Traveling Abroad and My Trip to Dublin.

One of the things I was looking most forward to on this trip was exploring all of Europe. I understand that this sounds a little cliche and to my parents very dangerous, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see more of the world. I had heard from multiple people that traveling in Europe was very cheap, and was surprised to find my round trip ticket to Dublin, Ireland for about $120. One hundred and twenty dollars couldn't even get me from Oklahoma city to Dallas, and that's a 30 minute flight! You could imagine my surprise and my excitement at this point!

Anyways, traveling regardless of means  (train, plane, bus, etc.) is fairly cheap and booking a good amount of time in advance only adds to the savings. While this can be very tempting, it's also important to note that you should make it a priority to soak in all that your host country has to offer before heading out into new countries. After all, you chose to live there anywhere from 6 months to a year for a reason.

Also, here's a good website that will help you find the best prices: http://www.skyscanner.es/
(Just try not to let it distract you from studying and experiencing the culture of your home stay country)

I must also mention, that flying at such low cost does come with some disadvantages. you shouldn't expect anything like first class, in fact some airlines don't even have it, and prepare for a rocky flight and landing. This does not mean that these flights are dangerous, and in my opinion the low costs quickly outweigh the negatives.

All in all, traveling to Dublin was my first trip outside of Spain, and I hope you will take advantage of these great opportunities.

P.s. here's some pictures.

Day trip to Rhonda!

This has been an especially fun week as my study abroad program has designated Mondays as a free indoor soccer night. Few things go hand in hand like Spain and soccer do, and I'm really excited to just go out and play. We play in a school after hours, but this place is always packed with people ranging from as young as 5 years old to people who appear to be well into their 60's. It's just really fun to see how much soccer means to this culture and the importance that they place on it. I've also made a few new Spanish friends to play soccer with, and even though they are way better than me, we still have tons of fun. Spaniards are also so friendly that everyone always wants to go out and get drinks afterwards!


The end of the week was also marked with a day trip to Rhonda. Rhonda is a beautiful city with probably one of the most impressive bridges that I have ever seen! There were three bridges, but probably the most important ones were Puente Viejo and Puente Nuevo. There names literally translate into Old bridge and New Bridge. I was able to go for a hike and also explore the city for a few hours. Aside from this, we also schedule a visit to the "Plaza de Toros," which is the oldest bullfighting ring in Spain. We were able to enter the ring and even explore some of the museum dedicated to bullfighting.

Here's a few pictures of this excursion: