More Silence than usual

I am now through the first two days of my classes and as I never imagined, it seems there is more Spanish everyday. I don't know if that's me absorbing more of the language or my brain telling me there is an abundance of it and please stop!

It is amazing though, even though it's only been one week, immersing myself in Spanish has been one of the most challenging but rewarding things as well. Although at times I really want to zone out or just wait to chat in English and figure out what the instructions were, I know that would not lead me to my ultimate goal of becoming fluent in Spanish.

I read another friends blog this morning and he said a result is a byproduct of consistently doing right things.

Well, I hope I can do the right thing in my mind, which is to embrace this culture and practice this language as much as I possibly can.

With that said, there have been a few other byproducts of this culture that I was fairly unaware of until spending this past week in it.

Silence.

For the most part, I knew that Spanish culture had a siesta, but I did not know the full meaning or beauty of it until I came to Spain! I feel like I find myself with much more time to be silent and let thoughts calm down throughout my day. It is something in the US I feel is greatly missed and is why I feel many people have stress that just builds and builds.

I know it's a small byproduct but it has significantly made my experience in Spain so much better as I can remain calm and not overwhelmed with goals I would like to accomplish for the day.

See if you can take a siesta today and experience a little bit of silence. It's worth it.

¡Viva España!

Hello,

It's been awhile but figured I would take some time to during siesta to catch up on the recent happenings.

The first two days and nights in Madrid were awesome, my friend Greta and I tried to see as much of Madrid as possible and I'd say we did a pretty good job of the that, the short list includes, El Palacio Real, El Museo del Prado, La plaza Mayor, El Estadio Santiago Berneabau and many other little sites. It was so much in two days but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. It was an incredible welcome to Spain.

Fast forwarding quite a bit I found myself in Toledo. This city is incredible. Enough said. The scenery is one of which no one could have dreamed of. My favorite memory by far, is on the second day in Toledo, my friend Matt showed me and about 4 other friends of ours this lookout at the fundacion. It was amazing. That was the first time we got to lay our eyes on all of Toledo and just think of what this semester was going to bring us!

The people I have met come from as far as Australia and Japan as well as many locals. It all feels like a dream right now but I know we're all here for at least the semester!

This is all for now because I want to go and siesta myself but more in depth experiences will be coming!

Feeling Slightly Reflective

So it's been quite awhile again since I last posted on here but I figured I would use this to blog about the semester in Spain that is ahead.

As I have been stuck with packing up and moving out, I have seemed to enjoy myself. I find that when I am packing and cleaning, it is a remembrance of adventures that I've been fortunate enough to have. I wonder why we reflect on our past? Not just the whole thing, but why do we sift through our memories and seem to make some stay more alive than others. I have heard many say that the scariest points of their lives, the worst points, or the best points stick with them the most. It's interesting to find that in each new person I meet, when I ask them their favorite memory, virtually any emotion can come from it. Sorry to ramble but it's just interesting.

So my big question, what does God reflect on? Does he reflect? What would his best memory be for my life?

I hope as I'm packing up and moving out of the apartment I can see how I've changed and grown throughout the year that I've spent here. I want to just be thankful for the amazing memories I have but also, be hoping that the adventures in Spain ahead will be even better than what I'm reflecting on.


Sorry if this was vague, or doesn't make any sense but as I've found in life, some things just don't make any sense at all and we live with it.

I'm excited to blog about the travel experiences, and hopefully it isn't just an ordinary travel blog!

Reflections and Procrastination

For some reason the reflective mood has hit me. It's no coincidence as I have learned throughout my life and especially in the last couple of years I have attempted to walk through faith in Christ. It always starts when I least expect it....When I find myself in silence.

These past four days I have had the opportunity to house sit/hang out with my buddy CJ and it has been an incredible time of silence and nice break away from the stressful time of finals on campus. I have really been able to think about what has gone on over this past school year.

Here is my short list that has been running through in my mind:

Moving into an apartment, Meeting an incredible girl, going on three road trips in three weekends from Southern Illinois to Madison and then onto Northern Michigan. I then was able to go visit my cousin down in Iowa City while playing some hockey. All the while doing these with friends and having a blast. I then found a love in my girlfriends hometown, just being up in the woods in a place that is unlike anything of where I was raised. Incredible.

If there has been one constant theme of this year, it has been my crave of adventure. I was out of town 9 out of 15 weekends first semester and have been out of town about 5 more this semester. After reflecting on these things and a rather lengthy conversation with Jill about settling in life and what that might mean, I wonder if my crave for adventure will ever stop?

However, this is not the only thought that has really struck me lately. There has been a very literal interpretation of the Bible talked about in church lately. Now I understand Bible and Church are not words people always get all warm over but hear me out. Here is the thought, if it says blessed are the poor and I don't know many poor people? How can I know what that means?

I don't know what this looks like in my life but as I have thought about this more and more, it's been very interesting. I hope my actions follow up.

As for now, finals are just finals at school, somehow the curve is always benefiting everyone I talk to and life is moving. I just want to be living, have this Life in Real Life.

The Semester

This semester or this past month or so has been such a blessing it has been incredible. I've definitely had the high's and low's just like anything but honestly this semester has been amazing. I don't really know where to begin other than a small update. This semester started out with me moving into an apartment with three of my best friends. A couple days later a girl walked into my life, after an amazing first re-introduction that involved me not remembering her at all from last year (yes even after a four hour car ride together), we started dating and Christ has blessed us so much it is incredible. I have also gone through one of the hardest semesters academically I've ever had while playing hockey and some other cool things have been accomplished but enough about me.

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about love and how many times love has either "failed" for people or what they thought was love was nothing close. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had lately where people just aren't feeling loved, aren't feeling worth it, aren't feeling valued. It has been incredibly hard to listen to over and over again. It makes me wonder what is wrong? What is causing all of this? I feel incredibly blessed to have people open up and tell me that but at the same time it makes you question why is it like that? My roommate and I have also had a lot of conversation about how people don't comment each other enough. We are so much quicker to call out someone on what their NOT doing then what they ARE doing. I understand there's a time and place for constructive criticism but I still feel like complements are a rare commodity.

I guess I just want everyone to hear that they are loved, they are worth it, they are valued, and I believe this is through Christ. Dwell in that! I don't know what that means for you but for me it means letting his word soak in. I have so much more that I want to say around this topic but honestly, this is one of the topics that I can't think of anything better to say than just that, you are loved. It's been on my heart lately and I don't know what else to say about it. I'll be praying!

Overheards Part I

So the first few days of the IPod fast while walking to class was pretty quiet. I hardly heard any communication while on the bus or walking around campus so I wasn't too confident in keeping up with not listening to my music while walking but I persisted and today could be the first seed for a huge impact. I've been praying about wanting to do something big, anything at all and today an idea came up. I was walking back from Stats class with my friend Meredith and she asked about my student group Pancakes for Poverty. I proceeded to tell her more about it and that we are struggling considering we've only held one event. She began to talk about her student group and how they were looking to do a big service/charity event and that they had considered an eating contest. BINGO! The ideas were instantly flowing. I had a conversation with a friend of mine over a month ago about having a huge pancake eating contest with prizes for the winners and people sponsoring the eaters for how much they could eat and so I presented this idea to Meredith and she loved it. She is presenting it to her group tonight at their board meeting and we will see if we can figure something out from there! Just as I was thinking nothing was going to come of me not listening to my IPod in hopes of hearing people and most of all spending time with the Lord while walking, this opportunity presents itself. Pray for this event and keep your eyes open for opportunities the Lord will bless you with everyday!

Overheards

Person 1: "What happened to everyone?"
Person 2: "What do you mean?"
1: "Everyone is always hiding behind their laptops or in their headphones!"
2: "What do you mean?"
1: "I mean no body talks to anybody anymore, it looks like the loneliest place ever out here."


It was quite a coincidence that I overheard this conversation as I had some headphones in and was walking right along in the crowd of others who were either hiding in their headphones or behind their laptops, socializing through social media rather than with peers right next to them. Now I love walking to class before a test and putting on some pump up music to get the heart pumping a little bit before a test but I have also noticed that I am not in a position to help serve others or possibly communicate with someone verbally that is.

I've decided recently I need to start being proactive, so after having this experience, I'm going to challenge myself. During the next four weeks, the Ipod is staying at home as I am walking around campus. I think it could be extremely interesting what I may come across or overhear if I'm simply "being" in the place that I'm at, rather than zoning from some music. I'll do my best to post the results daily.