In San Sebastián, every day feels like the most amazing day of your life, but surprisingly , it only gets better. We had plans to meet at 5:50 and take a ferry to the island at 6. Of course, the boat waited for us as we sprinted through the streets so that we did not miss this adventure. It was a beautiful day outside, the salty air blew our hair as we were on our way to Santa Clara Island. We arrived around 10 minutes later, and began our way up the island .This was the view as we were on our way up the steep hills to enjoy the wonderful scenery. The nature here is like nothing I have ever seen before. you will not see a spec of trash, or any sort of litter, but your eyes will be stuck to the beauty around you. Even the air feels better and I felt as if I could breathe better. I wish I could have taken a picture everywhere I looked.

Here is one of the stunning photos of the view we had during our group discussion. The Water glistened, while we listened to the birds chirping, the sound of the waves, and watched the other people enjoy Santa Clara. Smiles are everywhere here in San Sebastián! There was a bar at the top of this Island. There is never a place you will go where you will not find at least one bar. From on top of this Island you are able to look at San Sebastian from a far. You can see the beautiful city, along with beach in front of it, crowded with people. The Hill was very steep, but one hundred percent was worth the walk. I felt as if I was in a dream come true! There were so many birds surrounding us, while we sat on our towels in the hot sun.

We all sat down and took in the sun. For the first time ever, not one person complained about class. Professor Z. asked us how we felt to be half way through our trip and multiple people responded with ”I dont want to leave”, or ”I never want to go home.” We reflected on our trip so far and talked about what we expected vs. the reality. A lot of us were shocked about how safe and comfortable we feel here, as if we are at home. Also, how many people are in love here. So many couples are vividly so happy and in love with each other, themselves, and life. The people here have an amazing social life and value their time to enjoy each other a lot. We went over our favorite foods so far, mine being all of the helado. Most others loving the Pinxto bars in ”El Parte Vieja”. Sitting here and reflecting made me feel extremely lucky, grateful, and thankful to be able to share such an eye opening experience with amazing people around me. It does not feel real at all, almost as if it is too good to be true!It feels like we arrived just a day or two ago, but yet we are half way through our three weeks here. Professor Z. talked a lot about the economy and politics here in San Sebastian. I was surprised by two things. One being that the Basque country has its own rules and policies separate from Spain. The Spanish police are not allowed to enter the Basque country. Also, that the highest person in a work force is only allowed to be paid no more than 4 times the amount of the lowest paid person. This allows for all of the people to enjoy the life, and no one more than another to an extreme. We then went over our plans for the rest of our trip. Some of us are headed to Barcelona tomorrow, and other to Madrid. On our bucket lists, we want to surf, paddle board, go to the aquarium, and maybe take a sunset cruise. After about an hour we wrapped up our discussion, took our last photos, and headed back down.