During the Fall of 2022, I spent four months living and studying in the province of Andalucia in Southern Spain in one of the most picturesque cities I will ever visit: Seville. And while I spent weekdays cooped up either at home in Los Remedios (a neighborhood near the city center) or at the Universidad de Pablo Olavide on one of many picnic tables, while I spent my weekends traveling.
I’ve been to Lisbon, Sintra, and Praia de Benagil in Portugal; Torre de Antequera (which is also in Andalucia); London, England with some friends I made here during the semester; took the Halloween break to stay in a hostel in Dublin (which if you can, go); went to Disneyland Paris with my best friend who was studying in Florence following a week of stressful midterms; Torino in Northern Italy where I was able to see the Alps and Venice where it rained so hard I needed to buy new shoes; got to Barcelona via train with my best friend I made in Spain as well as a smattering of day trips throughout Spain.
Spain, as a country, is simply astonishing. The way that these historic monuments are built into everyday life is so inspiring. The cities I visited in Spain all hold these great European sites: La Mezquita in Cordoba, La Alhambra in Granada, and the Conjunto Arqueológico De Carmona (a Roman settlement that is now an archaeological site that you can visit and go on tours). I learned so much about Spanish culture and history through these day trips as well as gaining the skills to research and travel in a foreign country.
This experience, as much as it was the best four months of my life, was a very difficult time. Prior to this, I had never been outside of the US much rather to a place where I did not speak the language. I took 5 years of Spanish in middle and high school and did Duolingo every day and still felt lost when I got to Spain. I never want my students to feel like that and I would love to pursue a master’s in Teaching English as a Second language. I know what it feels like to not understand 80% of what is going on around you and I want to help my students feel included and cared about in my classroom.
