¡A comer!: Spanish Food

Perhaps one of the most fun parts of traveling is sampling new food and drink. I mean, who doesn't like to find the best wine and chocolate in every country? Living for a semester in Spain was a completely different food lifestyle from my American routines. Some of the food I was happy to say adios to...

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...

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...

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...

Yes, I do actually study.

When I was back in the US gushing over my friends’ study abroad photos, blogs, Instagram posts, etc., it looked as if they were basically taking a semester off to explore the world, which drove me insane as I was stressing out over papers and exams. It seemed like a dream world over there on...

(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...

Odds and Ends

This weekend I took a break from traveling so I could enjoy spending time in my host city. There is so much to see in Sevilla, and I love discovering new things about my Spanish home every day. Here are a few of the fun, random, crazy, weird, exciting things I’ve encountered recently: Remember when...

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...

Stop and smell the oranges.

In my Latin American Geography class last year, my professor began by listing major American cities and asking us to call out the first thing that came to our minds. New York? Central Park. Los Angeles? Hollywood. Boston? Red Sox (boooo). What I found most interesting was to hear others’ first responses to my city,...

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...