Not all who wander are lost.: Lagos.

So much time has passed since I've updated! Not even sure where to begin. Life is going smoothly. We only have a week and a half left of classes for the intensive month. I'm really going to miss my teachers! Seriously, they are both so great. One, whose name is Sole, is so funny and always makes awkward comments and awkward eyebrow raises and always tells us that what we're saying means something sexual in Spanish. This literally occurs everyday. The other is a major hippy and always plays new music for us at the beginning of class. She also showed us this YouTube video the other day, which I thought was very thought-provoking. Hopefully, my new teachers will be just as great!

Today in class, we had to present a newspaper article in Spanish, and of course, I picked a ridiculous one. You can read it here. Basically, it's about how 50 Cent went to Africa for the World Cup and saw the famine that's going on and decided to create an energy drink to raise money for the kids. The name of the drink is StreetKing, and it has its own website. Cracks me up. What a boss.

Last week, we finally took a tour of the Alhambra, which ended up lasting about four and a half hours. It's a beautiful palace that was constructed by Moorish rulers in the 14th century. It was taken over by different Catholic Monarchs after the Reconquista and has Christian influences in the architecture and design as well. It's a very popular tourist attraction in Granada and has over 7,000 visitors a day! We walked all through the gardens and the palace and climbed to the highest tower and took tons of pictures.

Katherine, me, Megan, and Nadia in the Palace of the Generalife.

In front of some other palace, this time w/ Katie and Tori.

Of course, I asked everyone for a group pic.

Thursday, there was no school because Granada had a holiday to celebrate the Patron Saint of Granada. People came in huge numbers and lined up down the street to put bouquets of flowers in front of one of the churches to celebrate. It was really pretty, but kind of a waste of money if you ask me. In Raíces that night, we studied the first chapter of John (Juan). It is incredible to experience the Word of God in a different language; it gives you an entirely new perspective on the text and the writing is absolutely beautiful. It's amazing how alive God's Word is, how we can study it our whole lives and never stop learning new things! Some of the Spanish girls there invited us to the beach that weekend! Which was so sweet of them. Sadly, I couldn't go because I had already planned to go out of town. Which brings me to my next point...

LAGOS!

Such a great trip.

Caiti and I woke up at 5 a.m. on Friday morning to walk to our bus stop. We rode a charter bus 2.5 hours to Sevilla to pick up more people then 3 more to Lagos. Such a beautiful place! Shane, Adam, and I went to the beach and tanned while most of the other people in our group went on a Sangria Cruise; we didn't want to pay an extra €25. Then we went to the hotel, showered, took model shots on the cliffs, and the bus took us into the middle of the city. We ate at this fun place called Nah Nah Bah, which was rated one of the 50 best burger places in the world! Best pineapple-bacon-burger of my life. It was better than Bahama Bob's. Some guys from Britain all wearing matching t-shirts came that were throwing their friend a bachelor party and asked us to think of a crazy task for them to do. We suggested taking a shot of hot sauce; the younger brother ended up having to do it. They were nuts. After eating, we went to a huge dance party with everyone in the DiscoverGranada group, and the tour guides bought everyone drinks. All the girls danced together and they played a bunch of fun spanish songs; it was seriously so awesome. I think this was my favorite day in Europe so far.

The beach right outside our hotel.

Fun picture in da ocean.

Model shot :)

At Nah Nah Bah. I'm going to Italy with the two girls to the right!

Saturday, the guides drove us to la Ponte de Piedad, which had a lot of the caves and we took lots of pictures. We chilled on a different beach than yesterday all day and got ice cream. (Sidenote: I had ice cream three times this day, nbd.) Caiti, Kate, Hilary, and I went really far out in the Atlantic ocean and skinny dipped! Haha. No one could see anything. It was so fun. That night, we drove out to the southernmost part of Portugal to see the sunset. It felt like you were standing at the end of the world; there was nothing but huge cliffs and water as far as you could see. The wind was blowing like crazy and my hair was such a mess and it was freezing, but so incredible. I got dinner with Adam and Shane afterwards and we had a long deep convo for about 2 hours. I really found out alot about some of the people on this trip, their backgrounds, their beliefs, their struggles. It made me realize that I've definitely been placed here to shine Christ's light to everyone around me. I'm not here to blend in with the world, but to show a different aspect of Christianity that most people don't see, don't truly live out. If you're reading this, I'd like for you to pray for the people I've mentioned in this post by name. And also for me :) I need it desperately! We went back to the hotel early and did homework for a little while before bed.

The Ponte de Piedad

Best frands.

Epic, right?

Adam and I at the end of the world. I put my hair in a little

bun cause it was blowing everywhere!

Sunday, we went SURFING. My first time ever. We put on wetsuits and grabbed our boards and the guides gave us a short lesson beforehand. It was so fun! Super difficult, but totally worth it. Everyone needs to try it at least once in life. We arrived home around 2 am on Sunday night, and I was so tired for class the next day. Successful trip!

Me and Caiti! :D

They were heavy, so we carried them on our heads haha.

Last night, the English Women's Bible study group had its first meeting. There were only four of us, but we spent two hours talking about our walks of life and how we ended up in Granada, Spain. Next week, I think we will actually begin studying Colossians. I'm super pumped.

Me and my new BFF Ashlee from Texas! Notice

our opposing fútbol team chip bags.

This week is pretty busy already! I have a mandatory meeting for ISA tomorrow at 4:30, then Raíces at 9:00, and maybe a movie after. Friday afternoon, twenty of us are going on a hike in the Cohorros Canyon with some of the ISA directors. We are staying in Granada this weekend, and next weekend is our five day trip to Italy! Super pumped. Hopefully, I will be able to update again before then! I love you all so much. Hasta luego! :)

Edit: I forgot, I had a request from Rebekah for pictures of my home!