Spain

Spain was another interesting trip as two things happened which drastically changed my life. I met my friend Courtney (mentioned early who was studying abroad in Utrecht) in Barcelona with a bag in hand and ready to travel for a month with no hopes of seeing Budapest again. I arrived in Barcelona several hours before Courtney did and did a little gallery/coffee exploration on my own. When she finally arrived we went back to our hostel and realized that a fellow banana slug had emailed us and reminded us that she was studying abroad in Barcelona. There really is nothing like being young and having all these connections around Europe to stay with/explore with and get the closet thing to a perspective from the locals from one of your own kind. We ended up drinking wine in the streets, wandering, and talking about home and the future... it was incredible, like love at first sight. I am proud to say that today that lovely lady lives in my house in Santa Cruz and I am incredibly thankful to have met her. 

That was Barcelona. After that city we decided to catch a plane to Marrakech for about nine Euros and on our way back into Spain we flew to Seville, a darling little place and SO hot. I remember complaining about the heat for the entirety of the day.

Seville is a place I will never forget as it is where my greatest fear happened. After an amazing evening roaming the streets with a few Polish people from our hostel, seeing flamenco, and having a private show backstage from some amazing Spanish guitarists, I woke up the next morning to hear news of my grandpa passing away over night. I was devastated. I always held my grandpa very close to me and am still recovering. This caused an immense shift in my feelings towards traveling. Not only did I miss my boyfriend six thousand miles overseas but now I couldn't attend my grandfathers funeral whom I loved so much. It’s bizarre; one of the pictures I posted below is in a church in Seville where Courtney and I were talking about death the day before he died. Nonetheless I continued with my journey, as there was nothing I could do about my situation and I knew that my grandpa would have wanted me to finish it as difficult as it was.