Thanksgiving is a really important holiday for my family and it is something that I look forward to all year. Usually all of my family on my mom's side of the family goes to my grandparent's house in Science Hill, Kentucky. It is a weekend of cooking, eating, Phase 10, watching football, Balderdash, 4-wheeling, and after Thanksgiving shopping in Somerset. Of course this year is a little different because we aren't all together. But one of the things that I have always enjoyed so much about our Thanksgiving is the tradition we have before dinner. We all stand in a circle and hold hands and every person has to say what they are thankful. That may sound very cheesy and sappy, but sitting here in my apartment in Spain, that is the image that is ingrained into my head when I think about Thanksgiving back home. So if I were at home right now standing in the circle, holding hands with Poppy and Harrison, this is what I would say.
-I am thankful for my relationship with Jesus Christ. I don't know how I can ever say thank you enough for what he has done. "Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow." I think specifically I am most thankful for God revealing himself as My Sustainer. There have been days when I have felt lonelier than I ever, and the only thing that keeps me going is knowing that He is my Comfort and my Sustainer. It is Him that holds me together.
-I am thankful for my family! Luckily, it didn't take moving to a foreign country for me to realize what a blessing my family is. But these past 3 months have only confirmed the fact that my family members are the most important people in my life. I have realized that not everyone has an awesome family life like I do. No way to thank all of you enough for your prayer and support...You are the ones that have made me into the person that I am today.
-Calvary College group and BCM- I love you all so much! Even though I am not going to go through and name all of you individually, you are my closest friends and I am so thankful to be surrounded by such amazing people. I am thankful for Christian fellowship, a place to worship every week, and I'm thankful to associate myself with a body of believers that are truly allowing God to work through their lives.
-Amanda- You deserve your own category, my dear. I could (and I have) traveled across the world, and you are the best there is. I'm so thankful that we got to make the trip of a lifetime to Italy together and that we get to travel once again in a few weeks.
-Ben- You also deserve your own category. You are such a blessing! There aren't many guys who would be willing to start dating a girl, knowing that the first 4 months of their relationship she would be in Spain. Thank you for taking that chance with me! I appreciate you more every single day. I am so thankful for your support! They don't make guys like you in Europe.
-I am so thankful that I had a chance to study abroad. It has been the most difficult thing that I have ever done. But it has also been a life-changing experience and I realize a lot of people will never get the chance to do the things that I am getting to do now. Thank you to all that have made this possible.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! The bottom line is that I am really counting my blessings today! There are also a lot of small, silly things that I'm thankful for. I'm missing my favorite holiday today, but don't worry....I'll be home for Christmas!!
jueves, 22 de noviembre de 2007
domingo, 18 de noviembre de 2007
A day with Kike and Diego
One of the best parts about my study abroad program is our Intercambio program. At the beginning of the semester ISA gave us a list of names of Spaniards that were interested in participating in an English-Spanish exchange. I randomly chose a 25 year old guy named Enrique. I emailed him to see about setting up a time for us to meet.
First I will tell you what an intercambio is usually like, so you can understand how awesome mine is. Most intercambios meet about once or twice a week for about an hour and they speak for half of the time in Spanish and the other half in English, taking turns correcting grammar and teaching vocabulary.
But I got lucky. I have the coolest Spanish intercambio ever! The first time we met he asked if I minded if he brought a friend along. Of course I didn't mind because I had planned on bringing Alice along with me anyway. We met for coffee and ended up really hitting it off and talking for about 2 hours. It worked out great because Kike and Diego speak really good English and Alice and I are pretty proficient in Spanish, so we spoke about half and half.
We have hung out with these guys a lot lately and it always proves to be an interesting conversation. We talk about everything, seriously everything. And take turns laughing at all of the things that we say completely wrong. They like for us to teach them American pick-up lines. They also love learning the American slang.
Usually we just go out for coffee, but this week, Kike and Diego told us that we are no longer just intercambios, but we are now considered friends. They found out that I was not only a big soccer fan, but that I also played, so they organized a pick-up game with their friends yesterday.
I wasn't sure where the soccer field was so I met Diego in the Plaza. He told me that it was pretty far, but not to worry because he brought his bike. He said he would run in front of me and I would ride his bike. This was a very comical sight because I have not ridden a bike since about 6th grade and Diego is about 6'5" so his bike was way too big for me.
Diego told me that he had a ball, but we needed to stop by a gas station to pump it up. Unfortunately, we were not able to pump it up because we did not have a needle. So we headed over to meet Kike at his house and tell him our problem. I asked them why we didn't just tell somebody else to bring a ball. But evidently not all Spaniards own soccer balls. Strange. I know. So we piled in Kike's really old VW van to buy a new ball. This was quite an adventure because this van was seriously old, it was a stick-shift, AND Kike has only had his license for 3 months! Yes, he is 25 and just got his license, but that is normal in Salamanca. It is very expensive to get your license and there is really no reason to drive in Salamanca because it's so small.
We finally made it to the beautiful park where we were going to play and we met up with 7 of their other Spanish friends. I think they were a little surprised to see an American, let alone a girl! But Kike and Diego are very friendly and so were their friends, so I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Kike introduced me as his friend from Kentucky. As we started warming up, they all were very impressed with my control and touches on the ball. The game was a lot of fun. And for being Spaniards that didn't really play soccer, they were very good. But I must say I held my ground. They were obsessed with the fact that I was from Kentucky and that is what they called me the entire game. After the game, Diego said that he had a good idea. He said that he wanted to give me the soccer ball as a gift from Spain to America. Then he said they were all going to write me a message, so I could remember them. Kike wrote, "To Kentucky's best footballer from your friend Kike". Diego wrote, "With all of my heart, to a very sweet girl". It was so nice of them and for the first time I felt like I had real Spanish friends.
Later on that night, Kike and Diego invited Alice and I to hang out with them. Needless to say, we were very excited because you never know what is going to happen with those two. We met at midnight in the Plaza and when we started the night out Kike said, "OK. We are going to set a limit right now." I was thinking that he was going to say we couldn't stay out very late, but I was very wrong. He said, "Let's make a pact that tonight nobody can leave before 6 am!" That sounded absolutely ridiculous to us, but we agreed because this was something that Alice and I had never done before. The guys planned out the whole night for us and showed us all around Salamanca. It was by far the most adventurous night thus far. When I got home, at 6:30 in the morning, I thought about how nice those guys are. Usually intercambios are something more obligatory. But Kike and Diego actually wanted to hang out with us. They are from Salamanca so it seems like they know everyone in the world. It meant a lot that they set aside an entire night just to spend time with us.
Spain is sooo different from home.
First I will tell you what an intercambio is usually like, so you can understand how awesome mine is. Most intercambios meet about once or twice a week for about an hour and they speak for half of the time in Spanish and the other half in English, taking turns correcting grammar and teaching vocabulary.
But I got lucky. I have the coolest Spanish intercambio ever! The first time we met he asked if I minded if he brought a friend along. Of course I didn't mind because I had planned on bringing Alice along with me anyway. We met for coffee and ended up really hitting it off and talking for about 2 hours. It worked out great because Kike and Diego speak really good English and Alice and I are pretty proficient in Spanish, so we spoke about half and half.
We have hung out with these guys a lot lately and it always proves to be an interesting conversation. We talk about everything, seriously everything. And take turns laughing at all of the things that we say completely wrong. They like for us to teach them American pick-up lines. They also love learning the American slang.
Usually we just go out for coffee, but this week, Kike and Diego told us that we are no longer just intercambios, but we are now considered friends. They found out that I was not only a big soccer fan, but that I also played, so they organized a pick-up game with their friends yesterday.
I wasn't sure where the soccer field was so I met Diego in the Plaza. He told me that it was pretty far, but not to worry because he brought his bike. He said he would run in front of me and I would ride his bike. This was a very comical sight because I have not ridden a bike since about 6th grade and Diego is about 6'5" so his bike was way too big for me.
Diego told me that he had a ball, but we needed to stop by a gas station to pump it up. Unfortunately, we were not able to pump it up because we did not have a needle. So we headed over to meet Kike at his house and tell him our problem. I asked them why we didn't just tell somebody else to bring a ball. But evidently not all Spaniards own soccer balls. Strange. I know. So we piled in Kike's really old VW van to buy a new ball. This was quite an adventure because this van was seriously old, it was a stick-shift, AND Kike has only had his license for 3 months! Yes, he is 25 and just got his license, but that is normal in Salamanca. It is very expensive to get your license and there is really no reason to drive in Salamanca because it's so small.
We finally made it to the beautiful park where we were going to play and we met up with 7 of their other Spanish friends. I think they were a little surprised to see an American, let alone a girl! But Kike and Diego are very friendly and so were their friends, so I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. Kike introduced me as his friend from Kentucky. As we started warming up, they all were very impressed with my control and touches on the ball. The game was a lot of fun. And for being Spaniards that didn't really play soccer, they were very good. But I must say I held my ground. They were obsessed with the fact that I was from Kentucky and that is what they called me the entire game. After the game, Diego said that he had a good idea. He said that he wanted to give me the soccer ball as a gift from Spain to America. Then he said they were all going to write me a message, so I could remember them. Kike wrote, "To Kentucky's best footballer from your friend Kike". Diego wrote, "With all of my heart, to a very sweet girl". It was so nice of them and for the first time I felt like I had real Spanish friends.
Later on that night, Kike and Diego invited Alice and I to hang out with them. Needless to say, we were very excited because you never know what is going to happen with those two. We met at midnight in the Plaza and when we started the night out Kike said, "OK. We are going to set a limit right now." I was thinking that he was going to say we couldn't stay out very late, but I was very wrong. He said, "Let's make a pact that tonight nobody can leave before 6 am!" That sounded absolutely ridiculous to us, but we agreed because this was something that Alice and I had never done before. The guys planned out the whole night for us and showed us all around Salamanca. It was by far the most adventurous night thus far. When I got home, at 6:30 in the morning, I thought about how nice those guys are. Usually intercambios are something more obligatory. But Kike and Diego actually wanted to hang out with us. They are from Salamanca so it seems like they know everyone in the world. It meant a lot that they set aside an entire night just to spend time with us.
Spain is sooo different from home.
Mixed Feelings
They all warned that this time would come, but I didn't really believe it. I got to a point this week, where I finally understood that 4 months is an eternity to be away from home, but way too short to get the complete study abroad experience. That might not make any sense at all to any of you, but that is the only way to describe it. This is a difficult situation. I can't wait to go home, but I can't imagine leaving in another month, knowing that this is the only time in my life that I will live here in Spain.
I can now tell you that it took me 3 months to really fully appreciate my study abroad experience. I still think about home every single day, but I am not homesick. I miss America, but I have come to love learning each day that we are not the center of the universe. I love my friends and family back home, but I am beginning to treasure the time I have left with my new International friends. I am eager to have a church home again, but I am very appreciative of this semester, where I have grown so much spiritually and have truly been challenged in my faith for the first time in my life. Sometimes I get frustrated and just give up and say it in English, but I know how much I am going to miss the opportunities that I have to speak Spanish every single day . This is what study abroad is all about. Learning to love who you are and where you come from, while taking advantage of the opportunity to live in another culture, if only for a little while.
I can now tell you that it took me 3 months to really fully appreciate my study abroad experience. I still think about home every single day, but I am not homesick. I miss America, but I have come to love learning each day that we are not the center of the universe. I love my friends and family back home, but I am beginning to treasure the time I have left with my new International friends. I am eager to have a church home again, but I am very appreciative of this semester, where I have grown so much spiritually and have truly been challenged in my faith for the first time in my life. Sometimes I get frustrated and just give up and say it in English, but I know how much I am going to miss the opportunities that I have to speak Spanish every single day . This is what study abroad is all about. Learning to love who you are and where you come from, while taking advantage of the opportunity to live in another culture, if only for a little while.
martes, 6 de noviembre de 2007
The Italian Job: 1st destination: Milan
I don't know very many people that have been fortunate enough to travel to Italy. For my family and I, this has been a place that has only existed in the movies and in our wildest dreams. When I decided to definitely study in Europe this fall, this trip was a must. Last week not only did I get to spend the week in the place of my dreams, but I also got to spend it with my best friend in the entire world. I realize that this trip was truly a gift and honestly, I can't think of a better Christmas present. We had the time of our lives and we experienced every single thing that we could. So I want to write this blog for those of you that were not able to come along with me this time. Especially to you Mom. I hope that you know that not a moment passed by that I did not think of you. So I will tell you every last detail, not to rub it in, but in hopes that you can maybe experience this through me.
Oct. 31 and Nov 1- Milan
Emily Fortney and I left early on October 31st to meet our friends Amanda and Amber, who are studying in Vienna, in Milan later that evening. We were very lucky to have a relatively easy, but long day of travel and everything went as smooth as possible. I really enjoyed traveling with Emily all day, just the two of us. Emily and I were very good friends in high school and we had lost touch in college. But we spent many hours catching up on each other's lives and it was great to get to spend a lot of time with her again. Emily and I arrived in Milan about 3 hours before the other girls, so we decided to go on to the hostel and get settled in. We had to catch a shuttle from the airport to the hostel because it was about 40 minutes outside of Milan. Needless to say when we got of the plane, we were a little disappointed and didn't quite feel like we were in Italy. We also realized that Amanda and Amber did not have directions to the hostel, so we just prayed that they would be able to get themselves there because we had absolutely no way to get a hold of them.
We decided that we could not wait any longer for them to eat dinner so we went out in search of a good Italian restaurant. (It couldn't be that hard in Italy!) Across the street we found a Pizzeria that served huge pizzas for a very good price, exactly what we wanted. I can't really describe to you how massive this pizza was, but I took a picture of it and I ate every single bite. It was the best pizza I've ever eaten in my life, as it should have been.
After dinner we went back to the hostel, really scared that Amanda and Amber would never make it. We laid down on our King-size bed and listened to some good ol' American music. I was really really nervous/excited and I kept peeking my head out to look for the girls. Finally, I hear that familiar Berea accent down the hall and I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. I busted out the door, squealed, and nearly tackled Amanda to the ground. This is perceived as a very strange greeting in Europe, so imagine the strange looks we got. But this called for a special occasion! Anyway, the girls were starving so Emily and I had a great idea to take them back to the same restaurant we went to about 2 hours earlier. That waiter really liked us and actually wanted to take a picture with us by the end of the dinner. The other girls got pizza and at the end we got our first taste of Italian gelato. This would set the trend for the remainder of the trip. That night we just enjoyed hanging out with each other and swapping "Kentuckians in Europe" stories. It was nice to have people who understand me for once!
Day 2-Milan
Milan was kind of a surprise city for us. We weren't really sure what to expect, we just knew that it was the one place where we could get cheap flights. But we had done our research the night before and we mapped out a pretty solid route.
We were en route to our first destination, the Duomo cathedral, when we first encountered the Italian scam artists. We were trying to buy tickets for the Metro when these little Italian girls came up to us. We thought that maybe we looked lost and they were just being helpful, but it was all part of their scam. They wanted us to give us their money and them buy us the right kind of ticket and then they would steal our change. Amber realized very quickly what they were up to and told us not to give them anything. One girl actually had some of Amanda's money and Amber jerked it out of her hands. They tried to reach into my wallet but I actually slapped their hands and we scurried off to the Metro all flustered.
It wasn't but about 20 minutes later when we got off the Metro at the Duomo that we saw more scam artists. As we stepped off the Metro, we immediately saw the Duomo and a ton of pigeons and we got so excited because it finally looked like we were in Italy. I was so distracted that I didn't pay close enough attention and these men shoved corn into my hands. Initially, I thought, "Oh cool! It's like Mary Poppins! I'm gonna feed the birds." Then they all swarmed to me. They were on my head, on my arms, around my feet. We got several funny pictures. After our experience the men came up and were demanding that we pay them 5 euros!! After several minutes of trying to tell them that we did not ask to feed the birds, we gave up and threw out a euro just for them to stop bugging us and then ran for safety into the Duomo.
The Duomo was one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have seen in Europe. We didn't even realize until after we walked in that we just happened to be there on All Saints' Day, so we actually got to be there for a big mass. The front of the church was all blocked off for the mass, but we walked around the rest of the church looking at all of the artwork and just enjoying the choir music. Then we walked over to the other side of the church where there were thousands of candles that people had lit praying to the different saints. It was one of the most reverent moments of the entire trip just watching all of these people worship and praying for all of our friends and family back home together. We couldn't have timed our visit any better.
We weren't quite sure what to do the rest of the day, so our plan was to walk around Milan and just see what caught our eye. On the way we ran into, the Galleria, the major commercial center of Rome. The most outrageous thing we saw was Mercedes Benz accessory store!! We walked over to the Sforza Castle and the park around there. It was nice to walk around the park because it reminded me of fall in Kentucky because all of the trees had just started changing colors.
After a failed attempt to see DaVinci's Last Supper painting, (it turns out that it was sold out for the entire week and you had to have reservations. Who knew??) we decided to find another cute restaurant to eat lunch. Once again we were not disappointed in what we found! We ordered our first Bruschetta of the trip and we immediately fell in love. I ordered some kind of pasta with broccoli and it was amazing! Another successful Italian meal.
The remainder of the afternoon we stumbled into a few other hidden treasures. We found a really obscure, but beautiful monastery that we spent quite a while in. Then we found an art exhibit by an artist named David LaChapelle, not to be confused with Dave Chapelle (we found this comical). Amber and Emily decided to go to the "interesting" exhibit, but it was a little too provocative for me and Amanda so we headed out on our own adventure. This ended up being one of my favorite afternoons of the entire trip because it was just a great time for me and Amanda to wander around this gorgeous city and catch up on some much needed quality best friend chat time. Our mission was to find this tower that we saw on the map. It looked really cool on the map and I thought maybe it would have a good view of the whole city. Well we found a lot of pretty cool places along the way, but it took us about 30 minutes to find the tower. It turns out that what we thought was some ancient historic monument was actually just a big office tower!!! Amanda actually went inside to ask the man where the tower was and when he told us that that was it, we tried to contain our laughter. We managed to hold it in until we got outside and then we just died laughing that we had spent so much time looking for nothing special.
We met back up with the other girls and we went back to the center of the city to find gelato! After finding our gelato, we happened upon some more random Italian sightings. We stalked this one girl who was getting her hair and makeup done on the street because we were positive that we had found a fashion photo shoot, but then we decided she was not hot enough to be a real model. Then as we were about to leave we found a little Italian man singing opera on the street. He was great! We sat there enjoying the Italian life before our plane left that night. These are the kind of moments when I thought, "Wow, I'm really here in Italy!"
We had a late night flight out of Milan that night, but we didn't really mind for 2 reasons. One, we were going to Rome!! And two, we people watched in the airport, looking for hot Italian men or fashion disasters. We found both! The most entertaining was a young man who was wearing his shirt all the way unbuttoned, some kind of furry creature hanging around his neck, and his pants were so low it made us blush. Amanda was sneaky and took a video of the poor guy and I think she's contemplating sending him in to What not to Wear.
Anyway, it was a wonderful beginning to what was sure to be an unforgettable trip!
Oct. 31 and Nov 1- Milan
Emily Fortney and I left early on October 31st to meet our friends Amanda and Amber, who are studying in Vienna, in Milan later that evening. We were very lucky to have a relatively easy, but long day of travel and everything went as smooth as possible. I really enjoyed traveling with Emily all day, just the two of us. Emily and I were very good friends in high school and we had lost touch in college. But we spent many hours catching up on each other's lives and it was great to get to spend a lot of time with her again. Emily and I arrived in Milan about 3 hours before the other girls, so we decided to go on to the hostel and get settled in. We had to catch a shuttle from the airport to the hostel because it was about 40 minutes outside of Milan. Needless to say when we got of the plane, we were a little disappointed and didn't quite feel like we were in Italy. We also realized that Amanda and Amber did not have directions to the hostel, so we just prayed that they would be able to get themselves there because we had absolutely no way to get a hold of them.
We decided that we could not wait any longer for them to eat dinner so we went out in search of a good Italian restaurant. (It couldn't be that hard in Italy!) Across the street we found a Pizzeria that served huge pizzas for a very good price, exactly what we wanted. I can't really describe to you how massive this pizza was, but I took a picture of it and I ate every single bite. It was the best pizza I've ever eaten in my life, as it should have been.
After dinner we went back to the hostel, really scared that Amanda and Amber would never make it. We laid down on our King-size bed and listened to some good ol' American music. I was really really nervous/excited and I kept peeking my head out to look for the girls. Finally, I hear that familiar Berea accent down the hall and I couldn't contain my excitement any longer. I busted out the door, squealed, and nearly tackled Amanda to the ground. This is perceived as a very strange greeting in Europe, so imagine the strange looks we got. But this called for a special occasion! Anyway, the girls were starving so Emily and I had a great idea to take them back to the same restaurant we went to about 2 hours earlier. That waiter really liked us and actually wanted to take a picture with us by the end of the dinner. The other girls got pizza and at the end we got our first taste of Italian gelato. This would set the trend for the remainder of the trip. That night we just enjoyed hanging out with each other and swapping "Kentuckians in Europe" stories. It was nice to have people who understand me for once!
Day 2-Milan
Milan was kind of a surprise city for us. We weren't really sure what to expect, we just knew that it was the one place where we could get cheap flights. But we had done our research the night before and we mapped out a pretty solid route.
We were en route to our first destination, the Duomo cathedral, when we first encountered the Italian scam artists. We were trying to buy tickets for the Metro when these little Italian girls came up to us. We thought that maybe we looked lost and they were just being helpful, but it was all part of their scam. They wanted us to give us their money and them buy us the right kind of ticket and then they would steal our change. Amber realized very quickly what they were up to and told us not to give them anything. One girl actually had some of Amanda's money and Amber jerked it out of her hands. They tried to reach into my wallet but I actually slapped their hands and we scurried off to the Metro all flustered.
It wasn't but about 20 minutes later when we got off the Metro at the Duomo that we saw more scam artists. As we stepped off the Metro, we immediately saw the Duomo and a ton of pigeons and we got so excited because it finally looked like we were in Italy. I was so distracted that I didn't pay close enough attention and these men shoved corn into my hands. Initially, I thought, "Oh cool! It's like Mary Poppins! I'm gonna feed the birds." Then they all swarmed to me. They were on my head, on my arms, around my feet. We got several funny pictures. After our experience the men came up and were demanding that we pay them 5 euros!! After several minutes of trying to tell them that we did not ask to feed the birds, we gave up and threw out a euro just for them to stop bugging us and then ran for safety into the Duomo.
The Duomo was one of the most beautiful cathedrals that I have seen in Europe. We didn't even realize until after we walked in that we just happened to be there on All Saints' Day, so we actually got to be there for a big mass. The front of the church was all blocked off for the mass, but we walked around the rest of the church looking at all of the artwork and just enjoying the choir music. Then we walked over to the other side of the church where there were thousands of candles that people had lit praying to the different saints. It was one of the most reverent moments of the entire trip just watching all of these people worship and praying for all of our friends and family back home together. We couldn't have timed our visit any better.
We weren't quite sure what to do the rest of the day, so our plan was to walk around Milan and just see what caught our eye. On the way we ran into, the Galleria, the major commercial center of Rome. The most outrageous thing we saw was Mercedes Benz accessory store!! We walked over to the Sforza Castle and the park around there. It was nice to walk around the park because it reminded me of fall in Kentucky because all of the trees had just started changing colors.
After a failed attempt to see DaVinci's Last Supper painting, (it turns out that it was sold out for the entire week and you had to have reservations. Who knew??) we decided to find another cute restaurant to eat lunch. Once again we were not disappointed in what we found! We ordered our first Bruschetta of the trip and we immediately fell in love. I ordered some kind of pasta with broccoli and it was amazing! Another successful Italian meal.
The remainder of the afternoon we stumbled into a few other hidden treasures. We found a really obscure, but beautiful monastery that we spent quite a while in. Then we found an art exhibit by an artist named David LaChapelle, not to be confused with Dave Chapelle (we found this comical). Amber and Emily decided to go to the "interesting" exhibit, but it was a little too provocative for me and Amanda so we headed out on our own adventure. This ended up being one of my favorite afternoons of the entire trip because it was just a great time for me and Amanda to wander around this gorgeous city and catch up on some much needed quality best friend chat time. Our mission was to find this tower that we saw on the map. It looked really cool on the map and I thought maybe it would have a good view of the whole city. Well we found a lot of pretty cool places along the way, but it took us about 30 minutes to find the tower. It turns out that what we thought was some ancient historic monument was actually just a big office tower!!! Amanda actually went inside to ask the man where the tower was and when he told us that that was it, we tried to contain our laughter. We managed to hold it in until we got outside and then we just died laughing that we had spent so much time looking for nothing special.
We met back up with the other girls and we went back to the center of the city to find gelato! After finding our gelato, we happened upon some more random Italian sightings. We stalked this one girl who was getting her hair and makeup done on the street because we were positive that we had found a fashion photo shoot, but then we decided she was not hot enough to be a real model. Then as we were about to leave we found a little Italian man singing opera on the street. He was great! We sat there enjoying the Italian life before our plane left that night. These are the kind of moments when I thought, "Wow, I'm really here in Italy!"
We had a late night flight out of Milan that night, but we didn't really mind for 2 reasons. One, we were going to Rome!! And two, we people watched in the airport, looking for hot Italian men or fashion disasters. We found both! The most entertaining was a young man who was wearing his shirt all the way unbuttoned, some kind of furry creature hanging around his neck, and his pants were so low it made us blush. Amanda was sneaky and took a video of the poor guy and I think she's contemplating sending him in to What not to Wear.
Anyway, it was a wonderful beginning to what was sure to be an unforgettable trip!
ISA soccer game
Last Tuesday night, October 30th, was the moment I had been waiting for. Our awesome ISA director, Rodrigo, organized an ISA soccer game!! It was not quite as cool as playing with Spaniards, but still a chance to show em what I've got. I was a little bit disappointed with the turnout because only 8 people showed up to play, but I was sure that it was still going to be lots of fun. When we got to the field, we split up into our 2 teams, 5 v4. I was on a team with Javier, who is from Mexico City and used to play college soccer, and Robert, who is also pretty good, and Lynn, who had never played before. We were up against Austin, Billy, Amy, Jessie, and Rodrigo. We were outnumbered, but I wasn't too worried.
When we started playing I could tell that Javier thought he was too cool and that he was going to dominate this game. He is a really good soccer player, I'll give him that. But I'd also like to point out that I held my own. It felt really good to play again and this Champ brought her A game. It was so funny to watch the progression of play. At first Javier took all the balls himself and tried to do all these fancy moves, but after being owned by Rodrigo a few times he was a little more willing to pass the ball. I was making runs and one-touch passes and taking shots all over the place. Needless to say, Javier was pretty surprised. After this one play, where I did a move around Rodrigo and then took a decent left-footed shot, Javier actually said, "Whoa! Nice rip!" Rodrigo kinda shook his head in embarrassment and gave me a 2-handed high five!! My soccer skills have been validated by a Mexican and a Spaniard!! I feel like I'm an official soccer player now! That's right, after your glory days of high school competitive soccer, these are the kind of moments that you have to live for, to remind yourself that you've still got it in you.
Just a little fun note to let you know that even if we call it soccer instead of futbol, it's still the same game and I'll still take on anybody anywhere!
When we started playing I could tell that Javier thought he was too cool and that he was going to dominate this game. He is a really good soccer player, I'll give him that. But I'd also like to point out that I held my own. It felt really good to play again and this Champ brought her A game. It was so funny to watch the progression of play. At first Javier took all the balls himself and tried to do all these fancy moves, but after being owned by Rodrigo a few times he was a little more willing to pass the ball. I was making runs and one-touch passes and taking shots all over the place. Needless to say, Javier was pretty surprised. After this one play, where I did a move around Rodrigo and then took a decent left-footed shot, Javier actually said, "Whoa! Nice rip!" Rodrigo kinda shook his head in embarrassment and gave me a 2-handed high five!! My soccer skills have been validated by a Mexican and a Spaniard!! I feel like I'm an official soccer player now! That's right, after your glory days of high school competitive soccer, these are the kind of moments that you have to live for, to remind yourself that you've still got it in you.
Just a little fun note to let you know that even if we call it soccer instead of futbol, it's still the same game and I'll still take on anybody anywhere!
lunes, 29 de octubre de 2007
Never underestimate the power of a hug
A weird thing happened yesterday. After having such a good weekend and after being settled in here for a long time, I got really homesick again. I really don't know why, but it hit all of the sudden and it was overwhelming. I sat in my room and just started crying. It's always worse on Sundays. I also sat there thinking about how the only thing I wanted in the world was a nice, big, long hug. One of those where you embrace and just linger for a few moments. Or maybe even one where you squeeze so hard that it lifts you off the ground. A genuine hug! I realized I don't get enough significant touches here in Spain. Sure we do the whole "Greet each other with a kiss" thing, but that is so much more of a formality. I do not know why people don't hug over here, but it's a shame. They are missing out!! My friends and family are really good huggers, really good smilers, and really good laughers! (I don't even think those are real words, but I think that is the best way to describe it.) I physically ache for the joy that they bring into my life. So conveniently as I was going through this today my wonderful boyfriend, Ben, called to check up on me and assured me that I have the biggest hug in the world awaiting me when I get back home. I also ironically came upon another inspirational song today...
You watch over me in the darkest valley
You watch over me when the night seems long
You help me to see the way before me
You watch over me
-Aaron Shust
So yesterday I went to bed with the comfort of knowing that my Heavenly Father had his arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me through the night.
This has made me think of something I'm gonna start doing here. I want Spain to experience the joy that I have. And so I will spread the love and the joy that I have in Christ through my smile, my laughter, and even my hugs.
You watch over me in the darkest valley
You watch over me when the night seems long
You help me to see the way before me
You watch over me
-Aaron Shust
So yesterday I went to bed with the comfort of knowing that my Heavenly Father had his arms wrapped tightly around me, holding me through the night.
This has made me think of something I'm gonna start doing here. I want Spain to experience the joy that I have. And so I will spread the love and the joy that I have in Christ through my smile, my laughter, and even my hugs.
domingo, 28 de octubre de 2007
Great weekend in Salamanca
OK so I probably had the best weekend so far in Salamanca. It wasn't anything special, but I really enjoyed it. During the day Alice and I just relaxed, worked on homework, and planned stuff for our trips next week. But we had very fun nights. We went out to the bars and discotecas again because that is all there really is to do in Spain on the weekends, but this time I had a lot more fun because Alice didn't drink very much and we just went out with the purpose of making friends. We met soo many people this weekend! The best thing that we did this weekend was yesterday Alice decided that she missed her Korean food from home and so yesterday went to the grocery store and bought all the stuff we needed to make her family's version of stir-fry. While we were grocery shopping, we ran into our friend Katerina from our dance class. You would love her. She is a sweet, beautiful girl from Greece. We found out while we were talking to her yesterday that she lives in an apartment all by herself here!! Well, Alice is not shy at all (that's why we get along so well) and she basically said that we were cooking dinner tonight and invited ourselves to come over to Katerina's apartment and cook dinner with her. Katerina is pretty shy and she smiled soo big when Alice asked her. So we went over there with all our ingredients and Alice cooked for us. Oh my gosh mom! This stir-fry was to die for!! I have to cook this version of it when I get home. Instead of white rice, she used noodles that she fried in the skillet with all of the vegetables and shrimp all cooked in a little bit of soy sauce and sesame oil. Alice loves cooking and she's teaching me really cool stuff. We eat seaweed that her mom sent her all the time! Anyway, we had a wonderful meal together and it broke my heart when Katerina told us that was only the 2nd time she had had company for dinner. So, we have made a pact to cook dinner with her once a week!!
After we finished dinner we walked to the plaza together. We met soo many people last night, I can't even remember all their names. We spent the entire night with International students, which is very good because we spoke in spanish for hours because it's very rude to assume that they speak english. We spent most of the night with our friends from Sweden, Germany, and Japan. The German guys that we met really liked us and they told us that we were nothing like what they thought Americans were like. A lot of the Europeans DO NOT like Americans because of either George Bush, most Americans only speak english and speak very loudly, Americans hang out together in large groups, and most Americans get ridiculously drunk all the time. But I love my European friends, they are soo friendly, all you have to do is initiate conversation with them and make an effort to speak spanish. I finally feel like I have some friends over here that I will be able to keep in contact with after I leave. P.S. Katerina's family has a summer house on one of the Greek Islands and said she would love for me to visit!!! That is the best part. I have soo many invitations to visit people in the future!
After we finished dinner we walked to the plaza together. We met soo many people last night, I can't even remember all their names. We spent the entire night with International students, which is very good because we spoke in spanish for hours because it's very rude to assume that they speak english. We spent most of the night with our friends from Sweden, Germany, and Japan. The German guys that we met really liked us and they told us that we were nothing like what they thought Americans were like. A lot of the Europeans DO NOT like Americans because of either George Bush, most Americans only speak english and speak very loudly, Americans hang out together in large groups, and most Americans get ridiculously drunk all the time. But I love my European friends, they are soo friendly, all you have to do is initiate conversation with them and make an effort to speak spanish. I finally feel like I have some friends over here that I will be able to keep in contact with after I leave. P.S. Katerina's family has a summer house on one of the Greek Islands and said she would love for me to visit!!! That is the best part. I have soo many invitations to visit people in the future!
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