Well, Paris was a success! My friends and I got to see Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, a bit of the Louvre and the Versailles (all for free with a student Visa, or because of the day that we went- Versailles is free to all on the first Sunday of each month.) We even took the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night and looked out at the beautiful city lights of Paris.
As always, I wish there was more time. More time in Paris, more time in Seville, more time in this semester. And although it was sad to leave Paris in what seemed like no time at all, I have to say that coming back to Seville again felt like home.
Each time I travel somewhere else, I realize again and again how much I’ve fallen in love with this city. It’s not too big and not too small, it’s not too modern or too old, and there is always something beautiful and new to discover if you keep your eyes open. Just the other day, walking home from school, I decided to do something as simple as walk on the other side of the road and was surprised at how much I had not noticed before. I even found a new way to get back and forth! This is one of the things I love most about Seville. There is always more to see and explore.
But even so, if you’re going to come to Seville (or really, anywhere you spend a semester or an extended amount of time) see what you can see outside of the city, too. Whether it’s a new city, town, province, or country- just go! I knew coming into this that it was important to get to know my host city and culture, but I also knew that I might not get another chance to travel to other places in Spain and throughout Europe for a while—I won’t let it be for forever.
There is so much to see, even just a few hours away from Seville. This past weekend I spent Saturday in Aracena on a trip organized by my school, UPO. I fell in love immediately with the charming town, and was so happy that I signed up to go. It only took about an hour to get there, but I would have travelled much farther for this trip. The views from the top of the hill by the church, built over the ruins of an old castle, the atmosphere of the town, getting to escape the city life for a day and take a walk through nature, and the breathtaking beauty of the Gruta de las Maravillas cave—all of it made it worth it by a landslide.
And on Sunday, I went with We Love Spain to Ronda and Setenil. Ronda is definitely a trip that you can do on your own from Seville (and one I would recommend, for sure!) But I had never heard of Setenil. I beleive that you could get there on your own by train or bus too, even BlaBla Car if you’d like, but the trip with WLS saves a little money on transportation and a lot of planning time. I knew I wanted to try to go to Ronda, but when I saw pictures of the houses, cafes, and bars built into the rocks in Setenil I figured signing up for this trip with WLS was the best way to see both places, and again I’m so happy I went.
Before actually coming to Seville, the chances of me hearing about any of these places was probably extremely small. Even with Ronda, which is supposedly the fourth most visited city of Andalucía, at least, I had never heard of it before my time here. Needless to say, I feel lucky to have had these opportunities. The moral is: don’t always opt for the big, popular destinations. I think it’s good to do a mix of both big and small, far and near. I saw three beautiful gems in one weekend, and I didn’t have to hop on a plane to do it.
And try to remember, it’s not just about getting to a new place. It's not about getting to post Snapchats from all different parts of the world, or about rushing through a check list-- any of that. It’s all a learning experience. When you travel on your own, you learn about other cultures and history and all of that good stuff if you know where to look, but you also learn so much about yourself.
When my friends and I got back from Paris to Santa Justa- the high-speed train station in Seville, we all marveled at how much more comfortable and confident we felt compared to how terrified we were on our first days arriving to the city. But I don’t think that it’s just Seville we became more comfortable with. I think it’s ourselves, too.