Bringing Spanish culture home

From a young age, Rachel Butler has travelled a path marked by rich and diverse cultural experiences. So it was only natural that the fourth-year combined honours student in International Development Studies and Spanish would jump at the opportunity to study abroad.

Born in Calgary, Rachel spent seven years of her childhood in Mexico City before attending high school in Ontario. Earlier this year, she spent five months in Seville, Spain as part of an exchange program, studying at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide and taking some time to explore Europe.

“I was lucky enough to travel and be exposed to different cultures since I was young,” says Rachel, who became fluent in Spanish while growing up in Mexico. “I think that’s continued to shape what I’m studying academically and what I want to do as a career.”

Dance demonstration

The exchange experience has also shaped Rachel’s contribution to the Dalhousie community. In October, she and several students from Dalhousie and the University of King’s College who spent time together in Seville — along with visiting Spanish students — hosted a workshop that introduced attendees to the Sevillanas, a form of flamenco dancing that is popular in southern Spain.

“It was basically a workshop to show off some of the southern Spanish culture,” says Rachel. “This dance is a style of flamenco and they dance it specifically in fairs across southern Spain.”

Along with King’s student Caora McKenna, Rachel took classes while on exchange to learn about the Sevillanas and the costumes and cultures that surround it. At the workshop, they demonstrated the dance in its entirety before offering instruction to the roughly 50 attendees.

Rachel says the event, which was promoted by the International Centre, Dalhousie’s Spanish society and the university’s Spanish program, was a hit.

“We were kind of worried because the weather was bad and sometimes people commit to stuff and don’t follow through, but Spanish faculty showed up and a lot of international students showed up.”

An enriching experience

Rachel would like to use her experience in Spain as inspiration to organize more events with the Spanish society, for which she is an executive. More generally, she says the exchange program has enriched her education.

“The exchange program was with students from Australia, Germany and the U.S. mostly, but because I spoke Spanish I had the opportunity to integrate with Spanish students,” she says. “Spending time in classrooms with students who haven’t had the same educational background and learning from that was an awesome opportunity.”

Rachel also visited northern Europe and Morocco during her time abroad and made friends with students from several countries.

“You kind of build a second family when you go on exchange and it’s nice to have those connections across the globe.”