Christmastime in Paris

Caitlin and I decided that there was no way we could study abroad in Paris in the fall and miss going to see all the Christmas markets and the department store's decorated windows. So we headed into Paris to do some last minute Christmas shopping. We first wandered around the Champs Elysee and wandered through the Christmas markets that I went to with the boys on Thanksgiving. I ended up buying a couple of Christmas gifts and as it started the get dark, the Champs Elysee's Christmas decorations started turning on and it was gorgeous. The buildings are already so ornate that the twinkling lights added even more to them. If I didn't love Christmas before, I would now!

After finishing up at the Christmas markets, we made our way over to Galeries LaFayette, which is one of the main department stores in Paris to see all the decorated windows. It was so crowded trying to move from window to window, I almost felt like I was home trying to look at the windows at Macy's. The windows were awesome, the theme was Broadway musicals so each window represented a different one. At Galeries LaFayette, the incorporate their clothes and other merchandise into their windows, which I thought was really interesting. The store carries such high end clothes from famous designers from all over the world, so it was a different way to display them. At each window they were playing the main track from the musical, it took me a while to realize they were in French! When you are used to the tune of the song, you don't even notice that it's in another language. While we were in the crowd of people looking at the windows a group of carol singers showed up, it started to feel like we were living a Christmas movie, it was that picture perfect. After taking in all the decorations outside, we went inside where the store was decorated just as beautifully. I love Christmas, have a mentioned that before?! It makes me so happy.


After we finished up shopping we headed over to the Latin Quarter to meet up with some of our friends who had been at a play for dinner. We had a fairly large group with us so we wandered up and down the cobblestone streets trying to find a restaurant that sounded good, and reasonably prices of course! We ended up in this little French restaurant and when we randomly picked it by the menu hanging outside what we were getting ourselves into. We sat down at our table and ordered a bottle of wine to share and then it began. Apparently the restaurant has live entertainment, and entertaining it was. There were two women who switched back and forth performing, sometimes even performing together. They could sing, they could dance, afterall this is France! It was actually quite hilarious, from ballet in the tiny spaces between tables, when we literally thought they were going to kick someone eating their dinner, to draping themselves across the piano while singing you honestly never knew what they were going to do next. Dinner was full of funny conversation and lots of entertainment, plus the food was very good, you have to love the multiple courses of salad, entree, and the fabulous desserts! As excited as I am for all the food that I miss, I'm also going to miss the way dinners are here in France.

I still can't believe that this was possibly one of my last nights in Paris! How did this happen!?

A Parisian Thanksgiving

As all of my friends at home's Facebook statuses continued to update about how excited they were to go home for Thanksgiving break and eat tons of turkey, I found myself growing more and more jealous of everyone... and dreading the fourth Thursday of November.

Luckily, I was able to track down a fellow American, Ken, who I knew wouldn't want to be sitting around Cergy doing nothing while everyone else was at home enjoying family dinners, how depressing would that be?! So I met up with him and Lachy (who is Australian) and we headed into Paris on Thursday morning. Our first stop? La Defense to go see Harry Potter, of course! If you know anything about me, you know I'm a huge Harry Potter nerd. I read the seventh book in 6 hours because I didn't want anyone to accidentally ruin it for me and tell me what happened, I've also been known to go to the midnight showing of the movies. So it killed me last Thursday night when all my friends in Louisville were preparing to go to the midnight movie and it wasn't even going to be released until the 24th here! The movie was awesome and I can't wait for the second part to come out this summer and luckily, the movie was in English and the French subtitles weren't nearly as distracting as I thought they would be...

After the movie we headed into Paris to do some shopping. Well the boys shopped for Christmas gifts for their moms and I limited myself to just looking. I have to admit, it's extremely hard to behave and not buy things for yourself when shopping in Paris, I was quite proud of myself for doing such a good job. After going to a bunch of stores, we headed to a Christmas market on the Champs Elysees, it was so cute! All the trees were decorated and there were booths selling all different things, from touristy gifts to jewelry to crepes and hot wine. I tried to take some pictures, but it was so cold my hand kept shaking and they all ended up blurry. I guess I'll just have to go back and take some more.

After we nearly froze to death, we headed over to Chez Omar, a well known Moroccan restaurant and met up with six other people. It was a great dinner. I had never had couscous before, but I loved it. We just ordered a whole bunch of different kinds and shared, which was the perfect way to do it and we had a TON of food! Dinner was great, I'm really glad I got to share a big meal with a bunch of people on Thanksgiving, even if it wasn't turkey and mashed potatoes. It was just a very relaxing dinner and I really enjoyed myself.

I made it back to Cergy just in time to Skype my family and join in for the Turkey of the Year awards, a Leddin family tradition given out to whoever does the dumbest thing that year. Nikki and I have presented them for as long as I can remember and this year I thought I was going to miss out, but we had a solution for that! They emailed me the nominees (yup, there are multiple nominations each year) and I was able to read my part. I was also able to accept my award via Skype, just like the celebrities who can't make it to the Grammys. Yup, I won the Turkey of the Year award, even though I'm 4,000 miles away. What could I possibly have won it for you may ask? Well the nomination read... " Meg: Had a couple mishaps this year. After Mary and Tom tried different ways to rid of their entertainment center (Craigslist, Penny Saver, trash day), Meg gave them a helping hand by backing it over before fleeing the country. She then traveled to the City of Lights and promptly managed to put them all out." oops. I am now the back to back winner of Turkey of the Year Awards, I don't know if I should be proud of that or not...

The day I was dreading turned out to be a great one, life has been pretty quiet and school oriented lately so it was nice to go and spend the day in Paris and then I was able to talk to my family that night, doesn't get much better than that!

Even though it was hard for me to miss a big family holiday and all the food that comes with it, (if you haven't figure out by now, I'm a huge fan of food) I've realized that I have so much to be thankful for this year. I have an amazing family, great neighbors, and the best friends a girl could ask for. They have been my support system through everything and I never would have made it for a semester abroad without them, I probably never would have even made it on the plane without their support. I've had the most amazing European experience this semester, not only from the places that I've gone, but from all the people I've met. I have literally met people from every corner of the world, which is pretty awesome. This semester has been a huge learning experience for me and even though it's hard to miss out on the things going on at home, I don't regret coming here at all. Not only do I have a ton to be thankful for, I have so much to look forward to in the next month between: my last few weeks and visits to Paris, returning home, seeing everyone and eating all the foods I miss, my 21st birthday, and Christmas. I have to say, I'm a pretty lucky girl.

It may have not been the most conventional Thanksgiving, but it was definitely still a good one :)

(I am looking forward to having two huge Thanksgiving dinners next year though...)

Did I mention I made a special appearance at Thanksgiving before I even Skyped my family?

A Weekend in Paris

Two days after I got back from Sevilla, Chris arrived in Paris along with the rest of his study abroad group for a weekend excursion.

Finally! A nice day while Chris was here

It was beautiful out on Friday as I made my way into the city to meet up with Chris. I found my way to the hotel they were staying at without my map or directions, pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Chris was waiting for me when I got there, and we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We grabbed paninis from a restaurant near the tower and sat on a bench and enjoyed the awesome view and weather. Because it was so beautiful out and we still had time to kill, we decided to finally go up in the Eiffel Tower. I had been here for 3 months and still hadn't done so! Since all the tourist destinations in Paris are now officially on winter hours, the very top was closed. We decided to take the stairs to the 1st and 2nd floors since the line was much shorter and it was much cheaper. The number of stairs we had climbed was marked every 5, when we reached around 100, the guy behind us told us that he had read that there were around 600 stairs to the 2nd level, by 300 my thighs and calves were burning... despite all the walking I've done this semester, maybe I'm not in as good of shape as I thought! As soon as we got to the top though (and caught our breath), it was clear that no matter how tough the climb was it was worth it. Paris in the fall is gorgeous from the ground, but to have a birds eye view of the city and all the trees with their leaves changing was breathtaking. I think we could have spent hours taking it all in. As you walk around, there are signs pointing out all the monuments that you are looking at, which was quite helpful, otherwise I'm sure Chris would have been asking me and I would have been stumped on a couple of them! I remember going up in the Eiffel Tower when I was here in high school, but the view in the summer has nothing on the view in the fall, at least in my opinion! We spent quite a bit of time enjoying the view and avoiding have to walk back down all those stairs. After we finally built up the courage to brave the trip back down, we decided we deserved a treat and took the metro back to the hotel Chris was staying at to meet up with his group for a trip to the Louvre.

The tree-lined Seine

 

We made it back just in time for Chris to put his stuff in his and Michael's hotel room and met up with his group. We definitely took the scenic walk to the Louvre, I don't think I have ever walked so slow while in Paris, there was no doubt about it that we were a group of American tourists. As we arrived in front of the Louvre, it had just gotten dark and the entire museum and pyramids were lit up. Paris is beautiful by day, but there is something about Paris at night that is magical. Every monument and building looks even more regal and breathtaking than normal, which is not an easy feat. The city of lights definitely knows what it's doing! We spent some time taking some pictures outside the Louvre before heading into the museum. The separated us into two groups and I was able to sneak onto the tour that Chris' program provided. We visited many of the parts of the Louvre I had seen before, since they obviously wanted to show everyone the must-see pieces like the Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and Mona Lisa but it was nice to be able to hear the history behind the pieces and different facts about them as well as tips on how to look at the pieces to best appreciate them. I don't know much about art, so the guide definitely gave me insight into what I should look for.

Me and the Mona Lisa.

By the time we were finished with our tour it was getting late and we were STARVING. Somehow it ended up being me and the boys searching for food, I think we looked at every menu at every restaurant for a couple of blocks. I may be indecisive, but for a bunch of hungry boys to be struggling to make a decision, I was a little concerned. We finally settled on a Chinese restaurant. Yup, their first dinner in Paris was Chinese food, makes sense, right? I wasn't going to complain though because I've been craving Chinese for weeks now! We sat down and the waitress gave us our menus, it was quite entertaining to watch them struggle with the language barrier while ordering. Luckily, the food was all good, not as good as Chinese at home but it definitely hit the spot and will hold me over until I'm home!



On Saturday, Chris and the rest of the API group had a bus tour of the city in the morning, so I headed into Paris to meet up with them after. The weather was not nearly as beautiful as it had been the day before, but at least we got to enjoy one nice fall day in Paris! I met up with Chris and his two friends Greg and Zack at the Musee ClunyCluny is  six La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) tapestries. They are considered to be one of the most impressive works of the Middle Ages in Europe. I have to admit, even though I'm not a huge fan of the art, it is extremely impressive when you think about how old some of those things are, and how well preserved some of them are! When we came out of the museum it was pretty nasty out, with a gross drizzly rain and chilly wind. We toughed it out though and walked through the Latin Quarter and Luxembourg gardens on our way back to their hotel to see what everyone else was up to. We ended up taking it easy for the rest of the night, just hanging out with everyone.

Hall of Mirrors

On Sunday a huge group of people decided to go to Versailles. Somehow I was picked to lead the pack to the train station and to make sure we got on the right train and to the palace. Luckily, I had been there before and had an idea of how to get there, otherwise it could have been interesting! Everyone was super excited when I told them about the Ticket Jeune that is available for people under 26, unlimited rides for all zones for only 6.85 euros, a huge deal. I'm actually surprised that their visitor guide didn't mention it, it saves you a ton of money and is the main reason I've been able to afford to go into Paris on so many weekends. Once everyone bought their train tickets, which took quite some time, there were quite a few of us (I'm sure the ticket agent loved us, not) we hopped onto the metro to catch the RER out to Versailles. Luckily, we only had to change trains once, I don't know if I would have been able to guide everyone through multiple train changes. We arrived at Versailles about 45 minutes later, and when we got of the train, we discovered the weather had changed while we were on the train, it was now windy and rainy, what a let-down. No fear though! The obnoxious vendors that are all over the big tourist destinations selling Eiffel Tower key chains and other souvenirs were prepared, as soon as we walked out of the train station, they were selling umbrellas for 5 euros, luckily Chris bought one for us to share, it was definitely worth it! We walked through the little town up to the MASSIVE castle. Each time I go there I forget just how huge it is. You can't help but understand why the French revolted, no one would ever need a house that big. We walked up and realized that the line was pretty long but the ticket office was closed, then someone pointed out it was the first Sunday of the month, PERFECT! All museums and monuments are free to the public on the first Sunday of the month, this was turning out to be a much cheaper day than expected. The line moved pretty quickly and we headed into the castle. Our group ended up getting separated along the way, and somehow Chris and I ended up losing everyone else! We wandered through the castle listening to our audio guides and marveling at how detailed everything was. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't won Chris over with how detailed French architecture is before, I had by the time we reached the hall of mirrors. Versailles is a lot different from any of the Alcazars in Spain!

Luckily, by the time we finished up inside, it had stopped raining and we were able to go out in the gardens for a little bit. A lot of the smaller gardens were already closed for the winter and the fountains weren't on, but it was still impressive and I was glad Chris was able to see them, you don't fully visit Versailles without going to the gardens! Despite the dreary weather, it was pretty to see all the fall colors everywhere throughout the gardens. We only spent a short amount of time actually wandering around though, it was freezing so we decided to head back into Paris and find everyone we had lost during our visit.

Sunday night was the groups last night in Paris, so of course we had to go see the Eiffel tower sparkle! We walked down toward the Eiffel tower, trying to stay warm despite the very chilly fall night, at least it wasn't still raining! We made it to the tower with the perfect amount of time to spare to take a couple of pictures before the sparkling began. It was warmer than last time Chris was in town so we were able to get a couple more pictures than we did last time (besides we didn't have to ask random people to take them for us). After the tower was done sparkling and we were done taking pictures we decided to go get dinner. We ended up going for pizza, which was really good, and it was great to have a warm meal after being out in the cold all day!

Monday, was their last day in Paris, but their flight wasn't until later, so we had most of the day to work with. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating at all. We decided to go to the Pantheon and even in our short walk from the metro stop to the Pantheon it was MISERABLE. It was freezing out and super rainy and the wind kept blowing the umbrellas inside out every 5 seconds. Definitely not the best note for them to leave Paris on. I think we were just happy to get inside when we got to the Pantheon. We spent a lot of time wandering around. The Pantheon functions as a mausoleum containing the remains of distinguished French citizens, we were able to see the tombs of: Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marie & Pierre Curie, and Braille, along with many others. It's so weird to think that the bodies of these people you have read about in books are buried in those tombs! After the Pantheon we headed back out into the miserable weather and grabbed lunch at McDonalds, the first heated, covered place we saw. Because so many of the museums and other places are closed on Mondays the boys decided to head back to the hotel and stay warm and dry until they had to head to the airport with the group and I went back to Cergy, to face the reality that my two week fall break had ended and it was back to school.

I cannot think of a better way to spend my last weekend of fall break than in Paris! It was such a fun weekend, despite the weather not always cooperating. After fall break, my traveling is over and it is now time to focus on ending the semester. I'm not really looking forward to the study part of study abroad...

Sevilla!

When we made it back to Sevilla from Cordoba we headed to check into the hotel and then went and grabbed some pizza for dinner. We wandered around Sevilla for a little while, the city is so pretty at night, especially to see the Cathedral all lit up. It looked like it was going to be a pretty quiet night, so we stopped at a bar and tried some Orange Wine, a specialty of the area thanks to all the orange trees I hadn't noticed. It was actually really good and it was nice to have a quiet relaxing night after the train ride back to Sevilla.

Christopher Columbus' tomb

Altar

Saturday it rained on and off all day and was pretty dreary, apparently Chris and I bring the crappy weather when we visit each other. We made the best of it though! Our first stop was the Cathedral, which is the third largest in the world. The size of the cathedral was not the only impressive part of the Cathedral though, it is filled with tons of seperate chapels which were owned by royal and other rich families back in the day. The altarpiece was by far the most impressive part of the building, it was huge with ornate bible scenes all in gold. Both Christopher Columbus and his son's tombs are also in the cathedral, so we were able to see those too! There was a wedding going on in the chapel off of the church, which we stopped to watch some of while walking past, it has to be weird to be getting married knowing that a bunch of random tourists are wandering by looking in on your ceremony. Not only was there a wedding going on in the regular chapel but when we walked back towards the Royal Chapel there were people coming out of it, which means that there was definitely something important going on there. We tried to get a glimpse inside the chapel since normally everything is covered with drapery but they had the area roped off and between that and the crowd it was impossible to walk over there. But who knows, we may have been in the same room as someone royal! After exploring the entire cathedral, trust me it took quite a while, we headed up the 37 ramps to the top of the tower where we were able to take in the views of the entire city, something I haven't even done in Paris yet. Sevilla is definitely exactly what you would picture when you think of an old Spanish city, and that was obvious from both the ground and above. It was awesome to have Chris be able to point out the different places we were looking at, between the football stadium, bullring, alcazar, and the area near his house. After taking in all the views of the city we headed back down alllll the ramps and grabbed some lunch before taking a siesta (you gotta embrace the Spanish culture!) and getting ready for that night.

View from one side of the Tower

Saturday night Chris and I went out to dinner and had paella, a Spanish dish with lots of rice, which I'm sure my dad was happy to hear I ate, although I did avoid the ones that had seafood in them, a girl can only branch out so much in a semester... After dinner we headed over to from the outside looked like a hole in the wall bar. We went through the bar and into a PACKED back room for what is supposed to be the best flamenco show in Sevilla. It really was awesome and unlike anything I had ever seen before. Despite it being a little tough to see over people's heads sometimes, I think the crowd really added to the atmosphere of the place. It was a smokey, crowded room, jampacked with people, definitely not the type of place I'm used to. After the flamenco show, we headed out to meet up with a few of Chris' friends and hung out with them for a little bit, when we left the bar it was POURING. Of course we had left the umbrella behind when we had left that night because it wasn't raining at the time, so we found ourselves sprinting through the streets of Sevilla trying to get back to the hotel for shelter. By the time we made it back, it looked like we had jumped in a pool, good thing I didn't bother to spend time straightening my hair ;)

Gardens of the Alcazar

Sunday it was finally nice out again, and it was great to be able to enjoy the sunny, 70 degree weather, something that left Paris a long, long time ago. We decided to spend the beginning of Halloween doing some sight seeing so we headed over to the Alcazar, the line was much longer than it had been the day before, apparently everyone visiting Sevilla had decided to avoid the Alcazar on Saturday when it was rainy since so much of it is outside and go the next day, and we thought we had come up with such a good plan! After a pretty long wait we finally made it in. We originally planned to pay the extra money to see the king's apartments which are still in use today, but they were closed for the weekend, I wonder if that had anything to do with the people we saw coming out of the royal chapel the day before... The Alcazar in Sevilla was much more impressive than in Cordoba, but was nothing compared to Versailles, then again what really is? It was cool to see gardens filled with palm trees and orange trees, neither of those would survive in Paris... or Chicago... or Louisville, maybe Chris had it right choosing to study in Spain and I need to move to a warmer climate... After the Alcazar we wandered down by the river for a while before lunch and a siesta. After napping, we headed to Rodilla the cafe where Chris spends many of his afternoons trying to get internet. It still seems odd to me that a city doesn't have wifi available everywhere, especially not in homes like Chris' homestay, I guess I shouldn't complain to him about my slow connection and blocked sites (seriously, the block tetris and other games in the dorms, really?). We hung out there for a while checking our emails and Facebooks, a girl can only go so long without doing either of those things when she is quite obviously addicted to them... Then it was time to get ready to go out for Halloween!

Voldemort!

We started the night by getting dinner at a cute little Italian restaurant. The food was delicious, I even finished before Chris and anyone who have ever eaten with that boy knows that this is quite the feat since he doesn't eat his food, he inhales it. When we left dinner Chris called one of his friends to see what they were up to and they pointed out to us that it was an hour earlier than we thought, the time had changed the night before, which we had realized, we just didn't realize that the time on his phone didn't automatically change, oops! I guess that explains why the restaurant was so empty when we first go there. We went and hung out for a little while and Chris made me try Cruz Campo, Sevilla's regional beer, I'm not much of a beer fan but it was actually pretty good! After killing some time, we headed back over towards the area where we had eaten dinner to meet up with some people from Chris' program. We went to the area where a lot of Americans hang out so all the bars were decorated and there were a lot of people dressed up, including some of his friends. Considering the fact that I had packed an entire week's worth of clothes in my tiny backpack there was no room for a costume, so I settled for an orange shirt, figuring that was festive enough. We bar hopped most of the night and it was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone, it may not have been exactly the same as Halloween in the States, but the Spanish certainly put some effort in! The highlight of my night was seeing someone dressed up as Voldemort from Harry Potter, by far the best Halloween costume I have ever seen, and I spent some time trying to get pictures of him!


On Monday, Chris was off of school for All Saints Day, so we had the entire day to work with. We headed out that morning to walk about 20 minutes across town to go pick up his computer, which had broken the week before and was at a random Spanish computer repair shop. When we got there though, the shop was obviously closed for the holiday, I guess the guy forgot about the holiday when he told Chris to come back and pick it up on Monday... we grabbed lunch at this place called 100 Montiditos, which has, you guessed it 100 different types of small sandwiches or montiditios on the menu. As the week went on I realized how hard it is to not be able to read a menu to order, I could figure out what some things are since a lot of French and Spanish is similar but I had to rely on Chris a lot, which put an even bigger strain on my already poor decision making abilities. After lunch, we made our way to Plaza de Espana, and we definitely took the long way. One thing that is hard for us American's to get used to is that these European cities are not built on a grid like the ones we are used to at home, all streets do not run intersect with each other like you think they will and many run on an angle, after trying to find my way around European cities for a semester, it's going to make Chicago look like no big deal. We finally made it to Plaza de Espana which was super impressive. It was originally built for the Worlds Fair and is now used for some government offices. Apparently it was also used in the movie Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones. The area was adorable, with parks all around, donkey cart rides for kids, and people in row boats, definitely a tourist area, but an adorable one none the less. We spent some time looking at the different tile alcoves dedicated to the different Provinces of Spain. And then spent some time taking some pictures and just hanging out. We definitely took our time while there, I think we were both exhausted after our walk there. After we finished up seeing all there was to see we headed back to Rodilla for some more internet time.

Monday night we decided to have tapas for dinner again and went to a few different restaurants trying different things, they were all super good and it was a very "Spanish" thing to do. I wish more places had tapas in the States, personally I think they are perfect, you get to try all different types of foods for one meal! The city itself was pretty dead that night, apparently because of the holiday a lot of places were closed so we ended up calling it a pretty early night.

Tuesday, was my last full day in Spain, and Chris had class again. On our way to his school, we stopped at the computer store to pick up his laptop. Luckily, this time they were open! The guy showed him his computer was working again, thank goodness! Unfortunately, the entire thing is now in Spanish, I guess that's one way for him to work on his Spanish... We headed to school from there and I once again hung out in the library catching up on some stuff while he was in class. After school, we went to a little cafe/bar that we went to last time I was in town and had some more tinto de verano, we had tried a few different places over the week, and this place has by far the best. And it's right next to the Cathedral so the scenery was pretty cool too. We got sandwiches from a local shop for a late lunch and went and hung out in the park to share our lunch. Tuesday was an extremely low key day, but it was the perfect way to end my trip.

Home Sweet Home!

Wednesday morning, I had to be up and at the bus stop to catch the 8:15 bus to the airport, Chris had morning classes so he was only able to take me as far as the bus stop and I was on my own from there, I had been to the airport before so this was obviously no big deal. I made it to the airport and on to my flight with no problems. I took RyanAir home, which is a well-known low cost airline in Europe. They didn't even have the walkways to the plane that I'm used to, you walked outside and the up the stairs directly onto the plane, I definitely was not expecting that. The flight was smooth and I made it home without any problems, however I didn't realize how long my journey from the airport to Cergy was going to take me... First you have to take a bus from Beauvais into Paris which is well over an hour, it was miserable and for 15 euros, it was definitely a rip-off, but the only option I had besides a taxi. Then once I finally made it back into Paris I had to take the train back out to Cergy, I'm pretty sure it took me at least 3 hours in traveling to get home from the airport, plus I was so hungry I had to stop and grab McDonald's which added even more time on to my journey. As cheap as RyanAir is, I don't think I would fly it again, just because the money you save on your ticket isn't worth the hassle it is to get to Beauvais. Needless to say, I was happy when I finally made it back to my dorm, and it was kind of nice to see all the trees changing colors and leaves on the ground, something that was no where to be found in Spain.

Cordoba

Outside the Mezquita at night

Most of my first day in Spain was spent at in the library while Chris was in class. Once he got out of class and we had some lunch, we headed to the train station to go to Cordoba, a city about an hour away from Sevilla. We didn't have train tickets yet, so Chris wanted to make sure we had time to get them before the train arrived, we made it with about an hour and a half to spare, needless to say, I don't think he had to worry. We arrived in Cordoba that night and checked into our hostel before heading out to explore a bit and find some dinner. Our hostel was great, the perfect location and pretty cheap! The city was super quiet at night, but it was beautiful. We wandered around the area near the huge Mezquita and found a little restuarant where I had my first experience with tapas. Chris ordered three different tapas and some tinto de verano, red wine mixed with a lemon soda, my new favorite drink. The whole meal was awesome and afterward we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep before our busy day of sight-seeing.

The next morning, we planned to head out bright and early, entrance to the Mezquita cathedral was free in the morning, so we wanted to be sure to take advantage of that! Of course that didn't quite happen, as we all know, I've never been much of a get up early type of person. Luckily, our hostel was only a block or two from the Mezquita, so we made it with about 2 minutes to spare and still made it in for free! The cathedral was amazing. Because the Mezquita was once a mosque, the architecture is much different than the cathedrals I'm used to seeing in France. The entire place was nothing like what I'm used to after seeing places like Notre Dame and Sacre Coeur, it may have been completely different but it was just as impressive.

The awesome ceiling!

From the mezquita we headed over to the Alcazar, the royal palace in Cordoba. We were able to go up into the Towers and that looked out over all of Cordoba and had the perfect view of the Mezquita. It was really pretty. There wasn't much in the rooms of the Alcazar, and it was much smaller than any palace I've been to in France. Just another example of how different French and Spanish architecture is. We wandered around the gardens in the Alcazar and found an older American couple to take our picture.

After the Alcazar it was lunch time! We found a little Spanish bar for more tapas. They were super cheap and authentic and delicious. Chris kept saying he wanted to try bull tail, but that was not going to be happening, so I made sure you veto any tapa that had the word toro in it's name. I've been getting much better about trying new foods while abroad, but a girl has to draw the line somewhere and that just sounds disgusting.

After lunch we wandered around Cordoba a bit more and stumbled upon the last tourist destination on our map, the synagogue. Of course we arrived 5 minutes after it closed for lunch (seriously, what is with the Europeans and randomly closing in the middle of the day) so we decided to go to a little sidewalk cafe. After hanging around for about an hour and a half, we headed back to the synagogue and walked into a square room with some carvings in the wall. After about 2 minutes of looking at the signs that translated them, I thought we would head onto the next room, but there were no other rooms. That was it, a tiny, square room, with a few measly carvings in the wall. After over an hour build-up it was quite the let down to say the least... I didn't even take any pictures, it was that anti-climatic.

We had some time until we had to be at the train station to head back to Sevilla. We hung out in a park for a while. Playing catch with an orange. I had made the mistake of saying I hadn't noticed any orange trees in Sevilla, and I thought it was cool that they were all over Cordoba. Chris laughed at me and told me that they are all over Sevilla and continued to point them out for the rest of the week once we got back. Trust me, after all of the times he pointed them out to me, I will admit that they are EVERYWHERE, and I really should look up more often...

We took an evening train back to Sevilla where we got to listen to a little Spanish boy scream most of the time. It was a little annoying, especially since his family continually laughed at him when he was completely disrupting the entire train instead of trying to calm him down. Needless to say I think everyone in the car was happy when the train arrived at the Sevilla train station...

Surviving the Strikes

As I'm sure you all have heard, the strikes have been going on throughout France for over two weeks now. I've come to find it is something I will never understand. How can raising the retirement age a mere two years from 60 to 62 cause such unrest throughout the entire country for so long? I understand being upset, but honestly, I'll probably be working 40+ hours until I'm 80, while they work 35 with over a month of vacation time. Maybe that's why as an outsider, I don't understand. But what does setting fire to cars, schools and train tracks do to fix the problem? Sounds like they are just causing more problems for people who had nothing to do with the reform, I highly doubt President Sarkozy and other high powered government officials are taking the Metro to work each day. The thing that I find the oddest is that so many of those striking are high school students, saying that if the older generation stays in the workforce for an extra 2 years that they won't get the jobs they deserve. All seems like an excuse to miss school to me! I've lucked out that I have avoided any direct effects from the strike, besides a closed monument or museum here or there, but the strike has seriously disrupted all of France, I didn't think I was going to make it out of the country due to not enough fuel and many flights being canceled. Luckily, my flight was not one of them, and I made it safe and sound to Spain last night! Let's just hope that when I return in a week all this unrest is finally over...

One Year!

My family left on Wednesday and then Thursday, Chris arrived! Talk about an exciting 10 days.

I met Chris at the airport on Thursday night, his flight didn't get in until pretty late, around 11pm, so we just headed to the hostel we were staying at for the night and planned to begin our Paris adventure on Friday.

Well, apparently when my family left they also brought the beautiful, sunny, 70 degree weather with them because it has been freezing in Paris ever since, especially during Chris' visit. On Friday, it was overcast and chilly as we headed to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. Despite the cold, the view from the top of Montmartre was still gorgeous, and it was nice that it was not nearly as crowded as it had been the weekend before when I was there with my family. As we walked into Sacre Coeur I quickly noticed a difference though, I think the overcast skies had a negative impact on how breathtaking the inside of the basilica is. Normally, when you walk in on a sunny day, the light comes through the dome and casts a halo like look over all of the people sitting in the church, without that light, the basilica did not have the same feel. Any other time I've stepped foot inside, my breath has been taken away in almost an eerie way, this time it just seemed like any other church. I was definitely a little disappointed, especially since I'd been talking so highly of Sacre Coeur to Chris and he didn't get the full effect when we went there. We wandered around Montmartre for a bit, looking at all the artists and cafes and we stopped and ate chocolate crepes. Yum!

After Montmartre, we made our way to Notre Dame. Apparently French architecture relies on the sunlight more than I realized because the Rose Window wasn't as impressive as usual. So not only did we have to deal with the crappy weather, but it was also having a negative impact on our sight seeing! Hopefully next time Chris is here it's nicer out, otherwise he is going to think I'm a crazy person for loving these places so much! After wandering around for a while, we decided we were going to see how long the line was to go up in the towers. As we rounded the corner we found out they were already closing them thanks to the strike... this strike is really getting in the way of showing all my visitors how awesome Paris is! So we gave up on that idea and headed over and grabbed some paninis from a take-away cafe. We wandered down by the Seine and ate our lunch while taking in the view of Paris and watching all the tour boats go by. It was such a relaxing, simple lunch, it was perfect!

I've had visiting the Musee Rodin on my to do list since before I left for study abroad. I knew I had to find the Thinker statue to get a picture, considering we have one at U of L too! So I figured there was no better weekend to visit the museum than when Chris was there so I could have another Louisvillian in my picture with me. We found the museum without a problem and got in for free with our student visas, that is by far one of the best perks about studying abroad, EU students get into most museums in Paris for free! We wandered around the gardens and found the Thinker (it would have been hard to find) and then went into the museum. The entire place was gorgeous, and I just might have to make a trip back there at some point.

After the museum, we decided to head back to Cergy to make dinner and hang out. It was about 6:20 on the train, and it was without a doubt rush hour in France. I have never been on such a crowded train in my life, there was barely even any room to stand, let alone sit, talk about zero personal space. As the ride went on I got hotter and hotter and started not to feel good when we were about 3 stops from Cergy. I turned to Chris to tell him we were going to get off the train at the next stop so I could get some air and suddenly everything went black. Apparently, as the train came to the stop that I said I needed to get off at, I passed out. I'm sure I scared the crap out of Chris as he pulled me off the train, leaving a trail of my scarf, jacket and backpack on the platform. Once I got some fresh air I came back to and felt fine, just needed a little air and a bottle of water. Thank god Chris was there though, I don't know what I would have done had I been alone with no one to take care of me. I definitely learned a valuable lesson that I should never get on a crowded train, especially if I don't have any water with me!

On Saturday, we made our way back into Paris and started our day at the Champs Elysses and the Arc de Triomphe. The effect the strike is having on the city was once again apparent with the upstairs of the Arc being closed to the public. As we headed down the Champs Elysses towards the Louvre we stopped for some lunch. I finally gave in and had McDonalds for the first time since I've been here, I'd say 2 months is a pretty good streak (how sad is that?!)

We wandered around the Louvre for a while, going to see the can't miss pieces like the Mona Lisa,  and then went to an area that I had never been to to see all the Egyptian art and a whole area filled with gorgeous sculptures. I think even if I went there every weekend during my time here, I still wouldn't see half of what is in the Louvre, it is just that big and amazing. After the Louvre we continued our adventure down the FREEZING Champs Elysses, going into the stores to find refuge from the cold.

By the time we made it back to the Arc de Triomph, it was time to head over to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. It does not matter how many times I had seen it all lit up in the previous week, it's something that will never get old, it is that breathtaking. We found a little pizza place to have dinner and then headed back home.

Sunday was our actual 1 year anniversary, but the day pretty much just consisted of us making lunch before heading back to the airport. Lame, but it wasn't worth it to brave the cold in Paris when we only had a couple of hours to work with before Chris had to catch his flight.

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend, or really 10 days between my family's visit and Chris coming here. Just a few days of class stand between me and a 2 week long fall break!

Heading Home

On Wednesday morning, we all woke up and finished packing up whatever else we had lying around. I had to get back to Cergy and return to the real world of school and my visitors were all heading back to the US. The original plan was for them to take the train, but the strike was still going on and interrupting some of the trains so they ended up finding a taxi. I said good bye to them before heading to the train station to make my trek back to Cergy (luckily the line I needed to take was running). It was really weird to see them go and to not be leaving with them. The whole time I was with them it felt like a typical family vacation, just without my dad, Mitch, and Danny, so it was hard to see them go and be left behind, especially knowing I had to go back to school.

I could not have asked for a better trip. I had so much fun with everyone and forgot how much I miss spending time with my cousins. I'm extremely lucky that they got to visit and and even more lucky to have such an awesome family who I would want to spend as much time as possible with. Thanks so much for such a great visit guys, I loved everything about it!

When in Paris... eat lots of bread and cheese!

From our first night in Paris on, we fell into a routine I could easily get used to. We went and found a small grocery store and picked up some wine, bread, and cheese (and of course some coca light) to bring back to our apartment. Ever since I arrived in France I've avoided the cheese aisle, I know it sounds silly but it is huge with way too many options and I get overwhelmed by the thought of even attempting to pick out what I might like and make a decision.

On our way back from the grocery store the Eiffel Tower was already lit up for the night, so we stopped for a quick photo shoot with our very French groceries. We then headed back to set our table for our mini feast and enjoyed all the food, taking a break from eating to watch the tower sparkle on the hour from our balcony.

Let me tell you, and I know Taylor will agree with me on this one, because I'm pretty sure she would disappear every hour on the hour to watch the Eiffle Tower sparkle, it never gets old, no matter how many times you see it. I'm quickly learning that it doesn't matter how many times I go into Paris this semester and see the same monuments, they will continue to take my breath away each time I see them. I think that's one of the reasons I know for sure that I made the right decision about studying abroad!

We continued our tradition of bread, wine, and cheese each night they were in town and I'm pretty sure each night we added more food into the mix... first it was cookies, then chips, then some other cookies. It was great and I miss it, I can't eat a whole baguette by myself each night! (Actually, I probably could, but it wouldn't be the best idea)