Feria

Allow me to attempt to describe the Feria.
Culture.
Feria is a very old tradition in Sevilla. The fair happens for a week every spring. The fairgrounds are huge, and happen to be two blocks from my house. Feria is comprised of HUNDREDS of tent/pavillions. Most of them are private but there are some huge public ones that anyone can go to. People hang out all day, drinking and dancing. There are also fair rides, which people ride in their dresses.

ATTIRE: The women all wear Feria dresses which are close fitting and have ruffles around the bottom and a wide variety of patterns. They wear giant flowers in their hair and giant earrings. It is very fancy and the dresses can be very expensive. What's more, many of them have different dresses for the different days. Isabel has about ten that she's acquired over the years. She let us wear one of her old ones so last night I got to dress up in full Spanish Feria attire!!

DANCING: I have never had a more useful dance class in my life. Our dance class all year has been learning the "Sevillanas." People do this at Feria all day and all night. It's a series of four dances that can be done with a girl and a guy but is often done with two girls. The huge ruffly dresses make it super fun to watch. In the public tents, there is a stage, but there are so many people that dancing can often be found in other random spots. Over the past two days, I have danced the Sevillanas quite a few times. People are sometimes impressed that we know how to do it which makes it even more fun. One time, we danced in the street to music coming from inside the caseta.

TUSDAY: Well after my mad trip to the airport and back, the day picked up very nicely. I went to Isabel's brother's caseta in my Feria dress. It is the 196th Caseta on the third street. I was very scared to go in at first because there were massive amounts of people that I didn't know and I couldn't see Isabel anywhere. Let me first just say that Isabel was dancing like a crazy woman. She is literally the crazy aunt. I met a lot of people and got about 70 kisses on the cheek. Some of them were very nice to me and spoke slow Spanish so that I could practice. A lot of people try to speak English with me, but I made some friends who stuck up for me and reminded them that I have to practice Spanish. I later went with Isabel to visit her cousin in another caseta. This one had slightly older people, around Isabel's age. The women were Amazing dancers and I just felt like I was being bathed in culture. I got to dance with one of them while people were yelling Viva! and clapping their hands. All of this occurs in a tiny space while people are trying to walk pass with Spanish tortillas on plates and drinks in hand.
I came home for dinner with Katherine and then I went back again, this time with 11 Americans. I was reduced to public casetas at this point but still managed to do a lot of dancing. About four or five of us had dresses that our Senoras had let us borrow.
Today was a good day.