Thursday, May 31st

I feel like I say this everyday, but today was so awesome!  I had my translation class this morning at 9:30, which wasn't too bad.  Class ended at 11 and lunch wasn't until 1, so we had a little free time.  I headed back to the dorm to work on a little homework, but mostly hung out and chilled for a little bit.  After lunch at the university, we had to catch the bus at 2:30 to one of the beaches.  This afternoon our excursion was learning a bunch of water sports/activities at one of the beaches.

When we got there it was pretty hot, but the sun still felt good.  The instructors told us that we were going to be wind surfing, sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and some other cool stuff.  We were all so pumped...4 hours of beach time!  My group got to go sailing first!  It was a smaller sailboat, one of the ones where you can put your feet in the water (I don't know anything about sailing, can you tell?!) but nonetheless, it was really cool.  We were sitting on the edge with our back to the water.  And then the instructor let us jump off and hang out in the Mediterranean for a couple minutes.  The water was cold, but it felt so good because it was pretty hot out.  After our sailboat ride, we got to learn how to wind surf. Oh dear lord, everyone knows I am not the most graceful person so I knew I was going to be terrible at balancing a board on water!  We got in partners and to practice balancing, we would stand up on the board together and try to stay up on the board.  Everyone looked so silly because they would be fine and then the next minute loose their balance and fall into the water.  My partner Katie and I actually got pretty good and had a fun time with it!  Oh and side note, the beach where we were at had all these dead jellyfish floating in the water (weird) and right as I was telling my friend Anne about my bad experience with jellyfish last summer, Ally put one down my bathing suit bottoms!  I thought she was just tucking my tag in, but nope she put a jellyfish in my bottoms.  Of course I freaked out and screamed so loud because I was so shocked.  After the wind surfing, it was our turn to kayak.  I'm not really great at kayaking, but I figured when in Spain I should take the adventure!  Well we kayaked to a nude beach.  Yep, we have been seeing topless women on the beach we go to, but this was a completely nude beach.  It was a new experience that's for sure.  We hung out there for a couple minutes and then turned around and headed back to our beach.  It was a long kayak ride and my arms were definitely getting tired.  I'm thinking I may be a little sore tomorrow!  Then I just laid on the beach and took a nap until it was time to go around 7:30.  It was a long and fun afternoon!

We had dinner at 8:30 and we all seriously ate so fast because we were starving!  I literally thought I was going to pass out from hunger and being thirsty too!  Now, I am in the process of attempting to get motivated to get ready to go out tonight.  I think we are going to one of the discotecas down by the port, it should be fun!  Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride and to a wine festival!  Adios!

Wednesday, May 30th

Well, today we started off the morning right!  My culture and medicine class was going on another excursion to a natural medicine business, but first our professor treated us to bocadillas and fresh orange juice on la rambla!  We weren't expected it, but we stopped by this little café!  The orange juice was literally the freshest orange juice I have ever had...it is squeezed right into your glass with this really cool machine.  I'm not a huge fan of orange juice, but I have never tasted anything so good, no sugar needed!  And the bocadillas were on such great bread with cheese and tomato, so good!  After our little snack, we headed to the natural medicine place, which is a hugeeee part of the culture here in Spain.  The lady taught us about how the feet are the most important part of the body and they coordinate with the other parts of our body.  She also talked about the connection between the physical body and our emotions.  It was an interesting place and I learned a lot about how natural medicine is part of the culture of health here.

After our excursion, we headed to lunch at the university and then had a little bit of a break before another excursion.  I took that time to do some classwork (yuck) and work on our translation project, which is due next week!  Ahhh!  At 3:30, we headed down to the port where we were going to get a tour and a boat ride!  It was about a 25 minute walk, which was actually really nice.  Once we got there, we got a tour of the port and the different places/buildings they use when they catch and sell fish.  Then we got on a boat to take a tour on the water!  The boat was nice and cool and I loved being able to sit and see the city from the water.  To be honest, I didn't really listen to what our tour guide was saying about all the barges and the fishing because that is not my thing, but all in all it was a fun boat ride.  After the boat ride, we got a tour of a museum, hate to admit it, but it wasn't my thing either, but that's okay!  After the tour we had some time to kill before dinner, so naturally everyone flocked to finding food.  Literally, whenever we have free time it is most likely dedicated to food because we never know what our next meal will bring!  I settled for a café con leche and it was amazing, as always.  

Dinner was outside overlooking the water, it was so nice.  Tonight was another 7 course meal of tapas and sangria, I cannot even describe how good it was!  We had potatoes with sauce (papas bravas), these fried potato things (croquetas), calamari, mussels, fried fish, rice with mussels and shrimp, pasta and rice with squid, and then dessert!  We were all seriously stuffed and could hardly move.  It was so delicious and I enjoyed every minute of it.  I think tapas are my favorite here because it is a ton of food, but you get to try a lot so you aren't just stuck with one thing!  It is basically like a bunch of little appetizers, but it will fill you up, trust me on that one!  After we finished eating we sat around and talked for a little bit and then headed back to the dorm.  All in all it was a great day.  Tomorrow we are hitting the beach to learn some water sports, like wind surfing, so that should definitely be an adventure!  It's almost 1am here, so I'm off to bed!  

Tuesday, May 29th

Tuesday it was back to class like usual...just translation though, so it wasn't too bad.  After having a delicious lunch on campus, which we all had been missing, a bunch of the girls decided to hit up the mall (Parc Central) to go shopping!  The mall is pretty sweet, lots of good stores with cute stuff, I was pretty excited to look around.  I ended up getting a couple of tops and some perfume...I'm trying to limit how much I buy because I'm not exactly sure how it will all fit in my suitcase without being overweight, yikes!

After the mall, we had a cultural excursion.  A little background info, in Tarragona part of their culture is to build these human castle towers in the streets during their city fiestas.  So for our excursion, we got the opportunity to go on of their practices.  Their biggest fiesta is in September, but there is also one in June which I will be here for.  I am so excited to see them build these in the streets during the fiesta in June, it will definitely be a once in a lifetime experience.  So basically, they have this team of 500 people who create these human castles in the streets and they are amazing.  I cannot even describe how cool it was to watch them create these castles.  They gather around the bottom and then one by one people climb on each other to build these towers...and little kids are on the top!  When I saw them making the first one it made me so nervous, especially with the little kids.  They are so high in the air and they are literally stacked on top of each other.  It is crazy stuff, I can't even explain it!

After watching their practice, we headed back to the dorm and hung outside for a little bit because the weather was so nice.  We were debating on whether to go to salsa or not, but ended up going to this little bar that is about 2 minutes away and ordering food because we were starving.  It ended up being a relaxing night out with some good conversation, so I can't complain!

I've been trying to upload some pictures, but the internet here is pretty lame and is not cooperating.  So frustrating.  Another day, I guess...hopefully it will work tomorrow!

Monday, May 28th

No classes today...yesss!  We got to visit a "Al Monasterio de Poblet" today.  I was really excited for our visit to the monastery.  We got there around 12 pm and had an hour tour.  It was so beautiful!  The stone, architecture, and gardens were indescribable.  Our tour guide showed us the old parts of the monastery that aren't really used anymore.  The entire time I was looking around thinking how awesome it would be to spend time in the Word and in prayer at this beautiful place.  I can't even describe how beautiful it was...I could have spent the entire day exploring!

After our visit to the monastery, we headed to a medieval/ancient city called "Montblanc" to have our picnic lunch (bocadillas as always) and explore a little bit.  It was a cute town with beautiful, stone buildings and cobblestone roads.  We all were still hungry after our picnic lunch so we found a cafe that served cappuccino and churros!  What an awesome afternoon snack, huh?!  The cappuccino was absolutely delicious and the churros were yummy, but we concluded the ones in Tarragona are better!  After hanging around outside in Montblanc, we headed back to the bus to go back to Tarragona.  Once we were back, we had a free afternoon until dinner.  Most everyone took a siesta, read, or just hung out.  I spent the majority of time reading "The Help" and I just finished tonight...woo hoo!  That book was seriously amazing, definitely finished it in about 3 days!  Nothing too much has been going on today besides our excursion.  Tomorrow we have our regular classes and then an excursion after dinner, I think.  Sorry for a not as detailed post today, it is almost 1 am here and I am ready to crash!  Buenas noches!    

May 25th-27th: La Playa de la Mora

Oh man, this weekend was the most amazing weekend yet!  We went to "La Playa de la Mora" which is one of the beaches here and it is about 15-20 minutes away from the center city of Tarragona.  We took a bus at 11am on Friday morning and met our professors there.  Our professors called it "camping" but we were staying in bungalow cabins for the weekend - they weren't 5 star but they weren't too bad either!  After putting our stuff down in our cabins, we all headed down to the pool!  Oh my goodness, the pool was so beautiful!  It had trees and these wooden bridges built in and tons of chairs to lay out in.  We chilled at the pool for a good while and then headed to the beach to lay out there.  The weather was beautiful and the ocean was cold, but it felt so good!  After spending a couple hours on the beach, we were all starving for a snack and dinner wasn't until 8pm, so we headed up to grab something from "Bar Luigi" and it was so delicious!

The beautiful pool...is this real life?!

Friday night dinner was amazing...it was Tapas night!  We started off with bread and sangria, delicious!  Then the first course was a salad with such fresh vegetables.  Next was a vegetable tapa with peppers, caramelized onions, and eggplant.  The 3rd course was calamari.  The 4th course was my absolute favorite...mussels!  They were made in a delicious garlicy sauce, and we were told to slurp them instead of eating them with our form.  The 5th course was pork kabobs...I could barely finish them!  For dessert we had an ice cream cake type thing with vanilla ice cream and chocolate.  I finished off dinner with a café con leche.  It was a 3 hour long dinner, with some of the most amazing food I have ever had!  Bueno!  After dinner, our teaching assistant and our professor's son Patrick (he is 8 years old) played guitar for us and we all sang!  We hung out on the beach for a little bit after too!

Saturday morning we were served breakfast right on the beach by a little cafe.  There was café, leche, and toast on the table when we got there...delicious!  And then they served us eggs, bacon, sausage, and doughnuts!  It was the best breakfast I have had here...a break from the daily chocolate croissants was needed.  I think we were all in heaven.

After breakfast, we headed to the pool to lay out in the sun.  I started reading "The Help" on this trip, so I sat by the pool and read...that is usually my favorite part of summer.  It is always great to read books for fun in the summer because I don't have time to read during the school year.  Towards the late afternoon, me and a couple of girls decided to explore and find a Spanish castle we had been told about.  It was a long, rocky hike up but after asking for help from a couple from England, we found it!  Oh man, it was so beautiful...and the scenes of the Mediterranean Sea along the way didn't feel like real life!  We were all joking that we were all going to have our weddings in this Spanish castle...it would be pretty sweet!

Spanish castle.  Amazingly beautiful.

Me and some of the girls on our adventure!

Saturday night dinner was just about as good as Friday night.  We were served champagne and bread to start...holla!  Our first course was an amazing salad with fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, corn, and an awesome dressing, I could live off that salad.  For my main course, I ordered the cod in a champagne sauce served with potatoes.  It was out of this world, I can't even describe how delicious it was!  For dessert, we had a traditional Catalonia dish called "Crema Catalunya" and it was really similar to creme brulee, it was super rich and creamy.  I finished it off with a café con leche, so good!  We hung out on the beach again Saturday night and it was relaxing to look up at the night sky, put my toes in the sand, and just hang out.

Sunday, we had another amazing breakfast and spent the rest of the day at the pool, until we all decided to head back around 2:30.  We took the public bus back to the city and oh man I think it was the worst bus ride I've ever been on.  It ended up being almost an hour long and it was packed with people.  The bus driver was whipping around corners and going crazy around the round-a-bouts.  By the time all of us got back, we all felt like we were going to throw up!  For the rest of the day, I just hung around my room and chilled because everyone was pretty tired!

Tomorrow we are going to visit a monastery, so no classes for the day.  I'm pretty excited to see what it looks like and to keep exploring!  Sorry for the novel, but it was just such a great weekend!

Thursday, May 24th - El Vino de Torres

This morning I had my early class at 9:30 am, which was my translation class.  It ended at 11 am and we had to meet for lunch at 1 pm, so with two hours to kill me and two other girls walked around and did a little shopping in between.  We got coffee on la rambla (always a wise decision) and then found a really cute store with not bad prices!  I got a few cute things from the store and then we walked through a market in the middle of la rambla.  It was crazy the amount of things they had in there, there were people everywhere!

At 1, we picked up a picnic lunch from the university - they gave us 2 bocadillas (sandwiches)...SCORE!  I ate one of them and it was so delicious.  At 1:30, our group was going on an excursion to a vineyard!  We visited the Torres Vineyard and it was about an hour away.  Once we got there, we got on a little train type thing that drove us on a tour to see some of the vineyard and also explained the wine making process.  Did you know that how that the quality of the cork makes a difference in the quality in the wine?!  We were amazed that even the cork makes a difference.  We watched a video that was pretty interesting and explained how the vineyard is owned by a family and how they built their business.  Then it was tasting time!  We got to taste a white wine called "Vina Esmeralda" and it was delicious!  It was a little bit fruity, but then a little more dry tasting at the end.  I think all of us were loving it.

Part of the vineyard - it was so beautiful!

So much vino in storage!

Me and my friend Erin enjoying our wine!

After a visit to their shop, we headed back to Tarragona.  I took a siesta because I am exhausted and dinner is shortly!  Tonight the restaurant put paella on their menu, so that is what most of us got, I'm super pumped!  After dinner, I think me and some girls are going to have a chill night out and check out some of the bars around town, which should be fun.  This weekend we are going "camping" on the beach at La Playa de la Mora.  It is supposed to be pretty nice and really pretty.  I'm looking forward to a hopefully relaxing weekend and just spending time in the sun at the beach!

Wednesday, May 23rd - Vamos a la playa!

Today was a pretty chill and relaxing day!  I didn't have class until 11:30, so it was nice to be able to sleep in after going to bed at 2 am and also to spend some time relaxing and praying before the day started.  I'm trying to find more of a routine of spending time in scripture and journaling, and I am learning to take it day by day and not try to plan it out as I usually do, which is helping a lot.

My class at 11:30 was my culture and medicine class, and today was the first day we had class in the classroom instead of a field trip to go on.  I was really intimidated because our teacher can be a little scary and calls on us randomly to ask questions.  Basically, she terrifies all of us.  Class was surprisingly not bad!  She brought us little sandwiches as brunch, which were delicious!  We talked about the elements of the Mediterranean diet which was really interesting.  They eat so much fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, tons of bread, and of course wine!  Everything they eat is fresh and not processed - which is really awesome.

After class and lunch, we headed to the beach to spend the afternoon in the sun.  The beach here is so nice and beautiful.  The sand is super soft and the sun feels so wonderful.  We spent a couple hours just laying out in the sun and relaxing.  I also went in the water - first time in the Mediterranean! Hollaaaa!  The water is freezing cold though.  After a few hours at the beach, we left to get ready for dinner.  On the walk back we stumbled upon a churro truck, and obviously we had to stop because we have been dying for churros and still hadn't gotten them yet.  Oh. my. gosh.  They were so delicious...I ate like 6 and could have eaten more!  I think I was in heaven!  The sweets are definitely what are keeping me alive here, because I know I can always count on those calories being delicious!

Now, I am just hanging out after eating dinner and finishing up some homework for tomorrow.  I will probably try to head to bed early since I have class at 9:30 tomorrow and then we are touring a vineyard for wine tasting tomorrow afternoon, which I'm really excited about!  It should be a fun day!

Tuesday, May 22nd

Today was a great day!  I didn't have class until 12 which was so amazingly nice!  Breakfast ends at 9:30, so I got up and grabbed breakfast to go at 9:15 and then slept for a little longer until 10.  I think I am starting to get used to the croissants and bread for breakfast, but I am still missing my daily oatmeal.  I took the morning to relax, get ready, and spend some time in the Word and journaling, which was great as always.  It is always such a great start to the day when I am centered on the Lord and have that focus because it puts the rest of my day into perspective.

At 12, we had our translation class, which we all love.  We got assigned our project today and it looks a little intense.  We are working in groups of 9 and we have to translate this entire informational packet from Spanish to English...it looks a little intense because translation is not simply translating words, but also taking into consideration the cultural meaning.  It is going to be interesting to say the least!  After translation, it was time for lunch, which was so amazing!  Thank goodness the food in campus is good because we all usually stock up on that.  The fresh pineapple is out of this world!

We were going to hit the beach for the afternoon, but the clouds weren't looking too good, so some of the girls decided to go shopping.  One of the culture classes had a tour they had to go on, but it was open to anyone so me and a couple of girls who aren't in the class decided to join them anyway.  We had a tour of the Medieval parts of Tarragona and it was really interesting (and beautiful too!).  It was a little over 2 hours, so we were all exhausted by the end.  But, I was happy that I went because I would rather be soaking up the culture and exploring the city was opposed to shopping.  Don't get me wrong, I love the shop, but I figured I would save that for a rainy day!  After the tour, a few of use stopped for gelato...always a good choice!  I am literally obsessed with gelato, I get it almost everyday...is that a problem?!  Here are some pictures from the afternoon:

View from the top of one of the buildings we went into!  The view never gets old!

One of the streets in the historic area in Tarragona

Me and my friend Ally with the beautiful Mediterranean in the background

Now, I am just relaxing a little bit until dinner at 8:30pm!  After dinner, we are going back to Salsa dancing!  It was so much fun last week so we are excited to go back.  Some of us are going to get there early this week to grab a drink and actually attend the lessons so that we can learn!  It should be a fun night!

Monday, May 21st

Well, today it was back to class after a fun weekend and a free day of relaxing yesterday!  This morning, my culture and medicine class took a field trip to a company called "Borges" which creates natural products that fit into the Mediterranean diet.  We listened to a presentation where they told us about how their business has grown and become an international company that exports their products to many countries.  We also learned about the typical mediterranean diet and some of the differences between their diet and ours in America.  We have definitely noticed differences between the two diets - the biggest on is the massive amount of bread they eat here!  Literally, I think when I get home I will be so sick of bread and carbs...we are definitely missing out on protein here!  After the presentation, we got a tour of the factory where the products are actually made.  It was really cool to see all the machines making the different foods, like nuts and dried fruits.  It was a really cool tour and I really enjoyed learning more about their company.  They also gave us free goody bags, with olive oil, dried fruit, and nuts...score!

We headed from the tour straight to lunch because it was 2 pm and we were all starving!  After enjoying lunch at the campus, me and a couple friends headed to "El Corte Ingles" which is basically a nice Walmart to pick up a few things.  I wanted to get some fruit and nuts to snack on so that I can try to get some more nutrients because it's a little hard to eat something other than carbs.  We all feel like we are continually starving because their eating schedule is so different here and we are still trying to get used to the food.  I'm surprised at how much I don't enjoy the food here.  I think part of it is that we eat in the same restaurant every night and have to order a week in advance, so we don't know what we like when we order.  But, I'm getting used to it and I'm going to make sure I drink enough water and eat healthy.

After our shopping adventure, we came back to the dorm and hung out for a little bit until our excursion.  We got to cook our own dinner tonight - traditional Roman food!  We divided into 4 groups of 8 and each table had a different dish to make for the group.  My group made this interesting egg salad with mustard and nuts and oil.  Other groups made salad with roses (yes, flowers), bread with cream cheese, and some weird date things.  They also made us chicken and gave us rose wine (it was gross).  We also had to wear funny crowns and pretend like we were at a traditional Roman meal.  It was an interesting experience, but I can't say that I loved the food.  I think we were all still hungry afterward, so of course we went to get ice cream!  We also split some McDonald's fries...we are convinced our bodies are craving fats and proteins that we don't get here.  I'm not a McDonald's girl at all and I have never wanted chicken nuggets, a burger, or fries so bad in my life.  It was still a really fun night though - we enjoyed cooking and spending time together!  That is mostly it for what is going on here today!  I think I am off to bed soon, it's 12:30 here and I'm exhausted! 

Weekend in Barcelona

We spent the past two days adventuring in Barcelona.  We woke up early Friday morning and took a bus to Barcelona - it is only about an hour and a half away from Tarragona.  Well, we had the busiest day in Barcelona, we were literally touring from 10 am until 8 pm.  It was all fun and interesting, just a lot for one day!

Our first stop was the Barcelona Futbol (Soccer) stadium!  I'm not an intense soccer fan, but it was really really cool to see!  There was a museum with all the history of the sports of Barcelona and then we got to see the actual stadium!  We saw the locker rooms and then headed down to the field.  It was so cool to see the field and be right there where famous players play.

After, we headed up a mountain called Montjuic were we had a picnic lunch and there were beautiful sights of the city of Barcelona.  You could see the entire city, including the mountains and the sea.  It was so wonderful!

Then, we went on a tour of la Sagrada Familia.  Wow, I was blown away.  It was almost a 2 hour tour, and I could have spent more time exploring and looking.  The architecture was so breathtaking.  I love looking at churches and cathedrals because they are so intricate and they have so much to take in.  My pictures cannot even do la Sagrada Familia justice because there was so much detail.  I would have loved to spend an entire day there just walking about and looking at the beautiful architecture.

We then had the chance to explore El Parc Guell, which was really interesting.  Our professors made us do a scavenger hunt, which we all thought was a little lame (and it was hard) so we didn't feel like we got to see or experience as much of the park as we would have wanted.  It was still fun though, and really pretty to see different architecture and art.

Then, it was finally time for dinner!  We are still not used to eating so late here and were starving for any type of food!  A couple of us found a place that served paella to eat at.  Me, Ally, and Katie split some tapas and paella...it was out of this world!  We ate it so fast and loved every bit!  I would love to get paella again, and I'm sure we will!  We also got gelato after dinner, which was of course delicious.  I am obsessed with ice cream, so I get it as much as possible here...whoops!

Saturday was a free day for us to explore Barcelona.  We ended up finding a cappuccino place and grabbing some coffee and croissants for breakfast...delicious!  We then just wandered around the city, shopped, and explored.  We found an awesome pizza place for lunch, where we got antipastas and pizza.  It was so delicious!  We also got Sangria, but I only had a little bit because I have been warned about how strong it is in Barcelona...I can understand how people drink so much of it because it is so delicious!

We left Barcelona around 6 pm, all exhausted!  I don't think we have ever been so excited to be back in Tarragona.  We loved Barcelona, but I think for the most part we are glad we are in Tarragona because it isn't as big of a city and Barcelona was a little sketch.  But all in all, it was a fun time!

Ahh, Thursday May 17th

Well, today was such a wonderful day, I can't stop smiling!  We had our translation class this morning at 9:30 and I honestly love that class.  Translation is so much harder than one would think, but it is really interesting to learn about the different techniques.  Then, we had to visit the market for our culture and medicine class.  It was so cool!  There were fresh fruits and vegetables everywhere!  The meats and seafood were also very fresh, but they still looked kind of alive...it was a little frightening at first, but still interesting to see.  After walking around the market, we had an hour and a half to kill before lunch so of course some of the girls went shopping.  I got a navy dress and two nice tops for 45 Euros...not bad!  Shopping is pretty great here, and I am excited to do a little more over the next couple weeks.

After lunch, we all headed back to the dorm because it wasn't warm enough to go to the beach today which was a bummer.  I finished up some homework and then took a one hour siesta aka nap, which was so wonderful and much needed!

After siesta, I met my friend Ally for some coffee on "La Rambla."  We each got a cappuccino and sat down to catch up and talk about our trip.  We were talking about how we want to form relationships on this trip that go beyond the surface.  A lot of people on our trip seem to be here for the party, and we both have been praying that the Lord will even grow one relationship that goes beyond the surface.  It was refreshing to have an honest conversation and to have someone to talk about the struggles of being the few Christians in a place where God is not at the center and there seems to be a lot of darkness.  I think I have been learning about compassion for my friends on this trip who don't know the Lord and all I've been praying is that I can show them how wonderful the love of Christ is because it is such good news!  I have been praying that my actions and words display the love of Christ and show that I am different because I have a relationship with Christ and have been transformed.  We decided we were pretty hungry, so we went on search for pizza!  We finally found some and I ended up telling Ally a lot about how I grew up and how I have grown in my relationship with the Lord, especially since coming to JMU.  She was on Exec with IV the year before me, so it was cool to tell her how the Lord has stretched me and grown me in such amazing ways since entering leadership.  We talked for about 2 and a half hours and didn't even realize that it was 7:30!  It was refreshing to have someone here to talk to and just be honest with about my life and what is going on.  I am so thankful that the Lord provided someone as support to me on this trip, because I have definitely been missing my closest friends and family.  God is good, all the time!

We are going to Barcelona this weekend, which should be amazing.  We are all a little nervous because we have been warned about the pick pocketing problem, but we are going to be extra careful and watch out for each other.  I'm out, more later this weekend!

Wednesday, May 16th

Today was our most crazy day yet, I think!  The students in the business and culture medicine classes took a field trip to a business in Reus and then the newest hospital in Reus.  It was another morning filled with Spanish guest lectures, which took a lot of concentration and focus.  The two guys who were talking about their business were hilarious and were great about speaking slow to make sure we could understand them.  I was able to take in what they were saying and get the main ideas of how the business ran and why they created it, which I was satisfied with.  After spending almost 2 hours with the businessmen, we headed to the hospital to take a tour.  We walked in and this hospital literally looked like a airport!  It was so nice.  It is only about 2 or 3 years old and took about 120 Euros to build...WOAH!  The technology in the hospital was amazing.  They literally have robots that know their way around the hospital using wifi and take things to different floors.  They have motion sensors too, so when you stand in front of them they slow down and stop until everything is out of the way.  They have a ton of resources and technology, and it was really cool to see all of the stuff that they use.

After the hospital visit, it was 1:45 and we were all starving for lunch.  We headed to the campus cafeteria, where the food was delicious today!  We had lunch and some café and then hung out outside for a little bit.  We had a tour of the Roman history in the city at 3:30 - it lasted 3 hours long.  The information was interesting and there was so much culture to soak in, but I have to admit I was definitely having a tough time focusing and trying to translate everything because I had already been translating from 9:30-1:45 earlier in the day.  It takes more energy and focus than one would think and then putting that with walking up and down hills, stairs, cobblestone roads was a dangerous combination.  Nonetheless, it was still cool to see the sights, but of course I forgot my camera today :(  We were all exhausted and so tired of walking, we barely made it back to our residence hall.  We had dinner at the same restaurant again and it was alright as always.  We are looking forward to next week because they are supposed to be adding some things to the menu for us to choose from - including paella and pizza!  We are pretty pumped!

After dinner, I came back and finished up some homework.  I have to admit, this trip is really busy and a lot of time with our entire group, which is great, but I am the type of person that also needs time alone to recharge.  Tonight after my homework, I was able to take time to spend reading my bible and journaling, which hasn't happened much since I have been in Spain sadly.  It is always so relaxing to spend time in the presence of the Lord and remember that my relationship with the Lord can and will grow here, I just need to take time alone with God to grow.  Galatians 5 is what I'm reading right now and just remembering that we have Freedom in Christ is so wonderful!  My time was so humbling, yet comforting and I am excited to continue to see God work in my time here!  That is is for tonight, I think I'm going to head to bed shortly and hopefully get more sleep tonight!  Adios!

Salsa Dancing!

Last night (Tuesday night) we went salsa dancing!  There is an Irish bar, ironic right, in town that has free salsa lessons on Tuesday nights, so our group decided to go!  I was a little nervous because if you know me, you know that I cannot dance at all!  But we got there and got some drinks and went into the room with all the dancing.  Oh my goodness, Spaniards can dance - it was literally like Dirty Dancing, I was so impressed!  I cannot even describe how amazing it was to watch.  At first we were just standing around watching, but then the guys in our group just started grabbing the girls and we just went for it!  It was seriously so much fun, even though I know I looked ridiculous!  My friend Chad and I decided that we are perfect dance partners because we are both horrible at dancing, so I'm sure we were pretty entertaining to watch.  They also had group dances, almost like line dancing, which were so fun.  It literally felt like zumba class and it was so hard to keep up, but we all had so much fun with it.  We danced until about 1:30ish and then some of us headed back to try to get some sleep!  Our plan is to go back every Tuesday night and hopefully we can improve our dancing skills!  Me gusta salsa!

And Classes are a Go!

So today was our first official day of class!  I had a presentation about the health care system in Spain for my culture and medicine class at 10am.  It was an hour and a half of this guy speaking the fastest Spanish I have ever heard.  Welcome to class in Spain!  It was really difficult to keep up and even get a grasp of what he was saying, but I managed to get at least a few notes written down and some of the main ideas of what he was talking about.  It seemed pretty interesting though!

After the presentation, I had my Spanish Translation class, which I think I am going to LOVE!  Not only because it is mostly in English, but it seems really interesting.  We talked about how things can be lost in translation and how it is important to not only translate language, but culture.  We are going to be learning different techniques that will help in this process.  Over the next 4 weeks we will be working on a group translation project, which I am actually excited about because I think it gives us a sense of purpose and something tangible that we can see, which I think is important.

After class, we headed to lunch on campus where I had pasta, fish, fruit, and bread.  It was delicious, thank the Lord, because the dinner at the restaurant we go to every night is not very good at all, so we are all normally starving!  I ate a ton hoping to fill up in case dinner wasn't great.

After lunch, a bunch of us headed to the beach.  We went to a different beach, one that we can walk to but isn't as nice as the one we went to on Sunday.  We got there and it was literally a sand storm!  It was so windy and sand was literally all over us.  So we decided it wasn't worth it and we headed back down "La Rambla" and found a cute cafe/bar where a smaller group of us hung out and got some drinks.  We sat around talking for almost 2 hours, and it was so great to have some chill time in a smaller group.  We were cracking jokes and just having a great afternoon.  Now, I am getting ready for dinner (hopefully it is good tonight, we'll see) and I think we may go salsa dancing later tonight, which I am pumped for!  I am starting to get adjusted here, I think it will still take a little more time but I am enjoying it!  I am headed to dinner now, more to come later!

Spanish Dorm Room

So this is our room for the next 4 weeks!  I like to think of it as "cozy" but it is pretty darn small!  It is hard to unpack our stuff because we don't have much storage space which is frustrating, but we'll get used to it.  It is a little strange, there are two twin beds but they are pushed together...that's Europe, I guess?!

Pictures of the Mediterranean Sea!  This is taken from "La Rambla" which is sort of like the boardwalk/port in Tarragona.  It is so beautiful - I'm excited to spend some time down here journaling and just hanging out!

Days 2 and 3

Holaaaa!  I figured I should try to update while I have some spare time and write about yesterday and today!  Yesterday (Sunday) was such a wonderful day!  We went on a tour of Tarragona - it is such a beautiful city with so much history and culture to offer.  I loved walking the cobblestone streets and looking at the views of the Mediterranean Sea...so beautiful (I will update pictures soon!)!  After walking around, our professors bought us all ice cream, which was so delicious!  I got cappuccino and it was so yummy...definitely will be going back to that place!  After, a bunch of us decided to go to the beach - we grabbed our stuff and took a bus to the "nicer" beach with the soft sand.  Oh my goodness, it was so stinkin' beautiful!  The sand was so soft and the ocean was gorgeous - I can't even put into words how beautiful of a view it was.  We spent the entire afternoon on the beach and of course I got a little sunburned...oops (I think we all did though).  After an afternoon in the sun, we went to dinner at the restaurant we eat at every night.  It's pretty good, but the food isn't as good as everyone has told me it is, which is surprising!  Dinner ended around 9:30, so we all headed back to the dorm to hang out.  We met some of the other Spanish residents in the hall and hung out with them outside for a good bit.  We even met a professional basketball player who is playing in the Olympics for the UK!  Holaaaa...that was so exciting!

This morning (Monday), we headed to the campus for a full day of orientation.  We met some of the program directors at the URV, got a tour of the campus, had lunch, and then listened to a presentation about our excursions and cultural activities.  It was a long day (6hrs) of sitting and constantly paying attention because everything is in Spanish, of course.  By the end of the day, everyone was dozing off because we are still adjusting to the 6 hour time difference.  Classes start tomorrow, which should be interesting!  I'm a little nervous just because everything is in Spanish which means I need to be continually paying attention and on top of it or else I will have no clue what is going on!  But, it is all part of the experience!  Tonight, we have dinner at the restaurant and then I think most of us will go to bed early due to being exhausted and starting class tomorrow.  That is everything for now, hopefully I will get some pictures posted soon!

Hola Tarragona

Finally...we are in Tarragona!  After my flight in Charlotte delayed 45 minutes and an 8 hour flight from Philly to Barcelona, I am in Spain!  We are 6 hours ahead here, so I've been up for 24+ hours which is killing me, but that is what siesta is for :)  This place looks really interesting!  For starters, my roommate and I walked into our room...2 twin beds literally right next to each other.  Welcome to Europe?  We were a little weirded out but I think we're over it!  And, one closet with exactly 4 hangers...what?!  So we decided that we most likely will not be unpacking because 1) that takes effort and 2) we have 4 hangers and no dresser.  So it is going to be an adventure here in Tarragona.  I'm excited to start doing things with the group and for our classes.  I want to explore the city and see what all it has to offer!  We just woke up from a nap to attempt to catch up on sleep.  In a little while we will have dinner and then who knows what else we will do tonight!  I will try to upload some pictures soon!

Almost packed...

Well, I've got my suitcase, with clothes in it...for 6 weeks.  What?!  This is so crazy that in 2 days I'll be headed to the airport to spend 6 weeks in Spain!  I've spent the week trying to get everything prepared, clothes, passport, camera, and everything else you need to go to a foreign country for 6 weeks.  But I've also been trying to mentally and emotionally prepare for my new adventure.  It is a little nerve-wracking to be going somewhere totally new, with people that I don't know all too well and I know it is going to be an adjustment.  It's out of my comfort zone, and that is one of the reasons I know this trip will be such a growing experience for me.  I've been continually praying for the Lord to prepare my heart for this time.  That I won't be afraid or intimidated by what lies ahead, but instead trusting and ready to follow where the Lord is taking me.  I've been praying for boldness to show God's love wherever I am and to truly learn that God is bigger than we know - he is everywhere and my faith isn't limited to JMU or even the United States.  So, I'm almost packed and headed to Spain in 2 days...it's time for some adventure!    

Luke 11: 33-36

“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness.  See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.  Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”