Granada and Carnaval

hello friends! this weekend my program took us to Granada, Spain. it was a great trip! we left at 10 a.m. on friday and got there around 1 p.m. we walked around a little bit and then checked into the hotel. the rest of the day we had free to do whatever we wanted. Granada isn't much of a tourist city, the only "touristy" thing to do is see the Alhambra and we were going to do that Saturday. So Steph and Martha and Alyssa and I (the 4 zetas) relaxed in the hotel room catching up for a bit and then we went out and shopped! it was really fun! i got a jacket and a necklace and some earings for 10 euros! it was fun to just walk around and not feel a ton of pressure to do EVERYTHING there is to do. it was a nice trip that was a break from the hectic trips we've been taking.

Friday night we went out and split a pizza between the 4 of us. We all decided it was okay to endulge in a little American food since we hit our 1 month mark that day. Spanish pizza is different then American but it was awesome! better i think because all the ingrediants are fresh. On the way to get pizza we found this ice cream place with the most beautiful presentation of ice cream i've ever seen. i had to have some! i got so excited when i saw that they had a flavor called Roche after my favorite candy, Ferero Roche. it was incredible! i spent the whole time eating it arguing with Martha about how we are adults now and it's okay if we have our dessert before our dinner =)

after a little pizza we strolled around and met up with some other people in our group and went for some tapas. we went back to the hotel early to get some rest for the next day.

Saturday afternoon we went and saw the Alhambra, an old fortified city/palace. it was so beautiful! the detailing in the archetecture was absolutely incredible! it was awesome just walking around, i felt like i didn't have enough eyes! it looked like how i've always pictures the city in Babylon and other big city communities from the Bible. it was cool.

we got on a bus and headed back to Sevilla at 5. we made it home at 8 and loaded another bus at 9! We went to Cadiz for the night for Carnaval. Carnaval is a huge worldwide spanish weeklong festival. it's a bit like halloween in that everyone gets dressed up. and when i say people get dressed up i'm not talking just the typical costume. these people get into it! there was an entire group of people dressed up like furniture to make a room, a rubix cube, and a toilet just to name a few. during the day their are shows and competitions and at night it's a big party on the streets. we were there from 11 p.m. till 5 a.m. it was definitely an experience. It turned out a lot different then everyone thought. we thought it was going to be on the beach and have stuff to do like tents and shows and food. unfortunately it was just a huge party on the streets with half a million people. i'm glad i went so that i can say i went to Carnaval but i would never go again. It was hard being one of the only few sober people in a crowd of almost a half million. i particularly don't like big crowds because being so petite i'm not in the normal person's eyeline and i get stepped on and pushed a lot. big crowds make me really nervous. And i was wearing sandals as part of my costume and the ground was covered in glass and trash and who knows what else. Steph and I spent a good 2 hours in a very overcrowded burger king waiting to leave. it was so crazy in burger king that there were bouncers. ha. so all in all it was a little less than a fun night. but there were some times where i couldn't help but laugh.

this week will once again be pretty relaxed. we are gearing up to go to Germany this week. i have no idea what we are going to do there but i'm excited for it!

some prayer requests for those of you who are praying hard for me:
1) headaches - i've had a lot of headaches lately, pray that they would stop
2) my back - my back has been hurting a lot lately and i'm not sure what is causeing it
3) patience - i need lots of this! particularly for one of my apartment mates
4) homesickness - i started feeling a bit of this yesterday
5) intentionality - that God would help me to be intentional with the other kids in programs who don't know him.

thanks everyone! i hope you all have a great week! -ash

best Valentines day ever

hello all! well, steph and i successfully made it to Belgium for Valentines weekend. it was so much fun! we got to go to a flamenco show the night before we left. flamenco is really cool! the dresses are crazy and the dancing is great. after the show we hung out in our apartment until 1 am when we loaded an overnight bus to Madrid. we got to Madrid at 7 and headed for the airport. our flight to Brussels took at at 9:15 and we got there at 11:30. then we took an hour and 1/2 train ride to bruge and we were there. it was a lot of traveling but totally worth it!

the first thing we did when we got to Bruges was eat a waffle =) and let me tell you, real Belgian waffles are SO GOOD! we ate a lot of them throughout the weekend. our hostel was very nice and we were very tired so we took a little nap before heading out to explore the city a bit. we walked around (it was cold! - about 32 degrees) and bought chocolate. our method for buying/eating chocolate was to wander into a different chocolatier and buy 100 grams (5-7 pieces) for about 2 euro and then we'd eat half of each piece (they were all perfectly two bites). we'd alternate who paid for the chocolates. it was really fun picking out different kinds in the different chocolatiers! i won't admit as to how much chocolate we actually ate this weekend, just know that it was enough to make me sick of chocolate by the end (and that's no small feet if you know the zaepfel women)

we had a very romantic Valentines dinner on friday (instead of on actual valentines) in the restuaurant that was connected to our hostel. it was incredibly yummy! we shared ribs and the chefs pie. it was all really good! the restuaurant was beautiful and candle lit.

then we took a walk down to the canals which were GORGEOUS by night! on our way back this guy from the States introduced himself to us (he saw we were American because of our northface jackets) and we had coffee together

the next morning steph and i had the best breakfast i've ever had. we got 5 pastries from an open market for 4 euro and then went and bought coffee. it was seriously the most delicious breakfast i've ever partaken of. then we went to a church where we got to see a sculpture by Michaelangelo (modonna and child) it was really neat. then we went on a tour of a brewery which was really fun! especially because our tourguide was hilarious! we had made plans to meet chris (our friend from the other night) for lunch at a pancake place. the pancakes in Belguim are more like crepes. they are also really yummy. then we walked to where some windmills are and met a guy named max from the Ukrain. we were trying to take a picture of us being windmills and we asked him to take it. he thought we were ridiculous (which would be a pretty accurate assumption). we asked him to come to dinner with us and chris that night.

then we went to a lace factory and watched little old ancient ladies make lace by hand. it was incredible. i wish i could describe it better then i'm about to. they sat with pillows on their laps with the patterns on them. they would put pins in the pattern and then each piece of thread was on a toggle and they would criss cross the toggles over each other to make the lace around the pins. some of them would have only 6 or 7 toggles but one woman had about 100! it was crazy! they didn't even have to think about it they just threw the toggles over each other like it was nothing. the lace was so beautiful!

Belguim is also known for their french fries so we tried them out, they are also really good. we had more chocolate and more waffles (we ate really healthy this weekend), took a nap, and then met the guys for dinner. There are 2 dueling fry carts in the market square so we got food from them and ate outside. afterwards we went to a pub and played scrabble. that was an interesting experience because our ukranian friend spoke english really well but had no idea how to spell anything. so he was on steph's team =) then he taught us how to play ukranian charades. it was a really fun Valentines.

the next morning we made the 16 hour trip home in reverse. it was a long trip including us having to sit in the Madrid bus station for 6 hours. we got home at 4 a.m. and i had class at 9. it was a little rough but we weren't as tired as we thought we would be.

this week has been very relaxed. recovering from the weekend and looking forward to going to Granada and Cadiz this weekend. we finally got internet in our apartment so skyping has taken up a lot of time this week. it's been really great to see people from home! thankfully steph has a video camera so we can video chat with people back home who have one. steph and i woke up at 3 am this morning and skyped into a sorority meeting. it was the first meeting with the new girls so we wanted to "be there" we were only up for half and hour and then went back to bed. it was really cool to be able to be in the meeting from all the way over here in Spain.

CEA is taking us to Granada Spain this weekend from friday to saturday. then a bunch of people from our program (including some of the staff) will be going to Cadiz or Carneval. it's a worldwide spanish carneval on the beach. everyone gets dressed up so we are going shopping for costumes tonight. i'm really excited! but very glad we have sunday to sleep all day =)

i'll update again soon! -ash

Madrid Baby!

to all of you who recognize the reference to Friends in the title, i hope you enjoyed it =)

this weekend we went to Italica, Roman ruins in Spain, and Madrid. Italica was really cool. we got to see the third largest Colosseum in the world and ruins of Roman mansions. it was pretty neat. the Colosseum was definitely the coolest part and it got me excited to go to Rome! this is steph and i pretending to be gladiators
We left friday night and took a bus to Madrid. the hostel was really nice. we stayed in a room with just the 5 of us and had our own bathroom and got breakfast. it was great. on saturday we woke up early and walked to a temple and wondered around there. then we went to the Palace and toured it. it was sooo beautiful! i want a house like that when i get married (ha.. right) it was gorgous though, and really fun to wonder around a palace! this is all of us that went infront of the palace After the palace we went to this really cute little restaurant and had lunch, it was so adorable! and i had Paella for the first time. it was really good and probably my favorite spanish food so far! then we headed to the Plaza in the picture below and were really confused. the whole place was covered in people who were trying to be statues and things like that. most of them were really cool. except there were three old pooh bears that were pretty creepy.

down the next street we stumbled upon a meriochee (spelling?) band. they were so good! and this little old grandma kept getting in the middle of the circle and dancing by herself. she was really cute. i think she made the singer a little nervous though. ha.
after listening to them for a while we made our way to the Prado. definitely one of the highlights for me of the weekend. we got to see all kind of famous paintings that we learned about in CivArts at Grove City. my favorite was Las Meninas by Valesquez. we spent a good 3 hours plus in there finding all the masterpieces. it was great!

that night we met up with one of my apartment mates friends who are studying in Madrid and we went on a tapas walk that Kristen Pyles recommended. we only went to the first place though because the book didn't really tell us where these places were and we got a bit lost. lost people who are hungry are not the most fun people in the world. so we just went to the first place and then popped in another place for some dessert. it was fun though! we made up our own tapas walk.

the next morning we got up and went to a flee market. it was HUGE!!! i would have loved to spend the whole afternoon wondering through the tents but we soon made our way to the Sofia museum of modern art where we got to see Picasso's Guernica. it was really cool

Erica and i tried to be modern art
then it was just a 30 minute walk back to the hostel, a 10 minute metro ride, a 6 hour bus ride and were home! it was a lot of traveling but a great weekend!!

this week so far has been very mello. recovering from our lack of sleep this weekend. i'm enjoying classes a lot. this afternoon a group of girls are going to go out for coffee and then tonight we are going to this flamenco bar. it's a really cool place. it's got an underground log cabin kind of feel and the dancers are incredible!

thursday night our program takes us to a real Flamenco show and then steph and i will hop on an overnight bus to madrid because we are spending a wonderfully romantic valentines weekend in Belgium! we found this little town called Bruge in a travel guide and just decided to go there. Godiva chocolate is made there (enough reason to go in itself) and they are known for cherry beer. there's also a lace factory we can tour. can you think of a better valentines than one complete with chocolate and waffles and lace? i'm so excited!

i'll write more and post more pictures next week when steph and i get back from Belgium. thank you for all of those who are praying for me! have a great Valentines everyone!

p.s. if you have any questions about what i'm doing or seeing or anything, feel free to comment and i'll try to answer it in the next post.

week 1

hey all, Spain is amazing! i'm having so much fun! since i last posted i have gotten to know where i'm going when i walk around the city (definitely a plus!) and have gone on an excursion to a place called Cordoba. we went there yesterday and it was beautiful! pretty chilly though, it's been raining for the past few days.

our apartment went to the plaza de Espana together on friday, it was beautiful! gorgous buildings and a big fountain in the center. and all the way around it were little nooks that were designed to look like different cities in Spain. it was all made out of tile. GORGEOUS!

i started classes and i really like them all, i think i will definitely learn a lot. i'm excited to really get into the material this week, especially in my popular culture class! we are learning about flamenco dancing =)

this weekend i will be going with about 8 other people to Madrid! i'm really excited!

Everything is going really well. i'm definitely glad that i came here with Steph, we have really needed each other a lot while being here. i'm so glad she's my roommate!

we should be getting internet in our apartment soon so i can post more and upload pictures! (yay!) but for now we are goin to head out (we've been in an internet cafe for a couple hours) and steph and i are going to have devotions together.