!Me gusta españa mucho mucho mucho!

(ps. i am soooo far behind on the blog...however this will be the ´catch up blog´)

so yes finishing the last blog up, rachel and i had a blast on the plane although we didn´t sleep or get to watch movie...but we took lots of pictures :)


once we got to the Madrid airport all of the ISA students gathered together and waited for our directors...after about 2 hours they came and then we headed to the hotel. we sat in the lobby and after 3 more hours i got a key to my room. once again...learning the lesson that other countries definitely do not run on any time schedule whatsoever.

so yea everyone told us that it was going to be sooo hot in Spain, you would never stop sweating they said. don´t even bring pants they said. well...this is one time i am thankful for being an overachiever even in packing a suitcase. because it was cold. and it rained. a lot.

my roommate is from Florida and attends UF her name is Bettina :) i like her a lot, we get along great and have had many many great and interesting conversations. i have no doubt that we are together for a purpose...pray that i will be faithful to act and speak in ways the Lord is calling me.

there are about 60 students on the trip with me from all over America...it has been so refreshing to meet people so unlike myself and at the same time it does get lonely. I knew coming in to this trip why i was coming: to dive into the spanish language and culture and to spend mucho tiempo con mi Dios :) i wanted this time to be full of reading the word, memorizing the word, and just a sort of retreat away with just me and HIM. however...this is difficult for a person that thrives being around people. pray that i will fight the sense of lonliness and that i will seek HIM more than anything else.

we got to spend two days on the town in Madrid:) Madrid is huge. very very big. it reminds me of what new york city might be like...its great to go and visit but it is extremely overwhelming.
the first days we visited a museum and the Royal Palace. both were sooo interesting. i loved learning more and more about the history of Spain, its culture, its art, its people...all of it has made me fall more in love with España :)

guess who i got to eat dinner with the second night in madrid?? BLAIRE!!!! i was so excited. i can´t begin to describe to you how much joy it brought me to see her walking into the restaurant. it was also incredibly strange to have two worlds collide. me and blaire in spain, eating at a little restaurant in Plaza Ana in the middle of the bustling city of Madrid. it made my day :)

after madrid we headed to El Escritorial. on the way we stopped at a memorial for the dictator Franco called Basílica de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos (Basilica of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen)

i really can´t begin to describe this place. as we were driving up the mountain you could see an enourmous cross from miles away. it stands 152.4 meters high. absolutely breathtaking. underneath the cross is the Basilica that was carved into a mountain. A basilica is basically a church. this was a monestary and as we entered they were performing a sort of mass. only the monks were there. the seats for the public were empty. only the overwhelming sound of latin prayers being chanted could be heard. i was standing in the very center of the basilica directly at the back of the last chair in for the public and suddenly all the lights went out. all, except the light illuminating Jesus on the cross. about 100 tourists were in the basilica at the time and every one of them fell silent. you literally stopped in your tracks and had to remind yourself to breath.

the reason behind this monument being built makes you feel eery just walking up to it. and its massiveness is not describeable. (is that a word?)

i couldn´t help but wonder though...after going to so many museums and monestaries and art exhibits with Jesus everywhere, what does He mean to them. does He mean anything and if so what? it has been weird to see Him everywhere...well not Him exactly but the symbol of Him and everytime my heart leaps. because i know Him. i love Him. he means more to be than anything in this world. this people see pictures of him everywhere, statues of the history of the bible everywhere...and i just wonder what it means to them when they see Him.

well my time is running out again...lo siento.

i love you all very much!

i am going to write more soon!