Well here I am, sitting in the Seville airport, as I have a four hour flight delay to Barcelona.  Although the situation isn’t the best, it has given me a lot (and I mean a lot) of time to reflect on the past three and a half weeks I spent with everyone.  It has honestly and unarguably been the best few weeks of my life.

Going into this trip I was terrified.  I had never flown without my family before, I took a semester off of Spanish, and I had never lived on my own.  In my mind, everything that could go wrong, would go wrong.  What if I couldn’t access my money?  What if my international plan didn’t work and I was cut off from calling my parents?  What if my roommate was crazy?!  My mind was racing a mile a minute with the endless possibilities of problems that could occur.  But as soon as we landed, it all seemed to melt away.  I completely forgot about everything and just went with whatever was thrown at me.

This wasn’t my first time out of the country, but it was my first time to Spain and let me tell you, I will definitely be going back.  Spain had always been on my bucket list because I work as a flamenco dancer for a living.  Growing up I was taught all about Spain and the history of its country and native dance.  So being able to finally go was a dream come true.

Every excursion and class activity we did was amazing, but my favorite had to be the weekend excursion to Sevilla and Granada.  The two cities were completely different than anything we had ever seen before.  Very modern but yet they still had that old timey feel.  In Sevilla we went to La Giralda and the Cathedral de Sevilla.  La Giralda is a gigantic bell tower that was built during the Moorish time period and right next door was the Cathedral de Sevilla.  This had to be the most magnificent cathedral I have been to this past month, and that’s saying something because we went to a lot!  It is the third largest cathedral in Europe and the largest gothic cathedral in the world.  It took three generations to build and there are at least (don’t quote me) forty-two chapels within it.  Also located within its walls are the remains of Christopher Columbus and his second son Ferdinand.

After leaving the Cathedral and Giralda, we headed over to the Royal Alcázar of Sevilla.  This palace was originally built by Moorish Muslim kings, but is now used by the King and Queen of Spain as their summer getaway.  It is currently the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe.  The architecture was so different from anything that I had seen in the previous few weeks in Spain, even throughout the many cities we visited. Afterwards, we made the long walk over to Plaza de España.  Although it was beautiful, it wasn’t anything like our Plaza Mayor in Salamanca.  By that time I was missing Salamanca pretty badly and we had only been gone a day!

The next day we had a quick tour of the Plaza de Toros, where some of Spain’s most famous bullfights are held.  After the tour, we crossed the bridge to Triana and did some shopping there.  All too soon we had to leave Sevilla and head over to Granada.  As soon as we arrived to Granada we went to lunch and then had the rest of the day to ourselves.  A lot of us went to the Moroccan markets and did some major shopping there.  We finally met up again at 8:45pm to go to the long-awaited flamenco show… at least for me!  The show was located inside of a cave, on top of a mountain, and let me tell you, it was so much fun.  It was a once in a lifetime experience and I wouldn’t trade it in for anything.

We woke up the next morning and made our way over to the Alhambra.  The Alhambra was built by the Moors in the 13th century.  It is known as one of the greatest wonders in the world today.  It was built as an attempt to recreate heaven or paradise, and after walking through its grounds, it’s almost as if you actually are there.  The architecture of it was nothing like I had ever seen before.  Everything was so detailed and there was a story behind everything they did and put into the palace.  There was running water from the mountains that ran throughout the entire property.  The water was so pressurized they were able to create beautiful fountains without the use of pumps.  Everything about the Alhambra was amazing, one of my favorite places without a doubt.

After we finished up there it was time to head back to the hotel and pack up.  It was then that I had to say my goodbyes to the people I had spent my entire past month with, unknowing if I would ever see them again.  This past month has taught me so much about myself and it has been the most incredible opportunity.  I thank you so much Señora Levin for giving me this chance, and I can’t wait to go back again next year!