Last Week

My last week couldn't have started better with 2 sweltering, long, amazing days in Seville. Once again I was amazed by the generosity and kindness (and sometimes infuriating stubbornness) that I have encountered while abroad. The hostel I stayed in was incredible. Everyone was young, cool, and so easy going. Four young men from York were the owners; they welcomed me with smiles and free advice on the best places to go, people who could help me, and how to get anywhere. In the evenings they made a family dinner for everyone in the hostel and served the best gin and tonics I've ever had. During the day I faced the heat with as much courage as I could muster and explored every point of the city. My main goal was to somehow get into the archives that the Spaniards, for some reason, so ferociously guarded from the public. After getting the post office confused with the archives, I found the building that was the trade center in the early 1700s and now houses the largest archives of Colonial interactions in all of Spain. Instead of displaying facts, fragments, or any kind of document, the floor to ceiling bookcases were full of cardboard boxes with primitive looking designs on them that had no information whatsoever. I was a little shocked at the embarrassing way the archives were presented, and was determined to get to the basement. I was flat out refused. Probably 10 times. Finally, a man who was not a security guard heard me pleading and I explained that my desire was, not to destroy the archives, but to see them. I explained I was a student with a specialty in colonial interactions and I only wanted to see where they were kept. Finally and miraculously he led me to the basement where I had five glorious minutes to see the hundreds of thousands of documents so preciously guarded. It was amazing. Now I am in Mallorca, thinking back on just how much I learned and accomplished in so short a time. This trip was nothing short of amazing.