As an entire group, we took a five-day trip to Andalucía, a southern province in Spain. We visited the cities of Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba. These cities are major tourist sites and have much larger populations compared to Trujillo. Sevilla has a population of close to 700,000. It includes major tourist sites like the Sevilla Cathedral, Jewish quarters, Guadalquivir River, and the Plaza Mayor. Sevilla, as was all of Spain, used to be under Arab control until the 15th century when Queen Isabella and Ferdinand took control and Spain became a Catholic nation. We got to visit the beautiful cathedral in Sevilla where Christopher Columbus tomb is held. Next, we visited Granada, which means pomegranate. It is a smaller city than Sevilla, with a population around 230,000, but attracts tourists from all over the world coming to visit the Alhambra. The Alhambra was originally a Muslim fortress during the Arabic rule in Spain but was eventually conquered by the Catholics. It is an incredibly vast structure with beautiful gardens, irrigation systems, habituations, and places of worship. Queen Isabella is buried there. We also got to watch a traditional Flamenco dance performance, native to the southern region of Spain. It was a beautiful and emotional performance that reminded me of a form of tap dancing. We only spent a few hours in Cordoba, stopping there to eat lunch on our way back to Trujillo. Another southern Spanish city, Cordoba is home to another Mosque/Cathedral that we visited. I enjoyed visiting these cities because they were truly so different than Trujillo. To simplify it, Trujillo is like a small town in the Midwest, and Sevilla, Granada, and Cordoba are like New York, Boston, or Charleston. The small-town charm that is prominent in Trujillo is lost in the larger cities. I felt confident in my Spanish speaking skills and even if I was spoken to in English, I responded in Spanish and was able to practice. I didn’t encounter anyone that was rude or that assumed we were “the loud Americans.” People generally took an interest in our group and wanted to know more about where we were from and what we were doing in Spain. I felt comfortable and safe navigating these cities, and really enjoyed the trip.