A much needed update.

So... It has honestly almost been a year since my last post (I am so bad).  It has been a year full of wonderful new things.  The most wonderful things that have happened this year (and have yet to happen):


- I started my Graphic Design internship at Amigo Mobility
- I have learned so much in my classes and internship and love my job as a Graphic Design intern!
- I became engaged to my best friend, Benjamin McKinney on December 12, 2011
- Lauren and Nick are getting married! August 11, 2012


My last semester of my Junior year is finally over.  I can't believe how fast my college years have gone.  Next year I will be a senior and will graduate in May 2013.  This year has especially been one of great growth and learning for me in my Graphic Design classes.  It has been so much fun.  I am so glad that I am able to do something that I love to do.  It seriously makes learning so much better.


 This summer I will be working 30 hours a week at my internship at Amigo.  I love working there and am so glad that I have had the opportunity to have such a great experience.  Although my job can be pretty stressful with a million people setting deadlines for flyers, postcards, owners manuals, and other things, I love what I do!  I am hoping that after I graduate they will hire me full time so that I can have a steady job while Ben is finishing up his school.  We are hoping to move to Grand Rapids after he graduates for him to attend the Ferris Pharmacy school and for me to find a Graphic Design job.


I am getting SO excited about our wedding.  June 1, 2013. Still over a year away, but the planning is coming together.  I have been waiting for that day for so long and am so glad that I am finally marrying my best friend.




Here is a glimpse of our engagement:


It was the Monday of our final exams right before Christmas.  Ben had been telling me he wanted to take me to Frankenmuth for a date and shopping.  We planned on going Monday night (Dec 12) after his finals to just relax and have a nice date.  When I got to school after work ben handed me a note and his car keys and said "you'll know what to do".  At this point I was super confused and kind of starting to get suspicious.  We go on dates every once and a while, but never anything super surprising like this.  I opened the note and it told me to go out to his car and open the back hatch.  When I went out to the car and opened the hatch, there was a big gift waiting for me (he told me this was part of my Christmas gift).  I opened it and inside was a beautiful dress and a note saying to put it on and wait for him to get out of his exam.  So I went and changed into the dress and waited for him to get out.  When he got out he seemed really nervous and it was so cute.  We drove to Frankenmuth and when we got there he said he made dinner reservations.  We ate at the Bavarian Inn and it was delicious.  After that he said he wanted to go shopping.  We started walking down towards the shops and the next thing I know, we are standing in front of the horse carriages.  I had always wanted to go on a carriage ride.  At this point I was feeling really anxious and felt like something was going to happen.  We got on the carriage ride and the driver had some Christmas music playing for us, it was so perfect.  About halfway though ben knelt down in the carriage next to me and proposed.  It could not have been any better.  Of course I said  "YES!!!".  We are so excited to be starting our life together and can't wait to get married.  What a blessing it is to have such a wonderful man in my life.  He is my best friend and everything that I have ever wanted in a man. I am so lucky to have him.

 My absolutely beautiful ring:

I love it more and more each day! It is perfect and so special!

The Things I've Missed

Things that I have missed while in Spain.. and I am looking forward to when I get home:

Benjamin:

Family:

My Puppy:

Higgins Lake :) :

Bolthouse Mango Lemonade:

Bamboo Garden Chicken Broccoli:

Movie Theater POPCORN:

Watching movies in general.. Haven't watched one movie since we have been here.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup in a Bread Bowl from Panera:

Blue Moon Ice Cream:

The Country:

Fresh Garden Tomatoes:

COOKING:

Being away from home has definitely been an eye opener.  I have learned so much not only with the Spanish language, but with life in general.  I now realize all of the little things in life that I take for granted everyday.  I have a man that I love more than anything and want to spend the rest of my life with, I have the most amazing family in the world, I have a beautiful home, beautiful things, awesome friends, and an amazing life! I honestly couldn't ask for more.  Some of the smallest things in life can be greatly appreciated when you go without them for a long period of time.  Life is too short to sit around and not live your life to the absolute fullest. 

 I know for me this experience has opened my eyes to all of the amazing things that God has put on this earth for me to enjoy.  I have been absolutely amazed by the beauty and wonder of not only the Spanish country, but the language and the culture.  Everyone here is so care free and easy going and I have learned to just let go sometimes and soak it all in.  Doing fun and amazing things doesn't even have to cost money.. I know how lucky I am to be in Europe for 5 weeks, but I also realize all of the amazing things that I have been missing out on at home.  Just a simple walk down a country road or a drive with no destination sounds amazing to me.  

I have met so many amazing people while I am here and have been so lucky to have had this experience with them.  I hope to stay in touch and I am sure that we will. 

I am so blessed and so excited to share all of my amazing adventures when I get home.

Can't wait to be home!

Abrazos y Besos

I should be studying...

Tomorrow are our final exams!! YIKES.. actually, I'm not too worried about it.  I do need to review some stuff a bit, but most of the stuff on our final is stuff that I learned a while ago and just need some review.  I am kind of nervous because this will be the only test we have had and I'm not too sure about how it will be set up.
Tomorrow we have to get up and get around for school at the normal time and we will have 2 hours of normal class (review) and then our 3 hours of exams.  Should be interesting.
After school we want to go down and take some last pictures of the beach and then head home to finish up last minute packing.  After we pack we will spend some time with our Señora and then we have to meet the bus at 8pm.

I know I wrote about it yesterday, but here is our itinerary for tomorrow night and Wednesday. I'm not really looking forward to the traveling part of leaving because we have a 6 hour bus ride to Madrid, having us arrive there at 3am on Wednesday, then we have to wait until 12pm on Wednesday to actually leave the Madrid airport on our first flight.  Our first flight is a 2 hour flight to Paris and from there we have an 8 hour flight to Canada and then another 2 hour flight home.. It's going to be a really long day. All together and factoring in the time change that is more than 24 hours in an airport or on a plane.. ughhhhhh
We will be more than ready to land in Detroit at 8:50 on Wednesday night and see our parents and I will see my amazing man, Benjamin!! :) YAY

The 2 hour drive home won't seem so bad once we are finally home.

That's what we have to look forward too.

It has been a wonderful trip and a seriously life changing experience!
Wish us luck on our exams and our travels!

Abrazoz y Besos

Final days in Spain

Time has really flown by.. Even though it does feel like i've been here for forever.
I am starting to get really home sick and I am really ready to be home.  We have gotten to go do and see everything that we wanted to and more while we have been here. It has been an awesome trip...
But now I am so ready to see my man Benjamin and to see my family.  These last few days are going to take forever because I am so anxious to be home.


Thursday night we went to the Malagueta beach for the San Juan festival around 8PM and stayed till 1AM.  It was a lot of fun.  We just sat and talked with friends on the beach and there was a free concert there too.  The free concert was Carlos Baute, a Spanish singer.  He was actually really good and it was really cool to get to see a live Spanish concert.  We didn't stay too late because there were a lot of drunken people and we got really tired haha.  At midnight everyone goes for a swim in the ocean as a tradition to "cleanse their spirit".  We ended up just wading in up to our knees.  It was really cool to be here for such a huge event.

Friday we pretty much sat around all day and relaxed and got some of our stuff packed.  We are trying to pack little by little so that Tuesday we aren't overwhelmed.  

Yesterday we spent the day at the beach in Nerja which was a lot of fun and beautiful as always!  

Last night we had paella and fried bread for dinner. It was delicious.. I'm going to really miss the food here!

This morning we got to sleep in which was really nice.  We got up and had toast and then Carmen made us churros con chocolate too.  It was delicious! I have really been wanting to try churros while we are here and I love them! 

Today we are going to relax for most of the day, study for our finals, and go to the beach for the last time :( .  Tomorrow we have school as usual and then Tuesday we have our finals.  I am sort of nervous for them because we are going to take the final for the class higher than ours.. but I know that I will do fine.  After our finals on Tuesday we will come home from school and finish our last minute packing and then we have to go meet everyone to get on the bus to take us to the airport in Madrid at 8PM.  We will be on the bus for 7 hours through the night and will get to the airport around 3AM because other people in our group have to be there that early for their flight.  Lauren and I don't fly out until noon on Wednesday. I am really not looking forward to our 9 hour wait at the airport followed by 3 insane flights.  It is going to be a rough day.  Even though it is going to suck to be either in an airport or on a plane for 24 hours straight, in the end we will be home!!!


I am really going to miss some of our friends that we have made here.  I hope to stay in touch with most of them.  It's going to be really hard because we all are spread across the United States, but we will keep in touch through facebook.  I am also going to miss Carmen.  She has been so amazing and has taken such good care of us.  We couldn't have asked for a better hostess!


Well really need to get some studying done.


Abrazos y Besos

A busy week..

It has been a few days since I last updated.  This week has been a little crazy, trying to pack in the last things that we want to do before we leave next Tuesday.  I can't believe it is already Thursday night and we leave in 5 days. WOW. Time really has flown by.

After going to Sevilla this last weekend we were really exhausted so Monday we pretty much spent the evening at home after school.  We did actually try and go to the botanical gardens with friends, but after a 15 minute bus ride and a 15 minute walk we found out that they are closed on Monday's. haha.

Tuesday we didn't go to school and decided to sleep in and go to the beach.  We should like really horrible students, but the teachers at our school don't discourage taking a few days off for the beach.

Yesterday was a really long day, but it was fun.  We did the whole get up and go to school routine as usual, but after school we decided we would hike the mountains in Malaga.  I wasn't so sure how smart of an idea this was since at 2PM after school the temperature was 93 degrees.  It was sweltering.  We ended up doing it anyways, and I'm glad we did.  It was a good workout and a beautiful view.  After waling for about an hour and a half from our school up winding steep hills, we finally made it to the mountain where we had to climb about ten more minutes to the top.  I am glad that most of the climbing was not on the edge of a cliff of high up on a ledge because I wouldn't have made it to the top.  We could see the entire city, the ocean, and the surrounding pueblos and mountains from where we were.  It was really breathtaking.

After hiking we came home and showered and got ready for our goodbye dinner with ISA.  We all got really dressed up and went to a really nice restaurant.  It was really delicious and lots of fun.  We had bread, salad, some sort of fried red pepper which was amazing, croquetas with bull tail in them (weird, but they were delicious), the main dish which I had pork and potatoes, and dessert which was a compilation of many really good desserts.  It was a lot of fun to just get to sit and visit with all of our friends for a while before we leave next week.  We're going to miss them, but we will keep in touch over facebook.. And I'm SO ready to be home! :)

Today I am quite sore from the hiking, but I am glad that we ended up going.  It was a really neat experience.  After school today we headed home because we missed our siesta yesterday and needed to catch up on some sleep.  We had abondigas (meatballs) again for lunch today because Carmen likes to spoil us :)
After lunch I showered and took a 2 hour nap.  We just got back from our final meeting with ISA which was to lay out our final preparations before leaving Malaga next week.

Today at school our teachers told Lauren and I both that we should take the final exam for the class that is one level higher than ours.  We both tested into the low intermediate class and have been only reviewing things that we learned in high school and college.  It has been really helpful because we needed the review and speaking nothing but Spanish in the class has helped so much, but we are quite a bit more advanced than the other students in our class.  We have a lot to study this weekend before our final exam on Tuesday, but we are going to take the higher test so that our credits transfer back to Saginaw Valley as higher classes.

Tonight we are going to the Malagueta beach for the San Juan festival.  The San Juan festival is a really big deal here.  It's a celebration that lasts through the night and fills the beaches with people and bon fires.  June 23rd is actually the eve of the birthday of St. John the Baptist and is celebrated with these festivities.  There is going to be a free Spanish concert on the beach at 10PM which we are heading out to go to around 9PM.  According to all of the locals tonight is one of the biggest festivities that Malaga has each year.  We are excited to go.  We read about it in class and it is supposedly a magical night and they do a lot of funny traditions.  One of them is that after the fires have died down the men leap over them to prove their manliness or according to our teacher Alvaro their "macho-ness".  Another tradition is that everyone goes swimming in the ocean at exactly midnight because it is supposed to give you fertility, beauty and luck.  It's very interesting and really cool to experience the culture.

The other day I asked Carmen a question about having a bocadilla (packed lunch) and she is really laid back and says anything that we want we can have, but after I asked her she told both Lauren and I that we are the absolute best girls that she has ever had in her house.  That is saying a lot because she has been hosting students for a long time now, not to boast. haha.. But she just thanked us over and over again for respecting her house, her things, being kind, being courteous, and asking her questions.  We honestly couldn't have been put with a better woman.  We are really going to miss her.  She has been so amazing and such fun.

Well, I am going to go eat some dinner and get ready to head out for the night's festivities.

Abrazos y Besos

Sevilla

This weekend we went to Sevilla.  We had to be up and around and ready to leave the apartment by 7:30 on Saturday morning, which was an early start, but we made it on time.  We were actually the first people to our meeting point.  When we got up Carmen had made us bacon and eggs like she does every weekend :) It was delicious.

We got on the bus and endured a 3 hour bus ride and arrived in Sevilla at 11:30 in the morning to tour the royal palace and gardens of Los Reales Alcazares.  They were really beautiful, but it was incredibly warm in Sevilla which made the day a little unbearable.

 After the palace we got to tour the Cathedral of Sevilla which is the third largest in the world.  We got to see the tomb of Christopher Columbus, many beautiful works of art, and amazing architecture.  At the end of our tour we climbed 35 levels of a ramp up to the top of the tower of the cathedral where we were able to see the entire city.  It was amazing! It was a long climb, but it was really worth it.

After the cathedral we went shopping and met back with our group to go check in at our hotel.  We went back and rested for a bit and then went out to get food and shop with a couple of friends.  Then we had free time for the rest of the night and went back to the hotel to relax and hang out with some friends.  At 11PM we decided to go out to a little cafe and get drinks and some food.  It's really common for people to go out late here.  Most of the time people don't eat dinner until somewhere between 9 and 11 at night and they stay out and socialize late into the night.  We went to a little restaurant on the river and it was really cool.  We got Tinto Verano to drink which was really delicious.  After that we went to a little club right down from the restaurant and danced for a while which was really fun, it was my first club experience haha.

After that we went back and went to bed so that we could get some rest before our activities today.  Today we visited gardens and plazas in Sevilla.  The last plaza we visited was the Plaza de Espana which was where they filmed part of the Star Wars movie: Attack of the Clones.  It was incredibly beautiful and really cool.

After that we had free time for lunch until 2:30 and then got on the bus for our 3 hour ride back to Malaga.  We got back to Malaga around 5:30 and came right home.  Yesterday a new girl arrived to our house in Malaga to stay for 3 weeks.  We met her today when we got home.  She is from Ireland and is really nice.

Tonight we got to talk to a lot of our family.  My mom and dad called while they were at Uncle Tom & Aunt Nancy's for father's day and we got to talk to my grandparents, cousins, and some of our aunts and uncles.  It was so nice to finally see all of them! It made me a bit emotional, but keeps me looking forward to being home that much more.  I loved being able to see all of them and say hi.

We leave in 9 days.  I can't believe it! It has gone by so fast, but has been amazing.

Well, I had a long weekend and need some good sleep tonight before we get into our last week crammed full of school and last minute activities! :)

Abrazos y Besos