Update from Sevilla

It’s been exactly two weeks since we received the order to evacuate all students and our semester abruptly took a sharp turn down an unexpected detour. You were suddenly jerked out of what was supposed to be your magically transformative study abroad experience, and we here were left without students, a big part of what brings meaning and order to our day-to-day lives. I am aware of some of the dramatic and intense situations some of you faced when travelling back home, but I imagine that this situation has somehow left an indelible mark on all of you.  


On Thursday March 12 when the order came, as you all remember, life in Sevilla felt normal, except for the palpable air of uneasiness about what was coming. Friday March 13 Andalucía announced that schools would be cancelled until the end of March and then the President of Spain Pedro Sánchez announced a State of Alarm that would go into effect on Sunday March 15 through the rest of the month. By Sunday we were living in a different city, country and soon-to-be, world. Those of you still here got a glimpse of this.


The State of Alarm effectively gave the national government control over the different police units across the country, meaning that the same laws applied and would be enforced throughout the entire country. Any businesses that had medical supplies, such as hand sanitizer, face masks or protective gear had to communicate their stockpile to the government within 48 hours and all companies with the capacity to switch production to these goods had to notify the government within the same time frame. All non-essential businesses were shut down and people are now not allowed to leave their homes except for various reasons: to work in an essential activity, going to buy groceries, to the pharmacy or doctor, to take your dog out or to care for the elderly. That’s it. There have been police in the neighborhood of the school questioning people about where they are going, and the fines can be quite high (in the thousands of euros.) Workers are recommended to take a document from their employer stating why they need to be out. Rumor has it that soon we will not be allowed to buy groceries for less than the amount of 30€. The State of Alarm has now been officially extended until April 12.


Sevilla has effectively turned into a ghost town (see this video for an unrecognizable version of the city:  Sevilla Vacía


People line up outside of the pharmacy or in line at the grocery store several meters away from each another. I live on a ground floor building near the aqueduct and we normally get many pedestrian passers-by. Now they are few and far between. I saw someone across the street sending groceries up to someone on a pulley. Having lived in Spain for close to 20 years, I must admit I was surprised by how quickly and seriously the population accepted and self-enforced the measures. On Friday March 13 the outdoor cafes were full; by Saturday March 14 there was not a soul in sight.

The most contact we have with others is when we see our neighbors every night at 20:00 when we all go to our windows or balconies and applaud out of gratitude for sacrifices of the health care workers for about 5 minutes. One of the pieces of good news for us is that the State of Alarm likely came in time to limit the severity of the spread of the disease in Andalucía. We are still one of the regions of Spain with the lowest percentage of cases per 100,000 residents.


However, the situation is not the same across the country. The number of dead in Spain surpassed yesterday that of China, though the overall number of cases is still technically lower. But the real number of cases is probably a lot higher. There has been a great shortage of tests here, and I saw on the news today that some estimates out of Italy say that for every confirmed case, it’s likely that there are another 7 asymptomatic or mild cases driving this epidemic, which is why the lockdown is essential to getting this under control. You may have seen how they built a hospital in Wuhan in 10 days; in Madrid they turned a conference center into a coronavirus hospital with 5.500 beds in 2 days, and they are making 100 respirators a day at a nearby facility with 3D printers. They have converted the indoor ice skating rink and mall in Madrid into a morgue. 


On a lighter note, life goes on and we are all adapting to the changes. All of the local TTU faculty and staff are safe and healthy at home with our loved ones. Our staff meetings are now longer because we have fewer interruptions (except for our own children interrupting us), and they are all online. In addition to regular administrative work that still goes on, we’re taking advantage of the time to get to projects we hadn’t found the time for. We’re also open to any of your ideas and suggestions for things you would have liked to experience here, or ideas for reaching students when things get back to normal.


The whole educational world has now gone online, and this situation has turned all Spanish students into homeschoolers, something that previously wasn’t even contemplated as a possibility under government legislation. It’s an opportunity for us to learn new things in new ways; I’m not expecting it to be better or easier overall, but I do anticipate that it forces new ideas onto us that may open up worlds of possibility we never would have taken the time to explore before.


Personally, since I have three kids and still have plenty of work to keep me occupied, I haven’t had much down time to tackle projects or get bored, but I am really savoring the slower rhythm of life and increased family and home time. It’s made me realize how truly frenzied my life was, and I think there will be lessons for us all to learn. Once this is all over there will surely be changes that we incorporate into our personal lives and our society as a whole.

Here's a video of a song that's become popular about staying home: Quédate en tu casa


We never had the chance to say proper goodbyes and bring closure and would love to hear about your different experiences in getting back home, quarantine, and what your lives look like now.