The highlight of my college experience was undoubtedly the spring semester of my junior year, spent abroad in the beautiful city of Seville, Spain. I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where studying abroad was the norm, as my parents actually met while abroad in London their junior year of college. I grew up listening to my parents tell countless stories of their adventures throughout Europe, and therefore from a young age I always knew that studying abroad would be a part of my college story. So, unsurprisingly, in January of 2022, I found myself strapped with 3 suitcases hugging my parents goodbye in New York’s JFK airport with a ticket headed straight for Seville, Spain. Little did I know, I was about to enter the adventure of a lifetime.
​
Seville in my opinion, is the most perfect study abroad city in the world. Seville is overflowing with tradition and classic hispanic culture, with its winding cobblestone streets and neighborhoods teeming with history. Yet, there is a modern flair about it, you can find a blend of cultures within its inhabitants and the nightlife certainly reminds you that you are indeed in the Year 2023, not the early 1400s like the architecture might suggest. The culture of Seville is unlike any other, history oozes from every aspect of daily life. Walking to class, I would hear flamenco music echoing through the streets amidst the sound chatter of neighbors greeting each other good morning. I lived in the neighborhood known as “Los Remedios”, a nice neighborhood filled with families across the river from El Centro (or the downtown area of the city). To get from El Centro to Los Remedios, I had to walk down a street called Calle Asunción. Calle Asunción is by far my most favorite street in all of Seville. It is a pedestrian street, where no cars are allowed, and is filled with local shops and boutiques. Sometimes, I would sit on a bench in the middle of the street and watch as the street grew loud and noisy and then quiet again. The mornings would be eerily quiet, with no sounds but the street sweepers and shop owners arriving at their place of work. Mid morning would be busy, with children running around and people bustling through the street. Around lunch, the shops would close and suddenly all the people would be gone, back in their homes for a late lunch with family. Afterwards, around 4pm, the street would become crowded again, once again filled with hundreds of people milling about until the wee hours of the night. Coming from New York City, I was fascinated by the traffic pattern of Calle Asunción. In the United States, it seems that everywhere is busy all the time, people are constantly on the go, skipping meals and rarely eating with friends or family. I enjoyed the laid back atmosphere of Seville, where resting and prioritizing family time takes precedence over work deadlines and stress.
These values extended into the classroom as well. Where in the United States I’ve spent who knows how long stressing over attaining a certain grade on an assignment, I rarely thought about grades at all in Spain. And that’s not to say I didn’t care about doing well, I did, but my teachers cared more about having meaningful conversations in class and learning, as opposed to proctoring exam after exam. I took four classes while abroad: Spanish Literature, Spanish Film, Spanish for Health Professionals and Advanced Spanish Conversation and Composition. We were rarely in the classroom for these classes, instead we spent class time visiting different parts of Seville and learning about the city’s rich history of famous poets and authors, movie directors and physicians. In Spanish Literature we did a walking tour of the monuments and plaques dedicated to famous authors from Seville, in Spanish Film we toured the beautiful parks where countless movies were filmed, and in Spanish for Health Professionals we toured both Seville’s very first hospital and its most modern, advanced hospital. The interactive learning style was so much more engaging and fulfilling compared to the boring textbook work I was used to in the United States.
​
In Seville, I lived with a single woman who loved hosting girls from the United States. She loved learning about our culture, and in return we loved hearing about hers. I ate most meals with her, which became one of my favorite pastimes. It was a great opportunity to practice my Spanish, as she did not speak any English, and she loved discussing current events in the world. We watched the news most nights with dinner, and talked about everything from politics to pop culture. It was so interesting hearing about her life experiences and she always had tons of questions about what it is like to live in the United States.
​
The last and final week of my semester abroad was the perfect storybook ending to my time in Seville. The final few days of my journey were dedicated to Féria. Féria, also known as the Seville Fair, is a seven day long celebration commemorating the start of spring. The celebrations continue all day and night, including dancing and drinking and spending time with family and friends. Tents cover the fairgrounds, each home to a specific neighborhood, family, or community group. The ladies dress in their Flamenco finest while drinking rebujito, the typical cocktail of Féria. During Féria, the culture of Seville is everywhere, from the clothing to the food to the overall ambience. It was the perfect ending to my time in Seville, Spain.
