KatieFarley

After a hectic 20 hour adventure of busses, planes, doubts, and shut down subways, I finally caught my breath on Wednesday when I finally arrived at Anders' house. Anders was to be my second couch surfing host and allowed me to enjoy the beauty of Norway without paying 150 Euro for a hostel. Couch surfing has a million other benefits, but in a city where a bottle of water can easily set you back 25 Kroner ($4.12) budget is an important consideration. Aside from the dollar crunching power of the kroner, I enjoyed Norway for its landscapes and, sadly, its shopping. I found Oslo to be the perfect place to buy souvenirs for my family that I had neglected on previous travels, with Paris and London always promising a return visit, and Germany lacking the opportunity ... read more

Last weekend I went on my first excursion to the Pyrenees and had a great time hiking. And assuming only my family reads this, I'm sorry to anyone I may have just given a heart attack but yes, I enjoyed hiking. It was also my first time in a car in two months and we drove over two hours to Selva de Irrati, or at least I think that's what it's called. Being my first hiking adventure, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was more or less a five hour walk through the foothills of the Pyrenees. We saw some beautiful landscapes and hiked around the lake. We stopped for lunch on a ledge over looking the lake and ate mandarinas and drank wine out of a leather pouch. After lunch the menfolk decided ... read more

I decided to go to Paris because I felt obligated to go. You can't go to Europe and not see Paris, and it's an important capital with great art, plus the ticket was dirt cheap (20 Euro!). Despite its hype I was determined to 'prove Paris wrong'. I didn't want to love Paris, it seemed like a place of cliches, haughty people, and uptight expensive food. In coming home, all I can say is damn. Paris has won another lover, and I can't wait to go back. As much as I hate to admit it, I absolutely positively loved Paris. There isn't a single experience I can complain about. Sure, my hostel was horrendous, but you know what? It made me feel even more in the moment. I could gush about my passion for Paris, but ... read more

A few weekends ago my roommate, her friend Margarita, and I went on a day trip to San Sebastián, a town north of Pamplona in a different province called País Vasco, or Basque Country. It's a beautiful city, and a little bit bigger than Pamplona, but we decided to just go for the day and spend the day on the beach. The trip started off a little bit rough. Margarita and my roommate, Estela, ordered the tickets and we had some communication issues with the woman working the desk, because all three of us were trying to explain in jumbled Spanish. It resulted in purchasing the tickets, but we were directed to the wrong terminal, and almost missed our bus! But we found it eventually and enjoyed a quiet ride through the mountains and some really ... read more

My mom thinks I need to keep using the number eight in posts, so I figured I'd go along with it. Yesterday I was skyping with Parker and staring at the background on my computer, which is a picture from Mexico, when I realized I've done some pretty cool things. I always play down what I've done, I know people who have travelled more than me, and on a day to day basis I don't think what I've done is that spectacular, but really what I've done in such a short time is pretty frickin awesome. I left the country for the first time in March of 2009, and here is a list of eight really amazing things I've been lucky enough to experience. Basically I'm just going to brag. 1. I rode a zipline across ... read more

This isn't a list of complaints or anything like that. some of the things are actually really nice. I just wanted to write something a little different. I'm also attaching pictures of life in Pamplona. 1. Cars stop. Like, if you're walking down the street, and there's a crosswalk with white blocks but no little stop sign thing, you can just keep on walking, cars just stop. It's like the whole country has invisible, super speedy patrols. It's like magic. 2. Free time. I actually have loads and loads of free time here. I have no job, school is easy, and I just don't know what do do with myself. Its a little scary actually. 3. Everyone smokes. In the U.S I think smoking is one of those things people don't freely admit to, or its ... read more

I've been really lazy about updating, so I'm trying to make up for lost time. I arrived in spain on the 29th of August, and because Pamplona doesn't have its own international airport, I flew instead to Barcelona and decided to spend a few days there exploring the city. Barcelona is an incredible place, and it is absolutely beautiful. I didn't spend nearly as much time there as I could have, but I saw most of the highlights of the city, and could afford to relax a little. My first day in Barcelona I walked through the old part of town, which is composed of narrow winding streets and tiny shops catering to any tourist need. The city is extremely international, and most people initially spoke to me in English, but after three weeks in Germany, ... read more

I've been in Germany for ten days now. Although it's been fun, there hasn't been much to publish about it. Most days I get up early and go to school with Airi, we hang out and shop around town afterwards. Fun things, but mostly everyday life. However on Friday, we went on our first sight seeing adventure in Jever, Germany. We drove about 45 minutes to the Schloß Museum Jever, a castle built in the 1300s, with loads of history stored it side. It was a small castle, but I loved it because there was virtually no security, it wasn't over crowded, and we were free to roam as we please. Not to mention that it only cost us 3 Euro for a pass that included climbing up into the tower. The basement of the castle ... read more

London was the most exhausting 18 hours of my life. I left Minnesota at 7 20(central) landed in Iceland at 6 30 (local) and London at 12 14 (local) In between I slept less than an hour, and ate nothing. So, logically, I went straight from the airport to liverpool station to store my luggage, and then went to visit London, sans snacks. I went to green park to see buckingham palace. It happened to be a day where there was no changing of the guards, but I saw everything else around that area, and then went to King's Cross station, in search of platform 9 3/4. The search resulted in an epic failure, and my first blisters, but I finally at a scone, after 20 hours of fasting. It was delicious. Then I headed towards ... read more

Time is an interesting concept right now. I leave in almost exactly 24 hours, and I can't tell if time is passing too quickly or painfully slow. My flights for the next few days are insane, 4 hours to Iceland, 5 hours to England, an 18 hour layover in London, and finally 1 hour to Bremen. It should be interesting and exciting and tiring. ... read more