He goes on ahead of us...

He goes on ahead of us…

It seems unbelievable that just a few weeks ago I was home/visiting Houghton and struggling with saying goodbyes and wondering what would follow leaving everything familiar and comfortable behind. And while those goodbyes were extremely difficult, it has been so clear to me that the Lord goes on ahead of us—Psalm 23. “It is difficult for us to go, but equally difficult for Him to cause us pain. Yet it must be done. It would not be in our best interest to always remain in one happy and comfortable location. Therefore He moves us forward.” He moves us forward—and it has been into a whirlwind of new experiences, culture, people, foods, places…everything, ever since “cruce el charco” (a Spanish phrase for going to America: “I crossed the puddle”).

As I described in my first entry, I didn’t know very much about what to expect in Spain. I was so torn about leaving Houghton, missing track season, being gone for such a long time…and all of this sacrifice for what? Well, as I should have expected, God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.” So, while leaving everyone wasn’t easy—and I do miss you all!—I have been delighted by the ease of the beginning of my transition. I am so blessed to be here, and am so thankful for a smooth and fun-filled first two weeks. But I need to remind myself that I will actually be here for 4 months. I am trying to find balance—between all the goals, expectations and pressures I have been putting on myself. Obviously, my greatest goal is to improve my fluency en español while I’m here, and I have been getting to practice a lot with all of my classes in Spanish and the experience of living with a host family, but English easily finds its way into my days. I don’t feel any drastic improvements yet, but I don’t think this experience will necessarily be one of instant gratification—I have however, been feeling much more confident in my speaking, and at least am getting over my nerves/fears of talking to Spaniards, but I need to be realistic that it will take time and I most likely will not be fluent in only 4 months. I also have made some really good (American) friends already, and I really like spending time with them—which has made me a little less motivated to go out seeking Spanish friends (which I really want too). And, while, I am also here for academics, I want to experience the culture and see all that Sevilla and España have to offer! We took a little field trip to Córdoba—a small city about 2 hours away from Sevilla and visited la Mezquita, which is a Mosque/Cathedral built between the 8th-10th centuries, that we had been studying in my art history class. It’s quite the combination of incredible Muslim and Christian architecture (the Cathedral was built inside part of the Mosque). It’s so cool to be able to go out and literally walk through and see what you’ve been studying—everything is so applicable. I study grammar and go home and speak with my host family, and I finally am able to experience all of the foods and culture I’ve learned about for so long. I’m trying to be content with the present, but I keep wondering about what’s to come—this adventure has only just begun!

A few pictures from La Mezquita in Cordoba

One week! I can't believe the first week has already gone by! After our 2 hour walking tour Saturday we had a little competitive scavenger hunt. We were given a list of 20 things to find and take pictures of around Sevilla. It was super fun-my group (including my new friends Kat, Emily, Daniel, Andy, and Elizabeth) took a bus to church first-which was an interesting experience since I don't know how to use a bus in the US...we eventually got to the church about half an hour late and realized when we got there that the door entered into the very front of the sanctuary next to the stage and all the chairs of the congregation faced it-hola! haha. The person speaking kind of just stopped in the middle of what he was saying and asked if we spoke Spanish and where we were from and then afterwards the pastor and some other members of the congregation came and talked to us. And then they started helping us find places on our map for our scavenger hunt! So we set off to find our first location-and we walked and walked and walked all over for the whole day finding places (and some that weren't on the list too!). My feet have never been so sore...

I have almost finished my first week of classes here-I'm really hoping that I'm not signed up for too many, but we'll see how it goes. I am taking to literature classes (one is Don Quijote, and the other is Hispanic-American lit) and a grammar class, and art history. The school also offers a class called Accion Solidaria-which is a volunteer/service kind of class, so I'm going to be working with some other Spaniards and people from the program with homeless people (or gente sin hogar).

Here's some pictures from the scavenger hunt:

Trying to figure out how to take the bus to get to church.

Getting help and directions from our amigos nuevos.

The whole team in La Plaza de Espana.

We've also found a couple playgrounds in some of the parks, and the play equipment is different! We're not quite sure how to use it all, so we've been trying to observe Spanish children at play. After watching a boy on this spinning thing, we figured out how to use it:

The first picture is the awesome ceiling inside the Madrid airport.

The rest are some highlights from my walking tour in Sevilla. We had a lot of orientation this morning-the highlight being a little placement test. Then my roommate and I went home for lunch and siesta and then met back at the school at 6pm for the tours by some of the people working with our program. The city is so beautiful-and the buildings are incredible! And there are so many people out walking everywhere! The main form of transportation is de pie! The parking is crazy! People really use their bumpers when they squeeze in and out of the spots on the streets.

So far so good-I'm communicating pretty well with my Senora so far-I can't understand everything she says, but I figure it out. And the director and student life coordinator are pretty cool, and the professors (who came to introduce themselves this morning) all seem like they'll be really good. I schedule my classes tomorrow-and then start on Monday, guess I'll have to get back into school mode soon...

he llegado

Well, after an entire day of travelling, I have arrived in Seville, Spain! I left my house on Januray 20th at 7:30am and arrived in Sevilla on January 21st around 12pm (local time). It was a lot of time sitting-on planes, in airports, and I'm glad to be done with travelling for a little while...

I really like my host family-they're actually the one that I requested! And everyone I've met so far on the program is super nice and outgoing-I've already been trying to figure out who they remind me of from back home...it's been fun meeting new people again, it's like I'm a freshmen all over!

Well, plenty of adjustment to jetlag and orientation ahead :)

Lord, I don't know where all this is going...

Lord, I don’t know where all this is going…

In exactly one week, almost to the hour, I’ll be on a plane to Spain (well, actually to Chicago, then Madrid, and finally to my destination for the next four months: Seville). I’ve wanted to study abroad for so long, and I knew I would—especially since a semester abroad is required for my Spanish major, but it never seemed like it would actually be happening-and certainly not so soon.

I was not planning on studying abroad this spring semester. Yet, while the plan was slowly unfolding and becoming clearer to me, I’ve been able to look back on how God has been working everything out for me—long before these recent details. I applied last year to be an RA-and I could have never guessed last spring how happy I’d be that I did not receive the position, because that “no” now allows me to be able to have the freedom to go this semester. Even for most of this past fall semester I had no idea that I was going to Spain until I actually decided to be a little bit responsible and talk to my advisors about scheduling, and found out junior year is definitely not the year to go abroad as an education major. So that complicated things for a short while—until the suggestion was made by Karen in off-campus programs that it wasn’t too late to apply for programs next semester-but actually it technically was. I thought, this is absolutely crazy, and then I applied late to Trinity Christian College’s Semester in Spain program after some consultation with my parents.

Needless to say, I was accepted, and that brings me almost to my present time of preparing to depart. So, the beginning of November, I knew I was going—but that was all I knew. I didn’t know anything about my classes, the other students going with the program, and my host family…the minor details…but this didn’t really bother me, at least not nearly as much as I’d expect it to. While my roommate Kat—who will be in Tanzania, Africa for the semester—had pretty much the exact opposite; she’s known that she’s going to Tanzania since last spring, knows practically everyone going with her-including the profs, since they’re almost all from Houghton, and was able to have fun meetings with the group and talk about all the details-which was slightly beneficial to her, since Kat isn’t too detail oriented and definitely doesn’t plan too far in advance (NOT). But despite the large difference in the amount of knowledge each of us had about our upcoming semesters, it was an immeasurable blessing to be rooming with her (another one of those subtle details God surely had in mind long before I could imagine what would come of it). We were able to share in our preparations to leave Houghton, and everything else behind as the close of the semester drew nearer—and for that, Kat, I am inexpressibly grateful.

So, one week. I do now know my roommate, and the name and address of my host mother, otherwise, it’s all still a mystery. I don’t know what to expect for what lies ahead for the next four months, but I have such peace. And I trust in knowing that He has it all planned, and “is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.”

Lord, I don’t know where all this is going, or how it all works out. Lead me to peace that is past understanding, a peace beyond all doubt.
(the Newsboys must have a song to fit any and all circumstances haha).