Yo quiero montar en tu bicicleta.

I laugh so hard on this trip it shouldn’t be legal.

Everybody knows it doesn’t take much for me to laugh, but I promise you, the people that are on this trip with me are HYSTERICAL. And so are the encounters that we have over here across the planet.

Sunday night after my last post, the group of us headed out into the city to brace the madness of - dun dun dun – public transportation in a foreign country. I feel as if the entire city of Sevilla attempted to wedge their bodies into the bus that we took to get to the soccer stadium. In America, this would situation would be bad regardless, but especially combined with the intense heat and unavoidable B.O. it would just push you over the edge. But here, it’s normal, because everybody walks, sweats, and smells, and I appreciate that.

When the 50 billion of us bus riders exited, we were greeted with even more mayhem. Thousands upon thousands of people were waiting to get into the stadium for kick-off or whatever you call it in the world of soccer just 20 minutes away. For our entertainment as we waited in line, we were greeted with a mosh-pit of middle aged Spaniards chanting all sorts of things for Real Betis (the other soccer team in Sevilla, whom we were cheering for that night) that none of us could understand.

We finally made it in and climbed to the nose-bleed section to find our seats. Keep in mind folks, this was my first soccer game – ever. In my whole wide life I had never even so much as been to a 4 year old’s game of soccer, so starting off in a massive stadium with 60,000 ish other people was a BIG STINKING DEAL for me. It was awesome and best of all – BETIS WON! Hooray. Despite the fact that there were two obnoxious old men behind me that hated American girls (aka Paige and I), there was the most precious physically-challenged man in front of us that loved us blonde-headed girls and wanted to know where we were from. And obviously, that man LOVES Georgia, because when we told him where we were from, he grinned from ear to ear and said, “The A-T-L!”. Except for the fact that in his precious Spanish accent it was more like “Ah-Tay-Ele!”. We still understood.

Basically, the game was awesome madness. It was so much like Quidditch from Harry Potter to – made the night for me. Each time has the same little scarves that all of the houses of Hogwarts have – I wanted one so badly. Except for the back that Betis’ colors are green and white, which all too closely resemble Slytherin. That is NOT acceptable. Therefore, I will have to hunt for a burgundy team so that I can represent the real deal – Gryffindor!

Monday was back to reality – classssssss. Yuck. We had our first test and, man, it was a doooozy! Tons of dates and random history facts that I don’t quite feel it is possible to keep straight in an individual’s head. After school we had a cooking class, but it was kind of a bust, seeing as how we just watched a chick cook for about 20 minutes and then got to sample her stuff after. Good, but I don’t feel as if I learned anything. So basically, I’m STILL not domestic. Future husband, I swear I will learn one day! That night, we went back to our little hole-in-the-wall flamenco show that we found. It was so much fun, yet again! The gypsies never cease to entertain the many American tourists that frequent that place. God bless the Gyps.

Tuesday brought yet ANOTHER test, but this one was over Spain’s pop culture, so it was much more capable to fit in my brain. We had a picnic after class, and then we went on a tour of the Real Alcazar, an old Muslim palace with Christian influences that were added after we took it back from them. It was UNFATHOMABLE. The most beautiful gardens you’ve ever seen, intricate architecture, and just God’s glory in everything. Naturally, Whitney, Jack, and I took advantage of such a prime location and had a photo shoot. Those will be sure to come soon on Facebook. We are a swanky, swanky group of people.

The best part of yesterday, though, was last night. Diego, our darling director, had gotten us tickets to a REAL flamenco show, as he seemed to think our free show from the gypsies wasn’t quite authentic enough (although I can’t imagine why). When we walked in to the area where the show was going to be, we were a bit disappointed. It was a covered patio with probably about 50 seats around it in a semi-circle. The performers were late, and when they finally came on stage, they whispered back and forth about what they were going to do. But man, when those folks finally started performing, it was worth EVERY penny. Or I guess I should say centimo. The guitarist was incredible – he could play the fastest little chord-y things that I’ve ever heard, and when you would watch his hands, his fingers were moving so quickly that all you could see was a big blur of motion. Insane. The singer was really good too. He sounded like a mix of a Spanish and Native American. In fact, my impersonation of him after the show was over drew quite a few stares, and even a few asked if I was if that’s what I was channeling. So sadly enough, I will not be joining the flamenco troops anytime soon. But the flamenco dancers – oh man, they put all the rest to SHAME. Full of passion and intensity, the male and female dancers danced individually first but together for the last dance of the night. It was incredible. The dramatic lighting highlighted the intense faces of the dancers as they stomped around the stage, and the tension in the room was thick as a piece of Spanish ham - and that’s thick. It was unbelievable.

When our group walked out and met up outside, we all had the same thing to say – that male dancer was FIIIINE. Epitome of Spanish hombre. But we all tucked our dreams aside as, alas, he was wearing a ring on his right hand, which over here is where you wear your wedding band. So apparently he liked some other chick so much that he put a ring on it. So we’re still in the waiting process. Está bien.

The rest of the night was just as wonderful. My darling group of girls and I headed out to do what we do best – EAT DESSERTS. We found a MIND-BLOWING bakery, with so many choices of desserts that the three-tiered display case ran the length of the store. Can you say heaven? We made a group decision that we are going to go back to the bakery at least once a week for the rest of the trip. That way, we can try every little piece of heaven we can afford from there before we head back home to the land where good desserts come from Dairy Queen. How pathetic are we.

Best part of the day was what happened as we were eating our delectable desserts. Earlier on in the night, this group of guys went pedaling by us on bicycles, and one of us made a joke in Spanish about them being attractive, but nobody even knew what they looked like, we were just being ridiculous. However, apparently they not only heard us, but are bilingual, because later on as we were sitting on the steps to the Catedral, one of them approached us and said in English: “So… which one of you wants to take a ride on my bike?”. Now, maybe this would have if by ‘bike’ he had meant motorcycle. But, nono, the super jacked muscle man meant a literal bicycle. But the best part was, in unison, all six of us just DIED laughing simultaneously as soon as he finished speaking. We just lost it. Poor fella looked like we had just stabbed him in the gut. Oh man, it was priceless. Isabel then asks him, “Does that usually work, or did you just think you’d try it out on us?”. Big guy just looked down at his feet and shrugged it off, but then he got brave and thought he’d try for round two. So he makes some other comment about how awesome it would be to ride on his bike with him, and I respond with “Yeah, well maybe it would, except for the fact that you have RENTED it from the city of Sevilla!”. I had looked down to see he and his three other friends’ bikes propped us, with the Sevilla city logo plastered on the side, nice little basket in front, and best of all – a headlight. After that, there was no holding us back. We all lost it and the little fella just walked away, pretending to still have his dignity. What a great night.

Ooooooooh man. God is good, and He makes all of us so different. Just a rainbow of variety. Especially between my friends and bicycle boy. God bless us all. Paz, amor, y España.

Vamos a la playa!

OH. MY. WORD.

Could I love it any more here? Cause I'm thinking that's a resounding NO.

This week has been jam-packed. Officially this time one week ago we arrived in Sevilla, nervous out of our brains to meet our madre for the summer and to get settled in to classes. Now, just seven days later, this city feels like home.

The end of last week was incredible. After my last post, Whit and I headed out to meet the rest of the gang at one of the bars to watch La Copa del Rey: the biggest of all of the futbol (aka soccer) games in España. We got to the bar, squeezed our way into booths with the locals, and hollered for Sevilla like we’d never hollered before. Yes, I said hollered, I’m from South Georgia. It’s what we do. Right alongside the opposing team, Real Madrid, the team slated to win, the folks cheering for Sevilla and I gritted our teeth as the good ol’ red and white fought their way to win the cup. And you know what? THEY POOPIN DID. Whatttttt the heckkkkk! It was amazing. People went nuts. For the next three nights, cars just drove up and down the streets blaring their horns allll night looong. But I sho didn’t care. Cause it was so worth it!

That night, after we left the bar, we weren’t too sure what to do. Soooo, we decided to go to the part of the city where the locals were going to celebrate their victory – the fountain in the middle of the city. When we arrived, TOTAL. PANDEMONIUM. had erupted. Literally, it was mayhem. Flags were flying, voices were shouting, chants were being sung at the top of their lungs – pure and ultimate joy. Naturally, since none of us knew any of the words, we hung back from the mosh pit and took videos of us pretending to be journalists commentating on the chaos. Those you must be sure to watch on Facebook when they are uploaded – they are revolutionary. We walked around, had some tapas (little appetizer-y Spanish foods), and stalked some of the news stations that had come to film it – yes, I was in heaven.

The next day, we toured one of the oldest neighborhoods in Sevilla, El Barrio de Santa Cruz. Basically, the hood was were dem Jews stayed at when times was rough fo dem. They were SO MANY LEGENDS that came from the neighborhood, and the majority of them are probably true. This is sad though, because most of the legends included betrayal, death, and heartbreak. Wah wah wah. Poor people that dwelled in the Juderia.

After the barrio, we went shopping, but not regular shopping. We went to the flipping awesome HIPPIE MARKET. Hellloooo divine land of shopping. Everything was precious and CHEAP. I didn’t buy much, only the necessities that I had either a) forgotten to bring or b) or had broken while I was here (coughcoughmypursecough). It was such a wonderful afternoon, but then, it got even better. As we were walking home, we just HAPPENED to be crossing the exact street that the FUTBOL TEAM’S HOMECOMING PARADE was happening on AS THEY WERE COMING HOME WITH THE TROPHY. Ridiculous awesome. Insane in the membrane. We sang. We danced. We stuck out cause we’re American. But we didn’t care. We cheered on those home-skillet athletes like we had been cheering for that team all of our lives. And man, they got ONE HONKIN TROPHY. The cup was out the wazoo, and likewise were most of the players (they were all holding quite a number of beverages, if you get my drift.) The afternoon continued to ROCK because after that, Whit, Isabel, Robel, Belle, and I all went to this café and got a BANGING chocolate cake. Picture the molten chocolate cake at Chili’s plus TEN TIMES THE GOODNESS. Oh yeah. Fo sho. That night was insanely awesome too, because you know what Whitney and I did after dinner? Absolutely nothing. We laid in our beds, updated stuff, wrote to people we loved, and received chocolates in our bed from our madre as a prize for staying in for the night. Oh yessss.

Next came Friday – HALLELUJAH. After classes in the morning and an EPIC siesta (I slept for a hot minute), Whitney and I met up with the group for a jincana – a scavenger hunt through the city! God bless my group – Yatri, Hillary, and Claire. We were so chill, casually strolled through the city, found most of the things we were supposed to do, but generally just thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and got acquainted with the city. Granted, we lost, but we had a BALL. We met up at the ending point with the rest of our group, and as we were waiting to leave to go to tapas for dinner, and BIRD CRAPPED IN MY HAIR. I was so happy. It was just like the movies. I was so proud. I wanted a picture with it so badly, but alas, it dried and fell out before we could get one. So, a pro was it didn’t stick, but still – no proof of the hilarious moment exists. After tapas with Manuel – where we found out that pringas (a type of sausage sandwich) is very similar to BBQ sandwiches in the US and that we will be eating those a lot more over here – several of us sat around and chatted for a while before we went back home to prepare for our journey the next morning.

Where was our journey, you ask? Oh, no big deal, JUST THE BEACHHHH!!! Whitney and I SPRUNG out of bed bright and early Saturday morning to grab our things and head to the playa – Cadiz!!! Cadiz is the oldest city in Europe, so it was sure to be a legit trip. We met the group at the bus station, piled on, and rode the 1 ½ hour bus ride there. When we arrived, we took a local bus to our hostel (which was SO STINKING NIIIIICE), and headed out to the beach for the rest of the day. The views were spectacular. Everything was absolutely incredible, except for the whipping wind and the massive amounts of sand that accumulated in my very uncooperative eyes. Most interesting of all though, was the local’s wardrobe. The dear, dear Cadiz inhabitants chose to don thong bottoms and no tops while on the beach – including men AND women. Oh what sights we beheld. Never a dull moment in Spain, I tell you. After six hours of managing the nudity, sun, wind, and sea, we headed back in to get ready for dinner. Six of us girls shared on shower and braved the coldest shower of our LIVES to get good looking for our group dinner. We hit up one of the local seafood restaurants and downed some awesome yet expensive comida, even though our waiter CLEARLY hated Americans. But it was still great, and afterwards we all hung out in one of our rooms and then went out in the city for a little bit before tucking in for the night.

This morning rocked my world though. It was INSANE in the membrane. Everything was just incredible. I got to sleep in the bed of my dreams last night (a precious little day bed with wainscoting sides) and got up before everybody else to get ready and go spend a little time with Jesus and take pictures on the beach. What a glorious day it was! It was so gorgeous outside that I had to go get the rest of my posse and take some group “fot’s” as we like to abbreviate it here. We came back down, took some precious pics, and then headed to check out and hit the open roads on Old Cadiz before we rode out back to Sevilla. And the day just got better from there. Sweet sweet Francesca found out way to the heart of the city, where we found this precious pastelería (a bakery) and bought the best breakfast EVER. I was lucky enough to get a mouth watering cream-cheese and blueberry muffin and then this ridiculous bread thing covered in sugar and drizzled chocolate and filled with some wonderful chocolate cream junk. After we scarfed down the deliciousness in a courtyard outside of a cathedral, we headed into a café and all got café con leche (coffee with milk). It was just peachy.

Too many details? Sorry. I just have GOT to make myself remember this WHOLE TRIP. Cause I never ever ever want it to end! So… just use all of the little things to make yourself feel like you are here with me. I wish you were, whoever you are, cause this is the trip of a lifetime!

After coffee and a sugar high, we started exploring the rest of the city. We found our way to the cathedral, with was incredible with its architecture and majesty. Best of all was the fake dinosaur exhibit that was outside of it. Random? Yes. But so awesome.

Then came the highlight of the day. As we were leaving the cathedral area, the group of girls that we were with got their pictures made with these Native American-ish people playing these little wooden reed instruments. Of course, Whitney and I jumped on the band wagon and did it too. But that wasn’t the cool part. The highlight was when the little feather wearing man asked if we were from America (we scream USA with our appearances) and then asked if we knew the song from Titanic. Dur. Everyone does. It’s practically our national anthem. So when we all freaked out and said yes, he said they’d play it if we had someone to sing. Which, conveniently enough, Miss UGA Idol herself Whitney Keith was standing right alongside us. We pushed her up there, they did a sound test in the mic, and then she was off, belting away the lyrics. It was UNFORGETTABLE. One of the best moments of my life, and it wasn’t even me. When she started singing, only the group of us 9 other girls were huddled around the tent. By the end of the song, THE ENTIRE SQUARE was full and people were hanging out of the windows of their houses to listen it. It was beautiful. Absolutely amazing. I was crying it was so awesome. There will also be videos of this to come later on. Get prepared – my homegirl will BLOW YA MIND. After she finished, there was explosive applause and people in their windows started shouting “otra, otra, otra” à the equivalent of ‘encore’ in English! It was magical. A man even came up to her after and asked for the name of the song so he could download it! How stinking awesome is God for giving such amazing people such wonderful talents!

After Whit brought the house down, we strolled along the coast and took pictures along the way, until we finally ended up at the place that took my breath away. Quite possibly one of my favorite places on Earth. It was this insanely old and massive fort/prison that looked like the PERFECT MIX of Azkaban (for all you Harry Potter nerds like me) and Alcatraz. It was AWESOME. I thought the dementors were about to escape and get me it was so awesome. There was this incredible long brick bridge that led out to the fort/prison where the waves crashed over the rocks surrounding it and onto the bridge we were walking on. I can’t even describe how breathtaking it was. That darn prison was so beautiful. How ironic that something so pretty could be used for such a sad thing. It made me want to conjur up something illegal to do so that I could live in it. And of course it was at my favorite place that my camera would choose to die. I nabbed some photos quick fast of the heavenly place before we began SPRINTING back across the city to make it to the bus station for our 3 PM ride home. The sprint was HUH-LAR-IOUS. Just picture a ton of tourists, loaded down with luggage, and absolutely clueless running as if their lives depended on it across a very tranquil city. Awesome memories. We made it to the bus, elated over our awesome day, only for me to freak out with joy even more. Right as our bus pulls out of the station, what else would come on the radio other than my favorite song EVAHHH – Viva la Vida by Coldplay. Bahhhhhh.

What a GREAT GREAT GREAT day. Slash week. Slash life. THANK YOU LORD. I know this blog was never ending, but gosh, I just had to get it all out! Now, tonight we are headed to a massive futbol game to watch in person at the stadium – my first ever!!!! I’m so pumped. Hallelujah!!! Real Betís is the team we will be cheering for. So, here we go, Betís. I. LOVE. SPAIN. And you for reading this insanely long thing. Amen!

Walking = Life.

I better have a body like Shakira by the time I leave this country.

We walk more than humans should ever have to walk. Ever. I’m not complaining, I swear, because I’m in the most amazing country with amazing people and the weather is wonderful (muy caliente!!!), but man – you walk til you don’t think you can walk no mo’ here!

Despite the fact that we all have blisters on every inch of our feet and our bodies feel as if Chris Brown just got done beating us up, WE STILL STINKING LOVE IT HERE. It’s absolutely phenomenal. I can’t even describe how awesome it is to say that I live in Spain, especially Sevilla. Tonight is going to be MADNESS here. It’s La Copa Final de España: Sevilla vs. Real Madrid. Our directors told us which parts of the city to completely avoid, because if we win (VA SEVILLA!!!), there will be pandemonium. And we like pandAmonium, but not pandEmonium.

Classes are incredible. They are so interesting it doesn’t even seem like class! My first class is about the culture and history of Spain and it is so much fun. In fact, when I walked into class today, mi profesor was playing “Viva la Vida” – my favorite song. Um. Ever. So I slightly freaked out of course. And danced a lot. That is until my professor walked in the room and made me sit down. Schwoops. However, I’m sure the feeling of actual class will come when our 2 presentations, 4 quizzes, 3 compositions, 1 group final, and 1 individual final get started. For EACH CLASS. Yep. Que divertido! Not. But still, SO WORTH IT. My other class with such an insane course load is about the pop culture in Spain, and we watch the neatest things in there. We listen to songs, watch movies and television ads, and many other things involving the pop culture of España throughout the decades. Both classes are incredibly interesting, but near the end of the last one, all of us start to fade… baaaad. We’ve already gotten so used to taking siestas!!! Naps = da best. Especially during the hours that it’s, oh doncha know, more than 100 degrees outside. No big deal.

The directors of our trip = my BFFs. Our head hauncho, Diego, is going to be my Spanish professor back at UGA in the fall. That being said, he and I need to become even MORE BFF while we’re over here. Ha. Couldn’t hurt, and he is super funny! Manuel, are TA, is probably the coolest dude ever. He is from Sevilla and met his wife while she was studying abroad here for 6 months. He made sure to point out to us when he told us the story of how they fell in love that she was here for 6 MONTHS, not WEEKS. Que triste para nosotros chicas – jokesss!!! Yesterday he showed us the place where he proposed to her – holy cow. The best story ever. Dude even read the girl a poem. He needs to give hints to all of mankind.

Just these past three days have been JAM STINKING PACKED. The first day, Whitney and I walked for two extra hours because our sweet, sweet madre is good at everything except giving directions. And for future reference, if you are ever lost in Sevilla, don’t ever ask the locals where to go. Apparently since it’s such a big city, they don’t even know where to go themselves, cause they’ll tell you like 500 different things. Now we have gotten the hang of the city, and are pretty darn good at figuring our way around! We have taken walking tours of some of the most beautiful places in the city – La Catedral (the 3^rd largest religious building in Europe), La Giralda (a tower with 36 ramps up to the top and the tallest building in Sevilla), La Plaza de Espana (which appears in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones as Planet Neboo), and El Parque de Santa Maria that is incredibly beautiful. As many beautiful places as we go and as much as I love taking pictures, I am going to have like 5 bajillion albums on Facebook by the end of the summer. But that’s ok. At least one for every dollar I spent to get over here – and that’s quite a bit of fotos!! But God rocks, and He provides, and I’M HERE IN SPAIN!!!

This afternoon after climbing the 36 ramps to the top of La Giralda, the group and I went to una Heladería, or an ice cream shop that beats all American ones combined. Just saying, if you ever find yourself in Sevilla, get the half cheesecake half tiramisu combo. It’ll blow ya mind. Heck, basically everything here blows your mind. God made one awesome world. How amazing that He lets us share in it!!!!

It’s 9 PM here and still not time for dinner. It’s such a different lifestyle here, and it’s a MUCH BETTER fit for me! After dinner, we’ll hit up a restaurante to watch el partido de fútbol… Remember, Go Sevilla!!! GOL!!!

El Principio

I am blown away.

I freaking LOVE Spain. I had loved it before, but this time it’s a whole new ballgame. I cannot even describe how terribly I want to be fluent in this language. It’s a bit pathetic. Mi amiga nueva, Isabelle, can speak like JUNK and I want to be able to do that one day. Hopefully that day will come soon so that mi madre y yo can speak a bit easier. By the way, she ROCKS, but I’ll get to that later.

But where to begin??? This trip has been full of adventures already and we’ve only been here for, oh you know, about three days. Viva Espana!

Okay, so the trip got off to a ballin’ start on Thursday at the ATL airport. My sweet precious Alli safely deposited me there ahead of schedule (sweet thing put up with me FREAKING OUT on the way there, God bless you for that) and I headed in all alone to wait for Whitney, the most precious person ever and my wonderful roommate for the summer. Her dad flies a lot, so he got us a sweet deal to hang out in the fancy-pantsy Delta Sky Lounge before our 8 hour flight to Madrid.

To get to this prestigious VIP room, we had to go down a hallway off of the main concourse area and up some floors in an elevator. When we got out, we turned down a narrow corridor to find multiple HUGE individuals just chilling, waiting for the elevator. Whit and her dad were taking the lead and I was following behind, staring at the floor to make sure I didn’t run over one of the giant men with my luggage. When I finally looked up, I was staring directly into the eyes of someone who I felt like was my old friend. Who was it you ask? Oh you know. Nobody important. Just FIFTY FREAKING CENT. Yessss! Fifty Cent, Fitty Cent, Fifty Centz, however you would prefer to say it. I look him in the eyes, and I literally felt like I was seeing my ol’ pal Fitty. So what comes out of my mouth when I lock stares with a celebrity? Nothing more than my MINNESOTAN ACCENT. Yep NYC Mission Trip people, that’s the one. Of all the things in the world I could have said, I looked at 50 and said “Oh well hello there!” with all the Minnesotan power behind it I could muster. I came out just as naturally as anything. He of course laughs, answers my salutation, and asks how I am. I’m too tickled to really respond so I just say “just great” as I head like a maniac to the door.

Needless to say, I was on cloud now for a few days after that little encounter. But hey, it was AWESOME. And I’m so hood. Yeeeeeeeah.

So, we flew and we flew and we flew and we flew some mo, but eventually we ended up in Madrid, and it was GREAT!!! We explored the city and ate a lot (including lunch at the museum of ham – complete with huge pig legs hanging on every inch of the walls). The only downfall of Madrid is that for some unknown reason, it is stinking FREEZING! Despite the frigidness, we braved the outdoors and walked all around the city, visited the Prado Museum, and did all kinds of wonderful things. The best was yesterday was the 100^th Anniversary of El Gran Via, a major street in the city. The street was blocked off and completely covered with a massive blue carpet that ran the length of the whole city. It was awesome!!! By the end of the night, you couldn’t move anywhere on the street and it was absolute madness. There was a jazz band, tons of flamenco dancers, salsa dancers, and the night was capped off with a symphony accompanied by some of the most famous classic singers of Spain, including Pastora, a singer that the man in front of us, Mario, was OBSESSED with.

Madrid was great, but I was ready to get to the warmth of Southern Spain… and SEVILLA! We rode on the bus for six hours to get here from Madrid, but it didn’t matter, because the people on this trip are AWESOME and our directors are a thrill a minute. The Lord blessed me so much with incredible community for the summer – so many ballers for Him are with me here in Sevilla! I love each of them so much already and I can’t wait to build even better friendships with them throughout the summer.

Oh, and speaking of Jesus, I had the GREATEST Jesus moment the other day. Whitney and I woke up late Saturday morning and missed the group that was going to the Prado by 5 minutes. Just 5 minutes late, and they were already gone. Booo. We learned quickly that punctuality is key here. Instead of just staying around the hotel and being bummed, we grabbed a map, asked directions, and made our way to the Prado ourselves and even beat the other group! However, when we got there, we still couldn’t find them. We were there for about an hour and a half, and still no group to be found. I was beginning to just give up hope of ever finding them, when I though to pray. How sad that I just then thought to pray to find them, yes, this I know. But I did, and I prayed, “Lord, I pray for Your favor right now to find our group. I know You can do it. Lord, give us Your favor to find our group.” No joke, as soon as I said ‘amen’, I looked up and made eye contact with a girl in our group. Out of the massiveness of the Prado, out of the multiple floors and hundreds of rooms, the thousands of people there, and the hour and a half that we had already been looking, as soon as I prayed and gave it to the Lord, we were delivered. God rocks. And He’s alive and well. And with us – always. How blessed are we????!!!

Currently I am laying in my bed in my quaint little Spanish bedroom stealing WiFi from some unknowing neighbor (and let’s pray that it stays that way). Our house mom is INCREDIBLE. Her name is Lina, and she is SO sweet. She’s in her 60’s I’d guess and is pretty peppy, which we all know I need to have in my life. She has a little doggie that she loves with all of her heart. She made us the most delicious dinner, has the most precious apartment that has flowers on EVERYTHING, and even brought us chocolates a little bit ago as we were laying in bed. God is so good. And so is Lina. And so is Sevilla. But most importantly, GOD is good.

Tomorrow starts our first day of classes – and our first day on Sevilla’s bus system, which should both be pretty darn interesting. But I love God, I love Spain, and I LOVE this trip. A-freaking-men.