How do we interpret time?, by Alicia Hosmer

Earlier this semester my roommate and I decided to take it upon ourselves to run the Sevilla 5K. Since I had trained and finished a sprint triathlon over the summer, I assumed it wouldn’t take much training to get back into shape for the 5K. The preparation for the run began. A few weeks before, my roommate and I eagerly signed up for the run and I started to go on runs in preparation. The morning of the race arrived quickly, as we wanted to be in the best mindset before the run, we made sure to get a adequate sleep the night before. We woke up the next morning very early because we had yet to have gotten our bibs and shirts for the race. I quickly scanned the confirmation email again to ensure that I had the correct dates and times, I did. I had a light breakfast and searched online how long the walk would take from our apartment to the meeting place for the race. Since I had ran a race earlier this year I was very knowledgeable as to the protocol for races. I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get to the location, and have time to stretch, and hydrate. Moreover, I wanted to give myself enough time for the long lines it took to wait in for the t-shirts and race bibs. It was a tedious process, but if I planned it out correctly I could mediate some of the frustrations.

We set out to our race from our apartment with plenty of time to get there and maybe even skip the lines. It took about 15 minutes to walk there and the t shirt pickup time was scheduled for 8am. When we arrived, we were shocked to see that absolutely nothing had been set up. The tents were collapsed on the floor, the blow up finish line was still deflated, and there was not a single racer in sight. I scrambled to double check my email, but the meeting time was indeed 8am. It was 7:45am and everything was in disarray. An employee asked us why we were so early and we explained that the meeting time was supposedly 8am. He chuckled at how naive we were, and that’s when I recalled that in Spain nothing starts on time. We waited another 45 minutes and watched the entire race be set up, and at their own pace of course. Finally we got our bibs and shirts, but the race didn’t start for another hour and a half. We walked to a cafe slightly embarrassed and exhausted. We waited for our race to start, and once we ran it we had forgotten about the ordeal earlier that morning. Coming from the United States, where everyone is punctual, it was surprising to see that in Spain even large events started at their leisure. Having family from Ecuador, it is clear to see their laid back way of life is also similar to in Spain. There is something to be said about living laid back, and we can all take a lesson from the vast cultural differences regarding how we interpret time. Not to say one is more effective than the other, and they both have their advantages and drawbacks. However, it’s important to note that every so often, as Americans, we should strive to slow down and not do everything with such haste.

New York vs. Sevilla, by Aria Mustary

New York, for the first 18 years of my life, I thought was the best city in the world. Nothing could beat the diversity of cultures, thought, and expression.
It wasn’t until I came to Sevilla that I realized that I could love another city just as much, but in a completely different way. Although culturally there are many differences such as the food, the way people look, and the history, the main difference is the pace of life.
New York contains the most fast-paced, ambitious, and capitalistic people. It’s an incredibly large city, but tight with over eight and a half million people. Sevilla, on the other hand, with only two million people, are much slower-paced, and not nearly as capitalist centered.
One of the main things I learned are that the lifestyles are a lot more outdoors here than New York, and why. One is able to socially spend their time outside here than in New York. I personally believe that this goes way past individualistic and collectivistic cultures, because although that is an important factor here, I believe it matters geographically too. Currently in New York City, it’s 1° Celsius, whereas here, it’s 14° Celsius. I believe that this dramatic difference allows changes in mindsets for both cities. It’s clear that because there’s an enormous weather difference in both New York City and Sevilla during the summer, but also in the winter. Hence, even in the winter, you will see people eating and drinking with their friends and families outside. I’ve talked to my host mom about this and she agrees, the Spanish cannot keep themselves inside. And that’s incredible.
I’ve loved everything about living in Sevilla the last couple months. In more modern and Generation Z terms, I loved the “vibe”. The people were generally warmer, friendlier, happier. Although I was born and raised in New York, I would love to be here again.

A rollercoaster of emotions, by Itzel Zerecero

My personal experience in Spain has been a rollercoaster of emotions, definitely positive than anything else. I have learned so much about myself and others. I have experienced things that made me realize how privileged I am and everything has just contributed to my personal and emotional growth. I was born in Mexico but raised in the U.S., Mexico is also a collectivistic culture and living in Spain made me realize how much I am used to an individualistic culture. Based on my experiences in the past few months, I can say that I feel like home (Mexico) because the culture and people are very similar, although something particular of Seville is that I actually feel safe. Interacting with Spanish people made me realize how much we focus on ourselves and our priorities that we do not often sit back and actually enjoy the time we spend with others. In Spain life is slower and better quality, I notice people actually connecting with each other and interacting, in the United States everything is to the point and fast-forward. I notice a lot of this lack of connection goes back to being individualistic and the cultural pressure of accomplishing certain things. For example, going to school to be the best, working to have the most money, taking care of the self to look the best, etc. Most decisions are based on competition which is something I did not experience here, Spanish culture gave me a sense of unity, which can go back to being a collectivistic culture. During my time here I learned to be focused but also enjoy everything that surrounds me, interact with the people around me, listen to others, do things because they make me happy instead of just in order to meet the norm or because “I have to”.

Sevilla Strolling, by Lauren Boatright

I love walking. I love walking from the Plaza de Cuba metro stop to Puerta Jerez just across the river. I love listening to flamenco heels click as I walk down past the cathedral. I love the sun beating down on my skin and Spanish chit chat filling my ears as I walk to my 1:30 class at UPO. During my study here in Sevilla I have gained a great appreciation for the culture’s slow pace of life instead of rushing to my destination, ignoring my surroundings and the people around me as I would do in America. Back home I won’t be able to walk to everything and even if I could I would probably end up taking a car because it is more time efficient to do so. In Spain I slow down, I look around, possibly even just stopping to take in where I am. This being what I’m going to miss the most, the relaxed pace of daily life that allows you to take in the world around you. I’m going to miss being able to sit in a restaurant with friends for a meal and us losing track of time for we were never once rushed out the door. I’m going to miss not feeling like I am just another player within the rat race. I’m going to miss my leisurely Sevilla strolls.

A large coffee

As I walked out of Dunkin Donuts on Avenida de La Constitución, I scrunched my eyebrows as I looked at my “large” coffee to go. My large coffee here was about the size of a small coffee at home. What was interesting was that the woman working at Dunkin Donuts had scrunched her eyebrows at me in the same way when I stated that my coffee was going to be in a to-go cup.

Since being in Sevilla, I have noticed that drinking coffee is a social outing. People get coffee together to chat, to catch up, and to have company. Coffee is most often served black, with little milk or sugar, as to added extreme flavors would be a threat to the integrity of the traditional drink.

In the United States, the culture forces us to be on the go all of the time. Coffee must have a lot of flavors to mask the caffeine used solely for productivity. Dunkin Donuts does not even offer ceramic cups in order to drink in the place. All of the cups are to go cups. The emphasis on the individualistic culture of productivity in the United States makes it normal to drink coffee alone and on the go, while the collectivistic norms in Spain create a more social environment surrounding coffee consumption.

Since being in Spain, I have come to love having café solo with a friend and have definitely developed since the first day I had that eyebrow scrunching cup of to-go coffee from Dunkin on Avenida de La Constitución.

My wandering

Looking at Seville from the perspective of a black woman who attends the University of Tampa there are quite a few things different. Comparing Spain to the United States, the United States is a much younger nation but, especially looking at Andalucia, Spain retains its rich history in the structure of its cities. For example, one of my first few days in Seville, I ended up walking 20.16 miles (32.44 km) because I had gotten so lost while trying to run errands. I had gotten lost in the process of trying to set up my SIM card so I couldn’t access my GPS and I made several right turns, trying to get myself on track before I realized that the city wasn’t built in a grid like I was used to. Needless to say, I quickly gained a better sense of direction while learning to navigate the city with the help of a few friendly Spaniards every now and then. During my wandering, I was able to observe lots of different little things about Spanish society--everything wasn’t moving quite as quickly, there were lots of old people--this may be contributing to the previous point, people walk almost everywhere, people seem a lot more friendly--almost always stopping to greet someone that they know when they make eye contact, and so many other things. However, I am ready to get back to my busy streets filled with cars, young people, and sleek buildings--it has been nice to slow down for a while though.

Obscure Sports Across Cultures, by Aaron Wynmor

Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that is played at varying popularities in many countries around the world. If you don’t know, Ultimate Frisbee is a very fun non-contact sport. It involves a Frisbee and a field similar to an American Football field but a bit smaller. It is fast paced and played 7v7 with NO referees. If you want to make any call, such as a foul, you have to make the call yourself. This means that the only way for the sport to succeed is for there to be a high level of spirit, accountability, and respect. Along those same lines it means there is a lot of communication that must happen on and off the field (if you have not heard of Ultimate Frisbee I highly recommend you look it up!). It originates and is reasonably popular in the Unites States. The culture around the sport in the US is very competitive. I have been playing for 10+ years in this very intense environment. I knew that it was going to be a different experience to play in Sevilla because it is not a very well-known sport. When I arrived, and found a team to play with I realized that there are about 30 people in all of Sevilla that have ever played and about 1/4th of them are either other study abroad students or people that moved here from other countries. In a place where Futbol completely dominates the sports culture, it was really interesting to find this little pocket of a culture similar to my own. During the few months, I have gotten to practice with them I have learned a whole new vocabulary of words that they use to communicate within the sport. On top of that, whenever you play any sport with a new group of people you get to see how they communicate non-verbally. The way people run, cut, fake, and generally move their bodies, varies from person to person but that variety is consistent across cultures. No matter where in the world you go, you will always have to learn how other people communicate just by moving their body.
Something I have always loved about sports is that when you play with a team for long enough, eventually your teammates become like a family. When I first showed up to their practices here in Sevilla, while there was somewhat of a language barrier as I am not really fluent in Spanish, they were so welcoming and made me feel like I was already a part of their family. That is something that can be hard to find in the United States. The culture around Ultimate Frisbee here is much more relaxed. While there is still that intensity and eagerness to work hard and improve, the competitiveness that comes with the more developed scene in the States is not at the same level. I was able to make some really cool friends and got to experience my sport through a different lens. Moral of the story, I highly recommend playing sports in different cultures because it is guaranteed to be a really interesting learning experience and a window into the lives of people like you who grew up differently.

My host Mom is better than yours, by Tabitha Fleck.

Spain is different in a number of ways from the U.S. and especially considering all that study abroad entails, it is easy to get overwhelmed with culture shock and feel homesick. Spanish people eat at different times, talk in a more direct fashion, have their cultural differences from those of the U.S. but above all, they have the biggest hearts. One thing that made study abroad one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had was my host Mom. Her name is Maria Luisa, she is 74 years old, and is the feistiest woman I have ever met. Let me just say that my host mom is a wonderful cook and never ceased to amaze my roommate and I when we sat down at the dinner table. Not only that, she also nursed me back to health for 4 days after I got travelers sickness in Morocco. From the conversations we’d have over dinner and all the advice she would give me about life and traveling, to all the effort she put into cleaning, doing laundry, and cooking, I can’t even begin to describe how much of a positive impact she had on my time in Spain. From a cultural psychology point of view, it occurred to me that although different cultures have different customs, at the end of the day everybody wants the same things from life, to be happy and find meaning in what they do and who they are. My host mom was quick to always remind me to let the little things go and appreciate life for what it is. I realize now that one thing I really admire about Spanish culture is that they place more of an emphasis on family and being together. I learned a lot from my host mom and also gained valuable life experience from traveling to different places and meeting new people.
Spaniards are vibrant, loud, and outgoing people with an incredible capacity to love others. One things for sure, no one compares to my host mom and I will miss her and Sevilla very, very much.

Visiting the Flamenco Museum, by Nathaniel Casper

On September 24, 2019, I visited the Museo Baile de Flamenco. When I heard that Flamenco was a good dance I thought, "Oh, this is going to be just like the dancing out on the street right?"
Oh, how wrong I was! The musicians began to play. Mostly, they were playing on the guitar but they also used castanets, & a small drum. I wanted very much to take a photo of the dancers, but unfortunately, the musicians stated at the beginning that you cannot make any recordings whatsoever because of intellectual property-copyright laws. The Flamenco itself was incredible because each dance had a different rhythm and beat to it. The first dance started out very slow, and at first, it was dominated by the female, who was seemingly ageless (at times she seemed like an older woman but she moved so gracefully I thought she was a younger woman). The female dancer moved slowly & gracefully as she began to twirl around, and eventually incorporated her shawl into the dance. When the female dancer incorporated her shawl into the dancing, she was still even more elegant, like a scarlet ibis cornered by a predator but yet refusing to yield. What I surprised with, in visiting the museum, was learning that Flamenco has had many different influences over many centuries: Native Andalusians have contributed to the development of the dance, of course, but cultural scholars & dance historians have debated that there are similarities to as well as influences from multiple dances from different cultures including, just to name a few: the Sephardic Jews who inhabited Spain until their expulsion by the "Catholic Monarchs" of Isabella & Fernando. Also, another significant influence comes from Romani People. Some scholars, according to the museum exhibits, have even traced the roots of Flamenco partially back to the Muslim Moorish People who inhabited Iberia from 711 to the fall of the Emirate of Granada, hundreds of years later. These claims by scholars could very well be true because if you look at the movements of some Romani dances & certain North African dances, some of the movements are somewhat similar (though a little different from) the Flamenco we know well.
I was also fascinated to learn, that each particular Flamenco dance communicates a particular message. A few dances communicate emotions such as love. Other dances communicate a message of sadness or despair. Still, other Flamenco dances communicate a message of joy & happiness or even sexuality. In a way, Flamenco is an integral part of Andalucian Culture, just like the dishes of Paella with rice/meat or seafood or Flamenquin (my personal favorite of Andalusia) or Andalucian Gaspacho. These foods & other parts of regional culture, make Andalucia separate from the larger Spain. The United States in a similar way is characterized by stereotypical "American" foods, which form an integral part of our diet on special occasions. Such foods which are considered typically "American" include Apple pie, Macaroni & Cheese & venison.

Getting back to the dancers, the woman continued to twirl with grace and then the male dancer stepped in. The male Flamenco dancer embodies the typical traits of what many Americans might consider their "idealized Andalusian man" such as dark black hair, a tall thin body, & intense brown, black or at times blue eyes, showing the genetic mix of Andalusia. The male Flamenco dancer began the first dance by stomping his feet & clapping rhythmically. Later however; the male incorporated many, many twirls into his dance, twirls interspersed with the stomping of the feet & rhythmic clapping. The female Flamenco dancer also embodies the idealized Andalusian female: an entirely elegant combination of beauty & grace, who seems ageless, for she carries herself elegantly & even regally.

Tapas everywhere

Tapas, small plates. Tortilla de Patatas, Espinacas con Garbanzos, and Huevos Rotos. Since being in Sevilla, tapas have become one of my favorite food. I could eat them every day. I love to go grab a tapa and some sangria with a friend after class, or on the weekends my friends and I like to do tapas crawls. A tapas crawl is when we go to a few different restaurants and get one tapa at each. My favorite tapa is Espinacas con Garbanzos, which is interesting to me because I normally hate garbanzo beans. Every time I go eat tapas I make sure that is included in my meal. Tortilla de Patatas is a very common tapa. You can find it at almost every restaurant, and my host mom makes it a lot. I won’t say I don’t like this tapa, but it defiantly isn’t my favorite. Tapas are something that you can’t really find in the states, given that every meal is huge and there are no such thing as small plates. I feel that tapas play a big role in the Spanish culture. Everywhere you look you will see people eating tapas. When I leave tapas will be something I truly miss.

 

Seville and Game of Thrones, by Kelly Barry

On Tuesday September 10th 2019, I went to the Alcazar de Seville which was about a 30-minute walk from my residencia. In Spain, I have walked a lot more than I am used to but it has allowed me to see more of Seville. I have used bikes, metros, and buses to navigate my way through town. Usually in America, I have a 5-minute walk and use a car to get around on the weekends. As I walked to the Alcazar, I noticed the narrow streets and cobblestone paths. The line to get in was filled with people from places all over the world and many groups were speaking a variety of different languages.

I got to take a guided tour of the Alcazar and learn about some of the history. This includes how it was used for some scenes in Game of Thrones. There was also, a maze and beautiful tiles on all of the walls. In Spain, I have noticed that there is a lot of detail into many of the buildings I have visited. The Alcazar had some interesting Gothic styles and maintained its architecture through earthquakes and a variety of attacks. I am looking forward to exploring in Spain and finding more places with beautiful architecture and a long history.

Yoga retreat

The most amazing experience I had in Spain was when I went to a yoga retreat in Cadiz with my mother. On our 2 hour drive to Cadiz we got lost and took the wrong roads. But then we finally took the correct road and it lead us to right where we needed to be, the yoga bubble. When we got to the yoga bubble we were greeted with a hug from a yoga instructor and it was just what we needed to take away from our stressful drive. While my mother and I were at this retreat we learned a lot about ourselves and a new way of life in which we learned how to relax and get away from our busy lives. We also met amazing people from all over the world that had taught us new ways of cooking, and culture as well as learning. The whole weekend we ate healthy meals the chief at the yoga retreat made, all the food from local farmers markets. The food was all vegetarian, this opened our minds to a new way of cooking that is healthy and delicious. After we ate dinner and had left overs such as oranges and melons, we fed the donkeys that lived outside, it was an amazing experience to be able to feed these amazing animals. Overall while we were at this yoga retreat we were learning about ourselves, and others and in the end that everyone in the world is looking for a deeper meaning in life.

Wasting time, by Emma King

     When preparing to come to Spain, many people in the United States informed me that Spaniards are much more relaxed. Some of my friends who had visited Spain before, even went so far to say that they didn't understand how many Spaniards made a living, because walking around, it appears that no one is working. When I first arrived, I felt the exact same way. It made no sense to me how people spent hours of their day sitting with family and friends at a restaurant or café and still made a living. Furthermore, when I went to a restaurant here, I was surprised how unrushed my meal was and how the waiters waited for me to wave them down to approach my table. For the first month, I repeatedly would think about how this relaxed approach to life would never work in America and would find myself looking down on it, even though I really enjoyed it.
After we learned about ethnocentrism in class, I recognized this was skewing my perception of Spain. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed my relaxed meals and loved that people spent so much face-to-face time with each other, I was looking down on it solely because it was different from America's norms. In America, taking one's time is often viewed as wasting time and is looked down upon, which was jading my experience of different practices. After I recognized this, it made me fully enjoy and participate in these new cultural norms. I love that I eat long meals with my host family and that going for a coffee with a friend can turn into a multiple hour event. It is so wonderful how people truly cherish time with others, and I will greatly miss the more relaxed approach to life when I return to the United States.

Startups in Sevilla, by Daniel Ziegler

When coming to Sevilla, I was not sure what to expect. I did not read much about cultural norms or how businesses worked, all I knew is that I wanted to participate in an internship offered by my program. As I began interviewing with different companies, it became somewhat overwhelming. I had 4 interviews in English and 3 interviews in Spanish. One of the interviews in English really intrigued me. It was with a company called Scope, which is a small tech startup that provides insights to improve productivity of software development teams. Once I had received the offer for the internship with Scope, I did not really know what to expect. I had previous experience in the prototyping stages of a small finance startup in the United States, but I really did not know how this startup would work. I soon learned that Scope is part of Andalucia Open Future, an acceleration program for startups in Andalucia. The building I worked in is called El Cubo, which had numerous startups working in a very tech-driven environment. At El Cubo, I worked on a software development team of 5 people. We had two small tables in an office building that had a very open floorplan. We were surrounded by other tech startups that were hard at work. Due to the fact that El Cubo is an acceleration program, companies there worked diligently to improve their software so that they could gain clients and investors in an effort to grow their companies. I mainly worked on developing the user interface and documenting the software of Scope, but I also had other tasks including proofreading presentations because my three bosses were all Spaniards who wanted help with their English. The startup work ethic here in Spain turned out to be very similar to what I had experienced in the United States. The only main difference was that here in Spain, I worked alongside numerous other startups.

Through my internship experience in Spain, I learned that although I had a set number of hours to complete each week, my bosses were not always going to be present when I was working. I had to learn to be more relaxed, work independently, and go with the flow. Another thing that I learned is that when someone asks if I want to go to get breakfast, I should always say yes. This is where I had some of the most valuable conversations with Spaniards. Overall, my internship experience taught me more than I could have ever imagined about Spain. When I look back on my semester abroad, I think that the first thing to come to mind will be all of the great experiences I had in my internship.

Sitting in a café, by Anna Mae Frey

My favorite experiences in Sevilla were when I would go to a coffee shop and sit for a while. I would take the metro from where I live in Nervion to the Puerta Jerez stop and stop at a coffee shop in that area. I always enjoyed the peace and quiet, and it gave me some time to reflect on my experiences in Sevilla. As my Spanish is not too good, I would get nervous about ordering in Spanish, but as I got more used to the environment, speaking a little Spanish no longer made me anxious. I enjoyed people watching from the windows facing the cathedral, even though a large majority of those people were tourists. Listening to other’s conversations was especially interesting once we learned about the linguistic similarities between languages and the universality of emotion. Even if I could not understand word for word what people were saying, I could often understand through their facial expressions, body language, and tone if it were a happy conversation or a stressful or sad one. I took the picture included when I was sitting in a café finishing up from presentation for my chapter presentation on cultural cognition. It was a sunny and warm day, and I think the picture shows that.

Shopping opportunities, by Sawyer Robbins

Living in Sevilla has been quite a culture shock for me. I consider myself a well-traveled individual and assumed Europe would be an easy adjustment compared to some of the places I have been, yet this was not the case. I have noticed so many differences between American culture and Spanish culture - some more obvious than others. During my time abroad I have taken full advantage of the shopping opportunities that Sevilla has to offer (maybe even a little too much). In the United States you see individuals often shopping alone whether it is for themselves or for others. In Sevilla and other parts of Spain shopping seems to be a family affair. Husbands and children follow their wives around the store like puppy dogs as she shops. You see wives holding their clothing up to either their husband or children asking for advice as they go. In all honesty, it is quite a sight. The most bizarre aspect of the entire scene is the husbands and families (including little children) will then follow their wives into the dressing room. Every article of clothing the wife tries on, she then shows the husband and takes his opinion into consideration. If the wife is seen without her husband or a friend to tag along, she will act as though the salesperson is her best friend, asking for advice or having them zip up certain articles of clothing. This is not the same case in America. Rarely do we talk to the salesperson when inside the dressing room and unless you are shopping with your parents - who are purchasing the clothing - would you ask for advice on every single piece you try on. I’ve realized this is due to Spain’s collectivist culture. Every activity is a communal one - including shopping, which us Americans often associate as an individual activity. I thought this was very interesting and it has changed my perspective on the entire activity as a whole. While I personally enjoy shopping on my own, watching families shop together makes me wonder how shopping with my own family would look. I don’t think it would be as smooth and enjoyable as the Spaniards view it.