Okay, so sorry for not blogging for a little while. This week (or however long it has been since I blogged last) has been pretty normal. I have class 4 days a week. My classes are just that...classes. Yes, I like some of them, and yes, I dislike some of them. I do know though, that I am learning a whole lot through them. I have 3 classes in English and 1 class in Spanish. My class in Spanish is by far my hardest and most demanding class. We have quite a bit of homework every day for that class. My Contemporary Spain class is literally the easiest class I've ever had in my life. We don't do anything. We sit and "research" for 2 hours when in reality, in order to complete our projects, we need about 30 minutes total. However, the teacher in there is wonderful. She is a Spaniard, yet studied in Scotland to get her Master's degree. Because she lived in Scotland, she learned English through a Scottish accent which, when coupled with the Spanish accent, creates a combination that is absolutely endearing. She's actually only our teacher for the first half of the semester and we have another teacher, whom we have already met as well, coming in to teach the second half. Which, as crazy as it is for me to understand, we're almost midway through the semester. WHAT?!? Anyway, so that's 2 classes. My other two are my more "artsy" and "practice-y" classes: Photography and Flamenco. Flamenco is 4 hours long on Mondays and is divided into two parts, academics and dancing. The academic part is INCREDIBLY boring while the dancing part is actually quite entertaining. I'm not as bad as I thought I would be, but let's just say I won't be dancing Flamenco professionally in my future. My teacher is an American so that makes things much easier to understand when she speaks English. Now, my next class is Photography. While only two hours in all, it's still boring...sometimes. The academics are bad. Why? Because my teacher speaks VERY broken English and I can honestly understand him better in Spanish. Now, he's a super nice guy and quite helpful, but he is just hard to understand when it comes to what exactly he wants to do. I can already tell that I'm going to be learning a lot about photography through this class, though. My camera is perfect for it! Well, those are my classes.
Now for the REALLY exciting part....wait for it...here we go...I GO TO ITALY IN 2 AND 1/2 DAYS. I leave for Milan at 9:40 on Thursday morning. As many of you know, I've always wanted to go to Italy, and now I finally am! I'm going to go stay with ole Claudia (who will probably read this blog) and then I'm also meeting one of my friends from Knoxville, Will, in Rome. I go into Rome the night of the 28th (Thursday) also known as THE DAY THE POPE RESIGNS. I have said this all before, but it's just really really exciting to me. Anyway, that's all for today. Get ready for lots in the coming month or so because I have a whole lot of traveling coming up so I'll have a lot to say. Hasta (ta) luego, mis amigos!
Monday, February 25, 2013
Thursday, February 14, 2013
LADKJFSOAIUEWRBNLKAJDSF
This has been my mind lately. Hard to make sense of all the thoughts racing through my head. I can't make real words so I choose to make fake ones. Llakjdsfoiauasdriojgnh, I love Spain. So, I last blogged
about my trips to Malaga and Italica. I haven’t been anywhere different since
then (except for this beautiful city I live in). I can’t tell you guys enough.
I love it. LAKSJDFLKAJSOGHAEWORIUJ! Something about doing something I’ve never
done has flipped some sort of adventurous switch I have in my brain which I
never even knew existed. I can’t get enough. I can’t see enough in this city. I
can’t see enough in Europe. This is why I’ve booked two huge trips today. The
first one I booked is to Morocco for the 29th-31st of
March with my friend Becky. The trip will include 3 cities in Northern Morocco
and will include camel rides on the beach. WHAT?! Who does that? Camels? In
Africa? On the beach? Alakjsdfoiurlakjsdfpoiue. That will be the first time I’ll
set foot on the continent of Africa. Llakdsjfoaiewurh. Life is good. The next
trip I schedule is the big one. From April 13-20, I will travel to 3 other countries:
Malta, Sweden, and Poland. The reason to go to Poland is to go to Auschwitz.
Yes, the Auschwitz. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for so long. I don’t think
it will be fun nor entertaining, yet I believe it will be worthwhile. It’s
almost as if to pay respects to the fallen is the reason I want to go there. I’m
not really sure. But, I’m going to Poland. Alakjdsfoiuaeworh. Stockholm, Sweden
before that. I’ve never really considered going to Sweden until we discovered
the flights were cheap. So, we did it. Llaskjdflaewr. Sorry I’m doing this
backwards, but I am most excited about Poland, so that’s why I went backwards.
The first place we go is to Malta. Malta is an island country south of Italy.
ENGLISH SPEAKING. Hallelujah. It’s got beaches for miles. Yes, please.
Ladflkajewoiur. 9Q83RHJGABNSLDFJ09328U.
So let me outline the next few weekends I have coming up in
my remaining 3 months. February 28th-March 4th, Rome.
March 8-10, Brian, Rita, Clint, and Brianna come visit. March 15-17, Lisbon,
Portugal. March 29-31, Morocco. April 13-16, Malta. April 16-18, Sweden. April
18-20, Poland. ADSKLFJAOSIEURJUNB. On the alternate weekends, I just want to
find cool little unknown things in Sevilla, because as you now know, I love to
do. This place continues to amaze me. I’m just in awe of the history of this
place and the life lessons it’s already taught me. I can’t wait to be in Italy
in two weeks as the Pope is resigning. It’s going to be crazy and I will be in
the middle of it. LKJAFOEUJOIAEJIOGJU. Let’s do some traveling, everyone. Oh
yeah, and class. ADJOFIUOIRHTOGIAJDSNRKUJIOGHANSIORLUOIUGNOIAKJ!!!!!!!
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Surreal
First, this is going to be a long post. Second, if you want to send me letters, packages, etc. here is the address. Customs and things like that is really weird so I'm not sure what you can send. I'd really appreciate some letters if you would like, but just stay as simple as possible because I don't want to have any complications with customs:
This is the address of the office, not my personal address. I'll get it eventually. I really don't know how long it takes.
Also, if you would like to see any pictures from anything I talk about, feel free to add me on Facebook. There will be plenty there.
Okay, so I posted about Madrid. I posted about Toledo. I posted my initial post about Sevilla. Since then, I've been to Malaga and Italica. Okay, Malaga is a city, also in southern Spain, but on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a really nice city. I really enjoyed it there. They have a cathedral (just as every Spanish city does) that is absolutely gorgeous. They called it the "one armed lady" because one of the two towers isn't finished. Why? Because they built this cathedral in 1776. They ran out of money building it. Why? Because they gave the money to the STATES! They supported us in a revolution against the British. Soooo, they couldn't complete the second tower. We actually did return the money far into the future from that point, but they put it to use for streets connecting Málaga to surrounding cities. Pretty cool, I thought. Once I got into the cathedral, I was absolutely speechless. Surreal. The details in these European cathedrals is absolutely stunning. I don't have words to describe to you how beautifully the stained glass windows beam onto the baroque styled golden arches with the combination of the Jesus statues everywhere. It was a religious experience for me. I could have stood there for hours. But anyway, after touring the cathedral, we left and had free time. My free time was spent where else but the beach. I stood, for the second time in my life, in the Mediterranean Sea. It's pretty astonishing. The beaches are just...prettier. The town that juts out right onto the beach is something to behold. We waded, took pictures, and then ate the traditional seafood that comes from the Mediterranean while sitting on the beach overlooking the ocean. It was surreal. Some of the people I ate with had some...let's just say, weird things. I couldn't try it. I wanted to at first, but when I see a fish's eye staring at me, no. Just no. Okay, so then we left Málaga and went home. On the way home, my friend Tara and I had a conversation about everything that life has to offer. We are at such an interesting age where we are really learning about ourselves and the world around it. It's so interesting to hear another person's view of reality, another person's interpretation of the world. We got back, and basically went to bed because Julia, Tara, Becky, and I were arising early to go to Italica!
So, after much confusion over where the bus is, how to pay for the bus, and where exactly the bus was taking us, we got on a bus to Italica. It's only about a 20 minute bus drive. So you know how, in the last blog, I said it was about the little things in Spain that I love? Well, here's one for you. We're standing there, talking in English, as typical Americans do and a man comes up to us and says "Ah! English!" He is an elderly gentlemen, he and his wife, that are from Australia but just recently moved to England. They were staying in Seville for a week. It's not everyday that I meet someone from Australia, England, or really just an English speaker. So I basically spoke with him about travel the entire way to Italica. He and his wife moved to England to travel more. You heard me. They retired in Australia and moved to England because it was more central. That's pretty dadgum (southern raised word) cool. They had been to the States many times and he was shocked that so many Americans hadn't traveled within the country. Then he mentioned "I guess since you all only get a 2 week holiday, you can't do much traveling." and Tara said "Yeah, we just sleep on our days off." This made me think. Do we Americans value our time off? Do we take advantage of it? Just a thought. So we finally get to Italica after riding the bus through Santiponce. By the way, this entire Italica trip cost me 3 Euros. That's all. We paid for the bus. That's the entire expenses. We got to the gate and the super nice man asked us where we were from and we said the United States and he said "it's on the house" and let us in. Still not really sure about that one. Well, we got into Italica...and I was left speechless yet again. Surreal. We walked all over that hill side that city used to be on. Italica was used for 500 years, historians think, as a Roman city. It began in 206 b.c. Meaning, I touched things from before Jesus Christ had even come to the earth. Surreal. It makes one feel so small to stand beside something so unreal. Their ingenuity, intelligence, and inventions made us the population we are today, and to see how they lived their lives was...surreal. Being that we didn't have a tour guide, we were able to speak and create our own theories about the things we were seeing. I, the Political Science major, Becky, the legal minded student, and Tara and Julia, both with a psychology background were all able to bring our own areas of expertise to the table to almost rewrite the story of the Romans. It was something like I'd never seen before. Surreal. We walked around for hours, learning about Romans, learning about Americans, learning about each other, and learning about ourselves. It was wonderful. We then left, finally, and went back to Sevilla and had the most American meal I've had since I've been gone - a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Budweiser. It was wonderful, once again. So, that was Italica. Surreal.
Fast forward to Sunday, (Malaga was on Friday and Italica was on Saturday). I explored with my friend Susana around Santa Cruz and El Centro and other places. But that wasn't the coolest part about Sunday, today. The coolest part was after we ate dinner at the table, as we always do, our host mom walks into our room with a cell phone to her hear and a twinkle in her eye. She says "habla con el" (talk to him), and hands me the phone. I begin to speak in Spanish to this person and then I realize I detect an American Spanish accent. It's one of the two guys she had last semester. I won't say his name, but she says it all the time. She loves to talk about her former students. She was so excited to tell us about him and all the rest of them. But for her to be excited for us to talk to him was so endearing. We looked up on the internet while she was on the phone and she said "OY! Muy guapo!" which means "AH! Very handsome!" Still, not the coolest part. As she's winding down the conversation, she begins to choke up. At the end she said "estás feliz, no?" which means "you're happy, right?" Then she says "No, escuche me. Estás feliz...con tu vida ahora, no?" (no, listen to me, you're happy...with your life now, right?" What she was really asking was if he was truly happy. Like, not just happy but content and satisfied and loving life. She cares so much about him. She finished the conversation by saying "yo te quiero. Yo te quiero mucho" which means "I love you. I love you very much". She hung the phone up and began to wipe the tears away. She couldn't stop talking about him. She cares so much. It made me feel so blessed to have Isabel as my host mother. I know she cares about me. I know that in just the week and a half I've been in Sevilla, I've made a lifelong friend. This is what this is all about. This is what is really surreal. The little things, once again. Seeing how much she cared for someone she's only known since August/September has changed me. I don't know how, but it did. This is what I'm here for. Surreal.
Nicholas Tanner Beck
ISA Sevilla
C/ San Isidoro 30
41004 Sevilla, Spain
This is the address of the office, not my personal address. I'll get it eventually. I really don't know how long it takes.
Also, if you would like to see any pictures from anything I talk about, feel free to add me on Facebook. There will be plenty there.
Okay, so I posted about Madrid. I posted about Toledo. I posted my initial post about Sevilla. Since then, I've been to Malaga and Italica. Okay, Malaga is a city, also in southern Spain, but on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It's a really nice city. I really enjoyed it there. They have a cathedral (just as every Spanish city does) that is absolutely gorgeous. They called it the "one armed lady" because one of the two towers isn't finished. Why? Because they built this cathedral in 1776. They ran out of money building it. Why? Because they gave the money to the STATES! They supported us in a revolution against the British. Soooo, they couldn't complete the second tower. We actually did return the money far into the future from that point, but they put it to use for streets connecting Málaga to surrounding cities. Pretty cool, I thought. Once I got into the cathedral, I was absolutely speechless. Surreal. The details in these European cathedrals is absolutely stunning. I don't have words to describe to you how beautifully the stained glass windows beam onto the baroque styled golden arches with the combination of the Jesus statues everywhere. It was a religious experience for me. I could have stood there for hours. But anyway, after touring the cathedral, we left and had free time. My free time was spent where else but the beach. I stood, for the second time in my life, in the Mediterranean Sea. It's pretty astonishing. The beaches are just...prettier. The town that juts out right onto the beach is something to behold. We waded, took pictures, and then ate the traditional seafood that comes from the Mediterranean while sitting on the beach overlooking the ocean. It was surreal. Some of the people I ate with had some...let's just say, weird things. I couldn't try it. I wanted to at first, but when I see a fish's eye staring at me, no. Just no. Okay, so then we left Málaga and went home. On the way home, my friend Tara and I had a conversation about everything that life has to offer. We are at such an interesting age where we are really learning about ourselves and the world around it. It's so interesting to hear another person's view of reality, another person's interpretation of the world. We got back, and basically went to bed because Julia, Tara, Becky, and I were arising early to go to Italica!
So, after much confusion over where the bus is, how to pay for the bus, and where exactly the bus was taking us, we got on a bus to Italica. It's only about a 20 minute bus drive. So you know how, in the last blog, I said it was about the little things in Spain that I love? Well, here's one for you. We're standing there, talking in English, as typical Americans do and a man comes up to us and says "Ah! English!" He is an elderly gentlemen, he and his wife, that are from Australia but just recently moved to England. They were staying in Seville for a week. It's not everyday that I meet someone from Australia, England, or really just an English speaker. So I basically spoke with him about travel the entire way to Italica. He and his wife moved to England to travel more. You heard me. They retired in Australia and moved to England because it was more central. That's pretty dadgum (southern raised word) cool. They had been to the States many times and he was shocked that so many Americans hadn't traveled within the country. Then he mentioned "I guess since you all only get a 2 week holiday, you can't do much traveling." and Tara said "Yeah, we just sleep on our days off." This made me think. Do we Americans value our time off? Do we take advantage of it? Just a thought. So we finally get to Italica after riding the bus through Santiponce. By the way, this entire Italica trip cost me 3 Euros. That's all. We paid for the bus. That's the entire expenses. We got to the gate and the super nice man asked us where we were from and we said the United States and he said "it's on the house" and let us in. Still not really sure about that one. Well, we got into Italica...and I was left speechless yet again. Surreal. We walked all over that hill side that city used to be on. Italica was used for 500 years, historians think, as a Roman city. It began in 206 b.c. Meaning, I touched things from before Jesus Christ had even come to the earth. Surreal. It makes one feel so small to stand beside something so unreal. Their ingenuity, intelligence, and inventions made us the population we are today, and to see how they lived their lives was...surreal. Being that we didn't have a tour guide, we were able to speak and create our own theories about the things we were seeing. I, the Political Science major, Becky, the legal minded student, and Tara and Julia, both with a psychology background were all able to bring our own areas of expertise to the table to almost rewrite the story of the Romans. It was something like I'd never seen before. Surreal. We walked around for hours, learning about Romans, learning about Americans, learning about each other, and learning about ourselves. It was wonderful. We then left, finally, and went back to Sevilla and had the most American meal I've had since I've been gone - a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a Budweiser. It was wonderful, once again. So, that was Italica. Surreal.
Fast forward to Sunday, (Malaga was on Friday and Italica was on Saturday). I explored with my friend Susana around Santa Cruz and El Centro and other places. But that wasn't the coolest part about Sunday, today. The coolest part was after we ate dinner at the table, as we always do, our host mom walks into our room with a cell phone to her hear and a twinkle in her eye. She says "habla con el" (talk to him), and hands me the phone. I begin to speak in Spanish to this person and then I realize I detect an American Spanish accent. It's one of the two guys she had last semester. I won't say his name, but she says it all the time. She loves to talk about her former students. She was so excited to tell us about him and all the rest of them. But for her to be excited for us to talk to him was so endearing. We looked up on the internet while she was on the phone and she said "OY! Muy guapo!" which means "AH! Very handsome!" Still, not the coolest part. As she's winding down the conversation, she begins to choke up. At the end she said "estás feliz, no?" which means "you're happy, right?" Then she says "No, escuche me. Estás feliz...con tu vida ahora, no?" (no, listen to me, you're happy...with your life now, right?" What she was really asking was if he was truly happy. Like, not just happy but content and satisfied and loving life. She cares so much about him. She finished the conversation by saying "yo te quiero. Yo te quiero mucho" which means "I love you. I love you very much". She hung the phone up and began to wipe the tears away. She couldn't stop talking about him. She cares so much. It made me feel so blessed to have Isabel as my host mother. I know she cares about me. I know that in just the week and a half I've been in Sevilla, I've made a lifelong friend. This is what this is all about. This is what is really surreal. The little things, once again. Seeing how much she cared for someone she's only known since August/September has changed me. I don't know how, but it did. This is what I'm here for. Surreal.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Tahnee
I'm going to post a list of quite a few things I've learned so far here in this Southern Spanish city. Here you go.
- · PDA is MUCH more commonplace and accepted than in the states
- · Asians speaking Spanish...it just doesn’t make sense in my head
- · No one drives big cars. I’ve seen maybe 2 trucks.
- · They have an obsession with American music from like 6 months to a year ago
- · If you don’t have a dog sitting with you at the restaurant outside, you’re not cool
- · Wine, beer, alcohol in general is EVERYWHERE. For lunch and for dinner.
- · Kids speaking Spanish is also very hard for me to get used to
- · English is spoken here about as much as Spanish is spoken in Tennessee. Nada.
- · Their Coca Cola is different
- · I miss sweet tea more than I thought I would
- · There’s an overall greater appreciation for history and the past in Europe
- · Speaking of history, everything in this city is something historical
- · Getting lost is by far the best thing to do here
- · Taxis are nicer...like, relatively new model cars
- · El Corte Ingles, which is like Macy’s, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy had a baby that only speaks Spanish, is one of the best places on earth
- · When they go on strike, they mean it. Garbage is everywhere.
- · Coffee is a little baby cup
- · Customer service (rapid customer service, rather) isn’t a thing
- · Tip? No. It’s included. Don’t tip any more.
- · Wine is often cheaper than getting water. Like I said, alcohol is king.
- · Speaking of king, some scandal is going on with the Princess of Spain. They’re just as dramatic as the British.
- · WiFi is like crack. If you want your restaurant to succeed, have Wifi.
- · Sangria is actually not common in Sevilla. All Tinto Verano. Which is a lot like sangria, just carbonated.
- · Their 2-liters are weird.
- · They sell water in 1.5L containers like crazy.
- · Forget the accent you ever learned and all the Spanish you’ve ever done. You’re about to not understand a dang thing.
- · They don’t smile. In America, we smile at strangers. Here? No. Not that they’re being mean or cold, they just don’t. They are generally very friendly though.
- · Americans are EXTREMELY easy to pick out on the street.
- · You must wear shoes in the house. They think you’ll catch death if you don’t. I’m not even making this up.
- · No ice. Room temperature everything.
- · No dryers. My clothes are hanging on the line as we speak.
- · Dishwashers are a thing but they don’t like to use the electricity to use them.
- · If it can be eaten, it can be eaten “con pan”. With bread. They eat SOOOO much bread. With everything.
- · Fashion is number 1. Everyone, and I mean everyone, dresses well here. The homeless people dress better than I do. Quite frankly, though, I don’t care.
- · Everyone wears either cologne or perfume. You walk down the street and it hits you. It’s quite good right now since the garbage is smelling up the whole city.
- · Everything is such a communal activity. They all do the same thing just out in the streets.
- · The last fact is...you should come here.
Sincerely,
Tahnee
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Amazing.
Forgive me in advance for the disorganization of this blog post and grammar mistakes because it's pretty much like I'm just vomiting onto paper. I have a huge amount to tell everyone.
Okay guys, I'm all settled in. This place is...amazing. I don't have words for how it feels to be here. I've been waiting on it for so long and now I'm here! I'm in my room! I'm typing this while everyone else is watching Super Bowl coverage. This is the first time I miss home. Do I want to go home? Of course not. I am not homesick. It's just a weird feeling all the festivities happening at home and I'm here. It's a fair trade off though! So my journey started in Madrid, obviously, then I went to the most magnificently beautiful city I've ever seen: Toledo. Toledo isn't a place I would want to live, but I would like to get lost in the tiny cobblestone streets surrounded by shops. The small city is nestled in the mountains and had amazing panoramic views from every angle. It's the kind of city Spanish postcards showcase. We left there and came to the best city in which to live in Spain (in my opinion). I've been to Madrid and Barcelona, the first and second biggest cities in Spain and now live in Sevilla, the fourth largest. Sevilla is unlike any city I've ever been to. Madrid is kind of like New York. Barcelona is kind of like Miami. Sevillia is kind of like....well, Sevilla. It's got everything a big city has except it just feels different. It's absolutely gorgeous in every neighborhood. I live in a neighborhood called Triana. Triana likes to identify itself as a separate city from Sevilla just because it's across the river. The coolest part about where I live is that it's off the beaten path, but yet it's in good walking distance from everything. I don't live with tourists. I don't live with Americans. I live with the Spaniards. I live around families. In the mornings as I walk to El Centro (the center of the city), there are countless families walking their children to school while the children sing songs. One day, one child was singing a song and a child across the street started singing the song with him. It was amazing. I've already learned so much in the little under a week I've been here - whether it's how to walk on the sidewalk, how to eat at a restaurant, or simply the how to speak the Spanish language. Everywhere I walk, there's a new lesson to learn. It's amazing. That's the word I keep using. Amazing. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain how this will be at the end of my stay here. It's one of those "just had to be there" moments. The pictures do no justice and neither do my stories. The Spanish lifestyle, along with many other places outside the United States, is much more lax than ours. We keep saying "Spanish time" for everything because they are literally late to EVERYTHING. My tour guide in Toledo said "Time is important. But it's not the most important. That's what we believe." This made me start thinking. In the United States, time is number one. That's really not okay. To recognize and acknowledge that time isn't the most important thing in life, to me, is admirable. Life is too short to worry about waiting that extra 20 minutes you might have to wait. Now, those of you that know me know that that is far from my personality. I hate tardiness. Hopefully I can work on that. Finally, I just want to touch on what I think is the reason I was sent over here. To learn about people. Not from a sociology standpoint or even a behavioral one, but more on a personal and "real" level. My best times so far here have been the extensive conversations I've had with Americans either on the bus, sidewalk, or street corner waiting for coffee. Ironically, I'm learning about America WAY more than I am about Spain. Being able to reflect on my own personal experiences as well as our country's collective ones have already taught me so much. All this has happened in 6 days and about 18 hours. This is amazing. There it is again. Amazing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in this city in southern Spain. I know it's something...well...amazing.
Okay guys, I'm all settled in. This place is...amazing. I don't have words for how it feels to be here. I've been waiting on it for so long and now I'm here! I'm in my room! I'm typing this while everyone else is watching Super Bowl coverage. This is the first time I miss home. Do I want to go home? Of course not. I am not homesick. It's just a weird feeling all the festivities happening at home and I'm here. It's a fair trade off though! So my journey started in Madrid, obviously, then I went to the most magnificently beautiful city I've ever seen: Toledo. Toledo isn't a place I would want to live, but I would like to get lost in the tiny cobblestone streets surrounded by shops. The small city is nestled in the mountains and had amazing panoramic views from every angle. It's the kind of city Spanish postcards showcase. We left there and came to the best city in which to live in Spain (in my opinion). I've been to Madrid and Barcelona, the first and second biggest cities in Spain and now live in Sevilla, the fourth largest. Sevilla is unlike any city I've ever been to. Madrid is kind of like New York. Barcelona is kind of like Miami. Sevillia is kind of like....well, Sevilla. It's got everything a big city has except it just feels different. It's absolutely gorgeous in every neighborhood. I live in a neighborhood called Triana. Triana likes to identify itself as a separate city from Sevilla just because it's across the river. The coolest part about where I live is that it's off the beaten path, but yet it's in good walking distance from everything. I don't live with tourists. I don't live with Americans. I live with the Spaniards. I live around families. In the mornings as I walk to El Centro (the center of the city), there are countless families walking their children to school while the children sing songs. One day, one child was singing a song and a child across the street started singing the song with him. It was amazing. I've already learned so much in the little under a week I've been here - whether it's how to walk on the sidewalk, how to eat at a restaurant, or simply the how to speak the Spanish language. Everywhere I walk, there's a new lesson to learn. It's amazing. That's the word I keep using. Amazing. I don't think I'll ever be able to explain how this will be at the end of my stay here. It's one of those "just had to be there" moments. The pictures do no justice and neither do my stories. The Spanish lifestyle, along with many other places outside the United States, is much more lax than ours. We keep saying "Spanish time" for everything because they are literally late to EVERYTHING. My tour guide in Toledo said "Time is important. But it's not the most important. That's what we believe." This made me start thinking. In the United States, time is number one. That's really not okay. To recognize and acknowledge that time isn't the most important thing in life, to me, is admirable. Life is too short to worry about waiting that extra 20 minutes you might have to wait. Now, those of you that know me know that that is far from my personality. I hate tardiness. Hopefully I can work on that. Finally, I just want to touch on what I think is the reason I was sent over here. To learn about people. Not from a sociology standpoint or even a behavioral one, but more on a personal and "real" level. My best times so far here have been the extensive conversations I've had with Americans either on the bus, sidewalk, or street corner waiting for coffee. Ironically, I'm learning about America WAY more than I am about Spain. Being able to reflect on my own personal experiences as well as our country's collective ones have already taught me so much. All this has happened in 6 days and about 18 hours. This is amazing. There it is again. Amazing. I can't wait to see what God has in store for me in this city in southern Spain. I know it's something...well...amazing.
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