el fin.

today is my last official day in madrid! i cannot believe how quickly this month has gone by. we had our finals yesterday and went and saw a flamenco dance as our last class adventure. yall, i want to learn how to do that. coolest thing to see. they stomp their feet so quick and the clicker things (i have no idea what else to call them) are really great. so glad i got to do that. our teach came out to dinner with everyone last night and thats always a good time.

today im doing some last minute shopping (really i need an extra small bag to take home with me...heavy presents. whoopsies). and spending the night out and about with amigos!

so since its my last day i figure i would do an update on the goals list, because who doesnt love lists?

1. make a new best friend: welp thats a definite check. i have loved everyone i met and my host mom has been incredible. love these besties.

2. go to a professional soccer game: fail. but the bull fight took the place here.

3. stick my toesies in the mediterranean sea: CHECKKK!!

4. learn spanish better: más o menos.

5. read these 2 books that 2 dear friends gave me: check. both were so great. thanks guys :)

6. meet a bulgarian (simply because its a fun word to say): fail. but i did meet the dutch, spanish (obvi) french and plenty of others.

7. try a a new food item at least 4 times a week: yes, yes i did. i may not have liked it all, but i ate way too much here.

8. learn to dress like those sassy spaniards: coming back with sas.

9. real talk pillow talk with roomie: me and rooms had real talk, but since she stayed out until 6 in the morning most nights, the pillow talk wasnt quite there.

10. take cool pictures: ive got a little over 2000 in an album, check.

11. blog about the adventures: obvi.

12. use the metro without fear: professional metro rider.

13. find a cross for the collection: check.

14. love people and love them well: they can be the judge of that.

but in all honesty, i have loved getting to know a completely different group of people, and learning so much about them. small talk turns into real talk, and simply loving people where they are at right now can change things in the future. i have no idea what part ive played in their lives, but im so excited that these friendships are coming home with me. its not over yet :)

tomorrow i hope to sleep most of the flight to try and get myself on american time pronto when i get back. going straight from the airport to a cookout with way too much family, so hopefully i can last until 5am spain time (aka 11pm)

ill send another link to pictures when i get the last of them up.

but for now, happy wednesday fam (yall know its always my fav day of the week).

besos y mucho amor.

león.

so this past weekend we had not only field trip friday, but field trip weekend. we took a 4 hour bus ride friday morning into the mountains and ohh how glorious that was. madrid has been in the 90s for the past week (97 today!) and with no air conditioning, its just freaking HOT!

anywho: field trip included a weekend stay in the providence of león. we visited monasteries, and a vineyard on friday! yall, the vineyard was so incredible fun. it was in a beautiful location, we got to try 3 different kinds and have bread and cheese. loved it.

saturday we went on a crazy hike from the town we were staying in. the camino de santiago (google it) runs through the town we were staying in so we hiked a bit of that. our professor said it was going to be super easy and not bad: lies. it was crazy. but so beautiful the entire way there. afterwards however: my knees hated me for 2 days straight, like couldnt walk normal because they were so achy. whoops.

but after the hike we went to las medulas which are these old gold mines from the romans that they flushed out with water. we got to go through one of the caves too. they make you wear a hilarious hair net under the hard hats and then give you a flashlight to go have fun.

after the caves we went to a lake then back to the hostels for pizza. the next morning we did the usual travel, see a cathedral, something old, then headed back for the longest trip into madrid. it just seemed to take forever to get home. 6 hours including the metro ride. just a tad bit longer than any of us wanted. but this weekend was incredible and beautiful and totally worth it!

what i loved is that we got to go on this trip as a class and it was so great to really get to know people that i didnt normally go on adventures with during the week. and although conversations were not "deep" nor crazy real talk, they were real, and opened doors, and it was just really rewarding to see the lord do these things. im pumped that most of these friendships are going to continue when i get back to boone which means its not over thursday when i fly back home. (yes, i fly back to the states on thursday, and yes i am VERY EXCITED!) He's faithful, thats for sure.

as for this happy monday, we went to class, take two of the reina sofia (modern art museum) then hit to pool since its the only cool place we could go. and now its time for cena!

pictures.

and for all you non-facebookers out there: here is a link to view some of the pictures i have taken so far. and by some i mean 200 out of the 1200 on my computer :)

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1903740958589.2095378.1393680174&l=95a7ffa743

enjoy!

alicante.

i think this past weekend was my favorite so far! i took a train to alicante down towards the south east side of spain, right on the mediterranean sea. um, can you say most beautiful place? yes, yes it was. i got there thursday night and caitlin and i went and got dinner, sat in a park and had real talk, and then gelato! yall, gelato is bangarang. just saying.

and that night i got to check off sticking my toesies in the mediterranean. i dont know about you, but i think thats super cool.

friday we had an interesting day. one of the girls caitlin knew was planning a "spa" day out on the beach. so she found all these online recipes for facials and hair stuff and loads more. i thought it was hilarious. but i did get my first "facial" if you call oatmeal, yogurt and some other stuff a facial. but it had the cucumbers, so you know its legit. but we enjoyed the day on the beach, then headed back to have dinner on the pier area.

that night caitlins roommate, margaret (latvia's finest) was having a going away party since she was leaving the nest morning. she says she has a tradition of burning her class notes and things from the classes she hated most each semester. so what did we do, we burned her stuff. and someone played the laud while we walked everywhere and i have not laughed that much in a long time. quite the adventure.

but i got to meet people form spain, lativa, russia, france and the netherlands that night. i LOVE accents. and i kept asking funny questions to find out new words. dutch is my new fav language. i think i would like to learn it.

anywho. saturday we took margaret to the airport then caitlin and i were ready for a nap. we took lunch on the beach and were lazy for most of the day. then we hiked up the castle (alicante's biggest attraction) and got to see the town from the highest point. i love being up high and being able to see for miles and miles.

sunday was a fun flea market excursion where we found really awesome spanish antique items. i may or may not have gotten the adventures of tom sawyer book in spanish. after spending the rest of the afternoon together, we said out sweet goodbye at the train station and i headed back to madrid.

LOVEDDD seeing caitlin and it was such a blessing to have a dear friend in the same country as me. loved real talk. loved seeing where she has been living for the past 5 months. and love even more that she will be back in the big US of A the same day i get back :) caitlin: youre seriously the best most beautiful thing!

reunited!

reunited with miss caitlin sheffield and its incredible! happy weekend from alicante :)

happy wednesday!

welp friends, in the past 2 days or so fun things have gone done. for starters im a sick cookie across the big pond. currently on my medicine right now, which is making me a little loopy, but then again its also after midnight and we all know i dont handle late nights well. went to the doctor for the first time over seas, and that was a simple easy process. got antibiotics since im going out of town this weekend and i hopefully those will kick in. i call mom every time i get sick multiple times when im in boone, so its funny that with this google phone thing i can still call and complain just as much :) she loves me.

anywho, another reason why i probs have not improved health wise is because i sat outside in the rain all evening last night. why? well for starters i was under an awning, but because i had to go see THE cultural thing to see when in spain: a BULLFIGHT! im only going to show yall 2 pictures because, if you have a queasy tummy, you couldnt handle more. about 8 of us sat through 6 very confusing rounds, and by the end of the night we saw 6 dead bulls. fact: they kill the bull everytime. i didnt exactly know that. so it was gross, but interesting to say the least. i really dont know how else to describe it.

but today i went to the doc. all good and clear and ready for my weekend in alicante with caitlin! and to start off the weekend, why not do something crazy after spending an hour in the doctors office. so about 6 of us headed here after class today. going crazy in spainnnn!

i love hearing what people guess i did. but in fact, im not that much of a rebel. only got a little purple strand put in my hair. just for fun. why not?

grandma, dont freak out. it can be hidden very easily. promise.

but for now, its time for bed for this kid. os amo. yea thats right, using that unheard of vosotros form we never use in america. be proud spanish friends...and for all the others, just saying love yall :)

fun facts.

yes i know i just blogged yesterday, but i thought i would take this rainy afternoon to tell you random fun things from spain. sure why not. and lets be honest, we all know i love lists.

1. yesterday, while walking down the street, i was hit in the foot by a water balloon. not a clue where it came from, but i laughed really hard.

2. i filled my memory card already...that means ive taken over 700 pictures in 2 weeks. whoops.

3. whenever i see a movie in another country, it makes me feel like im at home and can walk outside, jump in the car and drive home. jokes on me, the rain was waiting, and the metro was my ride.

4. i officially know how to tell if people are american or not. for example, on the metro today, there was a guy, and i told zoey he was american by how baggy his pants were. she didnt believe me until he started talking to a friend that got on a few stops later.

5. everywhere you look people are playing music for money. i think i want to go to retiro and do gymnastics and see if i can make a few euros. it might be added to the list of goals. why? because it would be hilarious, and to see if they would give to me. if bad guitar players make money, why couldnt i?

6. a little person (aka midget) stuck his tongue out at me on the metro for no reason.

7. there are these pants that everyone wears. and i think they all look like pirates. no worries friends, i wont come home dressing like that. not sassy, just strange.

8. all i want is for my stomach to get used to the eating time differences. dont think its going to happen.

9. whenever santiago talks super fast i just to a little bledjkhku to him, since thats what it sounds like to me, and today he told me to stick out my tongue and he grabbed the butcher knife. then thought he, himself was hilarious. thats why we get along so well. we both crack up at ourselves.

10. not feeling well away from home = no bueno.

11. there are hardly any tall people in spain, so you know i fit in just fine.

12. my spanish mom and sis think im ridiculously crazy. i just embrace it.

13. pops: every car is a manuel. glad to know i could drive the getaway car here, if necessary.

14. overall: spain is incredible. 2 weeks in, 2 and a half to go!

toledo y más

welp, just finished my last official weekend in madrid (the last 2 will be out of town adventures) and it was just wonderful. friday we had field trip friday, as i like to call it, to toledo. no not ohio, but spain still, about an hour south of madrid. i love our field trip days because we always go to these smaller towns that when you think of spain, this is what you think of. it was a beautiful day and we did lots of exploring in old things (you know, churches, synagogues, peoples houses, etc).

emily and i decided we would take "jumping" pictures everywhere we went together, so here is out successful jump.

and im not sure if ive officially introduced yall to zoey: but this is my rooms!

she is seriously wonderful. i lot of people have asked how it has been living with her and really, its been great. shes sleeping right now while im typing away, but shes great. one of my goals has been to have real talk with her, and the lord totally revealed some things today for us to talk about. so time for me to be a little bold and chat it up. its been incredible to see her notice simple acts of love and ahh i just really genuinely do love her. just be praying for our relationship friends :)

saturday was the most fun! we were a little worn out from history things, and looked in the kids section of the book for our play day. 2 girls that also live in the house and i went to this place called faunia. think mini zoo but you can touch almost everything. no there were no elephants nor giraffes, but i loved what i saw, and was so excited to be there.

first things first, they dont let things like this happen in the us. there would be more fences and more rules. thats why places like this are awesome in spain. this one show let and animal straight up run across our laps. hilarious. here he is: not a clue what he is.

and funniest part. you forget sometimes that being in our countries, things that are familiar to us, are strange and fascinating to spaniards. one animal brought out in the show was, none other than, a raccoon. i laughed really hard at it. my fav was this guy: as ugly as he was. he just wanted to be loved.

sunday i had church in the living room again. went to el rastro (the biggest flee market) then spent the afternoon in park near my house for some alone time reading and journaling and such. everyone needs alone time, and its super difficult here, so i did the best i could, and got quite a bit of sunshine on the skin.

sorry that i dont know how to write short amounts here. but time for sleepy.

shout out to the "four families" to end tonight. saw these guys at the faunia too. happy trails.

metro and comida.

first and foremost i would like to share that i officially have a metro pass for the month of june. a picture and everything! i feel so official. heres the fun part. you just take a picture in the photo booth at one of the metro stops then take it to the "estanco" aka tobacco shop to get an official pass. so im here for a month. who cares what the picture looks like right? thats right. so this is my metro picture...showing my initial thoughts of the metro system.

yep thats real life right there. this weeks adventures have been more just scoping out local things. tuesday i went and did a little shipping with the rooms. yall, shes rubbing off on me. sassy wedges. i will no longer be "chin" height, as we like to refer to it as, but someone embraced my sassy word and told me that the us better watch out when i return with my sassy shoes. i made the purchase and hope i have somewhere fun to wear them to for the summer :)

yesterday we had a class field trip to an art museum, and we had a guide. saw pieces by picasso and van gogh, in person, which i feel like is cool. these are some of the most famous artists in the world, and i saw stuff that they literally painted, not just the photo copy. maybe thats weird, but i think its really cool. fun fact: van gogh's works literally have so much paint on them. chunks of paint. just kind of fun. but no pictures allowed because the flash, even us breathing in the room, "damages" the pieces. understandable. some of the stuff was from the 600s. old.

wednesday night we (just smaller group) found our spot. we decided every wednesday we would come here because, check this, everything is 1 euro on wednesdays! all food, all drinks, yep. todo. thats awesome. and its like that only on wednesdays, hence it being the wednesday hangout spot. and i found my drink of spain. i dont do alcohol very much, so if i find something i like, im a happy camper. this was tinto de verano. basically a sangria, but this was wine and sprite. yum. and the sandwiches there are always fun, because i dont necessarily know every food word in spanish, so i just guess and hope what i get i like.

today has been quite a restful afternoon. i havent taken an afternoon off from exploring since ive been here, and my feeties needed a little rest, so the group i always go with decided to wait and do churros tonight after dinner. but here was my fun afternoon dessert. concha freshly made milk chocolate...aka melted dark chocolate and added milk, but it was so good, to add to strawberries. jealous? yep, it was incredible.

tomorrow is field trip friday to toledo!

thats all for now friends :)

mucho amor from españa!