This morning I woke up to my third day in Sevilla, a 700,000-pop. town in the heart of southern Spain. I crawled into the shower, checked my e-mail and headed into the heat of the Andalucían sun. Day no. 3 looked like it was going to be pretty much like days no. 1 and 2, with one difference–I was now traveling alone.

The fact that I was on my own should have barely registered; after all, I’ve been on the road for the past four months. I spent this spring in Madrid, the capital of Spain, where the nightlife rages until 7 a.m. and everything happens mañana. In between flamenco shows and fútbol (soccer) games, I studied Spanish culture and language at Universidad de Carlos III, located 15 minutes outside of the city. Since I wanted to take classes that would count toward my comparative literature major, I went through the UC’s Education Abroad Program.

My Spanish improved dramatically, I grew close to my host family of six and I fell in love with the intoxicatingly slow lifestyle. In short, it was a wonderful semester, one that came to an end all too soon last Friday. Come Saturday, I was packed and on a train to Sevilla, the first stop of many I’ll be making before I return to the U.S. (Click here to read more…)