Germany, Granada, Sevilla... dreams come true!

Hola!!

Well, everyone, it seems that the longer time goes by, the longer it takes me to send off one of these emails. I can't believe we're halfway through April already! A lot has been happening around here, so I may have to turn this into two emails so as not to overwhelm you all.

I left off in the end of February, right before I went on a trip to Germany. I didn't think I would be able to make it to Germany in this Europe trip of mine, but in the end God brought along an opportunity that I didn't expect - a chance to learn more about Him and to see a part of one of the countries of my ancestors. I have been involved with a campus ministry here called Connexxion, and a group of us from that ministry flew to Germany to meet people from Connexxion there (where my friend Martha first started it), to have some time of fellowship, and to learn more about God. It was an absolutely amazing experience. We started out by flying from Sevilla to Hanover, where some friends picked us up and drove us to Braunschweig, a city nearby. We spent the next 5 days first in Braunschweig and then in Jena, and we stayed with students who opened up their homes to us. They are so hospitable!! Miriam and Esther, my two hostesses, are such sweet, welcoming young women, and I was able to have some awesome conversations with them. We were able to really get to know several of the German students there in our short time, and I know it really encouraged me in my faith and opened up my eyes to how God is moving in Europe. I really loved the German people too. They are not as affectionate as the Spanish people are at first, but they are just as welcoming and warm and loved to sit and talk or to hang out. They were a lot of fun!

One of the other neat experiences from being in Germany was the fact that I was able to practice interpreting a few times. All of the workshops/speakers that we had were in German (except for one, which was in English), so I had to listen to one of the students translate for me into English. It really made me appreciate the importance of knowing a second or third language. I was really listening to the German and trying to understand (even though I couldn't) just because I wanted so badly to know what they were saying and to communicate with them in THEIR language. It made me really want to expand my bilingualism into multilingualism (if that's a word). When the American speaker shared, I also was able to interpret for my friends Abraham and José María, who are Spanish. That was one of the most challenging but educational and rewarding experiences of my life. It is SO hard to do, but it really gave me a feeling of responsibility and the necessity to make sure that they also understood the message. The other really interesting thing was the fact that even though we went there as a Spanish campus ministry to visit the ministry in Germany, the language that connected most of us was English. And there were only 5 Americans in the whole group! It really gave me a glimpse of how important and useful the English language really is, but I also gained so much more respect for the many Europeans that know 2, 3, 4 or more languages. Why don't we do that?

Anyway, after our time in Jena and Braunschweig, Lea, Jake, Abraham, Jose, and I headed off for Potsdam (Martha stayed in Jena), the city where Lea (who is German) studied at. She took us on a tour around her beautiful city and then later that night took us salsa dancing as a surprise. It was so much fun! We stayed in her church, and the couple that live there in the church fed us breakfast there the next morning, which was so sweet! We then went to Berlin for our last day in Germany. We got to see the Brandenburg Gate and a few other parts of Berlin, although it is impossible to see everything in such a short time because the city is HUGE. It was really neat to see the Gate though, as it is a part of recent history. The Berlin Wall came down the year I was born, and it was so crazy to imagine that in that year there was still such a great division in that country. Only 20 years ago!! But anyway, in the end, our trip was absolutely amazing. Six days away from school meeting some incredible people and spending time with a group of some of my best friends here in Europe - couldn't ask for more!

When we got back from Germany (very beginning of March), I had a bit of a hard time getting back into school mode and classes, as we had just begun the new semester, but over the next few weeks I gradually got back into the groove of things. I really like my literature class that I am taking! It is my first one of my college career, and I am sort of disappointed in myself that I didn't take one before now. The Spanish poetry is especially fascinating and beautiful, in my opinion. It may be though that it sounds even prettier because it is in a different language, and because I really think more about the meanings of specific words. My class on the history of the three main religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism) is interesting too, although it is a ton of information to fit into one semester. I am starting a project soon about the Camino de Santiago, which is a pilgrimage trail (well, there are several) that goes to at town in the northwest of Spain. It's really interesting so far... I'll have to write more about it later! My classes in the University of Sevilla are finally getting better as I now have tutors, and I feel like I am no longer lost and have more of a background and base to what I'm learning. Yay!

Anyway, to fill you in on what I've been doing outside of school... on the 5th of March we (Connexxion) had a Japanese Party, which was a ton of fun! Several students made some legit decorations, and some of the guys even made sushi (along with other Japanese-ish foods)! There were quite a few people that came, and some of us even tried our hand at karaoke or origami. Good times! The discipleship group that I am a part of has also been a huge blessing in my life. I am learning a lot more about the Bible, and it is great to learn from our two leaders, Martha and David, and from their wisdom and experience. I continue to do church hopping on the weekends (between my home church in Triana, my other one in la Alameda, and visiting a few others here and there). It's hard to decide where to go sometimes! The American Bible study I am a part of is still a very large group, and it makes my heart happy to see how many students studying abroad also find fellowship and seeking God to be important, even so far from home. Each week someone else shares from their heart, and it is always so encouraging! I lead it one week (the week we split guys and girls), and I talked about God's faithfulness and our faith in Him, something I have learned a lot about here. Tutoring continues to go well too. I really enjoy being able to help Lucía and to chat with her!

March went by WAY too quickly. I will mention a few other things before I cut short this long email and start another one, haha. On the 11th of March I went with a few friends to a church to see a concert by Ingrid Rosario, a Latin Gospel singer with a voice that comes from God (I really mean that). I went with my friends Carolina, Jake, Abraham, Carmen (and we met a few others there), and it was an amazing experience to listen to her sing and to join in in worship songs. The day after that I went to Granada again, this time with CC-CS for the weekend. I had been wanting to return there ever since my first visit, so I was happy to go back and see La Alhambra (big famous palace) again, and this time to actually be able to go into the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), where the graves of Ferdinand and Isabella are. A lot of history is wrapped up in that city! It was also neat to finally be able to meet more of the people in my program, as I don't know all of them this semester. I got to chat, stroll around the city, and just spend time with several of them. It was awesome! We also got to stay in a pretty nice hotel this time and have all of our food paid for. Woohoo! (Although I technically already paid for all of that when I paid for the program, it was nice to not have to fork out more cash and was good to take advantage of a trip given by the school). A few days after my trip a big group of my friends and I celebrated our friend Abraham's birthday, and Carolina and I helped prepare for it by shopping and baking a chocolate zucchini cake (using my mom's yummy recipe that Jenna so kindly sent me - thanks girl!). Carolina and Martha did a lot more later too, and it ended up being a big group that came. Fun times!

Okay, officially cutting short the email. For those of you brave enough to read this (or that had a sufficient amount of time on your hands), I hope you enjoyed reading about more of my adventures in Spain and beyond! I will compose another email very shortly, as I still have to catch up on a lot. Love you all!!

Besos y abrazos!
-Sierra