It's Time for a Break

The annual collective pause that Sevilla and its residents take each summer

Sevilla has a distinct annual schedule that revolves around holidays, and more importantly, summer.

Every summer 35-45 degrees Celsius temperatures hit the city. In the direct sun, the heat is almost unbearable. Walking becomes a creative endeavor of trying to stay in the shade at all costs. There’s no or limited A/C in the apartments. Many residents naturally flee the city.

The retreat from Sevilla starts slowly. People trickle out of Sevilla for weekend getaways in May and early June. The weekends in Sevilla get quieter. Parking spaces become more and more abundant as each weekend passes. Terrace tables that are rarely absent of people begin to be neglected, one by one.

Then school lets out and those lucky enough to have entire summers off or those who work from home make a more permanent summer move to the beach. Most people have their designated beach town that they vacation at each year. All who can quite literally vacate the city for one to two months. They shut up their apartment windows and leave their Sevilla homes to sizzle in the heat without them. Off to the salty ocean breeze, pescaíto frito, and the beautiful coastlines of Cadiz, Huelva, or Malaga.

The energy of summer here echoes that high-school summer excitement when we were all counting down the days until school was out. Despite the fact that I continue to work most of the summer, the “feels like summer” energy is lived anyway. Everyone is sharing their summer plans. The anticipation is palpable.

More important than the vitamin D-induced highs felt throughout Spain is the intentional break that the city of Sevilla lives. It’s not only due to the residents abandoning the city, simultaneously tourism drops drastically because most people don’t want to spend their holidays in a city-sized sauna.

Lively social ambiance defines Sevilla. Anyone who visits is struck by the volume of people inhabiting tapas bars and restaurants as if it were their second home, regardless of the day of the week. The city is alive with people.

The only exception to this bountiful sociality is in July and August. While Sevillanos take a break, Sevilla gets a break too. In August, you can walk down the most popular street in the center and not pass a single person. Sevilla gets a chance to recharge, in preparation for the coming months, in the same way the residents do.

Photo by Pierre Archi on Unsplash

This weekend, the real summer exodus begins. Friday is the last day of school. Suddenly people won’t just be leaving for weekends, they’ll be leaving until September (if they can swing it, if not, a few weeks will do). Local stores will have their paper signs up on the door “cerrado por vacaciones 1 de julio - 31 de julio” or “cerrado en agosto”

I used to get frustrated with the metaphorical closing of Sevilla in the summer. I crave routine. So I resisted the fact that each July that routine is shattered. For the seasons outside of summer, I am grateful to have a balanced schedule in my barrio. My weeks are filled with ceramics classes, dance classes, yoga, and spinning. All within a 15-minute walk from my house, which is what makes having so many activities on my plate doable.

But each summer that schedule is rendered nonexistent. The dance academy closes, the ceramics studio closes, the yoga studio closes, and even the physical therapist I’ve been going to will be gone in August. The fruit shop I frequent is at least open in July but will close in August. Spin classes are the only piece of my schedule that will remain because the gym I go to is a commercial gym. There’s a reduced summer schedule though to accommodate employees taking time off.

Admittedly I think there’s an American element to the frustration I felt the first few years I experienced having this routine abruptly broken up. I tend to feel like I always need to be doing something. Working on myself, taking care of myself, and being productive with my days. I started to realize it might be an American thing because I have not once heard my Spanish friends complain about this break. Once I noticed this, I stopped making my comments of frustration and instead just sat with the experience.

What’s funny is that as I sat with it, I realized there’s actually a routine to the breaking of the routine. Looking at the year as a whole, there’s a cycle. September to June is business as usual, July and August are a collective break. I’ve come to rely on that Sevillano infrastructure.

The time-out is something I now appreciate. Summer is a recurring reminder for me, it’s ok to do nothing sometimes. There’s no longer any guilt about not being productive every day of the year. Summer is inherently meant to be enjoyed. And while I enjoy the activities I partake in most of the year, I also enjoy having an excuse to step away from it all. To truly unplug.

I settle into the new routine of no routine. The routine of boring girl summer that Lauren so aptly coined. I experience the annual epiphany, it’s ok to hit the pause button on life. I need it, and the city needs it.

In summer, we reset. The city and I share in this repose together. Even the quiet becomes a communal experience.