Las Aventuras de Colleen: La Feria de Abril

I'm not sure when I first heard about feria, but I know that I have been anxiously awaiting it since the day we got to Spain. For those of you who don't know, feria is a week long event in Sevilla that begins two weeks after Semana Santa. Although I'd heard people tell me that it would be "the best week ever," I still had no idea what to expect going into the week. The kids I tutor at Claret had told me to expect dancing and drinking, but even they couldn't give me much more than "you're going to love it!"

Gabi and I with the pretty lanterns and cassetas

We decided not to travel anywhere during feria, although most of the people on our program did. Instead we braced ourselves for what was sure to be a crazy week. Now that I have experienced it first hand, I would say that feria is a mix of Prom/Frat Parties/Tailgating/New Year's Eve/Halloween/State Fair. Feria started at midnight this past Monday, and we were lucky enough to be invited over to Molly's home stay to wait for the lighting of the "alumbrado," which is a giant archway customized for each year's feria. Molly lives on the road where feria is located, and we were able to see the lighting from her balcony before her senora opened a bottle of champagne for us at midnight (this is where New Year's Eve comes in). After we drank the champagne, we headed past the alumbrado to where the cassetas are. Cassetas are private tents that people rent out for the week and invite their friends to. The exclusivity of the cassetas, which usually have a guard at the door, reminds me of frat parties. Other than that, they might as well be the original tail gates. The cassetas are filled with food and drink and consist of people hanging out or dancing flamenco. The streets that line the cassetas are packed with people just hanging out, and it reminded me a lot of Chapel Hill on game days (minus the flamenco dresses). The women all wear flamenco dresses, and the men all wear suits. This part is where prom comes in, but I'll throw Halloween in as well because the outfits could certainly pass as costumes in the United States. The flamenco dresses are very extravagant, and we have learned that they are a pretty big deal here. Our mom makes her own, but most women dish out hundreds of euro a year just for one dress which ends up going "out of style" by the next year.

Inside of a casseta

The first night at feria we ended up (somehow) getting into two different private cassetas, and it was a blast. We tried our best to learn the "sevillana," which is the typical Sevilla flamenco dance, but I don't think I ever really mastered it. After dancing with an older Spanish couple and trying the classic feria drink called rebujito (white wine mixed with sprite), we called it a night and headed home.

The next day we went to experience feria in the day light, and a huge group of us opted for a public casseta, since it would be much more difficult to sneak a posse of Americans into a private casseta. Some of our friends had borrowed flamenco dresses from their senoras, and it was really funny to see them all dressed up. We came back that night to experience the other side of feria, and I was amazed at how starkly different the two sides were. Once you pass the cassetas, you come to a massive plot of land that put me right back at home in the Dixie Classic Fair (this is where the State Fair part of the mix comes in). There were tons of fair rides and even fair food, and I was pleased to see that Spanish people love bumper cars as much as Americans do. Of course we decided we had to ride at least one ride to say that we had truly experienced all that feria had to offer.

Pink vs. purple...told you I was serious

The next day we had plans to go with Luis and a few of his friends to a basketball game. We had agreed weeks ago that we would go with him since he had extra tickets, but we were a little apprehensive when it actually came time to go. We love hanging out with Luis, and he has truly become our little brother, but a basketball game with four 13 year old boys just sounded less than desirable to me. It ended up being a lot of fun and Luis was a great host. He stuck up for our Spanish and made sure that there weren't too many awkward silences on the walk over there. Once there we experienced a real Spanish basketball game, which kind of reminded me of a kid's game at the Y. To see grown men running around in pink and purple (yes, I'm serious) jerseys was pretty comical, but they had nothing on the "cheerleaders." I don't know that it's even fair to call them cheerleaders, because they really didn't cheer for the team at all. They came out every once in a while to dance, but it was almost painful to watch. Even though both teams were pretty sloppy, the fans were absolutely wild and (once again) had coordinated songs that we weren't a part of. After the game Luis came and found us and we headed home. After two nights out we were ready for a more relaxed night, and Maggie and I stayed in and watched the Hunger Games, which I had been dying to see anyway.

Finally crossing it off our BUCKET list

The next night we braved feria yet again and met up with our friend Rachel and her intercambio, Miguel. Miguel and his friends introduced us to a billion Spanish people and we ended up staying out really late, which is indeed the Spanish way. We never ended up going into any cassetas, but it was still fun.

Last night was spent watching a new Disney channel movie with our kids (which I am ashamed to admit I actually liked) and then heading out. Maggie and I were supposed to meet up with a friend, but it never worked out and we ended up going to a place that we have always wanted to try. They offer a bucket of these tiny beers for 3 euro, and we had passed the place a million times and said "ohhh we need to try that!" every time. So finally we did, and crossed it off of our bucket list (pun intended).

Feria ends tomorrow night and I will be sad to see it go. Not only is a week off of school always welcomed in my world, but it was really great to experience something that is such a huge part of the Spanish culture. Feria really embodies all that Sevilla has to offer, and I love studying abroad in a place that is so rich in culture. I can't believe that May begins this week, and the people on the other UNC program in Sevilla are going home in only 10 days! It is such a weird feeling, but no time to dwell on that, because I am off to London on Thursday to find Prince Harry!