Pumpkin carving for the first time!!

 Friday afternoon, I spent the afternoon at Camilla and Allegra's senora's house.  We baked cookies and made caramel apples for the Halloween party at Nadine's house Friday night.  The above picture is the poster hanging in Camilla and Allegra's room.  They had no idea what it was from, but it's from the show "Tin Tin" that Amanda, Jessica, and I used to watch when we were younger.  I was really excited when I saw it, but not shocked to find out that they had no clue what it was.  Not many people seem to know about the show, but apparently it was a French show first. 

 Anyway, after a lot of baking and getting ready and figuring out the metro, we finally made it to Ciudad Expo.  This is a picture of us (trying to get the beautiful fountain in the background) on the way to Nadine's house for the party. 

 Here's a better picture of the pretty fountain!

 Here's a picture of all those that dressed up.  There was a costume contest and the "grandma" won.  :) 

 After the costume contest, we carved pumpkins.  Not sure how this was my first time ever carving a pumpkin, but it was.  As you can see in the picture, the pumpkins were TINY and very difficult to carve, but it was fun nonetheless.  For those of you who know me, I am not artistic/creative at all, so doing this was a pretty big deal for me.  Although Allegra did draw my little face on the pumpkin for me, I was able to successfully carve it out.  :)

 Here's a picture of Allegra's, mine, and Camilla's pumpkin (in that order). 

And here we are with our cute little pumpkins! 

All in all, it was a great night with awesome friends, great food (brownies, pizza, enchiladas, candy, cookies, chips, etc.), and exciting activities!  It was nice to do something a little different and to have a little taste of home at the same time.  :)

"What language is he speaking?!?"

So the past couple of days have mainly consisted of getting back into a sort of routine since returning from Morocco.  I find it very hard to get into a routine here at all, and for those of you who know me, I'm sure you realize how difficult that is for me.  I love routines and I love being able to plan and organize.  So not having a set schedule is really difficult for me.  But, it's the Spanish way of life I guess...so taking part in it is necessary.  But I can't wait to get back home and have a regular/normal schedule again.

I had a really weird moment today in my anthropology class - the first one of this type since coming to Sevilla.  (And now Camilla, I feel bad about picking on you about your similar experience!)  Since this is a 2 hour class, we have a 10-15 minute break after the first hour.  Amelia and I were just sitting in our seats talking about upcoming plans for the weekend, etc.  When the professor started class again, he started talking in Spanish - obviously - but I had a split second were I had no idea where I was, why I couldn't understand the language he was speaking in, or why he wasn't speaking English.  It was actually a pretty scary feeling.  Thankfully it only lasted a few seconds and me and Amelia were able to laugh about it after I told her.  I am not homesick, but I do miss home.  I love being here and love experiencing everything that I'm experiencing, but I miss the people and places back home. 

I went to the grocery store yesterday to get a couple of things to bake some cookies for a get together tomorrow night.  I realized after I got to the store that I had no idea how to say most of the stuff on my list in Spanish.  It took me a lot longer than I expected because I had to just find some of the things by random chance since I didn't know how to ask where they were because I didn't know the Spanish word for them.  I did ask for the vanilla extract, but the first, second, and third person that I asked had no idea where it was.  They directed me to a fourth person who guessed it was "2 aisles over," but I never did find it.  I'm going to go to a different grocery store tomorrow. 

I've been working on my law school applications a lot lately.  I have submitted Campbell and hope to submit Duke and Central's by Sunday.  Hopefully Carolina's will be submitted by the end of next week.  :)

Sorry for such a boring post.  Not many exciting things happening since Morocco.  Just class, homework, and law school apps.

"A whole new world..." (tribute to Aladdin...and Camilla's poem)

(Picture from the ferry from Spain to Morocco on Friday - Mediterranean)


 So in case you haven't heard, I went to Morocco this weekend.  It was, of course, my first trip to Africa and so I have now officially been to 3 different continents.  :)  The experience was different than anything I've experienced in my entire life.  Being from Nash County, in particular, there have not been many occasions in which I have been in direct contact with the Islamic religion and/or culture.  In Chapel Hill, it is more prevalent and I have come into contact with it, but nothing like the degree to which this weekend placed me in contact with this culture.  The Moroccan population is approximately 90% Muslim with the other 10% being a mixture of Jewish and Catholic.  That being said, the things that I saw in Morocco (from architecture to food to the people) were very different from what I expected.  Yes, I did have an idea of what I would see in Morocco but my idea and reality didn't exactly match up.  First of all, the land in Morocco is absolutely gorgeous.  There are beautiful mountains, amazing lakes and waterfalls, and stunning views of the coastline - both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic).  The architecture, for the most part, was really pretty as well (pictures below).  However, for a land so beautiful, there was so much poverty.  In Morocco there are the really rich and the really poor, there's not really a "middle class" per say.  That being said, we saw some very impoverished parts of the cities that we visited.  We saw children (and by children I mean generally under the age of 12) selling items in the street to make money (and basically harassing you trying to get you to buy it) and even begging for money at times.  We saw a very different type of society in general.  One of the things that surprised me the most (and made me the most uncomfortable yet also thankful for the life that I have) was the absolute repression of women.  I understand that the Muslim lifestyle is a way of life completely different than my own.  But I do not understand how woman can be so repressed and not rise up to do nothing about it.  In talking with Ythol about this today, in light of everything I had seen, we both remained baffled both at how, in the time that we are living in, women can think that it's okay to be repressed by men (as a society, as a whole) and men, too, have no problem doing it.  Yes, I do know that it is a different culture and I can not judge them for their way of life.  But at the same time, these are all just my opinions.  The thing must evident about this repression of women was that there were VERY few women that we saw out and about when we were walking around.  The large majority of the people we saw walking around, sitting at cafes and restaurants, and shopping at the market were men.  They sat and gawked at us, pointed at us, and openly talked about us (even though we couldn't understand Arabic, you kind of just know when someone is talking about you...especially when they are pointing at you and looking straight at you).  Our tour guide was even as open to tell us that Muslim men like their wives to stay in the house - pretty much to not leave the house at all.  They like for them to cook, clean, take care of the kids and not much else.  It shocked me how open he was about it and how very different this concept was compared to the society that I live in. 


Anyway, enough babbling about that.  On to some pictures!

 Allegra and I on the ferry ride from Spain to Morocco.  The sunset was absolutely stunning and you can kind of see the clouds with the pink tint in the background.  The ferry ride was nice but it was about 45 minutes and very "rocky" - as in I've never been on a boat that swayed back and forth so much in my life.  Thankfully I didn't get sick, but there were others that did. 

 Me on the ferry.  Tried to get the pretty background but it didn't really show up. 

 One of my favorite chica's ever - Camilla.  She reminds me soooo much of Jessica.  Camilla says/does stuff all the time and I go "that reminds me of..." and Camilla quickly finishes my sentence "...I know, your sister."  It's quite hilarious how similar they are.  This is our first picture in Africa.  On Saturday morning we took the bus from M'Diq where our hotel was to the city of Chefchchaouen.  We stopped at this lake that was nestled in between a couple of mountains to take a few pictures.  Absolutely stunning scenery.  :)

 This is the whole group from UNC that went on the trip.  Me, Amelia, Camilla, Ashley, Shannon, Allegra, and Tiffany.  :)  Love these girls to pieces! 

 Chefchaouen is known for it's gorgeous blue painted walls and doors as seen in this picture.  Of course the fact that it's Carolina blue makes it that much more gorgeous!  :)

 Another picture of the Carolina blue. 

 These are the most well known steps and doorway in Chefchaouen (as in if you google the name of the city it is very likely that this scene - minus me of course - will come up). 

 I don't remember taking this picture at all, but I'm soooo glad that I did.  It's probably one of my favorite pictures of the entire weekend.  The archways are gorgeous and so are the blue walls.  I love taking pictures and then going back to look at them and realizing that they are prettier than I thought they would be.  :)

 Our tour guide randomly stopped at on of the houses where the door was cracked open.  He pushed it open really quickly and told us to take pictures fast!  Aka we probably weren't supposed to be doing that.  But it was cool to see that the blue was continued in the house and to get a little glimpse of a typical house in Chefchaouen. 

 We stopped at a rug/blanket store on the tour as well.  This is just a GLIMPSE at the many options they had (our tour guide is in the background...sorry).  They laid out sooo many blankets and rugs, of course trying to sell us some.  The best part of Morocco is that you are able to bargain.  Good thing I had an amazing teacher - thanks Camilla!!  I didn't buy anything at this store - they were really expensive - but I did buy a couple of souvenirs and gifts for my sisters, parents, and Ythol.  I loved being able to bargain and got really good deals on everything that I bought.  I got an awesome black and purple scarf that is reallllly soft for 4 euro.  The vendor started out at 10 euro and then I slowly worked my way down to 4 euro.  It took me walking away a couple of times, but I got the price that I wanted so I was happy. 

 This is the restaurant that we ate at in Chefchaouen.  It reminded me soooo much of a scene from Aladdin.  The food was decent, not my favorite meal we had in Morocco, but still really good.  While talking about food, I'll go ahead and give a run-down of what we ate while there.  For dinner the first night we had couscous with chicken and vegetables along with a salad and flan and ice cream for dessert.  It was a good meal, but I'm not as crazy about couscous as everyone else was.  It was very grainy and sand-tasting to me and I decided that I'm definitely more of a rice person (haha Ythol).  For breakfast at the hotel there was a buffet.  I had a yogurt, small danish type thing, and three pieces of toast with butter and apricot jam.  My favorite thing was the toast...I had three pieces on Sunday as well.  It reminded me so much of home.  For lunch we ate at the restaurant shown above and had chicken and vegetables, a salad (which was more like salsa served with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives), and for dessert a bowl of fruit.  For dinner at the hotel we had soup, spaghetti, and dessert was a fruit bowl as well.  For lunch Sunday, we went to an amazing restaurant in Tetouan.  We had couscous with chicken and vegetables, salad, and an amazing custard like dessert.  It was my favorite meal of the trip and I ate wayyy more than I should have.

 A few of us at the restaurant in Chefchaouen.  Amelia, Camilla, me, Shannon, and silly Ashley. :)

 For some reason this is out of order, but it's us about to board the ferry to Morocco.  Shannon, me, Allegra, Amelia, Camila, Ashley, and Tiffany

.

 On the ferry.  me, Shannon, and Tiffany.

 It definitely started raining in Chefchaouen so we had to bundle up.  Tiffany and I. 

 Picture of the spices, dried fruits, and nuts for sell in the market in Tetouan. 

 Arches in the streets in Tetouan (the city we visited on Sunday).

 They dressed two of our group members up in the traditional clothes of Morocco.  As Ashley stated in her blog, it was a very uncomfortable moment for some of us.  She put it this way: putting the cloth over their mouths made her literally feel like they were covering her own mouth with duct tape.  I definitely agree.  It made me sick to my stomach to see it and to think about it now is still very uncomfortable. 

In the restaurant on Sunday with Camilla.  :)

 Our chicken and vegetable couscous on Sunday.

 Riding a camel!!! 

 With the Atlantic Ocean in the background in Tangiers.

 With Camilla. :)

 With Allegra at the Cave of Hercules. 

The Cave of Hercules with a view of the Atlantic Ocean.  It's supposed to be a depiction of the African continent when viewed from the outside. 

All in all, it was a very successful trip.  I loved experiencing everything and being able to spend the weekend with some amazing people as well as meeting lots more.  We were able to play a lot of Spades (I know you Murray's would have enjoyed that) and Camilla and I won a veryyyyy close game with Allegra and Shannon.  :)

Miserable

Today was a fantastic day!  I don't have classes on Tuesday's, so that was the start of the amazing day.  I got up kind of early and after my amazing breakfast of Special K, apple pie flavored, I started on some homework.  I was able to call and talk to Ythol for a while early this morning his time which was nice because our schedules have been so different lately that we haven't been able to talk much.  Afterward, I did more work until it was lunch time.  For lunch we had chickpea soup with chicken AND beef.  It was delicious.  Since our senora is really sick, poor thing!, and I was feeling a little icky myself, it was the perfect meal.  Oh, and for lunch yesterday we had REAL hamburger!!  It was amazing...one of my favorite meals so far.  She cooked it in the frying pan, much like you would if you were preparing ground beef spaghetti or taco, by breaking it apart in the pan (Rachel: us. tacos. ground beef. enough said. :P).  She added spices and sauteed onions and garlic and served it with white rice and homemade tomato sauce (much like ketchup).  It was delicious!  Lunch yesterday was also phenomenal because I was able to talk with my senora for a full 30 minutes about politics, war, and the history of US as well as the history of Spain.  It not only was a great discussion, but it was a good feeling to talk about a deep subject matter and be able to express myself in Spanish.  No, I didn't get every word exactly right and there were times when my senora helped me find the word I was looking for, but it was nonetheless a great feeling.  :)

After lunch I got an email that I had two packages that I needed to pick up.  I headed over to our program building to pick them up suspecting that they were from Ythol and mom.  I did get one from Ythol which was fullllll of goodies and useful stuff that I've been living without.  I got a bunch of snacks, a tide-to-go pen, a small stuffed animal, and headphones (mine broke a week ago).  But my second package was from none other than my best friend Kendall!!  It was FULL of snacks, pencils, sticky note pad, gum, a macaroni and cheese pack!!, and go-fish cards...haha.  She is AWESOME!!  I honestly teared up when I saw the return address on the package because it was a complete surprise. 

I stayed at our program building and worked on homework for a few hours (two tests this week) and then headed to the cafe downstairs to meet my intercambio.  Everyone in our group is assigned an intercambio which is a native Spaniard who is learning English and wants to practice.  We spend 2 hours a week with them, 1 hour spent talking in Spanish and the other spent talking in English.  Since they didn't have enough people to sign up there are two of us to each intercambio.  My partner is Carolyn who is a super sweet girl in our program.  Our intercambio's name is Isabel and she brought her friend Maria with her, who also speaks English.  It was SOOOO hilarious at first because Carolyn was not at the table when they first arrived.  Isabel and Maria introduced themselves in English and I begin to introduce myself in English as well.  As soon as I started talking I could see the confused looks on their faces.  I kept talking, but the confusion grew so I asked what was wrong.  Isabel replied, "No entiendo," which means I don't understand.  I wasn't sure if I was just talking to fast or what, so I tried to slow down, but they were still visibly struggling to understand me.  I suddenly realized that they were unable to understand me due to my "thick accent" as they called it.  I don't normally consider myself to have a strong Southern accent, but I have never felt so Southern as I did today.  It was actually quite humorous once I realized why they couldn't understand me because I had the same problem understanding the thick "southern/Andalusian" accent when I first got here.  Spaniards normally are taught English by teachers from England (because both countries are part of the EU and travel between the two is easier than travel between the US and Spain) so my intercambios were really struggling with my accent.  They eventually caught on and we had a nice time getting to know one another.  So you're probably wondering about the title of my blog since I had such an awesome day.  Well tonight Carolyn and I learned that in Spanish the word "miserable" is not used the same way it is in English.  Carolyn was describing how long and difficult one of her classes was and she said "Es miserable" (It's miserable.).  Both Isabel and Maria quickly looked at each other and then back at Carolyn with startled and confused looks on their faces.  Neither I nor Carolyn knew why they were so shocked and so we asked them to explain.  They told us that the word miserable in Spanish is ONLY used for serious things such as the death of someone or something completely revolting aka not used to describe a class.  It may not sound as funny in writing, but it was HILARIOUS to see their faces.  It's nice to be able to learn small stuff like that from native speakers.  Can't wait to meet with them again next week!

After intercambios I came home and watched a little NCIS online.  For dinner we had hamburger patties that were fried!!  They were delicious!!!  We also had the same tomato sauce to go with it and for dessert, my favorite, a pearrrr!! 

Sorry for the long post, it was an exceptionally great day.

Mom, here's the picture of Manuel.

Isn't he adorable?!?!?!?

Revisiting Real Alcazar, shopping, McDonalds, going to the market!!

 Saturday Paola and I went to the Real Alcazar.  I had already been with my program, but we didn't get to see it all and Paola hadn't been yet so we decided to go.  We got there about 30 minutes after it opened and there was already a line forming (although it was a lotttt longer when we left).  We got in free with our student cards and spent the next 2 hours exploring the grounds.  Above is a picture of some pretty tiles.  The entire place is very detailed and elaborate in its decoration. 

 For some reason I was really in love with this door.  It's just so colorful and pretty! :)

 This is one of the many patios.  The water wasn't as gorgeous as I thought it should have been, but the patio itself was breath-taking.

 This is a window shutter.  It reminded me a lot of the door (above) and it was very elaborately decorated.  Paola and I both decided that they reminded us of Aladdin.  Haha.

 Pretty doorway to the gardens.  Notice the Carolina blue archway.  (sorry some of it got cut out.  we spent the whole day dodging huge tour groups so I had to take my pictures really fast so no one would get in them).

 LOVED these steps!!

 In the gardens. :)

 Paola and me! :)  Although the picture didn't really capture the scenery that was around us, it's still cute.  (The guy that took it was struggling with the camera..haha).

 Pretty Carolina blue flower pot and upside down flowers!!

 For some reason this is one of my favorite pictures of the day.  Pretty fountain and awesome background. :)

Below is a picture of some really fancily "dressed" horses.  Not sure why they were there, but they were gorgeous.  And La Giralda of La Catedral in the background!!

The other day several of us went to a restaurant near our house and I got a strawberry crepe.  It was good, but too sweet for me!

After Paola and I went to the Alcazar, I did a little shopping in Santa Cruz.  Got a dress and a pair of flats -- both for really good prices of course!  For lunch we had McDonalds.  I know, I know...but I was craving something from home. 

Today I went to the market that's on the street behind our house.  They have pretty much everything from fruits and veggies to clothes, shoes, pajamas, curtains, jewelry, etc.  I got a skirt, pair of boot, tights, and a cardigan.  The total I spent was probably the equivalent of what just the boots would've cost in the US.  So not a bad deal at all.  :)

FIRST POP QUIZ!!!

Sorry I haven't really posted much this week.  Not to say that I have been incredibly busy, because I haven't been, but it has been a hectic week for me.  But let's see, the big events of this week...

I finally found the public library here in Sevilla.  Of course, for those who really know me, that is an amazing thing.  It means that I have more books to read!!  We do have a small selection of books that we can check out from our program's office, but it is a VERY limited selection.  So I'm really excited about being able to have a larger selection of books -- and they have lotssss of books in English.  :)  Plus it is literally right behind the University.  Which means during my 2 hour break on Thursdays I can go and get a little reading/studying/homework done. 

I also survived my first pop quiz in a Spanish university class - Social and Cultural Anthropology.  We aren't really sure if the quizzes are grade or if they are merely for the purpose of us being present in class to take them - but I think it's the latter of the two.  I'm pretty sure I remember our professor telling us on the first day that the quizzes were only to help our grade in the end - as in, when giving us a final grade for the class he references our quizzes.  Good news is that it's very likely that our entire grade is based on a paper for that class (since we won't be here to take the exam with the class in February).  Which means I'll be able to work on the paper from now until December and hopefully get a wonderful grade on it!

I had lunch with Paola and a friend that she met, Jessica, on Thursday afternoon.  We went to my favorite place in Sevilla - Taberna Coloniales.  It's the one that has the great food that I put pictures up of a while back.  It was nice to be able to get to know both of them and we had a really great time eating, talking, and laughing together.  Hopefully we can make it a weekly happening! :)

Tonight Camilla and I are meeting up to play cards.  We both don't really feel like doing much of anything, but kind of just want to get out of the house for a little while.  So that'll be nice. 

Tomorrow Paola and I are going to either the Fine Arts Museum or the Royal Alcazar (that I went to a while back with my program--we just didn't get to see it all!).  Definitely very excited about that.  I'll hopefully get to go shopping for a little while after that and then will probably spend the rest of the day working on law school applications.  Okay, not probably...definitely.  I hope to submit Campbell's, Duke's, and Central's tomorrow or Sunday at the latest.  Then I'll submit Carolina's by next weekend.  Pray that I get in to wherever God wants me to be! 

Foooooood.

Nothing too exciting happened today.  I had one class this morning at 8:30 and after getting to class there were only about 6 or 7 other students in the room (out of a 40-50 person class).  At about 8:45 the professor walked in and put a video in.  It was one of those cheesy educational videos (which was made by the professor who was also in the video herself) and lasted about 15 minutes.  Afterward, she lectured for about 10 minutes and then let us go.  I wouldn't have been so frustrated except for the fact that I had gotten up so early to go to class and it was supposed to be a 2 hour class. 

Anyway, after class I decided to make a couple of stops at stores on the way home.  I needed two more shirts because two of mine got ruined in the wash by a pair of my roommates really dark jeans.  I did wind up finding one shirt that I really like and it came with a necklace.  I also got a few other random things that I needed...nothing too important. 

Afterward, I came back home and our senora's two grandsons were over--which always makes for an interesting time.  They were very loud and rambunctious as usual, but cute, especially the youngest - Manuel.  He loves to give us kisses on the check.  It's so sweet.  I went back out this afternoon to find a couple of books for my classes, and before I left he came running to the door and signaled for me to lean over so he could give me a kiss.  Cutest. thing. ever. 

After getting my books for class I stopped at a restaurant called "VIPS" and got a milkshake.  I met one of the girls from Bible Study/church there and we fell in love with this place and their phenomenal milkshakes.  I got a strawberry one, and it was by far the most amazing milkshake I have ever had.  I will definitely be going back!

The main reason for this post was to share about what we had for dinner tonight.  It was probably my second favorite meal here in Sevilla (first being paella, of course).  We had a cauliflower casserole type dish that was made with a béchamel sauce and topped with the really awesome cheese that our senora puts on our omelets.  We also had a salad to go with it, which was delicious as normal, and for dessert we had apples.  They were cut up into bite sized pieces and they had a honey, sugar, and water mixture as a sauce on them.  They were fantastic.  :)

International Fair, trip to "Wal-mart", and church!

Friday night several of the students in our program got together to have dinner at the international fair that's taking place in El Prado (a park near the city center).  I went to the "Greek" food station and got a chicken gyro.  It was absolutely delicious!  They have SO many different types of food (food from France, Egypt, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Italy just to name a few...oh and of course from the US).  The US booth has BBQ ribs, french fries, and brownies just to name a few.  :)  After we ate, Tiffany and I browsed some of the vendors items.  I was mainly looking for Christmas presents and was lucky enough to get some really good deals.  I got something for Amanda and Jessica as well as something for Ythol.  I also bought myself a really nice belt. :) 

Saturday it rained most of the morning.  I know, I know...rain? in Sevilla?  But I am telling the truth.  It was pretty gloomy out most of the day until about 5pm.  At that point, all of a sudden the sun comes out and it looks like it never even rained.  After being cooped up in the house all day I decided to venture out to "Wal-mart."  Of course, there isn't really a Wal-mart, but the Spanish version of Wal-mart is called Alcampo.  Luckily for us, it is literally on the street behind our house.  It's built into a shopping center so there are a couple of other stores in the "mall" with it.  I first went to get some more hair mousse from a bath and beauty store and then wander into a couple of clothing stores.  I didn't have any luck finding clothes that I really liked, but I did buy a brown belt for....ONE EURO.  I was pretty excited about that.  Then I went into Alcampo.  I had been a couple of times before, but I had only looked at the grocery section.  This time I wandered into the other sections of the store.  I discovered that they have a "dollar" (aka a "euro") section kind of like Target's.  It has a LOT bigger selection of stuff though---it was about 3 or 4 aisles full of stuff for 1 euro.  Then I got a box of Special K because I was almost out.  After that I went back home and spent most of the day working on law school applications.  I'll be soooo happy when I finally get them all in! 

Today I met the girl that I mentioned in my previous blog post (that I met at Starbucks) to go to church together.  We were planning on getting coffee together first but we decided to try and find the church first and then if we had time we would stop for coffee.  Of course we got a little turned around but were able to find the church.  We went to a nearby cafeteria and got an orange juice and chatted for a little while before church.  The church service was a lot like a COGOP service back home.  It's an Assembly of God church which is Pentecostal just like the COGOP.  They sang several songs and even though they were all in Spanish, I could understand them and I really liked all of them.  The pastor preached on Galatians Chapter 2 11-21.  Of course there were parts of the sermon that I didn't understand due to the language barrier, but the majority of it (probably 95% or so) I did understand.  It was really cool to attend a service in Spanish....I really enjoyed it.  We had communion today as well, which was very similar to communion back home.  The only difference was that they used real loaves of bread that they broke into small pieces so everyone could take part. 

Well, I have class at 8:30 in the morning so I should probably head to bed!  At least it's my only class tomorrow and I don't have class on Tuesday!  Hopefully I'll do something really exciting in the next couple of days so I can share it with everyone! :)

Best night ever?!?!?

So tonight has probably been the best/most awesome night I've had since I've gotten here.  I went out to coffee with Nadine, the leader of a group called Students for Christ (which is basically a Christian organization for exchange students studying here in Sevilla--although there are chapters all over Europe).  We met at Starbucks (which is even more expensive here than it is in the US--think $5.50 or so for a small frappachino) and sat down on the comfy chairs just to talk before Bible Study.  There was a girl at a table right by us (like less than a foot away) who was on her computer with headphones in and doing some work or something. Nadine and I were just chatting about how things have been for me here in Sevilla and that sort of thing and she asked me what my biggest struggle since arriving here has been. I told her that it was the fact that I haven't really found the Christian group of friends/support system like I have back home. As SOON as I said that, the girl sitting by us leaned over and was like "excuse me, I promise I wasn't eavesdropping or anything but I heard what you just said about not liking to go out and party and everything, and well, are you Christians?" And Nadine and I both told her that we were. She told us that she had been looking for a good circle of friends and a Bible Study/church to attend while studying here. Turns out she goes to a university in Mexico  and is studying abroad here as well. We invited her to the Bible Study that we had tonight, but she said she had class from 7-8 so she couldn't make it. Nadine told her to stop by after her class (which she did, but only for a minutes because she had to catch the bus) and we all exchanged contact information. It was really awesome that we were in the right place at the right time.  It was one of the "God-moments."

After coffee, we went to Bible Study. We had 10 people (plus Nadine) and a couple of the students led the Bible Study. We talked about the leper who is healed by Jesus in Mark. Although that was the main topic, we kind of branched off and were all able to share and talk about our lives and healings and God's call on our lives. Since being here, I've really missed the Christian fellowship and the strong support system that I have at home. Don't get me wrong, I have made awesome friends in our program and love them all dearly, but there's something about the fellowship among Christians. So it was great to meet several other Christians and to be able to spend time sharing and talking with one another. Then after Bible Study we split into smaller prayer groups of 4 people and had time sharing and then we all took turns praying. It was awesome to be able to bond and share with a group of girls (the girls were in groups together and the guys were together) and really have that connection with one another.

I am also going to church with them on Sunday.  It is a Pentecostal church that should be much like the good, old COGOP so I'm definitely excited about that!  I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes...I think it will be so awesome to go to a service in Spanish!  :) 

Well, it's wayyyy past my bedtime!  Hopefully I'll be able to update you all again soon! :)

Weekend Trip to Granada

 

This is where I go to school!  Beautiful, huh?

 Sorry I haven't blogged in almost a week.  I had a rough end of the week last week and then we were gone Saturday and Sunday on a program excursion to Granada.  These are some pictures from the weekend there.  This is a picture of the Cathedral in Granada.  I really enjoyed visiting this Cathedral because in La Capilla of this Cathedral is where los Reyes Catolicos (aka probably the most famous King and Queen of Spain) are buried.  We got to see their tombs but we couldn't take pictures!

 A really pretty organ inside the Cathedral.

 Carolina blue ceiling!!

 Saturday night we were told we were going to see La Alhambra at night.  What we weren't told was that we would be hiking up the side of a mountain on cobblestone streets.  Luckily I had on comfortable shoes and clothes, but not everyone was so lucky.  It was a gorgeous view (shown above) even though my camera couldn't capture it as well as I wish it would have. 

 On Sunday we toured La Alhambra.  It was an ancient Arabic fortress essentially.  It included the palace of the King and the military fortress as well as several other buildings.  The grounds had several gorgeous gardens and patios.  Here's a picture of the grounds as we were walking in.

 After climbing the tower in the military fortress we took a MILLION pictures of the view from there.  Here's one of me and my favorites!! :)  (Allegra, Camilla, and I)

Again on the tower, the traditional Camilla and Sarah picture! :)

The tour of the Alhambra lasted a little over 3 hours and so we were all pretty exhausted afterward.  We went to a nearby mall to eat "lunch" (it was like 4 pm) and Camilla, Ashley, and I ate at an "American" restaurant. Camilla and I got chicken tenders and while they were definitely delicious, they were pretty over-priced.  Then we got back on the bus and headed back to Sevilla.  It was a 3+ hour trip so I napped most of the way back.  All the walking from both days in Granada had worn me out.  When we got back to Sevilla, Tiffany and I decided to catch a cab instead of walking the 35 minutes back to the house.  We wound up being very glad that we did so because it started to rain on the way home.  It rained most of the night Sunday night and I was so happy that it did because it's been pretty cool here since then.  It was our first real rain since arriving here and I was glad that it was at night.

Monday I had class and then went to try out a class at the university to see about switching into it.  The professor was really nice but his lecture style was incomprehensible.  He kept bouncing from one topic to the next and I had no idea what he was talking about at all.  So, I'm switching into a psychology class with Ashley and staying in my Anthropology class.  So my class schedule for all those who keep asking about it:

Monday:
Psychology of Groups 8:30-10:30
Advanced Spanish Comp and Grammar 11:15-12:30
Tuesday: (starting Nov 5th)
Psychology of Groups 10:30-12:30
Wednesday:
Advanced Spanish Comp and Grammar 11:15-12:30
Cultural and Social Anthropology 1:00-3:00
Thursday:
Spain and Islam 9:30-11:05
Cultural and Social Anthropology 1:00-3:00
Friday:
Spain and Islam 9:30-11:05
Advanced Spanish Comp and Grammar 11:15-12:30