Hola! I’m Liz, a junior at Umass Dartmouth studying Political Science and Economics and I am currently studying abroad in Sevilla. I chose Sevilla because I have been studying spanish for six years and one of my teachers in high school used to always talk about how wonderful Sevilla was. The program I am traveling through is called ISA (here we pronounce it as ee-sah) and they are the ones who coordinate a lot of our trips and all of the homestays, residences, and apartments. I am studying at the ISA Study Center that only hosts other ISA students, but we all come from a variety of different states. The Study Center here was offering all the classes I needed to take which was a major reason I chose to study through ISA at the Study Center. I am here for three months and am excited to be able to document my experience so I can share it with others.

This is a photo from the street art area in Salamanca. There was SO MUCH street art it was honestly overwhelming.

Jasmine: This is my roommate in Sevilla. We each have our own rooms but live in the same apartment with our host mother Aurelia. She graduate a year early from high school in Georgia and she is currently taking a gap year. Jasmine is an incredible artist and is fluent in French. She is studying Spanish so that she can connect better with her Panamanian family that speaks a lot of Spanish. 

This is from our boat tour of a river in Madrid! I was surprised that the boat tour was only 3 euros total because the Swan Boats in Boston are at least 5 dollars per person.

 

Bekah: Bekah is a junior at the University of North Carolina. We take spanish class together and after class we usually go for a run around the city or around the nearby river. On Monday nights she plays soccer with the other ISA students while I go to frisbee practice. She is living in the residence hall which is located right next to the ISA Center. We both survived the six hour bus ride to and from Salamanca which was an accomplishment in and of itself!

This is another photo from Salamanca. We spent a lot of time looking at street art so this isn’t the last you’ll see of Salamanca.

 

Emmy: Emmy is a junior at Grand Rapids University. She is staying in Sevilla for 9 months with a host family that has two little kids in it. We usually go to Intercambios once a week and she also plays soccer on Monday nights. Emmy is one of the best spanish speaking students in our program because she studied in Salamanca for six weeks during high school. The second Friday in Sevilla we got caught in the middle of a climate strike and watched people walk by us with different signs for over an hour.

Emmy is on the right. This photo is from Las Setas. Before we went with our program a few of us visited as the sun was setting and the view was absolutely gorgeous.

 

Hannah and Garance: These gals go to college together in Michigan. Hannah and I strategize (*freak out*) when politicians in the US do crazy things and share opinions about things going on in the world politically. Garance and I are in four classes together, three of which have the same teacher. We are usually freaking out about our next quiz or whether we’ve completed all the homework for all of our classes. They live together with the same host family and usually bring bocadillos for lunch because their class schedules are kind of busy.

Hannah is the first person and Garance is the third. This is another photo from our wonderful Las Setas trip