single digits. Como!?

One of my favorite pictures from Sevilla. For some reason I just feel like it captures what I can't put into words about this experience. Beautiful, one of a kind, created once by a great artist.

So I just thought I would write another few blogs being it is officially my last nine days in Spain. Wow, single digits. Looking back over my posts/pictures and journal entries over the last 3 months, I really can't believe it's coming to an end. Its crazy how fast it went by and yet how perfectly paced it went by. Being that its coming to an end and I have just spent almost 4 months with an amazing group of people in a beautiful city.. fulfilling my dream to live abroad that I have had since I was like 5 lol.... I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately. I think its easy to classify us into three groups. There are those of us who would give anything to stay another 3 months, those of us who have been counting the hours since the plane left Chicago... and those of us like me who are thinking... Wow that was a great run. An amazing experience. Wouldn't trade one second... but I'm ready to go.

Over the past few months I have learned a lot about myself, about a totally different culture, and about an awesome group of people that I will never forget. As beautiful as Spain is and as much as I have enjoyed traveling all over Europe, I can safely say some of my favorite moments consisted of long, off topic conversations that took place while "studying..." (Nicole) laughing really really hard at really stupid things (Laura) being ridiculous and boring on days when you just don't feel like leaving the house (Julie) and spending a few hours a week diving into the lives of other girls in prayer group. (Nicole, Heather, Katie, Ashley)

So overall, its been amazing! There is so much more to say about these three and a half months than one can even write about in about 100 blogs, let alone just one. I'm bracing myself for the question that many will ask "How was Spain?" And I'm pretty sure my answer will be "How much time do you have?" It is simply impossible to share all the details simply because you just had to be there, but even more so because one can't sum up a semester in one word. So now I'm headed off into my last weekend in Sevilla, filled with friends, nights out in the city, Flamenco, favorite Spanish foods and unfortunately studying! (yes, we still have exams here, lol.) Trying to find a balance between hittin the books and breathing some warm Sevillan air. :)

So for those of you who are reading this... I hope this blog has given you a little better idea of some of the things I have experienced this semester. Its absolutely impossible to sum it up at the moment but if you feel like having coffee one day... I'd love to share the rest. =)

Hasta luego.

Ronda! Last group excursion :(

So Im pretty sure this is a miracle.. me blogging within three days of my last blog lol. We recently took our last group excursion to Ronda, Spain and it probably my favorite place in Spain so far (besides Granada... it's a close call) I started out not being too excited about it because I thought it was another trip filled with art, which normally is awesome but Im all "arted" out by now. The cathedrals and paintings are beautiful but to be honest they are all starting to run together in my brain lol. But Ronda was beautiful! Its in a province of Malaga, a city situated right on the coast and in the sierra! It was gorgeous! Having a day to hang out with the group outside school one last time.

Everybody being brave... walking down the hundreds of steps in the mine

We finally reached our destination!

View of Ronda

Bull fighting

So much more entertaining than the real thing.

And much more humane.

Needless to say.. it was a good trip. The rest of the weekend was equally exciting.. a day exploring the city on Saturday and discoteca-ing by night... sleeping all day Sunday and here I am in the cafe I love oh so dearly... thinking about how I will only be able to do this for 33 more days. The semester is winding down my friends... one month and counting on November 19th. Perfect word to describe how I feel about that would be bittersweet. But I'm determined to soak up every second.

6 girls, 4 countries, once in a lifetime experience.

So I've been a pretty unfaithful blogger... surprise! So much has happened in the last few months and sometimes the life of a college student interferes and I find myself with zero time to sit down and write a blog. Not having internet in my home-stay doesn't help because then there is always the 15 minute trek to the nearest cafe, not to mention everything in Sevilla costs money. lol. But its a beautiful sunny fall morning in Sevilla and here I am in my favorite cafe, drinking my usual cafe con leche and Neapolitan pastry (yum) and I figured I would let everyone at home know what is going on in life. Best way to see pictures are on facebook because it's really hard to post them here and write.

So the six of us girls left on Friday October 30th and took the 6 hour bus to Madrid where we stayed in a hostel so we could catch our flight at the butt crack of dawn the next morning...

We flew out of Madrid airport via RyanAir to Ciampino Rome where we would embark on our first adventure. We were a little worried about our luggage being too heavy because RyanAir is insanely strict due to the fact that their flights are dirt cheap. But we made it onto the flight with no problems! Flying into Rome was awesome, we could see the Vatican and the Colosseum from the air and it was so surreal. When we landed we didn't come to a terminal, instead we got off near the runway and walked to the airport lol. Yay RyanAir. It took a while to find our hostel because we didn't have exact directions so everyone was a little frustrated... and very tired. We decided to break for lunch and treat ourselves to some Italian pizza and pasta in a restaurant nearby. And oh were we glad we did. :) The food was amazing! Then come to find out we had passed the hostel like four times on the street we were on but had missed it because it wasn't labeled. We were happy to settle in and then go exploring. The Colosseum was closed because it was late but we walked around and saw some ruins and explored the rest of the city. We came home for a free pasta/wine dinner at the hostel and hit the sack by 8 30 p.m. lol.

The next day we headed out to see all the major sites in Rome in one day... we were determined lol. We started with the Colosseum and it was fantastic! A little different than I had pictured but it was so cool to be able to visit a place that had so much history! Felt a little weird taking posing pictures inside though considering how many people died inside of the stadium. To walk around inside was definitely surreal.

So we were having an awesome time at the Colosseum looking forward to the Vatican when we randomly ran into a few of our friends from Acento and they told us the Vatican museum was closed because it was Sunday! We were crushed because we had to leave the next day, but we headed there anyways to see what was up and we got to hear the pope speak outside of St. Peter's bisillica! It was definitely a unique experience. He came out of his little window and blessed the crowd in every romance language and English. I definitely thought I was dreaming! Out of all days to come to Rome!

When we realized that the Vatican was indeed closed and we wouldn't be able to see the Sistene Chapel, we were all upset but we decided to take advantage of what was open and head to St. Peter's bisillica. And let me tell you... I would have rather seen the bisillica any day. It was incredible! We spent an hour or so just looking at the interior of the church and admiring the art and then Nicole, Aubrey and I paid 5 euro and climbed the 1000 steps to the top! It took us about a half hour and we were exhausted when we reached the top but the view was so worth it. We could see all of Rome. Looking back it was definitely one of my favorite experiences.

That night we went out for Gilatto which once again was amazing.. (they don't lie, it really is the best ice cream on the planet) and hit the sack so we could take the train to Florence the next morning and use our eurail passes for the first time!

The next morning we headed to Florence and were met by the fall temperatures we had been wanting combined with the mass amounts of water which made for a cold and wet day in what is one of the most precious cities I have ever seen! We just walked around the city and saw a church that looked like it came straight out of a fairy tale. It was gorgeous.

Because the weather wasn't great, being outside wasn't very much fun but at night it cleared up and we got to see the bridge with all the shops inside. Not to mention when its raining it can never hurt to grab a coffee and a pastry when you need a little warming up...

The next day we headed to Lucerne, Switzerland where we were on the train for about 6 hours total but the ride was great. We spent the first half giving each other makeovers and chatting and the second half we were enjoying the amazing view of the Alps from outside our window. :)

We finally got to Lucerne that night and WOW! We stayed in a little Korean hostel where you had to take off your shoes when you went in and they served coffee and tea all day long! Hard to count how many cups of tea I drank in that short time lol. The next day we went out exploring, saw the famous bridge of Lucerne and got to enjoy the amazing view of the mountains on the lake! It was incredible! Nicole and I decided one day in Lucerne wasn't enough so we stayed an extra day while the other girls took the night train to Prague. I'm glad we stayed... the beautiful weather and the 15 dollar burger king were definitely worth it. :)

The next day, Nicole and I headed on the 14 hour overnight train to Prague where our time was occupied by watching numerous episodes of the office on my ipod and trying to sleep despite the obnoxious snoring from our unknown roommates lol. When we finally arrived in Prague, we were greeted by the other four girls and our Czech hosts! It worked out perfectly... Julie had friends from a while back that had stayed with her.. so this time we stayed with them outside of Prague and got to experience the culture a little bit :) It was awesome. We walked around and saw the city which was BEAUTIFUL! Freezing, but awesome. lol and we went to the five story mall and bought some Czech boots that were super cheap... not to mention cute. :)

Our hosts were super accommodating and packed lunch for us and everything... it was really sweet. We got back and had dinner with our Czech families and then headed out to the discoteca which wound up being a really good time considering the music they played sounded a lot like what I listened to in middle school. Mayyybe because it was. lol. Anyways we woke up the next morning and explored during our last few hours in the Czech! We definitely made up for all the fall weather we had missed here in Sevilla.

That day we headed to Frankfurt via train and stayed with another one of Julie's friends in a house outside Frankfurt. It was a beautiful german home with lots of space and homey feelings that we had all been missing! We walked around the next day in the town nearby and got to enjoy the leaves crunching under our feet and a little cappuccino in the downtown cafe. :)

From there we took a plane back to Malaga, Spain and then a bus to Sevilla. The trip back was bittersweet because after such an amazing 10 days it felt weird to return to Spain instead of home to my family and friends... the homesickness definitely kicked in for the first time. But when we got in and were welcomed by our wonderful host family and COOL weather in Sevilla (por fin!), all was well and I realized that coming back to such a beautiful place makes us indeed... truly blessed.

About 5 weeks left! Looking forward to December 19th but Im gonna try to soak up every SECOND here in Seville. :) Thank you Lord for these amazing opportunities!

Lagos, Portugal

So I have started to learn that these weekends can really only be fully explained in person..

But pictures are the next best thing so I think Im gonna do less typing and more illustrating.

Went to Lagos Portugal with a tour group called Discover Sevilla October 9th-12th. We just relaxed on the beach,read, laid by the pool, did some shopping, some dancing and saw what everyone use to think was the edge of the world! It was sweet! Here we go...!

This was the view from our balcony at the hotel!

Sangria Cruise!

View of the caves from the cruise!

The water was freeezzzinnng!

I swore I wouldn't jump in... but I did. And it was sooo cold. But awesome. :)

This place was once thought to be the edge of the world! Yay for 300 foot cliffs.

Pretty much the most beautiful place ever.

Surfers Beach.. most beautiful beach ever. No developments, amazinng.

We're in Portugal!

So all in all, it was a great trip. Once again I feel so blessed to be able to experience all of this, thank you Lord! Every time I think a trip can't get better it always does. :) Check facebook to see more pictures!

Granada... a little overdue. :)

Okay I think I've decided I'm a terrible blogger.

Too many fun things happened to describe everything, but in a few short words it was an amazing weekend in Granada, Spain! Rode my first train, stayed in a hostel for the first time, saw mountains for the first time and saw the wond

erfully famous Alhambra. Gotta give cr

edit to Laura on some of these pictures for her awesome photography skills. Yet all the pictures we took still can't capture how awesome it was. :)

7am on the way to the train station.. where we would do lots of running. haha

The city market where there was lots of souvenirs and expensive postcards...haha.

If you ever make it to Spain and you wanna go to one place.. choose Granada.

Going to Lagos, Portugal this weekend. Will update when I get back. :)

Thank you Lord for these amazing opportunities!

Everyday life in Sevilla

Hola amigos. :)

Well I promised to update this more.. so here I am! Nothing special has really happened this week...I have three tests in the next few days and life is really starting to seem pretty normal. It's weird, I almost expected every day to be totally and completely adventurous and exciting because I'm in Spain... but the reality of it is (so far at least) that a college student is a college student is a college student wherever you go. I was hoping to escape the stress of homework, tests and reading (not sure why... because I'm taking classes lol) but reality is starting to set in. Not looking forward to these tests because tests are definitely my weak point when it comes to school but thank the Lord they are in essay form instead of multiple choice! I can never make up my mind when I have four answers to choose from lol. Going to Granada with a group this weekend and I'm super excited because I actually get to see the Alhambra and experience everything I have been learning about in Art. Hopefully it will benefit me when it comes to the test too... lol. Loving Sevilla but I'm definitely ready to start traveling. So far we have been to Cordoba and the beach but nothing incredibly exciting yet! Can't waittt to see Granada. I hear it's beautiful. 

So everyone I know told me this time would fly by... and the first week I would have paid money to bet them otherwise. But here I am at the end of September and coming up on one month of living in Spain. WOW! I think once we get these exams over and start our traveling in October time will really start to fly and before you know it, we'll be heading home! Trying to enjoy every day and every detail of this experience and not wish it away. It's hard because I have a lot of awesome things at home, but God has put me here and I want to soak up every bit of this blessing! 

I will update more after Granada and I'm sure I'll have some pictures. :) Might be running a 10K tomorrow night which should be fun, even though I might die of being out of shape lol. We'll see. :)

Hasta Luego! 

Better late than never. :) First three weeks in Spain.

Three weeks in Spain… and I’m posting my second blog! :)

 

Hello everyone! Well I’ll start this very belated blog by saying...

I’ve been told that this will be a huge learning experience for me. One thing I am learning for sure…I am not a blogger. Lol. So much has happened in the last few weeks that any good blogger would have been ecstatic to write about, yet I am starting to realize I am quite the procrastinator!

Lets see. The first week was a mix of excitement, tears, disorientation, meeting new friends and about a hundred “I can’t believe I’m in Spain!”s. The first day was really hard. I got to my house and the first thing my Senora showed me was how to turn on the hot water from the kitchen. I didn’t understand a word she said because I was too nervous to listen, but I eventually figured it out. Then she took my to my room which I was surprisingly not sharing with my roommate Julie. I was a little shocked not only when I realized how small it was (I know, spoiled American girl)… and how blazingly hot it was. Man, they weren’t joking about this dry heat. I cried for about the first two hours and decided all I wanted to do was go home, but I held on and decided to give it a shot. Had lunch that day with my Senora since Julie hadn’t arrived yet and got to meet her daugher and grandkids which was fun. And then I did what everyone said not to do and I SLEPT. For a good four hours I might add.

 The day continued to get better, I got all my things set up and it started to feel like home. That night Julie arrived at around 11 and I immediately felt better. The next morning was orientation and that’s where things started to get really exciting.

 Orientation felt a little like freshman year… everyone asking you where you are from and what your major is, a room of unfamiliar faces and excitement for them to start becoming familiar. J We spent the weekend touring the city and getting comfortable in our home stays. There was pizza in the park and a few memorable days with the girls. Went to Matalascanas on Sunday to spend a day relaxing at the beach before classes started on Monday.

 And it begins…

So I’m not gonna lie, the whole first week of class my brain hurt. Lol. I am in the advanced track for my major so I’m taking history of Spanish art, history of Spain in the 20^th century, Spain of three cultures, Hispanic American Literature and a service learning class. For the most part I could understand everything the professors were saying but had some moments where I had no idea what was going on. At some points I thought I had something slightly to say but when I went to open my mouth, my pre-rehearsed sentence was not even close to an intelligible thought. Lol. By the end of the week I had a little bit of a mental breakdown and was ready to take a class trip and let my mind relax.

 Friday we went to Cordoba to visit the mezquita we have been studying in art. It was so awesome to see the building itself and have everything we have been learning be right in front of us to see and touch. It was strange to see the Cathedral built right in the middle of the Mosque and find out that there was still a regular mass there, in the middle of all this Muslim history and culture! But it was great. I have never been very interested in history, art or architecture but here in Spain I find myself loving them all.

 So the second week of class was much better. I was absorbing the information much quicker and it the week seemed to fly. By the time siesta comes I can’t wait to kick back and relax. Sometimes I forget I’m in Spain until I go for a run or walk across the bridge to school and say WOW! I can’t believe I’m here! I live about ten minutes from the school and have a beautiful walk right along the Guadalvivir every morning. My host family is wonderful and it’s finally starting to cool down here, though I really miss the color of changing leaves and the crispness of fall. But I am excited to travel and see more of the world, which of course will bring more kinds of weather! (Just bought tickets to Rome.. whoooo!) Day to day life seems pretty ordinary here. Homework, friends, meals, nap, except I’m doing it in a beautiful place called Sevilla. J I can’t really sum up the last three weeks, but I can say a few things I have learned:

 

1.   Everything costs money. We don’t have internet in our house so in order to sit in a café just to check my email I have to buy something. Thumbs down.

2.   Spanish food is amazinnnggg! I was a little nervous about the cuisine here because I love to eat and I didn’t want the culture to spoil it! But it did the exact opposite! Everything is so healthy for you, but I’m sure the huge food portions (especially the bread) are gonna start to show eventually. Haha. Thumbs up.

3.   Spanish people are not very friendly. They aren’t rude, and I think it’s more a European thing than it is specifically Spain, but it’s different than home. We were told that a lot of Spanards grow up in the same town with the same friends, get married and live on the same block and don’t do much traveling which really surprised me. So my roommate and I have found they are not very engaging when it comes to asking us about our own lives or the way things work outside Spain. (at least our host family.) There seems to be a pride and a comfort here that almost makes the rest of the world seem less interesting. Thumbs down.

4.   SPANISH ICE CREAM. Oh my gosh. I didn’t think it was possible for me to ever like ice cream anymore, but I was proven wrong. One word: Straccitella. Enough said. Oh yeah, thumbs up! J

 I’ll close by saying… I have yet to have any defining moments that flip my life upside down and make a huge change in who I am, but the growing is happening progressively. If there is one thing I have learned it is that God is everywhere and he has been there for me through all of this. I can’t wait to learn more of what he has for me and experience more of his creation!

 Hasta Luego

 P.S. God is awesome.

P.S.S. Ted Northrop I love you and I wish you could be here to experience this beautiful place! 

The adventure begins

So I'm thinking I probably should have started this blog way before now...but I had no idea where to begin! I figured while I'm waiting for my first flight I might as well put my thoughts to good use.

So I spent the last few days at Geneva with my roommates and bf, catching up with everyone and getting ready for this trip I have been thinking about since high school and talking about since I got to college! I can't believe its actually here. And as many thoughts, emotions, excitements and fears I have today, one word says it all: surreal. I really can't believe I am going to Spain for a semester! When I was growing up I was convinced I'd never make it past age 16 with all the silly things I managed to get into. And here we are. September 1, the day I have been waiting for. This morning was awesome. I said goodbye to my amazing roommates and headed for Pittsburgh. When I got here I went to the ticket counter to check my bags and realized I forgot my boarding pass! And when I scanned my passport they couldn't find my name on the flight. Imagine my luck, lol. But there was a really helpful man that eventually was able to look up my information and scheduled me on a different flight, a direct flight from Pitt to Chicago instead of Pit to DC to Chicago. This will put me at O Hare airport two hours early and I now I don't have to worry about the dreaded possibility of being left behind due to a delayed flight! Even better, the man at the counter gave Ted a ticket that cleared him through security and he was able to walk me all the way to my gate. God is so good!

So I think it's safe to say I have been asked about 1000 times in the last few months if I'm excited. I have always looked forward to it but never thought I would actually be sitting here! Saying goodbye to my family and friends and Ted was so hard but God worked everything out perfectly. Now that my flights are taken care of I am just nervous to meet my host family and make new friends! I feel like a freshman all over again!

I will keep everyone updated as this adventure continues. Can't wait to see what else is in store. 

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight."-Proverbs 3:5-6

Hasta luego ;)