An Unexpected Treasure

It has been said that life can bring you on unexpected journeys; Journeys that bring you to the most beautiful and majestic places around the world. It is from the moment you leave the comforts of home to the mysteries of a foreign land, you learn the most important lessons about life and yourself. As the journey continues you experience adventures that your never had imagined. The final result will be that lesson that is different for everyone but will carry with them for the rest of their lives. This was my journey in Spain back in November of 2008.

I had just turned the wondrous age of sixteen when my family had heard the unexpected news that would eventually begin my journey. My grandmother had just completed her heart surgery in Spain and was recovering slowly. She was living with my aunt and uncle and apparently they had told this to their sister, my Mom. My Mom turned white as a ghost as she franticly worried about my grandmother. A decision was made that took me by surprise that my older sister and I join my Mom on a trip to visit my relatives in Spain: A country that was as foreign to me as their language.

My nervousness was as high as the airplane we were in as we flew across the Atlantic Ocean. I was worried about my terrible Spanish skills as we arrived in a country that required me to speak the language that my sister and my mom could speak fluently. My family and I reached the place that I would call home for the next week: A small house within the even smaller village of Canella. My aunt, uncle, and grandmother welcomed me with loving smiles. My first lesson since coming to Spain was that no matter where I go my family will always make me feel as though I am home.

As it turned out Spain had more to teach me than I had imagined. I learned that Spain spoke more languages than what I was taught to speak in school. Where I was staying everyone spoke Catalan, a mix of French and Spanish, which I thought was amazing.  It was different having to switch a George Washington for a coin to spend for a dollar in Euro but it made shopping more fun. I learned how exciting and fun a foreign place can be.

Moreover, once my grandmother became well enough to be on her own, my mother decided that we needed to spend two days exploring the beautiful treasure of Spain: Barcelona. We boarded a train that took us through the beautiful seaside and landed us in the middle of Barcelona. The rest of my journey was almost like a dream. I traveled between the beautiful past of Barcelona’s historic buildings and the modern excitement of the late night street performers and the stylish fashion of the people. The Church of Sagrada Familia was under construction but the inside was angelic with all the stain glass windows that glowed in the sun. The highlight of my journey in Spain was when I climbed to the top of the Cataluña Museum of Art gazing over all I could see of Barcelona. It was truly memorized by my whole journey by then.  If it was not for my unexpected trip to Spain I would never have seen and learned so much about places that I never imagined existed.  I learned that no matter where life will take me I have to fer el màxim profit d'ell, “make the most out of it.”