Little EXPATS: MEET LOTTA 🇩🇪

MEET LOTTA 🇩🇪

The Little Gourmet with Sand in Her Shoes

Born in Hamburg. Growing up in Sevilla. Usually somewhere between a horse, a paddleboard, a plate of tapas and an ice cream.

There are children who visit a new city.

And there are children who make it their own.

Meet Lotta.

She’s eleven years old, she was born in Hamburg, she lives in Sevilla and she has already discovered one very important thing about life in Spain:

There is almost always time for ice cream.

Especially after school. And riding. And rowing. And apparently after lunch.

Lotta is still conducting research into whether ice cream before dinner is culturally acceptable. Results so far look extremely promising.

Welcome to the first member of our LITTLE EXPATS gang.

And believe us: You’re going to be seeing quite a lot of her.

FROM HAMBURG TO SEVILLA

Lotta comes from Hamburg. So perhaps we should have known she’d be attracted to water.

She grew up with the Alster, boats, bicycles, grey skies and the completely normal German habit of leaving the house with a jacket because “you never know.”

Then her family moved to Sevilla.

Jacket? Not required. At least for approximately eight months of the year.

Instead there were palm trees. Orange trees. Blue skies. Tiny streets. Plazas full of children. Tapas. Horses.

And summer temperatures that made Lotta ask one of her first important questions about her new home:

“Does anyone actually go outside at four o’clock?”

Not if they can help it, Lotta. Welcome to Andalucía.

A GERMAN GIRL GOES TO SCHOOL IN SEVILLA

During the week, Lotta goes to the German School in Sevilla.

And this is one of the things that makes her life so interesting.

Because Lotta is German. But her everyday life is increasingly Spanish.

German and Spanish mix naturally into her days, her friendships and her experiences.

One country doesn’t disappear because another one arrives.

Hamburg is still part of Lotta. But Sevilla is becoming part of her too.

And somewhere between school, Spanish friends, family life and afternoons exploring the city, she’s building her own little version of Europe.

Except at lunchtime. At lunchtime Lotta has other priorities.

LOTTA IS HUNGRY

Lotta doesn’t simply like food. Lotta wants to know how it’s made.

Taking her to a restaurant is good. Taking her into the kitchen is better. Taking her to a market and letting her choose ingredients? Now we’re talking.

Lotta loves Spanish food and wants to learn to cook it herself.

Tortilla. Gazpacho. Tapas. And the big one: Paella.

She’s working on it. There have been successes. There have been discussions about rice. We shall say no more.

Because one day Lotta intends to cook the perfect paella. And until then, she will happily eat other people’s versions in the name of research.

This is why you’ll soon find her wandering through Sevilla’s markets, bakeries, tapas bars and family restaurants for LITTLE EXPATS.

She’ll meet cooks. Taste local specialties. Find places children genuinely enjoy.

And ask the question that really matters: “Can I try yours?”

AND THEN THERE’S ICE CREAM

Every great journalist needs a specialist subject. Lotta has chosen hers.

Ice cream.

She is remarkably committed.

Lotta wants to know which gelateria has the best chocolate, the best pistachio, the strangest flavour, the biggest scoop, the best cone and, crucially, which ice cream is worth cycling across Sevilla for.

One day we will publish: LOTTA’S ULTIMATE ICE CREAM MAP OF SEVILLA.

It will be extremely serious journalism. Possibly our most important investigation of the year.

THE GIRL WHO LOVES HORSES

If you really want to see Lotta’s eyes light up, mention horses.

Lotta rides. She loves horses, she loves being around them and living in Andalucía has opened an entirely new world for her.

Here, horses are part of the culture, celebrations and traditions.

And nowhere does Lotta love that more than at the Feria.

LOTTA LOVES FERIA

The dresses. Oh, the dresses.

The colours. The flowers. The ruffles. The shoes. The music. The horses. The carriages. The dancing.

For Lotta, Feria isn’t simply an event. It’s a season.

And Sevilla’s famous Feria is only the beginning.

After the city celebrates, the Feria spirit continues through towns and villages across Andalucía.

Different places. Different traditions. Different dresses. Different food. Different music.

Lotta wants to see them all.

She loves choosing what to wear, looking at the extraordinary dresses, understanding the traditions, learning the dances, seeing the horses and finding out what children do at Feria.

And naturally, she wants to know what everybody eats.

This gives Lotta another mission: LOTTA’S FERIA DIARIES.

BUT LOTTA LOVES HORSES MORE THAN TRADITION

Loving animals doesn’t mean simply admiring them when they look beautiful. It means caring about how they’re treated.

So one day Lotta will investigate something many visitors to Sevilla see as purely romantic: the horse-drawn carriages.

What is life actually like for the horses? What happens during extreme heat? How are they cared for? What rules protect them? How can families make responsible choices?

Lotta won’t arrive with an answer already written. She’ll ask. She’ll listen. She’ll learn.

Because LITTLE EXPATS isn’t about teaching children what to think. It’s about encouraging them to think.

WATER, WATER, WATER

Take Lotta away from a horse and you’ll probably find her near water.

She’s a swimmer. A rower. A paddleboard girl.

Give her a SUP board and she’ll happily disappear for the afternoon.

And Sevilla gives her something rather spectacular to explore: the Guadalquivir.

For a girl from Hamburg, somehow that feels familiar.

Different river. Different city. Different country. Same feeling: Home is better when there’s water nearby.

“CAN WE GO TO THE BEACH?”

Lotta asks this quite a lot.

One of the things she loves most about living in Andalucía is that Sevilla doesn’t have to end at Sevilla.

Pack the car. Take the bikes. Throw in swimsuits, towels and approximately fourteen things nobody will use. And go.

Towards Cádiz. Towards Huelva. Towards the Atlantic.

Lotta loves the beach. She swims. She paddleboards. She searches for shells. She rides her bike. She investigates dunes.

And somehow she always finds an ice-cream shop. It’s a gift.

LOTTA GOES GREEN

Nature isn’t something Lotta thinks children should only learn about in a classroom. She wants to be in it.

She loves beaches, rivers, animals, parks and the countryside around Sevilla.

And the more she explores, the more questions she asks.

Why is there plastic on this beach? What happens to Sevilla’s thousands of oranges? Why do cities need trees? Where does our food come from? Can we explore a city by bike instead of car? How do we enjoy animals without harming them?

Sometimes the answers will be simple. Sometimes they won’t.

That’s okay. Lotta isn’t supposed to know everything. She’s supposed to be curious.

TWO WHEELS. ONE CITY.

Lotta loves cycling. Not because it’s environmentally responsible. That’s a bonus. She loves cycling because it’s fun.

Because you notice things from a bicycle that disappear behind a car window.

A little café. A playground. A market. A strange shop. A beautiful courtyard. Another ice-cream place. Obviously.

So expect to see Lotta exploring Sevilla on two wheels.

LOTTA’S LITTLE EXPAT CARD

NAME: Lotta
AGE: 11
BORN: Hamburg, Germany 🇩🇪
HOME NOW: Sevilla, Spain 🇪🇸
SCHOOL: German School in Sevilla
LANGUAGES: German & Spanish
LOVES: Horses, cooking, water, nature, Feria, cycling and the beach
SPORTS: Riding • Rowing • SUP • Swimming • Cycling
DREAM DISH TO MASTER: The perfect paella
PROFESSIONAL SPECIALITY: Tapas tasting
SERIOUS WEAKNESS: Ice cream
FAVOURITE SEASON: Feria season
WEEKEND HEAVEN: Bikes + beach + water + family + ice cream
CARES ABOUT: Animals, nature and the environment
FAVOURITE QUESTION: “Can I try it?”

HAMBURG MADE HER. SEVILLA IS RAISING HER.

Perhaps that’s what makes Lotta a real Little Expat.

She’s not becoming less German because she lives in Spain. And she doesn’t have to become Spanish instead.

She’s collecting pieces of both.

Hamburg gave her water. Sevilla gave her sunshine. Germany gave her one language. Spain gave her another. Hamburg gave her bicycles. Andalucía gave her horses.

And somewhere between the two… she discovered tapas.

Not a bad deal.

Lotta is growing up with the wonderful possibility that home can be more than one place.

And that’s exactly what LITTLE EXPATS is about.

Children discovering another country without losing the one they came from. Learning. Tasting. Questioning. Exploring. Getting things wrong. Trying again.

And occasionally needing to wash an alarming amount of sand out of their shoes.

MEET LOTTA 🇩🇪 — THE LITTLE GOURMET WITH SAND IN HER SHOES

She’s eleven. She’s from Hamburg. She lives in Sevilla. She cooks. She rides. She rows. She paddles. She cycles. She adores Feria. She loves animals. She cares about nature. And she has never knowingly walked past a good ice-cream shop.

Sevilla, you’ve been warned.

Lotta is coming to explore. And this is only her first story.

LITTLE EXPATS

BIG WORLD. LITTLE EXPLORERS.

TRAVEL • SCHOOL • FOOD • NATURE • ADVENTURE • SPAIN