Apparently my ability to maintain a daily blog has faded with time. You might think that after a semester and a half abroad during which I wrote daily it would be like second nature by now, but I’m seriously having trouble getting myself back into the routine of writing about what’s going on here. So, once again, this post will serve as a catch-up one.
Thursday was a really busy day for me because after Monday it was the only free time I had this week, so everything got scheduled for “sometime on Thursday.” This meant that I caught up with a few people via Skype after classes, got coffee with one of my friends right after lunch, worked out all of my registration arrangements for next semester, had my class on modern Spain, and finally met with my prayer group that afternoon. It was busy but good, and I was especially happy to be able to figure out my classes for next semester and to see that my schedule should work out to get everything in that I need in the spring.
We had a really interesting discussion about a few Spanish people groups in my modern Spain class, and I loved catching up with my prayer group. Our professors have started assigning our final projects, which is exciting because it reminds me that I only have a little while longer (about 5 weeks now!) before I get to go home, but it’s also a little overwhelming to think of such big projects in the midst of being relatively busy already. I’m looking forward to having the weekend to recover from the first week back and to get myself ready for the tests and presentation I will have next week.
Thursday was also the last day of classes this week because today our school took a trip to Ronda, a beautiful town in the mountains about two hours away from Sevilla. I was grateful for the shortened week and to have time in Ronda to get away from the city and spend time with the other students. Since this week was so hectic, I didn’t get to talk to many of my friends after break, and it was good to catch up with everyone. Spending time like that with the group helped me feel settled in here in Sevilla again. It was almost like I was finally reconnected in every way: now I’ve done a week of classes, lived with Rosa and Corinne for a week, and talked to everyone about what happened during break. Now it’s time to sprint forward…after what I hope will be a relaxing weekend.
In Ronda we had some free time to explore the “new part of town,” which was basically a bunch of shops and a small plaza where we ate lunch. Our professors were going to give a tour of the old city in the afternoon, so after exploring the shops and eating in the plaza, we wandered over to an amazing park to read for a while. We ended up taking pictures of the incredible mountain scenery for quite a bit, and then I settled down with my book in the sun, which I absolutely loved doing.
The tour of the old city was pretty cool, and we were able to climb down into some old caves to the bottom of a super deep ravine where there was an amazing view and a few cool caves to check out. We also got to see the ruins of the ancient Arab baths that were build in the city when the Moors conquered Ronda, and our professors gave us a tour of the bullfighting stadium there. It was all really interesting, and I loved the daytrip.
God certainly pulled me through this week, and I’m so grateful that I can just lean on Him and trust Him to fit all the messy pieces of life together. I’m still struggling a bit with homesickness, but I’m praying for eyes to see the blessings here and an open heart that can be fully invested in the little bit of time I have left here.
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