Alumna combines study and travel
September 28, 2006
Kim Burkdoll, a Kansas State University
student, is adding a global dimension to her college education. The
2002 graduate of Marais des Cygnes Valley High School left from the
Kansas City airport on September 17 to embark on a study that will
take across the Atlantic Ocean to Granada, Spain. There she will
attend classes and tour cultural sites that will allow her to earn
up to 12 or 15 hours of college credit from KSU. She will return
home to Kansas in time for the Christmas holiday.
Two summers ago, Kim studied in Guanajuato, Mexico, where she took
Spanish courses for six weeks during the 2005 summer session. On
August 31, 2006, Kim returned to the halls of her high school alma
mater, to share details of her Mexico experience with the Spanish
III class, consisting of seniors Melissa Visitation, Lindsay
Clower, Kayla Reece, and Josh Starch.
Paging through her scrapbook collection of captioned photos, Kim
told the class about her wide-ranging experiences in and around
Guanajuato – a city located five hours by bus from Mexico City. She
described Guanajuato as “a really safe city, where you could walk
anywhere, any time of day, by yourself. “The city is concentrated,”
she explained, making it really easy to navigate on foot.
She described the houses in the city of Guanajuato as typically
square in shape and painted in bright hues. She stayed in a house
hosted by a señora, and shared a room with a fellow KSU
student, also named Kim.
“The señora provides all the meals, and makes everything
homemade. She goes to the stores (tiendas) on each street,
and buys everything we need for the day, like fresh fruit or
bread,” said Kim.
Almost every night a huge group of strolling musicians in costumes
would come by, play their guitars, sing songs and tell the story of
the legend (leyenda) of the Alley of the Kiss (Callejon
de Beso)– a tale akin to the fateful Romeo and Juliet . “It was
pretty cool. We heard the same song every night,” said Kim.
Streets alive with festivity and gaiety were prevalent throughout
her stay in Guanajuato. Kim recalled seeing a parade of people
dressed up. “One was a horse, and they were all doing a dance. You
just never know when something was going on,” she said. “And there
are always sonatas around, who will take you on walks around
the city and sing songs to you,” she added.
Cultural sites within Guanajuato included the house where Diego
Rivera, a famous muralist and artist, was born. He was also the
husband of Frida Kahlo, a Mexican artist known primarily for her
self-portraits, but also paintings of family and friends as
well.
When not in class, Kim also took some excursions outside the city
of Guanajauto. Most of these were an optional part of the summer
experience, and more than once it rained during these trips, but
she had fun nevertheless.
Her first excursion was Santiago de Queretaro, a city with lots of fountains (fuentes). Subsequent trips included:
§ the city of Delores Hidalgo, where the shout (grito) to begin the independence of Mexico was heard;.
§ the city of San Miguel de
Allende, where Kim visited one of the biggest and most beautiful
churches she had ever seen;
§ the city of
Valenciana, where Kim went down into a real silver mine and
learned about the history of mine workers;
§ a trip to Paricutin, one
of the youngest volcanoes in the world. This experience consisted
of a six-hour horseback ride up and down the volcano.
Kim said, “The pyramids at Teotihacuan were one of my favorite
parts of the entire trip. The views were absolutely gorgeous, and
it was just an amazing experience to climb to the tops of these
ancient pyramids.”
An excursion to Mexico City was quite a contrast to Guanajuato.
“Mexico City was big and dangerous. It was pretty scary,” said Kim.
Here they toured a lot of museums, and saw an amazing amount of
history, culture and beauty. She especially liked the baroque
architecture of many buildings. Yet she also recalls seeing some
uneven structures, lending credence to the belief that Mexico City
is actually sinking.
“The goodbye dinner(despedida) was a sad event,” said Kim.
“It was fun to spend time with our host families, but sad because
we knew we were leaving the next day.”
At first, Kim said she had trouble understanding the native
speakers and guides, “but if you really concentrate, you can
understand what they are saying,” she said.
“If you want to practice or learn Spanish, you kind of have to put
yourself out there. In Guanajuato, we had Mexican friends, and we
went and talked to them,” explained Kim. Of course, la
señora spoke only in Spanish to her house guests as well.
When Kim is home in Melvern for an extended time and is able to
continue her part-time job as a waitress at Beto, she also finds an
opportunity to practice Spanish with some of her customers.
Kim is pursuing a minor in Spanish and possibly changing her major
field of study from accounting to business. She plans to graduate
from KSU in December 2007.
Arrangements and itinerary for Kim’s trips to Mexico and Spain were
made through International Studies Abroad (ISA) on the campus of
Kansas State University.
