A year gone by.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. It's been a year. I thought this year would be simpler than the last; after all, I stayed in one country this whole time! But there's something about study abroad that changes you. Staying in one place is suddenly much harder than it was before. There are so many things unseen, so many leaves left unturned! I feel the need to see more, do more. The travel bug is real, and I've been infected.

And coming home… Well, coming home takes some adjusting. After all, I was gone for six months. Things change. People change. What surprised me the most is how different I felt, when everything was the same. Almost like I didn't occupy the same space that I did before. How do you explain that? How can you tell someone that you're not the same person you were the last time they saw you? I suppose you can't. So...what do you do?

You wait. You learn what movies you missed, what moments passed without your knowing. You learn how others' relationships have changed, all the while trying to figure out if your relationships will go back to normal. Eventually, the new normal emerges. It's different sure, but it's a better fit for the person you are now.

Yes, study abroad changes you. But it's not so much about studying books as it is studying yourself, figuring out who you are and how you fit in this great big world of ours. I have never been challenged more, and I would never trade my experience.

A year's gone by.

No regrets.

Backpackers Lesson #4, Part 2!

Missed part one of my trip through Italy? Here's the first few days.

The facade of the Medici Family Church. Never finished, but prepped to
receive the marble!

My second morning in Florence I took a FREE walking tour of the city, where I learned the history of the Medici family, really the family responsible for starting the Renaissance. Exploring the ancient part of Florence, I saw the image of Dante, and entered the tiny chapel outside of which he met the inspiration for his Divine Comedy. The rainy day that followed saw me fighting to get into various museums and churches, after a wonderful panino, or sandwich at a small shop tucked away on a side street. Eventually I made it in the museum, saw the David and left. I wasn't particularly impressed by the rest of the works--nor was I a fan of the masses of people that seemed to bump into me at every opportunity. If I had extra time, I really wanted to go to the Uffizi museum--which seems to have a much greater variety of classic art by some of the greatest artists of the Renaissance. I spent the rest

Backpacker's Lesson #4: Avoid the tourists.

I'm not kidding. Avoid them. "Wait...aren't you a tourist, too?" No. Well, technically yes. But I like to think not--there's a reason I stay at a hostel; it's because I'm a cheap college student that can't really afford to pay for a hotel. So no, I'm not a tourist. I'm a backpacker. (Let's just avoid the technicalities of this, okay? Great.)

My Italy trip was the second (and final) trip that I made solo. I spent my first day in Rome, checking out the Vatican City. Like a true, uninformed tourist--er, backpacker--I took my passport with me. I was going to the world's smallest country; I wanted a stamp to prove it!

Backpacker's Lesson #3: Trust Yourself

My first solo adventure, and it took some guts. I took a weekend trip to País Vasco, in the northern part of Spain and visited Bilbao and San Sebastian. It's an incredible part of Spain and so different than Madrid, Barcelona, or the southern regions. País Vasco is all its own. I was struck by how much of a different world it really is. The region has its own language known in English as vasco, in their language as euskadí. And from what I've heard, the language has no known connection to ANY other modern language. Strange, eh? So let's get started on this journey.

A Farewell to Spain

My study abroad experience is behind me, but Spain will forever be a part of me. Not only did I see tons of the country that's been calling my name for years now, but I saw it -- and lived it -- with some amazing people.

What I really didn't expect is how much those people made my memories of Spain so special. I'll never forget spending a couple days in San Sebastián with Scott and Jordan, some of the coolest Canadians ever (Hope you get your stuff back from my landlord!). I love all my German-speaking friends, finding those delicious places throughout Madrid and taking me along. I'll remember clubbing with pretty much every international student at UC3M, and staying out until the trains started running again.

I've seen 5 different countries in the last semester (the UK, Italy, Morocco, and the Netherlands), and I spent them all with some incredible people. I grew to trust myself and to know that I can take care of myself. I grew so much as a person and changed more than I could ever have imagined. The past six months have given me more memories (and photos) than I know what to do with.

The only thing I can say is thank you. Thank you to my family for supporting me and allowing me to test myself like this. Thank you to my friends who stayed in touch with me from seven time zones away. Thank you to the people of Spain, who encouraged me to practice my Spanish and to embrace true Spanish living. Thank you to my new-found friends, from all over the world, who helped write a chapter of my life that I could never really put into words.

And most of all, thank you to the random people that I met along the way. Those people that helped me find delicious hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Rome, met me for drinks when they visited Madrid, and chatted with me at breakfast in my hostel. Thank you to those people that will never know what they did to make my trips that much more special.

Thank you for following me on this journey. I'm home again, but my time in Spain lives on.

A bit of Spanish Culture...and an update

First off, let me apologize for not maintaining this blog like I should have. As things have been winding down, I've been incredibly busy. But I wanted to get at least one more post up before I head home in June!


Semana Santa
Semana Santa, otherwise known as Holy Week, is incredibly important to Spaniards--especially in the South. Throughout the entire week, there are processions led by various churches throughout the cities. I was lucky enough to see one procession here in Madrid (my time in London sort of messed up traveling further south for their celebrations) and it was incredible.
The various organizations within the church work the entire year preparing for the processions of Holy Week, and it turned out to be one of the most moving experiences I've had in Europe in the past four months. People line up for hours, waiting for a chance to see it. The procession starts with men in hooded robes--yes, very similar to the KKK version. And although there was absolutely nothing threatening about these people, it

Gaudí, as promised

Need a refresher? Here's my post about Barcelona.

Antoni Gaudí, the most recognizable figure of Catalán, and Barcelona's, history. He was an incredibly innovative architect that I certainly would never have thought possible. He left his mark on the city of Barcelona with several distinctive buildings and one still-unfinished basilica.

Gaudí was a master of modernismo, a new type of art and architecture in his time (early 1900s). His work has deep connections with nature, both in the literal sense--having a seashell hanging on the wall--and in a less obvious sense--putting mosaics at the top of columns to mimic a tree, using gravity to design his buildings, and much more.

Let's start with Parc Guell, one of my favorite works of Gaudí. The original plan was to design a housing complex for Barcelona's elite upper class, with a massive park in the middle. After building two test-homes (no two houses would be alike, keep in mind), the public was