When life seems overwhelming..

I have been having trouble sleeping this week because I am anxious about coming home. I have forgotten to slow down and give my worries over to God. I was listening to music as I studied for my finals and came across this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KY8BCgX0dwg&feature=PlayList&p=0CC471A706179F5B&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1

I was immediately reminded of how small I am in this overwhelming world, but God made all of this and made me. He loves me so much. How could I ever forget? He has protected me this whole time in Spain. He is amazing! I just wanted to share that with you all. I pray you know the peace my Savior provides. Psalms 19:1-4

Our last Hoorah in Segoviah!

Friday morning the class went on our last excursion to the "mountains". First of all, we didn't have to leave till 11 so it felt great to sleep in a bit. The bus ride was about 30 min. of beautiful scenery outside of Segovia. I'd been there once before, but I could never get tired of it. When we got off the bus our professor, Edu, took the lead. It felt like we were walking through a lot of people's backyards, but I think they're used to it. I wore two light weight jackets because I thought we would be going up to the snow capped mountains. However, we just walked around at the base of the mountains. It got so hot. It was beautiful though. It was definitely my favorite excursion with the class: there weren't any lines, hardly any explaining from the professor, and it was a perfect day! We ate our bocadillos outside next to an older part of the aqueduct. Then as we walked back, we were walking through a field with a bunch of horses. A lot of them came right up to us. I really love horses so I thought it was great. However, our professor was annoyed. He was trying his best to scare them away, but they followed us anyway. Sam and I have decided we want to try to go to Browncounty, IN to go horse riding sometime soon. (Hopefully) I'm not sure how many miles we walked, but I loved it the whole time. It was the perfect start to the day.

That night, Sam's mom invited Becca and me "ir de cañas". Becca is her intercambio and since I teach English to her boys with Sam they wanted to take us out. We went to a place to get drinks and tapas. I got some drink without alcohol that tasted like grape juice. (At first I thought it tasted like apple cider, but they said it was grape.) I have never actually gone out for tapas with a Spanish family, so it was really fun! The boys just ran around outside and would come back to grab a tapa every now and then. We just talked with the adults and then another family came up and talked with us for a long time. It was so much fun! We just talked about girlie stuff and the guys talked about...who knows...whatever guys talk about. (Maybe the Real Madrid vs. Barca game) I loved talking with them and the best thing was that I could understand everything!! The other lady was Carmen and she loves to talk and it's pretty fast, but I was so excited that I got it all and could respond. I guess I've learned more than I thought.

We talked a little about the book Twilight, because Sam and Ester just finished reading it. Then we got on the subject of the new movie with the actor from Twilight in it and how all of want to see it. I asked when it was coming out and they said it is out...so I said let's go! ahah So we're all going today. I'm excited to see Carmen again she's so funny. I probably wouldn't be in such a hurry to see it at home, but I thought it sounded fun with them! We are going to go see it today at 6!

It was about 10 by the time we finished tapas. I hadn't seen Julia all day so I was worried that she would wonder where I was. I hurried back expecting to find her eating dinner, but she said she had just gone out with her friends and she wasn't really hungry. She said I could help myself so I grabbed a banana and was on my way again. That night were invited to our friend Stephanie's house to play cards. She lives on a military base because her padre is the Coronal. We played a game I'd never heard of before. We called it "Ahh Heck". I think it's my new favorite game. I'm just getting the hang of it, so I'm not good at all, but it's fun! It's like a game of solitaire with community piles. Have you ever played? If not, I'll have to teach you. I walked back to my house about 2 am. It was a very eventful day! I loved every min. of it :)

Saturday, I went out with Sam and we bought a few gifts for people at home. I still want to get a few things though. It's so fun to buy things for other people. I really didn't do much after that. However, at 6 I met my intercambios, Becca, and Sam and we made our way to the mountains. One of my intercambions, Aranzazu, climbs this mountain all the time. She was prepared with maps, sunscreen, water, Gatorade, and snacks. I didn't realize we would really be scaling a mountain. It was tough. At first, it was a steady incline, but soon we felt like we were rock climbing. As we got closer to the top, our breaths got shorter and our strides longer. I thought I saw the top, so I started singing, "We're half way there", but I was so wrong. At that point we were about 1/4 of the way there. When we finally made it to the top, it was BEAUTIFUL! We could see the mountains all around us and little Segovia was just a spec below us. It was hard work, but vale la pena. It was the perfect ending to the trip! When we got up there we took pictures, rested, and replenished ourselves for the way back down. By the time we got back down, it was almost dark. We watched the sunset as we walked down. That was definitely something I'll never forget.

At the end, I said good-bye to Aranzazu (one of my intercambios) for the last time. When we were walking down I told her I'd been listening to the music she introduced me to all week. It was a guy called "Mika". He's a singer from London. I really like him, but I told her I also wanted to find some actual Spanish music. Everyone listens to English music here. She gave me a suggestion and I said I'd look into to it. However, when I was saying bye she reached in her car for something and she came out with two CD's. She let me have Mika and David Bisbal! It was so sweet of her. I was so excited and have been listening to them ever since. (Like right now!) It was hard to say bye to my intercambios. Over all I had a great time with them. I thought we would still meet on Tuesday like every week, but since I have to study so they said this could be our last meeting. It was the perfect ending. I feel like it would've been harder to say good-bye if we had one more meeting.

After the mountains, I went to a bar to watch the Real Madrid vs. Barcalona game with a lot of people from my class. It's like their Super bowl, so all the bars were full of people. It was so fun! Most of the people in Segovia fans of Real Madrid, but a lot of students in my group like Barca. It wasn't a very good game for Madrid. The final score was 0-2, Barca. I know my professor is not going to be happy when half the class shows up wearing Barca shirts on Monday! haha The game was so fast. It's 90 min., but they always keep the clock running. It's not like watching American football at all.

Today, I actually started packing. I realized, there's so much I didn't need to bring. I have no idea how I got it all here in the first place. It's worse now, because I have more than I came with. I also studied, cleaned my room, helped Julia send e-mails to some of her former students, and spent time with Sam's family again. I thought I would just be going to the movie, "Recuerdame", with them, but we can't go out on Sunday without going for tapas. (Ps. it wasn't my favorite movie, It was okay. It was a bit of a tear jerker though. Yikes!)

After the movie, we went with Carmen to her "Finta", which is pretty much a backyard she shares with her whole family. Most of the flats here don't have yards, so the cobblestone streets become the playground for families. However, we learned tonight that people buy pieces of land for their run around areas. This "finta" had a pool, tennis/basketball court, lots of yard to run/ride bikes, and a little house (but they told us it's not to sleep in). They spend a lot of summer days and celebrations there. It was someone's birthday. The whole family was there, so we had no idea who's birthday, but we got to partake in the cake! hah And I must say it was really great. "Que cumples mucho mas!" (Thats part of a song they sing after Happy birthday and it basically means may you have many more!)

When they finally rounded up all the kids, we went out for tapas. I had no idea how long we would be and I was planning to study when I got back, but I figured, Hey you're only here once! They asked me if I'd ever seen the Alcazar (castle) at night and I hadn't, so we went to a place with a great view of the castle! It was a like an old tavern, very Segoviano they told me. It was a wonderful end to our last, eventful weekend in Segovia.

I learned a lot about Segovia even this last weekend. There is really no place like it. If you ever have the chance to visit Spain, please stay a few days in Segovia! The people and small city are wonderful. I will miss it dearly. However, I know there is no place like home! Ta luego :)

Semana Santa con Samantha!

This past week was Semana Santa or Holy Week, which is the week before Easter. A lot of schools/businesses close for the whole week to celebrate the holiday. We didn't have classes on Thursday or Friday so Sam and I decided to enjoy the warm weather at a beach! We were originally thinking about heading north to San Sebastian, which is right by the France border. However, we wanted a relaxing time without plans and with sunshine, so we made our way to Alicante. According to my intercambio it's like the Florida of Spain. Many retired couples move there and it's always full of tourists.

We left early Thursday morning on the bus to Madrid, to the metro, to our bus to Alicante. That was our last long trip transferring transportation like that and I can't say I'll miss it. However, it is nice to have something as fast and as cheap as the metro.

I spent a lot of the trip there and back looking out the window at God's creation. Spain is really beautiful. Even though it is a lot smaller than the US it has probably just as many terrains. I was in Valencia, which was my 5th out of 17 regions of Spain to visit. A lot of the trip was actually flat fields with olive trees, wind mills, and grass. Then as we got closer to Alicante, it became mountainous again; rocky mountains with the occasional cactus, which definitely reminded me of Arizona.

The bus stopped half way to Alicante for us to eat our bocadillos. When I got off the bus it was pretty chilly. I was worried that Alicante wouldn't be much warmer. However, when we finally arrived, I had to take my sweater off. It was warm and sunny, just what we were hoping for. Even though Sam and I were traveling alone at this point, we weren’t anxious like we have been in the past while traveling. We had no time schedule to follow and whenever we had a question we just asked. There were even a few times we weren't sure if we had passed our bus stop or not, but when we asked again we found that it was the next stop. Phew...perfect timing! Sam knew as soon as she saw tall buildings that we were getting close to the beach. However, I don't remember the last time I've been to a popular beach so it was all totally new to me: the tourists, people speaking English everywhere, the boardwalks, the tall buildings, the sounds of the ocean, and everything was so vibrant!

When we got to the hotel I was so excited to find that it was right along the coast.
We were all ready to check in, pay, and get settled. However, there was a little problem. The first thing they asked for were our passports and neither of us had them. Up until that point we felt so prepared. After trying to get a hold of our parents for awhile through e-mail, phone, skype, facebook, and Matt (Sam's boyfriend), we got it figured out. (Even though I'm all the way across the world.. It's nice to know I can get in contact with my family pretty easily!) The rest of the weekend was worry free!



Soon after we got checked into our rooms, we made our way to the crowded streets of Alicante. It was about 8pm and everyone was out enjoying the fresh, sea air. It's normal for families and friends to meet about an hour before dinner and go out for drinks and tapas(appetizers that usually come free with drinks) so there was that crowd. There was also touristy crowd (us), and the crowd out for the processions. To celebrate Easter they have parades with elaborately decorates floats with the cross, and Mary. The people carry the floats (I'm not sure what else to call them) are all dressed uniformly in what seem like choir robes. There are also men dressed in the same robes and also wearing masks the come to a point above their heads. They are a bit scary, like the kkk masks. Yikes! Kids also participate, but they are cute and carry candy in their pockets for anyone who holds out their hand. I was kinda nervous to hold out my hand. I thought they would say, "You're too old!" But I decided to go for it and as soon as I held out my hand I got a little jolly rancher looking piece of candy! :)

The next two days were a routine of nothing! It was great. We spent time reading and listening to music while enjoying the beach. I wasn't even going to try to go without sunscreen on the Mediterranean. I made sure to apply and reapply several times. I've learned my lesson. However, I forgot the backs of my legs. DUMB! The rest of the trip I had lobster legs..but the worst part was that it hurt to walk. I tried to ignore it though because nothing was going to put a damper on my trip to the Mediterranean! The next day, my legs did not see the light of day. However, I think there were enough half naked bodies on the beach to make up for my lack of showing skin. Bleh- That's one thing about Europe that I won't miss. ha

Since we would be spending Easter Sunday traveling back to Segovia, we wanted to make sure to recognize the day and give thanks, so we decided to get up early. We walked down to the shore to watch the sunrise. It was a bit cloudy, but still beautiful. We sang worship songs, read John 19 & 20, and prayed together. It was definitely an Easter I'll never forget. However, there's nothing like being with our families. We miss them and are getting excited about coming home so soon.


I know this trip abroad has been a huge blessing! I have learned a lot about different cultures, languages, and myself. Even before I was certain about coming, I was asking God to give me a BIG reason to come or not to come, but that never happened. I had the desire in my heart and God opened the doors. I thought I would learn huge lesson from the trip, but I think I have been learning several little things that will stay with me for life. Even just depending on God before anyone else. I still have 10 days here and I am trying my best to soak it up!

I have to go.. Our (Julia) "favorite" Thursday night movie is on. See you all so soon!