Long time...no blog?

I failed. Pretty badly...no really badly...at keeping this blog updated. You see, I journal too for my own personal reading. Doing both seemed like it was taking me away from "real life" too often. Therefore, I cut back. Okay...well...stopped entirely. BUT, for those 10 of you following this blog, I am back! Maybe not for long. But, I will try. :)

Unfortunately, I can't give you an entire update on what happened in the last however many months in Spain. However, I will try to be super brief (which is not easy for me) in giving you all an update on what I did throughout the second semester.

After my trip back to Spain in January, I stayed with a friend Meredith in her apartment until my room was ready at the other building. Staying for the intended 5 days turned into like 3 weeks because the room wasn't ready quite yet at my actual apartment. The two of us had a great time sharing just about every moment of life together though. About 5 days in to my time with Meredith, I made a trip to visit my cousin Lucy who was doing a year of volunteer work in Liverpool. It was great to get to reconnect with her and spend some time getting to know the English culture. Especially their love of Take That II! :) After returning from Liverpool, Meredith and I made a trip to Barcelona together. It was amazing! I love that city! We saw everything from The Sagrada Familia to the Picasso Museum to Park Guell to the world-renowned architect Gaudi's houses to the Mediterranean beaches to the person-and-vender-filled boulevard of The Ramblas. We even made friends with Sergio, one of the workers at our hostel which had Thursday night parties with free sangria and paella. Free food is always a plus when hostel searching by the way.

In February, I started the long Robert G. Bone Scholarship process. The application literally took me all month. So much writing! Classes started on February 9. I ended up finishing pretty much all of my Spanish major in Spain with my three final required classes: Images of Women in Spanish Literature, Latin American Literature, and History of Spain: the Modern Era. Because I had extra classes that I could take, I decided to take Teaching English to Spanish Speakers and French! :) Good times and great learning! Learning French is way easier since having learned Spanish. So many similarities!

On February 17, I finally moved into my apartment with Cortney and Migue and a huge community of believers from my church. What a blessing! Well, minus the horrid cold. With the 30 degree temps, the incesssant rain, and the lack of heat in our apartment it was pretty dreadful. I spent all of my time in the apartment in my Under Armor, sweat pants, sweat shirt, bathrobe, gloves and a scarf....and I was still cold and still saw my breath in my room. Showers were pretty few and far between...simply because I never wanted to shed the layers. Also, in Spain, you turn the water on and off during your shower. Frigid. But, living with Shanda (a Canadian/Spaniard), Melissa (an American), and Ana (a Spaniard) was such a blessing! What a cultural experience! Every Wednesday night, our whole building got together for a tapas night together. So much laughter and wonderful food! Other than classes, scholarship apps, and moving, February was filled with friends. I spent time in Hannigan's (a local Irish pub with karaoke), Granada 10 (a discoteca) for Noemi's (a Spanish friend) birthday, and of course Café Fútbol (my favorite café in all of Granada). Ben, Meredith, and I spent ALOT of time throughout the semester chilling with our favorite waiter, Mauricio, and talking about life. So many good memories!

In the beginning of March, some girls from church and school decided to start getting together for a Bible study at my apartment on Wednesday nights. We went through some of Jesus' parables following the Bible study that my campus ministry back home was doing. This group of girls ended up being such an encouragement and a wonderful community of beautiful women seeking after God's heart together. We learned so much about the kingdom of God, its manifestation on earth, and our role in its coming through our study this semester.

Also in March, it finally stopped raining! It literally rained nearly every day from December to February. Granada had been experiencing a drought, but no longer! They got more rain in the month of January than in the past 5 years combined. Supposedly, they are set for the next 7 years. Good...I guess. haha. I really hated the rain. It was like England! :) But, at least it cleared up in March! This month, I continued going to visit Gloria as I had been the whole semester. Gloria is a 70-year-old woman with Parkinson's that I was partnered with through a volunteer organization that I joined in Spain. Each week, I spent a couple of hours chatting, sipping coffee, walking to a local plaza, or simply sitting in the house with her. She was probably one of the big highlights of my time in Spain. We had great conversations about heaven, about the church, about life, about politics, about marriage, about everything under the sun. She taught me alot. Alot about the worth of every life even those that are deemed invaluable in the eyes of society. She is precious.

In the middle of March, we had midterms and at the end, my brother and cousin Nick came to visit!!!!!!! It was soooooo amazing to see family from home and especially to have them get a glimpse of my life over there. I can't tell you what a comfort it is being back here having someone who knows about it. They know some friends; they know my "mamasita" (the woman I lived with first semester); they know my town; they know my favorite places. Such a blessing! The Sunday that they arrived, I picked them up from the airport in Madrid where we spent a day. Then we headed up to Barcelona where we spent 3 days. And finally, we went back to Granada where they spent the last 2 days. It was a whirlwind week but oh so good! :) In Granada, they even got one of the most cultural experiences in Spain...the Semana Santa. If you don't know what it is...wikipedia it. Really interesting.

April was my month of travels. On the 15th, I left for a trip to Germany to visit my friend Hanna who had studied in Granada the semester before. After a 12-hour layover in Barcelona, they cancelled my flight!!!!!!!!!! Due to....you guessed it...the volcano in Iceland. Boo! I ended up spending 36 hours in the airport, sleeping in the airport two nights, one night in the city of Barcelona (for the third time), spent a bit of time on the beach, a little time with Sergio (the worker from the first hostel I stayed at), and headed back to the airport on Saturday night at like 6. My flight was at 6 the next morning. Turns out, it got cancelled at 5:15 am on Sunday! So, I took the bus back into the city in order to catch a 15 and a half hour bus ride from Barcelona to Granada. What a weekend! Lots of time for reflecting, praying, and reading my Bible though! :) Good stuff.

The following weekend, I headed to Portugal with Ben and Meredith. What a delightful time with delightful friends. We spent the weekend in Faro which is southern Portugal. I enjoyed Portuguese, the beaches, an English breakfast, a little band rockin' out on Saturday night, a little taste of the fair in Sevilla, coffee shop moments, card games, and more with two of my best friends. It was truly a wonderful weekend.

And the last weekend of April, I headed over to Greg and Diana Vocks' house at Haus Edelweiss in Austria. Again, so good to see friends from home! They had a bed made up in their apartment with a purple and gold blanket just for me! Go Tornadoes! And, they had their Taylorville throw which nicely adorned their couch. :) Nice reminders of home. I spent the weekend on the campus, enjoying the cultural May Day festival, the bratwurst, the extraordinary architecture of the city both in day and night, a carriage ride through the streets of Vienna, the home of Mozart, and of course the company of Heldur and his gang from Estonia. I sang in the church service on Sunday. So cool! The service was translated into so many languages! Literally, probably 7 if not more. Definitely an unforgettable experience. Languages are fascinating in general, but to think that God understands them all is incredible.

In May, I finished up classes and made my rounds of goodbyes. Goodbyes to so many good friends...from church, from school, from Café Fútbol, from volunteer organizations, from language exchange programs, from my home in Granada. So many memories and so much life change. I may have left Granada, but Granada and its people will never leave me. ¡Hasta pronto, mi familia! ¡Os quiero y os echo de menos!

So much for keeping it brief. ;)