Trip Reflection

Picture 1

The first picture is a cave on the coast of Cabrera. This picture is not only my favorite because of how great it looks, but also because of the amazing experience I had right before it was taken! After a full day of hiking in Cabrera, a Marine Protected Area, we hopped on a boat to go back to Mallorca. Little did we know, we would be stopping in a cave and diving into insanely blue, salty water!! Once the conductor stopped the boat and announced we could jump in, I immediately got back into my swim suit and dove right in. The experience was exhilarating and I was filled with adrenaline right as the picture was taken as we were leaving the cave after taking an unexpected jump in.

Picture 2

The second picture is a landscape shot of platja del Coll Baix. After a full morning of hiking, we were surprised by only the best view of Platja Coll Baix. For me, I prefer hiking over sitting at a beach and the reason lies perfectly in the photo; a long, hard hike is always met with the most amazing views. Had we taken a boat from our camp to the beach, we would’ve missed a beautiful view only seen after 4 hours of hiking. After hearing out leader Tomeau say that we were actually going down to the beach, everybody got even more excited. The trip down was met by steep slopes and frequent tripping (no pun intended), and after getting to the beach, we quickly settled our things and enjoyed a few hours recovering (which included eating bocadillos) and resting from our hike. 

Picture 3

The third picture is a landscape shot of the Mallorquín coast while on the marine protected area Dragonera. While looking back at this photo, my mind fills with an immense amount of peace. That day, we took a boat from Mallorca to Dragonera and went on a hike to a lighthouse that was on the coast. After getting to the lighthouse, the views of the Mallorquín coast were absolutely stunning. Having a passion for photography, the layering landscape was just the perfect photo opportunity! While at the lighthouse, the waves were so beautifully in sync while seagulls flew by, filling the air with clean waves crashing and singing birds. Not to mention, we took a little snack break and had a bocadillo before heading back down.

Reflections

Before going on the trip, I didn’t know what type of people to expect. Whether it be freshman or seniors in high school, I knew I would be dealing with a similar group of kids age wise. After a few days into the program, I was pleasantly surprised that everybody was handling things well and that we all had the same optimism for the adventure we were about to embark! After becoming friends with people from all over the states, our group felt more like a family rather than a high school study abroad group. I think we all learned things together throughout the trip, one of the biggest ones being that we needed to be okay with change and flexibility. Having some plans fall a little differently than what was in the schedule to missing our group flight back to the U.S., I’m sure everybody learned that traveling might be stressful but that the stress could definitely be lessened if we all accept that changes happen! Overall, our Mallorquín adventure was spectacular and Mallorca, a place I once didn’t know where was it located on the map, will now remain in my heart forever.

As for a last farewell,

Jan Filip Alfaro