My experience in Seville, by Jacquelyn Scott

There are so many cultural differences that I have experienced since my arrival to Spain. Some of these differences are huge and have an effect on my every day routine, and some are small and were easier to get adapted to. Some of these differences include meal times, leaving a tip for the waiter or waitress, fast paced everything in America versus everything being slower in Spain (eating, walking, etc.,), spending time in the streets with friends rather than in the home, and the biggest one for me was public transportation. This difference is not as much a country vs country difference but a small town (where I come from) versus bigger city (Sevilla) transportation difference. Before arriving to Sevilla, and spin in general, I had been in a metro one time in my whole life, and a taxi maybe twice. My town is very small and we have no means of public transportation. I experiences culture shock when I had to take the metro for 20 minutes just to get to school everyday. When I first arrived to the Sevilla airport, I had to take a taxi to get home, this was the first time I had ever taken a taxi by myself and only my second time ever being in a taxi. I also found it interesting that not everyone here owns a car, where I am from, having your own car is the only way to get around. I think my experience abroad was a huge eye opener into city life, and even though most people would say Sevilla is not a huge city, it is very huge in comparison to my small town in the Unites States.

Communication Across Cultures, by Taryn Hinton

Reaching the 3-month mark being in Seville, I have become accustomed to a lot of the differences between this city and Calgary, where I live and attend university in Canada. There are major, obvious differences such as the language, the waiters and tipping etiquette, and the more slow-paced lifestyle, but something that really stood out to me was the difference in “politeness” of Spaniards and Canadians. This is not to say that Spaniards are less polite, but it is less common for a casual “please & thank you” or “sorry” to be passed between people whether on the street or in a grocery store or restaurant. A lot of the time as soon as I say “gracias” to a cashier or waiter they will respond in English after speaking in Spanish up until that point. While walking on the streets, I often get weird or glaring looks if I make eye contact and smile at someone. In one of my other classes, we talked about why this difference exists between the two cultures. We talked about how Spaniards are more inclined to show ‘positive politeness’ which refers to compliments, approval, admiration, etc., while North Americans are more inclined to show ‘negative politeness’ where we don’t want to appear intrusive and we often show regret for minor impositions or requests, hence the “please and thank you’s” all the time. This makes sense when reflected upon but it has been difficult for me to stop myself from saying “please”, “thanks” and “sorry” to seemingly little things because that is the culture that I was brought up in and am used to.

No matter who you support, Messi is the best footballer in the world by Andrea Bujor

I think the thing that has stood out to me most here has been how much emphasis and passion there is towards football. Back home in Calgary, Canada there isn’t as much of a passion or cultural “togetherness,” as there is here for sports. In Canada, the main sport is hockey, so I may be biased because I have always had more of a passion for football rather than hockey, but I notice some major cultural differences in the 2 sports and how it brings people together. Here, it is more common for people to gather on the streets and parade their support for their teams. Even in bars, there is more of a collective mindset and occurrence of bringing together people from different groups and cultures to support their team. For example, I was watching a game a couple weeks ago and my Spanish friend was cheering and embracing with an Italian individual because of their love and support for their winning team, although neither could communicate verbally with one another. The support and passion here is definitely more relevant, as even my professors and Spanish friends bring up previous games or current stats.

Being a FC Barcelona fan and watching them play Sevilla in the Copa del Rey, I definitely witnessed firsthand how much support and love people have for their team, especially when I got a few glares for cheering on my team during the final.

Back home, I don’t think there is that much of a togetherness or love for a sport as much as I’ve seen here in Seville and Europe as a whole. It is also more common to find games playing in many restaurants and bars. There is also more sportsmanship here and an appreciation of the sport even if some individuals don’t like a certain team. However, I am sure all Spaniards can agree that no matter who you support, Messi is the best footballer in the world :)

Below, I’ve added a picture I took while visiting Madrid about a month ago.

The English Bridge and its One-Way Street By Maddie Topliff

I have had my fair share of excellent tour guides during my semester in Europe. Each one so far has gone the extra mile to include interesting facts, jokes and recommendations, and I always walk away feeling enlightened and a little more appreciative of history, a subject that tends to bore me easily.

Upon my first couple of weeks in Spain, I visited and toured many cathedrals and a good handful of museums as well. Our program was nice enough to elect the use of English-speaking guides so we were able to fully understand the historical context of where we were. This was something I appreciated greatly. Of course I always want to improve my Spanish, but I also didn’t want to miss out on intricate details due to my lack of vocabulary retention. But rest assured, if it comes down to Spanish grammar rules, I’m your girl.

But I got to thinking. Sevilla is incredibly popular with tourists, especially from other countries of continental Europe. And Europe hosts a lot of languages. Like, a lot. How do they find guides to lead tours in every single language?

The answer: they most likely don’t. When I traveled to Brussels over the first part of Semana Santa, my friends and I went on a Belgian chocolate-tasting tour that was conducted in English. And to my surprise, almost everyone else in our group was from Germany. Yes, electing to take a tour in English.

Tourism in Europe thrives on English competency. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a tour guide or serving gelato on a popular street in the city center. English brings many countries together under one umbrella, which is both endearing and questionable. So...I got to thinking. Is U.S. tourism elitist? In 2016, the top three countries that funneled the largest amount of tourists into the USA were Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom: the USA’s two neighbors and the UK, whose national language English.

Of course, traveling is expensive. But secondary language learning in the United States for native English speakers isn’t a given either. There’s a lot of room for growth in this area and a lot of potential in the tourism industry that would be an indirect effect of more diverse language competency among native English-speaking WEIRDos. And that starts with education reform: a whole other conversation

Walking - U.S vs Spain by Bailey Disque

There are quite a lot of things different between the U.S and Spain culturally. This includes food, meal times, and a lot of others. However, what really surprised me about cultural differences was how much walking everyone does. What I thought I knew about walking specifically, was completely changed once my study abroad experience started. Back home in the United States, I drive everywhere. Even if it’s 5 minutes away, I drive or ride everywhere. Especially at my college campus at home. If an academic building is a 15-20 minute walk away, I will normally catch a ride with someone. However, here in Spain, it’s quite normal for a short walk to be around 30-40 minutes long! This really surprised me. It has now changed the way I view walking and time as a whole. Now, when I need to get somewhere, I normally just walk, even if it is over 30 minutes. It doesn’t phase me anymore! Not a lot of people have cars in Spain, and the public transportation is so amazing and cheap that everyone just uses that instead. Now, when I travel and something is a 40 minute walk away, I normally will just walk. Walking everywhere is such a common thing that it really changed the way I view it overall.

The waiter doesn’t check up on you, by Mikayla Roybal

There are many differences when it comes to American culture and the culture in Spain. One that really stuck out to me is the customer service provided at restaurants by the waiters. In America, the waiter is consistently asking if you need anything and making sure that you’re okay. When you finish your meal they bring you the check and you pay whenever you please. Here in Spain, this isn’t the case. When you get to the restaurant the waiter will take down your order and bring you your food, the same as in America. The difference is that the waiter doesn’t check up on you unless you call him over. The same goes for the check, they won’t bring you the check until you call them over and ask for it. This can easily turn a 45-minute meal into a two-hour meal. I believe there are many reasons for this cultural difference. One is the fact that waiters in Spain don’t get tipped, and they don’t rely on tips as income. This could cause them to not feel the need to constantly make sure the customers are content. Another reason could be how much Spaniards value spending time with their loved ones. They often get together with their loved ones over food. The servers may value this and they don’t want to intrude or be rude. They want the customers to be able to visit freely without any interruptions. The differences in the service at restaurants definitely took some getting used to, but I appreciate some aspects of it