Reflections on Study Abroad in Spain Winter Term '16 - WEEK 2 Jan 13th-19th

Wednesday, January 13th:
This was the first day trip that we took while we were in Spain. We went to Granada. The weather that day was quite pleasant from what I remember, although I think it was maybe a little bit humid and maybe rainy.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

I will insert more pictures later if I find some!!

Generalife Gardens

 Muslim Summer Palace

Alcazaba Palace

Palacio de Leones 

Palacio de Carlos V

Palacio de Nazaries    

Shawarma King with the REACH team

                                                   Photo cred: Danielle Baugher

Royal Chapel with Ferdinand/Isabella
  
Moroccan street shops

                                             Photo cred: Danielle Baugher    

Thursday, January 14th: 
We had some really good discussion in class today about strong and weak Christians for the Engaging Contemporary Culture class. We also had a test about Granada from the trip we took yesterday.

In the afternoon to evening, we went to have Spanish conversations at Sarai's house again. Then we came home and ate dinner, and had some good prayer and devotion time with Danielle. Also, I guessed her Myerrs-Briggs Personality type on the first try! This is because she is basically the extroverted version of me, so..she is an ENFJ, and I am an INFJ. Super cool bonding time ;)

Friday, January 15th:
There was a plan today for a time to have some of the youth from the youth group come to the mall and hang out but only one ended up coming. It was still fun! We ate at a sub shop type place and then we got ice cream at a place called Yogui. And then at the end of the day at the house, Danielle and I had some more really good prayer and devotional time.

Saturday, January 16th:   
Today was one of my favorite outings from the whole Spain trip. We got to go to some cities near the sea. One of the was called Nerja and the other, Frigiliana. Both were extremely gorgeous locations and we got quite a few pictures. Kaitlyn came along with us ;) Something that is interesting about Nerja is that it is called "The Balcony of Europe". We had ice cream and ate calzones and walked along the beach in Nerja. Then we went to Frigiliana. This town is known as a city of peace for Muslims, Christians, Jews. While we were in Frigiliana, we got to see a Catholic street processional. It was for a day about receiving a blessing for pets, from a certain Saint. It was quite interesting and really loud. There was a marching band and at certain stopping points, there were firecrackers set off. After the procession was done, we walked over to a public sports center that had a ping pong set and we played and danced to the music (mostly American songs!) played over speakers in the main part of the gym. Then we went home and had dinner of spaghetti and veggies.

Here's some pics from Nerja/Frigiliana

Sunday, January 17th:
Today was a fun day because Danielle and I got to have the famed churros and hot chocolate breakfast that I have heard about. The cafe was called Casa Andres.

Photo cred: Danilelle's camera

Later this day, after church, we walked along the boardwalk and took some pictures. It was wonderful. 

And, Danielle found someone to interview for the Nominality paper for Engaging Contemporary Culture class. Someone from the church had a friend who was sitting with her at a local cafe/bar. I don't remember what it was called. 

Monday, January 18th:
Today was another beach day and Danielle walked there by ourselves to study. It was pretty epic. For lunch we had paella! Yay!

  
Tuesday, January 19th:
Today was another Spanish conversation day at Sarai's house. We went shopping after at a local supermarket. 
   
   
  

Reflections on Study Abroad in Spain Winter Term '16 - WEEK 1 Jan 6th-12th

Wednesday, January 6th:
We arrived in Malaga in the evening, I think, met at the church where we were to have our classes, besides the fact that it was the church we would be attending for the time we were in Spain. Our host families came to "adopt" us for our 5 1/2 week stay, and took us to their homes and just basically crashed in our beds to recover any jet lag.

Thursday, January 7th:
My roommate/housemate and I woke up to a nice American breakfast of egg omelet, toast and COFFEE. :) We then went back to the church where we had met all of the host families the previous day as they came to pick us up to our respective homes. Thursdays at the church are the prayer meetings/Bible studies led by the pastor. It was an unusual meeting this Thursday because they were expecting all of the students and anxiously waiting for introductions led by the pastor who spoke very fluent English. Later that day, after our first class(s) held at the church, we had lunch with our hosts Alan and Noemi (Danielle and I miss you both very much!) we had a little shopping excursion to Lidl (which is basically ALDI's competition) to get some much needed groceries to cook for us very hungry chicas. After this shopping, we went home and had the house to ourselves while A/N went out for the evening.

Friday, January 8th:
Today had a first experience for me. The class got to taste Roscon de Reyes cake for Three Kings Day. 

This cake is a tradition in Spain around Christmas. 

Here's a little information about it although it is obviously written in Spanish. The cake was very sweet, and it has little toy prizes inside. If you get a piece with a certain part, you will have many blessings, or something like that. 

After class, we went home and had lunch, and then strolled along the beach for a little bit.

This is a picture of me with the Mediterranean Sea behind me. I waded my feet but I didn't get a picture, I just got a picture of my feet in the sand...

Later that evening, A/N took us back to church where they went to their choir practice and Danielle and I tried to participate when we could. 

Saturday, January 9th:
This is one of my favorite days of the whole time we were here in Spain. We went to Malaga with the other students and met Rebeca (my "twin"), Hermes, Mirian, and a few others I can't remember at the moment. We just traveled around by foot for the whole day basically and took the bus to go back. Many points of interest visited during our "tour around Malaga" were: 

Santa Iglesia Cathedral Basilica de la Encarnacion 

 Roman Amphitheater

Harbor/Marina

                                                      (Photos: Danielle Baugher's camera)

Oh, and we didn't ride this but apparently this thing is a big attraction in Malaga:

I also got to experience the famed "tapas culture" that is associated with Spain, specifically places around the coast. It was quite interesting, I liked most of it, although I still can't say I'm much of a fish lover, except for most fish filets. 

                                                        (Photo: Danielle Baugher)

I also got ice cream at a place called Heladeria and it was quite delicious. 

Nothing else particularly stands out from this day, besides the fun adventures we had out and about with a fun group of people. 

Sunday, January 10th: 
On this day, we had Hermes and Mirian over at the house and had burgers. Danielle and I were initiated (well, sort of) into the Spanish culture of drink shots after lunch. I didn't try it, but Danielle did. I think she might have regretted it...Hermes, Mirian, Alan and Noemi all told their life stories and it was super cool and a big bonding time. It was one of my favorite days of the whole Spain trip. 

Random memory: "Holaholaholaholaholaholaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" LOL!!!

After we chatted, we walked around the area and took some pictures.

Monday, January 11th:
On this day, Danielle and I experienced public transportation in Spain for the first time via bus.
It was really pretty simple but we didn't use the bus very much for the time we were in Spain. Something memorable from this day was after class, Noemi and I walked along the beach, aka "la playa", while Kait and Danielle ran..Another memorable moment today was when I went to the deli inside of the mall. I don't remember what it was called but it was the first time I ordered something in Spanish and it was a chicken curry empanada and a coffee. Both were delicious. 

Tuesday, January 12th: 
 Danielle and took today to study Spanish together in the neighborhood. It was a super fun day but definitely exhausting. For one of the meals, we had Spanish tortilla:

Spanish tortilla

which is made of potatoes and egg. It's super good. We also had a spinach and garbanzo dish:

Spinach garbanzo dish

Today Danielle and I had our first Spanish conversations at one of the host family's house. One of the parts of the Language and Culture of Spain is to practice Spanish with people who speak Spanish fluently but who can communicate in English enough to have dialogue back and forth. These were called Spanish informants. Danielle's and mine happened to be our host parent. Here's a picture of me, Kaitlyn, Noemi (our Spanish informant), and Danielle

                                                  (Photo: Danielle Baugher's camera)
                                                       



 





 

Some goals for 2015!

Hello blog world! I haven't posted anything since last April. Yikes! Looks like I need to get back on the blog bandwagon. At least that's something I want to work on this year, among other things of that nature. I think the best way to write out (some of) my goals for this year is a numbered list, like I do in my actual paper journal. I want to focus on getting better emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually. These won't be in any kind of order. So...without further ado, here goes.

1. Develop my Youtube and become more confident in it
2. Take more classes, possibly computer related but maybe some hobby related too
3. Get a massage to see if that helps with my back/neck pain and overall stress
4. Find ways to be more involved in social activities and develop (or regain) self confidence
5. Connect with a small group for long term 
6. Clear out old/unused makeup and simplify makeup collection/find products that work for me
7. Print pics saved on USB from high school to current
8. Research and find options for a possible living situation on my own (not living still with parents)
9. Career field pursuits - get volunteer experience for resume
10. Look into singing lessons and involvement in choir
11. Start learning more advanced photography 
12. Possibly create social media sites connected to my Youtube
13. Continue with blog posts on here
14. Spend less time online
15. Get an easily manageable haircut and maybe get it colored again
16. Read for fun/personal growth
17. Take more care of my skin/be more proactive with sunscreen and gentle products
18. Work on being more joyful in difficult circumstances
19. Read my Bible more
20. And last but not least, work on anxiety levels. 

This is not an inclusive list but these are the ones I find to be the most important to work on this year. I'm so excited about this year but I'm also so nervous about the things that are happening in daily life but there are already some awesome things developing that could be really major. We shall see...Only God knows what will be in my future-Jeremiah 29:11 :)

Love you guys and thanks for reading my post!! What are some of your goals/resolutions for this year?? 

<3