This last week in Spain has been remarkably different than the first several. Instead of the week being jam-packed with daily excursions, I’ve had a lot more time to relax, enjoy exploring Seville, and study for my final. The final exam on Friday went really well. Through taking the class in a team environment (with two other people on my team), my team skills have definitely improved. I’m not normally a fan of group projects in school because it’s hard to find a group whose members pull an equal share of the weight, but the team environment in this class worked extremely well.
Because the last week has been more relaxing, I had time to visit several other sights in Seville and go shopping for some souvenirs. One of the coolest places I visited last week was Plaza de Espana, best known as the movie set of the planet Naboo in Star Wars.
Plaza de Espana in Seville
Another fun part about last week was getting to visit with some long-time friends who happened to be vacationing in Seville during my last day there. Since it had been five years since our last visit, it was particularly cool to see them here in Spain! They live in Virginia now, so hopefully we’ll be able to meet up again while I’m working in Washington, DC later this summer.
One of the hardest parts about leaving Spain was saying bye to my host mom, Teresa. She is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and while my roommate and I were staying in her apartment, she treated us like family. She cooked three (very good) meals a day for us, helped us learn to navigate Seville, told us we were blessed with good looks, etc. The whole works. If there were a “host family of the year” award, she would win it. On our last day in Seville, Sagar and I bought her a box of chocolates and a bouquet of her favorite flowers. She was so excited that she immediately called three of her friends to tell them. Mission accomplished.
Mama Teresa
Although I’m fairly good at planning trips now, I certainly wasn’t before studying abroad. I was so inexperienced that I didn’t notice I had a 22-hour layover in Madrid until after I had booked the plane ticket. At first I was planning to spend all 22 hours in the Madrid airport (which was a terrible idea to begin with), but after learning about the prevalent pick-pocketing across Madrid, I decided to stay in a hotel near the airport. My dad stays at Hilton hotels almost every time he travels, so he was able to negotiate a free upgrade to the “executive floor."
This hotel was legit. And not excessively expensive either. Easily one of the nicest hotels I have ever been. The service was great, the people were friendly, and staying on the executive floor was simply awesome.
My friend and I put on our nicest clothes and spent most of the evening in the executive lounge pilfering a variety of snack foods for dinner. I'm sure we blended right in...
Executive Lounge
While we were hanging out in the lounge, a guy sitting across from us struck up a conversation. Turns out he’s a current college professor at the University of Arizona, former US diplomat to several countries, and Harvard graduate. We had a great discussion about everything from foreign languages to college to Washington, DC politics. It was great.
The Hilton breakfast was my last meal in Spain - and it was easily the best breakfast of the entire trip. If I ever stay in Madrid again, the Hilton will be at the top of my list.
After traveling for a month though, I’m ready to be back in the United States. Many of the great things we take for granted in the United States rarely exist in Spain. Things like peanut butter, cold milk, large breakfasts, cars the middle-class can afford, showers bigger than 3 square feet, and air conditioning. And on a more serious note, things like the United States’ (relatively) low unemployment rate, vast business opportunities, and quality of college education. I’m glad I studied abroad in Spain. I wouldn’t change any of it and I learned a ton; however, studying abroad has also made me feel more fortunate to live in America.
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