I live in Spain!!

It is now the start to the third week here in Segovia. It has taken awhile for me to adjust to the schedule, but I think I can now say I'm set. I was in the "I'm ready" phase for a long time, but I'm pretty sure I am now living in Spain. WHOA! (That's a picture of the door to my piso)



My reasons for this statement:
3 weeks seems more like living than just a trip...
-I've gotten lost a few times.
-I can now make it to and from places without getting lost. (Most times)
-I can go to the grocery store by myself.
-I can go buy pan for Julia.
-I can joke around with Julia.
-Days have become pretty routine.
-I'm okay with wearing boots outside my jeans! ha
-I found my favorite cafe.
-I have said "Taluego" while passing someone on the street.
-I'm kinda getting used to the kissing on the cheek greeting.
-We found a church to attend on Sundays!
-I have eaten some weird form of Pig-and I somewhat liked it!
-I watch pasa palabra-favorite game show of Julia & her mom-& get some of the answers!
-I'm understanding more-espanol that is!
-I'm loving the siesta
-And eating lunch at 2 and dinner at 9:30ish has become normal.

I have to read my book for literature so I don't have much time to write, but I definitely feel like I'm adjusted. However, I won't say it's always easy or that I don't get homesick. I miss you all and the US. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement! Teddi, Sam, and I meet for bible studies each Tuesday and we decided to start each day reading Psalms. I loved what I read in Psalms 8 the other day. Especially, "Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in ALL the earth!"

3 Castles, 2 trips, 1 weekend!

A lot has happened since I last updated my blog. Things here have definitely been getting busier. I actually have homework that takes some time, commitments-like English lessons, and just fun things-like excursions. I love keeping everyone updated, but I haven't really had time to myself, so I took a little break.

Where to begin..? Well, Friday we didn't have regular classes. There was a scheduled excursion to "la ruta de los catillos". I'm not sure the name of the town, but we were a little less than a hour east of Segovia. That morning Julia had my lunch sitting on the counter. I had two bocadillos(sandwiches)and an orange! It's great to have someone make my lunch for me! Well, my mom still made lunches for me sometimes in high school-so I guess it shouldn't make me feel like a little girl, but it does! haha I love it!! :) Then, I met the others at the statue of the loba (she wolf) and we were off on our little tour bus. On the bus, I felt even more like a kid. We all talked about what we had in our lunches! HAHA Sam's mother gave her a box of chocolate cookies to share with us all- bless her!! hah To have chocolate in my possession is rare here.

Our first stop was to a winery. We learned all about the process of making wine and how long it takes. This place made 3 different types of white wine, which are very popular in Segovia. The bottles are cheap since they are made here, but they said in the U.S. it's very expensive. (I honestly don't understand why… it was pretty gross-shhh!) Sam and I had a little sip and it was worse than medicine to me. (and I hate syrupy medicine) I guess I won't have to worry about spending my money on that!

Our second stop was to the first castle, "Castillo de Coca". It was huge, I couldn't believe that people can actually say- Oh yeah; take a right at the castle and go through two stops signs and you'll be at my house. I can't imagine living in the same town as a castle. It seemed so out of place. However, I'm sure it was very important to people back in the day. I learned the difference between castles and palaces. Castles-are for protecting and are built for defense. Palaces-are for celebrations, show, kings and queens-all the stuff you see in movies. I didn't realize that, even when heading to the castle. I was picturing, the Palace like in "Princess Diaries", but boy was I wrong! ha Both the first and second castles we saw on Friday were obviously built for defense. The first one had a moat around it, but no water. I learned none of the castles in Spain have water in their moats because there is not a river that can filter water into them.

When we went inside, I felt so small. The walls were huge!! The first castle reminded me a lot of "Lord of the Rings". There were so many different levels, and I'm sure secret passage ways! It made me wonder -How did the people even begin building the castle!? We were told we would be climbing lots of stairs, so I wore my tennis shoes, but they didn't tell us what kind of stairs. These stairs were winding, uneven stairs used also for...you guessed it-De-de-de-DEFENSE! hah I felt almost as if I was crawling up the stairs. I would not want to be this castle’s enemy. They would have had me at stair one! We climbed all the way to the roof of both of the castles. It was beautiful. However, I refused to get close to the edge! At the end of those excursions I was knocked out. I think they are just training us for the excursions to the mountains!

After some sleep, I woke up Saturday morning around 7 to make my way to the bus station. It started out as only me, but soon grew to 8 other students traveling to Madrid for the day! I told a few friends that my friend, Kelsey, would be flying into Madrid Saturday and I wanted to see her. I thought it would be great to have company and they all thought it would be fun so they decided to come. I was pumped to have a group of 4. Then by Saturday morning we had 8!

I was so proud of Kelsey for making it to Madrid and finding our bus station in the huge city, even though she didn't think it was such a big deal. :) It was so great to see her! I hadn't seen her since the last day of Mission Indy, August 1st. She had been in Spain the whole semester before, so she kinda knew her way around Madrid. We visited the Royal Palace-which was more like the palace in "Princess Diaries", the Gardens-which is bigger than central park and beautiful, and went shopping in the busiest city I have ever seen! Madrid is huge and has A LOT to do, but I am so glad I am studying in little Segovia. Madrid would be so overwhelming. A lot of the locals in Segovia told us to be careful with our belongings in Madrid. Everyone kept telling us not to get robbed, which wasn't comforting. However, I had my money pouch-thanks to Stacey- and I was fine all day. It was a really fun day that went by so quickly.
This past weekend was packed. I hope to leave some weekends open to just spend some time in Segovia. I'm trying to keep in mind that my time in Spain will go faster than I think. Thanks for reading!

Good days, bad days, and the inbetween

Exactly one week has passed since I had to say good-bye at the airport. That actually feels like a long time ago, at least, longer than one week. A lot has happened since then, along with so many emotions. The second day of classes this week was even better than the first. I talked with the grammar teachers and they said I could do either one, and I chose the intermediate! I’m so glad I did. I really like what I’m learning and the professor is so helpful! It’s review right now, which I’m thankful. However, I hope one day I won’t have to review. [Professor Luis took us to the Market today, which happens every Thursday from 9-2. They had lots of fresh produce, fish, clothes, and flowers. It was so colorful! Even though it’s a market, I learned they never barter. I guess that’s good to know! I definitely want to go back.] I also got my first letter on Tuesday, which made my day!  Then our site director told us a little about internships. She said each week we could teach English and get paid a little bit. I was thinking I have no idea how to teach or where to start, but when she explained it would be loose and just for kids I was excited. To top it all off, it was Sam’s host mom that wanted two people to teach each of her kids. Not only did that mean I would be with Sam, but I would get to go over to her house!! We were hoping to find some way we could hang out in our houses, but none of us wanted to ask our host families. (If you didn’t read the earlier blogs, people in Spain go out to spend time together. It’s weird to hang out in someone’s house to them.) Now, Sam and I teach Martin and Juan at 7 on Wednesdays and Thursdays! I’m so excited because I was missing kids. I thought the day couldn’t get any better, BUT it did. After we talked with Marian, we found two papers from former students giving directions to 2 protestant churches. We were hoping to find one soon-and it was pretty much put in our hands, which is such an answer to prayer! (I shouldn’t be surprised!) More people are interested in going with us than I thought. A group of us are going to check one out this Sunday. We hope to get involved with the people of the church so we can know the community more while practicing Spanish!
Anyway, that was just Tuesday. Not all days are great. (But, I don’t have to tell you that) Wednesday, was just one of those “blah” days. Basically just a day that I spent missing people and feeling bad for myself. Lots of people are planning big trips while they’re here or lots of little ones. I would like to travel, but not a lot. I want to be careful with my money. I thought I would be the only one not traveling every other weekend, but I’m sure that’s not true. I just need to find others to encourage, instead of looking to others to encourage me. I’M IN SPAIN FOR HEAVEN SAKES-who needs to travel!? I still haven’t gotten to know most of the other students, but each day I get to know one or two more. We have about 24 here, but I guess I have a while to get to know them.
I’ve gotten pretty comfortable with my route to and from the school. Now I don’t have to always be looking for familiar sings and shops. I can actually look around and enjoy my walk. I don’t usually wake up thinking, I can’t wait to walk to school, but when I get to school I feel refreshed. I’m glad I don’t have the choice to walk or ride in a car. One of the first things I learned in school is that the people here are like people in New York. They don’t greet or smile to just anyone. If they say anything, it’s to people they know or have met a few times. If you say hi to them and you don’t know them, they will think Do I know her? When they do greet people, they don’t usually say hola, they say “Taluego”-which means see you later. Most the time they have no intention to stop and talk. The first time I walked to school, I was smiling at everyone who looked at me.haha I don’t do that anymore. Someone said Hola to me today-and I have to admit, I did think “have I met him?” I hope it doesn’t rub off on me, because I really appreciate a smile or wave.
Even though people here don’t seem very outgoing or social on the streets, if you take a look in the “escapates” or windows of the cafes you find that’s where the people are. I have noticed some of the same people in the same café at the same time of the day. I guess they have their favorite spots-and if you’re brave enough to walk in, you will quickly be able to tell that they are enjoying themselves immensely. I do like the feel of all the people walking on the streets and meeting in the cafes. It’s more open, rather than staying cooped up in a house and never bothering to meet the people around you. There are so many customs I like here that I wish I could bring home. However, there are many things I don’t like as well. There’s no one place that’s perfect-I miss home while I’m here, and I’m sure I’ll miss Spain when I come back. Life is so temporary, for that and many other reasons, I’m so glad to have a relationship with God! -Thanks for reading!!

PS>HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIE MICHAEL/best friend!!

The first day of classes!

Bueno- here I go again, another entry! I have so much I want to share with you all, I wish you could experience it for yourselves. I probably won't be able to keep writing every day, but I'll keep ya posted when I can. Classes just started so I don't have any homework, yet!
I woke up at 5:36 this morning and could not fall back asleep for the life of me. I hope that will change soon! Then my alarm didn't go off, but I heard Julia's loud and clear so I woke up and I had 20 min. to get out the door. Julia was waiting in the kitchen to show me what to eat and then get back to bed. She was surprised that I had a class so early. She pretty much said there's the cups help yourself from now on. She doesn't have to work until 3:30 in the afternoon. What a life! A professor today said, Spaniards don't live to work they work to live. They sure know how to live it up with the siestas in the tarde and fiestas at night.
At our orientation, they told us we could go to all the classes if we wanted to change anything we didn't like. My first class started at 8:40, art history. I decided I really like the professor, but there are better classes to take. Then we had a quiz in grammar to see if we test in advanced or intermediate. I'm honestly hope I get intermediate. I'm not very good with grammar and I want to get better. Next, we had culture and civilization. I really like the professor. (For those from Covenant he reminds me of Don Andres!) We touched on the land of Spain and the differences in each region. He made it really interesting and compared it to the US a lot. To my surprise, there are many similarities. The rest of the time was pretty much spent talking about Madrid real- his favorite soccer team. He said if you like a different team, he have to duke it out with you! "They're not just in love with the game they're passionate about the game!" haha Then we had the Union of Europe class with Marian, the site director. You guys just have to meet her to understand, but she's very animated, fun, and she wears lots of make-up. She made class a lot of fun. She taught us about where the two last names come from for people in Espana, and I totally understand now. Their names never change even when they get married. For example, if there was a girl named Maria Ortega Gonzales and she married Juan Diego Ibanez there kids would be (first name) Diego Ortega. They get the first last name from the dad and the second last name from the mom. This is only in Spain. It was so interesting to me. Also, I learned that if they're married they wear their wedding ring on the ring finger of their right hand. (I have a ring on my right ring finger..I keep changing my mind about changing it. It could come in handy. ha) After, those three classes I went to the apartmiento and met Julia's daughter, Diana. She's pregnant with a girl and due any day now! It's so exciting!! It's Julia's third grandchild, but first girl. Around 4:30 I went to my last class of the day, Literature. AY, I think it will be the hardest. I wasn't sure if I wanted to take it, but Sam and Teddi convinced me. I know it will be good practice, but I hope it doesn't take up too much time. We are reading 5 books, 2 poems, 2 plays, and watching a movie. We will have papers to write too.
After all the classes, I got to take part in a salsa lesson! It's mostly girls so I was partnered with Sam, but it was great! I leaned Pa-Pe-Pi-Po-Pu, which should tell me a lot, but I don't really remember. haha We learned how to step and count 1-2-3 5-6-7. And it's VEERY important that you make a sound with your heels when you step down. They are teaching every Monday, so it should be fun! It's especially fun to watch them dance. Now, that I have more of a schedule I think time will go faster.
It's time for the episode of "La Senora", a show that Julia is very excited about. I don't know what it is, but she wants me to watch. I hope I understand some of it! Chao-
PS.the picture is of our little school. It's two class rooms, an office, bathroom, meeting room, and huge entry way with lots of stairs. (I'm already out of breath when I get there, so I don't get too excited to be inside until I'm up the stairs.-And I thought Ball State was a lot of walking-ha!)

Wandering Segovia, literally...

Hola todos!
It's only my second full day in Segovia and I already feel like so much has happened. Yesterday, I walked with Julia to my school for the orientation. For some reason, I don't usually get excited about orientations. I think it's because it implies that you're in a new situation, and so it's going to be awkward at times. I thought we would have to play weird get to know you games, but we didn't! I was actually really glad to see the students again after being separated for the night. During the orientation we were introduced to salsa teachers, our professors, our site directors, and a CELL PHONE! (Even though I don't want to use it much, I feel much safer with a phone.) Our site directors told us what to do and not to do with our host families. I really wish they would've told us this before. For instance, it's not polite to take off your shoes. Always wear shoes or slippers. Also, there is not as much water in Espana as in the states, so we have to take fast showers and not flush each time we use los servicos. Electricity is also very expensive here, so whenever I leave my room I turn out the light-even if only for a second. Another thing which is harder than I thought it would be, we can't hang out in our houses with our friends. In their culture they go out to meet there friends. After we learned about customs and our classes, we took a short tour of Segovia. Our professors never want to hear English, so we spoke in Spanish the whole time. It wasn't as hard as I thought, but I bet I made lots of mistakes talking with my friends.

After orientation, la mamas were waiting for their host students.(after going to and from school with Julia she seemed to think I would be fine finding my way the rest of the trip-ha!) We all went back to our houses for comida (that's what they call lunch) and decided to meet at 4. I've had to get used to eating lunch around 2 or 3 and dinner around 9. It hasn't been too bad yet, but it might be when I have to eat breakfast around 8 in the am. We always eat every meal with the families. And I can guarantee that there will be a slice of french bread at each meal, as well as fruit offered for dessert. I have had plenty of mandarins. I think I like the order of meals, because there has been nothing else consistent about this trip so far. I never know what to expect.

Later, a bunch of student from the program met at the aqueduct to tour the city together. I took lots of pictures. They are all on my facebook account, if you want to take a peak. We walked around for a long time, because we didn't want to go back to our houses alone. It's always fun to be with them and we never run out things to talk about. We are usually sharing stories about our experiences with our families. We would go in stores every now and then to warm up, but we didn't stop in them for long. It's no secret that we aren't from Segovia-It's not like the color of our skin or hair gives it away. There are people here with blonde hair and blue eyes, but I'm pretty sure everything about us screams tourist- we stay together, we aren't as artsy/fashionable as them, and I'm not gonna lie-we mostly speak enligsh (right now-sorry to disappoint). I told Julia that and she said, "No you need to speak Spanish." She's so right-and we will, soon! Then when we were too cold to stay out we decided to go back to our houses for dinner. On my way back, I walked with Teddi, but I have the longest walk so I wasn't with her for long. As I said "chao" to her, I kept walking straight. After awhile, I no longer recognized the shops and street. I was lost-great! I didn't panic though, I just crossed to the next street over and thought I was okay. However, when I saw a pizza place for the first time in Spain, I knew I was on the wrong street. I decided to try one more street over, and there was the lovely Tienda de Chollos (I have no idea what it is, but I was never so happy to see a familiar store) I guess getting lost wasn't all in vain, because I found a beloved pizza place- I could go for some “American” food anytime!

The Adventures Begin...

I made it, I'm with my host mom, in Segovia. Even with the hills, roman aqueduct, and Spanish speakers all around me; it's hard to believe I'm here. A little less than 48 hours ago, I was still packing frantically and dwelling on so many "what if's". I was really worried about all the snow delaying our flights. However, God is good and he got us here safe and right on time!-No pasa nada- no worries. :)

It was hard to say goodbye at the airport. There were lots of tears and uncertainty, but we had to press on through security. It was great to have Teddi and Sam there with me. It would have been a lot harder traveling by myself. Our first flight to Filadelfia (that's how they spell it here)was short. I read my notes from friends and family, which was so encouraging. I'm so thankful I have all of you. I miss you all already. I'm so glad I'm not alone. God is my strength and my shield through these lonely, scary times.

We didn't have much time to get to our flight to Madrid. It was a huge airport so we ended up having to run! When we got settled, I was by Sam and a window. We watched a movie and tried to sleep, but there was no comfy position- and I tried multiple. Sam and I probably got a total of two hours of light sleep. We had dinner on the plane, but it seemed like it was time for breakfast right after dinner. One minute I was looking at the moon out my window and the next I was seeing the sunrise. It was gorgeous, but I was too tired to welcome the sun. When we were an hour from landing, we could look out and see Spain. It's very hilly with mountains here and there. The land is dusted with snow right now. It's beautiful! This world seems so overwhelming and huge to me, but in reality we are so tiny. And God cares about each of our tiny selves. That's a huge comfort to me. :)

When we got on our bus to Segovia, I met most of the other students. Everyone seems like they're in the same boat-very excited/nervous and clueless about a lot. I tried my hardest to stay awake on the ride, but failed. However, what I did see of Madrid looked very modern and crowded. The city is huge with many apartments. There are not very many people here who live in houses. When I woke up, I felt like I was in Narnia. There were snowed covered pine trees and huge hills surrounding our bus. If I could compare it to a state in Los Estados, I would say it's kinda like Arkansas or Tennessee. (Big hills, rocky in some places, and I feel like it might look like a desert without the snow and pine trees.) I love it. (If you know me, you know I love mountains. Why do I live in Indy!?haha) I didn't let myself fall back asleep after seeing that.

When we arrived in Segovia, we met up with our host moms right away. Even though I was excited to meet Julia,it was intimidating, especially since we were separated from the others. When I met her we did the traditional kiss on both cheeks, and I think I passed that test. I guess it's not that weird. Although, I would like to teach them a hand shake. (those who know me, know I'm not a touchy feely person:) I had my huge suitcase and we had to walk 20 min. to Julia's apartment or floor as she calls it. I was struggling up many hills. I have a feeling I'm going to get lots of exercise.

Julia lives in a 4 bedroom floor with 3 bathrooms, a living room, long hallway (which is scary at night), porch, and kitchen. It's very nice and clean. Everything sparkles, but that's probably because her kids are all grown up. Her mom lives with her as well. She doesn't really say much except for "AY madre mia", which I take as Oh my. At first, we didn't talk much, but when she asked me questions for the most part I understood. I just have trouble asking her questions and answering. I wonder what I sound like to them. hah

Julia got to meet my sister, Chris, through Skype and she told Chris she would take care of me like I was her own. It was very comforting to hear, and I think that's when I started getting comfortable with her. There have been exciting and hard times already. It's hard to be alone, but I know I can always depend on God. 2 Corinthians 2:9-has been an encouragement to me these past few days. I love you and miss you all.-If you read all of this-WOW-Thanks! Take care en los Estados :)