wow.

that's the most profound observation I can make so far for my few short hours in Marrakech. Yes, we made it safely, though rather tired. This is the craziest thing I have ever done. We are having a blast trying to find our way around. We are leaving bright and early in the morning for our tour in the desert so we don't get to see too much of the city yet. The market is insane!!!! Had the best orange juice I have ever tasted and bought some flowy pants to wear while I ride the camel. Our hostel is beautiful but impossible to find. Everyone wants our money-- and we don't have much of it! it's hot and getting hotter. Saw a monkey.
have to go repack.
Can't wait to share with you all!!
Love
Kari

Hasta la proxima

I am exhausted. Said goodbye to Spain and all of my newfound friends and said hello to Paris and my long lost boyfriend. It is really good to see Nish. Had a bit of an exhausting journey here (didn't get any sleep last night) but I am looking forward to seeing Kelly and exploring France a little bit. Although I must admit, I am currently a little bitter at France because they speak French. I miss Spanish(and Spain) already. :) I'm sure it will be wonderful. I'll try to keep you posted, but I'll be home before I know it and I think I'll have to catch up on photos from there.
Hope all is well!
Love
Kari

What I can't say with words...

These are pictures from our road trip to Asturias. That was weeks ago! I have so much to catch up on. But these should hold you over...

Tan rápido

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written! Time is flying by. I absolutely loved Asturias and before today I would say it was my favorite part of Spain, hands down. But today, Granada offered a pretty good challenge. I still like Asturias better, but I had a great time today. The internet cafe I am in is closing so I can´t tell you of all of my wonderful adventures but I am alive and well and having a wonderful time. I am looking forward to seeing Nish and Kelly next week! I was sick last weekend and didn´t get to go to Barcelona but it gave me the chance to rest. I will write soon! Hope this letter finds you well.
Love
Kari

Me voy

I am leaving in the morning to go to a small town in the region of Asturias which is in the north of Spain. My professor (from CSUF) is taking us to her house there (she is originally from Spain) and we will see all kinds of sights along the way. It should be fun but I must say I am not thoroughly looking forward to so many hours in a van with 9 people! I will be back to Salamanca for only one night and then we are headed south a bit to the region of Extremadura. I will be back to Salamanca on the 8th but I am leaving on the 9th for Barcelona with a friend (Adriana). I think I get back from Barcelona on the 13th? It's a Sunday. You may not hear from me until then. I think the rest of the trip will fly by now because I'll be doing so much traveling!

Hope all is well!

Los Campeones del Mundo!

Wow, what a weekend. If you have not heard, Spain won the Eurocup last night!! It was crazy. This weekend started for me on Thursday night with the Russia/Spain game. They put up a big screen in Plaza Mayor where we watched it with probably a thousand other people.

Notice how everyone has dark hair :o)

It was a sea of red and yellow. After they won, (against Russia) we celebrated for a while and got up early to drive to Portugal. We got back from Portugal just in time to watch the last game (against Germany). If I thought there were a lot of people in the Plaza for the semi-final, there were twice as many for the final!

There is me towards the center on the left side! Can you see me? It was wonderful. When we scored everyone went crazy! When the game was over there was singing and dancing and honking and yelling and drinking and lots of jumping in fountains. It was incredible to be able to be here for that. The streets were crazy for a while afterwards. I had a loooong night the night before so I was home by two but many of my friends were out most of the night. When I walked home, I saw people of all ages. Young kids, lots of students, even the elderly still out and about each celebrating in their own way. Our morning class was moved to the afternoon so we had this morning to recover. Soccer is such a big deal here. There are even some stores that were closed the day after.
It was really great! I bought a newspaper this morning so I could keep the headlines.

In between the two games we drove all the way to Lisbon, Portugal. (Which made for a really long weekend). We stopped at a beach along the way- it was SOO good to see the ocean. I didn't realize how much I missed the beach.

The ride was long, it took most of the day though we did stop several times. We went to bed late and got up early to a feast of a breakfast in our hotel! It was especially nice to be able to have eggs for breakfast. In Spain eggs are dinner food. Sometimes just eggs. Sometimes eggs with hot dogs. Weird, huh?

Communication was strange in Portugal. It has been a long time since I felt as clueless about how to talk to someone. In Portugal, they speak Portuguese (of course) which is similar enough to Spanish that I felt like I should be able to communicate with them but far enough that it just made things confusing. And, although many of them speak or at least understand Spanish, we were given the impression that they are somewhat offended by it because it makes them feel "colonized" as one professor told us. So when I am in a foreign country my mind automatically switches to Spanish but then I couldn't use it. It was strange. I guess I felt a lot like the people from my group who don't know Spanish have felt for the past three weeks. Makes you feel kinda stupid.

Portugal was a whirlwind. We got in late Friday and left early Sunday so we really had only one full day. We went to a museum that was once someone's private art collection and had pieces from multiple cultures... egyptian, arabic, chinese, spanish, impressionist paintings and much more.


There are many aspects of Lisbon that are reminiscent of San Francisco. This bridge for instance: (me with my roommate Angelina)

After a busy day of cathedral, museum, tour, and beach, a smaller group of us made it to the other side of town just in time to watch the sunset over the city from the palace walls. We took the metro and a trolley (like in San Fran) to get there and walked up lots of hills. It was worth it. Totally gorgeous.

So it was a busy busy weekend full of football, sun, and driving. I think I will stay in tonight in an effort to prepare for our trip up North on Wednesday! So much traveling! But, it should be fun. We are driving to Asturias to my professor's house we will be gone from the 2nd until the 8th. Long time in a small vehicle with 9 people....
It should be fun. Hope this post finds you all well!
(PS My niece rolls over now! She is getting so big and I am missing it! I miss you guys. I am almost halfway through my travels. I'm sure I'll be home before I know it.)
Love
Kari

America beware...

The mullet is back... with vengeance. I see it everywhere- guys and girls alike. The most stylish seems to be a mullet with dreadlocks.... interesting. Speaking fashion... check out these pants that are supposedly all the rage right now- in the first picture, it's the one on the left. (I am not sure what is going on in the right, I haven't seen that. Yet.) In the second picture, you can see just the pants. Hideous. I can't even imagine that they are comfortable. Who wants to walk with all that fabric between their legs?? Here's to hoping that this European fashion never makes its way to America.


Okay, so with the shocking "fashion" update out of the way... as you have probably realized I have made it to Spain! Life has been much busier than I expected it to be (so far anyway) so I haven't had a whole lot of time to just sit and write. Today has been really nice though. I have spent all morning lounging... drinking coffee and watching Spanish TV. So we spent a few days in Madrid where we saw the bullring, called "Plaza de Toros"-


We didn't actually see a bullfight, though I am considering going to Pomplona during the running of the bulls and might see one there. Although... I'm not sure I want to because it seems really gory. There is this famous bullfighter named Jose Tomas who recently fought in Madrid. There are these large doors that are rarely ever used-- they are only opened when something really amazing happens (I guess) and during one of his fights a little while before I arrived in Madrid, the front doors were opened for him. So here is the line of people waiting to buy tickets. The prices shot up because this guy was in town:


Anyway, a few days ago he was gored during a fight and I imagine he'll be out for a while and that his chances of one day becoming a father are now severely limited.

There are 10 of us in the program, 9 girls and one guy. Then there is our fearless leader, Andy, from Scotland, who is sort of our liaison between us and the company we booked our trip through. He shows us around and helps us book travel and all sorts of other things. He's great. Also traveling with us is our Professor (from CSUF) Reyes, and her husband. Reyes is from Spain which is really amazing because she knows the culture so well and is very helpful. We will soon be traveling to visit her house in the North of Spain (about 5 hours away) for a week.
Here's a picture of some of us. I am going to name them from left to right, in case I ever tell stories where you want to put a face with a name. (I think if you click on the picture it will get bigger.)

Christina, Adrianna, Jessica, Megan, Angelina, Mariana, Terra, and Me.
We are missing Marnita, and Ben. (Well, and Andy, Reyes y su esposo.)

We get along really well, but they sure like to party! Every night. Until 4... 5... even 6 in the morning. It's crazy.
Here is how I usually participate-- watching from the balcony above....
Marnita is in this picture (on the left) and Ben... the only guy.



While we were in Madrid, we saw a Flamenco show- it was great! It was a pretty small venue and it was beautiful. Here is Terra and I enjoy our sangria during the show-

After the weekend in Madrid, we arrived in Salamanca and met our host families. I LOVE my host family. Our "mom" is great. Her name is Antonia. It took me a few days to realize, though, that they don't actually live in this apartment. They live in an apartment across the street. So it is a little bit more like living in a dorm, (because other students stay here too) which was a bit disappointing. But in some ways, it's nice too. Antonia comes over to cook for us. This is my roommate Angelina:



Here is the Plaza Mayor, which many (all?) Spanish cities have, and I love it. It is incredibly gorgeous (a replica of which was featured in the movie Vantage Point) and I know I will miss it when I leave. This isn't a great picture of it, but here's an idea:
It is enclosed like this on all four sides. Here is the north side where a stage was set up for the first week we were here. They were having a festival and Rufus Wainright came to play! Surprise for us-- free concerts!


We took a walking tour of Salamanca and here are some of the sights. Historically, Salamanca is pretty significant, and is home to one of the oldest ( I think the third oldest ) university. Here is (not a very good picture of) the front of the university:

There is a legend here is Salamanca about the frog (or toad?) that is part of the facade and is pictured here:

There are two sides to this story.
Frog: if you find the frog you will have good luck on your exams.
Toad: (I find this one more likely, though the town embraces the first). In ancient literature, a toad was used to symbolize the presence of an indiscretion, an affair or a loose woman etc. When the university was first founded it was all men, several of them priests. The town had many prostitutes at the time... to keep the men entertained when they weren't studying? In this version of the legend the toad serves as a warning to students that if they are distracted by a wayward woman, they would find themselves on a road that would lead to death (like the skull on which the toad sits) whether that death be physical, spiritual or academic.

Here is the medallion(?) also on the facade of the university of "Los Reyes Catolicos" King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel. Under their reign Spain was officially united as one country. They are called the Catholic King and Queen because of their devout (or... fanatical) catholicism. It was under their rule that Jews and Muslims were persecuted and expelled from Spain.
We also toured the Cathedral which is absolutely gorgeous. It is the first thing you see when driving into Salamanca. We ran into some visiting nuns there:

And, look what is carved into the side of the cathedral


An astronaut!! Seemed a little out of place. But that part of the cathedral is part of the "new cathedral" which was added on to the old cathedral. I believe it is supposed to be a testament to the greatest achievements of the 20th century. Or something. Anyway, it was weird.

One last history lesson for today. There is an ancient route called "Camino Santiago" which basically means the path of St. James. It is a pilgrimage that people take where they walk up to ten to fifteen hours a day for up to thirty or so days, depending on where they start on the route. They wear/wore a large shell around their necks to signify their pilgrimage. In each town, there was/is a symbol of this shell pointing them directly through the center of the city so they can get straight through. Cities (or towns, then) would often feed and house these pilgrims without charge. This is a famous building in Spain that is here in Salamanca, it is called "Casa de las Conchas." Which means house of shells. The shells (stuck to the side of the building) are representative of the Camino Santiago.




Anyway, sorry it has taken me so long to post, if I did it more often, I suppose my posts wouldn't have to be so long! Life is good here, busier than I thought it would be, but I hope to relax this weekend. We have done A LOT a lot a lot of walking (generally a minimum of 3 hours per day) and I am working through my third round of blisters. I hope to take it easy this weekend though, and I have so far. The food is good, they eat tons of ham. Like... every part of the pig. I will talk more about that later I suppose. I get along well with the group and my class is challenging. My Spanish is getting better but still needs a lot of work.

Hope this update finds you well and that you too are enjoying the long days of summer!
Until next time,
-Kari