adieu.

With only final exams between me and a flight back to the U.S., this whirlwind of a semester is finally coming to a close. My return to America is definitely bittersweet… maybe a little more bitter than sweet. I can’t even put into words how much the people I’ve met, places I’ve been and things I’ve seen have impacted me. So instead of writing a sappy paragraph or two about how much I love this place, I’m just going to post some of my favorite pictures from the entire semester.

I’ll be seeing you, Barcelona. Thanks for an amazing four months.

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not bad.

In my last post about podcasts, I was a little iffy about them. But after looking into it a little more, I’ve found a few that are actually pretty interesting. One of these is Rick Steves’ Audio Europe. Rick Steves has produced more than 50 guidebooks on European travel, and has both a television and radio show. Many American travelers look to Rick Steves for advice on how to become a “temporary local” in the city or country they are visiting. He is known for helping travelers connect more intimately with Europe, and for a fraction of the tourist price. His podcast channel offers advice for travel to Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, among other places. Each of these sub-channels offer several episodes on specific regions or traditions in the country.

I listened to an episode in the Rick Steves’ Spain sub-channel, called Sevilla and Andalucia. In the episode, Rick Steves speaks with native Spanish travel guide Federico Garcia Barroso and Sevilla native Concepción Delgado. The episode offers a ton of great advice for visitors, from food suggestions to transportation options.

Rick Steves’ podcast channel is perfect for the train or plane ride on the way to your travel destination. Listen to the Sevilla and Andalucia podcast below, and if it’s something you might enjoy, subscribe the channel at travel.podcast.com.

i’m in sevilla, trick.

Seville, Spain is one of the most amazing places on earth. I left Barcelona on Friday morning with no expectations, but it’s been almost 12 hours since I got back in Barca and I still can’t stop talking about the weekend.

When we first arrived, we ate lunch at Robles Laredo in Plaza de San Francisco. While we were eating, my friend James who is studying in Sevilla randomly bumped into us. A little later, four more of our friends from Barca stumbled upon the place. Within an hour there were 15 of us, and our lunch turned into a three hour long event.

After, our friends were amazing hosts and showed us around the city. There isn’t a lot of “sight-seeing” in Sevilla, but the city itself is unreal. We wandered around the streets for awhile, ending at Plaza de Espana. Plaza de Espana is one of the coolest places I have ever been. The walls of the Plaza consist of beautiful tiled alcoves that represent each province in Spain. We all posted up in one of the alcoves and passed out for awhile – we’re probably sleeping in the background of a lot of tourists’ photos.

Friday night we went out for tapas. The six of us decided to each get two tapas to share. We ended up with 12 different tapas, including stuffed peppers, squid, eggplant cake and a potato omelette. I am the pickiest eater in the entire world, but I tried to make a point to try all of them. Except the squid – definitely would not be able to stomach that one. They were all so, so good, and it ended up being insanely cheap.

Saturday was another beautiful day. We started the day at Starbucks, a great cultural experience. With a little caffeine in our system, we went to Cien Montaditos for lunch. They NEED to bring this idea to the States. Basically, they have 100 different mini sandwiches for only 1 euro, and all the one’s we tried were amazing. Plus, you get una cerveza for only a euro when you get a sandwich. Best concept ever. Then we toured the Catedral de Sevilla, where Christopher Columbus’s remains are supposedly kept. We climbed to the top of the tower to get a beautiful view of the entire city.

That night, IU took over one of the local bars. It basically turned into Sevilla’s version of Kilroy’s On Kirkwood. A short two hours later, we were supposed to be headed back to the airport. But after our 5 a.m. return to the hostel, we slept through not one, but two alarms, and missed both the 6:15 and 7:15 buses to the airport. Frantic, we sprinted out of the hostel and piled into the first taxi we could find. We made it to the airport with plenty of time, but I guarantee I left something behind after that 5-minute pack job.

Sevilla was a great start to the weeks of traveling ahead of me. And if I can find a weekend in my incredibly hectic schedule, I would love to go back for round two.