Next stop, Spring Break!

I decided I'd give a quick update before I leave for a week! This week is "Semana Santa"... or Easter break basically. I am leaving for Barcelona early this morning with two great girl friends, Maggie and Caitlin. :) We will spend time in Barcelona until Sunday night... and then meet 5 other friends in the Canary Islands! We'll be there until the following Saturday. I'm excited to whip out the shorts and flip flops! :) I'm not bringing my computer, so I'll get back in touch with everyone next weekend! Take care!

Sara Baras! Amazing x's 1,000,000.

Finally, London and Paris!

1. All of us girls in front of the Eiffel Tower.
2. One night before we went out, us all dolled up :)
3. Me in front of Notre Dame.
4. Notre Dame on the inside!- Amazing.
5. Us girls in front of the louvre.
6. THE Mona Lisa, herself!
7. Cory and I in front of the Arch de Triumph.
8. Cory and I with the Eiffel tower!

Wow… Where to begin. I guess I should start with my London trip! I was excited beyond words to arrive in London and see people that I have missed SO much. I took a bus from the center of Granada to the airport, and luckily, two other girls from my program got on the same bus… that happened to be travelling to London as well! That was a relief because I was originally going to be travelling the entire way alone. We ended up chatting, and sitting by each other on the plane. Our plane arrived in Stansted, London, and then I needed to take a train to Liverpool. This part in my journey was to be done alone, because those girls were meeting people in Stansted. I knew I would be fine, but I was just so anxious to finally be with my friends! I got in line to buy my train ticket, and I met a couple from Holland! That’s right, Holland. What are the chances? They even spoke very good English, because they were actually English teachers at the high school level in Holland. They bought their tickets and we said our farewells. Turns out, they ended up buying the same tickets as me to Liverpool, and even somehow got on the same CAB as me! We then had even more time to talk, and ended up talking for the entire hour and fifteen train ride. Apparently we hadn’t gotten on the express train that we had paid for… so it ended up taking us an extra half hour later than what we had originally anticipated. If I hadn’t had them for company, I don’t know what I would have done with myself! They were just the sweetest couple ever… offering me mandarin oranges, mints, and water. I sang them a few of my Dutch songs that I know from Dutch dozen and Tulip Court… they LOVED it. They could even understand what I was saying. BOMB. They told me that they would LOVE for me to come visit.. gave me their email address, and told me that I was always welcome in their home. Also, while I was getting money out of an ATM there was a man from Norway, and he was listening to “Man of Constant Sorrow” on his phone. He was playing it out loud, so of course I noticed. I turned around and started singing with him. The funny thing is, he barely knew English, but he knew how to say. You like bluegrass too?! Hahahaha. I love moments like these. That is what being abroad is all about! Well then came the time of arrival in LIVERPOOL. Cory was going to be waiting for me there, and I was beyond excited. I was running about an hour and a half late, and had no phone to tell him that everything was ok… so I was sure he was going to be pacing back and forth. I stepped off the train, and it felt like a movie. I saw him off in the distance, my arms flew up in the air, and I couldn’t help but run/skip the entire way towards him. It was the best feeling in the world.  We then made our way to Vandon House, which is where all of our central friends were living. Once we got there, they were all ready to hit the town! We went to super fun club/bar called the “Zoo Bar.” There were three levels in this place, it was HUGE. The top floor had 80’s music, the middle floor had techno, and the basement had rap/club music. It was so neat to see something so huge and get to experience it! The next day, which was Saturday, we woke up and started our tour of the city! We got to see Big Ben, The London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, the Palace, and all that’s in-between! At this point, Felica was with us as well. It was so great to be with her again!  London was really beautiful, but it reminded me a lot of America, just older. It was very clean which I appreciated! And the taxis were so cute. The people were also very nice. Cory, Jermey, Beem and I left early Sunday morning back for Granada! We made it on the plane and arrived in Granada around noon. I helped the guys find the Kabob stand, which they fell in LOVE with, and satisfied their hunger. We then found their hostels and decided to rest up for a bit that afternoon! While they were all here in Granada, they went to the Alhambra, hiked a mountain, and went out for tapas almost every night. I think the guys really enjoyed/appreciated the concept of tapas. Not ONLY do they get a drink with free food on the side, but it’s also MUCH cheaper than anything you’d find in London! You better believe they took advantage of that! Wednesday night was Saint Paddy’s day, so we went out for tapas, and then found a disco-teca that had free entrance and drinks all night! It was a blast showing them the Spanish culture in the clubs. The music was typical, and they got really into it! Watching them try to talk in Spanish to the bar tender was pretty comical. I loved every minute of it. ;) Thursday was my last day of class for the week, and after my classes we went straight to the Airport to leave for PARIS! Paris, oh sweet Paris… how I love thee. Paris was absolutely amazing. But let me backtrack a bit on how we got there. Like I said, we left Granada for Barcelona on Thursday. We arrived in Barcelona at about 8:00, and our flight for Paris was going to leave at 6:25 a.m. Friday morning. SWEET. So we decided to rock the “airport hostel” another time…lying blankets down on the cold airport floor. Good thing we are still young, or I wouldn’t have been able to get back up off that floor. We got a couple hours of sleep, boarded our plane, and heard Paris calling our name. When we got to Paris we had to take an hour bus ride to the center of the city, where our friend Taylor was waiting for us! We then jumped on the metro, and made our way to our hostel. Our hostel was called “Hotel Darcet.” It was PRETTY sketchy, but it was also the cheapest we could find. So we didn’t mind saving a few extra bucks, yet have to deal with holes in the walls. Ha. We got to the hostel around 11:00 in the morning, and then found out that we couldn’t check in until 3. So, we left our bags there and decided to walk around and explore until we were able to clean up and shower. We walked up to a look-out point where we could see Notre Dame, the Eiffel tower, and basically the entire city of Paris. There was also some GREAT live music being played in this area, so we sat down for about an hour and just relaxed while we were serenaded. During this time, I tried my first crepe with Nutella. AMAZING. I LOVE Nutella, and having it in a crepe was heaven. That night we went to the Arch de Triumph, Moulin Rouge, and saw the Eiffel tower sparkle. Paris is absolutely beautiful at night. During the day it’s a BIT dirty, but at night it’s breath-taking. At night we went to an Irish pub, because it was so close to our hotel. It was so fun being with everyone again.  The next day we got to sleep in and catch up on some sleep. We woke up, and decided to make our way to the center of the city once again. It was Eiffel Tower time! We spent a few hours in front of the tower taking millions of pictures and just people watching. I had men coming up to me trying to sell Eiffel Tower key-chains, and they would call me “Lady Gaga.” Not sure where that came from… but I went along with it. I sang them a little “Bad Romance”, and I think they appreciated it. Haha. After the Eiffel tower, we made our way to the Louvre. During this time, I ran into one of Kylie’s friends from high school. It was SO random that we literally “ran into each other” at the Louvre in Paris… I was so confused and stunned at first! The Louvre was amazing. We didn’t have as much time looking around as I would have liked, but I can still say that I saw the actual Mona Lisa, so I’m pretty blessed! After the Louvre, we went to Notre Dame. I would have to say that this was my favorite site… even more so than the Eiffel Tower! Since we were there on a Saturday night, we were able to listen to Mass. The inside of Notre Dame is absolutely stunning. The architecture and even just the “mood” inside were spectacular. In addition, being able to listen to songs and the congregation reciting things in French was so neat. I saw people making confessions in special rooms, and it was just so so so…. Powerful. That night we got all dolled up, but our pearls on, and went out again. Since it was raining, we decided to go to a bar that was very close to our hostel… and had a great time trudging through the rain. We woke up, and had to say our goodbyes to our Central friends that had to go back to Pella. It was HORRIBLE saying goodbye.  They left our hotel at 6, so I woke up, gave my hugs… and tried to go back to sleep. We didn’t have to leave until 9:30 so I could get some more sleep in. Us Spain kids got on our plane fine, and did some studying during the trip. Mid-terms are this week, so we kind of had to study as much as we could! This week is going fine. I’m trying to catch up on my sleep for this weekend. Its spring break, and I am going to Barcelona this weekend, and then to the Canary Islands! Woot! After I get back from that, I really only have a month and a half left in Spain. It’s SO crazy how fast time is flying… so so crazy. I’d also like to give a shout out to my happily engaged cousin, Holden. Congrats Holden and Kelly! Love you both  Hasta Luego!

Paris Videos

St. Paddy's Day, London, Flamenco Show!

---- Ashley, Me, Felica in front of Big Ben!-----
---- Me and Cor in front of my favorite fountain. :) ----
---- Sara Baras, the BEST flamenco dancer in the world!----
---- Cory and Me in front of Westminster Abbey----
---- Us girls in front of the London Eye----



Well lots has happened since my last post. Considering I have visitors, I haven't been able to be on the computer much! I figured that i'd post a few pics... and update you all with the writing part later. Today's St. Paddy's Day, so I know that tonight we are going to go check out the Irish pub in Granada. It should be a good time. :) Last night, I took Cory to a Flamenco show here in Granada with the rest of our program. Her name was Sara Baras, and she was PHENOMENAL. She was "the best in the world." I had goosebumps half the show. I think Cory really enjoyed it as well. Tomorrow we leave for Paris with 15 of our friends! I'm SO excited to go to the Louvre, and see the Eiffel Tower, etc. However, I don't really want the weekend to end. :( Mid-terms are next week, so i'll be needing to study hard core on the trip back from Paris. Until later! Enjoy the pitures. :)

Happy International Women's Day!

So apparently, today is International Women's day! On the way back from class tonight... My friend Andrew and I witnessed a huge parade. It consisted of about 1,000 women, and was so neatly powerful and inspirational to see! I wanted to get a picture of it, but it was raining AND i didn't have my camera with me. :( Oh well... tomorrow I have my LONG tuesday of classes... so i need a good night's rest. :)Happy womens day! Hasta Luego!

Just another Lazzzy Sunday

Today has been a pretty relaxing one. :) We woke up for breakfast at 9:30... then I went back to sleep. I MAY or may not have slept in unil 1:30 today... but ill leave it at that, for ya'll to ponder. Haha. Alex and I finished a movie called "Tin Cup." It was a great movie about golf- I loved it, though was a bit frustrated with the lead actor, because his choice of play on the 18th hole were simply, DUMB. Anyway, I got over it and tried to remind myself it was just a movie. Thank you to Alex's parents for sending that movie! :) After that, Alex and I have been attempting to get some homework done. However, it has been distracted with sudoku, and facebook. Whoops. Today at lunch Paco and Maria went on a rant about their beliefs regarding abortion. Its always interesting to listen to them babble when they bring up a controversial subject. Their tone and posture become so much more intense. AND, they barely stop to breathe. I try to not giggle, because they could take that the wrong way... but its hard at times! Alex and I just nod and reply with, "Si.." or "Claro." ;) I have a pretty exciting week ahead of me! Tomorrow I don't have my night history class (Thank goodness). So that means I only have class at 8:30, and a meeting at 2:30. A pretty great day if you ask me! THEN.. FRIDAY is the day! Cory and Felica will be here.. and I'm so so so excited to see both of them. There really aren't even words to describe how excited I am. :) I'll meet them in London.. and will be sure to post pictures of the wonderful English speaking city ASAP. :)
Friday night I went out for some tapas with friends, and we discovered one of the best tapas places yet. Its called "POE." I believe it is actually owned by an African woman... due to the decor in the place. The tapa were AMAZING. I got a meat and pineapple kabob... it had a barbeque sauce type coating as well. It was refreshing to have something somewhat like home... with loads of flavor! After that we decided to check out the "Botellon." The Botellon is a huge plaza that is located very close to my apartment. Its a place where the youth of Granada goes on the weekends at night. Its a HUGE social gathering, and when i say HUGE, i mean HUGE. I'm not very good with estimating amounts of people. But I would say it was close to 1,000 young people. I met some really nice guys that were my age. We started chatting, and before we knew it.. an hour and a half had passed by. I was so pumped because it was all in Spanish! My favorite part of the conversation was when a guy named Carlos asked me if I watch the show "LOST." Now, for those of you who know me well... Lost is my all-time favorite tv show. Therefore, my reaction to his question was completely justified with my boucning up and down and squeeling. Hahaha. It made me so happy to be asked that question. Its just another one of those things that remind you how we are all connected in some way.. no matter where you are in the world! :)

Soup. Soup. Soup.

(My desk) :) ---Note: ALL the scarves. ;)

Well, not much is different in the life of Paige. Granada is STILL raining... and it has yet to get very warm :(. Maria has been as sweet as ever.. making LOADS of food... but for some reason my tummy isn't really feelin them anymore. Having fish soup one day, bean soup the next, and then fried sardines... I'm needing to dig even deeper into my peanut butter jar... But oh well! Thats alright :) I'm loving my gym more and more every day. Alex and I have talked about how if we didn't have our gym, we don't know what we'd do! It gives us a kind of routine... and some type of stability. It also makes the time go by faster, and keeps us out of our dark cold room! Tomorrow I may go check out a hair salon (una peluqueria), and possibly get my hair died a bit darker, if I feel comfortable with the communication and stuff. Tonight at dinner Maria was telling me about her niece who has divorced her husband. It was really touching to know that Maria felt comfortable to open up to us in that way. I could see the pain in her eyes, and I believe she could see the compassion in mine. Apparently this niece's children are 12, 10, and 3 years old. They are in school here in Granada. I told Maria that I would LOVE to meet them, and help them practice their English. She said that some weekend she will take us over there to do that. I'm already excited. :) Hearing people try to speak English over here is so neat- it makes me REALLY consider doing something like that in my future. After being here, I have a taste of what its like to be on the "other-side" of the language barrier. In the states we have many people that are in the process of learning English. Its much more stressful and uncomfortable than I ever realized... after being in their shoes here in Spain. I wonder if that's what God is calling me to do in the future. Who knows! All I know is that I'm enjoying every minute here, and know that I'm here for a reason. Maria's two sons and grandson are here right now. Oh- can't forget about the dog! Its refreshing to hear the giggle of a little kid again. It is so LOUD, but so contagious! Speaking of laughing- on the way home from classes today I was walking through the plaza filled with flowers. Now something to keep in mind, is that this plaza is ALWAYS filled with pigeons as well. (NOT my favorite) Anyway, there was a little chiuaua puppy that was running in circles... making the pigeons flee into the air. Then when they would touch ground again, the puppy would re-start his route of sprinting and "malicous" barking. I was literally laughing out loud while walking through this plaza. It made my day! I'm not really sure what this weekend has in store. Everyone is basically hangin out here in Granada, so it'll be fun to have everyone around all together again. Until next time, put some extra Ranch dressing on your salads for me... please. ¡Hasta Luego!

March? No way.

Wow... is it really March 2??? How did that happen. Time is absolutely FLYING by here... I can't believe we are in the month of "Marzo." It blows my mind! Its exciting, but at the same time... really sad! I have a feeling that I'm going to be at the end of my semester here before I know it, and I'm not going to be ready to leave. Until then, I'm just going to have to take each moment as it comes, and appreciate it! I haven't even written about my time with my family, so I'm going to attempt to write a shortened version of their time here in Granada with me. :)
When I was waiting in the Granada airport for their arrival, I cant even explain how excited I was. With every person that walked out of the arrival gate.. my heart jumped. (It sounds really cheesy, but its true!) Once I finally saw them, I couldn't help but jump up and down and giggle. I felt like a little girl all over again, which was refreshing in a weird way. I burried my head in my dad's chest and didn't wanna stop hugging them! On the bus ride from the airport into Granada, I couldn't stop talking about my city. The busy was packed and we were the last people to get on... But I was able to sit by Nolan. As his eyes were taking in all of the sights of Spain, his ear was also being overwhelmed with my jabbering of nonsense things. Good thing he is so patient with me! The first thing we did was dropped off their bags, and got food- of course. We found a cute little restaurant closest to my school. My family's first meal in Spain was very suitable- Paella! :) Apparently they liked it... so that was good. I then made my way to classes and they went back to the hotel to rest up a bit! That night Mom, Nolan and I went to check out some live Latin Jazz music, and Dad and Clayton went to bed... understandably. Apparently Nolan and Mom are just a party waiting to happen ;) The next morning we woke up pretty early and caught a bus to Malaga. Malaga is a city on the southern coast.. and it is about an hour and a half bus ride to get there. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. There was either a carnival going on at this time, or the city just has a lively street life... Because there were performers (painters, mimes, etc.) all along the main street. It was so fun to watch. We then went to the Picasso Museum. It was super neat to be able to see authentic pieces of art by Picasso. He actually lived in Malaga.. and there was a tour that you could take to see where he lived, and get a taste of his life.. but we didn't have time. Maybe another time :). Anyway- the museum had 155 pieces of art from Picasso... even just sketches. It was so crazy to think that his hand had been above that piece of paper years ago. So neat. We then made our way along the coast... and took a LONG walk along the harbor to find the beach. The boys wanted to see the ships up close... and it turned out to be about an hour walk until we finally reached sand. Once we did, it was so worth it :) The weather was probably 70 degrees.. I was wearing jeans and a tanktop. We then just took in the sun for about an hour, and then it was time to catch our bus back to Granada! When we got back, the boys and I met my friend Maggie at Burger King.. and we made our way to the discoteca for the night! We had SUCH a fun time there. We met some other American kids, and found ourselves dancing/singing to Lady Gaga.. jumping up and down.. in a discoteca in SPAIN. The boys loved every minute of it.. I could tell. They also were getting plenty of stares/winks from the Spanish girls. ;) It cracked me up- but how could they not?! By the end of the night... we left back for the hotel at 3:30. Success. Sunday we slept in, and just kinda chilled out in the plaza... explored... those kinds of things. Most of the stores in Granada are closed on Sundays, so it was a very chill atmosphere which was refreshing. Monday rolled around... and we ended up going to the Alhambra in the mid-afternoon, because it had been raining earlier in the day. The family loved it, and I was glad they got to experience all of its majesty! The weather held up, and we got some beautiful pictures. Dad was infatuated with the view, but how could he not be?! We got one of those little personal tour headphones, so the boys enjoyed hearing the historical references throughout our Alhambra experience. They're just so darn smart... those boys. :) Tuesday the boys decided that they wanted to try skiing in the Sierra Nevadas, since I had class from 8:00AM to 9:00PM. They woke up super early, and were pumped to hit the slopes! Little did they know... the mountain would be closed due to strong winds. They arrived at the mountain at 9 in the morning... and there wasn't a bus returning to Granada until 4 in the afternoon. SO- their day was spent sitting in a cafe, with no phone, internet... or books. They got a beautiful view of the mountains, though! I was told it was a very "relaxing and go with the flow day." Maybe its just what they needed! Needless to say, they were excited to be back in Granada at the end of the day. Wednesday and Thursday were spent checking out different restaurants inbetween my classes, shopping, and people watching. Paco and Maria went out for tapas with us Wednesday night. It was so so so neat trying to play "translator" over the dinner table, though a little overwhelming at times with two conversations going on! It was so cool to have my "three families" together... The Blythe's, Alex, and Paco and Maria. I just felt so grateful for everything that God has blessed me with... especially during this time in my life. Paco and Maria and mom and dad got along great... and my parents thanked them over and over again for being an answer to prayer. (This may have been one of my favorite parts about the trip) Friday was daddy's 45th birthday... I didn't have classes. We went shopping, once again... and mom and I got our last scarf purchases. We went out for dinner with Alex again, and then went to a karaoke bar! I sang Shania Twain, "Honey I'm Home."- CLASSIC. Mom showed the Spaniards what was up... by whipping out a little Bonnie Raitt "Let's give 'em something to talk about." She even won a prize! She tore down the house. It was such a blast. Then, sadly but inevitably, Saturday morning rolled around. It was time for them to leave... I took them to the bus stop at 7:15AM, said my goodbyes... and walked back across town to my apartment. It was SUCH a dream and blessing to have them here. At many times, it seemed unreal! I'll definately remember it for the rest of my life...

As of now, I'm still chugging away at class. They are getting tougher, the deeper we get into the material.. but that's expected, right? I'm feeling more and more comfortable with my professors, so thats a good thing! We booked our trip to Spring Break yesterday. We decided on going to the Canary Islands, rather than Italy.. because an entire week in Italy was going to be a a bit too expensive for our budgets. We are planning on doing Italy the last weekend in April now, if things go as planned. Today I also bought my plane tickets to visit Dublin, Ireland the 15th-18th of April. SO- as of now.. I have London, Paris, Barcelona, Canary Islands, Sevilla, Dublin, and Italy in planned and paid for to visit! Thrilled is an understatement. ;) Thats all I have for now though, thanks for checking in, all!