Sunday, September 24, 2017

Week 3: Sept. 18th-24th (Cádiz)

Hi everyone! Well...this week went so fast! I cannot believe it has already been another week. Last week was so slow, but I guess since classes started, it sped things up quite a bit! This week was super fun. I had my birthday last Monday and I had a great group of friends who made it super special. We went to a restaurant along the river called “Don Cammillo e Peppone.” I highly recommend it. It was delicious and, the best part, is that they had gluten-free Italian food! I had 10 of my friends join me and we just enjoyed the good food and good company. The waiters were really nice, too. It was also a beautiful night. At the end of our meal, they brought champagne and dessert and my friends sang happy birthday to me in English. It’s weird to think that I’m 21. In the US, it would be such a big deal, but I like that here in Spain...it isn’t. It was a birthday and now I’m 21 and that’s that. We went to an Irish pub after dinner and an Irish man works there who speaks English, and then a lady who has the cutest British accent and also speaks English. They were so sweet and fun. She “IDed” me because she knew that that’s how they do it in America. I can actually say I got IDed on my 21st birthday! I didn’t think that would happen. And not because I look younger than 18 (the legal drinking age here)...but to make it feel like home in America. Woah, I really don’t believe that when I say it. 21? It’s not that I feel different, but I think there’s a “stigma” that, unless you’re 21, you’re not an adult. I guess in some ways that’s true and then also, it represents some indication of your experience. This could be a very complicated subject, but let’s keep it simple! It was a great birthday! My host parents are so sweet and got me a starfish necklace. I love it!!


I really am enjoying my classes. I’m not used to not having a ton of homework so that’s been a bit of an adjustment. I actually have time to practice my Spanish or do things that I would like to do, but don’t usually have time for. I applied for internships this week, I am sorting through pictures and email, and I have time to listen to podcasts and journal and enjoy where I am in this moment of my life. I feel a little inactive but then I have over 10,000 steps every day so I’m not exactly being inactive. I do think I need to figure out a workout schedule soon or I might go crazy.


I learned something crazy this week. Our host mom told us that every Spaniard has two last names. The last name of their dad and then their mom. I told her how we take the name of our husbands when we get married and she thought that was crazy. She thinks that that demeans women in some ways. I didn’t quite agree with her, but I don’t really have the vocabulary to explain exactly as I’d like to. I just let her do most of the talking. But I guess I’m “old-fashioned” and I like the way weddings are represented in America. Well, or the old-fashioned way of America where the dad gives his daughter to the husband and you take the last name of the man. Weddings just don’t seem that important here. It is common for a couple to have kids before they are married here. She says a legal document shouldn’t define your love or commitment and, that statement, I agree with. I just think a wedding in a way of professing your love and commitment in front of witnesses because you are happy to declare your love for each other. And it’s exciting! Everyone has different opinions about it, I suppose. I like hearing about their culture for sure. It is interesting to compare the differences.


Ah, also. My teacher said this quote in class this week and it is now my motto to live by. “The limits of your language are the limits of your world.” It is a quote by an Australian Ludwig Wittgenstein. I love it! I believe that is exactly why I am here. I am learning this language to expand my world. And it’s true with my major, too. As I study the business world, that is expanding my world to know what the business world is like so I can be successful in that area of my life. There is no way to know everything--we are not an all-knowing species, hate to break it to you--therefore, it is better to look at it as limits. The more you are eager to learn and the more you do learn, the wider your world expands and the less “limits” you have. It is up to you to choose how far you go. I just fell in love with the quote and the meaning behind it.


Well, as for activities this week, we went to the beach in Cadiz yesterday. It’s a small peninsula on the south coast of Spain. It’s almost at the bottom of Spain and a little west. It was super fun! I went with my roommate Carly and our other friend Mary Jo. We relaxed on the beautiful beach and then walked around the town and then “tomar algo(ed)” at one of the cafes. It was super small, but so beautiful! We also got some delicious helado there. It was real toasty in the sun but a perfect temperature in the shade. It was only an hour and a half train ride there and so worth it! I highly recommend it if you ever come to Spain! Oh, and then last night Carly and I had another adventure. We went to go visit our friends at the residencias, which is about 30 minutes away by metro. We left a little after 11:30pm. The metro closes around 11pm on the weekdays but on Friday and Saturday, they are open until 2am. Well, we must have been tired from the beach because neither of us thought to take the metro and we jumped on a bus instead. We were on it for much longer than we must have thought because we finally realized we were going the opposite way of center. We stayed on for a little longer thinking it would circle around, but it didn't seem to be doing so and so we got off. We switched sides and were just going to ride the bus back and start over. Well, we waited for over an hour and no bus came. Then, we realized we were an hour walking from home. That was much, much further than we had thought. But because no bus ever came, we only had two options. Walk or take a taxi. We like getting our steps in and it was too late to go to the residencia at this point so we ended up walking home, which took us 45+ minutes. We got home at 1am, having accomplished nothing but walking over 5,000 steps. Ugh. We were quite annoyed but there was some reason that happened to us, so I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about it. :-)


This week I have some more great activities coming up. I am going to run in a “Carrera Nocturna” (night race) which is about 5.3 miles. It starts at 10pm on Friday and is supposed to be one of the most fun races to be a part of in Seville. Then, also on Friday--because I love doing everything on one day--I am going to Gibraltar with our ISA program group. I’m super excited for this excursion. I think we’ll be able to spend some time at the beach there!


It’s supposed to be super hot this week so send cooling thoughts my way. Have a grand week everyone and I’ll catch up with y’all soon!

Carly is pointing at where we ended up on our night adventure, I'm pointing at where we were supposed to be...


We had a picnic at the park in Cadiz:)


Pretty place in the center of Cadiz


Cadiz had a lot more "green" than we usually see in dry Seville.


Cadiz building...so pretty


Cathedral of Cadiz


I've always loved my palm trees:)


La playa!!




We started watching tv and movies in Spanish 
this week...baby steps


The Irish pub with the two Kelly's (on the left & middle)
 and one Kellie (me)


Mis amigos!


21...whaaaat


The Italian restaurant


Sunday, September 17, 2017

Week 2: Sept.10th-17th

(Photos are below)

Hola todos! Wow, as I lay here and start to write this, I can hardly believe it has only been one week--ONE week--since I got here. It feels like I arrived a month ago. Yes, it felt like a long week but I think that’s because we were trying to settle in. We got a lot accomplished and I’d say it was a good week overall. We got to tour the third biggest cathedral in the world, do a lot of shopping, have a welcome dinner with the ISA program, settle into our different living situations, and figure out the metro. Not necessarily in that order, but we have been adjusting for sure.

I thought I would die in the heat, and there were about 2-3 days that were absolutely miserable. But, just the past 2 days, it has really started to cool down even during the day, so I don’t think we will be miserable much longer. I really appreciate their siesta time here. I mentioned how siestas work here in my last blog but I have really figured it out and I love it. I use it as a designated time for me to be productive with things that I need to sit down to do. For example, I’ll do my homework during this time, catch up on my journaling, listen to music/podcasts, check my email, etc. Every one usually does this stuff, it just might be more sporadic throughout the day. This is just a set time to do those things everyday and it is during the time of day where you wouldn’t be productive anyway because it is so hot. Therefore, it is perfect! Oh, and if I’m really tired, I nap too. It’s still productive though because our bodies need sleep!

Figuring out my schedule for classes was a little rough. We had signed up for 10 classes before coming on this program, but I didn’t choose very specifically. I just chose classes in English and subjects that looked interesting and related to my major. I thought we would get to learn more about them and then choose them when we got here. Instead, they gave us 5 classes of the 10 we had chosen and then it was up to us to figure out if we wanted to switch by looking at the schedule and “adding” or “dropping” classes by getting a professor’s signature. Therefore, I had to go to almost 4 classes per day to try to switch around my schedule and get into the classes I wanted. I originally liked my schedule, but I realized I really want to practice my Spanish grammar while I’m here, so I wanted to switch into a Spanish class. However, they keep those classes super small and every one wants in those classes. Also, based on your placement exam, they only let you into certain classes. You would think because we are IN SPAIN, they would give a lot of Spanish class options, but I think there were less than at my University in Denver. Oy. But, no te preocupes (do not worry), because I figured it out. I have 3 classes on Monday/Wednesday from 10:30-2:50 and 1 class on Tuesday/Thursday from 12-1:20. I do not have classes on Friday which is awesome so I can travel! They are all really good classes too. I’m taking International Marketing, Español Intermedio, Communication and Media in the Digital Age, and Sports Psychology. All the teachers seem really great so I’m excited! The campus is pretty dang ugly, but I figured out why DU is so expensive. Because they take our money to build new buildings every year and to buy the newest technology. It is the perfect example of an “American” university. Whereas here, not only in their universities but in general too, they live very simply but have the same quality of what is important. For example, their education is very good here. They just don’t have the prettiest of campuses. However, it is FREE. It is a public college so the locals can attend the University of Seville for free. I have realized how beneficial being here and studying here is, solely because I get to learn about a different culture. I get to understand how their systems work here. If I plan on saving the world some day, it’d help to know what the entire world is like so that I can pull the best “systems” from each part of the world to design the perfect system. I guess God’s got that under control, but I have a good start nevertheless.

Well last night was incredible! We got to meet a ton of locals because our host parents hosted a barbacoa (BBQ). Carly (my roommate) and I were very curious what “BBQ” meant for Spaniards. We found out it’s very similar to a potluck. There’s a lot of beer, wine, soda, etc.
Oh! They made us mojitos too, which are delicious and very common here. Then, they have some form of meat on the grill and then every one brings a traditional Spanish dish. Por ejemplo (for example), tortillas de patatas or aceitunas (green olives) or some fresh fish with chips or salsas (dips) or queso (cheese), etc. Oh, and of course pan (bread). And you know how they say Spanish moms force the Americans to eat lots of food and make sure that they are really, really full? Well here, I had about 15 Spanish women there and they were constantly saying “Come, come, come” (eat, eat, eat). It was great. Oh, there’s also a lot of “besos” (kisses). I get very awkward real fast. Sometimes the women accidently brush each other on the lips and I almost die. I’m just super awkward...ah, ah, ah. Madre mía! (Mama mia). Anywho, most of these Spanish parents also have sons or daughters that are between 14-20 years old so there were a lot more people our age there than I expected. Oh, and the 14 year olds look like 18 year olds. You wouldn’t believe it. They don’t speak very much English so, at first, I thought it would be a little rough. Then, we all started talking and ended up talking and hanging out until 3:30am. It was so much fun! We created a group on Whatsapp and they said they would give us a tour around the city. I’m so excited to know some locals! They’re all so sweet and nice. And, it will be great practice for our Spanish. One of them understands English perfectly, she just can’t speak super fast. It’s so annoying how a Spanish person will say in Spanish…”No hablo inglés muy bien.” (I don’t speak English very well). But then, I tell them to try speaking and their English is perfect…. Ugh. I go, no no. You guys don’t understand. I say I don’t speak Spanish very well and it is very true. Oh well. I am starting to practice more everyday by watching Friends in Spanish and to read in Spanish, as well. That is how they are so good at English. They listen to music in English, they read news in English about the US, and they try to learn about our culture. That is why I am embarrassed to be American sometimes. Because I think we are so selfish because we don’t “need” to learn a different language because we expect the whole world to know English. Then, we don’t learn about their culture or try to keep up with their news. And I get it, it’d be hard to do that for all the countries in Europe because they are all so different. It just has made me realize how, in general, Americans are so uncultured.


Well, that was my rant. Anyway! I am really appreciating things here and am excited I get to live here for 4 months. I have to remind myself of that everyday. Hope you all are doing well!!!

This is such a beautiful plaza in the center of the city by the ISA (my program) office.
The view from the Cathedral!



My friend Mary Jo in the cathedral tower.


Delicious mango and watermelon ice cream. And don't miss the cathedral in the background!


The river...it's gorgeous. (See next photo)


This is in front of the building where all our classes are.


Look closely... the name of the school is on the bench!




THE LOCALS!!!!


I have Spanish friends now. I know I'm cool.


More ice cream, of course.

Sunday, September 10, 2017

Seville - Week 1

Hola hola hola! Hoy es un buen día (today is a good day)! I am finally in Sevilla. After 43 days in Europe, I have made it to my final destination...at least for the next 4 months. It feels so good to finally have a place to call home, where I can settle in and just relax. I absolutely love my host family. I have a dad and a mom and they are the cutest thing ever. I have been able to understand them and speak Spanish to them and it is such an amazing feeling. They have told me multiple times that my Spanish is really good (even though I know it isn’t that great). Pero, esta bien. (But, it’s okay.) Because I love the language so much and I am so thrilled to learn. We have our placement test tomorrow and I’m really hoping I can take some of my classes in Spanish. If you would have asked me two months ago whether I wanted Spanish or English classes, I would have never even considered taking my classes in Spanish. But I have never been this excited to learn and, what better way to learn a language than to take a Spanish class in reference to my major? The program I am with, ISA, has a very good support system so I think if I struggled, I could get extra help with them. Also, I thought I was going to die with the heat but it hasn’t been too bad. During the hottest part of the day, which is around 4pm-7pm, we have what we call “siesta time” or “rest time.” That is when I’ll most likely be doing homework, taking a nap, relaxing, etc. I thought I’d hate the schedule here, but I actually love it. I haven’t gotten my class schedule yet, but I did find out I only have Friday classes for the first two weeks, and then I have Fridays free which will be great for traveling.


The place I am staying at is incredible. I have a roommate, Carly, and then we share a bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. We pretty much have an apartment to ourselves above the actual house. Are we spoiled? Yes, we are. The beds are so comfortable...too comfortable. It’s going to be dangerous. The food has been so good, as well. We have a little patio downstairs and our host mom told us we are having a BBQ this weekend. How cute is she? She’s super affectionate and gives us kisses all the time. I love it. I haven’t had a lot of time to explore the city, but the metro system is super easy to use and there’s a stop really close to our house that takes us downtown. I’m excited to find the supermarket. Tip about Kellie: She loves el supermercados...especially in Europe! Also, fun fact. The third largest catedral (cathedral) is in downtown Seville. We get to take a tour of it on Tuesday. This week is going to be fun. I’m really excited! I have also met a ton of awesome people so I am excited to see where those relationships go.


Oh! I forgot to mention Toledo. So, our program started in Madrid. We stayed in this really nice hotel and I broke a record for how fast I can get from the hotel, to the metro, to centro (downtown), climb five flights of stairs to the ISA office, pick up two suitcases (big ones), go back to the metro while carrying those massive suitcases up two flights. Sometimes there were escalators and sometimes there were not. I did all of this is 35 minutes. I think that should have counted for my workout of the day. It was cute...the ISA workers at the Madrid office told me I should take a taxi, but I was like “Nah, I got this. Line 2, line 7 to the Gregorio Marañón estación (station).” They just kinda stared at me but I think they had a lot more faith that I could take care of myself. And the best part is it only cost me three euros total. Anyway, I had a great night to myself. The next day we toured the city and I did the tour of the old part of Madrid in Spanish and was really proud of all I understood. Then we toured the Prado museum, as well. Then, that night we got a bus and went to Toledo. I fell in love with Toledo. It’s a very old and well preserved city. It has lots of hills but we had an amazing tour guide who showed us a panoramic view of the city and then showed us all around his town. He was so proud of it. It was really hot but we also got el menú del día. I introduced some friends to it. It was so delicious. I am so very glad I did the intensive program in August. Even though it was so hard, I am so much better with my spanish. Everyone thinks I speak amazing Spanish and asks me to do the communicating, but I definitely need to do a lot more work to get to where I want to be. The hotel we stayed at was also super nice. It had a really nice pool and reminded me of a hotel in Vegas. It was located outside the city so we had to take a taxi to the city, but I still liked it a lot. That night, we got dinner at this restaurant and had an awesome waiter who liked to mess with us and was very “chill.” That was a bonding moment for us girls--there were 6 of us there. We were probably at dinner 2-3 hours. There was a light show at the cathedral that took place every half hour until 1:30am and we almost missed the last show. We got there right at 1am. That’s how long we were at dinner… Yeah, well it was a really cool light show! Then after, we went to this discotecha that actually used to be a church. Our group was pretty much the only ones there because it was “early” for Spaniards to be out dancing. But I seriously had an amazing time. Except…neither my roommate nor I woke up the next morning on time. We were supposed to be downstairs with all our stuff at 9am and we definitely woke up at 9:10. We freaked out and packed all our stuff really fast and were afraid the group was going to leave without us, but then we didn’t even leave the hotel until 9:45am so we were fine. And...the worst part is that I had this bad feeling that we left too fast and forgot some stuff, but I didn’t recheck it and so I ended up leaving my retainers and my hair towel. But luckily I called the hotel today and they are going to ship it to me so all is well. But anyway… it was quite the adventure, but all in all, I LOVE Toledo and highly recommend visiting at some point.


Well, that’s all for now. I only had one crazy story this time (thank goodness, right?!). I plan on trying to post every Sunday now that I am here in Seville and I’ll probably have to stick to posting pictures on Facebook because I have so many I want to include! Thanks for reading and I’ll be praying for the US. I’ve been following all the hurricanes and fires and it does not sound too good… please stay safe! Adios amigos.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

~Travels Through Europe~

Hi everyone! Wow, it has been a crazy but amazing 11 days. I met up in Madrid with Amanda and Peter and my friend Alison and we hit the ground running. We went to Madrid, Barcelona, Florence, Lucca, Bologna, Munich, Paris, and now I am back in Madrid. There are so many stories to tell… I might have to do two posts. I am going to try to highlight the biggest thing in each city. Here we go…


Madrid. Well, I was so very excited to see Amanda and Peter and Alison and be able to speak English. They immediately caught on to my newly found Spanish accent. They made fun of my “uhms” and “vale” but then had fun with me being able to somewhat speak the language. They picked up keywords very quickly. Well--highlight of Madrid was staying up until 6am for the second night in a row because Alison and I wanted to experience the clubs in Madrid. We had such a good time and met some really cool people. I was able to speak all night to them in Spanish so that was super fun for me! The next night was equally fun because we all went to a rooftop bar and got a whole bunch of different tapas and pinchos (similar to small appetizers). Amanda named the waiter “Massimo” and decided that she wanted him to be my husband. He was very nice and helped us with our food. He spoke broken English because he studied in Australia for six months. Maybe there was something in her wine, because it is very unlike Amanda to encourage me to talk to a boy let alone ask him to marry me…


All right, next city. Barcelona. Now let me just say I loved Barcelona, especially compared to Madrid. It just had a lot to offer and was really pretty. We had “el menú del día” there where Amanda, Peter, and Alison got to try it and they loved it. The bridge over the water was pretty and we got to see La Rambla which is similar to the 16th street mall in Denver. However, it is also where the terrorist attack happened and so there were tons of flowers and candles and it was both scary and sad to think of what took place there. Since we are kinda on a sad note already, let me tell you about another heartbreaking incident (but on more of a lighter and less meaningful note). So, because Amanda and Peter won’t be with me for my 21st birthday, they wanted to do something special for me. I was in need of some comfy walking sandals since it was so hot and we were doing a ton of walking. Well, there was a mall by the water in Barcelona. We walked in, I found a shoe store, found the perfect (and I mean perfect) shoes. They were the right size, right style, perfect color, everything. Amanda and Peter bought them for me and then we went to another store and Alison and I went crazy trying on shirts and dresses. I took all my stuff into the fitting room, tried on something, and stepped out to show Amanda and Alison. I finally found a shirt that I really liked and as Alison and I were in the checkout line, I realized I was missing a bag...my shoe bag!! I ran back to the fitting room and someone was in it. I waited impatiently for the person to come out and in the meantime, asked the person working about them. He asked the front but no one had seen them. As the person came out, to my horrible dismay, it was empty. My shoes were gone. I searched all over the store but they said Barcelona is known for petty theft and I had become a victim of it. Less than an hour after they were bought, they were gone. I went back to the shoe store to try to buy another pair but that had been the last pair. I am still so sad about it. Amanda, Peter, and I decided to have a memorial service for my shoes eventually. So that definitely put a damper on Barcelona. That and the fact that the language is so hard to understand because it is NOT Spanish. They speak Catalan--ugh! Another language to try to understand… really though, I did enjoy Barcelona even if it doesn’t seem like it.


Florence. Well, it was very hot and we didn’t stay overnight in Florence so we had our backpacks the entire day. Oh, and I forgot to mention. So Amanda and Peter and Alison only brought backpacks. Well, I wasn’t quite prepared to literally backpack through Europe because I had a school backpack but definitely not one meant for clothes and stuff. There was too much on my mind a month ago when I was packing--I didn’t think to bring a travel backpack. I made do with the one I had, but it was definitely challenging so I might have been a little cranky at times… Anyway, our flight from Barcelona to Florence was at 6am so we decided to stay up all night before. In Barcelona, we had a rooftop in our airbnb (which was fantastic by the way) and so we just sat up there until 2am and then we headed to the airport. Let me tell you, I have pulled way too many all-nighters in the past 11 days. So, we were also exhausted when we reached Florence but where we were, there was so much to see. There was gelado everywhere--it was like heaven! We also ate at this super delicious restaurant and ordered risotto which I could eat, yay! We then made our way to the train station and headed to Lucca. Oh! And I found some real Italian leather, red sandals in Florence. They won’t replace the hole in my heart from the other shoes but these ones are actually super adorable and comfy and they look European, so I love them.


Lucca is known as the walled city. We had a very spacious place and it was a great location. Really, Amanda did amazing in her planning because they were all great locations. This place was a little bit more low key which was a nice change of pace. We found a supermarket (like we did in every city, let me tell you) and also toured pretty much the entire town. The wall was three miles around, we figured. So it was a very cute town. Highlight of this city was all the gluten free Italian food! I had gluten free pizza one night and gluten free pasta the next. It was all very delicious. Amanda was thriving in her Italian cities since she had a special bond with Italy due to her studying abroad in Italy exactly seven years ago. This is where we caught up on all our sleep.


Bologna. This was probably my favorite city in Italy. It was just full of shops and cool places. We had an awesome airbnb and there were so many places to eat and so many supermarkets (I think I actually have an obsession with supermarkets…). Oh, and the red wine--mm delicious. It was so good! I was sad because Alison left for her program in Scotland from Bologna, but I was so happy she was with us as long as she was. We had such an amazing time! This was a very short trip so I don’t have a lot to say about Bologna.


Then Munich. Well, the train ride was interesting. It was six hours and we had our tickets, but no seat numbers. Well, people got on the train and kept taking the seats we were sitting in. We were so confused until we found out, I guess they sell tickets that allow you access on the train, and then they sell more expensive tickets that guarantee you a seat--but you have to book them six months in advance. This was all news to us so that was fun playing musical chairs for six hours. Poor Peter had to stand for four of the six hours. Also, there was only one working bathroom in the entire train...that does not work. Well, we finally made it and I found I really enjoyed Munich. I love Germany! The people are so nice and we just had such a pleasant time. Then, here comes the best part. We got to visit Neuschwanstein Castle!!! In case you don’t know, it is one of the most famous castles in Europe and it is the castle that the Disney castle is based off of. We took a bus to the little town and--can I just tell you--it was the most amazing experience ever. I mean I have been seeing some pretty amazing stuff but there was nothing like this castle and the town. Amanda and I were two princesses in our fairy world. It was rainy and chilly and we had no warm clothes but I had a rain jacket so we made do. It actually turned out to be the perfect weather because we hiked up the hill to the castle and toured it and the walk was long, but kept us very warm. It was all so beautiful. You will see many, many pictures of it when I post my pictures because there were just so many beautiful parts to see. The castle inside was very cool and had so much history to it, so that was amazing to tour as well. Amanda and Peter did this for me also as my 21st birthday present. Aren’t they incredible? Who else can say that for their 21st birthday, they received a ticket to a castle in one of the most beautiful places in the world? I’m spoiled for sure. Everything about that day was perfect.


Well, last but not least. Paris. Okay, don’t get me wrong Paris is great. It was just SO much different than what I was expecting. First of all, I didn’t see the Eiffel tower for forever and I couldn’t believe that I was missing it. I expected it to be huge, but I finally figured out that it’s my perception of Paris that was skewed. I thought everything revolved around the Eiffel tower, but actually it is located a little far from everything else. Paris is also MASSIVE and I just wasn’t expecting that. We walked--wait for it--35,000 steps yesterday (which equals over 15 miles, in case you were wondering). Amanda and Peter are crazy, but also I am very proud. We ended up seeing a lot of different places, enjoying crepes and macchiatos, and getting a feel for how people live in Paris. MY FAVORITE PART = WE GOT CHIPOTLE. I have been craving chipotle for over a month and I was finally satisfied. I know; I’m lame. I could not resist knowing it was within my grasp.


I am sure there are many details I missed, but at least this gives an overall summary of the biggest things that came to mind of our travels in Europe. I have decided it would be easiest to post pictures on facebook since we took a bazillion, so that’s where the photos will be. I am now in Madrid and have officially started my Sevilla program. We are in Madrid until tomorrow night where we will then go to Toledo and then we are off to Sevilla. Pray for me as it is supposed to be 100 degrees in Sevilla………….yeah. Well, thanks for reading and I hope and pray all is well with all of you. Adios for now and I’ll talk to you guys soon!