the start of the season

I sit in a coffee shop down the road from my apartment taking a break from studying for finals. I've been trying to write more religiously in here as a creative outlet, even though I don't think of myself very creative verbally.

If you're looking for meditation music or just some new music to give your ears a try, I went to a show yesterday on Tate Street sponsered by the campus radio station and it featured Andrew Weathers. He is a local ambient guitar player and I didn't really know what to expect at the show. The show was in this small book and art shop that I had never stepped foot into since I've been here for the past 2 and a half years. We sat on the floor on cushions and against the wall listening to Andrew make sounds with the help of his computer and keyboard. It was really cool music. Take a listen if you want, http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=83361790

So, I'm taking after my friend Lindsey who wrote this in her blog:

Things I like about this season:
-warm things to eat and drink...chamomile tea and chai
-hats and scarves
-christmas lights on elam
-being warm inside
-fireplaces
-the nearness of not having to go to school until january 20th
-spending time with my family at home
-attempting to cook and bake new things
-and recently, hanging out in coffee shops and venturing out on my own

living life

I just got off the "skype" with my friend Jesse who's studying abroad in Japan this semester and next. It was so good to talk to her, and so weird at the same time because we are totally on the opposite sides of the Earth. It was very encouraging because I can sometimes get caught up in my own little world...here in Greensboro. It made me reflect on my time in Spain this summer, which is always good because I don't ever want that time to be something I blow off and forget. Thank you Jesse for showing me your side of the world. We're so small, our world's so big, but God's even bigger and He is always with us. Isn't it cool that He is so big He holds the universe, but so intimate that He knows the hearts of each and everyone of us?

Update: I'M GOING TO COSTA RICA THIS SUMMER! I got accepted into the biology course! We will be spending about 10 days in Costa Rica at a field station with the Sea Turtles down there! I'm so excited! Spring semester we will be taking field trips to Topsail Island and the North Carolina coast to help at the rehabilitation hospital there. I can't wait!

Pretty much everything in my life is due on Friday, so I have tons and tons of work to do this week. Last day of classes is next Monday, so we're almost finished! I just have to do a lot of work and concentrate on doing really well. Wish me luck!

Fast Forward

Where did the time go? One minute I was moving into my apartment and now I am sitting at home on Thanksgiving break...

I guess some big updates for those of you who might read this: I am staying in school an extra year, there is a possibility I could be going to Costa Rica for this summer for a biology course at my university, and possibly Alasksa do to research with the lab I currently do undergraduate research in. There's a lot going on in my life academically and I am really trying to consider every opportunity that comes my way. Another thing I'm really excited for is a relief trip with my university that I am going on over Christmas break to the Gulf Coast for rebuilding! I think it's a great way to spend a break and I can't wait to meet people and help them with anything down there. We'll be gone for a week, and then it's back to school.

I don't really have any pensive thoughts to give but I do want to share this song that reminded me of my relationship with Jesus, and how incredibly in love He is with each and every one of us. Everytime we chose other things, we reject His love, we reject the one who has been infatuated with us even before we came into being. I think it is so mind-blowing how God formed us and made us, and He wants a relationship with us...a relationship of love and our acknowledgement of His unending pursuit for our hearts to become His.

"My Love Hasn't Grown Cold"

BETHANY DILLON

You shake your head

What is so hard to believe?

When you are in your bed

I sing over you the sweetest things

~

Because oh, my love does not tire

I'm awake when the moon is full

And I know the times when you feel lost

And you just aren't sure

~

Lo and behold

My love hasn't grown cold

For you

~

You could steal away in the middle of the night

And hide in the light of day

While you cloak yourself in the darkest lies

~

But oh my love, it swims in the deepest oceans of fear

And as soon as you lower your head

I am here

~

Lo and behold

My love hasn't grown cold

For you

~

If only you could see

How heaven stills when you speak

I know all your days

And I have wrapped you in mystery

~

And oh, my love for you

Is as wide as the galaxies

Just hold out your hand and close your eyes

And come be with me

~

Lo and behold

My love hasn't grown cold

For you

~

I just want to hold out my hand. Close my eyes. And be with You.

Just a quicky

I'm moving into my new apartment Saturday!!! I'm so excited but the preparations are killing me. Packing up my life for a move takes a while. School starts in a little over a week and I couldn't be more excited to get back into the routine of things.

Just wanted to give a little news about what's going on these days...I must return to the boxes!

Time Flies

I'm sorry I have been so negligent of this tool to keep in touch with you. I have left you hanging while I was in Spain travelling around and having fun. It was so weird how simply you live over in Europe that I was doing just that...living instead of spending hours on computers and cell phones. I do hope that I can begin to fill you in of my experiences as I start to write in this blog again.

I just returned from Colorado last week from Crooked Creek Ranch, a YoungLife camp in Fraser, CO. We drove a bus all the way from Greensboro, NC to Colorado and it took us two days. On the way, we stopped in St. Louis, MO to watch the 4th of July Fireworks from beneath the arch. Camp was so great. We ended up being in the same exact cabin as last year, Phantom! God was so present up in the Rockies, whether it was in the muddy obstacle course where the girls had to protect their leaders (Me, Whitney and Taylor), or in Western Night. Ken "Tank" Tankerson was a great speaker who related to everyone on such a great level. I wouldn't trade that week for anything.

Returning to Raleigh is strange. It took me forever to unpack from Spain, let alone from college in May. I had piles and piles of things in my room stacked up from when I left the dorms that laid there while I was in Spain and in Colorado. It's been different trying to adjust and plan for next semester, moving into a new apartment. Lately, I've been reading about Personal Finance and Budgeting (For Complete Idiots) and have been trying to organize my life financially and materially for my move in August. I am excited to be out on my own and have a room of my own at school and live with two of my good friends. Growing up is coming fast, I turn 20 in a week. Although I am thankful for my "safety net" my family provides, it is a bit scary to realize that this summer has almost come to a close and I soon will enter my junior year of college.

To see a work in progress, pictures of my whirlwind summer, please visit this link and enjoy! And again, sorry for the wait for the update...

Rachel's Pictures

I'm glad to be back! :)

Many the Many Pig Face and Bootylicious

Sorry for not keeping up with this as well as I had thought. It has been muy loco here ever since I arrived in Spain.

I guess to catch you up in a nutshell I will summarize in las fotos! Enjoy!!

Matt and I in New York enjoying the small amount of time we had before we headed across the Atlantic to Spain!

Matt and I arrived in Madrid and we were exhausted, overwhelmed and overloaded by Spanish. I hardly could speak much because I haven't had Spanish in a while and we had to carry our luggage from the metro stop to our hotel, that took us forever to get to. I realized I would be living in Spain for 5 weeks and brokedown at a cafe we ate dinner at the first night. It was very comforting to have Matt with me though, I was very happy to have him with me.

The Festival of San Isidro (Patron Saint of Madrid): Matt and I passed a Spanish dance on a walk around Madrid before my program started.

This is my bed in the bedroom, which for now, I share with Eli and Caroline. Eli is from Chicago and is leaving in a couple days but has studied here in Madrid since last September.
A view from our room, the streets of Arenal (Calle de Arenal). We live in the hub of Puerta del Sol, a very popular tourist area with great shopping, cafes and tapas (finger foods)!
After our first day of class, my roommates (Dana, left, Carolina, middle, y Valeria, right)and I went to El Parque del Retiro to do our tarea (homework) for class! We normally have classes from 4:30-7:15 and return to our Senora's by 8:30pm for la cena (dinner). People in Spain eat very late compared to Americans! I've gotten used to it by now though!
Mi escuela! (My school!)I pass this on my way to school everyday. This is called La Plaza Mayor. It has tons of side cafes and shops and the King and Queen of Spain used to live inside these very walls.

Day excursion to Toledo (Saturday 5/24/08)


From top to bottom:

• Me and Toledo! Mi amiga nueva!

• My Senora, Ana, and Senor, Juan (They ended up coming on the trip as well!)

• A windy street in Toledo, decorated with flowers for the Corpus Christi Festival

• The ladies of Toledo handmaking lace crafts

So. It took me like, 3 hours to do this so I hope you get a taste of what I've been seeing here in Spain. Coming up is a lot of homework tomorrow, El Rastro (the local flea market), and maybe some hanging out with los amigos americanos and espanoles! Hasta luego. Te amo mucho.

Only in New York

We're on our way! Matt and I went to lunch with our mom's today at the new Irish Pub, Trali's, in Brier Creek. After that, Matt and his mom picked up his grandparents and we were dropped off at the airport to leave for JFK in New York City. It was really kind of weird being on our own, without our parents. I was really happy to have Matt with me though, it would have been a lot more stressful if I were by myself. We had to ask for help though when we were trying to find the shuttle to our hotel and I realized how easy everything is now, in english... It's going to be alot different in another country! I'm excited and nervous to arrive in a foreign country. It's like something I've never done before.


Tomorrow we will take a shuttle to the subways to head to New York City to do a little sightseeing. More photos to come when we arrive in Espana! Adios!

Los Arboles

Today I volunteered my afternoon planting trees in a low-income rural neighborhood and felt so blessed to bless others with trees. Trees have always fascinated me, especially the larger ones. They have seen so much throughout the years, and many have outlasted our lifetimes. Lately I find myself looking up into their branches and daydreaming of how they began as little seedlings. They grow and give hope, shelter, protection, strength, beauty...

I wonder about the trees in Spain. I'm excited to see one. Maybe I'll take a leaf or two.

picture taken on campus in 2007.

"they are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither--whatever they do prospers" psalm 1:3

The Simple Things

After tomorrow, only one more final to go.

Last night there were college students playing "Hide and Go Seek" in the quad around 130 a.m. when I walked back from studying in the library. It made me appreciate the beauty and freedom we have in the United States. Freedom to run around, freedom to play, freedom to not rush into adulthood and responsibility, freedom to just be. We have that luxury but sometimes we get carried away and forget that it's not all about busyness and success. It's funny how such a simple game could make me reflect on life and my life here in the United States. We're all pretty lucky to be born in the United States, and just by that fact we are richer than a lot of people in the world. Some kids don't even have time to be kids. I appreciate the fact that even in the middle of cramming for finals and writing papers, my college peers can still return to the most elementary aspects of life: living, laughing, loving.

I want to travel the world and meet the people of the world. I want to see who they are, what they do, what their dreams are.

"Strangers are only friends we have not yet met."

--my mom

Anticipation

"We must go beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths and untrodden depths of the wilderness and travel and explore and tell the world the glories of our journey.” --John Hope Franklin

I sit here in the computer lab not studying for my genetics final that's less than 48 hours away. I am too excited to begin my journey abroad that I find starting a blog way more exciting than reviewing for the end of the year exams.

I hope you'll enjoy this blog, because I'm not very eloquent and I'm definitely not an english major but I hope you'll find it satisfying enough. I'll try to keep up with my travels, challenges, and excitement as embark on my very first trip abroad.

I guess I should go study now, I just wanted to start this off a bit. I leave next Wednesday with Matt to New York City. I still can't believe it's a week away.