Cultured

Be mindful of the past.

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If you visit places just to visit them and you don't take the time to know a bit of the history or the culture, the places start to look them same. Each city here is rich in history, but it does take more effort to learn about it. Fortunately, Nacho's family is from Salamanca so I learned a lot of the history. I am glad I went with them and was able to see the city through their eyes.

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These last two weeks have been a rollercoaster... The Monday of last week, I felt like I had been hit by a truck because the weather changed to quickly, which caused sinus pressure. Then that night, Armana and I ate at a really good Venezeulan restaurant, but we ate too much so instead of going to salsa+bachata, we stayed at her place and looked into spring break plans. The next day, I went to Parque Europa, which is a park that has 17 monuments from different European countries, with Natalia! It was super fun and the weather was better. But when we got back to Natalia's (Armana and Natalia live together), I decided to stay the night again because I had everything I needed to do my homework. However, instead of doing that I had a nervous breakdown, so Armana and I took a"break" and walked around Madrid while eating ice cream. I felt much better afterwards. On Wednesday and Thursday, I just went to class and rested, which was good because I had been going nonstop. Then on Friday I took the bus to Valladolid to visit Nacho! It was a great weekend! We went to senior center and played cards with the seniors, his parents took us to Salamanca, we went to his friend's birthday party, we went to the club together, and we even had a day to rest. Then last week, I went to Salsa + Bachata with my friend Denver, and it was super fun! The teacher does pretty much the same moves every time so you get to perfect the moves the more you go. On Tuesday, I visited Parque Juan Carlos I with Chris and we wandered around, climbed on the playgrounds and even did yoga. It was a great day, but definitely exhausting. On Wednesday, I explored more of Madrid with Denver and then checked out Takos al pastor, which almost everyone I talked to loves. On Thursday, Armana and I met up to talk about spring break and we have lots of prospective plans. Then in the evening Helena and I headed to LISBON! We got to Lisbon Friday morning at 6am so we walked by the river to enjoy the view and then took a bus to the center, near a McDonald's. After getting our bearings we headed out to explore all over Lisbon. By the end of the day our bodies were exhausted because we walked 15.4 miles! When we got back to the hostel for the night we definitely crashed. The next day we visited the most western point of Europe, Cabo da Roca. It was GORGEOUS! Helena had never seen the ocean before and she LOVED it. After spending an hour there we headed to Sintra. It was a whirlwind! We walked 30 minutes in the opposite direction of most of the sights and so when we tried to get back it was 30 minutes by Uber!! We had fun though just exploring. We managed to get the train back early so we could rest a bit before our bus back to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid Sunday morning at 7am, so I slept for a bit before going out to lunch with Emma and Garysta, the other two girls from NAU. Then I stayed in the center and studied before church. Then I spent the rest of the night studying because I had THREE tests on Monday... But it's fine.

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This week is going to be a little crazy with traveling. I am going to Valencia today and then Mallorca for the weekend. Please pray for safe travels and that I have time to rest in between each. Also please pray for motivation to study and make more of an effort in class. Please continue to keep my family in your prayers! Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!

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Until next time!