Boulder Colorado, USA

Hello everyone! 

I am writing to you from Boulder, Colorado where I am visiting friends for a few days time before I head off to LA with my family to see my brother for Thanksgiving! As you can see, my European adventure has now ended, and a new one, this time back in the familiar environment of home has begun. What may happen, only time will tell! This winter I will be teaching skiing to children ages 3-6 in Beaver Creek, Colorado which I am very excited about! I will be moving up to the mountains when I get back from LA. Life has been pretty crazy recently but I wouldn't have it any other way. And so, although my travel adventures are over for the moment, life continues on in an interesting way :) But before I get sucked back into the world of every day life, I wish to share here my final last week's adventures over in Europe...

I realized a piece of my trip was missing, because before I saw my friend Dagmar in Holland, I visited another friend in Ulm, Germany. This is my friend Christopher who I also met WWOOFing in New Zealand. We met at the train station in Stuttgart (where he is attending university) and then went by train to his home town near Ulm to spend the weekend. When we arrived in his little town of Weissenhorn, his mom treated us to the German tradition of coffee and cake. This is similar to an English afternoon tea time. Christopher then took me to another small town nearby where there is a beautiful Baroque Church. This was completely different from all the other types of Cathedrals and Churches I saw in other countries. Inside, the walls were painted a pure white color which contrasted greatly with the bright golds and elaborate multi-colored paintings that made up the rest of the decorations. It was absolutely stunning! 

The next day Christopher took me into Ulm to explore. We walked through the old fisherman's district, noticing all the wooden Sparrows or (Spazz) around the city, saw a very tipsy building, passed by the town hall with its cool astronomical clock, slowly making our way to the center of the town. Here, we climbed up the tallest church tower in the world, it took 768 steps to get to the top! Where we had a view of the red rooftops of Ulm and the surrounding green countryside. Christopher told me that on a clear day you can see all the way to the Alps! You'd never know otherwise that day though, as it was foggy, rainy, and freezing cold! We made our way back down the spiral staircase and now feeling about as tipsy as the house I'd seen earlier, tottered off to a tavern to try some traditional Swabian cuisine. This was, for me, a dish similar to ravioli with meat and herbs inside plus a glass of blonde German wheat beer. Both were very delicious! I really like the Bavarian beers, especially the wheat beer! After this we took a walk along the river, then headed back to his house to visit some more. In the evening, some of his friends came over and we played billiards (pool) as they tried to teach me more German words. This was rather a disaster as German is very difficult, but in the end I walked away knowing a few more words than before. The next day I once again headed off by train, this time to see Dagmar in Holland, and the rest is history!

Oldenzaal, Netherlands

Hallo! (Hello in Dutch)

I am now visiting my wonderful friend Dagmar (who I met working on organic farms in New Zealand this past year) in the small town of Oldencaal in the Netherlands. It has been really cold and rainy here so I didn't do much sight seeing today, but instead had a great time visiting with her, catching up on each others lives. It's amazing because although I haven't seen her for half a year now, it is as though no time has passed as all, we are still great friends. I absolutely love it! This has been the case with most of my friends I've visited over here. I feel so lucky to have so many incredible friends all over the world!

 Nevertheless, I have had a few truly Dutch experiences which now that I think about it are mostly about food.... trying Dutch chocolate, a small cookie called Pepernoten (which I discovered is like a ginger cookie!) that children have here for a holiday called Sinter Klaas on Dec. 5. The story is Sinter Klaas comes from Spain on a big ship and brings gifts to the children of Holland during this time. The "cwarte pieten" are black people who stay around Holland during the year and report to Sinter Klaas on the behavior of the children. So its similar to the story of St. Nicholas but very different too. We went into the center of town where there was a local market in the square before the church. Here, I tried "Harieng" a fish ( I think Haring in English?) that isn't cooked! You eat it raw! I got a funny photo of me dangling this whole fish into my mouth with the market place in the background. The "harieng" was so slippery, I could barely hold on to it to take the photo! The taste was extremely well, fishy, and honestly I didn't like it that much, but hey, at least I tried it :) Dagmar told me afterwards that she finds it disgusting, but wanted to see me try it to have a true Dutch experience! For lunch we had a puff pastry thingy with "Ragout" a brown sauce with calf meat in it that she made. It was actually very tasty. Dagmar says this food experience, is funny, because the Dutch aren't known for their food.

In the afternoon we walked along this beautiful lake nearby freezing in the chilly autumn air! Afterwards we went back to her apartment, had a nice warm cup of tea, and have been relaxing sharing photos, music, stories about our lives, etc, so have had a great time here! Tomorrow I am having more of a sight seeing day with Dagmar then am off to meet up with a friend of a friend in Hamburg, Germany who will show me around for a few days. Doei Doei (Bye Bye) for now!

Love,

Anna

Laussane, Switzerland

Bonsoire mon ami! (? anyone who speaks French go ahead and correct me )

I am now in the beautiful small city of Laussane in the French speaking part of Switzerland. After starting to pick up a few German words  through my course "Gutentag", "Slaft goot" "Guten nacht", etc. , I have now moved on to a different part of Switzerland, thus am immersed in a completely new language once more, this time French! For me, French is harder to learn and understand than Italian was. However, I can say a few basic words at least, such as "Merci", "Bonjour", "Patisserie" (= Pastry shop, a very important one ) so am getting by okay. And the best part is, I have made some girl friends at the guest house (hostel) I am staying at here, so have been enjoying my time exploring the city with them. One woman from Taiwan, and another from Portugal. Today is my third day in Laussane which has been a nice place to relax a bit after the intensity of my course in Saas-Fee. Tomorrow I will be off to meet up with a friend in Stuttgart, Germany! It is hard to believe that I have only 10 more days over here! Time has gone by very fast.

My course in Switzerland was absolutely wonderful! We had an introduction course where we touched upon the main theories we would be learning, as well as the different types of expressive arts through experiential learning. We had sessions on music, dance, theatre, art (painting), and poetry. It really is too complicated and time consuming for me to go into here, but I will be happy to share more with anyone who is interested once I get back to the USA. But overall I was very happy with the program and am planning on applying for the MA's program in expressive art therapy to hopefully start this summer! Although I have not been officially accepted, as I haven't applied yet, I had my interview with the faculty member who is the director of the MA program and was told unofficially "welcome to the program!" so I am very excited!

During the course I became friends with a woman from Portugal, and we decided to travel together to Geneva afterwards on Nov. 1. We spent a nice day in Gevena together, exploring the city and saw the famous Red Cross Museum. The museum had interesting information about the history of the red cross and also its impact on the world today. I was especially touched by an exhibit discussing the impact of land mines and their victims around the world. We also saw the outside of the UN building with all the flags from different countries. Back at my hostel later that night, I met an American woman who was in Geneva interviewing for jobs in the field of Human Rights. We went out at night to the old part of the city to have a beer and had an amazing conversation about human rights, and expressive art therapy. I see a potential to perhaps take expressive arts therapy also in the direction of human rights, so it was interesting to talk with someone who has her MA's in international human rights laws.

The next day I traveled on to Laussane to arrive in the freezing cold and pouring rain, ugh! I arrived at the guest house around noon to discover that I couldn't actually check into my room until 3 pm, as the receptionist had a 3 hour lunch break. So I put my pack in the storage room to go off to explore the city, but rested for a moment on the couch, and ended up falling asleep in the middle of the living room! I was so tired, and I guess it all caught up to me that day, so taking the hint from my body I ended up resting for the day. Then in my dorm room I met a woman from Taiwan, and another woman from Portugal who are very nice. Yesterday I went with Mimi (from Taiwan) to visit Collecion d'art brut (a collection of art done by patients in mental institutions around Switzerland which I'd heard about and came to Laussane specifically to see) but it was closed for renovations! Oh well, at least it was a sunny day so we decided to simply walk around the city and explore. Laussane is located on the side of a big lake and on clear days you can see the Swiss Alps rising in the distance! We walked along the lake front which was beautiful with all the autumn colors! We found a cute coffee shop nearby where we sat and talked about life. This is something I seem to do all the time during my travels, meet interesting people from all over the world and talk about life, I love it! So these past few days haven't been that exciting, but rather, relaxing, which is what I need right now. Also, I haven't been going out for food much this past week, instead cooking in at the hostel, because everything is so expensive over here in Switzerland! The cost of living is so high, I wonder how people can get by. And yet, even at the hostel, I have met many young people around my age who have come to Laussane to try to find work. They are living at the guest house until they find their own apartment. Laussane seems like a very artsy city and I think it would be fun to come back and visit during the summer time. Ok, that is it for now, talk to you again soon. Take care!

Love,

Anna

Saas Fee, Switzerland

To continue...

After Milan my next stop was Verona! I got on a train which was to my surprise, packed with people! On the train ride I had a conversation with an Italian woman who thought I was french as when I helped her with a bag she said "Merci" to me. She didnt speak a word of English but somehow with sign language, and Spanish we managed to communicate. Its so funny to me that for some reason people seem to want to speak with me, even when I cant speak the language! This has happened to me often on my trip, especially while I was in Italy. In Verona I got off the train, walked 15 min through town, congratulated myself on finding the hostel and rang the bell. But no-one answered. An Italian woman who was entering the apartment (the Bed and Breakfast was on a floor in an apartment building) let me in, and go I went upstairs, rang the bell again, to be opened this time by a large burly man with an extremely puzzled expression on his face. This, as I found out a second later when I went in, was because the place was being completely rennovated! It was a disaster, with walls smashed in! no bathroom, definately no bed anywhere in site, and only this Italian construction worker who didn't speak a word of English! Luckily I had passed an information place on the way over, so simply went back there and they were able to find me a bed for a few nights in a nice hotel near the center. That night I met up with my Italian friend Stefano and his new girlfriend. They took me to a small town near Verona for dinner, where there was a Polenta festival taking place. It was like a small fair, with stands selling meats, cheeses, candy, some artwork, and other things you'd see at a craftsfair\farmers market. In the center were two big tents where everyone was gathered with friends and family to eat Polenta! The way it works, at the festival, is that every single dish there was made with Polenta. I had mushrooms on top of Polenta, but there were over 24 different varieties to choose from! On top of that all the Pizzas there were made from Polenta. It was definately a Polenta fest! My friend explained to me how each year there are many different kinds of these food festivals with the emphasis on one type of food each time. Ok, thats it, Im moving to Italy!

The next day I explored Verona on my own a little bit in the morning, then met up with them once again and they took me on a tour of the city. I learned about the time change, which id forgotten about, by thinking my friends were an hour late to meet up with me! Oh well, in the mean time, I sat in a nearby park to wait for them and ended up in Conversation, part Spanish, part Italian (from what Ive been picking up), and part English with an older man who sat on the bench next to me. Once I met up with my friends, we walked by La Arena (the gladiator spectacles and naval arena stage), Romeo's house, Juliet's house with the famous balcony!, another castle, and had yummy Pizza at a Pizza place which is inside of an old church. There were over 4 pages of the menu of just different kinds of pizzas! Then in the afternoon we drove to a small town on the Lago di Garda (biggest lake in Italy) walked along the promenade, saw a gorgeous sun set, and had gelato! At night we got stuck in traffic on the way back to Verona, as many people had also gone on holiday at the lake for the weekend (it was a Sunday night). Then had a drink at a Scottish Pub and said Arrivederchi! (goodbye)

I woke up to another beautiful sunny day, went down to the train station and journeyed on to Lugano, Switzerland. Because of waits for trains, and train travel time I didn't arrive there until night time, so didn't have an exciting day, just travel. At night though, in Lugano, I got a cheap bed in a real hostel. Meaning there were other people to hang out with and talk to! It was very exciting! I talked to two other Americans there, one who is an Architect from Texas traveling around for 3 months, and another girl from California who had been wwoofing (working on organic farms) in Switzerland. The next morning, I explored Lugano walking around the lake front for a few hours, which was very beautiful! with the man from Texas, before taking the train on to Saas-Fee. I lucked out, because the way over from Lugano is apparently one of the prettiest train rides in the country! or so I was told, a few times, first by the man who booked my ticket in Lugano, then by a local on holiday from Zurich I met on the train. Indeed, the journey was wonderful! Switzerland and the Alps are gorgeous at this time of year as the leaves change colors! From my window I could see all the little towns in the Alps we passed through, the farms, houses, goats, sheep, horses, and even donkeys! The train went from Lugano to Goeschenen (transfer of 2 min!) to another train to Andermatt, then the train continued on to Visp. From Visp I had a 50 min. bus ride further up into the mountains to the small town of Saas-Fee where I am now! It was dusk, and I saw beautiful red colors over the Alps, absoluetly breath taking! I arrived in the dark, but found my hotel okay, arrived to a nice big comfy room where  I will be for the next week, and that is that. Its been great hopping around but I am looking forward to having 5 days in one place. Hope all is well with everyone. Miss you, love you, and talk to you again soon!

Saas Fee, Switzerland

Hey Everyone!

Since I last wrote to you from Granada I have been incredibly busy! I am now in a small town called Saas-Fee (a 50 min bus ride from Visp) in the middle of the Swiss Alps! It is fall here and all the leaves are changing colors, which is gorgeous! This morning I did a lovely four hour round trip hike to the top of one of the nearby mountains for some spectacular views. After being in so many cities, it was great to be hiking along in nature once more! I cant believe how lucky I am to be able to see all these amazing places! My course here starts tomorrow, so Ill see how it goes, but as of now, of course I would come back here! It would be a treat to get to live here for three summers! yes please!

As to what Ive been up to this past week... After Granada I returned to Sevilla for one more night in order to see mi senora Angeles (the woman I lived with during my semester in Sevilla). She is doing wonderfully and was happy to report that she is now the happy abuela (grandmother) of a cute 4 month old baby boy who she showed me tons of photos of! Her perrito, Lula was doing well, and her next door neighbor who I had gotten to know well too. So once again it felt like I was seeing family. The next morning, I took a flight from Sevilla to Bergamo, Italy and then an hour bus from there to Milan. Milan (or Milano in Italian), as everyone told me, is the "money" of Italy, a very industrial city and indeed it appeared so. Even more than perhaps where I was in Paris, I saw Italians dressed to the T in Milan. I spent two days, three nights there, which I thought was a good amount of time. The first night I met a man from St. Petersburg Russia at my cheap hotel, and we went out for Pizza where we met a guy from Australia and another guy from Sweden who were staying at a different hotel. I say hotel, as I was unable to find hostels in Northern Italy, there were only cheap hotels. I went to a nearby bar with these guys who treated me to drinks, and my friend from St. Petersburg even paid for my dinner! What gentleman! The bar, which was more like a cafe, was chock full of Italians watching the football games on television. (Football, is soccer, fyi for those who dont know, and the Europeans are crazy about it over here). Indeed, our conversation was often punctuated by loud outbursts as everyone cheered for their favorite team, or shouted obsenities in Italian when their team didnt do well. And when Milan won, the bar erupted into cheers! So it was very entertaining to see. The next day I did a whirlwind tour of the city, seeing the incredible enormous Cathedral "Duomo" at the center of the city, window shopping down the Gallerie with all the big designer store brands of Gucchi, Prada, Louis Vitton, etc, marveling at the prices of these items. Over a thousand dollars for a hand bag! for example. When I first stepped out of the metro I was bothered by street people from Africa who tie a bracelet around your wrist and then make you pay for it. This happened to me twice! It was so annoying, and when I refused to pay for the second one the man got angry but luckily left me alone. I also had my hand seized in the middle of the square, felt bird seed put into it, and before I knew it had pigeons flocking all over me! The man wanted to take a picture of me and get money but I somehow managed to knock the pigeons off and make my escape as a group of tourist girls walked by. The best part about the Duomo was taking the elevator up and walking around on top of it! This brought me very close to the architecture and I also had great views of the city. After the Duomo and window shopping,  I wandered through a museum of Italian paintings from various eras recognizing a few names of Tiziano, Ribera, Caraveggio, and some other artists, while learning about new ones like Bellini, who Id never heard of before. The museum is located in a neighborhood called the Brera which has many cute streets with nice cafes, more window shopping, and art galleries. As I was walking back to the metro, I stumbled upon a small cafe filled with pictures of Audrey Hepburn and other vintage things, which I love and so decided to have dinner there. During dinner I met an American couple traveling and had an interesting conversation with the woman about her search for her Italian side of the family.

The next day I woke up early to get a last minute ticket to see DaVincis famous painting "The Last Supper." I was able to get one and went to a nearby cafe for breakfast. Here I had the funny experience of language\cultural differences when I ordered a "latte" and was given a glass of hot foamed milk only! haha. Seeing DaVincis painting in person was wonderful! but I couldnt understand anything the guide said as the only tour they could squeeze me on was an Italian one! I was not the only tourist to do so, in fact, there were only two Italian people out of the whole tour who couldnt speak English, but when asked by the guide if it would be okay for the tour to be in English they said no, and that was that. Nevertheless, it was impressive to see the painting first hand. DaVinci is one of my favorite artists, and later in the bookstore I learned that he painted the last supper in angles imitating sound waves! Incredible! Also, I completely agree with Dan Brown that the "man" on Jesus's left, looks like a woman! After this, I decided to find a book store that my Swedish friend had recommended. On the way I passed through the Castello Sforza which is an enormous castle left from one of Milan's ruling families the Sforza. It was very impressive! One again I was harranged by an African person from Senegal. Thats one part of traveling alone is its hard to avoid the street scammers. I walked away unfortunately with one more bracelet! He put it in my camera case as I was taking a photo, and a few other Euros lighter. But, oh well, they need it more than me. Still, I left Milan wearing three of these stupid little bracelets! Anyways, the book store itself was great with many books on photography, art, architecture, and design. I loved it! and spent over an hour simply perusing the beautiful photography selections. Below the book store is a cute cafe in the middle of a garden. As I made my way back towards the center of the city, I got turned around, and ended up wandering the streets for awhile before coming upon a Metro station again. The afternoon I took as a rest time, then at night I went to see the Opera "Indemeneo" by Mozart at the famous Scala Theatre! Although I couldnt understand the language, everyone's voices were amazing and I really enjoyed it. The Scala Theatre is very posh and I felt a little bit like Julia Roberts in the movie Pretty Woman (well minus the date) seeing one for her first time! So overall, not bad for two days in Milan! I will write more in another post, next stop was Verona!

Granada, Spain

Hola a todos! I am now in Granada, Spain! I arrived around 9 pm to Granada on the 17th, to be met by my friend Elizabeth at the train station. It was so great to see her again! I stayed with her family back in high school for a summer here in Granada, the first time I came to Spain and have been seeing them off and on over the years when I can. They live in the town of Churriana de la Vega near Granada, so we took a taxi, and then went out for tapas to visit. Afterwards, we went back to her family´s house where I got big hugs from everyone! Once again it felt as though I was coming home, it was so heartwarming! The next day I was able to sleep in, rest a bit more, and visit with David, Mary-Carmen, y Alexander (the family). In the afternoon me, Elizabeth, and her friend Nuria went out for cafe con leche at a discoteca in Granada. This was a large discoteca with three rooms, one where you could sit and have drinks, and two others for dancing. Although we got there at 7 pm the place was packed! And inside, it felt as though it was 2 am or something. We had cafe con leche in the first room then went to the next one over to dance! As the night went on more and more people came. It was funny to be in a large night club, packed with people dancing to loud music at 8 in the evening! The discoteca had a large dance floor, crazy bright strobe lights, lasers, and much more! The music was a mixture of Spanish and English pop, techno, and other dance music. The Spanish sure know how to party it up! Even on a Sunday afternoon! The discoteca stays open until late in the night, but because it was a Sunday, and Elizabeth had class the next morning, we left around 10 to go have some tapas back in Churriana. Then today, I´ve taken the opportunity to simply have a rest day, which has been very nice. Tomorrow I´m heading back to Sevilla to see mi señora (the woman I lived with during my semester abroad there, she was on holiday so I didn´t get to see her my other days in Sevilla) and then on Wed. I´m flying to Bergamo, Italy! Hope everyone is doing well! More adventures to come soon :) Take care!

Love,

Anna

Seville, Spain

So most of what I wrote before was actually only my first day in Sevilla! The next day, my friend once again took me around the city, we ran a few errands we needed to do and otherwise had fun catching up some more. We walked by El Alcazar once again to discover an free exhibit called ¨La Vida de Los Sueños¨ which translates to ¨The life of the dreams.¨This was an interesting exhibit of artwork done by patients from mental institutions from around Andalucia (province that Sevilla is in). It was amazing! And so exciting to me, as this creative arts therapies is what I´m hoping to do in the future! I especially liked the part of the exhibit on photography. Next we had lunch at my favorite tapas place in the city ¨Los Coloniales.¨ We had tabla de salmorejo con jamon (bread with gazpacho type sauce), pollo con salsa de almendredas ( chicken with almonds), y pescado fresca (fresh fish) it was muy rico! (very delicious). Then we went to the Museo (museum) of Bellas Artes to see a special exhibition of famous artwork. There was art from Goya, Chagall, Renoir, Ticiano and other famous European artists from the Borroque, Classical, Neo-Classical, and Impressionist periods. My friend is a student of art history so was able to tell me all about the different works of art! It was amazing! One interesting fact I learned is that lighting became important in paintings at the same time as photography started to become popular. This was because the two forms were competing against each other for awhile.

At night we were invited to have dinner with Jose´s French girlfriend Miriam and some friends of her´s. The dinner took place in her French friends apartment and was incredible! The women outdid themselves with hospitality. They made an appetizer of smoked salmon in a creamy sauce, fresh fish with vegetables (which they wrapped in tin foil to look like swans!), and for dessert homebaked chocolate cookies with a rich sweet cream! Oh yes, and lots of delicious white wine as well! Afterwards we visited in the apartment for a long time and it was so much fun. The other girls put on clips from different Disney videos on you tube to watch for fun. Before I knew it, there we were singing ¨ A whole new world¨ in Spanish! French! And me, to spice things up, in English! And also ¨Colors of the Wind¨from Pocahontus, songs from ¨Singing in the rain¨and much more! Isn´t it amazing how we can all come from such different cultural backgrounds and yet be the same, connecting easily over something like a song! Haha it was great times! Afterwards, we rented bikes for a few Euros, and rode along the river through the city to another plaza to have a few drinks. This was around 4 in the morning by this time! The night ride along the river was so gorgeous! I felt so free and amazing, flying along on my bike, riding by all the beautiful ancient architecture of Sevilla lit up at night! Oh it gave me chills, like so many other great times I had in Sevilla when I was studying there! After staying out a little bit longer, I went back to my friends place about 5 am, to crash on the couch with new wonderful memories.

The next day I slept in for the morning and then had lunch with my friend, Miriam, and his roomate at Jose´s apartment. We had a great discussion about foreign films, and as a result I have a list of movies to find once I´m back in the US. We visited for hours and I was having such a great time that I almost missed my train on to Granada! I said goodbye, grabbed my pack, caught a taxi to the station, was able luckily to buy my ticket quickly, and ran onto the train with 3 minutes to spare before it departed! But I made it! And on the way to Granada saw an incredible sunset where the land appeared as a black silouette against a sky of fire! The sky was an amazing bright orange with rusty red color, which I´d never seen before! Awww I LOVE Spain!!!

Seville, Spain

After leaving Barcelona I had another long overnight train ride to Sevilla, arriving bright and early the morning of the 15th. My Spanish friend Jose met me at the train station and I went back to his place to shower, relax, and put my stuff down. I was so excited to shower after so many long days of travel! You have no idea!!! It was wonderful to be back in Sevilla once again! It really feels like a second home to me now! Once I´d freshened up and relaxed a bit, we went out for tapas and walked around the city catching up. Sevilla is full of memories for me. Every corner we´d take, every street we´d walk along, ghosts from the past haunted me, but in a good way. We walked past La Catedral de Sevilla (one of the biggest gothic cathedrals in the world!) and I remembered singing Verdi´s Requiem with the University of Sevilla´s choir! Another turn, and there was Los jardines de los Murillos (garden of the walls) where I´d sat many times in peace writing in my journal. El centro de la ciudad where I´d go shopping with friends! And a plaza near my friend´s new apartment near where I´d taken lessons in Flamenco. The cervecerias, with some of my favorite tapas!El Alcazar, the ancient palace from which Queen Isabel sent Christopher Columbus to discover a new world. My feet remembered the cobble stoned streets and seemed to take me of their own accord back to the building where all my classes were held. All the sights, smells, and sounds of the city surrounded me, making the past and present converge together in the same moment. Like a drop of water submerging into a larger body, I slid easily back into the Spanish lifestyle.  I was amazed to discover that all my Spanish came back to me very quickly! Although it has definately gotten worse over the past few years, I was still able to have in depth conversations with my friends about movies, politics, life, etc.  I was so excited to be back in Sevilla and couldn´t get enough of everything! Sevilla, like me, has changed in some ways over the past two years, and in others remains the same. For example, La Catedral de Sevilla is now a nice light color when before it was a very dark color. Originally I thought the dark color was part of the style of the gothic cathedrals, but Jose told me that it was actually just from dirt over the years, and now its been cleaned up to its original whiter color. Also, Sevilla has a new Metro system, and a tram in the center of the city. On the other hand, everyone still goes out in the cervecerias for cafe con leche, bebidas, jamon, y otras tapas. I stepped in caca del perro (dog poo) in the streets! Yep, apparently some things never change :) haha! So it was amazing fun for me! In the afternoon I took a nice long siesta to refresh me. Then at night I went to choir practice once more with Jose and his friends. And discovered to my delight, that not only was the choir director the same, but he remembered me! And they are actually singing Verdi´s requiem, the same one we sang two years ago, except, this time it´s in German! So before I knew it, there I was in choir practice once more! And afterwards we all went out singing in the streets for tapas y bebidas at a nearby cerveceria (cafe). It really felt just like old times. All the people in the choir were knew but ¨el alma¨ (the soul) of the choir was still the same! And I started making new friends! It was great!

Barcelona, Spain

Hola! I arrived in Barcelona and had a good half day before needing to catch my night train on to Sevilla. And so I went off to explore the city for the day. Barcelona felt like an old friend to me, since I spent a few days there the last time I was in Europe. Barcelona is a very beautiful city with avenues filled with large green trees. I traveled cheaply with the locals via metro to easily hop around the city. First, I visited La Sagrada Familia! the beautiful church currently under construction in Barcelona. La Sagrada Familia is known for its architecture which was designed by the famous modern artist Gaudi. Gaudi is known for taking his architecture designs from the natural shapes he saw in the world around. For example, the front of La Sagrada Familia looks like stalactites and stalagmites in a cave, and inside the columns rise up dramatically looking like giant trees spreading into a ceiling of honey comb (like the inside of a bee´s hive). It is so magnificent to see! After La Sagrada Familia I took the metro to Parque Guell, my fav. spot in Barcelona! The parque is located on a large hill above the city, so you have spectacular views of Barcelona spread out below. It is a large parque with many fun twists and turns to explore. Other works by Gaudi, including some houses, can be found throughout. I loved wandering, exploring, and taking pictures as I´d come upon all sorts of funny designs by him. And many musicians take up different sections of the park trying to get money from those passing by. After Parque Guell, I caught a bus back to the center of the city and took the rest of the evening to stroll down the famous avenue, Las Ramblas. I couldn´t believe the number of people out and about! It appeared as though all of Europe had shown up for vacations and this was only Oct.! not even the busy months of summer. It could be though, because while the rest of Europe is cold, in Spain right now, they´re still having lovely warm days. I felt as though I´d stepped into summer again! Perhaps, my fourth in a row now! haha! Las Ramblas is fun because the large avenue is lined with street performers! On every block there´s someone dressed in an incredible costume, or trying to eat swords, or other fun entertainment. There are also tons of souvenir shops, and even pet stores out in the street! It was funny to see a portable stand selling birds, fish, turtles, and other interesting animals in the middle of the street! Near Las Ramblas is Barcelona´s Mercat grande (grand Market) which is a large outdoor market selling fresh vegetables, meat, and fish. I had just enough time to explore the market for a little bit, before it was time to get back to Barcelona Sants (train station) and take the night train to Sevilla. Not bad for half a day in Barcelona no!?

Barcelona, Spain

Hola de Barcelona! I have been a busy woman since I last wrote. Moving out of Boulder was a whirlwind, then Monday morning I flew over to Europe landing in Frankfurt, Germany at 7 in the morning their time. Since then in only a little over a day I´ve managed to work my way across the continent! Next time I think oh it´s only a train ride or so away, I´m going to look twice at the actual amount of hours. Though jet-lagged and bleary eyed from a relatively sleepless overnight flight, I somehow managed to stumble onto a train to Paris, France. This train ride passed in rather a blur but I do remember seeing lots of beautiful green fields and farmland go by at a fast rate. I arrived in Paris in the early afternoon and was able to book a night train to Barcelona. So what to do with my time inbetween? Well I left my pack in storage at the station then went off to explore for a bit. The woman in the information center told me Montmartre (the artist´s district) was close by, all I had to do was go out of the train station and walk up the big Boulevard for 15 min. Sounds easy right? Well half an hour later, after asking many different people on the street, and eventually going back to the info. office to get better directions I at last found the boulevard. Paris´s streets criss cross in many different directions, so it was a little difficult to navigate at first but soon enough I figured my way around. Following directions seems to get me lost for some reason, so instead I did what I do best, wandered the backstreets in the general direction, until I eventually came upon Montmartre. There is a large cathedral at the top of the hill which is hard to miss once you´re close enough. By this time I´d managed to wake up enough to truly appreciate such a beautiful site. The cathedral itself is massive and richly decorated. Montmartre is located on top of a large hill, and from the top there was a spectacular view of Paris spread out below. The other funny thing I came across, was on the steps leading up to the Cathedral there was a reggae concert going on! It was great! Who would have thought I´d be singing along to Bob Marley, as the sun was setting, from the steps of Montmartre! Then, I walked into the Cathedral to the sounds of a full choir singing! For those of you who have never been to a Cathedral in Europe, they are absolutely massive! And the sounds of a service in French echoed throughout impressively. It was a beautiful, chilling effect. After checking out the Cathedral, I wandered down some of the cobblestone winding streets into the more touristy area of Montmartre. Here there are shops with all sorts of funky Parisian art, costumes, and souvenirs. Many artists line the streets asking passerby if they want their portrait drawn. I was flattered at first that they´d even ask me, since I was jaunting around in sweats, which earned me all sorts of looks during the day, let me tell you! but then realized that it´s merely a tourist ploy. Nevertheless it was fun watching others get their portraits done, and checking out the various funky shops. Afterwards I wandered back down to the train station, had dinner at a cute restaurant nearby of vegetable soup, chocolatte mousse, and Bordeaux wine :), switched train stations via metro (where a man sat down next to me on a stool he´d brought on the train then proceeded to play the hand organ! Only in Paris right!) then caught the night train to a town in Southern France called Port Bou de Espagne. After another almost sleepless night I arrived in Port Bou, then caught another train (only a few hours) to Barcelona, Spain. Where I am now! Tonight I have another over night train to Sevilla! But now I have most of the day to explore Barcelona, and so I´m off to wander bleary-eyed once more and see what I see. So that´s it for now. Not bad for my first day and a half in Europe! huh!? But now I know why the man who booked my first reservation at the airport in Germany gave me such an incredulous look when I told him my final destination of Sevilla! When I arrive there tomorrow, I will have spent over 30 hours on trains! It´s been a little crazy, even now, not on the train, writing this, I actually feel like I´m still in motion. But that´s alright, I´ll survive, there´s more adventures to come! Hasta luego!

Boulder Colorado, USA

  I am so excited, I can hardly wait! But before it starts, I feel a little background information is in order as to how I can be so lucky as to head off for a month randomly in October to Europe! Well, there is a certain recipe that equals Whirlwind Adventure Extraordinaire, which I'll share with you here... First of all, it takes the flexibility of basically being unemployed (working an extremely PT job) and the frustration that goes with it. Next, comes finally finding a job, yay!!! but that job not starting until the beginning of Dec. (I will be a ski instructor at Beaver Creek for the winter!) Gratefulness to my family for not wanting me bumming around  home for the month of November, as well as for having had the foresight and kindness to put together a college fund account for me years ago. I still have money in this account for gradschool and will be borrowing from it in order to check out the graduate program I'm interested in, which just happens to be in Switzerland! How did I find a potential MA program all the way over in Switzerland!? you may ask. Well, a random conversation with a man from Germany led to my search of programs in Europe, and when I typed in "Expressive Art Therapy Europe" this program popped up! Soon after I found out there is an introductory course for this program in Saas, Fe Switzerland at the end of October. So, as one of my dear friends put it, when fate starts banging you on the head with a capital F, only an idiot doesn't listen! The course only lasts 4 days,  so before and after that time I am free to wander to my hearts content. And my heart loves wandering!!! And so I will set off with the final ingredients... a sense of adventure!  A genius, or stupidity, depending on how you look at it,  of in only two weeks time, throwing together a completely last minute trip, moving out of my apartment here in Boulder, dropping myself off in Europe without much of a plan, and hopping on a train to somewhere! Oila! There you have it, my recipe for a fantastic European adventure! It may even be better than chocolate mousse!!! I hope you enjoy my upcoming tales, but even if  not, I'm sure I'll amuse myself enough in writing them! Until we meet again my friends, take care!