Testing from Queen Bee

Testing! Let's hope this works so I can blog on the go. I also downloaded a WiFi finder. I think I'm going to be set.

Sent from my awesome ipod

Preparation Retreat

This past Saturday Ashley and I went to San Antonio for a half-day retreat with the other pilgrims. We were able to meet a number of the 86 people that we will be hanging out with on our travels. We're going in 3 groups to get over there, and we'll meet up in Malaga for Days in the Diocese.

Everyone in the group is really nice. I find that I'm one of the "older youth" as many of the pilgrims are late high school or early college. We got to know each other and had some discussions on what we're excited about (seeing the Pope, meeting new people, eating Spanish food, wine/coffee, adoration, etc) and what we're concerned about (losing passport, getting lost, exhaustion). We also reflected on some of our roots and what has lead us this far in life (family, Catholic upbringing, Awakenings, Catholic20somethings). The main theme of WYD is "Planted and Built up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith", so it is important to understand that our strong roots and constant growth make us strong no matter what storms come along. I know that this trip is going to change me -- for the better. I will get to practice patience, tolerance, my faith and be pushed to the limit. I will get to see some amazing sights, places, buildings, and experience history -- both from the past and history in the making.

As I continue to scour the WYD website, I have found out some fun things about what we're getting! Check out this backpack full of goodies.


This is what's inside:
-    A gospel
-    A pilgrim’s book (so you can follow along in the liturgical ceremonies)
-    The WYD guide (with the program and useful information for the WYD participants)
-    The Liturgical and Cultural Agenda (with more than 300 cultural events & catechesis)
-    The YouCat Catechism
-    The WYD T-shirt
-    A hat to shield you from the August sun
-    A fan
-    A rosary
-    A map of the city of Madrid

In Malaga, I found out that we'll be working with  Parroquia San Fernando. There are a few groups starting up on Facebook that are giving us a little more information here and there about the details.

12 day countdown! I'm getting very excited.

Please send me your prayer intentions! Mail them to sabrinalovesspain@gmail.com

God bless!

fbt&<3

These boots are made for walking...

Hello!

As I already knew, we are going to be walking a lot. Seriously, for miles and miles. I'm interested to see how well my pedometer will track my steps, especially when we make our actual pilgrimage walk to Cuatro Vientos, the air base where we'll spend 2 days and one night with the entire groups of WYD Pilgrims. THis is where the huge closing mass will be with the Holy Father. WOW! Here is a sneak peak of the 8 km walk we'll be taking with all of our stuff on our backs. It should take a little over 2 hours!

de Madrid al cielo

This means, "from Madrid to Heaven" or "from Madrid to the sky" which roughly means that Madrid has been known to be the gateway to heaven, or the next best thing on earth. This video talks about the SOUL of Madrid. This is the type of video that gets me really excited because of all of the great pictures of Madrid! Enjoy!

Testing from my iPhone

Wouldn't it be nice to blog from my phone or my iPod Touch?

Sabrina
fbt&<3

26 Years of World Youth Day

It's hard to imagine that when I was just a baby that John Paul II declared a need for the Catholic Youth to take a step up and began World Youth Day. Since 1985, the Catholic Youth have been meeting all over the world to embrace the beauty of the Church. Here is a great video that chronicles the last 26 years.

Everybody get ready

Three weeks and counting...

Here are ways that I am spending this month getting ready.

1. Working out a lot! I am trying to hit more weight-lifting based classes. Whenever I take a walk around the neighborhood, I wear my Privo shoes, walk in the heat of the day, and carry my daypack with about 10 pounds of weight in it. I'm also trying to eat "right" so I can be ready for this crazy pilgrimage. I found out that for the last 2 days will be at least 7 km from where ever we are staying, so I'll be walking a lot that day with a lot of stuff on my back. I bought a pedometer so I can track my steps and my miles daily. Should be a really neat metric to keep track of. (hah!)


2. Making lists. And lists. And LISTS! Lists of what to pack, what to bring, what to do, what to buy and what to not forget. I'm kind to have parents and friends who are loaning me a few things, plus I have a lot of traveling gear like good walking shoes, a great backpack and daypack, and enough European traveling experience to remember weird things like toliet paper, dryer sheets and baby wipes.

3. Praying. Adoration, Theology of the Body, Mass, rosary and other ways to spiritually prep my self for this amazing trip.This trip has been on my mind for over a year, so it's true to say I've been praying for it for months. I pray for our coordinators, the WYD staff, the attendees and for all of the intentions of the Youth, the Pope and the World!

4. Creating contact cards. I designed these fun campy Texas contact cards for Ashley and I to use when we meet people. They are two sided and have both of our information on them so we use one for every person we meet together. It's a really big deal to have things to trade, like pins, flags, etc that are from our homes. I think this card will provide our contact information and a neat little Texas keepsake. 

5. Checking the Official World Youth Day site every day! They have fun updates, videos and information about the trip that I'll share about in another post. They are going to come out with an Application for iPhone, iTouch, etc for us to use while we're there. How neat!

Wow. Three weeks away. I hope I can get everything done and ready by then. We have our Pilgrim retreat this weekend in San Antonio so I'll finally be able to meet the rest of the group that we're traveling with. Should be a fun time.

Thanks for reading and for your prayers.

fbt&<3

Sabrina

Flashback time IV

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Currently Reading Trading Up: A Novel By Candace Bushnell see related Wacky Wednesday. This deserves a really random entry. The newest piece of information is the fact that while running today I missed a step and fell in front of a bunch of Spanish people by the bus stop. I twisted my ankle, and scraped up my legs a bit. I must have looked so cool. America has a new example, and that's me. I'm fine though, one of the guys at the dorm is letting me borrow his ace bandage. As I was walking away, the people were gawking like usual, so I glared at them and waved with a "gee, i hope you enjoyed the show" look on my face. I guess I won't be running this week, since I can't walk without a gimp limp. On a much happier note, I went shopping!! I bought some souveniers for people, postcards, and I got my mom this cool thing for her classroom. I also got my brother a BS: a Bull shirt. I'm still on the quest for a couple more things, like for Matt, and my paretns, but I've got Vega wines, magnets, a shot glass, and more. I have 3 more people to get stuff for. It's almost like a chore to run around finding stuff, but it's like Christmas because I become Santa, and that's always fun. I also got myself a red jacket that says Espana, and zips up with gold stripes on the sleeves. It was a good deal...24 euro. (Abbey--red and gold, griffindor colors!) My slurge of the trip was for this BEAUTIFUL black shirt that was made in Brazil. It was a lot more than the jacket, but it fit like a glove and I love it. I think it was fate, because I saw it one day and thought it was kinda pricey, but after walking around the many stores, I decided it was the ONE. I went back, and they didn't have any out, but they had one in the back, and the lady ironed it for me. I think there was a skinny mirror in the dressing room, because I looked a lot thinner than I thought was humanly possible. Now I have to go get some tops to go with the skirt. Darn. Off to Zara I go! That is a really cute store that my cousin loves in Mexico, and everyone likes it here too. It's kinda like Express, but cheaper and way cute. I also have a goal of finding red high heeled shoes and a purse, but maybe after my ankle heals a bit. School was really annoying today. Last night, one of my teachers told us to read and translate a long 4 page article in spanish, look up all the words we didn't know, write a summary, and a response. It took me about 3 or 4 hours to do, and I had more homework in addition to that. It was about the Bullfights that they have here, and all about the histroy and tradition of it. I personally hate it, and didn't enjoy watching it for two days of class. I understand and respect it, but I can't stand watching it because it makes me sick to see the bull all bloody, and sometimes people (during the running of the bulls, and the bullfights) get caught by the bull's horns, tossed up and get pierced by the horns...it makes me sick to my stomach. *shudders*. I think my Tia Licha took me to one a loooong time ago but all I remember was throwing roses to the toredor. Either way, I was annoyed by talking about it and watching it. Then in conversation class the other day we talked about the food they eat over here, and a lot of it refers to blood sauces, and intestine, chicken heart, brain, etc. Not so nice sounding, huh? Then in grammer we went over the subjunctive in a classroom that was like 85 or 90 degrees. There is no central AC, and we're in an overcrowded classroom. We were really hungry, so it was unbearable. I went to the beach yesterday and got some sun, and that was nice to just relax amoungst the fat naked people. This brings me to the list of odd things I have seen in the past couple of days. 1. A bearded man in a thong 2. A dog with dreadlock fur 3. A smart car (tiny tiny half car) with more bass than any car I have ever seen (or heard). 4. A sheman lady with hairy armpits, who was standing in the middle of the street, with her hands on her hips, spitting multiple feet away in a nice curved arch. 5. A very plump woman with bright red hair to match her thong at the beach. I nicknamed her Fat Bastard, from the Austin Powers movies. 6. Someone thought I was French today. And, I've been asked if I live here, about 3 times by people who were lost. Some people at a bar thought I was GERMAN. (drunks.) Hrmm...I cleaned my room, and did laundry by hand like an old fashioned woman, someone stole my shampoo and conditiner from the shower, and it's now really hot here. Things people do not do in Spain that I think is strange: 1. They never wear shorts. Even to the beach. 2. They don't wear white socks, and some clubs won't even let you in with them. 3. They like to stare at you when you are foreign, and I when I say stare, I mean gawk. 4. They never say excuse me, and think it's rude if you say thank you too much. 5. They stop serving alcohol at 8 am. If that. !!! Crazy Spanish people!! Tomorrow is movie day, and we're watching Belle Epoca. I'll let you know about it later. We also are going to Salamanca this weekend, and that is supposed to be the best excursion. Sunday is the gypsy market, and I'm going to look for trinkets there too. I'm reading a new book from one of the girls in the dorm, it's pretty good. Miss people lots! Thanks for the comments. You make me feel warm and squishy inside

Thursday, June 02, 2005 Wow. I know it's been a long time since I have written, but it's been such a pain to try and get access to a computer. The ones in the dorms rarely work, and if they do, they are usually taken, or really slow. The ones at school are alway taken, since there are students from all over the US there trying to get to their instant messanger and emails and such. At any, rate, here I am once again. yay. This is the third week that I have been in school and it's the 'hump'. You know, the big bump in the middle of the semester. Now the middle day has past, so I know there is not much time left. Yay and nay. This week is also going to be known as Italian week because this week we had 12 Italian male paratroopers move into the residence hall. After the girls went gaga over them we've had some drama. (yes they are cute, quite goodlooking at that, but they speak about as much english as I speak chinese, so you can imagine us speaking english and spanish, and them speaking italian = little to no communication) They invited all the girls from the dorm and some others who were hanging out to go out to eat with them, and many of them did. (My friend Jody and I figured it wasn't really wise to go out to eat with a bunch of 25 or 30 year old Italian men when we had school the next day). Needless to say, one girl made out with one of them and when he wanted to see her again and she just wanted a free meal and wine, it was an interesting event. Silly people! Why get involved with people you don't know very well at all! Cross culture dating is not safe because everything said means different things! At any rate, I can't wait till they are gone because they are quite loud, persistent, and come on our floor and invite us to go drinking all the time. (It's true what they say, those italians are seductive! Complimenting and cunning people! heehee, but yeah. I stayed away, thank goodness even though one said I was the natural beauty...bah) No joke, the 3 I met were named Michael, Tony and Luigi...hahaha...Luigi. I figure I have my own Italian, and he's the best anyways. School is annoying and hard. Not easy, by any means. 2 hours of grammer a day. Need I say more? I'm also learning about the politics and the constitution of Spain. YAWN. We did get to learn about flamenco, and that was cool. We got to watch a video. It makes me miss tap dancing. I've done more shopping, of course, and gone to the beach. I bought some addidas shoes that were on sale (red, of course) and got Tiffany her birthday present. Tiff- I know you're going to love it, because it is our favorite colors, and I got one for me too. If you don't like it, then I'll just have two! ;) (This guy next to me is smoking, and I kinda made a face, and he asked if I liked the smoke, and I said no, but he's still smoking anyways. People here smoke WAY TOO MUCH. I'm looking foward to the smoking ban in Austin. I can't think of anything else more to say. Nutella is good. I miss Chili's. Siestas are wonderful. Homework sucks. My room is sooo small. Did I mention my dorm used to be a seminary? Yeah, the rooms are about 6 feet by 8 or 9 feet. About as big as a walk-in closet. Well people need to use the computer, so I'm off for now. Please email me at sabsinspain@hotmail.com. I don't like empty mailboxes. :) Sunday, June 05, 2005 Hello people, Another boring Sunday. Let's see...Thursday night we went out to this really awesome Cuban club. It wasn't that crowded,and there were professional dancers there who teach there during the weekdays. It was really neat to watch them dance together to salsa, merengue and chacha songs. A lot of guys were asking us to dance, and it was interesting to see how people dance. By the way, Columbians can dance, and Italians can not. (except for Matt, he can dance). The 3 younger Italian paratroopers from my dorm somehow ended up there (there is this one girl from A&M commerce who like to hang out with guys only, if you get my drift and I think she told them to come to the club with her...she's quite a friendly girl...ahem anyways) and the one named Luigi was all over my friend. Later this Texan and I had to go save her from him. We girls told him that we had to go home to sleep (to try to get away) and he suggested walking us, and we were thinking NOOO so we "went to talk to someone else real quick" and when I saw he went to talk to his Italian people we said bye to a few people and literally bolted around, up the stairs and out the door. Good club, funny experience. I think we got to bed around 3, and school was really funny the next day because since almost everyone from TX was at that club till late, everyone was falling asleep in class. haha...I siesta'ed from 3 till 7:30 that day after lunch. We get to sleep a lot while we're here. Friday I had a laundry party, and that's about it. I don't think I said anything about Salamanca, which is where I went last weekend, so I'll fill you in on excursions in general, and about Segovia, which was where we went yesterday. Excurstions leave at 9:30 am on Saturday on a bus with our group. It consists of people from Texas State, Texas A&M Commerce (Dallas), Towsen (Maryland) and some school in Pennsylvania. We have a guide who doesn't speak English, and he talks so fast that only a few people can understand what he's saying, but the Towsen teacher translate some of the more interesting facts. Salamanca and Segovia are about an hour and a half away from Valladolid. the country side in Spain is really pretty. Lost of hills and mountains with farms and such. Salamanca has a big University so there is a younger crowd there. We looked at a lot of churches and cathedrals while we were there, ate at a McDonald's (yes!) and listening to a military band in the Plaza Mayor (the main open square type thing that every town has). The band made me miss my band nerd friends, and they played New York, New York. :) yay band! Segovia was sooo pretty. I think it was my favorite excursion yet. We saw a side of a hill with all these sheep and a shepard. It was cool. There were no border collies, but there were some doggies. This dude from Maryland overheard me talking about Border Collies and told me he has some too. It was cool. They have a real Roman aquaduct where tons of birds fly around because they put their nests in the holes between the rocks. All the stones were just laid on top of another, no cement! It was a strange and interesting sight. This city is famous for eating a dish that has baby piggies. There were some in the windows and it was sad and gross at the same time. The best part was a real live CASTLE! It looks like a storybook castle with towers and everything. It cost 4 euro to get in, but i figured why not! There was a 152 step spiral tower to the top (just like in Sleeping Beauty!) and it proved to be hard to get up while people were coming down. Apparently, it was built like that so only one person could get up and down for defense reasons. The view was wonderful. Inside the rooms were gorgeous. Lots of detail, and armory room with medieval cross bows and swords, hude dining table, thones, paintings and even a bed. The most important fact about this castle is that the one and only Queen Isabelle and King Ferdinand lived there. Yes, those people who told Columbus, "Hey! Here is some dough, go find America. " How cool is that???!?!?! There was a moat too. I was looking to buy a princess hat. After that we had lunch (and ice cream!) and shopped around. I was short on cash, so I didn't get much. Some people went to look inside some palace, but I didn't want to pay to get in that, so we chilled outside and that was fun. A couple of people and I went to a really great Italian restaurant and stuffed our faces. It was sooo good but I was so full it hurt. Last night we went out for a bit, but it got quite lame just sitting around in a smokey bar, so we went home. Sprite and white wine is good. I had one to settle my stomach. Only 2 weeks left! I am exicted to come home and see people. I feel like I've had plenty of experiences, and now I'll just be looking foward to coming back with people I know well, and doing fun things on what will be more of vacation, and less of an education thing. "I want to be in America..." Have a good week everyone! I think I'm going to the beach today. It's not like there is anything else to do since all the stores are closed. Darn. :) Love, me Friday, June 10, 2005 I CAN'T WAIT TO COME HOME!!!! I miss you and you and you and you. and you too. I can't wait to go to the beach, and be able to get into the water, I want to ride rollercoasters, I want to eat mexican food, I want a cheeseburger, I want a glass of ICED anything, I want Dr. Pepper, I want Chili's, I want SOUTHWESTERN EGGROLLS, I want a hug from someone I've known for more than an month (no offence Jamie). I could go on. But I won't. I'll talk about something fun. Thursday night is THE night to go to that Cuban Club. I had so much fun. I danced with some of the other Americans fromBalimore and had a blast. There was this chick who would belly dance and shake her thing sometimes between songs, and while she had a nice body, she was pretty ugly. BUTTER FACE!!! (if you don't know what this is, email me and I'll explain). I was just waiting for her to get off the floor so I could boogie to salsa and reggaeton. Fun Fun Fun. I hope everyone is having a good summer. I am reading a new book and it is good. I finished Ya-Ya's in Bloom, and now I'm reading Jemima J. It is soo cute. I don't really have any more stories, but I'll be hanging out this weekend by myself with the 2 or 3 other people that didn't shell out the dough to go to Barcelona or Rome. yay sleeping, eating and books. Miss you all. Wednesday, June 29, 2005 I am so glad to be back. It was a wonderful trip, and I'm glad I took it. I learned a lot of Spanish, and a lot about the people, both Spanish and American, and about the culture, food and more. Here is a link to the 100 digital pictures that I took. I hope you enjoyed my journal entries as much as I enjoyed my time in Spain. :) Pictures (click on slide show) I won't be using the SabsinSpain email as much anymore. Contact me at SV1012@txstate.edu or AIM: Tinyfoxie

Flashback time III

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Ahh, the tranquility (sp?) of Sunday. Today was the first day that I got to sleep in since I've been here. I slept until about 11:30. I had gone to bed really late the night before since we went out dancing. It was soo much fun. There were playing a lot of Spanish pop music, but also techno, some latin sounding tunes, and some old American dance favs like I've got the Power and I like to Move it move it, or whatever they are called. Those are songs you might find on an 80s or 90s dance party mix. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Misty sent me an email with all these questions, and since I sent her such an informative reply, I'm going to copy and paste it on here, since it has many details I have not said as of yet on here. Yes, I am having a blast! We went out last night to a bar and dancing and stayed out till 5:30 in the morning. It was nuts. People here don't go out until 1 or so, and the clubs are dead empty until 2, and are hopping at 3 or 3:30. I have to drink 'cafe con leche' (expresso and milk, think latte) in order to stay up and on my feet that long. the scenery is breathtaking. Iron balcones on the apartments and renaissance churches everywhere. It's like walking into a history book. I am going to be here in Valladolid for 4 more weeks and then I am going to travel around Europe with a friend from high school who is meeting me up here. He's the one who lives in Boston. He's been to Paris a bunch of times, because he worked in Switzerland one summer. We're going there for sure, and then maybe to Switz or Germany or back to Spain. This thing I like the best here besides all the scenery and culture is the fact that it's a great life. I dont have to cook my food, no work, no housework, just school for 4 hours a day, and then shopping, tanning, and sleeping. Oh, and going out almost every night. Also the wine is cheap. It's .90 to 1.50 € for a glass of wine, and that's only like a buck or 2 bucks. The wine here is sooo good. A lot of the boys are cute here, but no more than the US. Hit or miss, as they say. here they are just different by their hairstyle (80s and mullets are back!) and dress (nicer, and more trendy). They usually won't come up and talk to you, but when they do, they are usually just interested to know why you're here, because no matter what we do, we are obviously American. The people here are defiantely not nearly as nice as they are in TX. I would immediatly describe them as rude. There is no customer service in stores, it's just whatever. they won't look at you in the steets or smile or say hi. This city is pretty introverted, usually, and they are really into fashion and having the best and latest this and that, Almost snobby in a way. The weather here is nice, dry and kinda cold for this time of the year. Average is about 40 to 50 at night and in the morning and between 70 and 80 for the high. This cold front is rare for Spain in May, so most of us weren't prepared for the cold. There is no AC here, so I'm glad it's not too too hot. People do tan nude here, and sometimes it's really gross. Let's see, what else? The weekend here was a lot of fun. While a lot of the people go out everything, I am definately going to only go out-out on the weekends. Some weeknights it's nice to go to a nearby cafe bar and enjoy a glass of wine before bed. I don't get a lot of homework, but today I am going to go over all my irregular verbs for the preterite, and make a list. I am also working on a list of vocab that I learn each week and will hopefully be able to add to it every week. I love the siestas! BURGOS! The excursion to Burgos was beautiful. About 1.5 hours away to the north east is a city called Burgoes. We went up there for the day on Saturday and toured some old tombs in some church, the beautiful late'gothic cathedral (omg so detailed and breathtaking) and an old castille (castle grounds) that had a beautiful view of the city and the catherdral, red tiled roofs and countryside with farmlands and mountains in the distance. It also was an awful climb to the top of that (we were trying to sing the Rocky theme song as we jogged upwards, but then we got tired and it slowed down tremendously. The city was also having a medieval festival and it was neat to look at all the booths. There was a food booth with the meat being roasted whole, so you could see the pigs on stakes by the fire. They were selling old cheeses (stinky), fresh flavored teas, insense, jewelery, pastries etc. There was also this tent with exotic birds: harks, vultures and owls that would fly between trainers for fresh meat. There was a snowy white owl, and I took a picture of it. I think it was Hedwig. :) People like to dress up in Spain a lot for these festivals, and wear elaborate costumes from medieval times. It was neat to look around. I am getting hungry. I'm glad food is soon. I hope people are reading and enjoying this! have a great day!

Flashback time II

Monday, May 16, 2005

¡como estan pinches! Today was the first day of clases, and they were pretty cool. I have to listen to Spanish intently for 4 hours in a classroom, but like I said, it´s not that bad. Today we went to the market and I got some fruit and my friends got some wine. It was only 2 euro, which is less than 3 bucks for a bottle of nice wine. they don't really have bad wine here. goodbye Boones farm!! Hello vino de espana. They also have really cheap expresso and lattes. Like a buck, and they are really good. people here just love to stroll around the streets and drink doffee and alcohol on the patios. it's really nice. I got to get some souveniers, but not as many as I want. I want to buy a nice pair of RED high heeled shoes (the rave over here is high heeled shoes) and I fell in love with this authentic Brazilian skirt from his hippie store, but it was 50 euro. It might just have to my splurge. We've just walked around this city over and over and I'm still trying to get used to the time change. there is abar right on the campus, which is an old bullfighting ring that was turned into clasrooms and condos. We went there last night and as students for the first day we got free calimocho which is cocacola and wine. It was pretty good. you might just have to trust me on that one. I think we are going to go enjoy a glass of wine across the street now. I have made some friends and they are pretty cool. there are just as many bars/cafes as churches here. And lots of shopping. I could tell you guys so much more, but I can't think right now. You people better tell me what's going on, and eat lots of american food for me. I miss cheese. Spain is just like Mexico, only European style.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005 Life goes soo slow here. After siesta (from 2 till 5ish) I have nothing to do until dinner at 9:30. We've been going shopping, and that's proved to be really dangerous. I fell in love with this black skirt that's about 55 bucks. Grrr. I also want to buy a pair of hot shoes. This is going to be tough. We learned a lot about wine and beer today in my conversation class. I think it's very important information. I already am halfway through my second and only other book that I brought. I think a couple of the girls are going to pass around books to read. I wish I had all 5 HP books because I would read them all over again. Abbey--that Zippy book is soo funny. I laugh out loud so much. Everyone please go out and eat good American food for me! Last night we had this green bean, egg and shrimp stuff, fried cheese or potatoes (we couldn't figure it out), fried stuffed crab, and some fried empanada thing with something inside. Pineapple Yogurt. There are some students here from Minnesota and they talk so cool. They think we talk cool also. hehehe. I don't have anything else to say except that time is going slow so far. I am going on an excursion to Burgos this weekend with the universidad. I'm not sure what to expect, but we're going to travel around to 3 different places while I'm here. I hope everyone's having a good summer so far. And I finally got to a computer once again. I got my address up here, in case you guys come to Spain and need to find me, or something. Sabrina Vega R. "Universitas Castallae" C/ Alonso Pesquera, 6 42002 Valladolid, Espana Today is national museum day or something here in Valladolid and all of them are free! I went to the contemporaty art museum and looked at a lot of artwork. Some of it was not impressive, but I really liked the abstact and cubism paintings. Maybe this summer in my free time I can redo some of the pieces that I wasn't as fond of. It was inspiring and it made me realize how universal art can be. Right by the school is a river (pretty funny, huh?) except that people don't swim in it. Our teacher told us the universal rule: if the locals don't do it, you shouldn't either. They have made a beach out of it, so there is sand and volleyball and stuff. My friend and I are going to go jogging today. They eat so much bread here!! French bread at every meal. I am really enjoying the siestas. Nap everyday! Okay, so I have decided to teach you guys some Spanish. Here are the interesting words that I learned today. ronronear = to purr (like a cat) maullar = to meow guay ("why") = cool ( "tu carro es quay!") chupita = shot or shotglass More tomorrow. (Mas manaña) Today for lunch we had some pork or beef meat with pineapple and carrots, and some sort of crab, olive, and egg, and other thing salad with mayo. There was also fresh watermelon (sandia), apples, oranges, and pears. They serve only water with every meal, and of course, french bread and butter. we also had small baked potatoes. Hope everyone is having fun doing American things. Love you all! Friday, May 20, 2005 TGIF! One week almost down, four to go. This entry to going to be random things that I have done in the past few days. --in my conversation class we went to this pastry shop to look at a candy museum that has all these replicas of famous buildings and churches in Valladolid all made out of SUGAR. They were fabulous, accurate. detailed, and beautiful. Then a girl and I split some kind of pastry. No brownies here, but the pastries are good. I met a bartender who told me his favorite thing about America was brownies. Appreciate what you have people. --every Thursday night (jueves) they show us films from Spain. Last night's was a film called El Bola. It was really good. Kinda a drama. In Europe, their movies aren't as categorized as America. (comedy, drama, etc) but have everything in one. The movie was about domestic violence, and was sort of a coming of age movie. If you get a chance to rent it, it was made in Spain and came out in 2001. VERY GOOD. I recommend it. Subtitles are cool. --we had hamburgers for dinner last night! small meat, but it was very close to a real hamburger. we were all really excited. There was also some sweet potatoe soup, we think. Food here is like an experiment every time. We will usually try it and try to figure out what it is. It's a fun game. --tomorrow I am going on an excursion to Burgos. I know that they have a huge cathedral there, but other than that, I don't know what there is there. --yesterday I went to the beach they have here for a jog and to explore and just in case you don't believe other people, I saw firsthand that people here tan topless, and in thongs. While that might seem cool to some of you men, there were many large and old people here (Pangia sized) who should not have been wearing thongs. There was an old couple too and grandpa was in a speedo and grandma was in just a thong. yes. soo all those thoughts you may have had of hot girls, should now be canceled out by the thoughts you are now having of old clumpy people laying in the sun. --onto good news, i got some more $$ to help pay for school and Daniel got into the SRT program at school, yay! --Saturday is Tiffany's birthday!! Yay! Happy birthday Tiff, i miss you lots!! --Matt is cool because he took out the trash and is going to mow the lawn for me. What a man. hehehe i miss him lots. --people are now telling me that I'm a computer nerd and I've been here too long. HAHA they are just now figuring it out --has anyone seen Star Wars yet?? let me know how it is. Some people here are going to see it here in Spanish , but I need my Ewan McGregor voice, ya know?? --is it Harry Potter 6 time yet?? Talk laters. I've got to go learn some Spanish or something. Sunday, May 22, 2005 Ahh, the tranquility (sp?) of Sunday. Today was the first day that I got to sleep in since I've been here. I slept until about 11:30. I had gone to bed really late the night before since we went out dancing. It was soo much fun. There were playing a lot of Spanish pop music, but also techno, some latin sounding tunes, and some old American dance favs like I've got the Power and I like to Move it move it, or whatever they are called. Those are songs you might find on an 80s or 90s dance party mix. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Misty sent me an email with all these questions, and since I sent her such an informative reply, I'm going to copy and paste it on here, since it has many details I have not said as of yet on here. Yes, I am having a blast! We went out last night to a bar and dancing and stayed out till 5:30 in the morning. It was nuts. People here don't go out until 1 or so, and the clubs are dead empty until 2, and are hopping at 3 or 3:30. I have to drink 'cafe con leche' (expresso and milk, think latte) in order to stay up and on my feet that long. the scenery is breathtaking. Iron balconies on the apartments and renaissance churches everywhere. It's like walking into a history book. I am going to be here in Valladolid for 4 more weeks and then I am going to travel around Europe with a friend from high school who is meeting me up here. He's the one who lives in Boston. He's been to Paris a bunch of times, because he worked in Switzerland one summer. We're going there for sure, and then maybe to Switz or Germany or back to Spain. This thing I like the best here besides all the scenery and culture is the fact that it's a great life. I don't have to cook my food, no work, no housework, just school for 4 hours a day, and then shopping, tanning, and sleeping. Oh, and going out almost every night. Also the wine is cheap. It's .90 to 1.50 € for a glass of wine, and that's only like a buck or 2 bucks. The wine here is sooo good. A lot of the boys are cute here, but no more than the US. Hit or miss, as they say. Here they are just different by their hairstyle (80s and mullets are back!) and dress (nicer, and more trendy). They usually won't come up and talk to you, but when they do, they are usually just interested to know why you're here, because no matter what we do, we are obviously American. The people here are defiantly not nearly as nice as they are in TX. I would immediately describe them as rude. There is no customer service in stores, it's just whatever. they won't look at you in the streets or smile or say hi. This city is pretty introverted, usually, and they are really into fashion and having the best and latest this and that, Almost snobby in a way. The weather here is nice, dry and kinda cold for this time of the year. Average is about 40 to 50 at night and in the morning and between 70 and 80 for the high. This cold front is rare for Spain in May, so most of us weren't prepared for the cold. There is no AC here, so I'm glad it's not too too hot. People do tan nude here, and sometimes it's really gross. Let's see, what else? The weekend here was a lot of fun. While a lot of the people go out everything, I am definitely going to only go out-out on the weekends. Some weeknights it's nice to go to a nearby cafe bar and enjoy a glass of wine before bed. I don't get a lot of homework, but today I am going to go over all my irregular verbs for the preterite, and make a list. I am also working on a list of vocab that I learn each week and will hopefully be able to add to it every week. I love the siestas! BURGOS! The excursion to Burgos was beautiful. About 1.5 hours away to the north east is a city called Burgoes. We went up there for the day on Saturday and toured some old tombs in some church, the beautiful late'gothic cathedral (omg so detailed and breathtaking) and an old castille (castle grounds) that had a beautiful view of the city and the catherdral, red tiled roofs and countryside with farmlands and mountains in the distance. It also was an awful climb to the top of that (we were trying to sing the Rocky theme song as we jogged upwards, but then we got tired and it slowed down tremendously. The city was also having a medieval festival and it was neat to look at all the booths. There was a food booth with the meat being roasted whole, so you could see the pigs on stakes by the fire. They were selling old cheeses (stinky), fresh flavored teas, insense, jewelery, pastries etc. There was also this tent with exotic birds: harks, vultures and owls that would fly between trainers for fresh meat. There was a snowy white owl, and I took a picture of it. I think it was Hedwig. :) People like to dress up in Spain a lot for these festivals, and wear elaborate costumes from medieval times. It was neat to look around. I am getting hungry. I'm glad food is soon. I hope people are reading and enjoying this! have a great day!

Flashback time

As I prepare to go back to Spain, I'm reflecting on the times when I've been to Europe, especially when I studied for 5 weeks in Valladolid in May of 2005. I found my old blog and want to paste my old entires here for old time's sake. Now, please note these were written when I was a senior in college, I was 22, in serious relationship (that ended 2 weeks after I got returned). I find it entertaining to see how I have grown, and how I saw Europe for the first time in my life.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Well here is my first entry! I'm not even there yet, but I figure a countdown till I leave would be fun. I leave in one week. I have so much to do before I go, I really hope I can get it all done. While I'm in Spain I will have access to the internet and will hope to update this as often as I can. I will also have an additional email account, but I haven't picked one yet.

Saturday, May 07, 2005

My email in Spain is going to be SabsinSpain@hotmail.com Give me an email so I can add you to my contacts! *

Sunday, May 08, 2005

Crap! I'm going to Houston on Tuesday, and I still have a lot of housework and packing to do. I think since I am going to be in Houston for a couple days and then in Houston/Conroe for the 2 weeks afterwards, that I'm just going to take home a lot of crap and then decide later what's actually coming with me overseas. I'm for sure taking the following things: my iPod, my Winnie the Pooh, and my Spanish Dictionary. Those are the most important things. After that would be my digital camera, some extra clothes, and Matt. I wish he would fit in a suitcase. I also am going to cut my hair again before I go since it's been almost 5 months. My stylist also has been to Spain many times and I want to talk to him about it. Here is a link to the site about the university I am going to be at. Scroll to the bottom for the links to pages in English.   http://www.universitascastellae.es/esp%20main.htm Here is a link to the promotional video for the school. It has english subtitles. It is huge, and use quicktime. http://media.modlang.txstate.edu/grajera.html I'm going to be staying in a 16th century castle turned dorm. How cool is that! Mucho cool.

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Hey Everyone!  I am totally in Spain! the flight was good, I got to see the Phantom of the Opera, and eat yummy airplane food. We got to our dorms and they are sooo small. think small, and then cut that in half, and then cut that in half again. I don´t mind, at least I have my own room, and internet in the basement. I got no sleep on the plane and i´m off my 7 hours, so i´m exhausted. Some of the kids and I are going to wander until dinner which is served at 9:30. Miss some of yall already. Tell you more later. I gtg. Okay, now I have a little more time to tell you about what´s going on. Sorry if the typing is bad, but the keyboards here are Spanish keyboards and they have cool things like ñ and ç but a lot of the punctuation are in the wrong spots. Anyways, I had 2 flights, one to Newark and then one to Spain. (about 3 and a half, and 6 and a half, respectively). Not too¨bad. The food was good, but I couldn´t sleep. I was going to go out tonight but I am really tired. Just so you know, there are about 25 of us who came from Texas State University, and 8 of us are in the dorms. We are really just meeting each other right now, so it´s fun being with people you hardly know. After we got to Madrid we had to wait in the airport forever to get our luggage, and then for 5 hours for the rest of the kids to finish arriving. Everyone got to choose their own flights since we are all coming from different parts of Texas and some people want to stay longer, and such. Then we took the 2 hourdrive to Valladolid, and it was pretty. I got to sleep a little on the bus. We got to the rooms and boy are they tiny. It has a bed, sink, mirror, a couple shelfs, a tiny desk and chair, and a closet with 4 or 5 hangers. Cute, old and clean. I´m glad that I brought pics of my mom and dad, Daniel and Jess, and a big framed one of me and Matt to put by my bed. I also brought my Winnie the Pooh, so it almost feels like home. Then a couple of us (2 guys and one other girl and me) went on a 2 hour walk around Valladolid. They got some beer, and we saw a bunch of architecture, churches and people. The people here like to get dressed nice and walk around town, almost parading. Old men and women walk around, as well as families and couples--dressed real trendy. I´ll probably have a 15 minute walk every day to and from school. Dinner was a lental bean soup with frnech bread, some fried potatoe balls and some small meat patties that kinda tasted like steak fingers. I had some yogurt too. Breakfast here is self serve pasties and coffee from 7 till 11:30, lunch at 2, and dinner at 9:30. It´s actually pretty chilly here, I wish I had an extra blanket. Some people are going out tonight, but I´m tired and would rather get caught up on my sleep than go out. Tomorrow our teacher is going to take us on a tour of Valladolid round 11, and then we have orientation at 5 at the school. I am exicted and nervous. So far I am doing fine on my Spanish. I like talking to people in Spanish. Nothing too interesting yet, but I´ll keep you peoples informed. Please let me know what you´re u¨p to! check out these cool things. ¿¡ÇÑ ¨ hehe weee!

Expect the Unexpected

HOW GOD "TRICKED" ME INTO ATTENDING WYD


Yes, I feel like I got tricked. But it was a good trick. More like a surprise that grows with time.

At this point, it's around April 2010 and I am discerning heavily about going to Madrid. I did some research and found out that World Youth Day is a very misleading title. WYD is actually for Young Adults (ages 18-39), not Youth (Jr. and Sr. High School). It also lasts about a week, not one day. Interesting, no?

I also found out about a program called Days in the Diocese where one diocese in the world is paired with a diocese in Spain and have a pre-WYD program full of cultural activities in a small intimate environment. This sounded like an excellent opportunity to me and I read everything I could about it. This option was not available in Austin, or if Ashley and I tried to travel with a random national group as individuals. Then I found the Archdiocese of San Antonio.

San Antonio is about 70 miles south of where I live in Austin. They were offering the DID program and had very affordable plans. I would be able to go to Spain for 2 weeks for less than all the other options I had found. True, the conditions were "simple" (i.e. no hotel) but I was ready for a pilgrimage, not a vacation. Plus after my traveling experiences I was not afraid of roughing it. I'm young, right?

At the same time, I was offered two freelance graphic design jobs. Both would have helped me pay for the Spain payments. After talking with Ashley about San Antonio's travel plan and prices, we decided to sign up for WYD. Hooray! I was stoked because I had the extra money that was going to come in and help pay for it, we got a good deal, and we were going to Spain! Hip Hip Hooray!

About a month after we signed up and paid our deposit (August 2010) God threw me a curveball and BOTH graphic design jobs fell through before I could get started -- or paid. I already had committed to WYD and had been graciously given permission to miss 2.5 weeks of work. I was stuck.

I prayed about it a lot. After a lookover of my budget, I realized that if I gave up shopping and other extra luxuries like going out to eat, coffee at Starbucks and Jamba Juice runs, that I could afford the monthly payments. 10 monthly payments. I can do this. My boss even asked if I was looking for sponsors or doing any fund raising. After I thought about it, I told him that I wasn't planning on it. I figured that if I had a full-time job, I would be able to sacrifice what I didn't need in order to save up for this trip.

This was part of God's plan. Now that it's July 2011 and I am leaving in one month, I can honestly say that I have been preparing for this trip for over a year. Not only have I been sacrificing financially, I have been doing it for the preparation of this trip. I think once August comes and goes that I will have a much better experience knowing that I worked hard to be able to get to where I am.

Isn't that what life is all about?

fbt&<3
Sabrina

Let's start at the very beginning...

Hello world! This is my first entry in my Spain blog. I am not actually in Spain yet, but I wanted to share my journey to how I was called to go on this trip.

Before we get into the preparation of this trip, here is a little bit about who I am. My name is Sabrina, I'm 28 and I am from Texas. My passions include dance, traveling, musical theatre, graphic design, food and my cats. I am involved in pro-life work, and am involved with a Catholic ministry for young adults. I have traveled to Spain for school (2005) and to Holland, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and France (2007). I also enjoy trips to Boston, Los Angeles, Florida and most of all, New York City! I love exploring culture, tradition, food, art and history. I love journaling and taking pictures, and I collect postcards from all over the world.

WHY WORLD YOUTH DAY?

For the past 2 years I have grown deeper in my Catholic faith mostly due to my involvement with the Catholic-20somethings. It is such a great group of people who travel with me (in a sense) and help me learn, grow and become closer to God and the The Church.

When I found out about WYD being in Spain this year, I thought that I should go. I talked to a few friends about it and they all told me that it's too expensive to go to WYD. I did some research and saw that with the Austin Diocese it in fact was really expensive. So I just tried to get over it and figure the money is better spent elsewhere.

I kept going on with some small signs about WYD popping up into my head. I would pay extra attention to the ads I saw, or when people mentioned it. My coworker and her husband had been once or twice and she told me about their adventures. I still had it on the brain when one day in the summer my friend Ashley was talking about how she really wanted to go but that she was nervous about the language barrier and not knowing who to go with. We talked about it more later and once we figured out that be both wanted to go for the same reasons (to meet people, grow in our Faith, and experience the biggest Catholic event worldwide) we decided to discern (pray about it) and research some travel options.

Meanwhile, working for a nonprofit, I was wondering how I could afford this trip. I knew I wanted to go, especially before I turned 30. (They have WYDs every 2 years.) I had some things to figure out.

fbt&<3

Sabrina