My New “Home” Away From Home

           Before you go to college, everyone tells you that college becomes your new home.  I never understood what that meant or how that was possible until I came home over Winter Break. I have lived in Manhattan Beach for eighteen years, but when I came back it didn’t quite feel like Austin. Manhattan Beach is a small beachy town in Southern California and it is one of the greatest places in the world (in my opinion).  I adore where I live because it is so incredibly warm, even in the winter and it's the perfect place to go to the beach on Christmas Eve.

While I was home for the holidays, I worked for my mom’s friend wrapping Christmas gifts, hung out with my friends at the beach, and went to Spain and Morocco. Being at home for a short period of time gave me a well-needed break from my first semester at college. Delightfully, it felt as though nothing had changed between my best friends and I, so staying in playing Monopoly on Tuesday nights felt just like old times. I now understand that family is everything because seeing my uncle and cousins' smiling faces as they greeted me into their home on Christmas was just what I needed.

Brooke and her twin sister at the People's Fountain

After the New Year, my mom, my twin sister, my aunt, and I flew out at eight AM to Barcelona, Spain. I can honestly say this is one of the most interesting and beautiful destinations I’ve ever been to. Right when we arrived we went to an interesting tapas restaurant and I ate anchovies that were salty and not the best along with other things. The streets lit up at night are an incredible sight to see. The next day we took a bike tour throughout the city, which was one of the most fun activities we did during the trip. We biked through the Olympic City, went to the People’s Fountain, visited the Bones House, and so much more. The buildings and other forms of architecture are breathtaking and were some of my favorite things to see in Spain. Barcelona is an incredible place and one of the most spectacular destinations to visit with extremely kind people.

From Barcelona we went to Marrakech, Morocco in Africa, which was an eye opening experience.  The old and new cities are polar opposites with impoverished people wandering the streets in the Old and new shopping malls being built everywhere in the New. While in the true place that the Sex and the City 2 movie was filmed, we had a personal guide walk us through incredible markets. Walking through the main market, the Souk was a jarring experience. Every step you take there is a new vender in your face trying to push their product at you in a different language. One man even wrapped a scarf around my face before I could say “no thank you”.  Also, being one of the only blonde teenage girls in the city was slightly frightening, but an important cultural lesson. My favorite thing that we did during the entire vacation was riding camels through the Sahara Desert. When the camel stands up it feels as though you will fall straight forward, but it manages to lift you up quickly and start heading through the sandy trail. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done (and of course I had to get a selfie with the camel for Instagram). Morocco overall was a magnificent vacation and a beautiful city to explore.

Although this month from school has been a relaxing break, I know I am more than ready to go back to Austin and run into the arms of all my Zistas. UT has been so great to me and I cannot wait to continue my journey back at my home with all the Zetas!

ZLAM <3

Brooke Winterhalder

PC13