Donde la vida cambió

Today is the Thursday before Good Friday, which for the people of Sevilla, Spain, means la Madrugá. La Madrugá is Spanish for "early morning," and on this night, pasos, processions of various Catholic churches, pass through the city center honoring Christ and the Virgin Mary. Although I am not Catholic, two years ago I had the opportunity to...

Torn Between Two Worlds

(Posted a bit late because airport wi-fi didn't work and because I was too exhausted after 24 hours of traveling to post.) I confess that I am a bit behind on travel blogging. Since my last post, I’ve traveled to Barcelona and Granada, experienced Sevilla’s defining Feria de Abril, cheered on both of the city’s...

Random Ramblings from Sevilla

(My other working title was "Stephanie finished her homework due tomorrow and doesn't want to work on her paper anymore.") I still have to catch up and fill y'all in on my Barcelona trip (amazing...one of my favorite cities) and la Feria de Abril, a huge festival in Sevilla. But tonight I thought I'd reflect...

Global Citizenship

When I hear the words "global citizen," the first thing that comes to my mind is the preamble to the UN Charter. Wow, my Model UN nerd is really coming out tonight!(Sidenote: While I'm here in Spain my Model UN team got to hear Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon speak at the NY conference inside the...

Environmental Protection and Sustainability in Spain

One thing that I’ve learned over the course of several international politics classes and my Model UN experience in the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) is that Europe on a whole is much more proactive than the US when it comes to environmental protection. Spain’s Foreign Ministry is serious about mobilizing global efforts to combat climate...

University Life: Home and Abroad

For this week’s TCU blog assignment, I get to channel my inner nerd and talk about differences between the American and Spanish education systems. I want to be a political science professor when I grow up (if I word it that way it makes graduation seem further away and I feel less old), precisely because...

(Mis)communication

As an unapologetic language nerd, I love discovering new phrases, especially ones that don’t translate directly into English. It’s like a puzzle, figuring out where words originate, connecting words linguistically to other languages, unearthing a bit of history or culture behind a phrase. Spanish, the second-most spoken language in the world, is a particularly fascinating...

Be mindful. Participate. Connect.

Tina Fey’s first rule of improvisation is say ‘yes.’ Apparently Tina and I are kindred spirits, because that is my New Year’s resolution and my study abroad motto. I knew when I signed up to go to Spain that I was not cut out for the study abroad life—I like routines and comfort zones, I’m a...

Reading, running, and reflections.

I think my host mom thinks I'm crazy for running on top of all the walking we do in Spain. "You get plenty of exercise walking, it's good for your health," she tells me. Yeah, and you also have to make up for the copious amounts of bread that Spaniards eat. Which is delicious, don't...

All about Perspective

On the first day of my Civilization and Culture of Spain class, our professor gave us a questionnaire to see what we knew/thought about Spain already and asked us what stereotypes we held about Spaniards. Instantly my mind flew to the importance of meals and familia, the fútbol obsession, and, of course, the siesta that...