Farewell

After a painful goodbye to Valencia, we were headed back to Madrid. The spot to be at was always Gran Via, so as always, my friends and I hung out over there. Just walking around was always fun, but honestly I walked so much when I was in Spain, it shouldn't have been humanely possible. We had dinner at the Intercontinental with the Qatar ambassador. It was interesting, nonetheless. But after that, my friends and I took a taxi back to Gran Via and hung out there some more, then we came back to our hotel to relax for a bit.

 We later met up to go get pizza and just walk to the park. As I keep saying, the most fun part is walking around and just studying the scenery, despite my feet hurting all the time. We found a park near the hotel about a street away and sat on the benches to eat pizza. It was really cold that night but I still enjoyed it. We were out late that day since it was our last day, I think we were up until 4 am that day. It's really funny how you expect to be doing way more activities then you actually end up doing, because we almost always just end up simply hanging out.

It was a really great experience being in Spain. It's probably the most fun I've ever had visiting a country. It was just so beautiful all around, and there was so much to look at and do. It's a really free place and you can tell that the general mindset of the country is pretty open minded so it was great just being there. It was sad having to leave and I still really miss it. I hope to one day be able to visit again.

Valencia

The weather in Valencia is dramatically different than everywhere else, and by that I mean its freezing everywhere else but it was pleasantly sunny here. It was a relatively chill city. The first place we visited was actually the mall. It was much like any other mall, nothing too interesting, but afterwards we had a little walking tour to the planetarium. It was a nice little tour.

After that, we walked through the square in the middle of the city. It was really pretty, I think if someone asked me to live in Valencia right now, I would do it. Heck, I even saw an orange tree just standing in a random area, which I think is a pretty good marker that this is a cool city. After we left the square, we went to the marina (or the port, however you want to call it), and it was kind of the perfect way to end the tour because the sun was setting and the view was great.

Since the port was our last destination, we were left to our own devices. We went back to the hotel and later my friends and I decided to go to the mall since we wanted to buy a few things. I finally god to buy these boots that I was looking for and I tried taco bell for the first time! It was just what I thought it would be, mediocre. Afterwards, we brought our things back to the hotel, then took the taxi to the beach and just hung out. We were probably out until around 2 or 3 am that day, but it was extremely fun. This was probably the best city we visited and I really do miss it.

Segovia

Our next destination was Segovia. This was one of our shorter trips. The sun was shining (as you can clearly see from the image) and the sky was blue. Just the trip there was gorgeous. There was so much beautiful nature all around. When you get there, the first thing you see is the aqueducts.  The tour guide explained the mythology surrounding the aqueducts and how they came to be but I don't remember it that well because I was too busy looking around.

Segovia really did look extremely old, and you can tell by looking at the architecture of the surrounding buildings. The tour guide told us that the city was segregated into 3 sections essentially: where the Muslims (more specifically, the Moors) lived, where the Jewish people lived and where the Christians (Catholics) lived. It was pretty cool to see a physical representation of this in real life because I had learned about this in school before.

We also saw a castle!

I have never actually seen a castle in real life, so that was nice. After all that, we visited the DYC whiskey distillery. I will never in my life forget the absolutely pungent smell of fermentation. It was interesting to hear about how the distillery came to be and all. I would say the thing that I appreciated the most about this trip was the scenery. Everything looked very beautiful that day and it was pretty nice to be surrounded by nature.

Toledo

The first half of this day, we actually visited the Airbus factory. They spoke to us about the manufacturing process, the different divisions, etc. We even got to see parts being made in real time, as well as tour the factory as well. We learned a lot about the production process and how many steps are taken to ensure quality, etc. It was very interesting to see a company at work in real time.

Our trip to Toledo was interesting as well. The weather was a bit grey when we arrived (but it later turned Sunny, no idea). The scenery though, was so beautiful. For some reason, I feel like the grey cast kind of added to the aesthetic of the area. It was a very beautiful city though and you can tell it has been there for a long time because it had a bit of an archaic feel to it.

In the first half of the trip, we were given free reign to walk around and explore a bit. My friends and I walked around together a bit to see if we can find anything interesting. I mostly looked around at the scenery and the old buildings. We then stopped to get hot chocolate and we got free churros with them so I would say that is a win. It was pretty good hot chocolate. We finally decided to take a break from walking and found a restaurant to eat at.

What I found to be the most memorable part of the trip, however, was the cathedral. I really enjoyed the art, as well as the general architecture of the building itself.

 It was really cool to see all the art that was created and put up in the cathedral. Especially the piece that was painted on the ceiling. I really enjoyed looking at everything, it was so awesome to have the opportunity to see these pieces in person.

Despite my feet hurting most of the time, I found this trip to be a great experience. I got to see art, eat great food and just generally have a good time. Often times, my favorite part of trips is just having the opportunity to look around and explore.

First day

So, on our first day, we had a tour guide talk us through a little history about Spain, specifically Madrid, while we were on our way to our first destination of the trip, which was the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid. The scenery of the area was really pretty, and when we got closer to the city everything started to look a little bit more industrial but I didn't really mind it because I could find the beauty in that as well. The tour guide was kinda funny and I listened to what he had to say, despite the jet lag. Anyway, we later got off the bus, took a small walk and reached the stadium.

 Now, I personally don't really care about football but it was interesting to see the areas where players would sit on the sidelines and rest in, as well as the field (as shown in the image above). I also perused a bit through the gift shop area and completely forgot to buy a souvenir for my sibling. After we got out of the gift shop I had a little chat with my friends while we all waited for the bus to take us to our hotel. It was really cool to just be in Madrid and have a casual conversation. When we were on our way to the hotel, the tour guide told us a few more things about the city but to be honest, I stopped listening at that point due to pure exhaustion. The moment my friend and I got to our room, she immediately passed out while I took a shower and proceeded to pass out as well. We didn't even have energy to eat.

Even though we didn't really do much on the first day, it was still somewhat of a visceral experience to be in Spain. It hadn't really sunk in yet. And although we were too tired to truly experience anything, it was still enjoyable overall.

Introduction

Salutations. My name is Elyaza and I'm an international business student at Stenden University Qatar. I'm 19 years old and actually from Khartoum, Sudan, but I grew up in Qatar and decided to pursue higher education in the same place
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