Sightseeing in Zurich, Switzerland
Author: Madeyln Dibee | Major: Advertising and Public Relations, Journalism | Semester: Spring 2025
I have officially been studying abroad in Sevilla, Spain for a month now and I love it. I chose Sevilla because I wanted to experience an entire semester of being exposed to a different culture and language from what I am used to in the United States. I have always wanted to learn Spanish, but learning it in the traditional classroom atmosphere has never worked for me. However, since being in Spain I have gotten so much more confident in my conversational spanish skills.
My favorite things that I have gotten to do in Seville so far is just wandering and exploring. The school building is just a short walk from the Plaza de España, the most gorgeous architecture I have ever seen. I like to go there before class sometimes and just take in the atmosphere.
The first trip I have taken outside of Seville was to Gibraltar. We got on a bus and drove to the top of the mountain. We saw a ton of wild monkeys, some not so friendly, and a really cool underground rock cave.
The next weekend, a friend and I went to Paris! We got to see the Eiffel tower and visit the Louvre. It was the most breathtaking city I have ever experienced and we were able to pack so much into just three days.
The following weekend, we took a three day trip to Switzerland. We visited Basel, Zurich and Lucerne. Lucerne was by far my favorite. Since it is not tourist season there, it was just so quiet and quaint and peaceful. However, Switzerland was incredibly expensive. We didn’t go to any sit down restaurants because the average cost of a meal was 40 USD. The most humbling part of this experience was learning to use the trains for the first time. On the train out to Zurich, we accidentally sat in first class. We had no idea, but when the train employee checked our tickets he yelled at us very angrily. I have never been yelled at like that in my life, so on all of our other train rides we were sure to sit in second class.
As far as the academic side of things go, classes here are very different from classes at the University of Arkansas. Each of my classes meets twice a week, for two hours each meeting. Because of this, we have condensed a lot more of our learning. The classes here are less lecture based and more conversational. The one that I have struggled with the most but also learned the most from is called A World Of Protests. This class has been very challenging and requires a lot of work, as well as the professor making us meet an extra day a week for watching documentaries about the subjects we are learning about.
My favorite class has been my Flamenco class. Flamenco is a type of performance that is only found in the Andalusia area of Spain. I used to be a dancer, so getting to learn all about the dancing and rhythmic components that go into it, as well as the history behind it has been incredibly interesting to me. I will get to go to an actual flamenco performance soon, and I am incredibly excited about that.