Final Days in Spain

There was one week left in our program when we returned from Morocco, which went by so fast because of finals. A lot of my free time was spent finishing up some final presentations that I had and studying for my finals. 

I have not mentioned this previously in any of my blog posts, but such a big part of my Sevillian life was centered around a cafe called “La Zalea”. It was halfway from our host mom’s house and school, and we would stop there almost daily for a cup of coffee or some tapas. In the afternoon we would stop and do homework there. In the evening time, me and my friends would all meet up there for some cañas or dessert. It became an integral part of my life in Seville.

Eventually (mostly thanks to my roommate Adam and his amazing Spanish abilities), we became really good friends with all of the servers and the owners there. After our first month, every day on our way to class, we stopped and conversed with them a little bit (great Spanish practice since they didn’t speak any english). Talking about our day, their day, what we had going on, what they had going on, if we were gonna be there later, etc. When it was one of our birthdays they would get candles and a cake. We became such good friends that sometimes they would close up early at night and we would all hang out together inside. They would give us flamenco lessons, we taught them American games and songs, and sometimes we would leave and go to a bar or a karaoke place with them. La Zalea was such a big part of what made my time in Sevilla so special.

The final day we were all together we helped them pack everything up and bring all the tables in, then we celebrated with everyone and had a great time. It was sad to say goodbye to them, but I know I will be back and visit them again.

I also had the chance to say goodbye to a couple of my other Sevillian friends (who were my age), and it is great to know that I will have some people to visit when I come back.

Our School had a farewell Christmas party with a Secret Santa and a photo competition. All of our teachers and host moms came which made it really fun. Some of my advisors came up with a plan to surprise everyone with me dressing up as Santa and Evan (one of the staff at ICS) dressing up as the Grinch. We put on a little performance while everyone was in the main room. We were also in charge of passing out the Secret Santa presents and taking pictures with everyone.

Most everyone left the next day, on the 13th, but I had a much longer adventure ahead of me as I didn’t return home till the 19th from the Barcelona airport. The main reason for this is that I wanted to visit my old exchange brother when (I did a short-term exchange in high school ) in Barcelona for a couple of days. My friend Lola and her parents were nice enough to let me tag along on their little road trip that they had planned. The first day we left in the morning, heading towards Granada, we had two long stops along the way. We first went to see the Nerja cave system and got to see all of the stalagmites.

We then went looking for a beach to catch the sunset before getting to Granada. We ended up finding a super-sick, empty beach with a restaurant right on the water. After I skipped some rocks and after a good swim, we got some seafood tapas at the restaurant to enjoy the sunset. When we arrived into Granada, (after a long search for parking) we got to watch a Holiday dress-up 5k race. Runners were dressed up as Santa, elves, etc. Was a good way to end the evening.

The next day, we spent some time exploring Granada and window shopping and eating before we were on the road again. We drove to a town called Ùbeda, a small town surrounded by millions and millions of olive trees. That’s right, we were in Olive country baby. 80% of the EU and 50% of the world’s olive oil all comes from Spain. We got into the town that night and explored around a little bit, got some Cañas and tapas, and called it. Our hotel had a car elevator, the first time I had ever seen one of those in my life. We would drive into the elevator, push the button, and it would take us down to an underground parking garage. Such a strange but fun addition to the hotel.

That morning, we went to an olive oil museum and got to sample some of the fancier ones (probably totaled 500 calories in olive oil samples). To be honest- to me, they all tasted pretty darn similar, but when you're in Ùbeda, you have to try them out.

We then made our way to Toledo, a cool city about an hour south of Madrid. Supposedly, the Lord of the Rings drew a lot of inspiration from the town. We enjoyed the day walking around and exploring the streets before heading to Madrid.

I had to say goodbye to my friend and her parents, as they had a plane home to catch and I had a bullet train from Madrid to Barcelona that night. I lugged all of my stuff (including my 5 rugs) to the train station and enjoyed the long ride.

Unfortunately, I enjoyed the ride a little too much, as I fell asleep and missed my stop just by a couple of minutes. I ended up getting off in a town called Zafra. Because it was already midnight the next day, none of the hostels/Airbnbs were showing up on any app or website. And the next train to Barcelona wasn't until 6:00 AM the next day. My phone also had under 20% battery. The only open place was a club/bar half a mile from the train station.

I carried all of my stuff to the bar, and thankfully, the people there were nice enough to let me keep my stuff there and charge my phone for a couple of hours till they closed at 3. I bought some water, bought one of the locals a beer, and worked on one of my blog posts for this blog! (I think my Rhonda, Camino, Granada post) When they booted everyone out at 3, I huddled up with one of my rugs and put all of my sweatshirts on until they opened the doors of the train station at 5.

I finally made it to Marti at 7 in the morning, after almost missing my stop AGAIN from being so tired. I had one of the best sleeps in my life in my normal clothes on his couch when I was able to settle down. Marti still had his finals going on, so I wasn't able to hang out with him the whole time. When I was on my own, I was able to check out the Barcelona beach, the cathedral (Sevilla's cathedral was way cooler), and one of the more famous sandwich shops in Barcelona.

When I was hanging out with Marti, I was able to see some of Barcelona's lesser-known neighborhoods and hang out with some of his friends. I was even able to see his cousin and his brother, that I spent a lot of time with in 2019! It was great to see someone that I was so close with and spent so much time with a long time ago. It was great to catch up and talk about how each one of us had changed and grown from when we were brothers 5 years ago.

After spending two days with Marti, it was finally time to leave and go back home after 3 months.

Thank you Mr. Johnson, and thank you Spain, for forever changing my life with such an incredible experience.