Christmas Time is here...happiness and cheer...

With the Christmas season well upon us, and just having finished my exams TODAY (hollaaahh), I am happily ready to embrace the season and will undertake to get as many hours of Christmas music, as many Christmas movies, as many trips through the Vista instead of my normal Blossom St/Huger St. route (which I've convinced myself it's faster) because the Vista has the pretty Christmas lights--all as stuffed as I can into these next couple of weeks because it is the BEST time of year! I am an intense clinger to traditions, and so I always struggle with this inner tension that builds up inside me during December from a fear that I will not have enough time to watch every favorite Christmas movie, or drive to see the house with my favorite Christmas lights display, or get to spend as much time down in our basement all by myself contentedly wrapping presents and sipping my tea and listening to my two favorite Christmas cds...and that my Christmas season will not be perfect. May I just take this chance to add, though, that if it weren't for my tenacious grip on all the wonderful traditions of the Christmas season then I don't know WHAT kind of December my why-would-we-watch-Elf-again-we've-seen-it-so-many-times-we-can-quote-the-whole-movie siblings would have. It would be sadly lacking, let me tell you. We HAVE to watch it--and It's a Wonderful Life and White Christmas and Christmas Story-- because it's tradition! We have to sit and listen to Mom read Bird's Christmas Carol aloud for the nth year in a row because it's tradition! We have to go to the 7 o'clock Christmas Eve service and not the 5 o'clock because it's tradition! Yes, I know it's common knowledge that tradition is what makes Christmas so wonderful, but my point is that I take it to the extreme. And so I have been gearing myself up beforehand so that I hopefully, prayerfully do not get caught up in the normal stressful tizzy I get myself into.

Lord, quiet my spirit before Your Child this Christmas. Fill me with joy that comes from an understanding of the Salvation that He came to bring.

Another reason I have been contemplative the beginning of this December is because this will be the first Christmas that really is the beginning of "things will never be the same" because my grandfather, Paw-Paw, died last month. He always got so excited about hosting Christmas and having the whole family surrounding him. The minute we would walk in the door his excited grin and enthusiastic "MERRY CHRISTMAS" greeted us first thing...unless his electronic Christmas doormat happened to be working that year and we heard Santa's voice (which until just recently I thought was Paw-Paw's voice recorded) startle us (every time)with "MErrrryyy CHRISTMAS!" Christmas will definitely be quieter this year with just my sweet, gentle Grandmother hosting. He was a fiery extrovert. But such a sweetheart. We will all miss him at Christmas.

Back to tradition. And life in general. We try so hard to keep a tight grasp onto things of this life that we love...so much that we try to replicate wonderful experiences that make us feel warm inside over and over and over. Christmas traditions. But then life messes up our perfectly-constructed plans for a perfect holiday season. Family squabbles. Busyness. People dying. I think this is our Creator quietly reminding us that He is the only thing we can hold on to. I don't have to watch It's a Wonderful Life (actually maybe let's change that to an inferior favorite like Eloise at Christmas...kidding)or go to the 7 o'clock instead of 5 o'clock (But really?? Who wants to go to a candle light service when it's barely dark outside?) Christmas Eve service to be filled with His joy and fall more in love with Him this December.

Venturing into Northern Italy: Milano and Lago di Como

I have been meaning to do this post on Milan for days but just have kept on getting interrupted! Better late than never! Last weekend was the last of my outside-of-Spain travels for the trip. Erin and I spent waaayyy too much time on www.easyjet.com the first week we were here looking up all the different possibilities of where we could go on the weekends...cities all around Europe were beckoning! Ha even though all the flights on Easy Jet were cheap in comparison to what you would normally find, we still had to be realistic about our college-student budgets. We were super excited to find a really good deal on a flight to Milan though! Upon talking to some of our Spanish professors and an older Italian man named Lorenzo who is in one of our classes, however, we learned that there are not as many tourist attractions in Milan as other Italian cities, and that it could easily be covered in a day. We heard that there were some really beautiful towns around Milan that would make a good daytrip, so we did some research and decided to do Milan on Friday and take a 30-minute bus to Lake Como for the day Saturday. One of the BEST decisions we've made during our travels! The only downside to the stellar price of our plane tickets was that our flight left at 7 a.m. Friday morning out of Madrid, and then left around that same time Sunday to come back to Madrid. Because we would have had to get up so early to get a bus from Salamanca to Madrid, then, we decided to just get the last bus that left out of Salamanca Thursday night and spend the night in the Madrid airport so we would already be there all ready to go. Yeeahhh. That was one of the lower points of our trip for sure. As the Spanish people would say, it was "fatal." (the colloquial word they use for whenever something didn't go well or was just really bad all around) Hard, cold, metal benches with announcements coming on over the loudspeaker every 10 minutes reminding us to keep a close watch on our luggage. But I digress. Our flight was really smooth and we were able to get some sleep then so it all worked out. We arrived in Milan around 10 and headed first to see the Duomo, which was spectacular!













After the Duomo we walked through an old palace or fortress (sorry I'm a terrible tourist and can't remember what it was called), and then headed to the High Fashion District on Via Montenapoleane. It was a great place for people-watching! Check out this one man's dapper pair of pants. Too funny.

























After the fashion district, we were definitely feeling the night at the airport catching up to us so we were ready to head to the hostel. On our way to the metro stop, though, we were smacked in the face by the sight of a gigantic H&M. We decided we had to make a stop considering 30 euro dresses would be pure delight after the unattainability experienced walking down Via Montenapoleane. We finally made it to our hostel after that detour around 5. The "Sweet Hostel" was quite a contrast to the charming Andarhillo of our beloved Porto, but on the bright side I'm glad we got such a well-rounded European hostel experience during our weekend excursions. :) We were in a packed room with about 8 other people....it was like a little taste of the different corners of the world! A couple Brasilians, three other Americans, two backpackers from some Scandinavian country, and an Italian girl. Despite the tight quarters, however, we slept like rocks after our airport slumber party. Saturday we hopped on a bus to Como di Lago really excited about all the stellar reports we'd heard (such as, for example, that it's the location of a scene in one of the Star Wars movies and George Clooney has a house there...reeled us right in!). In all seriousness, the charming city of Como, combined with a PICTURESQUE, to say the least, boat ride across the lake (complete with views of villas and the Alps!) gave us what I think must have been the best possible taste of Northern Italy.

Two Favorite Spanish Parks

The best part of the location of my apartment here in Salamanca is that it is a hop and a skip away from the most beautiful park! El Parque de las Jesuitas has become a daily haunt for me...to go running and just meander through to take pictures or sit on a bench for some quiet time. What I love about it too is that it apparently is a very popular site for social gatherings...mostly elderly couples! It is seriously so precious--all these older men with their adorable little hats and suits walking arm in arm with sweet little old ladies stopping to chat with their friends. And there are a lot of children too...accompanied by either their parents or grandparents. I love being surrounded by so many different generations in such a cheerful environment buzzing with activity.























My other favorite park, el Parque del Retiro in Madrid, falls into a much more grand category than the sweet Parque de las Jesuitas in Salamanca. A good way to describe it would be as the Central Park of Madrid with the European flair. I think I have a certain sentimental attraction to this park in Madrid because I spent so much time in Central Park when I was in NYC last summer. This past weekend when Erin and I were on our way back from Milan (more about that to come!) we had some time to kill in Madrid because our bus didn't leave to take us back to Salamanca until later that afternoon, so we agreed some chillax time in the park would be a win decision.

School and Food

I now want to show you where I am every day here from 9 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.! The University of Salamanca is beautiful, but unfortunately where I take classes, the Cursos Internacionales building with the other foreign exchange students, is not located in the same area as the old historic part of the university. But I still think our building is pretty awesome. The last picture illustrates what has become our custom at approximately 10:15 every morning: our grammar professor Andrea stops class for us to take a "pausa," which is my favorite part of the morning! During this short break that usually stretches into 15 minutes, our little group habitually trots down to the corner cafe for a café con leche or snack. I wish we had "pausas" in my classes at USC!















On another topic relevant to the daily life of Rebecca in Salamanca, I have been so fortunate to have a host mother who is a phenomenal cook! I feel as if I'm really getting a rich cultural experience just from mealtimes. I think Isabel's chief way of caring for people is through her cooking. :) We have not yet had the same dish twice! Yesterday she made the popular Spanish dish Paella, a combination of rice, seafood, and chicken.



I wish I had more pictures to show you of the Spanish meals Isabel has made! Maybe I can sneak more photos before my trip is over. The only downside about the food here is breakfast. Every single day it's the same: little corn muffins and cracker-like cookies. Erin and I are plotting to offer to make everyone pancakes and scrambled eggs on the last day. :)