N: 28° 5′ 37.679″ W: 17° 6′ 35.49″
In the summer of 2016, Sheranie was one of the first people to ever go on a surfing holiday with SurfaWhile. At the time, she chose to learn Spanish in San Sebastian, in combination with surfing. This choice ultimately yielded her much more than what she had ever thought! In July 2019 we met her in San Sebastian, to be precise at the Casa Valles bar. There she told us about her life in San Sebastian, from then and now. This conversation also had a lot of surprises in store for us.
Learn Spanish and Surfing in San Sebastian
Sheranie with the surf group in San Sebastian, 2016
A surf lesson in San Sebastian, in 2016
From Learning Spanish to Emigration
What started with a few weeks of learning Spanish in San Sebastian eventually resulted in an emigration for Sheranie. She loved the city so much that she realized right away that one day she could easily call her “home”. The fact that she also met a local surfer, made it even easier for her to take the step: currently Sheranie lives and works in San Sebastian! Sheranie: “All of that actually happened by chance. Mikel and I met at the surf school when I was studying Spanish here. We had a good spark, but it was not immediately romantic. A few months after my time in San Sebastian I was on vacation in Bali. He also came here regularly (Mikel set up a surf resort here himself) and that is how we met in Bali. Here the spark started and after having had a distance relationship for a while, I decided to move to San Sebastian some 18 months ago. ”
Living in San Sebastian
She continues to say about San Sebastian: “I think it’s a very pleasant city to live in, with a pleasant living environment. I also have a very safe feeling everywhere, there are actually little to no unpleasant things happening here. It is never uncomfortable – as a woman – to walk by a group of men alone. “She currently runs DMC San Sebastian, taking care of group trips to San Sebastian. Of course we think it is great that Sheranie was so enthusiastic about this city that she now also offers trips there. It became immediately clear that she knows a lot about the city. We met at the oldest pintxo bar in Spain, where the pintxos were born. A pinxto, she explained to us, is a kind of tapas. They are small snacks that you order with your drink. They are often served on a piece of bread. The best known pintxo is the Gilda, a combination of olive (sweet), pepper (spicy) and anchovy (salt). Although this was something unknown to us, we cant explain how good it was!
Surfing is Great
it is clear that Sheranie has come to love surfing. She currently has 2 surf boards and together with Mikel they have converted a van into a luxury surf bus, with which she regularly goes on trips to go surfing. She is also a true ambassador; she even got her own father to surf!
Sheranie & her father