¡Bienvenidos a Sevilla!

We made it! After months of planning, anticipation, and a long day - or two - of travel, our Global Discovery Session 1 group arrived safe and sound in Sevilla, Spain on Sunday morning.

This is a very special group: only four students make up the Digital Filmmaking and Documentary course for this session, allowing for hands-on projects, personal instruction, and true connections to be formed among participants. The CIEE students and program leaders all met at different Gateway Cities across the U.S. on travel day to head to over 60 locations around the world. Elena, Lucy, and Sophia all arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Saturday afternoon. We set up camp and waited anxiously for updates from Violet, our fourth and final traveler, who was stuck in Atlanta with a flight that kept getting delayed.

After nearly five hours of passing the time in the airport, it was time to check in and move through security. As we lined up at the gate, we sent good vibes to Violet, who had just landed in Boston. Against all odds, she made it with minutes to spare as we were starting to board. We decided it was a good omen for things to come and suddenly, we were off!

We got coffee and snacks during a quick early morning layover in Lisbon, Portugal, and then the group took our final plane to Sevilla, where we were greeted by the CIEE site staff. They escorted us to the hotel and the other groups trickled in throughout the morning: in total, there are 35 high school students in the Global Navigator programs in Sevilla. The groups are split up for classes but will all be together for orientation, cultural activities, and excursions.

Orientation consisted of informational sessions, ice breakers, free time to use the hotel pool and, of course, tapas! The info sessions were conducted by the incredible site staff, who live full time in Sevilla and work at CIEE. They provided tips and Q & A for topics such as program goals, rules, health and safety, culture shock, and homestays. We were joined by several guides who are local university students and helped us find our way around the city. The students also got a chance to meet their professors at the hotel and talk about what to expect from their classes.

On Tuesday, we checked out of the hotel and the host families came to pick up their students. Everyone had a big lunch - almuerzo - at their new homes, and then the host families walked the students to our meeting point, a plaza in the middle of their neighborhood. From there, the local guides and program leaders showed the group how to navigate their way to the CIEE study center, a beautiful Spanish palacio in the center of the city where classes are held.

We finished Orientation on Wednesday morning with a walking tour of the neighborhood, in which our local guides pointed out convenience stores, important landmarks, the best ice cream shops, and shared other tips for navigating the area around the homestays. With the first two days of class in the book, Session 1 is off to a great start.