Final Thoughts

I arrived back home from Spain two days ago, and I can't believe how quickly my time in Spain went by. Following Quixote's route has been a unique experience, and I'd like to thank Harvard-Westlake for awarding me the Iberian and Latin American Fellowship so I could chase Quixote.

In the past, I've visited Barcelona, Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla, all of which are popular tourist destinations. While following Quixote's route, however, I stayed in Daimiel, a small town with a population of 17,000. To be honest, I didn't even know Daimiel existed until I had to find a place along Quixote's route to stay. For six nights, I had an intimate view of the local community life there. Locals (including kids) would stay up until midnight enjoying the cool air (it reaches 110 degrees during the summer) and each others' presence, and I could tell that this was a tight-knit community. So, not only did the fellowship allow me to extend what I'd learned in the classroom to the real world, it also allowed me to experience and learn about how life is different outside of the United States. Ultimately, learning about how others live in another country was just as important as following Quixote's route was, and I'm glad to have had that unexpected experience during my journey.