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Whenever I travel abroad, I make it a point to see as many museums as possible. I love to learn about art by seeing the piece in person and appreciating the talents of the artist. I went to Paris early this year, but I only stayed for a day. This semester, I planned to go back and see the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre. I have never been more determined to see any historic location more than at this time. I only had one full day and a half in Paris. I went with two of my best friends in my program and we set off for an amazing adventure.

As I was walking the rainy Paris streets, it occurred to me how lucky I was at that moment. While my friends were overwhelmed by seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time, I realized how beautiful it is to see a dream become a reality. I saw the Tower earlier this May, but seeing it dazzle in the nighttime had me smile for the rest of the night.

The next day, we planned to sightsee on our own because we all have different interest. I woke up early so I could squeeze in a full day of museum visits. My first stop was to the Louvre, a museum I’ve dreamt of seeing my entire life. It was a larger museum than I expected; I wanted to explore the museum the whole day, but I knew I was limited on time. I decided to look at the most iconic pieces first, the Sphinx, the Mona Lisa, and the Nike Statue. I felt an overwhelming sense of joy seeing artwork that I never knew I would actually see in person. I saw many more beautiful pieces as well, and I got to learn about many new artists too.

Afterwards, I travelled to see the Palace of Versailles. It was a long trip to arrive, but when I saw the golden gates, I knew it was worth the trip. I was amazed by everything in the palace. I could not believe that royalty used to see this every day. The Hall of Mirrors had me speechless, the setting sun caused the room to create a golden glow around it. At this point it was 5:00 and I realized that I had not eaten anything, I travelled back to Paris and grabbed a hamburger.

At nighttime, I took a Seine boat tour and saw many famous landmarks including Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower. After this, I met up with my friends and decided to take a scenic walk across the Seine and we admired the Eiffel Tower again. The next morning, I went to the Orsay Museum and saw many of Van Gogh’s and Monet’s paintings. I was pleasantly surprised because until that morning, I did not know this museum existed. It must be one of my favorite museums of all time, because it used to be a train station and now it has an interesting infrastructure to it.

Overall, I am thankful for the opportunity to go back to Paris again. I learned so much about Parisian history as well as art history. One day, I would love to return so I can see the Paris Catacombs and see the Notre Dame Cathedral. Until next time!

This semester, my school took us on a class trip to Morocco. I was excited to go, because in my class about the three Spanish cultures we discussed Islamic influences in current Andalusian cultures. Before we departed on our trip, we had a brief meeting on what to expect and how to behave in this region. Morocco is a modern country and a modern culture, while some students were afraid of the cultural difference, many were ready to experience staying in a new country. We took a ferry crossing to Ceuta and we met our Moroccan guide. After this, we passed the border and departed for Tangier.

Our first steps into Morocco were filled with excitement. The sun was beginning to set, which created a beautiful sky. We went inside the Cave of Hercules and saw the gentle waves caressing the sand. Afterwards, we went on a camel ride on the beach. This was the highlight of the trip for me, it was my first time riding one! The camel’s handlers made sure we were safe, and the ride was an experience I will never forget. The guides told us that camels are not native to North Africa, and that they just have them around for tourist. I was a little shocked and a bit sad, because I felt like this was a tourist trap. This did not take away from the experience of my first camel ride though, I still enjoyed it. Afterwards, we went to Cape Spartel to enjoy the beautiful view.

One thing I did not expect was the amount of time we would be on the bus, we decided to use that time to take naps.

The next day, we departed for Chefchauen. We took a guided tour and learned how the locals made fabrics, and then we walked up to the Old Mosque. We had free time to go shopping. While Morocco is not that dangerous for a woman, I was still scared to wander off alone. I went with my friend Boitin to find souvenirs, and in a second, we lost each other.  I found some guys from my class and stayed with them for a while, eventually I found my friend. We were both looking for each other, but we went to separate groups that walked in the opposite direction. What is interesting about Morocco is that women are not normally seen walking around shops or going to places alone. This was a shock to me, because I love wandering to places alone.

We arrived at our hotel in Tetuan, and from there we saw a Fantasy Dinner show in an Arabic Palace with Moroccan musicians and dancers. They grabbed two students from my program and had a fake wedding ceremony. We all enjoyed ourselves and danced along to their wonderful music.

At night, I wanted to take a walk next to the beach by our hotel. I knew not to go alone, so I went with a large group of students and we enjoyed the bright moon and the bright stars. It was a wonderful end to an eventful day.

I usually never get cultural shock, but I think I experienced it here for the first time. We were told not to drink the shower or sink water, or you could get sick, this has happened to many people who visited the country. I went to shower with the intent of not getting a drop in my mouth, but because I am lucky I did. I have never tasted shower water that bitter! I was afraid I was going to be sick for the rest of the trip. I am happy to say that I did not get sick at all, and I got to enjoy the rest of the trip.

Arriving back from the trip made me appreciate the beauty of Morocco. On our last day, we saw the Blue Pearl. Varying shades of blue made this city the most aesthetically pleasing place I have been to. Contrasting colors of reds and orange decorations added to the fantasy dream that is Morocco. One day I would love to go back for a longer time and take the time to fully experience this lovely country.

For the past few weeks, I have been learning how to flamenco dance. As a child, I had dreams of becoming a ballerina; their elegant movements and graceful composure inspired me to dance. Sadly, I never got the chance to take any dance classes as a child. Dancing is something that I believe I am not capable of doing. At parties I am usually the one eating all the chips and drinking all the soda, that’s what makes the parties great in my opinion. My program allows its students to learn flamenco from an experienced dancer. Our teachers name is Judy and she is very talented and very patient with her students.

I emphasize the word patience. When it comes to dance, I know nothing. Simple commands like “turn right” become difficult for me. My insecurities in dancing begin to overwhelm me, and I start to mess up. I would mess up the students next to me and, well I wanted to give up. But even though I was very uncomfortable with dancing in public, I didn’t care. I wanted to learn. I was determined to give it a try, and even if it was awful, I would at least learn the basics and I would be able to say that I learned some flamenco in Sevilla.

One lesson I learned is to have fun with it. I tend to have a problem with enjoying things that I am not good at. I am a perfectionist and when things don’t turn out the way I want them to, I get upset. I know there is no reason for me to be upset over a class that is supposed to be fun. I don’t hate flamenco; in fact, I love coming to class every week and learn something new. I had to realize that just because you’re not good at something, doesn’t mean you have to hate it. It’s ok to mess up, and it’s ok to try and try again. Letting loose was something that I needed to learn, and I feel like I learned that. Of course, I still make many mistakes in class, but I’m ok with it! I have great friends in this class who try to help me and encourage me to try again. Judy is also a wonderful teacher who understands students who are very shy. I think empathy is a great trait for any teacher to have. She makes class fun by telling us stories about her life and she explains the dance thoroughly so the students can understand it.

I am not sure when I will ever dance flamenco outside of Spain, but I am determined to find a moment when I’m back in the states to show off. I am glad that I decided not to quit the class, this is a cultural experience and a fun one! So if you every feel insecure about anything, just try it for a bit, you will probably end up liking it.

This past week I decided to travel to Rome, Italy with my close friend from my study abroad program.  I have gotten used to travelling alone, but I knew it would be fun to travel with another person. I normally get into sticky situations when I’m alone, so I thought that bringing a friend would be safer for us. We had a basic plan on what to see in Rome, and we took note that it was going to be raining the entire weekend.  Travelling to Italy has always been a dream of ours, and we were determined to have a great time.

My friend is from a small town in Indiana, so she’s not used to travelling to large cities. This is a contrast to me, since I live by New York City and I would consider myself “street smart”. We arrived in Rome at midnight, and we decided to go out for a slice of pizza. As we went searching for a pizzeria, we stumbled across a man in front of a restaurant. We asked him if it was open and he shrugged. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed so we decided to walk back to our Airbnb. The man was watching us like a hawk from the distance. We decided to change our route and go to a more lit area. We thought he finally lost him, so we continued our walk to our place. We saw him approaching our area, searching for someone; that someone was us. We hid behind a car and made sure he passed us, because he was in the same street where we lived. As soon as he left, we quietly made our way back to our Airbnb.

We were completely terrified. It was 2:00 in the morning, and we were in a place where we didn’t even know the language. When she went to open the door, the key broke inside the lock. Of course, that would happen to us! We spent the next 40 minutes trying to call our host and trying to find a way inside our apartment. She decided to lean on the door, and to our surprise, it opened! We rushed inside and laughed the whole situation off.

Besides this bump on the road, our visit to Rome ad the Vatican went smoothly. I was amazed by the ruins that are preserved right at the heart of the city. We were able to see the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican. It rained most of the time, which was fine by us. But when the sun came out, you could really see how bright and lively the Eternal City was. I would love to come back to Italy and take my time seeing different cities and learning more about their vast history. I also am excited to travel with my friends to Morocco and Paris soon. Solo travelling is my favorite thing to do now, but it’s sometimes nice to go with a friend or two and experience a new culture together.

This past weekend, I decided to travel to Brussels, Belgium alone. My original plan to go to Barcelona failed, because I was afraid of the major protests. I thought about everything that could go wrong if I traveled to a foreign country alone; could I miss my flight? Could I get kidnapped? What if I hate it there? I researched places to go and things to do before I left to get a feeling of what to expect. The more I learned about Belgium, the more I realized that it isn’t what I usually look for in a country: sunny days and beautiful weather. Belgium is much colder and rainier than Seville, I became worried if I would have fun in Brussels.

Travelling to a new country alone is not as scary as I thought it would be. I thought the language barrier would be an issue, because I don’t know any Dutch and the only phrase, I know in French is “désolé je ne parle français.” From what people told me, the Belgians get angry if you don’t speak French, but the people I spoke to usually spoke English. I think that people didn’t believe that I didn’t speak French because I perfected that phrase. One man on the train got mad at me and tried to communicate in Spanish and English to me, but he was angry he wasn’t able to.

The main reason I decided to go to Brussels was to watch a band that I love. Truth be told. I didn’t know the history of Brussels. Before I left, I looked up their history and promised myself to go to as many historic landmarks as possible. I believe that if you travel to a new place you should learn about their history and find fun places to go to. I learn better when I go to a museum or go to tours, which is what I did for this trip. Even though Belgium is a small country, it played an important role in World War I and World War II. I stood at the Grand Palace of Brussels and I thought about the lives people have lived, and the history they survived.

I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that Brussels is birthplace of Rene Magritte. Rene Magritte. Is a famous surrealist painter. I saw his works in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I got to go to his old apartment, which is currently a museum with a few of his paintings, and I got to learn about the reason he painted strange imagery. Afterwards, I went to the Museum of Modern Art in Brussels and saw more of his paintings, as well as paintings from Salvador Dali. In another section of the museum, the Hall of Old Masters, I was pleasantly surprised to find a painting that I studied at school, “The Fall of Icarus” by Peter Bruegel.

On my final night in Brussels, I saw my favorite bands play at the AB Club. I had a wonderful night and met new friends from Cologne, Amsterdam, and the United States. I got to stage dive, which has always been a dream of mine, and I got to meet the band afterwards. Afterwards, my friends and I went to get noodles. They walked me to the train stop because they were worried about me getting home safely, which I am so thankful for. Brussels is a beautiful city, but sometimes it gets dangerous for women; I would get catcalled and men would bother me quite a bit. Other than that, it did not deter me from having a great time abroad.

I was shocked by how much I actually enjoyed Brussels. Despite the cold and rainy days, I felt warm happy the entire time. Maybe it was the adrenaline of solo travelling, but I believe that the fact that I was able to prove to myself that I can travel alone made me ecstatic. In my next post, I will be writing about my trip to Rome, Italy.

The saying “she was at the wrong place at the wrong time” is one that is used to describe me. Whenever I travel, I usually find myself in compromising situations. I usually find myself being verbally harassed and followed when I walk across La Plaza de Espana. When this first happened, I called up my friends to help me, but they were too far away. I managed to leave safely but I was annoyed with the fact that this had happened. Travelling as a young woman is doable, but sometimes difficult.

Just this Sunday, I was walking home alone when I saw a man getting mugged by three men. I was watching in shock until two of the men noticed and started running toward me. I knew I could definitely not fight them, as I am five feet tall and I have the body mass index of a stick, I decided to run. I ran for three blocks and I finally lost them. I found a nearby Burger King and hid in the restroom and thought about what I should do next. Should I take a cab back home or should I walk. I realized I wasn’t carrying much cash, so I decided to take the 45-minute walk home. Now that I reflect on this decision, I realize it was a stupid idea. Maybe the guys could’ve still been searching for me, or I could have found myself in another situation.

I used the walk home as a time to reflect on what I could do safer next time this could occur. I made a list of do’s and don’ts when travelling alone:

Travelling is supposed to be exciting! Not scary! You should always remember to never put yourself in harms way. I had to cancel a flight to Barcelona due to the massive protests. While I was disappointed by this, I knew that I had to put my own safety first. My security is more important than the money I was losing. One final piece of advise is to always do your research whenever you go into a new city, there are always good places and more dangerous places to be in.

When I was picking a location to study abroad, my biggest challenge was finding a place where I could eat new foods but also enjoy them. Cultural immersion isn’t just about learning a language and cultures, its about living like a local too. I have always been afraid to try new foods because I am an extremely picky eater. This has always been a nuisance to me whenever I would travel, as I would have to find a place that would have food that I could enjoy eating. For this semester abroad, I promised myself to try new foods, and to keep an open mind. Even though many people get stressed over trying new foods, it shouldn’t prevent them from travelling. This has been my experience with trying new foods.

On the first night that I came to Spain, I was offered tapas and wine. I do not drink alcoholic beverages, but I decided to try the tapas. Tapas are common in Spain, and I tried one called pincho moruno, which had spicy meat. One bite was all it took to come to the realization that I hated it. It had chorizo, which is the intestines of a pig. I refuse to eat this back in the States, and I get mad when I’m in the same vicinity of said food. When I realized I ate that, I felt sick to my stomach. Despite this I decided to continue to try to experience Spanish food.

I never become homesick, but because I keep eating foods I can’t handle, it makes me miss my mom’s cooking. This has been the only time I have gotten homesick. I know what foods I don’t like but I am always given foods that are outside what I am able to stomach. It gets difficult when people tell you to get over yourself and just eat. Its not that I don’t want to try new foods, but I physically can’t handle it.

I have learned a few tricks to help me with this.

1. Be honest. Whenever I meet new people, I always tell that that I am a picky eater in advanced. I tell that that its nothing against the cooking, but I just don’t like certain ingredients. While it is hard for some people to understand, I normally just give them an honest response and I don’t sway away from that. It is hard for me to say no, but when it comes to food, I had to get better at it.
2. Buy your own food. I have made it a weekly routine to go to the grocery store and by myself safe foods. I love vegetables and fruits, so I always make sure to have them on hand. Sometimes I must eat outside my homestay if I really hate the food.
3. Find staple dishes. When I go to a restaurant, I look for the simplest foods to eat. I have gotten used to eating rice and some meats here. If I can’t find anything I go for a simple dessert, I get full very fast so its not a problem if I don’t have a huge meal.

If you’re a picky eater, good luck. I suggest you try new foods, but if you don’t like it, that’s ok too! Just try your best and continue to explore!

It has officially been over a month since I came to Spain. Throughout my time here, I have learned so much about the world around me, as well as learning a bit about myself. I truly believe that travel can change the way a person views everyday situations. Travel helps you become more educated on our current cultures and societies. What I love about Europe is that they are so interested in the politics and culture in America. They’re not shy about asking me about the current state of US politics and I am always happy to share my opinions.

Studying in Europe is helping me understand how many different cultures there are in a small area. When you’re immersed in a culture, you also become immersed in the politics. When I first came to Spain, I didn’t know anything about their government. But watching the news and talking to locals made me realize that no matter where you go, there will always be a reason to protest. Just this week, there have been several protests in Madrid and Barcelona. This past Friday, pro-independent unions protested a ruling by the Supreme Court that sentenced nine separatist leaders to prison. The airport in Barcelona was filled with protesters, and some flights from Madrid had to be stopped. I was terrified because my family who came to visit me were going to take a flight from Madrid to the states. There were threats of protests in Madrid that would stop the highways, luckily my family was safe.

I know two students from my school back in the States who are currently studying in Barcelona. One has been quite and has not mentioned the protests, while another student is actively protesting. It scares me to think about how one’s world can change in an instant. A few weeks ago, I booked a flight to Barcelona, I may have to cancel due to my own safety.

“History is written by the winners”, is a quote I’ve been hearing often. In Spain, the scars of Franco’s reign are still fresh, it is still relevant to the situation in Catalonia. It is a very sensitive topic to bring up, but everybody has a story. I have listened to some local’s voices on this topic; many of them were fine with Franco’s reign while others are still angry, which they have every right to be. Since I am not a citizen here, just a passing traveler, I felt like it was not in my place to talk about my own opinions about their politics. I have no problem with this, I prefer to just listen to their stories. From what I’ve noticed, Seville does not seem to be very opinionated on what is happening in Catalonia. I believe in the power of the people, I believe in freedom, and I believe in doing the right thing. I am unsure what to think about the protests, but if people are able to fight for the voice of the people, and for the benefit of the people, that is noble.

It has been five days since the start of the protests, and it looks like it won’t be ending anytime soon. No one is sure how the situation will turn out, or who the “winners” will be.

I never felt confident in speaking the Spanish language. I was never able to pronounce the “r” or make my pronunciations sound like a native speaker. I chose to study in Spain to immerse myself in the language and perfect my grammar. The only thing I didn’t really think about was the difference in Mexican Spanish and Spain Spanish. It was only when I ordered food in Spanish that I realized that there were many significant differences.

The first difference I noticed was the difference in pronouncing my name. In Mexico, we pronounce it A-lee-SEE-uh, but in Spain, we pronounce it A-lee-THEE-uh. I used to struggle with having a lisp, so I became afraid of it coming back. There are many different Spanish dialects around the world; even in Spain itself, there are many regional dialects.

Another difference I noticed was the idioms. As I was reading through a list of idioms for class, I was shocked to find out that I did not understand any of them. I find it interesting that even though a country may share a language with another, the phrases can be totally different. I think my biggest problem was using the word “vosostro”. I would read articles with the word “vosotro” but hearing it spoken confuses me.

I think there is something about my pronunciations that gives the way the fact that I am American. When I speak to people in Spanish, they switch over to English instead. It makes me feel embarrassed that my pronunciations may not be as good as I thought it was. That doesn’t stop me from trying though; I continue to try speaking the language.

My biggest roadblock with practicing Spanish was when I went to the hospital. For the past few weeks, I felt very sick and I was unable to walk without pain in my legs. I decided to finally go to the doctor to see what was wrong with me. This is when I realized that I do not know any medical terms. While I was waiting in line, I decided to google some phrases to explain my condition. While I knew how to say basic phrases like “my throat hurts”, I was unable to fully explain how I felt. Luckily, the nurses had patience with me, and I was able to finish my sentences.

The next barrier after that was going to get my prescription at the pharmacy. I tried searching online for the names of the medications because they were different from the ones back in the States. I was taken to multiple Spanish websites, which made my research complicated. Luckily, the pharmacist spoke English and thoroughly explained how to take the many different medications.

The biggest lesson I learned this week was to continue trying even if you’re uncomfortable. I met students from my intercambio program who made me feel comfortable with making mistakes. After all, we are all here to learn a language that is different from ours.