Looking Back from 71%

This was supposed to come 3 weeks ago, but I may have gotten slightly distracted. I hear there are some kind of cool things to do while living abroad. Anyway, forget halfway reflections, I give you my 71% of the way done reflections!

Language – My Spanish is miles and miles ahead of where it was when I first got here in August, with Creole still stuck in my head and my first instinct when I had to speak. I can hold a conversation with anyone on the street, understand pretty much everything that is said to me, and I’ve learned so much grammatically as well. That being said, I still struggle with being able to say that I’m thinking, and I feel like I have to prepare what I’m going to say in advance so that I can know I’m right. I want to be willing to sound like that stupid American when I talk, because that’s the only way I’ll get better.

Money – Well, things would be much easier if I was a millionaire. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. To be honest, the hardest part about my money situation is the constant worry about whether what I’m doing is too expensive, or what I could be doing to save money. I want to be able to enjoy my experiences here, and while I obviously am, it still sucks to always have my bank account balance in the back of my mind. I’ll be getting back to the US with pretty much no money left, which isn’t ideal, but at the same time, when I was thinking what I would have done differently, the answer is nothing. I wouldn’t trade a single trip or experience I’ve had thus far, and even though I’ll have to work pretty much constantly when I get back to have enough money to pay my rent, it’ll be worth it. (I hope.)

Classes – Different, that’s for sure. Very little busy work in any of my five classes, and I can go weeks without needing to do any work. However, I had midterm week last week (5 midterms in 3 days, including 3 in one day, let me tell you how fun that was) and I can say that they were really, really hard. In Spain, a 5 (on a 10 point scale) is a pass, and most students are content with a 5. Obviously, that isn’t the case in America, and so all of us were freaking out about our grades. In Spanish terms, my grades were pretty great, but for my GPA, a couple probably weren’t so hot. All I know is I will be studying very hard for finals.

Trips – Amazing. I’ve been lucky and everywhere that I’ve gone has been absolutely incredible. I don’t know if I could pick a favorite, but Paris is the standard that I measure the rest of my trips against. I also had the best burger of my life there. Dublin reminded me so much of Boston, and it was definitely the place I felt most at home, and the countryside with the cliffs was breath-taking. Also the best apple pies in the entire world – I ate six in probably ten minutes. Portugal was the most fun, adventurous weekend I’ve had so far, and I’ll be talking about it for the rest of my life. I’ve also been lucky enough to travel to so many different cities in Spain and get a real feel for Andalucia, as well as northern Spain and Catalonia. I haven’t gone to London, Morocco, or Denmark yet, but those are some of my most anticipated trips too! It’s been a whirlwind four months, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Food – Obviously one of my favorite topics. First up, the food in Sevilla. I’ve been lucky to have a senora who is an incredible cook. There has been approximately one meal in the past 3 months that I haven’t liked. One. Uno. That’s pretty amazing. She also has Taco Tuesday, which all of my friends are jealous of and I pretty much live for. That, and the paella, tortilla de patatas, and the 100% unhealthy amount of ice cream she feeds me. I haven’t gone out to eat much in Sevilla, but my friends and I go at least once a week to Cien Montaditos, a place with 1 euro sandwiches and tinto that we love. Also, the ice cream here is out of this world. A place right across the street has some amazing s’mores ice cream. However, there is a long list of food that I miss that doesn’t exist here that I'll condense for your benefit (take note, Mom): chicken parm, BREAKFAST (pancakes, eggs, bacon, any of the above), mac and cheese, Chipotle, lemonade, and Aroma Joe’s coffee. Okay, rant over.

Friends – I miss Boston a lot, but if it weren’t for my friends that I miss even more, I would never want to go home. And every time I consider dropping out of school and staying here forever, I get a snapchat from my roommates about the crazy things they’re doing or a friend messages me about the Boston Book Festival. I also can’t wait to see my family, who I miss so much. That being said, I’ve made the most amazing friends here. It’s hard to believe that my first week here I was wondering how I’d survive these four months, and I planned on Skyping my home friends every day. This has been an incredible, amazing experience, but it’s been made even better by the wonderful people that I’ve gotten to share it with. We do crazy things, and have way too much fun, but I wouldn’t have some of my best memories from this semester without them. And now I have an excuse to buy plane tickets to California.

In summary: 71% of the way done with my abroad experience, I want time to slow down so I can stay here forever. I’m completely in love with Spain and Sevilla, and leaving is going to suck big time. But, I miss my friends and family so very much, and I can’t wait to see them again. Thanks for reading, and hopefully you’ll get another post before I’m flying back across the Atlantic in 6 weeks.

Travel on Travel

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about my travels, but in that time I’ve been all over Europe. It’s hard to believe that the last trip I posted about was Portugal. So here’s my attempt at trying to catch up on a month of trips. And I promise to try and do better in the future!

Germany – The most adventurous trip I’ve had so far, for sure. I was super excited for Oktoberfest because I was meeting up with my friends from Northeastern, the first people from home I’d seen in almost 2 months! It was so much fun to be back with them and laugh and have good times.

Getting to and from Germany was definitely a little unconventional. (Mom, you might want to skip this part.) Since flights to Munich were so expensive for Oktoberfest, I had to get creative with transportation. I flew to Paris Thursday night to meet up with my friend Paula, and then we drove overnight to Munich, arriving around 7 am. So obviously, we were ready to start our day. Since our friends weren’t coming until Friday night, we went to Oktoberfest and explored the tents for awhile before going to our airbnb. We met up with everybody and went to dinner at a beer garden, which was really fun but also freezing cold. I forgot how spoiled I was with Spanish weather.

Beers with Paula!

Saturday we got up early and headed back to the tents for Oktoberfest. Let me just tell you, beers the size of your head will do their job pretttty quickly. We got pretzels to go with our beers, and had fun sitting outside the biggest tent all day. Eventually, we were all tired and went back for naptime before going back into Munich for dinner (at Pizza Hut – talk about cultural immersion) and to explore the city.

Marienplatz, the main square in Munich, at night

Sunday was a touristy day, and we went to the Olympic Park and the English Gardens, where there was a manmade surfing wave in the river. We watched people surf it, and it was so impressive! Also, who’d have thought that surfing was big in Germany? Not me. While we were there, Paula and I got a call saying that our ride back to Paris for that night had fallen through, so we headed to the bus station to see if there were any not sold out options. Through some miracle, even though the last bus of the night at 5:30 was sold out, people didn’t show up and we managed to make it and 13 (yes, 13) hours later we were back in Paris – again at 7am. Since my flight didn’t leave for Sevilla until Monday night, Paula and I wandered Paris, found a Starbucks (and I finally got my pumpkin spice latte), and went to see the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens and Notre Dame. It was rainy in the morning, but cleared up and turned into a beautiful fall day in Paris. We ate lunch on the Seine, and it was the perfect relaxing day after Oktoberfest!

Me at the overlook above the Olympic Park!

Outside the Louvre

Paris – Less than a week after I left (4 days to be exact), I was back off to Paris! I had planned this weekend of visiting Paula before I figured out how to get to Germany, so it was a complete coincidence that I was there two weekends in a row. I flew out bright and early Friday morning. Since Paula was at work all day, I decided to head out to Versailles for the day to explore. It was absolutely breathtaking and completely ostentatious and decorative. I will say that after all the hype, I was a little underwhelmed by the Hall of Mirrors. It was obviously beautiful, but I had expected more, although there were also lots of people, so maybe that had something to do with it. My favorite part of Versailles was the part of the grounds where Marie Antoinette’s private house was, along with a gardener’s cottage and small buildings around a pond. It was literally straight out of Sleeping Beauty or some other fairy tale, and I could have stayed there all day.

Friday night, I took the train out to Paula’s little town outside of Paris and went out with her and her friends before coming back to get up early Saturday morning and head back into Paris. Saturday I packed a lot into one day. First, I headed to Sacre-Coeur, the church on the hill with amazing views of Paris. Both the inside and outside were gorgeous, and I even saw a mime performing to huge crowds. After Sacre-Coeur, I walked around the Montmarte District and grabbed lunch. Then I headed off to Shakespeare and Company Bookstore, someplace I’ve always wanted to visit, and it didn’t disappoint. The bookstore on the first floor was cool, but it was the second floor where they have a collection of old books that aren’t for sale, and reading nooks, an old typewriter, and even a bed, that was my favorite. I could’ve stayed there forever!

Sacre-Coeur, and the crowd watching the mime!

Shakespeare & Co.

Instead, I stopped at the love lock bridge on my way to Notre Dame to go inside and climb the tower, since I had only seen the outside with Paula. I hung out with the gargoyles at the top, having major Hunchback of Notre Dame flashbacks. Again, what beautiful views of Paris! After that, I met up with Paula and my friend Spencer, and we decided to walk along the Seine on our way to the Eiffel Tower. It started to rain a little, but nothing too bad. When we saw the Eiffel Tower light up, I felt like I was in a movie. We took a ridiculous number of pictures. When we got to the Eiffel Tower, we found out that we couldn’t walk up, just take the elevator to the top, so we decided to wait until the next morning when we could take the stairs. After that we grabbed dinner (the most amazing burger of my life), hung out at a bar, and ended up back at a hostel.

My favorite bored-looking gargoyle

The Eiffel Tower lit up at night - breath-taking!

Sunday was another full day, since we got up early and ate approximately 14 Nutella sandwiches at the free breakfast the hostel had before heading to the Eiffel Tower. Climbing up, we found that they had installed plexiglass floors so you could see directly through to the miniscule people on the ground below. It was a little terrifying, but also pretty cool. Unfortunately, it was also windy and cold, so teeth chattering was a central part of the Eiffel Tower experience. That being said, it was so cool to be at the top and looking out over all of Paris. After the Eiffel Tower, we headed to the Catacombs. The amount of bones found in the tunnels under Paris was a little overwhelming. I’m glad that I went, but it was still pretty overwhelming seeing all of those skeletons and thinking about all the people who had died. Finally, we went to the Arc de Triomphe, and walked down the Champs Elysees (obviously stopping at McDonalds to grab food, because why not?) before I got on the Metro to catch my flight back to Sevilla.

Coming next: Dublin, Madrid, Toledo, and Barcelona!

Tutoring

One of the activities that the university I’m attending here in Sevilla offers is a chance to tutor for local families who want a native English speaker to work with their children, helping them with their homework and playing games with them while practicing English. On top of that, you get paid (not much, but enough to let me go out on the weekends).

I work with two families. One woman who works at CIEE has a 10-year-old daughter, Clara, that I tutor on Tuesdays for an hour. Clara is very smart, and her mom is fluent in English, so working with her has been a lot of fun. The hard part is coming up with things that are challenging for her. Today, she was singing One Direction songs and I told her we could watch the music videos if she could sing all the words in English. Needless to say, the hour went by pretty fast after that.

The other family I work with on Mondays and Wednesdays has three little girls, one 10-year-old named Lourdes who is also good at English, and two twin six-year-olds named Valentina and Ines who just started learning English. They crack me up, especially Valentina who comes up with new and creative ways to avoid doing her English homework every day. Ines is a complete sweetheart, and always does her work diligently.

Sometimes we do homework the entire time, but a lot of times the girls don’t have English homework, or it only takes a few minutes. My challenge has been coming up with games that can be adjusted for all of their English levels. Clara is by far the most advanced, Lourdes is in the middle, and Valentina and Ines are more elementary. Hangman is a big hit with all of them, and Pictionary is also good since they all love drawing. We read too – Clara is reading Junie B. Jones which is a huge childhood flashback for me. Lourdes just finished Cinderella, which was fun, and now we’re starting Robin Hood. Ines and Valentina are mostly sticking with picture books right now, but they love them and they’re becoming more comfortable reading out loud in English.

I’ve really enjoyed getting to know more Spanish families and working with all four girls. Especially since this is what I did all summer in Haiti, I feel like it was a great chance to continue teaching while practicing my Spanish and learning more about the Spanish school system. I have a little over a month left of tutoring, and I’m excited to see how much more my girls can learn in that time. 

A Day in Spain

Most people who study abroad (myself included!) are guilty of talking about all the amazing things that they do on the weekends, like traveling to Paris or buying last-minute flights to London. I should probably stop now before I get carried away. That being said, some of my favorite moments of study abroad have come from the ordinary daily life, and that is the part that is not talked about as frequently. So today, I’m here to bring you a peek into the extraordinary ordinariness of a day in Spain.

Depending on the day, I get up for my first class at either 9:00 or 10:30. Unlike Northeastern, which is conveniently located right in the middle of the city, my university in Sevilla is outside of the city center. By metro, it’s a half hour from my apartment, but I decided to rent a bike (fun fact: Sevilla is the 3rd best city in the world for biking!) and so it’s a 20-25 minute bike ride. This also helps me feel better about the massive amount of bread and gelato that I eat here. (In case you think I’m exaggerating, I had three ice creams yesterday. It’s a problem).

I go to class until either 1:20 or 2:50, and then it’s time to come home for lunch! At first, it took some getting used to since Spanish people eat so much later, both for lunch and dinner, but now it’s not strange at all to wait until 3:30pm for lunch. My senora works during the day, so she makes lunch in the morning and leaves it either on the stove or in the fridge for me and my three Spanish siblings to eat whenever we get home. The two 10-year-old girls usually get out of school right around when I do, so we eat together and then play Mario Kart or watch TV before my favorite time of the day: siesta!

Siesta has become less of a thing in parts of Spain, but in Andalucia in the south, it’s still very relevant. Even if I didn’t want to take a nap in the middle of the day (but really, who wouldn’t?), most businesses and shops are closed between 2-6. This is the hottest part of the day, and especially in summer, being outside during that time is not enjoyable at all. Now that it’s getting cooler, more businesses are open, but for the most part, tradition holds.

After siesta, I’ll do a little homework, and then go out with friends to sit at the bar or explore Sevilla. Since large families live in small homes, it’s not at all typical for people to go over to each other’s houses. Socializing here happens outside of the house, so any time we meet up, it’s at a park or a bar or a café. Mondays and Wednesdays, I tutor three little Spanish girls in English, which is so much fun because they’re adorable, and I love teaching them and doing their homework together. Their whole family is so nice, and they live right around the corner from me so it’s an easy walk!

I’ll come home and hang out until dinner around 9:30pm, and either do homework, watch TV, or go back out to hang out with friends. Some nights we do more exciting things, like go to a futbol (soccer!) game, or find free concerts by the river. Days are busy and full, but I love every second of being here in Sevilla.

I miss Boston and Northeastern, but I’ve found lots of things to do here to make me just as busy as I would be at home. I fully believe everyone who said that study abroad is the best experience of your college life. Northeastern has so many opportunities for students. If there’s one thing I would recommend doing in college, it’s study abroad.

I’m off to go out to this multi-cultural fair that’s in one of our parks this month with my friends. There’s food tents from over 50 countries, and last time we went I tried zebra. For the curious, it tasted like really chewy steak. We’ll see what adventures we embark on tonight.

Portugal!

This past weekend was one of the craziest, most exhausting, incredible experiences of my life. There's no way I can fit everything I did into a blog post, but I'll try my best to recount it all. Along with a group of friends, I traveled to Sagres, Portugal for a weekend of adventure and fun.

We left on Friday afternoon, and drove about 4 hours from Sevilla to the cliffs of Sagres, where we were just in time to watch the sunset over the ocean. It was beautiful, and would become pretty typical that weekend. Climb some cliffs, get amazing views of the ocean, and watch how beautiful it was when the sun set. After our hike (and lots of pictures), we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

Our hotel was surprisingly nice, which I say as someone who lives on a student budget and really just expects enough space to sleep. It had a kitchen, bathroom, and beds set up in the bedroom and living room, so me and my friends weren't all packed in a small room. There was even a balcony overlooking the pool. And no hate to my bed here, but I could have slept in that bed forever, it was SO comfortable.

Sagres is definitely a summer beach town, and since it's no longer summer, it was pretty deserted. We still found a restaurant/bar to go to that night, and I was so excited to get a hamburger and fries. After we were done dinner, it turned into a bar and we stayed there for the night, which was kind of inevitable since there were no other bars in town. It was a night of crazy ideas, one of them being that tying sheets together and scaling our balcony to get to the pool could not possibly end badly. Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I didn't end up going through with it.

Saturday morning we got to sleep in, hang out and relax by the pool, and have a barbecue at the hotel before heading out for the day's more intense activities. Since our group was so large, we split into two and my group first went to a breathtaking beach to swim, play volleyball, and hang out before it was time for rock climbing and cliff jumping. My friend Emily and I ended up playing volleyball for at least 2 hours, with people we met from all over Europe. It was so much fun.

Finally, it was our turn to go and we drove about 5 minutes to a lagoon where we would be jumping and climbing. The cliff we were climbing was right next to the ocean, so even when I was dying halfway up the rocks, I could still look behind me and appreciate the amazing scenery. Rock climbing was so fun, and I got the highest in my group, even though I didn't make it to the top. After we were done climbing, it was time to cliff jump. I was pretty excited, because this is something I've always wanted to do, and what better place to try it than Portugal?

As it turns out, I think I'd be a bigger fan of cliff jumping in a lake, or anywhere where there weren't monstrous waves. I was the third and last person to jump in my group because right after Emily and I jumped, the waves became enormous and swimming from where we jumped back to shore was incredibly difficult and dangerous. The actual jumping was the most exhilarating thing I've ever done, and I'm so glad that I didn't chicken out, but getting stuck in the riptide and smashed by waves was also pretty terrifying.

That being said, we all survived and it was just another memory to add to this adventure. After jumping, we hiked out to what was once thought to be the End of the World to watch the sunset. I feel like there should be a limit on how many times I say something was absolutely beautiful, but I promise that I said it just as much in real life as I keep saying it now.

Saturday night we went out for dinner again, and Emily and I shared steak, which let me tell you I have been craving since America, and it did not disappoint. It also didn't hurt that they added fried potatoes on the side. Yum. We went back to the hotel and went out again that night, which was just as crazy and fun as our Friday night, but without any attempts to climb down walls.

Sunday was surfing day! Having never tried surfing before, I can now appreciate just how hard it is. I stood up (barely) and immediately fell back off. I would also say that we glided more than surfed, since we only caught white waves. It was still so much fun, and despite how exhausting it was, I had a blast making a fool out of myself. I will say that they make carrying a surfboard look so easy in the movies, and I, along with the bruises on my hip, are here to tell you that it is really, really hard.

We went on one last cliff hike to get another breathtaking view, and then it was off to one more lunch before we made the drive back home. I, along with the other 3 girls in my car, immediately passed out and slept for most of the ride. Our poor driver was probably not amused. We woke up for the last hour and had fun playing American music for him, though.

All in all, Portugal was too beautiful for words to describe, and I'm so lucky that I got to experience it with some amazing people. I have more bruises than I can count and sore muscles, but it was completely worth it.

Putting the "study" in study abroad

Well, it had to happen eventually. Wednesday I started my regular, semester-long classes at Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Sevilla. I'm taking 5 classes, either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday - which means no class on Fridays, YES. I'm pretty excited about that particular development.

I'm taking a Spanish language class, History of Spanish Art, Contemporary Spanish Politics, The Road to Democracy in Spain, Greece, and Portugal, and Intercultural Communication in Context. Luckily, all the classes fulfill Northeastern requirements for me when they're transferred back, and I'll be done with my International Affairs minor after this semester!

UPO is a little further away than I'm used to, especially since I've only ever walked to my classes at Northeastern. It's a 10 minute Metro ride, but I'm considering renting a bike from UPO so that I can ride back and forth from class instead to save money and also start working off all the Spanish ice cream I can't stop eating!

Mondays and Wednesdays I start my day at 9am, which means getting up before the sun here in Spain. It's an early start, but I really love my 9am Spanish Politics class and the professor, so it's worth it! After that I have a break until 12, when I have my Road to Democracy class. It's a really interesting subject, but I'm not a fan of the professor so far, so hopefully it gets better. After that I have my Intercultural Communication class, which is taught by a Spaniard, so it should be full of interesting discussions about differences in cultures. I'm done by 2:50, just in time to go home for lunch and then take a siesta.

Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't start until 10:30 (sleeping in!) and I only have two classes, right in a row - History of Spanish Art followed by my Spanish language class. I'm not a big art person, so we'll see how the art class goes, but I really like my Spanish class and professor so far. I'm done for the day by 1:20.

College here is definitely different from the USA - it's a place to go take classes, rather than a place to live for 4 years, but they do still have sports teams, extracurriculars, and lots of resources for students, especially the International Student Center for confused Americans like me. Everyone seems really nice, and the Spanish students start classes next week, so it will be exciting to see what UPO is like with everyone on campus.

Classes

The reason that I came to Spain mid-August when most study abroad programs begin sometime in September was to improve my Spanish. Living with a Spanish family was immensely helpful, but I was also enrolled in a CIEE Intensive Spanish class to help me get ready for this semester. For three hours a day, I spoke only in Spanish and did enough work in two weeks to fill an entire semester. It was challenging and difficult, but it was also so helpful. I've only been here for three weeks, but there's already been a notable difference in how comfortable I am speaking Spanish, both with my host family and random people on the street.

The most intimidating, but also probably useful, part of the class were the two presentations we did about the people who live in Sevilla. For the first presentation, we worked in pairs to interview Spanish university students about their lives here. Working up the courage to approach them was by far the hardest part of this project. My partner and I were careful to look for people who seemed nice and unlikely to laugh at our bad Spanish. That being said, everyone we talked to was so nice and willing to help us with this project. When we presented, we also did so entirely in Spanish for 10 minutes, which was challenging but encouraging at the same time. It made me happy to know that I could do it.

For our second presentation, we had to work by ourselves and interview a worker from someplace in Sevilla. I chose to go down to a magazine/candy/etc kiosk (think of those places in the mall, or an entire convenience store in one little stand) right outside my apartment because my senora told me that the man working there was very nice. I purposely went during the siesta so that no one else would be out on the streets to make me more nervous than I already was! The man, named Fernando, was really helpful and kind and my presentation went fine. Even though they were nerve-wracking, I'm glad that we had to do those two presentations.

But now my Intensive class is done (yay!) and tomorrow is my Spanish language placement test at Universidad Pablo de Olavide, where I'll be taking my regular classes for the rest of the semester. Wednesday is the official first day of classes there. Even though I don't find out my schedule until Tuesday, I have a rough idea of classes I'll be taking. Definitely a Spanish language class, a History of Spanish Art class, and then some combination of Contemporary Spanish Politics, Democracy in Portugal, Greece, and Spain, and History of Spain. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm excited to get involved in classes and extracurriculars over there.

I still want to get a post up with pictures of all the beautiful places I've seen so far, so hopefully that will come sometime in the next couple days. Thanks for reading!