I am writing this blog post a little more than a month before I would have been leaving for Madrid last school year, but still in 2020. Ah yes, I still think about it literally everyday. It is now nearly a year later: December 8, 2020 and I just ended my fall semester of my senior year of college. Such a weird semester. Weird, nostalgic, different, to say the least, but not entirely bad. This time last year I was prepping to go on the biggest trip and experience thus far in my life: I was so incredibly excited, ready, and nervous, too. I’ve been abroad before and to this city a handful of time, but this time was going to be different: it was abroad. I do think in some ways “studying abroad” can be too romanticized, because you picture young college students going abroad to a country that they know nothing of and just partying all the time, but obviously that’s not the case for everybody. As well as the concept of: “young student goes abroad to a foreign city and finds herself”, but there’s nothing wrong with that, because #mood, that is so relatable and I felt the same way. But the concept of studying abroad, at least my goals, were to broaden my horizons, meet new people, discover what I am capable of on my own, and soak in a culture, and that is why having my experience just cut short hurt so bad. Yes of course there will be plenty of time and opportunities in my life/our lives to travel, but there will never be a time where we are this young, wide eyed and hungry for fun and adventure, and literally have no responsibilities, but to see the world and have the time of our lives.