Settling in...

Port in Malaga, Spain
    

     I have officially been in Spain for 17 days :). I finally have some pictures of my host family for you guys! I feel like so much has happened in the past couple weeks that words cannot describe. I can say one thing for sure. God is seriously doing something in me.

      If I may open my heart up to all of you, I have been an emotional rollercoaster since I´ve been here. Some days I´m in such awe of His faithfulness and beauty while other days I just want to lay in bed and cry. I´ve tried asking God what He has in store for me here. I keep asking Him what He wants to do through me. I keep asking for answers to questions I´ve had for years. God has made it clear to me that this semester is about me and Him. He may and most likely will use me here for His glory, but I´ve never been so reliant on God before. I am excited and have to remind myself to be patient while I´m here. Everyone tells you that when living in another country for so long you will experience a honeymoon phase and then maybe half-way through it all sinks in and you miss home, then you level out just before you leave. I can honestly say I never had a honeymoon phase. Many of my friends still can´t believe they´re in Spain, and most days I just want to be on the next flight home. Last night I read a verse that really spoke to me. Maybe it will encourage some of you. I know for me it was very direct, and I´m excited for how God will use it. It´s Proverbs 24:27:

"Prepare your outside work, 
Make it fit for yourself in the field;
And afterward build your house."

    I´m standing on the edge of the rest of my life. I beg God to let me just know my future and the plan He has set in stone for me. After reading this verse, it is clear to me that maybe it´s not time for me to build my house :).

    I´m starting to have my little schedule and plan for trips around Europe which is really exciting. I appreciate and feel all of your prayers. Here are some pictures of my family! Everyone was gathered for Puri´s (my host mom´s) dia de Santa.

(Above) This is Puri, my host mom.
(Left) This is Jesus, my host dad. Here is preparing homemade Paella for Puri´s special day.

 This is one of Puri and Jesus´ son in law

 mmmmm....Paella

 The sisters. Puri and Jesus´ daughters. Sandra y Rosa. Sandra is expecting a baby girl, Martina, in March!

 Las niñetas. The granddaughtes of Puri y Jesus.

Such a sweet, sweet family.

Week one in Spain!!!

Sooooo.... I´ve been in Spain for a little over a week and seriously feel like I´ve been here FOREVER. Lol...some days that´s a good things and somedays that not such a good thing. However, I´m extremely glad I am here and experience this time in my life. I´m so excited for whatever God has for me while I¨m here. Since my last post I have left Madrid, visited El Escorial and Toledo, and moved in with my Granada host family. So I will do my best to fill everyone in haha.

First...El Escorial. It was a monostary back in the day and still holds the tombs of dozens of kings, queens, and their families. It is quite an experience to be standing two feet away from a kings corpse lol. We weren´t allowed to take pictures inside the building, but I got a few of the small town surrrounding and the building.

Next...Toledo. Toledo is seriously my favoite place so far. Granada is a close second, but I love the medeival times and history Toledo has. We were able to visit a couple churches and other exciting places. For those of you who don´t know, Toledo is known for their swords and actually provided all the swords for the Lord of the Rings series. This is quite ironic because Toledo itself could have very well been in a few Lord of the Rings scenes. It´s beautiful!

 (Top) Me and Toledo!










(Below) Toledo from afar

 (Top) More of Toledo...seriously...it´s out of a movie.

 (Right) One of my favorite shots! One of the oldest bridges in Spain...










(Below) Some medeival ruins in Toledo

(right) A little baby Gargoyal in one of the churches

 Courtyard/garden in a church

One of the hundreds of beautiful ceilings...












Last... GRANADA... haha this is my home for the next few months. It is a beautiful city. Thirty minutes from the mountains and forty-five from the Mediterranean Sea. I´m living with a host family. I don´t have any pictures of them, but I have several of the city.

This is Plaza Nueve. There are several beautiful plazas
around Granada

 Just a few little snap shots of the city. This is just a normal pizzeria.

 This is the Cathedral. I have yet to be inside, but I will make it there one day. I get to pass it everyday to school

 Another Plaza in town

 This is my school! It´s only part of it, but where my main classes are.

 My Spain roommie, Courtney! She makes the hard days a whole lot easier :)











La Alhambra is a huge part of Granada. It is an absolutely beautiful place. One of my fellow APIers referred to it as a neighborhood of palaces. That´s basically what it was. Back in the day, it was very secluded and only the most important people were even allowed through the gates. It housed Sultins. Several beautiful, beautiful palaces. Queen Isabel made sure it stayed in tact and it´s wonderful. Here are just a few pictures even though it´s so difficult to cut it down to just a few.

  La Alhambra (from a distance)

One king made this for his wife. It was modeled after the Collesium. The detail is amazing.

 Stairs in the palace above

 I zoomed in on one of the walls in one of the palaces.

 Probably one of my favorite pictures. So so beautiful...

 A garden/patio in one of the palaces

 View of Granada from the Palace

 Just passing along to one of the palaces.

That shall be all for tonight. I´m looking over this right now and feel like there´s so much else I want to put on here. The rest of my pictures are on my facebook :). All this and classes haven´t even started yet haha. Phew....

Spain: Madrid day one :)

 Well....

I'm in Spain!!! I haven't been able to travel far seeing how I've only been here for a day, however, Madrid is beautiful. The hotel we are staying in is the cutest thing ever. The Royal Palace is so grand. The only sad part of my life in Madrid? Still feeling like I'm in a dream... lol. I'm here, but it's just soooo much to take in all at once.

The plane:

Thank you. thank you. thank you! so much for your prayers for the plane lol. It was seriously the smoothest plane ride ever. I did find out one thing, however, I cannot sleep on planes... so I did not get the few hours of rest that my fellow study abroaderes had...sigh...36hrs is a very very long time to be awake.

API (the program I came through)...:

...is so great. We have so much freedom but security at the same time. They even gave us all a beautiful dinner for our first night in Spain. I had Paella for the first time and some beef dish. It was delicious, but, oh my goodness, it was SO much FOOD!

Most of my sight seeing yesterday was around the Royal Palace...

It is so so beautiful as you can see...Around the Palace are performers, beautiful gardens, statues. It really is just an experience needed.

Other sights are just fabulous. And all of this in one day! I can't wait for what's in store for the rest of this week :)

Last night....

Yup, that's just about how I feel haha. I can say that I was definitely expecting the nerves and anxiety that a four month trip to a foreign country would bring, but I was honestly not expecting them to be this bad. I've been an emotional roller coaster this past week. I've been super excited some days and other days I've felt like I didn't even want to go anymore.

I've always been independent. I've been able to leave home and go to college a good distance away, pay my own rent, buy my own food,

keep my own job. BUT for some reason, I am completely TERRIFIED. All I've wanted to do is sleep and cry. I finally just became numb emotionally. Oh! and did I mention that EVERYTHING is going wrong?? Haha. So typical...

However, last night at church, I was able to talk with a friend  I hadn't seen in a long while. He was such an encouragement. I've gotten several words of encouragement and advice, but his advice really stuck. What was his advice? MAN UP! Haha! Really though, it was all I needed to hear.

So today is my last day in the states. I leave around noon tomorrow. I'm excited :). Completely unprepared but very exited for what God has in store for me :). Next time I will be writing on this blog I will be enjoying life in Granada, Spain :).

9 DAYS!!!! Ahhhh!!!!

Wow, nine days left! Today was an interesting day. I helped substitute at the school from which I graduated. It's so weird to see all the students that were barely in junior high now way into high school. Definitely makes me feel old, but I'll definitely say I've grown so much since graduating from my small private school. I've been on so many journies like moving 5hrs away to another school, going to an actual university, starting all over there and making new and very interesting and special friends. Now, I'm about to do something I almost thought wouldn't be possible. Spain. Leaving the country. ON MY OWN.

During lunch today I ran into one of my childhood friends. I haven't seen her in years. She was such an inspiration to me when we were in junior high. She was the girl that made being a Christian a cool thing and not a boring thing. Now, I have a lunch date set with her for next week! EXCITED! God had been putting her on my heart so much lately so now was the perfect time to run into her. :)

To top off a very eventful day, tonight, I had a junk food night with my siblings :). Yup, JUNK FOOD NIGHT. McDonalds, cookie ice cream sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies, "whoop" cream (as Makayla puts it), and, of course, HOT FRIES! while we all watched the Smurfs. Definitely a cute cute movie. It's good to hang out with them and be able to spoil them. Makes for good memories.

This is basically my last week in the US then off to Spain for four months. It still hasn't really hit me yet. I still have so so much to do this week as far as packing and paperwork and people to see. God continues to show off for me everyday. Everyone is so supportive of me taking this adventure, and that definitely makes things a little easier. Thank you everyone who makes my life a little brighter each day :).

Well, tonight I received  from a good friend the luggage set I will be borrowing for Spain. Yay! It's two weeks before the I fly out of San Antonio and don't return for four months. It's nerve-racking to be sitting here. Just sitting here. Did I mention I'm JUST sitting here??? Let me explain...

When you have to pack for a trip where the "packing motto" is: "Pack the bare minimum for survival. Then cut it in half," you CANNOT pack two weeks in advance because you're most likely using everything you would absolutely need. So... this leaves me sitting here with an empty luggage set and nothing to put in it...yet.

It is all starting to sink in, however. My nerves about flying overseas has started to settle down though I'm almost positive I'll want to die as I'm stepping on the plane. I know the experience is so worthy it :)!

A toast to myself (because everyone needs those kind of toasts every once in a while):
"Here's to buying every last item on my shopping list and printing out every last document and mentally preparing myself for adventure over the next few weeks!"

-Allysse