Standing in Awe

I feel like Cinderella when the clock strikes midnight.  Dad got here and somehow I knew it was all over.  The spell that I have been under for the last two months has been broken, my secret is out, and now I am on a train riding away from where I have called home for what seems like so long.  It has been a weekend of ups and downs.  I had a really hard time packing up my stuff and saying goodbye to my family, while at the same time having tears of joy to see the familiar faces of dad and uncle Mike.  It’s funny because with my own insecurities playing in I wasn’t sure if Maria Carmen was really sad to see me go, but when I came to pick up all of my stuff and hand my keys into her, we both cried.  I strangely felt so loved and also felt a lot of compassion for her.  The family take a lot of risk and sets themselves up to be hurt by hosting students all the time, and yet they continue to put themselves out there and allow people into their hear...

As you can imagine this week has been a roller coaster.  I have gone through so many emotions and at many times I was having a hard time even identifying them.  I was really restless, distressed, sad, excited, stressed, and everything in between.  I am going to be really sad this afternoon when I come to the house for the last time to get my stuff and have to say goodbye to Maria and Monolo.  They have really treated me as one of their own and it seems strange to think I literally only have a few hours left living here.  In spite of all of this, God showed up huge yesterday and comforted me in so many cool ways.  Wednesday I was feeling really sad and lonely, and while getting cupcakes with Lauren we both cried, but miraculously I woke up on Thursday so full of joy I could barely contain myself.  After finishing my exam I headed to the beach, where unfortunately the wind practically buried me in sand, but the waves were big so it was fun none the less....

I am going to warn you up front it was a very eventful weekend, so this is about to be the longest post to date. To begin my four day weekend we had a scheduled trip to Calpe and Altea, which are two small villages up the coast from Alicante.  After a two hour tram ride followed by a short bus ride we arrived in Altea first.  We wandered lazily through the sunny streets of the small village lined with white houses to contrast the deep blue water.  We climbed up to the top of the town where the blue roofed cathedral sits as a beacon.  Staci, Lauren, and I stumbled upon a wonderful little cafe with homemade cakes and pastries and of course had to stop to enjoy them.  We were enjoying the shade and the quaint sleepiness of Altea when we were suddenly jerked out of our dream state by Sergio announcing that it was time to head back to the train to go to Calpe.  Staci, Lauren, Amanda and myself all had plans to head to Barcelona so we knew that we would not hav...

So again it has been a while since I have posted.  I have realized that I really have to be in the mood to write to actually do it.  So finally here we are.  This past weekend our group headed to Valencia which is the largest and most important city in this province.  There were a lot of cool things about the trip.  For starters I rode on my first train!  If you have facebook you can see me reading Harry Potter because it felt very much like the Hogwarts Express (minus the redness and the fact that it was not going to Hogwarts...)  After a short ride we headed into the city and just meandered through the small winding streets.  At first glance it reminded me a lot of Alicante, with a lot of the same stores and restaurants, but bigger with much prettier architecture.  Each time we turned a corner it seemed as though the surrounding structures were more and more beautiful.  The attention to detail and care for the aesthetic is something I...

As the title suggests, it has been a week of confessions.  Confessions to myself, to my friends, and to my family.  I had to finally admit to myself this past week that I was homesick.  I missed Eight Point Lake, I missed summer at home, I missed 4th of July weekend, and I really missed all my friends and family.  Not that I still don't, but I have sense gotten better.  It was funny because I was pretty sad last week with homesickness, but then I was looking at my planner and realized how little time I have left here in Spain, especially Alicante, and my family here and became sad all over again ha!  The time really has flown by and I am going to miss my family here a lot.  I feel like I am really getting comfortable here and now I am leaving. Another one of my confessions was confessing my flaws to my friends here.  This was also a confession to myself.  I have talked to a few people about this, but I think that God has really been making ...

As the name suggests, yesterday was Independence Day at home.  It's funny because I have never considered myself very patriotic, in fact I have been somewhat anti-USA for a while.  That being said, I did give in and wear red, white, and blue, and even ate at an American restaurant.  All in all it went out without a bang.  The restaurant was really bad, and we went dancing after which was fun, but nothing special.  It was somewhat comical because you could pick out seemingly every American in Alicante yesterday, even more than usual.  The highlight of my day was probably when I went to class and my friend Alexandra handed me a little card that she drew that said "Happy 4th of July!" and two packs of gum that are red and blue.  I do have to say that it is making me miss 8 Point Lake even more.  I think this will only be the 2nd summer I have ever missed the 4th festivities.  I know it is super corny, but for some reason I love it. In a differ...

It has been a big weekend!  In case you are living under a rock we won the Eurocup last night!!!!  WOOT! No hay dos sin tres!  It was experience let me tell you.  We headed to the same neighborhood as usual to watch the game outside of the bar on the TVs that are conveniently facing the outside for the spectators.  The energy was insane, people screaming, painted faces, red and yellow everywhere, and my personal favorites-4 older women on the balcony above coming out and screaming every time Spain scored a goal and eventually scouring the apartment to throw down candies!  After our valiant 4-0 victory over Italy the streets were electric with people hanging out the sunroof with Spain flags, chanting and smiles as wide as the Mediterranean.  In spite of all the madness I went home and went to bed seeing as I had class at 9am this morning. Back tracking, Sunday morning I finally made it to church.  After waking up late and rushing, and ma...