Dorothy is back in Kansas!

I have been back at home for a few days now, but it is just now starting to sink in. Germany was wonderful! It was so great to meet all of the family and spend one last week in Europe in relax mode. We also made a day trip to Salzburg, Austria, and that was really cool to see. Other than that, we ate way too much, drank German beer, visited three castles, and spent a lot of time talking and catching up. 

Before going to Germany, we spent a day and a half in Valencia. Omi, my mom, and Megan really liked it, so that was really good. It was so refreshing to see their reaction to Valencia because I had been living there for 4 months, but everything was new to them. I am just really glad I got to share it with someone else because I really do love that city. It was hard to leave, but I can't wait to go back!

Adjusting back has not been as hard as I thought it was going to be. The time adjustments have also come pretty easy. Most of that is due to the fact that my plane was delayed until 2 AM, so I crashed after that and my sleeping habits have been pretty normal. 

I start my summer internship at the Kansas City Wizards on June 2, and I will be working in the Spanish media department. Hopefully I won't lose my Spanish in the next week. :o)

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Love,

Katie

Countdown!

Hi everybody!

Sadly, we only have 3 more days in Valencia. We head to Madrid on Friday, where I will meet my mom, Meg, and Omi. I am very excited to see them, but not excited to leave this city! Luckily, we are coming back for a day and a half so they can see the city and meet my host family. After that, we are heading to Munich, Germany. We also are going to take a day trip to Austria. It will be fun to meet family that I have never met before and eat some good German food! After Germany, we head back to Madrid to catch our return flight and I will be back at home on the night of the 18th.

I am very excited about doing a little more traveling before I head back to the states. I am really nervous to return. Everyone says that reverse culture shock is much worse than the first rounds of culture shock. However, I didn't experience bad culture shock, so maybe my reverse culture shock won't be intense. I'll be busy this summer anyway. I am going to intern with the PR department at the KC Wizards, our soccer team. I am really looking forward to it because I will get to use my Spanish to speak with some of the players who are not fluent in English. 

I spent the past week trying to balance studying and enjoying my last week in Valencia. Tonight is a study night. :o) My final exams won't be too terribly difficult. Some of them are oral exams and others are written. The best part is after the exams our professors are going out to lunch with us. We have really all become good friends with our professors since most of them are around our age. 

We had to write a review on Valencia and our home stays today, and it made me realize just how lucky I have been. Valencia was a perfect city to live in and I love my host family. I not only improved my Spanish, but learned about many other cultures, traveled to amazing places, learned a lot about myself, and made life-long friends. This really has been a great experience and I can't wait to return to Valencia, Spain, and Europe in general!

Have a great week everyone!

Abrazos grandes y fuertes!

Happy Birthday, Miss Sara Cloon! Have a good one!

Weekend trip

So, like I said, we went to Sevilla (Seville) and Cordoba this weekend. They are both cities located in Andalucia or Southern Spain. It was actually one of the most fun trips I have taken! Kate's family was wonderful, and we really had  a good time!

The beginning of the trip was like a movie. I jumped on the train as it was pulling out of the station. When I said last minute trip, I meant it. After that, it was pretty much smooth sailing. I love traveling with adults because we stay in real hotels instead of hostels and we get to do a little more eating. :0)

We started off in Sevilla, sister city to Kansas City, Missouri, which influenced the style of the Plaza. Sevilla is known as the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of Spain. In Sevilla, we saw the Cathedral de Sevilla, which was very impressive. It is the third largest in Europe and unbelievably gorgeous! Sevilla is also known for the Alcazar which faces the cathedral. My favorite part of the day was the gardens outside the Alcazar. The Moorish influence was raeally neat to see in that part of town. 

No one can go to Sevilla and not see a Flamenco show, so we did that. Flamenco, a typical, Spanish dance was supposedly invented in Sevilla, is very popular all over Spain. It was by far the best Flamenco I have seen though. 

Despues de Flameco, we were walking back to our hotel when we stumbled across a band playing some Spanish music. We stopped to listen, and all of a sudden one of the boys asked me to dance. So, I danced with him in the middle of the square. It was actually pretty fun, and Kate's aunt got some good pictures. Kate and I hung out with them after their "concert." It is always fun to get a taste of the city with locals.

After Sevilla, we headed to Cordoba. The city is moderately-sized, but very charming. Everything in Spain is just really laid back, it is going to be hard to readjust to the fast paced, American way. Anyway, while we were in Cordoba, we saw the Mezquita (Mosque), which dates back to the 14th century. The inside was elaborately decorated with red and white stripes. All in all, it was a very pretty site.

Other than that, we spent a lot of time checking out gardens and little museums here and there. We saw a lot of little concerts, ate some good food, and did a little window shopping. I am just so glad that I went on the trip - it was a lot of fun!

Only 10 days left in Spain! I am going to be spending as much time as I can enjoying the city and beach before we have to leave.

I will post pictures as soon as I get them from Kate's aunt. Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Love,

Katie

Sevilla, Cordoba

Hello from Valencia!

I only have a few minutes, but I made a very last minute trip to Sevilla and Cordoba, Espana with my friend, her mom, and  her aunt. It was so much and I am so glad I went! I will write a long post and upload pictures tomorrow. 

I am off to a last dinner for one of my classes. It really is going to be harder to leave than I thought. They might have to drag me out of here. :o)

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend!

Love,

Katie

Malta, Malta, Malta

Hola a todos!

Not much to say about Malta. We stayed at St. Julian's, which is very close to Valleta, the capital city. We spent a half a day in Valleta and it was really pretty. The food was the least expensive that we have encountered in Europe. Needless to say we ate some good meals! 

Overall, it was a fun, girls trip and very relaxing! We stayed in a hostel that was 40 euro per night (10 euro each), and let's just say we got our money's worth. :o) There was not many things to do, cultural wise in Malta. They just got their independence about 40 years ago from Great Britain. They are currently trying to establish themselves as their own country.

Also, the beaches in Malta are made out of rocks, so that made it a little more difficult to lay out, but we made due. Malta also has good night life, so that was fun! We needed a little R&R vacation, and Malta was perfect for that. 

I am just staying busy working on final projects for my classes. Wednesday, my friend, Sabrina, and I are making a typical American dinner for our Spanish friends. I am looking forward to cooking because I haven't been able to cook this whole semester.

After this, I will post a few pictures of Malta on Snapfish. Hope you all had a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon!

Te quiero,

Katie

Portugal

We are back in Valencia after a wonderful weekend in Portugal. Haley and I traveled with her parents to Porto, Portugal. Mrs. Hunsaker has a friend in Porto, and we stayed with him and his family. He was nice enough to pick us up from the airport and then took us straight to the Duoro River. Along the river there are many cellars as Porto is the birthplace of Port wine. I'm sure you know what Port wine is, but it was all new to me. So let the history lesson begin. Port wine came about when Portugal was trading with Great Britain. Portugal offered wine in exchange for English textiles. However, by the time the wine reached G.B., it was spoiled. The English refused the trade, but Portugal asked for one more chance. The next time they arrived in Great Britain, they were prepared. They had poured Brandy into the wine to keep in good condition. The British loved it, and Port wine was born.  Nowadays, it is made by pouring Brandy into the wine halfway through the fermentation process. 

Anyway, we visited one of these cellars. It was very cool to see the barrels and the manners in which they upkeep everything. After the tour we got to taste the three different types of Port wine - white, ruby, and tawny.  Tawny, the deep red wine, was my favorite wine. 

After some ironic conversation with some guys from England, we headed to the former Stock Exchange building. It was filled with Arabian influence, despite the fact that the Queen that supervised its building was Catholic. We took a guided tour with a Spanish, so our tour was in Spanish and English, which was good. I never seem to realize how much Spanish I know until I find myself in situations like those. 

When our tour was finished, we went back to Alex's (the family friend) house. The family was very nice. They welcomed us into their home, let Haley and I sleep in the master bedroom, and fed us like there was no tomorrow. And it is always nice to spend time with locals.   They went out of their way to make us feel comfortable and told us that we now have a home in Portugal. Que simpaticos son. 

On to Saturday! We took a train from Porto to a small town where the family's daughter goes to college. It was funny because the landscape and the trees reminded me of Manhattan a little bit. On the campus, we toured an old library, the Academic Prison, the site of all major ceremonies, and the courtyard. We took some tours and learned a lot of interesting facts about the school. 

On a more interesting note, we had goat for lunch! I didn't care for it, and yes, I gave it a good try. After that, we jumped back on the train and headed for their apartment. Alex was so funny, he told us we needed an "American night" in Portugal, so he ordered Pizza Hut. He made a spread of pizza, cookies, and beer. We ate ourselves to death and watched MTV. However, the best part of the "American party" was that we got to hear all of Alex's travel stories. This semester has definitely given me the want to travel more, so it was interesting to hear about all the places he had been.

Overall, Portugal was a good time; I liked it a lot! We had some friends that went to Porto, too, and they didn't care for it. So I think it really helped us to have a local tour guide. 

Other than that, everything is going well. Classes are still interesting. We are learning about WWII from Spain's perspective in my Culture and Civ class, Don Quijote in my literature class, and writing papers in la clase de gramatica. So, classes are good!

Weather is getting warmer and warmer. All I can say is that I'm not sad that I missed out on winter in Kansas. Snow in April? No thank you. It is so hard to believe that we only have less than a month left. I don't think I am ready to leave yet, but excited to go to Germany!  Okay, everyone have a great rest of the week!