About three years ago when I was getting ready for my first extended trip abroad, I created a list of the top ten places I wanted to visit. I forgot about it until recently when I went back to take a peek: I had visited six of the places, and I think I’ll get to check another two off the list within a year.
Two weeks ago, I yelled up to my dad that Mother’s Day was the following week and that we needed to get her some presents. He couldn’t believe it was coming up so fast. I then told my mom that we needed to get things for Mother’s Day the next week and she said to me, “Mother’s Day isn’t next Sunday, it’s the one after that!” I pulled up my calendar on my phone, went to May 7, “See it’s Mother’s Day next week!” Just for kicks, I went to May 14. It also said Mother’s Day.
I’ve been holding on to this information for a while because it’s kind of nice having something that isn’t published to the world immediately. But yes, it’s true: I’m coming back to Spain.
Ever since I left last July, I’ve been considering the options to return. I’ll be studying a Masters degree in Bilingual and Multicultural Education at the Instituto Franklin at the Universidad de Alcalá in Madrid.
After leaving Stockholm to spend a few days with my distant Swedish relatives in Karlstad, I boarded a train for my final European stop to Oslo. Thick forests of trees surrounded the train as it passed from the Swedish countryside into the Norwegian. Our train stopped in some small town a few miles outside of the city because they were working on the tracks; so we boarded buses and were dropped off somewhere near the city center.
Ok … so it’s been almost five months now since I went to Stockholm. I debated whether or not I’d post anything about my Nordic trip. At first, it made me a bit sad because now I am back at home and I can’t travel like I used to. Then a few months later, I thought “Why bother?” I contemplated just posting pictures. But right now I’m sitting at home after working a short day – bored – and thought, “why not”?
My friend and I are still here in Tarragona in July. I am testing the waters of being an au pair and my friend commutes every day to Barcelona to work with small children in an English summer camp. Safe to say we needed a break from children and explore more of Spain. He suggested we see the city of Peñíscola in the Valencia region of Spain, one of the Pueblos Más Bonitos (Most Beautiful Towns/Villages) in Spain. Although I had trouble pronouncing the name (my American mind kept thinking “Pensacola”), I agreed. There is too much of Spain I still haven’t seen.
At the end of April, I had a three day weekend because of the “May Day” (Worker’s Day) holiday. A friend and I decided we wanted to see another part of Spain that we had never been to before. We decided to travel up north to the Basque region of Spain. We went to Pamplona, Vitoria, and Logroño. We also made a stop in a small village before heading to Logroño. The Basque region definitely has a different vibe than what I am used to in Catalunya so it was something good to experience.
Our final stop in our Italian adventure was to the Eternal City, Rome. Although it got off to a rough start trying to find our way to the correct bus and finding our way to our hotel, we had three wonderful days in Rome. Rome definitely has a lot to offer over 2000 years plus of history. It’s a grand city, but definitely walkable and you’ll be able to navigate your way around the city in no time.
I’ve been incredibly lazy here. I wrote about my time in Venice with the intention of completing the rest of my Italian journey soon after, but it’s now been more than two months since I’ve been in Italy and I’m still trying to motivate myself to write. Alas, let’s see how long it takes me to finish this post!
Florence is a very art-y city. Italy was the site of the Renaissance and you can see much of the art from that period there. It is also home of the beautiful Duomo Cathedral, which is the place you usually see the skyline views over Florence from. We packed the entire Florence experience into two days there, but it was an experience of a lifetime.
My first stop on our Italian tour was to the breathtakingly beautiful city of Venice. It’s an intricate, small, city with so much history and adventure. I’m lucky to have had my friend as my travel companion who could read a map and navigate around the city with ease. Venice can be a bit like a maze because the canals chop up the streets, meaning you’re always having to turn in some different direction.