Hola and hello! I am a 20-something-year old from the San Francisco Bay Area in California! I am the daughter of my sweet Salvadoran born Mother and my lovely Californian raised Father. I grew up speaking Spanish and English in my household. I am a fashion, lifestyle and travel blogger who relocated to Spain to chase her dreams of living in a foreign Spanish speaking country.
What inspires you?
People, places, culture, technology, traveling and helping others inspires me. I love interacting with humans and listening to their untold stories. I enjoy visiting places that have a rich history and learning about cultural differences. Seeing how technology evolves and allows humans to interact better is incredible. Traveling to new destinations and helping others gives me joy. I love learning and growing! All of these things are constantly inspiring me!
Was the moving and settling in Madrid harder than you thought even though you had studied there before?
Yes, moving to Madrid has been more challenging this time around because when I studied abroad there three years ago, most of the paperwork was taken care of by my Universities and the host family I lived with. This time around, it has been me doing everything 100% but that is okay because this is what I wanted. I studied abroad in Madrid for five months and loved it so much, I had to find a way back…so to me, it has been worth it because I get to be back in the city I once fell in love with.
If you had to choose 3 things you love more than others in Spain, what will they be?
American banks, American clothing stores, and American restaurants. These three have faster service than Spain’s does. I miss the speed of being attended to in the States. However, at the same time, I love how Spain’s culture is much more relaxed and they are not in a rush to get you in and out of places.
Which is your most memorable travel experience so far?
Gosh, this is hard to answer because I’ve had some really incredible travel experiences so far. But if I were to choose one, I would have to say visiting one of my best friends in Lisbon, Portugal when she was also studying abroad in Europe during the same time I was. I booked a weekend trip from Madrid to Lisbon and stayed in a hostel. She was dating a Portuguese tour guide at the time who was so sweet and drove us around beautiful Lisbon, took us to the Sintra Castle, and then wine & chocolate tasting, all while telling us the history of his country.
We rode tuk tuk’s together (small little vehicles) and enjoyed bar hopping on the crowded streets at night. When I returned to the hostel after such a great day of exploring, I came back to someone sleeping in my assigned bed! This was kind of wild because the rest of the other 8 beds in my room were also taken… which makes me conclude that my life is simply like a novela (a Spanish soap opera)and I just knew something like this would happen to me.
When I told the front desk person, they were super apologetic and didn’t know how some random person snuck into my bed but I told them not to worry because I didn’t want to wake up the sleepy snorlax who snatched my bed. I ended up sleeping on the communal hostel sofa instead and got reimbursed. LOL, good times! But as the Spanish say, “no pasa nada,” aka it’s all good!
Have you ever been in an embarrassing situation that is funny now when you look back?
Too many to count! In fact, I’ve had so many embarrassing moments that I’ve learned how to blow them off and play it cool as if nothing has ever happened ;). The most recent embarrassing moment has been when I said a Spanish phrase wrong and learned the meaning behind it… I said “Estoy caliente” which I thought meant, I’m hot due to the weather but it means “I’m turned on.”
The proper way to say it is “Hace calor” or “tengo calor.” The most embarrassing part was, I said it to my host Mom when we recently met for her birthday dinner and she told me to never say that out loud, especially if there are men around. OOPS.
If you could collaborate or meet with anyone past or present, who will it be?
I would love to collaborate with @Jamienkidd one day! Jamie and her husband are so adorable and create the most amazing fashion, lifestyle and travel content on instagram! They are both so sweet and humble too! Wow, she’s my mega inspiration.
Which is the funniest or worst attempt a guy has tried to know you?
Oh… so I met a guy at a hostel on a random solo weekend getaway I did to Alicante, Spain. I met him with a few others in a group setting and we all agreed to do another group getaway a month later in Cadiz, Spain. I was having a great time and we all booked a shared room in a hostel together. Halfway into our trip, I realized he was starting to get closer and closer to me, until finally he tried to kiss me goodnight before I hopped into bed and I was like “Woah! What are you doing!?”
I think I scared him more with that response than he scared me with his attempted kiss. I’m not sure but the weirdest part was we had one more day to spend together so I kept my distance but also tried to act like nothing happened the entire day. Meanwhile, I was thinking we were just friends the entire time. So that escalated pretty quickly!
Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions Angie. One question before we end, how do you define “sexy”?
Sexy is recognizing your own personal worth and pursuing whatever it is you want in life with confidence, poise and your head up. Also, making sure to only look back to reflect and continue to always move forward. To me, that is sexy!
Follow the amazing Angie Durkee on:
Website: www.angiesatlas.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/angiesatlas
Instagram: www.instagram.com/angiesatlas
Twitter: https://twitter.com/angiesatlas_
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVZ3J9pRTn02U9rHHzpxfgQ?view_as=subscriber
Any upcoming works to promote: AngiesAtlas | Blog
Images courtesy of Angie Durkee
Like to be featured on SimplySxy? Drop us an email at editorial@SimplySxy.com!
