1. Pre-departure meetings:
As I am studying abroad via SAC, I needed to attend four mandatory pre-departure meetings. These sessions are held with our study abroad advisor, Vanessa Chong, our resident director, and the rest of the UHM students who are also going to Seville. The meetings can be long, but they are very informative. You will learn various topics such as the culture, what to wear, what-if scenarios, and much more! These meetings will also allow you to ask questions as well as get to know the other students and resident director. 2. Visa: This is the most crucial part of studying abroad. If you are studying abroad for more than 90 days, you will need a visa. The visa process can be confusing but Vanessa will go over the application process with you step-by-step by the first meeting. One tip of advice is to make sure you have all the necessary documents ready so that way you can send your application ASAP. I mailed in all my documents, including my passport, to the consulate in San Francisco. When the consulate received my package, it took about three weeks to receive my visa. If you send your application late, you face the risk of not getting your visa in time. You do not want to fly out to San Francisco and knock on their door asking for it a day before you leave for Seville 3. Packing: Please do not be like me and procrastinate. Do not over-pack because you will most likely do a lot of shopping and bring back some souvenirs. Since I’m studying during the fall semester, the weather is hot for the first half and cold for the second half. So I mostly brought summer clothes and a couple of long sleeves as I plan on buying warmer clothes there. Also, bring comfortable shoes as you will be walking a couple of miles a day. 4. Phone: I suggest buying a sim card here in Spain, but talk to your carrier if you have free international roaming. As I did not have a sim card the first couple of days, I could not navigate as my phone did not have any internet. Thankfully, my group was able to navigate for me. I bought a Movistar sim card for a flat rate of 20 Euros. The sim card lasts for four months and has 25 GBS and 150 minutes, which is a good deal. Movistar also has a smaller option of 7 GBS, but I do not know how much the flat rate is. The Movistar store is also a block down from the ICS. You can also check out Orange, but their store is in the city and I think you have to pay monthly. 5. Traveling to Spain: Once you have been accepted into the study abroad program I suggest you start researching your flight to Spain. You can also coordinate with other students who may be going to Spain, but keep in mind the price may be much higher the longer you wait. It was a long journey from Hawaii to Seville as I had to take four different flights. Including layovers, it was about 30 hours of traveling. Due to Covid, this was my first time traveling in two years. To travel to Spain, I had to get a QR code. This was done a couple of days before my flight to Spain. To get the QR code, I had to input my flight and Covid vaccine information. This process made immigration easier and faster as all they had to do was scan the code. 2 out of the 4 flights I was lucky enough to be one of the few rows that had no one sitting in the middle seat. I do not know what I did for this to happen but it made me feel a bit safer. Once you have arrived in Seville and have gotten your luggage, make sure to contact your host mom and the ICS staff that you have arrived and you are on your way. Taxis are a flat rate of about 23 Euros, so make sure the taxis don’t scam you. The taxi tried to make me pay 25 euros but I showed him a piece of paper that I printed out saying what the flat rate was supposed to be and he accepted it. Before arriving make sure you have a picture of your address, phone numbers, and the taxi prices because you will most likely have no internet connection.
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