“Only put off…”

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Picasso

This weekend I went to Málaga. It was a 2.5 hour  bus ride. As usual, the trip started out on the wrong foot. We got to our bus with the tickets that we ordered online but we had accidentally bought tickets that were discounted for a large family. We had to buy a whole new bus ticket and then once arriving in Málaga we had to buy our ticket back to Sevilla for Sunday. We finally arrived at the bus station around 17:30. It never occurred to any of us that we would need a map or directions in order to get to our hostel. We were very unprepared. After walking for ten minutes we gave up and I flagged down a taxi. The first time I have ever had to get a taxi! I told the driver the address and five minutes later we arrived at the Feel Málaga hostel. Pedro greeted us at the front desk a.k.a. the bar. He was extremely friendly and wrote down on a map of Málaga all the good places we should go. We put our stuff down on our beds and went out to explore. We walked along the pier where there were many shops and restaurants. We found a restaurant called The Plaza to eat at. We were served four glasses of Cava each. It was great. Then we headed back and went to bed.

Saturday we got up and ate breakfast at the hostel. We then went out to go to the Pablo Picasso Museum and we also saw the house that he was born in. There was also an art exhibit by a man named Ray Smith, from Texas, that were a recreation of Picasso’s La Guernica. It was very interesting. His art work was fueled by the 9/11 attacks. We then went to lunch and then headed to the beach. The ocean was beautiful! It was nice in the sun but it was still very windy making it chilly. The water was freezing! We then went to see the Malagueta sign on the beach. It seemed to be impossible to get a picture of it without any other people in it. This is where we met three German guys who asked us to go out for a beer. We decided to go for it and ended up spending the next five hours with them. We went around to 5 different bars/restaurants. On the walk home to our hostel we walked through the main street there were the Carnival was going on. It was cool to see. People were dressed in this crazy structures with lost of colors and glitter.

Sunday we got up and ate, checked out, and then headed out. We walked to the Alcazaba it was a really cool place, with gorgeous views of the city. We took a million pictures there. We then went to get lunch and ended up eating at Cheers. A restaurant that I have in my city back home! We then just sat in the sun until we had to leave for the bus station.

All in all, Málaga was great!

For Class: Hoaxes

Hoaxes are made up stories about someone or something. They are created by people who have nothing better to do or are trying to be funny. There are times when hoaxes can seem funny and clearly are a joke but there are other times when hoaxes can really affect a person and their career. Hoaxes are mainly about celebrities, a popular topic seems to be celebrity deaths. One hoax that I looked into for class was with Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orlean Saints. There was a hoax posted last year about him being in a car accident and breaking both of his legs. This was completely false but it spread like wildfire thanks to the media. Brees even sent out a tweet saying that this is not true but he appreciates everyone’s concerns.

The whole purpose of a hoax is to get a rise out of people with information that is not true. It is important that we look into these accusations before we further spread them.  

In my opinion hoaxes are a waste of time and pointless.

 

A True Place

“It is not down in any map; true places never are.” ~ Herman Melville

I found a “true place” on Friday that I would never find on a map. I started tutoring English to an eight year old girl named Florencia. This is by far the coolest thing I have ever done because it felt so rewarding. Funny how such a small and simple thing can be the best part of this journey so far. I would give up all the sights I have seen  – all the places on the map that I have been to in order for me to be in this “true place.” 

I can feel God changing my heart. I am terrified at the thought that I am going to want to come back here after college to teach English to young students. Good terrified. I have always wondered why of all places in the world God granted me the privilege to grow up in America when there are thousands of other places I could have been and living in less fortunate conditions. I feel like God is using me through the simple gift he has given me (the language of English) to help others learn it. 

This is what I wrote on the Metro ride home, “I think that after this semester I am going to want to come back to Spain to teach English. God is changing my heart. I am not here to become fluent in Spanish so that I can go back home in May and have an advantage over someone else to get a good paying job. God blessed me with being from the United States in such a way that I should not feel spoiled or take it for granted. What if God allowed me to be from there for such a simple reason – to learn a language that is highly valued all over the world and then to go out there an share it with others! From there He will want me to share His word also in places where people do not know about it. I am terrified, thankful, scared but at the same time I am starting to feel whole. I am gaining understanding why God put me here and what he wants me to do.”

My journey here is all about finding “true places,” not just the sights that everyone raves about. I cannot wait to see what other places God leads me to.

“The Whole Object of Travel…”

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” ~ G.K. Chesterton

Another quote from G.K. Chesterton that I LOVE!! To me this quote means that that purpose of traveling is not to just go to be somewhere else. Traveling changes you as a person and if you do it right then by the time you get back “home” you will have a greater understanding of the world and everything around you. An understanding that the world does not revolve around your culture or language but in fact that we all are the same when it comes down to the root. I think that if you go back to your country and it feels more foreign than every before that means that you learned the things you were supposed to while traveling. Of course it is nice to be back home and feel that comfort but the feeling of foreign and different reminds you to keep an open mind and to experience other people’s lives and cultures and to even do the same in your own. Foreign land is never a bad thing, even if it is your own country.

“The Only Way…”

“The only way of catching a train I have ever discovered is to miss the train before.” – Gilbert K. Chesterton

Over the past two weeks of being in Spain I have learned that this quote is so so true. The only way you actually learn something is to get it wrong the first time. It seems like everyday that I have been here there has been at least one thing that I did wrong the first time. It is a discouraging process. The good news is that the next time I have to do the same thing I will know exactly how to do it. Learning how to do something new or for the first time is never easy. But it becomes exciting and comforting the second time that you need to do it and you know exactly how to. There is only one way to fully learn something and that is by making a mistake the first time, whether it is walking into an office that says “cerrado,” which means closed and not realizing it or trying to load money onto your metro card with cash at a machine that only take credit cards. Life isn’t about the mistakes that you make. It’s about how you come back from them and learn to do things the correct way the next time around.

Introduction

¡HOLA!

I created this blog for my Social Media class. However, while I am studying abroad this semester I cannot think of a better time to be writing a blog. I assume that many of my blog posts will be written for a specific class assignment but I will do my best to incorporate studying abroad into that!

 

Happy readings!