It has always been a dream to travel the world, as it is for many people. I love experiencing what the world has to offer because I believe that people learn best when they are out of their comfort zones. Being from Washington State and attending school in Massachusetts was already a major adjustment for me. I had to learn differences in culture, social norms and simple courtesies between West Coast to East Coast. But I wanted to do more and experience something even further outside my comfort zone. Traveling from Washington to the Basque country sounded thrilling but also unfamiliar. It was not just across the United States but it meant a different language lifestyle, and a new level independence.

Travel
The journey itself immediately pushed me outside what felt familiar. A long day of travel and feeling so turned around. Between the time zones the layovers, the lack of sleep all just began all the emotions of excitement mixed with nervousness. Trying to adjust to the time change of nine hours was a struggle in itself but including the eleven hours of flying in top of that was a whirlwind of emotions. This was my first time traveling internationally alone and the stress of not knowing how to navigate the airport for our layover and being separated from my friend. For the first time I felt very disconnected in many ways, not only for home but also because of my language barriers.

Pace of life
When we finally arrived where we were staying it was a relief to say the least. However we soon realized we were stepping into a completely different pace of life. In the States it is so easy to get food whenever, 24 hour McDonald’s and many options. Don’t get me wrong there is a slew of options in the Basque Country. But the entire city is closed from 1 to 4. And to add to this Sundays most aren’t open as well. Meals are very important here but also being a human and not an employee the whole day as well. This break is spent on the streets with others. But after traveling for a whole day we just wanted to have a nice meal and sleep.

The streets were crowded and busy but not like a normal city street. Also peaceful and graceful as the waves were crashing on our walk to find food. Having no idea where to eat we had stumbled to a little spot by ourselves to eat. A whole new way of ordering and paying with the realized nervousness to order in broken Spanish. But this discomfort was all a part of the learning and It got easier as the sever kept asking us questions to answer back. We felt as if we were out of place because the whole city wasn’t eating. They were enjoying company of others in their break. But we were fortunate to find a place that served us and were accepting of us speaking our jumbled Spanish. The first day taught me a lot through the discomfort and not avoid intimidating things in a new country.