Dia a Dia

Here's a picture of my room! That bed is Sara's and that other bed that's in the bottom right corner is mine - our room is small but it's actually not too bad... we have a lot of shelves and a table with chairs to study at... it's cozy!



Here is a picture of Toledo. I went on a day trip there with school last weekend. It used to be the capitol of Spain, and it has a really rich history. It was fun wandering the streets and seeing the cathedral. It's cool how every small town in Europe is filled with history - buildings are beautiful and old and they all have stories behind them. Luckily, we had a Spanish professor from SLU show us around - and he knew EVERYTHING. It was sweet.

Topic change - It's funny how the LDS people gravitate to each other... of course ever since I've come to Spain I quickly have been keeping my eyes and ears open to figure out where to go to church, etc. etc. But... it's just crazy how small the world is. It turns out that the dean of St. Louis University-Madrid is the bishop of my ward. Also, another guy who works at the school (and this school is tiny) is in the bishopric of the ward I went to last week.

I've met both of the other SLU kids that are LDS without too much effort, and then today I met two other girls who are here studying through different programs... one's from Nebraska and another is from South Carolina. We all met the bishop together and figured out the institute classes and stuff. I'm looking forward to institute... I miss taking scripture classes, and plus it'll be a great place to practice Spanish and meet some Spanish people my age. My school is mostly Americans, which is fun, but this weekend I realized that I need to make a more solid effort to practice Spanish and to make some Spanish friends. I already can see that time is flying here, and if I really want to get better at Spanish, I need to make as many efforts as possible to speak it.

A final topic - it's crazy how much life changes here day to day. Some moments I'm feeling entirely overwhelmed, others I'm just perfectly content. Yesterday my roommate and I went to Retiro Park to study - it's HUGE. We brought a little picnic lunch and camped out under a tree to study and eat. It was so relaxing! I also have days where it feels like my emotions are on a roller coaster- there's so much to process in my brain - the language, meeting new people, classes, exploring, planning, and trying to keep it all under control is sometimes a little exhausting. But the experiences have been incredible too - every day I see something completely interesting and new. I guess I'm not used to life being so unpredictable. Life seems surreal here - going to class, for instance. It's odd to walk around Madrid and think - I live here. Ok, so temporarily, but still. Going to church all in Spanish. Ordering in restaurants foods that recently I didn't even know existed. Talking about "American Girl" dolls with my SLU friends at a jazz club last night. Going to a Picasso exhibit one afternoon and then eating at McDonald's. Everything is a mix of old and new, the unfamiliar and the comfortable, feeling scared and confident. Somehow, it all comes together at the end of the day. :-)