5 Months on the Yellow Submarine!
Many times, towards the end of college, students are bombarded with questions about their future — what are their plans, what’s the next step, etc. Whether it’s at family get-togethers or meeting new people, the question naturally comes up. Well, my answer was a little more untraditional than most. It would have been easy to say I was going to move back home to Atlanta, but all I could respond was that I wanted to go back to Spain.
I had spent a summer studying abroad in Sevilla two years prior, and I knew I had to find a way back to the country I fell in love with. Thankfully, after many hours spent scrolling the internet and deciphering what was legitimate, I found a company named Euroace based in Valencia, Spain. After asking a lot of questions, I ended up sending my resume for a potential 5-month internship placement. A couple weeks passed, and one day an email with the subject line ‘Congratulations! You’ve been placed’ popped up in my inbox. Right away, I opened the email to find out that I had been placed with Villarreal Club de Fútbol. I was thrilled that I had the chance to work in one of the sectors Spain is best known for, football. However, as an American football fan, I knew I had a lot of things to learn. Starting with removing the word ‘soccer’ from my vocabulary.
Before I knew it, the time had come to pack up my things and make the 10-hour flight to Spain. After spending a couple days settling in, my first week of work had arrived. The first day I met my new bosses, Lucy and Brandon, and got to meet Allison, a fellow intern who had arrived the week prior. I didn’t know what to expect exactly, but I really appreciated that Lucy and Brandon were eager to tailor the internship to fit the areas I was most interested in. I mentioned that I’d minored in Spanish in college, and that another reason I was here was to become fluent so in the beginning I was mostly assigned the task of translating articles and tweets. This was really helpful in broadening my vocabulary, and familiarizing myself with common phrases. It was super rewarding to see articles I had translated up on the official website.
The next week, Allison and I took our first train ride to Villarreal. From the moment you walk out of the train station, you can sense the laid-back nature of the small, sleepy town. As more interns arrived within the next month, we always took a different route to the office. It turned into a little game we played of which tiny road we’d walk down that day. The best part of being in Villarreal was that we got to experience the club hands-on. On our first trip to the Ciudad Deportiva, we toured the training fields, residence hall, cafeteria, and press room. We ventured back many times to watch First Team trainings and press conferences. The first press conference I attended was for Carlos Bacca’s signing. It was a very surreal moment to watch the cameras flash as he walked into the room and to listen to all of the journalists shoot questions back to back. Another day, after watching a training session, Lucy casually got Santi Cazorla to come over and take a picture with all of the interns. Not only were we standing next to an icon, but he was also super nice and friendly to talk to.
Within the first two weeks, we were able to attend our first home match of many. For me, it was my first time experiencing European football so it was really special, but I think I can speak for all of the interns in saying that matchdays were the best days. It was almost unbelievable that I got to see the players I had been writing articles about in action. Since I had learned so much about my favorite players, I became really invested in them and captivated by the matches. One of the most memorable matches was against Rangers FC in the UEFA Europa League. We went to the match straight from work, and were able to see the wild pre-match atmosphere before entering. From where we were sitting in the stadium, we had a great view of the Rangers fans in the away stand. They filled the entire section and were the loudest away fans I had seen thus far in the Estadio de la Cerámica. Although a 2–2 draw wasn’t the most ideal outcome, the entire match was super entertaining. More recently, I got to experience a match from another point of view — up in the press box. The scene was incredible sitting just next to the half-field line. I also got to watch Lucy and Thomas, another member of the International Marketing team, live-tweet during the game which was really insightful. The first half was mostly uneventful, but in the second half, Villarreal scored twice within two minutes. The atmosphere was amazing, and we ended up beating Real Betis 2–1. One of the last matches I attended was against Almería in the Copa del Rey, and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Not only were we lucky enough to sit in VIP with free food galore, but the match was a complete blowout of 8–0. That’s what I call a victory.
The Estadio de la Cerámica has become one of my most treasured places in Spain. After going on two tours, I’ve been able to explore it from the dressing room all the way to the away stand and almost everything in between. One highlight was walking onto the pitch just as the players do and getting to sit on the First Team sideline bench. That bench was so comfortable we couldn’t understand how the players ever get up. However, my favorite view was definitely from the away stand. It’s the highest point in Villarreal so we could see the mountains and the ocean from the same spot, one of the perks of being in a small-town.
Throughout these past 5 months, I’ve really loved being exposed to the Spanish football culture. I admire that the focus remains on the sport whereas in the U.S. a lot of the meaning gets lost in the fluff and theatrics surrounding the event. Furthermore, I’ve gotten to see how a top club still stays true to its values and to its family roots. This has been an incredible 5 months, and I’ve gotten to do more than I’d ever imagined thanks to Lucy and Brandon. I’m truly sad to leave, but I know I’ll continue to follow along with Villarreal CF. I’m a Yellows fan for life!
