A Little Perspective

I leave Spain in six days. Its a weird feeling knowing that I have so little time left here. I am so used to thinking that I have all the time in the world.. now I can count the days on (almost) one hand. I don't think I have had these feelings since I graduated from high school and said bye to all those friends and that old life at home. That is sort of how I feel now. I never realized that I would make such good friends while I was here- friends from all over the world. Its really crazy to think that there is a good chance that I will never see them again. For the past four months I have been living in this crazy international world. I have been immersed in the Spanish culture, but through having classes with people from all over the globe I also feel like I have engaged with the entire world. I have learned Spanish alongside people who speak the language with a Russian accent or a Japanese or French accent. I have shared life with them. I have shared my culture with them and in return learned about their cultures. It has been the best four months of education that I have ever received- concerning both Spanish and just life lessons. I am really going to miss sitting in class with students from all over the world. I will miss being in a constant state of learning- even when not in class. 
I have made so many memories- like going to a Chinese restaurant with our friend and having him order mystery food for us in Chinese!
I have gained new perspective- like talking about the Cold War and the Boston bombings with Russian girls in our class or discussing the North Korea threats with our South Korean friends.
I have gotten used to being a novelty! What will I do when I return home and being American is not longer a topic of small talk or interest?
I have experienced what it is like to look at America from the outside. I have watched Spanish news reports covering Obama's speeches. I have discussed American politics, economy, and society in my classes. I have watched American movies at the theater dubbed over in Spanish-- Was that ever a crazy clash of cultures! It was strange to see America on the big screen, but hear everything the characters said in Spanish!
I have learned that there is a type of movie that is distinctly American- I had no idea! They are the movies that focus on one strong hero that saves the day- think about how many there are! Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Spiderman, Batman, Superman, Ironman, Gladiator, Avatar, James Bond... All of them have one main character that the story rides on.

And through this new perspective, I think I have learned one big lesson-- people are all really the same. Cultures definitely come into play, but people just use culture to express the same emotions that all humans feel.
Did you know that in Spanish they have an expression for six-pack abs? Its tableta de chocolate-- meaning chocolate bar. Think of how a Hershey's bar looks. It makes sense right? I remember the Russian girls saying that they had an expression too, but I can't remember what it was! That phrase exists in the language because there is a need for it! Just like Americans, there are Russians, Spaniards, Chinese.. who all want those six-pack abs!
In Spanish there is also an expression that goes- Mucho chow chow y poco meow meow. It means A lot of chow chow [probably a cat noise] and a little meow meow. Know what that one means? "Little dog, big bark."
One more- A cada cerdo le llega su San Martin. It means- For every pig comes their day of Saint Martin. On Saint Martin's day in Spain, they sacrifice pigs. This phrase is basically a way to express "What goes around comes around".

In language, we all have a need to express the same things- we just express them differently. 

When taking pictures with the Japanese girls, we asked them why they kept holding their hands in the shape of peace signs against both cheeks. They told us that it was to make their face look slimmer in pictures! That made me think of how American girls pop a hip with a strategically placed arm on it in pictures in order to make themselves look slimmer in pictures.

These are little things we all do!

Through different cultures, these emotions, troubles, life events, rites of passage may be expressed in different ways than in our culture, but nevertheless they need expression! Underneath it all, there is a common bond of humanity. There is a common problem of sin, of need, of imperfection, of a desire to love and be fulfilled.

I used to be one who would go on a little week-long overseas trip and come back whining about how the country I went to was soo much better than America. I would swear that their culture had gotten it right and that America was so wrong.
But living overseas for four months has made me realized how ignorant I was! I think that Americans that travel think they (including me!) are so cultured- and maybe we are more so than others- but really, it is not until you really live somewhere for longer than even a month that the honeymoon stage ends and you start to see the faults of the other culture. 

For instance, some would say that the American culture is overcome with individualism. Americans like to have their own life- focus on their own success, do what they want, trample anyone who gets in their way. In Japan it is the opposite. People work together. They cooperate. They seek the advancement of the group- not the individual. Sounds pretty good, right? One week in Japan and you might return to America praising the glories of the humble culture of the Japanese.
But there is a problem. The Japanese are taught to conform. They are taught to groupthink. Students may not stand out. They do not raise their hand for a question in class, because that would be stepping out of line. They do not question what they are told or debate the opinion of others. Reputation and honor are driving forces. With this comes a desire for honor, and a fear of what others think. Did you know that Japan has one of the world's highest suicide rates? These are all things that I did not make up. They are faults that our Japanese friends pointed out to me about their own culture!

In America I have heard people say that we work too hard. We are too busy, too focused on the next thing. We don't live. In Spain, there is a law that requires that everyone have a month of vacation. Students only got to class for a total of about six months out of the year. Most people don't save their money- they live day to day. How is that for relaxed? When I told one of Pepita's friends how much I loved the relaxed culture here she laughed and said, "Ha, and have you noticed that we are in a crisis?"

These are all problems! On either side, you have two extremes! I think we need to realize that every country has their own set of problems. The U.S. is NOT perfect. But in somethings, we do not have it all the way wrong. Its so easy to go to another country, stay in a nice hotel, see the nice side of town, and leave before reality hits. Then forever in your photo albums you remember how perfect your stay was. What I have enjoyed most about this experience has been seeing dirty, passionate, hot, sunny, greasy, lazy Spain for what it really is. And realizing that the U.S. is just one country out of many that has faults and assets.

Now here is the thing-- I have only lived here for four months!! Who knows what my perspective would be like after staying here for a year.. two years.. three years! But I can say, that these four months have taught me so much and changed my perspective on so many things... And I have loved being immersed in the culture here. I feel as though I have really been able to interact with it and grasp it in a way that I never have before on any other trip I have been on, and I have absolutely loved it. How special it is to get to step outside your world and into another one to try it out for awhile.

What I do know is that I feel like less of an American and more like a citizen of the world now. I don't know if any of you have taken the missions course called Perspectives, but if you have, you will know what I mean when I say that I want to be a World Christian. That is how I feel. And I think the Lord has used this experience to show me what it means to be a World Christian.

What a special time of learning and growing it has been. Honestly, I feel a little nervous to go back to the States! I can't believe that this short season of my life is ending and that I am about to start a new adventure at home called SENIOR YEAR. The time here has gone by so fast and I am so grateful for this whole experience. I know that I will look back and count it as one of the developing factors in my story. 

Thank you for keeping up with my life for the past four months. I look forward to coming home, seeing friends and family and struggling not to kiss people on both cheeks as a greeting (as we have gotten used to doing here). That will be interesting.
Anyways, I will try to blog once more before coming home next MONDAY!

Cheers.

Spring Break

A week ago, I returned from the most unforgettable spring break of my life.
Obviously I can't recount two and a half full weeks of traveling on here, but here are some high points.
(P.S.- Sorry there are no pictures in this post! My internet is being dumb. Check out my Facebook albums for pics of our adventures!)

My Parents Came

Getting on that bus to go pick my parents up at the airport and waiting for them at the gate.. I felt like I was going to pass out, I was so jittery. Then there they were! It felt so right to be with them, but so strange for them to be here in my world in Spain. For once, I was the one leading them around, translating, showing them things, helping them buy bus tickets, suggesting food for them to try.. It was different! Leading then around made me realize just how much time I have spent here and how I really have gotten the hang of living here. It was so fun to show them Alicante and really special for them to be able to see all the things that I had described to them on the phone for almost three months. After Alicante, we rented a car and drove to Granada and Barcelona. It was fun to travel just the three of us (though we did miss Will a lot!) and see all the crazy funny situations we got ourselves into! At one point, we found ourselves out in the middle of nowhere driving through someone's olive farm! We saw some pretty awesome scenery out the window as we drove-- the drive up and down the coast of Spain was a landscape that I had never seen before, with rugged mountains, olive, orange, and grape farms, terraced mountains, and cave houses built into the side of the mountains.
It was fun to experience new, incredible, old, smelly, breath-taking and sometimes scary things with my mom and dad.

Granada


Stayed at Hostel Lima- if you ever go to Granada, get a room there. It was decorated in the Arab style- super cool. Also, Manolo, who runs it, is super nice and helpful.
Saw the Cathedral of Granada
Plaza Isabel la Catolica-- there is a statue in this plaza of Columbus asking Isabel to sponsor him to go to the New World
Saw Bib-Rambla
Alcaiceria-- the old Arab souks (marketplace).
Plaza Nueva
Darro River
Walked the Paseo de los Tristes-- the old funeral route
Went up to Albaycin-- the Arab quarter of Granada. This is where the Moors fled when the Catholics took back Spain and kicked out the Arabs, Gypseys, and Jews. White buildings. It is up on the hill and overlooks the rest of the city. Narrow, twisting streets. Arab looking tiles on the building walls.
Looked out from the Mirador de San Nicolas- Here is a perfect view of Alhambra
Toured Alhambra and the Generalife gardens- This was the old Arab palace where the sultan used to live when the Arabs controlled Spain. Absolutely incredible. It felt like we were in the Middle East.
Alcazaba- part of the Alhambra-- we climbed up huge towers to see incredible views of the city.
King Charles' Palace-- built directly facing Alhambra when the Catholics regained power- as if to say "in your face!"
Corral de Carbon
Saw Flamenco dancing in a traditional Cave restaurant-- Flamenco dancing is the traditional Spanish dancing that you think of when you think of Spain (snapping, stomping, red dresses, flower in the hair, ole!-- all those things) I never knew that Flamenco is a mix of Gypsy, Arab, and Jewish culture. It was created when the Catholics took over Spain and drove out all the Gypsys, Arabs, and Jews. The three cultures combined, and one of the products was flamenco! It is done in a cave, because that is where the gypsys escaped to when they were driven out! I LOVED seeing the dance! It was so passionate, often seeming like the dancer was either angry or on the verge of tears!

Granada was awesome because it was such a old city with such a heavy Arab influence. At one point, Spain was ruled by the Moors, so all of Andalucia (the region where Granada is located) is heavily influenced by the Moorish culture. Seeing the mix of Arab + European culture was a crazy concept! There were some parts of the city that made me feel like I had stepped into the Middle East, and other parts where I felt like I was in Northern Spain, close to the rest of Europe! It was probably one of my favorite cities I have ever visited.


Barcelona

Picasso Museum- Saw the progression of Picasso's work- from when he started as a boy to the end of his career. It was funny to see his work progress from extremely life-like and beautiful portraits (many of them done when he was a very young teenager) to cubism.
Sagrada Familia- Incredible modern cathedral designed by Gaudi. He never finished it in his lifetime (he died around 70 years ago) and it is currently still under construction. I have never seen a cathedral like it. Gaudi drew his inspiration from nature. The ceiling of the cathedral looked like a canopy of trees. Gaudi also designed the building to make the perfect amount of light enter the church.
Casa Mila- an apartment building that Gaudi also designed. Curvy walls, a funny, sloping, curving roof, round bedrooms, open spaces. I would love to live there.
La Rambla- fun, lively street where people go to shop, and hang out. It leads down to the sea.
Old Roman Gate- There were so many thousand year old ruins in the city. This one was a part of the huge old gate in the city.
Lots of Roman Ruins
Rick Steve's Walking Tour
The Port
Plaza de Catalunya

I was so glad we got to go Barcelona. It was a fun, sunny, happy coastal city, full of life and energy. It is located at the very top of the Spanish coast, whereas Granada is located at almost of the bottom of the Spanish coast (almost to Africa!) So of course, Barcelona was a COMPLETELY different place than Granada. Lots of French influence. It was also in the region of Catalunya, so people spoke Catalan as the regional dialect along with Spanish. It was fun to see another region of Spain!


After a full week with my parents, I got in a cab at 4 AM and headed for the Barcelona airport to start the second half of my spring break! I flew to London where I met Johanna, Karissa, and Brenna (a friend we met in Spain) for our UK backpacking adventure! This is something that Johanna and I had always dreamed of doing when we were in high school! I can't believe that we actually got to do it! It was quite an adventure, with new food, new friends, bad transportation systems, crazy hostels, and lots of charming (but mainly funny) accents.
As soon as I got in the cab by myself, it hit me that I was stepping away from my parents to be completely independent again.


London

I took a cheap Ryanair flight (22 euros- definitely going to miss Ryanair!) over to London and took a bus and then the tube to get to the area where our hostel was located. It was on the edge of the city- a smaller neighborhood called Willesden Green. After getting of the train, asking a few jolly english people for directions, and witnessing an armed robbery (yep, I was just a few feet away from a crazy guy with a gun), I finally got pointed in the right direction and met Jo and Brenna at the hostel.
We saw the main London Sights-
Buckinham Palace
Trafalgar Square
St. James Park
The National Gallery
The Portrait Gallery
The London Eye
The Tower Bridge-- got to go up in it!
The Tower of London-- Jo and I LOVED this! It was crazy to see the place where all those famous queens were beheaded as well as many other enemies of the state. We loved seeing the big black ravens and being guided by a funny Beefeater. Also saw the CROWN JEWELS!
Westminister Abbey
The Horse Guard
Kings Cross Station- Where we saw the Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter!
Almost died several times while crossing the street due to the fact that people drive ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD. That took some getting used to.
We also liked just chilling out at our cool hostel and meeting people. We met some girls from Italy and a girl from Canada!


After a few days in London, we got on a train and headed up north to Edinburgh, Scotland! After a few crazy mishaps with the transportation (all the lines to Edinburgh got blocked and for a few hours we had to wait in some town called Carlisle, England for a bus to come get us) we FINALLY arrived!

Edinburgh

This place is one of the coolest cities I have ever been to. All the buildings were beautiful, and there were very few modern buildings in the city. I loved seeing all the funny street names, men in kilts, and fun pubs, not to mention the HUGE castle that towered above the city on a huge hill! It was also pretty amusing to try to speak English to people and hardly be able to understand what they said back! Some people had pretty thick accents! At times it seemed like we were speaking two different languages!
Stayed in the coolest hostel ever- It was called Castle Rock Hostel. Its name made sense- when you walked out the front door and looked up-- BOOM-- there was the castle. It was a huge hostel with several stories, tons of rooms, lots of cool lounges and common areas, a big kitchen, an internet room, and a common lounge ONLY for getting to know people (no cell phones or laptops were allowed inside!). The whole hostel was decorated like a castle!
Here, we made friends with a Canadian girl named Alison, who had been traveling the world for 6 months! It was fun hanging out with her and swapping stories from our travels!
Saw the Castle of Edinburgh- This was AWESOME! It has been fun to see castles from all different parts of Europe and compare them! This castle was one of my favorites! It was SO. OLD. It was neat to learn about how it has been used by different groups throughout its existence- from Scottish clansmen, to William Cromwell, to special government events in modern times. We also got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels!
Scottish National Gallery
Saw lots of men in kilts
Heard lots of Bagpipes
Saw many many tartans
Ate a roasted pig sandwhich
Went to the Elephant House- This is a cool cafe in the city that was where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter! It was cool to sit in the room where she used to go to write and feel the atomosphere. The room overlooks the castle and it was pretty easy to see that she drew a lot of inspiration from the city. The whole city just felt magical!
Went to the Scottish Monument- this big tall pointy structure in a big park. Jo rolled her ankle here. We are convinced that the poor girl has set a goal to get hurt in every place we go!
Listened to fun live music at a Scottish pub! 
Climbed up to Arthur's Seat-- A dormant volcano with AMAZING views! I felt like we were on top of Scotland. On the way down, we walked past the ruins of a church built in the 1300s!

One morning as I was sitting in the hostel kitchen eating a breakfast of peanut butter on bread with several strangers, I looked down at what I was eating and it hit me: I. AM. POOR! Just a few days earlier I had been enjoying a huge breakfast with my parents every morning and basically anything I wanted to eat whenever I got hungry. As I sat there comparing my first week of spring break with my second, I got pretty tickled! The two were COMPLETELY different! It made me feel very grateful to have such generous parents! But at the same time, it felt kind of good to know that I was on my own, I was a little hungry, a little tired, and a little uncomfortable, but I was having the time of my life without the comfort of a fancy hotel or an expensive meal. Taking the back roads, the noisy hostels, the pb&j dinners, hunting for student discounts.. All those things made the week an adventure- the best trip I have been on!

At the end of three days in Edinburgh, we got on a plane headed to Dublin, Ireland! Words cannot express the excitement we felt during that short plane ride!

Galway

Ireland was the destination we are all the most excited for! Throughout the total nine days of the trip we would randomly burst into a rousing rendition of "Galway Girl!" As soon as we got off the plane, we saw signs in Gaelic- the Irish national language! That was pretty cool. Every person we came in contact with in Ireland was SO warm and friendly. We waited in line for customs (since we had left the United Kingdom and were back in the European Union!) and met two other American girls in line behind us. One of the girls had been studying in Edinburgh and she and her friend were taking a trip to Ireland too! Finally we stepped up to get our passports stamped and had a funny conversation with the main in the check booth! There is no other word to describe him other than "jolly." I also think that of all the versions of English we heard on our trip, the Irish accent was the easiest to understand- although they had some pretty funny slang! We all agreed that pretty much every stereotype we have ever heard about Ireland is true. The people were happy, funny, and nice! The scenery was BEAUTIFUL! There are no words to express how beautiful it was.. There was music every where.. Musicians in the streets, in restaurants, pubs.. Everywhere! And it rained- every single day. Oh and there were sheep everywhere! Also, everything was green! As in, signs, printed words, decorations.. so much green! I also thought it was interesting that people used the word "Ye!"
We stayed at the best Bed and Breakfast-- Apparently B&Bs are a big thing in Ireland, or at least in Galway. There were everywhere! Very popular. We stayed at the sweetest little house outside the city, in the country. Mary was the name of the lady who owned it. She built it on her family's farmland (which has been in their family for 300 years-- no big deal, right?). Mary loved on us so much- giving us full rein of the downstairs of the house, fixing us ginormous breakfasts, giving us rides into town, bringing in a hot water bottle to put in bed with us after we had come back soaking wet after a rainy day in the country side. She was amazing. Being in her house felt like a taste of home. She spoke English, so we could always communicate effectively with her! We had big, white, clean beds (I love Pepita, but her beds are not big, nor white, and honestly, not always clean!), we ate a good meal in the morning that was very similar to an American breakfast, took showers with never ending hot water, enjoying a clean house (honestly, there is nothing really clean about Spanish houses..) big bedrooms.. It just felt really homey. Not to mention, we were out in the country in a field with stone walls and cows and sheep surrounding us! There were no buzzing mopeds or honking horns.. it was just quiet and peaceful.
The first day we got there, we tried to walk into town.. within five minutes there was a huge down pour of rain, and laughing we decided to turn back and call a cab! We got drenched, but that's Ireland for you!
The next day, we went on a bus tour of the surrounding area of Galway. We saw so much of the countryside and were amazed to see things used for hundred years that were just sitting there by the side of the road! For example, we saw animal corrals that were built into the ground. Hundreds of years ago, they had built up a circular wall of dirt, making a corral that they would herd the sheep into. We also stopped at a stone grave that had been there for years- it was just sitting there by the road! We learned that they used to stand up big stones to make sort of a stone box (think of how Stonehenge looks) to put people in when they died- creating a kind of stone grave. That was just sitting there.. by the road! We also saw SO many castles! Many of them were small-- they were one big stone tower with a wall around it. But each castle was owned by a family, or clan that used to (or still does) own that land. I was amazing at how much people found identity in what clan they came from!
Kinevara
Penny walls-- the stone walls made from limestone on the hills. Men used to get paid a penny to build them.
The Cliffs of Moher-- There are no words. I wish I could express how completely FANTASTIC the cliffs were. I had seen a picture beforehand and thought they looked kind of cool.. but standing on that massive ledge looking through the misty air down that green rugged coast.. I felt sick. It was almost too amazing to handle. I felt so. small. The only response in that moment was worship. Any words we tried to murmur to explain our amazement were not enough.. all we could do was stand there and praise the Maker. Wow. They were awesome. Not to mention they have filmed several movies there, including Harry Potter and The Princess Bride (the cliffs of insanity!)
When the tour was over, we did not have a way back to our B&B, so the bus driver/tour guide told us to hop back on the big chartered bus and he drove Jo, Brenna, and I all the way back to the doorstep of the house! He was just one example of the hospitality and kindness that we were shown by every Irish person that we came in contact with!

The next day we went to Connemara, which is a region/national park near Galway. We passed through several villages with cool names like Bearna and Spiddle! We saw many cute houses with thatched roofs, petted real Connemara ponies, saw the place where Connemara marble comes from, saw Loch Karab as well as Loch Inheh, and Loch Killary. We also saw the bridge where the John Wayne movie Quiet Man was filmed, as well as a replica of the house in the movie!
We also went to Kylemore Abbey, an old mansion built by a big beautiful lake that is now used as an Abbey.
That night, Brenna, Jo, and I decided to go out to eat and then find some music to listen to. As we were eating our dinner, we heard American English being spoken at a table nearby us! We looked over and discovered that the two girls that we met in the airport in Dublin were sitting at a table right by us!! We reconnected with them and all decided to go out and find a pub with music together! They told us that they had a friend who had studied in Galway and used to play at a pub, so we found that pub and settled in for some good music! The whole scene looked like it could have come straight out of an Irish movie! People everywhere, talking, laughing, singing, and there in the corner just sitting in some chairs, a group of musicians with instruments singing and having a good time! It was a jolly time.
The next day, we explored the city of Galway a little and headed back early to Mary's to enjoy a little more of her warm hospitality for our last night.

It was a strange feeling getting up the next morning to go to the airport and return to Spain. The whole break felt like we were on vacation from a vacation! But now that we are back, Alicante really feels more like home. Its crazy.. I can't believe that we are leaving to go back to the States in two weeks and two days. As May 6th approaches, it is getting harder and harder to imagine leaving this place and all the friends we have made here. It is going to be great to get home and see all the loved ones there.. but I am just trying to figure out how to pick up and leave somewhere that I have spent SO much time, especially with the knowledge that I might not ever come back.. Its bittersweet.
Its okay though. I am so glad that I chose to study abroad. I have grown in ways that I would not have grown in while in the States. My perspective has changed. I now have friends from all over the world. I have stood in famous sites where history has been made. I have experienced how it feels to be considered less intelligent because you can't communicate perfectly. I have experienced what its like to be an outsider. I have been completely immersed in a language. I have developed a profound respect for people who enter into another culture to live. This experience has been priceless.

I appreciate everyone who has kept up with my journey as I have been here by reading my blog.
I ask that you would continue to pray for me during these last two weeks! Pray for focus (how can I focus on school when the sun is bright, the beach is warm, and summer is just around the corner?)
Pray for more opportunities to share the gospel. These are our last weeks to invest in the friends we have made, and I pray that my heart would be open to the work that the Lord still has for us!
Pray for a profound appreciation for the place we are in, the experiences we are STILL having, the friends we are still around.. Pray that we would not merely count down the days, but instead still be FULLY here!

Thanks for your love!