Livin' the (spanish) life

Hola todos! So another week has come and gone (can you believe it?)! This past week we spent a lot of time getting ready for our flamenco show, but also doing other fun things!

During the beginning of the week we had Sevillanas class, plus an additional class the next day to fine tune things for the concert. On Wednesday we had probably one of my favorite Encuentros (worship night) of the semester. We had a time of prayer, singing, and reflection that was really what I needed in the middle of a busy week towards the end of the semester!

Thursday I met with my intercambio again, which is always a highlight of my week. It's always encouraging for me to talk with a Spaniard who is learning English and knows how I feel (on the other side of the spectrum, of course!). I've been especially blessed with an intercambio who doesn't just want to talk, but also wants to get to know me personally. I leave most of our meetings with sore abs and a happy heart! Also, some friends and I have decided that we want to sing on the street sometime between now and when we leave, and we picked out some christmas songs, which we started arranging. Who knows if we will actually do it, but I'm having fun just putting it together!

On Friday, after school and some homework, I went with 2 friends to the Feria de Libros (book fair) that is currently going on in a plaza near school. There are a whole bunch of vendors all selling books, from children's books, to college novels, to books that are so old the belong in a museum. For example, my friends and I found a vendor that had multiple books from the 1700's, and even on from the 1660's! It even had evidence of bookworms (which I now know are a thing, hahaha!)

Saturday morning we decided to go to a mercadillo (market) that my friend Liz and her Señora had gone to the week before. Well, as often happens we try to go somewhere and I'm with, we were not able to find the market. Instead, we wandered around an empty business district in Sevilla on foot and on bikes, passing the same street workers 4 times. During this time I accidentally rented out a bike that wasn't in the station, and so I had to call the Sevici customer service line, and after a few minutes on the phone I was able to explain the situation and get it fixed.... all in Spanish! It's the little things like this that help me know I am improving, even if I don't always see it! Anyways, we ended up calling Liz's Señora for directions, and she just ended up meeting us there and taking us herself... Some may say we lost over an hour wandering around, but I would argue that it was still an hour well spent! And we did make it to the market in the end :)

After that eventful morning, a group of us went to the Roman ruins of Italica, which are in Santiponce, a town right outside of Sevilla. Here there are ruins of old baths, houses, mosaics, but the majority of them are just the outlines on the ground (they are from the 100's though, so what more would you expect!) However, there is an amphitheater there that is still very well intact, and was definitely the most impressive feature of the ruins. We were able to walk in the middle and inside of it, which was so amazing! It's hard to believe that I was in a place that people walked in around 1900 years ago! Just one of the perks of studying in Europe I guess, among a few other things ;)

Sunday for me was a relaxing day that included swing dancing in the park, going to a chocolatería for some kick-butt churros con chocolate, and preparations for Monday, which was an extra special day for 2 reasons. "What are those 2 reasons?" you ask? Well, first, it was my roommate Chelsea's BIRTHDAY! And contrary to the beliefs of my host-siblings, she did not turn 28, or 32... or even 40, hahaha! This day was also special because it was our Fiesta Flamenca, where all the people taking the Sevillanas class dressed up and performed for friends and family. I was so happy to not only have other students and the birthday girl there, but also my host mom, host siblings, and my intercambio! For those of you who know my dancing history, you can imagine how excited I was to perform again! The entire night was wonderful, full of great music, great food, great dancing, and great people! Even though we are still clearly American, it was so awesome to be enriched in the Andalucian culture in such a tangible way! The entire day was definitely one of my favorites here so far!

Thanks you all for your continued prayers and support! I am truly grateful for all of them! As I look ahead to this week, prayers that I won't get homesick during Thanksgiving, and for safety as I travel to Granada on Friday would be very appreciated! Also, prayers for continued diligence as I have several final projects coming up would be great to!
Peace and blessings in this coming week! Love you all!
Hasta luego!
Rachel :)

Book from the book fair...note the date!

The amphitheater in Italica

My dance partner Liz and I :)

action shot!

Some of the extra special people who made it to the show! (L to R: Chelsea, my host siblings, my intercambio, and my host mom Inez)

Eat, sleep, breathe, live Sevilla

Hola todos! I can hardly believe that another week has passed! Time seriously flies by SO quickly here, and during this week I hit the "one month to go" mark, which I have very mixed feelings about. As a result, this week I spent doing a lot of visiting things in the city of Sevilla that I have been meaning to do (and are kind of obligatory as a Sevillan citizen) but I just hadn't gotten around to doing. It has really started to become real how little time I have left here and I want to savor every moment of every day while its still here!

This week started off with Sevillanas (dance) practice. Each pair got assigned one of the four dances we've learned, and Liz and I got our favorite one, so we were pretty pumped for that! On Tuesday we had a combined practice with the other class and ran through everything for the Flamenco/Sevillanas show thats happening in just over a week. I'm so excited for the show; I already have my outfit ready to go! I just love Sevillanas class, its a great stress reliever every week. And now that we know what we're doing a little more, we can start working on not looking so american (if thats possible!) After class a group of us went of the Torre del Oro, a muslim tower built in the 13th century that's now a museum and common subject of postcard photos. It was so beautiful seeing the city from the top of the tower, to get a view of the city that can only be had in a few places in the city. Even after 11 weeks here I'm still constantly taken aback at the beauty of this city at any time of day!

On Wednesday, which was a beautiful day that kept around 70 degrees, I decided to do some homework outside, just to change things up. Well, after about 20min of sitting on a bench by the river, it started to rain, which to me was a clear sign that I didn't really need to do my homework ;) After that I had Encuentro, and then after dinner I went for a walk around the river with some friends. We just walked down one way until we hit a fence, found an opening in it, and then reached a nice lookout spot by the river. Again, it was so great just spending time enjoying the city, finding new places (like aquariums!), and hanging out with friends.

On Thursday I went with a friend to see the Real Alcázar (palace) of Sevilla, which was built in the 11th century. It was filled with huge, beautiful gardens, and the Muslim architecture was amazing! Every room was filled with beautiful tiles, sculptures, fountains, and arches of different geometrical patterns... It's crazy to think that they were able to create this magnificent art so long ago, and that someone got to live there! I was so amazed with it all, and that it took me 2.5 months to visit this place that was a 5 minute walk from school! (Side note: for all you Game of Thrones fans, they were filming the next season here earlier this semester!).

After a week of exams, I decided to take the weekend easy. Saturday morning I spent sleeping in, and then playing with my host siblings for awhile. In the afternoon some friends and I decided to hop on bikes and explore a little further out in the city. We didn't have a destination, we just went. However, every 30min we had to stop and switch our bikes at a bike station so that we wouldn't get charged a fee! We ended up passing a business district, a part of the old wall that surrounded Sevilla, and a place close to where the nonexistent concert was (all those weeks ago!). I had a really great time, and it was really relaxing to just go out and see the city with no agenda with 3 great girls! Today, before church, a group of us decided to go and visit an art market on the other side of the river. I love looking at all the art and seeing what people can do with the different landmarks of Sevilla. I've also been looking to buy a painting for myself, and I walked away with not one, but two pictures (I'll figure out where to put them when I get back! hahaha). And as tradition states, church was followed by a treat at Las Palomas, my favorite bakery :)

As I look ahead to the next few weeks, I can hardly believe my eyes! This upcoming week is my last full week of school, and as of today, I only have 27 days left in Spain. Chelsea and I frequently think back to our first few weeks here, and we can only laugh! Things have changed so much... that is to say WE have changed so much. Even though we are still "outsiders", Sevilla is our home right now, and it is hard to imagine a day without siestas, breakfast cookies, loud siblings, 70 degree weather, flamenco practice, walking to school, etc... Anyways, I don't want to get to sentimental just yet, because I still have practically a month! Looking ahead, continued prayers for diligence/motivation in my classes, as well as an ability to make the most of every day I have left here would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all for the support you have given me with your prayers and messages, they truly mean a lot! Love you all!

Hasta luego!
Rachel :)

The top of La Torre del Oro

Inside the Real Alcázar of Sevilla

Just a small part of the many gardens!

The front of the Alcázar

The old wall

My lovely biking companions!

The Triana bridge by my house this lovely Sunday morning! 

Now for a "brief" intermission

Hola todos! So its been awhile, almost 2 weeks actually, and there is so much that has happened that I would love to tell you all about! Unfortunately, I don't have the time (or motivation for that matter) to write a novel of a post, and you probably wouldn't want to read that either! Instead I will give a somewhat brief summary, and when I get back I'd be more than happy to give you a personal slide show/story time! :) 

So last I left you all, I was about to leave for London with a group of 5 friends for our week-long break. That evening we took a plane to London, where we landed around midnight (?). It's hard to know exactly because we flew in on daylight savings day, plus there was a time change, so we lived the same hour 3 times, which made things really confusing! From there we took a bus to where our apartment was (which is a whole other story), and finally were able to sleep after hours of traveling! The first day we took the tube (train) to downtown London and went to the Imperial War Museum, where they house things mainly from WWI and WWII. It was cool learning about the war from a perspective other than the American one! Next we walked over to Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, and Picadilly Circus, which were all really cool to see in person! At the end we grabbed dinner at a restaurant called Breakfast Club and headed home. 

The next day we spent the morning wandering the streets and shops of Portobello Market, which was a lot of fun. I loved looking in all the stores and seeing all the colorfully painted apartments! After that we went and ate lunch by the big pond in Kensington Gardens, which was beautiful (and gave me my first real taste to fall this semester!). It was so great just sitting down in GRASS under TREES that had COLORFUL leaves! Sevilla is great and all, but I need my fall still! In the park we also visited Kensington Palace and the Peter Pan statue. From there we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum, that houses a lot of art and cultural pieces, and the Natural History Museum. They were both huge, and we could have spent so much time there! After that we stopped at Harrods, a famous department store that I felt to poor to even walk into, hahaha. From there, before heading home, we went back to Big Ben and the London Eye to see them lit up at night, which were really beautiful. 

The next day we went and visited Westminster Abbey, the Globe theatre, the Shard, and Tower Bridge. Next to Tower Bridge is the Tower of London, which was surrounded by these red poppies on all 4 sides. There were also many people in London wearing the a poppy on their jacket. I knew it had to be something important, so I asked a person, and it turns out that every poppy around the tower represented one British soldier that died during WWI, around 880,000 in total. It was incredible and very moving to see! From there we went to the train station to catch a train that brought us to the port of Harwich, where we boarded a boat that would bring us to Holland overnight!

Big Ben and Parliament

Buckingham Palace

Just checking out the stores on Portobello Road

Rainbow Apartments!

Kensington Gardens, where I got my taste of fall!

London Eye at night

Of course I had to get one of these pictures...

Tower Bridge

All the poppies around the Tower of London. This is just one side!

The whole gang boarding the boat!

The next morning we landed in Holland, the Motherland, and I was so excited! I would finally be in a place where being tall isn't unusual, and is in fact normal! When we got off the boat we took a train into Amsterdam, and to say I was happy to be there would be an understatement! I loved everything the moment I saw it: the people, the canals, the bikes (which there are thousands and thousands of them)... it was so perfect! When we got there we realized we had no map, so it took us over an hour to find our hostel, which was only about 10min away, but we found it in the end! The hostel was actually a Christian hostel, and I had a great time staying there and getting to know the workers and the other travelers! Once we settled in we still had the entire afternoon and evening, so we decided to go to the tulip market, where I saw more tulip bulbs than I have my entire life! Down the same street there were also a lot of cheese shops (which I was not expecting), so of course we stopped there for some samples as well! That evening we went on a canal tour, and we had practically had the boat to ourselves. Our tour guide was an old Dutch man who just told things as they were, which ended in an informative AND funny tour. I loved seeing all the canals lit up at night; it was all so perfect! 

The next morning we went to the Ann Frank house. After waiting 2 hours in line in the cold we were finally able to get in, and it was well worth the wait. It was really interesting to see the house, walk through all the rooms, and get a much better idea of what it was like for their family to live in hiding for 2 years. After the museum, 3 of us decided to take a bus to Zaanse Schans, a little town outside of Amsterdam that is the home of multiple relocated windmills (and I absolutely had to visit windmills while I was there!). We got so the town and it was so precious! There were windmills, canals, green fields, sheep grazing, air that smelled like chocolate, a clog museum, and cheese store.... I mean what more could you really want?! I loved simply walking around and soaking everything in! That night, after we got back and ate dinner, we went to the Amsterdam library with 2 new Australian friends we met in the hostel. This library is the biggest in Europe, and on the top floor they have a cafe where things are on sale after 8. I spent that evening eating a huge 1 euro piece of Dutch apple pie, looking over the city of Amsterdam...

Our next day we spent the morning walking around the city and happened upon a tulip museum, so of course we stopped and went! It was really small, but it was still cool learning about the tulips (which, surprise!, are not even native to Holland!). Then at 1, we said goodbye to Amsterdam and boarded the train to head to Paris! 

Made it to the Motherland!!!

Found my last name at the grocery store! I'm home! hahaha 

So. Many. Bikes!

Look! Windmills!!!

Perfection.

All my favorite things!

They have every size clog here

The tulip market

View from the top of the library!

Canals at night during the tour!

I love this city!

After a beautiful 3 hour train ride through Holland, Belgium, and France, we made it to Paris! Since we didn't know how to use the bus system yet, we decided to take the hour walk to our apartment (which an hour of walking for us at this point seemed like practically nothing!). Well, we may have taken a different route than we meant to, and it ended up taking 2 hours to find our house! But it was ok, because the thing about being "misplaced" in Paris, is that you still run into huge, old, important buildings, bridges, and monuments no matter where you are. For example, on our walk we accidentally found the Louvre and numerous museums! And, our apartment just happened to be a 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower! For dinner we bought the most delicious baguette of my life, made dinner, and then hung around the Eiffel Tower!

The next day was full of sightseeing. We started off in the morning going to the Arc de Triomphe, which was really cool to see in person! From there we took the train to Montmarte, the artist area, where we visited the Sacre-Coeur and went through an art market. Next we took the train to see Notre Dame. The cathedral was impressive from the outside, and absolutely beautiful on the inside. I especially loved all the stained-glass windows, which seemed to cover the inside! Next we went to the Luxembourg Gardens, which were absolutely beautiful! There were flowers, trees, ponds with chairs all around them, and everything was trimmed to perfection. All around us were people simply enjoying the outdoors and each others company, which was such a wonderful thing to see. We followed their lead and took a break as well! Then we went home, had dinner, and then went out for crepes (because when you're in Paris, you kinda have to!). I ate a delicious Nutella crepe, and then we went back to the Eiffel Tower to watch it light up again on the hour. 

Our last day we went to the Louvre, which was humungous! I saw so much art, and we didn't even go through half of it! Of course, no trip to the Louvre would be complete without seeing the Mona Lisa, which we did! It was crazy seeing this super famous painting right in front of you! After the museum a group of us walked through the Tuilleries Gardens next to the Louvre, which were beautiful (as I expected they would be!) From there we walked to the park across the street from the Eiffel Tower because we heard you could get a good view of the tower from there, which we did. From there we went home, ate dinner, just relaxed awhile, and went to bed. 

The next mooring, before heading off to the airport, we went to the Eiffel Tower one more time and went up to the top! The view from the top was amazing, and also very windy! It was so cool to see the entire city from the top though! From there we went home, grabbed our things, and took the train, to a bus, to the airport. Then after a 2 hour plane ride we made it back to Sevilla! I loved every moment of our trip, but I was also ready to be home, sleep in my own bed, and not walk around with a map glued to my hand! I was also really excited to speak spanish again, after being in two cities where I didn't speak the primary language! Needless to say, I slept very well that night!

The beautiful Eiffel Tower!

Arc de Triomphe

Sacre Coeur

Inside Notre Dame

Found the Mona Lisa!

In front of the Louvre

Hanging out in the gardens

View from the top of the Eiffel Tower

The rest of this past week was pretty normal, with the exception of Friday, when our school took a day trip to Ronda. Ronda is a beautiful city in the mountains, and I had been told good things about it! When we got there we first went to the Plaza de Toros, where they have bullfights. This plaza is one of the oldest in Spain. From there we had some free time to explore, so a group of us went and took a path along the cliff-side that had a great view of the famous Puente Nuevo (New Bridge). From there we all met up for a tour around the rest of the city, which included more views from the cliff that divides the city and a tour of the old mine that goes down to the river at the bottom of the cliff. The view from the bottom was beautiful, but was unfortunately followed by an exhausting walk up! These mines were used by the Christian slaves to fetch water, and there were rooms off of the stairways, and we were able to go inside a few of them, which was really cool! After that we went back to Sevilla, and for dinner I went out for tapas. We got ice cream afterwords, and I decided that I would treat myself to a chocolate shake as a reward for all the walking I had done the past 2 weeks!

The beautiful mountains around Ronda

Plaza de Toros

The Puente Nuevo. Well worth the hike!

View from the bottom of the mines

On top of the bridge

My treat :)

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. In every way, shape, and form, God was definitely watching over us during this trip, and I feel so incredibly blessed to have had that amazing experience! There is so much more I could say, but as I said earlier, find me when I get back and we can grab a coffee and talk :) As I head into the last 5 weeks of my time here (which I can hardly believe there are only 5 left!) I would really appreciate prayers for endurance and motivation in my classes. After traveling for a week it has been more difficult getting into the groove of classes again, especially when the topics of the classes don't really apply to your major and the novelty of them being taught in Spanish has worn off. I also have exams in all of my classes within the next week, so that will be fun....

Anyways, if you made it through this entire post, I'm very impressed, and I thank you for your interest in my life ;) Until next week!

Hasta luego!

Rachel :)