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:

P is for….

This week, ‘P’ is for Paris, Puente, and Peluquería:

PARIS

On the 2nd platform of the Eiffel Tower

Last weekend, I traveled with Kristin & Joe to Paris! Upon landing we quickly learned that we know very little French, perhaps aside from Parlez-vous anglais? and my limited French number knowledge of “une, deux, trois.” I’ll be forever grateful to my friend Sam for letting us stay in her apartment near the Eiffel Tower and for showing us a great time!

So where did we go? Better question: where did we NOT go? We visited the Louvre, climbed to the second platform of the Eiffel Tower, watched the sunset from the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur in Montmartre, passed through the Jewish quarter for some excellent falafel, and more! The Parisian food was definitely a highlight of the weekend, including multiple crepes, a fancy lunch at Le Petit Vatel, numerous types of cheeses (camembert, brie, emmental, …), french onion soup, and escargot. Check out more highlights/photos from the trip HERE.

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!): 

No big deal… just went to AFRICA!

Meet my new amigo, Señor Camel!

You heard right: how did I spend last weekend? Traveling in MOROCCO! My adventure officially made Africa the third continent I’ve visited. Since southern Spain is so close, it wasn’t so much a question of “Why travel to Morocco?” but more a question of “Why not?!?” Not only was it an extremely enjoyable trip, but it was also eye-opening in ways I didn’t expect. When I told friends or family back home that I was traveling to Morocco, there were lots of warnings to to be careful. The culture is definitely different and I would not have traveled by myself (for more reasons than just security), but I never felt unsafe. Although we saw many poorer areas and it is a developing country, there is also a vibrant culture filled with honest, hard-working people who are just trying to make a living. Also super impressive: most of the Moroccan people speak multiple languages! They known Arabic & Spanish but in many cases also English, French, or other languages. Although some Moroccans have had formal language education (we saw lots of immersion schools), many shopkeepers we spoke with said they picked up many of their language abilities from interacting with tourists.

¡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.

¿FUEGO?!?

So I was having a casual morning: woke up bright & early for my 8:30am psych class, and when class ended at around 9:45 I decided to check my phone. I had a new message from Kristin; not too out of the ordinary, right? WRONG. While I was peacefully in class, Kristin woke up to our señora asking ¿Fuego?, a fireman entering the apartment, and everyone running out of the house. Our apartment was okay, but the floristería (flower shop) below our house….. not so much.

I probably wouldn’t have paid too much attention to this ABC de Sevilla post on my Facebook newsfeed until I realized it was what happened right below our apartment.

Casual morning is a bit of an understatement

Video footage here:

http://www.abcdesevilla.es/videos-otros/20121017/espectacular-incendio-floristeria-remedios-1905844186001.html

And photo slideshow:

http://abcdesevilla.es/fotos-local/20121017/incendio-devasta-floristeria-remedios-108343.html

Things I’ve Learned in Sevilla

I’ve been in Sevilla for over a month now, so I think a bit of reflection is appropriate. These aren’t necessarily in any particular order, and by no means are they necessarily the most important things I’ve learned in Sevilla, but they’re useful lessons I’ve learned to help deal with day-to-day life:

1) No one can pronounce my name. I am known here as CHannon.

Visita a la Farmacia

Shopping in Sevilla is quite an experience. To start, July and August are major sale months in Spain, so everything has been really cheap since we arrived. There are tons of rebajas, as they’re called here. Most of the things I’ve purchased have been discounted 50% or more! But it’s also an interesting experience just to search around stores looking for prices in Euros and asking store employees for whereabouts of different products. A lot of times there might not be an exact translation of what I’m looking for, so a roundabout description of what I need has to suffice.

Good thing I can read in Spanish!

La Familia y La Comida

Kristin, in our room for the semester!

Last Thursday night I found out my home-stay family for the semester! I’m very happy to be rooming with Kristin, one of my good friends from Penn. We are sharing a home-stay with our señora, Cristina. Her sons Juan and Ignacio also live in the house; they’re both about 35 or 40 years old, but it’s more common for older children to live with their parents in Spain. Cristina has 5 children, but only Juan and Ignacio live there all of the time. Her only daughter, who’s name is also Cristina, lives here part of the time but has been on vacation for the past month and also has her own apartment a couple blocks away (it’s very common for los sevillanos to have long vacations like this during the summer!). I was a bit nervous to move in with my family last Friday after the comforts of Hotel Béquer, but all of the family is very nice and I think I’ll really enjoy living here during the semester. Our casa is in a neighborhood called los Remedios, which is only a 5 minute walk across the Guadalquivir River from our program center and less than a 10 minute walk to la Universidad de Sevilla. We also eat all of our meals at home, which will help me to save money for trips! (more info on excursions in a future post)