The days after my trip to Paris have been filled with a lack of motivation. There’s something about coming home to a mountain of work that just burst my bubble, and I’m having a hard time jumping back on the bandwagon and finishing things efficiently. It didn’t help that Thursday was another national holiday, so we only had two days of school this week. In all, it was a wacky week that I’m glad to be done with but worried about having to make up for because of how little homework I actually accomplished.
After getting back to Sevilla late on Tuesday night, lots of coffee was necessary to get me through school on Wednesday. No one was really in the school mindset, so it wasn’t a very strenuous day academically, which was nice. After class I was feeling pretty tired and having trouble focusing, so I decided to try to chip away at my sight-seeing around Sevilla to-do list. I headed to the biggest local market and was disappointed to see that it was only open in the morning that day. Then, I walked over to the Torre de Oro (the golden tower), which is a famous landmark, basically a tourist trap, that is located right by my school. My roommate at NWC, Tori let me know that the tower is on the list of top 1000 places you should see before you die. I’m guessing it comes in pretty low on the list because it’s not too impressive, but nonetheless, I climbed the tower, took some panoramic shots of the city, and checked it off my list.
It was still pretty early when I finished my adventure, so I found a new coffee shop and worked on the last of my daily work for the semester. It turned out to be a pretty productive day, although in a much different way than I had planned/hoped for, and I’m grateful for the flexibility with scheduling that studying abroad has helped me learn. I know I’m still not quite relaxed enough when it comes to plans, but I’m thankful for the growth and patience in this area that God has been planting in me over the last year.
Thursday brought with it another day off, which was very weird because it threw off our whole week. I took advantage of the extra time in the morning to schedule one last prayer group meeting, so we all met for coffee and talked about our recent long weekend and preparing to go back home. I had to leave shortly after we finished to meet with Danielle and Shanti, and the three of us headed to the Alcazar, a former palace in the center of Sevilla. Because it was a holiday, the line to get in was immense, so we decided to just check out the bake sale that was going on in the back part of the palace rather than wait in line for an hour. The bake sale was pretty fun…all of the goodies were baked by nuns of local convents, and it was an experience that was pretty typical to Sevilla, so I liked it.
All of the leaders of prayer groups got together for lunch at the apartment of our student ministries coordinator, which was a total blast. We had really great food and just hung out for a while. I needed to leave early to work on my final paper for Romanticism, but I enjoyed connecting with those girls a little more. Progress on my paper was slow, and I was pretty distracted with longing to be at home, but I managed to get some research done before heading home to write my blog about Paris and have dinner with Corinne. In all it was a pretty busy and fun day.
Friday was even weirder than Thursday because it was like a limbo day. We just had a day off yesterday, and tomorrow the weekend starts. Classes slowly rolled by, I spent the afternoon with my intercambio, Raquel, and the evening was spent organizing myself and making a game plan for finishing all of my final projects and tests before I leave next week. I can’t believe it’s finally here, and I’m beyond excited to get on a plane heading for the good ol’ US of A. My afternoon with Raquel was nice, and we were both sad to say goodbye, knowing that it will likely be the last time we see each other. She invited me over to her house for lunch and then took me to a Christmas market her town was holding. It was a lovely afternoon, and I’m grateful for the friendship she and I have been able to create.
The weekend ahead is looking pretty daunting, with one more final paper to write and four final tests to study for, but with God’s grace and strength, I know I’ll make it through. I’m praying that His Spirit would continue to work in me and prepare me for the journey home and that He would help me to honor Him with the few remaining days I have here. While I am fallen and currently lacking motivation, His grace is sufficient for me, and I know that in the end it will all work out for His glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment