yes, i have been watching firefly for the past 3 days

I watched all of Firefly last weekend, and watched Serenity today. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's a great sci-fi series and movie. Especially the movie.

Captain Reynolds: Do you know what the first rule of flying is? Well, i guess you do since you already know what i'm about to say.

River: I do, but i like to hear you say it.

Ah, beautiful... go where you want with that. So true.

more pictures

More Madrid pics!

Toledo pics...

Here's a few more adventures...seeing the royal palace and the medieval town of toledo.
Lessons learned:
1)It is so hard to take classes in Spain because of:
a)lots of homework
b)lack of sleep
c)so much to see

2)From now on, i'll travel to the southern hemisphere in the summer months.
a)cheaper
b)colder

3)My spanish is improving:
a)reading like a banshee all these darn novels
b)writing 2-3 papers of 3-5 pages each week
c)however, speaking still awkward
1-still processing from english to spanish
2-still figuring out how to speak like a spaniard
3-they look at me funny because the white girl is speaking spanish

4)I really do love Spain
a)madrid...art, restaurants, history, culture, cosmopolitan environment
b)country-serious hiking needs to be done here
c)muslim/jewish influence in history and architecture
d)chocolate and churros

June has only 30 days

I have learned my lesson and learned it well. June does NOT have 31 days. Why do i say this? Because i knew i was leaving for Madrid on July 1. I just thought i had one more day to run around Germany, see Frankfurt, and prepare to leave. Nope. I was wrong. I think it was the clerk at the hotel that tipped me off. He said something about me putting the wrong date on the paperwork. "What? Today is July 1st?" And I realized that it was 1130 in the morning. My flight left 4 hours ago. Oh crap.
Run to the airport....buy another ticket...have to say bye to Mark so suddenly...have to sit alone in the airport for 5 hours...have to wait through delays because of rain...have to take a taxi...have to fight the ladies at the dorm to let me have my room (in spanish, of course)....have to wake up 5 hours later... and have no friends here.... ACK!
But it's okay. It really is. I found friends here who will make my life much more enjoyable. I have classes to keep me (too) busy. I have a whole city to explore....for a month.

What i learned at CHURCH!

I know. I learned something at church! I'm amazed. Sunday school lesson: Numbers 12. Moses. As my sunday school teacher presented it, Moses has a wife from Cush (aka Ethopia), and Miriam and Aaron are fussing at him. Why can't the leader of the Jews get a wife from his own race? Noo, she's from Ethiopia. But Moses is different and he likes it that way. Anyhow, humility was actually the point of the lesson. Miriam was struck leprous for "dissing" Moses...and what did he do? Did he say, "That's what happens when you rebel against me! What were you thinking, sis? God chose me for cryin' out loud!" Nope. He said, "O God, heal her--please." And God says okay, but shut her out of the camp for seven days. And Moses didn't lead the people on until she came back. Then we talked at the end about how Moses could be so humble. It's because he saw God face to face. I think i'd fade from my own view if i saw God. How could i not be blown away and humbled? Then he mentioned our way of "sorta seeing God face to face".
"How many of you just treat prayer as 'transition time'?"
What? Do i? I wake up, say "oh, i need to get straight, time to transition" and then i read and pray. Wow, yeah, i do!
But prayer isn't that at all. Prayer is our chance to talk with our creator, face to face, to stand in awe of Him, recieve His love, and sit at His feet. How could i describe talking to God? It should be so much more than "MY transition time". It doesn't have to be long... remember the tax collector? "Oh God! Be merciful to me, a sinner!" but perhaps if you have a bit more energy... Solomon prayed a great prayer
Lord, may i never take speaking to You for granted.

100th post!

This is my 100th post... 'tis a milestone for me. So i surmise that i should write on something worthy of such an occasion.
Maybe not. Brain's blank..
But what have i been up to now that school's out? Well, catching up on sleep for one thing. Studying for the MCAT for another. And daydreaming. It's been awhile since i've done that, allowed myself to be spirited away by thoughts, just laying out in the grass, thinking, imagining, dreaming. It's very refreshing. We all need times like that every now and agian... and these next few weeks should do it for me. A chance to do what i want (well, and even some things i really don't want to do). I've been so overwhelmed with my academics that it's been difficult to slow down, to really care about things that matter. Not that academic excellence doesn't matter, of course it does. But there really is more to life. There's bike riding 8 miles at the beach with my dad on a Tuesday afternoon. There's chilling with my bro and his girlfriend home from university.
There's taking Christmas pics of my family... and getting candid shots when they're least expecting it...
There's going to church in jeans with my best friend and being looked at like we're rebels. There's reading Jane Austen outside on an autumn day. There's chatting with folks far away into the late hours of the night. There's time to just stop by a friend's workplace to say, "how are you?". There's time to drink a cup of tea. Time to enjoy it all.
Why did i not MAKE time for all this earlier?
Take a deep breath. Take the time. And keep me accountable and remind me of this once i get all stressed out again.