Hasta Luego!

Hi friends!

I'm about to embark on a very exciting journey

I leave today for a week long hiking trip along El Camino de Santiago (or The Way of St. James)

It has existed for thousands of years, and was an extremely important Christian pilgrimage during medieval times

There are numerous routes, but my group won't be doing the entire trip

Instead we will be doing a 100 kilometer journey, ending in Santiago

I am beyond excited! And also quite nervous

I have heard so many good things about this experience, I just can't wait to take it all in

Tonight we take a train to Madrid, and then an overnight train to where we will begin our journey at 5:30 am tomorrow!

It will be our longest day; we'll hike until sunset

Along the way we will be stopping in villages and small towns to eat, and staying in Christian hostiles at night

Here is what I'm bringing for the week long journey

 Overview

 Top row-- Spandex shorts. Sports bras and socks. Under Armour zip up. Light blanket and small towel.

Bottom row-- Two pairs of shorts and running leggings. Longsleeve. 3 t-shirts and a tank. Black PacSun pants.

 Right side: Nike's. Crocs. Diabetes supplies [not shown, but I also have an obscene amount of juice boxes and fruit snacks, I anticipate my blood sugar going low a lot]

 Toothpaste. Motrin. Clinique moisturizer and face wash with wash cloth. Eyelash curler. Maybelline Mega Plush mascara. Baby Lips chapstick. Foot cream [gross, but it's supposed to help with blisters]. Shampoo. Body wash. Sunscreen. [And deodorant, I just forgot to lay it out].

 Fossil watch. Coach sunnies. iPod. Trail mix. Homemade trailmix [pretzels, dried apricots, dried figs, blanched almonds and M&Ms], mini journal

 Do I look like I'm ready to go hiking? Hahaha

Can't wait to be hauling this bad boy around the trails

Wish me luck and I can't wait to share stories with all of you!!

Talk to you in a week :)

XO Kara

Weekend Getaway :: Granada

Hello there!

How have you all been?

I just took my finals yesterday for two of my classes.

I'm not quite sure how well I did, but all I know is I am beyond relieved to be done with these classes.

Yay!

The other weekend, my program took a trip to Granada.

It's about 4 hours away from Alicante.

We packed a lot into our weekend and experienced the beautiful city.

It was refreshing to see a different area of Spain.

It made me realize that the city I live in is very much a "beach town"

Granada has that wonderful historic feel and beautiful traditional style that I was expecting when I thought of Spain.

We did a walking tour of part of the city the first night before attending a flamenco show [the same one Michelle Obama saw a couple years ago, which means I basically met her], we took a tour of La Cartuja de Granada, a monastery built in 1516, we saw where Colombus got the treaty signed by the queen to sail to "India"

We also toured a museum all about Fernando and Isabel, spent a lot of time at the Alhambra, a Muslim palace, and finished out our tour by visiting a small town of homes built in caves.

Here is a peek into what I saw in Granada :)

 View of the city

 Minda, myself, Megan and Jen before the flamenco show

 Where the treaty was signed

 La Cartuja

 All from the Alhambra

Cave homes

I hope you all enjoyed! I took so many photos, it's really ridiculous

Talk to you soon

XO Kara

My New Home

Hello!

How have you all been?

Well, I'm working through my second week of classes.

I'm so happy it's almost the weekend!

Right now I have a Spanish conversation class from 11-12, and an intensive Spanish class from 12-3, Monday-Friday.

It's pretty intense, because it's basically fitting a semester's amount of work into one month.

This evening I find out what the rest of my classes will be for the rest of the semester.

Thanks goodness these two classes are done at the end of September.

I'm really hoping my other ones will be better.

Things are getting more comfortable here, little by little.

I still think about home a lot, but don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying my time.

I haven't been taking too many photos, because I haven't been doing anything too exciting.

Basically going to school, doing homework, going to the beach and eating. A lot.

I don't know if it's rude to take photos of my food, and my host family is almost always around when I eat, but if I can get some photos I'll show you guys!

My program is heading to Granada this weekend, which is supposed to be a beautiful city.

I can't wait to take lots of photos and share them with you guys!

Here are some of my first snapshots from Alicante :)

 The Explanada: an area with a ton of restaurants and ice cream shops right by the beach. Where I spend a good amount of my time.

 The beach & the Mediterranean Sea

 New friends :) [minus Megan]

 Views from the castle

 Mojitos allllll the timeeeee

Working on becoming a bronzed goddess

Hope you guys liked the photos!

Talk to you soon

XO Kara

Paris!

Hello there!

How are you all doing?

Another quick update for you

I'm starting to adjust to Spain and it's becoming more and more comfortable every day, which I am SO relieved about

I can't believe how down I felt on Sunday, but I really did feel the culture shock

Spanish mothers are very proud of their cooking and feed you HUGE portions

They also get offended if you don't eat it all

Therefore, I am eating SOOO much

Their eating schedule is a lot different than in the U.S. as well

They basically have 5 meals a day, but because I'm in school for one and one is kind of optional, I can at least make it 3

I'm afraid we will be able to see the progress of my weight gain as I post photos across these next few months haha UH OH

Anyway! Paris was a totally different vibe from London.

Equally as busy, but it seemed quieter, and not as welcoming

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it

It is so crazy when you realize you're seeing things in real life that you've only seen in photos and movies

Since neither my mom, Margaret or I speak any French, there definitely was a barrier

We didn't venture out on our own nearly as much as we did in London

Instead we tried some restaurants and took a few guided tours, one of them being at night

It really helped us see a lot in a way that was easy for us

Views from the second level of the Eiffel Tower

 The top of the Eiffel Tower

 The Louvre

Notre Dame at night

 Seven floors of heaven

If only I wasn't broke

Inside the Galleries Lafayette

I hope you enjoyed and my first photos from Spain will be coming soon!

XO Kara

Update

Hi loves!

Just have a quick update for you

First of all. I'm a complete idiot.

I have taken so many photos on my trip so far, and I try to keep them all organized and whatnot, but I still manage to be an idiot.

I didn't realize that I had already shared the photos from Westminster Abbey and Big Ben with you guys and I made another post with them. Haha so yes, I'm an idiot.

The past several days have been absolutely crazy.

We flew from Paris to Alicante, Spain on Wednesday.

It was a fiasco going to our "hotel" which was actually some of the dorms that they apparently turn into a hotel during the summer, but we were unaware and therefore very confused.

I explored the city with my mom and Margaret on Thursday and began my orientation Friday.

It was so difficult to say goodbye to my mom and I'm still kind of sad. I'm just a baby.

This weekend was wonderful. I met the other students who used the same program that I did for their study abroad experience, we learned a lot about the university and the city, ate a lot of delicious food and experienced the night life.

Yesterday was one of the most nerve-racking days for me.

I met my host family

They're very nice; it's a husband and a wife and they have an older daughter who doesn't live with them anymore.

It's just a very strange experience.

Living in a strangers home, eating meals with them, showering, working past the language barrier. It's all very uncomfortable.

And I'm just really awkward as it is, so I am making it harder on myself.

I'm sure I'll feel different in a week, but right now I just have this constant nervous feeling.

I start my first day of classes at the university today and I have the nerves of every first day of school built up in me right now.

I'm sure it will be fine and I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Sorry it's taking me so long to get the photos up from Paris, but that post will be coming this week some time.

I'm sure you can understand how crazy the past week has been for me, so I appreciate your understanding!

Talk to you all soon and wish me luck!

XO Kara