There is so much to discuss, I don’t even know where to start. When I first arrived in Seville, I felt I had so little time to explore, but I was wrong. The thing with traveling is that you have to make the most out of your time there, whether it be a day, a week, a month, or more. Once you stop worrying about the amount of time you have, you start to take in the experiences more and they feel more meaningful.
A week in Seville
One of the first activities we did as a group was a bike tour around Seville. This was a great opportunity to not only view the beautiful places in Seville but to be familiar with the city.
The next thing we did was visit the Royal Alcázar. It was a guided tour with the study abroad program and after we had time to explore most of it on our own. It was fascinating learning about the blend of cultures and religions that is embedded into the Alcázar. As a Muslim, it was nice to see the influences and contributions that were made by my ancestors. The next day was a visit to the Catedral de Seville which was also extraordinary, it is the biggest Gothic church in Europe and it can be seen throughout the whole city. We climbed up to the top of the Catedral and got a view of the whole city.
One of the biggest things Spain is known for is the bullfighting. Plaza de Toros (Plaza of Bulls) was another guided tour that we did. Each bullfight results in 6 bulls dead (which I did not know) and is considered an art in Spain. The season for bullfighting is coming up and bullfighters will go to arenas around the country to fight the bulls which is a big part of Spanish culture and history. Personally, I don’t think I would watch a bullfight mostly because I didn’t grow up with it. It’s also very controversial, every year more and more people are against it for moral reasons. The tour guide explained how the bull is injected before the fight so the bull doesn’t feel any pain (I have no idea if this is true, I hope so for the bulls).
One of my personal favorite parts of Spanish culture is the Flamenco. Flamenco is an old traditional style of music and dance that originated in Andalusia (South of Iberia). Flamenco consists of 3 elements, the singer, the guitarist, and the dancer. The first thing we did was watch a private Flamenco show in an old theater. It was a fun experience but what really was memorable was the lecture that came after it. Up to this point, we have had lectures that discussed specific parts of Spanish history. They weren’t many and I’ll be honest, they were kind of boring, but the Flamenco lecture was different. First of all, it was more interactive than the other lectures, the professor encouraged us to learn and clap/stomp to the rhythm of Flamenco. During the lecture, the professor explained how the singer, guitarist, and dancer are all improvising and they all are connecting with each other through the music. The guitarist starts then the singer, and then the dancer waits for a queue. After the dancer is in control of everything, everything flows so perfectly that you would think it was rehearsed beforehand. At the end of the lecture, the professor brought three students and did a demonstration of flamenco, it was like a show but it was more interactive because the professor had everyone stand up and participate in the rhythm. It was more difficult than a lot of us thought but it was cool to not only see but to experience flamenco.
The amount of free time we had allowed us to do so much, I have done more in one week in Seville, than a lifetime in Boston. Getting around Seville was easy, there was the metro, tram, bikes (both electric and regular), and electric scooters. Up to one point, I would only walk and take the tram to get around. But one of my classmates showed me this app that allowed you to rent a scooter for a very cheap price. After that first night of riding the scooters, we (as a group) went crazy with it. We used to get everywhere that was more than a 30-minute walk. It was so convenient because there were scooter stations everywhere. Part of the reason that I enjoyed the scooters was because it was easy to get around the city (there are bike lanes everywhere) and also the vibe. Riding the scooters late at night allowed us to experience more of Seville from a different perspective. I wasn’t too worried about catching the best photos while on the scooters (because I didn’t want to fall off) and it allowed me to take in more of the city.
People along the way
First of all the study abroad group was good. Everyone was social and always willing to do something. Before this trip, I promised myself that I would travel and visit all the places I wanted to see regardless of what the others wanted to do. Although I did a lot on my own, the group that I was with was very social and always down to do anything. One place I was planning to go (alone or with the group) was Setas de Seville which is an eco-friendly wooden structure that looks like a bunch of mushrooms in the middle of Seville, at night time you can go to the top, and view the whole city of Seville and watch the structure light up. The structure was amazing and it was a vibe that made me feel like I was floating above the city.
At Setas de Seville I met 2 Muslim brothers for the first time, they were from the UK. They heard me speaking English so they approached me and we ended up talking for a while. We ended up exchanging socials and taking photos with each other. After this, I thought that was just a nice interaction with two strangers. The next day I was walking and I ran into them at a Moroccan restaurant. I sat with them and decided to eat with them. This was crazy to me, I met these people yesterday and then I found them eating at some random restaurant down the street. We ate and then went to a Lebanese/Egyptian cafe and just chilled and talked for the rest of the night. I ended up having a really good time with them. Before I ran into them I was planning to go alone to the river to have dinner, but god had other plans.
I didn’t know a single person before the trip, and in the week we spent together, I managed to make a lot of new friends. The people that I met made me more open-minded to trying new things that I never would have done if I was alone.
Food
I had never thought of eating kangaroo before this trip and for the week I was in Spain, I had it almost 4 times. During the trip, some of the students tried kangaroo and made it seem like the best thing ever. After some of us decided to go to this restaurant and try kangaroo for the first time just to see how it is. We also ordered ostrich just for fun. It was honestly delicious, It tasted like a very good juicy stake, for the price of chicken. I don’t know what it was but the idea of us eating kangaroo made us like it more. After this trying kangaroo was the theme of the trip, most of us ended up going to the restaurant (some more than others) to eat the kangaroo. I think the entire trip, we collectively ate the equivalent of an entire kangaroo.
Besides just the kangaroo, the food was delicious in Spain. I had Spanish Paella for the first time prepared by Spanish people. I grew up with Moroccan Pealla, but I didn’t even realize that it originated in Spain. besides the kangaroo, Paella was one of the best things I tried while I was over there.
A Last-Minute Trip to Paris
The heading seems a little misleading but it’s true, I went to Paris for a day. The last 2 days of the trip were our free days where we could go wherever we wanted. I was planning to go to Córdoba for a day, but some of the plans changed and we ended up going to Córdoba before the free day. This meant that I had a full 24 hours to myself, where I could go anywhere, and I was in Europe. I don’t know when I came up with the idea and I don’t even think I was thinking 100% when I booked the tickets, but I decided to go to Paris for my free day. I made the decision to spend my free day in Paris about two days before and I do not regret it. Honestly, it has been one of the craziest things I have ever done, but I will never regret it.
Thinking about going abroad
If you are thinking about going abroad, do it. Don’t think, just do it. The only reason I ended up going to Seville was just because I applied and put effort into it. I wanted to gain a new experience, something that I had never done before. I learned from this trip that there will never be a “perfect” time to travel. People think too much and wait too long for a perfect time and they end up never leaving the country. No amount of stuff can ever compare to the experience of going abroad.
