So I got to go out this past weekend, and get to know the nightlife in Sevilla. There are a number of other people in my program who have gone out almost every single night since being here. That's two weeks of straight partying. Personally, my wallet can't handle that kind of consistency, and also I have not built my "party stamina" up to be able to do that. (I'll get there, don't worry! :-) )Plus, we have four months here! I don't want to feel burned out after a month! I want to still be excited to go out a few months down the road instead of thinking "Oh, bars, discotecas, been there done that."People always say I'm a practical person, and I'd like to think it's a good thing, but maybe other people see this not that way. OH WELL!
So Friday night I got to go to a discoteca, Club Buddha, with Erin, and a small group of other American girls. Erin's host sister, Maria, also came with a couple of her friends. The mix of people was a lot of fun, and I got to practice yelling Spanish inside the club trying to talk to on of her friends. Enunciating is so much more difficult when you have to shout over the loud techno music in clubs! We got to the club around 12, which for the U.S.A. is considered fashionably late, but here, it is early! Fashionably late doesn't occur until about 3:30am, maybe even 4am. I knew already that it was common for the younger crowd to stay out late (i.e. 6-7am) because mi hermano here has consistently come home around 6:30-7am on the weekends. However, this whole staying out late/early is normal for just about anyone and everyone under the age of 40*. I put an asterisks next to 40 because there are exceptions. For example, one of the kids from my program's señora (age 67) was out later until he was (8am) wearing her tight shirt, skinny jeans, and leather boots.
I cannot speak about the rest of Spain, but Sevilla takes it's partying very seriously. Hence being 67 and partying with your American student. Crazy. This club we went to was also very serious. You had to have a certain dress code, meaning: the sexier the better. Jeans are seen as passable, but not ideal, and high heels for women are almost always a must-have to get in. The club had 3 floors: the first was more mellow, were some of the older crowd lingered. The music was mellow around 12 and eventually became techno a couple of hours later. The second and the third floors were techno/American pop remixes the whole night for dancing. We stayed on the third floor basically the whole night, but I was told the second floor had a great American dance party going. Personally, I didn't want to be surrounded by my fellow American students all night- I wanted to do as the Sevillanos did, and for the most part, they were on the top floor. I stuck to drinking Tinto de Verano, since it was one of the cheaper drinks (at 4 euros).
The dancing commenced around 1:30am, and not too much later, Maria asked me if I would get on the platform and dance with her. I went for it, figuring "why not?!" It was a lot of fun for sure! Eventually this platform got pretty crowded with other people and I joined my friends on the floor. By around 3:30am, the group of us were felling worn out, not to mention our feet were killing us from our heels! So we headed home, but as we were leaving, the line to get into the club was so long! For most of those people, their nights were just beginning! Just to put it into perspective, the bars in West Lafayette and Lafayette close at 3am, if not earlier!
This intense partying seems to always be followed by the next day beginning around 1pm (as witnessed with my host brother). I made it up by 12pm, and later on Saturday, my madre asked me if I had recovered from a fun night. Of course I said, "sí!" She's a lot of fun- every weekend she asks me if I'm going to go out, and when I say that will she follows by saying, "bueno, bueno!"
So here is just one cultural difference. Partying is not only for the young, and it's even encouraged by parents! Maybe all of this partying is correlated with Spain's economy crisis? Just food for thought. Regardless I can't wait to find out even more about the nightlife in Sevilla!!!
Some friends, Ashley, Jenn, and Alisa at the discoteca
Erin and Me at Club Buddha
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