3 Cities. 3 Days. 1 Unreal Weekend.

Coming to Europe almost 4 years ago (so scary I am so old!) I visited Barcelona Spain, Provence and Paris France for a 10 day trip. We went with the program ACIS which is a sister program to AIFS, the program I am currently studying abroad with. Because I loved the trip I went on in high school I researched into the AIFS program to Granada which I ultimately chose. I felt before I left that I had made a good decision about what program I chose, and now that I'm here in Spain it only backs up my decision more. The main reason for this is the AIFS program has a lot of added included and optional excursions during the semester for students. I particularly like this because it has been the best opportunity for me to see more of Spain. For a majority of the weekend trips I am currently planning to take they all involve going out of the country to places such as Amsterdam and Portugal. But with the program they take us to so many cities across Spain and now after making travel plans on my own, it is one of my favorite parts of the program.

As I said before so far we went to Madrid, Toledo and London. Not too shabby not too shabby. That was only the beginning. This past weekend we went to three cities in three days. Yup, three cities, three days. It was a whirlwind but so worth it! We started Friday going to Gibraltar Spain which is one of the most unique places I have ever visited. Gibraltar is a territory of the United Kingdom but resides in Spain. Its interesting because a majority of people speak fluent Spanish and English while you pay for your coffee in the local cafe in either euros or pounds. Super interesting but that's not all, they got monkeys! The rock of Gibraltar is famous for is caves and monkey that it holds home to in its nature reserve. It almost didn't feel real because of all that was there that you hear of and it being so different from any part of Spain. An absolutely cool place I would highly recommend checking out!

From there we went to Sevilla which if I didn't study abroad in Granada, I would have absolutely chosen to study abroad in! Sevilla is beautiful from its open streets, Cathedral to the Plaza de Espana. I wish we got to spend more time there but after a lot of walking my friends and I tried to make the most of the time there!

P.S. Fun fact, a part of the Star Wars films (Attack of the Clones) was shot in the Plaza de Espana in Sevilla, so naturally it had to be reenacted when we were there. I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, but watching all of the movies growing up with my mom and brother they were super jealous when I told them! I also got to run into a friend from SMC while I was abroad! Mary is studying abroad there and what now is a small world, it was great to see a familiar face!

From Sevilla we did a quick trip to Cordoba which is one of the most sacred spots in Spain. This small town holds a lot of religious importance that can be seen through its Cathedral. When you study abroad in Spain, you see a whole lot of Cathedrals but this one was the most unique that I had seen yet. This is because it had multiple influences of different religions. Even at one point both Christianity and Islam were both practiced within the cathedral. Over time the domination of religion over the town and cathedral changed which has led to its unique architecture and the many influence that created it to be what it is today.

For three days it was unbelievably jam packed but it was more than worth it! It was great the program had it set up for us and we were able to see more of Spain! The upcoming trips include a day trip to Ronda and a long weekend to Morocco in April. Yea, Morocco, We be heading to Africa chicas! It has almost been a month in Granada which is crazy to believe! I want to do as much as I can in the time I have because it is already flying by!

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