Consejos for future study abroad students

Study abroad was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. To all of my blog readers, thanks for following me this semester! And for any of you studying abroad in the future, I’ve combined a list of my general study abroad & Sevilla-specific study abroad advice:

GENERAL ADVICE

– Try everything! The food, new experiences, etc. Your going to be out of your comfort zone no matter what, so you might as well take full advantage of the experience.

– You can’t try to plan everything. I was definitely the over-prepared study abroad student, but once I arrived in Sevilla I found so many more trips and activities I wanted to plan than I could have anticipated. I’m glad I did some research ahead of time to find my rowing club and not show up completely disoriented, but so many new opportunities presented themselves once I got to Spain.

– Take advantage of international travel, but don’t go too crazy. I loved that we traveled on trips around Spain with the MCP program and that I made time to travel to other destinations by myself. A few international trips are definitely worth it, but make sure to include some down weekends. Although ‘travel’ abroad is fun, you need some time for the ‘study’ part, too!

– Gift ideas for your host family: It was actually kind of hard to think of something small to bring, but host moms like items such as magnets and mugs. Bringing one from your city is a good idea. Every morning I had my tea out of a Penn mug a former student had brought, and my host mom’s fridge was decorated with magnets from former students.

– Packing tips: Hit up Sam’s Club or Costco before you go and bring large sizes of all your toiletries. Not only will it save you money (I used one bottle each of shampoo, body gel, and shave cream and only one tube of toothpaste the entire semester), but it will also free up room for souvenirs (or shoes :p) on the way back, which you will definitely need!

– Best way to explore your new city: Take a walk! And if you’re really adventurous, try without a map. Some of the best activities you can do while studying abroad are free and can be done just walking around visiting different sites and exploring. Many cities also have a lot of free festivals, like Sevilla’s Festival de Naciones.

– Money advice: If you’re looking for the best way to deal with money, I LOVED my Charles Schwab checking account. It’s free to set-up checking with them if you link it to a brokerage account (no minimum!), and they don’t charge an additional hidden exchange rate like most banks. Also, any ATM fees you incur will be refunded at the end of the month. And for any bank, if you’re dealing with money transfers between accounts, definitely do this in advance if you know you’ll need more money. It usually took about a week for my online transfers from my Chase bank account to clear over in my account with Charles Schwab.

No es ‘Adios’ sino ‘Hasta luego’

Kristin and I with our host mom, Cristina. Love her!!

Oh, the adventures of returning back to the USA! Why, you might ask? As I type, I am currently at my aunt & uncle’s home in Charlotte, NC, because flight #4 of 4 on my journey home to New Orleans was cancelled yesterday evening. Luckily I have relatives here who could rescue me from the airport (forever grateful!). This 25 hour return home journey has just turned more into 40 hours!

I started this post on plane # 3 of 4 on my journey back home. Right now it still feels a bit surreal to be back in America. Let’s just say that my journey though customs was a bit of a Spanglish mess (used words like gracias and hola a lot more than necessary!). :p I’m already missing Spain, but I know that now is the right time to come back. I accomplished what I meant to do in Spain, and that’s the best I could ask for! If my 30 hour conversation with my cab driver yesterday or my 4 hour conversation with a new Spanish friend in the Madrid airport aren’t indications that I’ve achieved fluency, then I don’t know what is! I’ve updated my More from la Vida en Sevilla gallery with some photos of my last days in Spain.

So this morning I’v embarked the journey of returning to some of American ways. I’ve been thinking about what to say in this post for awhile, and I’ve compiled a list of some of the things I know I’ll miss most about Sevilla but also what I’m grateful to return home to:

Fiestas, visitantes, y una media maratón

It’s been another action-filled last two weeks! Lo siento for the tardiness of this post; there’s a lot to catch everyone up on:

MÁS Y MÁS (¡y MÁS!) VIAJES

Running in the Media Maratón Rincón de la Victoria

Málaga & Rincón de la Victoria 1/2 Marathon– Follow the link for photos! The main purpose of this trip was the half marathon, but since Kristin decided to accompany me we made a full weekend out of the excursion. Highlights of the trip: discovering Primark (a very cheap Irish clothing store chain!), visiting the Museo Picasso Málaga and seeing its exhibition on the Grotesque, and, of course, the half marathon! I’d definitely consider the race as one of the more difficult athletic ventures I’ve undertaken, but I really enjoyed the experience. I also placed 2nd in my age group with an overall time of 2:01:52. I’ll surely want to run another 1/2 marathon in the future! I’ve really enjoyed participating in races in Spain: it’s so much cheaper to register and there’s always lots of free regalitos (little gifts). I’ll miss these benefits when I run races back home!

VIDEO from the race (fast-forward to 10:48 to see yours truly!): 

¿Hay huelga? No hay problema

Kristin’s photo from the 14-N manifestación

At least there’s not a problem for us extranjeros! On Wednesday classes and university activities were cancelled for the nationwide huelga. For any of you non-Spanish speakers out there, huelga means strike, although the Spanish version is not what you might typically think. At least when I think ‘strike’, the first thoughts that pop into my mind are sit-ins, workers with picket signs marching in circles, and huge inconveniences. The huelgas in Spain aren’t so completely different in that, yes, people do take to the streets (in thousands!) and there are certainly some inconveniences for those non-strikers who just want to buy a café or go to a favorite store only to discover that it’s closed. But although there can definitely be strikes here against employers, as anywhere, the huelgas in Spain are usually more centered on discontent with the government. The thousands that took to the streets in Sevilla and other large cities on Wednesday were united in that they wanted to send the government a message of their dissatisfaction, but the aims of different coalitions were different:

¡Últimas noticias!

Lots of updates from the past week:

Our group getting ready for the factory tour

TRIPS & PHOTOS

Estepa– Before heading off to Barcelona last weekend, I took a morning trip with MCP to visit La Aurora, a factory in the town of Estepa that makes mantecados (a sweet enjoyed in Sevilla during the Christmas season). But as we learned, mantecados are strictly eaten only during the fall and Christmas season; other months of the year (January-August), the factory makes barritas (energy/sports bars). Check out photos from the trip HERE.

¡Viajes y más!

Once again, I’ve been SUPER busy recently! It’s a different kind of busy than at Penn; aside from class, there’s less crew practice & club meetings but more time spent traveling and even just studying. I’ve even found that I review my notes a lot more here since it’s especially important with all of my classes in Spanish to clarify what I don’t understand every day. I should probably start doing this more at Penn! :p Anyway, here’s some more updates from my last post:

VIAJES:

How surreal is this?!? My favorite photo from Ronda.

Ronda– Two Saturdays ago, I went with the MCP program to visit Ronda, located in the mountains. Let me just say that it was “gorge-ous”! (Yes, I know it’s an awful pun but it was so pretty & there was a huge gorge!) You can check out my photos of Ronda at this link, but here’s some other highlights:

La lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla

Cloudy skies over la Fábrica de Tobacos, one of the main university buildings

In the Spanish version of the film My Fair Lady, the phrase “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the the plain,” used to demonstrate different pronunciations of the ‘ai’ sound in English dialects, is translated into “la lluvia en Sevilla es una maravilla.” Translate this phrase back into English to get “the rain in Seville is a wonder.” And for us in Sevilla this week, that it was! I made it through the end of my first week of classes at la Universidad de Sevilla but not without a little rain to make the treks to and from university campuses just that much more interesting. I still haven’t finalized my schedule yet; we’ve got three days next week before we submit our final selections. However, at least this upcoming week should hopefully feel a little less hectic now that I’ve got a general idea of courses.

Mi primer día a la Universidad de Sevilla

La Real Fábrica de Tabacos, the main building of the University of Sevilla

I survived! The first of classes at la Universidad de Sevilla is over, and it definitely had its challenges. This week is a bit crazy since we don’t have our schedules yet and need to attend all of our possible class options to see 1) if we can understand the professor, 2) if we even like/want to take the class, and 3) if professor is willing to give us an exam before Christmas (the Spanish cuatrisemestre actually runs through the end of January, so that’s when everyone else takes exams).

I’m alive!…

…. which I’m sure you all knew, but it’s been quite a while since my last post! After our trip to Cádiz I had intended to post the next day but obviously that never happened. Our directors told us at the very beginning that these first few weeks of orientation were the most intense of the entire program. I didn’t believe them at first but I definitely do now! So what have I been up to?

Just a preview of what I’ve been up to: in front of el Palacio Real in Madrid (with ice cream, of course!)

Los primeros días en Sevilla

In la Plaza de Triunfo with Kristin

Wow, what a hectic week it’s been! I just got here on Monday afternoon, but it feels like it’s been much more than that since the days are a lot longer here. The combination of the long days and the excitement of wanting to explore the city has definitely not been good for my sleeping habits! Like I mentioned in my last post, I managed to avoid jetlag by sleeping through my flights, but jetlag is nothing compared to the daily routine of los sevillanos.