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City description | Host institutions | Costs | What's included | Course offerings | Photos |
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City Description
Sevilla can be best described as a city of colors. Everywhere you turn, there are flowers, orange trees, and multicolored tiles that complement the houses in shades of green, brown, and orange. The colorfulness of the city is not only reflected in the buildings and landscapes, but also in the people and their way of life.
Home to 600,000 residents, Sevilla is the capital city of the Andalucía region in southern Spain. Originally built by the Romans as a shelter from the heat of Andalusian
summers, it is now a bustling city with its own airport and a bullet train called el Ave (“The Bird”) that gets you to Madrid in just over 2 hours.
Sevilla has an astonishing number of palaces, churches, towers, and historic hospitals. Probably the most
impressive of the sites is the Cathedral, located in the Plaza del Triunfo. Begun in the 1400's, it took centuries to complete. It is one of the world's largest cathedrals, comparable in size to St. Peter's in Rome.
A short walk from the Cathedral is the Alcázar, a 14th Century Mudejar palace built by Pedro the Cruel. Today, the Alcázar is the Sevillian home of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, making it the oldest royal European residence still in use.
Sevilla is not only famous its day-to-day liveliness, but for its annual festivals as well. Held during the week leading up to Easter, Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Sevilla is a truly a sight to behold. It is one of the most important religious events in all of Spain and includes as many as 59 colorful and dramatic processions of floats depicting the Passion.
Universidad de Sevilla click here for course offerings
The Universidad de Sevilla began in the 15th century as the Colegio Santa María de Jesús. Today, the University is housed in the second-largest building in Spain - a baroque, 18th-century building that was the first cigarette factory in the world, the Real Fábrica de Tabacos. During the 19th century, three quarters of Europe's cigars were manufactured there by over 3,000 cigareras (female cigar-makers). These workers inspired the French author Proper Merimee to create the character Carmen in a short story, which ultimately became the basis for the world-famous Bizet opera, Carmen.
All of the professors at the Universidad de Sevilla are masters or doctors in their respective fields, and there are approximately 10,000 Spanish students as well as 500 Americans. The Universidad de Sevilla has four libraries readily available to all students: Dante Alighieri (the Library of Philology, History, and Geography), the Library of Manuals, the Art Library, and the General Library. Also, each department has its own research facilities. Of special interest to students of history, the Archivo General de las Indias is available to students who have been granted special permission from a professor. These archives are considered the most important documentation in the world with regard to the West Indies. This would be an invaluable resource to any student interested in the pre-Columbian and colonial history of Latin America, as well as Latin America's relations with Spain.
Universidad Pablo de Olavide, click here for course offerings
Universidad Pablo de Olavide (UPO), founded in 1997, is one of the Spain's youngest and smallest public universities. Named after an 18th century Peruvian intellectual, the university is a dynamic institution dedicated to educating the men and women of tomorrow through strong academic programs, innovative research, and a highly educated faculty. The University has a population of approximately 9,000 students and offers degree programs in a variety of academic fields.
The university offers degrees in the following areas: business, economics, humanities, law, science, social science, social work.
The University is located on a beautiful 345 acre campus less than 5 miles from Seville's city center. In addition to the many classroom building, a library, computer and science laboratories and two cafeterias, the campus contains a gym, a high performance table tennis center, indoor courts, an outdoor running track and playing fields.
The University library has open access stacks and contains 40 computer stations and 6 group study rooms. It is also wired to provide internet access for those students wishing to use their own laptop computers. In addition to its book collections, the library has over 940 academic journal and magazine titles as well as access to over 5,000 electronic publications in various languages.
The Nightlife
It has been said that the inhabitants of Sevilla are "living in the street,” which means that a typical Sevillano only enters his flat to eat or sleep. With beautiful outdoor cafes, parks, plazas, restaurants and bars, there is no reason to ever go inside. You can have a drink along the Guadalquivir River that flows through the city, play soccer in the park, or shop on the cobblestone streets and alleyways that make up most of the downtown area.
One to two weeks after Holy Week, the Feria de Abril, a full week of round-the-clock revelry, is insanely popular with tourists and residents alike. Sevillanos, however, never need an excuse to throw a party, so the city is vibrant year round.
Sevilla embodies the free spirited, fun-loving and romantic image of southern Spain. Rich with culture, history, art and life, it will always remain the soul of Andalucía.
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