The Beginning & the End

I started my blog right before my Istanbul trip, and so I left a few cities out of my blog. I don’t remember them that well in depth, but if I don’t have much of a description, hopefully you’ll just enjoy the pictures. So briefly, here’s a bit about them:

London January 26-28^th

I started off my trip in London. I had a connecting flight so I figured from Dallas -> London, London -> Madrid. So it didn’t cost me anything additional to go here since I just left 3 days earlier than my school program started. This was my first time on the other side of the world, and I was traveling by myself. I didn’t have a cell phone, nor a gps… I didn’t realize how different traveling would be because of that too. If anyone is interested, the best hostel I stayed at was Royal Bayswater Hostel. It was pretty cheap and not terrible. Anyhow, in London I was lucky enough to meet someone who showed me around London. One individual invited me to hang out with her friends. That was unbelievably awesome because those were my first few days in Europe and I was traveling by myself. It was just a different world to me.
A few additional words about London- I will be honest, at first I wasn't very excited about going to London. I really didn't know what it was all about, and I hadn't done much reading on it either. It turned out be 180 degrees different than what I thought. I can see myself living/ working in London easily now.

Oh ya… try Indian food in London... it’s delicious.

In London I saw/ did the following:

Went to Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum

Buckingham Palace

Piccadilly Circus

Trafalgar Square & Art Museum

Visited Shoghi Effendi’s grave

Westminster Palace

London Bridge

Learned how a metro system (the tube) works

Madrid & Toledo January 28^th – February 1^st

Madrid,

I spent 2 days in Madrid with my school. This was the first time I met the directors and other students from ISA that I would be studying with. They had an awesome salsa bar in Madrid with a huge dance floor; I wish I remembered the name. Anyhow, we went there the first night after getting some fantastic dinner.

In Madrid, I visited the Church, as well as the castle…. Cool stuff.

But to be honest, of all the Spanish cities, Madrid was my least favorite. Though, at the time I loved it because it was so different from any other city I had seen.

Toledo.

Toledo is a smaller city but beauuuuutiful. It’s really old and has awesome mosque. The mosque links the Abrahamic religions… I thought that was cool. Anyhow, they basically had this awesome bridge, and awesome scenery everywhere. I wish I wrote down the history of this city but I remember it being important and impressive. Toledo is one of your more authentic Spanish cities.

Ronda February 12

Ronda is a town between Malaga and Sevilla. It was very pretty. Here are some pictures of Ronda. Ronda is a very old city. It has Spain's most traditional bull fighting arena.

Bryan???

And a few last words...

So, before I leave all that’s said about Sevilla and formally end my blog about my studies abroad… I want to talk a little about what I did and how it affected me.

To start off, I planned on studying abroad for two years before I actually went. I researched dozens of programs, I took in everyone’s advice, worked myself senseless over the summers and school years to earn money, and finally earned the Benjamin’s X 10’s to make it all happen. In turn, this was without a doubt the best time of my life. I can’t even begin to mention how much I look at things differently now. It was eye- opening, and it was heart- touching. It definitely made my values & beliefs a little bit more clear.

To make a long story short before I thought I would love become the CEO of a company. Now, I can’t help but to think ‘why’? Why would I want such an imbalance of personal life? Before, I didn’t know any better. I was born and raised in the US and had been raised with the innocent intentions that we ‘live to work.’ But I never thought much of the other side and how people 'work to live.' Now, I’m not saying that I will pick any random job just to live anywhere… no, I have too much I like in this world and there are too many industries that interest me. I'm also not saying I'm going to be lazy and just an average worker; but what I am saying is that I have empathy on those who work the small jobs and just get by in paradise, because they enjoy over half the day in places they love. For me, that took a good 4 months to really understand, but it just came down to the basics of Marketing… location, location, location. The biggest change is that before I was willing to allow the destiny of my location predetermined by my job. Quite simply, I want the reverse now... I just want location to pick my job. I want to wake up in a place that I love and know I’m a guest of the city, but not a stranger. I want to live in places I would have never dreamed of. Thankfully, engineers are needed everywhere and so the opportunities are endless. That way, I will never stop learning and my backyard will always be a playground to explore. 

That way, the recess is never-ending.