Spanish study abroad program allows students to ‘live like the locals’

09/12/2025

By Brett Buckner  

Jax State's Department of History and Foreign Languages is planning an educational study trip to Seville, Spain, from May 9 through June 7. The group will travel to the Alcázar of Seville, the Alhambra, where Game of Thrones was filmed, Madrid, and the Mediterranean Coast. Students will spend nearly a month living with a host family while taking classes at the CLIC International House. After those classes, students will take dance lessons, cooking classes, attend theater performances and flamenco shows.  

“It's fully immersive,” said Luke Michels, Spanish instructor who is organizing the study abroad trip along with Dr. Eduardo Pacheco. “I mean, if you want to learn Spanish, go to where they’re speaking Spanish … it just makes sense.”   

The trip offers students the opportunity to experience Spain's culture firsthand. “They will walk the streets of a major international city,” Michels said. “They’ll walk to class in the morning, be in class from 9 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon and then take trips all around the city during the week or a cooking class, go to sing karaoke, catch a show - all in Spanish. They can’t get that any other way than to go there.”  

Michels and Dr. Pacheco have been chaperoning study abroad trips for 10 years. The experience is literally opening the world to Jax State students, many of whom have had little to no travel experience.  

“It is a hundred percent transformative,” Michels said. “So many of these students have not only never been outside of the country, but a lot of them have never been outside the state. This truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It will change their lives and the way they see the world, and that experience will stay with them forever.”  

Students will also earn six credits while studying abroad. It’s like taking two summer classes in one session,” Michels said.   

Costs for the trip are expected to be between $4,800 and $5,400, which includes flight, tuition, travel throughout Spain, weekend excursions and textbooks. “Considering the benefits, it’s a pretty good deal,” Michels said. “Really, it’s actually cheaper than spending the summer term on campus and taking classes.”  

Information will be available at the first interest meeting, Tuesday, September 16, at 4:30 p.m. in the Stone Center Room 320, with additional meetings planned for October and November.