Feria

So I think it's about time I talk about Feria considering it was over a week ago.
Seville has this every year. Everyone gets super dressed up because it's basically their prom.
It's nothing more than a celebration of Seville. But, people from all over the country and world come to help Sevillanos out with it. All the women wear their Flamenco dresses and the men wear their finest suits.
They all go to this area of town called "Los Remedios" and there are HUGE tents for BLOCKS AND BLOCKS. Then, when you reach the end of the tents, there is an area of amusement park attractions. (Warning: there are no safety reg.s on these things, so it could be the ride of (the end of) your life.)
On Monday night we left at about 10 to see them light up the portal/HUGE DOOR that lets you enter Los Remedios. The lights and door are in the shape of the NO8DO sign. no8do is the symbol of Seville. "madeja" = 8 and the "no" and "do" start and stop a phrase that the symbol means. When you put it all together it says: no me ha dejado. This means, "she has not left me" referring to the help of the Virgin Mary.
Anyways, the tents are really only for the people who own them. You have to KNOW people.
We know NO one. We got stuck in the SUPER crowded and kind of gross public tents. STILL A BLAST.
We walked through the streets lined with the enormous, beautifully lit tents and listened to the Feria music each one played. We watched the women pass in their expensive, ornate dresses and stop in the tents to dance their traditional dances. We ate the fried fish and churros that are customary to this event. I did NOT, unfortunately, try the rebujito or manzanilla, both of which are drinks that are almost only served during this time of the year. This fair goes all day and almost all night, only stopping so it can be cleaned-up for the next day.
The weather was supposed to be awful, but, ella "no me ha dejado" and the weather was GORGEOUS.
Everything went super bien "very well". Until I had to get back home.
The taxis were charging an arm and a leg. because they could get away with it, and the bus drivers were on strike, so since I surely wasn't WALKING home, I was stuck with taking the metro. The stop was easy to find, but I'd forgotten my card. So, I had to pay. I had NO idea how to work the stupid machines that you buy the tickets from. So, I asked the man who was STARING at me for help (I figured he'd be on my side). He got me my ticket and walked me to the tracks. Normally, I'd find a way to get away from such a creeper, but there were SO many people around I knew he couldn't pull anything.
He and I talked for the duration of my wait for the metro. When it DID come, there was NO room for people to board. It was way too full. People on people, shoulder to shoulder, butt to butt, face to face.
Somehow, this man and his brother pushed myself and themselves into the ONLY available room there was (they seemed to create it from nothing). We weren't sure our noses would clear the closing doors, but they did.
At the very next stop, a FEW people got off. So, a FEW people scrunched themselves on board. The doors to the metro car closed, then the doors of the station. Some MUJER got upset she and the rest of her inebriated family couldn't fit in the car. So, she opened the door to the station and stood between the doors so they wouldn't close/we couldn't leave.
People on both sides of the double doors yelled at each other and the "puta" that was keeping the car from going and making EVERYONE in Seville that had anywhere to go wait.
She yelled and screamed as I tried not to laugh. I was almost face to face with her, but there was the door to the metro between us. I felt a little protected by it. Suddenly, police men come over and try to calm and remove her. She wouldn't move. THEN, the doors to the metro car open. CRAP.
She was RIGHT in front of me and had definitely seen me laughing at her. Luckily, the policemen were able to get her away at right about that moment. She didn't "go quietly" but she go-ed. So I was able to get home, no problem.
Each day of Feria is the same, but I'd say it doesn't get old. I loved it.
This city knows how to party. "Unfortulately" ahahah we had to leave and didn't get to go to all of the days of Feria. Where did we go? Oh, just the eternal city a.k.a. ROME