Europe: Germany and Spain...

Well, what an adventure... Not sure where I left off last time, but I am not back in the USA. I successfully made my way from Northern Spain where I was visiting friends to Southern Spain and more precisely to Sevilla.. I spent a few weeks there studying Spanish in an excellent language school. I had classes all morning and optional free classes that I attended some afternoons. I went to class with people from around the world to include: Germany, Switzerland, Holland, England, Canada, Denmark, Bulgaria, Japan, and China...don't think I missed anyone... there were some Americans too, but I didn't really hang out with any of them (other than one gal that I randomly met one night who isn't in the school any longer). Anyway.. I really enjoyed studying Spanish and improving my grasp of the language again. It was great to meet people from around the world. I walked all over Sevilla, seeing many beautiful things from architecture to a father steering his bicycle with his daughter riding on her way to school.

I was very blessed along my entire trip with God's favor. I had friends, made new friends, or met friendly people all along the way that made my trip that much more pleasant. I had so many awesome adventures and it wouldn't have been possible without the Lord going with me.. I found my way across cities that I had never been to and had only and address to find. I got to Sevilla around 9PM and made my way into a new place via the bus, got off on the last stop (bus driver recommended it as the closest to the only street name I had), walked with an elderly Spanish couple for a bit getting my bearings, found a small hotel for the night (I'd be moving in the next day with a single elderly lady where I'd stay for the remainder of my time in Spain), and then found the school the next morning (thanks to a map the ladies at the hotel gave me). I enjoyed exploring Sevilla, seeing all the interesting places and back alleys and narrow streets. The only thing I got a bit tired of was exploring these cities alone.. After a while a new old building, gorgeous though it may be, becomes like every other old building with no one to share the excitement.. But, I soon made friends from the school and had a lovely time...

My flight home was anything but uneventful. After an entire trip from the US to Germany to Spain, having no trouble with men, I walk onto the US Naval base in Southern Spain and am offered a ride to the back side of base where the passenger terminal was located. I figured since I was on base and so was this Spaniard all was well. It took about 1 min in the car to realize I'd made a mistake and needed to get out of this car. He asked everything from, "Do you have a boyfriend?", "Do you work here?", "Does your boyfriend work here?" to "What's your name?", "You are beautiful." Yeah, I was done with that pretty quick. I nicely recovered with suggesting that this parking lot was plenty close enough for me to walk from here and got out of the car. On my way out, I guess he thought it'd be okay to touch my butt...yeah, not so much. I was furious and just kept on walking away.. I walked a little ways, then turned around (hidden by the vehicles parked) to make sure he had left and was out of sight. I was then offered a ride by an American lady who upon hearing my story had a few choice names for the ungentlemanly character I had ridden with.. She was head of safety or something on that base and wanted his license plate number..which I unfortunately did not have. It helped to vent to someone who shared my feelings on the matter..

That wasn't the exciting part of my return trip though.. The Lord blessed me once again on my final major adventure with the opportunity to spend over 5 hours in the cockpit of a large Air Force aircraft learning as much about it and navigating across the Atlantic that I could think to ask or they wanted to volunteer. I was wide awake for all but about the last 2 hours or so...in which I was barely awake sitting in the seat watching everything. They let me sit up there thru the landing and everything. It was a phenomenal experience, and the lack of sleep was worth it...besides it helped me get back on this time zone.

Being back home has been nice as well. The day after I got back I rode my motorcycle (which I'd been longing to do for weeks) to the beach to catch up with some college buddies of mine that were visiting on spring break!! I was soo thankful to get to see them while they were down and get to bake a bit with them. Grin...yes, I baked myself to a crisp...my skin hadn't seen that much sun since last summer and now it's a bit tender, but recovering into a tan quickly enough. Since being gone, I've acquired a third roommate. A navy gal in flight school. A very vibrant young lady, who I'm sure will be a great addition to our home. The nice thing is it cuts my rent down just a bit more. Woohoo!!...

well, I guess that gets you all about up to date.. now I'll throw some pictures in since I didn't get to do that my last exerpt!! Thanking God for the iphone that I had with me and all that it allowed me to do just using wireless internet.. I had all i needed and didn't have to carry my laptop around!! PTL!!!