Aventuras de España: 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 :)