16 And Moving Continents
Introduction
Are you someone who takes their opportunities? ZK7 had the pleasure of talking Carla from Spain about how her life changed aged 16, experiencing foreign cultures, going to prom in the US and what ignited her passion to travel.
Tell us a little about your backstory
I grew up in a town called Badalona which is just next to Barcelona. I spent my youth there, went to school and lived a fairly normal life. Things changed when I was 16, as that’s when I had the opportunity to study abroad for year. Well what I thought was going to be a year.
I know at that point I had been trying to learn English, as it was something I was really passionate about. A friend of mine had spent a year in the US with a host family and I remember talking about that with my Dad and all of a sudden I think it was around Christmas time, he was like ‘oh would you like to go to the US for a year?’ And I was like ‘wait what’ and he said ‘you know I think it would be a great experience. If you are up for it, then yeah we will do it!’ So that was the beginning of my travel journey.
My parents got divorced when I was very young, so I was only living with my Dad at that point. So I moved over to the US and spent a year there living with a lovely American family that took me in like I was their own child. It was brilliant! And then halfway through my time there, my Dad told me he received a job offer which was in the UK and he asked if I wanted to come over and live in the UK. So at that point I was like I am already learning English it will be an experience so why not. So that’s what led from what I thought would just be a year learning English, to moving over to the UK and starting my A-Levels and going to university.
In the States, I lived in Rhode Island, the same state which Family guy is set in. Its on the East Coast, just above New York. It was a great experience like what you see in the movies is exactly how it is. It has standard high schools, you’ve got your hierarchies of newbies and your seniors and all the cheerleaders and baseball games. And oh my god, the prom is insane! Anything you can think of from the movies is real. I went to junior prom, not senior prom. The senior prom is the big deal with all the final year students. Whereas with the junior prom, everyone still gets dressed up but it’s a smaller event. You still have the limousine and your prom date and all of those things. If you were lucky enough, which I wasn’t, people would get invited to the prom after party with all the seniors and everything. It was a fun experience.
I remember that for the first three months, I couldn’t speak a word of English. I thought because I have been studying English in Spain since I was about 6 years old and I was the best in the class, I should be fine. Then I got there and listening to people talk to me so quickly in their own native accents was awful. So it took me about three months to grasp the language but it was good. And then I didn’t go back to Spain, I just went straight to the UK.
To be honest looking back, I am like ‘how did I decide to do all that?’ It’s crazy! I was a teenager back then and I was crazy.
The highlights were it opened up my mind to new experiences and I definitely learnt to adapt to new situations and challenges and to cope with things I am unfamiliar with. It definitely made me a stronger person. If I get a job in Australia tomorrow, I will pack up my things and go kind of thing. I am not afraid to start a fresh, that’s for sure.
At the beginning of uni, I met up with some Spanish girls which were new to the uni, as they were doing Erasmus and they were a bit unsure about things and there English was a bit broken, so I was helping them out. But that was the only international experience I had with people. I mainly focussed on my studies and Taekwondo.
Do you prefer to travel in groups or pairs?
I like both types of travel formations but I think whoever you travel with you have to be on the same page to enjoy yourself. I am the type of person that when I travel, I really want to get to know the culture and go out to explore the place. The worst thing for me would be to go to somewhere like Singapore and just stay in a five-star hotel and not even step outside, like I would absolutely hate that. Like staying in a resort complex is just not me. I want to explore! So as long as the other person is happy to do that with me, then we are good. If not, I will probably just go on my own.
What are your future travel plans?
One of my favourite places in the world is Japan. I absolutely love it! I think just growing up and watching anime, I just love the culture and want to get to know the place more. In 2021 George, my boyfriend and I were planning to visit Japan but that didn’t happen. Other than that, I travel to see my Mum who lives in Spain and my Dad who lives in Switzerland. So I spend a lot of my holidays just going to see family.
What inspired you to travel?
I am not sure what inspired me to travel. Its probably because my family are quite international and independent. Not so much my Mum’s side, as they have already lived in Spain but my Dad’s side.
Where do your wider family reside?
I have family everywhere, France, Argentina, Spain and Switzerland. I went to Argentina many years ago, as I used to go every summer when I was a lot younger. The last time I was there, I was about 10 years old but I would love to go there as an adult just to see what it’s like.
My Dad was born in Argentina and then left the country when he was 18 and travelled to the US and moved over to Spain and stayed there for 20 years. My Aunty on my Dad’s side moved when she was young as well, she moved over to Paris (France), so we have a family which is about going to live abroad. So if I wanted to go travel they wouldn’t say ‘no, don’t go out, it’s dangerous,’ like typical parents that would be worried. They would be like ‘yeah go and explore and enjoy it.’
On my Mum’s side I have to say that growing up we explored a lot. We were just never scared of finding out about new places or people, to us it was just normal. I remember ever summer we would just get on a plane and travel to see family and things like that, so it’s not scary. I’m just like that’s travelling, you get on the plane. I had that exposure to the international world which made me more confident to pursue it myself.
What advice would you give to someone who hasn’t travelled abroad?
First of all, don’t be afraid because you will surprise yourself with how quickly you can adapt to a new challenge or situation. You might think you won’t be able to cope or the language is difficult or there is a cultural barrier but just go for it and enjoy the experience. People are going to be nice to you, as they known you may not know the local language, so there will be people there to help you. So don’t be afraid, that would be my best advice.
What was your most stressful travel experience?
I remember when I went to the US for the first time, I went with a group of Spanish people who were going to spend a year in the US. We were all going to different states but we all left from the same place in Spain. We flew over to New York to begin with and from there everyone had to catch flights to their state. I had to fly from New York to Pennsylvania, then onto Rhode Island and I had to go on my own because there were no other students. Everyone else went with a companion but I was on my own.
I could barely speak any English. When I landed in Pennsylvania, I had to find the next boarding gate and I was asking everyone around the airport but no one could help me because they couldn’t understand what I was saying and I was so worried. I remember calling my Dad in tears saying my plane is leaving in half an hour and I don’t know where I need to go. Thankfully he had been to that airport before and he told me I had to walk all the way round to get to one of the gates furthest away. I cautiously made my way through and I could see the gate number and then afterwards it was fine.
Though I have never seen a smaller plane in my life! It had about 10 people on it, with one flight attendant and the captain. It almost felt like a military aircraft. I just felt like I was on the wrong plane, like this doesn’t feel right I am going to end up on some weird island somewhere and be dumped there. Oh my days it was stressful and then in the end, I landed and it was fine but that was quite the experience.
Have you been to any cool festivals?
Funnily enough, I am really boring on that side, as I have never been to a festival. In Spain, I have been to beach festivals and things like that with music playing but I have never been to anything proper like Glastonbury. I feel like it’s something I have missed out on in my youth.
What is the most amazing sight your eyes have ever seen?
I remember when I as in the US, I went to see the Grand Canyon. That was pretty impressive. You can’t understand the scale of it until you are actually there. It is just immense and the colours, I have just never seen anything like it. Like you will see it in pictures or on TV and you’ll be like oh yeah it looks nice but when you are there, you feel like a tiny ant in the middle of nowhere. That’s probably one of the most amazing places I have ever seen.
Who would be your ideal travel companion?
I would probably pick my best friend. She lives in Spain and we just get along so well and we always have a good laugh when we go out and do stuff together like travel. We are quite similar in what we like, so I think it would be a good combination. She is a bit crazy as well. I can be a bit shy and be like I am not sure about this, it seems a bit dangerous or a bit weird and she’ll be like yeah let’s do it, come on, lets go for it, so yeah, it’s a good balance. You need someone to push you to do things sometimes.
What is your favourite country?
My absolute favourite place is always going to be Spain because I grew up there and when I go back, I really appreciate the sunshine, beach, sea, people and culture. Whereas when I used to live there that was my everyday life, so I don’t think I appreciated it as much. Whereas now, every time I go there, I am like this is amazing.
What was Switzerland like?
I went to Geneva to see my Dad and that was pretty amazing. Geneva is a very typical Swiss place. As soon as you step out of the airport you will see all of the Swizz watches adverts and everything is crazy expensive.
We went out to the city for breakfast and had two coffees and some toast and I swear it was like the equivalent of 25 Euros. It was just insane! But everything is really clean, the people are really friendly and its really weird on the buses because they don’t check your ticket. They just expect you to follow the rules. Coming from the UK, everyone is seeing what you are doing wrong and checking up on you to make sure you follow the rules. In Geneva you can just get onto any bus or any tram and not show a ticket and not pay anything. But we were like if we get caught, we will get in trouble, so we paid anyway. It was crazy that people were so nicely behaved there.
What does travel mean to you?
It gives you the freedom to step out of your routine and your everyday life and enables you to just disconnect from everything and everyone but at the same time, it opens up the opportunity to grow as a person as well and you get to see things from a different perspective, which I think it always going to benefit your own life.