Académico that I am

Well, caballeros y damas, the end of February is almost upon us, which will represent one and a half out of 5 months of my stay in Spain. That's not as hard-hitting when you consider that those of you at UNC will be about halfway done with your semester, and those seniors among you...we won't think about that, for all of our sakes, okay? So, it's been a week since Granada, and this past weekend was, at long last, a weekend without any kind of scheduled traveling. Thus, this entry will probably be more brief and less exotic...although Sevilla is sufficiently exotic for me.

Speaking of Traveling
I don't believe I've documented my travel plans on here. Well, as I know I have mentioned, I will be going to Lisbon for the half marathon on the weekend of March 19, and the next weekend I'll head to Milan and Florence to visit with a dear friend who's studying there. But, I figured why stop there? The latest booked plans are for a spring break of sorts in mid-April. I'm going to be leaving Thursday the 15th and coming back Monday the 26th. Quite a long trip, but I think there will be plenty to do as I will be visiting London, Paris, and Barcelona, spending about 3 days in each city. I'm pumped! But that is a ways away, and there's much more to be excited about before that, like Lisbon, Italy, and my family visiting!

To the University...oops, I mean, la universidad!
Classes started for real, and they're not looking too hard. Still, they're enough work to keep me from being lazy, which I guess is a lamentably good thing. The first couple of days it was really hard to understand the professors, and, although it's going smoothly now, every so often they will go into a rant or discourse that speeds in one of my ears and out the other like Usain Bolt. The students are impossible to understand, because they talk under their breath and say things REALLY quickly. Reading is also really hard in Spanish, and, as I am a Spanish minor and do not need literature credits, I have little background in reading academic works in Spanish. Not fun.

Despite these...challenges with learning the language, I've had some really positive experiences too. There have been a couple of times where I've received compliments from Spaniards that (although maybe too nice) made my day. Whether it was my Senora saying I "speak a lot of Spanish", a guy I met in a bar saying I speak it perfectly, or my professor being laudatory in office hours, it's always encouraging to hear.

Isa 60:1-3: "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
How great is our God! I have been overjoyed to see God move in our midst some here in Sevilla, and I hope it continues. Some of the situations, the conversations that I have encoutered over the last several days have shown me that God is moving and (I hope and pray) drawing people to repentance and, more importantly, to Christ.
John 4:35: "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest."
I don't know what exactly it will look like, but I hope that God provides us with the opportunity to reach out and the empowerment to do whatever is set before us. I see so much potential, and the verse above definitely comes to mind. I don't know what the end result or even what the process of this semester is going to look like, but a "Thy will be done" is all I can say with regards to that. But I am here, and I hope that God establishes His presence here too.

Well, almost dinner. I miss you all, and hope that you're celebrating the US dominating Canada in hockey. No one in Spain really cares. Hasta luego!