España

For a little back ground I decided to take this trip as a gift to myself from making it nursing school. Huge accomplishment that was worth a big reward. My dad had mentioned for some time to check into the travel tour company called Contiki for a couple years. So I googled it and fell in love! Haha! If you haven't heard what Contiki is here you go- it is a tour group for 18-35 year olds, it is a New Zeland company, and has been around since 1961.

I looked into many of their options but The Spanish spree (Winter) appealed the most to me. I booked the trip the same day I booked my nursing board exam. I told myself what ever happens will happen but hopefully I'll be going and celebrating becoming a nurse.

Not only did I pass the exam on the first try and was now a RN; I also had landed my first nursing job only days before leaving for my trip. I was offered the job on the spot on the unit I wanted my first job to be at. I was so extremely lucky and now I had even more to celebrate!

This was my first time traveling internationally alone. It was cool because prior to leaving on the trip everyone who was signed up got to communicate with each other. Contiki creating a chat room like space for all of us to get to know each other prior to the trip. I had read one of the travelers who was from San Francisco would be on the same flight out of Miami with me. So prior to leaving we met up which was super nice to have company and not be completely alone on the start of our adventure.

The trip was a total of 14 days. Our tour manager was Chole M. an awesome Aussie gal who knew so much of Spains history. Everyone on the trip were so awesome and different. For being such a big group we all got along fluidly. It definitely was an eye opener at how other cultures value traveling.

On the trip we went to:

Madrid (for 2 nights), Segovia, Bilbao (for 1 night), San Sebastian, Pamplona (for 1 night), Zaragoza, Barcelona (for 2 nights), Valencia (for 1 night), Granada (for 2 nights), Gibraltar, Seville (for 2 nights), Cordoba (for 1 night), Toledo, and Madrid (for 1 night).

I was blessed with an amazing roommate Katie who I still talk to and have visited in Chicago. It was easy going between us and she would joke that I was the honorary tour guide since prior to leaving for the trip I read Rick Steves Spain 2015 book haha. I wish I had a picture of the book but I highlighted and put tabs in the book for the days and locations we would be haha but having it came in handy!

Prior to leaving for this trip my dad brought to my attention that I would be in Spain for Semana de Santa (in english holy week). It couldn't have been more of perfect place perfect time. We got to attend multiple cities processions as we explored the town. Chole got us right up and close to everything as well as guided us on how to get to them. It was amazing to be able to witness the culture that went along with Semana de Santa.

I also want to mention this perfect place perfect time experience we had in Barcelona. My dad had mentioned prior to leaving to Spain that I should go and see Palau De Musica. So I bought a tour ticket. We did this to maximize as much as we could with the time we were given in Spain. On the tour there was a woman who was an opera singer and she asked if she could get up and sing since the structure was known for its amazing acoustic. Talk about a hell of an experience. Me and Katie were in tears from how beautiful and amazing it was to witness that. The energy too I felt there while she was singing was one I can't explain. The rest of our day we had been just stunned over how amazing what we had encountered was.

I could literally go on and on about my experience in Spain. haha! I'll limit it to this my two favorite cities were Granda and Barcelona and I look forward to returning!