The Girl Who Goes

independent, intentional travel

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A Sardinian Christmas

I’ve been living in Madrid for four months now, and I decided not to go home to Kansas City for Christmas. It was too expensive and I figured the money I would’ve spent could be saved and used for other things (read: other trips).

But that didn’t mean I particularly wanted to spend Christmas totally alone. Most of my friends in Spain were traveling – home or elsewhere – for the holidays. So I went to spend Christmas with my family on this side of the world – with our exchange student from last year, Gaia, and her family in Sardinia, Italy. [Read more…]

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7 Things I’ve Learned from Living in Madrid for 10 Weeks

living in madrid - feature

Sunset in my Madrid neighborhood, Prosperidad

It’s hard to believe, but I’ve been in Europe for almost three months now. After 10 days in Spain, I wrote “7 Things I’ve Learned from Living in Madrid for 10 Days.” Well, now I’m here to tell you about 7 things I’ve learned from living here for 10 weeks. (Technically I moved here 11 weeks ago, but I was in Italy for one of those weeks. 🙂 )

I think it’s interesting how much more subtle some of these things are — they probably aren’t things that I would have ever noticed without living here. So, without further ado…

[Read more…]

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7 Things I’ve Learned from Living in Madrid for 10 Days

living in madrid - my apartment

View from my apartment terrace.

It’s hard to believe I’ve already been in Spain for 10 days! Thankfully, the existential “what-am-I-doing-why-did-I-think-this-was-a-good-idea” phase seems to have passed for the time being, and I’m really enjoying life right now. Whether it’s café con leche every morning (or when I wake up, which uhhh, isn’t always the morning) and shopping for things I need to feel at home, it’s exciting to have a fresh start in a new place. And while I’ve visited Spain as a tourist before, living here is totally different. Here are some of the things I’ve learned in my first 10 days living in Madrid. [Read more…]