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April round of Internships - Life in Seville

Callum works at Colegio Britanico de Sevilla

Photo curtsey of Callum. Callum standing on Puente de Isabel II, Seville

'Time has flown by; I can’t believe we’ve been in Sevilla for 3 weeks already. It’s been amazing, experiencing Semana santa was an eye opener and adapting to the chilled Sevilliano culture and lifestyle has been great.

I’ve completed just over a week as a teaching assistant at Colegio Britanico de Sevilla. I have been placed in a year 4 class where I provide a helping hand to the main teacher; reading with kids, helping them complete exercises and other general teaching assistant duties. It is more or less exactly how I imagined it to be, the only thing I have noticed is that it is a lot less strict than schooling in the UK. At the start I found the early starts and rebellious kids a challenge but as time goes on I find myself getting to know the kids’ personalities better and understanding the methods that make each individual work best. Like most teaching jobs it can be tough but also incredibly rewarding when you see improvements.

In my free time, aswel as walking alongside the river, I have been exploring the streets that maze between the squares and different parts of Sevilla, scouting out tapas spots, tranquil parks and the huge amount of amazing other things on offer. Several of us went to Cadiz last week where we enjoyed my birthday on the beach in 25 degree heat!

I have never lived abroad before so the idea of being Sevilla for 3 months felt like jumping into the unknown for me, however I found myself thriving in the laid back city of Sevilla (so far). Its important to embrace the challenge and jump into the Sevilliano lifestyle straight away as time does pass quickly. On my first night I paid 80c for a cerveza (a welcome treat and outstanding in comparison to my local spoons back in London). My general advice for adjusting to first weeks in Sevilla: Get a sevici bike, explore, talk Spanish to as many people as possible and try new experiences'

Photo curtsey of Callum. View from one of the apartments

Lucy works at Queens College

Photo curtsey of Lucy. Sunday's art group.

'I’m working at Queen’s College, an after school language school just outside Sevilla. I work as a teaching assistant with children and teenagers and also lead my own class every Monday and Wednesday. Teaching English to children involves lots of repetition, playing games and practising my Spanish! It is definitely different to what I was expecting, and I normally work with teenagers and adults so I am learning a lot about how to teach children aged 5 and up.

Exploring the city. I’ve spent a lot of time walking around and getting to know Seville, my average steps are 18,000 per day. I’ve also been over the river to CAAC and Triana and to Cadiz for a day on the beach. We go out to the Alameda most weekends for beers and have set up our own art group on Sundays led by a different intern each week.

I love it. It suits my body clock, I wake up at 9am or 10am and go to bed at 1am during the week. The food is amazing, beer is cheap and you naturally get tons of exercise. The first week and a half was tiring but now we’ve settled into a routine I’m really enjoying it.'

Photo curtsey of Lucy. Triana Ceramics museum.

Holly works at Centris School

Photo curtsey of Sophie. Centris School.

'I’m working at Centris English School, which is in a neighbouring town of Seville called Tomares. To begin with, I’m observing the lessons which are all based towards passing the Cambridge English exams. The school is a private, after-school style facility and teaches all ages, approximately six to adult. I usually observe the lessons and have some interaction with the students, helping them with their work and joining in conversations. I’m enjoying getting to know the students and building up rapor with them, and also enjoying the conversational practice with the adults. Soon I will be taking some lessons and doing more one-to-one conversation practice with students who need some extra help, so really looking forward to that. The job is slightly more passive than I thought it would be, but I don’t mind too much as I know more will happen in the up coming weeks and the lack of stress has been good for settling in. I also am grateful that the staff are so lovely at the school and it’s a really pleasant working environment.

During my free time I’ve mostly been socialising with the group as we all get on so well. We have been to Cadiz for a day trip, around the city for food and drinks, and to local parks for chilled out days. I’ve joined the local gym and have been going swimming and using the sauna/steam-room but yet to try a gym class in Spanish! We also have an Art Club set up by my friend and flatmate Lucy, which has been brilliant as a casual but engaging get-together on a Sunday afternoon. The plan is for different members of the group to lead the sessions on a topic or practice they are skilled in and it’s proving really successful so far and is something we all look forward to.

It’s been interesting to see how we’ve bonded as a group and I feel really grateful we are all such positive and pro-active people because this makes the experience so much more memorable. The time has gone really fast and every day seems to zoom by, which is why it’s important to make the most of it and I think we all share this mindset. The weather so far has been great (bar a freak stormy week in April) but slightly worried about just how hot it’s going to get! Loving seeing the sun every day though, and thoroughly enjoy biking around the city and getting to know it better.'

Photo curtsey of Lucy. Art Club.

Anna Works at Queens College

Photo curtsey of Anna. A sunset in Seville

'I work at a beautiful academy situated in Mariena de Aljarafe called Queen's College. Everyday I have 3 groups of students with varied levels of English, they are all wonderful! Victoria has made such an effort to make me feel comfortable and confident when delivering lesson material and I often have a class to myself. It's such a fun and relaxed environment, I'm enjoying working there so much!

In my free time I have been making good use of the Sevici bikes, exploring the city centre and the many beautiful plazas/parks Sevilla has to offer. I live very close to a beautiful river which is a perfect spot to sunbathe, read or catch up with friends. I'm so lucky to be apart of such a close group of people who make a real effort to spend time with each other. Tomorrow we're celebrating one of my friends' birthdays so we're going to have a picnic in the park which will be amazing! We've created an art club and we have poetry readings. We also enjoy creating beautiful and spontaneous music together. We are a collective of artists, musicians and poets who are all fully embracing the Sevillian lifestyle. Seville is an incredible city that has such a rich musical and artistic culture, it's ideal for anybody looking for a little inspiration or even just some time away.

The first couple of weeks have flown by! It's crazy thinking about how fast everything has happened. There's still so much to do and the days are flying past, so I'm trying to make the most of each and every one! Life in Seville is very easy to adjust to in my opinion. The Spanish have such a deep quality of life and the way they structure their days brings one such a sense of leisure and enjoyment. Whether it's enjoying an afternoon siesta or not having dinner until 12am, even partying until 7 in the morning and being able to do it all over again the next day (or maybe not hah). There's definitely many benefits of living a Spanish lifestyle!'

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