Moroccan Adventure

Last weekend I made it to my third continent, Africa! With my roommate, Alayna, and 100 other students in a Discover Excursions group, I traveled to several cities in Morocco. While in general I prefer to avoid touristy travel groups, I do not speak Arabic and my French is rusty, so I felt this was a...

Negro y blanco

The other day I stole a few hours for myself and returned to the Plaza de España with my journal and camera in tow. I’ve noticed that the Spanish walk much more slowly than Americans, so I tried to blend in and do the same. It was more difficult than I thought it would be....

Seeing the Sights

Being a tourist is not the same as being a traveler or a member of a community. I will not be able to say that I know Paris after I’ve snapped photos of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. I am not living in Sevilla to check off a list of important buildings,...

First Impressions

After months and months of saying, “Is this Spain trip real?” I am finally discovering that it is indeed real. It’s been a week since I left for Sevilla, and what a ride it has been so far. The journey from St. Louis to Sevilla took a relatively easy 15 hours. Maybe I’ll be over...

A playlist for adventure

(Posting this a day late because airport Wi-fi is not exactly the best.) Well, I am finally off to Spain!  I am overwhelmed with excitement right now and have been riding this high since last night.  This morning I made a playlist feeding off of that high (because all major life events require music, yes?),...

Courage.

This morning I woke up and looked at my phone. December 15. And it suddenly hit me that exactly one month from today, I will be boarding a plane to Seville. That's a realization filled with way too many emotions for 7 AM, especially when I had two finals to focus on today. All the...

Real or not real? Real.

(Mockingjay premiers tonight so I thought the title was appropriate.) Today marked an exciting step towards my journey abroad: my visa is here! The Spanish Consulate is very particular about visas--you have to take the application to the consulate in person, which for me meant going to Houston, Texas. Luckily for me, one of our...

Surreal…yet real.

Today, I accepted a study abroad scholarship. I have received a letter of acceptance to the TCU in Seville Program, paid a deposit, and am working on filling out my first ever visa application. I will meet my study abroad group this week. Papers and emails and dates sit before my eyes and tell me,...