Eighteen

In a month, I'm turning eighteen - the legal age in our country. Girls usually have debuts to celebrate their transformation to adulthood, but I think I'm not that type. I made several alternatives, and one of them is this list. Here's a list of the things I'd like to accomplish before I turn eighteen. These things I believe will help my self-development. I have exactly one month to do everything!

#1 Get back to writing

#2 Start a blog

#3 Exercise regularly

#4 Clean my room

#5 Do something new

#6 Get a student driver's permit

#7 Learn how to commute

#8 Go to divisoria

#9 Spend time with someone I haven't seen in a while

#10 Register for the 2016 elections 

#11 Create and fill travel keepsakes boxes

#12 Get back to reading

#13 Learn new recipe

#14 Make a HS scrapbook

#15 Surprise a friend

#16 Sell an old item

#17 Download and learn Photoshop

#18 Spend birthday at the beach

My Spanish Summer (written on the summer of 2014)

There's no denying that the Spanish culture has influenced the Philippines' past and present traditions and practices. Last month, I was fortunate enough to visit and tour the country. In about two weeks, we were able to go to more or less seven cities. We started in Barcelona, where the magnificent Sagrada Familia is located. It's this massive cathedral planned out by the late great Architect Antonio Gaudi. While the structure was still under construction, he passed away. It took forty years after his death for a set of new architects to work together to continue his legacy. The Sagrada Familia is still under construction and is said to be finished by the year 2026.

Our stay in Barcelona also consisted of touring the magic fountains, the Montuijic hilltop, and a day trip to Montserrat on Palm Sunday. The Montserrat or the "serrated mountain" is famous for being carved by Mother Nature herself. It's about an hour and a half's drive from Barcelona. The Montserrat has a cathedral that housed the Madonna, the sacred statue of the Virgin Mary. It's actually a pretty interesting story how the statue was found, and why it is at Montserrat. It was found in the one of the caves of Montserrat one day, and the King ordered for it to be taken to him. His people tried to carry the statue of the Virgin Mary, but they simply couldn't lift it. The King then decided to build a cathedral on the mountain to house the statue now referred to as the Madonna. 

After Barcelona, we went on to explore the cities of Valencia, Madrid, Salamanca, Seville, Granada, took a day trip to Gibraltar, and even had a weekend trip to Portugal. We visited parks, plazas, cathedrals, beaches, gardens, ruins of an old palace, artsy villages, and a whole lot more cathedrals. I've always wondered why Spain is described as a "colorful country." I got my answer from the trip. Everything about Spain is beautiful. The language, the people, the good good food, the architecture... everything just made it so perfect. My family and I were discussing the other day about our favorite Spanish cities. When one of my sisters asked me, I said "Salamanca, definitely Salamanca." However, if you ask me what the best part of the trip was, I'd scream "CHURROS!" Simply the best. You know it's too delicious when you don't even think about the calories anymore. It was just so damn good with the freaking Valor hot chocolate.

Coming from the East, it was a whole new world to me. The architecture is so different, and you could see that each building really has a story. As cliche as it may sound, the best part of it was the whole experience of being there - of being submerged into their vibrant unique culture. It's the paella. It's the tapas. It's the "churros con chocolate." It's the Sagrada Familia. It's Don Pescedito's in Peniscola. It's the bull rings we see and pass by, but never really visit.  It's the numerous cathedrals we visited that kind of looked the same to me after seeing too many. It's the people. It's even the people who don't speak English. It's the people who bump you and don't apologize. It's our tour directress Maite saying "Hallo, hallo!" "Perfecto!" "Bueno, bueno." It's the language barrier. It's the weather. Its the Pull & Bear, Stradivarious, and Bershka stores all lined up together. It's hearing mass in Spanish even though I only understood the Our Father. It's Valor, and their chocolates to die for. It's the two p.m. to five p.m. siestas for everyone! It's the Flamenco show. It's the street performers - the good ones and the terrible ones. I can't tell you what the single best thing was, but I can tell you one thing. We were there for about twelve days, but it didn't even take us a day to fall in love with the beautiful country of Spain.