Ireland!

I’m a little bit late on this one, but my blog wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t write about one of my favorite places I’ve seen so far, Ireland! I went last weekend with my new great friend Michelle from New Zealand, and my best old friend Hannah, who I hadn’t seen in almost a year. The trip started out with a little bit of a hiccup (I think I’ve come to grips with the fact that every single trip I’ll go on will have some sort of incident like this, because we’re in college and amateur travelers….) Anyway, Hannah ended up missing her bus to the Madrid airport and her trip got delayed a little bit. Thankfully she rescheduled her flight and was able to meet us in Dublin on Saturday night. Michelle and I flew into Dublin Friday and took a train to Galway, which is on the other side of the country but only took 2 hours to get there.

It was such a precious little college town, and we were able to go out that night and then explore a little the next morning. It was POURING on Saturday morning, but by some miracle it slowed down and we had really nice weather for the rest of the trip. This is a really, really big deal- it had been flooding throughout the UK for 7 straight weeks, and apparently nice weather is hard to come by in Ireland. We even got to see a rainbow- I think that’s one of those events that you don’t think to add to your bucket list until it actually happens. I may add “seeing a rainbow in Ireland” to mine just so I can cross it off. Unfortunately, we never found any Leprechauns or pots of gold at the end of that rainbow, but the trip was enough of a reward in and of itself.  

Anyway, Michelle and I took a bus tour on Saturday throughout the countryside and to the Cliffs of Moher- what an experience. We stopped at a family farm on the way there (in a village with seven houses) and climbed up a tiny little mountain to see a really beautiful view. The tour guide’s fiancé had her own chocolate shop inside the little country house, and the whole thing was pretty picturesque. From there, we went to the Cliffs, which I honestly cannot believe I hadn’t heard of before we planned this trip. I would go to Ireland just to see them- I felt like I was in a movie. They were HUGE, and there was a beautiful lighthouse at the top. We almost got blown away and half the time I couldn’t see anything because my hair was in my eyes, but even the wind made the experience a little more authentic.

 

 

The bus stopped at an Irish restaurant on the way back, and then we stopped at a castle before going back to Galway. Right away, we got on a train to Dublin where the highlight of the trip was waiting- HANNAH DONOHUE! My little Irish friend had some back to the homeland to trace her roots. It was so, so good to finally see her. That night, we experienced the Irish pub scene firsthand and went to the Temple Bar district- Ireland had just won a really important rugby match against Wales, so everyone was going crazy and it was so much fun. The nightlife is very different in Ireland than it is in Spain, and people were showing up the pubs to party with their parents. Definitely an interesting mix of people.

 

The next day, we explored charming little Dublin- everything was what I had imagined and more. We could walk almost everywhere because the city really isn’t that big, and we were able to see a bunch of different cathedrals, Dublin Castle (which was a little smaller than expected),Trinity College, Stephen’s Green, and some other little sights that I honestly can’t recall at this point. Michelle and I went to a service at St. Patrick’s cathedral, and it literally took my breath away at certain points. There was an all boys choir that sang, and just so much tradition and beauty in the church. That night we went out for another Irish dinner, and explored some more Irish pubs and clubs- such a fun experience and just a totally different feel than any other city I’ve visited. For our final day, we went to the Guinness Brewery and meandered around the city for a while before catching our planes home.

It was a great weekend, and I hope to have many more adventures with each of these wonderful girls in the months to come!

 

Barca Updates

So much has happened over the last few weeks that the dates and times of everything I’ve done are all starting to run together... all I know is that throughout this time I have been filled with so much joy, and am still amazed by the daily adventures here. This kind of joy isn’t just a feeling of contentment, even though the Barcelona life can be pretty blissful most of the time. It’s a deeper kind of joy that I know only comes from the grace of God, and it is welling up inside of me as I continue to see the creativity, detail, power and extravagant love that He displays through his creation. We live in such a beautiful world, and seeing more of it is molding my perception of the one who made it. It’s also forcing me to come to grips with my own inadequacy and the fact that I don’t deserve any of this, it’s all a gift. Just a few thoughts, but here is a quick overview of what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks:

   

 

-School (the reason I’m here, even though I sometimes forget that): Classes have actually been picking up a bit, and I’ve had a lot of papers and presentations. I also have to start studying for my only exams of the semester that basically determine my grade, thank goodness these classes are pass/fail! My classes are all in English but a majority of the students who take them are Spanish… I have SO much respect for them for wanting to improve their English because most of the time they aren’t that fluent, which obviously makes the class ten times harder. Before I left, a lot of people talked about how lazy the Spanish are with respect to school, but that hasn’t been my impression at all. I think I’m the lazy one this semester, and I don’t mind at all. YOLISO (you only live in Spain once :)

-The Beach: This may be my favorite part of this city. I was skeptical about it at first because it’s still winter and I can’t exactly play in the waves, but I have loved just being able to sit on the beach and read, or be with friends, or watch the sunset. I’ve also been taking a Beach Fit class in the mornings at 7 with my good friend Michelle. The only motivation I have for getting up is the unreal view of the sunrise, but let’s face it, today I overslept… nothing has changed. Bottom line, the beach is amazing.

  

   

                 Sunrise and sunset in Barcelona!

-Friends: We have met the BEST PEOPLE here- I love our new international friends and am learning so much through them. These people are always excited to explore and hang out and since most of us are Erasmus/exchange students we are all equally in awe of this place. I’ve also met some really wonderful Spanish friends, and they’ve been really patient with my broken sentences and questionable grammar. They’re all trying to improve their English at the same time, so they get it and I feel a lot less awkward. My conversation partner Anna is the sweetest girl around, and I love hanging out with her. My Spanish friends Marta and Clara have also taken me out with their friends, and I really love chillin with the locals. I’m so glad I have more time with all of these people, but I know it will be a tough goodbye. Additionally, I absolutely LOVE the girls I live with from A&M and we have become so close over the past few months. Each of them means so much to me and makes life here more fun. 

   

 

                                                

-Community: I joined a bible study a few weeks ago and it has been like a breath of fresh air. I have really, really missed having one here, and finding this church was a gift. I have a new appreciation for how important that type of support is, and I am looking forward to spending the rest of this semester with this group. Since  I’ve been here,  it has been more difficult than I expected to find the opportunities and boldness to verbalize my faith with the people I meet, and I think I’ve gotten kind of stuck in that- in a place where being a Christian is so rare, it’s hard to know when or how to talk about what I believe. The dynamic here is different than the one in Texas; at home, I meet a lot of “cultural Christians” who show up to church and try to do a lot of good things but often lack any actual relationship with God. That has its own difficulties because most of those people are worn out with religion, or have really distorted perceptions of who Jesus was and what he did. People here aren’t expected to fit a certain religious mold and in that sense the gospel could be fresher to them, but I think a majority of them want nothing to do with anything "religious" at all. Anyway, my prayer is that I will have more opportunities to share with people through these new relationships and that God's love would be magnified, so they would see it as more than religion. Mainly, I’ve come to a deeper realization that I have absolutely no power to change anyone and that only He can (which still doesn’t give me an excuse to be complacent and quiet, but is incredibly humbling.)

Another really, really cool thing I’ve gotten to be a part of here is a homeless ministry. I actually do this through the Erasmus Student Network at UPF and these people aren’t necessarily Christian, but we volunteer through a church. On Thursdays, we take food to people around the city and have conversations with them. There’s also have a beautiful service before we leave every week, in one of the oldest churches in the city. I really love the approach this church takes because these people are just as hungry relationally and spiritually as they are physically. It was like a dagger in my heart meeting them and realizing that every day I pass dozens of homeless people without even looking them in the eye. What a helpless feeling that has to be - to not only have tangible, desperate needs but to feel completely cast out and isolated. It definitely changed my perspective and hurt my heart, and my compassion has grown for these people. I’m really excited to keep volunteering with this group- not really to feel better about myself or less guilty about how much unnecessary stuff I have (because I don’t, and I still do have way too much) but because it’s exciting to be a part of something bigger and to have a venue through which to serve and love people, even if it’s in a small way. 

  

Other notable activities- I’ve been cooking a lot more than usual, partly because it’s healthier and mainly because my parents have given me a budget… it’s about time I learn how to function on my own. Anyway, I took a French cooking class one time with ESN and loved it. Another time, some friends and I signed up for a Spanish cooking class but it ended up being full when we showed up. Instead, we went to La Boqueria and bought ingredients to make our own Spanish dinner. If you ever go to Barcelona, you have to visit this market- it has more colors and flavors and smells (good and bad) than you can imagine, and it’s gigantic. Anyway, if you want to try paella, tapas or sangria I’m your girl, thanks to the help of Jamie Oliver’s online recipes. We’ve done a little more exploring around Barcelona and went to the Bunkers with our friend Rocio a few weeks ago. This has the most beautiful view of the city ever- you can see everything. This weekend, I took a train to Tarragona for the day with some friends. Tarragona is a little town and there aren’t a ton of touristy sites there, but it has a really nice beach, roman ruins and a lot of charm. It was nice to see a more quaint side of Spain but I was happy to be back in Barcelona! I also went to Ireland last weekend- I’ll save that for a different blog.

 

La Boqueria

 

 Our Spanish dinner

 

The Bunkers

 

  Roman ruins in Tarragona

Thank y’all so much for reading this- If you can’t tell, I am having the time of my life here and this is honestly one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. If I’m being honest, in the beginning I was really struggling with the idea of leaving so soon and didn’t think I would have enough time here. I still am in no hurry to leave, but my excitement has been growing more and more to be home in the good ol’ land of the free and the home of the brave. I appreciate so many aspects of my life in Texas more now, and cannot wait to see my family, my friends, and be back in Young Life!  I hope that seeing radically different things here will also allow me to see where I’m from with new eyes, and that God will keep using this experience to shape who I am, wherever I am.