Navigating world travel and maturing

Sometimes it can feel so completely and utterly freeing to be unfamiliar. To walk down a street and not know what will be there when you turn the corner. To order food randomly off of a menu and try it. To look out of your window and see a completely new landscape and the sunrise in a different place.
During the February vacation, I became familiar with this type of unfamiliarity during a weeklong trip to Spain with fellow Lawrence Woodmere Academy Upper School students. This was the first time LWA had organized a trip with EF Educational Tours, pushing our global initiative another step further.
I approached the trip hesitantly, excited for the opportunity to experience Spain but somewhat nervous to travel without my parents for the first time. Who would make sure I didn’t lose my passport or forget to get my suitcase from the baggage carousel? Suddenly I had become responsible for myself and it was simultaneously the most freeing and nerve-racking feeling.
Students and teachers — 42 in all— spent the first three days immersing ourselves in Barcelona. We were mesmerized by the architecture of Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and Parc Güell, fascinated by the exotic array of food at La Boqueria, and captivated by the buzz of life on La Rambla. Barcelona became a place we did not want to leave, but the prospect of Madrid was too tempting to ignore.
If possible, Madrid amazed us even more. We arrived with a sort of confidence that we would know what to expect and again were happily mistaken. In comparison with the hustle and bustle of Barcelona, we leisurely wandered through the winding backstreets, appreciating the peaceful silence that lay just outside of the city’s main square. Madrid proudly displayed the treasures it had to offer: The Palace of Madrid, The Prado Museum, and Las Ventas, a bullfighting arena.

Our second day in Madrid provided us with a new challenge: mastery of the flamenco. Our embarrassing but genuine attempt dancing was overshadowed during the flamenco show we watched afterward. As I watched the dancer swirl and stomp across the stage, I was struck by her passion for her culture and traditions. She exhibited a love for her country so pure that I could not help but feel a sense of pride for briefly experiencing Spain.
Our last night in Madrid, I found myself with six friends, eating our long awaited chocolate and churros in the middle of El Sol and feeling an overwhelming sense of triumph. I had not only made it through a week in another country without my family, but that I had experienced something so new, raw and untouched.
I returned home begrudgingly. Now the trip exists through my Facebook photo album and in the miniature Sagrada Familia on my desk. The spark to see, do and live more; to get completely lost in a city and revel in our small role in a gigantic world will not diminish.
Going to Spain let us prove to ourselves that growing up isn’t so scary, and that we can constantly surprise ourselves with our abilities, be they navigating our way through winding streets or even getting a suitcase from the baggage carousel.