Ole

This past week was extremely busy. With 2 tests and a presentation, I was still able to fit in some cultural experiences, which to be honest are more important to me :) A friend of mine got us tickets to see a bull fight and this was truly a unique experience.

If you want cheap tickets, you're going to have to sit in the sun, so after layering the sunscreen on we headed out for our adventure. We had pretty good seats although they were in the sun because they weren't too high and not to close either. There weren't many people sitting around us which was nice because it gave us more room, but the shady parts of the arena were completely full.

During the fight 6 bulls are killed by 3 torreros and they have 30 minutes to kill each one, meaning that the longest a show could be would be 3 hours, but I think it only took 2 hours and 15 minutes when I went. I come to find out after the show that they don't play music at every fight - only when the torreros are performing well. Luckily, we went on a good day because there was music. Also, at the end of the show if the fans are unhappy they will throw their seat cushions at the torreros, but everyone must have been happy.

The whole process was not nearly as gruesome as I had thought it would be. Obviously there is some pain and suffering, but I guess I was too caught up in the cultural aspects of it to really be affected by the killing. Yes, I have a few issues with the whole thing, but it is something that is so vital to the Hispanic culture. It would be like taking football away from Americans if the bull fights were ot stop. The culture is some ways is built around this aspect.

During the fight all of the fans were extremely quiet. When I got home, my host father told me that here in Sevilla the fans take it very seriously and are very attentive. At one point, my friend and I were laughing and the people sitting around us weren't too thrilled about that. He said that in other cities it's a big party with music and drinking, but here the scene is different. There are die-hard fans for the bull fights, just like for anything else. Some people pay $6,000 to see a fight.

This is something that I would definitely do again. I loved being able to see such an important activity in the Spanish culture and understand more about the pros and cons of a bullfight. I didn't post any pictures of the killings or anything, but if you want to see them I have plenty to show!!