Of the park, the sea, classes, my señora and God's love

Greetings from Spain. It's a chilly, gray afternoon, and I'm back at the apartment during siesta. Tonight's plans involve homework and going to a cafetería called Guadalquivir that's up the road from me. I find that even when I have things to do, sometimes it's nice to just get out of the house for a while, and I love all the little cafés.

Let's see, the highlights since I last wrote... two weekends ago I stayed in Sevilla. It was a gorgeous weekend, and for the first time I discovered the beautiful Parque Maria Luisa that is in Sevilla. I spent most of the day that Saturday just soaking up the sun, hanging out with friends... and riding a Ciclobus. In this contraption everyone peddles like on a bike, but you're in the sort of open car/carriage. We decided to rent one for 30 minutes and had a blast going around the park, and being totally dramatic about everything! As the weather becomes nicer I hope to spend many more afternoons reading, writing in my journal, doing homework or hanging out with friends in that park.

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to Marbella, Spain, on the Mediterranean coast with five great girls. One of my friend's parents had a timeshare for Marriott hotels and said we could use it at this five-star resort in Marbella. So we had our lodging taken care of and it was totally free for us; we only had to pay for our transportion and food! We spent the weekend resort just chilling and hanging out, or as we put it, having "an extended period of doing whatever we want." This involved watching TV and movies, going to the pool and sauna, and playing on the beach. It was fairly cold, but that didn't keep us from jumping in the waves of the Mediterranean.

On the academic side of things, classes here are getting more and more difficult. From discussing Romanticism and analyzing the poetry of Bécquer in my Spanish Literature class, to learning about Gothic architecture and all the vocabulary that goes along with that in my Spanish Art History class, to learning about the Spanish reconquest and Medieval society in History class, to practicing many different aspects of the language in my Grammar class, things are getting crazy. The expectations in classes are quite high and it's easy to get overwhelmed at times by the sheer volume of information being presented. I made it through round one of classes and ended up with solid grades on all my tests, so that was a relief, but I also had to spend a lot of time studying. Grammar is definitely the most practical class and the one that helps me the most with actually understanding and being able to use the Spanish language, so that is the one I want to put the most effort into... that's hard sometimes though when I usually have a ton of literature homework every night!

I don't think I've written very much yet about Esperanza, my "señora" with whom I live. She is such a sweet lady and often times she cracks me up. She's just so silly and she keeps dinner conversations lively... she likes to talk a lot and has told us so on multiple occasions. She often sings or dances around the house and talks about actors she thinks are "muy guapo" (she really likes the guy who plays House on the TV show!). I'm thankful to have such a kind and friendly señora.

And now, since I have been reading through Ephesians in both English and Spanish (in my dual-language Bible) I will close with a passage that encourages me and that is one of my favorites. Living in a foreign country where there are so many new and unfamiliar things can be both exhilarating and intimidating, sometimes depending on the mood. It's wonderful to know that it does not matter where I am, God's love is unfathomably deep and that he is always with me. Like the verses say, I want to be filled with the fullness of God, to be salt and light wherever I go.

"Y pido que, arraigados y cimentados en amor, puedan comprender, junto con todos los santos, cuán ancho y largo, alto y profundo es el amor de Cristo; en fin, que conozcan ese amor que sobrepasa nuestro conocimiento, para que sean llenos de la plenitud de Dios." -Efesios 3:17b-19