During the Spring and Fall semesters, friends and family members are welcome to join Spanish and Pre-Health students on their week-long excursion to Madrid, with incredible stops in Consuegra, Toledo and Segovia.

Friends and family members pay the same reduced group rate as students for this excursion. Prices vary depending on whether you finish your trip in Madrid or come back to Sevilla by train with the rest of the group.  The estimated cost is 600 euros per person, paid in cash upon arrival in Sevilla (wiring options from Texas are also available).  

• • This cost includes hotels, in-country transportation, breakfast each day, museum and historical site entrance tickets.   
  • Price does not include flights to and from Spain, lunches, dinners, hotel stays before or after the excursion dates and personal expenses   
  • An optional surcharge of 60 euros could include a return train ticket to Sevilla with the student group. 

The bus departs from Sevilla to the medieval city of Toledo, making a stop to visit the beautiful windmills at Consuegra, featured in Cervantes' Don Quixote. Next the group departs for Segovia, where they visit The Alcázar and the Roman Aqueduct. The group will enjoy two free days in Madrid, home to many museums, restaurants and numerous places of cultural interest. Finally, on the last day the group departs back to Sevilla on a high-speed train.  

For more information and registration, please contact our Program Coordinator Myriam Rubio (myriam.rubio@ttu.edu).    

*This trip is only offered for friends and family members who have students in the Spanish and Pre-Health programs during Spring and Fall semesters.    

Here is a tentative itinerary of the trip.

Students who participate in the Spanish & Pre-Health programs have the opportunity to practice their Spanish with native speakers in a classroom setting with our experienced Language Assistants. The language assistants work alongside students during class time to help understand grammar and vocabulary on a deeper, more individualized level.  Language assistants interact with students in small-group sessions and converse with them strictly in Spanish. The language assistants are worked into the course curriculum and the professor will provide activities specific to their participation.  

Every other Wednesday evening, around 8 pm to 9:30 pm, students will also have the opportunity to discover Sevilla with their Spanish Tutors. These local, university-aged, Spaniards will accompany students out on the town to have a drink, eat some tapas or walk around Sevilla during the allotted hour and a half to practice Spanish and see your new city from their perspective! It’s a fun cultural experience and you get to see how Spanish students socialize. 

Both Language Assistants & Tutors are built into the Spanish program year-round, even during the summer programs. 

Sevillanas is a typical Spanish dance originated in the southern region of Andalusia, more specifically in Sevilla. It started approximately in the 19th Century when people from the countryside would meet to sing and dance all together. A branch of Flamenco music, Sevillanas songs talk about common things such as politics, romance or about the Feria (Fair), where everyone dances sevillanas. It’s accompanied musically by Spanish guitars, clapping, castanets and the Flamenco box drum. The dance is divided into four sections, and you usually dance with a partner.  

La Feria is one of the most important festivities in Sevilla. This week-long fair usually takes place sometime in April, two weeks after the Easter holiday. Sevilla’s population will almost double as tons of people from all over Spain, and the world, come to Seville to experience “La Feria”.   

Dr. Jonathan Deen, the assistant director for the TTU Center in Sevilla, dedicates some of his free time each week to engage our students with yoga and mindfulness sessions.   
"I've practiced yoga for over fifteen years and began to share my experience and knowledge of this practice in 2016 after completing a yoga teacher certification. In my role as Assistant Director of the TTU Sevilla Center in Sevilla and as Spanish instructor, my busy schedule doesn't allow me to continue teaching yoga outside of work. Therefore, I volunteer to teach classes simply to continue doing something I love and to share this skill that provides numerous health benefits both physically and mentally."

Students who participate in the Spanish, Pre-Health and Architecture programs will learn more about the traditional tiles from Sevilla in this tile workshop. A local expert tile artisan comes to the TTU Sevilla Center to talk about the history and the artistic process of tile making in this workshop. Apart from learning all about the rich heritage of “azulejos” (porcelain tiles) in Sevilla, students will create their own tile to take back home with them as a “Made in Spain” souvenir!   

The Tile Workshop is built in the three programs in the semesters and in the Spanish program in summer*.  
  
*Other programs are welcome to ask for this workshop.