"But what if this is a dream?"
"Then we just have to enjoy the moment."
This brief snippet of a conversation I had this weekend is the only way I can describe this weekend. There were simply moments when I would stop amidst the craziness and adventures the past 3 days and simply question if this was even real life.
Thursday night to this Sunday consisted of 100 mile per hour days. Our program took us to Portugal for the weekend and Lisbon was a city incredibly underrated.
Starting with Thursday night, I remember sitting in a bar simply listening to live music and I don't know the adjective in English, or if an adjective exists, but I remember taking myself and my mind out of the situation and thinking about how simply beautiful of a moment it was. I looked over at my friend sitting next to me and simply admired him and his happiness as we sat and I thought of how lucky I had been to meet the people I have met this far in my semester here in Spain and I thought about how one day, I wouldn't be in Spain anymore. But that right here and right now, I was purely happy. And I told myself to remember that feeling. I remember admiring the fact that he had no idea what I was thinking and he was simply living in his own world, his own mind, oblivious to all the things spinning in my mind.
Then Friday, I remember our program took us to a castle and we got free time to simply explore and at the top of the castle was a beautiful view of the city, the river and the ocean, and the sun preparing to set. And I stood at the top of the castle completely forgetting my fear of heights and I looked around and marveled at the water below and the city that was taking my breath away.
Saturday, the moment that took my breath away was when we stopped by the sea side with a series of cliffs that led down to a cliff-cut platform and arch. The water was bright turquoise and the rushing sound of the waves hitting the cliffs created bright white cloud like foam in the water. We climbed to the top of the cliff to look down on it all and the thunderous sound of the water echoed in my mind later that night.
Because that night, a group of friends all decided to go find this fountain in the city. At the top of the fountain, you could stand above all the water and the waterfalls it created and look down hearing the roaring of the rushing water while looking over the park and the city lit up in the night lights behind it.
It felt like standing on the top of world and when I looked down at the enormous mass of waterfalls far below me, I forgot my fear of heights and lived in that moment.
So, he was right. Even if it is a dream, even if it doesn't feel real, even if it feels too good to be true, live in the moment. It's all you can do.
