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 100th 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.
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