Gallivanting in Geneva: Swiss Adventures – Deambulando en Ginebra: Aventuras de Suiza

“Boarding starts in less than an hour! We can’t mess up again!” said one of my friends as we scrambled on board the train to the airport.

So began a chaotic weekend full of mini disasters, lessons, and most of all – incredibly delightful adventures.

Before we left Málaga, Jordan and I planned to meet with Marissa and Daniel at the Plaza de la Marina at 10:30. This way, we would arrive at the airport about 3 hours before our plane left Málaga, leaving plenty of time for us to take our time to reach our 1:50 PM flight. Therefore, Jordan and I decided to have one last quick lunch by the beach after class… which was fine, until the bus arrived about 10 minutes late, making us late to meet Marissa and Daniel by about 15 minutes. As soon as we arrived, we rushed over down the street to find the train station that would take us to the airport… only to find after about 10 minutes of walking that we were going down the wrong street. It took us an extra 10-15 minutes to get back on track and find the station, but we still agreed there was plenty of time to get to the airport since the train only took 11 minutes to get to the airport.

After waiting about 15 minutes for the next train (and almost accidentally boarding the wrong train), we hopped on board and seized a grouping of four seats, nervously eyeing the stops and watching for the ´El Aeropuerto´ stop sign. Suddenly, one of us exclaimed that the stop we had just arrived at said ´El Aeropuerto,´ and we simultaneously jumped up and raced off the train. Finally, we were here! As we lugged our carry-ons up the escalator and into the sunlight, we didn´t immediately see the airport and wondered how to get there.

“Well, those people have luggage… why don’t we follow them?” Jordan asked, and we agreed it was a good idea.

Yet, after a few steps down the street, it was clear there was no airport nearby. I looked behind us at the train station and gasped – “This isn’t the airport stop! This is Guadalhorce!” Immediately, we scuttled back into the train station and had to redetermine which train went which way, and which to take. It would be another 15-20 minutes before the next train going towards the airport would arrive, and while we waited, we anxiously watched as the time went past the hour and a half rule of thumb for airport arrival.

Finally, with less than 40 minutes until boarding time, we arrived at the airport and raced inside, checking in and going through security in record time. I’d like to add that security in Spain is considerably less stressful than security in the US because the rules aren’t as strict. As we scrambled to our gate, we breathed a sigh of relief. We had made it!

Yes, a selfie was completely necessary. Making it to the airport was an achievement!

We made it to Switzerland in one piece!

Normally, I don’t do the whole plane picture thing because they all look the same and everyone’s seen pictures of the world being small from a plane. But this was like nothing I’d ever seen before! There’s nothing like flying through Alps and over the hills of Switzerland.

Check out that mansion in the bottom right of this photo! It seems like only the rich live in Geneva, haha.

We were super excited about getting free chocolates the minute we got off the plane, okay?! Don’t judge us.

After the short flight over, we were already convinced Switzerland was going to be great. With just a 2 hour flight, Swiss Airlines had given us not only the typical free drink… but it included free wine, a free sandwich, and they gave us some free chocolates as we left the plane with a smile! Not only that, but as soon as we were walking out of the airport and on to the train station, there were people handing out free chocolates to people and they gave away free all-around transportation tickets that would last about 3 hours. On top of all that, we had to ask several people for directions and even though we could only say ‘Bonjour’ in French before switching to English, they were incredibly helpful and friendly. The Swiss people are the best!

On the train to downtown Geneva!

Once we reached downtown Geneva, we found the bus stop with the help of some welcoming information people and took a short bus ride to the apartment where we’d be staying. We used airbnb.com to find it, and at first, I was a little uncomfortable at the thought of renting someone’s apartment instead of going to a hotel or hostal – although in the end, it was so much nicer and better than a hotel or hostal! It was a bit far from downtown Geneva and it was actually in France, but it was pretty cheap to split between the four of us and it was nice having a kitchen and apartment to ourselves.

A little house across the street from where we stayed. Every building was adorable here, it seemed!

The view down our street.

After the long day of traveling (we realized we had been in 3 countries in one day!) and classes,  we were quite exhausted. Therefore, we decided that for tonight we would just find a restaurant and eat dinner, visit the local grocery store for breakfast items, and come back to play some games on the Nintendo 64 and plan out our day for tomorrow. We ended up going to bed super early so that we could get up early for a morning full of mountain hiking in a nearby French city, then return to Geneva for an afternoon of sight-seeing, chocolate, and cheese.

The next day, we woke up around 7:00 AM and got ready in record time to go to the nearby bus stop. The bus for the city we would visit only came 4 times per day, so we had to take the one that arrived at 7:45 AM. We managed to get there about 10 minutes before it arrived… but we could not find the spot where line 102 ran. We went up to many people, inquiring “Parles ingles? Parles ingles?” We quickly learned that the French were not as friendly nor as helpful as the Swiss. Finally, we found a bus driver that spoke very broken English, but enough to be helpful. He told us to take the bus to the next stop – Annemasse – where there was a big train station and a bus to the city over there. Hopping on board the next bus over, we travelled over to Annemasse and went inside the train station. Surely someone there in the information section could speak English, right? Or even Spanish? Wrong. Instead, the lady at the desk gave us a filthy look and pointed at the building across the street, only saying “Office of Tourism.”

Well, it was probably a good idea to at least check the place out, right? We ventured across the street only to find it closed, and it would not open again until 9:30 AM. It was about 8:30AM at the time, so we decided to visit a nearby coffee shop and have an espresso while we waited. I looked again at the bus schedule for line 102, and it said there was a bus in Annemasse that would go there at 9:00AM. Therefore, we went back outside to the bus stop after coffee and decided we could just wait and see if it came… which, this bus stop also said it didn’t include line 102, but we didn’t understand where else it would go. 9:00 AM came and went, with no sign of the bus. We decided to wander from the bus stop to the courtyard/parking lot behind the office of touris while we waited for 9:30 to come… and discovered the bus stop for line 102 less than 20 feet away from the other bus stop.

At first, we were really angry. How could we have messed it up this bad and missed this bus twice when it was so close?! Then, we just started to laugh and laugh. Here we were, the typical dumb Americans travelling to a place where they don’t know the language and didn’t make any structured plans at all, relying on the helpfulness of locals. Maybe we could just make up things we did and take pictures next to random buildings and claim they were important? No one would ever know, right?

Jordan and I decided this was where Napoleon kept his favorite horse. And we’re holding a Sycamore leaf because we’re Sycamores.

Finally, 9:30 AM came and we were saved by some brilliant people in the office of tourism! One of them spoke English and the other spoke Spanish, and they were probably the only French people that existed (or at least that we met…) that were openly friendly to Americans. They got us quickly back on track and basically told us the mountain we were going to was way too far away and boring, and gave us instructions on how to get a closer, much more fun mountain, how to get back, and ordered us a taxi to take us there and to take us to the airport for our 7:00AM flight the next day. At last, at 9:30AM, we started our day in Switzerland!

The taxi took us to a tram that would take us up the enormous mountain, where we could hike as we pleased for free. As quickly as we could, we bought our tickets and hopped on board the tram.

View from the tram up Mont-Saléve

We had finally reached the top of the mountain, and our day began!

I thought it was really cool that there was a bocce ball court on the side of the mountain! It’s a sport my family frequently plays but not many other people have even heard of it.

A huge bug flew between us at the exact moment this picture was taken! I just thought it was a funny picture.

This was how we were ACTUALLY posing!

And so, we began our hiking journey!

I was SUPER DUPER excited at the beginning. Don’t worry, that didn’t last long when I was panting for breath as I walked along the path.

It was a super steep climb! These pictures don’t do it justice.

Dream house, right?!

Marissa photo-bombed us hardcore here!

We could see the taller, snow-capped mountains in the distance!

This little village where we ate our sandiwches was so neat! I can’t imagine living that high up, though.

Candid shot of Jordan and I 😉

Getting ready to head back down the tram was suddenly a lot more frightening when we looked down…

This was just another house that I thought was adorable

After our morning hiking, we made our own personal tour of Geneva and set off on foot. We did a LOT – and by a lot, I mean we walked a total of 32,000 steps that day and 14.3 miles. I can’t even begin to tell you how much our legs and feet hurt by the end of the day. Instead of going into detail with every single thing, I’ll just show some pictures with a caption of what they are underneath. I don’t want to be too rambly, but it’s hard when talking about one of the best countries in the world. 😉

The Jet D’eau, one of Geneva’s most famous landmarks

We treated ourselves to some ice cream along the way!

All of the other tourists were doing this pose, so naturally I had to, too!

Switzerland is famous for its clocks, and Geneva has a giant clock made out of flowers! It actually really works, it was so neat.

St. Peter’s Cathedral

In front of the other side of St. Peter’s Cathedral

Did I mention how pretty everything was in Switzerland?

Ile Tower and Bridge

Batiment des Forces Motrices

We stopped here for a little rest. All the locals were hanging out here, so we put our feet in the beautiful, clear blue water.

All of their water fountains in Geneva looked like little fountains, and the water tasted fantastic! Why can’t we try something more like this in America?!

The Brunswick Monument

Our Swiss cheese fondue was AMAZING!

In front of the United Nations’ Palace of Nations! This was probaly one of my favorite places we saw – Emma Watson gave her now-famous speech on feminism for the He for She Movement here!

You can see the Palace of Nations a little in the top left corner here!

And that was our day in Switzerland! We left early the next day (7:00AM was when our flight took off!) without many more problems, and I’m now back in Malaga safe and sound! I commend you if you got through this whole post, especially with the million and two pictures and my rambliness. I’ll post tomorrow about how we hiked up the considerably smaller mountain in Malaga on Sunday to see the Castillo de Gibralforo – yes, even with my aching body from hiking in the Alps the day before!

Nos vemos,

Kenna

Leyendas de la Playa – Stories of the Beach

16 miles. 34,000 steps. That’s how much I’ve walked in the past couple of days, but I can’t even tell that it’s been so much walking because there’s so much to see and do.

16 millas. 34,000 pasos. He ido a pie que mucho en los pasados días, pero no es posible sé este porque hay mucho ver y hacer.

Yesterday wasn’t as busy as it has been, but 8 hours of class is pretty exhausting. We have to get up around 6:30AM for class at 8:00AM, then we didn’t get out of class until 6:30PM. Sure, we had a couple breaks here and there, but never long enough to get home and relax. Since we’re taking summer courses, the past 2 days we’ve been having makeup hours so that we get enough class time in. Today is our first day where we finally get out of class early – 2:00PM.

Ayer no estaba como lleno tan ha estado, pero ocho horas de clase es muy agotadoramente. Tenemos que despertarse a 6:30AM para clase en 8:00AM, y no hemos terminado la clase haste 6:30PM. Sí, tenemos descansos aquí y ahí, pero nunca dura. Es que tenemos clases de verano, los pasados dos días hemos tenido horas extras así que tenemos bastante tiempo de clase. Hoy es el primero día que habremos terminado la clase temprano – 2:00PM.

At least the beach is a 5 minute walk away from our school! Jordan and I have been taking our lunch breaks by the beach, and yesterday we decided to try something different and popular in Malaga. The grilled sardines on a stick are famous in Malaga, so she decided to spend the 2 euro to try a plateful. I, being slightly less adventurous, decided I’d just try a bite of hers. Therefore, I’ve completed another bucket list item! These things were so intimidating to eat. The scales were still on and the eyeballs were bulging out, some of them were turned as if they were getting ready to flop around and still be alive. The little bite that I had was good, but the appearance of the fish was just too much for me to be able to enjoy it without freaking out. If you want to laugh at me and my squeamishness, Jordan took a video of me trying my bite of sardine, and I’ve placed it below the pictures I took of them.

A menos que la playa es más o menos cinco minutos desde la escuela. Jordan y yo hemos almorzado a cerca de la playa, y ayer decidimos a probar alguno diferente y popular en Málaga. Las sardinas rejas en un palo están famosas en Málaga, así ella decidió a comprarlas. Estoy mucho menos aventurera, así decidí probar un bocadito de sus sardinas. Entonces, ¡hubiera completado otra cosa de mi listado de cubo! Las sardinas están muy intimidado comer. Las escamas y los ojos están en el pescado, y algunos de las visto como están viviendo. Me gusta el bocadito, pero el aparición era demasiado para mí. Sí quieres reírte a yo, Jordan tomaba un video de yo tratando la sardina.

Just look at their bulging eyes! It was awful!

In the restaurant where we ate, they grilled the sardines in a little boat!

Here´s the link to me eating sardines- http://youtu.be/CB4jWfJCBvo

After she finished her sardines, we walked on out to the beach – thank goodness my Senora packed me a picnic lunch, there was no way I could’ve finished those sardines off as well as Jordan could! We only got to spend about 40 minutes there because our lunch break was relatively short.

Después de las sardinas, fuimos a pie a la playa – gracias a mi Señora para la picnic, porque no hay una manera que comía las sardinas.

When school was over, we went straight home and stowed all of our stuff safely at the house so that we could go swimming at the beach without having to worry about our stuff getting stolen. Then, we ran right out to the beach!

Cuando la escuela terminó, fuimos a mi casa and ponemos todos de nuestras cosas en la casa así que serían seguras. Siguiente, ¡corrimos a la playa!

I haven’t been swimming in the ocean since I visited Cancun, Mexico with my family when I was in middle school, and I can barely remember that experience. It was like a whole new experience when we rushed into the crashing waves at the beach and started to swim out a little further. We’ve not been as relaxed and freely having fun, laughing, and shouting since we got here, so it was the best stress reliever we’ve had yet. There’s nothing like swimming on top of a big wave in the Mediterranean during summer time, let me tell you – even if our Senora says these waves are nothing compared to the Atlantic, they’re still so much fun to swim through! I haven’t had such a good workout in a long time, especially when we had to rush and swim away from the big fish that started to jump up in the air nearby.

No he nadado en la mar desde he visto Cancun, Mexico con mi familia en colegio, y no recuerdo mucho. Estaba como una nueva oportunidad cuando corríamos en el agua y nadamos. No he estado como relajamente ni he divirtido, reindo y gritando desde llegamos, así era el mejor aliviado de estreso. No hay ninguno como nadando encima de un grande ola en el Mediterránea durante del verano. No he tenido un sesión de ejercicios tan buen en un grande tiempo, especialmente cuando los pescados saltaron del agua.

At the same time, there’s nothing as disgusting or awful as getting sucked underneath a wave. On my way back to the beach for a little rest, I hadn’t been paying attention and a large wave came by and pushed me under – I was right next to the shoreline, so my face got pushed into the sand and seashells by the powerful rushing water. It wasn’t painful, just really scary. I was relieved that when the wave rushed back into the ocean I could stand up and fall onto the sand, laughing at my own lack of attention but rubbing my eyes, nose, ears, hair, and mouth, which were all filled with salt water and sand. I blowed my nose for hours afterwards and it seemed like the sand and little rocks would never come out, and I still today find pieces of sand falling out of my hair when I swing my hair around. Lesson learned: when there’s big waves out, wait until they’re gone to go back, and make sure to watch behind me so I won’t get pushed under again.

En el mismo tiempo, no hay ninguno tan repugnante tan subía a bajo una ola. En mi camino a la playa por un descansito, no estaba alerta y una grande ola me empujó a bajo del agua – estaba a cerca de la playa, así mi caro empujó en la arena y las conchas por el agua fuerte. No dolé, pero tenía miedo. Me sentí aliviado cuando podé levantarse en la arena, riendo a mi falta de atención pero frotando mis ojos, orejas, nariz, pelo, y boca, lo cual estaban lleno con agua del sal y arena. Me he sonado mi nariz por horas después de que, y más y más arena salió. Una lección aprendido- cuando hay grandes olas, esperar hasta las olas no están ir a la playa, y estar seguro ver sí las olas están a cerca de yo.

Sorry for not having very many interesting stories or pictures today, but I won’t post again until Sunday most likely. Then, I’ll have many things to tell you all about Switzerland!

Nos vemos,

Kenna

*On a side note, I’ve never seen streets as clean as they are here. The streets and sidewalk in the main part of the city gleam in the sunlight and are so clean that your shoes squeak on them as you walk. Every night, the city’s facilities take hoses to the street and sweep up any trash. It’s so nice to see a place so well taken care of.

Los Primeros Días en Málaga – The First Days in Málaga

A primeras horas de la madrugada, nos despertamos y salimos desde Toledo para nuestra destinación último – nuestro nuevo hogar, Málaga. Por la mayoría parte del viajo (era más o menos 6 horas), muchos de nosotros dormían. Pero, en el final parte del viajo, había numerosos giganticos montañas, así hemos mirado y tomamos fotos.

In the early hours of the morning, we woke up and left from Toledo for our last destination – our new home, Málaga. For most of the journey (it was more or less 6 hours), many of us slept. However, in the last part of the trip, there were many gigantic mountains, so we had watched them and took pictures.

Finalmente llegamos a Málaga – ¡Estábamos muy emocionado! Nuestras Señoras (es que llamamos nuestras madres anfitriones) esperaban para nosotros, así queríamos conocerlas. Ariana y yo fuimos los penúltimos conocerlas, pero todos estaban buen porque estamos seguro que nuestra Señora es el mejor de todos. Nuestra familia no es más viejo que mi familia real, así nuestra Señora y Señor es más o menos el mismo edad tan mi madre y padre real. De repente, mientras íbamos a nuestra casa nueva, ella nos preguntó muchas preguntas y nos dijo todos sobre Málaga. Era difícil responder con nuestras maletas pesadas, pero le nos gustan inmediatamente. Ella es muy buen con hablando lento así que comprendemos, y ella repite cosas que no comprendemos y es muy simpático sobre lo.

Finally we had arrived in Malaga – we were so excited! Our Senoras (that’s what we call our host mothers) waited for us, and so we wanted to meet them. Ariana and I were the second to last to meet ours, but all was well because we are sure that our Senora is the best of all. Our family is about the same age as my family in real life, so my Senora y Senor aren’t much older than my real parents. Suddenly, while we walked to our new home, she started asking us many questions and told us all about Malaga. It was difficult to respond at the time because our suitcases were heavy, but we liked her immediately. She is very good at talking slow so that we understand, and she will repeat things in different ways when we don’t understand and is very nice about it.

Llegamos a la casa rápidamente, e inmediatamente la casa nos encantaba. En el balcón y nuestra cuarta, miramos la playa y la puerta, y en la noche, oímos las olas – es muy relajamente. Nuestra cuarta es la cuarta de la hija, así es muy mona, y las paredes son rosadas. Pero, la ducha en la baño no está en la pared – así tenemos que usar nuestros manos duchar, cuál no he hecho antes y parece como difícil – ¡especialmente cuando nuestras duchas están sólo 5 minutos!

We arrived to the house quickly, and immediately were fell in love with the house. On the balcony and in our room, we can see the beach and port, and at night we can hear the waves – it’s very relaxing. Our room is the room of her daughter, so it’s very cute, and the walls are pink. But, the shower in the bathroom isn’t on the wall like in America – so we have to hold the shower head in our hands to shower, which I’ve never done before and find quite difficult… especially when showers are only supposed to be 5 minutes! But I’ve gotten the hang of it now and it’s just another thing in the new culture here.

Inmediatamente, cuando llegamos a la casa, conocemos nuestra Señor y el hijo de la familia. Les nos gustan también porque son muy habladores y tenemos interesante conversaciones con les. Nuestra Señor nos enseña muchas cosas de la cultura en el TV y explicarnos la importancia de las – ¡también él nos enseña los hombres famosos y guapos, jaja! El hijo está estudiando en Estados Unidos en Kentucky, así él puede hablar inglés muy bien, pero no está permitido hablar en inglés porque estamos estudiando español. Así, me encanta mi familia mucho – todos de los están muy simpáticos, agradables, enérgicos, y comprensivos.

Immediately when we arrived to the house, we met our Senor and their son. We like them too because they are very talkative and we have some interesting conversations. Our Senor shows us a lot of cool cultural things on the TV and will explain to us their importance … along with all the cute famous Spanish men, haha! Their son is studying in the United States in Kentucky, so he can speak English very well. However, we aren’t allowed to speak English with him since we are studying Spanish. Regardless, I enjoy my family a lot – they’re all so kind, friendly, energetic, and understanding.

En el primero noche, nuestra Señora y Señor tomamos en un paseo en el camino a la casa de Jordan. Nos enseñaban muchas cosas y el más corte camino a muchos lugares. También los nos enseñaban el Plaza del Torros, lo cual muy chevre también. Después de este, fuimos con Jordan y Daniel a una taparía Italia por dulces después de cena. Era muy buen, diferente, y económico, lo cual me gusta.

In the first night, our Senora and Senor took us on a walk along the path to Jordan’s house. They showed us a lot of things in the city and showed us the shortest path to some of the important spots. They also showed us the Plaza del Torros, which is very cool. After this, we went with Jordan and Daniel to an Italian tapa store for dessert after dinner. It was very different, good, and cheap, which we all like!

La Plaza del Torros

Ariana and I

En lunes, tuvimos nuestro primero día de clase – y los exámenes de niveles en español. Estaba muy nervioso sobre este – si no estuviera en la adivinanza clase, no tomaría créditos en ISU para la clase y el entero viajo está básicamente un vacación muy caro. El examen tomó más o menos una hora, y tuvimos una entrevista de cinco minutos… Cinco minutos convencer el profesor que estaba lista para la adivinanza clase de español. El examen fue muy difícil, y preocupaba con lo todo del día y el día siguiente porque no hablaron nuestras notas.

Ariana and I

On Monday, we had our first day of class – and the placement exam. I was very nervous about it – if I didn’t place in the advanced classes, I wouldn’t have credits for it at ISU and this entire trip would’ve basically been a very expensive vacation. The exam took about an hour, and we had an interview after for about five minutes… Five minutes to convince the professor that I was ready for the advanced Spanish class. The exam was quite difficult, and I was worried about it for the rest of the day and the next day because they didn’t tell us the grades. However, we learned that no news is good news, so I tested in to the correct class!

Después del examen, fuimos a la primera clase de Marketing. Tomamos este clase en inglés, así no estábamos preocupado sobre lo. La clase es sólo estudiantes que conocen de ISA, así me gusta. La profesora está muy simpático, así le me gusta también. En esta clase, ella piensa que iría a la hacienda de San Miguel ver como la cerveza está hecho y comercializado. ¡Qué chevre!

After the exam, we went to the first marketing class. We took this class in English, so we weren’t stressed about this class. The class only included students we know in ISA, which I liked. The professor is so nice and understanding, so I like her as well… Especially since she will be taking us to the San Miguel factory to see how the beer is made and marketed. How cool is that?!

Después de clase, fuimos a nuestra casa por un ratito, y entonces fuimos a la oficina de ISA para un viaje de la ciudad. El viaje era muy útil, y veíamos muchas cosas hacer en la ciudad. Primero, veíamos el Centro – el centro de la ciudad con muchas tiendas caras. Segundo, fuimos a la catedral que está llamado ´The One-Armed Lady.´ Está llamado este porque hizo en más o menos 1700´s, pero uno de las dos torres no está completado. No está completado porque en este tiempo, España di dinero a una país en necesitado… ¡Estados Unidos! España no le gusta England, así cuando la Revolución ocurrió, España di dinero a los Estados Unidos. Porque de este, España no tiene el dinero para completar la catedral. No está completado para así mucho tiempo que decidieron nunca completar.

After class, we went to our house for a little while, and then we went to the ISA office for a tour of the city. The tour was incredibly useful, and we saw many things to do in the city. First, we saw el Centro – the center of the city with many expensive shops. Second, we went to the cathedral that is called ‘The One-Armed Lady.’ It’s called this because it was made in the 1700’s, but one of the tours was not completed. It wasn’t completed because at this time, Spain gave money to a county in need… the United States! Spain and England don’t get along, so when the Revolution happened, Spain gladly gave the money to the United States. Because of this, Spain didn’t have the money to the finish the cathedral. It’s been decided that they will never finish the cathedral for many reasons, so there will always be one unfinished tower.

El Centro

The One-Armed Lady

Después de la catedral, veíamos una teatro romano y dos grandes cosas que personas religiosos en un fraternidad llevaron uno tiempo por años para sus pecados. Las cosas toman más que 200 personas llevar porque están muy pesados.

After the catedral, we saw a Roman theater and two big things (I’m not sure what to call them?) that religious people in a religious fraternity carry once per year to make up for their sins. The things they carry require more than 200 persons each to carry because they’re so heavy. One is the casket of Jesus, while other is the Virgin Mary.

En martes, tuvimos nuestros primeros días de clases. Después de un día muy cansado, fui a la playa por el primero tiempo con Ariana y Jordan. No nadamos, pero tomamos el sol y fuimos a pie por la playa.

On Tuesday, we had our first day of class. After a very exhausting day, I went to the beach for the first time with Jordan and Ariana. We didn’t swim, but we sun bathed and walked along the beach.

Me, Ariana, and Jordan

One of these buildings has my family´s flat in it!

¡Estoy emocionado para Switzerland! Esta noche, estoy buscando para cosas hacer… e iré a mi cama antes de 1 AM, jajaja.

I’m so excited for Switzerland! Tonight I’m looking at more things to do… and I plan on going to bed before 1 AM tonight, I swear. Haha!

Nos Vemos,

Kenna

Toledo: La Más Bella Ciudad del Mundo – The Most Beautiful City in the World

Nunca he visto una ciudad como Toledo. He visto London, Nueva York, Los Angéles, Paris, y Barcelona – pero no hay nada tan hermosa como Toledo en el mundo. O, a menos que he visto.

I have never seen a city like Toledo. I´ve seen London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Barcelona – but there is nothing as beautiful as Toledo in the world. Or, at least what I have seen.

A panoramic view of the city that I took on a hill

Primero, fuimos en una guagua al mejor lugar ver la ciudad y nuestra guía explicarnos porque la ciudad hizo en este lugar. Dijo que estaba hecho en una grande colina con un río porque es más fácil defender. Cuando salimos la guagua ver la ciudad, entendimos. La ciudad fuera muy difícil atacar, pero a la gente es muy bella.

First, we went on a bus to the best place to see the city and our guide explained to us why the city was made in this location. He said that it was made on a big hill with a surrounding river because it was easier to defend. When we left the bus, we understood. The city would be very difficult to attack, but to the people it was quite beautiful.

Shameless tourist

Jordan, me, Cassie, and Nikol

Después, fuimos ver el más antiguo parte de la ciudad: bridge. Como todo de Toledo, es muy bonita.

After, we went to see the oldest part of the city: the bridge. Like all of Toledo, it was breathtaking.

Siguiente, vimos una catedral. Este catedral tuve cadenas en los paredes, y nuestra guía dijo que las cadenas están de los cristianos de los Edades Medios que liberaron con la Reconquista. Nos movimos a otra catedral llama ´San Juan de los Reyes´ y fuimos a dentro, donde descubrimos una bella mezcla de arquitectura de los moros y gótico.  Hubo grandes techos, un jardinito, muchas tallas con diseños geométricos. Hubo así muchas detallas que no es posible para mí pensar sobre como mucho tiempo los trabajadores trabajaban en el edificio.

Next, we saw a cathedral. This cathedral had chains on the walls, and our guide told us that the chains are of the Christians of the Middle Ages that were liberated with la Reconquista. We moved on to another nearby cathedral called San Juan de los Reyes and ventured inside, where we found a beautiful combination of moor and gothic architecture. There were high ceilings, a little garden in the courtyard, all kinds of ornate carvings on the wall, and geometric carvings on the ceilings. There was so much detail that I cannot imagine how long it took to construct.

The cathedral with the chains of freed Christians after la Reconquista of Spain

San Juan de los Reyes

The geometric style of the Moors

The little garden courtyard

Después de este, fuimos a una sinagoga se llama ´Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca.´ Este sinagoga está una mezcla de la arquitectura de los moros y de los judíos. Hubo los arcos de los moros, pero la religión de los judíos.

After this, we went to a synagogue that was called ´Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca.´ This synagogue is a mix of the architecture of the moors and Jews. There are the arcs of the moors, but the religious symbols of the Jews.

Entonces, fuimos a pie a una catedral sobre la misma tamaño tan Notre Dame, y tan bella también. Hubiera hecho cientos y cientos de años después. ¡No sé cómo los trabajadores fueron a lo más alto parte del edifico sin tecnología! Fuimos a dentro de la catedral, y estaban extrañado porque de la hermosa y detallas de la catedral. Hubo más que 750 ventanas de colores en la catedral, tres organes que tienen muchos cientos de años, y 21 grandes columnas. El diseño del catedral fue mucho como Notre Dame en Paris, Francia. En este catedral, vimos una cuadra de mi favorito artista de España – ¡El Greco! En actualidad, he estudiado la cuadro en mis clases en ISU, así para mí fue muy chevre.

Then, we walked to a cathedral about the same size as Notre Dame, and just as gorgeous. It had been made hundreds of years ago – I can’t imagine how the workers got up so high without technology! We went inside the cathedral, and we were astonished by the details and beauty within the cathedral. There were more than 750 stained glass windows, three organs that were hundreds of years old as well, and 21 enormous columns. The design of the cathedral was very similar to Notre Dame in Paris, France. In the cathedral, we saw a painting made by my favorite Spanish artist – El Greco! I had actually studied the painting in my classes at ISU, so this was incredibly cool for me to see in person.

One of the old organs

The altar

Trying to capture all the details in these statues is impossible!

In this picture, baby Jesus is pointing to a gold globe that has Adam and Eve on it. This represents that he came because of them, because of the original sin.

The painting by El Greco!! I was so excited to see this!

Estábamos muy agotadoras después de todos de las aventuras, especialmente con las colinas grandes de Toledo. Entonces, nuestra tour ha terminado y fuimos a una plaza para almuerza. Fui a una restaurante se llama ´El Zoco´ con Jordan, Nikol, Cassie, Ariana, y Marissa, donde probé conejo para el primero tiempo. Como todas de las comidas en España, el conejo era fantástico.

We were quite exhausted after all of this adventuring around, especially when even a short distance walked in Toledo can be exhausting with the gigantic hills and winding paths. Therefore, our tour ended here and we visited a plaza for our lunch. I went to a restaurant called ‘El Zoco’ with Jordan, Nikol, Cassie, Ariana, and Marissa, where I tried rabbit for the first time. Like all food in Spain, it seems, the rabbit was fantastic.

El autobús nos tomó a nuestra hotel después de almuerzo, y después de un ratito de tiempo para relajarse en la piscina, fuimos a la ciudad en diferente grupos con taxis. Mi grupo – Daniel, Cassie, Ariana, Jordan, and I – tomó el consejo de nuestro director y no estaban decepcionado. La vista de la ciudad en el noche  fue linda. Necesitamos a correr a dentro cuando lluvia fue, ¡pero todos eran buen!

The bus took us to our hotel after our lunch break, and after a little relaxing time at the pool, we ventured back to the city in our different groups via taxis. My group – Daniel, Cassie, Ariana, Jordan, and I – took our director’s advice on where to eat dinner, and needless to say, we were not disappointed. The view from the gigantic restaurant overlook of the city at night was gorgeous. We only needed to run inside when a brief rain shower came along, but all was well!

Finalmente, estaban listos ir al hotel para la noche y dormir. Pero, he realizado que no recordé buscar una geocache en esta ciudad, y es una parte de mi listado. Después de algo persuasión, (aka, muchos ´POR FAVOR POR FAVOR POR FAVOR CHICOS´), nuestro grupo decide ayudarme buscar para una geocache. Buscamos y buscamos y buscamos, pero no descubrimos y los españoles piensen que estaban locos. ¡Es imposible evadir los muggles en que calle! Entonces, algunas personas fueron a la calle y vieron a nuestra en un mal cara. Que es cuando Jordan leyó el edificio y descubrió que el edifico fue un banco! En el noche, buscamos por una cache a cerca de un banco! Entonces, fuimos a nuestra hotel.

Finally, we were ready to go back for the night and go to sleep. However, I’d realized that I had forgotten to find a geocache in this city, and it was on my bucket list to find one in every city I visited! After some ingenious convincing, (aka, a lot of “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GUYS”) our group decided to help me find the only nearby cache, which appeared pretty easy. However, when we found the little street, we searched and searched and searched for about 15 minutes- we literally checked every nook and cranny on the street, and needless to say, I do think we may have reaffirmed some Spaniards’ beliefs that Americans are crazy people. There’s no avoiding muggles in areas like that, though! However, some people came out of the building we were searching and were eyeing us warily, giving us some pretty dirty looks. That’s when Jordan actually decided to translate/look at the building name that we were scouring for the cache… it was a SPANISH BANK! Here we were in the dead of the night around 11PM, scouring the outside of the bank for a cache! Needless to say, we scurried on out of there after that. I’ll just count it for my bucket list that I looked, because getting arrested in Spain sure isn’t on that list!

I know that it’s been a few days since I’ve posted, but I will post again tomorrow explaining my arrival to Malaga, my host family, and how my first two days of classes have gone. The days have been excruciatingly busy, so I haven’t had much time to myself to sit and think. Just as a heads up, though – the flights are booked and we are looking for hotels, JORDAN, DANIEL, MARISSA, AND I ARE GOING TO SWITZERLAND THIS WEEKEND!! I probably will not bring my laptop, but I will post on Sunday about that adventure. 😀

Nos vemos,

Kenna

PS- here´s a few extra pictures for your enjoyment! I can´t get over how gorgeous everything was!

La Corazón y El Alma de Madrid — The Heart and Soul of Madrid

Convents, gardens, museums, and more; our list of sights to see today was quite impressive. Even so, it left us quite exhauted by siesta time with a grand total of about 18,000 steps – or almost 8 miles.

Conventos, jardínes, museos, y más; los lugares que vimos hoy fueron muy impresionante. Aun así, estábamos agotado por el tiempo de siesta con un total de más o menos 18,000 pasos – o como 8 millas.

To start off our packed day, a bus dropped us off at La Plaza Mayor, where we met our tour guide for the day. Firstly, she showed us the old Madrid prison, which was astonishingly pretty for a prison. Next, we were off to la Plaza Mayor. La Plaza Mayor is a plaza in Madrid where many people go to socialize, eat lunch, or even enjoy concerts. It’s incredibly huge, with four gigantic archways where you can enter.

Empezar nuestra día lleno, tomamos una camioneta a la Plaza Mayor, donde conocimos nuestra guía. Primero, nos vio la cárcel de Madrid a la antigua, lo que era bonita por una cárcel. Depués de la cárcel, fuimos a la Plaza Mayor. La Plaza Mayor es una plaza en Madrid la que la gente va socializar, almorzar, o ver conciertos. Es increíble grande, con cuatro arcadas gigantescas donde la gente entrar.

The Madrid prison, or ¨cárcel¨

La Plaza Mayor panorama – forgive Cassie´s chopped off head in the middle!

One of the huge archways leading into La Plaza Mayor

The archway from the inside

The oldest restaurant in the world! If only we´d had the time, I´d love to eat there. It was right outside the Plaza Mayor.

After that, we walked over to a nearby convent. Our guide explained to us that it was one of the oldest in the city that was built not long after Madrid was named the capitol of Spain. The nuns within are not allowed to be seen or leave the convent, and the only part available to the public was the cathedral. There was also a bakery inside where the nuns earned money to keep it open – however, since they could not be seen, they had a special door made for the bakery. A person would go up to the door and ring a bell, shout their order, and a turntable within would be used by a nun to give whoever was ordering their baked goods… all without being seen or heard!

Después de eso, fuimos a un convento a centro de la Plaza Mayor. Nuestra guía nos explicó que lo era un de los más antiguo de la Ciudad, hizo a centro del tiempo que Madrid llamó el capitol de España. Las monjas no están permitido estar visto o salir el convento, y el solo parte para la publica ver es la catedral. Hay una panería en el convento donde las monjas ganar dinero para el convento. Aunque, porque no es posible por las monjas, hicieron una puerta especial para la panería. Una persona iría a la puerta y tocaría un botón, deciría su orden, y una mesa daría la persona su orden… ¡todos sin la monja estaría visto o oido!

One of the thin alleys along the streets of Spain – the convent is on the left

The cathedral in the convent

The cathedral´s altar up close

The garden in the courtyard of the convent

Our next stop was at one of the oldest houses left in Madrid. Our guide explained that the house was built at different step levels (You´ll better understand in the picture) because of a law created by the king at the time. He mandated extra taxes for every home with extra floors, because he presumed those with extra floors had extra money. Therefore, to evade the taxes, the rich build up streets and sidewalks to different levels on their home so that they could claim that it was only one floor.

Nuestra parada siguiente era una de las casas más antiguas en Madrid. Nuestra guía nos explicó que la casa hizo en diferente niveles porque de un mandato hizo por el rey en este tiempo. Hizo un mandato que dijo más impuestos por cada casa con pisos extras, porque pensó que personas con casas con pisos extras tuvieron más dinero. Así, huír los impuestos, los ricos hicieron los calles a niveles diferentes en sus casas así que dijeran sus casas solo tienen uno piso.

The house is on the left – the alley I was standing in is closest, but you can see in the distance the building is also on a much lower street.

After that, we ventured over to the old Madrid city hall. This was another cool old building, but we didn´t spend much time speaking about it other than to explain how important the coat of arms is to families in Spain.

Después, fuimos a la ayuntamiento antiguo de Madrid. Este edificio era un otro edificio guay, pero no hablamos mucho sobre este excepto explicar sobre como importante el escudo de armas es para las familias en España.

The old city hall of Madrid.

Our second to last stop was to the oldest cathedral in Madrid. Although it wasn´t an especially beautiful building, it was still interesting to see. It had a combined style of Christian and Moor, so it is theorized that it was originally a mosque before the Christians reconquered Spain.

Nuestra penúltimo lugar era el más antiguo catedral en Madrid. Aunque el edificio era solo más o menos bonita, todavía lo era interesante. El edificio mezcla el estilo de cristiano y moro, así la gente piensen que era una mesquita antes de los cristianos reconquistaron España.

The oldest cathedral in Madrid.

The tower of the cathedral is evidentally the oldest part.

Our last stop from our tour was at the Spanish Royal Palace. This building was absolutely tremendous, and had over 2,000 rooms! Our guide explained that it was like a small town in there because in the past, not only did it house the royal family, but also the entire royal court. It was so gorgeous – it´s also the largest royal palace in Europe. Looks like the British are going to have to work on Buckingham Palace!

Nuestra lugar final era en El Palacio Royal. Este edificio era muy grande, y contiene más que 2.000 cuartos. Nuestra guía nos explicó que lo era como un cuidad pequeña porque en el pasado, hay no sólo la familia royal, pero el corte royal entero. Era muy hermosa – y tambien, es el más grande palacio royal en Europa.

The royal palace – and this wasn´t even the whole front! It extends to the left for a whole block.

Another picture.

When the city tour was finished, we were given a tour of el Museo de Prada. It was exciting because after all my years studying Spanish, I was finally getting to see all of the paintings we had discussed in class! There were paintings by Velasquez, Goya, Rubines, and my personal favorite – El Greco! Unfortunately, I have no pictures from there as they were not allowed.

Cuando terminamos, tomamos un tour de el Museo de Prada. Estaba emocionado porque después de mis muchos años estudiando español, ¡finalmente iría ver todos de los cuadros que hablamos sobre en clase! ¡Hay cuadros de Velasquez, Goya, Rubines, y mi favorite – El Greco! Disfortunado, no tengo fotos del museo porque fotos no están permitido.

We were now free to explore the city as we pleased! At first, we remained together in a large group – but we ended up separating depending on whether we wanted to nap, eat lunch, and which we wanted to do first. In the end, I stuck with Jordan and Adam because we had the goal of trying a squid sandwich – our tour guide had recommended it because it was said to be the best in the world here. After a long time walking around to find the ideal restaurant, we decided on Cafetería Simplaría.

Ahora, ¡estábamos libre explorar la ciudad como queremos! Primero, estábamos junto en un grande grupo – pero, en en final, dividimos en grupos si queremos tomar una siesta, almorzar, y cuál queremos hacer primero. En el final, fui con Jordan y Adam porque quisimos tratar un bocadillo calamar – nuestra guía ha dicho que estaba el mejor en el mundo. Decidimos en la Cafetería Simplaría.

My squid sandwich. It was so good!

After, we took a little walk in el Parque de Retiro and stopped by el Puerto de Alcala.

Antes, tomamos un breve camino en el Parque de Retiro y el Puerto de Alcala.

At night, I went with my friends Jordan, Cassie, and Nikol for tapa time. It was much later than dinner time in the US – we went around 11 PM. But, on the way, we looked for my first Europpean geocache – a great adventure! We discovered it on an old moor ruin in the Parque de Retiro.

En el noche, fui con mis amigas Jordan, Cassie, y Nikol para la tiempa de tapas. Estaba mucho más tarde que la cena en Estados Unidos – fuimos a centro de 11 PM. Pero, en el camino, buscaban para mi primero geocache de Europa – ¡un gran aventura! Lo descubrimos en un ruino de los moros en el Parque de Retiro.

After we saw it, we went and found a restaurant for tapas – El Mercado de Velasquez. It was the best restaurant we had gone to, and the waitress was very nice. We ordered three things – croquetas, huevos con fritos y chorizos, y una plata de mariscos. They were all quite delicious. However, the most interesting thing I saw was, as an appetizer, they had roasted pieces of corn. I´m not entirely sure how they are made, but it was pieces of corn as if taken from the cob and roasted. But it wasn´t like a typical corn kernel like we eat – it was hard and crunchy, almost like a little chip or peanut. It was surprisingly delicious, and I´d like to see if it´s something we can make with our corn at home.

Antes de lo hemos visto, fuimos y buscamos una restaurante para las tapas – El Mercado de Velasquez. Fue el mejor restaurante a lo que hemos ido, y la camarera fue muy simpático. Ordenimos tres cosas – croquetas, huevos con fritos y chorizos, y una plata de mariscos. Todos fueron muy delicioso. Pero, la más interesante cosa es que sirvieron maíz como una apéritivo. Pero no es como el maíz que comemos – fue duro y crujiente. Fue muy delicioso, y quiero conocer si es una cosa que es posible hacer en mi casa.

The corn I mentioned. It was served with peanuts and raisins.

The croquetas. They were a lot like mozzarella sticks, except with three times the ingredients.

Nikol, me, Jordan, and Cassie

La Puerta Alcála at night

That´s all for tonight! Tomorrow … Toledo!

¡Todos por este noche! Mañana… ¡Toledo!

Nos vemos,

Kenna

Madrid Day 1 & First Bucket List Item: Complete!

“Is that an eyeball?!” a friend of mine exclaimed between giggles as we eyed our first lunch in Spain.

But I guess that I should rewind a bit to further explain this quirky part of our brief, yet enjoyable, first day.

Here we are in the Atlanta Airport about to board our flight to Spain!

We had made it across the ocean in one piece – some sort of an accomplishment considering how exhausted we were after spending well over 12 hours travelling total. There had been a few struggles along the way – including almost knocking out a few innocent fellow flyers with our over-stuffed carry-ons (They were fine, we missed! We knew to ask for help after that one though, haha). Regardless, a journey that had started in Indianapolis and had a long stop in Atlanta was finally at end in Madrid at 11:00 AM local time.

Of course, it was several long, dull hours before we were checked in safe and sound into our hotel. They were quite useful for getting to know everyone, however – with over a dozen people in our program, it’s challenging to remember everyone’s names. So far, the group seems to be a lively, adventurous set of people and I’m excited to be spending 5 weeks with them in Malaga!

After getting organized and settled into our rooms, we went out to get some lunch around 4:00PM – which, even for Spaniards, is quite a bit late. After a few strolls up the street… and back down the street… and up the same street again, we decided on the restaurant we had originally stopped at because it fulfilled our two main criteria for the moment: it had outdoor seating, and it was cheap. (Not dirty cheap, though – I know what your thoughts will be reading this, Mom/Grandma! :P)

The restaurant we chose – Domingo Dos! It’s apparently an older restaurant.

We settled in and started looking at the menu, confident in our Spanish-speaking abilities and ready to show off all that we’d learned over the years. That is, until we really started to read the menu. “Juevos… this dish has eggs in it, I get that much!” I laughed while we debated whether it was ‘cuerdo’ or ‘cerdo’ that meant ham.

The real challenge came when the waitress came around. I had been told that Spaniards speak much more quickly than what we’re used to – but I was blown away by how quickly this woman could fire off questions! The menu itself was a little confusing to we Americans – thinking that it was a meal with 3 small parts, we decided to just pick 2 from each section and the 3rd would be our drinks. Our waitress gave up on us for a little bit because we were still trying to figure things out, and we ended up going through yet another waitress until a much more patient, slow-speaking waiter came by to help. We decided we’d try a traditional paella, along with something that involved the word “Dorada” that sounded interesting.

Our first lunch!

As we placed our orders, our waiter gave us a very strange look and asked us not once, but twice if we were sure that this was what we wanted. Determined that we had finally figured out how this worked, we assured him this was correct.

Halfway through my first paella dish! It was amazing – made mostly from rice and a wide variety of meats, it appeared like.

Within fifteen minutes, our smiling waiter returned with three heaping plates full of paella and one bowl of the Spanish tomato soup. As we looked with wide-eyes at our massive dishes, we decided that maybe this “Dorada” item would be a side dish coming soon.

False yet again. Not long after we struggled through about half of our plates of paella, (which was amazing, by the way! Definitely something I’ll have again) out comes out waiter and original waitress with four large, steaming plates half full of fish, and half full of salad. Evidentally, we had mistakenly ordered two large dinner entrees… for lunch. Having been informed that taking home food is quite rude in Spain, we decided to trudge through this plate as best as we could to get our money’s worth. This was when one of my friends found an eye ball in her fish.

My “Dorada” dish. It was actually really good once you get over how Spaniards leave the bones and eyes in their fish!

At this point, our kind waiter and waitress could tell from our expressions we’d made a mistake and laughed a bit at us. Thankfully, they informed us that they could get boxes for us to take it home if we needed – which we gratefully accepted. First lesson learned: be sure that you understand what you’re ordering before you order it.

Past lunchtime, our day was relatively uneventful besides a panoramic bus tour of Madrid. It’s such a beautiful city – I loved just looking around at the ornate buildings and cobblestone streets.

I think our director told us this was the Spanish National Bank?

For now, though, I’m heading to bed early to get over this jet lag and to be up early for a day full of walking tours. I´ll consider this day a successful day, not only because of the lesson – but because my first bucket list item is complete! I´ll definitely be eating plenty more of those paellas.

Nos vemos,

Kenna

*PS – Sorry about the no Spanish this time, guys – it’s a bit late for me to translate all this our right now.

The Bucket List

Hola!

I’m sure you’re wondering what exactly does this bucket list I mentioned include. It’s a hefty one, I might warn you – but I’ve managed to cover everything that I could possibly hope to do while in my part of Spain. If anyone else has been to Spain, France, or Switzerland, feel free to give me other suggestions! I may have to work on some smaller versions for the other countries I’ll visit, but for now, here’s my Spanish bucket list. I’ve divided it into different subsections so that I will be able to cross out whole sections eventually:

Hiking

Walk el Camino del Rey

Visit Montes de Malaga

Visit El Torcal Natural Park Hike in the Swiss Alps

Visit the beach

Drink a sangria on the beach (It was a mojito, but close enough! I don’t enjoy sangrias very much)

Sunbathe

Visit the Balcony of Europe

Visit Playas de Las Acacias

Food Adventures!

Find a “favorite” local restaurant

Eat an empanada

Eat a traditional paella

Try some tapas

Try a famous Malagan almond

Try a food that’s a little gross and unusual

Try some tea at a Tetería

Visit the famous Casa Aranda to try the “chocolate con churros”

Visit Taperia de Sybaris and try the chocolate truffles and croquetas

Tour de Picasso!

Visit his birth house

Visit his museum

Pure Adventure

Walk along Puerto de Malaga

Find an unusual, unique shop

Make friends with a local

See the skyline from a distance

Wander and explore Malaga for a whole day

See Malaga from Parador de Malaga Gibralfaro

Volunteer somewhere

Knowledge!

Learn a new skill

Learn 10 neat new historical facts about the city

Have a conversation with a local completely in Spanish

Learn 5 things about art in the area

Successfully bargain with someone

Memorize 1 bus route

Learn how to cook a dish

Learn at least 2 ways America has affected Malaga

Museums 4 Dayz

Visit the museum of glass and crystal

Visit the museum for contemporary art

History & Architecture

Visit Old Town

Visit Basilica of Santa Maria de la Victoria

Visit Roman Theatre

Visit Episcopal Palace

Visit Alcazaba

Visit Castillo de Gibralforo

Visit Malaga’s cathedral

SHOPPING ❤

Shop at Mercadillos BC

Shop at Plaza de la Constitucion

Buy something from Mercado Atarazanas

Shop at La Calle Larios

Misc.

Go to at least 1 discoteca

Find at least 1 geocache around every major location I visit      Find at least 20 geocaches around Malaga

Con Sinceridad,

Kenna

Welcome!

¡Hola, mis amigos y familia!

I´ll be using this blog to show some photos, write about my time in Europe this summer, and show my steps along the way of completing my Spanish bucket list. It´s mostly a journal for me to look back on, but feel free to follow it and see where I go! Just as a heads up, I am trying to avoid using English as much as possible during my trip, therefore I will be writing my posts in Spanish. I´ll Google Translate to English below it, but I won´t spend much time checking over the grammar.

I´ll be leaving in about two weeks, so my next post will likely be then. Otherwise, I’ll likely post my bucket list soon – just so you can see what I’m in for!

Con sinceridad,

Makenna