Just a Few Reflections

So I am doing a really stupid thing right now. It is 11:43 pm here, I have a big project to finish, and I am sitting here blogging. But as I took a Facebook break, a blogging mood just hit me, and here I am. Plus, I promised a blog post about life in Alicante before the end of the weekend, so I guess maybe I just need to fulfill that promise before I do anything else :) I have given myself until midnight (which is now in 16 minutes) to write this. Then I have to go.

11:44 pm

Life in Alicante has been good. It is always fun to go away for a weekend and come.. home? Coming back to this place after every weekend trip has definitely made it feel more like home. Its nice to walk in and have Pepi's warm greeting and kisses waiting for us at the door. Its nice to actually know my way around Alicante now, and be able to walk around without getting lost every five minutes. Its nice to make a plan of all the things I want to show my parents about "my city" when they visit in just a little over a month. Above all, its nice to not feel like a tourist anymore. I have my regular restaurants and cafes that I go to, I recognize people around town, I know where the best place for gelato is.. Sometimes I forget that I am in Spain. Sometimes I even forget that people are speaking in Spanish. Yesterday, Johanna and I were talking a walk by the sea and we saw a sign that said "DANGER ZONE" (yes, we decided to stayed away from that area). But it occurred to both of us that we didn't even have to send the words on the sign through a spanish translator in our brains. We just saw the words, and they made an instant connection in our brain. That's cool. Sometimes instead of using English to talk to each other, Spanish is what comes naturally. Sometimes we have found that some Spanish words get the meaning across in a more direct way than English words. Its interesting really.

11:50 pm

I am learning so much about Spain- its culture, its history- while I am here. It is crazy to think that not too long ago, there was a horrible dictatorship here. My grammar teacher has told us a few stories of her college days, when she was involved in a lot of protests and riots at her university. She told us that the students used to carry marbles in their pockets, so that if police came on horseback to disperse a protest, they could throw the marbles on the ground and make the horses fall. She also told us a story of when the police came to a protest and started beating people. She said that everyone began to run from the police, but the streets were very narrow so it was hard to get away from them sometimes. She said that one time, she was running away, when a random guy grabbed her, pulled her into a doorway and started hugging her. She said that the police passed right by them because they thought that the two of them were just a typical lovey Spanish couple in a doorway! But as soon as they were gone, the man separated himself, and with a see ya! he ran away! I never saw him again, she said as she wistfully finished the story.
Crazy.

I am continuing to learn about the world. Johanna and I have made friends with a group of girls from all over- France, Scotland, China, and Denmark. Last week, we had them over to the apartment to make pancakes. One of the girls had told us that she loved pancakes, but she does not eat them much because they aren't common in her country. So we decided to make a girl's pancake night and Jo and I started looking up pancake recipes. We went to the store, found all the ingredients. Everything was going great until we started to try to flip the pancakes. They wouldn't flip. They were the wierdest pancakes I had ever seen. Then we tasted them.. They were good but had a strange after taste. Finally, we realized that we had bought corn flower! They made very unique pancakes. The girls were such good sports about it and it turned into a really fun night! We took our very sat pancakes into the living room and smothered them with jam and nutella as we talked for three hours about our lives, cultures, countries. It was a wonderful night.

I also loved talking with Sara, the girl from Scotland, about the UK. I love her accent. Its crazy to hear British and Australian people around here, and it contributes more and more to my profound realization that America is not the only country in the world. Who knew? Its crazy because each time I hear a British person talk, I pick up on the foreign accent first. My first thought is, oh, I can't understand them. That's a foreign language. But as I continue to listen I realize, that's english!! How strange it is to hear my own language, but with so many different accents (turns out that they are MANY very different variations of the British accent, my dear Americans) and so many foreign words! Even stranger to suddenly realize that their countries have spoken this language much longer than I have! I have learned even more how much English is NOT just America's language. We share it with so many other people and variations!


One thing I am also learning a lot about while I am here is sin. Its so exposed here. People don't even try to cover it up. I guess I never realized exactly how sheltered from the world I have been in the last 2 1/2 years at OBU. But its good to see here. Its sobering. It makes me want to throw up sometimes, especially when I realize that I have this hope inside of me that most times I don't even bother to tell people about. On Valentines day, our grammar class got into a discussion about love. We were talking about divorce rates in our countries. Every single kid who was not American in that class (which was half the class. the other half were OBU students) had divorced parents. One kid told the class that he does not believe that there is such a thing as lasting love. All love is sure to end. There is no love that will stick around.
Wow.
That same day, in my culture class, we talked about abortion, which is legal here. When an asian girl raised her hand to ask what "abortar" means (it is not a cognate in their language, so she didn't pick up on the meaning as quickly) my teacher defined it as "interrupting a pregnancy." Interrupting?

I wanted to cry that day.
I am realizing how incredibly important it is to tell people about the hope we have!

Do you know?
Gosh, all this has just got me thinking about whoever reads this blog. I've used a lot of Christianese and I don't even know if everyone knows what I am talking about.

Do you know about the fulfilling eternal grace that's offered to you? That guy in my class was horribly mistaken about love!

There is something wrong with all of us, and we all know it. Its why the world is so messed up. It sounds like such a Christiany word, but simply put--  it is sin.
At the beginning of time, things were perfect because God made them that way. People and God were together, in community, in a perfect relationship.
But remember Adam and Eve? They messed it up. People disobeyed God and sin entered the world. Because people messed up, it was absolutely not possible for them to be around God, because God is righteous. Imperfection can't survive in his presence. So people and God became separated. And the world got really messed up.
But God wanted to fix that. He wanted people to be back in a relationship with him. So he started this huge story of redemption (of bringing people back to him). Its what the whole Bible is about. And the climax of the story happened when he sent his Son, Jesus to earth to live a perfect life (the life we were supposed to live) in our place and then sacrifice himself in our place, so that we do not have to suffer death and separation from God. So that means that God will look at people and see Jesus' perfection. He literally took his righteousness and placed it on us so we could be with God, and then died, taking our punishment. But death did not even have any power over him, so he came back to life, conquering death forever.
 How we respond to this amazing news is what matters. If you believe this, and trust that it is true, and surrender your life to the control of Jesus Christ, he puts his righteousness on you. He saves you, enters your life, and starts working in you to make you more like how you were intended to be-- righteous, perfect. HE does this, not you! He is the one that changes you!

Don't you see that you are dead? You are unable to do anything for yourself. Me too. But Jesus is willing to change your life and bring you back to God. To give you life. To give you lasting, real, hope.

  "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,  in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.  For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Eph 2:1-10

Its real. It happened to me. And this good news continues to sustain me. It doesn't end. It lasts forever. It is real, lasting love, that stays around forever.

Okay. 

Its 12:30. Time for bed.

Please continue to pray for us over here. Things continue to be wonderful, experiences continue to be new and exciting, but missing home has crept up on me in a few instances lately. Nothing major. I would just really like some barbecue and a big glass of lemonade. Although the other night, Emily, Karissa, and I all recited the Pledge of Allegience, and followed it with a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner while sitting around in the kitchen eating left over kuskus that Pepita had made. Wendy (our dear Belgian sister) was quite amused. In fact, she could even sing most of the National Anthem with us. But do I know her anthem? Nope.

Needless to say, its still good to get out of the bubble (the America bubble) and realize exactly how much about the world I don't know.

What a learning experience. 

Here's to 2 more months.

Cheers!

VENICE!

Here is a post about my weekend in Venice! I basically just spilled out the contents of my memory onto this blogpost, so I am sorry if its rough or if I ramble a little bit!

A week and a half ago, we skipped class, boarded a Ryanair plane for the first time and headed to Italy for the weekend.


I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.




Thursday

10 AM- Got to the airport, checked in, boarded a plane. Sat by Ellen and listened to Nessun Dorma, That's Amore, and Oh This is the Night while squealing the whole plane ride across Europe. Sound girly? I couldn't care less.
 We passed over the Mediterranean and the Alps. The view from the plane was INCREDIBLE.

12 PM- Landed at a Ryanair airport outside of Milan. Skipped off the airplane. Breathed the Italian air. Squealed some more. Got on a bus that took us into Milan... MILAN!

Got to Milan, found the train station, and spent our three hour layover eating at an Italian restaurant.. owned by Chinese people. Yes, the menu was quite the assortment of everything from lo mein and teriyaki chicken to spaghetti and calzones. Still, it was delicious! Also funny to realize that our Spanish no longer was useful in Italy!

Boarded the TRAIN! It was a beautiful 3 hour train ride from Milan into Venice. I had never ridden a train before and loved how smooth and comfortable it was. We may or may not have also pretended like we were on our way to Hogwarts. Ellen got elected to be Hermoine.

The train took us all the way into the island. Just like Madrid, we totally freaked out once we got out of the train station. Wouldn't you if this was the first thing you saw?

Walked through the streets in the moonlight, crossed picturesque bridges, and explored shadowy alleyways to find our perfect little hotel for that first night. It was cute, tiny, and the perfect location.

We got settled in to the hotel, and then left to go meet up with Jacob, who was coming in from Liverpool! The best part of this weekend was meeting up with other OBU students studying in Liverpool and Salzburg! Asaf and Josh were pretty excited to see their bro that night and it was so incredible to be meeting up with an OBU friend... in Italy!

After picking up Jacob that night, we just explored the city a little bit! We walked around, found a restaurant, sat outside, and ate the best Italian food I have ever had! Concerts were going on everywhere, and everyone was in the street because it was the first night of CARNIVAL!

The most incredible part about this whole trip was the fact that when were were planning it, we had no idea that it would be the weekend of Carnival!

If you don't know what Carnival is, look up "Carnival Venice" on google! There is the huge one that happens in Brazil every year, but the second biggest, most famous, and oldest Carnival happens every year in VENICE! 

About a month ago, when we randomly picked a weekend to go to Venice, we had no idea that it was the same weekend as Carnival! And actually, I am pretty sure that none of us really even knew what Carnival was. Before we left for Venice, my host mom and Rusty's host mom had both mentioned to us individually that there was a big festival going on in the city.. but we had NO idea of the size, scale, and fame of Carnival! The whole idea of the celebration is pretty much the same as Mardi Gras, but it lasts for several days.

It was so cool. 

People of all ages, even whole families, were dressed up in the most elaborate costumes I have ever seen! They would dress up and walk around, sometimes just standing around in St. Mark's Square so that people could take pictures of them. There was also a huge contest for the best costume. Vendors were selling masks everywhere, and if people were not wearing a costume, they were wearing a mask!
You could also buy bags of confetti for a euro, and people would walk around, throwing it on others as they passed by!

Friday 

We ate breakfast at the hotel and practiced our few Italian phrases with the super sweet lady making breakfast. (gratzie, prego, bene, parli inglese, dove posso trovare il bagno.. we had all the bases 

covered).

Then, we picked up Emily, Rusty, Victoria, and their new friends from their school in Austria-- Greg and Margo! The suspense was killer as we waited outside the train station to meet them. Suddenly, there they were! It was SO surreal to be greeting and screaming and hugging them right there by the water in Venice!

We dropped off their stuff in a holding room at the hotel. Then we took a water taxi to St. Mark's square. I loved being out on the water, passing by all the old beautiful buildings and watching people in speedboats pass by us.

We saw St. Mark's Basilica! It was amazing.
Probably the oldest church I have ever been in. I couldn't get over all the byzantine mosaics everywhere. They were so huge, and detailed. It looked like they were paintings, but as you got closer, it was easy to see that they were all tiny pieces of stone! It was also cool because the church was SO OLD!

Brynn, Asaf, and I paid a little extra money to go up to the second floor of the basilica. Saw more artifacts and mosaics up close. I licked the thousand year old basilica wall. And we also saw the four golden horses that have something to do with Napoleon.. I honestly can't remember why it was so important but everyone was talking about how famous they were. Also, we got to go out on the roof of the basilica and look down over everything. While we were out there, the bell tower clock started ringing, which was cool.

The three of us explored around the square more until we met up with the group. We walked around the square, watching people and dodging pigeons. 

We walked over the Rialto Bridge a billion times. The first time, we didn't even know what it was. We just thought it was a pretty bridge!!

There were people EVERYWHERE! On every single bridge, people crowded to take pictures of everything! It was irritating.. until I got to the top of the bridge and realized how beautiful and picturesque it was!

Rusty, Jo, and I had a lunch of pizza. Then we went back to the square and coaxed the very tame pigeons into our hands. Can't believe I did that.

Saw the Bridge of Sighs

Walked through the Rialto Market

Half of the group stayed on the island until later that night, because they were going to head back to Milan the next day to see more sights. Jo, Rusty, me, and Emily headed to the mainland earlier that night to find our new hostel (hostel prices on the island shot up on that weekend, so we decided to stay at a place on the mainland).

The Hostel

Was a campground.

It was cheap. 11 euros a night, which is a bargain, considering that the rate of our hotel on the island the night before jumped to 50 euros a night when the weekend started.

But it was February. It was freezing. And we had to walk outside to go shower, eat, even go to the bathroom. All the hostel rooms were basically tiny little trailer/cabins spread out on a campus type grounds. However, it was a neat hostel, and once again, it was fun to be sharing facilities with people from all over the world who were staying there as well.

That night, Tori, Emily, Jo, me, and later Rusty all hung out at the pizzeria at the hostel for a few hours. It was nice to catch up a little bit, talk, laugh and just have a small piece of Ouachita community there with us in Italy.

Saturday


We left the hostel at 8:00 am the next day to catch the ferry to the island. We spent the day exploring the crowded city, watching people, and taking in all the festivities.

To start off the day, Rusty got his hair cut at Rick Steve's favorite barbershop in Venice!

That afternoon, we met up with the other half of the OBU kids (we had split up into groups since our total number was a whopping 15 people) to have some pizza before they headed on to Milan. Johanna and I had decided to spend the entire weekend in Venice, since that was the plan of the Austrian kids, and we wanted more time with them.

After saying goodbye to the other half of the group, Tori, Em, Jo, Margo, and I sat for awhile longer at the pizza place and enjoyed some more great conversation. I loved getting to share experiences with each other. I thought it was pretty humorous that while we were in Italy, Jo and I kept accidentally trying to use Spanish, but Emily and Tori kept trying to use German! It was so strange to come together from two completely different places and swap stories about the different cultures we have been engaging in!

Rusty and Greg met us at the pizza place and we set out to explore more! We walked through the city until we reached the Santa Maria della Salute church, which we entered and looked around in. It was beautiful.

 We then sat on the steps of the church and looked over the water to the other side of the canal. After we rested, Jo, Rusty, and Margo decided to head back to the hostel for a little bit of time, while Tori, Emily, Greg and I explored the city more.

We said goodbye to them and began our adventurous afternoon and evening.

We left the church and spent a good chunk of time being "Venetian" in a little coffee shop. It was nice to just sit, talk, have some tea, and watch people in costume come and go from the shop.

When we felt up to it, we left the shop to explore more. We walked past a stripe shirted gondolier taking a picture with some people and decided that we needed a picture with him. He graciously agreed, and when we were done, asked us if we would be interested in a gondola ride. Gondola rides are pretty pricey (around 80 euros) and after dark, prices jump to 100- 120 euros a trip.
The sun was setting behind us and we had already agreed before hand that we would rather save our money than take a ride, so we hesitated when he asked us. After about 5 seconds of awkward silence, the man says "I make you a special deal. 60 euros for a gondola ride." Half price, which meant 15 euros between the four of us. At twilight. There was no passing that
up. So, the four of us jumped into the gondola and off we went. Claudio, the gondolier, was also a wonderful tour guide
and gave us a brief history of the city and also pointed out interesting sights that we passed by. We saw the University of Venice (had no idea that existed), traveled down the Grand Canal, saw
several sights from the movie The Tourist,
saw the huge fancy hotel (also from the Tourist, I think)
 where they were preparing for the huge all night party that evening (the entrance fee was 1000 euros and Claudio told us that there were sure to be many famous people there), and we also saw the workshop where all the gondolas in Venice are made. The water was calm, the sights were serene and picturesque, and the lights of the city reflected off of the water, mirroring the stars. It was worth every single penny... I mean euro.

Claudio told us that his father and grandfather had both been gondoliers as well. He also told us that the gondoliers are unionized, they are also required to go to a gondolier school for two years before beginning work, and also for some reason, they are no longer allowed to sing while they paddle, unless they are a certain type of gondolier. If they sing, they can get in trouble with the union! He also told us that gondolas began about a thousand years ago, and were used as transportation for rich people. Like a  rich man has a limousine driver who lives on his estate, the wealthy families who would live in Venice would have a gondolier who lived in their house and would take the man in the gondola whenever he needed!

When our ride was coming to a close, Claudio asked us where we would like to be dropped off. This night was the biggest night of the Carnival celebration and we were wanting to stay later to see more of it, so we asked him what was the best place to go for the night. He gave us directions to where all the college students would be. We hopped off the gondola, paid the man, and headed to the next part of our adventure!

We found the square where all the young people were, walked around, then headed to our meeting place to pick up Jo and Rusty.

The energy in the city was growing and growing. At that point, more than half of the people out and about were wearing costumes, and the other half were in masks. It was so fun to put our masks on and look completely normal. Also funny to see all the creative costumes. We commented on the fact that unlike halloween in America, the people dressed up chose to be clever with their costumes instead of skanky. The fact that it was thirty degrees outside could have had something to do with that as well.

There were some really creative costumes. At one point when we were walking around, we stopped when were realized that Victoria was no longer walking with us. We looked back and saw her struggling to get out of a big net that a few guys in jumpsuits had thrown on her! All of a sudden, we heard the Ghost Busters theme song, and another guy in a khaki jumpsuit jumped out of nowhere with a huge boombox on his shoulder, playing the music! They pulled out a leaf blower and started blowing it in her face (although I think the idea in the movie was to suck up the ghosts, not blow huge amounts of air in someone's face)! Then, all of the sudden, they let her go and ran away!
We wanted a picture of them, so we started following them, but as soon as they looked back and saw us, they started running faster! I think they thought we were mad at them! We finally were able to communicate that we wanted a pic, so they came back. It was hilarious.

Other creative costumes were two guys wearing big boxes painted as Italian speed limit signs. When, they plopped down on the side of the street, people started running past them (like they were "speeding") and the road signs would yell HEY! HEY!

Then you had these guys. They were just.. creepy.

Anyways, the coolest moment happened later that night as music played in the street and the six of us threw the last of our confetti in the air! We watched it fall down all over us and all of a sudden, the sky flashed, thunder clapped.... and it started to SNOW! Of course, this freezing weather called for gelato.
We watched people for a little longer, Greg and Rusty met a random guy from where they live in Austria who is working to keep Venice from sinking, saw some more crazy costumes, and then decided to call it a night.

Driving back to the hostel in the taxi, watching the snow fall in huge flakes, I just couldn't believe I was getting to live such an adventure.

The next day, we camped out at a coffee shop for awhile, walked around, watched some more street performers, and said a sad goodbye to the Austria friends. It was hard saying goodbye to such good friends after an amazing weekend, but I felt beyond thankful that we were able meet up with them for a few days.
Again, it was incredible to meet people from a completely different country in a place like Venice for a weekend. It was so fun and I am glad we got to share it with them.

After the Austria group left, Jo and I went to a coffee shop, reflected about the weekend a little bit, and then boarded our own train back to Milan. We were proud that we were able to travel smoothly by ourselves to meet back with the rest of our group. Definitely a grown-up moment.

So all in all, it was a weekend to remember. If you get the chance, go to Venice. It is definitely all that it is cracked up to be. Sometimes if felt like it should be an amusement park, not a real city. Not having any cars in the city was surreal as well.

So that was it! Definitely not the ideal blog post to describe this experience, but I felt like I needed to crank one out before I forgot everything about this trip!
It was by far the best weekend I have had since I have come to Europe and I am so glad I got to share it with so many OBU friends.


Here are some pics of some of the costumes we encountered, as well as some cool sites and fun times!

 

VENICE!

Madrid

I think its way past time to blog.
So much has happened since my last post and I am hoping I can remember everything that I want to write!
Probably the most exciting thing that we did in the past week or so was go to Madrid last weekend! It was our first excursion away from Alicante! On Thursday afternoon, we headed to the bus station to catch our 3:00 bus to Madrid! The ride was absolutely beautiful-- even though it took six hours to get there! Still, taking the bus was the cheapest way to go, (only 50ish euros roundtrip) and we got to see so much of the Spanish countryside along the way. One thing that I absolutely loved was seeing so many castles! Probably every town we passed had a castle on a big hill in the center of it, making me think that these towns were sure to be hundreds of years old.
We arrived in Madrid with only an address to help us find our hostel as well as a general idea that it was close to "the palace." But, with the help of some maps, a security guard, and people at the bus station (as well as Asaf's manly directional and spanish skills-- he was the only boy in our group of seven) we managed to figure out how to use the metro to get near the palace. I have to say, that as we were buying our metro tickets and riding on that train, I felt so grown up. I kept thinking back to the days of traveling to Europe with my family and taking the metro with them, being in their care. This time, it felt strange but good to be there with my friends- older, more independent, and on an adventure.
One of my favorite moments on the whole trip to Madrid was walking up out of the subway that first night when we reached our destination. The steps up to street level took us to a big plaza and all I could see were huge, beautiful, white, etched, stone buildings all around us. It was 11 at night, and as the light of the street lamps fell on the buildings, soft shadows spread along the cobblestones. People still milled around the plaza, talking and sitting on benches. It was like a pretty picture of a serene city night, something that I thought could only be captured on a postcard. But there it was, and I was getting to interact with it!
We asked someone for help with finding our hostel, and as we made our way down the street, BOOM there was the royal palace! The palace was the first thing on our list that we wanted to see, and it was so cool that we stumbled upon it that night.  I am sure we all sounded like complete nutcases with all of our sqeals and OHMYGOSHes! As we were standing there, taking pictures and gaping at that big huge beautiful building, a loud whirring noise interrupted our royal excitement. We looked over and saw a mob of 30 students around our age crossing the street- each of them with a big ole rolling suitcase in hand. Older adults lead the way, herding the students like cowboys on horses. Needless to say, we felt pretty cool compared to them. About 15 minutes and 20 more pictures later, we decided we had better get to our hostel.
The hostel: First, I must give all credit to Hayley Hill for finding the best hostel we could ever have gotten in Madrid. Second, I must declare that I never want to stay in anything else besides a hostel again. (Okay, that might be a little dramatic, but I've discovered how cool hostels are). The place was awesome. It was right by the palace, it only cost around 10 euros a night, it was funky and modern, and we got to meet people from all over the world there!
Sleeping conditions were a little tight- all 7 of us squeezed into one room (including poor Asaf) on bunkbeds, but then again, it was part of the experience, and it was fun! We arrived at the hostel, checked in and picked up our sheets and towels. As we were paying, we heard a strange noise that seemed to get louder and louder as it approached the hostel. We all stopped when we finally figured out what it was. Sure enough, the door to the hostel flung open, and there were the 30 students, rolling suitcases in hand, speaking rapid French, ready to spend the night at the hostel! And let me tell you, sharing a bathroom with a bunch of French girls was quite an experience.
Anyways, we did so much that weekend that it would be impossible to talk about everything in detail, but here are some highlights:

Toured the Palacio Real- Got a half price ticket with our youth cards (I wish we had those in 'Merica. They are so handy.) The Palace was beautiful. My favorite places were the throne room (they still use it for official business) and the amoury. It was INCREDIBLE to see so many real suits of armor as well as armor for horses too. I was also surprised to see so many guns from like the 1500s and 1600s.
Guess I didn't know they had guns back then.

Saw the Prado Musem- Got in for free to all the musems we went to, because they have "free hours" on certain days. Soo that was exciting. Anyways, this museum was amazing because I got to see some famous paintings by some of my favorite Spanish artists that I have learned about in my extra liberal art classes at OBU (De Goya and Velasquez in particular). It was awesome to see Las Meninas in person. 

Saw the Reina Sophia Museum- LOVED seeing the works by Picasso. Not to mention, Guernica was amazing. We weren't allowed to take pics.. but I was so excited that I kind of snuck this one. Oh, and I also stole a pebble from an interactive installation piece... just call me an international art thief.

Went to the Catedral de la Almudena- It is a famous cathedral that sits right across from the Palace. It is where the prince and princess got married not too long ago. We almost did not go in, because we thought it would be boring, but I am so glad we did. It was beautiful.

Shopped- Shopping in Madrid rocks. (I didn't buy any clothes, Mom and Dad).

Plaza Mayor- Also one of my favorite places. This huge square plaza in the middle of the city, surrounded by cafes and shops. Here, we enjoyed walking around, people watching, taking in the music of the accordion players, and watching Johanna overcome her fear of street performers.

Ate Tapas- One night, we decided to tapear, so we found this cool place where lots of young people were hanging out. Our group was too large, so Hayley, Asaf, and I sat a separate table from the other girls. The waiters here in Spain get paid much better wages in the US, so nobody feels like they need to tip them. This means that wait staff can be as rude as they want because they are not working for tips. We got a kick out of how the rude waiter reacted to our foreign ways. First off, we did not order alcohol. Having a drink is pretty much what tapeando revolves around, so I am sure it seemed strange. The second incident happened when we were ordering the tapas. When I ordered a croquet de jamon, the waiter asked me how many I would like, tres, cuatro, ocho? I had already had one other tapa, so trying to be a thrifty tourist, I asked for only one. As he walked away shaking his head, Asaf told me that the waiter had mumbled, thats it?? I wasn't sure why he said that until he brought out my tapa. There on a giant white plate was my lonely little croquet de jamon. It was two inches long and about as thick as a fish stick. Oh. Now I get why he wanted me to order more. We laughed so hard, but there was no way I was ordering more. Those babies cost 1.50 each!




Experienced Spanish Food- We ate Churros and chocolate for breakfast, took advantage of the menus of the day (consisting of a three course meal for lunch- every restaurant does it) drank lots of "agua sin gas," and devoured tortillas de patatas (NOT the kind of tortillas from Mexico).

Real Madrid Stadium- Last weekend, Asaf's childhood dreams came true. Asaf, Johanna, Hayley and I went to tour the Real Madrid Stadium. I have to admit, I am not super into watching futbol but I am so glad that we saw the stadium. We got to see the locker rooms, the press room, we walked on a small part of the field, and sat in the chairs that the players use when they aren't playing during the games. I felt like at the end of the day, I had become a fan (a bandwagon fan maybe, but who cares!) It was so cool to see people from all over the world at this stadium, as well as a little boy and his dad who were ooing and ahhing over all the trophies that Real Madrid had won. We told Asaf that we were sorry he couldn't 
have shared these cool moments with his bros from school, but he told us that we had earned 5000 bro points for going with him (Sorry boys, thats what he said. You'll have to take it up with Asaf!)

Went to the Mercado de San Miguel- This was so fun! It was this big famous indoor market. We saw all sorts of delicious, pretty, and sometimes weird food. One night, Johanna and I went there to get tapas. It was so fun to go from one stand to the next, buying tiny little appetizers to snack on while we walked around and watched people.






Flea Market- Sunday morning, we went to this ENORMOUS flea market/craft fair that has been happening in the city since the middle ages! It was all outdoors on the street and went on for blocks and blocks. There were all sorts of hand made things as well as old vintage and antiques that were fun to rummage through and bargain for.

Ate Mexican Food- Let it be known that if there is only one Mexican food place in all of Spain, it is located in Madrid. It was delicious, and according to Asaf, more authentic than anything he has tried in the U.S. That is a big deal people, because every Spaniard I have talked to knows pretty much nothing about Mexico or their food.

And to top off the whole weekend, we missed our bus back to Alicante. Why? We were eating Mexican food.
As Karissa says, "If you're not on time, you're not on vacation."

Luckily, it was easy to switch the tickets to another time. Still, I'm sure it was quite a spectacle to see seven college students laden with backpacks and shopping bags running frantically through the Madrid metro system in order to get to the bus station on time.

So, that was our weekend in Madrid!

That next Monday, cold, hard reality knocked on our door as we had to wake up bright and early for classes. But this past Friday, we took our final exams and will start new classes tomorrow! Yesterday marked four weeks that I have been here! That is one fourth of our time, gone! Yikes. Makes me want to soak up every moment because it is going by fast!

This past week and a half has also consisted of celebrating Johanna's 21st birthday with a surprise party, Pakistani food, gelato, and a serenade. This week we also said goodbye to our sweet friend Martina, who is now back in Slovakia (so glad she was able to celebrate Jo's birthday with us on her last night here).
I also have started to make friends with some business owners on our street. There is a woman who owns a thrift store on our street that I like to go look around in sometimes after school. She has come to remember me each time I come in, and last week we had a great conversation. Also, a few days ago, I went into another shop close to our street and as I was looking around, I realized that they were playing Christian music. I went up to the lady at the front asked if she follows Jesus. She said yes, and gave me two big kisses on the cheek when I told her that I do too. I stood around with her and talked for awhile, and she explained what it is like to be a believer in a culture so steeped in Catholic tradition. It was so interesting. To top it all off, I found out that she goes to the same church I have been visiting! As I have said before, I love being able to speak Spanish.


I also learned a little bit more about the culture on Friday when Em, Karissa, and I decided to go to the beach. The weather was BEAUTIFUL that day, not to mention warm! We had just finished our finals, and were in a celebratory mood. So we packed a bag for the beach, put on dresses, sandals, tank tops, and all that fun beachy stuff that you never get the privilege to wear in FEBRUARY. We walked in the living room to say bye to Pepita and her friend, and as soon as they looked up... they burst out LAUGHING!! Les parecen como extranjeras, no?!! They giggled to each other and pointed at us. Oh. We look like foreigners. They said we were basically wearing a big sign on our heads that said "WE ARE NOT SPANISH." Harumph. Determined to not let it ruin the delight of not wearing layers of clothing, we headed out to the beach. Karissa and Emily found a spot on the to lay out, while I walked around and looked at the shops and cafes nearby. As I was exploring, I noticed a pretty old lady sitting on a bench, watching the sea. The second time I passed her, she called me over. "No eres espanola, si?" IS IT THAT OBVIOUS? I laughed and replied with a "Nope, I am not, how could you tell?" She said it was because I was not wearing panty hose or leggings. 
Oh well. It was a small price to pay for a nice day at the beach, and this small encounter with this woman turned into a nice twenty minute conversation about the economy in Spain and Catholicism. 
I may not always look like an espanola, but I sure do love speaking Castellano.

We have also been so encouraged by our improvement in Spanish! Sometimes it just flows out of us. I was laughing at Karissa and Emily as we were walking to the beach that day. As they talked about what they were going to do, I heard them say, "I don't need to take a lot of sun today." "How much sun do you normally take?" "One day I took so much sun.." Something about their conversation struck me as funny, but I couldn't put my finger on it! Finally, I realized, they were saying "I take sun" instead of "I tan"! In Spanish, "to tan" is tomar sol, literally meaning, "to take sun." Spanish is definitely on the brain!

We are also, very excited that on Thursday, we will head out for a long weekend in ITALY! (Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure that this is really my life.) We are SO excited to be visiting Milan and Venice this next weekend AND to be spending it with other OBU friends who are studying abroad in Austria and England this semester! We are all meeting up in Italy to hang out, celebrate a few birthdays, and eat lots of pasta. Its going to be a big beautiful reunion!

Anyways, Spain has been wonderful so far and I can't believe that so much time has passed already. I really feel so content to be here. I love experiencing so many new things and meeting so many new people.
I ask that you continue to pray for me! Pray for the new classes that we start tomorrow and the new people we will meet. Pray for steadfastness in the Word. Pray for wisdom as I interact with nonbelievers at school as well.
Pray for Pepita. I tried to bring up the topic of God to her a few days ago and it was not well received. She lost both her husband and a son within a year of each other a long time ago, and I don't think she is open to believing that God loves her or cares about her life. Only Jesus can break down her walls. She has already told us that we are different than the other students she has had. She doesn't understand why, and she also does not understand why we get up and go to church every Sunday. That's cool. That's Jesus. So please pray for more opportunities to talk to her about Jesus and to show her God's love. Also pray for wisdom to know how to do this in a loving and non-pushy way. Most of all, pray that God would work in her heart and open it up to his love.
I ask that you pray the same for Wendy. She sees us every day and I know she thinks we are different as well.

Thank you, everyone who reads this. I appreciate your love so much.

Hasta pronto!

(: