My last weekend here was spent in just the right way, walking around in colorful and bright Portugal. Lisbon was absolutely beautiful and so welcoming. Our Airbnb was in a really great area, right by all the major tourist attractions, so we spent the weekend in the most relaxing way possible.

                That process repeated itself a number of times before we got to the top, but we still made it right around 5:30 a.m., and the sun was just rising as we emerged on the cliff’s edge. I felt great! We had made it! I hadn’t fallen asleep before the sunrise! We joined a group of maybe 50 other people spread out along the cliff’s edge, some in sporty clothes, and some with wine bottles laying beside them while they laid on top of their backpacks.

As we drove along the Copacabana beach, we hit a patch of traffic where a number of cars were pulled to the left hand side of the road, watching a tense situation. As the driver saw what was unfolding, he pulled to the left hand side of the road, and Felipe and I stared out of the window, looking up a a man in only his underwear standing on a window ledge, looking like he was ready to jump. Inside, people were leaning out through the broken window, pleading with him to come inside.

                Though it happened almost two months ago, and many other amazing things have happened since then, the night that I hiked Pedra Bonita has stuck in my mind for some time. It was one of those nights that didn’t seem like it was going to be anything special, but has proved to be one of the most amazing nights of my time in Rio de Janeiro.

One huge perk of studying abroad in Milan is its location. Its proximity to the rest of Europe has allowed me to travel to such places as London, Stockholm, and Belgium without any trouble. Simply hop on the metro, take the train for about 40 minutes to the airport, and you’re good to go!

So, I left my last blog post off after my time in Granada and Cordoba with IES Abroad ended. The very next morning, a friend from my program and I took a bus to Madrid to begin the next leg of our break in Spain.

The one place I promised myself I would travel to no matter what was Spain. With a surname like Sotomayor, how could I not visit the place of my heritage, of my family? So to Barcelona I went alone, my first solo travel experience. I planned to treat it as my last hurrah in Europe; a time I could use to try to wrap my head around saying goodbye to the culture, goodbye to the life I've created here, on my own terms. And I'll be honest, I was worried.

There is a lot to love about Vienna--the architecture, the history, the music--and the list could go on for miles. However, that doesn't mean there isn't anything to dislike, and I am not above laying everything out on the proverbial table.