Going to school in LA, I’ve become accustomed to having the option to escape into nature if wanted. Between the mountains and the beaches, hiking and surfing have always been a great stress reliever during midterm season, or just a needed break from campus. In comparison, at UC3M, the campus was not in the city center, but I lived right in the middle of downtown Madrid. The sidewalks were always crowded with people, street performers, and vendors. While I loved every second of it, I was ready for a break, so when a friend proposed a day hike an hour outside of Madrid, I was eager to go.
The location of the hike was at La Pedriza, at the southern side of the Guadarrama Mountains in Manzanares el Real. The website we discovered the hike on deemed it to be a “medium” fitness level. Being extremely out of shape, I was cautiously optimistic about completing it. Manzanares el Real is an extremely small rural town about an hour and a half outside of Madrid. Upon arrival at the destination bus stop, we realized that to even begin the hike, we had to walk about a mile uphill to reach the foot of the mountain we would be hiking up. Once we reached the mountainside, we started ascending. We learned very quickly that this would not be an easy hike. The path was barely distinct, and there were only sporadic yellow paint marks on the rocks that led the way. As time passed, it became more and more difficult to continue along the designated path. It went from being a hike to becoming a rock climb, which I was not prepared for. After 3 miles up the mountain, we threw in the towel and descended.
While the hike was extremely challenging and physically painful (I slipped and fell several times), the scenery was stunning. Towards the top of one of the peaks, we got to see an amazing view of the town Manzanares el Real and the lake that surrounds it. At the end of the day, it was worth it. When you are abroad it is easy to try to find a new normal in the city you’re living in, but I encourage you to continuously push yourself out of your comfort zone during the exchange semester.