When I turned 18, my parents asked me what I wanted for my birthday and for graduation. I begged them to go to Barcelona, and asked if it could be a graduation present for the whole family.
With slight reluctance, because who in their sane mind would actually be that opposed to going to Barcelona, we stayed there for 10 days and it was one of the most remarkable experiences for me. As I was sipping my café con leche for the first time in Barcelona, I felt a door in my life open. It was one of those really weird moments, where I just knew that this trip was going to change me.
I have been extremely lucky and fortunate in my life. I have two great parents who adore traveling. They see it as the best education in the world, and my dad has never stopped wanting to see the world. Because of this, I’ve been lucky enough to be happily dragged around the world.
When I went to Barcelona, something was different.
The people, the bottomless pitchers of sangria, the food and tapas covering every square inch of our table, the sea salt breeze by the ocean, the architectural mastery of Gaudí, the way of life.
I looked at my mom on that trip and told her I could see myself living in Barcelona. Out of all the cities and countries we have traveled to, this was the place I could see myself living in. This was the place that felt like “my home away from home.”
I was right.
With my most recent opportunity to actually live in Barcelona, I wanted to make these next 6 months the best I could- to catch every moment and to cherish them, to seize every opportunity and jump on them, and to finally get myself to like tomatoes (true story).
A girl in my program told me about The Power of Place – how it is up to us to find where we are truly supposed to be and how place has more power to help us reach a true self.
And hey, who knows? All I do know, is that as I sip on yet another café con leche and think about our next “Tapas Tuesday”, it wouldn’t be a bad life here. Maybe I’ve found that place.