ONE WHOLE MONTH!

Yesterday marked the official one month of being in Spain! Looking back it feels like I've been here forever, but at the same time it's flyin' by! 

When I left off last week I was fighting a nasty cold so last weekend didn't consist of too much. Friday night I walked around the city with some friends & got yogurt and then just came home and went to bed. Saturday   I went and toured the palace in town with some friends and then later that night went to a bar to watch some Flamenco but the place was packed so a big group of people from our group sat outside in what is kind of the town center and bonded for a few hours which was really nice. Sunday I woke up to go to church but had no voice and didn't feel so hot so I slept in for a little bit and then met up with some friends to finish planning our Italy trip!!! I finished out the weekend by catching up with some Pastor Kieth aka Batman sermons, working on some homework, and looking into planning a trip to either Paris or London. Prettyyyy relaxing!

Monday it was back to the daily grind of class, nap time, planning trips, flamenco class, and planning a trip some more. Tuesday followed about that same pattern except for instead of flamenco class, we made hand painted Spanish fans... I'm SURE mine will be selling for 209834958349850 Euros by the end of the week! (haha). OH YA! AND!!!! I booked a flight to Paris for a long weekend with two of my friends! Wednesday I went to class, had some lunch, went to a cafe with some friends, watched a movie at one of our apartments together, went to our chapel-like service and then I met with my intercombio. My intercombio took me to this little restaurant that had a GREAT deal she said. When it came to our table it was two plates. One that looked like bacon that hadn't been cooked and the other was a plate of shrimp. The whole shrimp. Eyes and everything. For those of you who don't know, I am my father's daughter when it comes to food. I eat the same thing over and over and over again and rarely try something knew. My intercombio, Carmen, suddenly felt bad because she didn't even ask me if I liked these things. I told her, "No pasa nada," (its not a big deal). And copied how she ate the food. It was surprisingly not so bad, shrimp and all. I didn't get home until about 11:30 PM, which normally wouldn't be a big deal expect for I had to still shower and be up at 5 AM to leave to an overnight class trip. I took the shower, which ran completely out of hot water with half a bottle of conditioner in my hair, and then laid in bed WIDE AWAKE until about 4:30... so that was fun.

My roommate and I then got up at 5, managed to get ourselves together and headed to meet the rest of out group to board the bus and head 6 hours north-ish to Toledo. Even though I took Dramamine I still struggled with motion sickness but thankfully I slept most of the way and it wasn't too much of an issue. First we stopped at wind meals that had something to do with Don Quixote. Then, we arrived at our hotel, checked into our rooms, and headed out into the city. Thursday we saw a church, and a monastery and just wondered around the city. Today (Friday) we toured the cathedral and headed home. Something that I failed to mention is that this city is like at a top of a mountain, with curvy cobblestone streets. It was VERY pretty however, by the time the bus had wound its way out of the city, my wonderful  new found  car-sickness took over and I was miserable. Thankfully my Dramamine kicked in and I was out for a good long while and feeling mas mejor. (much better). 

Tonight we got back at about 9:30 and came home and had dinner with Isabel and now I'm blogging and heading to bed. I'm still feeling a little woosy from the Dramamine haha. 

It really is crazy to think that I have been here for a month. Looking back I don't think I prepared myself well enough before coming here. Up until about last week I just had this almost overwhelming feeling of unhappy heaviness because I wanted to be home so bad. Don't get me wrong, I was and still am enjoying my time here but it just felt like I was always carrying around this unwanted anchor that bring me down. However, like I said, something has changed and I feel a lot less overwhelmed, and way more confident that I can not only manage to get through this experience but thrive in it as well. Today one of my friends was saying how when she wanted to go she wanted her close friends and family to be able to tell a difference in her: spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Simply put, those have been and are my goals as well for the semester. 

Something that I had learned this past semester in one of my classes and thought, "Oh, this won't happen to me!" comes from my Intercultural Learning and Adjustment class: People (close family and friends) are going to ask and want to know about what all you're doing and how its going... but only to a certain extent. Don't get my wrong, this is not a bad thing, but again something I could have done a better job of preparing myself for. I know that it is impossssssiiiiible for anyone who isn't going through this experience with me to understand what it's like and what I am going through. On the other hand, I want so badly to maintain and grow the relationships that I have at home, but it's a pretty difficult task considering we're on two different playing fields now. All the while I'm in a completely foreign country, with people a barely know, learning a language I thought I already knew. Change of some sort is inevitable. 

I'm REALLY REALLY REALLLY REALLLLLLLLLY looking forward to this coming week! Grandma Joyce, my mom, and Allyson will all be here! I'm so excited to get to see part of my family & I have 2 days off from school so I get to spend even more time with them. Hopefully I won't get us lost and they will like it here as much as I do! 

I'm just going to stop keeping track of the amount of time I haven't worn sweatpants in public and will be sure to alert everyone the second I do haha. 

Be Kind, 

Audrey 

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind & compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

There's no place I'd rather be.

So for this week (3 weeks in, 1/5th of the way done) I'm going to go backwards because that's just what makes the most sense to me!

Tonight I'm writing to you all from my bed, while listening/watching the HU women's game. Senior night shout out to Allison, Sarah, & Lauren! Wish I could be there!!

Tonight I also had my second awkward moment with Isabel... today at lunch she asked me what I wanted for supper and I was so proud when she understood. However, I forgot that I was meeting with my intercombio (Spanish person learning English) at 9:30 and didn't really think about not being home in time for supper.

I met my intercombio, Carmen, after she got done with Pilates. To my surprise  Carmen is 40...which intimidated me even more because of how awful my Spanish is. But she took my to Mexican dinner in her fiat and we had a great time! She is also the sister of my teacher..Salva. However I didn't get home until about 11 and Isabel told me, "I wasn't worried about the food I cooked, I was worried about you!" Which was so sweet. I then shoveled down what she cooked me because I didn't have the heart to tell her I had already eaten.

For those of you keeping score at home...Salva hasn't always been my teacher. I made the decision Monday after class that I needed to be moved into the Beginner classes. After talking with the school's director (who is extremely nice, caring and understanding) we decided it would be best if I changed classes. AND WHAT A RELIEF! The class is waaay more laid back and I'm reviewing what I need to be learning and reviewing what needs to be reviewed. As some of you know, some aspects of school have always been challenging for me, and I've always had to persevere and get through and make the best out of the situations that I've been in. Without those experiences I don't think I would have been able to put away my pride and move "down" to the other class. This week whenever I felt stressed, overwhelmed, or like I just wasn't good enough, a song would always come in my head about God's strength. And honestly without His strength, I think I would be miserable because during class all I could think about was going home or being home or how much I hated it here. After class though I would enjoy myself. This class change thought as really made a difference in my attitude.

On Wednesday night we normally have a chapel-like service but tonight our student ministries coordinator was sick so it looked as if we weren't going to have it. Some students decided that they would just have a small worship time instead and I'm so thankful they did. We sang a few songs that I knew and then a new one that was AWESOME. All it says is this:

"There's no place I'd rather be, There's no place I'd rather be, There's no place I'd rather be, than here in your love, here in your love. Set a fire down in my soul that I can't contain, that I can't control. I want more of you God, I wan't more...."

While much more has happened over this week, I'm starting to settle in to a routine and find some normalcy, but there's still a constant nagging of missing home. After singing that song tonight though it kind of made me realize that no matter where I am, what I'm doing, I always have God's love, it's always there. Which is extremely comforting. I'm growing my relationships, somewhat learning Spanish, and just taking in the culture. I don't want you to get the wrong impression  and think that I'm hating my time here because that's not true at all. I really am enjoying myself.

I'm officially going to Italy for Spring Break:) Grandma, Mom, and Allyson will be here in two weeks :) And I start a new class on Friday! Again I want to thank everyone for their continual thoughts and prayers! Hopefully I will blog about something a little more interesting next time haha

I have yet to wear sweatpants in public,

Audrey

Lookin' back at week 2!

WooooW!!!!

I've been here just a little over 2 weeks... it doesn't even seem like it!

Thursday was Noche de Chicas! or ladies night. We all went to eat Churros con chocolate and then went to the Cetas to watch the sunset. (Pictures on my facebook) From the cetas you can really see the whole city. It was really cool to bond some more with the group as well as just reflect on the past week and take in all of the beauty.

Friday the whole group went to Cordaba, a city about a two hour bus ride away. During that bus ride I found out something new about myself... I am now a victim of motion sickness haha... so again, I slept the whole drive and didn't get to see the countryside, but at least I didn't throw up ha. In Cordaba there is a mosque, that is now turned into a cathedral (also pictures on facebook). SOOOOoooooo pretty. We then went to a Jewish synagog. By this time my brain was very tired of trying to translate that I didn't really pay attention but it was really interesting to look at everything. We then had some free time so a group of girls and I navigated to a plaza and ate our packed lunches and took in the beauty of the city. We got back on the bus and I slept my way home.

After we got back from the trip, Alyssa and I came home and relaxed for a bit and then ate dinner with Isabel. Afterwards we went and hung out with a couple of girls from Michigan. As weird as it sounds its nice to hang out with them because it somewhat feels like home haha. Gotta love the mid-west! Then it was sleepy time after we got done hanging out with them. It's been really nice to build some new relationships. It was something that I had been pretty anxious about before coming here.

Saturday we slept in a little bit and then met some friends and toured the cathedral in Sevilla. There is a really tall bell tower that you can go to the top of and see the city so we walked up the 34 ramps and 15 stairs. Wheeeeew! It was a pretty good workout haha but well worth the hike. Saturday was a nice relaxing day. We hung out in the city for a bit, hung out at home, and then went out with a group of friends for some yummy Spanish desert! Again, it was great to strengthen some relationships within the group.

Sunday we got up and went to church. It was of course in Spanish and 2 hours long which made it hard to pay attention the whole time. We then walked home. Currently the garbage men are on strike so there is literally trash everywhere and myyyy goodness does it smell! No one knows when the strike will be over buut hopefully it will be soon. I'm not 100% sure what we did the rest of the day Sunday.... I know we did some homework...maybe walked around but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Monday we got up for class and then I started planning a trip for spring break with my friends. Monday was also my first Flamenco class. It was really fun and I enjoyed it. Our teacher is so so so nice and encouraging. I miss dancing so it's nice to somewhat get back into the swing of things. I'm excited to see the end result of this class. After class we continued with our Spring Break plans. The original plan was to go to Rome and then Greece, but that just didn't work out. I cam home and then studied for my first test.

Tuesday (today) I went to school and took my test. Yiiiiikes. I didn't do so well at all. If you were wondering how you could pray for me it would definitely be with my classes. When I'm at school all I want to do is go home. Not like home to Isabel's apartment but home home to that house on Cherry St. that I used to hate but can't wait get back to. After I get out of class and vent to Alyssa and hang out with friends I'm back to enjoying my time here in Spain, but gosh... during class its a big struggle. After class we came home and ate with Isabel & took a siesta! We woke up and met some friends for a snack and then shopped a little. We then met the rest of the group at school and went out for tappas. Tappas are like appetizers  We went in groups of 7 with local Spaniards. It was fun to continue to build relationships with people in the group as well as local Spaniards. Walking around the city tonight I just kept thinking how beautiful it was. I don't think that its ever going to get old or set in that I actually live here.

In the last week I found out that grandma trout will be accompanying my mom and sister to Spain at the end of February! GAH! I'm so excited for them to come!

Also I took a nap today, had 2 cokes and coffee sooo going to bed at a decent time was kinda out of the question. Also a BIG shout out to the HU men's basketball team on the win tonight! As well as the game day crew putting out a great show and keeping the leak under control!

I miss home so much but I know God's got a plan for me here. Thank you so much for your continued prays and encouraging words! I think I'm going to make it haha!

Week 2 without sweatpants in public....,

Audrey