En mi casa

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...

Well, they say there is no place like home.

Over the past few months in Spain, and these couple weeks back here in Maryland I'm just beginning to learn and understand what home is. For some it is where you make your family or where you grew up. For others it is where you are happy.

For me, right now home is where I can always find my dad stretched out on the lazyboy with a laptop in his lap, my mom would be nearby working on a puzzle with a big cup of Diet Coke sitting next to her. Maggie, my dog, will be snoozing under the coffee table with her feet sticking out at funny angles. Jenny would be in her room blasting her music while Kelly's relaxing watching something on MTV. We're far from the perfect family, but I'm lucky to have one that is so wonderful.

And with less than a year before I leave the nest for good, I'm wondering how I will make my future 'home,' wherever it may be.

So anywho, I'm now plotting my next travel adventure. Hopefully a little trip to Japan is in my immediate future. A little farther down the line I'd like to return to Europe and live in Budapest, Hungary as a teacher. I want be in that constant state of learning that I felt in Valencia and Paris. It was so completely inspiring, energizing and challenging to observe and then try to become a part of these places. To be frank, I'm hungry and I crave more of that feeling, that state and I refuse to let anything stop me from reaching it.

Look out World, cause I'm makin' my way!

Love, Katie

Week 15: Werk, werk, werk!

So this has been a fun filled week of double-checking that I understand exactly what the heck is going on with my finals and such. Otherwise doing my best to balance play with schoolwork with packing with eating all my food with finding more gifts. So far, good progress is being made as all my projects enter the polishing stages and the studying is going fairly decent.

I have one week left here in Valencia. All the fantastic people I've met are slowly leaving, hopping on those RyanAir planes and getting ready for their own twists on Christmas. We had a dinner and a movie this week at Tal's (pictures soon once I snag them from people!). Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers was absolutely brilliant, the food was delish (Dutch zucchini cookies anyone?), the Sangria was sweet and the conversation was, "international," I suppose you could say. It's incredibly intriguing, the little traditions and quirks that survive the ages and help to define a culture in another's eyes.

Even if I've been moaning and groaning with homesickness for the past few weeks, it's really hitting me now how much I'll miss this place. Even more so the chances I'll be able to return here at all as it's time to head back to my Not-So-Real-World of UMBC before really stepping out into the Real World.

Well, my next Sunday post will probably be from the USA. Until then, thanks for reading everyone :)

Love, Katie

Week 13 & 14: Gay Paris!

Well well well, what can I say? Paris, Paris, Paris!

An incredible trip and just the break I needed before I begin working on my finals for Politecnica. 5 projects, 3 exams and one portfolio to do. Weeee...

Some of my stops included The Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, Notre Dame, the American Cathedral of Paris, the Pantheon, Luxembourg Gardens, Montparnasse Cemetary, the Louvre, Musee d'Orsee, Musee d'Branly, the Centre Pompidou and I probably passed a bunch of amazing things as I wandered my way through this fantastic city.

I'm going to be updating this post more but as you can probably guess, catching up with work is going to be a pain. Over 600 photos were taken on this trip, so be patient while i find the best ones! More words and picture captions soon!

Taken from near the Musee d'Branly...

Lookin' up the Tower's skirt! Woo woo!

From across the river, I think.

I think this was near the Princess Diana memorial. Either way super neat clouds!

At nighttime when it was all sparkle-sparkle-sparkle! Very pretty!

Main hallway of the Musee d'Orsee, absolutely littered with delicious sculpture.

Posing with my hero, Paul Gauguin! This painting was my computer's wallpaper for over a year too.

Manet, I love you! If the bartender painting had been here too I would have flipped.

Fun story with this. I can now say I've visited two of the few copies of Honore Daumier's Ratapoil sculpture! Absolutely fantastic!

As well as another collection of clay reference sculptures he used for his caricatures!

Rodin's Gates of Hell. Quite terrifying up close, the detail was something one cannot fully understand just by looking at slides or pictures.

Mayan motifs on the glass of the Musee d'Branly.

Now I didn't fully understand what was going on here, but by the time I came out of the museum the previously clear plastic rod-lookin' things sticking out of the ground exploded into color as night fell.

Pastry! Omnomnom!

Mugs, ?, Judy and myself at the American Military Cemetary. This is the one Mugs used to work at.
The graves here are from both WWI and WWII.

There are also a few nurses buried here as well.

Me and the Arc du Triomph! Aren't we cute?

Door knocker. If I remember correctly, the lion represents good or the French people and the snake represents evil or something. Need to brush up on that, but anyway, this motif was in all nooks and crannies around the city. Also on the doors of the American Military Cemetery.

The Princess Diana Memorial.

Senate building, I think? Gold dome!
A street! Busy busy!
Kind of amusing how the first church I enter in France is the American Cathedral of Paris.

At this point I was feeling incredibly homesick. As soon as I caught sight of the Maryland flag I broke down in tears. I didn't see it as something weak for once.

Craaaaazy building!

Luxemborg Gardens.

Giant raven on the statue's head. Ho ho!

Flowers!

Fountain at Luxembourg Gardens. Was totally diggin' the reflections.

Montparnasse Cemetary.

The angel in the middle of the grounds. There were also gigantic ravens that were stalking me as I browsed the tombstones.

The Louvre and it's pyramids. Check out the videos at the bottom of the page to get an idea of how incredibly huge this courtyard was.
Say "Queso!" Er..."Fromage!"

Inside the glass pyramid.

A tiny glimpse at maybe what the old salons really looked like?

Waah waaaah. I love Easter Island Heads.

Ooo a peek into their statue stash!

Welcome to the Louvre


Delacroix Gallery


Mona Lisa


No Better Feeling

Week 12: Mi viaje a el museo!

Yum yum!

Oranges are in season here in Valencia's parks! I'm glad to know the homeless can get their vitamin C here.

Hey Mom!

Entrance garden was littered with old stone sculptures and broken pillars. Probably my favorite thing ever!

Entrance to the Museo de Belles Artes.

Steph really liked that sculpture...

The dome of the museum from the little garden.

Plaza for the older sculpture art. I was really impressed with all the old, old Valencian artwork. They put that bat crest everywhere.

This coffin was special since it looked like the guy had melted into it.

Oooh I really want to make a copy of this... Wish I knew what the Arabic says.

Hall of Baby Jesus being breastfed and people being eaten by demons. Christian art rocks.

This was gigantic.

Dome ceiling with stars.

How could I not take a picture of these ladies. Too bad the glare from the window forced me to have to take it from a weird angle.

Classy Spanish gentleman.

Om nom nom.

The guards were like hawks in this room, but I snagged a picture of a matador outfit that wasn't horrible without a flash. Crazy to think these intricate costumes are probably always ruined during the bullfights...Poor toros :(

We decided to explore centro historico some more and found some pretty buildings while searching for foodums.

Pretty pink buildings are always good in my book.

Stay out you heretics!

Column detail on church's back door.

Pretty window on church near Plaza de La Reina and the Plaza de La Virgen.

Carrer del Miracle.

I thought his nose was the knocker, but turns out you can look inside his mouth to see to the other side, hehe.

School
Museo de Belles Artes
Foodums