the only way to put it. Didn't get to bed once before 7 am and didn't wake up once before 1 am. My days consisted of crawling out of bed, eating lunch, getting dressed and going back to the Feria and my nights consisted of the Sevillana. Well worth 50 euros to take that class, every other American was wishing they had done the same when they saw me tearing up that dance floor haha. The feria is made up of over 1000 'casettas' which are essentially big tents owned either privately (by businesses, for example) or are open to the public (political parties). Inside every tent is a bar, hundreds of tables and a dance floor. My host dad's company (El Corte Ingles) had a casetta as well as all of my sevillan friends, so I was never without a place to go. (A lot of other Americans didn't enjoy it as much as I did and I think it is because they simply didn't have places to go. They would stand out in the streets looking for public casettas whereas my roomate and I never had trouble getting into any). 

The other little perk of having the family was not having to spend money. One day I went with my Sevillan friends for all day/night and just like that 100 Euros were gone from my wallet. The food combined with the famous rebujitos (pitchers of 'manzanilla' and 7-up) which are 12 euros add up pretty quickly. Anyways one of my new goals in life is to come back to Sevilla for one week every year just to experience that Feria. I honestly don't think that there is anything else like it in this world. In the states everybody would go for the day but it would close by 12 am and I guarantee that it wouldn't be a 7 day event - which really is quite exhausting. (I'm the only person that I  have talked to that made it all 7 days). Getting back into school the following week was a little bit difficult being that I was waking up at the same time that I had gone to bed all of the previous week. 

Below are some pictures of the Sevillana, when I get home I'll give a little lesson to everybody. 

 (a picture with the family, though its missing Carmen. From left to right: Zayra (daughter), Spencer (my roomate, behind her), Ramon (host dad), two friends of Zayra, Fidel (brother in law of carmen), myself and emily

P.S. 

I also made the mistake of dancing with a man. Well I though that she was a woman. Just a very rare, odd woman. But my family told me she was a he when we got back from the Feria and they haven't let that one get by me yet. At least once a day they say (in a deep, very manly voice), "Trevor, ¿quieres bailar? (Do you want to dance?) They seem to find it very humorous. 

Barcelona and irrelevant volcanos (April 16-19)

I feel like I have expressed my travel woes pretty clearly throughout my blogging this year. Every little thing that could go wrong, regardless of how much planning I put into it, somehow does. Trains, buses, planes, I just never seem to have the best of luck. So when the volcano erupted on wednesday the 15th causing travel horror stories throughout Europe, it was only logical to expect that I would soon find myself involved in one of my own (hint: there is an exciting twist coming up). My plane was to leave Sevilla for Barcelona Friday night at 10:00. By this time the effects the volcano was having on travel throughout Europe had been well documented. So far the Sevillan airport had remained open, but there was little guarantee that it would continue to do so. Anyways, I was about 90% positive that I wasn't going to end up going to Barcelona - to the point that I almost didn't even go to the airport in the first place. But here is where the story takes a very unexpected turn..... I have never had two days of travel so smooth, so crisp, so flawless as I was about to experience. The airports were empty. From entering the airport doors to getting to my gate took all of 10 minutes. Both of the planes took off on time and landed early. I thought it was a dream, this had never, would never, could never happen to me. The only thing I could possibly find to complain about is that smooth travel doesn't make for as exciting, on-the-edge of your seat stories. But I'm going to through that complaint out of the window - I would chose this any day over sleeping in a middle-of-nowhere train station in Austria.

I was planning on meeting my friend in Barcelona who studied abroad in the same program with me last semester (he now studies in France) but French travel was an absolute mess. All of the flights were canceled and, conveniently, every French train was on strike. To say the least, he wasn't going anywhere.

The city itself was really neat. Surrounded by hills that give great vantage points and allow for a bit of exercise, I didn't get too bored in my two full days there. The Sagrada Familia, a modern day church, was stunning. It was designed by the famous Spanish artist 'Goya' and to this day its still under construction (they estimate that it will be finished within the next 20 years). It is unlike any other church I have ever been in. It has a modern design, futuristic sculptures of Jesus and it combines Goya's strong connection with nature with his fate in God.

(On the outside of the church: Jesus at the cross)

 (It makes me wonder how they built churches  without cranes....)

You might be able to see in the following pictures of the inside of the Cathedral, but Goya had a strong emphasis on light and the outdoors. The pillars that hold the Cathedral up are constructed as if they were trees and small strands of light come in from above as if penetrating a roof of leaves. On the outside Goya constructed pillars topped with different types of fruit and animals. Being that I have never been much a church goer but have always loved the outdoors, I found the Sagrada Familia to be particularly appealing. One of the things that Goya said before he died was that he wanted the church to be a place for everybody, regardless of their religious beliefs. I'd say that he accomplished that goal. 

(The one on the left is of the actual pillars themselves

and the one of the right shows how the design

follows that of a tree)

 

(Side note: putting pictures into this thing is one of the more frustrating things I've had to do)

Below are some photos of the famous Park Guël. Hiking around there was a lot of fun. There is a plaza full of performers, tourists and local kids, but if you go a bit higher you can get away from just about everybody else and find that inner nature of yours. 

Anyways I know that this blog is pretty bland in terms of stories, but if you find some other blogs written around these dates I'm sure you'll have some fun. My hostel was full of kids trying to get to England who were stuck for a full week in Barcelona. I remember one kid who told me that he decided to take a quick, 5 euro flight (ryanair sometimes has ridiculous deals) from London to Palma de Mallorca for one night on Thursday then got the last flight out from Palma to Barcelona on Friday (where he had just been the week before) and last I knew he was going to try to hitchike to France and the take a ferry into England and try to get there that friday (i left on monday). Makes me feel almost guilty about how smooth I had it.... though I shouldn't let my confidence get too high because there is supposedly a strike planned for British Airways and my trip home just so happens to be smack in the middle of that..... Lets hope for the best and prepare for the worst I suppose...