Katy Johnston
Welcome to my Spain 2008 blog! I'm really excited for my trip and a bit nervous about the adventures ahead. I will try to update you on my travels, especially this first week as I tour the southern part of Spain. Thanks for checking in!Kate Spain 2008
Travel Blog Posts
August 3rd 2008
Well, I´m down to the last few days... and are they ever magical! I am staying in an amazing hotel in Valencia. The beach is beautiful, and the city is amazing. I left from Salamanca on Thursday afternoon. I literally ran from class, to my piso to pick up luggage, to the train station. I made it with about 15 minutes to spare (which is more than I can say for a friend of mine that missed the train altogether!). Anyway, the train ride to Madrid was pretty uneventful. I arrived to one station, took the metro to another station. At the train station, I got a tortilla sandwich and headed out on the second leg of the journey. I mention the sandwich because given the journey, I would have been in rough shape had I ... read more
July 27th 2008
Hello all! This week has been a fun week. Certainly filled to the brim with moments of feeling "ready" to return to the USA, but nonetheless a good time. I´m finally reaching that full immersion point. I´m not sure exactly how to explain it, but it´s almost like it takes so long to get to where you forget you´re in a different place. I walk among the streets now and it doesn´t occur to me that everyone around me is speaking a different language than my native tongue. I hear statements, and just know what people are saying without actually being in the conversation. It feels so good to be reaching that place. In some moments, I wish I could continue to stay in this place of language immersion... but the call to be home is ... read more
July 20th 2008
Hello all! Well, I made it through exam week! It was a rough go... and I´m really glad to have that done for a few days. I have one exam this coming week and then three the following week. Before you know it, I´ll be heading back to the states! I don´t have much news to report because the week was so full of classes and studying. However, I´ve been enjoying Salamanca a bit the last couple days. A lady that lives in my apartment building took me to a concert last night. It was a really neat deal... it was outdoors and the stage was on the front steps of this old convent. It was beautiful! I don´t have my camera with me to show a picture of exactly what it looked like lit up ... read more
July 14th 2008
After the nice morning on the beach in San Sebastian and enjoying some solitude there, I went back to the hostel and woke up my friends. We headed out shortly after that toward Bilbao, which was on our way home to Salamanca. We stopped there for one major attraction... the Guggenheim. This modern art museum was built in the 20th century and is known as the most ¨vanguardista¨architecture of its time. I found the structure to be amazing, not just because it was such a neat looking building, but because it was built AFTER everything around it. For example, a huge part of the building is underneath a bridge. That bridge existed prior to the Guggenheim structure. That is to say that the architects and engineers had to design everything to allow the city to stay ... read more
July 14th 2008
After the plaza de toros action and a small party with breakfast, we headed out of town to the Basque Country coast of San Sebastian. This drive was even more beautiful than the previous one! I would absolutely go back, if anything, just for the drive through the countryside. We arrived into San Sebastian and it was raining quite a bit. So, we checked into a hostel and found a short nap waiting for us there. Only 4 of us made this trip, so it was a bit easier to make decisions on what to do and so on. Our room had 8 beds, so we shared the space with 4 guys from New Zealand! (They have such fun accents!) Anyway, the time there was really fun. The hostel had a big covered terrace and offered ... read more
July 14th 2008
WOW!! What an adventure in Pamplona! A group of us (9 total) went to the encierro... AKA the running of the bulls. No amount of study, knowledge, understanding of the culture, etc. could have adequately prepared me for the experience. It was absolutely amazing... something I think that every person should see at some point in their life. We left Salamanca on Friday afternoon as soon as classes got out. It was an interesting adventure getting out of town, but eased by the use of a GPS system that one of the girls brought with her. We traveled for about 3.5 hours through the most beautiful countryside I´ve ever seen. It even beat the scenary in Colorado! It was so incredibly green! The mountains were amazing, and we curved in and around them most of the ... read more
July 8th 2008
I just wanted to post a quick blog about Rafa-mania!!! If I thought the EuroCup was a crazy spectacle in Spain... well, I guess I had yet to see a 5 hour tennis match in a college town!! What a fun night! The people are crazy about Rafa! :) Once again, there was a big screen TV out in the plaza mayor and crowds of people watching and cheering. Who knew they would do that for tennis!! I chose to watch the game out of the crowd a bit, and hung out at the irish pub again... a much more laid back environment. I´m done with day two of classes for the week. Exams are next week (after my Pamplona running with the bulls experience), so I´m gearing up for studying more than I have already. ... read more
July 5th 2008
Well, I made it through week one. It was a pretty stressful time, full of adjustments and flexibility on the part of everyone! The biggest news I have to report at this point is that we reserved a rental car to go to Pamplona next weekend. I´m going to see the Running of the Bulls. Mom, don´t worry, I´m not going to actually run... But how AMAZING to be there! We will leave next Friday and return on Sunday. My friend Carlos is convinced that he is running... I think he´s crazy. We´ll see what really happens. All I know is that it will be incredible to have pictures of the ACTUAL event. Jackman & Maria, can you imagine telling students that you have actually been to the running of the bulls???!!! Beyond that... Here´s my ... read more
July 3rd 2008
Wow... has it been an interesting few days! Where did I leave off??? :) I left from Granada, taking the 3 hour bus ride to Sevilla. Upon arriving to Sevilla, I made it into the Alcazar just in time (before closing hours)... I think the guard was really annoyed, but the American blue eyes might have helped for the first time this trip! The Alcazar was amazing. Yet again, I was struck by the influence of the Moors in southern Spain. They began construction of the building in 1364, but it has had a few additions over the years. It consisted of so many neat rooms. Most of the modern Alcázar was built over Moorish ruins for King Pedro of Castile. He Moorish workers to build his palace giving it a distinctly Islamic design. The palace ... read more
June 28th 2008
Yesterday I managed to visit two of the most major tourist attractions of southern Spain. First, in Cordoba, I spent time at la Mezquita, the third largest mosque in the world & the oldest building in day-to-day use in Europe! The construction of the building began in 786 and was finished in the 16th century. It was initially built as a mosque, however, three additions later it became a Christian cathedral was built in the middle. It was amazing to see the combination of arab & christian faiths as well as the mix of roman, arab, and even baroque architecture. In the main area of the mezquita, there are 856 white & red columns, supporting arches throughout! AMAZING! I left Cordoba and took a bus to Granada. The trip was about 2 hours and 40 minutes, ... read more
Tot: 0.091s; Tpl: 0.003s; cc: 12; qc: 87; dbt: 0.0616s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.7mb
