Arriving In Madrid-traveling to Sevilla-First week in Sevilla! This is gonna be a long one=)

Well here it goes... first of all i should just let you all know that i am not planning on doing one of these everyday but i will try to keep ya up on the important Jesus stuff thats happening and all the awesome other traveling adventures that happen to me.

Day one in Madrid.

I arrived in Madrid and lost a bag on the first day... Fran(a student from 2 years ago that was foreign exchange at CCHS) met me at the airport (by the way i was all decked out in my cowboy outfit...Hat, boots, SPURS, Levis Jeans, big belt buckle, patterned shirt... ya know legit outfit) and took me to the hotel that we were staying at down town. I met his mom and she was great! It was so awesome to get to see Fran again... we have both grown up a lot he is not the same Fran i remember=) But then i got settled in and we took trips with ISA or International Studies Abroad... we have like 60 students in Sevilla and we all got taken to famous museums in Madrid like the Prado and the royal palace and stuff which was so great. The history here is just too much for my little mind=) hahaha

Traveling to Sevilla.

We stayed in Madrid for a few nights then packed up and went to Toledo for the next few days. I have been getting to know a bunch of kid in the midst of all our bus rides and everyone really likes hearin stories off the ranch... like when an elk fell in our pond and died and killing rattle snakes and tanning the hides... hahaha its fun tellin all the city kids about the country they love it=) But Toledo was great... took a run to the castle on top of this hill that was like 2 miles from our Hotel... it was kinda sketch and i should not have prolly been runnin so late all solo like i was but i knew no one else was down so i just ran up and watched the sun set... most def the memory of the day! (P.S. I know i am bein real brief about stuff but i got a lot on my little mind and tryin to get it all out is kinda hard... i have a terrible memory and i really dont want to overwhelm ya with ALL the details=)

Trip from Toledo to Sevilla.

This is where the sickness all started. I have bee carryin around a camel back backpack and fillin the 3 liter bladder everyday, so everyone was gettin real thirsty in Toledo so i was lettin everyone bit Norbit (Norbit is what i named my backpack, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER because i refer to Norbit quite often) and was drinking out of Norbit. Turns out someone had the flu bug and sure enough i was lucky enough to get it day one in Sevilla.

Moving in and settling down.

So we are pullin into Sevilla and my nerves are gettin itchy with the whole meeting the family thing... i have been prayin so long for this moment and i really want the family to be lovable right as soon as i meet them ( expectation number one) so i am gettin off the bus with my room mate Matt Covey (who i will tell ya about later) and lookin for my host family with my cowboy hat on so they know im the one from Wyoming, hahaha, it worked! A nice lookin guy comes up to me and his name is Alfredo and we introduce eachother and hug and its great! WOW am i stoked... he is so great! I love him already, i then get my bags hit up a cab and get gome to a place called Callie Rosario Vega which is in Triana. We haul our bags to second floor where the first thing i experience as i walk in the door is gettin smoked in the face with a wall of fuma... in spanish that is smoke! Now this is no bueno for sure... I HATE SMOKE more than anything. But we are shown our room which is a little 14 ft by 14 ft room with 2 beds, one closet, and a table, totally white room and totally a little hot cave! Its so hot all the time! We unpack and settle in then get out pics and tell about home in my awesome 12 words of espanol! First night was feelin ok, a bit overwhelmed with it all and really irrated at the moms chain smoking nature. The one and only thing i put on my house sheet was that i DID NOT want a family that smoked that was it and i got a mom that was born with a cig in hand... don't know what God was thinkin on this one? But had my first Spanish dinner and last spanish dinner at like one in the morning with Matt, it was a bacon cheesy noodle pasta dish with bread and a tortilla, which is an egg and potato dish thing. Went to bed feelin a little sick... then progressively it got worse as i didn't sleep but an hour that night.

Day Two in Sevilla.

Woke up with a nasty feelin like someone just donkey kicked me in the gut. Didn't even attempt breakfast! We had a meeting at like 10 at Plaza Neuva which is a park about a mile from the house. So Matt starts treckin out of the house with me draggin behind him feelin like im gonna vom in every trash can along the way. Get to the park and start walkin around and i really aint feelin any of it... so i tell the leader of the pack im gonna hit up a taxi for home cause im not feelin good. All the students from ISA were really concerned, one of my friends was like, man where is my little beam of sunshine, your all depressed today! And i was like i know im mucho enfermo which means very sick. So i hit the 5 dollar taxi ride home and start blowin from both ends and decide i need to get to the hospital before this turns into a nasty beetes( thats what i call diabetes= beetes) attack. Qui Que the man from ISA comes to the house and takes me to the hospital and im feelin like absolute trash at this point. So they take me to the back and i get IV, 5 bottles to be exact and get 4 more bottles of pain med stuff... haha so im doin pretty alright at this point. NOW HERE IS A FUNNY STORY... so a girl came in about bottle number 3 when the pain was still prevalent. I kept fallin in and out of sleep and i would wake up and mumble to myself "Pain, pain, pain" or look down at my IV and be like "Freakin Crap" because i kept bleedin out my IV. I had no idea anyone could hear these rants of pain let hahaha let alone understand what i was saying... i was very wrong! The girl next to me could and she helped me out later with translating what the doctor was saying. Haha Qui Que had left the room and when he came back i was talkin with Inma.. which is pronounced Eeema... and he asked her if she wanted to be my intercambio (which is someone who you hang out with and do ISA activities with and who teaches you spanish and who you teach english too) she wanted to be my intercambio so i was pumped ( and yes she is very pretty... this was why i was even more pumped haha ... even though i was sittin in a hospital in Toms shoes, silver sport shorts and a vee neck white T lookin like an American bum!) But anyway she has like 11 years of english so that pretty rockin to say the least! But anyways...... got done there and went back home feelin real good! 2 HOURS LATER at about midnight.... my body is back to square negative one! feelin like crap, gut wrenched all which ways and no sleep for little Yack (Yack is how they say Jake here in sevilla)

Day Three.

I got maybe an hour of sleep and im not feeling good... the only important thing about this day is that i slept.... a lot... and was still not eating and in a lot of pain.

Day Four.

Still not eating and most def not feeling the best but i have my first day of classes. At the University of Pablo De Olavide i am studyin "Hispanic Studies." My class schedule is this. Monday and Wednesday i have a Civilization and Culture class at 1:30-2:50pm and then History of Spain at 4:00-5:20pm (my professor for this class is my favorite and she has perfect english which is nice, her dad was american and her mom was Spanish) Then on Tuesday and Thursday i have class from 9:00-10:20am Elemental Espanol which is totally taught in Spanish, pretty hard class to say the least=) Then i have History of Spanish Art from 10:30-11:50am. AND we get EVERY friday off here in Spain because its just what they do=) LOVE THAT! So that is my schedule and it really is pretty hard even thought its only 4 classes. But today i felt real sick so i went out and laid on the lawn, the lawn feels like you are layin on bark chips and should not be considered a lawn at all!) But i was layin on the lawn napping and Rebecca Steele told be she was going to look for me today and so i thought i heard someone call my name from my slumber, i looked up and sure enough it was her. I had been sleeping for like 3 hours on the lawn and felt pretty good so she took me to her house and i thought it would be ok to eat since i hadn't eaten in the past like 2 or so days, WHAT A BAD IDEA. I hit up some beef, pasta, salad, and really good bread... then about twenty minutes later the food came to life inside of me and i felt worse than i had ever felt before. Got on the metro and went home just in time to vom everything up. Tried sleeping for a bit and that didn't work... mind you this is day 3 of being sick... so i called Ana from ISA and she took me back to the hospital. This time instead of givin me an IV they just poked me right up in the back of my man business (my butt) with some pain meds and told me to go home and not eat for another 2 days... not wanted news in the least bit!

Day five

Nothing exciting besides school and the fact that im not eating. Somethin that was awesome about today is that i got to talk to my little bro... Levi got skype and i saw him on so i called him=) It was so good to get to just see him and talk to him about school got to say hi to devo and some people i met while i was there... told be about all the crazy stuff that has been happening on campin trips and little adventures he has been havin.... haha college is really lovin the lil fella=P But it was really good to get to talk to him! I love him and i totally was missin him so it was good to skype him=)

Day six

Still not eatin and woke up feelin really crummy. So i called Ana back and she took me to the Doctors office and this is when she finally told me i had a severe case of a Gastro intestinal Virus. She gave me some pain meds and i went on my way. Tonight i had yogurt and an apple with no peel... rations for the day.

Day Seven

Feelin ok and getting to still only eat yogurt and apples without peel.

Day Eight

Wake up and eat the usual yogurt and apples go to school and meet new people drag through life... getting by with the mental goal of knowin i will be in my bed layin down in within hours at all times. Something else that has been really good is takin like 15 minute showers and havin the water rain down on my fragile little stomach... this is a BIG problem in many ways. For example, they only take 3 minute showers... 5 at the MAX... i pre occupy the bathroom for 30 minutes to an hour(depending on if i fall asleep=)) and last but not least i take like 4 a day at like 4 in the morning when i can't sleep in my boiling lava hot cave, AND on top of it all i cant tell them why i take all these random showers, so...... they think im nuts when it comes to showering=)

Day Nine

Having soap and yogurt and apples today. Pretty stoked...was supposed to go to church but just was not feeling it at all. I was really home sick today! Wow i really just needed mom to come give me a hug and make me feel better i was really bummed that i could not go to church and i just was really not feelin good at all... and really wanted to just talk to my family. So i called at around 930 am and thought i was callin moms phone... which i was... but my dearly beloved pappy picked up the phone and it caught me by surprise and about started cryin i was so excited to hear his voice=) but i only talked to him for like 30 seconds then i ran out of minutes!!!!=( very sad. Waited around all day and didn't get to talk to mom till really late... but non the less I GOT TO TALK TO MY MOMMY!=) I was really excited and that really made me feel better=) Just seein her all cute in her little church outfit made me really miss her but really glad that i could see her and talk to her=) but then i hit the hay=)

Day ten

School started back up and i am only starting to feel a little better. Gettin little sip sized amounts of power back from my rice soup and now little bits of bread diet. But school is worthless for me to go to because all i do is drag through the classes. I get done for the day and go home and start checkin my facebook and this whole time im sick i have been checkin and wow i am just overwhelmed by the amount of people prayin for me and lovin on me from so far away. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS AND CONCERNS!

Day eleven...

Nothing special... went to school on the metro which is just been finished, and is really expensive... it cost me 3 Euros a day to get to school and back. Take that times about 4 days of school a week since we get fridays off, that endes up bein like 500 dollars im goin to spend on the train by the time i get out of here! not real stoked about that at all!

Day 12...

Today im way pumped because today i woke up and im feeling really good and i FINALLY get to start havin real food. I go to school and it was nothin special... took my usual nap on the wood chip lawn... then head home and get ready for the Salir Con Espanoles... which means we go out with our intercambios! Yeah i was pumped first time i am going to get to go out in Sevilla since the day i got here! We met up with my little group from ISA and then Inma and her friend came and we all went out and had some tapas... which is like a small meal and snacks and beer or somethin like that. Then the fun stuff hit when we went to Yogurt Land. Its a little frozen yogurt place that a new found friend named Pablo works at and owns. While i was in there Pablo introduced us to a guy that was from the States and so i all went up and started talkin to him and his girl... his name is Daniel and hit girl friend is from Italy and i don't member her name=S but i got his number and as we were kinda leavin he goes "Hey man give me a call some time and ill take you out to a beer" then i said "Well i don't drink but i will for sure go out and we will most def get together!" Then he was like o.... what are you a Christian... i was like yeah i am=)... totally thinkin he was gonna start doggin on me... but then he is like no way me too!!!! TOTAL GOD MOMENT!!!! So he started askin about church and stuff like that and i told him i was doin a bible study every tuesday at 5 at the starbucks at the Puerta Jeraz stop. So he told me he would for sure come! what a sweet moment God rigged up for me that night to meet Daniel, im pretty excited to see what happens! But anyway all our group is startin to feel the disco scene around about midnight so we go to this new free club called the Catidral. We all get in and the place has like 30 peole inside... hahaha i didn't care i just wanted to dance.. so i grabbed Inma and we totally hit up the dance floor rockin the country swing... o yeah baby it was a total hit! I got to dance with all the girls in our group and started crampin from lack of real mobilization in the past 7 days and the sickness so i had to give it up around like one! Dropped Inma off with her friend at her beautiful home and then walked like 2 miles home from where i was=) GREAT first night out!

Day 13...

Went to school and didnt feel too bad but was way tired since i stayed out till two and had to be up for 9 oclock class at seven. So i went to school and came right back home and slept for like 4 hours=) it was perfect! Missed getting to go out with Martha and checkin out her pad but i needed to sleep. But i called mom again today and just got to chat about some stuff that was happening around the ranch and what have ya... she said i was lookin pretty thin and i hadn't really notice till she said somethin but i really have prolly lost ten pounds... not ok when ya don't have ten to loose. But im gainin it all back and then some i hope=)

Day 14...

School. Then i met up with Fran at like midnight and he took me to a park where people were just getting hammered so i left after like an hour... not my fave thing to do...watchin people get hammered and smoke a ton of ciggs!

Day 15...Sep. 19, saturday....

Woke up and had a whole lot of nothin to do... so i started this blog and met up with Darby Pushic... the Missionary that i have been in real close contact with since i have been here. We met up at Plaza Nueva and had a scavenger hunt that basically was a hunt to learn about the post office how to mail stuff, where some sweet places where around sevilla and the like. It was really good, then we all met up, all being Megan and Andrea-the two interns here for Darby, two missionary kids, and Rebecca Steele and Jen her diabetic room mate=) All of us met up and just chatted for a bit. Then Martha a lady that works with the students at the University of Sevilla took Megan, Andrea and i to her house for dinner. Wow was it good! Yellow rice and chicken=) Then we all got to tell our stories of how God got us to Sevilla, it was so awesome to just see how God had knit us all into the same blanket called Sevilla=) Then i went home around 11 and Linzi my friend from New mexico skyped me and said they were goin to go out and meet there intercambios for tapas and just chill out for a bit. So i got dressed and went with them. It was about ten girls and me.. all from ISA and the intercambios never shoed so we all went for tapas and all the girls shared like 5 bottle of wine between the ten of them and just chilled out. Then they all were like we should go out and find a nice little bar. So i was thinkin we were goin to go to a little bar have them get some beers loosen up to go to the club... turns out i was very wrong. The bar ended up bein where they loosened up and got their dance on at. So i joined in and had a dance with Linzi=) Haha we were dancin in a little bar/club-but more bar than anything. Got done with the song and a guy comes up to me shakes my hand then another walks over shakes my hand and was like... " you are a very good dancer... my friend is not gay, he is heterosexual but he wants to dance with you" HAHAHAHA i was totally blown away... and even more shocked when his friend stepped forward looked me straight in the face and protruded his hand for a dance=P wow... was i taken aback and i was like sorry buddy the only person i dance with is her and i pointed at Linzi... he was totally bummed! I could not keep from laughin though! After everyone was done at the bar the hetro guy and his 2 friends took us all to this river side club=) it was way awesome but i had a friend that needed to go home so i told everyone goodbye and took the next 2 hours havin an adventure finding her house... ended up finally takin a cab and getting her home. Then i walked a whole 10 minutes back to the club and couldn't get in so i walked back to my house which was like 4 minutes from the club. Got to the door to find that i had no keys in my pocket... they fell out on my pocket somewhere in the two hours of adventure i just got done having. So i yelled up to Matts window and was like WAKE UP MATT!!!! Pointless! So.................... we live on the second floor and it was parked right below our 15 foot deck so... yeah i did... i got on top of the car and jumped and grabbed onto the ledge and pulled myself up to the outside deck... Problem number 2... the shades where down and it looked as though they were locked down. Haha but i wasn't about to sleep on the deck so i got up to it and start to lift up on it... get it up about a foot and someone yells something from the inside... "Crap wrong house im thinkin... all i can do is say "Its Yack its Yack it Yack...." i finally realize it is Pepe... the oldest son and he is up at 5 in the morning chatting online! He was freakin out when he lifted up the blinds and i just go up to him and give him a huge hug and then act out what i had just done=) He was way surprised prolly way more so then me... i thought i was goin to be sneakin in=) THOUGHT WRONG!!! But it was like 5:30 before i finally got to bed and i have to be up in 5 more hours for church=)

FINALLY WE ARE UP TO DATE