! estoy muy emocionada!

i´ve spent a week in Sevilla so far. i woke up this morning and it suddenly feels like home.

i wake up to mi madre dancing and laughing and singing with her precious 2 yr old granddaughter :)

españa is full of interesting things.

stores don´t open until 10

stores close from 2 - 5 for lunch and siesta(nap)

stores open back up from about 5-8. this is very strange to me

everyone stays out laaaate at night. the night life doesn´t start until about 1a.m. and all types of people are out and about not just young crazy kids. moms, babies, toddlers, grandpas, dads, teenagers, college kids. everyone. its crazy.

i walk everywhere and my feet are very swollen and my legs ache. the walk from mi casa to la universidad/center of the town is roughly 45 min. i enjoy every minute of it though. how could i not? i pass through the Plaza de España, the garden/flower park, walk down the main strip of el centro nueve past one of the biggest Cathedrals in the world.. it feels like it only takes about 5 min until i look at my watch. luckily my roommate and I have gotten close and she give me foot massages :) yaay for my roommate Bettina!

...sooo this past week has been full of ups and downs, twists and turns, rights and lefts...but ahhh it has been so good. i have made such good friends here, its cool to see the Lord just allowing our friendships to grow so fast

I took the placement exam last monday and scored on the intermediate level. however i honestly think they didn´t really grade them but they just put us in the classes we wanted in because i don´t think i did that well at all! but Praise the Lord i´m in intermediate spanish!

my classes are M-F from 4 pm to 8 pm. i absolutely love my schedule!

last wed was a holiday, San Fernando Day. ya. i´m pretty sure they take a holiday for just about anything. but it was good for us--we caught a train to the beach!
it was absolutely breathtaking! and perfect weather...no cloud in the sky but just enough wind to not sweat at all (which is a huge thing for me...i always sweat. gross i know.)

this past weekend i experienced the night life of spain :)

friday night we met up with friends at a bar called Ureka, located at one of the many plazas. outside of the bar were over 200 people sitting on the ground in circles. yep i had found it: the hippy spanish village. i think i lost at least 2 days of my life from inhaling all the smoke! non the less we experienced many things that night, a random cross dresser that suddenly appeared right beside us and decided to perform a sort of "show", a fight between many dogs that was broken up with the police, and lets not forget using the restroom aproximately 3ftx3ft inside the "hippy village" bar with 3 of my girlfriends jammed inside and no toilet paper...ha too much information there i think.

Saturday we traveled to Cordoba...one of the cutest towns ever. it is widely known for their jewelry and leather expertise. of course i bought a ring:) and its amazing...it makes me feel very español and hippy-ish (which is what my friends think i dress like. ha)

ahhh Saturday night was amazing! so its kinda a long story but i want to tell it any way....
as we were walking home from getting off the bus we passed by a stage and a band setting up beside the river. curious, and always looking for something interesting to do we asked what was going on. one guy shouted "Ricky Martin, Ricky Martin is coming!" ha. soon we got the truth after asking several people and they told us it was Flamenco and the gospel. which completely shocked us. flamenco is a distinct type of dance known especially to Sevilla...we were thoroughly confused but decided to come back that night and check it out. Bettina and I showed up around 9:30. it was packed with people. all locals...i sat down on the steps in the midst of them and starting talking to the girl beside me. she was one of the volunteers for the show and after we chit chatted for a while i asked her what it was for and she said " Gloria Dios Gloria Dios!" and pointed upwards. i was so excited and said , "soy cristiana" (i am a christian) and the 20 people around me started shouting and patting me on the back! it was insane! i was so excited, suddenly i found myself surrouned by over 200 other believers! the band started up...and needless to say the rest of the night was amazing.

Oh AND that night as i was walking around a girl came up and asked me if i was in ASC(Aggie Sisters for Christ) i stared at her for a minute because i realized i was in Spain and that i had no idea who she was. she told me she recognized me from ASC and that she was an Aggie too! it is a small small world....i look forward to getting to know her better and spending time with her while in Spain

yesterday i went to iglesia! this is yet another long story but lets just say i got there at 11 and didn´t leave until about 4pm! lots of stories from this experience. i ate dinner with them. the only american and only english speaker. it was amazing. and what church fellowship dinner would be complete without a few bottles of cervasa(beer) spread across the table to share? ha...españa is muy different!

last night we went to the bull fight!!!! i was so excited. we sat on the 3rd row.

did anyone know they killed the bull?

no. i mean they slaughter the bull.

i mean they stab him over and over and over and over...

yea. emily closed her eyes a lot, while the elderly man beside me laughed at me.

this was a cultural experience i will never forget. i have lots of pictures and videos of the lovely matadores who definitely looked like they walked straight out of one of Shakespeare´s plays or have taken ballet lessons for a while...

today i am going to buy a spanish movie, mi madre and I are going to have a movie night together! estoy muy emocianada! she is wonderful!

things to pray for.

conversations with my roommate about life and God and love and everything under the sun. pray that i would rely on Him for the words to say and not my own.

that i would continue to speak spanish more and more..and not allow myself to get frustrated or beat down

also i am kinda sick. my voice in almost gone. but praise the Lord i got some antibiotics and they only cost 3 euro. ha the perks to living in españa! sore through and very conjested. thank you very much for your prayers!

i love you!