Brittany Doerges

bdoerges

Brittany Doerges

Hey Guys,

this was mainly a way for me to keep track of my pictures and the places and experiences they correlate to while i'm living in Spain and doing some traveling too.

Its constantly a work in progress and some photos are still yet to come as my host family has taken them, so i will keep ya posted.

So here is a little rundown of the dealio i got set up over here. Im currently residing in Santander, Spain with the Camara family. My Spanish family consists of Carlos (father and husband), Natalia (mother and wife), Alvaro (11 year old boy) and Jimena (pronounced Hemena... 8 year old girl). I am their au pair but Natalia and Carlos refer to think of me as a younger sister to Natalia but older sister to the children. I plan on living with them for a total of 7 months; I started in September. My main objective is to improve and teach the family english. Natalia and Carlos speak english better than they give themselves credit for; however, Alvaro is pretty good at english, while Jimena speaks little to none. While here I am studying Spanish and finding opportunities to travel and explore.

Hope you like it and feel free to add feedback.



Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Santillana del Mar November 28th 2010

In the Western part of Cantabria is the small medieval city of Santillana del Mar. They say the city is of three lies, since it is not holy (santi), flat (llana) or on the sea! (del mar). Some good-looking liar! The city is quite a beautiful little jewel, perfectly preserved with its bright cobbled streets and tan stone and brick buildings surrounding centuries of history that lies within this city. Cut off my automotive traffic, the city can only be explored by foot. So thats what we did. On a grey-skyed saturday three girls of all different nationalities piled into a very small car by any North American's standard and set off from Santander in Northern Cantabria Spain and drove through the Cantabrian countryside. Eventually finding there final destination of Santillana del Mar. This medieval jewel ... read more
Ester walking the cobble streets of Santilana del Mar
church of santilana del Mar
the bar we stopped to have a drink and tapas in

Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Burgos October 19th 2010

So i bet your thinking where the hell would be 3150 km from Timbuktu....well that would be BURGOS OF CASTILLA y LEON, SPAIN. Burgos meaning "village" is a large eastern city (pop. 180,000) in the autonomous community of Castilla y Leon. Known primarily for its extraordinary Gothic Cathedral it is considered by many people one of Spain's most finest jewels of religious architecture ;however, Burgos is also known for its extreme climates and grey stone architecture. Burgos has a lot of history to it; not only did it once act as frontline fortress against Muslims and the Kingdom of Navarra, but also thriving as a staging post and trading centre for pilgrims on the walk of Camino de Santiago and finally during the Spanish Civil War, General Franco used Burgos as the base for his government ... read more
Castilla y Leon country
my couch surfing host Sarah
me @ cathedral

Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Santander October 9th 2010

So after now of living in Spain for a month, you'd think i'd get adjusted to the heat or the fact that its still 24 degrees outside and thats not even with the sun out. Nope!! Just the other day we took my host family's sail boat out on the water. It was amazing. If you didn't know Santander is the coast for the Bay of Biscay and the Cantabrian Sea. So in the Bay there is a beautiful, white, silky smooth sand bar/beach with a small restaurant on it too. Only people with boats have access to this beach, therefore its a lot less crowded on hot days. We took the boat to this beach and anchored. Did i mention how this was a Tuesday. Now if i was ever to boast about one the ... read more
playin in the sun
the boat anchored
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Europe » Spain October 7th 2010

Hey Guys, So seeing as I'm now currently living over here in Spain; I'm experiencing a new diet, a Mediterranean one. So I'm eating a lot of things I've never tried before. My rule over here so far is to keep an open mind and I'm game to try everything once! That being said I've tried a lot of odd things already or things that are uncommon and i wanted to keep track of what those things are. Therefore, this is an ongoing list... My rating scale is : THUMBS UP = GOOD, THUMBS DOWN = BAD, MEH = DIDN'T MIND IT BUT NOT A FAV 3 = LOVED IT so here we go: 1.Sardines & Anchovies - Rating: THUMBS DOWN 2. pate - Pâté is simply a mixture of seasoned ground seafood, poultry, meat or ... read more
Morchilla "blood sausage"

Europe » Spain » Asturias » Picos de Europa National Park September 19th 2010

Sunday, September 19th in Picos de Europa. After staying just outside of Potes, Cantabria at the beautiful Hotel de Orso for the weekend my host family wanted to Becca and I to experience the Fuente De cable car that gives you a beautiful 360 degree view of the National Park;seeing as Saturday turned out to be a semi-cloudy day while we were hiking a bit in Picos de Europa National park my host family decided it would be pointless to take the cable car up the mountain due to the low hanging clouds. So we decided to try it again for Sunday, hoping weather would permit a great ride up. We were right to wait for Sunday as it permitted the perfect weather. Only a few of us went up in the cable car. Overall, only ... read more
Me and Alvaro
the beautiful views
how far down is it??...

Europe » Spain » Cantabria September 18th 2010

After a surprising peaceful sleep, considering Becca and I were sharing a large hotel room with 4 small rowdy sugar fueled Spanish children; the Saturday breakfast spread was incredible. Not only did the spread have a large amounts of Spanish traditional breakfast items; like anything chocolate for kids :) , but large slices of fresh baked bread and olive oil, or potato tortilla, to a more traditional English breakfast of bangers and mash and a huge fruit spread. Carlos and Natalia had told me in advance that the breakfast spread was amazing and i was glad to say I was not disappointed. lol After breakfast we rounded up the kids and Carlos and Natalia let me know that we were going to go on a walk in the Picos de Europa National Park which was just ... read more
CIMG1976
CIMG1977
Ganeau cheese

Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Potes September 17th 2010

September 17th weekend My host family told me that i we were going away for the weekend with there closest family friends who i had met previously at a birthday party. The family also had an au pair from the states named Becca who is 26 with a degree in Spanish. So Carlos and Natlia thought it would be nice to go away for the weekend to the village of Potes and stay at a goregous hotel that they occupy yearly. It wasn't until we met the other family of Dmas, Suzanna, Dmas jr., Kendala and nanny Becca that Becca and I realized that this weekend was in big part for us to see this beautiful area of Cantabria. With no real agenda but to relax and see the local sights the weekend was very relaxing ... read more
Me in the Village
Shops
San Cayetano Bridge

Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Santander September 15th 2010

September 15th So today was just a typical day, got the kids ready, took them to school, and picked them back up again. It was a beautiful day, so we decided to go to one of the many beaches in Santander. We end up at the Playa del Bikini on the Magdalena Peninsula, home to the English-style Magdalena Royal Palace. The Magdalena Peninsula is a 69 acre peninsula located near the entrance to the Bay of Santander in the city of Santander, Cantabria along the north coast of Spain. At the entrance of the bay of Santander, there is a small peninsula that is called La Magdalena. It has a beach and a park that is opened to the public, and it is very popular during summer. In the middle of the peninsula is a hill ... read more
The Palace
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Europe » Spain » Cantabria » Santander September 15th 2010

Santander Santander, the capital of Spain's Cantabria region in Northern Spain, is a beauty. This beautiful Spanish town provides a great base for touring the highest points of Europe. The city's location, sandwiched between the mountains and the sea, forced it to develop in a peculiarly elongated manner along the northern rim of the bay which opens out onto the Cantabrian Sea. There are two distinct sections to the city of Santander- the busy commercial centre where you can find the majority of shops, historic buildings and tourist attractions and the beach resort of El Sardinero which is home to the city's classiest suburbs, the former royal palace and the casino. (in which i now currently reside within a 3 minute walk of the casino and a 10 minute walk from the royal palace.) Unfortunately, due ... read more
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Europe » Spain » Cantabria September 11th 2010

Only after less than 9 hours of meeting my spanish host family: the "Camara's". After finally meeting the family I've been in contact with for the 2 months through email and one skype call from over the Atlantic Ocean, we immediately leave the new city of Santander for the countryside. Our destination was the northern spanish countryside. In particular Llerana, Saro, Cantabria. Carlos has a family reunion in this beautiful small village. Immediately I'm estatic about seeing some of the Spanish countryside, but a little nervous on a family reunion. Knowing ahead of time that Carlos's family is quite large in size, I was a little intimidated due to the prior knowledge that Spaniards are loud and close knit families... However, the trip was great! We stayed in this amazingly beautiful hotel Casona D Llerana. The ... read more
CIMG1807
View from my room
the pool side




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