Siete

Hey hey hey!

It is a lovely (and quite hot) afternoon here in Alcalá filled with free time, nike shorts, and some good reading. :) Today marked the last day of classes at Alcalingua so I can officially say I am done with school. All that is left is our ceremony tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. I am not quite sure what to expect, but I do know that we will receive a diploma, course grade included, for our one-month session. Knowing that school is over is really strange. In fact, this whole week has been pretty different. I took both of my finals Tuesday, had an oral exam Wednesday, and attended a farewell dinner with Brian for all the one-month study abroad students last night. This week has been full of a lot of lasts, but I feel like I am still in the midst of experiencing my firsts. I guess it has finally hit me that I am leaving this sweet country very soon, four days to be exact. My motivation and determination to "make the most of it" has definitely been amplified post-farwell dinner and I will be as intentional as I can with the remaining time.

As my trip is coming to an end, but is not over yet, I want to share some advice for any travel seeker out there. This is, in a sense, my "nuggets of wisdom" to anyone who wants to travel abroad. I have traveled internationally before, but this is the first time I have gone without parental guidance, support, and company so this "viaje" to España was most definitely a test run for me. I, along with the help of some friends (thanks Maddie and Anna!), have created a little cheat sheet for traveling abroad. It is not specific to studying abroad here in Spain, but I have been advised by my fellow classmates to create one just for that too. I wrote these tips of advice down on college-ruled notebook paper and am simply transferring it to my blog for you to read. It is dated June 9, 2013 so it got its start on the front leg of the trip and has received some add-ons along the way. At minimum, I hope this list gives you a nice little laugh as you think about how these realizations came about. More likely than not, something got added to the list because I forgot to pack it, Maddie and I freaked out about it, or we have recognized the value of some essentials we brought with us. Enjoy!

TRAVELING ABROAD: 

A GUIDE TO PREPARING FOR THE UNKNOWN 

- Bring a watch!!!

-Bring movies...for those homesick kind of days

-Check all your chargers and make sure they fit in your adapter 

(side note: don't freak out whenever you plug something in for the first time)

-Don't bring hairdryers or straighteners, you won't use them 

-Pack granola bars and snacks 

-Make sure you know your credit card's pin #

-Plan travels outside of your respective country BEFORE you leave home 

-Buy the one-month train pass...you will need/use it, trust me! 

-"Travel tissue"--lots of public bathrooms do not have toilet paper

-Water bottle...this is a must-have

-Check the forecast of your destination and research typical climate before you pack your clothes (assumptions are a bad thing! haha)

-Pack comfortable walking shoes 

-Don't try to exchange American money for Euros (or other currencies) in Europe

-Buy a variety of medicine at home because it may not be in your desired destination

-Always pack a rain jacket...unless you travel to the desert 

-Hand sanitizer and chapstick

-Pack a welcome gift if you are staying with a family (something unique to where you live)

-Make sure your checked bag does not exceed 50 pounds 

-For all you ladies, buy a passport case (I recommend Vera Bradley) 

-Pack a book or two 

-Plan to keep a log of all your daily purchases...great self-accountability! 

-Try to journal or keep a blog 

-Contact your cell phone company about international plans and/or settings so you won't rack up a phone bill 

(PS for all you iPhone owners, get the Viber app...free calling/texting!!!)

-Bring your pillow

-Expect to pay a lot of money, but be wise with your purchases...they add up fast! 

-You can never pack enough socks and underwear, promise :) 

-Use your book bag as your carry-on item. It is way more practical than any duffle bag or rolling suitcase (get in that "backpacking" mentality)

I can't post anything on here without at least one picture...you know me better than that :) Here it is!

Group picture from dinner last night. Although we begged him to join the pic, Brian insisted he take it. Thank you Brian for your photography skills and your wonderful leadership this past month! And thank you MSU group for making my time here in Spain so special.

Well y'all (I got to get back into that American spirit here soon), that's all I've got for you today. I am about to go to my second Zumba class experience in a few minutes followed by dinner with a couple of friends. I hope you are having a great Thursday and have exciting plans for the weekend. Expect to hear from me one more time before I hop on my flight Monday morning...I want to get one last blogpost in! Thanks again for reading and I cannot wait to see some of y'all very very soon. 

¡Hasta luego!

Bethany 

Seis

Hi friends. 

It's been far too long since I have written in this thing, my apologies. It feels like I wrote my latest post just the other day, but I blinked and it is already one week later. I'm telling you, time here is crazy! Regardless of my perception of time and reality, let me catch y'all up with what all has happened in the past week. ¡Vámonos!

Last week was a pretty normal one here in Alcalá de Henares. I completed my third week of school, "mucha tarea" included, and just spent quality time with friends and family. Maddie, Anna, our new friend Angela, and I took a girls trip to Madrid Wednesday. We shopped, walked around, ate dinner (and ice cream of course), and ventured into El Corte Inglés for the first time. El Corte Inglés is essentially Spain's version of London's Harrods...it is a huge department store filled to the brim with just about anything you can imagine. There are multiple locations in Madrid alone and the one we went inside has seven floors. It was a little world of its own! The following day Maddie and I went to Zumba class at the gym our Spain family owns. The oldest daughter, Cristina, teaches the class, and Mari, our momma, joined us as well. We danced for an hour to both Spanish and some American music. It was really fun! The best part about it was spending time with part of our new, sweet family. One of my biggest prayers for this experience has been developing relationships with the people around me, my Spain family included. I can honestly say I have had the opportunity to get to know them, spend time with them, and do things with them. That right there is a blessing within itself.

Now on to the weekend...good ole Granada. There is so much that can be said of this southern Spanish city, but I am going to sum up my weekend vacation a little differently this time. Before I proceed with all my bullet points, I want to give a basic background of the weekend. First, the Granada group was Anna, Maddie, Haylee, Frank, Matthew, and me. Second, Granada is an old Spanish city located just an hour north of the Mediterranean coast. Its history includes a huge Arabic influence, most prominently seen by its most famous site, La Alhambra. La Alhambra is the #1 most visited site in not only Granada, but in all of Spain. For more information on La Alhambra, click here. Finally, I kept a "Granada" note on my iPhone throughout the weekend including the big and little things that made the weekend trip our own. I did not write these bullet points in retrospect, but rather as they were happening. I am simply going to copy what I typed up on my phone and share it with y'all...I just thought I'd spice up my writing style a little. Here it goes:

-Train stopped on the way to Atocha...off to a promising start! (Sunday: good thing this was not any foreshadowing for the rest of the trip!)
-Nice people...southern hospitality holds true in Spain too.
-Alhambra journey: tickets were available Thursday, sold out Thursday afternoon, Matthew tries to order them, his order gets cancelled, we are all ticketless, walk around the free parts of La Alhambra Saturday morning, get cheap tickets (yay!), visit Sunday morning. Nice.
-Nice hostel...I feel safe...and there are free towels! Yay. Props to Haylee for booking Pensión Venecia.
**Yes, you are reading this correctly. We did stay in a hostel. You'd think after my Barcelona story that I would never ever again, but low and behold, we booked another one for Granada. Needless to stay, it was perfect. And cheap. Great decision (all credit goes to Haylee...thanks girl!).
-Mississippi State Bulldogs win! Off to the CWS :)
-DELICIOUS ice cream...best yet! Thank you Spain for your devotion to helado.
-Music at lunch...there were lots of good street musicians.
-Lots of English spoken in Granada. Very convenient! Hopefully I have practiced my Spanish "un poco" this weekend.
-Visited La Catedral de Granada
-Listening to music together
-Maddie wanting to be a princess and a mermaid
-According to Frank, it has a "cool vibe". I agree :)
-Struggle up the big hills at La Alhambra
-Long train rides= reading and relaxing

I think it is safe to say that we had a fabulous weekend. No stress, completely comfortable (and safe), and very enjoyable. Two thumbs up, five stars, the whole shebang. If you ever make your way over to Spain, do not miss out on Granada. It is a gem. 

In other news, I went to a Flamenco class at school this evening. Rocio, a staff member at Alcalingua led a one-hour crash course and we all attempted to master the art of Flamenco. I am still trying to get the hand motions down right...I've got a ways to go, haha. Another exciting story from the day: a bird left a present on my foot on the way to Flamenco class. That's right folks, I was blessed with some bird poo on my shoe. I guess there's a first time for a lot of things when you travel to a different country ;)

Back to a more important note, today marks the beginning of my last week here in Spain. This time next week I will be traveling back home to my sweet family. Drake is the best boyfriend ever and is going to pick me up from the airport. It is going to be a great day! I am, however, going to savor these last days in Spain. Time is slipping away and I want to make sure I invest my time wisely. In people, in experiences, in education, in memories. I have a great week ahead lined up with something different every day. I am especially looking forward to Friday. In the morning, we have a "diploma/certificate" ceremony at school, finalizing our four-week course at Alcalingua. That night, Maddie and I are going to see "El Rey León". In English, please? Ok. THE LION KING!!! We are so excited. In lieu of our evening ahead, I am going to post a little pump-up video:  

As usual, I have pictures for your viewing pleasure. And trust me, you are in for a treat. ¡Granada es muy bonita! A lot of them are from the Alhambra, but several others are thrown into the mix. Hope ya like 'em :) 

 Group picture at La Alhambra Saturday (before we got our tickets!)

 Las chicas.

 Anna Banana with the oranges she ordered for lunch.

 Girls at lunch Saturday.

 At the main entrance of La Catedral de Granada. 

 The inside was beautiful. It was a BIG cathedral.

 Favorite part of the cathedral. The ceiling reminds me of Beauty and the Beast.

 Frank. Enough said.

 We found a very cool candy store (my food pic for this post). Yum!

 Alhambra group before our tour began. We were very happy about our Sunday morning!

 We weren't allowed to wear our backpacks on our backs...here is the result.

 Inside Palacio Nazaries.

 I love the architecture in this picture. And our goofy book bags.

 Arabic written on the walls.

 I <3 my friends. 

 Backpack, Bethany, and the city of Granada.

 Group picture with the Sierra Navada mountains behind us. Great view!

 Of all the flower pictures I took Sunday, this one is my favorite. :)

 Generalife gardens at Alhambra.

Sweet picture with Maddie inside the gardens. 

It truly is a joy for me to write about my experiences in Spain. I want to share what I am seeing, learning, doing here with you so you can walk alongside me in this wonderful journey. You are here in spirit friends. The prayers, the emails, the Facebook messages, the texts, the blogpost readings...a piece of you is here in Spain, too. I know I tend to end every post the same, but I really cannot thank you enough. I mean it. Also, as my month is quickly coming to an end, I have realized that I only have a limited time left to post new entries. I am going to try to write two new blog posts this week! I can't make any promises, but I am going to do my best. 

Hakuna matata amigos...

Bethany 

Cinco

Well, it's official. I can now say I have successfully completed my first backpacking experience...kind of. I cannot give myself full credit because I did not rough it up for one month, hike the Swiss Alps, go without a shower for five days, or hitchhike to the next town on my list (so stereotypical of me, lo siento). I DID, however, travel to Barcelona with only one backpack. Nothing else. I had my clothes, small amount of toiletries, a book, a water bottle, and my purse packed inside one  knapsack for the entire weekend. Now I know what most of you are probably thinking and you're right, that's not too outlandish of a thing to do. But in Bethany's world, this past weekend was most definitely "roughing it up". Although I am writing about it in retrospect, I hope I can give you a taste of "mi fin de semana en Barcelona" (my weekend in Barcelona). Here we go.

First and foremost, we arrived in Barcelona around 10:30 p.m, ate dinner around 11 p.m., navigated through the new and unfamiliar metro station all while not exactly knowing where we were going (I will get to our destination later), walked and walked and walked some more (you do a lot of walking in Spain!), and then finally got to where we were going around 2 a.m. Where to? Our humble abode for the weekend...a hostel. I may be acting a tad bit too dramatic, but I feel the over-emphasis is necessary for the means of this blog post...please forgive me :) When we got to the hostel, we were welcomed by bright green and orange walls, some people hanging out outside, and a very eccentric vibe. All 13 of us got situated into our respective places after some confusion arose with the room situation and we were ready to call it a day. Maddie and I ended up sharing a bunk bed the whole weekend, supporting the notion that we can't not be together while in Spain, haha just kidding. After a long night, it was time to get some sleep.

Saturday. A new day filled with new experiences. It was time for Barcelona to redeem itself in the minds of our group. Before I continue, I do have to admit that Barcelona did not do anything. It was us, not her. The series of events on Friday were simply a result of traveling to a big city in a foreign country. 

Sidenote: Natives do not speak Spanish in Barcelona. The primary language in this region is "Catalan". Catalan shares similarities with the Spanish language, but the pronunciation and even the spelling of many words are very different. This made the foreign experience a little more foreign than usual. 

Okay, continuing on with Saturday. We started the day off as a group and took the metro to La Sagrada Familia. I had never heard of this particular attraction before coming to Spain, but I was quickly informed that it is a must see while you are in the country. After seeing both the interior and exterior, I fully agree with the previous statement. La Sagrada Familia is a large Roman Catholic Church in Barcelona designed by world-renown architect Antoni Gaudí. The cathedral's architecture is a mixture of Gothic and Art Nouveau forms. Although Gaudí passed in 1926, his vision has continued to this day. The cathedral is still currently under construction with an estimated completion date between 2026 and 2028. Haylee, Anna, and I waited in line for about an hour together and had the pleasure of touring inside the cathedral for over an hour and a half. We payed a little extra to tour the church's tower which was definitely worth the five euros. It is truly amazing to see the vision, creativity, construction, and product of man's imagination. I mean, the details were impeccable. From the stained glass to stone carvings to images of Jesus, it was beautiful. I especially loved the thought and careful attention given to the Biblical significance behind the masterpiece. It was most definitely worth the time and money and I recommend the visit to anyone.

Our next stop for the day was La Rambla. La Rambla is a one-mile long street on the south side of the city with restaurants, street performers, little shops, a food market, and etc. Before we took a stroll down the Spanish "Rodeo Drive" (Barcelona is a lot like Hollywood and Madrid is like NYC), a few of us girls stopped at Hard Rock Cafe to eat lunch. Marking the halfway point of my study abroad experience this past weekend, I had grown a little weary of my lack of American culture. Let me tell you, Hard Rock did the trick. I ordered a vanilla milkshake along with a hamburger and fries for lunch and it was delicious. Better than that, it was my little taste of home that fueled me up and got me going for the next half of my time in Spain. I have not experienced incredible homesickness by any means, but a little meal to remind me of home was perfect. After lunch, we walked down La Rambla, met up with more of the group, and headed down to the Port Vell. Our time at the port was awesome. The weather was sunny with a high of 80 degrees Fahrenheit (still not super great at reading/calculating Celcius), a little breeze, and no clouds. We sat on the dock, watched fish swim in the Mediterranean water, and just relaxed. As the day progressed and night was approaching, we decided to walk to the beach to actually touch the Mediterranean Sea. The four amigas (Maddie, Anna, Haylee, and I) put our feet in the water and took some pictures for proof...it was too cool. We then made our way back to the hostel for the night and after a few metro line switches, a good bit of walking, misread directions on our map, and a quick taxi ride, we made it back! Day two was a success. 

Sunday was somewhat a repeat of Saturday's activities. Some of us traveled back down to La Rambla and Port Vell for the late morning/early afternoon. We shopped and ate lunch together before we had to make our way back to the train station. We had a very relaxed day and left Barcelona at 6:25 p.m. The train ride was only two and a half hours which gave me time to read (I am reading 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker...thank you Victoria!), look out the window, and just meditate in thought and prayer. I really enjoy the train rides. Once we made it back to Madrid, we all commented to one another that we felt like we were home. It was a crazy realization. After only two weeks in this country, we have already developed a sense of home in Madrid and Alcalá. Continuing that thought, we took a train from the Atocha station back to Alcalá, ate dinner, and went home. Our weekend was complete. 

In conclusion, my weekend in Barcelona was an adventure and a very good one at that. Despite the hiccups experienced on the front end of the trip, I enjoyed myself along with the various attractions I had the chance to see while I was there. Barcelona has a lot to offer and I know that if I had the time, I would have grown to enjoy it even more. The weather was very nice, the architecture was pretty, and there was an endless supply shops and restaurants. The weekend also made for a hilarious memory and a life lesson in regards to traveling. All of this (traveling abroad without parents) is new to me and calls for a continuous learning experience. I have learned some of the do's and dont's of traveling, as well as the completely unavoidable scenarios that just make you laugh and thankful for life at the end of the day. In fact, Maddie and I are still joking about some of the occurrences from the weekend. It was the most eventful and, in some ways, the most memorable trip thus far. 

Like all of my other posts, I am going to close this one out with lots of pictures. May the pictures speak 

for themselves...along with my captions ;) Disfruta (enjoy)!

 Outside of La Sagrada Familia. It was massive and so fascinating!  

 Some statues at the entrance of the cathedral. 

 The center of the altar inside La Sagrada Familia. 

 Beautiful architecture and interior. We were in awe.

 One of the many stained glass windows.

 A little peek of the city from the tower! 

 Anna inside the tower. We were having a little too much fun ;)

 Post-Sagrada Familia experience. 

 At Hard Rock Cafe with my vanilla milkshake...I am one happy girl right here.

 My American treat for the trip. Gracias Hard Rock.

 The girls at lunch.

 Maddie posing with her lion. She is too cute.

 Roomies at Port Vell.

 Some boats at the port.

 Sweet friends hanging out on the dock.

 Fish 'n feet.

 The pretty Mediterranean Sea.

 We put our feet in the Mediterranean. I can check that one off my list!

 My artsy beach pic.

 Haylee, Maddie, and me.

 Here is a picture of patatas bravas (one of my favorite Spanish dishes).

Haylee, me, Frank, and Maddie on La Rambla Sunday.

Well there it is: my Barcelona experience. I hope you enjoyed reading the post and looking at all the pictures! More importantly, I hope you got a good laugh from the craziness of the trip :) Next stop in my Spain journey: Madrid round three. Several of us are heading there tomorrow afternoon after school to enjoy some shopping, browsing, dining, and etc. A smaller group is also going to Granada this weekend and I am really looking forward to that trip. I have heard excellent things about this old, southern Spanish town, especially in regards to the Alhambra. I will most certainly keep y'all posted! And I will try to update my blog a bit more frequently as well...I only have a little less than two weeks left here in Spain, so crazy! Time really does fly. 

Alright friends, I am calling it a night. Thank you for your consistent investment in my life, it is appreciated more than you know. Adios amigos.  

And that's a wrap. 

Bethany  

Cuatro

Pan. Sol. Tren. Viajes. Helado. Tarea. Amigos. Lengua. Vida.

The list goes on and on. These are just a handful of words to describe my Spain experience this week. I want to break down each word and provide an explanation as to why I specifically picked each one. I thought I'd take a creative approach to this blog entry...we'll see what I come up with next ;) Here we go:

• Pan= bread. Number food source right here. I seriously eat bread every meal, every day. The nutritional value is debatable, but the taste is not. It's good. And I like to eat it. Confession: Maddie and I ate an entire loaf of bread today at lunch. That will probably happen again. 
• Sol= sun. The sun has been alive and active this week. There are clouds in the sky, but they have definitely given the sun the spotlight. It has been a sweaty, but very beautiful week. 
• Tren= train. If we are not walking, we are riding a train of some sort. We take the train to go to Madrid at least once a week, as well as day trips and weekend excursions. Even though the whole process takes some time, I really enjoy using this form of transportation. 
• Viajes= trips. I have expanded my Spain city list even more since my last blog post. The MSU group took a day trip to Segovia yesterday and a smaller group of us went to Madrid this afternoon. We also have another trip lined up this weekend. Where to? Barcelona! I am very very excited. And of course, I plan to write a follow-up blog post about my weekend once we return...I won't leave y'all hanging :) 
• Helado= icecream. The perfect "postre" (dessert) for any day of the week. Maddie, Anna, and I found a good place to get icecream tonight. I ordered my safety flavor, "menta", and it was muy delicioso! 
• Tarea= homework. Yes, I have homework here. Crazy, right?! Well, maybe not so insane. Believe it or not, I am still the same Bethany here in Spain as I am back in the States. I like doing my homework! And it really does help me learn Spanish. All the assignments are both reasonable and beneficial, and my teachers do a great job of incorporating each assignment into our class time. I am and will continue to be thankful for all of it in the long run. 
• Amigos= friends. It has been such a blessing to form so many friendships here. I am learning new things about and growing closer to the people in my study abroad group each day. It has been really neat watching other friendships unfold at school with various classmates as well. 
• Lengua= language. Angela, a Chinese girl in my class, comes to mind when I think about this topic. I don't know when it started, but we have gradually become friends over the past two weeks. We do not communicate all too much, but we do use the limited Spanish we know to talk to one another. She is so sweet and always asks me questions. I try to respond as best I can and then proceed to ask her a question in return. It has been a really neat experience trying to communicate with someone who speaks a different language than me through a secondary language like Spanish. Language really is beautiful.
• Vida= life. Regardless of where I am, I have the ability to enjoy life and life to the fullest. The Lord truly has shown me that. He has also opened my eyes to life beyond my own "bubble". It is easy to see life through a very narrow lens, but I believe this cultural exposure and unique experience has allowed me to see the world beyond my own comfort zone and understanding. Thank you Lord for life. 

Okay, now I'm going to give a quick recap of our day trip to Segovia. Let me tell you, it was an ADVENTURE. We left for the train station right after school and made our way to Segovia one train at a time. We arrived around 4:00 p.m., give or take, and headed into town. We had three main points of interest on our itinerary: los acueductos (aqueducts), La Catedral (Cathedral), y La Alcázar (Castle). We visited each one and toured the inside of the Cathedral and the Castle. They were awesome! It was incredible to think that men built these historical buildings and handcrafted every little detail inside of them. Truly amazing. After we checked those items off our list, we went to dinner together as a group. We ate at a really good restaurant right by the Cathedral, but time seemed to get the best of us...we were rushing out the door by the time the check came. We left the restaurant around 9:25 p.m. and our train left the station at 9:37 p.m. Can you guess what happened? Yep, you're right, we missed our train! After a frantic race to the station, we ended up taking an hour-long taxi ride back to Madrid. As bad as that may sound, it actually turned out to be a crazy, enjoyable, and most certainly memorable experience. We got to drive through the countryside and watch the sunset while listening to Spanish pop music on the radio and having good conversation in the car. It was quite an evening :) 

And for the finale...more pictures! Segovia really was awesome and I hope these pictures do it justice. Enjoy!

 Starting the afternoon off right with a group picture in front of the aqueducts.

 Cool view of the aqueducts. 

 Love these amigas :) 

 La Catedral de Segovia.

 Inside shot of the Cathedral. 

 Me and Anna with a view of Segovia in the background.

 La Alcázar de Segovia. 

 Maddie and me at the top of the Castle's tower! 

 Our favorite photographer, Frank! 

 The view doesn't get much better than this.

 Solo pic in front of the Castle.

 Awesome picture of William. Check out those shades.

El grupo. 

I am off to bed now and then off to school in several short hours. We are headed to Barcelona tomorrow evening all will be there majority of the weekend. I am excited to see what adventures lie ahead and look forward to sharing them with you. Have a wonderful rest of the week and an even greater weekend! 

Adios, 

Bethany