By Robyn Ragins, Fall 2017 Gap Semester athlete

*"Doodling" during a beautiful morning in Rodellar, Spain.*

Mornings in Rodellar are surprisingly cold considering the warm weather forecast for the rest of the day. But not the kind of cold where wind blows and your bones feel cold. It's a brisk cold that makes me feel alive. I can feel it chill up goosebumps on my skin and makes me want a jacket or maybe a blanket. But it's not cold enough that being inside is better than outside.

We have two little apartments and from the front, we see a valley and then some hills. These are big hills in the distance that would make it almost impossible to spot a person walking up them, a kid would probably call these hills a mountain. Actually, they are mountains. But from where I sit, with the mountains sprawling in front of me, they feel like hills. My two-toned blue hammock allows me to face the hills which happen to be in the west. With the sun rising in the east I can watch as first the tops of the hills, then a little bit more and more gets illuminated by light. The morning light here is an airy kind of bright. It covers the sky and shines all around while not really shining anywhere at once. There is no direct beam of sun to divert your eyes from but instead a glow all around. The light makes the fog visible as it silently retreats through the valley leaving dew on the grass.

Even with the brisk fall air the lavender bushes outside our apartment are still purple and full. The sound of bees buzzing is almost louder than the birds, and the bird chirps are all around; there are so many different chirps and coos. It's funny in the way that when I'm sitting outside in the early morning, at first it seems so quiet and then it seems so loud with nature. Then the little boy whose family is staying above ours will wake up and shuffle around making all kinds of kid noises. He mumbles, giggles, runs around and chats with his parents.

Two more things complete this morning aesthetic. First are the small stone walls that line the road on which our apartment sits before the valley. The stone walls are newer but look similar to the terrace style of short stone walls all throughout Spain. One of my favorite parts of Mallorca were the really old & crumbly, but strong, walls. They spread all over: flat land or hills. They were there, separating land and making sections of growing space for the olive trees. The idea that all the stones had been placed there, probably by hand, is crazy. So the little stone wall that is next to the road completes my quintessential rural Spain image. My other favorite part of morning is the smell...the smell of cold fresh air. The smell comes in as fresh, clean, and earthy crispness, making me think of fall days. It has such a deep freshness, that even when I take a breath I can't smell anything that taints it. The air is so still in the morning that it doesn't carry in other smells but instead, just holds the smell of the the dew that lingers until the sun gets higher and warms up the ground and air. I sit in my hammock and look out over the lavender plants, the stone walls, the valley with the sunlight creeping in, the fog, and the hills.

I have my coffee cup in hand and my plate of eggs in my lap, and I enjoy it all. The mornings stop for a little here. There is no school or work to rush to and for a second, there is nothing better. I can't imagine anything better. Then I think of the climbing that I'm going to later in the day. I'm motivated to finish breakfast and hop out of my hammock because when I'm climbing I will also have the thought, “nothing can be better than right now.”

Rodellar Mornings