If you know anything about Spain, some of the first things that come to mind are bulls, flamenco and beautiful architecture. Sevilla is one of the birthplaces of all of these things. This city is even considered one of the capitals of Spanish culture. Sevilla is extremely old: legend says Hercules founded it! After being part of the Roman Empire, Sevilla became the capital of the Muslim Kingdom of Al-Andalus, which is why the region is still called Andalusia today. You can still feel the Arab influence in the music and in flamenco performances. Because of all this history, Sevilla is now a mix of Arab, Spanish, Roman and modern architecture.
Sorry for all the history lessons, but there’s a reason I’m explaining all of this! I think this city is a perfect way to end my trip. Its history and mix of cultures remind me so much of what this semester has been like for me. I remember being your age and sitting right where you are now. I had just come to the United States from Cuba, I didn’t know what I wanted to be, I was still learning English and my parents worked most of the time. I can’t imagine what the younger me would have thought if I thad old him everything he would accomplish in the next ten years; the things he’d learn, the people he’d meet and the places he would go.
Believe it or not, you are just at the beginning of a long "escalator" of life. You have so much to learn and so much ahead of you, more than you can imagine right now. And something funny happens as you get older: a lot of the things that feel super important today, you might barely remember in ten years. That’s the beauty of growing up. Life changes us little by little. We mix everything we live through--the good and the bad--and, somehow, it all becomes part of who we are.
