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 :)