Nicaragua News

As many of you know, I will soon be moving to Matagalpa, Nicaragua in order to serve the community as an English teacher at a new Christian school.  I am thrilled that the Lord has called me to this ministry, and at the same time I am sad to be leaving each one of you.  I deeply appreciate your prayers as I make preparations to transition out of my current ministry at Advent and into this new ministry in Matagalpa.  

Below, you will find some more specific information, and the answers to at least a few of the most frequently asked questions.  I would love to talk to you more about my plans and the Lord's work in Nicaragua - shoot me an email or give me a call!

About

My hope and heart is to witness the transformational restoration of Nicaragua through the work of Jesus Christ, who is the Creator, Sustainer, and Reconciler of everything.

As a Missionary Ventures Field Specialist, I will be a self-supporting, full-time missionary serving as a part of the MV team in Nicaragua. MV is an interdenominational mission organization with a vision for “Involving People to Impact Nations for Christ”.  I feel very blessed to be joining an international organization, and a team in Nicaragua, through whom the Lord has been working for quite some time.

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, following closely behind Haiti.  In the last three decades, Nicaragua has seen dictatorship, Marxism, and Capitalism – all promising better things but leaving the country destitute.  The political and economic spheres have been defined by corruption, power struggles, fatalism, and economic dependency.  In the country of 5.7 million people, 54% of the population is unemployed or underemployed, and the average income for a family of 4 is $120/month.

In a country that belongs to its youth (half of Nicaraguans are under the age of 20), Nicaragua’s public education system is broken.  Officially, 20% of the population is illiterate, although among rural poor the rate is 41%.  Teachers are underpaid, class sizes are large and lacking basic teaching materials and supplies.  The education system is plagued by a Socialist methodology set up during the Sandinista era which employs rote memorization and very little higher-order thinking.  50% of students do not pass grade 4.  31% of girls and 45 % of boys do not pass grade 6.  Only 30% of the nation finishes high school and 8% go on to obtain a college degree.  Whereas public schools are supposedly free to nationals, parents are asked to pay numerous fees, or students are denied test results or grades.

About NCA Matagalpa

Quality education opportunities in Matagalpa with a Christian emphasis are very limited.  Currently, there is one Christian school operating in the city offering classes from Pre-K through Sixth grade.  In response to the need in the community for academic excellence with a Christian foundation the Association of Nicaragua Christian Academy began researching the possibilities of opening a 3rd campus in Matagalpa.  

Nicaragua Christian Academy was founded in 1991 in Managua to educate the children of missionaries.  In 2005 the second school was founded, NCA Nejapa. NCA Matagalpa exists to equip the children of Christian parents with the spiritual discernment, moral courage, and academic excellence to make an impact on society with their Christian life motivated by a true love of God. NCA Matagalpa seeks not only to give quality education to the children in Matagalpa but also to be a model and mentor school to other Christian schools in the region.

NCA Matagalpa will begin with first though seventh grade with plans to add a grade or two each year as God provides infrastructure, students and teachers.

Support Information

If you are interested in supporting my ministry with Missionary Ventures in Matagalpa, I am honored and blessed.  There are several ways that your can make a tax-deductible donation:

1. You may write a check made out to Missionary Ventures, with a note saying “Field Coordinator Ministry – Preference for Elisabeth Elliott”, and mail it to:

Missionary Ventures International

P.O. Box 593550

Orlando, FL 32859

2. You may make an online donation using a credit card by clicking here.  You will find a secure online donation form.  Choose the amount you want to donate and in the section for Select “Field Coordinator Ministry – Preference for” write my name, Elisabeth Elliott.  There are options for one-time, monthly, quarterly, and annual donations.

3. You may sign up for monthly, automatic ACH or Credit Card donations by filling out the form found here.  In the “Missionary Support” section, fill in the amount you want to donate and write my name, Elisabeth Elliott.  This option allows you to avoid the credit card fees charged for online donations.

“Notwithstanding any other statements in this communication, please remember that any contributions to MV are under MV’s full discretion and control as required by the IRS regulations.”

el puro fin

Well, I'm back. In fact, I'm sitting in my very own bed! Now let me fill you in on the last two weeks....

After leaving Lily and Melvin's house Tuesday, July 28, I went and stayed with Anita and Benito for two days in their house about thirty minutes outside of Tirrases. Anita is a Peruvian missionary who has been working on the re-structuring and development of Capilla for five years. A little less than a year ago, she married Benito, who grew up in Tirrases and Capilla, but has worked his way out of poverty and is now an engineer working for the government. My stay at their house was honestly a bit awkward, but it gave me a really nice time to relax, get some good sleep, and talk to them about missions. I even got to watch CNN in English (cable TV) and go out to dinner!

Finally, on Thursday I moved in with my last family: Victor Hugo, Kattia, Keren (9), and Yurvik (6). I already knew this family pretty well, and they have hosted a number of people from our church before, so it was very easy and comfortable from the beginning. Although they are basically on the same level financially with the majority of Tirrases (currently, due to a real estate deal gone wrong), it was infinitely easier for me to relate to them than any of the other families I have been with. Kattia had four years of university education and was a teacher before the children were born, and Hugo went to accounting school, is the sales manager of a trucking parts company, and travels in the U.S. and Central America often, which shows me even more clearly that the majority of the differences I have seen between the people and churches of Tirrases and those of middle-class America are not cultural but due to socio-economic level and education. The ease with which I was able to relate to Kattia and Victor, and their ability to see Tirrases from an outside perspective was extremely valuable for my last two weeks, but also made me realize how hard it has actually been for me to relate to the very poor people of Tirrases and Concepcion. It makes me sad to understand that, although I can share in their lives, I cannot enter into their struggle - I have never been poor. I have never felt the desperation or hopelessness that plagues so many of my friends in these communities, and due to the safety net enjoyed by the wealthy, I most likely never will. Sometimes this leaves me feeling guilty and helpless, but it also leaves me feeling hopeful knowing that I can nevertheless pray for them in the knowledge that Jesus can and has entered into their struggles.

Saturday I was able to spend a night and day with the family I stayed with when I came to Tirrases as a senior in high school (Marlene, Michelle - 13, Edier - 10). I was happy to be able to spend some time with them because I haven't seen them much over the past months, but left sad because all three seemed to be depressed and still struggling very much with the absence of their father/husband who left them almost four years ago. I also went with them and the youth group of another church on an afternoon trip to Palmares, which is a nice little town out in the country. I met and visited with quite possibly the nicest woman I have ever met - I still don't even know her name or why I was at her house (I normally just nod and go where everyone else does...), but after talking to her for about twenty minutes over a cup of coffee, I would absolutely come back to Costa Rica just to spend a week in her house (sadly, I don't think this would be possible because I still don't know who she was...).

Sunday (Aug 1) was the clean-up/work day in Concepcion, and one of my favorite experiences of the entire summer. The objective of the morning was to clean the trash and sewage out of the gutters and sidewalks of the main street in Concepcion as well as to plant some trees along the side of the street. he most exciting part of the day was seeing so many neighbors finally emerge from the oppressive darkness, dampness, and lonliness of their houses to help clean not only the areas in front of their own houses, but all along the main street where we were working as well as the areas of town that we had not even planned to work in. I also loved being able to plant the trees. The metaphor behind planting the small little trees in the midst of rocks, trash, and sewage, putting stakes up around them to support them, and watering them to help them grow could not be missed. So similarly is God using this tiny church to plant His seeds in the hardened hearts of the people of Concepcion, placing loving brothers and sisters in their lives to support and defend them, and watering them with his Word. One of my favorite images of the day was seeing kids run into their houses to get cups of water and follow behind us watering the little trees we had just planted in front of their houses. It showed their excitement to have something living and growing in their neighborhood, as well as their acceptance of the church and what it was doing.

That Wednesday night when we were leaving Carmen, Mauro's 1985 no-brand station wagon finally bit the dust. We pushed it up and down the hills of Carmen until about 11 pm when it miraculously revived. I was shocked, assuming that after 34 years of faithful service, Pichidilo (the mission wagon's name) had finally gone to be with the Lord, but I was the only one. Everyone else had been fully confident that our prayers to revive Pichidilo would be answered with a resounding "YES!", and the were right! On our way back to Tirrases, exhausted and still unsure that if we let up the gas Pichidilo would keep running, we passed another group of people pushing their car. Not thinking about whether or not stopping would keep us from making it back to Tirrases, Mauro stopped, turned around, and pushed their car to where they could coast home. I have not seen a more clear example of a Good Samaritan story in a long time. Nine-year-old Keren had decided to come with us to Concepcion and Carmen that day - she was a trooper through it all and by the end, everyone was sure she would soon be a missionary. In fact, through watching the way she un-reservedly loved the dirty kids she had never met, I was convinced that kids make the best missionaries, and reminded that we must become like them. On Friday Mauro, Keren and I went out into the street in Concepcion with some jump ropes and chalk, and before we knew it we had twenty kids playing with us. Almost all of those kids showed up to church on Sunday. I wish that I had had the freedom to do more of that throughout the summer.

Sunday was my last service both in Concepcion and at Capilla, and the beginning of a very long goodbye process. I brought fruit and ice cream to serve after the service in Concepcion as a way of celebrating all that they are doing, and was excited to share it with a much larger crowd than normal! Monday and Tuesday I went to visit several families to say goodbye (and was fed at each one.... most certainly adding to the extra pounds with which I've returned.), and early Wednesday morning Kattia, Victor, Keren, Yurvik, and Raquel drove me to the airport and sent me on my way!

I had almost all day in various airports Wednesday to re-adjust to speaking English, warm water in the bathrooms, and the ever-available supply of food. I have to admit that I like sleeping in houses with walls that reach the ceiling, my mother's cooking, and being able to walk down the street without being automatically noticed as someone who does not belong. But as I sat in the Atlanta airport, at last surrounded by people who look and talk like me, I had the weird realization that I do not feel completely at home here in the United States anymore. I am thankful for that - I am thankful that I learned enough from the poor this summer to not feel completely at home with the rich. Moreover, I know that I will never feel completely at home in this world, because it is not my home, and I am thankful for that.

I cannot thank each one of you enough for your prayers and support for me this summer. I know this is an experience that I have not even completely understood myself yet, and it is something that I will continue to learn from for many, many years to come. I hope that as I begin to be able to put into words some of the things I have learned and am learning, I will continue to be able to share that with you, so keep your eyes peeled in the next few days and weeks for more updates here. Thanks again... lots of great, big American love!

hold your horses.

Sorry it´s been a while since the last update... things have been busy around here lately and I haven´t been able to get to the internet long enough to update the blog. Know that things have been great over the last two weeks, and I´m looking forward to a great last few days. I promise I´ll give a full review of the last few weeks and a look back on my time here in general soon after I get home on Wednesday!

starting to see the end....

Well, my time left here has become short enough that there isn´t enough of it to do all the things I want to do and see all the people I want to see. Realizing that it was not long ago that my time here seemed to stretch out before me like an eternal rainy Saturday, I know that God has been good. Tomorrow I leave Lili and Melvin´s house to spend 2 days with Anita and Adrian (Anita is a Peruvian missionary who works at Capilla, and they live about 30 minutes away.), and Thursday I will move in with Katia and Victor Hugo, my last family. I will miss Lili, Melvin, and Yaritza. I will not miss my mousy friends.

The three days I spent at the beach were great - I came back relaxed and with new perspective on the things I have been seeing and experiencing in my houses, in church, in the streets, etc. I went with a good friend from abroad who is here working with Young Life, as well as the two other Americans she works with. They have shared some similar experiences, so it was great to be able to talk about those and process a bit of what we´re learning.

Funniest part of the week: talent show at the church. So. Hilarious. Just try to imagine a wonderful, 5-hour mixture of interpretive dance, miming, flag twirling, and prophetic singing.

Sad to report that I did not go to Harry Potter. I found out that it was in English, which of course made me want to go more, but realized I would have to sneak out of Tirrases at night by myself (not the wisest of night activities) in order to see it, because a lot of people here are not bug HP fans, to say the least. New viewing date: earliest showing August 13th (that is an open invitation.)

Please pray...
-for Joana and José and their children Francela, Emerson, and Josua, one of the families that is new to the church in Concepcion. They are out of work and don´t have much food, which has driven Joana and the kids to God, but José away from Him. Due to the stress, the parents are on the brink of separating, and the kids are suffering a lot as a result.
-that the service day that we are having in Concepsion this Sunday (cleaning up trash, planting trees) will be received well by the community.
-that I will begin to be able to process what I am learning while still being present and available here.

Hope all is well with everyone... much love from down south!

Vamos a la Playa!

I´m going to the beach tomorrow for three whole days of hot water in a real shower, speaking English with good friends, and no mice in my room, ants in my food, or cockroaches in the bathroom. It sounds a lot like Heaven....

This week has been full of exciting events, some of which have already been reported. I´ve still been in Concepsión a lot, and am getting to know the people there almost better than the people at Capilla. I went to a youth vigil at Capilla Saturday night and gave a talk at about 2 am. If you are thinking that something seems not wrong about that statement, you are absolutely right. 1. I don´t NOT sleep. Ever. 2. I don´t speak Spanish early in the morning or late at night. Personal rule. When I´m tired, my Spanish skills are the first to go. BUT, by the grace of God, I hopefully gave my first and last 2 am Spanish devotional. Also, yesterday I went to a 5-hour baby shower for the grandson of Doña Julia. That was definitely one of those surreal, ¨wait, is this really my life?¨ moments, but I really enjoyed it.

My new family is so great. In the house are Lili and Melvin and their 7-year-old daughter Yaritza as well as Lili´s dad Guillermo, who is recovering from a stroke. (sidenote: conversations with an old, only-half-there, Costa Rican man about ¨Groomer Has It¨, hit new Animal Planet series about psycho dog groomers, is something I wish all of yall could have the opportunity to experience. Not many things could be funnier.) They treat me like an actual queen, which sometimes makes me feel guilty, but I´ve decided to live it up.

Hope no one has melted from the heat up there... I am enjoying eternal spring here with sunny days in the mid-seventies!

Prayer Requests:
-For safety on the beach trip.
-Denis, my friend who´s wife left him a little over a week ago. He has basically dropped off the face of the Earth after his wife left, and no one knows what´s going on or where he is.
-The land where they hold services on Sundays in Concepcion is also where they want to build a church. The owner has refused to sell it once in the past, but Mauro is going back to talk to her again this week to see if she will sell. Pray that that meeting will go well and that they will be able to purchase the land, the first step in building a church.

mid-week happenings

1. Today I went to the beach with Flori and family. They brought the rice and beans, just in case you were worried that I would go a meal without them. And we saw a very large iguana, but don´t worry it was dead.

2. I moved houses Tuesday and my new housemates are hilarious. What is not so hilarious is the amount of mice in the house. Good news: I´ve only seen one in my bedroom.

halfway there (oo-ooh)

Can´t belive I only have four weeks left! Can´t believe I have four weeks left.

God has blessed me this past week in so many ways. I have been able to really get involved in the church in Concepsion. Although I am still just observing and not doing anything exactly, I have built some strong relationships there and have been blessed by what I have seen there. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with some American friends who are here working with Young Life. It was so good to speak English, share stories, compare experiences, etc. Lastly, I spent some time talking with a (sort of) missionary couple from Capilla. Carlos has grown up in Tirrases and Capilla, but his wife Anita is a Peruvian missionary who has been working here at Capilla for the past five years. It was really encouraging to talk to someone with a half-in/half-out perspective on life in Tirrases as well as what it means to be a missionary.

As I´ve built stronger relationships and gotten more deeply involved in the church, I have seen more needs that I can´t meet. It is hard to be here and not really be able to do anything for all of my friends who are struggling to put food on the table. God has opened up a few small opportunities for me to help by simply providing a meal here and there, but the need still seems overwhelming and pushes me to trust in God´s provision not only for me but also for my friends here.

In light of that, I am asking for prayers for all of the members of the church without work. At the Thursday night service, all the men without work were called up and prayed over, and it pains me to see the fathers of so many of the kids who have befriended me without means of putting food on the table. Specifically, pray for Cynthia and Pedro, the first family I stayed with, who have been without work for about 4 months now. Also pray for Daniel, a teenager involved in the church in Concepsion, who had to drop out of school last week to look for work, and who now feels on the verge of insanity due to the pressure to provide for his family. Finally, pray for Denis, a man who, along with his family, took me in from the beginning and really made me feel welcome. Less than a week after losing his car (as a taxi driver, this means he also lost his job), his wife kicked him out of the house.

I am moving houses tomorrow morning, and I have every reason to assume it´s back to cold water and no cable TV, but I am really excited to get to know another family and neighborhood. I am also not going to miss Doña Julia´s insistance that I iron my t-shirt before I leave the house.

Hope all is well... miss you all!

P.S. I am debating whether I should risk ruining Harry Potter 6 by going to see it in spanish or hold out for when I get back (this would be the first time I have ever NOT seen the newest Harry Potter movie on its opening day.) Opinions appreciated.

In the thick of things.

I cant believe it´s already been a week since my last blog update... time is certainly beginning to fly! After returning from my 24-hour respite in San José, I moved houses. I am now living with Doña Julia, an older woman who lives in an apartment below her daughter´s house. She is very lonely, and absolutely loves having me in her house. She also clearly misses having her children around, as she is always insisting that I eat all that´s on my plate, take a nap, iron my shirt before leaving the house, not sit too closely to the TV, etc. By Tirrases standards, her apartment is extremely nice. It is in a quiet part of town, has all tile floors, warm-ish water, and cable TV in my room! It is a huge leap from the last house I stayed in, and is quite certainly spoiling me for the rest of my time here... but right now, I´m not complaining. I´ve gotten into a nice routine - my days have begun to look something like this:
-After waking up with the roosters about 5 and spending an hour or two trying to convince myself I can sleep through the noise, I begrudgingly get up and get ready for the day. I usually spend a lot of the morning reading or going to the internet cafe in Curridabat, a larger town nearby.
-Lunches and afternoons are usually spent with other families who have invited me to spend some time with them. There is one woman named Flori who (along with her family) has taken a liking to me and call me everyday to see if I am free to come over. I have been teaching her a little bit of English in exchange for the coffee and bread she gives me every day!
-Almost every night, I have some sort of activity at the church. For example, this past week I went to an intercessory prayer meeting/Bible Study, a children´s dance practice, a worship service, a women´s meeting/prayer service, a youth service, and church in Concepsion.

After talking to Mauro, the pastor of the church plant in Concepsion, I am going to be going with him out there about 4 times a week. I want to describe a little bit of what this town is like: Unlike Tirrases, the streets in Conce are quiet and people are really only out and about on this one corner that is quite obviously where the drugs are bought and sold. You can feel the hopelessness the minute you step outside. Although the town is obviously poorer that Tirrases, the more noticeable difference is that everyone is just so very hopeless. Mauro has told me that two different churches have tried to set up shop their in the past 10 years or so, but that both felt it was a lost cause and left the people high-and-dry. Every week, Iglesia Biblica Monte de Dios meets under a tent set up in an empty lot on the side of a mountain overlooking all of San José with about 20-30 attendees. With microphones and loud speakers, Mauro quite literally shouts the hope of the gospel from the mountain-top. He is clearly in it for the long haul, and his vision for this place is amazing: he wants to buy this lot where they hold services and build a real, live church complete with a cafeteria to serve children breakfast and lunch. He also wants to build a soccer field and basketball court to give the people an escape from the world of drugs. Other people have also expressed their hope to see a home for the elderly and a drug rehab facility. I am praying that I will be able to be of real use to him there.

This week, please pray for the following:
-For the church and people in Conce, and for the time I will spend there.
-For Doña Julia, the woman with whom I am staying right now. She is very lonely, and clearly plagued by depression. However, she has begun to make some connections with women at the church since I´ve been in her house, and I pray that these relationships will build and give her some respite from her loneliness.
-That I will allow God to steer me towards His purpose for my time here.

Back-tracking

Whew... I just sent the Advent group on their way back to Alabama and am spending the day and night in a hotel in San Jose to catch my breath. Best part: not the comfortable bed, TV, room service, Americans, or even hot water, but the FREE INTERNET! So, now that I can catch you all up for real, might as well start from the beginning.

I finally arrived here in Tirrases on Saturday, June 13th. The family that I was staying with is really amazing - the parents are Pedro and Cynthia, and they have three daughters, Paola (12), Joselin(9), and Jenanni(1.5). Their house is small but clean, and close to the church, which was very good. The girls were so excited for me to be there, so they kept me entertained for the first few days. But, to be honest, those first few days were difficult. There were times when I was so happy to be there, but there were times when I didn't know how I was going to handle cold showers and living in a house the size of my room for the summer. The hardest thing was that I didn't know anyone, and couldn't go anywhere alone, so I was basically under house arrest. There were times when I found myself wondering what in the world I was doing there. But I started to get more involved with some activities at the church, especially with the kids, and towards the end of the week I started doing a lot with Pastor John and Raquel to get ready for the Advent group, so I stayed pretty busy. Things definitely got better every day, but I was still really looking forward to seeing people I knew!

So, the group got here on Monday, June 22nd. In the mornings, we worked on building a new playground and did some other random work around the church. Wednesday afternoon, we went to visit Concepsion, which is the town in which Capilla has planted a small house church. Being there sort of restored my purpose and reminded me why I had come in the first place. This town is so very depressed by poverty and so many drugs, and very few people have heard the good news of the Gospel. The kids were amazing to watch as they went door to door talking to people about Jesus. I got to know Mauro, the pastor who lives in Tirrases but works in Concepsion, and a few teenagers who are part of the church there. I hope to continue to work with them throughout the summer. That night, Cameron and I went with Mauro to another town close to Concepsion called Carmen. There, the small church of Cocepsion has planted an even smaller church. There is one family of believers who have donated the use of their house, and there are a few people who come to the meetings who are either interested in Christianity or are new believers. While we were there, one man became a Christian, he being the fourth to accept Christ during one of those meetings.

Thursday afternoon, Don John and I led the group around San Jose for a nice little break in the middle of the week, and that night we went to the service at Capilla. Friday, we played a huge game of soccer with tons of people from the church, and later played with the kids for a while. Saturday was spent relaxing on a beautiful beach on the Pacific coast (photos to come...) and de-briefing a little. Sunday morning we were back in Concepsion for the outdoor service they hold in an empty lot. Cameron preached and I translated... something I was convinced I could not do. I'll let you know soon how many people now believe God hates them as a result of my translation skills. Yesterday afternoon and this morning were filled with tearful goodbyes on all parts, but it is so clear that these students were such a blessing to the community, even more than the community was to them.

Tomorrow I'll be back to "normal life" in Tirrases. I'm moving into a new house tomorrow when I get back - I believe it is with an older woman who is maybe living alone (clearly I'm not exactly sure). I am really excited to get to know another family and neighborhood. I'm also excited about getting to know better the people I have met - both in Tirrases and Concepsion.

Some prayer requests:
-My first family, Cynthia and Pedro: they are both without work, save the income Cynthia makes from painting a few people's nails a week, and over the past week they seemed to be becoming a little desperate. Pray that Pedro will find work, and that they Lord will provide for them.
-That the works started during the Advent group's work both in Tirrases and Concepsion will be carried forth into fruition.
-That I will continue to be safe during my time here, and that I will even be protected from having to worry about my safety.
-That I will continue to seek God's purpose for me here.

I miss you all and send so much love from down south!!

Costa Rica Update 6.20.09

Hello dear friends! Sorry for the lack of real updates, but I´ve been having a bit of trouble getting to internet cafes. Things are going well - the first few days have been a little bit up and down, but getting better every day. I am so excited to have the EYC group here on Monday, and will certainly give a long and full update after they leave the following Monday. For now, here are some prayer requests:

-for the EYC trip: for safety, and that each student is pushed into a new understanding of God´s love and grace.
-That I continue to make connections with people here in Tirrases and that God continues to reveal his purpose for me here.
-That God will continue to develop my language skills so that I will be better equipped to do His work.

That's all, folks!

So, here is the end. I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I'm leaving Spain tonight, and that these 4 months have already passed by so quickly! I was worried that my last few days here would be tainted by the fact that everyone has been studying for exams, it has been miserably cold, and constantly icy-raining. In fact, I had to put on a pair of wet jeans this morning because ALL of my pants (and socks and shoes and coats, for that matter) are soaked through. Not one of the best feelings in the world. BUT luckily it cleared up yesterday afternoon and has been beautiful, if still FREEZING, and everyone has decided not to care about school anymore. I've always been on the apathy track, just waiting for everyone else to catch on. No matter how ready I may be now, looking back on my time here I have no trouble remembering that there was a time when I wasn't quite ready to rush back to America, no matter how full of wonderful friends and family, fireplaces, cars I can drive, and BBQ it may be.

I have learned so many things this semester, and I think I will continue to learn as I look back on my experiences. As a little reflection on my semester, here is a brief summary on my feelings on leaving Spain...
-I will miss Muesli Crujientes con Fresas y Almedrados. Even better than Special K with Red Berries. Not even kidding.
-I am going to miss schwarma and gelato. A lot. However, my dad has informed me that there's a schwarma restaurant on 20th St. so I will be hitting that up promptly upon my return.
-I will miss traveling, and especially the price of traveling. Ryan and I have become quite close over these last few months. However, I would be glad to never again here the techno music they play throughout the flight. The same song. The entire time.
-I will miss plazas and fountains on every block, and beautiful little streets, and living life in the street. However, my immune system and I will not miss walking through minefields of animal excriment to reach these beautiful locations.
-I am definitely not going to miss Spanish street culture (i.e. people are mean.) If I stare you down on the street, run you over without apologizing, don't say hello when I pass you on the street, or respond to everything you say with "claro", the quasi-equivelant of "duh.", please forgive me. I will try to rid myself of those parts of Spanish culture as quickly as possible.
-I will miss hearing at least 4 different languages every day, and meeting the people that go along with them.
-I will miss always being uncomfortable and being pushed into new experiences and new relationships. But heck, enough is enough. I'm ready to be in the places I know with the people I love!!!

I am headed now to our fancy farewell party, which will be a mix of lots of emotions and exhaustion that will probably result in hysterical delirium. I'm getting on a bus at 3 am to Malaga, and from there it's just a hop, skip and a jump across the Atlantic and I'll be in Birmingham late Thursday night!!!!

And here we are. The end of the end! Thanks for keeping up with this blog, listening to my rediculous stories that more often than not just prove what an idiot I am (sea urchins, anyone??)... I can't wait to see all of your faces in person and not just in your Facebook albums that I stalk!!! ...and That's All, Folks!

No.

I just got back from a fabulously romantic weekend with Molly in Galway (meaning I just took my last public bus in Europe - praise Jesus.). So much to say about the weekend, and so so little time. Here are a few things we did:

-Wore pajamas and warm socks and watched American TV while eating breakfast by the heater. Can't get much better than that.
-Sat and talked in a cafe, a Cathedral, the floor of a used bookstore, on the riverwalk, in her bed, etc.
-Went to pubs and listened to some sweet music.
-Made our own food.
-Sang U2 and Moulin Rouge while waiting for a bus to her friend's Christmas Party.
-Went to her friend's Christmas party and laughed at Irish accents, among other things.
-Watched The Office.
-Made a CD of men with deep voices.
-Ate at a delicious and romantic restaurant.

Also, Sally and 2 of her friends were in Galway for 2 days, so we got to hang out with them a bit. While Molly wrote a paper Saturday, I went on a tour of the countryside and the Cliffs of Mohor with them. We had a hilariously weird tour guide named Desmund. Photos coming soon.

I get home in less than 2 weeks. I can't wait to shamelessly participate in lots of American traditions like overeating and driving separate cars everywhere even when you could walk and/or carpool.

'Twas quite a jolly good time, indeed.

So sorry to leave you all hanging on my British adventures...I know you were hitting 'reset' every five minutes just waiting for this post to pop up... you don't even have to hide it. This week has been non-stop work. But, I've made it through the worst, and now I'm off to Ireland!

While obviously nothing can beat a hay ride and bonfire in Lincoln, Alabama, my Thanksgiving weekend came pretty darn close. First let me say that it was absolutely splendid being in a place where English is spoken - and with such a lovely accent to top it off! For the record, people in England really do use words like "jolly", "'twas", "inkling", and "bril." (short for "brilliant") in their everyday speech. And there really are bright red double-decker busses and phone booths. And university students live exactly like Harry Potter. I always thought it was just in the movies...

I arrived in Cambridge late Wednesday afternoon and was greeted by the lovely Miss Ellen. She was too kind to let me take her bed for 2 nights while she slept on the couch! Ellen and I then went to Christ's College to have tea with her friend Alice (who reminded me of Corinne, so obviously I loved her.) and then to dinner with a few of her other friends. We then went to Christ College's Christian Union meeting, which Ellen has been going to all semester, and which was so wonderful! It was really only about 15 students, but it was so refreshing to be with other Christians. AND I met a girl who lived in Huntsville when she was in Elementary school... that was bizarre. After CU we walked around a good bit, went to the grocery store and bought about 10 boxes of what turned out to be cornstarch instead of cornmeal, and went back to the house to start cooking for our feast.

The next morning Ellen gave me a quick tour so I could get my bearings and then she went to class and I went off exploring. Cambridge is amazing. I would totally live there. I know I've said that about other cities, but I really mean it about this one. The colleges are all absolutely beautiful, and there's lots of grass (that is protected by law...), and the city just has a really wonderful scholarly feel (which I loved...that might make me a dork.) That afternoon we cooked... and by that I mean Ellen cooked and I tried not to get in the way of the master. I did contribute by doing things I'm good at like snapping beans, cracking eggs, etc. I still can't really believe that we cooked a Thanksgiving meal for over 20 people by ourselves... quite a feat. We cooked right up until dinner time, when Ellen's housemates and some Cambridge friends (and later her professor and his wife) all joined us for our meal. We told our Thanksgiving traditions (the lake/hayride/bonfire totally won, by the way.), said what we are thankful for, and tried to explain Thanksgiving to the Brits. It was wonderfully cheasy.

The next morning, Ellen and I woke up early to go punting (punt=England's version of a gondola), and then headed to London! The train ride was beautiful, and it made me want to live there more. We arrived at our friends Andrew and Andy's house to drop our stuff and headed out to meet Kendra. We went to Westminster Abbey and saw lots of famous people's graves or something like that. It was cool. When we got out it was dark, because apparently England thinks it's ok to get dark at 3:30. Then we sped through the National Gallery and then to a nice dinner and the Queen's Theater to see Les Miserables! It was absolutely fabulous!! The next day we did a few more touristy things like go to Herrod's and Burough Market (free gourmet food is such a wonderful idea.) and then back to the house to help cook for Thanksgiving feast #2. That afternoon i heard "Sweet Home Alabama" in a grocery store and may or may not have shed a tear. A bunch of different London people came over that night and we feasted and watched football. It was great. Andrew and Ellen walked me to the bus stop at 3:00 am in the cold rain. They are really good friends.

Overall, fabulous weekend - good friends, good food, great language. I love Cambridge. The end.

"The wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round..."

...and around...and around...and around.

This weekend I went to Santiago de Compostela. It is far away. I spent 38 hours on a bus. Worth it? Absolutely.

Santiago de Compostela is a small city in Galicia, the northwestern region of Spain. Everything about Galicia and Santiago is different from Granada - the language (they speak Gallego, not Castilian Spanish), the landscape (rolling green hills, misty rivers everywhere), the architecture (moss-covered stone with red tile roofs), and even the way the people look. Santiago is the endpoint (Compostela) of one of the most famous pigramages in Europe - the Camino de Santiago, or Way of St. James. The remains of St. James were supposedly brought here to Santiago in the early years of Christian history, and are thought to be hidden somehwere in the Cathedral still today. Pilgrams still walk the camino every day, but today it is much less of a religious act, and more of a cultural act or a time of introspection. A fewpeople (inluding my best friend Lonely Planet) told me that this was the most beautiful city in Spain, and I had a free weekend, so Megan and I set off on our epic journey...

We caught the first of many busses for the weekend Thursday night to the bus station, rode the 5 hours to Madrid, changed buses, and arrived at Santiago around 9 am Friday morning, only to take yet another bus to our hostel. The receptionist promplty greeted us with the lovely phrase, "We have a problem". Not something you ever want to hear, especially not coming from your assumed means of shelter in a cold, rainy city, but it is surprising how things like the thought of not having somewhere to sleep don't really phase me anymore. Turns out, they overbooked and we had lost our room for the first night. Normally this would mean we were just out of luck, but this hostel was really nice and had booked us a room in a real live hotel for the same price! So we went to the hotel, checked in, unloaded, and set out on a mission.

There were two things we really wanted to do on this trip: rent bikes to ride on the Camino de Santiago and go trout fishing, both of which we had seen on the Santiago website. So first thing, we headed to the tourism office to inquire about our adventures. Sadly, they had no idea what we were talking about. But they could give us a map, they said. Thanks? Both leads ended up coming up empty, which was sad, but equipped with our new map, we headed out to see the sights. We started at the Cathedral, which is really the only real sight, and stared at the pilgrams as they stared at what they had been walking towards for months. I feel no matter what it was that I was walking towards, it would be a huge let-down whenever I finally got there, but that's just me. Then we grabbed some lunch and wandered around the city some more, following the marked tour on our map. The city was absolutely beautiful. It looked more like an old Irish or Scotish city, or at least what I would imagine one would look like. I'll let you know for sure in a few weeks. That night we had a fabulous dinner of kebabs (they're invading the world, and I'm a ok with it.) and later completely our romantic evening with a delicious desert of Tarta de Santiago in our hotel room, complete with Sufjan Steven's Christmas album playing in the background.

Saturday morning, we got up, checked out of the hotel, checked in to the hostel, and finished our tour of Santiago (which, I must agree, has got to be the most beautiful city in Spain. Take a gander at the photos and see for yourself...). The city felt really homey, and it really made me want to curl up in one of those houses in front of a fireplace with a big mug of real coffee and American football (specifically Alabama football) on the TV. Soon, soon. Around 12, we headed back to the bus station to take a bus to the coast. Even though we couldn't go fishing, we wanted to see the coast, and the tourist lady said it was only 30 minutes away, so off we went. There were 2 towns we were going to visit - Muros, the larger and more developed of the two (supposedly), and Noia, which was a little closer. We drove on back roads, passing through a bunch of tiny little towns in the middle of nowhere Spain on the way to the coast, which was absolutely amazing - even better than renting bikes! After about an hour, we finally reached the Noia bus station, but decided to go on to Muros and stop in Noia on the way back. Expecting another 15 minutes max, we waited to arrive at the Muros bus station. After another hour or so, and a landscape (and a bus) that increasingly lacked population, we became suspicious that we had missed our stop in Muros somehow. But the bus was supposed to be ending in Muros, so we decided to wait a little longer before deciding how the heck we were going to get back. It was not long until we saw the sign (Muros - 17 km in the direction you are not going) that confirmed the fact that we were in fact lost (once again) on public transportation. Just when I think I've got it figured out, my friend PT loves to make sure I know I will never master it. So we played the stupid card (not difficult) and asked the bus driver in our sweetest, most innocent voices, "Excuse me, sir, how long until we get to Muros?". He was not pleased to tell us that Muros was 30 minutes ago, but he reluctanlty called his bus driver friend who was going in the other direction, and he stopped and drove us back to town. Turns out, we didn't stop at the bus station in Muros (why? don't know.), but if we had, we wouldn't have known because it's basically a pier with a bus or two parked on it. We walked around Muros for about 15 minutes, saw a really cool rainbow, lots of pretty boats, and then got nervous about getting back to Santiago, so we got back on the bus and watched the tide go out as we drove along the coast.

That night, because our hostel had a kitchen, and neither Megan nor I had prepared our own food in months, we decided to cook dinner. We went grocery shopping, saw some protest about something regarding the Polish press, and returned to make some made delicious pasta and natilla, our favorite Spanish desert. Once again, we had a nice, romantic night (Ellen, you've got quite an evening to top, here.), and headed to bed early. The next morning we packed up and headed back to the bus station (the part of Santiago we saw most), and hopped on the bus back to Madrid.

Riding to Madrid, though long, was amazing, and absolutly worth the whole trip. We watched while the landscape changed from green, misty hills dotted with lonely cottages and the occasional stone church, to big green mountains, carved by rivers and smattered with tiny villages and farmland, to drier, craggier hills filled with vineyards, rolling into sprawling plains, completely flat, filled with wheat and the occasional a lonely cowboy or shepherd with his flock of sheep, to huge, industrialized farms, stopping in 10 or 12 tiny towns along the way, and just after the sun set over the plains, all of that changed into the sprawling metropolis that is Madrid. I know that sounds like it's from a story book, but I kid you not - it was real. We also saw a very large bull-shaped billboard, a strange rock carving, and a few random castles. They also played the safety video after every time we stopped.


I am back in Granada for 2 days, with more papers to write than will physically fit in that time, and then I leave again Wednesday morning for thanksgiving in England! I'll be with staying with Ellen in Cambridge, cooking the best Thanksgiving feast you can imagine, then we'll be heading to London for touring and Thanksgiving feast #2, and of course the Ironbowl. Nothing will ever beat hayrides and bonfires at the lake, but this Thanksgiving may come pretty close.

I hope you all have a great time with family, enjoying American things like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, turkey, stores that give you change, and football. I will be back in no time!



Ok, this doesn't do any justice to what we saw, but it's all I've got...

Another week gone by...

Yet another week gone by, and when I decided it was time to start listening to Christmas carols on repeat (they don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so there's no one telling me it's not time to start yet...), I realized how quickly this semester has flown by!! I can't believe I only have a little over a month left here!

Last week I played catch up on sleep and work and friends after having my parents here. I may or may not have slept for 17 hours over a 24 hour period between Wednesday and Thursday.... I got a lot of research done in (one of) the (many) University of Granada libraries for some of my papers. Researching in libraries is difficult anyway, but trying to do research in a Spanish library is nearly impossible. Especially when the books about the same topic are scattered throughout libraries all across the city. Why do the Spaniards have to make things so difficult? I've settled for using Wake library's database for English sources, and then translating the information into Spanish (which adds a step to the process, but saves money on bus tickets).

Saturday morning, the best part of my week arrived at the train station around 8:45... Sally came to visit!!!!! It was so fabulous to have her here!! We found her hostel (which was possibly the best hostel I've ever seen - if you're ever in Granada, stay at Hostal Oaisis!), dropped off her things, and went to wander around! We got some coffee at the IES favorite, Pilar, walked around the Cathedral/Alcaecería/tea and spice market area for a bit, as well as the free areas of the Alhambra and the Manuel de Falla park (home to a peck of "wild" peacocks!), and then we decided to rent bikes! We actually thought we were renting a scooter, and were slightly disappointed at first that it was only a motorized bike, but quickly learned that we would have died had they actually been scooters. What is a motorized bike, you ask? Well, I still don't really know, but I know it was battery-powered, and when you pedal it gives you an extra little boost, so you really don't have to exert any physical energy... it's great! We rode all around the city, only narrowly escaping being killed by cars and running into pedestrians, buildings, and/or other stationary objects. After becoming sufficiently afraid of the main roads, and when the sidewalks became too crowded for slightly out-of-practice bikers, we rode along the river out of the city a bit. It was beautiful, and so nice to be out of the city! I was surprised to find out that the algea- and trash-filled stagnant mess that Granada calls a "river" actually comes froma lush, clean, flowing brook! We took in the beautiful views of the Sierras, filled our lungs with clean-ish, smoke free-ish air, and enjoyed the beautiful day and beautiful company. We also passed some weird things, like what looked like the partial remains of a circus and a small girl pooping in a park along with her parents looking on approvingly.... Later Saturday afternoon, Sally and I watched the sunset from San Nicolas/the Mosque overlook and headed back down to the center for some tapas, and of course a visit to Mauricio for some churros!! Sunday morning we grabbed some breakfast, and then I sent her on her way after a sad goodbye! The weekend was rejuvinating - full of good times, good weather and good conversation.

Funny side note: Today, I was sitting on a bench reading, and this cat that looked like a much younger, much less fat, and much less crazy Sox, came up and started walking in between my legs like cats do. It seemed clean, so I didn't kick it. Then it jumped up on the bench and kept trying to crawl in my lap just like Sox does. I kept pushing it off but it kept coming back. Finally it settled for sitting on my bag right next to me and staring at me. It was just like I was sitting on the couch at home trying every possible way to keep Sox from crawling into my lap, except this cat was not staring and hissing at things that do not exist. Lots of little kids walked by and commented on how cute my cat was... it was not my cat.

This week, again, will be full of paper-writing, or at least feeling like I should be paper-writing. It seems that when people told me you don't have to do any work abroad, they were misleading me. It's a good thing I'm a quite practiced, nearly professional slacker. Most of my friends are going to be in either Paris or Barcelona this weekend (and since I have already been to those places, I did not feel like I needed to accompany them... although I'm sure they would have appreciated my expert guiding skillz), so hopefully I'll get most of this paper junk out of the way! My last weekends here are chock-full of traveling, which I am SO EXCITED about! I am hopefully going to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia not this weekend but the next, then Cambridge/London for a long weekend over Thanksgiving, and then Ireland to visit Molly right before we start exams... so get ready for some amazing adventure stories!! Love you all, and can't wait to see you sort of soon!!!

"Yep, the Griswolds (I mean Elliotts) are Back."

"For over two thousand years, Europe has survived many great disasters. Now for the real test. The Elliotts are coming from America!"

Yep, you guessed it! Shirley and George ventured across the big pond to the foreign lands of exact-change-loving, tight-pants-wearing , nasty-pigeon-feading crazy Europeans! It was quite a weekend, filled with some hilarious Griswold-esque moments, and a lot of quality family time!

The weekend began Thursday when, after a longer-than-planned bus trip to Málaga, I arrived at the airport about 2 hours after my parents should have landed. However, they were still not answering their phones, and they were nowhere to be found. Of course, I immediately thought they were dead, and the Air France people just looked at me like I was an idiot when I asked them where my parents were. Finally, I sneakily walked past the security guards into the baggage claim area, and there they were! Sadly, my parent's first view of Spain was checked bag-less at a dark, rainy, lonely train platform. But eventually we made it to the train station, onto our not-quite-as-romantic-as-the-promotional-video overnight train, and into our impossibly small sleeping car (along with our little brother Extrabed Elliott). Talk about some family bonding time. We spent some time in the "bar car", Daddy's fave, and hit the sack. Obvi I called the top bunk.

We woke up not-so-bright and early when we arrived in Valencia at about 5 am! Again, all my parents have seen of Spain so far is dark and rainy. We wandered around the main square of Valencia a little bit before finally finding somewhere to stop for a bit of breakfast and caffeine. After consulting Rick (Steves - our new best friend.), we discovered that there was in fact one place in all of Valencia open before 10am, so we headed for the Central Market. Valencia's market is one of the largest in all of Europe, and it was so cool seeing all of the chefs coming in early to get their produce and meat for the day. After exploring every aisle (Daddy made sure we went in order, from top to bottom, so we didn't miss one), we bought a delicious baguette, fresh cheese and olive oil, Valenciano oranges, and some dried fruit and nuts for breakfast and snacks. The meal was quite delicious, until this one pigeon that was hanging around us decided to call all his pigeon friends from within a quarter-mile radius to come attack our food. After that, the delicious food seemed to lose it's appeal. That morning was all kind of a blur... we saw some old famous things and walked around a bunch. We went to the art museum and Cathedral. We saw the withered arm of St. Vincent (cool? creepy? you decide.) and the Holy Grail (or at least what is recognized by the Vatican as the Holy Grail. It looked a little too Gothic to me...). We had paella at the port at the same restaurant as some famous person and got lost on the way back. We were tired and our feet hurt. So we went back to the train station and waited for our train to Barcelona.

Barcelona was, yet again, dark and rainy, but after finding our hotel located right in the middle of everything on Las Ramblas, it was a much happier dark and rainy. We immediately went to sit out at a café and do some people watching. To give you a little idea, Las Ramblas in kind of like a less-sketchy Bourbon Street... it was Halloween, and people are extra weird on Halloween. It was possibly the best people watching you could ever imagine. I could have sat there for days and not gotten bored. We finally crawled into bed around 1 or 1:30, after what could have been the longest day of my life (or at least of my parents' lives...)!!

After getting some much-needed rest, we spent Saturday doing the tourist thing. We went to Plaza Catalunya, Gaudi's la Sagrada Familia (still unfinished - "My Client is in no hurry", he said.), did a little shopping to tide us over until the luggage came (Daddy sat outside), walked up and down Las Ramblas, went to the port, etc. etc. That night we went to a nice dinner and did some more people watching. Sunday morning, we explored some cool, less touristy parts of town on the way to the Cathedral and the Picasso Museum (maybe my favorite museum so far?), headed back to the hotel and started the long trek to the airport and back to Granada.

We arrived in Granada about 9:00 pm Sunday night and grabbed some dinner before Mama and Daddy headed back to the hotel and I headed home to fnally get some clean clothes and a good shower! They toured the Alhambra Monday morning while I was in class, which they loved. Sadly, Daddy's camera met it's match with some 10,ooo-year-old stones. We met up after my classes, and I introduced them to the wonders of Doner Kebab (Moroccan fast food). We wandered around Granada and saw the sights, then headed back to my apartment for coffee and delicious cake with my madre, Sole. She was really giddie and was talking really fast, which made it difficult to translate, but it was fun nonetheless. I really lucked out and have a great host mother. Then we toured the Albaycin a bit, watched the sunset from Mirador de San Nicolas, then headed back down to meet a bunch of my friends (some of whom also had family in town) for tapas.

The next morning after breakfast, I put them in a cab, told the driver where to take them, and they were on their way! It was really fun having them here and letting them see what my life has been like for the past 3 months. And for the most part, they behaved.

Things are pretty much back to normal here. Besides that fact that Granada has turned into an icebox. I am already wearing long underwear, mittens, and a pea coat every day to class. What am I going to do in December?? This week I will be trying to figure out how to do research in a Spanish library, and then Saturday morning Sally comes to visit!!! I am so so so excited to see her... it should be a great few days!! Hope all of you are doing well!

PS-Meme, clearly the note to "Mr. Customs Officer" worked, because the cookies made it through, and have been thoroughly enjoyed!!!

A few things that are shortening my lifespan...

To all of those who have sent me so much love in the form of letters, postcards, or packages: THANK YOU SO MUCH! Y'all are the best. I've been a slacker about writing back BUT... your love is now being returned! NOTICE: If you receive a postcard, and the date on the postcard leads you to believe that it took 2 months to reach you, do not be deceived: Although these postcards were sent today, they were actually written about a month and a half ago... woops!

Another notice: Today is the first day of Daylight Savings in Spain, so now we are 5 hours ahead of Eastern time and 6 hours ahead of Central. The clock reflects this change.

Final notice: If you publically proclaim that you have successfully avoided an illness, the illness gods will smite you. Yes, it seems that I have caught whatever bug was going around IES, and it has come with a vengance. I should have known...

This past week has been full of midterms, and they're not over yet. Not my idea of fun in Spain, but studying here is still more fun than studying in the good ole US of A, so I can handle it. Sadly, it is not normal, but rather a bit rude, to study in cafes here. But, since the only other place we have to study is our rooms, which can get old and clausterphobic, my friends and I have become regulars at Café Fútbol, where the waiters have resigned to the fact that we WILL be studying there, even though they sigh loudly and give us annoyed looks every time we come in, and continue to give us annoyed looks when we stay for hours and only buy one or two coffees. I think they're starting to warm up to us, though. They make fun of us less, and sometimes our favorite waiter Mauricio even gives us free churros.

This weekend has been just fabulous. Friday, I woke up and went to study at this little children's library near my house that I had heard about. It was perfect. There were a few classes of cute little kindergarteners who came in to learn about how to use a library. Sadly, it's only open a few hours a day on weekdays. That afternoon, I went and mailed my absentee ballot. Hopefully it gets there, because I don't think the woman really understood me when I told her it needed to be a "reliable express mail carrier". Oh well. Then I went to do a little more reading on a bench in front of Fuente de las Batallas, a big fountain in the center of town. Obviously I did more people watching than reading. And obviously, since I am in Spain and personal space does not exist, even though there were plenty of empty benches, I was constantly accompanied on my bench by cute, old, chain-smoking Spanish men. I think I am taking years off of my life by the amount of cigarette smoke I am inhaling here. But I had some interesting conversations with the Spanish men, and they all complimented me on my Spanish speaking abilities, which (whether true or not...) gave me a much needed confidence booster. That night, I celebrated Megan (one of my friends here)'s 21st birthday.... and (per her request. not mine. I like sleep.) stayed out until Café Fútbol opened at 6:30 am. After some early-morning churros con chocolate, I crawled into bed as the sun was rising at 7:30. That probably took a few days off my lifespan, too. Only in Spain.

Clearly, Saturday was mostly consumed with sleeping. But that afternoon, Liz (a friend who also goes to Wake) and I went to an Irish pub that has wireless to watch the Wake-Miami game. Sadly, we couldn't find it on ESPNU, so we had to watch the video game-type figures reenact it on Gametracker. And even more sadly, we lost. But it's ok, because Bama won, and I am in love with Nick Saban. Saturday night, we all went to a fancy dinner for Megan's birthday at an absolutely delicious Italian restaurant... I ate way too much, and will be full for days.

Today, I am doing a bit more studying , and going to meet another friend's parents tonight. After finishing all my midterms and papers this week, I'm going straight from class on Thursday to meet my parents in Málaga, and we're headed to Valencia and Barcelona before coming back to Granada for a few days! I'm so excited to see them and to get to show them all I've been doing this semester!

I love and miss you all so much, and I hope you're all doing well! ROLL TIDE!!!!!!

The New Boring...

Per orders from Dawson and the Wiley-man, and because I don't want to study, and because I don't have to study since my grades don't go into my GPA (just kidding, Daddy... sort of.), I am going to write a post even though I haven't done anything exciting since the last one.

We did take a day trip to Córdoba on Friday for our Islamic Art History class, but that wasn't very exciting. It was interesting, but it was an all-day class, nonetheless, and on a Friday at that. Some friends and I were going to go camping in the Alpujaras or Sierra Nevadas this weekend, but it's already snowing there, so we decided that might not be wise, seeing as the warmest things I have here is a fleece pullover. So this week I've just caught up on sleep, caught up with friends, successfully avoided the bug that's been going around IES (so far...), come to the sad realization that I have to write a quite lengthy research paper for all 5 of my classes--in Spanish--by the end of the semester, done some more good wandering around Granada, studied on some park benches (sometimes next to sketchy men, sometimes next to nice old ladies, sometimes by myself), eaten lots of picnics in plazas with amigas, drunk lots of tea and café, and planned my Thanksgiving meal with Ellen, which is sure to be a supreme culinary experience, complete with sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, roasted chestnuts, and (hopefully) sweet old British professors. The best part of the week was either finding out about Max and Deby's baby, Ana Isabel!!!!, or possibly this morning when my madre decided to cook my roommate and I (something kind of like) pancakes to remind us of America... both were terrific!

Right now, I'm gearing up for the next 2 weeks of midterms and paper deadlines, and then my parents come!!!! It's crazy that I'm already half-way done with my time here in Spain. I think I am equally excited about still having a whole half left to go--sure to be even better than the first half, and of course chock-full of fun adventures--and only having half way left to go until I get to see all of you, communicate without significant effort, and easily be able to figure out if the sign on the door says "push" or "pull". I hope all of you Wake kids have had a wonderful Fall break, and that everyone has a great week!!!

The City of Blinding Lights

Well, folks, it's been a while. Let that be a sign to you that I am actually having fun here in Spain, and not wasting too much time on the computer. The past 2 weeks (has it really been that long?) since Morocco have been full of one after another beautiful days in the neighborhood. I figured out how to get streaming video on my laptop (they have restrictions on it when you're outside the US), which means that now I can watch FOOTBALL!!! This makes me so happy, I can't even describe it. And Wake Forest's program in Salamanca came down to Granada at the beginning of last week for a few days, so I got to see some Wake friends and show them around the city. It was so fun to a) hang out with people who had known me more than a month, b) be able to talk about Wake Forest and know that the people I am talking to actually care, and c) be the one who knows what they're doing in the foreign city (usually I'm the lost, confused one)!

After my first full week of class in a while (4 days in a row... it was rough.), I left Friday night for a weekend in Paris!!! I arrived at the Madrid bus station (after a fabulous 5-hour bus ride sitting next to a man with a very long mullet), and then the Madrid airport at 2 a.m. Saturday morning ready to camp out for the night. After reading 3 articles and one act of Bodas de Sangre, and writing 2.5 papers, I found a nice, soft, almost-clean square of carpet on which a car was displayed and fell asleep (sort of) with images of Tom Hanks in The Terminal dancing in my head. Saturday morning I woke up, had a cafe, finished a paper, flew to Paris, conquered the Paris public transportation system, met Ellen, and we found our hostel... all before lunch! It was so so good to see Ellen (again, having someone around who has known you for more than a month is a nice feeling), and we decided we'd make our trip as much like a weekend-long date as possible, since we were in the City of Love.

The first stop (and first of many picnic locations) was the Eiffel Tower, where we met up with Kendra, who was on the tail end of her Paris trip, for lunch on the lawn. It was just like you'd imagine... a huge, green lawn with people everywhere lounging and talking and eating baguettes and cheese... it was fabulous. After wandering around basically all of Paris that afternoon, we decided to return and partake in the oh-so-touristy ritual. We pretty much saw all of Paris that we wanted to see that afternoon and night through our wanderings. On foot. We were tired.

The next day, after sleeping a little later than planned, we embarked on our tour of Paris's tourist attractions. We began with the Louvre, which was a bit overrated. The Mona Lisa was cool, I guess, but it looked the same as in every photo I've ever seen, and there were too many people to get close to it. Then we took a picnic break and headed to the Musee d'Orsay, which is housed in a beautiful old train station, and was my favorite so far. We saw tons of Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, Degas, Cezanne, and other Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. That afternoon we went to the top of the belltower at Notre Dame, which was gorgeous, headed back to the Tuileries to rest and people watch, and found (after some searching) some delicious and reasonably-priced French onion soup for me and escargo for Ellen. After dinner, and a brief trip back to the hostel to doctor some blisters, we went to the top of Arc du Triomphe and wandered down Champ d'Elysees.

Monday morning we got up early to see the L'Orangerie, which houses Monet's Waterlillies. These paintings were the kind that, no matter how many times you look at them on slides or how much you study them, you can never do them justice unless you sit in the middle of them. Probably my favorite work of art. After sitting and gawking for a while, we headed out to Versailles, and,, even though the chateau, museum, and apartment of Marie-Antionette were all closed, it was so worth it to enjoy the gardens and the town. We got a baguette and took a small siesta in the grass under some beautiful yellow oak trees surrounded by statues of who I'm sure were very famous people. It was one of those surreal moments where you have to stop and remind yourself that yes, this is in fact your life.

I got back to Granada at about 5 am, set my alarm for 8, heard it at 8, rolled over and turned it off, and skipped my 9 am class. When I got back for lunch, my madre had made a delicious meal to welcome me home, and even played French music at lunch(at least it sounded French, and I told myself it was in my honor...)! I'm here this week, trying to get a handle on what right now seems like a lot of work, but at this time next semester I'm sure will not. I hope you are all enjoying fall and football for me!!!