Spain –
A backpack,
the eyes that see,
the feet that travel
and
the heart that yearns for more.
I remember talking about the possibility of this trip to my friends, and they all said, “You’re crazy.” Perhaps I was; I have always been. I craze about all the different lands, about the many cultures, and about the lessons I am going to learn. It is ultimately about the learning, I have realized. More than ever, this time, my trip to Spain has shown to me what learning is all about.
1. To Dream:
In the past few years, I have built up for myself a certain sets of goals that, if you know what they are, sound almost impossible to achieve. I either have really ambitious goals or just am out of my mind. Or both. However, I have learned that dreaming is the first step to achieve any big thing in life. When one dares to dream, they start thinking about their limit and what they can do to surpass that limit, in order to achieve something greater. Dreams do sound crazy, yet they prove to be the best motivation. At least, dream was how this trip started. Learning how to dream, to me, has played such an important role in shaping how my mind works around future matters, like going to a prestigious Graduate School, or living abroad, you name it. I have learned how to think through all the possibilities, from which I proceed to create opportunities. Learning how to dream, indeed, was not easy, but it was necessary to develop dreams and see how far you can follow through with them.
2. To Fear:
Fear is a normal and common mental response when one faces a difficult, uncertain situation; that was I a few months before Spain. The dreaming phase came natural and exciting, until I realized there were many things that needed taking care of, such as financial means, visa, itinerary, time frame, accommodation, and the list could go on and on. I felt uncertain about everything, and not to mention this was going to be my first backpacking trip in Europe. It was not an organized trip, nor it was with a responsible adult. Now when I mention “responsible adults,” I was thinking more about a professor or my parents, who would give me a sense of reliability. I have always considered myself a more-or-less responsible person that can deal with strange situations abroad or anywhere, since I have lived independently from my family since the age of 14. However, this time, I felt extremely anxious. Things could have gone wrong if I had not done things right. I was scared. I could feel the fear hovering above all the dreams that I had, and while it sounds negative, it is a good thing to fear. If Dream raises all the positivity, Fear brings us down for a reality check. Learning how to fear and to control the fear, thus, is necessary in any process, be it daily life’s decision-making or future plans.
3. To Expect:
To expect the unexpected, they normally say. Even when I was on the plane to Spain, I still had barely any idea what to expect from this country. In theory, I had learned sufficiently about the language, the people and the architecture. In real life, I have no idea if my knowledge from the book would work. The hardest part about traveling, to me, would definitely include getting accustomed to the environment. The cultural shock actually leaves a much greater impact than we would expect. To learn how to expect different things would be a way to step out of one’s comfort zone and deal with foreign situations. To learn how to expect would also help one enjoy life better. Once you know how to be flexible and ready for the unexpected to come at any moment, life surely becomes more exciting with unknown adventures. It is completely normal to have certain expectations, but to me, it is more important to learn to expect the unexpected, as cliché as that might have sounded. It is crucial to be aware that plans do not always happen accordingly to what we would have wanted. Therefore, with an open mind and a clear head, we see and learn so much more about the dynamic of life.
4. To Love:
Love comes in different forms: loving the city, loving the people, loving the culture. Love surpasses almost all the positive emotions. Love, is hard to explain in words, especially when this is the love towards not a certain thing or a certain person, but towards everything and anything of a new place. I felt that love when I stepped outside of the airport and breathed in and out the air in Madrid like a mad person. I felt that love when I looked outside the window on our road trip to Valencia. I felt that love when I was sitting on the top of La Alhambra, observing the whole city with eyes full of awe. I have learned to love since a long time, but every time I travel, I can feel that love grow. In German, there is a term called “Fernweh,” which means feeling homesick for a place you have never been to. Gradually, I have transformed my love for traveling into Fernweh, which fuels my passion and urges to embark on another journey to another foreign land. That love is pure, and irreplaceable. Learning how to love (traveling) makes me appreciate the littlest things in life and see better the grander picture of where I am in life in relation to the scope of the world.
5. To Grow:
I have grown tremendously from my trip(s) abroad. I learned so much more than just the architecture I set out to do a research on. The trip ended up being a perfect combination between Research & Creative Arts and Global Studies. The architecture I studied represented history and life of Spain; the history so rich that it is even now present in every corner of Barcelona or on the hills of Valencia, and the life so dynamic that it left a huge impact on me even months after I left Spain. All the steps, from preparation to boarding the plane, from attempting to speak Spanish to figuring out how to use the public transport system, contribute to my growth, the growth that could only be learned outside the classroom.
A backpack,
the eyes that see,
the feet that travel
and
the heart that yearns for more.
I remember talking about the possibility of this trip to my friends, and they all said, “You’re crazy.” Perhaps I was; I have always been. I craze about all the different lands, about the many cultures, and about the lessons I am going to learn. It is ultimately about the learning, I have realized. More than ever, this time, my trip to Spain has shown to me what learning is all about.
1. To Dream:
In the past few years, I have built up for myself a certain sets of goals that, if you know what they are, sound almost impossible to achieve. I either have really ambitious goals or just am out of my mind. Or both. However, I have learned that dreaming is the first step to achieve any big thing in life. When one dares to dream, they start thinking about their limit and what they can do to surpass that limit, in order to achieve something greater. Dreams do sound crazy, yet they prove to be the best motivation. At least, dream was how this trip started. Learning how to dream, to me, has played such an important role in shaping how my mind works around future matters, like going to a prestigious Graduate School, or living abroad, you name it. I have learned how to think through all the possibilities, from which I proceed to create opportunities. Learning how to dream, indeed, was not easy, but it was necessary to develop dreams and see how far you can follow through with them.
2. To Fear:
Fear is a normal and common mental response when one faces a difficult, uncertain situation; that was I a few months before Spain. The dreaming phase came natural and exciting, until I realized there were many things that needed taking care of, such as financial means, visa, itinerary, time frame, accommodation, and the list could go on and on. I felt uncertain about everything, and not to mention this was going to be my first backpacking trip in Europe. It was not an organized trip, nor it was with a responsible adult. Now when I mention “responsible adults,” I was thinking more about a professor or my parents, who would give me a sense of reliability. I have always considered myself a more-or-less responsible person that can deal with strange situations abroad or anywhere, since I have lived independently from my family since the age of 14. However, this time, I felt extremely anxious. Things could have gone wrong if I had not done things right. I was scared. I could feel the fear hovering above all the dreams that I had, and while it sounds negative, it is a good thing to fear. If Dream raises all the positivity, Fear brings us down for a reality check. Learning how to fear and to control the fear, thus, is necessary in any process, be it daily life’s decision-making or future plans.
3. To Expect:
To expect the unexpected, they normally say. Even when I was on the plane to Spain, I still had barely any idea what to expect from this country. In theory, I had learned sufficiently about the language, the people and the architecture. In real life, I have no idea if my knowledge from the book would work. The hardest part about traveling, to me, would definitely include getting accustomed to the environment. The cultural shock actually leaves a much greater impact than we would expect. To learn how to expect different things would be a way to step out of one’s comfort zone and deal with foreign situations. To learn how to expect would also help one enjoy life better. Once you know how to be flexible and ready for the unexpected to come at any moment, life surely becomes more exciting with unknown adventures. It is completely normal to have certain expectations, but to me, it is more important to learn to expect the unexpected, as cliché as that might have sounded. It is crucial to be aware that plans do not always happen accordingly to what we would have wanted. Therefore, with an open mind and a clear head, we see and learn so much more about the dynamic of life.
4. To Love:
Love comes in different forms: loving the city, loving the people, loving the culture. Love surpasses almost all the positive emotions. Love, is hard to explain in words, especially when this is the love towards not a certain thing or a certain person, but towards everything and anything of a new place. I felt that love when I stepped outside of the airport and breathed in and out the air in Madrid like a mad person. I felt that love when I looked outside the window on our road trip to Valencia. I felt that love when I was sitting on the top of La Alhambra, observing the whole city with eyes full of awe. I have learned to love since a long time, but every time I travel, I can feel that love grow. In German, there is a term called “Fernweh,” which means feeling homesick for a place you have never been to. Gradually, I have transformed my love for traveling into Fernweh, which fuels my passion and urges to embark on another journey to another foreign land. That love is pure, and irreplaceable. Learning how to love (traveling) makes me appreciate the littlest things in life and see better the grander picture of where I am in life in relation to the scope of the world.
5. To Grow:
I have grown tremendously from my trip(s) abroad. I learned so much more than just the architecture I set out to do a research on. The trip ended up being a perfect combination between Research & Creative Arts and Global Studies. The architecture I studied represented history and life of Spain; the history so rich that it is even now present in every corner of Barcelona or on the hills of Valencia, and the life so dynamic that it left a huge impact on me even months after I left Spain. All the steps, from preparation to boarding the plane, from attempting to speak Spanish to figuring out how to use the public transport system, contribute to my growth, the growth that could only be learned outside the classroom.