(Post #8) Exploring, Learning, & Living

(Monday, February 14th) Ahhh, the day of love. Happy Valentine’s day! There are so many things to love today, and for me, I’m loving life. I spent the morning doing what I do every Monday- sleeping in and then organizing plans and homework. After, I met with some of my new gal pals and we sat in the park and enjoyed each other’s company along with the company of some yummy Valentine’s chocolates, cheeses, and drinks.

(Tuesday, February 15th) Mentioning today, I am really loving my Market Structure class. We started watching Eat, Pray, Love and what isn’t to love about Julia Roberts? Nothing! Other than that, I went on another hunt with my friend Asia to find me a leather jacket, but once again- we were unsuccessful... such a shame. As I try to live out my full European experience, I feel that a leather jacket is almost essential, but do not worry because the quest has not ended yet!

(Wednesday, February 16th) Plain and simple, today there was a wicked sunset that I enjoyed from the view of my new friends’ apartment rooftop. My friend Bryna from class is dating an Austalian named Josh, and not only is he super nice and hilarious, I get to hear someone speak like Steve Irwin and say things like “’Ello Mate.” Score!! I love being in the company of new people and hearing life stories. Bryna and Josh invited over a couple named Tim and Tanya who are American originally, but they now work from their computers and just travel across Europe in Airbnbs. They have been doing this now for three+ years, and it is honestly such a cool story to hear.

(Thursday, February 17th) Okay, today was my favorite day of class so far, but also I learned that I am not super technologically savvy sometimes (oops). For Intermediate Spanish 2, the four girls in our class went on our scavenger hunt around Sevilla and we had different stations to check off. It was fun to bond with my classmates and see parts of the city that I have never seen before!

The problem is, we were supposed to take a selfie at each spot we visited and I was in charge of that, but for some reason one of my pictures did not save so we have to go back and redo it... oops. Haha oh well! Next, I went to a grocery store with my friend Bryna and got a litre of fresh squeezed orange juice because it is from a machine that literally squeezes them so it is fresh and cheap! It is honestly dangerous how good it is. We then went to our Tourism Marketing class along with all the other students, but our professor could not be found, so we waited. Long story short, after 30 minutes, we learned that he was waiting for us at Nao Victoria Foundation because last night he sent an email about meeting him there because we will be doing a project. Myself, along with my classmates, did not check our emails- another oops! I have never seen a group of students order ubers so fast.

We made it to Nao Victoria Foundation which is basically a museum with a replica ship of the Nao Victoria in the river. The Nao Victoria was a part of a fleet of five that set out to travel the world in 1519, and it was the only one to return in 1522, being the first ship to first fully successfully circumnavigate the globe! This is a big feat for a ship from Sevilla. After, I went home for lunch and then went to Market Structure where we finished Eat, Pray, Love and worked on presentations. For Culture of Food & Wine Class, we had a great discussion about the three religions that all were prominent in Sevilla at different times: Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam.

(Friday, February 18th) Today was my earliest travel day yet as I woke up at 3:15am to shower

and catch a 4:30am bus to the airport. I then had an hour and a half flight to Barcelona, and the sunrise views were just amazing. During my first day, I had some time to myself so I walked around and looked at all of Antoni Gaudi’s famous house creations, and then I went to La Boqueria Market where I saw too many fish cut open or with their eyes still in them. I then saw the Cathedral, did a little antique shopping outside the Cathedral, and then visited the famous kissing mural right by the Cathedral. I walked to the Plaza Real and then saw two girls almost get into a street fight. Along with all of the dressed-up figures, gypsies, and music being played by people trying to get money, there is a lot of action to see by people walking around, and I guess that includes random fights haha. I then walked by La Barconleta beach with all the large yachts, and then I met up with my

good friend Andres! Andres is from Guatemala, and we met in middle school when he did an exchange two years in a row in 2014 and 2015. I then saw him in 2019 when I took a visit to Guatemala, and now we are reunited in Barcelona in 2022! We had a long lunch and then he had to take the train back to his job, so I walked around a park and then to see the famous Sagrada Familia. I really lucked out because I got to this Basilica right as the sun was setting, so there was a beautiful hue cast onto the front of this tall church. This church has been in construction since 1882, and it is not done yet! I then headed to my hostel after this and got some tapas for dinner with an Argentinean girl that was staying in the same room as me- it was great to practice my Spanish!

(Saturday, February 19th) Although I am used to sunny days in Sevilla, I forgot that it is not always like that in other places. Saturday in Barcelona was cloudy, but it was still a great day! I went back to the market for a brunch of a feta salad and flank steak and then after, I spent most of the day on Montjuïc mountain which is a multi-level little mountain/hill with so much to do. I walked up to the main base to see some gardens, and then I took a cable car ride up

to the top level where I visited the castle and saw great views of the coast. After, although it did start raining, I went to see some Botanical gardens, and then I made my way back down to the main base. In the main area, I visited the 1992 Summer Olympics Stadium, and then I went to the famous fountain and National Art Museum. In this museum, they had works from famous artists like Antoni Gaudi and Salvador Dalí. I then met up with my friend Megan from UW-Stout who is a year older than me. We took two semesters of Spanish together, but never did I think I would take a metro, train, tram, & bus up to Tibadabo church with her and get pasta in Barcelona! Life is fun these days because there are always things going on that I never expected to happen, so here I am just embracing it all.

(Sunday, February 20th) On this last, and sunny, day in Barcelona, I packed up my things early and headed to La Sagrada Familia to hopefully see the inside. At 9am on Sundays, they have an International Mass open to the public, but they advise on getting there early as it fills up very fast. I got there around 40 minutes early, and then we went through security as strict as TSA at airports. All of this was worth it though as I have truly never seen a church like

it before, and I have seen quite a few churches in my time. All of the stained glass windows reflected colors through on the white pillars, and there is just so many interesting curves and artistic liberties taken. Not only did they do the mass in Catalan, Spanish, English, and French which was fun, I really enjoyed just sitting there and taking in all of the details of the architecture.

After this, I got brunch and headed to the airport for my flight back to Sevilla. At the train station, I met a young woman named Sophie and we had a really eye-opening conversation. She said that she is from LA and studied abroad in Barcelona 4 years ago, but then she immediately moved back to Barcelona after college because she loved (and still loves) it so much. She is now a successful business woman with her own online company, allowing her to work wherever she likes. She was on the bus to the airport to go stay with her dad in Australia for a couple months because she has not seen him in 3 years, and she has the ability to do things like this because of the flexibility of her job. She said she also spends summers in Greece because that is where her Grandpa is, and all of this makes me realize how big the world is and how many opportunities we truly do have. I talked to her about how I am not great with taking risks, and she gave me a great pep-talk about life, and it honestly makes me just want to get out in the world further and explore because at the end of the day, we only have one life. I will always remember my conversation with Sophie, and now I have a new role model to look up to. I think she was placed in my life on purpose to give me a little push of motivation, and now I continue to strive for new experiences.