Feb 28, 2023
I’ve had the privilege from a young age to have done a lot of traveling.
Before I studied abroad, I have been to: Italy, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, and have visited several states in the United States. This privilege alone has introduced me to a wide variety of cultures and ways of life. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever witnessed was backpacking around Italy with my family.
Since being in Barcelona, I’ve been doing a lot and seeing even more. To me, it’s a city that is beautiful to its core. Upon my first time seeing the famous La Sagrada Familia, it almost brought a tear to my eye. I had never seen something so extravagant, I couldn’t tell if its immensity intimidated me or intrigued me.
(Probably both)
Despite all of the beauty I have been presented with in my twenty years of life, I have never seen a place like Cadaques, Spain. Or how I like to call it, a piece of Greece.
My friends and I took a bus all the way up the mountain to Cadaques, and that alone was an experience on its own. The twisting and winding roads up the mountain made you nauseous, but you couldn’t help but sit in awe with your forehead pressed against the window at the vastness of the mountains.
By the time we arrived at this tiny coastal town, I quite literally fell in love. I was overcome with epiphanies.
This is why we travel.
I could stay in Barcelona for four months and be completely content, or I can hop on a bus two hours outside of it and find a place like this.
As we were walking around marinating in its beauty, my friend looks to me and says,
“It looks just like heaven!”
Which immediately brought me to an even calmer state of mind, reminding me of one of mine and my mother’s favorite songs,
Just Like Heaven- The Cure
The rest of the day was a dream. One thing about me is while I claim to be a very adventurous person, one thing I will rarely voluntarily do is jump into frigid cold water for “fun.” Of course, that’s exactly what my four friends decided to do.
While they polar-plunged, I sat on the sand and read my book.
Yes, this IS the life.
We finished the day off by grabbing a bite to eat on the water.
You know that saying that goes, “ You’ll always remember your first love”? I think this is something like that. I have a lot of exciting things planned for study abroad and the rest of my life, and I’m sure this is only the first of many heaven-like places I will visit.
But this is my first slice of heaven, how could I possibly forget it?