Un fin de semana en Barcelona

       Two weekends ago, I had one of the best weekends ever in Barcelona.  First, I was able to finally meet up with Simona, the Romanian lady from the church I visited.  I was extremely blessed by the meeting and was very glad it worked out.  We had a great conversation about traveling, family, being true to our faith, and the hope we have in God.  At end of our coffee session, she gave me a book by C.S. Lewis with a beautiful note written on the inside cover.
     That Saturday,  I participated in the IES hike to Collserola.  Collserola is a mountain range surrounding Barcelona and the weather was beautiful and the view was beautiful.  We hiked up the hill and back down the other side.  Because of the change in humidity on either side of the mountain, you could tell a difference in the plant life on each side.  On the other side, we visited a small "suburb" of Barcelona where we got coffee and ice cream before taking the train back to Barcelona.
     Sunday was a day jam packed with spur of the moment activities.  First, I ran in el Curso del Corte Ingles.  It is a huge race that happens every year and everyone, literally everyone, participates in it.  There were over 55,000 people of all ages and their pets.  There was a little old lady wearing a complete Barca uniform, people pushing strollers, kids, and hard core runners.  The course took us through the Olympic Stadium which was really neat!
     Next, I visited Tibidabo with a bunch of my friends.  Tibidabo is a church on top of a mountain.  It was neat to see because it is something you see all the time in the distance when you are down in the city.  Looking out over the city is also something I can never get tired of doing!
    To end it all, a friend of mine had told me there was a pillow fight happening in Plaza Catalunya, so of course I had to get in on that! I ran home and asked my host mom if she had a pillow she didn't mind me using.  Luckily she did! :D  It was absolute craziness with feathers flying everywhere!

Catch-up

It's been a crazy awesome, fun-filled few weeks so I am going to try and catch up as best as I can.  First of all, 2 weeks ago was Semana Santa.  My friends and I travelled to Mallorca, Valencia, Granada, and Sevilla.  We were in Mallorca for only a few days and there weren't many people on the island since it was the off season.  It was very beautiful and the weather was nice overall if only slightly chilly.  We rode bikes and explored along the coast, ate gelato, laid on the beach and took silly pictures, took a boat tour, and ate seafood.  There was a huge basilica that we visited that was beautiful at night when it was all lit up.

La Catedral de Mallorca

Next, we visited Valencia for a few hours while waiting for our flight to Sevilla.  We didn't get to see very much, but it was enough to see that it was a very different city than Barcelona!

In Sevilla, the weather was really iffy and it rained every day we were there except for one.  Besides that, it was an amazing experience.  I loved our hostel, the people we met, and Sevilla.  At first, we were unsure about our hostel.  When we arrived, it was dark and their was a procession going on right in front of the door so we couldn't get in.  Then there was people everywhere in the lobby and it was slightly overwhelming.  However, the hostel was really nice, and it was like a college dorm with people from all over the world.  We met and made friends with people from the U.S., England, Australia, Portugal, Finland, and other parts of Spain.  There was a little bar on the top floor where we could get breakfast every morning and you could sit on the roof and meet people in the evenings.  There was even a night where a guy taught a mini session on flamenco out on the roof.  There were also 2 free tours offered through the hostel.  We were able to go on one and it was really neat to learn more about the history of the area and to see the things I've been studying in class.  One our own, we visited some of the main sights including Plaza Espanya, El Torre de Oro, Palacio de Alcázar, la Seta, The cathedral, and the Plaza de Toros.  The processions for semana santa in Sevilla were crazy!  The outfits were slightly creepy at first since they are in the style of the KKK robes but in many different colors.  Everyone was wearing them from the elderly to really little kids.  The music was beautiful and eerie and the floats were incredible and very intricate.  Whenever there was a procession going on, there would be people everywhere so that you could hardly move.

Plaza Espanya en Sevilla

While we were in Sevilla, we took a day trip to Granada.  We had planned to see La Alhambra, but the tickets sold out at 7:00am! Instead, we took a tour a neighborhood up on a hill where we could get a good view of La Alhambra.  I learned even more about the history and culture, and we saw las cuevas were the gypsies of Granada live.  On the way back to the bus, a procession started keeping the buses from coming so we had to take a taxi.

The procession in Granada

We came back to Barcelona on Saturday a few days before classes started so we could rest and get some homework done.  My host family asked me to go to the mass with them on Easter Sunday.  It meant a lot to me to be included and I met some of the family too.  On Monday, all the family came over because Monday is considered Easter here.  I knew they were coming but didn't know if I was expected to be a part of it. I was hanging out with some friends and came back in the middle of everyone being here.  Apparently my host mom had been wondering where i was and had bout me a chocolate egg.  She was introducing my as her daughter, giving me food and chocolate, and the whole family included me.  I met aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents.  It meant so much to me to be included completely into the family on Easter. 

Exploring My City

         This past week was rather stressful.  I had a lot of homework, presentations, and papers to work on.  Also, I was having problems with my plane tickets to Vienna.  As it turned out, I wasn't able to go to Vienna this weekend.  Between my bank and the airlines, I wasn't able to go without spending over $300 for a weekend.  I was pretty bummed, because I don't really have another weekend where I can travel to another country.  However I decided to make the best of it and explore more of Barcelona and check some things off of my to do list.  It turned out to be a pretty good weekend.
        Friday, I ate lunch on my roof, rented roller blades, took pictures of things I see everyday, and went to the beach.  Yesterday, I explored El Born and ate a delicious lunch with a friend.  I also found the Opera House, Concert Hall, Fine Arts Building, and some cute little music shops. I even found a string shop! I might check it out one day when it is open.  Later, I practiced violin on the roof.

      Today I decided to check out a random park, so I pulled out my map and chose one. :) It was Parc Guinardó and it was beautiful! I took a metro there, and then climbed to the top of the park.  The view was incredible! You could all of Barcelona and beyond!  There were the ruins of an old battery that was there during the time of the Civil War as well. 

I took the metro there, but then decided to walk home.  I was refreshed and starving by the time I got home. :)

Rome

      Last weekend I took trip to Rome with my friends Gaby and Mayra which is why I haven't written in a while.   Rome was incredible!! I don't know why, but I was surprised by how different it was from Barcelona.  Everything was so much older and the architecture was totally different.  Because the streets were so much older, the cobblestones were very uneven and our feet were killing us by the end of the weekend.  Our flight was at 5:55am so I had to leave my house at 2:00am! I ended up not oging to bed except for an hour long nap.  Our first day in Rome, we took a metro from the bus station to the Vatican City.  It was crazy to be someplace I had studied before! All of the art and architecture was overwhelmingly beautiful.  I was very excited to see the Sistine Chapel because I have wanted to see it since I read about it middle school.  It took forever to get there because you had to go through all the rooms full of art and artifacts first.  Everything was really cool, but slightly overwhelming because we were so tired.  When we finally got to the Sistine Chapel, I was nervous that it wouldn't be as awesome as I had read about.  I was not disappointed.  It was unbelievable! You could see all of the different painted panels from any point in the room and they seemed to stand out as if they were 3D.  I can't even imagine how someone could paint something like that.  
     After the Vatican City, we ate gelato and planned our next plan of attack.  We asked a man for directions to the first monument, and then walked from monument to monument and ended up at our hotel.  We saw the Trevi Fountain, a few main plazas, Vittoriano, the Pantheon, and more.  When we finally got to our hotel, we were exhausted and, after dinner, when right to bed.

The Pantheon

      The next day, we walked to Piazza de Popolo.  We had a great view of the city and there were pines just  like you see in the postcards! :D We also saw the Spanish Steps, and stumbled on other beautiful buildings and monuments.  Next we went to the Roman Forum. 

 This is the original part of Rome with all of the ruins.  It was so neat to see all the history I have studied in real life! I saw buildings Julius and Augustus Caesar had built, and monuments to the different emperors.  The only thing I regret is that I didn't know about the Mammertine prison and so I didn't get to see it.  This is the prison where Peter and Paul were kept.  I was so close to it!! Next was the Colosseum.  It was beyond words and I could hardly believe I was actually there.  

There was so much more to see in Rome I guess I'll just have to go back!

Discovering Facets of God

         I apologize ahead of time for the rambling that is going to occur in this blog.  I haven't thought through all of this yet, but I am learning so much about God that I want to share it and get it down before I forget.  One of the reasons I wanted to study abroad was to learn more about God.  I know that is not a typical reason for studying abroad, but I believe that the different races and cultures in the world can teach us different truths about God's character.  For example, a church body is made up of believers that are given different spiritual gifts and the body only works when all members are performing their specific gifts.  These gifts are manifestations of different "traits" of God.  If you then broaden this concept to different cultures and races, there is so much more to learn about God!! God's being encompasses the love and enjoyment of life of the Spaniards, the passion of the French, the drama of the Italian, and the fire of the Irish.  I have learned a lot about how different people's cultural backgrounds can be and how important it is not to judge people's form of worship, etc. because for them, it may seem perfectly normal.  However, I need to admit that the other day, I judged a couple based on their ethnicity, and immediately was rebuked by God who reminded me that these people were image bearers of God as well.  Today at church, there was a mission team from a Bible school in Denmark.  There was a student from France, and we started talking about the different burdens God has laid on our hearts.  It was amazing to me how passionate and worked up he got about his beliefs.  There aren't many American guys who will get that passionate about their beliefs.
       Another lesson I have been learning, is that the experiences we have in our lives shape who we are.  I recently learned about how my host family lost a son a few years ago.  I was thinking about how hard that must have been for them and how I wished I could take the pain from them.  But then I remembered Lois Lowry's book The Giver and I realized, that sterilized world is exactly what we would be like if we didn't have our memories.  Memories remind us of past experiences, painful and beautiful, and how we deal with these memories/experiences, determines who we are.  Do we turn to God? or away? Without these, we would be like robots living in ignorance without any depth of character.
      This final lesson seems rather random compared to everything else. Today I was wondering why I didn't love to listen to classical music like all my fellow musician friends and colleagues.  I also wondered why I don't always have a passion for playing my instrument.  I mean, I love to play and fiddle around and make up stuff, but I don't like practicing or even playing standard music sometimes.  Today I realized it was because I didn't see a purpose to the music.  It was notes on a page to me and nothing more.  It was someone else's expression and not mine.  I also didn't see how playing standard violin repertoire was praising God.  However, it suddenly hit me that music in its essence is a creation of God's.  I have always known this, but it suddenly made sense to me that, if I am playing music with the intent to worship God, then it is glorifying to Him because He created music.  Granted music can be twisted by mankind to be the complete opposite, but when I am practicing unaccompanied Bach, I can appreciate the complex sounds as something a man put together using the sonorities created initially by God. Therefore, even when I am practicing, I am worshiping God through music.
I hope all of my ramblings made sense!!

Pensamientos

      This coming week is midterm week.  I am not too worried except for my History and Gypsy class.  They both have a lot of dates and names to memorize.  Also, the professor was sick for four of the class sessions for Gypsy class, so we are really behind.  Oh well,  nothing a little studying won't fix....
This week has been so long! Partly because my roommate's health started going downhill, so I've been worried about her.  Wednesday she got really bad, and then Thursday she wasn't really able to walk.  Friday I went to the hospital with her so she could get a saline i.v. infusion.  It helped give her energy and clear her mind, but she was still unable to walk without assistance.  She decided as of yesterday that she should go home to the states. It's super sad!!
     Besides that, there hasn't been much going on except for class. However, I was thinking the other day about the differences between English and Spanish.  Spanish tends to be a much more formal language.  For example, there aren't any real substitutes in Spanish for the words "awkward" or "messy".   The closest you can get to awkward is "uncomfortable" and the best word for "awkward" is "unorganized".  Not quite the same meaning. Also, when I am speaking Spanish for a length of time, I feel like I am a different person.  I don't really know how to explain it, but I am thinking in a different manner, putting thoughts together in a different way, and it's a really weird experience.
     Last bit of news......this week was the start of Carnival.  I haven't really seen much except for a few people in costumes.  Today though, a friend and I watched a parade and then saw the "orange fight".  It was absolutely crazy!!

There was the King of Silliness and all these people dressed up in outrageous costumes and bunch of little kids dressed up.

 The orange fight was this explosion of orange streamers, balloons, ginormous balloons, and confetti that was everywhere! The "King" was up on a stage through it all singing crazy songs including "Gangnam Style" redone as "Barcelona Style".  It was Crazyness!!

A Day In The Life

       A day in the life.  This week has been the ultimate definition of that phrase.  A couple weeks ago, my roommate and I found this little café that's half a block form our home stay called Molika Cafe.  Our host mom actually recommended it to us as well, and goes there often to buy bread and baked goods.  Elicia and I have been going there to study because there is free wifi and the atmosphere is perfect.  There are little tables with pillows, and large wooden table in the middle, baked goods that are homemade fresh every day, and amazing coffee.
     Last Wednesday was the Barca vs. Madrid game in the King's Cup.  We met up with some friends at a restaurant that had a huge T.V. Everyone in the restaurant was glued to the game, and took forever to buy a drink because the employees were so distracted trying to keep up with the game.  At halftime, Elicia and I had to run home for dinner (because we eat so super late), and then we watched the rest at home.  It was so fun to get so involved.  They ended up tying 1-1 but it was an amazing game.
     Thursday, the weather was so beautiful.  It was almost 70 degrees, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky.  After classes, I went to Parc de la Ciutadella to practice violin while my roommate read for homework.  ( I made sure to ask my host brother before I left if I would get arrested or not haha).  While I was playing, two policemen rode up on the motorcycles.  I thought I was about to get in trouble, but instead they complimented me on my playing and one of them told me that he used to play violin too.  Then they drove away, but came back and idled a few feet away kind of listening.  Then they drove away again.  Five minutes later, they rode back up and the one officer pulled out his iPhone to show me pictures of his violin! He told he played for five years in middle school, his violin was from Italy, and he loved hearing violin music. We laughed so hard after they left! :D
     I have really enjoyed getting to know my host siblings.  Gonzalo is fun to tease like a little brother.  He thinks I am crazy and he told his mom that I scare him.  :P Paola is super fun and out-going.  Friday she went running with me! I came out of my room dressed in my running clothes, and she got all excited and asked to run with me.
      To top it all off, I finally made it to church.  The worship service was awesome, and the message was on Jonah and the speaker talked about how we try to "hide from God" by filling our lives with good stuff.  We may miss God's call by purposefully leaving our current circumstances and any reminders of God's will, or by simply not taking the time to include God in our decision making.  There were quite a few people form the U.S. there, as well as people form France, Spain, and Nigeria. There is a young adult group that meets on Thursday evenings that I want to check out sometime as well.  After church, Elicia and I walked to the beach, ate gelato and crepes, and sat in Plaza Catalunya in the sunshine.

Montserrat

     Today we took a trip to Montserrat right outside of Barcelona.  Montserrat means the "serrated mountain"and is named because of it's unique shape.  We took a bus to the mountain and then hiked up to different spots.  It was beautiful and there were amazing views! The wind was really strong and cold though.  We walked out to this point, and all of a sudden, the wind picked up so hard that we were almost blown off our feet.  I couldn't breathe, and my friend was clinging to the railing for dear life.  Our guide then took us through the museum where we learned about the life of the monks who live in the monastery on Montserrat.  They live, eat, pray, and study on top of the mountain and they have the second largest library in Cataluyna.  We were also shown a video of the choir boys who go to school at the monastery and tour around the world.  After the museum, we had a few hours of free time so my friends and I ate the bocadillos and apples IES had provided for us, and then visited the church.  It was incredible!!  The decorations were made of ivory, gold, and wood and everything was extremely intricate.  I felt like I could have sat there for hours and still not have seen every single detail.  In one room at the back of the church there is the "dark virgin".  It is a famous carving of the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus.  The carving is in the Romanesque style, and it is made of wood that has been oxidized so that now, the skin of the Virgin and Jesus is almost black.  Her nickname is "Little Moreneta" which means "The Little Dark One".  She is holding a round orb which represents the earth, and Baby Jesus is holding a fruit from a pine tree which represents eternity.  People come from all over to pray and kiss the orb in the Virgin's hand for good luck. They them leave a present as a thank-you gift in another room.  These gifts are very strange and include wedding dresses, figurines, and pictures.

Exploring a Pueblo

    Remember that pueblo that I found this morning while trying to find my church?  Well it was beautiful, so my roommate and I decided to go back this afternoon and explore.  We had nothing better to do, so we walked up and down the mountain.  It was a lot darker and overcast compared to this morning, but it was still phenomenal.

There were all these wood paths, and staircases made out of
wood and stone set into the mountain.

I hadn't realized until I stumbled upon this pueblo how much I missed not living in the city.  My host mom had mentioned just a couple nights ago that my roommate and I must feel claustrophobic at times since we aren't from the city.  When she asked, I said it didn't seem that bad.  However, walking through the village was extremely refreshing.  The air didn't smell of cigarette smoke and other city smells, and there were birds singing and plants!!

I definitely want to go back!!

Psycho Sundays

      The past few weekends, I have gone on several adventures in my search for the church I had planned on attending while here in Barcelona.  The name of the church is The International Church of Barcelona, and someone from Hope had told me about this church.  I had also looked it up online and was encouraged by what I read online.  The services are in English, and are apparently are similar to Hope's chapel services.  The first weekend I spent in Spain, I was on a mandatory study trip to Madrid so I was unable to go to church.  Last weekend,  January 20th, I was looking forward to go because I was getting slightly homesick. There are two services, one at 10:00 and one at 12:00 and I planned on going to the 12:00 service. However, I ended up getting on the wrong metro, rode it for twenty minutes, and missed the service.  I was upset about missing church, but I went on a long run while blasting Hillsong and I felt better.  This Sunday, determined to make it to the service, I decided to aim for the 10:00 service, and left half an hour early so I would have plenty of time to find the church.  I made sure that I boarded the correct metro line, got off at the correct stop, and then everything went downhill form there.  I was in this little pueblo, which was beautiful.  It was up in the mountains, there was mist everywhere, and no one was up.  I found a building that matched the address, but no one was around and when I walked around it, I could find no way to get in.  I decided to walk around the village adn ended up walking up and down the mountain on wooden steps, rock staircases, and driveways without finding anything.  I finally ran into this man with his son around 10:30.  I asked him where the church was, and he led me back to the original building that I had found.  he was really nice and helpful and made sure I found my way into the courtyard of the building   All the doors were locked so I decided to wait around and see if any one showed up. I read my Bible for about 15 minutes and then some people came into the courtyard and gave a really weird look.  This lady came up to me and asked her if I was at the church.  She told me that the church was back in the city, I was at the administration building where the Pastors lived. I got back on the metro, got back to the city center, and called my roommate.  She gave me directions to the church, but then I ended up getting lost and her phone had died so I couldn't call her back.  By this point, I was tired, hungry, and my feet hurt, but I was kinda having fun on my adventure.  I decided to head home at 12:15.  On my way back, I got a little turned around so it took me longer than it should've  but I ran into a woman passing out Gospel Tracks on the side of the street.  She tried to give me a track, but I told her I already had a relationship with Jesus Christ, and that I had actually tried to get to church that morning.  We had a good conversation which was really encouraging.  Hopefully, now that I have the accurate address, I will make it to church next weekend!! Third time is the charm right??

Exploring God's Creation

1-20-13

     It's seems like forever ago when I first arrived in Spain.  So much has happened! Last weekend the people in my program took a required trip to Madrid.  We rode the Ave, which is one of three high speed trains in the world.  We were going 200mph! Because we were only in Madrid for a weekend, we only visited the main areas of the city like the Plaza Mayor, El Palicio Real, and the Museo del Reina Sofia.  Because I had been there before, it wasn't as fun as it could've been and it was super cold.  But the hotel was really nice and it had amazing showers! I almost forgot to mention, a couple days before we left for Madrid, we took a walking tour of Barcelona's Gothic Quarter.  It was gorgeous and it was neat to see all the ancient buildings.  There were even ancient Roman Pillars that I have been preserved.  

    This past week was my first full week of classes.  I am taking a required Grammar class, The Modern History of Spain, Sports and Society in Spain, Music and Identity in Spain, and The Gypsies of Spain.  I originally was taking a Language and Communications class instead of the Modern History class, but it was a little over my head.  The professor spoke really rapidly, and the readings had a lot of academic wordings so that I would miss the meaning of the text.  So far I am really enjoying all of my classes.  There is a lot of reading, but it is interesting.  There is a lot of overlap between my classes too because my Gypsy, Music, and Sports classes all deal with the evolving of Spain's national identity over time and how these different elements helped create each distinct part of Spain.  I also really enjoy how small my program is.  My friends and I are in a lot of the same classes so we are able to study together and help each other out.

    Outside of classes, My friends and I visited a museum near Montjuic.  It was in a mosque type building that used to be a factory.  It was a historical museum and well as an art museum with outside walkways connecting the different rooms.  I thought it was very fascinating because there was a lot of stuff from ancient Bible times.  There were artifacts from Ur from Abraham's time and there was an architects map of the walls of Nebuchadnezzar Palace.  On Wednesday, we went to a Barca game!! It was awesome! Barca ended up tying 2-2, but it was awesome and the fans were crazy.  This weekend, we visited Parque Guell which was designed by the famous artist Gaudi.  I had visited the park the last time I was in Barcelona, but had only been to the main part.  Friday we walked through the different paths and it was beautiful.  Last night we went out for tapas!! We got all dressed up and went to a place in the Gothic part of Barcelona that our host sister told us about.  It was delicious and I felt like a true Spaniard.  

    I started running this week as well and it has really helped me map my section of the city in my head.  So far I have run to La Sagrada Familia, the Arc de Triumf, the huge Arena Mall, and the Zoo of Barcelona.  I also discovered a couple of parks really near where I live that I went to visit to do homework and eat lunch.  

El Comienzo de una Aventura

¡Hola a Todos!
     My first few days in Barcelona have been amazing! My battery charger broke, and then the batteries I bought didn't work, so I don't have any pictures to share yet.  It's been nice to just take in the scenery and to get my bearings exploring the city.
    My host family is really nice.  The mom talks really fast and sometimes it's hard for me to understand her, but she is nice and extremely helpful.  Plus she cooks amazing food! The first night we had Spanish tortilla and then last night we had pasta with a bacon sauce on top.  The daughter is a couple years older than me, and is taking classes at a university.  She is super outgoing and friendly which makes it easier to feel comfortable right away.  The son is a year younger and seems nice but slightly quieter around my roommate and me.  My roommate is from North Carolina.  We get along really well so far.
    Today, we visited this place called El Poble Espanyol.  It was representative of the different architectural designs found throughout Spain.  Because there are four main regions in Spain, the architecture is very different and shows many different influences.  Then we went to a restaurant for lunch that was paid for by IES.  We ate so much food!!! We had mussels, tomato bread with olive oil, salad, and calamari,  And that was just the appetizer! For the main course we had seafood paella. Then they brought dessert which was crema catalana.  It was like a pudding with caramelized sugar on top. It was incredible! Our professor kept putting more food on our plates when ever we'd stop eating so I ate way too much but it was worth it.  Then I went home to nap off the effects of lunch.
     Afterwards I met up with my roommate to do a little shopping/exploring.  Now we are back at the flat relaxing until dinner.
Adios!!