Travel(l)ing por allí

Hello everyone!

As you can see I'm adjusting to the British version of English that all of my students know and love. "Travelling" with two L's, "organise" with an S, "favourite" with a U, and so on. But not to worry, I have not forgotten my good "United Statesian" roots. Especially thanks to my job at the academy. My Venezuelan boss, Ana María, has me teaching the kids all things American for our next play-- songs, hand games, even how to talk while moving your head and shaking a finger (girrrrrrrl!)

Well, the month of January has (thankfully) flown by, save for the first week when I was still on vacation and the last weekend, when I went on vacation again (more about that later). This past month has been painfully boring... mostly due to the fact that it was the final exam period for Spanish universities. So I've been basically without company since winter break ended as my boyfriend, friends and roommates have been locked in their rooms and various libraries studying. I've felt really bad for them because they have many more finals than we do and they tend to determine your entire grade. Talk about pressure! Also, since exams are after Christmas you can't really enjoy winter break as much. I don't know what I've been complaining about the last four years. The truth is though that right now I can't even imagine having to study for anything. Eek! I suppose I better starting warming up to the idea soon for grad school.

ANYWAY.. Since I was feeling lonely I came up with a new objective-- to visit all 9 provinces of Castilla y León while I'm living in the region. This month I checked two off the list: Palencia (not to be confused with the much bigger and well known city of Valencia to the southeast, which I am going to visit during my next school vacation in a week!) and León. I can technically cross Valladolid off the list as well since I live here, but I do need to do some

more touristy things, which I have been saving for future visitors. The first weekend after winter vacation I took a Sunday trip to Palencia to have a look around. Directly to the north of Valladolid, wedged between that province and the region of Cantabria, the city of Palencia is small and delightful. (By the way, Palencia, the city, is the capital of Palencia, the province, which is the case for all the provinces in CyL. i.e. León is the capital of Léon, Burgos is the capital of Burgos, etc). The people are polite and friendly and the tapas are free! That is usually the custom throughout Spain-- you order a coffee or a beer and you get some complimentary tapas on the side. But of course not in Valladolid... obviously. While I was in Palencia I did some sight seeing and walked through nearly the entire city.

Then I met up with two girls I know from my program who live in Palencia, Lisa and Nicki, for the aforementioned beers and tapas. Lisa is from Northern Ireland and Nicki is from England; they are teaching like me, but they are both still in school. For them it counts as their year abroad (required of all British university students who study a foreign language) which I think is pretty cool.

The following weekend I decided to venture to León, the next city on my list. I have actually been to León before, way back during the summer I stayed with Marta.

I remember being really impressed by the city while I was there-- it has literally the most amazing cathedral I've seen in my life-- so I thought it warranted a re-visit. Plus, a lot has changed since I was 16. And the truth is I was actually interested in finding out how I would feel returning to a place I haven't been to since I was a teenager. León is also to the north of Valladolid, between there and my beloved Asturias. It has a lot more life than both Valladolid city and Palencia. A friend of mine, Octavio, decided to accompany me on my trek and he noted that right when we arrived. There is just something in the atmosphere, even on a typical boring Sunday, that you can feel and that let's you know, yeah, this place is boppin'. Octavio wanted to come with me because as he is from the Canary Islands he is always looking for an excuse to travel and get to know more of the "peninsula," as they call the mainland (don't know why but I really dig that). So, I was very excited for my return to León and it was everything I hoped it would be. "Me emocioné un poco" (I got a little emotional)

when I saw the cathedral again. I remembered back to when I was an adolescent and how overawed I was. We had a great time seeing other monuments and touring Barrio Humedo, where all the good [complimentary!] tapas are. The one thing I was a little bit disappointed about was that the Museum of Contemporary Art was closed because they are changing exhibitions. As nerdy as it sounds I was really looking forward to spending the afternoon there. But just seeing the outside was pretty cool because it is made entirely of multicolored windows. I want my house to look like that, seriously!

Well, these day trips through Castilla y León do not hold a candle to the trip I took at the end of January. Since David couldn't celebrate my birthday (which, by the way I didn't do anything for my birthday... kind of depressing, but so is life) he decided to take me on a surprise vacation for my belated present. It was the best present ever. And the surprise worked. I had no idea where I was going until we arrived to the gate at the airport in Madrid. The only thing he told me was to meet him at the train station and bring a swimming suit. Are you on the edge of your seats? He took me to... Lanzarote! Or better know as one of the Canary Islands. We left Saturday after his last exam (so it was kind of a celebration for him too!) and came back to the real world this past Tuesday. We saw almost the entire island during the two full days we were there, including

the two national parks, Papagayo and Timanfaya. We were able to enjoy the only day of sun we got on one of Papagayo's many beaches and then we climbed the cliffs to go and explore the other beaches. Probably the most poignant sight we came across on our trip was at the top of one of those cliffs. The entire surface was covered in hearts people had made from the rocks with their initials inside. It was such a touching display to randomly stumble upon. And naturally we made one of our own with a K and a D to leave our mark on that beautiful place. The next day we explored Timanfaya (a natural reserve made completely of volcanic soil) and the rest of the major cities we had yet to see, including the capital of Arrecife.

We did so thanks to a super cheap rental car, which was awesome and apparently the norm for vacationers there because otherwise it's impossible to get from point A to B since all the towns are so isolate. I of course let David do the driving J

Speaking of David, he had more adventures in store even after the tropical birthday vacation (what a guy). I am actually on my way back from visiting him in Pamplona this weekend and on Saturday he took me to the small town of Olite to see a castle and go the Navarra Museum of Wine.

I know “castle” may sound vague but this was like the sweetest castle I have ever seen (actually it’s the only one I’ve ever seen, but whatever). We are talking real medieval stuff. Before Spain was Spain, Navarra was its own separate kingdom and this is where the king and queen lived (Carlos III and Queen Leonor to be exact). This place was like a huge labyrinth and it took us hours to explore all the different towers, which I loved. I told David I felt like a princess (shout out to my niece, Hannah, who really is a princess)!

Well, that’s all for now. It looks like my adventures are going continue through the month of February and will include the aforementioned trip to Valencia as well as a concert in Pamplona the following weekend. Estopa(!!) to be exact; I am totally freaking out! I guess my mom was right about what she said the other day when I told her I was sad to come back to the “real world” after my trip to the Canary Islands. She said, “honey, you don’t live in the real world!” It's true. That’s why I’m always trying to make the most of it J

Lots of love from a Renfe train headed south from Vitoria,

Katie