This week in Sevilla, La Feria de Abril is taking place. The streets of Los Remedios have been transformed into fair grounds lined with Casetas (public and private tents where friends and families go to eat, drink and dance). Horse-drawn carriages fill the streets, carrying Sevillanos and tourists all dressed in their most elegant and traditional attire.

In addition to the casetas, there is also a vibrant and colorful street known as Calle del Infierno that is filled with carnival rides, ferris wheels, merry-go-rounds, games and booths with classic fair foods. I had little idea of what to expect going into this week and I have been astounded by the sheer scale of this event. It feels like I have been immersed into an entirely other time and place in the most wonderful of ways.

My host mom, Manuela, owns a boutique in town and so I got my traje de flamenco from her store. As we got ready for feria, she helped my roommate and I get all dressed up with the typical accessories from her collection of years past including mantones, flores, pins and brooches.

This is the attire that you’ll see not just within the fair grounds themselves but across all of Sevilla for the week. Manuela even got us tickets for one of the private casetas of the neighborhood and we were able to all go together as a family to eat tapas, dance, and laugh. My roommate and I have also been taking weekly dance lessons to learn the Sevillanas dance for which feria is known and Manuela has been helping us practice at home which has never failed to end in complete laughter and joy as we inevitably miss some of the steps. Overall, Feria has been a one-of-a-kind experience and I am so immensely grateful to get to be a part of it while abroad.