On the final night, we were back in Ponta Delgada walking the streets to see the lights and festivities of the festival. It was a sad night for most of us because given the chance, we all would have stayed much longer. We wanted more time to explore the landscape and meet the people and learn more about the culture and history of the islands.

We visited Terceira for two days, and the first night we were able to experience the running of the bulls. Myself and a few other students were able to participate in the event, and while doing so we were able to speak with and get to know some of the people running with us. I met a man who used to live in Lowell, and he told me about how he has done the running of the bulls many times and even proudly showed me his shirt, which had a photo of him kissing the bull.

The first night on Graciosa was wonderful, we had time to relax before going off for the next day of stops, and we had time to reflect about the previous days and time to walk around the city. The sights at sunset were so beautiful, and the stars were incredible, something that is hard to see back home where I live.

On our second day we went to so many places and saw so many beautiful sights. We visited a historic church at the top of a mountain and we went to Furnas and went swimming in the hot springs. We were able to see how beautiful the landscape is on these islands, which was a sight I never thought I would be able to see myself. Everything is so green and open, something I rarely see back home.

This is my first time ever leaving the United States, so going into it I was worried, but once we started to explore the areas around town I was excited to see more. I was so excited to be able to see the town of Ponta Delgada, and see the architecture that has been there for many years. Seeing how different things are from back home was refreshing and got me hooked to see more of the landscape and the built environment we were in.