Awesome Part 3

Spain

When I first arrived in Madrid, my first thought was "Andrew, what did you get yourself into." Traveling abroad seemed like a cool idea in my head but I guess I didn't really know how it would really be to live in a different culture until I did it. The first thing I noticed about Spain was that it was not Mexico. I should have googled some pictures of Spanish people before or something haha. They look just like Americans except they speak Spanish. Location was everything to me and I was so happy with where I stayed and my senora was awesome.
This is "Plaza del Toros" right next to my house. Click on the pic to see!
So the program I went with provided a lot of excursions to different cities so I got to travel a lot on the weekends. Here's one of my favorite walls in Sevilla.

But out of all the cities i went to, I like Malaga the best. I couldn't have chosen a better city, it was like the LA or Miami of Spain, very laid back.

I went to a school especially for foreigners and it was actually pretty fun (minus my sometimes 30-40 minute walks to and from school). Here's my classmate with a little window I made.
I would always bring my little murse as my backpack and folded some construction paper to make myself a few small folders. I new the city pretty well because I walked around everywhere, I never walked so much in my life. I met some cool people from America, Korea and Spain. Speaking of my Korean encounters, one night stuck out when a couple of Korean Koreans and a couple of their Spanish friends and I went to watch "The Day the Earth stood still" (which was bad) but after, with the Koreans, I went with them to hang out with another set of friends who were Spanish people who wanted to learn Korean! It was so funny, they could speak a little and they were playing Big Bang in their car.

As far as Spain itself, it was beautiful and I would say Malaga especially is beautiful. While other parts of the country were freezing, it was nice and toasty in Malaga. There's a lot of cool churches and castles and forts in Spain (along with the rest of Europe). I did quite a few things in Spain but to name a few:
- went to churches, forts and caves
- met some Christian missionaries
- went to botellon
- skyped with family and friends haha.
- played soccer w/Spanish people and went to a soccer game (go Malaga!)
- went to art galleries
- visited some of the best beaches in the Andalucia area
-churros con chocolate and tea
-read "full metal alchemist" in Spanish
-flamenco danced in a restaurant
Spain was definitely cool but more than the things I learned in school, I think I learned a lot about people and that was one of the best things I took from Spain.

Italy
I went on here on a 3 day trip just to Rome but there was so much to see. The best part of the trip was the food though...we ate so well. I went with 3 other people from the program. Also, home to best and biggest gelato stores (see facebook vid).

From the basilica.


My favorite fountain and Spanish Steps.


Coliseum

On another note
I cannot wait until death is completely defeated. God is about life + resurrection and overcoming death (ex. Jesus). Also, am I not killing it on the blog scene? My last 4 blogs have been substantial (minus the long intervals). You guys must step yo game up!