Category: Spain

Mantra of the Week: Sevilla, Oktoberfest, and Mallorca!

Published on by Romina DadkhahLeave a comment

Hello readers,

Welcome to this week’s blog! It’s crazy to step back and realize that I have been in Sevilla for over a month now. I remember flying into Spain on September 7th being so nervous about what was to come. Now, I am reflecting my time here exactly a month later and reminiscing about all the amazing experiences I’ve had so far.

My first weekend studying abroad, I chose to stay in Sevilla to navigate my away around the city and meet other ISA students. It’s very crucial to utilize the first two weeks in your home city to get a good understanding of your city and build friendships with other study abroad students. I’ve learned that it’s in those first initial encounters of tremendous opportunity to build a stable circle of friends, because everyone is just as nervous and homesick as you are.

On the second day of being here our program offered an excursion to the Royal Alcazar and the Cathedral de Sevilla. It was so exciting and refreshing to see my Middle Eastern culture being reflected in old mosques and cathedrals. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve felt seen and accepted. Walking around Sevilla’s old town to get to the excursion sites was like stepping onto a movie set – it simply wasn’t real. Sevilla’s rich architecture and warm people are exquisite and stunning. Every building was covered with arches, arabesque designs, and rich colors of pinks, yellow, and red. The streets are crowded with American tourists, Europeans, and Spaniards. I was shocked with how well dressed and classy everyone looked. Maxi dresses that I would wear to a wedding or a fancy event in America were being used as casual walking attire. I knew instantly by walking through the streets of Old Town and feeling the warmth of the Sevilla sun on my face that I had the right choice to study abroad here, and I was going to love it.

After touring the excursion sites, I took the opportunity to go out to lunch with a few students in my program. I remember trying to take in everything at the restaurant as I tried to grapple with the fact that I was in Europe and how much I experienced in less than 48 hours. I still can’t shake the feeling of being on such a high when I was reading the menu trying to figure out how Tapas worked and practicing how to say my order in Spanish under my breath.

The next day, my friends and I went to the San Bernardo Metro station to get our metro passes for school. The University Pablo de Olavide is a commuter school, and it’s approximately a 20-3o min train ride to the university depending on where you live in Sevilla. I was placed in Residencia housing with 22 other ISA study abroad students and I live 1o minutes away from the Metro stop. It took us 10 minutes to walk to the stop, 15 minutes to get to the campus, and then another 10-minute walk to the international building. Our university was holding an orientation session for all the international students, and it was amazing to meet other international students who were not from the United States. With about 250 students, there were faces from Norway, Germany, Hong Kong, and the United States. Everyone was so kind and welcoming as we got a tour of the school and our class schedules. It was confusing at first to navigate the university and understand how my schedule worked, but my friends and I eventually figured it out.

That night a few friends and I walked along the river in Sevilla and stopped to eat dinner. It was such a bittersweet moment of sitting alongside the river eating Spanish food. I love how in Spanish culture, they take time to eat. They never rush you to eat quickly, and I have not felt self-conscious about sitting at a table for too long. I appreciate how Spanish culture prioritizes nurturing relationships and living in the moment; They use meal times as an opportunity to stay grounded and connected to each other. This is a concept I plan to take with me when I am back in the states.

The next weekend, I traveled to Munich, Germany to see my friends from DU at Oktoberfest. It was surreal to see my closest friends in another European country. It was exciting to hear about their study abroad experiences in different European cities and talk about what they have learned or noticed. Stepping out from the train to the city center in Munich was a huge culture shock. The over-crowded streets and German language showed how drastically different Germany and Spain were from each other. Considering that it was only a three hour flight, it put it into perspective for me how big the United States is and how our states could be countries. Seeing the differences in how Germans dressed compared to Spaniards, and their mode of transportation was also fascinating. It’s not common for Spanish individuals in Sevilla to wear dark colors or designer items. Instead, they wear floral dresses and skirts that are rich with color. However, in Munich, everyone was covered in muted color palettes, designer items from Rolex watches to Louis Vuitton bags, pantsuits, and blazers. The weather was much colder too, and the adjustment from going from 80 degrees Fahrenheit in Sevilla to 40 degrees Fahrenheit in Germany took a minute to get used to.

I returned home from Oktoberfest feeling much more confident with my travel abilities and excited for more travel destinations. The next few days consisted of going to class, grabbing lunch with friends from school, and getting homework done. Then before I knew it, Thursday rolled around and I was packing again to head to Mallorca. My friends from DU planned a girls trip to Palma de Mallorca, and we wanted to spend two days relaxing at the beach, taking pictures, and eating phenomenal food. It was incredible to spend alone time with my best friends and take in the fact that we were on an island with views that you dream of seeing when you look at google stock images and Instagram reels. We grabbed breakfast from a local coffee place, drove to a beach an hour East of Palma de Mallorca (where we were staying) and spent the day in the water while soaking up the sun. That night we went on a party boat and watched the sunset; it will forever be my favorite memory to watch the sunset over the Mediterranean Ocean. The next day we went shopping around the town, ate some amazing Pallela at dinner, and laughed until our stomachs hurt. Then just like that, Sunday came too soon and we said goodbye as we boarded our flights back home.

I’ve been in Sevilla since, and I am excited to reunite with my friends in another European city. Going on back to back trips and living in a house with 22 other people has taught me many things about myself. For starters, I’ve always considered myself as an extrovert (which I very much am), but I never knew how reserved I could be in new environments. It’s been difficult for me to initially open myself up to people that I’ve never met before and navigate a new environment with them. I have found myself often trying to hang out by myself and do activities independently, because it was comfortable that way. However, constantly having to be social has forced me to come out of my shell and break away from my old habits of trying to do everything by myself. Abroad has encouraged me to stay open, to embrace change and new habits, and living in the moment.

Each day that I have been here, I have gained more clarity on who I am and the places I want to go. Next stop is Morocco, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Until our next adventure fellow readers… 🙂

Sincerely,

Romina

Renewed Inspiration

Published on by gwenmorgan323Leave a comment

When you study abroad, there is an expectation to make the most of your time. I have, for a long time, struggled with the answer to “making the most” out of my time.

I believe Bilbao is one of the most beautiful hidden gems of a small city in the world. I wouldn’t believe if you had told me last year that I would be going abroad here. Why would I choose Bilbao over a more “vibrant” city like Madrid or Barcelona?

My choice of Spain was an easy one in general. Growing up in a Spanish-speaking family, I had been expected to take Spanish throughout all my schooling. I ultimately settled on Bilbao because I had already studied in Salamanca during high school, having visited other places like Madrid, Toledo, and Portugal during that time. I wanted something different, I wanted to feel inspired.

Upon my arrival in Bilbao, I was sweaty and sore and just a deflated balloon of an individual after a hectic travel day (I had a mix-up with finding my gate in the Madrid airport and have blisters on my heels to prove it). I had gotten in one day before my program, having booked a hotel for that night. After spending the next several hours forcing my body to stay awake, binge-watching Suits, and going in search of reasonably priced hotel food, I decided to go on a walk. The hotel was out of the city, near a lovely little park, and as I left the sun was beginning to set. I couldn’t stop my mind from racing with the constant question; “Did I choose the right city?” Not only that, “how am I supposed to make sure I make the most of my time here?”

I yearned for that ability to have those “life-changing experience” stories when I got back to America for me to give some sort of amazing advice to further generations of study abroad-ers.

I went to bed that night with nerves and excitement swimming in my gut, having no idea of what was to come.

After having spent my first full month in the city of Bilbao, I can firmly say that I made the right decision, because Bilbao has shifted the way I see the world.

I live in the “old town” of Bilbao, Casco Viejo. It is full of cluttered buildings, narrow cobblestone streets, and colorful shops. My specific homestay is close to one of my favorite features of the old town, Plaza Nueva. If you want to pintxo-hop, that is the place to do it. The architecture is also so unique and fun, and not just in the old town. Bilbao is such a perfect mix of that old and modern architecture. Casco Viejo is a neighborhood like no other, there’s the Bilboko Donejakue Katedrala, (a cathedral in the center of our area of town), a museum of archeology right next to our little homestay (of which I have yet to visit), and the Biblioteca de Bidebarrieta, an old library, right down the street. Not to mention, all of the beautiful cafés and fun shops, my personal favorite being a stand where they only sell french fries that you can get with a variety of sauces.

Every single morning, I walk to the Universidad de Deusto. A 30-minute walk that I am more than happy to wake up early for, early enough that I get to experience my beloved Bilbao waking up.

I relish in the calm of the morning, the ability to slow down.

I walk down the river, under two lovely bridges, past various shops and neighborhoods, and my favorite part: the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim is truly an architectural masterpiece, one that at first I was completely unsure of how to preserve once my time abroad was finished. Walking along the streets one afternoon I found an art shop and decided to buy a sketchbook. I grew up loving to draw more than anything, and after a year of failing to practice my craft, I decided what better souvenir than one filled with sketches of the Basque country. Each day after classes (if the weather is nice) I try to find a nice bench where I can sit and sketch for at least an hour. Right now, I am working on two different sketches of the Guggenheim from different angles. I am hoping that I can get as many as possible from a variety of angles. I truly never realized how much I had missed drawing. The renewed inspiration to explore my creative side like this is refreshing.

Like I said before, there’s so much pressure to just go, go, go when you’re abroad. “Travel here, explore this area, try this food.” Sometimes, you just need time to sit with yourself.

I recommend to everyone who is studying abroad, take a minute. Go to a nice park, find a bench, close your eyes and breathe.

Our lives are so long yet so short, if we move too fast we’re gonna miss it. Even now as I write this blog, I am staring out the window wistfully on a 4-hour bus to Madrid.

I think I’ve realized that for me, making the most of my time abroad means renewing my creativity, it means learning new things about myself, new skills and new ways to manage stressful situations.

I’m going on so many trips, I mean right now as I write this blog I’m sitting in a hotel in London! (Can you believe it?) I’m seeing so much of the world. The hustle and bustle can overwhelm you. I’m going to blink and study abroad will be over. I’ve been so engulfed in that inspiration. Taking a step back from the constant go, go, go that is American work culture has opened my eyes. I feel like I can breathe.

(Here is some joy from celebrating my 21st in the Basque Country!)