Viva Nerja

The second weekend in March, I was planning on going to Málaga to check out the costal town just south of Sevilla. I figured it’d be a fun, easy weekend trip and I’d get to catch some rays since it was starting to warm up in Andalucía.

I keep up with some blogs about Spain, and one the day before I was going to buy my ticket to Málaga, I read a post saying not to bother with its busy beaches, but to opt for a little bus ride eastward to Nerja.

Nerja is a gem. It’s a little beach about an hour east of Málaga on the Costa del Sol in the South of Spain. Away from the big city, it’s a small “pueblo blanco,” which means all of the buildings are painted white to keep away the heat. My pal Veronica and I decided we wanted to check it out Wednesday, picked up tickets on Thursday, and went on Friday. Nuts? Nuts.

We bussed it to the quaint little town, and it’s precious. Yep, precious. Found out a few weeks later that Nerja is Rick Steve’s favorite beach in Spain. Respect the Rick! Veronica and I had a great 2 days in Nerja. Stayed at the nicest hostel of my life, outfitted with TVs, individual showers, fluffy towels and a tea maker.

We spent our 48 hours wandering around the whole town, relaxing on the beach, swapping stories/laughs and frequenting a heladería. Proudly, we became regulars at the ice cream shop in 2 days.

On Saturday, we took a little trip to a nearby pueblo blanco, Frigiliana. It’s famous for it’s honey, Frigilianian dessert wine, and its pottery. Had an absolute blast trekking uphill through the small streets of what felt like an Andalucían secret.

Small town Spain? I’m into it. No metro, no problems.

Viva Suiza

I’m a person that takes words very seriously. Having said that, I recently spent 6 of the best days of my life in Switzerland. What a trip. Ever since I met a man in Colorado this December that offered a place for me to stay in Zurich, I’ve been wanting to work my way over to “Suiza,” as they call it in Spain.

My trip was split in half... first 3 days were spent with TCU friends and the second 3 were spent with new pals studying in Sevilla. Hopped on my first ever Ryan Air flight on Thursday morning... 5 am wake up call to catch a sketchy flight... gotta like that! I flew with my new pals who I’d be meeting up with in Zurich, Bridget and Anna Kate, to Barcelona. Next came a 4-hour layover, which sounded miserable... until I saw the Barcelona airport. It’s a beaut. I would live there. Any airport that has a sunning deck with an outdoor Hagen-Daz gets an A+ in my book. I flew from BCN-ZUR, and then hopped a train from Zurich to Interlaken. It should be known that Swiss trains are incredible. After 15 hours of traveling, I was finally at hostel, sweet hostel in Interlaken!

In the middle of the night, my TCU pals that are studying in Florence arrived to our hostel! My heart was FULL and I couldn’t wipe that happy smile off of my face. Eight of us – Kathryn, Rachel, Moriah, Kacy, Michael, Robert and Brandon. It was incredible to be with people who really know me. Much needed and extremely refreshing!

Friday morning, we all wanted to take advantage of the adventure that Interlaken has to offer. Some wanted to sledding, some were going to go canyon jumping, some wanted to go paragliding. My friend Kacy and I were talking about the possibility of going skydiving on that Sunday, so we decided to ask if we could put a deposit down. When we asked the man at the desk, he said that the beautiful weather was supposed to turn soon, so we should go today. We decided to find out more info. When we came up to the skydiving instructor to ask if we could book for later that afternoon he asked “You girls here for skydiving?” “Yes! We have a few questions...” “Our helicopter leaves in 30 minutes, let’s go!” What? Within 1 hour of telling Kacy I might want to check out skydiving, we were suited up, strapped tight, and waiting for our helicopter. INSANE.

Kacy and I were first up. I couldn’t really comprehend what was happening, but it got real when my hair was whipping back in forth (not volitionally) underneath the helicopter blades. Nuts. The heli ride up alone would have been worth every penny. It was incredible – the view of the Alps & all of Interlaken... dang. What a Creator we have. I may have shed a tear – it was so beautiful. Summits with no tracks, unchartered territory, waterfalls that were starting to melt... incredible.

Now – time to jump! My jumper, Tony, and I scooted to the edge. The next 6 seconds were the most peaceful of my life. Taking in the full view – no windows – and then slowly, sweetly pressing into atmosphere. Pure silence; pure beauty. Then FLIP FLIP FLIP TAP TAP ASSUME THE POSITION! We swirled around every which way and then the sky was zooming past us – it felt like we were perfectly still. My cheeks were flopping like a dog’s jowls out of a car window. After about 45 seconds of freefall, the parachute deployed and we floated through even more Alp beauty. We glided for a few minutes, I even got to steer some, and then we landed in a huge patch of deep snow.

IT WAS SO FUN, IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL, IT WASN’T SCARY AND I THINK IT WAS THE COOLEST THING I’VE DONE IN MY LIFE. All right. I think that sums it up.

The rest of the day was great. Adrenaline still in the system. Kacy and I walked around the city center in Interlaken, bought of first of many Swiss chocolate purchases, accidentally bought a $10 coffee drink, then met up with Kathryn and Moriah at the hostel. We all sat on the back porch of our hostel, swapped stories from our semesters so far, toasted with a bottle of wine and watched the sun go down behind the Alps. Yeah, yeah, my life is really hard.

That night the whole gang went out for a Swiss fondue dinner! Cheese fondue, meat fondue, chocolate fondue, it’s all good. I have a theory that anything you can eat on a stick is tasty. After dinner, we all enjoyed each others’ company, swapped stories, then called it a night.

The next morning, we decided we wanted to go hiking and sledding up in the mountains. After renting some hiking boots we made our way up to Grindelwald via Wilderswil. Grindelwald is a cute mountain town – absolutely loved it – so decided to stay for much longer than anticipated! We rented sleds and rode the gondola up the slopes as advised by some locals.

When we were talking about going sledding, I was thinking like maybe a hill or two... NO. This was sledding on crack, ‘roids and protein shakes. We had our little rented wooden sleds, dressed in leggings and flannels – and everyone else had on full ski gear to do the same exact thing. What we thought would be a 20-minute joy ride turned into a 2 ½ hour sledstravaganza!!! I haven’t smiled and laughed so much.... maybe either since I saw Charlie Bit Me for the first time or when the Frogs won the Rose Bowl. So good.

K-Waggs and I grabbed some mid-sled cider on the side of the mountain. I can’t express how perfect this was. One of my greatest friends in the world, one of the greatest views in the world, great conversation, warm drinks, numb rumps. I was on cloud 927. After we finished our descent, we were completely wiped out. Ate some incredible cheese for dinner, made our way back to Interlaken, pubbed, soaked up our last few hours together, then hit the sheets.

The next morning we said our goodbyes, and I hopped on yet another amazing Swiss train. It was a beautiful ride next to the lakes that surround Interlaken. Interlaken means “between lakes.” Once in Zurich, I grabbed a tram to the next location. My first experience with couch surfing! Couch surfing is an online network that hooks you up with hosts in foreign cities – crash on their couch for free! I met Bridget, Anna Kate, and Dexter at our host family’s home. Our host family was incredible! Andre, Laura, and their sweet daughter let us stay in their flat in exchange for some good American cupcake recipes... yeah, I like the way they think!

They prepared a traditional Swiss meal for us, raclette. In the middle of the table was a little stovetop with 6 slots for these little pans we had. On the pans we put grilled onions and cheese. Oh, cheese. After popping those pans on the hot surface, we mashed new potatoes on our plates, then after about 5 minutes placed our delicious melty cheese concoction on the potatoes. Toppings included, curry, garlic sauce, spices, pineapple, bacon, and the lot. It sounds weird, but man, it was incredible. Best meal I’ve had this semester!

That evening, Bridge, AK and Dex showed me around Zurich. My favorite things were the clock faces! They are big and beautiful. There’s a clock face even bigger than Big Ben in the city. We got to see some of Zurich’s Carnival... some crazy sights to see! Big bands, intricate costumes, good times. We explored Zurich’s nightlife and have some great stories involving an Australians, Burger King, Spanish bodegas, being serenaded, elderly Chilean men, piano bars and the lot, but it’s too much for this never-ending blog post.

Monday morning, the girls went city-hopping. Basel and Bern were on the list! Snagged a train to Basel first – we went to see their version of Carnival. It was an incredible time! The city has an Austin-like feel to it. Hip feel, fun graffiti, interesting people. One of my favorite things in the city was going to the top of its cathedral. We snuck into the bell tower, felt like sneaksters, and got THE greatest view of Basel!

The Carnival parades were insane. I literally don’t know how to describe them. The people on the floats would throw candy, fliers, oranges or confetti at the spectators. Our luck: ALWAYS CONFETTI. And 2 oranges! Seriously, we were picking out confetti from our hair ‘til the next day... I also found some in my boot today (25 days after we were in Basel).

Another Basel highlight: BRATWURST. Brats off the street – no other way to do it! Delicious.

Next stop: Bern, the capital of Switzerland. I would love to say that we saw all of the sights and loved every bit of it, but the truth is that we barely saw the city. We grabbed some chocolate and drinks and watched the sun set from the river behind the building of parliament.

It was one of the greatest moments of this semester – life chats, good friends become great friends, river, chocolate, Alps, bridges, Switzerland. It was all of Bern that I needed to see! After a few good hours, some walking around, and a Toblerone McFlurry we were back on a train to Zurich.

We played Swiss board games with Laura and Andre late into the night once we got back to the house. They were in German though, so we were lucky to have some translators! That night, we late-night feasted: brats, homemade icing, apples, cookies and cake. We are obviously well versed with the food pyramid. Well done, crew.

The next morning meant going to the airport to head back to Sevilla. It was another full day of traveling, but worth all 16 hours!

What... a... trip. I still get giddy anytime anyone says Switzerland. Overall – I’ve realized that it’s all about whom you share life with. I’m so grateful to have some great, adventurous company abroad and at home.

Viva Granada

Our first weekend trip was to another Andalucían city, Granada.

I give Granada an A+

It's like the Colorado of Spain! Mountainous, hippie, full of great.

The Alhambra with some Sierra Nevada thrown in there.

We left Sevilla on a Thursday evening train. It's about a 2-3 hour ride to the east from Sevilla. Discovered that I LOVE TRAINS. We take trains almost everywhere over here - they're flexible, relatively cheap and you don't have to worry about the size of your luggage.

Because this was our first weekend trip, that means that it was our first hostel experience as a group. I traveled with a group of 5 girls and we planned on meeting up with other friends once we were there, so we all booked the same hostel. I decided to make the reservation for us 5 so we would be in a room together.

Me, Veronica and Claire, triple bunking at Makuto Hostel.

That all seemed fine & dandy until we got to our hostel and found out that I had made the reservation for the wrong weekend. Whoops. The hostel was booked up! Double oops. Even at 11 PM, the man behind the desk was sweet as could be and helped us find a place to stay. We girls walked the dark, narrow, twisty, ill-marked streets of the Albaicin until we stumbled across our new hole-in-the-wall hostel, Makuto. It's a hippie heaven there - hammocks, tree house and kum-bah-yah circles were all there. That night, we met our friends at an Arabic tea house for some chats & laughs.

Granada has a huge Arabic presence... who knew?

On Friday, we woke up planning to go into the Sierra Nevadas. Some of our friends were going to ski & board, while the rest of us just wanted to sled & play in the snow! Mature. Well, after a series of events, we missed the last morning bus up into the mountains by 2 minutes. Plan B? Grab some coffee, move hostels (Makuto didn't have enough room for all of us to stay 2 nights), then go for a hike in a nearby town, Monachil.

Even though our new hostel was 0.3 miles away according to Google maps (is the best - true dat - double true), it took us an hour to find because several streets were mismarked and the numbers were out of order. Welcome to Spain! If you're going to get confused in a city, it should be in Granada. The little streets of the oldest part of town, the Albaicin, are so gorgeous and you really can't be frustrated when you're surrounded by that much beauty.

Moving hostels, getting lost, and takin' names.

We checked into our new, beautiful hostel (White Nest - highly recommend if you're staying in Granada!) and were so pleasantly surprised to find that we had heat, a room to ourselves, free towels, sheets, and our own bathroom with all the hot water anyone could ever ask for! Hostel heaven. Next endeavor was to buy tickets to see the Alhambra the next day.

On the way to buy tickets, our afternoon plans suddenly changed when I saw it there. In the town center. A segway. Calling my name. Silly confession: I've always wanted to ride a segway. It has seriously been on my physical bucket list for so long, but I've never gotten to cross it off. UNTIL NOW. Long story short, instead of hiking, we got to go on a segway tour of Sacromonte, an area of Granada famous for its caves! The tour was so fun. I couldn't wipe the stupid smile off of my face the entire 2 hours. We even got to sport these neon vests and silver helmets that say "I'm not a tourist!"

Go frogs, go segways!

A cave bar in Sacromonte. If you look closely, the sign over the door says

"Cocina del corazón mío" or "Kitchen from my heart"

After the tour of a lifetime, we booked it uphill through the albaicin to catch the sunset at Mirador San Nicolas. Everyone we talked to in Granada recommended that we go there, and man, they were spot on with their rec. It was a beautiful view of the Alhambra, mountains and city of Granada. We got to sit back, relax, and let the Lord do his thing with the sun.

Sunset from Mirador San Nicolas

After we got cleaned up back at the hostel, we had to go grab tapas. Tapas are special in Granada because they are FREE! High fivin' a million angels. All you do is buy a drink and they bring you food. Now that's my kind of city.

Through the magic of facebook, I got to see an old friend when we went out that night! I met Elita during my junior year of high school when I went to Europe for the first time. Our two high schools used the same tour agency to travel through London, Paris, Rome, Florence and Assisi. We got to be friends on that trip and it just so happens that we are both in Spain this semester. She met us for tapas, and we got to catch up on the past 4 years. What a great night. Another fun fact, she's a Chi O at the University of Evansville. Sisterhood!

Elita!

The next morning, we woke up early to go to the Alhambra, Granada's most famous sight. You could spend DAYS there. It's a huge Moorish-built palace that was taken over by the Catholic Kings after the Reconquest. It was intricate, completely beautiful and massive. I can't really describe it much more than that. My favorite part about the Alhambra was all of the patterns, tile work and colors throughout the grounds. It's really incredible.

Tiles and Darcie

After walking around for half a day, we left the Alhambra and grabbed lunch back down in the city. We were exhausted after a full weekend in Granada, so caught an early-evening train back to Sevilla.

Here's to good times in Granada. I'd love to go back when it's warmer and see more of what the city has to offer. We were happy to be back in Sevilla after a great weekend!

post-script: Granada is the home to some of the greatest graffiti I've ever seen! There's even tours dedicated to their graffiti. Google it.

Viva Ronda

Took a little day trip to Ronda

It was a quick 1.5 hour bus ride through some beautiful, mountainous Spain. Ronda is where bull fighting first started in Spain. That's pretty neat! It's a small city with some incredible views and quaint streets, but it may be best known for Puente Nuevo... this incredible bridge:

Got to trek down into the valley and see this beaut from some places that Robert Frost would have been proud of. We spent most of the day in Ronda ditching the map, getting lost and seeing what we found.

Perhaps the most exciting find of the day was a restaurant where we stopped for café con leche & a little dessert... it had a FIREPLACE! A fireplace. Sounds common, but man, that was the first one I've seen in month. Since residences and many businesses don't have central air in Spain, it gets very chilly indoors over here, so having a real live fire to defrost our popsicle fingers was really just wonderful.

Fun fact: Spain is the second most mountainous country in Europe. Glad I got to see some mountains in Ronda & I'm looking forward to many more! Overall, a great day outside of Sevilla.

Viva Córdoba

We celebrated our 2nd full week in Sevilla by getting out of Sevilla.

We took our first day trip to Córdoba, a historic little town that still has traces of its Moorish and Roman roots. Consult the map if you're curious:

We woke up early and caught the 1 1/2 hour train from Sevilla. Trains are fun because you can sleep really, really well on them! Once we arrived, we grabbed a map and started heading to the Mezquita, Córdoba's must-see Moorish mosque-turned-cathedral. On the way we managed to find the most entertaining playground I've seen in all my days!

Proof that we had fun.

After taking in the city for a while, we made our way to the Cathedral. I was absolutely amazed by the Mezquita. Jaw-dropped & wide-eyed. This place is MASSIVE - and the mix of Moorish influence overridden by the Catholic kings was just so breathtaking. I know I sound like a complete nerd right now, but I will happily embrace it.

View of the Mezquita's bell tower from the courtyard.

Those famous arches! The Moorish influence lives on.

Even though it was build in 600 CE, it doesn't get old.

After our time at the Mezquita, we had a very Spanish lunch. Here, instead of dinner being the most important meal like in The States, lunch is! We found a little restaurant and ordered a traditional meal de Cordobes: a cold creamy tomato soup, flamenquín, patatas, flan and always café con leche.

What is flamenquín, you ask? Well, I didn't know what it was when I ordered it. It's pork wrapped in ham and filled with cheese, then deep fried. Deep fried pig on pig on cheese. I'm glad I found that out several days after I had eaten it. Oh well, you know what they say, when in Córdoba!

El Puente Romano

We tried to go see the Alcazar, the palace where the Catholic Kings lived once they overtook Córdoba, but it closed right when we walked in. Rain check.

We explored the city more and took a stroll across the famous Roman Bridge. This thing is incredible! It stretches over the Guadalquivir River, which runs through Sevilla, too. We took a little nature nap-ski in Parque Miraflores, then finished off our time in Córdoba with a nice glass of wine at a restaurant nestled in the middle of one of the city's beautiful parks.

All in all, I give Córdoba an A. Beautiful, historical, quaint town with plenty of sights to see and adventures to be had. I really liked taking a day trip because we didn't have to deal with luggage or hostels, and still got to eat/sleep at home.

Weekend for the win!

Football VS Futbol

Each person that I’ve skyped or emailed with has asked me the same question: what’s the best thing you’ve done so far in Spain? Answer. Daily double!

This past weekend our great little group from TCU got to experience something extraordinary. We scored tickets to the Sevilla vs Betis futbol match! On Thursday afternoon, we made the 80-minute walk to the Betis Stadium to wait in line with the locals for tickets. We waited for the gates to open & grabbed some pretty cheap tickets, or “entradas.” We were very pleasantly surprised that we got 11 seats together because this game was sure to be packed!

The rivalry between Sevilla & Betis is to say the least, intense. It’s difficult to explain. Both teams are from the city of Sevilla, so bragging rights are on the line. Betis boasts green and represents the poor country folk, or people from “el campo” & the Sevilla fans bleed red and typically represent the wealthier citizens of Sevilla. The teams don’t play each other every season because of division classifications, but when the stars align, oh man, it’s ON!

My roommate Claire and I decided to root for Betis because our señor, Miguel, is from Betis! Plus, it’s the “people’s team.” Power to the people. Miguel did warn us, however, that we shouldn’t wear too much green to the stadium because fans tend to get violent. Um, violent?

We took a taxi to the stadium, got there pretty early, and grabbed our seats. Hello, nosebleeds! The stadium started to fill up with green shirts & scarves once the starting time of 10 o’clock approached. It got to be about a quarter ‘til and we all realized that there was not a single Sevilla fan to be seen in the stadium. What? Also, we realized that the section where we were sitting was practically empty, but the rest of the stadium was full. Then we saw that our section was the only one partitioned off with bullet-proof glass. Uh... oh...

Notice the dispersion of fans...

Betis fans started to run up to the top row where we were sitting & looking over the edge of the stadium. I went to check out what they were looking at & then my jaw dropped. The Spanish SWAT team was escorting hundreds of rowdy, loud, proud Sevilla fans down the street. It looked like instead of parting the Red Sea, Moses just decided it would be easier to send it raging down the streets of Sevilla. At that instant we realized that all of those angry fans were going to be sitting in our section. Aw hail.

We ran down the stairs and the sweet SWAT teamers (never thought I’d say that) let us foreigners escape the danger zone and sit with other Betis fans. Once the Sevilla crowd started filling up their partitioned-off section, the stadium was a rage with middle fingers, cuss words, and derogatory sexual gestures aimed at their section. So many new things I got to learn! The sheer hate that Sevilla and Betis fanatics have for each other could be heard, seen, felt, tasted and even smelled. It was completely hilarious! Slightly frightening, but mainly hilarious.

Well, the game started and toilet paper started to fly. Hundreds of fans threw toilet paper and red streamers from the stands like they were TPing the stadium – it actually was slightly beautiful. Ironically enough, there was no toilet paper in the bathrooms. Rough. There were huge, intricate, offensive signs too! I’m telling you – the spirit in that place was crazy-go-nuts.

The actual game was a doozy! So fun to watch. Betis scored first, then Sevilla. With the score at 1-1, the tension in the stadium was palpable. My favorite part about the game was hearing/learning the cheers and chants from each team. I learned so many new offensive words! About halfway through the game we realized that 2 of our friends hadn’t made it over to the Betis section, and were trapped among the raging Sevilla section. Whoops! Another great part of the game was watching the SWAT team interfere when fans got too riled up on opposite sides of the glass. Classic.

Typical friendly neighborhood SWAT team

The game ended in a tie: 1-1. Betis clearly played better, but just couldn’t get that ball in the goal. The Betis fans left first, then the Sevilla fans were released about 45 minutes later so there wouldn’t be any intermingling or murdering. Good idea. All in all, the game was such a fun cultural experience! I’m really glad that the timing worked out for us to see the biggest, most passionate game of the season in Sevilla.

Me and my sweet friend Veronica!

Well, we’ve recovered from the aftershock of the big game and now classes start today. That means that the honeymoon period of studying abroad is coming to a close. Here’s to a great semester on the campus of Universidad Pablo de Olavide!

Vale la Pena

“I like being able to eat a big meal, take a nap, and not feel terrible about it.”

- Tyler Branson, our TA

If you want to just scan this post, honestly, read just this sentence and you’ll get the gist: I made it to Sevilla and I really like it. If you want to know the details – read on, read on.

I've been in Sevilla for a week now. I know I'm still in the honeymoon stage of studying abroad, but man, I am loving this country! I'll start from the beginning. Feel free to skim.

Last Thursday morning, after my last Chick-fil-A meal for a long time, I met up with my fellow travelers Nyla and Claire at DFW. We flew to Boston, had a two-hour layover and then hopped another plane to Madrid. We made friends in the airport (shout out to Bruna from Brazil and Spencer from Clemson and Dell from Morocco/Ft Worth!) and then made our final connection to Sevilla. Sevilla has a very small airport so GET THIS: we got to walk on to the plane from the ground!! I’ve always wanted to do that. Bucket list item: completed. Somehow, we made it to Sevilla with all of our luggage and sanity in tact. Boom.

We checked into Hotel Zenit Friday morning and then hit the town! Sevilla is relatively small for a big city if that makes sense. It’s got the extremes of very metropolitan and very quaint parts of town. First stop was Café Charlotte for lunch. First culture shock experience: how in the world do I order, eat and pay in another language? Actually speaking Spanish was not the issue – but the cultural context is impossible to pick up on without making a fool of yourself. We looked like “stupid Americans” for the first several meals, but we're finally starting to get it down.

After exploring the streets for a few hours, a big siesta in the hotel followed. Later, we got to meet up with everyone from the TCU program and our director, Mary Alice. We have a great group – 10 estudiantes strong! We are from all over the place, but we all get along wonderfully – seriously a great group.

Our first full two days in Sevilla were full of orientations and great meals paid for by TCU... score! We got to practice Spanish with some Sevillanos (people from Sevilla) and ended up hitting it off and we all went out together that night... talk about starting strong! They’re very friendly and proud of their city. Gotta like that.

On Sunday we got to meet our host families! This is what I’ve been most nervous about for the past couple of months. I am pals with the TCU girls that stayed with my host family, Carmen and Miguel, last spring. Thankfully, they gave us the DL on what to expect in the casa. Big thanks to Sarah & Kaitlin! Honestly. Carmen and Miguel are 2 of my new favorite people alive. After about 17 minutes of discomfort, we’ve been blessed blessed blessed with great relationships with them! I’ll do a post soon solely about Carmen & Miguel because they deserve it. But for sparknotes: they’re in their 60s-ish, originally from towns right outside of Sevilla, have 3 grown children, are retired, live the relaxed life, love olives and watch plenty of game shows

We live in a flat on what in America we would call the 4^th floor, but in Spain they call the 3^rd floor. Confused? Yeah, me too. We live in an incredibly great part of town named Triana. It’s where Spain has its folkloric origins... famous for pottery and flamenco. It’s right on the Guadalquivir River, which runs though Sevilla and is just beautiful. I also have a great roommate, Claire! She is from Arkansas and we have gotten to experience the adventure of every day together.

Since Monday, we have been going to intensive Spanish classes, drinking great coffee, speaking broken Spanish, trying to get used to the time difference, making friends from across the globe and enjoying siestas. New things have assimilated into my vocabulary... like Spanish idioms and “It’s only a 30 minute walk.”

Each day we wake up at like 7:30, eat cornflakes, walk a couple of miles to class, learn from 9-10:40ish, coffee break, learn from 11-1, walk home, eat lunch made by Carmen, siesta siesta siesta, meet up with friends for coffee or a drink, hang out with Miguel and watch a game show or two, eat dinner at 9ish, then “salir” con amigos and then go to sleep around 2. Viva la vida!

If you’re into it, keep praying that the Lord keeps bringing the good times, health and safety that I’ve been given so far. This trip has been full of opportunities to step out of my comfort zone. It’s usually worth it though! Pray for confidence and courage in the Lord, the ordinary, and even in my Spanish-speaking.

I’ll end with a cheesy thought that I have every day: I’m glad smiling is the same in every language.