Leah's Travels: Post-trip summary of my travels in Europe

It’s been an amazing journey those 4 and half months abroad that I had to live every minute of it with not enough time to update my blog. Now that I’m back home I’ll recap as much as I can. First off, I can’t exactly say that my life has changed drastically but I have definitely gained life lessons and learned a lot about myself, that I am able to adapt and live independently in a whole other country- it’s not exactly a third-world country but it’s a new culture. It’s an experience that my friend Carola put into words, something like, “every college student shouldn’t miss out on the opportunity if they can study abroad…it’s once-in-a-lifetime.” Another friend even took out her first loan so she can study in England over summer during the 2012 Olympics, which demonstrates the extent people go just to go experience it. It’s true though, when will you ever get your youth back and have enough time to be immersed in another country?

Rabat beaches

My last blog was before my departure for Morocco. I took an excursion through DiscoverCordoba which is based in Sevilla that consisted of Americans and a few foreigners. We slept overnight in Sevilla while waiting for the bus to pick us up. Then leaving Spain from Tarifa, we caught a ferry to Tangiers, Morocco. The excursion brought us to Rabat, Fez, and the Sahara desert. 5 days total. You could tell from the shanty towns of rundown buildings, barred houses, trash, and unswept streets that it was a third world country. Many times the bus would stop for us to use the restrooms. I can remember waiting in line to use the women’s room only to see that it’s a squatter without toilet paper and soap, and the cleaning lady waited outside for a tip. But Morocco is a beautiful country with its varied landscapes. From the coast of Tangiers to the forests of monkeys to the beaches of Fez and the sand dunes and oases of the Sahara Desert, Morocco was a sight to see.

What puzzles me even now is the culture. I understand I took a touristy excursion which can be to blame for I never really got a vibe of the culture. I had heard that Morocco is the last Muslim country, meaning that it’s the most liberal. Women may decide on their own not to wear a headdress, and yet many still do. The Moroccan tour guides I met were very friendly and could speak multiple languages, among them Arabic, French, Spanish, English, Japanese. Everyday I stuffed myself from the buffets of food, and I even got to try camel meat without knowing. I was most excited to ride through the Sahara desert on camels but my favorite part was going through the markets in the Medina and browsing through all the neat serendipitous trinkets and such. I learned first-hand that bartering is tiring but I wished we had more time to shop . The life lesson I learned from this trip is to travel with people you would really love to spend time with.

Camel meat

Buddies from my Cordoba program

Monkeys on the way to the Sahara!!

Tannery from a leather shop in the medina, Fez.

Riding on Camels

Oasis

After Morocco, there was one weekend where I traveled to Salamanca to meet up with my childhood friend Carola, who had been studying in Paris. I was really nervous before going, nervous about traveling alone at night and if it was worth the money. When you’re studying abroad especially in Europe, you are more wary of your money and budgeting. I was just about to bail on the idea when I told myself, the heck with being irresolute and craven, I just need to get on that bus and do it. Turns out that weekend would be one I will remember for the rest of my life. It was worth it. I met up with Carola that night and her friend who walked me back to my albergue. It was fun just kicking back and eating tapas in Salamanca- “Hakuna matata” from the Lion King! But when I think of Salamanca, I think of the night we went salsa dancing. When we first entered the club there was a girl singing on stage and the ambience felt like a jazzy sorta scene. A couple minutes later the stage transformed along with the music and everyone got on their feet to dance. I was amazed by the way Carola danced around with so many partners agile as if effortless and she looked like the best dancer in the crowd. It’s crazy after all those years in a Catholic school in Maryland we spent together that we would end up meeting up about 10 years later on the other side of the world in a small town in Spain.

Best of friends in Salamanca, Spain

The last trip before the end of the program in Cordoba I traveled to Lisboa, Portugal, with Katie and Trinh. It was all a fracaso thinking back on it but we can all agree that it was perfect, the way a vacation should be. We did what we wanted to do with the best people on Earth! We walked around Lisboa in cloudy weather and were surprised to see few people in sight in the streets and closed stores. We wondered why and it was probably the worst time to go there on a Sunday when la vida en la calle are dead and everyone is inside spending family time. The next day we decided to go to Sintra heeding the advice from our fellow classmates who had already gone. We didn’t know that the tickets we had bought was roundtrip so we actually bought it twice and ran out of money in the end after hiking up the hill to the castle. We just laughed it off. I love how seemingly trivial little moments can mean a lot.

Fairy-tale town of Sintra

Baixa, Lisboa, Portugal

Finally after the program, I traveled for 2 weeks with my brother to Bologna, Crete, Berlin, Amsterdam, and back to Grenada. The highlights: in Bologna we experienced earthquakes and a failed attempt at couchsurfing; saw the most gorgeous beach I've ever been to, Elafonissi Beach on Crete; visited Nina and Aaron and met up with Trinh and Carola in Berlin; ate enormous pancakes and struefal waffles in Amsterdam; and went barhopping in Granada- my favorite Spanish city-with Emma and friends. It was the perfect amount of time and money and all I can say is that I’m glad to have had the opportunity to travel with my brother, although of course we had our sibling moments!