Living the European dream...

HELLO FROM BARCELONA!!

I don't even know where to start, except to say that I am having the time of my life.  Since my last post on the 2nd of October, I have been all over the place!  My program took us to a soccer game on Sunday, October 3rd.  It was a lot of fun, the FCBarcelona played Mallorca.  Unfortunately the game itself was fairly boring, and it ended in a 1-1 tie.  We were in the definition of nose bleed seats, I thought I was going to get sick from being so far away looking down... But all in all it was a really cool experience.  The Spanish people love their soccer games, and are obsessed with the team.  They did chants and whatnot throughout the whole game.  I have some videos I thought Jason would appreciate, but they take forever to upload to the blog... So I will just save them for when I see you all at home!

The top picture is me with my roommate Lindsay (Lstrand).  We bought scarfs to rep BARCA! :)

The second picture is a picture of the stadium.  From our seats you could see over the whole city, even out to the water.  The stadium is very close to the mountain/hill in Barcelona, so it was a pretty view, but a little chilly up there!  I wish Jason was able to go to a game, he would love it!

OK.. NOW ONTO PARIS!

This week was a holiday week here in Barcelona.  We don't have school on Fridays, and we got Monday and Tuesday off this week.  I went to Paris with my friend Leonard, and my roommate Lindsay.  Lindsay stayed with one of her friends from high school, and I stayed in a hostel with Leonard. I was very skeptical on staying in a hostel, but it turned out to be pretty cool.  We were in a room of eight people, all from different parts of the world.  We were there a total of 5 nights, and most other people were there 1-3 nights.  The hostel was really nice with a restaurant, coffee shop, bar, and club all in it.  The front desk staff was very helpful and gave us great recommendations on things to do in Paris.

Leonard and I got to Paris on Thursday night (10/7).  We went up to the Sacre Couer church and wandered around that area for a while.  We found a really cool restraunt on a side street.  Neither of us speak any French, and we went to a totally local restauarant.  We started talking to a French couple next to us in a mixture of Spanish, English, and French.  They ended up ordering both of our dinners, and our wine, since we had no idea what anything on the menu said.  They were very sweet.  I got ham with aggrotant (SP) potatoes, and Leonard had deer stew with potatoes.  Both were amazing, and we shared them since we both really like them.  Here is a picture of the church: 

The next day, Leonard and LStrand went to Normady for the day... They went on a tour that was really expensive.  I decided to stay back and roam Paris.  Betsy my other roommate was on a train to Prague, and had a huge delay, so she was in Paris for the day which turned out great.  We took the Metro to the Louve area and walked down the river all the way to the Eiffel tower.  It was a gorgeous day out... we were both in shorts sweating!     Here are some pictures of us at the Eiffel Tower!

After the Eiffel Tower we went to the Sacre Couer area.  There was a huge wine festival at the top.  We spent the rest of the day socializing, trying wines, cheeses, and all sorts of goodies.  It was so much fun, and I felt like I was on top of the world.  The church over looks basically the whole city.  Throughout the festival there were all sorts of little acts, singers, dancers, etc. that were the definition of being "French."  This was truly one of the best days of my life.  It was so surreally perfect...

The top picture is me trying escargot.  It was really good.  I tried it twice, the first time was better then the second time because the snail was smaller.  The second snail was way too big and too chewy!  I loved the sauce that the snail was in though.  The second picture was by far the best treat I have ever had.  It was a chocolate crepe with fresh raspberries, topped with raspberries and sugar.  Me and Betsy shared it, and I honestly do not think either of us said one word it was so good!  The bottom picture is me by the beautiful view of Paris from Sacre Couer.  Here is another view from Sacre Couer:

On Friday night me and Leonard wandered around the Latin Quarter.  We found a cool lounge and just relaxed there for a while.  On Saturday we slept in until 2:00!  We were both so tired.  Then we were on a mission to find a restaurant that he had gone to as child.  We ended up finding it and having a late lunch there.  It was very good, with a fixed menu.  We got a table that was right on the edge of the cafe so the windows were open and were just enjoying the streets of Paris.  On our walk we ran into this... Here is a picture for all the LIPPS out there: Brasserie LIPP

After lunch we were off to site see.  Our first stop was the Luxembourg Gardens.  I totally didn't think I had ever been to the Lexembourg gardens until we got there.  I remember my dad telling me and Jason to stop complaining and to sit down and relax... "take it all in you guys!"  Funny how things like that will come back to memory!  It was really pretty there, we roamed through the whole garden.Here is a picture of me at the gardens, as well as a picture of a pond type thing in the garden.

Next we were off to see the Notre Dame.  We were able to walk through the whole thing which was very cool.  I remember the outside of the church looking a little different, but the inside was exactly as I remembered.  I also remember taking a picture of every stained glass, statue, painting, etc. the last time I was at the church.  My pictures from inside didn't turn out very well, but hey... I had a lot from my last trip to the Notre Dame, and it hasn't changed one bit.

That night we were able to meet up with my roommate LStrand and some of her friends from highschool.  We all went out to dinner at a restraunt on Overkompf.  The food was seriously AMAZING!  It might be one of the best meals I have ever had in my life.  I had lamb with potatoes.  We had a really funny waiter... he was quit sassy!  But he was fun and made the dinning experience that much better.  After dinner some people got crepes, and we walked around that area for a while.  Half of the peopel were leaving early in the morning so they left early, but the rest of us wandered over to see the Moulin Rouge... (the show was sold out, but we wanted to see the outside).  Me and Leonard ended up going out in that area and having quiet the adventure...  It took us over 2 hours to try to get a cab home, so we ended up waiting up for the Metro!  It was a night to remember... haha.    The picture on the left if my amazing dinner, MOM would have LOVED it.  Below is the group plus the waiter (in white) at dinner.

The next day which was Sunday we slept in and went to go see the Catacombs.  It was a really cool place.  It was kind of erie to think about all the dead bodies that had once been in there.  I had some serious claustrophobic issues down there since the hallways were so narrow.  It was a very interesting experience and something I would recommend others to do.  I cannot imagine how they built these underground halls, and the work that must have gone into them.  Here is a picture of me in front of one of the huge stacks of bones:

On Sunday night me and Leonard went to a great dinner together.  We wined and dined for a while, and then we were off to see the Eiffel Tower at night!  (Here is a picture of Leonard with his chocolate mousse dessert that could feed a small army, and a fruit mousse we ordered as well).  I LOVE the Eiffel Tower.  It is just so gorgeous and sparkly.  We walked around there for about an hour and just enjoyed the scenery.  There were some people playing music and whatnot so it was really fun.

 

Our last day Monday was more laid back.  We went to a flea market for a few hours and just kind of wandered around some side streets.  Then we went back to the Sacre Couer area and we watched the cool outdoors concert on the steps of the church.  The singer was amazing and he sang a bunch of American hits.  We had a nice time listening and having a few beers.  After we ran into some other kids in our prgram (KAPPAS!).  We sat with them for a while and talked.  They all ended up coming back to our hostel and we went out to dinner together.  Since our flight was at 8AM Tuesday morning we were off to bed early!  All in all it was a wonderful trip, good people, great food, and a gorgeous city... what more can a person ask for!

MOM: So far I have tried kid goat, duck, escargot, deer, goose liver, and frog... aren't you proud!?

I don't think I have ever been this happy in my life.  The people here are wonderful and everything just seems perfect.  I haven't really gotten homesick yet, but I miss a few American things such as the english language, magazines/television/movies in english, oatmeal, cream of wheat, good bananas, peanut butter, wheat thin, mommys and daddys, advil liquid gels, zyrtec, and my animals! :)

That is all for now.  I am ready for a nice relaxing weekend in Barcelona!  XOXO.