I literally do not have words to express myself in this
moment in time. I can’t believe how fast this semester went and it’s insane to
me that I’m already going home. To say this experience was the best time of my
life would be the biggest understatement I could come up with. It was so much
more than I ever imagined it would be, and it’s difficult to put into words the
things that I witnessed and the things that I’ve learned.
It’s not until this moment, sitting on my eight-hour flight
to Philadelphia, that I realize how incredible this semester really was. I
literally did it all.
I lived with a Spanish family for four months that didn’t
speak a word of English, I slept on the marble airport floor in Switzerland, I
rode a camel in Africa, I drank a 98-cent box of wine at the Trevi fountain. I
took college classes in Spanish with native speaking professors, I dipped my
toes in the Mediterranean Sea and did cartwheels in gypsy pants along the
North-African coast. I learned how to drive stick shift in Spanish, and used a
“public restroom” in Morocco (restroom meaning a hole in the ground). I got
asked for directions for nearby places in Sevilla – in Spanish. I went to an
ice bar in Barcelona and navigated the streets of Rome after a few too many
swigs of wine. I saw Christopher Columbus’ tomb and hiked 10 miles through the
mountains of Extremadura. I wore four layers of clothes so I could avoid
checking a bag on RyanAir, and walked into a sex shop in the Red Light District
in Paris.
I climbed the Eiffle Tower during a hailstorm, and spent an
entire weekend at a hippie festival in a pueblo population: 2,000 with my
Spanish friends and no other Americans. I was in two places at once as I
straddled the Sevilla/Cadiz border and drank sweet wine made fresh from a winery
in Jerez. I cooked paella with my host dad and understood his instructions,
drank way too much espresso and danced flamenco at Feria. I ate more ice cream
and gelato than I can even remember, and I got maybe six hours of sleep each
night the last month. I got into a soccer game for free when I should have paid
60 dollars, simply because I was American, and watched a poor innocent bull get
stabbed to death as the crowd cheered. I got my haircut at an ACADEMY and
explained what I wanted in Spanish. I cooked fresh pesto in Cinque Terre and
ate a 5-dollar M&M-sized piece of chocolate in Switzerland. And that’s just
to name a few.
I lived the dream.
It’s almost impossible to wrap my head around this
experience, to understand that the past four months actually happened. I feel
like I just watched the best movie I’ve ever seen, only to find that I was the
main character and it was real life the whole time. I started a list awhile
back of the random things I learned from being abroad; these are just a few of
the many…
-Never underestimate the power of body language. It really
can get you far
-You can survive a whole weekend without a cell phone, a
computer/internet and nothing but the sun to tell you the time. It’s possible.
-“Don’t drink and drive, smoke and fly” –Moroccan man
-Public displays of affection are very acceptable practices
in some parts of the world
-Open mind, open stomach
-Don’t assume everybody is creepy or sketchy when they come
up to you and start talking. Some people really just want to talk, and some of
the best friendships start by simply giving someone a chance and listening
-You don’t owe anybody anything, except yourself
-You can sleep when you’re dead. But if you must, grasslands
outside of train stations, crowded buses, standing up and/or benches inside of
discotecas are great places to get a short nap. You learn to sleep wherever,
whenever
-If someone mistakes you for a Spaniard, roll with it
-Using dark side streets or parking garage stairwells as
bathrooms is also acceptable and promoted. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go
-Toilet paper is a luxury
-The cheaper the wine, the better the night
-Learn to like the catcalls. In 20 years you’ll be wishing
people were screaming guapa at you
-Little kids really are cuter in Europe, and ice basically
doesn’t exist. You get used to the warm drinks
-Baguettes with chorizo, salchicha (however it’s spelled)
and queso (or just Nutella) make a great meal. Very cost effective and always
taste better when eaten in the grass under some monument like the Eiffle Tower
or in front of the Ponte Vecchio in Florence. Wine/champagne included.
-Don’t ever take a train in Switzerland without knowing
where you’re going or without the appropriate ticket. Having a mean man
condescendingly say “Welcome to Switzerland” isn’t as thrilling as when Luke
says to Ryan, “Welcome to OC, B****”
Aside from all that, I think the biggest things I learned
can’t be put into words. I can say I learned more in the last four months than
most people learn in a lifetime. I learned how you really do have to enjoy the
time you have people, because you can’t be with everyone forever. I also
believe that everyone you meet is there to teach you something. Whether it’s a
small detail like how to read a map, or a bigger concept like how to enjoy the
present, everyone comes your way for a reason. I have met some of the most
amazing people throughout this experience, and I truly believe I learned
something from each and every one of them. One of the biggest things I learned
is that you have to forget about the past and the future and just live. Live
for what you want to live for, not for what someone else wants or for what
someone else wants from you.
I think my favorite thing that I learned (aside from all the
Spanish) is that people are people. It doesn’t matter what foods they eat, how
they dress, how they spend their days or the languages that they speak. People
are people and at the end of the day, they’re all the same. They want the same
things; love, happiness, fun, etc. The little girls want to grow up to be
princesses of some sort, the teenagers run around in mass groups screaming
obnoxiously, the college students want to party all hours of the night and the
parents want to know you’re home safe after going out. Culture to culture, even
on the other side of the world, they’re all the same. People are people.
Cheers to the best semester of my life and thank you all for
following me through it J
