I think I may have Peaked- Week 9

 Hola!

This was a week that started off pretty slow but went out with a bang. Somehow my hurt ankle managed to walk nearly 30 miles in 4 days so ill just get into it...

    Day 57:

Mondays are always a bit of a struggle to get out of bed but nevertheless, it happens. I went to class where we got our midterm grade back and I got a 98.5. Then went home and had lunch and laid down for a bit. Then after a bit of convincing, I went to the beach with Charlotte and hung out there for a while. On the way back we stopped and shopped for souvenirs and then hit the pharmacy to get a wrap for my ankle. I spent the rest of the night just resting and icing my ankle. Then I went to bed.

   Day 58:

Tuesday was a relaxing day. I went to class and then headed back home for lunch and siesta. I worked on Ellie and Nolan's wedding invitations and talked on the phone with mom for a bit. It was great to be able to have my foot up most of the day. We went to dinner at a place called Saona where they have a menu of the day which just means that it is a multi-course meal for a lower price. The food and the company were a ton of fun!

   Day 59:

On Wednesday, I filmed my interview with Charlotte and then I went to class. After class, Simmy and I went to the USAC office to confirm some things about sending our bags home. Then I went to film at the Mercado for one of my video projects that I am doing and stopped at Simmy's place to take some pictures of her in their apartment for my photography project. I walked home and then had lunch and laid down with my foot up for the rest of the day. I talked on the phone with Aunt Denise about what I can do to help the pain in my foot and that was reassuring that it was going to be alright. I am amazed by how much she could tell me just by me explaining how the pain started and how certain movements felt. I packed for Vienna, worked on the invitations some more, then went to Charlotte's place to watch a movie called Senior Year, and then headed to bed.

   Day 60:

Went to school this morning and then rushed home to eat a sandwich and grab my bags to go meet Charlotte to take the bus to the airport. We got to the airport with plenty of time and played cards to pass the time. When we lined up for our flight we were surprised to see that two other girls from our program were on the same flight but they were headed to Italy. Our flight ended up leaving 30+ minutes late and we were in the last row. We only had an hour and a half layover in the first place, so this was not good from the start. We falsely found hope when they decided that we would be exiting the front and back of the plane. But as soon as we stepped off we were faced with a bus waiting to transport us to baggage claim. From there we ran around trying to find how to get up to the departure gates when we found our way up we then had to go through security and ended up asking people in our line if we could cut in front of them because there were only 5 minutes until our flight was supposed to board. We bolted through the airport and got to the gate that had shown up on my phone to find that the gate had changed. Luckily it was just a few gates around the corner. Let me tell ya, I have never run as fast as I did that day. I made it to the right gate dripping sweat and out of breath just to stand in the boarding line for like 5-10 minutes. WE MADE IT THOUGH!!! and we were off to Vienna!!! We got into Vienna and then took the train into the city center. We started walking towards our Airbnb and I very quickly took a tumble on a curb skinning both my knees in the process. We saw a sausage stand on the way so of course, we had to stop (it helped that we were really hungry too). I order two sausages so that we could try different ones and we walked ate and vlogged! We made it to the place and went to bread pretty quickly after arriving.

   Day 61:

Our first full day in Vienna. We woke up and set off to eat breakfast at a café on our way to our first stop. We were hoping to be able to just grab a pastry and be on our way, but this was not that kind of café so we settled in and ordered some food. I got a piece of warm apple strudel and a melange (which is pretty much a cappuccino but with thicker-frothed milk). while waiting for our food we quickly realized that we had looked at the wrong menu and that is why there weren't many breakfast options hahah oh well, it still tasted really yummy, the waiter might have thought that we were a bit odd but that is how it goes... After breakfast, we headed to the Hofburg palace, walked through some sprinklers in a park, and after searching the giant conglomerate of museums, finally found the one we had a ticket for. At this museum, they held the royal silver collection which was way more interesting than I thought it was going to be. Did you know that before WWII I believe it was, the royals actually thought that they were too good to eat off of porcelain? But then the war happened and perspectives changed quite a bit. Anyways we got to see a lot of beautiful dishes and even some napkin art. Then we went into the Royal apartments and there we got to hear all about Empress Elisabeth, her life, and her tragic assassination. We even got to see some of the gorgeous gowns that she wore and many other artifacts of her day-to-day life. After this, we headed to St. Stephan's cathedral where we got to tour the catacombs. This was so cool but also really grossssss. There were bones stacked up like jenga. It was wild! Also, this tour was interesting because the guide had to say everything in German and English. I found it really fun to listen to that way. From there we grabbed a bretzel, a sausage, and a beer. Went shopping for souvenirs and then stopped in another church and then went and sat in a park where there was a film festival going on apparently. We then walked to grab an early dinner. I had to get Weiner Schnitzel of course. Then we went to a classical music concert that even included some opera singers. It was so cool to hear some classics with a live orchestra. Our last stop was for Dessert at Mozart café where we split a piece of Sacher cake and a piece of a traditional ring cake. 

   Day 62:

Our second day in Vienna was a day of palaces! We started with a Viennese breakfast at a café. this included meats cheeses, a soft-boiled egg, apricot jam, Austrian butter, bread, coffee, and orange juice. It was so good!!! Also, it was my first time having a soft-boiled egg so that was a time lol. Then we went to Upper Belvedere Palace which is an art museum now and even holds the painting called "The Kiss" by Klimt. It was beautiful both inside and out. After that, we found our way via tram to the Schonbrunn Palace which was the residence of the royal family for many many years. It had everything that you expect of a palace even a gigantic ballroom. After we toured the inside we spent a while wandering the gardens and taking pictures. Then we made our way to dinner in a little garden. The food was yummy and it was funny to us that the server asked what the weather was like in the UK assuming that that is where we were from! We had to giggle at that. After that, we took the tram back into the city center, went to a wine bar, and did a wine tasting. It is here that I learned that 6 half-pours is just slightly too much if not eating much with it. It was really fun to listen to the guy explain all the different ones and they were all local to the Vienna area. On our way back to our Airbnb Charlotte insisted that she needed one last Vienna sausage before we left the next morning so, of course, I made sure she got that!

   Day 63:

We got up super early to catch the train to the airport for our flight at 8:20. It was a bit confusing making sure we were on the right line but once we found it everything went smoothly. We boarded the short flight that would take us to Italy. As soon as we got to Italy we took a taxi to the town of Bergamo. Charlotte had found a restaurant that was up at the top of a hill overlooking the city and boy am I glad that we didn't decide to walk up that hill. We wandered around the area for a while taking lots of pictures and then ended up finding a castle so obviously, we climbed up said castle and took some more pictures. Then we went to the restaurant and ordered a bottle of Lambrusco (the carbonated wine that my family fell in love with when we were in Italy in 2019). We drank that and had some snacks until the kitchen opened. For the longest time, we pretty much had the gorgeous view and restaurant all to ourselves. We ordered a pizza and pasta to split and they were sooooo good. I told Charlotte at one point that I was pretty sure that we just peaked at age 21, being in Italy just for lunch. After we finished lunch we were on our way back to the airport. We had fast passes through security which was really nice and then just had to wait for boarding to start. We got back to Alicante at a decent time and then headed back to our apartments. I ate dinner and talked with mom and dad for a while and then went to bed!

So maybe I have, or maybe I haven't peaked but so many things on this trip have been once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Really I think that life is a series of peaks and valleys that change in depth and height every time. This I truly believe is just one of my peaks. I can't believe it is all almost over! That's all for now. 

See yall soon!

p.s. I might combine the last couple of weeks together because I will be traveling with Ellie when I am normally writing just a heads up!

Parts of a Story- Week 8

 Hola Amigos!

WOW! I cannot believe that we just finished up week 8! 

When trying to figure out what to title this week's blog I went through a lot of different ideas most of which I deemed to be terrible and moved on very quickly from. I honestly look at this blog as one long story about all the things that have happened throughout my time in Spain and had the realization that we are definitely in the downward slope of that long story also known as the falling action. I decided not to title it that though as I did not want anyone thinking that I had actually fallen or anything like that. I also have no clue what would be considered the climax of this story as I think there have been many high points along with low points as life more accurately works. Life is not a 1.5-hour-long movie with all the perfect ups and downs that eventually peak and then fall into happily ever after, there is so much more to it than that. So I guess here is this week's chapter of my life.

   Day 50:

I went to class with my mask today feeling a lot better than last week, of course, and honestly just really excited to get out of the house and see some people. I am honestly surprised how few people knew that I had covid though. We started learning the body parts and medical solutions in class which was timed well after I was just sick and all. I took another covid test when I got back from class today, but I still came up positive, so I had to continue eating and hanging out by myself all day. I took a long nap as my body was still pretty tired from being sick and the day went by pretty fast.

   Day 51:

I again went to class with a mask on and have to continue to do so until I test negative I believe, though Luis explained that to me in Spanish so I'm not positive that is what he said, but we will go with that. I did not want to test every day because I had only brought 4 self-test with me. It has been so sweet, but before class, we have about 20 minutes to sit and hang out at one of the cafes on campus. If we took the later tram we would be about 5 minutes late for our class, so getting up earlier kind of sucks, but this has given us some time to get to know some of the new people. After class, I spent the day by myself again but I got to talk to Maddie while she was on her lunch break, which was a huge highlight as I had not had a full conversation with her since I left this summer. I guess one major positive of the whole getting sick thing was getting to spend a lot of time talking to my friends back home. I also finally got to submit our receipts to the travel company and found out that we will have to wait somewhere between 3 and 6 months before we get our refund. This is a pain, but I guess it is better than no refund at all. 

   Day 52:

I was feeling 100% today other than just being tired, but I am pretty sure that tiredness is a constant state for me so it is what it is. I decided not to test again today and my host mom talked to the pharmacist and found out that I could test again the next day as that would be 7 days since I came down with symptoms. My host mom let me eat with her today so that was really nice! I had a chill afternoon by myself and then after dinner went over to Charlotte's place to figure out where we are going to go for our three-day weekend. I was a bit stressed about this because I could tell it was not going to be a cheap trip, but mom comforted me in that and encouraged me to go for it because when else in my life am I going to have this opportunity to just go to another country for the weekend. We threw around a few ideas including but not limited to somewhere in Germany, Prague, Vienna, and Paris. We spent the night looking for flight and talking about what the weekend could look like but did not book anything yet, because we were trying to get our friend Lily to join us and she had to clear it with her parents first.

   Day 53:

Today was a good day! I went to class and then went with Charlotte and Simmy (who is in a master's program at Fresno State) to The Good Burger and worked on my homework while they ate lunch and then went home to find a huge bowl of pasta with broccoli, bacon, mushrooms, and cheese waiting for me. I also tested negative and my host mom was so excited that we cheers-ed our negative tests lol. I took about an hour-long nap after lunch and then needed to study!! A bunch of us went and met up at our favorite coffee shop and studied for midterms there for hours. It was really fun because there was a pretty consistent rotation of people from our program that came through and stayed for varying amounts of time. We got the news this afternoon that Lily would not be joining us on our trip so we booked our flight to...Vienna, Austria right there in the coffee shop. It is not the original flight that we had picked out, but it was slightly cheaper and still gave us a long enough layover on the way back to grab lunch and some souvenirs in Milan! On our way back to our places after studying, Charlotte and I grabbed some snacks for a movie night that night and I went home for dinner. I headed back to Charlotte's place and we watched The Hustle which was pretty decent, I don't think you can really go wrong with anything that has Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway. 

   Day 54:

I had my midterm this morning and honestly, I think it went pretty well. We spent the first hour of class going over our study guide and some other small things that were going to be on the test and then spread out and got our tests. I was the first one to finish in under an hour and then I spent the next 20-30 minutes pretending to be going back over my test time and time again trying to not be the first one to turn it in. I eventually gave up on that and just went up to hand her my test and the girl in front of me followed suit. I left the classroom and decided that instead of taking the tram back by myself I would find somewhere to hang out on campus until everyone else got out of class. I ended up just sitting in the shade on the grass in one of the gardens. I sat and watched an episode of The Office and enjoyed the beauty around me. I tried to take a nap after lunch that day and failed miserably which was rough, but that's how it goes sometimes. I needed to film an interview with my friend Lily for one of my projects for my USAC job and so we met up right before we were planning to go out to dinner and ended up at Luceros Cafe, then after feeling really awkward about sitting in there I ended up ordering a cafe bombon which is just sweet and condensed milk with a shot of espresso on top. I had been wanting to try one, but just hadn't yet so I went for it lol. We went out to dinner at a place called Thai Corner and I got drunken noodles which were really good, but we could tell that the waitstaff here really wanted us to give up our table because this was the first time in Spain that we had ever been given the check without asking for it first. That was definitely odd. We went back to Skylar and Charlotte's place and started watching a show called Below Deck, which is about the people that work on luxury yachts. It's very dramatic, thus quite entertaining. On a sad, but random note, I was notified that my tennis class for next semester got canceled, so wish me luck as I search for something to fill my 12th unit.

   Day 55:

We had our field trip to Guadalest and Calpe today. Guadalest is a small town in the mountains of Alicante with a beautiful green river down below. We walked up to the top of the castle and took a lot of pictures and then spent some time in town shopping and hanging out. We got these drinks that are pretty much just frozen lemonade which was really yummy on a hot day. Then we drove down to Calpe which was a gorgeous beach in Costa Blanca and had box lunches and time in the refreshing water. We were back to Alicante by 5 pm. I went home and took a shower and then walked over to watch more of our show with Charlotte and Skylar for the afternoon. I already knew that I did not want to go out that night and I am so glad I made that decision early on. Here is some back story for ya, I messed up my ankle when we were in Amsterdam a few weeks ago as I had a blister on the bottom of my foot and had walked a ton that weekend but had to walk kind of funny so that I wouldn't irritate the blister too much. This has since backfired as my ankle is still in pain and actually getting worse. Charlotte helped me wrap my ankle with a wet and chilled towel since we did not have a way to ice it, and this helped a little bit I think. Prayers would be much appreciated though as I still have a lot of walking to come in the next few weeks! Charlotte and I watched some cheesy Netflix original and headed to bed around the time that everyone else was going out. I think I am learning more and more that being a night owl back home is nothing here in Spain and my body cannot take it anymore. 

   Day 56:

I slept in this morning and was honestly surprised that I woke up around 10am. I got up and we had toat with tomato and ham and sweet croissants for breakfast. Then I spent some time with the Lord. I am currently reading through the book of Isaiah, and though I have read it technically before, I've never really dug into it before. There is a lot going on in it so some of the chapters are a bit confusing and hard to read, but today was about the Lord's vengeance in Babylon, kind of interesting really. One of the commentaries I read with it discussed how it shows what is meant other books of the bible discuss how the lord "resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" I definitely had never thought about it in this way before. I've been working on this since then and took a break for lunch which surprisingly was not paella today, but rather some sort of burger and green beans with eggs that I ate alone. My host mom's daughter moved a bunch of her stuff back into the apartment this weekend because she and her boyfriend live in some sort of student housing I believe so they have to move out and then back in August. This is relevant because they both are moving her stuff around so they did not want me to have to wait to eat with them later I guess. I will probably finish this up, watch a movie, attend online service, talk to the fam and then head to bed early to get ready for a long week!

This chapter was not jam-packed with wild adventures or dramatic encounters but that doesn't mean it isn't worth enjoying and reflecting back on. It is so important to find things in those more "mundane" weeks to be thankful for and enjoy because honestly, a life that is dramatic and thrilling every week is exhausting. I cannot believe that I am about to start week nine and here's to finding joy in all the little things and the ups and downs and in-betweens of life. 

So thankful for those of you who continue to keep up with my blog! Have a great week!

Not Done Yet- Week 7

 Hola!

Well to say that this week didn't go as expected might be an understatement... but let's just get right into it and you'll see why.

   Day 44:

Started the day off by catching the 8:08 tram to school. A difference of 15 minutes really isn't that bad until that is applied to the morning of course. I met up with Charlotte to take the tram and once on it I noticed a few people who I thought were some new kids to our program so Charlotte insisted on going to meet them while I watched our seats. This made me feel kind of ridiculous as she pointed me out and introduced us, but we walked with them to the USAC building to meet up with Luis and Veronica to find our new classes and it was nice to talk to them a little bit. It's kind of weird, but I feel like the new additions are like freshmen coming on campus back home even though I was in their same position just a few weeks ago. My class was fine, we are working on the verb "gustar" mainly and I feel like I have learned that like 50 billion times before but it's fine. This session I am the only one in the level of Spanish class that I am taking so I am taking it through the language school on campus rather than through USAC. This means that the class is full of students from all over the world. There are a few others from the US, five students from Ukraine, one from Singapore, and a couple others that I can't recall. This class doesn't run on the same schedule as USAC so I came in technically a day late and I will get a three-day weekend that the rest of them won't. This definitely has its positives and negatives. Later in the afternoon, we met up with the new kids and some of those of us that are still here from the first session to hike to the top of the castle, just like we did at the beginning of our session. It was humid!!! The new people asked a couple times if this was how it had been all summer and if we got used to the humidity...I said that they didn't even know the worst of it yet as we have all been warned that July and August are painfully humid. So we will see. That hike had us all sweating before we even hit the castle part. It ended up being really beautiful just like it was the first time, the view really never does get old. It was also nice to get to spend some time talking to the new students.

   Day 45:

Today was another simple day. Early morning tram to sign up for the weekend field trip before class and then I actually had to find my way back to the random classroom I was in the day before. Class was kind of fun though because I got to communicate with some of the Ukrainian students in Spanish. It's not that they do not speak English, but it was wild to me that neither one of us was using our first language and yet we were able to talk to one another. Breaks are a bit lonely as I do not speak any Ukrainian and that is the majority of what is spoken, but that's ok sometimes sitting and not saying anything is nice. I went home and had lunch and for once actually felt like I was communicating with my host mom in at least 50% Spanish and we were having an actual conversation. I went back to my room and polished off the blog from last week and then got some things done around my room until my planned phone call with Megan that night. It was so nice to catch up with Meg, we talked for around 2 hours as we usually do hahah. It was from this point on that it all went downhill.

   Day 46:

Started the day off pretty early, though I'm not sure that the day before really ended. I went to bed with a runny nose and slightly scratchy throat, but I figured that I could just sleep it off and I would be fine in the morning. The only problem was that I never really slept. I would fall into a hazy feverish dream for an hour or so and then wake up just to try to struggle back to sleep. Around 4:30 am I knew that I had a bad fever and was not going to be able to sleep this one off. I texted my mom asking her to give me a call, knowing that it was early evening there so they would be around. She called me and I immediately started bawling crying. I think I scared both my parents quite thoroughly with that one as they couldn't see me and could only tell I was crying from the darkness of my bedroom. When I could finally speak I told them I had Covid though I really did not know that to be true at the time and they tried to convince me otherwise. I had an at-home test on hand though so I asked if they would stay on the phone while I took it so that I wouldn't just watch it for 15 minutes by myself. We spent time catching up on things and even got to see my little Lula (though I'm not convinced she understands who I am through video chat). Sure enough within minutes, the positive line showed up. I had COVID. This sent my mind spinning about all the things that were about to get a lot more difficult. Luckily I am a pretty healthy person with no underlying conditions so my health was really not my worry at all. I hate missing classes and this is my first time being sick and not within a few minutes' drive from home. This was going to suck, but mind you it was still like 5:30am here so there was really nothing I could do until the morning. I stayed on the phone with my parents for a while longer and then tried to fall asleep before my alarm went off and I could text my director and host mom what was going on. I got a phone call from Luis shortly after my text and he told me that everything was going to be alright, but I needed to be very careful at home and that I could come back to class as soon as the symptoms were gone and then I would just need to wear a mask. He told me to ask my host mom if she had some medication which I later learned was just the Spanish name for acetaminophen pretty much to just get rid of the fever. My host mom brought that in and then took my temperature and showed me it as it read 39.2...if you are like me and most Americans, this means a whole lot of nothing to ya she told me what a good temperature was, and then when she left I proceeded to google the conversion and turns out it was somewhere around 102 degrees Fahrenheit. So yeah I was not crazy, I was definitely sick. I spent the day taking long naps and breaks from those to eat food. I also got to talk to Hailey on the phone for the first time since getting here and got to catch up about a lot of life things good and bad for both of us. She obviously made the comment that I of course would get covid in Spain after dodging it so many times back in the states for the past 2.5 years. That's just how it goes I guess.

   Day 47:

Set an alarm this morning just in case they decided to send me a zoom link to attend class through and sure enough, they did. This was probably good though because it got me to get up and take a shower and put some different clothes on. All good things that greatly get neglected when you are sick. I did not miss zoom school though! Three hours on class was quite painful when all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. It's ok though, I got through it and then spent the rest of the day reading, watching movies, talking to Ellie on the phone, and even doing a little bit of homework. I really struggled to fall asleep this night though I could not tell you why and so then I started looking at event coordinating jobs in Waco which is its own rabbit hole for another time.

   Day 48:

This was Saturday morning so I did not set an alarm or anything and just slept as long as I wanted or rather my body would allow me to. I was quite bummed to be missing the field trip today, but instead I started off my morning by finally watching last week's message from The Well. Then I had the largest pile of mashed potatoes with salmon and peas for lunch. Honestly could have done with a lot fewer potatoes and peas, but I always feel bad if I leave anything on my plate so I ate it all. Then I watch a couple of movies and talked to Ellie and Nolan for a little bit, read my book, worked on my travel journal, did the rest of my homework, and then went to bed and that was really my day. My host mom did seem a bit worried that I had not left my room in like three days but honestly, this is an introvert's paradise.

   Day 49:

This morning I woke up and layed around until my host mom came in to tell me that she was going to the beach with a friend and that there was paella in the fridge for me to eat for lunch. She asked if I was going to go for a walk finally today and I assured her that I would because I knew that would make her feel better and would probably be good for me. I figured I might as well kill two birds with one stone though, so I planned to get some footage for my video assignment as well. After getting those videos I decided to take random streets back home and just try my best to move in the right general direction. I think that this was the first time I really let myself just wander with no real purpose to where I was going or when I would get there. It was good for me. I got back and showered and put away my laundry. I took some time to lay down and then got to work on this. That is where we are now. I'll watch the Well service live later tonight and get ready to go back to school tomorrow I guess.

How do I even seek to sum up a week like that? It certainly was not what I would want or wish on anyone, but it is what happened. I am so thankful that no one around me has come down with it and that really covid was not that bad for me. A lot about my study abroad has been defined by covid and that goes as far back as last October really when I learned I would not be studying abroad in the spring. It only is consistent that I would continue to have it be a part of my experience. I am also so thankful that I got it now rather than last week or in the weeks to come. Other than not getting it at all I do not think there was a better time. So here's to the fact that covid may be a part of my college years, but will never be the only thing that defined them.

God is so good, even when life feels icky.

Love you all!

Changing Things Up- Week 6

Hola!

Week six marked the end of the first session and many things that we had started to finally be comfortable with! Whether that be friends, professors, or classrooms you get the idea...things, as we knew them, were about to change. For those of you who know me well, you know that I HATE change, especially sudden changes that I have not had time to process and figure out all the possible outcomes. This was a week of preparing for changes that I knew were coming and unfortunately also dealing with changes that I was not prepared for in the slightest. 

    Day 36:

Monday was a very easy-going day, I had class and then my normal routine after I finished. Then Piper and I went to coffee at a cute bookstore. I knew that Piper was a big reader, so I surprised her with where we were meeting up and that was so fun. For one of my assignments for the job that I have for the summer, I have to make a video of people's experiences while studying abroad and why someone who is trying to decide if they want to should do the same, so I got a chance to video interview Piper for this. She is a journalism major so she understands the struggle of getting people to sit down and answer a few questions in front of a camera. I spent the rest of the afternoon booking a couple more things for our upcoming trip, went to the beach with Charlotte and that was really it. 

   Day 37:

This was our last day of instruction! We came back from class I had lunch and took a nap, made a Quizlet, and then met up with Skylar to study for our finals at Luceros Coffee. We had plans to go out to dinner that night as an adios dinner with our first session friends so I just hung out at Skylar and Charlotte's place and watched The Bridge to Terabithia until we were ready for dinner. I had amazing pesto pasta and a glass of wine. It was so good!!! and from where we were sitting, I could see the castle so that was cool too! After we finished eating, we went down to the beach to watch one of the last nights of the firework competition. It felt like the fourth of July, just on June 28th I guess hahah. 

   Day 38:

Finals day!!! I honestly was not really stressed about this final but I think even tests that you are confident in are slightly nerve-racking. I went in and we took the written part first, and then when we had finished that, we went outside and had thirty minutes to prepare for our oral exam. The oral portion could be one of 2 different interactions that we were supposed to play out based on whichever card we drew. Of course, there was one that we were more confident in than the other so we wanted that one, but neither of us wanted to be at fault for picking the wrong one. After hesitating I finally drew one... and it was not the one we wanted:( We cannot really complain though as we both got 95% on it. On the written portion I got a 99/100 for an overall score in the class of a 99%. So not too shabby if I do say so myself lol. After class Skylar and I walked over to the mall that is really close to campus just to see what it was all about. It looked and felt very similar to a mall in the states, nothing super special. We even got Dunkin' Donuts while we were there. After I got home and had lunch, I was originally supposed to meet up with everyone at the beach, but then after going back and forth for a bit, Skylar and I decided that it was time for her to learn how to play Nertz and then she taught me a card game as well. I went home for dinner, finished packing my things, and then I wanted to go to bed early because we planned to meet at the bus stop at 4:50 the next morning to go to the airport.

   Day 39:

Skylar and I met up at the bus station about 10 minutes before it was supposed to arrive. We started to get concerned when it wasn't there on time as it was the first bus of the morning, but eventually, it showed up and we hopped on for the 15-minute ride to the airport. When we got to the airport, it was honestly not that busy so it was just a quick trip through security, and then as we waited for the plane we got to watch the sunrise. Not too bad a way to start off a trip. We flew into Brussels and immediately had to start trying to figure out the public transportation system, once we found the station we had 5 mins to catch the train, or we were going to have to wait an hour for the next one. We managed to pull it off though and we're definitely very proud of ourselves for that. We went and dropped off our stuff at our hostel and then went exploring. Found a cute specialty coffee shop and had some great cappuccinos and conversations. We had lunch plans to meet up with a girl from Spain that had spent the summer with Skylar's family when she was in high school.  She currently is living in Brussels because she works in the European Union Parliament as an assistant to a Spanish politician. After lunch, she gave us a special behind-the-scenes tour of the parliament building in which we got to walk on a floor not open to the public, take a picture where all the politicians from all over the world do when they come and have a special view of the room that they vote in. We definitely felt pretty special. We stopped at a coffee shop in a park on our way back and split another cappuccino and a lemonade. Then we walked to the Grand Palace. while walking there it started to sprinkle, but really wasn't too bad, but before we knew it the downpour started, and we were not prepared. We sought out shelter in a waffle shop where we got our first waffle of the trip and attempted to dry off a bit. After finishing up here we knew that we need to head back to check into the hostel and find dry clothes. It was quite a ways back so we stopped at a souvenir shop in which Skylar bought a plastic rain poncho and thus turned into a smurf, but at least she was a less wet smurf. Running through the streets of Brussels, dying laughing we eventually made it back. We spent the next while unpacking and then hanging out downstairs playing cards and Skylar even taught me how to play chess. I lost, but I wasn't too bad at it for my first go around. We found a place to grab some dinner after this and I got my first Belgian beer and some sort of meatball dish with "frites" and mayonnaise. We finished up here and went back to the hostel where we met a lady from Singapore, I believe, and talked with her for a while before going to bed early because we had a train to catch the next morning and we had been awake since like 4:15 that morning.

   Day 40:

We got on a train this morning and went to Bruges which is a small medieval town in Belgium about an hour by train from Brussels. We immediately headed to a breakfast place that I had found online before, called Brunch & Books. It was the cutest little restaurant full of books and the most amazing waffles that I have ever had covered in maple syrup, whip cream, bacon, and bananas. We walked around town and saw everything that we planned to which included the most picturesque town square full of beautiful buildings and horse-drawn carriages. We walked slightly out of town and found some windmills where we sat in chairs getting slightly drizzled on, made a bird friend, and talked about who knows what. Contrary to Skylar's belief, it started to rain so we headed back toward town and tried to stay as dry as possible. On our way back I found the most beautiful lace shop and museum. It was absolutely gorgeous. We also meandered our way through various secondhand shops enjoying the many different things they had and the coverage from the rain. Skylar gave in a bought a second plastic poncho at some point during this as she didn't think that she was going to need her other one. We went on a canal cruise and it was breathtaking. we went under some bridges that if I had straightened my posture completely I probably could have hit my head on, and saw graceful swans swimming in what they refer to as "lovers lake". When we returned to the dock, there was a flea market happening just on the edge of the canal so we had fun looking through all the random things and trinkets that each booth had to offer. We made our way to the chocolate shop next and then got a snack at the shop next door and spent a while talking with the owner who was from Nepal. It was very interesting, though it did not seem like he thought very highly of the United States so that was kind of awkward. On our way to find a bathroom, we saw signs for a free harp concert that was starting in 20 minutes, so we figured why not and went on in. It was soooo cool. The guy not only played a classic concert harp but played a multitude of different harps, a lyre, and other instruments that he had designed and built. We grabbed a light dinner and played Rummikub at a pub before catching the train back to Brussels. It was a magical day!

   Day 41:

Woke up and grabbed some pastries on our way to catch our train for Amsterdam. This was about a three-hour train ride but it honestly went by pretty quickly. We got into Amsterdam around 1:30 went to check into our hostel and then figure out where we wanted to eat. Skylar found this place called Social Box and after a bit of hesitation from me, we went. It was sooo good! I got a breakfast sandwich that was a sausage patty, thick-cut bacon, a hash brown patty, a fried egg, and house-made ketchup all on a brioche bun. It was amazing! We hung out there for a bit and then started to wander around town. We saw the Auschwitz memorial and the separate Holocaust memorial. I honestly had not even thought about the fact that we would be sanding on soil that had so much history although I should have because I did know that Anne Frank was from there. We walked some more and made a stop at one of their local flea markets just as they were starting to pack things up. Next, we stopped for me to get a fresh stroopwafel. Then we found a cheese store that had some free samples and a giant Lego store/ museum. Later we stood in Dam square where we watch a street performer that did some interesting stunts like juggling sharp objects while standing on some sort of scary contraption. That night neither of us was hungry and I was really tired and did not really want to do anything so we sat in the hostel lobby and then eventually went to get food and when the place that we wanted to go was closed, ended up in a Chinese restaurant. One thing I did learn while we were there was how much of an Asian influence there is in the Netherlands. This is because in 1602 the Dutch East India Company was formed. The Dutch people were so taken with not only the spices but also the beautiful artwork and textiles that came from Asia. Anyways, I had fried rice with pork and chicken on top and it really hit the spot. We went to bed pretty soon after. It is a good thing I was really tired because sleeping in the sketchy-looking hostel would not have happened otherwise. As a whole, if I'm being honest, I was ready to leave Amsterdam and never come back, but that was not an option.

   Day 42:

Woke up this morning with a game plan! We had tickets for the Van Gogh Museum at 11am, but it was a good 30+ minute walk there from our hostel so we broke up the walk by stopping at a coffee shop (and not one of the ones that sell weed but is just disguised as a coffee shop) and I got my new go-to apparently of a cappuccino and an oh so buttery good croissant (which by the way I have decided that I am going to learn how to make croissants when I get back to the states)! We also stopped on the way for Skylar to get a stroopwafel as that was what she was craving for breakfast. The Van Gogh museum was so interesting! We also paid the extra 3.50 each to have the audio tour guide and that was so helpful and interesting for background on some of the main pieces and facts about his life. After this, we walked to an open-air food market where they have a bunch of permanent vendors serving up all kinds of yummy dishes. I even go to meet up with my friend Demetri from high school as he is studying in Amsterdam for 5 weeks. It was so nice to see him for the first time in almost three years and catch up on so many things. Kind of wild that we would meet up in the Netherlands, of all places!! Demetri and I split a flight of 5 different kinds of bitterballen which is really just the Dutch version of croquettes and we each got a falafel wrap and a beer. It was all so good and flavorful. After lunch, Skylar and I walked to Vondel Park where I sat and people-watched for a couple hours and Skylar took a nap. On our way to dinner after the park, we ran into a random concert that was doing a bunch of Bob Marley covers. It was honestly pretty entertaining. For dinner, we went to a restaurant that served classic Dutch cuisine. I got in English terms, mashed potatoes cooked with different things in them including sauerkraut, carrots, and spinach with a smoked Dutch sausage on top. I'm not even going to try to write the actual names of these dishes. Then Skylar and I shared dessert of Dutch apple pie and poffertjes. Then, surprise, surprise we walked some more. This time we were headed to our evening canal cruise. We learned a lot of fun facts and had a great time just taking in all the views. On our walk back we stopped in the same spot in Dam square and there was a man playing the piano this time. We are really confused about how he got the piano there with all the cobblestone ya know, but it was beautiful nevertheless. Then off to bed, we went. 

   Day 43:

Last day in Amsterdam! We knew that we wanted to grab breakfast and then really just head straight to the airport as we knew that it would likely be very busy. We went and got some classic Dutch pancakes that fill the entire plate! Mine had bacon and apples cooked into it too! It was amazing! We took our time here and then headed to the train station to begin the travel back home. We arrived at the airport about 4 hours before our flight thinking that we were really on top of things, but this is where it all came crashing down. The flight that we had scheduled was no where to be found on any monitors or in any system. Turns out that this flight didn't exist...this airline doesn't even fly out of this airport... we were really screwed (sorry for my language lol). So we started searching for our next plan. We knew we needed a new flight, but the question became whether we should fly to where our connecting flight was in Birmingham or fly straight to Spain and take a bus from Valencia back to Alicante. We ended up deciding to book the tickets to Valencia just to make sure that we didn't have to do this all over again. Then just when you think that things are all good and well even minus the many euros that those plane tickets cost, we got in the line that was about two hours long just to get through security. Luckily, we made friends with a pair of sisters from the Netherlands in this line and just spent time talking with them about random things which honestly helped the time pass so much faster. In the back of our heads though, we knew it was still possible that we might miss this new flight as well so we were just doing our best not to cry and to think of all the good parts of the last 4 days that we had had. When we finally got through security we had to RUN and I mean RUN to our gate. The flight had been delayed and thank God for that, but we just made it in time to line up with everyone as they entered the plane. We booked our bus tickets as we stood in the line to board the plane and could finally breath a sigh of relief that we were going to make it home. We landed in Valencia and had time to charge our phones and grab some food at the airport before catching a taxi to the bus station. We hopped on the bus and then 2.5 hours later pulled into our beloved city only 15 minutes later than our original flight plan would have gotten us there. I walked in my apartment to a very tired host mom who had made me a sandwhich and asked how my trip was. I immediately said thank you of course and then hopped into the shower to wash off a terribly stressful day and went to bed as I had to catch the tram at 8:08 the next morning!

This is where I will stop for this week even though it is technically halfway through the next week, I know that this post has a lot going on!

So, now you see why I started off this post with change...change is not something that I avoid entirely, but something I deal with in my way (well if possible). Saying goodbye is never easy, especially with people that you really aren't sure you will ever see again, but just took some major life steps with. Dealing with places that are uncomfortable or honestly just full of things that hurt your heart, is also not my first choice. Having to make quick decisions about how the heck you are going to get home that cost a lot of money, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. But you know what all these changes have in common??? They force me to not rely on my own strength, but that of the Lord. I cannot and will never be able to handle life on my own and sometimes against my greatest pleas, God chooses to remind me of that. So turns out that change ultimately can be good, just depends on your perspective!

That's all for now!

Love y'all!