News!

Ok, so it hasn’t quite been a month, but it’s been far too long. But the delay is for good reason—I’ve been busy in a wonderful way. First, a friend of Ellie and I’s from Samford came and visited us in Sevilla for 4 days. She’s studying in London this semester, and we saw her there earlier, so it was perfect that she got to pop over to Spain for the first part of her Spring break. We had so much fun exploring the city anew with her and just catching up. A highlight was definitely going to the Arab baths here in town, too. It was a splurge, to be certain, but Nancy, as a classics major, was really excited to experience a bath as close as possible to the Romans’ system. It was indeed fantastic and relaxing, and unlike anything I’ve ever done before. If I lived in Sevilla for good, it would be very tempting to go every once in a while. Which made me recall that my Spanish teacher for the first month of my stay here in Spain said she goes at least once a month. I believe it!

Next, my parents and Jeffrey came to visit! They showed up the very morning Nancy was headed out, so the touring and visiting just danced on happily. :) We had SO MUCH FUN while they were here. We traveled almost non-stop! I’m afraid I ran them a bit too ragged and hope they can recover this week. We started in Sevilla, took a train to Granada and enjoyed that lovely city (and also ended up scaling a mountain in the dark on a free night tour—not exactly what we expected, hoped for, or wanted…ha!), and then we headed to Barcelona for a few days. We also detoured to Montserrat from Barcelona, which is a truly magical mountain village based around a monastery with a legend and famous virgin statue that people take a pilgrimage to visit. We went on a sunrise hike to the highest peak of Montserrat, and goodness. It was absolutely incredible. I would go back there in a heartbeat, and I’ll store those fantastic memories away for life.

Also, I have other big news! It’s rather anti-climatic to snuggle this in with so much other stuff, but I don’t have much of a choice. I know where I’m headed with RUF! I’m headed to the University of South Florida in Tampa. It’s the 8^th largest single-campus University in the nation. Woah! It will be quite a change from Samford! I’m really excited and can’t wait to hear more about it and to get in touch with the campus minister there. It’s really happening—I’m really going to start being an RUF intern! Praise the Lord.

Welp, that’s all folks. ¡Abrazos from Spain!

I'm Back! I'm Back!

Hi friends!

Here I am, back from a whirlwind week of London, a trip to Doñana National park, school, and flamenco shows. Where do I even begin? Since London is officially my favourite ever, I say we start there.

We went to London.

We met up with our friend from Samford for dinner at Harrod's food hall. We strolled in new and familiar parks. I drank Mountain Dew. (OH! The joy!) We ate cadbury creme eggs. We woke up at 5 a.m. to wait for theater tickets and chatted with a new friend from New Zealand. We saw "Singing in the Rain" and "Matilda" the musical. We visited the tallest escalator in the London tube system. We wandered around Hampstead and its beautiful heath, which we've been pining after since February 2009. And we felt very much closer to home.

It was wonderful to be surrounded by English, go to a church service in English, and see familiar faces. And since it's the city I know the best this side of the Atlantic, it really did feel very much like going home. (though only in comparison to living in Spain!) In all, Ellie and I were both overwhelmed with how blessed we are to be able to find ourselves in London in February, 3 years after our semester studying there. In fact, I remembered as we were walking through the city that we had dreamed about coming back to London in 2012 during our sophomore year days. A reunion for the olympics! Though we didn't quite make it to the olympics, it still felt like a joyous reunion, and the only other thing I could have wished for is that more of my London friends were there as well.

We got back to Spain late Wednesday night, and I headed out with 150 1st year students to Doñana National Park the next morning. Whew! I was tired, but the park was so beautiful, it didn't even matter. There were birds galore, wild boars, horses, deer, and supposedly otters, though I didn't see the otters. Shame, shame. There was also a 3 hour long ride down the pristine beaches and through the sand dunes. There is nothing quite like jumping straight into a sand dune, knowing that nothing will hurt, because the sand is like the best of fluffy gym mats at the olympics. By the time I got back to my flat around 9:30, I was ready for the weekend. Two early morning classes later, it finally came.

Enter flamenco show stage. Last night, I paid a measly 5 euro to enjoy a brilliant flamenco show in a small but lovely venue. I went with two girls who also work at my school--one American from Maryland, and one Italian girl from Pisa. As in the leaning tower. Again, I found myself in a circle of foreigners in Spain all speaking their second languages. It's such a neat, beautiful mix of cultures. One of the best parts was hearing the Italian girl use her fantastic accent talents. She is able to flawlessly speak Spanish in a Spanish accent, Italian accent, or an American accent. And the latter two are simply hilarious. ;)

I'm looking forward to catching up on all of my planning and work and also to a "normal" week. I suppose weeks are never quite normal in Spain, but this is the closest I get. So. With all of those grand adventures squeezed into a few bursting paragraphs, I'll let you simply enjoy the pictorial evidence of it all. Take care!

London, Beautiful London. As seen from the Tate Modern, which I finally had the opportunity to walk around and shake my head at. I'm not much of a modern art aficionado. hehe.

Me and Ellie, jubilant at Kensington Gardens.

The beautiful location of Singin' in the Rain. :)

Our huge jeep/land rover things parked on the dunes to let us play...

Me with two of my fantastic students!