Marisa’s abroad in Madrid, Spain, until Dec. 19.

Last night, as I sat in the lobby of the Gran Via Hilton drinking white wine after class with Ally and my friend Christine, who was in from Paris, I had an epiphany. Unlike most semi-drunken epiphanies, this one still held water the next day. As we discussed our study abroad experience, the trials and tribulations of living in a homestay (Christine moved out of hers because her host father was verbally abusive—and I thought it was bad enough that Dorita turned my white shirt black and feeds us 6,000 calories of terrible-tasting food daily), we reflected on how refreshing it has been to get away from Northwestern and how much we have learned about ourselves in these past months.

As I started recounting my solo adventure to Sevilla last weekend and other abroad experiences, I finally realized something really important: I’ve grown up so much here and I’m ready to graduate and take on the world, even if I don’t know exactly what I want to do with my life. School has always been a safety net and it’s so easy to get comfortable with the classes, the sorority friends, and the dive bars that dominate college life for many of us. But I feel that between living and working far from home in New York City this summer and then moving to a foreign country for fall semester, I have become so much more independent and confident in my abilities. Northwestern has been great, but I’m ready to take on a new challenge, whatever that might be. And I have no doubts that a frigid winter in Evanston will affirm these conclusions completely.

This past weekend, all of my friends were traveling to various places and I was left to my own wits. Late Thursday night, I hopped on an overnight bus to Sevilla and spent the entire next day touring the city on my own: I saw the Real Alcazar, the Gothic cathedral that is the third largest in the world, the charming Barrio de Santa Cruz (the old Judería, where the Jews lived before they were expelled), the Plaza de España, the Plaza de Toros (the second oldest in Spain), and the beautiful views along the Guadalquivir River. I fell in love with Sevilla, and while I probably would have been bored out of my mind had I chosen the study abroad program there for the semester, I definitely would have liked to spend a week there and get beyond some of the tourist stuff. Overall, though, it was a great trip and truly empowering to be out on my own, plan out an itinerary of places to see, and wander the city on my own terms without having to worry about what other people want to do and see.

The rest of the weekend was also fun and surprisingly not at all lonely: shopping all over Madrid on Saturday, a night out with two Spanish friends Saturday to practice my Spanish and eat Mexican food (I have been craving burritos and enchiladas for so long), and studying in the park on Sunday. This week, I’m jumping back into actually being social now that everyone is back in town, and then my parents are coming to Spain for a week or so. I’m meeting them in Barcelona for the weekend, and then I’ll get to show them around Madrid the next week, which will let me show off the city (and my Spanish) and give me a little taste of home right before Thanksgiving. Can’t wait! I can tell my Dad is more excited than he lets on. He insists he’s only coming to install some new memory in my laptop… but that’s just his way of saying “I miss you.”

Read Marisa’s previous post l Meet the rest of our abroad bloggers