My first trip to Madrid was a birthday gift from my parents, they gave me the choice between a party or a trip... super spoiler, I chose the trip. In Latin America there is a tradition that when a girl turns 15 they throw her a huge party with a princess dress and everything else, but that is not my style, I prefer a thousand times to travel and I will never regret that decision, even on my birthdays. daughter we celebrate them with adventures and not with parties. I learned a lot on that trip, I was also surprised to find out that in Europe in summer at 8pm there is still sun, I remember my first day, I walked a lot, we walked and walked and he asked my uncle the time (I swore it was 4pm) He tells me it's 8pm and I say "WHAT? 8PM?" That day I understood that I should not take everything for granted, that there is always something more to know. Everywhere he asked me where I was from and when I answered "from Venezuela" the next questions were about Chavez or the country's crisis. I was surprised to see how free they are, especially because in Venezuela they are very sexist and homophobic, I fell in love with Madrid, no one looks at you, no one judges you, no one cares what you do or who you are or at least that was my experience, bus that still runs in the early morning was another of my surprises, in Venezuela due to insecurity, lack of gasoline (ironically) the buses only run until 6pm, the rest of the evening you have to get around by taxi or your own car. Traveling for tourism is not the same as emigrating, but seeing those small differences were the seeds that were implanted in my mind and told me: "you have to leave Venezuela." It took 4 years until I was able to make that decision. On this trip I saw penguins, a panda bear and a shark for the first time, at that time I also did not know or understand how cruel it is to have animals locked in cages. I also discovered my passion for taking photos, I took my cell phone with me, it was a Blackberry which I didn't use at all because it didn't have an adapter to charge it, my dad lent me a small camera that was used with a battery, I remember seeing all the tourists with some giant professional cameras and I with my small semi-damaged silver camera, because the batteries didn't last at all, every 5 photos I had to change the batteries, until I dropped the camera at the aquarium and it never turned on and I lost the opportunity to take a photo with a shark in the background. I want to return and learn much more.