Con Amor :)

This Thankful Thursday: I am so thankful for my boyfriend :) This is Gray--

Gray is my best friend. I miss him so so much. I won't get mushy gushy on you (your welcome) but I wanna tell you how thankful I am for him. Through this study abroad experience, he has been nothing but supportive and encouraging. I can't imagine going through all this and not having a boyfriend who didn't support me. Even when I'm being a baby- complaining to him, wanting to come home (yes, it's true. I do have those days. It's rare), he encourages me to enjoy this season that I'm in! Which I need to hear from time to time! Obviously it's hard being over 4000 miles away from each other and not being able to talk a lot, but we have already grown so much! (Thanks to our main man::Jesus!) I am so thankful for who Gray is. He is confident in himself and in our relationship. He is competitive (in the Elliott blood). He is passionate (about life, Sheepy, and the Lord). He is strong-willed & determined. He is fun. And he is silly. :) 
Thank you Gray for supporting me and being there for me! I can not wait to see you on June24 and give you the biggest hug ever :) :) :) I love you!!!


Okay, so this past week hasn't been too eventful. I've hit up the beach a few times, {which has been so nice!! It is so beautiful here! And it's actually getting hot! YES!!! Starting on my tan early! Sorry Boone friends for your cold, rain and fog! Wish you were here! :) } I conquered another presentation, and I started training for my triathlon. WAIT, WHAT!?!? Yup. Me. Triathlon. June. 2 days after I get back. Boom. The thought of it makes me nervous and it doesn't seem like a reality yet. But, alas, I'm doing it!! I'm signed up, so there's no turning back!! I went running yesterday (success) and attempted to go swimming today (what I am most nervous about) but got turned down. Apparently I have to have some kind of special card? and special pool sandals. Lame. Estan locos. And it's not like at the SRC at App where there's not many swimmers and always open lanes. Here there are 6 lanes with 4 or more people swimming hard core. I was so intimidated!! So maybe take2 some time next week...


Also this week we finally planned our Semana Santa trip (means Holy Week - aka Easter Break- aka our spring break)! Devin, Erin and I will be going to Madrid (where we'll meet up with Kira!) for a few days then fly to jolly ol' England  (London, to be exact!) then hop on over to Dublin (YAY!) and then back here to Alicante!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!! Then 5 days after I get back, Carlie comes!!! We'll be here in Alicante for 5 days and then we will be flying over to ROME for 5 days!!!! AHH!!!! YAY!!! I absolutely love traveling (minus packing, ugh.) and can. not. wait. for. all. this. greatness. to. occur.


Cool: I don't watch a lot of t.v. here. But lately I will turn it on when I am eating or something. And what I have found is so great. A lot of our American TV shows (HannahMontana, America's Funniest Home Videos, Scooby Doo, etc) are here too! But they are voiced over! And it is the funniest thing!!! All I do is laugh because they are so ridiculous. One time I found this channel that had movies on it. And guess what gem I found?? Bring It On. Yes, voiced over in spanish. Hahaha it was so funny. 


Not cool: I have a class that is super boring. Not interesting. But I have to take it. No big deal. Well there are a group of students in this class that deem it necessary to talk during the whole class. Not like whisper to one another, but full out talking. Over the teacher!! I've never seen such a thing!! It makes me irritated, because the teacher never makes them stop! It is ridiculous. If you want to socialize, leave the class!! So the teacher is talking super loud, trying to talk over them, but there's no point, because then they just talk louder! Insane!! So frustrating!!! Luckily I only have 2 week left of my business classes! :)

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, 

let us be thankful,

and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,

for our "God is a consuming fire."

-Heb.12:28-29

Video of La Crema

I wanted to share a little video with you to show you how cool all of this was. I edited it a little bit, so bear with me. 

(ps- anyone know how to put the video right on here? can't figure it out!)

CLICK HERE FOR MY AWESOME VID. :)

Please excuse the following:

• Adriana & I continuously laughing
• My constant 'OH MY GOSSSHH'
• The shaking of the camera
• The awful McDonald's sign that happens to be in the direct middle of my video... great advertising...
• & the bad sound quality.

Please look for the following:

• Hilarious & random comments
• Taking a family snapshot (while talking to them in english. i'm dumb.)
• The temperature on the McD's sign rising
• & the amazing amounts of people watching from everywhere.

ENJOY! :) :)

(PS I'll be adding pictures soon to fbook)

ThankfulThursdays!

So I had this awesome idea: ThankfulThursdays! Every Thursday I will be posting something that I am thankful for. 

‘So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. -Colossians 2:6-7’ 

The Message says, ‘And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.’

There is so much to be thankful for :)

This Thursday I am beyond thankful for opportunities. I have been so blessed in the past to travel to many different places, and this is no exception. This is such a cool opportunity I have been given to truly experience another culture! Not just visit for a few days, but to live here for 5 months!! I don’t want to take advantage of this time in my life, because I know June is quickly approaching. I want to travel and go as many places as I can!! So thankful for my Dad who encourages this mindset! For real. So blessed. 

So early on Saturday morning, (legit early. we saw the sun come up. Sad that I haven’t seen that in a while) Devin and I rode the bus to the airport to get the rental car! My first rental car! {You don’t have to be 25 like you do in the States :) } And my first driving experience in a foreign country! It wasn’t really that different, other than the road signs. The highways were very similar, they drive on the same side of the car as we do at home and it’s a manual, like the trusty Explorer (which I miss. There’s nothing like just getting in your car and driving somewhere). We picked up Adriana and her boyfriend, Jon, and hit the road. We were about 15 minutes out of the city and lo and behold our car breaks down. Shuts off. Donezo. We then proceeded to wait about an hour for the tow truck and a taxi, headed BACK to the airport where they gave us a new car. Of course that happened, haha but it was all part of the adventure!! It took about 2 hours to get to Valencia with the help of the GPS (which Devin borrowed from a German friend. Thankfully he found out how to switch the language from German to English because I would have probably been crying if that thing was yelling at me in German. That GPS was the biggest blessing, can’t even tell you). We parked outside of the city and rode the metro into town. Good call, Devin. We came out of the metro into the hoards of people, in town to celebrate Las Fallas.

Let me tell you a little bit about this wonderful festival. It is officially dedicated to St. Joseph, patron saint of the guild of carpenters, where it’s said this tradition came from. In the springtime, the carpenters would burn their torches and other wastes from their workshops, and from there it has taken off. Now a days, this festival is a display of art. People spend over a year building these huge monumental figures! They vary in size, but the big ones are bout 6-7 stories high! The whole festival lasts for about a week, and goes out with a bang (literally) with La Crema, or the burning of the figures.

This is the day that we came for. When we got there we pushed our way through crowds of people and saw a few of the fallas. They were so cool!! I wish I could have seen how they were made! All traffic was stopped for Las Fallas, so it was a pedestrian paradise. 

We stopped for lunch, then for Starbucks (praise jesus, ilovestarbucks) and continued making our way through the city looking at las fallas. The whole time there are firecrackers going off, which are super loud and I was constantly jumping. The little kids got a kick out of scaring people. Punks. We had dinner and around 930 started waiting to see the finale at 1am. They began burning the little ones earlier (with each burning there were fireworks or mascletás), then the bigger ones, saving the biggest and first place falla for last. 

(1st Place Falla they burned at 1)

We skipped out on seeing other ones burn and the parade, because the big one was suppose to be spectacular, and we wanted a good view. We were not disappointed. After much anticipation, at 1am there was an awesome fireworks show. We were really close to where they were shooting them off from and you could feel your whole body resonating. It. Was. Awesome. Coolest thing. Then within seconds this massive monument was engulfed in flames. Crazy. I think I was laughing the whole time. We watched this beautiful thing burn to the ground with some type of Valencian national anthem (? not sure) playing in the background. It was a really awesome experience!!

We then ventured back to the car and drove the 2 hours back to Alicante. I was exhausted. The 2 lovebirds were sleeping in the back, so Devin stayed awake and talked to me to keep me awake. We talked about his upcoming wedding in July (!!!!!Yay!!!!) and how we wished our significant others were there. True story. Overall this road trip was definitely a success and I would totally do it again!!

Cool: MY SISTER IS COMING TO VISIT ME IN MAY!!!!! I cannot tell you how excited I am!!! My sister is my best friend. She is crazy, beautiful, hilarious, in love with Jesus and now a triathlete. :) The Sassy Sheffield Señoritas will be hitting up Spain together!!! I’m counting down the days. This is way cool.

Not cool: I’ve been eyeing these 2 pairs of boots in this store window for weeks. They are so cool and edgy. They are knee high, and flat like a regular boot (not a heel like my last sassy boot-mistake). So I finally went in to the store yesterday cause I have some extra mulah to spend and knew I wanted these boots. Well I waited too long. They only had one pair of each boot. One was way too big. The other fit me in the foot, but not on my big calves. So now I am boot-less. I haven’t decided if I want to hunt some down or not, because it is getting warmer now and there aren’t as many in the stores. So it would truly be a hunt. We’ll see. It was very disappointing. Not cool, Caitlin. Should have gone in when you first saw them.

Filled with wonder

I'm filled with wonder, awestruck wonder, at the mention of Your name.

Jesus, Your name is power, breath, and living water-

Such a marvelous mystery!

Holy ,holy, holy! Is the Lord God Almighty, 

who was and is, and is to come!!

With all creation I sing, Praise to the King of Kings!

You are my everything, and I will adore You!!

My amazing church back at home, Cornerstone Summit, is part of the Cornerstone network and since our services are not online for me to watch, on Sundays, I watch the live streaming of Cornerstone up in Toledo, Ohio! It has been the biggest blessing! Today Pastor Jeffery Smith preached and it was so good. I had to share. 

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to this?

If God is for us, who can be against us?

-Romans 8:29-31

God foreknew me. He knew me before I got here. Everything about me! He knew my likes/dislikes, strengths/weaknesses, successes/mistakes, loves/hates, personality, sins - EVERYTHING - He knew it all, before I was even born! (Jeremiah1:5 - Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.)

God predestined me. He believed and invested in my destiny!! After he foreknew me! After he knew that I would fail him! He still believed in me! He invested His son for me!

God called me. God voted and selected me. God is intentional and he intentionally came after me and my heart. Again, after knowing everything about me. 

God justified me. He acquitted me of all charges. He released me of all the charges held against me! God didn't care what the witnesses had to say. He made His verdict!! 

God glorified me. God raised me to a heavenly dignity! Ephesians 2:6 says 'And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.' We were raised with Christ! He elevated us to a whole new level of living!

Then Paul asks a rhetorical question: If God is for us (which obviously from everything he just told us - HE IS), then who could be against us?!? The Message says 'With God on our side like this, how could we lose?...And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger?'

God's love is overwhelming to me. The very essence of God is His love! He loves me so much! But you know what? He loves YOU so much too :) His love for YOU is so strong, never-ending and genuine!! He has not given up on you & He wants your heart!

I am going to tell you about my awesome road tip... because it was awesome! And Las Fallas was awesome. But not today. Today I am reveling in His everlasting and non-failing love. It is so great, so deep, so strong & I am filled with wonder.  

Oh praise the one who paid my debt

 & raised this life up from the dead

estoy enferma.

It's true. I'm feeling under the weather. No bueno. So I am not going to my 2 classes today (which I'm okay with me because it's also raining). I will instead drink lots of OJ, get some much needed laundry done, work on some homework, and watch the season finale of The Bachelor online. (Yes, I have gotten sucked into the Bachelor. Only this season though. It's addicting. Annndd I like it.) Praying that I feel better soon!! (I might even sneak in a siesta!) 


I wanted to write about my Sunday, because it was so so nice!! It started off with some sweet Jesus time. Fact- there is no better way for me to start my day. It was a whopping 18 degrees (i hate celsius. so aka 65 degrees fahrenheit)!! The past few days had been dreary, so I was happy to welcome the sun with open arms (literally. i have a farmer's tan now haha)!! I headed down to the water and it was a little windy, so I sat by the harbor, watched the boats come in and out and read one of my Spain travel books (thanks D!). I love the water!!!! 

I wish each of you could see the water here. Its so beautiful and so blue!! If I were to try and describe it, I would say it's blue similar to the Bahamas (not as clear), but with more green in it. I love spending time down there. So peaceful and relaxing. 


I headed to this cafe and it's so cool because the back of it has no walls or windows or anything and you can walk to the edge, look over and you're on the water. There are walls on the sides of the cafe, so it blocks out the wind. They have tables lined up near the edge, because thats where it's sunniest, so naturally that's where I sat. It was so great!!! I ordered my fav, go-to drink : Cafe con leche. Mmm. And this cafe plays classical music. Nothing better. I really like classical music. I felt like I was in a movie: Sitting in the sun right on the Mediterranean Sea, slight breeze, working on my chacos tan (carlie would be so proud!!), sipping my cafe con leche, classical music in the background and reading a book. Can you picture it?? Like a movie, right? :)


I'm reading Wicked by the way. My sweet friend AlliB, let me borrow her copy, so I could indeed defy gravity in Spain!! (Thanks so much Alli!!) I saw the Broadway play this Christmas with my family and was/am obsessed with it. So I started reading the book. It is pretty different from the play, but I like it.




Cool: 100 days until I return home to the good ol' USofA. Kind of bittersweet actually. Sad because Spain is awesome, and I really like it a lot here. Also sad because I've met so many cool people. But sweet because I am already so excited to see Boyfriend and my fam. Also sweet because some of my greatest friends here are the other people from App, so I'll still get to see them when I get home! :) I am enjoying this season I am in and not getting ahead of mysellffff :)


Not cool: Last week I had to go buy some shampoo and conditioner. So I am trying to find the most reasonably priced one that also isn't soap water. I finally chose some. You know the bottles that say 20% more! 40% more! I got those. They were on sale, and I got extra! Perfect, right? Wrong. I get home and was putting them in the shower. The light in the bathroom illuminated the bottles and they were not even full!!! I got jipped. Not cool shampoo bottles, not cool.




Stay tuned for this weekend's wild adventures. 
Can you say, Road Trip? :)

pro.cras.ti.nat.ing

procrastinate:
To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.
To postpone or delay needlessly.


I should be finishing my part of the business plan right now butttt procrastination seems to be my middle name this week! I'm sitting on campus waiting for my class to start and finding funny videos on youtube. Take that stupid business plan! :) This one is hilarious. I first heard it during ZUMBA class last semester (why don't they have zumba in Spain??? I miss it!! /laughing while trying to keep up with the pros- meganbaker). 
If you want to watch it, click here.


It's been a crazy week. I have completed 2 presentations and one exam! Check! Plus I think all of my teachers got together and decided to give homework in every class. Preciate that... not.


CARNAVAL! So fun. Craziest thing I've ever seen. A group of us dressed up as greek goddesses (aka white dress+belt. perfect & easy). One of the main roads, La Rambla, was closed down and there were stages set up for mini concerts. There were candy stands on the sides of the road and a lot of dressed up people. Not like Halloween in the States where girls use it as an excuse to dress slutty and guys don't really do anything. EVERYONE was dressed up. Youngsters to old people. And they dressed up in groups. You might see 8 girls as ducks, or 10 guys as priests. Funny. We walked down to a park near the port. I.have.never.seen.so.many.people. Seriously. It was sooo packed!! Definitely fun and definitely an experience!! (I'll put up pictures on fbook soon)


Boyfriend is out in Utah right now snowboarding it up with Shreddex. Totally wish I was there because it is apparently straight powder. NICE!! 3 parks in 3 days. He's a happy camper :) In Wilmington this weekend, the Elliott family plus my Dad and seester are competing in the Azalea Triathlon!!! The Elliott's are all competitive and athletic. I'm convinced it's in their blood. They are all gonna rock it!! And I can not tell you HOW PROUD I am of my Dad & Carlie!!!! They've been training hard, and I wish (so badly) I could be there to swim, bike & run along side of them!! 

{GOOD LUCK MamaE, DaddyE, GRAY, SAMMY, CAM, DAD & CAR!!! You are ALL going to do SO great!!! I'm PUMPED for the tri in September(/scared out of my mind)!!!!! :)  :) Wish I was there!!! Love you all!!}

I'll try and post again soon. First things first: Business Plan. Ugh. 

My Life Be Like Ooh Aah, Ooh Aah

I have many favorite things in life. It's true. 
One of them being strawberries (YUM! especially during summma time!). 
Another being Nutella (needs no explanation. if you don't like it, i think you're crazy). 
And as I sit here writing to y'all I have indeed combined these two favorite things of mine!! AND IT'S SOOOO GOOD!!!!!!! I have a feeling that I will be buying a lot of strawberries throughout the duration of my trip. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Just thought I'd let you in on my new discovery :)


OKAY, so on Saturday a group of us went to this town called Elche for the day. It is about a 15 minute train ride outside of Alicante and it was really fun! Basically it's just a smaller version of Alicante, minus the ocean and insert a creek (looked like a lazy river) with a lot of palm trees everywhere. The parks were beautiful and we had some amazinggg gelato!! Yes, please!

Success.

Other than that, not too much has been going on. Classes are going well. Next week we'll be half way done with our International Business classes (the ones taught in english), which is VERY exciting because they are all pretty boring. Except Cross-Cultural Behavior. I like that one. 


On Tuesday Kira, Erin and I hit up the gym. Which is awkward here because not a lot of females work out. The gym here is funny. It is this tiny room crammed full of way too many men, weights, equipment, (only 2) treadmills, and mats in between the equipment if you should choose to do abs...awesome. So as I'm running on one of the treadmills, I avoid all eye-contact and stare at the air vent the whole time. Perfect. Men here are kind of creepy. They just stare at girls way too long. So it's awkwarrdddd.

(Jams in the Gym:

Kid Cudi- Erase Me (tanks to my bruder for dis one)

Baby Bash- Cyclone (haha throwback. it just makes me laugh)

Shakira- Rabiosa (a solid find. what's better than shakira? right seester?)

Duck Sauce-Barbra Streisand (i'm convinced there's nothing better for cardio)

these are just a few for your listening pleasure!)

So today instead of the gym, Erin and I ran on the beach as the sun was setting. So great. Now I'm sore, but the good sore. I'm going to try and run again tomorrow so I can keep eating strawberries and Nutella :) 


Starting tomorrow til the 13th there is a Carnival here in town. This is what one website says about it, "Like all over Spain, Alicante hosts a colourful carnival prior to the start of Lent. The highlight is on Ramblero Saturday, when the city's main thoroughfares, La Rambla and El Barrio, fill with stunning costume parades, music and dancing." SO not too sure of all this entails, but I am very excited about it!! I'll post pictures of what our costumes end up being! 


Kind of forgot about this, haha sorry!
Cool: There are a lot of people that sit at little tables on the sides of the sidewalks and sell lottery tickets. When they are not actually selling them, they are yelling out what type of tickets they have to the people walking by. There is this one guy that I always walk past who sounds exactly like Sebulba from StarWars. Like, I'm 99.9% sure it's him. Every time I walk past I get the urge to go talk to him about podracing. Which I have no clue how you'd say that in spanish, so I don't. But he's legit.


Not cool: The bus. I really really dislike the bus. It's expensive (even with your bus pas. i miss the free Appalcart) and all the times I need to get to campus it's crowded. Like Appalcart times 7.5. It takes about 25-30 minutes to get to campus with all the stops. I hate how crowded it gets. Today I literally spooned with 2 separate people (I was there first and they plastered themselves to me. ew). I wanted to cry. They are working on the Tram to open a stop where the university is, and I can't waiiitttt. I saw them testing it today, and I almost jumped for joy. No lie. No me gusta el autobús. 

I praise You because I am fearfully

& wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

-Ps.139:14