Let's all Hike to Jesus!

This week there has not been a lot to update on. Classes are going well and I just took my first test today. It went well, I think except for one question I did not understand. The only exciting thing so far has been our hike to Jesus. There is a huge statue of Christ on top of one of the mountains that surrounds the city of Oviedo. A group from the University of Boston Mass was going to go up so we decided to join them. It was 6 hours, but well worth it. We stopped on our way to see two 1000+ year old churches which were really cool too! Other than that I am learning a lot. It was good to talk to my family the last few days since they have been snowed in! We are now planning a few trips close to Oviedo and are getting excited for Carnaval...Spain's Mardis Gras type celebration! It should be fun!

A Quick Visit to Paradise

Wow, where to start. I have had the most amazing week. I finished classes on Wednesday and then my friend Leslie and I went to the bus station to start our adventure to Malaga. We rode the bus to Madrid and then took a taxi to the airport. Our flight landed in Malaga at midnight and Laura Eller was there to pick us up. Since it was late we pretty much went strait to bed, but I was able to quickly skype my parents to let them know we arrived safely. Laura showed us our room and we were asleep in no time :)

The next morning we started our day off bright and early with a quick drive to Mijas. This cute tourist town is known as one of the Costa del Sol's "Pueblos Blancos," (white villages). It seriously looked like we were walking in Greece! We were able to see one of Spain's only oval bull fighting ring...from the outside, visited a few lookout points so that we could see the ocean, went to a small chapel built into a cave, and looked through a museum that told the history and culture of Andalusia in clay that one woman made. It was absolutely stunning! We took pictures of the "burro taxi's" and yes, that is what you are thinking it is!

We then drove through downtown Malaga and stopped at a castle monument to Columbus. It was cool to us because we had been learning about a lot of the art that they used in art class! Then we drove to the beach and walked along the Mediterranean Sea! Beautiful :) Then we drove back and had lunch...I have never been so excited to have Chili in my life! Laura is a great cook! We then hung out the rest of the day, we walked Josh to his music class and had Moroccan tea while we waited. It was a pretty cool experience!

The next day we again started off right after the kids went to school and went to Malaga's castle and walked through downtown. We went to Picasso's birth place and walked down the street performer street. We then went to Malaga's port to see the pirate ship they have docked there and when we got there we saw a real German Submarine! How often does that happen?!? We then headed back to the house and spent the afternoon hanging out, watching movies and enjoying relaxing and hanging out with the Eller boys!

On Saturday we slept in! Then we got up and headed to the beach! It was perfect weather and we had a blast walking in the surf and picking up a ton of Starfish! We flew kites, played paddle ball and had a picnic! Then we went to the new church building that they just moved to and helped get ready for the youth service they were having that night. We met a lot of really cool people and really had to use our Spanish for most of the night! There were some Chilean guys who came to give their testimonies and they loved us because we knew how to play Ultimate Frisbee. We wished that we could have played with them, but we had to leave :( They told us only American girls would play because every other girl is too afraid to break a nail! Haha! It was a great, but late evening! We didn't get back from church until 11:30 or Midnight! Then we had to wake up at 6:30 to catch our plane in the morning. We had an uneventful travel day back and made it back just in time for my host mom to make me Arroz a la Cubana con huevos fritos! I'll explain it when I get back! Now I'm back in classes and wishing I was in Malaga!

Off to see the Ellers!

Our first vacation day has offically arrived! My friend Leslie and I are headed to Malaga to visit some friends of mine, the Ellers. They live in Malaga which is right on the Med. Sea! It should be a great long weekend. We leave today, as soon as classes are done to catch a bus to Madrid. Then we have a quick flight to Malaga where Laura is going to pick us up. It will be fun to drive through some of the country side of Spain and then cut off a few hours with a plane ride. Hopefully by the end of this trip I will have mastered the art of airports! Well other than that I haven´t done much. Classes are going pretty good and my understanding is slowly but surely increasing! I will try and update when I arrive in Malaga!
¡Besos!

Things are just different in Europe....

Well my second week of classes is officially over. I am amazed at how different life in Europe is, but it is not bad. We have had a blast getting to know the city of Oviedo. It is a beautiful city with a lot to offer.

Well, to start off school has been good...but the most boring part of my day. We have classes pretty early in the morning. My first class is at 9 am, and I know that everyone is thinking that is not early at all! But for here, it is quite early because I have to walk about 30 minutes to get to the University. It is a beautiful walk though, so I cannot complain. The weather this week has been pretty good too! It had some rainy days, but for the most part was sunny with a little bit of fog. I haven't had much homework, just translating some pretty easy paragraphs. So the lack of hours of homework has been delightful.

We have had some other adventures the past two weeks. First, all of our meetings are held in a bar which I had to get used to. I love going to the bar and ordering Fanta. It's good here because it is more like carbonated lemonade or orange juice. I also had a interesting time buying shoes. They have different shoe sizes here which makes me feel bad because I am a size 41. But I got my boots, that are waterproof!

I have also been attending a church here. Yay for finding people to worship with! Leslie and I have been connecting with a student name Noemi and a group called gbu, that is a Bible Study. We attended our first girls night. It was hippie themed and we played roulette (wheel of fortune bible edition) and a version of Spanish Bible Edition Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We ate some amazing food and I took a lot of Spanish in! It is funny to listen to everyone try and pronounce my name though because they cannot pronounce the "J" sound.

Well I will update soon! We just planned our first trip to Malaga to visit Kory and Laura Eller. I am super super excited!! So We leave Wednesday night and then will stay the weekend and leave Sunday. I will keep everyone updated as much as possible!

La Universidad de Oviedo

I started classes yesterday. My first class was grammar and I had a really really hard time understanding the professor. Hopefully tomorrow she will speak much slower! I think that my classes are going to be really good though. After my grammar class I had a 2 hour break, so me and a couple other girls walked around the streets near campus. We went to the "China" store. It would be comparable to the Dollar Tree in the States. I had to ask for an adapter because one of the girls needed one and nobody wanted to ask. They had them, which was good because another girl blew hers up today with her hair drier and had to get another!

I ate an apple for mid-morning snack and then had my Art class. I really liked this professor and I think that It is going to be a really fun class learning about the art in Spain and especially the trips to go out and learn about the art in Oviedo. I then went home where my host mom made me lunch! So far everything she has made has been "rico" or delicious! I took a siesta after lunch and then at 5 we met at "La Gorda." La Gorda (the fat lady) Is a statue near the big park in oviedo. We all as one big group went and bought cell phones. It was good that one of the mom's went with us and translated so that the lady behind the counter knew what to do. I'm sure it is not often that she gets a group of 15 english speakers wanting to buy cell phones!

The store we bought our cell phone in was comparable to Sears, so they had a little bit of everything...so I bought a book in Spanish. I bought Breaking Dawn, because I read it in English and it was an easy read...not so much in Spanish though! I came home then and ate supper about 8:30 and then talked to Sarah on Skype for a while before I went to bed.

I woke up early and went to class before the sun even came up! This is hard to get used to!!! I am getting pretty good at the walk between my house and campus. The park is open now so I can cut quite a bit of time off :) Today I had 3 Classes and all of them were good! I have another 2 hour break on Wednesdays in between my first class and my last two classes but I like going down to the cafeteria and talking to people. This afternoon I came back home and ate lunch at 3 and then took a siesta. I am really getting used to this! At 7:15 I met Leslie and Naomi for church. It was interesting but the people there are very sweet and patient with the Americans :) They all talk about Tyler, a student from last year because he was so tall!

I came back after Church and ate dinner. Then I gave my host mom her present. Mom, she loved the quilt and necklaces! She wanted to wear all the necklaces at once! Now I'm off to bed! It's almost Midnight and we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow! Buenos Noches!

Arrival in Spain!

Well, after 12 hours we finally made it to Spain. We left the hotel around 7:45 and arrived at Paddington Station just a few minutes before the next Heathrow Express train took off. It was almost perfect timing because we even found room for our bags! We got to the airport 15 minutes later and were checked in and through security within an hour. It went by so fast we had to wait an hour (until 10:00) to even figure out which gate we were to go to. After a while we got on the plane and were off to the Madrid airport. When we got there again we did not know exactly which terminal to go to right away so we grabbed a snack and something to drink and by that time we knew where we were to go.

When we got to the terminal we found 2 others from our group: Kayla and Zach. We waited since our plane was delayed for about 20 minutes and then got on. When we got to Oviedo, Kayla's bags did not show up...so after figuring out (in Spanish) what to do we missed the bus to Oviedo. Kayla and I grabbed some cafe con leche and waited until 6:30 to get on the next bus for Oviedo that left about 7. When we got to the bus station, we grabbed a taxi and were off to the hotel. We met up with everyone else there and after about and hour or so went to Dinner. It was a very interesting experience.

First, I don't like sangria. I don't like beer (which I knew from the smell a long time ago. I don't like campaign. I tried squid for the first time...and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. There cheese balls here are NOT the same as Iowa but the french fries are pretty tasty! After the dinner most of the group went to the bar, but Leslie, Abigail and I went back to the hotel. I went to bed about 1 and then woke up at 7:45. After I checked out of the hotel we went to meet our families.

My host mom picked me up and we walked back to our Pizo. When we got there we dropped my luggage in my room and then took off again back to the University. I had to go to the library and all the international students met there for a big meeting and to take the entrance exam. When they started I had no idea what they were saying. I got just enough to get by. Afterward my mom came and picked me up and we went back to the house to eat lunch. I was starving because I didn't get anything for breakfast. She made me arroz con pollo and it was delicious.

After lunch I unpacked one of my suitcases and then took a siesta! I think I can get used to this. I woke up at 3 and went back to campus. I met Abigail and Leslie and we went to get phones and the things that we needed. I bought my umbrella and went to get a phone, but I forgot I needed my passport number. So I will have to go get that tomorrow.

When I got back I went to the centro comercial (mall) and was kinda bored actually. I was looking for the phone store again but they moved. So I will get it before coming back from classes tomorrow. Now I am updating my blog, I talking to 1315 Brenton Drive, and now Sarah. I miss that I am not able to talk to my parents. I hope they are enjoying themselves on the cruise, and that they get back soon so that I can talk to them. Well I think now I'm going to try and unpack a little more and then go to bed. We have to be at the University at 8:30 in the morning, which in Spain is extremely early. I have to leave about 8...because it takes me 20-25 minutes to get there. Fun stuff...I will be getting my exercise for sure.