la mes pasada

It has officially been one month (and one day...I'm a little late with this blog) since I arrived in Spain. I've already spent one month here! Crazy! It almost seems to little but at the same time too much. I have learned and experienced so much in the past month that its hard to believe it all fit into one month. In summary, I've been to

• Granada, Spain (of course!)
• Madrid, Spain
• Alegeciras, Spain
• Tangier, Morocco
• Rabat, Morocco
• Chefchoaen, Morocco
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Caiscas, Portugal

Thats unbelievable! And thats only the first month here. These next two weekends I have planned to go to Paris and then Barcelona! Luckily, I'll be giving my bank account a break until Spring Break after that. 

While I've traveled and had lots of fun, the real reason why I came to Spain started last week--classes...I view them as a blessing and a curse. On one hand I really enjoy learning and having something to do; but on the other hand most of my classes are night classes which is a complete turnaround from my preferred morning classes at Central. Every night I have class until 9 or 10, granted I don't have class straight from 8am to 10pm but its still brain draining. Nonetheless! I'm still having fun and making new friends. 

Update for the past week--finally meeting and talking with Spanish people. 

Last Friday we, spur of the moment, went to a Granada Club de Futbol game. It was freaking awesome! Never in my whole life have I felt that much excitement thriving through each fan and from every corner. We sat in the nosebleeds section with a railing in our way but it couldn't take away from the epicness of the moment. I have wanted to see a legit European soccer game for ages. We sang songs together, laughed together, and even yelled stupid! (tonto!) to the ref a couple times. It was so incredibly lively! Even though it wasn't the top dogs game like Real Madrid or Barcelona, it was still quite a big highlight in my trip. I'm working on getting a picture from Mandy of us at the game--some guy from the top of the stands even threw down his Granada flag for us to hold in the picture. =)

Then on Sunday a group of us was finally able to go to church we had heard about from our friends who had studied abroad previously. My was it nice to be back in the church setting and feel community again. It was great to sing praises--even if they were in Spanish--and listen to a message. Afterwards we learned all these cool things their youth does like eat lunch after service, go sledding, have movie nights, and even go out for tapas! I'm really excited to be able to go to one of these outings whenever I'm not traveling so that I can get to know some Spanish people in which I have a common ground with.

Cha cha cha. One month complete.