Champagne Tales

My life has drastically changed since I last wrote on this site. I originally dedicated this blog for all of my traveling escapades in life. Usually those pertained to solely international ones which are usually a tad bit more exciting. But since I am skating less, writing more, making more long distance phone calls, and studying more, this one is dedicated to my domestic travels to see someone that's pretty darn cool. Life has so many possibilities for me in the future, I sometimes get giddy and at times scared with the exciting possibilities. Something I will be doing for the first time is flying down to the fabulous southern state of Texas. From the more than twenty countries I have visited in the world, I have yet to venture to this state. Ironic, I know. I will let you know if I see tumble weed and eat lots of barbecue. Adios sleeting/raining Chicago and hello sweet Texas.

Normally this blog is devoted to my travels. I don't think me traveling to Oxford, Ohio has quite the same affect and excitement as traveling to Europe. So instead of this being "From My Travel Eyes to Your Soul," I will call this post simply, "From My Heart to your Soul..." A snippet of what my crazy head is thinking. Enjoy. I know in my heart that I will never regret this decision. I know that after of hours of thought, prayer, and conversation, that this is the right decision. I am forever changed from my summer abroad in Spain. I forever hold in my heart the new things that I learned about myself. I learned who Kelly Dawes Smith was as the non-ice skater. I loved discovering who that girl is. I loved figuring out what my dreams and goals are in life. Many days I sat on the beach, usually with an awesome boy named Brandon by my side, who just listened to me talk and asked me questions about almost everything in life. I have so much more I want to offer the w...

I sit here in quiet Barrington after being home for just over a week. Reverse culture shock is just the beginning of my emotions. It's crazy how quickly you can adapt to a new part of the world, a new culture, lifestyle, friends, food, language. So I sit here in my quiet house trying to make sense of the biggest question people keep asking me, "What next?" "What is life's next adventure?" For once in my life I am not sure. I know I will take the knowledge and beauty I learned this summer and see that forever change my life. But what is next for Kelly? Who knows. It doesn't mean I'm not planning or dreaming because let's face it, when do I ever stop dreaming of adventure? But more than anything now, I feel extremely blessed for this summer I had to travel and see the world. To have my eyes fully opened for the first time. This is a chapter of my life that I am sad to leave behind but I know that Spain will always be a part of my heart. So it is wi...

I can't believe that in less than 12 hours I will be leaving Barcelona to travel home to Chicago. I simply can not believe that somehow 70 days have passed since I have last stepped foot U.S. soil. I can not believe how much I have learned this summer. I can not believe how much I have grown as a person. I can not believe this part of my journey in life is coming to an end. I can't believe it and I don't want to believe it. I do believe that I will never be the same person after this summer. I will forever have a different output on life with how I see the world and how I interact with people. I do believe that this was the most incredible summer and trip of my life. I embraced every moment and opportunity and opened up my heart for it to change: and it did change. I don't cry very much in life but know that when my taxi picks me up at 6:45 AM from my apartment that tears will be pouring down my face. Even as I travel on my 3 planes to head home, or sit in the Frankfurt...

I did my body a huge favor today: I went for a run. Well, a run with occasional walking. I ran along the boardwalk of the beach before dinnertime and absolutely loved it. I found out that I sweat just as much here in Barcelona as I do at home. And what else would my day be without a little bit of exploring? I found the neatest park with a river, metal sculptures, awesome real estate surrounding the park, and the most unusual benches. Best part of my day: sitting on a swing meant for children about 100 pounds less than me and swinging next to my friend Brandon. The coolest thing I saw were these metal boxes that you could step on and hit different music notes with. It basically would have been my childhood dream playground =) After that we found a fantastic mall with restaurants that I know I am going to hit up soon and then proceeded to hop on the tram to get home. I had no idea the tram even existed until today. Funny how life just continues to surprise me.

A piece of my heart will always be in this place, Barcelona. A piece of how I think for the rest of my life, how I view the world, how I talk with foreigners, how I talk in Spanish; it will all be impacted by this country. I go to class at 9:30 and done at 1pm everyday. I absolutely love it. My English is starting to get pretty bad with how I speak. I keep laughing at the odd phrases I say or the interchanging Spanish I use. Afterward class, the day is mine. I'm free to explore, hit the beach, check out the huge sales that Barcelona is currently having in this extreme heat, and make it home in time for a cold shower before my cena (dinner) at 10pm. I'm laughing a lot with the people I'm with, I'm smiling just looking around me at all the ironic or beautiful places; I'm loving it. I wish I could take all the people I love so much from home, my friends and family, and ship them over here for one night. I would take them up to a beautiful view of Mount Juic , dri...

I saw my first bull fight today. Actually, to rephrase that, for the first time I saw five bulls get killed over a span of two hours. After a weekend in the beautiful Costa Brava where I went boating, hit the beach, and explored the coast line cliffs, I finally stopped running around. I am the energizer bunny cracked up on café con leche every day. It’s absolutely fabulous. I am in awe of the beautiful world that God has created. So many times I look around me with the people I am with and I just can’t stop smiling at the backdrop I am sitting at. The most amazing moment I had this weekend was walking in my just my bathing suit along the coastline cliffs Cadaques, a small quaint town in Costa Brava where Salvador Dali lived. Exploring is my favorite thing and I loved walking along the coast, staring out into the turquoise clear Mediterranean water, watching sail boats and windsurfs pass by, listening to the waves crashing below, and seeing the sun glisten off of the water. My feet hat...

I was asked to write about my stay here for our synchronized skating athletic web-site which will be posted sometime soon. Keep your eyes peeled at this address http://www.muredhawks.com/sports/w-syncssk/mioh-w-syncssk-body-main.html This is what I sent in... Enjoy Buenos Dias from Barcelona, Spain, Eventually, I will have to stop moving at 1,000 kilometers per hour while I am living here in Barcelona; eventually. Until then, I am seeing beautiful places, meeting the most genuine people, learning a beautiful language and eating the most unusual food. The perfect word to describe my entire time so far in Spain is random. When my alarm goes off at 8:00AM, I leave my 8th floor apartment with the host family I am living with, head to class, and after that, I never know how my day or weekends are going to end. The best purchase I have made in this country is the 47.00 Euro unlimited monthly metro pass. I literally am living on the metro getting around from one end of the city to the other, ...

Woke up at noon after being at the Sitges beach and Cava (champagne) tasting all day yesterday… Went to the famous Sagrada Familia Cathedral by Gaudi… Ate a Spanish buffet with the best food…. Brandon, Rachel and I go to the Picasso Museum for free…. Stumble into a group of old people doing a native dance to music in the Gothic part of the city in a square… Find an antique market and don’t say a word to each other while browsing because we realize nostalgia is bliss ….Bought an antique coin from Espana that is currently hanging around my neck with my silver cross…. Pass by a market where the front was designed by Gaudi... Stumble into the Opera house here and decide next week we are going to see the Flamenco Opera…. Finish the day by eating an apple and a Milka bar at the Arc D’Triumph…… By far the coolest Sunday of my life. Life continues to keep suprising me. If you just go with the flow and have no worries where the next part of your journey is or who it is with, life is a blast. Lo...

It’s amazing how much I have learned already. I have only been gone for 9 days and yet I am seeing, learning, touching, growing, and doing more incredible things living here than I have ever done in Chicago. That’s not something I am bragging about by any means. The fact that someone like me, had to travel 3,500 miles away from home to realize that when I could have realized that at home says a lot about who I am. I love exploring more than anything. I love the unknown. I absolutely love not knowing what comes next and what is ahead; it’s my natural high. I don’t know exactly what each day will look like here. I have some faint idea, but each day pleasantly surprises me. The best word to describe each day is random. Random people. Random places. Random conversations. Random interactions. Random stories. Random. Hearing the waves crashing at the beach, eating my two bocadillas that my house mother made me for lunch one on the Metro the other at the beach, looking for a thrift store with...

It's too difficult to fathom what living in a foreign city will feel like until you get here. One thing I have already mastered is walking and taking the metro. I think I walk at least 15 miles a day here, I'll get back to you on how many kilometers that is. I walk... I walk some more.. I walk a little longer, take a small detour, ask for directions, hop on the metro and then I walk some more. Yes, I have realized the beauty of owning a good pair of sandals. The most incredible thing I did today was go to the beach; the typical European beach after I went exploring the city by myself for a bit. I went for a swim for about 15 minutes and realized how beautiful a few moments can be. I was all alone, taking each stroke, tasting the strongest salt water and felt God pushing me along. Years ago I was fearful to even put my toe in the ocean and here I was swimming out into the Mediterranean Sea in Barcelona, Spain. I absolutely love it. I love the new experiences, the new faces I mee...

27 hours of being in 3 cars, 3 planes, 2 layovers, 1 customs check (no, not in Madrid, Frankfurt), having to reorganize my bags twice in the middle of the airport, buying a $59 Euro bag after a woman told me I was going to have to pay $250 for overweight baggage on Lufthansa, returning the bag after I go to a friendly looking man who tells me “No worries, you came from the USA;” I finally made it to this beautiful country and am currently sitting in this wonderful hotel, Hotel Museo del Arte, in Madrid. An immediate reason why I love this country; the wine is cheaper than the water. I’m sold. I realize that I am a feather floating in this world. I was destined to meet wonderful people immediately upon getting here, I was destined to love this city and immediately start thinking in Spanish and pick up simple phrases such as, “Cuenta por favor y Me gustaria numero cuatro con un copa de blanco vino.” I kept pinching myself as I walked around this city seeing museums, Cathedrals, Pablo Pi...

The words aren’t flowing from my tongue because there are more than a million words to be found. Scattered thoughts that are drifting all around me. The biggest word to describe exactly what I feel is free. Free from everything. Free from the confines of people’s expectations, free from men, free from myself; free. Free to run and see the world. Free to discover, free to learn, to dream, to dance, to laugh, to yearn. Free. It is with great excitement that I take a new step into a new chapter of my life. A new page is being written and I am the first to read it. It is with great love and joy that I say good-bye to the people I love around me as I go off to a distant place and meet new people going through all walks of life. It is with great anticipation that I go and step onto that 767 plane with just my books and journal on my lap. It is with great excitement that I walk those sunny streets winding my way around a whole new land. It is with great bravery that I completely step out of m...

There is a moment when you finally realize that where you call home does not matter; It's what you call home. It's the people around me. It's my family. It's my friends. It's my friends that one day turned into family. It's my sweet memories. It's my struggles. It's my wisdom. It's my faith. It's my growth. All of it. I hold a photo album in my hand and look through all the faces of recent people who have floated into my life and touched my life in either a significant or some tiny way. I look at these faces and know that that is my home here on this earth. Not my street address on a letter. Not a physical house. Not an actual bed that is mine. It's the people that are my home.  I sit here late at night and wonder about the future. Who will be a part of it? What part of the world will I be in? Who will be by my side? What kind of challenges will the world be wanting me to untangle? Who's lives will I touch? I sit here, in quiet little Ba...

Cheers to this blog I have somehow been inspired to write. I promised myself years ago I never would write one; how cliched it seemed to me. Yet here I am, about to leave on an incredible 9 week journey abroad to Spain, and I was inspired to create this blog about my travel journeys. I don't know if anyone will venture to read this, and frankly I don't care. I'll be honest, my writing is odd, my brain is scattered, my spelling is horrendous, and my thoughts are crazy. As a warning, I won't apoogize for any of that because this is exactly who I am. So here it is. Kelly Dawes Smith's thoughts on the world; From My Travel Eyes to Your Soul... Enjoy.