As I’ve mentioned in a previous blog post, this semester in London would mark the first time I’ve gone abroad in over four years. The prospect of living in London alone was something I was quite ecstatic about. Going into this semester I expected to take interesting classes, explore the city on the weekends, make new friends, and travel around Europe a bit (all of which I’ve had the pleasure of doing) but never did it cross my mind that I would experience what I saw that day, on that cliff, on that island in the Balearic Sea.
When planning for my mid-semester break, I had a few priority destinations in mind. Rome is somewhere I promised myself I’d see before the end of the semester, Paris had been a dream of mine for a while, and Prague was an interesting and world-renowned city a friend of mine convinced me was worthwhile. Apart from that, I wasn’t really sure where else I’d go given I expected to hopefully visit 5 new cities while abroad. One day coming home from my internship, a buddy of mine Ben was in our flat planning flight and accommodation details for his travels when I overheard that he and two of my flat mates were planning on going to Ibiza. Initially I didn’t think much of the idea but upon further persuasion, I decided along with my friend Nicolas that it would be an adventure worth giving a shot. After finalizing details, the Airbnb’s were reserved, the flights were paid for and the boys and I were a couple weeks away from a legendary trip.
Given all the places I visited and all the things that happened that week, I could write for days about all the noteworthy experiences I shared with my friends but there is one in particular I want to give special attention to. Es Vedra.
Nicolas and I were the first ones out of the group to arrive in Ibiza. Because our Airbnb wasn’t going to be ready until the afternoon, we spent much of the morning hauling luggage around, grabbing a quick bite to eat, and entering various shops all around the Old Town. Later we finally settled in, rendezvoused with Ben, and spent the night exploring the castle in the dark and finishing with some drinks and tapas before getting pummeled by harsh rain. Overall, solid day. The next day our other flat mates Michael and John arrived in the afternoon due to major delays from Ukraine and the sun was slowly but surely dissipating into the horizon so we had to act fast if we wanted to make the most of our last night which is when John had a brilliant idea, find a way to reach the top of one of the mountains and catch a glimpse of the beautiful Ibizian sunset. We ordered the taxi, hopped in, and our lovely driver Juan took us to where we needed to go.
En route, rain struck once again so we quickly got out at the top to take a quick panorama before heading back to the taxi when suddenly Ben begins to run towards the sunset followed by Michael. In no time, I hear both of them screaming and causing a commotion so I went to investigate when suddenly I am faced with this spectacular view of an island I thought was a huge towering cloud. There it was. Es Vedra.
It was pouring. Lighting and thunder all around. A gorgeous orange sunset. Surrounded by some great people. It was surreal. At that moment I realized that this was what life was all about. Freedom.
