Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo

Although studying abroad has been a dream of mine since the 8th grade I was still quite surprised by the sudden arrival of my junior year, the year I had always reserved for my trip. I was pretty unprepared to turn my 7-year daydream into a reality.
 
Luckily I knew my destination: Spain. I have been studying Spanish since I was in the 1st grade. However, my lackluster education all throughout grade school never quite added up to the “fluency” my level of college classes might suggest. I had to go to Spain to run with the bulls, so to speak. I have to prove that all those years have paid off. 
 
I always thought that my city would be Barcelona. The location, the architecture, the Javier Bardem movies…I believed there was no other place in Spain for me. That was until I realized that they mostly speak in dialect, Catalan to be exact. The daunting task of picking up that aspect of the language started to make me back down from my Barcelona plans.
 
This would insist that I actually had plans. The truth is that until this summer, studying abroad was just a quaint notion I thought would just plan itself. Needless to say it doesn’t. Thus, this was the basis of a few heated debates between my parents and me. After one of these particular conversations, I did what any college-age girl would do to de-stress…I turned to Facebook. In the comfort and absentmindedness of my Facebook stalking I stumbled upon some albums made by a girl I had class with the previous fall semester. She was a communication/ public relations major as well as Spanish minor, like myself. It appeared as though she had just returned from her study abroad venture she had been talking about that fall semester.
 
She had gone to Sevilla (Seville), the fourth largest city in Spain. It’s located in the south in the Andalusia province on the River Guadalquivir. Her pictures looked like it was quite a good time. 

 
That’s all it took. I had made my decision. I sent her a message asking what program she did and various other questions. After her gracious response I did a little research on my own and decided on the exact program of study I would do. (Much to my parents’ chagrin, I did not actually apply until October.)
 
After many more last minute action and decisions, I was miraculously accepted into the program, placed in advanced Spanish, given housing in an apartment, and had a six month student visa.
 
The course of studies I’m enrolled in is Spanish language and humanities. I have classes in architecture, painting, and film. I’m there to study the language, but also wine, Spanish boys, siestas, tapas, and going out at 2 a.m. (sorry ’rents).
 
So far my biggest stressor has been packing (I’m writing this before I head to the airport for my three flights). Packing has been a strategic endeavor (the pros and cons of folding v. rolling, how many pairs of undies I can jam into one boot, etc.) and has probably taken more time than my Spanish competency exam and applying for my Spanish visa.
 
But packing for six months in one suitcase that must weight less than 50 lbs. is not an easy feat. I have to take my wardrobe from chilly winter to 80 degree plus summer. And Europeans are chic—I have to at least pretend to keep up. So there are my summer dresses, winter shirts, tanks, pants, going out clothes, scarves, bikinis, an obscene amount of jewelry, and of course shoes all jammed in the confines of my 24” by 16” suitcase.
 
There is so much minutiae to consider when going abroad—everything from purchasing converters, filling up on six months of prescriptions, to ordering Euros (pink money!). But it will all soon be worth it. In less than 24 hours I’ll be walking the streets of Sevilla! 

Sevilla image courtesy of: discoversevilla.com

Her Campus Placeholder Avatar