Catedral de Sal

Oh hey there. It's been a while, I know. I've been far from the internet for quite some time, but found some time to sneak in a little post to remind you all that I returned from Colombia almost 4 weeks ago now! Time flies sometimes!

Down to business, this post is about my visit to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquirá, a town just about 30 minutes north of Bogotá. I went with Zayrho, his mother Adriana, and one of her friends. It was the first time being there for all of them, even though Briceño is just a 15 minute drive away! First of all, "What the heck is a salt cathedral??" is probably on your mind. This is a place that is unique to the entire world-- on of a kind. I watched a video that explained all about it while I was there, but basically, this underground giant pocket of salt was created by the movement of the earth due to tectonic plates, after the ocean had receded from the area (hence the huge amount of salt). When miners looking for emeralds (las esmeraldas in Spanish) and gold in the area, they discovered that all of the earth in the area was made of salt. They began to excavate through the salt, creating tunnels, rooms, and passages. Eventually, someone decided to build what is basically a cathedral with an altar and everything underground in this place. The coolest thing is that everywhere you look around you there-- up, down, to your left or your right-- it's carved and chiseled salt. There was a little bit of marble every once in a while, of course which was brought in later, but basically everything else was salt. Here is what the walls looked like around the tunnel where there was a lot of moisture and water running:

Another thing that was super cool about this place was the story that was told as you walked through the passages, on your way to the altar. The story of Jesus' passion was told in 15 stages along the way. Each station had a cross of some sort, either carved out of or made out of salt, that were supposed to visually represent that point of Jesus' passion. This was my favorite of the representations:

There was also this very famous reflecting pool a little passed the altar way down underground. It's almost hard to tell if this is a mirror, water, or glass that shows something down below! The cool part is that it's only a couple centimeters of water that allow this effect to occur. So cool!

Now for the altar (really hard to get a good picture of because of the lighting in there!). By the way, they actually hold church services in here every Sunday and perform wedding ceremonies here from time to time:

And in front of the altar is this beautiful marble carved replica of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam... kinda reminded me of our trip to Rome!! :)

I'll see what else I can scrounge together about my trip to Colombia to share with you. Keep posted and cross your fingers that I can keep my motivation up! hahaha I also have a life update that could be worth putting on here for those of you interested in my travels. More details to come. Until then....

Catch me later :)

Welcome To The Jungle

The title gives a small hint of what I'm going to tell you all about... Villa de Leyva, a beautiful town a few hours North of Bogotá, was the destination for me and the De San Vicente family a week and a half ago. This place is amazing! After a long and windy road, the car kicking up some dust, we arrived at our hotel, called Hotel Getsemaní. Here's a before picture, when we stopped for lunch along the way (and you can see the wonderful family I got to live with for 2 weeks... From left to right: Zayrho, Me, Mauricio, Lirkhanna, Zharim):

And here is a sneak peak at Hotel Getsemaní:

So back to that title... if you want to see what the jungle in central Colombia looks like, here you go!

So what fun adventures did we have in Villa de Leyva? Well let me tell you. We started off by taking a walk around, looking for the eco-travel agency that offered tours through the nearby jungle. We found an... odd... fellow who gave us the schpeal about the tours and about what to expect, though I couldn't really follow everything that was going. We decided that we would disembark the next morning at 10am for... well, I wasn't sure yet. I knew we were going to some waterfalls and that was just about all. We continued on our walk, had dinner, and visited the plaza, which is actually the largest plaza in Colombia. Here is us there:

After dinner, Zayrho and I headed out for some wine at a Spanish themed restaurant/bar and became all nostalgic about Spain, then headed back to Gestemaní fairly early for a good night's sleep. I had no clue what the next day would hold.

We had breakfast around 9 the next morning then headed back to the eco-tour agency to head out. We met our tour guide and followed him and his comrades into the jungle, about a 20 minute drive outside of Villa de Leyva. When we arrived, we immediately saw our initial adventure... zipline down to where the river and waterfalls were. Each of us took turns flying down from the hill we were on, meeting down at the bottom. What a blast!! Once we all arrived at the bottom, our guide led us to our next adventure... repelling down a beautiful waterfall! Once again, we each took our turns down and then hiked back up. Here is Mauricio on his way down:

After we all had our turn down the waterfall, we continued on to our third adventure... a hike through the jungle, along the river to visit three more beautiful waterfalls. Here's the whole family together (Adriana, Lirkhanna, Mauricio, Zharim, Me, Zayrho) at waterfall number 2:

We continued on to waterfall three, then headed back to the hotel for a quick shower and dinner (which was absolutely delicious in another restaurant in Villa de Leyva). We were there just for the weekend, but it was a great bonding experience and an extreme adventure for all of us.

Catch me later :)

Exploring Bogotá

I definitely have yet to see even the smallest percentage of this huge city, Bogotá... with 12 million people, this city has about 20x as many people as Seattle! It's the capital of Colombia and it's clear by the size and amount of people everywhere. I've had the chance to explore some of the city, walking around in the streets, eating in various restaurants, visiting museums, listening to music here and there, getting my groove on, and more. I wanted to give you a brief tour of what I've seen with a few photos and descriptions.

This photo is of a reservoir outside of a restaurant that we had lunch at. It's actually outside of Bogotá about one hour (North), which we came across on our way to Villa de Levya (a post to come about that beautiful place soon!). The restaurant sat on this reservoir, where they caught the trout, trucha en Español, that we enjoyed for lunch. There was also a farm with animals such as chickens, roosters, and a llama, which surely supplied some of the food that we enjoyed during that meal:

For those of you who read my last post, Salsa at Galería Café Libro, you'll recognize this vaguely. Zayrho and I had a great Salsa night here last week, dancing, drinking mojitos, and taking in the true Colombia Salsa style. It's on Calle 93 in Bogotá, a place that's fun and super nice and clean for Bogotá:

On a day excursion in the city with Carol and Hugo (a wonderful, fun, and sweet couple close to the De San Vicente family), Zayrho and I enjoyed some beer and coca-cola at this intimate little bar, Merlin, where we enjoyed some live music by candle and firelight. It was a beautiful little place with everything made of wood and fun knick-knacks:

On the same day excursion, we toured Bolívar Square that is said to represent the four powers of Colombia, one on each side: The Palace of Justice (Supreme Court), The National Capitol (Colombian Congress), Vase House (Independence Museum), and pictured here, the Primate Cathedral/Holy Chapel. Why Bolívar Square? Simón Bolívar was a huge political independence leader of the early 19th century in South America. Bolívar led Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Panama, Ecuador, and Peru to independence and is honored in all of those countries. You go, Simón!

What else to see in Bogotá? The world famous Museo del Oro (Gold Museum). The history at the Gold Museum is incredible! I learned about the many indigenous tribes of Colombia (before Spanish conquest) and the stories of the tribes being invaded by the Spaniards. My favorite story is one that you might be familiar with: The Lost City of Gold. El Dorado, anyone? As the story goes, El Dorado, the chief of the Muisca tribe, covered himself with gold dust and rowed out to the middle of Lake Guatavita (in Colombia) to sacrifice a ton of emeralds and gold to the indian goddess Guatavita, as was typical for each new chief of the tribe. The story evolved as the Spanish and other Europeans became more greedy to find the gold, turning into a whole city made of gold under the deep lake. They even attempted to drain Lake Guatavita to find the treasure. Though many pieces of gold jewelry and more were found at the bottom of the lake, the Lost City of Gold was never found. Here is a nice little piece that the museum held (oh, and D.C. is the equivalent of A.D. or C.E. in English):

After a long day exploring the Gold Museum and walking around, we stopped for Chocolate (which is hot chocolate to you and me) and a few deserts. I found that even though I love most all Colombia food I've tried, I'm a little bit more picky about the desserts. They are almost always super sweet and too much for me to handle:

Remember my night of the Aguardiente that I mentioned in my second blog about Colombia? Well, this is that night. Here is me with Zayrho and Sebastián at a little blue bar in Bogotá, enjoyed a group playing live music (just a little group, playing at the table next to us and singing), lots of dancing, and drinking of that little bottle, the orange one on the table behind Sebastián, that led to my incredible awful hangover the next day. At least that night was really fun!

Here is an outside shot of the Museo del Oro (I think I described enough above):

This is the view from top of the hill in the De San Vicente's neighborhood. It's so beautiful! Situated on a golf course, which you can see down at the bottom with the little houses, this neighborhood in Briceño is surrounded by beautiful hills. Did I mention that the elevation of this city is around 5,000 ft? Well, that made for a heavy-breathing walk to the top of this hill... whew!!

More to come of this beautiful and inspiring city...

...catch me later! :)

Salsa at Galería Café Libro

Learning and dancing Salsa (and other Latin styles) was one thing in Salamanca... here it's the real thing! Well, at least Colombian style. Last week, Zayrho and I headed to Bogotá for a concert of the Salsa band La Conmoción. Amazing!!!! There was a cover to get into the Salsa club called Galería Café Libro, but it was well worth the 15,000 Colombian pesos each (which is only about $6 in the US).

We enjoyed some appetizers, mojitos (yummmmm... remember that Salsa comes from Cuba, and so do Mojitos!!), live music by La Conmoción, and lots of dancing. Here are a few pictures and a little video treat for you, so maybe you can feel like you were actually there:

And finally, what you've all been waiting for... the video! Galería Café Libro presents, on September 22, 2010... La Conmoción

Soooo much more to come, now that I have time since I've finished all of my Spain summer quarter homework and have plenty of time for blogging! :) ...and I have a lot to show about beautiful Colombia!

A special shout out to my Dad on his birthday! Happy birthday, Dad!!

...catch me later :)

First 5 Days in Colombia

I gave you all the DL on my first day or so in Colombia, but much has happened since. I know I promised pictures soon but I have had a problem with uploads... I'll get it figured out soon, hopefully tomorrow!

So of all of my "goals" for this trip, the ones I think I have achieved so far are trying tons of authentic Colombian food (which is super easy because La Gordita makes me three meals a day that are all super authentic and sooo delicious), and achieving one of my worst hangovers ever from a Colombian liquor called Aguardiente. Whew! Not only did I not like the taste (I just drank it to go along with "Bienvenido a Colombia" thing... tasted like black licorice.. bleh!), I hated the effects the next day. Unfortunately I drank it the day before I spent the day walking around Bogotá, taking a 30 minute bus ride to downtown, and visiting the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum). I was able to recover by the evening with lots of café, postres, y sandwiches.

I've met some pretty amazing people here so far and all of them are so welcoming to me. I kind of feel like I'm cheating because most people my age speak some English, and to make me feel comfortable they speak in English to me and Spanish to each other. I think I have to buck up and tell them to only speak to me in Spanish. It's nice that they want me to feel welcome though.

I've also noticed that there is a lot of US culture here, especially in Bogotá. The music, tv shows, stores, movies, and other things like that are often also from the US. Also, I find myself calling myself "American" which is normal for us to say, right? Well, here it's pretty much rude to say that because everyone from North or South America is an American. So I am from the US, or a "Gringa"... which makes most people laugh when I say.

Tonight we're headed back into Bogotá for a night of Salsa. It should be very fun! I'll try to get those pictures uploaded soon and will have more stories to come. I love Colombia! :)

Catch me later :)

Bienvenido a Colombia

After 12 hours of traveling, I finally landed in Bogotá around 8:30pm local time (2 hours ahead of Seattle, 7 hours behind Spain). I was hit hard with the Spanish of the people working in customs, asking me if I was carrying more than $10,000 worth of cash or products, what business I have in Colombia, and a few more things. I finally made it through and was greeted with a huge smile from Zayrho on the other side of this guard rail. His house is pretty far from the airport, just north of Bogotá off of the North Highway. The town he lives in is actually called Briceño, but it's about 16km away from the North part of Bogotá. I was so nervous as we pulled up to his house, knowing I was about to meet this family that I will be living with for the next two weeks. Other than the initial shyness (which is typical for me) I was able to whip enough Spanish out to chat a bit with Zayrho's mother, cousins, brother, sister, and nanny (oh, and the nanny here is kind of like live-in maid, but Fran has lived in the De San Vicente home for close to 25 years and is part of the family). It didn't take long until there was some tequila on the table, which we cheersed many times to my arrival with, followed by the most delicious shots I'd ever had, called Sangrita. It's kind of like a bloody mary but is different, though I honestly couldn't tell you how, exactly. Shortly thereafter we found ourselves eager to move around... we left the kitchen and moved to the living room and turned on some excellent Salsa music.

Now, this whole time I'm thinking this has to be typical of the De San Vicente family... grabbing the bongos and cowbell and playing along with the Salsa, dancing all over the hardwood floors, drinking tequila and sangrita, laughing so much that we achieved an abdominal workout for the day, all until 2am... but later came to learn that all of this was very rare and it was a special moment for welcoming me into the house. I had so much fun! Dancing with Zayrho once again (which felt like we were never apart for one month, it was so natural), Dancing with his 13 year old brother, Zharim, and cousin Andy. Well, we had an amazing time, finally heading to be between 2 and 3am.

This morning was also great. The breakfast that Fran (the nanny, the kids call her Gordita... Little Fatty, a term of endearment here.. haha) made me was so delicious... homemade bread, fried eggs, a latte (or café con leche for those who are so inclined), and fresh made orange juice. After breakfast I went on tour of the neighborhood where the family lives, a beautiful housing development that is unlike anything I have ever seen in the US. The houses are on a golf course that sits in a valley between all of these hills and mountains. We went on a driving/walking tour to the tops of the hills all around. It is amazingly beautiful! The weather is very similar to Seattle, though, which is nice for a country that is near the equator (but Bogotá is at an elevation of around 5000 feet... whew, talking about losing your breath while walking up those hills!). Later we went to a nearby town called Sopo to buy traditional Colombian deserts and eat them in a plaza. We went for coffee afterward (and yes, Colombian coffee is as amazing as I had built it up to be... sorry Spain, Portugal, and Italy.. Colombia wins!) and then headed home to relax a bit.

Now this is probably the most detailed post you're going to get while I'm here, so eat it up! I'll post again soon with more fun things I've done, seen, and learned (and pics included next time... promise!).

Catch me later :)

The Next International Flight

Hola mis amigos! I'm getting ready to head out for my next adventure to Bogotá, the capital of Colombia. This trip is much awaited and I'm so stoked that it begins at 7:05am tomorrow morning. I'm sure within the first few days I will be itching to post my first round of pictures and tell you about my adventures! I will be picked up from the airport upon my arrival Saturday evening and then I'll be out and about, no doubt to do something incredibly fun. I thought I had done quite a bit of studying Spanish while being home, but the fact that I forgot the verb for "to drive" ... like drive a car... today while in the car attempting to text my friend Jon, I found myself slightly discouraged. I'm sure the immersion will help. I'm so excited to see this wonderful culture and people I have been dying to experience. Just over 24 hours away! :) I'll keep you all posted very soon!

catch me later :)

Madrid: Wrapping up Spain

I left Salamanca with quite a few tears, but hope that Madrid would bring some relief. I was excited for what I'd see there, but the 2-1/2 hour bus ride leaving Salamanca for the last time was tough one. We did some pretty sweet things while we were there, though. Here is me and TeeTee at dinner at this pretty sweet Indian Restaurant (it was the only spicy food I was able to find in Spain!!).

On day one in Madrid, I went on a loooong walk all over town and saw this bear and tree statue that I've always seen in other people's pictures. I'm still not sure the name or significance, but I got a picture (I was getting lazy at being a good tourist... after 6 weeks of it and all).

Here is the Stadium Santiago Bernabéu, where Real Madrid plays futbol. I did an exterior tour (aka self led around the outside, too broke to afford the actual tour) and got this sweet picture of me in front of it.

Here are a few more cool buildings/statues... once again I don't know the significance, but they sure are pretty!

On the final day, I made a much desired visit to the Prado Museum. I have been waiting a looong time to make it to this museum and see all of the famous works within. You can ask anyone in my Art History class last winter who knew I was going to Spain... every painting in our book that was listed in the "Prado" I was freaking out about. Oh, and I saw them all, you better believe it. It was my favorite thing about the city. Here is me in front of the Prado with the statue of Velazquez, arguably the most famous artists to come out of Spain (competing with Pablo Picasso, of course).

What else did I do in Madrid? Lots of great things! My other favorite thing, aside from the Prado, was the live Flamenco show, up close and personal. We had front row seats and literally got sprayed with the sweat of the dancers. It was incredible... all of it... the dancing, music, vocals, ahhh it was just great! What else? Dinner at a random terrace, walking around, befriending two guys on the street and taking randomly hilarious posed pictures, eating lots of ice cream (yeah, yeah, nothing new), and finding a pretty sweet Mexican restaurant (for those of you who didn't read my earlier post about Spanish food, it's much different! haha).

Catch me later :)

Change in Travel Plans

For those of you who have been lurking on my Facebook page (aka Facebook stalking me), you've seen now that I'm back in Seattle. I am confirming that I did have a change in my travel plans and I am temporarily in Seattle again. Don't you worry your pretty little heads, though, Colombia is calling my name loud and clear. I'll be headed there next month for 2-1/2 weeks and will surely have an amazing time.

Now, my story back from Spain is a fun one. So I left Salamanca and went to Madrid for a few days (PS pictures and blog update about Madrid is coming your way soon). While in Madrid, my plans to Colombia quicky changed. I found out two days before leaving Madrid that I would be landing in Seattle, not Bogota, after all, and I would have to reschedule my whole trip to one month later than originally planned. I crazily emailed Laura, my manager at Windworks, and begged for some work hours upon my return, just two days away. Then I took my flight back to Philadelphia and prepared to board for Seattle.

Then suddenly (oh, I know the suspense is killing you), the flight was overbooked back to Seattle and US Airways kindly offered me $550 in flight vouchers and a hotel for the night to get bumped to the flight the next morning. Heck, sure, why not? What did I have to get home to so urgently anyway? Pretty much no job, my bed was still going to be there just the same. So sure. Well, the hotel was a great and the next day I headed back to the airport at 5am. Well, it just so happens that once again, the flight was overbooked. I obliged to another $550 flight voucher and hopped a train to the historical district in Philly, where I spent the morning and early afternoon (pics to come from that mini-adventure, too!). That afternoon I caught my flight back to Seattle and was greeted at the airport by my lovely Leslie and then basically went straight to Mexican for margaritas and a reunion with most of my roommates. Lovely :)

I also had a surprise waiting for me upon my return to Seattle. Heather, my bestie that got engaged to Jon while I was gone, asked me to be her Maid of Honor in their wedding next March! I was (and AM) so freaking excited!!

Well, what's on the agenda for the next month? I was able to pick up some Windworks shifts (thanks to Holly and Laura), I have 3 papers to write (12 pages each in Spanish... eeeeek!), surely enjoying some Seattle sun, beach, sailing, hiking, friends, a trip to Yelm to visit the fam, my favorite bars, then my cousin's wedding in Portland, a weekend jaunt to SoCal for wedding dress shopping for Heather, and then Colombia! Oh, and missing Salamanca and all of the people who made it so amazing for me. I miss you all :(

So check for my updates coming soon: Madrid, Philadelphia, and a fun fact blog about cool Salamanca things. That sounds vauge, but it'll be great.

Catch me later :)

Salsa in Salamanca

I know you know by now that I spent a lot of time in Salamanca dancing... and not just any dancing... Latin dancing! I was vague enough before (and in the title of this post) to simply say Salsa dancing, but it was much more than just Salsa. Here's a little bit of what I learned about Latin dancing while in Salamanca (compliments of Zayrho De San Vicente and El Savor).

Salsa.

Salsa has its roots in Cuba but has many different styles from many different countries all over the world. The most important thing in Salsa music is the clave rhythm, which can be performed by many instruments, but is usually performed by congas, bongos, piano, or a few other instruments. Some think (and I would agree with this) that the best part of a Salsa song is the "venom" where the music changes from something more timid to something with bite. It really is beautiful. The most important thing in Salsa dancing is to never stop moving your feet and to keep stepping the next step (don't forget while turning!). The focus is in the steps and what the feet are doing, not necessarily the hips and turns (though that do make it very nice to watch). Salsa can be danced solo, in couples, or in groups, choreographed, free-style, or very close to follow the leader.

Cumbia.

Cumbia is a dance from the Caribbean coast of Colombia (yay Colombia). Originally the dance style was created by African slaves. The slaves often had chains around their feet, so the dance involves movement of the hips much more than the knees or feet, and the feet are usually pretty close together. In addition to Cumbia, Vallenato also come from Colombia.

Merengue.

Merengue is from the Dominican Republic, but of course its popularity has spread all over. It's quite different from Salsa and Cumbia because the beat is very different and the steps are quite different. I haven't decided if it's more simple or more difficult than Salsa, but it's certainly different. In my experienced, it is more easily danced close with a partner because you can feel where the leader will take you next with the steps. The music is generally fast, fun, and energetic.

Well, there is much more that I learned, but that's probably enough to chew on. Since I don't want to forget these great dance skills, I'm going to try to find some place with Latin dancing back here in Seattle, but at least I get to enjoy a few more weeks of dancing in Colombia when I go there next month. I can't wait!

Catch me later :)

Vasco: The Language of San Sebastián

For those of you who don't know, there are actually 4 languages spoken in Spain: Castillan (or Spanish), Gallega (spoken in Galicia), Catalan (spoken in Cataluña), and Vasco (spoken in País Vasco). San Sebastián, a destination beach town on the North Coast of Spain, is in the region of País Vasco. Well, that was the destination of our weekend vacation just before finals in Salamanca. Though some people do speak Vasco, most speak Spanish and many also speak English. It was funny to not know which language to use while still in Spain! hahah... Our 6-hour Renfe train ride allowed us to arrive in San Sebastián just in time to enjoy some street performers, have a great dinner, and get a glimpse of one of the two beautiful beaches in the town. Here's me at the Renfe station:

This is a picture of my favorite church in town, captured on film during my evening walk while chatting on the phone and cooling down from the day at the beach. So beautiful!

Me and the lovely TeeTee in front of our Hostel: Old City Luca. Our accommodations were pretty nice for the price and the owner and his co-worker were friendly and nice. Our place was pretty clean and had nice big bathrooms. I'd definitely recommend this place to someone traveling in San Sebastián:

Big waves at the beautiful surfing beach. TeeTee and I enjoyed this view from the sand while Stefanie, Brad, and Spencer went boogie boarding (yeah, yeah, I know, but we studied for finals on the beach instead). It was incredibly beautiful! Clear water, waves, hills, and beautiful people:

And this is the other beach in town, which is much more family oriented by equally beautiful: La Concha beach. The waves were much smaller but the view was incredible:

On our last night, TeeTee and I enjoyed ice cream on a walk and a photo shoot on the beach. For more pictures, check out my facebook album (which I will post very soon!). I hope all of you can enjoy the beautiful San Sebastián someday, too!

Catch me later :)

A Weekend In Roma

Hellooooooo Roma!! Can I just say first and foremost that I LOVE YOU!!?? Well, it's true. And the funny thing is, I never imagined that I would love Rome so much. Those of you who know me know that my dream traveling is in Latin America, not Europe. BUT, once I saw that beauty that was Rome, Italy, I loved it like nothing else I could explain. And what a perfect weekend... and I'm not exaggerating... perfect! Here are a few highlights, but for more pictures, checkout my facebook album for Rome.

Me and Zayrho at the Forum on Day 1. This is just as the clouds were rolling in when the giant thunder and lightning (and rain) storm began:

And here is the sky again just minutes later... literally 2 minutes before the torrential downpour that sent us running for cover, for temporary relief in a pizzeria for some Italian Pizza and Peroni before making a run for the hotel. Oh, and we were more or less 15 blocks from the hotel. The funniest part is how much we laughed and were truly humored by the whole situation:

The next day was amazing and beautiful (the weather and so much more). Here is the Pantheon from the front. Unfortunately the right side of the facade was under repair and the scaffolding was covering up and made for a not-so-attractive photo. Welp, at least I've been there!

Now (drum roll,please.......) the fountain that ties for favorite monument in Rome... the Trevi Fountain. I dreamed of wearing my pretty purpled dress in front of it for this picture, and look! It came true! So beautiful... here is me and Zayrho, once again:

And the monument that ties the Trevi Fountain for first place: Colosseum! It was more amazing in person than it ever seemed in movies or pictures. I think we spent at least 4 hours total there, between the exterior visit the first night to the self-guided tour and professional-guided tour just after. There was so much to learn and see, though, so I think it was time well spent and time well enjoyed.

Hmmm, what else about Rome I'd like to share? During the flight, I thought I'd get an Italy stamp in my passport, but I guess not since it's inside the EU. You're probably also wondering about Vatican City. I was there, saw, but did not conquer. My shorts were too short to be allowed entry into St. Peter's Basilica, so I had to opt out and enjoy the views elsewhere outside. I was pretty bummed not to see the amazing Bernini designed altar and the amazing dome. Well, something to see next time, for sure! What else are you wondering? Probably how long I was there for. 3 days! We were crazy busy running all over town trying to find everything on this great little map, trying to get all of the major monuments in. I'm pretty sure we accomplished all of that, though. Modes of transportation from Salamanca to Rome and back? Bus, Metro, Taxi, Shuttle, Flight, Bus, Bus, Metro, Flight, Metro, Bus. Whew!

I will never forget my spontaneous weekend trip to Rome, filled with wonderful and perfect memories that I will have forever. Lots more new in my life so keep posted and...

...catch me later :)

Update: Necessary!

Hey everyone! I have been majorly lacking in updating you all! You're so very patient and I cannot express how thankful I am for that ;)

Okay, enough corniness... this will be quick until I can write more. Today I had my first of two final exams. Today's was for my Spanish Culture class. It went pretty well, which either means it was easier than I was expecting or I just studied very well (I'm going to go with the latter). Tomorrow is my last final exams for Grammar and then I will be free to party away my last few nights in Salamanca. I'm not gonna lie, this place is like home now and I can't believe I have to leave. I could seriously live here (not only COULD I live here, I would LOVE to live here).

Here are the posts to look forward to VERY soon:

ROME

SAN SEBASTIAN

SALSA UPDATE

GOODBYE SALAMANCA

Now I am off to study for my Grammar test... wish me luck! I am gonna need it...

...catch me later :)

Adonde Vamos? A Roma!

Attention, attention! Care to know my exotic location for choice for travels this weekend??

ROME!!! I'm going to Rome! Until yesterday, I had never even considered that I might get to make it to Rome this summer. I'll be there for the weekend... Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then I have to return to resume classes. I am so freaking excited! After this weekend, it's class for another week, then San Sebastián in the North of Spain for the next weekend, then one more week of class, Madrid for a few more days, then Colombia!

One month into my 10 weeks of travel, and I am so excited! I can't wait to see what's next.

Catch me later :)

Obrigada Portugal

So, off it was to Portugal last weekend! What an amazing trip! There were good times, bad times, crazy, funny, scary, and bonding times. Here are a few teaser pictures before I go on with my long story:

The most AMAZING Gothic cathedral I have EVER seen!

Me at this gorgeous little castle on the river in Lisbon (yes, finally... water... rivers and the Atlantic Ocean!)

First we hopped a 6 hour bus trip that left at 6:30am... whew! We arrived at our darling hotel, Hotel Roma, and ate lunch. We took some time and visited a cathedral in Lisbon, a castle in Lisbon, and some monuments by the river. We toured around Centro Commercial and found a nice little place to enjoy some Portuguese Pizza and Vinho Verde. Ever heard of Vinho Verde? It's famous in Portugal. It's made from young little green grapes, but is a white wine. It was so tasty! That evening I went with my friends Katie and Rose to Los Dockes (the docks). Los Dockes were amazing! There were about 20 restaurant/bars/clubs on the docks by the river where all of the young beautiful people hang out. We sat down at a little karaoke joint and enjoyed some tunes and a couple of pitchers of Sangria. We had a great cab ride there and back... about 15 minutes each way for only 7 euro... good deal!

The next day we visited a few places, but further north and on the coast. One town, Cascais, was absolutely adorable. We saw Boca do Inferno (mouth of the devil in Portuguese), which is a famous natural cove off the shore, where the Atlantic Ocean is. It was great... here's a picture of what it looks like:

Afterwards we went to the beach in Cascais and enjoyed the sun for a while. Wanna know the fun part? Like most beaches in Europe, the topless option was very well followed. Me and my girls decided to follow suit and ditch the suit (don't worry... just the top!). That was an experience! We played in the water, at lunch a little place, bought some local jewelry, and finally headed back to Lisbon and our hotel.

That evening Kate and I ventured back to Los Dockes with Zach and Barton, two of our favorite guys on the trip. We had some beers and sangria, then we went our separate ways. But first, we found out that someone in the group that ate a big dinner together used a fake 50 euro bill to pay for their share of dinner!! No way, right!? The server showed it to us and it was SO fake it wasn't even passable. Well, Zach ended up shoveling over 50 euro to save the day and got money from everyone else the next day... what an adventure, especially because the four of us weren't even eating dinner with the group! After that, Kate and I joined up with a few others and we left Los Dockes for the more grungy young person scene in Lisbon, called Bairro Alto. I don't know how else to explain this except to say that young people just party and drink in the streets all night... like blocks upon blocks upon blocks of young people just partying in the streets. Here's a pic to prove it:

Note the guy right up front pounding that 40... hahahah

We got home around 3am and hit the hay before waking up again at 7am for breakfast and to check out of our hotel. We hit up a few great places on the way, my favorite is pictured here:

This is Óbidos, by far my favorite place in Portugal. It was quite, quaint, and outrageously beautiful. The whole city is surrounded by a tall castle wall and the castle within the city was also gorgeous. This little street is just barely an idea of how great this place was, but I'm glad we stopped there.

After Óbidos, we spent the next 6 hours on the bus (with no A/C and the temperature well over 100*) while we sweated greatly and tried our best to catch some z's. We finally got home around 8:30pm and I crashed to prepare for class Monday.

Speaking of class Monday, I got a B on my grammar exam! Not the best but also not the worst... I can settle for a B. Whew!

Now I'm off to plan my free weekend to some exotic place... stay tuned to find out what I decide... I'm suuuper excited!!!!! :)

PS "Obrigada" is "Thank You" (when a girl says it) in Portuguese... now you know!

catch me later :)

Time Goes On

Hey there... it's me, Kati. Hmmm so what's new in the life of Kati? Not that much to be completely honest. I'm doing pretty much the same thing every day, which is nice because if you know me you know I like schedules, but I've felt that I have nothing new to blog about! So here's the boring-ness and I'll see if I can throw some interesting things in there.

Today I had midterms... yes, I, too, am surprised that I'm halfway through my time here in Spain. I had a Grammar midterm and a Culture midterm. Grammar was interesting... not sure how well I did there :/ But Culture went pretty well, I think (with the exception of not knowing specifics about major holidays in Spain).

I'm tired of the food in the cafeteria here. It's always the same thing. And I eat too much bread (it's not good for the mid-section). And ice cream. I eat waaaay too much ice cream. But it's so good, and that's nothing unusual for me, really ;)

Hmmm what else? Men are kinda creepy here. Okay, they're creepy in the US, too, but here I don't always understand what creepy things they are whispering or yelling out of their cars. So yes, they are creepy. Oh, and I finally emailed a girl to try to get a new conversation partner. She wants to practice English and I want to practice Spanish, so I hope we can come together a few times a week before I leave and work on conversation. Hopefully that goes well! Also, I saw a man have a heart attack (or stroke... not sure really) in the Plaza Mayor the other night. It was horrific and I won't dare try to explain the pain I felt for this man as I watched him suffer 10 feet from me, but that was certainly an experience that shook me.

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for Portugal for the weekend. We've got some tours set up and some designated beach time in Lisboa (the capital), of course. I can't wait to post all those pictures! It'll be fun to do something different. And I found out that next weekend is a free weekend for me so I'm going to do some research and find a cheap train ticket somewhere... not sure where yet, but I'll keep you all posted.

Alright, the next post is sure to be more appetizing... until then!

Catch me later :)

Copa Mundial

As promised, here are a bunch of fun pictures from the celebration here in Salamanca when Spain won the World Cup last weekend. What a blessing to live here while Spain won for the first time!!!!! Once in a lifetime... to get all super corny here ;)

Celebrating in the Plaza Mayor after the game!

Flags, music, and celebration!

The GIANT flag that was carried into the Plaza Mayor after the win.

Salamanca con la roja :) And Iniesta right after he scored the winning goal.

Seriously though, I wish I could replay my brain for all of you to know how amazing it was to be here that night. Did you know that the coach, Vicente del Bosque, is from Salamanca? Well, he is! He is coming back this next week sometime for celebration, and the city is supposed to be another amazing fiesta when he gets here. Can't wait! I'll keep you posted!

catch me later :)