AUDREY’S ADVENTURES

TRAVELING ISN’T ALWAYS AS PRETTY AS IT LOOKS

I have always wanted to write about travel, but never got around to it until this year, so here goes.

Having lived in Spain for the past two summers and also having visited Portugal and Ireland, I will be writing twice a week and start off by telling you some of my unique experiences abroad — some funny, while some more serious — with the hope of making you smile or laugh, surprising you, shocking you or most importantly, inspiring you to travel.

Whether you’ve never ever traveled, never been outside of the U.S. or just haven’t been to one of the countries that I just mentioned, I hope this blog gets you to step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself. From my experience, with travel comes being uncomfortable or facing adversity at times, but also personal growth, open-mindedness and an overwhelming appreciation for other places, cultures and people. I hate to break it to you, but the world has so much more to offer than just our little bubble. I hope my funny stories will make you want to have experiences of your own that you can look back on and laugh about, and the more serious ones make you realize that you have tough skin and can conquer just about anything.

Trevor Noah said it best, “There’s one thing you will never waste your money on: it’s traveling. Travel the world.”

I promise that you won’t regret it.

THE ONE WITH THE SUITCASE - PART 1

Want to know what happened to me less than an hour after arriving in Sevilla, Spain? Well, I’m going to tell the few people who are actually reading this either way.

After we deplaned, I got my bag from baggage claim and then walked through the airport exit doors.

A couple of people on my study abroad program were on the same flight as me, and since everyone on our program had to meet at the same hotel, we decided that it would be cheaper to take the airport bus than split a taxi. (Looking back, that was not the move, but hindsight is 20/20.)

THE ONE WITH THE SUITCASE - PART 2

So, for those of you who are dying to know how I dealt with my suitcase when it was time to fly home at the end of my summer of a lifetime in Sevilla, I will tell you.

Now, the normal, and probably easier, thing to have done would have just been to toss my one-wheeled suitcase and buy a new one, but did I do that?

THE ONE WITH TWO YOUNGER SISTERS

This past summer, I au paired from June to August in Madrid, Spain. I lived with a host family, which included my host mom and dad and their two daughters, Eva and Ana. Eva is 9 years old, while Ana is 7 years old, but they both enjoy doing arts and crafts (or as the parents first said to me, “handy crafts”), watching TV, playing with their friends, swimming, singing and bugging the crap out of each other.

THE ONE WHERE I FINISHED A UNC ART CLASS IN SPAIN

Last summer, I took a five-week UNC online art class. Not only did I give my all to each project, but most projects had multiple parts. Then, I had to take each one a step further: take multiple shots of each project and edit every photo. The photos were how I had to submit my work.

The last week and a half of the class overlapped with my first week and a half that I was au pairing in Madrid. So, for that week and a half, after my long weekdays of au pairing from 9am-4pm, I was working on art projects in my room.