A vacation from vacation

Hola todos! I can hardly believe that another week has already come and gone! This week is especially notable because it marks my being here for 1 month! That's right, one entire month! On one hand it feels like I just got here 2 weeks ago, but on the other, I feel like I have been here forever, and that I can finally start calling this city home!

Anyways, this week has been a week that went in a continual upward climb. I started it off with 2 exams on Monday and one on Tuesday. Needless to say, I spent the majority of Sunday and Monday cooped up in my room, studying for hours and hours. While it wasn't anywhere close to an ideal situation, I still can't complain because I'm studying in Sevilla! Monday night I had my second flamenco class, and as always, I had a wonderful time. We learned the second (and harder) part to a traditional dance that we had started the week before. Even though we still look like a bunch of Americans flailing to traditional flamenco music, it is still a lot of fun!.

On Tuesday night our school had a fundraiser for Hospital de la Calidad (where we played BINGO two weeks ago). We paid to paint our own abanicos (fans) which we could keep. For me, it was so nice to relax and paint after a few long nights of studying, and I was really happy with how they turned out! On Wednesday we had Encouentro (worship), and afterwords a group of us went out for tapas and helado. The tapas that we had were excellent (as always), but the ice cream afterwords was practically life-changing! I had a mix of cappuccino and this absolutely delicious chocolate ice cream with ribbons of hazelnut (so practically Nutella)... Needless to say, I have a new favorite ice cream! You may be wondering if the night could have gotten any better, and indeed I tell you it did! We then took our ice cream and walked over to the Catedral to listen to a man play classical guitar, and he was phenomenal! I had wanted to stop and listen to him for sometime, and doing it on this night was so perfect, I wouldn't have changed a thing!

It only gets better for there.... On Thursday I met with my Intercambio (a spaniard) and we had a great time chatting at a cafe. At the end of our "date" she told me that I have a good Spanish accent, which means a lot to me, especially because I've only known her for a week! That night I Skyped my Spanish professor at Trinity, and she said she could definitely hear an improvement in my speaking ability since the last time we had talked 2 weeks earlier. While I know I've gained more vocabulary since coming to Spain, I have had a harder time telling if my speech has improved any, so to hear that made me feel a lot better. And if I noticeably improved after 2 weeks, I can't wait to see what till happen after 3 and a half months!

Anyways, the highest point of the week would definitely be my trip to Sagres, Portugal this weekend. A group of us from school went with a company that takes student groups on outdoor adventure trips. After school on Friday we all boarded the cars and headed west to Portugal. When we got there it was early evening, and we hiked for awhile on some cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. While up there were were able to watch the sunset, and it was SO beautiful! It was so different than any other place I have ever seen before! Afterwords, we headed to the hotel and then went to a bar in town for dinner. On Saturday morning a group of us went to a different set of cliffs to go rock climbing. I've gotten really into rock climbing this past year, but I've never been able to climb outside of a gym, so I was really excited to go! On my first try I was able to get the furthest up the wall, about 75% up, and it was really hard, but I had a blast! After everyone went I was able to try again, but I was too tired to get up to where I was earlier. When we were done my hands were all scraped up, my elbow lost a few layers of skin, and I had a really pretty cut on my leg (that somehow happened through my leggings without cutting them...???), but it was SO worth it! Next we were able to go cliff jumping, which I was also very excitedly nervous for! The cliff we jumped off of was like an arc over a bay in the Ocean, that was about 9m/25ft. high. The view from the top was amazing, but also a bit nerve-racking! When it was my turn to jump, it didn't seem too bad until I was literally in the air going down...it seemed like an eternity to reach the water! Thankfully I did hit the water in the end, and made it up without difficulty. Looking at the cliff when we were swimming back to shore, I could hardly believe that I had jumped that high though! It was awesome (and there is video evidence on Facebook!). When we were done we headed back to the hotel for a cookout, and then we went to the beach, where we swam, relaxed, played volleyball, and compared battle wounds from the morning. When it was time for the sunset we drove to the southernmost tip of the town/country. It was so cool to look at the sun setting and think that this spot was where people used to believe the world ended... If they only knew! hahaha... For dinner that night a group of us decided to make food (since our hotel rooms were really apartments), and we had a great night together!

That leaves today! This morning after breakfast we loaded up the cars and headed to a different beach. Here we were able to have surfing lessons. I have never surfed in my life, so I was really excited to learn.... and what I've learned now is that I'm not too good at surfing! The closest I got was doing a half crouch/half stand thing on the board for a few seconds, but I'll take it! After the class we had some free time, which I spent doing some major body surfing and wave-bobbing. This beach had the best waves I had ever seen in my life, and I had an absolute blast just chilling in the water! After the beach we headed to a Portuguese seafood restaurant, and I'm sure to the surprise of many of you, my friend and I decided to share a plate of...wait for it... Kingfish! That's right Mom, I ordered fish for the first time at a restaurant today, and it was actually really good! Granted I had no idea how to eat it, but it sure made for a good time! After the restaurant, we loaded our tired bodies back into the cars and drove back to Sevilla.

As always, your prayers and support are treasured! It is such a comfort knowing you all are keeping me in your thoughts and prayers! Going into this week I am really excited because we will be going to Toledo on Thursday, so prayers for safely as we travel would be great! Also, prayers that I would be able to stay on top of all my work as my schedule fills up would be much appreciated! Most importantly, though, since I got home tonight I found out that a friend from Trinity named Jessica was hospitalized this weekend for a very serious illness which the doctors have yet to figure out. She was in a coma at one point but seems to slightly improving. However, there are a lot of unknowns with her situation right now.... If you could lift her up in prayer at this time, that the Lord, the Great Healer, would touch her body and restore her to health, that would be awesome! Also, please pray for wisdom in her medical team, and emotional strength and comfort for her family and fiancé as they go through this time as well! Thanks guys!

Love you and miss you all!
Hasta luego!
Rachel :)

Our cliff jumping group!

Some of our beautiful abanicos

Eating amazing helado, listening to amazing Spanish guitar, with amazing people :)

View from the top of the cliff we climbed... it was breathtaking!

 (attempted) to surf at this beach

Before...

After! There was nothing left!

Rock climbing on actual rocks for once!

Learning the ropes

Hey everyone! It's so crazy that already another week has passed; time goes by SO quickly here! This week was the last week of "firsts" when it comes to my everyday schedule, which is a good and bad thing. I'm really happy to finally have a set schedule, but I also love trying/experiencing new things! But there are always new things to experience here!

The first new event of the week was on Monday, when we had our first flamenco class. I had been looking forward to this day for a long time! Whenever I watched people dance, it never looked to difficult, but I would be lying if I told you I'm a natural, hahaha! The steps aren't too difficult, but as soon as you add the hand motions, it gets so hard! Needless to say, there were a lot of laughs during the lesson, and a lot of awkward attempts to get the hands right!

On Tuesday night my group that went on a tour of Sevilla together during the first week reunited with our 2 tour guides for tapas and helado (dinner and ice cream). This was my first night going out for tapas, and it was so good! We each got 2 tapas, and then the entire group shared a few big plates. It was so weird looking at the menu when I had no idea what half the foods were, but I ended up getting some things that I really liked! And the ice cream afterwords was delicious as well! Probably the best chocolate ice cream I have ever tasted in my life, actually! There are SO MANY ice cream stores here though, and they're all good... I'm hoping to try a good portion of them while I'm here, hahaha!

On Friday I had a very exciting afternoon. First, I had my first meeting with my intercambio! Intercambio is when you get paired with a Sevillan who is learning English, and you spend time with them once a week speaking Spanish and English, helping each other learn the language. Most people have intercambios who are around our age, but mine is a 42 year old woman. We met for coffee right across from my apartment and talked for almost 2 hours! I was nervous going into it because I had no idea how much English she knew, and we have a bit of an age gap, but I had a really great time! We helped each other out a lot, and had a lot of laughs along the way! I'm really excited to see her every week!

After my meeting with my intercambio, some friends and I decided to go to a free show that my tour guide had told me about. The show was a little over 2 miles away, but it was free so we decided to go and find it. We left the familiar old side of Sevilla and started going into the more modern/ugly side of the city. Well, after 1.5 hours of walking we finally made it to the park (if you can call it that) where the concert was supposed to be... and all there was was a fenced in area with some abandoned-looking structures, a few dogs, and a women shadily sitting in the back corner....Needless to say, there was no concert, and it was to the point where all we could do was laugh! 2.5 hours after we left home, we finally made it to a tapas bar where we had dinner (a much deserved and extremely delicious dinner, mind you).

On Saturday morning, my roommate Chelsea and I decided to check out the Archivo General de Indias, and had a great time! The building was built around the 1500's I believe, and is absolutely beautiful. Inside is where they store all of the maps, letters, books, etc. that pertain to the explorations of the Americas. After learning about this time in history in my college classes at home, it was SO cool to be in the place where they keep all the primary sources that we have talked about. I mean, these are documents about the discovery of our country! Unfortunately, the vast majority of documents can only be seen by researchers, but we still had a great time! In the evening I met with a group of people to swing dance in the park. There was also a blues concert going on, so we got to dance to live music which was awesome! On the way home, the street by my house was blocked off and there were a ton of people on the corner. I could hear a marching band and saw something strange in the distance, so I decided to check it out. What is was, from my understanding, was a parade-like event where the statues of saints are moved from one church to another. The statue of the saint was on a float-like thing covered in flowers, candles, and burning incense, and a full marching band followed it. I didn't really understand what was going on, but it was still really cool to watch this extremely cultural event, right on my street!

A few random side notes that show I'm slowly becoming a Sevillan... First, the other day for lunch our Señora made us crema de calabacín (cream of zucchini) which is like soup, and SO delicious, but forgot to give us bread. I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but we eat bread at every single meal, and it's wonderful! Anyways, she forgot to give us bread, and Chelsea and I kept looking at each other, trying not to laugh, because all we could think about was how much better our soup would taste with bread! It was to the point where were trying not to eat too much soup until our Señora left, just so we could sneak some bread! Thankfully, she noticed before we had to sneak some, but it turns out she was out of bread, and so we had crackers instead :/ Also, here in Sevilla I have a card to use the public bike system, Sevici. The system is really great, but not all the bikes are perfect. When I first started using it I would always take bikes with issues: the seat couldn't be raised, it would only stay in gear if I held it in gear, it was missing a bell..... Well after several instances of riding with my knees to the handlebars, unable to signal to pedestrians that they were in my way, I have finally learned how to spot a good bike relatively quickly.

Anyways, thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support! I'm really having the time of my life here, and I'm so glad I have this way to share a bit of it with you! As I go into this next week, I could really use prayer as I have exams in 3 of my 4 classes on Monday and Tuesday! Also, continued prayer for wisdom in my time management and safety as I travel would be great too (I'm taking a weekend trip to Portugal this upcoming weekend!). Love you all!
Hasta luego!
Rachel :)

Picture of part of the menu... still wondering was a "salty cake" is....

Well there was supposed to be a concert here....

Look Mom, I'm eating fried fish with homemade mayonnaise! 

Your standard world map...from the 1500s!

Outside view of the Archivo General de Indias

The steps I have taken

Hey everyone!

So another week has come and gone, which I can hardly believe! This past week has been full of excursions, adventure, and also getting to know the culture and customs of this city and the people who live in it.

At the beginning of this week I made it my mission to find a pair of  Ked-like shoes and sandals, because the cobblestone streets here combined with the amount of walking I do every day have not been very kind to my feet and exsisting shoes. This sounds like an easy task, given that there are about 10 zapaterias (shoes stores) on my street alone.  Yet I wouldn’t be this fortunate. Apparently, besides being a good 6 inches taller then the average person here, I also wear shoes about 2 sizes bigger. After two afternoons of looking, however, I was able to find a pair of each that worked, and now I am simply praying that I won’t have to buy shoes every again!

This week we had the opportunity to play bingo at the home for elderly men that is close to school. I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I ended up having a wonderful time! All the men were so sweet, and I was able to have a good conversaion with the hilarious man who played at my table! Conversations with native Spaniards are one of my favorite experiences here.  After bingo, a group of us decided to watch the sunset from the top of “las setas” (the mushrooms) which is a giant wooden structure/piece of art that is in the center of the city. The view from the top was beautiful, and gave me a glimpse of the city that had yet to experience!

On Friday, instead of class, our entire group took a day trip to Córdoba, which is about 1.5 hours away by bus. For me, this experience was much anticipated because in my art class, we have been spending all of our time learning about the architecture and art of the mosque that is located in this city. The mosque was built in the 8^th-10^th century, but was then partially deconstructed in the middle ages so that the Christians could build their cathedral in the middle of it. The result is a unique mixture of Muslim and Christian art, that is simply breathtaking! Afterwords, we went to the Alcazar (castle) in the city and were able to see some Roman mosaics, beautiful baths and gardens, and an awesome view of the city. Then we had a few hours to explore, which I spent going to a museum about the Inquisition (which is a whole different story!) and simply exploring the area. I had a wonderful time!


That night, a group of us bought tickets to hear a concert in the Alcazar in Sevilla. The concert started at 10:30 (which, remember, is the early part of the morning here) and was in the gardens. We listened to a trio (violin, cello, and guitar) which played classical pieces, and it was simply marvelous! To sit in the middle of this beautiful ancient garden in the middle of the bustling city, under the stars, while listening to the most amazing classical guitarist you have ever heard is spellbinding...
On a different note, this past week I have finally been able to spend more time with my family during the day, which has been really cool for me! I love activities, but part of the experience of being here is living with your host family, and this past week I have finally started to feel part of the family. We eat dinner together, I color or play Wii with the kids, but I mostly love the times when I get to have conversations with my host mom. While conversations will sometimes consist of her talking to me, and me nodding my head and pretending to understand, I have started to have more conversations with her that consist of actual dialogue. Granted, its never perfect, but the entire family is really understanding and willing to help when I just can't get that verb tense/vocabulary word/pronunciation right!
Also, for my fellow swing dancers, today I spent 2.5 hours in a park swing dancing/teaching swing to other people, and also learned 3 ariels! Definitely another highlight of my week!
As always, your prayers and encouragement are coveted, and I love hearing from you all! And my host mom's mouth has been completely healed! This week, I could still use prayers concerning how to manage my time with school and friends, and also for patience as I try to transition to using spanish in practically all of my conversations! Its really easy/lazy to use English here, but I really want to make the most out of my time here! 




Besitos (kisses) from Sevilla to you :)
Hasta luego!
Rachel :)

Our bingo table, with our new friend José!

View from the top of Las Setas

Part of the mosque in Córdoba, all of this was done with mosaic tiles

There were tons of these arches throughout the mosque, it was incredible!

View from a tower in the Alcázar in Córdoba

Gotta love random patios!

The Alcázar in Sevilla where we saw the concert

Time to get down to business...

Hey everyone! So, I have officially been in Sevilla for a full week, which is crazy! Time is already flying by, I can hardly believe it! This week Monday I started my classes, which I was really excited for. My school is just about a mile away, and every morning my roommate Chelsea and I make the treck there. However, I can't really complain about the trip when the view is so beautiful the entire way there! At school I am taking 4 classes (history, art, grammar, and theatre) which are all taught in Spanish. I really like all of my professors, which is great, and I am already learning a ton of new vocabulary! While at school we are only allowed to talk in Spanish, so I have to get my brain in Spanish mode and keep it there for about 4 hours, which can be tiring, but its definitely worth it! The only thing I don't like is that we have every class every day, so procrastinating really isn't an option!

This week has also been a time of adventures and starting up activities that I plan on doing throughout the semester. As many of you know, I like to keep busy, and that definitely hasn't changed here! On Tuesday we had "noche de chicas", or girls night. We met at school and hung out for a while, and then we went to the famous Plaza de España to rent rowboats in the small pond/river that runs along the plaza. It was so beautiful, and it was awesome to spend the night getting to know the wonderful girls who are in the program! I had a boatload of fun... (bad joke, I know!)

On Wednesday we had our first Encuentro of the semester. Encuentro is a time for the students to come together, talk, listen to a speaker, worship together in song, and simply fellowship. I have been blessed to be on one of the 2 teams that is leading the singing, and I can already tell that it is going to be one of my favorite times of the week! My group led this week, and I was so excited! I really miss being able to worship in song with other people my age, and so being able to help lead the singing that night was a huge blessing!

There were many more highlights this week as well! One of them was finding the bakery Las Palomas, who are known for their triangulos de chocolate. I had heard of this place, and as you can guess, absolutely had to try it (both because I work at a bakery at home, and because of my extreme love of anything chocolate!) They were delicious, which was to be expected, but they are also only a 3 min walk from my house....Needless to say, I know were all of my money will be going this semester! On Friday night a group of girls all went shopping in el centro, which was also a lot of fun! I went hoping to find shoes, and came back with 2 shirts, a skirt, and a dress.... But all for 15 euro so its all good! It was a great night of spending time together!

Saturday we went on our first big adventure; we took a bus to the city of Cadiz, which is about 1.5 hours away, and has a beautiful beach! We got to Cadiz around 8:30 and decided to explore the old part of the city for a while before we went to the beach. After a breakfast of churros con chocolate (which were delicious!), we walked around and looked at all the beautiful old buildings. I still cannot believe how old everything is! And every building, no matter what its purpose, is a piece of art! A highlight would definitely be stumbling upon Hospital de Mujeres, which was built in the 1700s. In the hospital there is a church, which happened to be free that day! Inside was a beautiful sanctuary, filled with sculptures, carvings, and paintings, which went from floor to ceiling! It was remarkable, and left us all speechless! After more walking we decided to head to the beach. The beach there was simply gorgeous as well! The water was so blue, the sand so soft... we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! I spent the day swimming, looking for shells, playing frisbee, avoiding topless women, and simply marveling at where I was! Needless to say, I came home that night utterly exhausted, and extremely sunburned (and yes, I did where sunscreen!).

Today we planned to go to a church in Sevilla that we needed to take the bus to. We bough our cards, found the bus stop, planned our route...everything was perfect, until we got off the bus, followed the directions, and ended up in the deserted olympic stadium area, unable to go down a single street because they were all blocked off by bars. We walked around, asked 1 of the 3 people we saw for help (which was of little use) and eventually decided that it was a hopeless cause. Unless this church met in a vacant plaza covered in graffiti, trash, and broken glass bottles, there was no way we could find it! Instead, we decided to go home and fellowship over triangulos de chocolate, which ended up being a much safer (and more delicious) option. Next week we will go to a church that actually exists!

All in all, this week has been amazing! I have been blessed to meet so many great people, and cannot wait to continue making memories with them as we all explore this city together! I can already tell my Spanish is improving, by the fact that I can usually understand about 50% of what my host parents say, hahaha! I am loving this city, the culture, and its people! I wish everyone could get a piece of what I'm experiencing here! Thank you everyone for the prayers and support you have given me this week! The encouragement I have been receiving make each day that much better! As I move into my second week of classes, I would ask that you could pray for me as I continue to make new friendships and try to balance that with getting a good homework schedule down. Both are really important while I'm here, and unfortunately tend to work against each other! Also, if you could pray for my host mom as well, she has a virus on her mouth that made is swell and she has had a difficult time eating and drinking. Its getting better now, but every bit helps!
Love and miss you all!
Hasta luego!
Rachel :)

Rowing the boat in Plaza de España on girl's night

Eating the ever-delicious triangulos de chocolate!

My first churro con chocolate (see the chocolate/food theme here?)

The STUNNING Hospital de Mujeres church

View of the "Old City" part of Cadiz

Catching (too many) rays at the beach! But it was so worth it!