Sight unseen

A few months ago, I drove out to Western Massachusetts to visit some friends at UMass, my alma mater. Although I lived in Amherst for four years and had made countless trips along I-90 and through the back roads of Palmer and Belchertown, I noticed the eye-popping colors of the foliage covering the hills more than I had ever remembered doing in the past.

At first I thought it must just be peak foliage, but I had been there through four autumns and never really taken the time to notice my surroundings. I realized that every time I'd made the drive, I was just in a rush to get to my destination, whether it was a class, a meeting, or the comfort of home. When a place becomes part of the everyday, it's easy to let it pass by without a second glance.

But no matter how many times you've been there, when you have a new purpose, you can see it through different eyes.

When I was in Seville, I was constantly surrounded by flowering orange trees, quaint parks, and landmarks that went back thousands of years. My friends and I used the cathedral, built in the 15th and 16th centuries, as a meeting place when we were going out for a night on the town. Half of the time, we forgot we were standing next to a church that generations and generations had worked on and worshipped in.

When my parents and friends came to visit at the halfway point of my stay, I suddenly became a tour guide. La Giralda, or the belltower of the cathedral, suddenly transformed into an incredible feat of architecture and engineering. Every new food was a wonder to them, and every treat was a delicacy. They couldn't believe how lucky I was to be living in that place, and I started to appreciate it in a new light, too.

I started taking more and more runs to explore the city and making wide detours on my way home from class. I'd spontaneously take a bus to the river to enjoy the views of Seville's ancient neighborhoods. I took more pictures. I stopped trying to get the city to conform to my on-the-go, rush-rush lifestyle and started taking my coffee at the cafe table and sipping it leisurely, the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

All I needed was a new pair of eyes to see a completely different city.