One of my first thoughts arriving in a new country was, “I want to go home”. I think this is a very common reaction I believe. I had traveled for almost 24 hours, I was with a large group of very lost college students, and I just wanted to go home. Once we arrived at our accommodations, a nice nap is all it took to bring back the excitement of being in a new country. I stayed in an actual home in the Triana neighborhood of Seville, the oldest neighborhood. It was my first taste of Spanish culture. It was beautiful, what surprised me the most though, was how large and open such a small building could be. After I napped, I met my house mom and became acquainted with my flatmates. My roommate and I set out to explore a tiny bit of the neighborhood. I took a photo when we did this, and that’s when it set in for me that I was in Spain.
Taking classes is very different when abroad. My school building was a refurbished home in the middle of the Jewish district; we were walking distance from the palace and the cathedral. Each morning, I walked about a mile to class, classes were a little over two hours Monday – Thursday for four weeks. Now that sounds steep, but the information and the way I was taught made time fly. My classes were all culturally based, so it was all just learning about the community I was living in. Our classes were very small, ten people max, so we all became fairly close. Most of what we learned was from going out and exploring in person. I loved taking a class from a different world view, especially the place I was living, because it allowed me to develop a deeper meaning and connection to my temporary home.
I took major advantage of my time abroad and the freedom that came along with an affiliate program! Each weekend I went exploring. Soon after we arrived, my program took us on a day trip to Cadiz, Spain, which is a small beach town. It was uncanny how similar to Florida it felt. The only downside was that the water was freezing! I couldn’t bear to be in it at all! You would think that would be great, considering it was almost always above 100 degrees, but I enjoy the heat.
That next weekend happened to be my birthday, so me and one of my flatmates flew over to Italy. We spent a day in Naples, enjoying the water and the views then spent two days in Rome. We had a little less than 48 hours to see every sight in Rome, but sure enough we did it. We did all this on a whim as well so we just kind of figured it out as we went and I saw things I didn’t even know existed, like the archaeological ruins of the Trevi fountain (under the fountain). Despite not knowing the language at all the Italians were very nice and welcoming to us. No one even guessed we were American!
Our next weekend our program took us on an over night trip to Granda, Spain. This was where I saw my first ever snowcapped mountains. It was 105 degrees, completely uphill. It was beautiful. We went on a scavenger hunt around the whole city then me and my friend’s all got pizza at a mildly sketchy pizza place.
My last weekend Me and three friends went to France. We explored all the sights we could, we ate so so much bread and enjoyed the gardens. France was probably the place where I had the best food ever. One of the most memorable moments was that in France its very common for uber drivers to just cancel or not pick up your order. So, My friends and I got stuck in a thunderstorm for a solid two hours before an uber picked us up soaking wet. We chose to go to France because I had in the past taken 4 years of French, so they all trusted me to get them around. The metro was quite easy to navigate but frequently broke down and was very hot! The French were actually very very nice to my surprise. Perhaps it was because I at least attempted to speak French to them. The majority of rude people I encountered abroad were tourists.
Lastly after we finished our finals me and my flat mate hopped on a bus and went to Faro, Portugal. I was only in Portugal for a day so that we could go to the beach, but it was absolutely amazing. I wish I had more time to be able to explore Portugal. It was so colorful, and the people were so welcoming.
As far as my host city, Seville It was by far my favorite place I went. I was constantly surrounded by locals all of who were happy to have us there. I never felt unwanted or like a tourist. Many locals were interested in what brought me to Seville rather than a larger city like Madrid. Most of them told me I chose the right place. They all have this undeniable pride for their city that you can see in how they treat the city and in how they speak to you. My professors told me the Spanish were known to be loud, which I didn’t notice at first but I think its that they all have very bold personalities.
I struggled a lot to be able to communicate as I never expected to be going abroad in Spain. Though I managed to live there for a month knowing zero Spanish. I utilized a lot of google translate! The thing that was the most disappointing was I lived with other students but we had a host mom come in every day to cook for us but she didn’t live with us. Since we didn’t live with her they didn’t require us knowing Spanish so I was once of the only once unable to communicate with her despite eating with her every day. I was able to text her using Google Translate when I needed and I got very good at finding key words I understood.
I am quite bad at buying things when I travel because I worry about running out of money then I find myself with no souvenirs. I actually bought more stuff for my friends and family than myself. The majority of souvenirs I got for myself were all paper I had collected along the way train tickets, pamphlets, receipts, or even labels ripped off bottles. My flatmate jen who was the person I traveled everywhere with collected postcards to put in a frame so, I also started doing that. I am excited to go home, I know when I’m home I’ll miss being abroad but being gone from my loved ones for so long is hard. I think I took advantage of all the time I had while in Europe very wisely so I’m content heading home. I’m most excited to give my loved ones all of their trinkets I’ve collected for them.