Nutella=Hallelujah

Today was yet another good one :) We woke up, had some typical toast... and I really wished I had something different than just rock hard toast with a little spread of butter. I decided to try olive oil on my toast... Why not? We have it with every other meal! I'm going to come back to the states addicted to potatoes, olive oil, and bread. GREAT. Really good for me.... not. Haha. A girl's gotta eat what a girl's gotta eat here! Alex and I spent a very relaxing afternoon just strolling around downtown... checking out little random stores. We were kinda on a misson to find some Noxema pads to clean our faces with. Every single department store had every other face wash, BUT the pads. Apparently they don't carry anything like that in Spain? Today was actually the first day where I got very frustrated with the language barrier. They couldn't understand what we wanted, and kept coming back with random lotions and such. (sigh) Make-up remover will just have to do for now! Lets hope the Spanish air just keeps my skin flawless on its own. :) Anyway, we then had lunch which was really good! It was chicken with a red pasta sauce all over it and sauteed green peppers again. Whenever Maria finds out that we are fond of a certain food, we have it for the next three meals at least. In this case, it was the green peppers. haha. She's such a doll. We then tried to take a little siesta, but failed at actually getting some shut eye. It was nice to just chill out though. I have really grown to appreciate the way that everyone takes time to just slow down at one point in the day. Its crazy because if you walk down the streets from about 2:30-4, it seems like a ghost town. All of the businesses are closed down... Its actually really refreshing! Something I'm sure ill miss when i get back to the states. It makes me wonder if our crazy, busy, hectic lives in the states are really worth it?? I appreciate the sense of relaxation and reflection that taking a 'break' gives... It just seems to bring everyone back to earth, and also helps promote more family time! A common misconcetion though is that people believe spaniards take hour siestas. This is NOT true. Its generally a half an hour time where the family sits on the couches and watches tv. Siestas don't take place in your bed... unless you are Paige Blythe. (Then you take advantage of every minute of this trend in your bed) Class went well, and it was really cool to know that this was my last day of SOLID three hour grammar review! Whewfta. I really enjoyed these past two weeks of orientation though. My two professors were great, and so entertaining.. It was neat to start to catch onto their sense of humor in another language. It made me feel like I am starting to improve more than I ever thought I would in such a short amount of time. Dinner was typical- Tortillas with ham slices and salad on the side. Oh- and don't forget the bread with olive oil! I have olive oil coming out of my ears in this country. Is that Good? I'm not sure... then tonight we have just been packing for Morocco, and writing some post cards up! I got to have a long talk with Felica AND Kylie on Skype... which was GREAT! (Love you girls) :) The highlight of my day was: I FOUND NUTELLA IN A GROCERY STORE!! No more dry toast for Paige in the mornings! I told Paco and Maria that they can try it for breakfast in the morning... but the Maria looked at the label and told me that one serving would be 15% of her daily calory intake... so she said I need to eat it because i'm "small", but she shouldn't because she would blow up... hmm.... maybe thats why i like nutella so much? Never knew it was THAT bad for me? Shucks. Anyway- like I said- we leave for Morocco tomorrow, and will be there until Tuesday night. We're taking a large boat over the Mediterranean... and then staying with host families. I'm so excited to experience yet ANOTHER culture! What an opportunity! I'll be sure to update you all on everything that goes on there! Until then- keep on keeping on, and Blessings!

Just say NO.

Tonight just a few girls and i went out for tapas. It was a great, classy time :) We went to my favorite place "Beauty and the Beast." WE had the place to ourselves, which was awesome. We had great service for that reason! On our way back... which was about 12:30 our time... I was walking with two other girls (Alex and Kristina). A drunk, toothless homeless man started following us and saying things i could not translate, for obvious reasons... He kept following us... and we were approaching Kristina's place... so we decided to walk past it, and then make a big round about (so he wouldn't follow her to the door). I was more annoyed than uncomfortable... not only did I have my pepper spray in my pocket, but I also have my mouth and fists as well. ;) It ended up being so ridiculous that I eventually turned around to face him... waved my pointer finger at him... gave him a stern look and simply said, "NO." He then started laughing and turned around. Problem solved. Lesson learned kids: "JUST SAY NO." so true. :)

Eggs, Rice & Tomato Sauce. hmm.

Today Alex and I woke up decently early for a meeting... breakfast was the normal piece of toast... and coffee with milk. My stomach has actually gotten used to all of this bland-ness! We then walked to our meeting and returned in time for lunch. Lunch was as follows: A large lump of white rice, drenched in tomato sauce... with some fried green pepers on the side, and a fried egg. For those of you who know me well... this was NOT my favorite meal. (I can't stand tomatoe juice, and am not a fan of eggs) ;) Oh well- I'm expanding my horizons in the taste world. We then walked to class, and to our surprise, it was raining. :( Shootie. We decided to get some coffee to go... but then after we had paid they told us they didn't have lids. GRR. SO- we tried walking with our umbrellas AND coffees. Not such a great idea. :P Haha. You have to find the laughs in those things! Class went well today- apparently my professor said there's no way I shouldn't be in lengua y cultura. So that was kinda nice to hear- that I have some type of direction as to what to do! Oh- also- I found out today that we will be in Morocco much longer than i thought! We leave Friday after our level test, and we are there until Tuesday! I'm getting STOKED for this trip. How often can someone say that they stayed in a family's home in MOROCCO?! :) What an opportunity to get a glimpse into a culture that I have absolutely no understanding of. Tonight we had my favorite meal: Pasta salad, with sauteed peppers, and bread with olive oil. So good :) Tonight I'm going out with a small group of girls for some Tapas at a cute little place called "Beauty and the Beast." I LOVE it there. Its definately my favorite place as of yet. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures for ya'll to see at some point :) Tomorrow we are going to go get a pass to a gym and work out... hopefully... if things go as planned. Ha. Then we'll go shopping a bit, and get some good coffee before lunch. We don't have anything until 4, so thats a nice change of pace! Take care, ya'll... and eat some peanut butter for me... please? :)

mmm candy.

Wowzers. What a day... ha. Not. My day consisted of sleeping in until 12... eating some kiwi... then relaxing until lunch at 2.... class at 4-7... then dinner.... now eating some candy. Rough, eh? ;) Anyway, it's been a good day, needless to say. On the way home from class today Alex and I stopped in a candy shop.. we FINLLY gave in, and have been munching on candy ever since... whoops. We decided today that we are going to join a gym... so tomorrow we are going to the gym to get our memberships, and hopefully start working out! Bye bye candy. I found my new love tho... its a candy bar called "Bueno." I'd say the name suites itself pretty well :). Last night I went to check out a salsa bar with some friends...it would have been REALLY cool, but considering it was a monday night... it was kinda empty. Ha. So maggie and I left to go to the Kabob King.. and try my first Kabob! It was so good... its not what a Kabob is known as in the states. Kabobs here are like this: They have a HUGE, and i mean HUGE, chunk of meat on a spinning pole... they then shave off your choice of meat (in my case i picked chicken)... and have the meat fall into a tortilla-type shell. Its like pita bread, but a bit thinner... I topped my kabob with lettuce, onions, gouda cheese, and a white salsa. The dude then places it on the grill... and in about 5 minutes you have a crunchy shell to bite into! SO SO good. It's probably a bad thing that I discovered it.... Late night munchies, anyone? Uh oh. The gym is going to be more needed than I ever thought! Haha. Oh well... :) Everything is going well, though! Tomorrow night is ladies night at a discoteca, so a bunch of us girls are going to go out dancing. I'm pretty excited for that :) Then Friday we have our final test to see what level of classes we pass into.. And immediately afer the test, we leave for Morocco! I'm experiencing SO much already, and i've only been here for 9 days. Unreal.... oh yeah.. and yesterday i took my first SIESTA since i've been here! It was awesome. Until next time! Besos.

Prunes

(Alex and I with our prunes) :)

Alex and I have found a new love/appreciation for prunes. They may look disgusting, but I LOVE them.. and so does she! We have researched them, and have discovered all of the benefits of them as well. So YAY for prunes. :) Today was great. We slept in until 12:30, went to the pharmacy, returned and had lunch- which was AMAZING. We had baked chicken with sliced potatoes with onions and garlic...mmm so good. Also, we had our bread with olive oil of course. After that we went back to our room and messed around on our computers. Alex taught me how to play rummy. By then dinner was ready, and we at pizza. Dinner was great as well! Maria put onions on our pizza which added lots of flavor. She knows that we love onions, so now she has been putting them on EVERYTHING. She's so sweet. :) Today Alex and I decided that Granada is starting to feel like home... we love Paco y Maria.. and the food is getting better and better. We had lots of laughs over dinner... While we were watching the news, there was some story about Osama Bin Laden, and Paco said that if we wouldn't have such good hamburgers in America, Bin Laden wouldn't have bothered us. All he wanted was a good hamburguesa! He said that he's left Spain alone because their hamburgers are so bad. According to Paco, all we have to do is start serving bad hamburgers, and we'll be left alone! Haha. So funny... we all laughed for about two minutes about that one. Maria helped Alex and I with all of our homework, so we are all ready for classes tomorrow! Our stomachs are starting to feel better, so thats definately a blessing! I'm looking forward to this week, and am excited to see what God has in store :) Thanks for checking in!

Some videos :)

Hamburguesas... en Espana???

Tonight was a pretty chill night :) Alex and I wanted to find some comfort food for our tummy's... so we went out looking. At first, we were going to get Mexican, but that was across the city. Considering we had walked across town aleady when coming back from the Alhambra, our feet weren't feeling it. We then decided we would go to an Italian place just up the road. Well, our stomach's were let down when the doors were locked as we approached the building... soooo. We settled for a good ol' American burger at a place kiddy-corner from our apartment. We had wanted to try it out for a while now, so we decided tonight would be the night! On our way there... we wanted to try and check out some pharmacy's on the way... for some personal items. During our adventure, I snapped a neat photo with the sign for one in the distance. They were all closed... so we had to settle for some "prunes", grapes, and kiwi from a local fruit and veggies store. Our burgers were horrible. The consistency between the meat and the bun was NOT right... we ended up eating half of the bun, and called it good. Also, this picture is my burger BEFORE i ate it. Yes, i was given about 8 french fries.... hmm... I think ill stick to good ol' McDonald's next time :) Haha. I'm glad we tried it tho! You never know until you try! (I've already learned that after being here for a week.)After our nasty burgers we wanted to treat ourselves to something GOOD.. and decided on our favorite Heladeria... which has the ice cream, and other wonderful desserts. I got a scoop of vanilla ice cream,with the chocolate sauce that was also used in the Churreria the other day. SO SO good. Muy bien! After that, we were MORE than content and made our way back home! It was a nice relaxing saturday night... and was much needed after a big first week in Granada! Enjoy the pictures :)

La Alhambra

We went to the alhambra this morning... and it was abolutely breath-taking. The detail in the architecture was amazing. Apparently the Alhambra is the most visited site in Europe! Even more than the Louvre! I thought that was pretty neat. :) Spain's claim to fame ;) Anyway... i tried to take as many pictures as i could! I took about 100, and tried to weed them down to just a few for my blog. It started raining RIGHT as we were leaving, so we were very lucky! After the Alhambra, Alex and I checked out all of the shops on mainstreet, and hit jackpot on some sales :) Its so fun to shop here. There's more of a thrill, because everything is so.... fresh, for lack of a better term.... in style? Anyway, it was a great afternoon. Now we have just been relaxing in our room for the afternoon. We picked up some chips with queso... and have been snacking on that. It been nice to have something to munch on! Tonight we may go out or Italian, or something close... and then get some dessert. We can't wait to sleep in tomorrow! We have nothing going on, so we told Maria that we didn't need breakfast, because we plan on sleeping until we can't sleep anymore! Its time to go get ready tho, enjoy the pictures, and please feel free to comment! Take care!

Viernes!!!

Well today was a GREAT friday. We were so hyper, knowing that it was the weekend! Class went really well again today... Our professor gave us the ins and outs of the wine of granada... and the different cultural references. We learned the words for red wine, white wine, and anything inbetween... along with dry/smooth... so that's good to know when traveling and such. :) Class went by super fast... and we came back home for dinner. Dinner was good tonight. WE had a pasta-salad type salad... and it was super good! We ate a lot tonight, compared to other nights! After dinner we showered up, and got a bit dressed up. We went out with the group of students for tapas... and found the neatest little bar/restaurant i've seen yet. The floor was wooden, and had sweet words in each piece... so cool. The drinks and tapas were spectacular... i loved every minute there. We're definately going back! We had quite a large group, so it'd be nice to go back with a smaller one for better conversation... the atmosphere was very chill and refine... VH1 was even playing on tv's around us! Madonna was singing her heart out :) haha. so funny. After that a bunch of us girls went out for ice cream... and LOVED it. We were craving our comfort food, and finally caved in. I have a feeling thats going to become a regular... and i'll discover a new paige... that is 200 pounds. Ha. Alex and i had some great conversation here before bed.. and we're excited for tomorrow! Its supposed to rain tho... and we are going to the Alhambra :/ not too excited about that. Lets just hope it holds off! Well... thats it for now... Buenos noches!

The Albaycin

the view from the Albaycin

TIRED

Well, once again... we are just zonked! These days are just starting to seem longer and longer! We aren't running on adreneline anymore... and i miss it! Oh well... once again we had toast for breakfast, went to a meeting... then walked back home across the city. On the way back we stopped at shops again (thats my favorite part of the day) and i got a super cute tote for school. I can keep notebooks and a sandwich in there, so that'll be super handy to have. I also got a brush... which was much needed! We had this thick rice with chicken and vegetables for lunch......we did not like it at all..... but we tried to throw it down the hatch. Then we layed around for a bit... and were off to class! WE had class from 4-7... and it was a really good day in class. I felt more confident and am starting to gain great relationships with the professors. For dinner we had las tortillas de espana again... it was good. we also had a salad with crab meat and tuna in it. that was good as well :) I'm trying to decide if i want to take intensive language courses... which would really help me with my grammar and writing..(which is NEEDED if i want to teach it someday)... or if i wanna do lengua y cultura, and get my art and history credits done with.... im not sure what i want to do yet. either would be really good for me... i guess we'll just see what God has in store! Tomorrow is just another typical day, and then on Saturday we go visit the Alhmabra, here in the city. I'm sure that will be gorrrgeous. Right now I'm sipping on my hot chocolate, which is our treat everyday... its definately something different to get used to! Back in the states hot chocolate would be... eh... nothing special. Here, its like.... whoa, hot chocolate! (considering we eat fruit for dessert) Health freak paige, here we come! Spain is definately altering my eating habits and thoughts on food. Well, i'm gonn do a bit of studying, and hit the hay! tomorrow will be another long day. Hasta luego!

(p.s. i hope that my blog is easier to read now. this is a different format, but i think its better :) )

Chris and I on the plane to Barcelona!

ahhh.

today was pretty relaxing. alex and i found a cute little bakery tonight after dinner, and endulged in some chocolate :) we had homemade pizza tonight.. which was GREAT. today we went on a hike up the mountain to an Islamic neighborhood. so neat, and so beautiful. Paco y Maria were telling us their opinions about our government and OBama... it was very interesting! They like universal healthcare, but not so much OBama.... I'm tired tho. But it was a good day :) night ya'll!

Tranquila (Patience)

Today was a little bit of a rough one. It was just super duper long... and a little overwhelming. We got up and had the typical breakfast of toastada con mantequilla y cafe con leche. It is good, but I'm just kinda craving my bacon or muffin or something! haha. Oh well, i'm learning to appreciate many things. After breakfast alex and i went on a little shopping trip. We got hangers, mirrors, air freshener, a deck of cards, hair spray, and i got some boots! The boots were only 15 euro, so i was pumped about that. We also went around to all of the local pharmacies because our stomachs haven't been feeling very well at all. We decided we needed some fiber pills! No one knew what we were talking about when we were asking them in the stores... so i tried to explain things as well as i could... "Las vitaminas de fibra?? uh... necesitamos ayuda cuando usamos el bano.... para la ca-ca?" They started laughing and immediately knew what we were talking about. Pretty funny if you ask me! (for those of you who don't know spanish, i was asking them for vitamins that help when we use the restroom.... in order to go #2 easier) haha. apparently, even though the water is ok to drink, our bodies aren't quite used to it! Paco said "tranquilla" because it will get better :) We then had lunch with Paco y Maria, like everyday... and we had a bean soup type of dish. Not my favorite...a little bland for my taste. We also had cucumbers and tomatoes on the side. Those were good. Then we went to the univerity and had a meeting about our schedule of trips this semester... and then we had class from 4-7. Not really class.. but kinda. We're going over verb tenses and all of that fun stuff. After class Chris, Alex and I walked all the way to the mall across town, and I got a phone. We then had to use a map to find our way back home in time for dinner, but we made it. We still can't get the lock figured out... as far as getting back into the apartment goes. We feel so dumb because they keep showing us how to do it, but it doesn't work when they aren't around! Oh well... we'll get it figured out eventually. We had homemade french fries, a ham and cheese fried thing, and soup for dinner. We told paco and maria that today was kinda a rough day... and we were tired, missed our families, and school was tough because the professors are intimidating. Paco kept saying, "Tranquilla, tranquilla, tranquilla." He's so sweet, that Paco :) I can hear Alex and my stomach's making noise while we are laying in bed right now. So weird... lets hope that ends soon! Well we're swiped. I posted a picture of one of the fountains on my walk home... and all of Alex's and my shoes... i realized ALL of my shoes are black or gray.... (on the left...) hmm.... hopefully ill fall asleep easier than last night! Night guys :) <3>

Finally... Tortillas de España.

Well, once again I could babble on and on.... but i'm not sure my hands can handle this! I'll start with last night though... during dinner we talked about many different things: Paco thinks that people only speaking Castellon in Barcelona is absolutely ridiculous because he feels they are just stuck up and rude. He also thinks that Madrid is way too big, and that the people are too stressed and busy all of the time. He also thinks they hold their noses in the air... haha. It was neat to hear is opinions on these things. It just gives me a little insight as to how proud Paco is of where he comes from. It was also really neat beacause i told them that i would LOVE to have them help me with my spanish... and they smiled SO big. They then immediately told me an error in my speaking that i have been doing... and they said that they would love to help me. Its weird and hard to get used to their Spanish because they drop the "s" off the ends of words, and their "c" sounds like "th" rather than an "sss" They told me that i don't sound dumb, however, for the way that i say things. They actually said that the way i talk is correcto. So, esta bien! Alex and I keep looking up words in our Spanish dictionary, and it sits at the dinner table with us. During the conversations with Paco y Maria, I am somewhat of a translator.. and its kind of fun! It makes me wonder if thats what I want to do in the future. Also, during dinner Alex and I asked if in the morning we could wear our pajamas to breakfast, if it was appropriate or not. Paco replied, "ah si si! Estamos familia!" So i replied, "ahh gracias, abuelo." :) He chuckled to himself and that made me feel great. Paco is 71 years old, and he used to be involved in agriculture. I'm not sure sure how old maria is yet...After that, Maria led us on a walk to our campus, because we were to walk ourselves to class today. Its about a 20 minute walk through the city, which I love... we get to walk through 3 plazas, and past TONS of little tiendas. I love it. The shower was very cold last night, but tonight we got it figured out tonight. Maria made sure we had warm water after telling her last night was "frio." There's a pig leg in the kitchen, that we actually eat our ham from. Its kinda weird to look at, but oh well... i haven't gotten sick yet! This morning we woke up and had tostada con jalea (toast and jelly), and cafe con leche (coffee with milk). It was good, but not quite as good as my latte with a cream cheese muffin back home. ;) We then got ready for school, and walked on our own! We made it in time without getting lost :) We went on an hour and a half excursion with our program director, and she showed us the city and different historic buildings. There was a spot that Shakespeare in Love was filmed at. It was BEA-UTIFUL. After that we had a little meeting with everyone about what to do with your host family, and what not to do. Just custom things. After that we had our level test, which means that depending on how you do with the language.. determines what classes you get into. the test took TWO hours... and i was exhausted by the end of it. On our walk back home, Alex and I stopped at a little cafe and tried un churreria... which is a churro, but you dip it in chocolate sauce. SO SO good. Theres a picture of it above... We also picked up some flores for Maria, which she absolutely LOVED. :) After that Alex and I walked back to our casa, and started downloading pictures. When Paco y Maria returned for the evening, I asked them if there was ANY place we could get free internet, rather than go to the cafe and pay un Euro... he then whipped out a piece of paper with a password on it... and we now have internet in the house! They were laughing and Alex and I because we were literally jumping up and down saying "muchas gracias!"... over and over again. He told us that we can't give the password to ANYONE, because he is paying for us, and not random people he doesn't know. Haha. He's great. We then had dinner and it was SO good. We had tortillas de espana, and that is basically potatoes, onions, and eggs. SO SO good, we also had it with some ham and cooked veggies on the side... I told maria that i would LOVE to learn how to make it, so she started rambling off how... but she kinda had me lost... but i nodded and smiled. :) I love it when Maria comes to our room to tell us that dinner is ready. You can hear her shuffling to our room in her slippers (you have to wear slippers in the house.. its like proper manners).. and she goes "chica's! es tiempo para cenar." So adorable. She's so precious. Tonight at dinner we talked about so many things... differences between the U.S. and here... with food and eating times... it was neat! They have such pride for their own culture... and its so neat to see. They want my family to bring peanut butter and nutella when they come visit, so mom- lets not forget that! Anyway, I am learning SO much... and absolutely love it here. The weather is gorgeous, I am already improving in my spanish, and my roommate and host family are more than i could have ever asked for. AND i have internet now! (but i'm supposed to keep that on the downlow so others don't get jealous.) ;) Thats all for now! I think i'm going to go read and head to bed. Adios!

The first day with the family

This morning I woke up and surprisingly felt pretty rested! I got about 11 hours of sleep… so that felt nice.I ate a short breakfast, which consisted of some great orange juice, a yogurt, and some eggs. We then re-packed everything and walked down the street to the Hotel Melía, which is where our first orientation was to be held. We had our orientation, and it only lasted for about an hour and then our families were already arrived! I thought that it wasn’t going to be until nighttime, but it was a great surprise! Veronica, our program director, called off who we roomed with and then our Señora’s names. My señora’s name is María Luz Bueno García, and her husband is Paco. All of the señora’s came to pick us up from the hotel, and this was probably the most nerve-wrecking part. I walked out into the lobby with my luggage and there was María, the sweetest older lady with a huge smile on her face! We did the kiss on each cheek greeting, and then we were off to a taxi! The taxi driver looked at Alex and me like we were crazy with as much luggage as he said. He said, “ay yi yi. Muy fuerte.” Hahaha. We squeezed in the taxi, and our journey to our new home began. María was just blabbing away in Spanish about the city and asking us questions about our trip over and how we were feeling. She’s so sweet… and doesn’t know a lick of English! It’s probably better that way. Its already been really neat trying to communicate. I live on the fourth floor of an apartment complex, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a cute living room. Alex and I are sharing a room, and I already know its going to be a GREAT semester. She is sporty, but trendy, is from Texas, has the cutes accent, is laid back, and is addicted to Vaseline! It’s a match made in heaven. She doesn’t know much Spanish, so I’m playing the role of translator best that I can! When we got into our apartment one of the first things María asked is if we were vegetarian. She was glad to hear we weren’t. She then jumped in the kitchen, and started making us so ‘macaroni’ as we were unpacking. We share a room, which is fine. We fit all our stuff and have plenty of room for the both of us. The food was great. It pasta with some marinara sauce, with onions and ham. We also had clementines for desert. The conversation with Paco and María over lunch went well! They told us all of the ins-and-outs of the city… where the closest park and workout facilities are. Also, about the night life… what to look out for and what is safe and not safe. They are just the sweetest things. Paco smokes a LOT, but we have a window in our room that we’re planning on keeping open. He also sits in his chair ALL day and blares the Spanish televisión. I love him :) The bathroom was the trickiest thing… I could NOT figure out how to flush the toilet to save my life. After about 3 minutes in there, I realized that there was a chain hanging from the ceiling. I crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best… pulled it, and sure enough- it flushed! God was looking out for me with this entire situation. Alex and I are going to be great friends by the end of this, I can already tell… and my host family is just so sweet. If I look like I don’t understand they just keep repeating themselves and talk slower… until I give some kind of affirmation that I caught on. They are so patient. Until I say ‘comprendo’ or ‘vale’, they keep talking! It’s precious. Alex and I didn’t’ finish our meals, and they just kept asking us if we were ok… saying we at ‘un pequeño’. We were really just STUFFED because they she gave us such a big portion! I’m not sure what Alex and I are going to do tonight… we may go try to find a place to just sit and have a glass of wine… not really sure! Oh- I found out that we are going to Morocco next weekend. I’m SO excited for that. And tomorrow, if i remember right, we have flamenco lessons! Its like a class... I'm SOOOO pumped for that. Alex and I also want to learn how to Salsa, so Maria and Paco told us a place we can go do that. Right now I’m sitting in an internet café that is located RIGHT next door to my apartment complex. I have to pay 1 euro/hour. So its whatever, we’ll see how much I use this place. Maybe every Sunday? Since ill have internet at my school. We’ll see. Well I’ll put pictures up later. Thanks for checking in!

P.s. last night i tried swordfish. I was feeling brave. It wasn't good. haha. Too 'fishy' para mi!

lesson learned.

ohhh i forgot to mention, that when you are REALLY hungry and haven't eaten all day... don't order a "chinchilla." its not food. hahaha. its a very dry red wine. its very good, but just NOT what it sounds like! :P lesson learned.

Finally, in granada :)

Well right now I am currently in Granada, Spain, which will be my home for the next 4 months! I cannot even begin to describe what I am feeling right now, but I guess ill give it a whirl ;) I am: exhausted, thrilled, energetic, tired, restless, overwhelmed, nervous, hungry, anxious, excited…. You get the idea. There are just so many things going on right now its really hard to process it all! First off, I’ll go back to when we were in Barcelona. It was crazy to be in an airport that was actually in Spain, but we weren’t at our destination yet. It was BEAUTIFUL from what we could see. The airport was once again huge… but we somehow found our way around! This was the first time where we started to hit the realization that we were in another country and felt like a minority! Everyone around us was speaking in Spanish… on the over-coms, everywhere. We really realized we were “outsiders” when we were standing in line about to board our flight. We were all excited because they had already moved us to a different gate, so now things were going to be fine and we were getting on the plane. Then, at that moment, the lady over the speakers proceeded to ramble off something very long and fast in Spanish that I did not catch onto. EVERYONE in the line, except for me and my fellow students, threw their hands up in the air, sighed, moaned, said “Que lastima..” You name it. We followed them back to the benches and it was THEN that we figured out we had a one hour delay do to “technical difficulties on the plane.” Haha. It was so weird to feel like an outsider, and legitimately have NO clue what was going on. It was actually exciting to me! I’m glad that I could look at it as an adventure, rather than some stressful event. J In the end, we got on the plane to Barcelona and I passed out within take-off. I then woke up to the landing on the strip! I felt like someone had drugged me because I was so out of it! Our flight was only an hour, but I think that hour pour nap was REALLY good for me. Once we left baggage claim we hitched a bus, and made our way into downtown Granada. I really can’t even tell you how excited I was. I was grinning from ear to ear, and literally bouncing in my seat, pointing at beautiful buildings along the road. At the same time, I was snapping some pictures through the bus window- so they’re not GREAT quality, but it gives you an idea of what a bit of the architecture is like! Our bus dropped us off at a bus stop, and we then had to find our way to our hotel. No map. Nothing. It was fun having to ask people for directions. It challenged us to try to use our Spanish! The only downside was that we had ALL of our luggage, dragging it along rocky roads, and up hills. I definitely got my work out in for the week! Haha. We made it to our hotel, and I got on the internet right away. I then showered up, and went out for “tapas” with friends from Central. Tapas apparently started when men would be sitting at a bar and flys would be dropping in their beer glasses. The bar tender started giving them pieces of bread to put over their glasses to solve the problem. The men would take a bit out of the bread, take a drink, then put the bread back on top of the glass. It became very popular, and to this day you can go places and order a “tapa” which is an alcoholic drink with a food item on the side! SO good, and what a deal! I tried a ‘Sangria” which was VERY good. Almost too good! I also had some bread with butter and steak. So so good. Now its time to FINALLY sleep. Night!

Next Stop: Barcelona!

(Chris And Ben: Typical Tourists) (Currency rates, and Chris's 1st Euros!)

(My 1st Euros and NYC from the Airport!)

.............................................Currently I am sitting in the Newark Airport.. which is located right across the Hudson river...! Meaning I can see NYC from here :) so so cool. I've never been further east of Chicago until now, and this is NOTHING compared to where I will be going. It was so neat looking out the window of the plane and trying to figure out if we were in NYC or not yet. Chris and I kept trying to guess what body of water/river was the Hudson... and we guessed wrong around 6 times. Haha. Once we saw the actual thing it was pretty obvious... from the air we could see the Statue of Liberty, and it looked so small on that little island. We could clearly see the Empire State Building.. it was so neat to see NYC from the distance. So beautiful... Our flight here was delayed about an hour or so... and guess why. The flight attendent was "late" (aka: she slept through her alarm). Haha. Hey, we're all human, right? Because of this inconvenience, Continental Airlines gave out complimentary drinks to anyone on the plane. There were some businesmen that took advantage of that you better believe! A bloody mary for breakfast? Why not! haha. Once we arrived at this airport, we had to take a shuttle to make it to our next gate... this airport is HUGE. Its unbelievable. We ate at a little sit down restaurant here and got our money exchanged for euros. Chris and Ben (aka Benjamin) keep calling me 'mama bear paige' because apparently I'm playing the role of a mom during our trip. Thats fine with me! Ha- I just played up the role a bit by tying my Northface around my waist while we walk around the airport. All I need now is a fanny-pack! ;) We fly out at 7:10 eastern time... and will arrive in Barcelona around 11:30 a.m. their time! I'm ready to sleep... hopefully i'll be able to do so on the plane.

AND happy trails to you...

Well, as of now I am sitting in the airport with Chris and Ben. The night went by WAY too fast! When I got my wakeup call this morning at 4, I was pretty confused. I proceeded to get ready in my zombie-state. haha (for those of you know know me well know how that goes :P) Anyway, checking my bags in went well! My bag weighed 49.5 lbs. so I'd say the parents and I did a pretty good job packing everything in there! Chris had a bit of a struggle getting through security. He left his laptop in his backpack, and had entire bottles of mouthwash and toothpaste. Some very kind lady behind him heard the security yell, "Bag search!" And she proceeded to tell him, "Yep. Now your bags are going to be checked. Get with the program." At that moment, a little tear trickled down his cheek. Poor kid. Hahaha. Seems like she had been taking one too many grumpy pills this morning. Well, we're gonna go get some quick breakfast before we start to board. Next stop: Newark NewJersey!

Well, here we go!

First off- here is my check in bag! All vacuum-sucked to fit as much as possible!


Currently, I am in my very own hotel room in Omaha, Nebraska... about to get a good "nap" in before I start my journey! I feel so old.... Its crazy to think about. It really doesn't seem real yet, but I'm SUPER excited. I fly out of Omaha at 7:30, then arrive in Newark, NJ. I then have a 7 hour layover :/ and fly out for Barcelona around 7:10 at night. I will then arrive in Barcelona around.... 11:30 in the morning on saturday (their time) and finally reach Granada at 1:30 PM! What an adventure I have in store :) I'm ready to just BE in Spain, rather than have all of these ideas as to what its going to be like. Saying goodbye to the family was tough, but we all made it through. My dad's very "wise" last words to me were, "It takes some balls to study abroad... love you sweety." hahaha. wow dad. thanks. :P Love him! Mom was being her "mama bear self" making sure I had all of the last minute items, such as vitamins and plenty of warm things. - what a loving mother. :) (love you mom) And as for the boys, I think its going to be tough for Nolan and Clayton to not have the 'life of the party' at home anymore, but they'll deal :P. I'm so excited to see them already! Time is going to fly... I love you all, and will be thinking of you during my trip!

Packing, still.

Dutch. Gonna miss him. :)

This has nothing to do with europe, buuut. I thought it was hilarious.

...Hope...

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

"When you say a person or situation is 'hopeless', you might as well shut the door in the face of your LORD."

"Hope is the flame of the candle... without it, you will never get to where your dreams lie."

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Today has been a whirlwind of different thoughts, lessons, and events. Isn't it crazy how sometimes, everything can feel so right... like the world is finally spinning upright, on its axis again? One of the most essential lessons I learned today was the power of hope. I had never really pondered what 'hope' really is before. Hope is one of the most essential components of the human life. Without it, there is nothing to live for. We as Christians live for the hope that someday we will be reunited with our heavenly Father, with hope that He will come back and rescue us from this broken land. ... What would life be like without hope??? I cannot even comprehend what it would be like... to not have anything to live for... Within these past few weeks, I have began the process of fully beginning to TRY and understand myself. I have NOT accomplished it fully, and do not think I ever will... but I am getting there. I'm beginning to search what is most important to me in my life... What are my goals for myself? What do I want others to know me as? What do I want my identity in? How can I love others more, and be a 'slave' of Christ? Even though there is not a definite black and white answer, I think that self-reflection and meditation is becoming more and more essential to my growth. Anyway- back to my topic of hope. I've realized... that I'm SO young yet, and I have the world at my fingertips. If I don't have my own dreams and desires for what my future holds, I ultimately do not have hope for my future. Without hope, I would be living a life that has no direction... an empty, shallow life. This relates to many aspects of my life... relationships, personal goals and aspirations, and my character/relationship with God. If we feel led to do something or act out in some way... the FIRST thing we need to is reach out to God and SEEK HIM. Once we have confirmation from Him, then we can carry on with confidence. What a beautiful thing! Our God answers prayer! He gives answers! He's alive.... so alive.... We cannot just shut Him out, or not listen to His call just because we may feel uncomfortable, or are too lazy to take that step. HE is the great author, and we will just introduce an ugly twist to the story if we try to take things into our own hands. So for now, I'm going to HOPE that the Lord has the perfect plan for my life.. that he is orchestrating it according to HIS plan, though it may be uncomfortable at times. I'm going to HOPE that while I'm in Spain, things at home will be fine. I'm going to HOPE that relationships will become stronger because of my absence, and draw me closer to those I love. Anyway, enough with that stuff- as far as my "Europe things" go... today I did NOTHING. Tomorrow I'll need to hunker down, and get that stuff all ironed out: keep packing, go to the bank? Who knows what God has in store... 4 more days left in the U.S! Thanks for checking in :)

...Restless...

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Today was yet another day, where my mind wanders from thought to thought, thinking of different last minute things I have yet to do! There are so many little details that need to be addressed. I haven't really made any more headway on the packing... through this, I've realized something about myself. Generally, when I am overwhelmed with things, I become a bit apathetic and just try to ignore the situation. NOT always the best way to deal, ya think? ;) haha. Oh well... everything always seems to get done one way or another. However, today I did book a hotel room for the night we arrive in Granada. I am fortunate to room with the lovely Shayna Jacobs. :) I'm getting more and more excited to start experiencing my new journey. God has SO much in store for me... not only just seeing the world and the beauty and power it exemplifies, but also getting to know GOD'S people, of different lands... isn't that what our lives are supposed to be about? I hope that throughout this blog, you all will be able to read/see more than just 'landmarks.' - But even more importantly, life lessons I'm learning, and how others are impacting my life. The preparation for this experience just seems to drag on and on... I just want to be over there already. The day will come sooner than soon, however. Until then I need to have patience and continue to trust in the Lord in so many different areas of my life.

---"Trust in the Lord, with ALL of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge HIM, and HE shall direct your path." --- Something that really struck me with this verse was how the word "all" is used. This is a really challenging concept... because often times, we find ourselves leaning on God in those times of hurt or confusion. We should be seeking Him and trusting in Him in those times of our lives that seem "oh so perfect." Why not praise God for feeling confident and secure in our lives as well? Through this time of preparation, I am trying to seek Him with my thoughts, and put all of my trust in Him. Yes, I am a bit nervous about leaving the country for 4 months... but i have confidence in knowing that HE will direct my paths. That is what keeps me going, and gives me the strength and courage to pursue this dream of mine. If you all could lift some prayers for me, that I will constantly be reminded to seek Him in those times of desperation, as well as times of utter joy--- I would appreciate it beyond words. :)

***Here are some pictures of my "flip" so ya'll can see the adorable print that I got! If I could promote one product, the flip may be it! :) Also, here is a photo of my new shoes. I needed to get a pair that wouldn't scream "I'm American!" I think these will do the trick. Thanks for checking in!

Packing + The Introduction to the "Flip"

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The process of packing is quite the task! I'm still not sure how I'm going to fit my life in a suitcase, but it'll all come together fine. I have so much to do in less than a week, but I know that it will be all worth it. :) I'm getting more excited than anything! Thanks for checking in!

P.S. My new "flip" video camera is going to be one of the best/most crucial parts of my blog. I'm so excited to show you all everything that my own eyes see! :)