Location: Seville, Spain

I’ve had this thing about taxis my whole life. They just creep me out. Probably because in movies the taxi driver is always a little scary. So when I arrived at the Seville airport and was ushered toward a taxi, it took me a solid minute of internal pep talking to not stereotype this situation like a cassette tape. I watched the translator at the airport have what seemed to be like a fight with the driver… Well that’s always a good sign, right? I caught absolutely none of the fight, not even a general idea of it’s topic (my Spanish I realized was significantly worse than I thought). However, it seemed as though the driver lost.  I smiled and made eye contact with the driver for what was an extremely unnecessary length of time. I was trying to be polite not engage in a staring contest. He didn’t smile back, but we loaded my things into the car and moved on. And that was it. I was sent off in the taxi alone to arrive at my home stay.

Location: Seville, Spain

       My name is Anna and I’m in Seville, Spain. 

(And that would be a picture of me.–>

I was way to excited about sitting alone in a two person row on the plane. It was like a dream come true. It was like even the plane wanted me to be happy about leaving for Spain.)

     I chose this program because I have had an obsession with Spain dating back to when I was in middle school. Why? You might ask. I have no idea. I heard a few stories about it and knew that it would have to be one of the first places that I traveled too. My plans for travel have expanded since 8th grade, but Spain remained at the top of the list. 

    Knowing I would eventually find myself in Spain, I studied Spanish my entire high school career and continued studying into college where I was talked into taking a Spanish minor. If you think 5 years of spanish leaves you at all prepared it doesn’t. The language is tricky because there’s a difference between how the professors speak Spanish and how everyone else actually speaks Spanish. 

    The language isn’t all the will surprise you. Forget stereotypes. They’re not helpful. Stereotypes seem all inclusive, when they are not. I only use them as general ideas and always expect to find outliers. This was the only way that they were helpful to me. The culture is half the reason I wanted to come to Spain. The culture is so different from the culture of the United States and it seemed more than worthy of a thorough, first-hand investigation. I want to understand what drives these different lifestyles. I want to see why certain stereotypes have developed and determine any kind of validity if any. There are wide varieties of people within every culture and interpretations are affected by a person’s cultural upbringing. My goal is to compare this culture to my own, not to see which is better or which is worse, but to recognize each for their own unique development.

     I’m blogging to share the things that I’ll learn.

     There is one thing that should be noted immediately: don’t judge a culture by the people you meet in an airport. That seems to be the place where the angry people of every nation gather so they can ruin everyone else’s day. And eight hour layovers seem to be a rather good way of killing any kind of excitement, so plan flights carefully. Or take a gameboy, an mp3, a book, and a dancing monkey because otherwise it will be the longest day ever!

     My adventures/misadventures are soon to come. Thanks for reading.

Location: Seville, Spain

Barcelona, while not a trip where I had the best of luck at times, was amazing! It was a 3 day trip consisting of delicious tapas and blazing sun. I was actually surprised it was not hotter though. But just because it wasn’t excessively hot doesn’t mean I didn’t get sunburnt! (And yes, I did use sunblock!)

The first full day was spent hiking Montjuic mountain, visiting the Sagrada Familia (cathedral), and going to Park Guell. All of these were places which we needed to buy a metro ticket for. That was adventure number one. First we were confused on the different metro zones which we needed to know to buy our ticket. Then we weren’t sure how to split one ticket between 2 people. So we actually ended up getting stuck in a small area that kept us from getting on the metro or exiting the station. But it was worth the short wait to visit the sites. The mountain was a nice morning hike overlooking the beautiful city, as well as the ports and beaches. The massive cathedral was stunning. Everything about the architecture mimicked nature in some way – from the columns built to look like a forest to a roof that mimics the way the wind affects a straight line such as a leaf. (It becomes wavy instead of straight). Then we discovered that Park Guell is free after 9:30, so we went there around 8:30 to walk the unrestricted areas (to be honest I would have been content just doing these during the day for free, they were worth the view).

The highlight of the following day was our night adventures. We did a walking tour, and ate delicious tapas before going to the magic fountain for a light show. We enjoyed a mixed plate of calamari, bread with tomato, potatoes, tortilla, peppers, and meat for only 15 euros. They were some of the best foods I have tasted. Each had it’s own flavor distinction. From there we raced to the magic fountain of Montjuic. My friend Anny asked why it was called magic and a few minutes later we discovered the answer. Just at sunset, the fountain turns on and there is a light show complete with music and different parts of the fountain turning on at different points. While we were sitting there, Disney music was the theme and I was not about to complain.

Our final day was spent on the beach! We awoke bright and early to secure enough time to get some color. It was a day of relaxation after walking about 20 miles back and forth through the city the previous 2 days (we got lost a few times…). The only non-relaxing part were the people trying to give us massages, mojitos, and corn rows in our hair. Other than that, perfect.

Our trip to Barcelona was brief, but it was full of adventure, new experiences, and a beach – as well as some unneeded drama (my backpack lock decided to break while still on my backpack preventing me from getting any of my stuff inside). But all in all, it was an amazing trip!

Location: United Kingdom