Granada

I saw London and then I left.

I am sitting in the Stansted Airport waiting to board my flight back to Seville. London was amazing. I am exhausted and my feet feel like stone... I never realized how heavy my body was until yesterday evening. I will start the tale of my adventure from the beginning, since that is usually the best place to start a story.


Thursday. Day 1.

I arrived at midnight. Planning to camp out in, what I imagined to be, a dark empty airport terminal. When I got there I was surprised to find a wonderful coffee shop open 24 hours... with couches and large mugs of coffee. I staked my claim. Eventually, I moved because the cold air was blowing on me and I was freezing to death. I bought a very large mug of coffee and 24 hrs of internet (not consecutive ... luckily) and sat. I talked to my parents, grandma, my sister's boyfriend... though by accident. I organized my schedule for the fall semester, watched Volver for my cinema class and also just browsed online. I did not sleep, not even dose. Night 1.

Friday. Day 2

6:15am... time to "get up". I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth rinsed my face and so on. Then, I looked for a map. I went to information. They have no free maps at Stansted, in case you are wondering, it cost 3£. And so the ridiculous tale of overpriced London life began...

7:15am. I got on the bus. I looked outside and it was beautiful countryside. Then I fell asleep.

8:00am.

I arrived in London at Victoria Station. It took a moment to orientate myself. After some needless walking I found out where I was and headed for Buckingham Palace. I got there too early. I looked in my 3£ map/ guidebook and it said that every other day in March - September they do changing of the guard every other day at 11:30. I left.

I walked to look for an English Breakfast. Not that easy to find, considering it was Friday so I needed one without meat. I was determined not to eat around Victoria Station because I thought it was too typical tourist. So, I headed to Westminster Cathedral. It was beautiful and wonderful.
I took photos and then sat to enjoy the beauty and pray. Then, I pulled myself away and though not wanting to, I left.

I did not find food over there save McDonald's. I swear McDonald's and Starbucks are taking over the world. McDonald's is the dark force and Starbucks is the true way to caffeinated salvation.
Anyway, I (you guessed it) ended up eating by Victoria station at place that had a vegetarian English breakfast. I went to the Hostel to check in. I was too early. I left my computer there and left for Buckingham Palace, hoping that today was the odd day that they did it. It was and It was really cool. I saw it, was awed then I left.

I walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens and I fell in Love. It was extraordinary. I found Peter Pan and I was enchanted with the quaintness of the gardens. I walked to Notting Hill... admittedly because of the movie. No, I was not looking for Hugh Grant, I was looking for the charming facades that were in Notting Hill. I found them and then I left.

It took me a while to orient myself. I tried to go to the metro but it costs 4£ just to get one pass. So I left. I walked to the British Museum. Before I went in I went to STARBUCKS. You are out of your head if you think that I could go anywhere without going to that place. Actually, I wasn't going to go but it was the only place (for coffee) that I saw and my feet were killing me. I got a Caramel Macchiato, which was incredible, toyed with the idea of buying a London mug... and then I left without the mug.

I liked the British Museum. I saw exhibits from ancient Egypt, Africa, Asia, Britain, and more and then I left.

I walked to the London Bridge. It took me a while and I got lost a few times so that by the time I got there I abandoned my idea of going to Tate Modern because I was so tired. I got some really good pictures of Tower Bridge. It was cool to see it lit up at night time. I decided that 4£ for the metro was not so bad after all. I hopped on and I left.

Decidedly, it was a good decision to take the metro because I had trouble walking from the station to the hostel, which was very close. It was then that I realized I had walked extremely far and had not slept in 24 hours. I gave up my idea for dinner of Fish and Chips and I went to the Hostel to go to bed... after I skyped my mom to wish her a Happy Birthday.

9pm. I went to bed.

Saturday. Day 3.

I woke up at 6am and laid in bed till 7. I got up and stretched for 45 minutes. I went downstairs and had breakfast: toast and dry cereal. Tried to skype my Uncle for a few minutes. Emailed my mom. Checked out of the hostel. Then, I left.

I walked to Tate Britain. It does not open until 10am. So, I left and walked to The house of Parliament and visited the well known St. Stephen (Ben) before breakfast. I took photos and saw Westminster Abbey. From the outside of course, I am sure that it is quite beautiful inside... but I decided that I do not belong to the Church of England so I will not honor it, but rather the Catholic Church in Westminster: The Cathedral. Anyway, I took photos of everything in that area including a photo of our good friend Churchill. Then, I left. I walked back to the Tate. I got a huge bottle of water on the way there because I had realized I had not had any liquid other than coffee since Thursday. Then I went to this cafe called PRET A MANGER. If you ever see one, go in. The food was nice (natural) and the people were SOO NICE. I drank my coffee and chatted with them the whole time. It was nice. Then I went to Tate Britain and enjoyed myself immeasurably. The art was astounding and there were so many families with little children there doing art projects. There was an art cart for children. It was idyllic, the children making art surrounded by beautiful works of art. I walked around and studied the art and the information about the art. Then, sadly, not wanting to, I left.

1pm

At 1:15 I was supposed to get on a bus back to the airport. at 1pm I decided I had to get Fish and Chips whether or not that would mess up my travel plans. I ate wonderful and expensive Fish and Chips after a series of doubts and recollections of our last meal in Paris which led to a good hard run. I enjoyed it. Then, I left.

It seems I did so many things in London.. but I had forgotten to buy anything to show it.

I made it to the airport. And bought a magnet and two postcards. I got my boarding pass made it through security, walked around aimlessly for about 20 minutes. Then decided to get coffee and a muffin from a cute shop. I sat down and enjoyed it very much. Then I left. At, First I went to the wrong terminal. I was very early. I made it to the correct terminal with 1 hour and 45 minutes to spare.

I got on the plane...

It took off...

and I left London.

I did many things in London. I enjoyed everything I did except the leaving, which was as frequent as the coming... One day I will go back and hopefully do much less leaving and much more staying to see and enjoy.

~ I had a wonderful weekend I hope you all did too ~

Morocco!!

Hello Everyone,


I finally made it to Africa., a place I have wanted to go since I was a kid and my aunt went there for the peace corps. I still feel the need to venture further into Africa where the culture is less Arabic and more like the Africa I have always imagined but I would like to think that at age 19 I still have time.

I went to Morocco last weekend and It was incredible. First, the landscape is magnificently green and diverse thought the country. The Food was absolutely amazing. I had Couscous and vegetables and more vegetables and wonderful breakfast pastries and wonderful coffee and amazing dinner the last night. It was all incredible I took pictures to prove it. Also, it tasted better then it looks and I think it looks wonderful!!

We went to Tangier, Rabat, Fez, and Assilah. We had the best food in Rabat and we saw what once was intended to be the largest mosque in Morocco but it was never completed. In Fez we stayed at a very fancy hotel thus not really seeing the culture but it was nice because the restaurant was on the top floor so we could see the whole city. I was randomly placed with two girls since I didn’t know anyone going on the trip. The one designed her own major relating to peace and social studies. Her father is the country director for Uganda in the Peace Corps. The other girl was a history major from Yale studying the history of Latinoámerica focusing on immigration issues. We had wonderful conversation and similar perspectives on developing countries and diversity. It was very nice because the majority of the people on the trip did not seem to have the same perspective on anything. The majority seemed to be on the trip for fun and honestly did not seem pleased that things weren’t “American” enough … which I supposed means up to par.

The medina in Fez was incredible. The medina is the traditional Arab part of the town. It is a labyrinth of 9,000 streets. We spent the whole day in the medina. It was somewhat overwhelming but extremely interesting. Some people didn’t enjoy the medina because parts were smelly and parts were crowded and parts were busy… that is why I loved it. We saw the traditional Arabian life of Morocco. Admittedly, parts were a little smelly, like the leather tannery. I almost threw up. But I am still very glad I had the opportunity to see it.

One of my roommates and I decided to walk around Fez after dinner in the hotel. It was nice to see Fez without 50 -60 other Americans. When you are walking around any place with a large group of Americans I think what you mostly see is the peoples’ response to Americans rather than what the country is actually like. It is like a tidal wave on a beach. I don’t think a tidal wave has ever seen the sand because it brings so much water with it everything washes away. Some people were shocked that we left the hotel and asked us if we were scared. I think people need a good lesson in diversity and need to take off American Vision Glasses and realize that people are not dangerous simply because they are different. We were safe on a main road in the European part of Fez. We saw Fez without the tidal wave. It was nice and it rained.

The last day in Morocco we went to Assilah. Which is a very quaint beach town. I saw two camels. The town was very interesting. We spent the day walking around. And then headed back onto the bus and back for Spain. When we were on the bus back there were children who try to hitch rides on the back of the buss… illegally or try to get under it to sneak into Spain. The response of the people on the bus was most unpleasant. They did not seem to understand the desperation of some nor the fact that life is different from America. One girl said, well I guess there is no where to hang out here. Another said, oh I bet their moms are worried, they are probably going to miss lunch. It was sad to hear the ignorance of the College students, maybe the experience opened there eyes so that when they are older they will understand that there is poverty, suffering, hunger, and desperation, in the world but there is also content with little, hope, diversity, happiness, and peace in other countries, and over all, there is patriotism that exists without the word American in front of it. Maybe those kids will learn that one day but sadly they didn’t seem to understand it last weekend.
I think that my trip to morocco was very educational and interesting. It was also the first time I have been in a predominantly Muslim country. I was woken up by morning prayer at 5:30 am. One thing we Christians could learn from the Muslims is the importance of constant prayer.

I hope you all had a great weekend as well!
Next week I am off the London!! Enjoy the week and I will post something again soon!!

I flu in Spain, Flying isn't fun.

Hello Everyone,

So sorry that I haven't written in a while. I will give a short update and try to fill everyone one in on the small, funny, and slightly insignificant details later. There are so many things I have wanted to write about but I keep forgetting. My intensive period went well, it is over now. This week is when we start our real classes. I have enjoyed Sevilla so much this semster. I have met wonderful people and have become good friends with two in particular. I have given up trying to do what a Spainard would do. I did that last semester. It is such a relief just to be me without trying to "fit in". I have only eaten the things I want to and only done the things I want to in my home here. The host family does not seem to appreciate the fact that I do not jump at the chance to do what the Spanish do, such as eat black sausage or sardines but I have learened not to care.

My roomate is the sweetest person and we have gotten along so well that it makes up for the host family being a little ... unpleasant.

I am going to Morocco on Friday and going to London in the middle of March and I am very excited for both trips. I am also going to Granada with the school. This Thursday I am going to see the Orchestra from Granada playing in Sevilla.

I am an english tutor. It is a lot of fun actually and a good way to get to know other Sevillanos.
The family is very nice. It is two hours a week and I get payed 7 euro per hour, so it is a nice way to make some extra cash.

Right now I have the stomach flu. I am kind of bummed because I was looking forward to FAT TUESDAY. My friends and I had already decided on ice cream, coffee, Starbucks cheescake, and dinner out... I ate plain toast for breakfast and watery rice for lunch and a banana. So... not so much fun. I guess on the positive side, I haven't gone to class for two days, although I'm sure I will be kind of lost when I get there. I am feeling much better as the 4th day since this started comes to an end. So, I am hoping that by tomorrow I will be ready to go to class.

Anyway, I am still having a great semester and I love Sevilla. I am ready to go back outside, becuase I haven't been outside at all for a day and a half.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers becuase I am convinced that it helps!

I hope wherever you are that you are enjoying your lives and appreciate the beauty around you and I hope that you are all Happy... deep down Happy!


Peace

~ Katherine

I'm back

Hello Everyone,


Sorry that it has taken me a while to give an update on my return to Sevilla.
The trip here was fine. I did not have a window seat for any of my flights but, you know, what can you expect. I lived. I decided not to take the 20 euro taxi from the airport to my new home in Sevilla. Instead I decided to take teh 2,30 euro bus and then walk a mile with my luggage. I don't regret it. You see, I survived like I knew I would and now I have about $20 more than I would have had I taken the taxi. A hard decision but I'm glad I made it. It was hard to make myself keep walking, carrying 100lbs of luggage a backpack and a messenger bag with my valuables. I almost gave up... but once I hit the half way mark I knew I would survive. At one point three american kids said, wow I never relized how many tourists there are here laughed a little and kept walking. I was really annoyed. All I wanted to do was scream... I'm not a tourist!!! But I didn't I just kept walking and then found a bench and sat down to breath.


As I was crossing the bridge to Triana which is less than a block from my new apartment My suitcase caught on something and fell. And it all came tumbling down. A man right behind me was not so kind, laughed at me and told me I wasn't very smart. My face was beet red, I was sweating, wearing black sweats, a college t-shirt, and a fleece tied around my waist, and I told taht man " I didn't want to pay for a taxi". Well not exactly I said it in a flustered attempt at sounding good at spanish which probably came out all wrong. Anyway, I'm here. I arrived at the hosue and the first thing out of my new host mother's mouth was... tranquilate (calm down). Acutally, that was what Angeles (my old host mother) said to me first as well. I guess I should listen. : )


My classes are going well. My professor is a 26 year old woman who just got back from going to school in Florida. She speaks english and jokes around and is really nice and we hardly have any homework... and she doesn't know the rules because this is her first class here. I have to admit it is a nice change from having the head of academics teaching your class like my last intensive period.


It has been raining here since I got here. My shoes are sooo soaked I don't know how long I'll have to wait before I can wear them again. With the little homework and the rain I have had some trouble finding ways to ocupy my time. I have been to STARBUCKS more than once since it is one of the only sit-down cafés in Sevilla. I have spent hours and hours reading there until dinner time, I really like it. I brought 3 books with me, I have finished two. The 3rd is the entire chronicles of Narnia. I have finished the firt book. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm sure
I'll be busy enough when the regular semester starts in two weeks.


Today I decided to crash a school tour... and go to the bull ring. I know I won't go to see a bullfight because, well, I believe it is senseless cruelty to animals without remorse or consideration that they are living things. However, I do respect the fact that it is part of the culture so I would never protest against it or say anything about it to a Spainard. Anyway, I went baisically to take pictures and it was really cool. Nobody wanted to be there... but mabye to guys and me. I was the only one who actually asked if I could go. I really liked it and I'm glad I had the oportunity to see it. It would have been weird to be here so long and not have seen something so fundamental to the culture.


I have a roomate. She is my first roomate. We are different but we get along very well. She is very nice and she is here doing a different program so we have different schedules. She likes to go out. I do too but not on the weekdays. I went out with her on the weekend and had a lot of fun. It's kinda nice because I have the room to myself sometimes .... since I am so used to having my own space (or essentially my own space).


I don't know what else to tell everyone. Uncle Will, Just so you know I have been watching soccer every evening and the Simpons every day at lunch. I am kinda starting to like soccer but only enough to sit there for about 20 minutes after dinner. I'm not sure that I'll go to a game. But in your honor I may watch 1 full game! I decided that I would rather pay to go to the symphony here because if you were here you would go to a soccer game but if I was here (which I am) I would go to the symphony so I think I'll do... what I would do so that one day when my niece or nephew is going abroad I won't have to ask them to do what I wish I would have done when I was there. ; ) I guess you'll have to come back here to watch a game. Sorry. I do fully intend to go the ND football games though! I understand that I would regret that. : ) maybe.


So anyway, my first week has gone by well. I am really liking being back, much more than I expected. maybe it is all the goodies I brought with me. Thanks mom and grandma!
I'll keep everyone posted, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers... please. And Thanks for all of the thoughts, prayers, goodies, emails, messages, and skype calls that have been sent!

~ Hasta Luego ~

Merry Christmas from the USA.

Hello Everyone, I made it home for Christmas with minor luggage complications but it is all okay and my luggage arrived in time and mostly unharmed. I will be at home until January 29 and then I will head back to Sevilla. These are the pictures from my trip to Paris. I won't describe it other than to say it was wonderful and I loved it! I'll let the photographs say the rest!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'll post again when I'm back in Europa!

~ Bye ~

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Okay, I know that it is Not Thanksgiving anymore but I think I can still wish that you all had a happy one!! Now Christmas is sneaking closer and closer and I will soon be coming home! Just a quick update before I tell you all how my Thanksgiving went. First, my grandma is here and has been here since my Birthday and we are going to Paris this weekend and Barcelona next weekend!
I will be home on the 17th of December for anyone who is interested. Also, I would appreciate any prayers for safe travel... : )

So, now for my Thanksgiving story. It started okay. I woke up a little late, around 10sih. Oh, First, I have to tell you all the story inside the story. SO, The oven does not work here in the apartment my grandma is renting. She called and told José the english speaking son of the owner that the oven does not work and he asked why it mattered since we had a microwave, she explained that Thanksgiving was coming up and that it is a major american holiday. So he told his dad. His dad came over to the apartment when I was in class. He does not speak english and my grandma does not speak spanish, so it was interesting. Later, I called him ( his name is Fernando) and he was very polite and said that the oven is too old to fix so he wouldn't be able to fix it in two days in time for Thanksgiving. So, he said we had 3 options. 1, he could buy us a pre cooked turkey. 2, he could take us to another apartment to cook the turkey. 3, he could take us to his house to cook the turkey. We chose option 2.

So back to the other story. It is 10am and I have just woken up, remember? So Fernando, the owner, is coming over in 1 hour to take us to another apartment. I get up and get ready and 11am rolls around and our bags of food, including pumkin pie fixings for the school dinner are all ready to be lugged across Seville to bake. 11:30am rolls around and we decide to call Fernando who assures us that he is only 10 minutes away.

Careful, 10 minutes is not a real number to Fernando, it is a synonym to later ( sometime in the future). So anyway, we decided to run to the grocery store to buy sugar for the pie and we still had time left over. Then he got there and it took us forever to decide who was going where with whom. Basically, I was translating half of what each person said and trying to decide what I thought was the best idea. We still hadn't bought the turkey, honesty, we weren't even certain if there was a whole turkey at the grocery store. We ended up deciding that my grandma and Fernando would walk to the aprtment which was "10 minutes away" together so that she could start baking the pumkin pie for the lunchat 1:30pm. It was presently 12:15ish pm. So they went and I went to the grocery store and bought a whole turkey which I had to ask the clerk/butcher for special, because they don't really sell whole turkeys he was very floored that I wanted the whole thing... NOT cut up!!

So, after a lot of other little things I ended up walking the "10 minutes" to the other apartment with a huge, whole, raw turkey in my backpack. After walking for More than 10 minutes I got a phone call. It was from Fernando, he said " Well, the oven doesn't work here either so we are going to take the turkey back to my house... I'll meet you at the front door of the apartment in 10 minutes with my car, so we can go to my house". I was slightly confused but turned around and hurried back to the apartment. I went back to the apartment and waited for about 20 mintues... if you remember I was 10 minutes away from the apartment and 10 + 20 = 30! Fernando should take a arithmetic lesson. He arrived around 1:10pm and we had the Thanksgiving dinner at school at 1:30. So I told him we couldn't go to his house which was MORE than 10 minutes (who knows how long that could end up being). He offered his to have his wife cook the turkey for us... I wasn't so sure. Carrying the turkey through the streets of Sevilla had really killed whatever faith I might have had in the man. After a game of hot potato with the turkey my grandma finally said, " just give him the turkey and we'll decide what to do later!!". So, I gave him the turkey and the promise that we would call him later to share a copa (drink) and retrieve our turkey from his house. Then we went to Thanksgiving dinner at the school, it was good. There were some incredible sweet potatoes and apple pie but NO pumkin pie which was supposed to be our contribution to the dinner. Some people were quite upset. We also went by the ever popular STARBUCKS to have some coffee after our eventful morning!

We came back to the apartment after the dinner at school and rested. Then we decided to take the bus to go the the suburbs where Fernando lives and where our turkey was being held. I called him, Fernando not the Turkey (who, by the way, we named Fernando) to ask which bus we needed to get on... but finally some good news, he said his wife was going to bring it to us since she was coming into town. Thus, we got our Turkey. And it was beautiful and whole and smelled wonderful! But we did not eat it because we were saving it until we had pumkin pie as well.

We made the 2 pumkin pies the next morning at my Señora's house and watched Home Alone.
Then that night we had a real thanksgiving dinner with my friends Sheila and Afton and it was Perfect even though it was kind of a day late.

And that was Thanksgiving 2008 in Spain. I have no regrets and as it has been pointed out, I will have a great Thanksgiving story for years to come.


~ Happy Thanksgiving ~