This summer I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Spain as part of the Experiment in International Living (EIL) program. The experience is something that I will never forget. In the beginning of the trip, I was kind of homesick and I felt like I was the only one who wasn’t really fluent in Spanish. However, after the first couple of days I started to just relax and enjoy the experience.
I learned several new things, including that the sun doesn’t set until 9pm and that there is a 6 hour time difference between Spain and Washington, DC. In Spain, they have a -1 and -2 floor – something that you will never see in the United States. Their bathrooms and the style of their toilets were different as well. It took a while to get used to but it was kind of cool. One of the first things that we did when we arrived in Madrid was to visit the Plaza Mayor, take pictures and participate in a mini scavenger hunt.
We tasted a lot of new foods and surprisingly, I enjoyed most of them. I’m proud of myself for not just looking but being willing to try something new. We went to tapas bars and visited Toledo which was very beautiful. Before we went off to Valencia to stay with our host families, we visited the Real Madrid’s soccer stadium. The stadium was very nice and I wish we were able to actually see them play.
One of the most exciting moments was meeting our host families. I had two host sisters who were very nice and they also helped me with some of my Spanish. We went on group trips and the best trips in my opinion were the Arts and Science museum and the aquarium.
Those trips stuck out to me the most and I would recommend these places to anyone who goes to Valencia. I also liked the trip when we went to taste Horchata. I wasn’t a big fan of Horchata but it was still a good experience and I tried something new. Barcelona was great and I wish we could have spent more time there.
Overall, my trip to Spain was amazing! I am grateful for this experience and hope to try something like this again very soon.
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