What's next?

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Spain has been amazing!  As you can see I haven't updated this blog in a awhile, so here goes another update.

Gary and I have finished the program for the CELTA and are both now Cambridge certified to teach English anywhere in the world (for the most part).  We have been living in Spain for 2 months now, but sadly we are leaving Barcelona in 2 weeks.  The whole purpose of moving to Barcelona was to take the CELTA program (which we did) and to find jobs teaching English.  We were unaware how difficult it is to work in Spain (Europe for that matter) without European passport papers, unless we decided to work illegally which is difficult as well.  We both got job offers in Indonesia, Bekasi to be exact, but quickly realized that it is not the safest country to be in right now according to the U.S. Embassy.

We leave on October 13th, but our adventure does not stop there.  Teaching positions seem a lot easier to attain in South America but their hiring period is in Dec/Jan/Feb for their school year which starts in March.  So Gary and I are going to go back to the states (Arizona to be exact...that is where we will be staying for a couple months until we find a job in South America). 

Before we come home we have a couple of stops on the way.  We fly to Paris on October 13th and will spend 3 days in Paris! Then we take the train to Amsterdam and will spend 2 days in Amsterdam, we then will fly to New York where we will be renting a car and driving down the east coast.  We stop in D.C. for 2 days and then off to Florida for Disney World for 2 days!!  We fly out of Orlando to Arizona on October 25.

Gary and I realize that coming to Barcelona was a huge risk.  We both left everything behind to experience another world and I would not change a minute of our time here and if all goes well we may be in South America in a few months!  I know that plans are made and plans can be broken, but if you can't enjoy the ride and just roll with the punches, what is the point of living?

Until next time.

-Kristyn
Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.” – Robert Frost

The British.

The British.

Hola`

As most of you know Gary and I are currently enrolled in the CELTA program for Cambridge University. The CELTA stands for Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults. This course is a 4 week graduate level course and if you pass you then will receive a certificate to teach English to non native speakers.  The course is made up of about 95% British, 2% Australian and 3% Americans (I don't really know how I came up with this figure, I just know that there are only 3 Americans in the course, 2 Australians and the rest are from England).  Good thing I'm not teaching math. LOL

British English is a lot different compared to American English and it really frustrates me, because I feel like everything I have learned about English is "not the right way," and since the program is taught by the standards of Cambridge University in England you can guess that the entire course is going to teach British English.

I remember my first day teaching in the program (which was last Tuesday by the way) I was asking my students to "check the box" and while the other students in the course with me are observing the lesson, I was asked after my class why I didn't say "tick"?  Now, I am sitting there wondering what the heck this guy is talking about to begin with, so I ask him...."tick?" He replied...."yes, you tick your answers not check".  Right then and there I knew this was British vs. American English was going to bother me.

Every single day there is a discussion about the differences between the British English and the American English in regards to the different way we talk and the different words we use.  For example, eggplant is aubergine (i think this word is used throughout Europe)...has anyone heard of this?  This is new to me. They say "boot of the car" instead of "trunk," "areoplane" instead of "airplane"  The Brits actually do say "toemato and poetatoe"...and according to the teachers in the program it is ok to say "have you got...." They spell "realised, practised, adrenlin (no e), favourite, colour and moustache (among many others).  They also say "whilst" instead of "while and everything is "brilliant"

Oh, and today....(this is good)... We were going over sentences in class and one of the sentences was "My brother lost fifty pounds" and I'm sitting there trying to figure out how to make up a sentence that would be positive but in the opposite context...I didn't want to say that "my brother gained 50 pounds" that would be rude... and about halfway through the session I realized they were talking about the British pound......yea..

I'm looking forward to the course being over. That is all I want to say about that.

On the other hand, Spain is absolutely amazing!  It is a beautiful city and the culture is just fantastic, but Gary and I are getting screwed over by the exchange rate.  Right now I believe it is $1.41 to $1, so that sucks...but other than that we are having a great time.  We are going wine tasting Sunday! I'm excited =)

 

Talk to you soon.

xoxoxo

Love in Italy

Ciao, Ciao from Italy!

I am sitting on the train from Florence to Venice writing this blog, drinking a bottle of wine. The train ride is about 2 hours long; it is giving me time to catch up on my postcards and this blog that I feel like I am neglecting.  So much to talk about!  Rome was amazing; it was exactly how I have always pictured it.  The Coliseum was fantastic and by far my favorite attraction in Rome. We also went to see the Trevi Fountain, which is equally as amazing. The Pantheon and the Sistine Chapel will never be forgotten. I will explain more in detail about each of those later in this blog.

I want to start from the beginning.

The flight from Dublin to Rome was about 3 hours long; I was able to sleep a little which I feel like I haven’t gotten much of during our entire trip thus far, we have always been on the go.  When we landed in Rome there was a car waiting to pick us up to take us to the Hotel, but we weren’t able to get to the car right away because it literally took us 2 HOURS to get our luggage off the plane, it was the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my entire life, I was almost ready to just leave without my luggage.  When we finally got our luggage we were taken to the Hotel and we were able to freshen up and head out to our first Piazza of the trip. Italy is full of Piazza’s. The Piazza’s are full of restaurants, statues and fountains. The Piazza that we went to was called the Piazza de Navona, we had our first official Italian meal and a bottle of wine, and I have to say that it was amazing. The pasta here is so fresh and the Italian wine is to die for.  We have had a bottle of wine every night since our first night in Italy, it’s been great!  I have never had so much pasta and pizza in my entire life.  On our first day in Rome we pretty much crossed a lot of things off our list. The Pantheon was free to get into, which was surprising to us because everywhere else we went required some sort of payment or dress code. The Pantheon was incredible and is said to be one of the most beautiful architectural structures in Rome.  The Pantheon was first built to a temple of all the gods in ancient Rome.

There were so many people in Rome; I am talking millions of people.  This was absolute culture shock for me. When we were in Ireland it was easy because everyone spoke English, It was easy to get around and there weren’t as many people, Rome was entirely different and especially humbling for me (Thank you Tami.) The Trevi Fountain was breathtaking. I could sit there for hours admiring the Fountain. The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762.

Vatican City…was Interesting. Of course there was a line to get into Vatican City as well as a security checkpoint; I guess the Pope is a pretty special person to protect? (This is obviously a joke).   Vatican City is home to the Sistine Chapel as well as St. Peters Cathedral. The Sistine Chapel was amazing and definitely not what I imagined it would be. I was thinking that it would be a round dome; something that you just walk into and BAM it’s right in front of you. No, it was an obstacle course, about an hour into the maze, I was beginning to think that it didn’t even exist and it was just an illusion. The entire Chapel was basically a museum filled with ornate statues that were possessions to some of the most prestigious people in Roman history. The paintings were oil paintings on the walls of the Chapel so beautifully painted it brought a tear to my eye.  There is no possible way that I could fully describe the Sistine Chapel to you in a way that would even bring it justice. There were no pictures allowed inside the actually chapel, but I was allowed to take some pictures beforehand. I will put them up on Facebook as soon as I can.

St. Peter’s Basilica was spectacular, but for those of you who know me, knows that I am not a religious person at all. I will only bring this up once; I believe in God, but the idea of an organized religion is so ridiculous to me, because of all the rules and structures. This is my own opinion. There was a dress code to get into St. Peters Cathedral (which is just a church that holds masses and confessions just like any other Catholic Church in existence). I was appalled by this, obviously mine and Gary’s attire was satisfactory to enter the Cathedral, but there was this girl in front of us that was with a larger group of people and she was denied entrance.  She was wearing a cardigan sweater over a dress that was probably about 2-3 inches above her knees and was told that she could not enter the house of worship which should accept anyone and everyone regardless of what they are wearing, this really upset me as you can see.  Did you know that St Peters Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world? Neither did I.

The Coliseum was one of my favorite things. There is so much history in one architectural building it was spectacular.  There were of course, millions of people waiting in line to see it, but it was well worth it.

OMG there is so much to talk about!  Venice was our favorite city! So gorgeous and so old it’s beautiful, there is really no other way to put it.

Gary and I are now living in Spain, actually living in Barcelona, Spain! It has been really hard for me.  We take the subway to class in the morning.  For those of you who don’t know, Gary and I are doing the CELTA program to get certified to teach English as a second language, basically anywhere in the world.  It is a month long program, and we just finished day two and I am already exhausted.  We are teaching actual students who come to learn English; it is a pretty intense course. 

I will update as soon as I can.

Ciao!

Sine Metu

"Without Fear"

First off, Ireland is amazing! Everyone is so friendly and the Guinness tastes so much better! We are on day two of our Ireland adventure and we are having a great time. We went to the Guinness Brewery and the Jameson Distillery.  We also explored the medieval area and went to the Dublin castle. We are renting a car tomorrow and driving to Galway and off to the Blarney Stone on Monday.

Tips & Tricks of Ireland:

1. Bring an umbrella with you everywhere. You never know when it is going to rain. It may look like it will be nice, but the clouds roll in quick, it's insane!

2. The bathrooms are referred to as "toilets" and they are associated with "ladies" or "gents"

3. Don't be afraid to ask for directions, the Irish are very eager to help and are very proud of their country.

4. There are gypsies in Ireland, so be aware of your belongings and people bumping into you.

Those are a few of things we have learned so far. I will update again as soon as I can!

 

New England & Ireland - "2 halves that formed a whole"

"Not all those who wander are lost."

A friend of mine had sent me a text a couple days ago with those exact words and it really made me think about how really wonderful it is to have this opportunity to travel.   Gary and I are truly blessed and grateful.  That was one of the last texts I will be receiving on my phone for a while, I suspended my contract with Verizon Wireless yesterday.  I am now without a phone and I have to tell you, it feels absolutely amazing.

Moving on.  

We just finished our New England trip and have made it to Europe, but before I divulge to you all about where we are at this very moment (although some of you already know) I would like to take you through our New England adventure, because it was nothing short of one.  Gary and I took off from Phoenix airport, making our way to Boston, but this was going to cost us, $50 each to be exact.  We tried to pack smart, but packing for the next three weeks, and ultimately until whenever our lives bring us back home, is not an easy task.  Both of our bags were over 70 pounds, and instead of being charged the regular $100 per bag, the woman at the counter gave us a break and only charged us $50 each.  We decided right then and there that we either throw things out of our suitcase and worry about buying things when we need it, or buy another suitcase. We did both. LOL.

So we made it to Boston, and I didn't sleep at all on the plane, but I am pumped and ready to go.  We lug our 70 pound suitcases onto the train and the subway and drop our bags off with Gary's friend Louis and we then take off and explore the city. We did a Boston Duck Tour, the Freedom Trail and Harvard.  We saw a lot of old tombstones from the 1600-1700, that was amazing!  Tombstones of Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere were among the many that were buried in Boston. We only spent 1 day in Boston and then it was off to Rhode Island.  I had never really heard much about Rhode Island, except of the Big Blue Bug from Dumb & Dumber, so I was pleasantly surprised that Rhode Island quickly became one of my favorite things about New England.  The beaches, the lobster and the crab are nothing short of AMAZING!  We were in Rhody for 3 days I believe, I sort of lost track of time after Boston, LOL.  On our last day, we took the Amtrak train from Rhody to New York, this train ride was about 3 hours and gave me plenty of time to read and relax before getting into the Big Apple.  This is where things start to get interesting.  Gary and I arrive at Penn Station at about 6pm, right in the middle of rush hour.  I am lugging a 50 pound suitcase, my backpack and camera bag, while Gary is lugging his 50 pound suitcase, another roughly 40 pound suitcase and his backpack around the city until we get to the subway where we are taking the subway to Queens trying not to get trampled on.   We didn't have much planned for our New York City trip, we did all of the touristy things last time we were in New York back in October.  We walked the park, ate great food, relaxed and got ready for our trip to Ireland. We took the red eye from JFK to Dublin at 9:50 last night.

We landed in Ireland at about 9am Ireland time and it is exactly how I pictured it would be and some other things have already taken me by surprise.  I am writing this blog in the pub of the hotel listening to The Eagles play over the radio and I am starting to smile to myself trying to figure out what else I was expecting.  I guess I imagined everyone in Ireland listening to traditional Irish music, I can be so naive sometimes.  By the way, Pink Floyd just came on, in case you were wondering.  I Wish you Were Here.

Gary and I will be celebrating our One Year Anniversary tomorrow!  I can't believe it's been a year already, time really does fly by you!

Until next time,
Cheers!

Leaving everything I know

I quit my job, I sold my car and I sold all of my furniture. It is very liberating to be rid of the most basic materialistic necessities.

I worked for American Honda Finance. I held many positions with Honda and I am happy to say that I am no longer an employee there.  Although, you couldn't technically call me an "employee" because I was actually a temporary associate and I have worked there for four consecutive years. That job was never what I wanted to do, I don't believe it is what anyone really wants to do, but I wasn't going to settle. I am not that type of person.

While working for American Honda Finance a lot has happened. I learned a lot while and I can honestly say that I have grown as a person.   I didn't grow because Honda had given me the ability or the tools to grow as an employee, I grew because I now know what I want and I know what I don't want and I'm not afraid to go after my dreams.

My story starts here.

My boyfriend Gary and I had made the decision to leave everything we know to teach English in Barcelona, Spain. We arrive in Spain on July 30th, but before we start the teaching program on August 1st, we are going to be traveling.  A week in New England, a week in Ireland and a week in Italy and then off to Barcelona where we will be living until, whenever. 

We left California yesterday with a packed U-Haul and a car with no air conditioning. I drove the car in 111 degree weather, through the hot Arizona desert...if you have ever drove a car with no air conditioning through the hot desert, I commend you on your survival. I thought I was going to have a heat stroke or die of heat exhaustion.  Granted, the windows were down in the car but the air was so hot it was stinging my sweat stricken body. Four hours and 6 bottles of water later we arrived in Goodyear, Arizona where Gary's parents live and we started to unpack the U-Haul. Just as we finished unpacking, a dust storm started to roll in and the monsoon came.  I have never been in a dust storm or seen a monsoon, so this was amazing to see.

We will be in Arizona until tomorrow night and then we take a red-eye out of Phoenix to Boston.

Until next time :)