Study Abroad in Spain

News flash everyone: the longer you wait to buy plane tickets the more expensive they are! Learned this lesson the hard way. Needless to say Audrey and I took the train to Madrid, which quite honestly was much less stressful and way more comfortable, but we made it! The two of us left on a Thursday morning and were in Madrid by the afternoon! We stayed in a hostel, my first time, that was not amazing but definitely wasn't horrible. In an effort to save money we shared one large bed in a room with about 30 other people. Definitely was an experience I will remember. Our bed looked a little like a cupboard and we had a curtain for privacy. It made me feel a little like Harry Potter living under the stairs. We met up with one of my friends from high school and explored Retiro Park and some of the other sites in Madrid then we went to a Bastille concert. Akine and Lewis Capaldi were the opening bands and I think Lewis may be one of my new favorite artists. Bastille was incredible and so...

I genuinely think that time moves faster here than in the U.S. I feel like I blinked and now it has almost been a full month. It simultaneously feels as though we just arrived and have been here for so long. My classes here basically consist of taking four different Spanish classes all in one class in one semester, if that makes any sense at all. I have one class for three and a half hours a day four days a week and so far I have completed one whole section! (Completed one section or class that would normally take a semester.) Classes are going great and I really love my teacher. On Monday I am going to visit a school to help teach English which is amazing and will definitely help me in my future teaching career. I am also looking forward to joining more intercambios and meeting more locals. Last weekend I went to Paris with my two friends Maddie and Adri. Two of our friends went the week before so they gave us a list of what they saw/did and warned us about the riots that are happeni...

This past weekend our program took a trip to Granada, Spain. We left around 11:30 on Friday and took a bus to get there. We hit some really bad traffic and our director said in the ten years they have been going to Granada they have never seen traffic so bad. When we finally made it, after like five hours of travel, we checked in to our hotel and set off to see the view. Since the Granada is near the Sierra Nevada mountains a lot of the city is uphill. Sam, our director, took us to see one of the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. Pictures do not do it any justice. There were many merchants at the top of the hill and at one point the police drove by. I have never seen so many people move so fast at once. Since they do not have permits to sell they all had to scramble when the police came by. After taking in the view we traveled back down to bar hop. In Granada, most places serve a free tapa with every drink. The tapas were so good. Some of my favorites were mini hamburgers, frie...

Well, this was the first week of classes and I made it through! I am taking an intensive language course and my class is huuuge. There is me, the professor, and oh yeah that is it. It's just me and the teacher four days a week for three and a half hours a day. I actually am really enjoying my class so far. We talk only in Spanish so I am getting a lot of practice in and its one-on-one help all the time, which is good because I like to ask a lot of questions. My teacher's name is Loli and she is so sweet. Surprisingly classes go by pretty fast and I am only aware of the fact that time is almost up because my stomach starts to rumble. I haven't quite adjusted to having such a late lunch after basically eating sugar for breakfast ( sorry kids even though whole grain is the first ingredient sugar is the second). God, I think I'm funny. So far this week it has been really fun, we even took a field trip to a traditional market with all fresh. By fresh produce I mean the fish ...

I have never traveled across so many time zones in one day before. Let me tell you it does something strange to your body. Although not as bad as I thought it would be, it is definitely taking some time to adjust to the time difference and schedule here. For whatever reason 5 am seems to be a common time amongst my peers and me to wake up and be unable to return to sleep. Not sure what is so special about 5 am considering that makes it 10 pm at home but I can't wait for the day that stops happening. The Spaniard schedule is probably every college students dream, unless you are like me and bedtime is 11 pm. Their nightlife really means night-life, like do not go out to the bars before 10 and you don't go to the club until 2 am. One of the hardest parts to adjust to is the eating schedule. Breakfast is small and between 8:30 and 9:30, lunch is around 2:30 and dinner ranges between 8 and 10 pm. I have been eating a lot of Spanish delicacies while here like Coco Puffs and chicken n...

Well, we are now approximately one hour away from boarding flight one of three. Yup you heard that right three flights before reaching my final destination. The joys of being a broke college student involve things like this, taking three flights instead of one because it makes the ticket just a little bit cheaper. Traveling alone is a new experience for me, but as the baggage counter attendant said I am an expert traveler. (Jokes on him I've only ever been on two planes). My suitcase weighed in at exactly 50 pounds, the max weight, and I had no issues with security. After this, I will begin my search for a water fountain and then patiently wait for my boarding number to be called. Less than 24 hours away from being all the way across the country. Wish me luck!

Hello everyone! Or should I say ' ¡Hola!'?  Welcome to my weekly blog. Here I will be documenting my time as a foreign exchange student in Seville, Spain. I have been working diligently to get everything in order for my trip. Between going to Chicago to get a visa, filling out paperwork for the UW Platteville program, and squaring everything away at my home institution I have been very busy! As of today, December 28, my flight is only 32 days away. I am counting down the days and can not wait to share my experience with you! -Savannah ☺️