A taste of Home!

This past weekend was the first for some time that we didn't leave Segovia. It was nice to have a chill weekend at home. On Friday we didn't have school so I got to sleep in till 11 and I had a completely lazy day. I'd forgotten what that felt like. Sam, Teddi, Allison, and I decided to take the bus up to the mall to see a movie. We ended up watching Tiana y el Sapo (The Princess and the frog). When I told my family that, they sorta laughed because it's a kid's movie, but I told them it was easier for us to understand. However, I think we just really wanted to see it anyway! Why not, right?! It seemed cute! :)

Then Saturday finally came around, aka Jenna and Mrs. James arrival to Segovia! They were suppose to come in by 10 O'clock, but they forgot to reset their clocks an hour ahead from London to Spain time(I'm sure I would do the same), so they came in on the 11 o'clock bus. (Jenna is a good friend I met my freshmen year of Ball State. We also did Mission Indy together this past summer. Ever since then, we've been pretty close! She is now studying abroad in London and on her spring break. And Mrs. James is her wonderful mother that is visiting her from home!)

I half jogged/sped walked to their hotel to meet them. Sam and I had planned to do the traditional dos besos (kisses on the cheek) when we met them. However, right when I saw them I forgot everything and took off running to get a hug! I miss hugs, so it was so great to get a big bear hug from Jenna! (We found out later that they were planning to do the same thing with the dos besos. hah)
We showed them our small, pretty town pretty much in one day. At least, what we know of the town. We showed them the Cathedral, Alcazar (castle), Aqueducts, many little shops, and cafes. We talked for a long time in the cafes we took them to. Jenna seemed to be dumbfounded that we had to buy something in a cafe to hang out outside of the cold. It stinks, but it's true. She said she felt like she was eating half the time she spent in Segovia.(I could probably do a whole blog on Spain food...we'll see!) I guess that is true...good thing we walk so much!! That night we played eucre in her hotel. I'm tying to get better at my eucre skills while in Spain, so the Indiana people will stop getting on me about having to review every game. haha (John Hicks- this is for you!)

When we all met to eat Kebap's together, Mrs. James informed me that her credit card got eaten by the same stinkin machine that ate my card. Avoid the "CAJA MADRID"! She didn't seem to be too concerned about it, though. I was impressed that they didn't really depend on us much to order their food or speak in Spanish for them. (At least for the most part.) They did really well! It's cool to see how people can communicate even without language. They left Monday morning while I was getting ready for school. I wasn't too sad because I will be seeing Jenna over my spring break! Their hotel is really close to our school so every time I pass it, I think of them. It was fun to have them here and show them around. I feel like it was great practice for when my mom gets here!! Mom told me out of Rome, London, Madrid, and Segovia, she is the most excited about Segovia! I was surprised at first, but then again...it's mom I shouldn't be surprised. I know she likes the little quaint, historic places. :) It will fun to be with a person with the new excitement I had the first few weeks here.

This past week was review for midterms. I just now finished with my last midterm! I'm so happy to be finished. (Stacey, I almost said done) They weren't very hard, but the worst part was not knowing how to prepare. We don’t have any other tests, but have midterms and finals here. They were mostly opened ended questions so we wrote down what we knew about each question. I won't have to worry about anything over spring break, so will be nice!

Please be praying for my mom and Sam's mom as they leave Indianapolis to Philadelphia to Madrid. (They are taking the same flight we took) Please pray for their safety and that the flights will be on time. They are worried about a snow storm in Philadelphia, but so were we and we made it just fine! I know God is in control of it! I'M SO EXCITED TO SEE HER!!! I can't even imagine how I'll feel when I get to see you all at home again!!

SPRING BREAK PLANS:
-Rome, Italy (Fri. Feb. 26- Tues. Mar.2)
-Segovia, Spain (Tues. Mar.2- Thurs. Mar.4)
-London, England (Thurs. Mar.4-Sat. Mar.6)
-Madrid, Spain (Sat. Mar.6-Sun.Mar.7)
(Sunday morning Spain time, mom will be flying home by herself and I will take the metro/bus back to Segovia) Thanks for your prayers! Till we return!!

No pasa nada in Granada...

Last Saturday, February 13th, Teddi, Sam, Becca, and I set out for Granada at 8am. From the very beginning it was an adventure. Saturday morning I got a phone call from Sam about 7:50 asking me if I was almost at the bus station, I wasn't even close. I was still in my house trying to unlock the door. When I finally got it open, I sprinted the whole way to the bus. I had never been happier to be sitting on that stuffy bus to Madrid!

When we got to Madrid we took the metro to the right bus station for Granada.(We usually have to go Madrid if we want to catch a bus to another destination in Spain.) The first time I rode the metro was fun, but I noticed everyone's faces on the metro were just moody looking. No smiles. The first time decided I would be really happy. However, I found the second time I rode the metro, I too fell into the metro moodiness. ha I've learned to stay out of people's ways, everyone is usually in a hurry. We got to the right station without any problems this time. When we arrived in Granada it was pouring. We walked to the hostel, where Stephanie and Allison were already staying and they let us in. I was anxious to see what our first hostel experience would be like.

The hostel was called "Casa Maria". The location, price, and breakfast were great. However, there was loud music at night, our room was moldy, and the hostel owner was never there. (the worst part was probably the mold.) But what can you expect, when you're just looking for a cheap place to sleep? The location and price definitely made up for it! While we were waiting for the owner to show up, Becca decided she wanted to walk around outside, so Stephanie went down to unlock the door with her. However, they came back because they couldn't get it open...so we all went down to open it, but it wasn't going to budge. We thought we were trapped forever! But Allison came to the rescue. She was still outside so we threw the keys out the window and she let us out! That happened several more times during our stay there.

That night we all decided to go out and get Tapas, which are like free appetizers if you buy a drink. I have heard going to different bars to get tapas is big in Spain, especially in Granada, so we decided to go out and "blend in" with Spaniards. However, keep in mind this whole trip was during Carnival. (Carnival is like our Halloween. Kids dress up and get candy and adults just party like crazy. Carnival is right before Ash Wednesday and lent so that people can get their partying in before they have to give things up. It sounds kinda counteractive to me, but it's interesting. We did get Monday and Tuesday off of school thanks to this holiday.) So because it was Carnival, Allison insisted on dressing up like a cowgirl. I was proud of her for being the only one to dress up! -Picture a group of 5 American girls being lead around the city by a cowgirl! haha I'm sure it was a sight :)

Sunday Sam and I met with my friend, Kelsey from Mission Indy. She studied in Granada last semester and decided to come back. She took us to her church. It was great to be with her and see some of the things she has been experiencing! Now I will be able to relate more with her stories from Spain! The church service was great, but Sam and I had a hard time understand the minister’s accent from Andalucía. It's probably like going from Indiana to South Carolina for people in Spain.

After church, Becca, Sam, Teddi, and I made our way up some steep hills to a famous outlook called, El Mirador. According to one of our professors, it is one of Bill Cilton's favorite spots. I wasn't really sure what to expect, but when we got to the top, I was speechless! It was soooooo beautiful! It was a view of La Alhambra (which was a Muslim palace, which is now a huge tourist attraction)and huge snow capped mountains behind the palace. When we looked down we could see miles and miles of city. That has definitely been my favorite thing I've done in Spain! (Like I said, I love nature!) I kept thinking of my dad saying, "You might wanna take a look around, because you might not ever see this again!" That used to be so annoying to me when I was little, but I have realized it is so true! (Oh no- I'm starting to appreciate my parent’s advice. hah!)


That night we decided to find a place to watch Flamenco dancing. They have flamenco performances all around Spain, but Granada is known for it. We found information about flamenco performances in our hostel and decided to go with the cheaper option. The address was not a street we recognized so we decided to ask the security guard in Burger King for help. (Yes, they do have security guards in Burger King! ha) He pointed to a rather large section of the map and said, "This is the flamenco region." So- basically he was no help. When we did find it, it was on a tiny back street. We found it just fine, but it sure didn't look like any tourist attraction. Teddi, Sam, and I were scared to even go close to the door, but Becca went up to it and opened it like she'd been there several times before. (Brave Soul!) I'm glad she was there, because I probably would've turned around before I opened that door. The performance was suppose to start at 11, but didn't start till 11:40. (I know we're on Spanish time here, but even I have the decency to warn people if I'm going to be that late!) hah The performers consisted of: a violin player, guitar player, drum player, 2 singers/clappers, and one dancer. It was so good! The dancer was a tall man with long greasy hair. (If I were to see him walking on the street I'm sure I would say- he looks like a flamenco dancer! hah) The performance was so cool and even better since it wasn't touristy. I felt like one of the locals. (Even though someone asked if I was French-ha) I will never forget that night.

Monday: Sam and I woke up to make our way to the Alhambra. We bought our tickets in advance, because everyone goes to Granada to see the Alhambra. Last year it was the most visited tourist attraction in the world! I have yet to read the history on it, but I hope to soon. We climbed big hills to get to the entrance. The palace is surrounded by beautiful gardens and towers. My favorite part was climbing the towers and seeing the mountains surrounding the palace! Most of the Alhambra is outside, even inside the palace there were rooms without ceilings. It was suppose to rain all day, but it held off for our visit! I don't even know how to begin to describe it. However, Sam and Teddi said the gardens reminded them of the jungle at Disney world. (I've never been to Disney world, but the gardens sure were magical) I would go back any time!

The rest of the night was free time. We played rummy in Burger King, because you didn't have to buy anything to be there. We also went to three different ice cream shops. We've decided we are going on a tour of ice cream around Spain. Sam and Teddi got frozen yogurt at Yogurlandia, I got ice cream at the futbol cafe, and Sam got a blizzard at the classic Burger King!

Tuesday: Was our day to check out of our moldy hostel. We were all packed up and ready to get out the door. BUT the door was in the way!! Once again, none of us could open the door. It was taking a lot longer than normal, and we had a bus to catch...so Teddi grabbed a hatchet! ha I thought she was going to chop the door down, but she didn't. She just used it as a wedge. However, that didn't work. We finally found another set of keys that did work. When we were all out the door we threw the keys inside and never looked back!! haha I'll not soon forget my first hostel experience!

On the way home I was amazed by all the different scenery. At one point there were olive trees and around the next corner we were in a huge rocky canyon. Then there were plains with sheep and mountains with snow! Spain is much smaller than the U.S.,yet I'm pretty sure they have every terrain we have, if not more! It's beautiful!

Granada was the longest time I've been away from Segovia. I wasn't sure how the four days would turn out, but it all seemed to come together. It has definitely been my favorite city and weekend in Spain..so far! I was so excited to return to my own room, Julia, and la mama. However, it felt so weird not to be returning HOME home. I thought about all the other people on the bus and how they were probably getting excited when they started recognizing things close to their home. It made me think of Indiana and how much I miss it! I can't wait to sing "Back home again in Indiana"...I even miss the flat corn fields. Wow! I never thought I'd say that. I am thankful for this experience and I know I will appreciate living in the United States much more when I actually go home.

Thanks for reading! (Ps. the title means- no worries in Granada)

Southern Spain & Super Bowl!

Around 7:30am February 5th, our class left for Andalucía, which is a region in southern Spain. It took about 6 hours to get to the city we were staying, Cordoba. However, it was so worth the trip. It was like going from Indiana to Florida! In Segovia, we had 40 degree weather and in Cordoba, we had 70 degree weather! It was "increible"! For the first time, I felt fine leaving my winter coat on the bus.
We arrived in Cordoba around 1:30 and got settled in our hotel. Sam and I were roommates and so excited to have a room and bathroom to ourselves. We were really excited that we didn't have to worry about how long we took in the bathroom. However, we did decide that making sure we take short showers and turn off all the lights whenever we leave a room is great practice for living off campus next semester.
As soon as we were settled in, we toured the town with Edu and Marian. They are some of my favorite professors so it was really fun to have them giving the tour. They know a lot of history and have fun explaining things to us. Sometimes Marian would want to add something to what Edu said, but she was practicing not interrupting him-hah. Therefore, if I happened to be next to her, I got my own history lessons.

I'll just mention a few places we visted: a mosque, synagogues, cathedrals upon cathedrals, castles, and beautiful gardens. I might've mentioned this before, but I have found that I like nature a lot more than buildings. (Hence why I don't name and describe all the buildings we saw.) I loved walking through the Arabian gardens, which were outside a castle. The gardens looked like they take a lot of work to keep them looking nice. The trees were tied with wire to make them grow like columns. I'd only seen gardens like this in movies, like "Aladdin". The gardens also reminded me of a book I've read, "A Voice in the Wind", which is based on bible times in Rome. I love looking at the scenery and imagining what it must've been like hundreds of years ago. I learned that southern Spain is known for their olives. We drove by thousands of olive groves. I've never seen anything like an olive tree before. They are short trees with dark wood and silvery leaves. To give you an idea of what they look like, I would say it's like seeing a bunch of apple orchards lining the hills for miles. I know Paul mentions going to Spain in Acts. I wonder if he saw all the olive trees!?
We got back to Segovia on Sunday around 7:30pm. It was a long weekend, with great weather and a lot of walking. It was interesting to me how different Segovia and Cordoba are, since Spain isn't a very big country. The weather, people, and language were all very different. For example, instead of saying "gracias" they say "gracia". I guess that's not extremely different, but it's one of the only things I could pick up from them. ha
Sam, Becca, Teddi, and I will be heading back down to southern Spain this coming weekend. Next Monday and Tuesday is Carnaval, which is a holiday somewhat like Halloween-except school is cancelled! We will only have school Wednesday and Thursday next week. Then Feb. 20th-> Jenna will be visiting Segovia with her mom! I can't wait to see her!!


LOS COLTS/LOS SAINTS
I watched a live feed showing the colts make it to the super bowl. I was so excited and knew I wanted to watch the game here along with a bunch of other students from Indy. Our site director called a bar close to our school and asked them to stay open for us. So a bunch of dedicated students made their way at 12am on a Monday morning to watch the super bowl. We all brought snacks and sang the national anthem with all our might! It was cool to have a group of people from all over the US to watch the game together. It was also fun to think of all the people watching it back home. However, I did miss watching it with close friends and family. The girls and I decided we were each other families for the night. The annoucers were speaking Spanish (Big surprise!), and there were no commericals. It was like we were at the game seeing all the time outs and everthing. We were all kinda disappointed about that. By half time, I was exhausted and few of us decided to call it a night. We waited till the half time show, which was very disappointing, and then we left with the colts ahead. I thought for sure we had the saints, but I guess I was so tired, I forgot what they can do with a whole half left. It was fun to watch it for a while, but I am glad I went on to bed instead of watching the colts lose. Oh well-It was just fun to be able to watch Indy’s team play. I look forward to watching the super bowl in the US next year. I’ll probably think- Oh wow time flies- a year ago I was in Spain! :)

Passionate people..

Guess what I found out the other day...?
According to our site director, Marian, Spaniards may seem like they are yelling and fighting a lot, but they're not. They may raise their voices, cut one another off, and get very close to each other's faces; but they're not fighting! They're just opinionated and passionate people!haha
When I commented the other day about Julia, her sister, and la mama "talking intensely", now I know that they're just passionate and opinionated. :)
In my opinion, that should be one of the first things in the -things to know about studying in Spain packet-(which doesn't exsist..yet)! :)

Preparados, Listos, Ya!

It is now the start of my fourth week in Spain. I actually have time today, so this might be a long entry.

Like I said in my last entry, I am getting used the routine here and it feels like home (at least as much as Spain can feel like home). I noticed today in my classes, I was no longer translating what my professors said in my head to English. I don't know when I stopped doing that, but that's encouraging to me. It's almost been a month and I feel like there's no way I'm going to be where I want to with Spanish when I leave, but at least I can see some improvement!

This last weekend was my favorite in Spain so far. On Friday, we technically had classes, which is rare here. However, it didn't seem like a regular day of classes at all. For grammar we met in a cafe and talked and played card games. We played a game like spoons, but instead of grabbing a spoon we smacked our hands in the middle of the table and said, "Burro", which means donkey. Our professor would call out "Preparados, listo, ya"(ready, set, go) and we would switch cards. I like the spoons better, but it was fun I hope to find the cards here and bring them home. For my civilization class and European Union class we went to the Castle here in Segovia. They call it the Alcazar. It's my favorite castle I've seen so far, which is nice since it's in my city. I think of it as a mix between a castle and palace. It has a lot of history. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella lived there and supposedly this was the castle that Christopher Columbus came to ask for money for his voyage. (I'm pretty sure that's what my teacher said) I thought that was pretty cool! In literature class it was just the same old stuff. I don't think the prof. knows that the other classes actually have fun every now and then! ha

That night was probably my favorite night in Spain. I bet you're expecting something grand...we got to hang out at a friend's HOUSE! (Sorry to disappoint-nothing huge) My friend Allison's madre said it was okay for her to have us over. It was so nice to hang out, watch a movie, and eat junk food! We just had a girly night and it was great! People here think that's weird, so I was surprised when her mom said, "our house is your house!" We definitely hope to go back there sometime.

Saturday was our trip to Toledo, which is about 2 hours south east of Segovia. We took a bus to Madrid. From there we got on the metro to get to the bus station that could take us to Toledo. It was a bit confusing, but we finally got there around noon. Toledo is a lot like Segovia- Small with quaint buildings and stores. We walked around a lot! It was a beautiful day so we found a spot by the river and just relaxed for about an hour. Then, we decided to leave early for Madrid. There are always things to do in that big city! We took advantage of the last days of the huge sales in January and walked around some more. (By the end of the day I was so sore) We ate dinner at McDonalds, which I actually look forward to here and we made our way back to Segovia. Fue una dia completa!

Sunday was a lot more relaxed for me. I woke up that morning because Julia got a call around 8am. Then when I woke up to start the day, she was gone. Her younger daughter, Diana, was having her baby! I got ready for the day and I went to church with Sam and understood a lot more of the sermon this time. I ate with La mama, Mirian(Julia's oldest), Jose (Mirian's husband), and Diego(their son). It was fun to have them around. They come a lot on the weekends. It's a lot more like my house when they're around. Around 4 Diana had her baby girl, Alejandra. Everyone rushed to the hospital to see the little one, and the house was silent! I had never had the house to myself before. I loved it!! I fixed my own food, and turned up my music a little more than I usually would. Overall, it was a great weekend! :)

Today is a beautiful sunny day. (Sorry I can honestly say I do not miss the Indiana weather)I just got done eating lunch. Julia wasn't here. I asked la mama if I could make her anything, but she wouldn't have that. I made a sandwich for myself, but when la mama saw me she told me that wasn't enough. She said I should've told her I wanted to eat, but I was honestly fine. She started warming chicken for me, pouring my drink, and slicing my bread. It was nice of her, but I want to be able to help out sometimes too. I got to eat by myself, which was nice, but I don't think that will happen again.

Now la mama, Julia, and her sister are in the kitchen talking intensely about something. It sounds like they're yelling at each other, but I don't think they're mad. They talk so fast and never wait till the other one is finished. Wow-if only you could hear them! ha

I have been busy planning for spring break. I got the news this past week that my mom can come visit me! I am so excited, but I have been working hard to figure out our traveling plans for the week. It looks like we will be heading to Rome, Segovia, and London! I never thought I would actually be planning a trip like this, especially my sophomore year of college. It makes me actually feel pretty responsible. However, it is a bit frustrating at times. I am nervous about all the transportation, but I think we can do it! Mom will be traveling with Sam's mom over here, but making her way back solo. I'd appreciate your prayers for safety in that! I miss you all- Thanks for reading!