gran via{je}.

so i'm sitting here in the riga, lativa airport, trying to navigate blogger in latvian {which is in fact much harder than one might expect}, and reflecting a bit on my most recent european adventure that is nearing its end.

it was such a whirlwind... it kind of feels as if it was all a dream. 

it was wonderful and spontaneous and stressful at times, 

but i saw so many new ways of life and had some beautiful, cultural experiences--

made new friends and became closer with my darling american friend.

and i think it'll take a few months of reflecting to totally comprehend how awesome it has been!

during the first leg of our trip, we revisited my beloved españa. 

our first afternoon, we stumbled upon gran via and spent a good hour just exploring and marveling and checking out all of the shopping. 

i love the gran via because it has this definite metropolitan vibe that you can't quite get in any other part of madrid.

also, did i mention the shopping?

oh, europe.
i can't really get enough of you. 

this time around has really been another gran viaje. 

roman holiday.

after a few months south of the equator, 

i decided to fly north for the spring and visit my other love, europe, again. 

my dear friend hannah met up with me in barcelona, and we've been adventuring ever since!

today we experienced rome for the first time,

and i must say... i'm impressed! 

i love how everything is so authentically italian here (minus the "gladiators" posing outside the coliseum waiting for the foolish tourist).

there really are rows and rows of vespas lining the streets and gelato shops on every corner!

and the pizza and pasta... to die for! 

after one day, we're a little bit smitten with this place,

and reallly reallly smitten with the food.

here's to a weekend of self-indulgence, michelangelo, and finding the perfect gluten-free pizza.

chikondi.

in chichewa, chikondi means love.
the first malawian friend i made was a woman sitting next to me on the plane.
her name? chikondi.

and the first baby i fell in love with at open arms was a little boy with HIV.
his name? chikondi.

before this year, i never knew i could have a heart so big or such a capacity to love.
through service, i've learned about what it means to love and how important it is to love.
i realized a little bit of christ's love for us.

my week in malawi taught me so much about unconditional love.
about the need to feel the warmth of another's love and the need to give of your love freely to others.
the babies run around the whole orphanage with their hands straight up, asking to be hugged and cuddled.
and if you sit down for a second, you've got twelve of them crawling all over you, snuggling right up to you!

and how could you help but not snuggle them right up, with faces like this?










love is so important to share and to feel and to receive.
and, if nothing else, my experiences in africa taught me how to better and more freely share my love to all.

chikondi to all of you.

the daily grind.

my daily schedule in africa thus far has been more or less the following: 

4 a.m.: wake up feeling chipper and alive, realize it's before dawn, start feeling not-so-alive.

4:23 a.m.: start hating everything. okay, mostly just jet lag. 

5:15 a.m.: get out of bed, eat something, talk to my peeps out west. 

5:45 a.m.: return to bed, attempt to sleep.

6:45 a.m.: get out of bed for real.

7:05 a.m.: feed tiny little african babies tons of porridge [read: attempt to feed tiny little african babies tons of porridge without getting more of it in your hair than in their mouths]

7:55 a.m.: hang out with these cuties: 

8:45 a.m.: get vomited on. return to house to shower.

9:15 a.m.: collapse in exhaustion due to lack of sleep... only to realize you have twelve dime-size mosquito bites on your legs. dream [read: nightmare] of malaria.

1:00 p.m.: go somewhere cool (village, etc.), meet incredible people and more darling orphans/foster kids, take loads of pictures.

5:00 p.m.: go to local cafe for life-saving essentials--coke and real internet access.

8:24 p.m.: hang out with cool european roommates and learn fun facts about brussels and cool new british words like "scrum" and "hair bobble."

9:15 p.m.: collapse in exhaustion under mosquito net.

11:55 p.m.: wake up to realize your head has somehow escaped the rest of the mosquito net. fall back asleep.

and, repeat.

can i just say that those little orphan eyes and smiles and laughs make it worth it a hundred times over, though? well yeah, they do.

this is africa.

after sixty-three hours of traveling (involving an unexpected night in johannesburg, new friends from all over the world, and a two-pound bag of german gummy bears), i finally made it to malawi.

and from the second i left the lilongwe airport, everything has just seemed so utterly african (okay, except for the hot showers... and thank goodness for those!).

the women walk around carrying everything on their heads, the men ride bicycles around barefoot, and there's a little market on every corner and side of the road. 

after a taxi ride across malawi, i arrived at open arms infant home,

the orphanage where i've been working as a volunteer/photographer.

this orphanage is home to thirty children whose mothers have mostly died due to aids;

here, they're given proper nutrition and care during their first years of life, and many are treated for their infectious diseases (aids, tuberculosis, etc.) 

i've only spent a few days with these little guys,

but they've already stolen a little piece of my heart.

they're so gorgeous and happy and love nothing more than to laugh and stuff their faces with porridge. 

i'm in love.

but really, can you blame me?

a trip to the university.

my last week in peru, we had "career week." 

we wanted to inspire the kids to have elevated dreams, 

so we brought in different guest speakers from various careers and brought them on a field trip to the university.

we spent the afternoon meeting (and hugging... so cute!) the presidents of the university,

exploring the gardens and agricultural sections, 

looking at the different faculties,

and hanging out with llamas!

afterwards, all the kids talked about wanting to attend the university for different careers (after begging for ice cream, of course), 

so i'd say our mission was accomplished!

on a side note, it was fascinating to see a university in a different culture. 

turns out, education is important, all around the world!

the torre club.

while studying abroad in spain, we came up with this rule:

whenever you have the chance to climb a tower and overlook a city of any sort, do it.

so when we were presented the opportunity to climb to santa apollonia and check out the view of cajamarca, it wasn't even a question.

we spent the loveliest of saturday afternoons overlooking our beautiful ciudad.

we saw a completely different side of our city...

and when the night fell and the city lit up,

it was magical.

don't believe me? see for yourself!

fue lo máximo.