Bonjour!

Last weekend some friends and I traveled to Paris, France and later to Brussels, Belgium for the weekend and two school days. This was the first and most spontaneous trip I've ever taken before in my life. So, I was a little nervous about it all before, but I'm so glad we went. I had an amazing time!

We got to Paris without a plan of what to see. All we knew is that we wanted to see as much of it as possible because none of us had ever been there before and we only had two days there. I'd say we did a pretty good job of seeing all of the things Paris has to offer. We went to all of your typical Paris tourist sites; the Eiffel Tower, Lourve, Musee d'orsay, Versailles, the Garden of Luxembourg, Arc of Triumph and Champs-Elysées.

After visiting Paris, we took a five hour bus ride to a neighboring country, Belgium. Two of the girls I was traveling with have a friend in Brussels, Belgium so we went there to visit and stay with her. I really did not have a clue what Belgium or Brussels had to offer us. All I knew was that Belgium was famous for chocolate and waffles. While in Brussels, we saw some really cool architecture and buildings around the city. While there, I also learned that Brussels is not only the capital of Belgium but also of the European Union. Interesting, eh?

So I figured I would give y'all a top ten list of Paris and Brussels instead of boring y'all with every detail of our trip...

10. Ryanair. A cheap European airline that got us to and from Paris and Brussels. There are no perks to this airline--you don't even get a complimentary drink or snack. And I'm pretty sure they don't have a first class section. Regardless, they got us to and from places for a cheap fare so we like them.

9. Paris Metro system. It got us around the city every day and night. Not to mention, it was inexpensive and somewhat easy to follow. If you are ever in Paris, use it but just don't lose your metro ticket. It'll cost ya.

8. Garden of Luxembourg in Paris. It is a park filled with people, young and old. It has many paths, tennis courts, playgrounds, the Statue of Liberty, benches and greenery. For lunch on our first full day in Paris, we had a lovely little picnic on one of the benches in the park. I love to people watch so I loved looking at all the different people in the park. And you'll never believe this.... but WE MET ANOTHER AGGIE!!! Yes, it's true! We asked a man sitting with a friend near the Statue of Liberty if he would take a picture of us in front of it. He started to talk to us and asked us where we were from. He informed us that his friend that he was sitting with actually studied at a university in Texas, called Texas A&M University. Suzanne and I immediately freaked out and told him that that's where we go to school! He called his friend over and we chatted with him about A&M for a bit. He's from France and studied abroad at Mays Business School for a semester. Aggies are everywhere. Gig 'em.

7. The view from the top of the Arc of Triumph. We went up there at night and saw the entire city of Paris with all of it's beautiful lights.

6. The Eiffel Tower. It may be cliche, but it is a site that everyone should see. At night at the top of every hour, the tower sparkles for five minutes. It's pretty cool.

5. Crepes. Yuuummmmm. Paris really does have the best crepes. I think you can get one with almost anything you want in it.  I got three or four crepes the whole time I was in Paris and I think the best ones I had were just at a little carnival crepe stand. Gosh, those were so good.

4. Belgian waffles. Like the crepes in Paris, there are also several waffle stands in Brussels. You could put an array of items on top of the waffles, such as strawberries, bananas, kiwis, chocolate, nutella, whipped cream, etc. I chose to put strawberries, bananas and white chocolate on top of mine. It was so delicious.

3. Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium. It is a beautiful plaza in the center of Brussels. It's surrounded by beautiful architecture and buildings. I think I read in my Rick Steves travel book that it was one of the best plazas in Europe. We loved it so much that we sat down in the middle and had a picnic.

2. Versailles. I had always heard about Versailles but I had no idea that it was going to be this pretty and interesting. I thoroughly enjoyed the palace and learning more about King Louis but I think we all agreed that we enjoyed the gardens surrounding the palace more. The trees were trimmed so nicely and looked perfect and there was grass everywhere. We spent hours walking around and that day we walked over 43,000 steps (thank you, pedometer)!

1. Going to the Louvre and Musee d'orsay. I loved having the opportunity to look at a lot of the pieces of art that I studied in high school. Seeing them in person felt so surreal to me.

More life updates coming soon!

Hasta luego sweet friends!

A picture's worth a thousand words, right?

So I realized that I have yet to post any pictures on this blog of the daily sites of Granada and those outside of Granada.. So, here ya go....

The Sierra Nevada mountains

I walk down this gorgeous street everyday to and from school

The river I live near and walk by all the time (the name of the river escapes me at the moment..)

View of Granada and the Alhambra as the sun sets

How cool is this sidewalk?! They put so much time into the sidewalks here

A beautiful plaza near my home away from home, Yogurtlandia..

Enredados=Tangled. It's showing here right now!

More pictures to come...

Love,

Kelli

Psalm 51

Oh hey blog!

Oh hey blog!

My apologies for not writing sooner, my blog followers!  I can't tell you how many times that I thought about blogging but let other things get in the way.  I'm very sorry.  But, I did somewhat make a mental list of everything I wanted to tell y'all about.  Let's see how much of it I remember...

Last weekend, our program (13 of us) headed to Sevilla and Córdoba.  We spent a day in each city but saw a bunch of sites.  We dominated Sevilla as we headed to the Plaza de España, Alcázar, Catedral and la Giralda tower, Plaza de toros, Torre de Oro and Barrio la Triana.  My favorite was Plaza de España, which is a huge, gorgeous plaza that is dedicated to the entire country.  The plaza boasts tile representations of Spanish cities as well as a grand building.  Supposedly a scene from a Star Wars episode was filmed there? (I might be totally off on that but I thought that's what our host mom told my roommate, Suzanne and I...)  Nevertheless, Sevilla is awesome and if you ever venture to Spain--go to Sevilla.  On Sunday, we headed to Córdoba and visited the Mezquita, which is an old mosque built by the Omeyas, an Arab family.  The Thursday prior to visiting Córdoba, I learned all about the Mezquita in my art history of Spain class so I knew a lot about the Mezquita before visiting it! I love when information you learn in class comes handy in the real world. Haha!

I'm really loving Spain, especially Granada and I think I'm finally getting adjusted to everything! Whoop! I cannot emphasize enough how much I truly loving walking everywhere here. It is so awesome and no matter where you walk, there's always a gorgeous view to see! And since everyone walks here every day, it's inevitable that you'll run into someone you know.  Two Fridays ago, me, Christina, Suzanne, Pam, and Alex headed up to Sacromonte, a neighborhood in Granada on top of a hill.  We went there in search of the perfect place to watch a sunset because we heard that Bill Clinton witnessed the most beautiful sunset of his life near this neighborhood.  We didn't find the specific spot he was talking about but we did stumble upon four (yes, four!) people that we knew while venturing up to this area and a wonderful spot to watch the sun set.  I just couldn't get over the fact that we saw 4 people that we knew on our way up there! It was crazy.

Turns out that Bill Clinton has seen the most beautiful sunset of his life here in Granada but not in Sacramonte--but at a place called San Nicolas.  I will definitely watch the sun set from there at some point and report back to you all about it.

This past Friday, several friends and I headed to Nerja Beach for some fun in the sun (ok that line was a little cheesy but we did have fun while in the sun)! We took an Andalucian (the southern region of Spain) bus down there.  Round trip it cost us about 17 euro! Not bad considering the ride was 2 hours and this bus was nicer than a CoachUSA bus.  Nerja was absolutely beautiful though.  We laid on the beach for hours soaking up the sun and the gorgeous view of the Mediterranean Sea that was right before our eyes.  After a successful day at the beach, we each enjoyed a cone of gelato. YUM.

Gelato is so common here in Granada, well southern Spain, really.  I feel like I'm in Italy or something.  I've realized that I actually enjoy gelato (and frozen yogurt) more than the ice cream that we have in the US. (Sorry, Blue Bell...)  On another food note, I don't know if I've mentioned this or not but I really love oranges now.  I rarely ate them in the US, but here I eat them almost every day.

I have to give a shout out to my girl, Alex! Alex is a friend in my program who is from Wisconsin.  Suzanne, Christina and I (the three Aggies) have told Alex ALL about the great state of Texas and the wonderful university that is Texas A&M University. We've pretty much made her an honorary Aggie.  Whoop!!!

Gotta go! It's dinner time.  Dinner at 10pm. Gotta love it.

Ciao!
Kelli

Isaiah 61

no pasa nada

No pasa nada. My new favorite expression. I love it; so much so that this post is all about it. I think I might say it in response to everything-if not aloud, in my head. It means, don't worry about it; it's all good. Spaniards say it all the time. I'm not joking-they really do. I learned it my first day at the CLM (Centro de Lenguas Modernas; where we take classes) and have heard it everyday since. I'm getting used to this "no pasa nada" lifestyle that everyone lives here; it doesn't seem like anyone is ever stressed!! Incredible; such a novel concept. Since this is my new expression, I'm sure I will write it many times in my blogs..hope that's ok!

After an adventure-filled weekend in two Spanish cities, I'm exhausted and I have to be up in a little over 8 hours so, I am headed to bed. Tomorrow, I will post a longer entry on everything that has occurred since I last blogged. Please stay tuned!

Love,
Kelli

the first week.

Hi friends!

So I realized that I have not updated this in a few days so I apologize!  I am doing well and things have been great!  I am finally able to sleep at night without tossing and turning for hours so that is a praise! I’m incredibly thankful for the pedometer I got for Christmas (yes, I asked for a pedometer for Christmas).  We walk everywhere and it records my steps, miles walked and calories.

This past Monday, we took the placement exam that determined what level of Spanish classes we should be placed into.  After debate and doubt of my abilities, my test proctor placed me into level 5 out of 9, which I was fairly pleased with.  Classes began on Tuesday.  This semester I am taking, Spanish Literature, Art History in Spain, a grammar class, an oral/writing class and a Latin American Culture and Civilization class.  All of my classes are taught in Spanish so it’s inevitable that I will comprehend much more Spanish (I hope).  I’ve seen several Aggies around campus (whoop!) and met some fellow Texans from UT as well.  I’ve also met several people from other states (there are a bunch of people here from Iowa which I find kind of random).  Unfortunately, I have homework in my grammar and Spanish literature classes, so I will actually be working on some homework this weekend.  The school week is relatively short here because we do not have class on Fridays!!!!  This is something I could definitely get used to…

Since we didn’t have class today, Suzanne and I decided to explore Granada some more.  I feel like I’ve done this everyday since I’ve been here because I walk everywhere and each time I always see something new.  Today one of our destinations was a park.  I can’t remember the name of it because Suzanne looked it up and found it on the map.  The park had fountains, some trees, a lot of concrete and little grass (haven’t seen much grass in Granada).  After the park, we walked around some unfamiliar (to us) parts of Granada and learned what else the city had to offer.  We met up with other people from SOL and toured the Cathedral and La Capilla Real.  La Capilla Real is where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried.  Did you know that Isabel was a lot smarter than Ferdinand?  Yep, she was.  Before and after the Cathedral and La Capilla Real, I got frozen yogurt (yogur as they say here).  I haven’t had frozen yogurt in such a long time (hence why I had it twice) and it definitely hit the spot!  It was at a cute place called Yogurlandia.  If you’re ever in Granada, Spain---go there.

Things I’ve realized I like thus far: Kiwi—it might now be my new favorite fruit.  Ham—not a huge fan back in the States but it’s delicious here.  Olives—I can’t believe I’m actually saying this because I normally find olives disgusting.  I tried a green olive last night (I can’t remember the Spanish name for it) and it wasn’t half bad.  The meal schedule—breakfast is pretty light (normally toast and coffee or something similar), followed by morning merienda (snack), lunch at 2-3 (biggest meal of the day), afternoon merienda (snack) and then dinner around 8-9 and sometimes 10 at night.  The Spainards have really got this down.  Yogurt drinks—(just like the Danactive ones in the US!) I’ve had several since I’ve arrived in Europe! Sooo good.

On another note, everyone here looks like a fashionista.  I’m not joking!  Seriously, everyone looks like they just walked out of a photo shoot for a fashion magazine.  Even little kids dress nicer than I do!  I’ve seen multiple little girls wearing knee winter boots, colored tights, a long pea coat and a scarf.  They are so precious!

Also, did you know that Apostle Paul had the intention of traveling to Spain to share Jesus there? I didn’t until I read Romans 15 yesterday.  Check out Romans 15!

I miss you guys.  Love to all :)

Ciao!

Kelli

Las Primeras Dias en Granada

Hi sweet friends!

First, thank you so much for checking my blog and for your curiosity of my life and adventures in Granada!  This trip to Granada is my first time in Spain and first time in Europe, as well.  Traveling here was quite the adventure.  I don't think I made for overseas international travel.  I couldn't sleep that well on any of my flights and I got confused in every airport I went through.  I also think that I was the only American on each of my flights.  But alas, I made it!

The first few days here have been good. A lot of adjusting but, of course, that's expected.  Suzanne, my roommate (companera de cuarto) and fellow Aggie, arrived on Saturday so that's been really good for both of us.  We've watched a bunch of American movies in Spanish and I'm convinced that my Spanish has gotten a little better after watching 4 movies in Spanish.  (The movies also had subtitles in Spanish so I had a dictionary by my side so that we could look up words we didn't know.  Came in handy.)  This morning, we visited the Sierra Nevada mountains and they were absolutely gorgeous (Such beautiful works of our Lord!)  A lot of people ski on these mountains during the weekends so it was very crowded.  But nevertheless, it was so fun!

Unfortunately, I haven't slept a lot since I've been here so I'm going to bed.  Tomorrow morning we take the Spanish placement exam so they know what level of classes to put us in.  And classes start Tuesday. Eeekkk!

Love to all!
Kelli

1 Corinthians 7:35
 

Tomorrow!

Hola!

Kelli Fyke here.  Taylor Mooney and I share this blog, however I will be using it to share my adventures, moments and experiences while in Granada, Spain!  But I'm sure Taylor might post a few blogs here and there.  If you don't know Taylor, she is absolutely incredible and you will love her!!!

I am leaving tomorrow to travel to Granada, Spain.  I will be studying in Granada until May 21st.  Why Granada, Spain you ask?  Well, being a Spanish major at Texas A&M (Whoop!), I have to study abroad in a Spanish speaking country.  I chose Spain because I've never been to Europe before and going to Spain just sounded so exciting.  I've been blessed with the opportunity to go so I'm going!

As mentioned before, this blog will be a place where I will write about my experiences while in Spain.  This is my first blog so I'm no expert.  I can't guarantee that every entry will be entertaining or grammatically correct.  Please forgive me.  But, I will try to update as much as I can!

It would be great if you all would be praying for me and this experience.  I'm nervous and a little afraid about everything.  I know that my reasoning for going to Spain is because of studying but I would love for the Lord to use me in this area as a missionary.  Spain is not a very evangelized country.  Please also pray that I will learn and understand the language of Spanish more because I want to be able to master the language so that I will be able to teach it to others sometime in the future. 

Thank you for reading!!

Ciao!

Besos,

Kelli