Another week has gone by, so I daresay it’s blogging time once again!
I can’t believe this is the last day of February. Seriously. Where on Earth did it go? I’ve decided that February went much faster than January - which, in some ways, is sort of nice. I’ve had a number of very homesick moments this month. I want to have good talks with my parents. I want to tell traveling stories to and play Rock Band with my brother. I want to hug and laugh hysterically with my friends from home. I want to eat peanut butter! And mashed potatoes! And ketchup! Not at the same time, though. But really, it gets better when I remember that I only have about two more months here, and I know they’re going to fly by, so I need to enjoy them to the fullest. I mean, I’m in Spain, for pity’s sake. I only have a short time to enjoy being here (and I am enjoying it deeply!) before I have to go back to familiar things. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and home will still be waiting for me when I get back. Not that I know where home is anymore…I sometimes think that if I clicked my heels together like Dorothy, I have no idea whether I’d end up in Pamplona, Moorhead, or Wahpeton. But I guess I’m okay with being a nomad a little while longer.
Anyway, despite home sickness and random food cravings, this week has had a great deal of fun moments. And gosh, Monday seems like ages ago. The beginning of the week was fairly boring, but that’s usually how it goes. I think I’m going to have to make an effort to change that – there’s got to be something else that us Concordia girls (and perhaps some not-Concordia people) can do together during the week besides going to bars and discotecas, though that’s fun to do sometimes. At any rate, the early part of the week had its good points – I got to watch a cool show with my host mom that reminded me of a glorified version of American Idol (a bunch of different singers, with a band and sometimes even props and backup singers! It was slightly epic). It was the final episode, and they were selecting the best singer from a group of Spanish performers. The winner gets to go to Oslo to represent Spain and Eurovision in a worldwide competition, apparently. The guy who won was a cutie named Daniel Diges (I think that’s the right spelling) who sang a really pretty waltz song. And my host mom and I both wanted him to win, so we were happy! I encourage you to look up the YouTube video of the song (called “Algo Pequeñito”...I'm not sure what you'll find it under on YouTube, but I don't think it'd be tough to locate) if you feel so moved. It’s some fun stuff :-)
On Tuesday, I finally got to see a little Olympic skating, which I was pretty excited about. My Olympic-Games-watching skills this time around = Fail. To be honest, though, watching some of the other sports is fun too, but skating is really the only thing I care that much about as far as the Winter Games are concerned. They show some pretty weird sports, in my opinion…I mean really – what is the point of curling? And after a while, the ski jumps and luge runs all look the same to me. So I guess I’m not heartbroken that I’ve missed a lot of it. I think I'd rather watch futbol...mostly because ugly futbolistas do. not. exist. For real.
Also on Tuesday, we had one of the most fun dance classes yet – only five of us showed up so it was really chill, and for the first hour we learned more cha-cha moves. It’s so satisfying to finally be getting it down – dancing gets more and more enjoyable as we continue to improve! Then, for the second hour, when we were technically all supposed to be practicing the tango, all of us ended up sitting on the floor and talking! It was so much fun. And it was great speaking practice, which I never seem to get enough of. Kristen M., Lauren, and I ended up talking with Ruben for most of the time – he’s essentially the only guy in the class (there’s one other, but he hardly ever comes), and he’s really cool. He asked us about the differences between Spain and the U.S. and what we liked better in both. I was glad he did, because I really love those questions; they get me thinking about the comparisons and what I’m learning from the differences, more than I usually think about them. We also talked a bit about the different foods in Spain, and he told us how to make some of the desserts. Such fun! We may have missed out on an hour of dancing, but we didn’t care because we’d had just as good a time and learned a lot anyway!
On Wednesday night, things started to pick up a bit. We girls decided that we were all in desperate need of getting out of our respective houses and doing something fun together. We ended up going to a bar called Singular, right by the Ciudadela. It was so much fun! We all loved the atmosphere, and the fact that there was enough room to dance, which we all did with gusto. It was just so nice to have a great time with the gals and loosen up a bit (without the aid of alcohol, even :-P). I think that Singular is my favorite of the bars I’ve been to here! Definitely planning to go back at some point.
Of course, I was reeeeally tired the next morning, but I wasn’t too worried about it since I always have ample time for a nap here (not to brag or anything…haha), which I took full advantage of. I went out on Thursday night for a couple hours as well – nowhere near as late as on Wednesday, thankfully. That would’ve been a little ridiculous. It was fun, though – there was an open mic night/talent show for the intercambios at a bar called Long Island, and it was so cool to watch Lise play the fiddle song “Orange Blossom Special” on her violin and to see Ellen play guitar and sing with one of her Spanish roommates. They both did a great job!
Friday was simply lovely in many ways. The weather was amazing, for one - nearly 60 degrees, for those of you in Fahrenheit-land :-P. On my walk home, I was too warm! The fact that this happened in February is nearly unfathomable to me. I even went to the middle of the Ciudadela to study for a while by the fountain. It’s so much quieter in there – the big stone walls block out a lot of the traffic noise. And it was so peaceful to sit in the sun and look at the gorgeous old buildings. Gosh, I love that place! Later on that evening, I went to see Valentine’s Day (Historias de San Valentín) with Kristen and Lise. What a great movie! And we even understood what was going on…granted, the dubbed-over voices talked fairly slow, but it was still an ego boost to know that we could understand a movie that’s not in our own language and that we've never seen before! Woot. I guess I am learning, though it feels like I’m doing so very slowly sometimes. Oh, and Kristen and I bought popcorn, which tasted sooo great after not having had it for a couple of months.
This weekend has been low-key, as per usual. Which is just fine with me :-). I went to the mall, La Morea, with the girls yesterday to explore a bit. We found a couple fun little things (there was a jewelry store where everything was super cute and we were powerless to resist…), and then went to the grocery store (or rather, department store…there’s this huge, Wal-Mart-esque place inside the mall. The size of that place is staggering!) to get some much-needed sweets…we eat healthily here, which means that our sweet tooth (teeth?) are always clamoring to be satisfied. Kristen and I split a package of mini Haagen-Dasz ice creams…oh man. That was an excellent decision, let me tell you. Haagen and Dasz may replace Ben and Jerry as my boyfriends...lol!
Today has been mostly filled with homework and a good deal of putzing around. I’ve got a grammar test on Thursday that has me worried, so you can bet I’ll be hitting the books a great deal. Just as soon as I can get myself motivated. Really though, I’ve got to do my best! Now that I have only four classes, I can’t afford to do poorly in any of them. But if I get going on it, I should be okay. It would be a lot easier, though, if Spanish pronouns weren’t the devil’s children…ugh.
The weekend has raced by, but I think I’m ready to tackle a new month in Spain. As ready as I’ll ever be, anyway!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Settling In
This week has been pretty low-key, but I feel like blogging, so if you get bored, well…whatever. Come back next week :-P
For the last few days, I’ve just been enjoying the routine and getting to know Pamplona a bit better. After the wonderful but exhausting Paris experience, I’ve been very content to chill out at home. Especially since, as I think I’ve said, I am not nor am I likely to ever be into the party scene. This week especially, going to a noisy, smoky bar to spend money on drinks and possibly get hit on by random guys sounded like the very last thing I wanted to do. And since that seems to be the only way to hang out with a group of friends, things have been quiet for me this week. And if you know me at all, you’ll know that that suits me just fine :-)
I have done quite a bit this week, though, all things considered. I finished the interview part of our project for Civilization and Culture class. I was sooo not looking forward to it because our prof kind of wanted us to survey random people on the street, which sounded way too scary to me. I mean, the people here are nice, but I’ve always hated interviewing with the passion of a thousand fiery suns…and the fact that I had to do it in Spanish with people I didn’t even know made it sound even worse. Thankfully, though, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be (that seems to be the way it always goes with me) – I just ended up handing out the typed-out surveys to some people in the cafetería, and they were quite willing to help me. Still made me nervous as heck, but I got over it. And I got my host sister to do the last one, so that was easy. I’m still glad that’s over with, though!
I’ve also done a little bit more exploring – I went shopping with a couple of the girls yesterday and found some fun little things. And today I was determined to find a pair of boots – both of my other pairs leak now (one pair is cheap suede, and I’ve walked approximately 12 million miles in the other pair so they’re not what you could call watertight anymore), and my host mom said, “You need to get some boots that won’t get your feet wet when it rains!” And I said, “You know what? You’re right.” Besides, what woman needs an excuse to buy another pair of cute shoes? Not this one. So anyway, this led me to look around Casco Antiguo a little bit. By myself. And I didn’t even get lost! Granted, I have been there a few times now, but if you knew how confusing and twisty those streets are, you’d know what an achievement this is for me. Didn’t find the boots there, but I did find some on another street. So, I’m pretty much a legit European now, with my leggings and my boots and my long shirts. Yep.
Also, lately I’ve been enjoying my current state of physical fitness. At home, I had to exercise several times a week to stay in reasonably good shape. But here, I can do that just by living. Like Lauren said, at home we ate because it’s fun; here, we eat to survive. What with the healthy diet, ridiculous amount of walking, and lack of snack times, I’m feeling pretty darn skinny! Although I probably have the beefiest calves this side of the Atlantic, from walking up and down all these hills. For real. But hey, it’s useful, I daresay.
Another thing I’ve been noticing is that my host mom and I have started to become more comfortable around each other (it’s taken me long enough…but then, I’ve never been a fast mover), which has been so nice. One day she said to me “You should talk some more! You’re always so quiet, and you need to practice to learn.” And she’s right – I do practice Spanish with friends and at school quite a bit, but she only sees the side of me that’s still struggling to conjugate verbs correctly and who makes really dumb mistakes, since I don’t talk a lot at home. For some reason, I find it way harder to talk to my host mom in Spanish than with other people. Maybe it’s because I’m trying not to make mistakes, or that I don’t know if it would be rude or too personal to ask this or that question, or that I just can’t think of a good topic. But anyway, after she said that, I started making a conscious effort to elaborate more when she asks me things and even (gasp!) volunteer information. And from that point, it seems like someone flipped a switch somewhere and we got a lot closer. She asks me a lot more details about what I’m up to, my classes, stuff about my family and home, etc. And I’ve been telling her a lot more. It’s been great – it makes me feel like I actually am learning how to speak at least a bit better in Spanish! And it’s made it more fun to hang out with my host mom. She was so cute today – we were eating dinner and watching TV, like we usually do, and the only thing we could really find to watch was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I like that movie well enough, but my host mom isn’t really into action movies and said it was “un rollo” – which basically means sucky. So funny! And then we were talking about Brad Pitt – she told me “You know, I don’t think Brad Pitt is so attractive. His face is too young-looking. Angelina Jolie looks like she’s older than him. I like George Clooney better; he seems more manly to me.” Loved that! And, as I told her, I agree with her :-D
Also today, I finally got to go to church! My friend Megan invited me to go with her to the Saturday service at an Evangelical church, which, to my delight, is a block from my house! I had no idea it was even there. It’s funny how many things you can find just by going down a new street here. Anyway, it was a cool experience. It was nice to go to a church that wasn’t Catholic – not that Catholic churches are bad, but it’s not what I grew up with so I’m really not familiar with how they work. It was still pretty different (a bit more on the charismatic side), but more like the traditions I’m used to. It felt so good to sing praise songs and listen to the sermon – I felt so at home! And it was really neat to sing in Spanish (and just to sing, period – it’s been quite some time)! Thank goodness they had the words playing on TV screens; otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of them.
Another interesting moment was during the moments that were sort of like the “sharing the peace” times at a Lutheran church. The lady sitting next to Megan and I turned to us once and said to us “Nothing is impossible with God. God has saved you!” (in Spanish, of course) and kissed us on both cheeks. Another time, she said something to the effect of, “God has changed us, do you believe that?” and gave us a hug. It was definitely different, and we weren’t really sure how we were supposed to reply, but it was still kind of neat.
And I was pretty proud of myself – I managed to understand the majority of the sermon! Not as easy as it sounds, since I have to pay attention every second when I’m listening to a big chunk of Spanish. If I zone out for the smallest moment, I get lost. And since I have the attention span of a goldfish, I felt pretty accomplished for staying with it for so long. The service was a little longer than we would have liked – it was only supposed to go from 6:00-8:00, but it ended up going until ten to 9:00. We were ready to get out of there by the time it was over, but it was still a neat experience. I’m hoping to make it a habit to go there! I definitely need the spiritual refreshment, I know that much.
Well, I think the heat has gone off in the piso and I’m getting cold and sleepy. Time to go to bed and sleep late tomorrow morning! Hoping for another good week. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s nearly the end of February already!
For the last few days, I’ve just been enjoying the routine and getting to know Pamplona a bit better. After the wonderful but exhausting Paris experience, I’ve been very content to chill out at home. Especially since, as I think I’ve said, I am not nor am I likely to ever be into the party scene. This week especially, going to a noisy, smoky bar to spend money on drinks and possibly get hit on by random guys sounded like the very last thing I wanted to do. And since that seems to be the only way to hang out with a group of friends, things have been quiet for me this week. And if you know me at all, you’ll know that that suits me just fine :-)
I have done quite a bit this week, though, all things considered. I finished the interview part of our project for Civilization and Culture class. I was sooo not looking forward to it because our prof kind of wanted us to survey random people on the street, which sounded way too scary to me. I mean, the people here are nice, but I’ve always hated interviewing with the passion of a thousand fiery suns…and the fact that I had to do it in Spanish with people I didn’t even know made it sound even worse. Thankfully, though, it was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be (that seems to be the way it always goes with me) – I just ended up handing out the typed-out surveys to some people in the cafetería, and they were quite willing to help me. Still made me nervous as heck, but I got over it. And I got my host sister to do the last one, so that was easy. I’m still glad that’s over with, though!
I’ve also done a little bit more exploring – I went shopping with a couple of the girls yesterday and found some fun little things. And today I was determined to find a pair of boots – both of my other pairs leak now (one pair is cheap suede, and I’ve walked approximately 12 million miles in the other pair so they’re not what you could call watertight anymore), and my host mom said, “You need to get some boots that won’t get your feet wet when it rains!” And I said, “You know what? You’re right.” Besides, what woman needs an excuse to buy another pair of cute shoes? Not this one. So anyway, this led me to look around Casco Antiguo a little bit. By myself. And I didn’t even get lost! Granted, I have been there a few times now, but if you knew how confusing and twisty those streets are, you’d know what an achievement this is for me. Didn’t find the boots there, but I did find some on another street. So, I’m pretty much a legit European now, with my leggings and my boots and my long shirts. Yep.
Also, lately I’ve been enjoying my current state of physical fitness. At home, I had to exercise several times a week to stay in reasonably good shape. But here, I can do that just by living. Like Lauren said, at home we ate because it’s fun; here, we eat to survive. What with the healthy diet, ridiculous amount of walking, and lack of snack times, I’m feeling pretty darn skinny! Although I probably have the beefiest calves this side of the Atlantic, from walking up and down all these hills. For real. But hey, it’s useful, I daresay.
Another thing I’ve been noticing is that my host mom and I have started to become more comfortable around each other (it’s taken me long enough…but then, I’ve never been a fast mover), which has been so nice. One day she said to me “You should talk some more! You’re always so quiet, and you need to practice to learn.” And she’s right – I do practice Spanish with friends and at school quite a bit, but she only sees the side of me that’s still struggling to conjugate verbs correctly and who makes really dumb mistakes, since I don’t talk a lot at home. For some reason, I find it way harder to talk to my host mom in Spanish than with other people. Maybe it’s because I’m trying not to make mistakes, or that I don’t know if it would be rude or too personal to ask this or that question, or that I just can’t think of a good topic. But anyway, after she said that, I started making a conscious effort to elaborate more when she asks me things and even (gasp!) volunteer information. And from that point, it seems like someone flipped a switch somewhere and we got a lot closer. She asks me a lot more details about what I’m up to, my classes, stuff about my family and home, etc. And I’ve been telling her a lot more. It’s been great – it makes me feel like I actually am learning how to speak at least a bit better in Spanish! And it’s made it more fun to hang out with my host mom. She was so cute today – we were eating dinner and watching TV, like we usually do, and the only thing we could really find to watch was Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I like that movie well enough, but my host mom isn’t really into action movies and said it was “un rollo” – which basically means sucky. So funny! And then we were talking about Brad Pitt – she told me “You know, I don’t think Brad Pitt is so attractive. His face is too young-looking. Angelina Jolie looks like she’s older than him. I like George Clooney better; he seems more manly to me.” Loved that! And, as I told her, I agree with her :-D
Also today, I finally got to go to church! My friend Megan invited me to go with her to the Saturday service at an Evangelical church, which, to my delight, is a block from my house! I had no idea it was even there. It’s funny how many things you can find just by going down a new street here. Anyway, it was a cool experience. It was nice to go to a church that wasn’t Catholic – not that Catholic churches are bad, but it’s not what I grew up with so I’m really not familiar with how they work. It was still pretty different (a bit more on the charismatic side), but more like the traditions I’m used to. It felt so good to sing praise songs and listen to the sermon – I felt so at home! And it was really neat to sing in Spanish (and just to sing, period – it’s been quite some time)! Thank goodness they had the words playing on TV screens; otherwise I wouldn’t have had a clue about any of them.
Another interesting moment was during the moments that were sort of like the “sharing the peace” times at a Lutheran church. The lady sitting next to Megan and I turned to us once and said to us “Nothing is impossible with God. God has saved you!” (in Spanish, of course) and kissed us on both cheeks. Another time, she said something to the effect of, “God has changed us, do you believe that?” and gave us a hug. It was definitely different, and we weren’t really sure how we were supposed to reply, but it was still kind of neat.
And I was pretty proud of myself – I managed to understand the majority of the sermon! Not as easy as it sounds, since I have to pay attention every second when I’m listening to a big chunk of Spanish. If I zone out for the smallest moment, I get lost. And since I have the attention span of a goldfish, I felt pretty accomplished for staying with it for so long. The service was a little longer than we would have liked – it was only supposed to go from 6:00-8:00, but it ended up going until ten to 9:00. We were ready to get out of there by the time it was over, but it was still a neat experience. I’m hoping to make it a habit to go there! I definitely need the spiritual refreshment, I know that much.
Well, I think the heat has gone off in the piso and I’m getting cold and sleepy. Time to go to bed and sleep late tomorrow morning! Hoping for another good week. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s nearly the end of February already!
Monday, February 15, 2010
Paris, Part Deux
The next day was our trip to the Chateau de Versailles! The day before, we realized that we had pretty much seen what we wanted to see in the city, and since we had been wanting to check out Versailles but weren’t sure if we’d have time (it’s basically a day trip, since it’s 30 or 40 minutes from the city center and is gigantic). So when we realized that we had plenty of time, we decided to go for it. We took a cheap train (and got to sit on the upper deck!), which got us to the Chateau area pretty quickly. When we got there, we thought we’d have to pay around 15 euro for tickets, and that just to see the palace itself. But when we showed our student visas in hopes of getting a discount, they told us that we could go in, free of charge, to see every part of Versailles that we wanted! And then, we decided we would go pay to get audio-guide headphones that tell the history of the palace as you walk, since we didn’t have to pay for tickets, but again, they were free! The guy said, “Are you under 26? No problem.” So we were super happy after all this. This trip has taught us that it apparently pays to be young! And it got better from there – the palace was absolutely dazzling. The sumptuous rooms were covered in gold, rich fabrics, portraits, and beautiful paintings and architecture on the ceilings. And the Hall of Mirrors was something I’ve always thought it would be cool to see, and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Wandering around that luxurious place and hearing about its history was one pleasant way to spend a morning, that’s for sure.
We went to eat lunch after seeing the palace – there was nowhere really to eat in Versailles that wasn’t a snooty-looking restaurant, so we headed down the street to yet another McDonald’s to eat our pack lunches, and we bought a small item each so it looked like we belonged there. After that, we went back to the palace grounds to brave the cold and see the gardens. The grounds were very beautiful, though we couldn’t help thinking that it would have been a lot more pleasant to come in the summer when the fountains are going and all the plants are growing. Also, I lost my hat along the way, which I was sad about, until we decided that we were super thankful that it wasn’t something important/irreplaceable that had been lost. Anyway, we marveled at the sheer size of the place as we walked the long pathway to Marie Antoinette’s personal chateau, the Tairon. It was a bit anticlimactic after the extravagance of the castle, but it was still very beautiful, and it was really fun to imagine what it would have been like to be Marie Antoinette –sweeping along those hallways and garden paths in huge hoop skirts, entertaining friends in the pretty salons, having private balls in the great hall, and waking up to the sunrise every morning in the huge, curtained canopy bed. And the pink marble columns and delicate furniture with pretty colors and patterns made us think that this is definitely where a classy chick like Marie would hang out, though we wondered why she would want to spend so much time so far away from her husband like that. But then, I guess that’s how those arranged marriages went sometimes. I still wish I could remember more about that history! I’ll have to read up on it, I guess.
By late afternoon, we decided we’d seen all we wanted to see of Versailles, so we headed back to Saint-Michel to look around. We found a great store called Monoprix, which has pretty much everything, near as we could figure, including a grocery store where we bought more treats and some milk. Next, we decided it was high time for dinner, and went to a pizza/pasta place that we’d liked the looks of earlier. We knew it would be a little pricey, but we decided we could afford to splurge since we hadn’t paid a dime for Versailles. And oh, my gosh…eating at that restaurant was a fantastic decision – the atmosphere was so cozy and wonderful, and we had the best pasta of our lives there (I really should stop using so many absolutes…but it’s true!)!! I even decided to order some crème brulèe, which was also extremely delicious. And I bet not too many other people can say that their first crème brulèe experience was in Paris, France! And after our longish metro ride, we had some of the treats and a lot of the milk that we’d bought, which continued the gastronomic ecstasy. We were so happy after that we couldn’t stop laughing, neither on the metro, nor when we were getting ready for bed. The people around us probably thought we were crazy, but we didn’t care. Our tummies were pretty much in love with us by that point, and we were brimming with happiness! What a wonderful night.
The next day was our last day in Paris. We had planned on going shopping at the mall at Les Halles since we didn’t really have anything else we wanted to see, but found out that the mall is closed on Sundays, which was rather disappointing – we didn’t even think about that possibility. We heard that there are still shops open around that area, though, so we checked out of our hostel, checked our bags into the secure room for the day, and decided to go anyway. When we got there, there really wasn’t too much open, but we did find a couple of fun things. We eventually made our way to Champs d’Elyseés once again, and discovered that we were right in thinking that there would be more places open there. Apparently that’s one of the few parts of town that’s open on Sunday, because the streets were packed with people – it was kind of intimidating to look down the street and see this huge, undulating crowd of shoppers. But we braved the mob and ended up going into quite a few places. Lauren found the cute pair of boots she’d been wanting, and I found a cool shirt to wear with leggings, for surprisingly cheap, considering where we bought them. And I’m excited to be able to say, “I got this on Champs d’Elyseés!” hehe :-) We also had a fun time checking out the swankiest, most expensive drugstore you can imagine! I felt like I didn’t belong in there, but it sure was interesting to see all the beautiful and/or intriguing things.
After returning to Saint-Michel yet again, doing a bit more looking around, and getting food for dinner and the ride home as well as some last-minute treats at Monoprix, we went back to the hostel to use the kitchen one last time, get our bags, and get ready to go. Even though we’d had the time of our lives, we were more than ready to go home. We were in a weird state of mind – we missed somewhere, but weren’t really sure if it was Paris, Pamplona, Concordia, or our real homes. It sort of felt as though we didn’t really belong anywhere, or didn’t really know where home was. But then, we decided that home is wherever we are. At this nomadic stage of our lives, it’s best to just determine to feel at home in many places.
After a dinner of some yummy microwaved pizza and some more milk, we got our bags, freshened up a bit, and got on our last metro ride of the trip. We got to the train station with plenty of time to spare and got on our train as soon as the platform number was posted. We were excited to see what first class would be like (it was cheaper to go late at night in a sleeper car, for some reason, so we were like, “Why not?”), and it was definitely kind of cool. We each got our own little top bunk with plenty of space for luggage, our own light switch, a little sleeping bag and pillow, a water bottle, and a little pack with earplugs, Kleenex, and a wet-wipe inside. I felt sorta high-class :-P Also, the couple that was in the same compartment with us were really nice, and the lady made sure that we knew how to get in and out and was kind of motherly to us, even though she didn’t speak much English. We appreciated her so much, and were really glad that she made such an effort to communicate with us. And we were excited that we had from 11:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning to sleep! I found it pretty easy to fall asleep (even though I was sleeping in my clothes), what with the comfy bed and the rocking motion of the moving train. It was really disorienting, though – the man in our compartment shut the shade before we left, so I couldn’t even really tell which direction the train was moving in, only that it was moving. So I had a couple of claustrophobic moments, but I made it. And I did get some sleep, which made things look a lot brighter in the morning than they would have. At around 7:30, we got off at Irun, and then caught our TOPO pretty soon afterward. When we arrived in San Sebastian, there was a bus ready and waiting to leave right at 9:00 to take us to Pamplona, so we were glad it worked out so perfectly. A short bus ride later, we were back in Pamplona, happy to hear Spanish instead of French being spoken all around us and to see familiar places! It was a great trip, but it was definitely time to come back.
And so, to wrap up this novel :-P, I have a few conclusions about our adventure to Paris. About the city itself – I love Paris and don’t regret a single second or a single penny that I spent there, but I am not a fan of the people; they just make you feel much less safe than other places, and I’ve lived too long in the Midwest to be able to tolerate the higher amount of rudeness that one encounters. But then, for every rude or unpleasant person we ran across, there was a kind, helpful person who was there for us when we needed them. So, it evens out in the end.
And as Lauren and I talked about on the way home, there are some things that can be drilled into you but that you never truly learn until you figure it out for yourself. One life lesson that we learned through this experience is that God loves us so much and is always there for us – there were so many serendipitous moments that proved this – the fact that getting to and from Paris went extremely smoothly and easily, our perfect timing again and again with our travel connections, the many times when we had to pay less than we thought we would, the random people who helped us just when we needed it, finding the stores that had the things we needed (or even just wanted), getting amazing roommates after the first night, and so many other things. Another lesson is that less is more – it’s great to travel sometimes, but we couldn’t handle doing it all the time; we’ll be content to stay in Pamplona for some weeks now, I wager. A third lesson is that sometimes you have to be tough and not let people mess with you, but that’s much easier to do with a friend. Two people who trust each other are unstoppable! And finally, we learned that we really are confident, independent, capable women, and we are able to go to a new country where we don’t know the language and get by just fine, keeping ourselves safe and sound all the while.
So basically, I can’t imagine a better trip. We experienced so much, walked about a squillion miles (just when I thought my legs couldn’t get any beefier…), learned some important things about ourselves and the world, and just plain had a fantastic time. We made some memories that I know I won’t forget for as long as I live. The only things that would have made it better would have been warmer weather and family members to share our experiences with! I thank God for protecting us and going with us every step of the way on this wonderful trip, and I’m so glad I went. It was a once in a lifetime experience!
We went to eat lunch after seeing the palace – there was nowhere really to eat in Versailles that wasn’t a snooty-looking restaurant, so we headed down the street to yet another McDonald’s to eat our pack lunches, and we bought a small item each so it looked like we belonged there. After that, we went back to the palace grounds to brave the cold and see the gardens. The grounds were very beautiful, though we couldn’t help thinking that it would have been a lot more pleasant to come in the summer when the fountains are going and all the plants are growing. Also, I lost my hat along the way, which I was sad about, until we decided that we were super thankful that it wasn’t something important/irreplaceable that had been lost. Anyway, we marveled at the sheer size of the place as we walked the long pathway to Marie Antoinette’s personal chateau, the Tairon. It was a bit anticlimactic after the extravagance of the castle, but it was still very beautiful, and it was really fun to imagine what it would have been like to be Marie Antoinette –sweeping along those hallways and garden paths in huge hoop skirts, entertaining friends in the pretty salons, having private balls in the great hall, and waking up to the sunrise every morning in the huge, curtained canopy bed. And the pink marble columns and delicate furniture with pretty colors and patterns made us think that this is definitely where a classy chick like Marie would hang out, though we wondered why she would want to spend so much time so far away from her husband like that. But then, I guess that’s how those arranged marriages went sometimes. I still wish I could remember more about that history! I’ll have to read up on it, I guess.
By late afternoon, we decided we’d seen all we wanted to see of Versailles, so we headed back to Saint-Michel to look around. We found a great store called Monoprix, which has pretty much everything, near as we could figure, including a grocery store where we bought more treats and some milk. Next, we decided it was high time for dinner, and went to a pizza/pasta place that we’d liked the looks of earlier. We knew it would be a little pricey, but we decided we could afford to splurge since we hadn’t paid a dime for Versailles. And oh, my gosh…eating at that restaurant was a fantastic decision – the atmosphere was so cozy and wonderful, and we had the best pasta of our lives there (I really should stop using so many absolutes…but it’s true!)!! I even decided to order some crème brulèe, which was also extremely delicious. And I bet not too many other people can say that their first crème brulèe experience was in Paris, France! And after our longish metro ride, we had some of the treats and a lot of the milk that we’d bought, which continued the gastronomic ecstasy. We were so happy after that we couldn’t stop laughing, neither on the metro, nor when we were getting ready for bed. The people around us probably thought we were crazy, but we didn’t care. Our tummies were pretty much in love with us by that point, and we were brimming with happiness! What a wonderful night.
The next day was our last day in Paris. We had planned on going shopping at the mall at Les Halles since we didn’t really have anything else we wanted to see, but found out that the mall is closed on Sundays, which was rather disappointing – we didn’t even think about that possibility. We heard that there are still shops open around that area, though, so we checked out of our hostel, checked our bags into the secure room for the day, and decided to go anyway. When we got there, there really wasn’t too much open, but we did find a couple of fun things. We eventually made our way to Champs d’Elyseés once again, and discovered that we were right in thinking that there would be more places open there. Apparently that’s one of the few parts of town that’s open on Sunday, because the streets were packed with people – it was kind of intimidating to look down the street and see this huge, undulating crowd of shoppers. But we braved the mob and ended up going into quite a few places. Lauren found the cute pair of boots she’d been wanting, and I found a cool shirt to wear with leggings, for surprisingly cheap, considering where we bought them. And I’m excited to be able to say, “I got this on Champs d’Elyseés!” hehe :-) We also had a fun time checking out the swankiest, most expensive drugstore you can imagine! I felt like I didn’t belong in there, but it sure was interesting to see all the beautiful and/or intriguing things.
After returning to Saint-Michel yet again, doing a bit more looking around, and getting food for dinner and the ride home as well as some last-minute treats at Monoprix, we went back to the hostel to use the kitchen one last time, get our bags, and get ready to go. Even though we’d had the time of our lives, we were more than ready to go home. We were in a weird state of mind – we missed somewhere, but weren’t really sure if it was Paris, Pamplona, Concordia, or our real homes. It sort of felt as though we didn’t really belong anywhere, or didn’t really know where home was. But then, we decided that home is wherever we are. At this nomadic stage of our lives, it’s best to just determine to feel at home in many places.
After a dinner of some yummy microwaved pizza and some more milk, we got our bags, freshened up a bit, and got on our last metro ride of the trip. We got to the train station with plenty of time to spare and got on our train as soon as the platform number was posted. We were excited to see what first class would be like (it was cheaper to go late at night in a sleeper car, for some reason, so we were like, “Why not?”), and it was definitely kind of cool. We each got our own little top bunk with plenty of space for luggage, our own light switch, a little sleeping bag and pillow, a water bottle, and a little pack with earplugs, Kleenex, and a wet-wipe inside. I felt sorta high-class :-P Also, the couple that was in the same compartment with us were really nice, and the lady made sure that we knew how to get in and out and was kind of motherly to us, even though she didn’t speak much English. We appreciated her so much, and were really glad that she made such an effort to communicate with us. And we were excited that we had from 11:00 at night to 7:00 in the morning to sleep! I found it pretty easy to fall asleep (even though I was sleeping in my clothes), what with the comfy bed and the rocking motion of the moving train. It was really disorienting, though – the man in our compartment shut the shade before we left, so I couldn’t even really tell which direction the train was moving in, only that it was moving. So I had a couple of claustrophobic moments, but I made it. And I did get some sleep, which made things look a lot brighter in the morning than they would have. At around 7:30, we got off at Irun, and then caught our TOPO pretty soon afterward. When we arrived in San Sebastian, there was a bus ready and waiting to leave right at 9:00 to take us to Pamplona, so we were glad it worked out so perfectly. A short bus ride later, we were back in Pamplona, happy to hear Spanish instead of French being spoken all around us and to see familiar places! It was a great trip, but it was definitely time to come back.
And so, to wrap up this novel :-P, I have a few conclusions about our adventure to Paris. About the city itself – I love Paris and don’t regret a single second or a single penny that I spent there, but I am not a fan of the people; they just make you feel much less safe than other places, and I’ve lived too long in the Midwest to be able to tolerate the higher amount of rudeness that one encounters. But then, for every rude or unpleasant person we ran across, there was a kind, helpful person who was there for us when we needed them. So, it evens out in the end.
And as Lauren and I talked about on the way home, there are some things that can be drilled into you but that you never truly learn until you figure it out for yourself. One life lesson that we learned through this experience is that God loves us so much and is always there for us – there were so many serendipitous moments that proved this – the fact that getting to and from Paris went extremely smoothly and easily, our perfect timing again and again with our travel connections, the many times when we had to pay less than we thought we would, the random people who helped us just when we needed it, finding the stores that had the things we needed (or even just wanted), getting amazing roommates after the first night, and so many other things. Another lesson is that less is more – it’s great to travel sometimes, but we couldn’t handle doing it all the time; we’ll be content to stay in Pamplona for some weeks now, I wager. A third lesson is that sometimes you have to be tough and not let people mess with you, but that’s much easier to do with a friend. Two people who trust each other are unstoppable! And finally, we learned that we really are confident, independent, capable women, and we are able to go to a new country where we don’t know the language and get by just fine, keeping ourselves safe and sound all the while.
So basically, I can’t imagine a better trip. We experienced so much, walked about a squillion miles (just when I thought my legs couldn’t get any beefier…), learned some important things about ourselves and the world, and just plain had a fantastic time. We made some memories that I know I won’t forget for as long as I live. The only things that would have made it better would have been warmer weather and family members to share our experiences with! I thank God for protecting us and going with us every step of the way on this wonderful trip, and I’m so glad I went. It was a once in a lifetime experience!
Adventures, Life Lessons and Pastries - French Style
Wow. These last few days have been some of the most amazing of my entire life! And it’s probably going to take me a few pages to tell you all about it, but hang in there – it’s gonna be a good story.
My and Lauren’s trip to Paris began on Wednesday, February 10. We got up, got on the bus to San Sebastian, and did our best to forget about how much school we were going to be missing. Our excitement was mounting all the way to the Euskotren station, where we boarded the TOPO train to Hendaye. We knew our trip was off to a good start when we got to the station without trouble and hopped on the next train, which left approximately five minutes after we got to the station. After a few stops at stations that had unpronounceable Basque names, we were excited to be across the French border in Hendaye! We got to the TGV train station with over two hours to spare. It got a little boring after a while, but we just read Cosmo (in Spanish!) and decided that we would far rather have to wait than be rushing to make our connections. Finally, our train to Paris arrived, and after a bit of confusion as to which direction we needed to go, we were sitting on our train car, brimming with excitement. We were the only ones in our car for a while (it was a smaller one, the kind with seats that face each other with tables in between), so we were naively holding onto the dream that we would have the car to ourselves for the trip. Alas, it was not to be – we made a few stops and the car filled up pretty quickly. But the two most attractive men in the car sat across from us, so we decided we were okay with it :-P
Five hours later, we were starting to get a little stir crazy, and were more than ready to stretch our stiff knees and find our hostel. When we got to the train station, we found out that it connects right to the metro, and since we’d written down the metro line and stop beforehand, we went to buy a book of ten metro tickets and got onto our line. We had to ask for help to find the street that our hostel was on, but a really nice lady showed us where it was on her map and we found it with no trouble after that. And we found out that it was really close to the metro stop, which proved to be super convenient for the rest of the trip. That night we pretty much just checked in and got settled, did some journaling, and went to bed. The hostel itself was pretty good – a little old and the beds were reeeeally shaky (though comfy), but the amenities were nice, and it met all of the needs we had there – but our roommates that night were a little interesting; it was us and three guys. They didn’t seem scary, but we chose the top bunks, slept with our luggage on our beds, and told them that we were from Canada (a tip we heard from my parents – a good way to steer clear of the stigma of being an American in France), just to be safe. Ironically, two of the guys in the room, who were the first people we used our Manitoba ruse with, were actually from Canada in real life. Thankfully, though, our cover was never blown. And all three men moved on the next day, which we were glad for, especially since the third dude decided it would be a good idea to stay in the shower room for two hours. I kid you not. This necessitated our use of the extremely tiny showers downstairs, but whatever. They were hot, at least.
The next morning, we were off on our first day of Parisian adventures! After a fantastically starchy breakfast at the hostel, we headed off to la Fontaine de Saint-Michel (a cool fountain with a statue of Saint Michael stomping on Lucifer) for our free tour at 11. We found it in time (after asking for help again) and were excited to see that Kristen and Lise were already there, waiting with the accumulating group. After a long day of travelling to a new city, it was great to see some familiar faces! While we waited, we talked with some of the other people in the group and made friends with a Chinese girl named Quay (I think this is the correct spelling…it’s pronounced Hway, in any case). Pretty soon our tour guide, an extremely cool and energetic British dude named Colin, gathered us up and introduced himself, and then we were off to explore Paris. He showed us Notre Dame, the river Seine, the Palace of Justice (one of the only places in Paris which bears bullet scars from WWII), the Jardin de Toulleries (gorgeous fountains and statues), the Egyptian obelisk (don’t remember the name of the courtyard it was in, but it stands in the place where they used to guillotine people during the revolution), the fountain into which Anne Hathaway throws her cell phone at the end of The Devil Wears Prada (my To-Do-When-I-Get-Home list now includes re-watching that movie), the president’s house, and several statues and other buildings along the way. We also saw the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe looking all foggy and mysterious in the distance (it was snowing for much of that day). And we even got to stop for a lunch break at Starbucks! It was so nice to warm up and eat one of the seemingly endless sandwiches that my host mom packed for me (seriously, this woman is awesome), and I had the best vanilla latte that I have ever had. In my life. Seriously.
Our fantastic tour ended at the famous street Champs d’Elysées, so Lauren, Kristen, Lise, Quay, and I decided to head down it toward the Arc de Triomphe, which is at the end of the street. Since the Arc de Triomphe is so big, we thought it was a lot closer than it actually was. Thankfully, Champs d’Elysées is one of the most famous places to shop in the entire world, so there were plenty of stores to check out along the way, even though we were afraid to touch anything, because this street is also known for selling the creations of some of the world’s most well-known designers. It was so cool to see places like Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabana, etc. Finally, we made it to the end of the street and got to the Arc de Triomphe. It was stunning with its amazing stone architecture. And the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whose place is marked by the Eternal Flame, was definitely worth seeing. It didn’t take us long to see all there was to see here, though, so we headed down the other side of Champs d’Elysées (at which point Quay left the group and continued on to meet a friend) and stopped in the McDonald’s for a while to warm up and eat again. McDonald’s is way ritzier in Paris than in Minnesota, let me tell you. They even sell beautiful French pastries and fancy coffee!
After that, we headed to a souvenir shop (these are everywhere in Paris) that Lauren and I had liked the looks of earlier. It took us a while to find it again, but find it we did, and we bought a few things to take home. Next, we headed to the Musée d’Orsay, which holds many realist and impressionist paintings, some by none other than Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir. We’d found out that this museum is open until 9:45 on Thursdays, so we decided it would be a good way to end the day. We were right – we had been getting colder and crankier by the minute at that point (or maybe that was just me…), so seeing the beautiful paintings and statues in a serene and gorgeous atmosphere was just what we needed right then. We loved the paintings and had a good time taking pictures of ourselves doing silly poses in front of the artwork. People probably thought we were crazy, but it was great fun and we were beyond caring at that point. We had to take our minds off of our aching feet somehow!
After the museum, we all headed back for some much-needed dinner. We were having trouble finding somewhere to eat that didn’t cost an arm and a leg at that time of night, and Lauren and I eventually ended up heading back to Saint-Michel, since we remembered seeing another McDonald’s there and decided that hamburgers and fries sounded like the most delicious thing in the world right then. When we got to Saint-Michel, we couldn’t remember where exactly the McDonald’s was, but we went in the direction that looked familiar. Just when we were despairing of its existence, we turned the corner, and there was McDonald’s, gleaming brightly in front of us! That was a beautiful moment. I can honestly say that I’ve never been more excited to see a McDonald’s in my entire life! We exclaimed for joy and went in. I ordered a burger, fries, a coke, and a salad (Not having had vegetables in a good 24 hours, the salad may have been my favorite part). And oh man, it was heaven. We even went back for round two, at which point I ordered a cheeseburger and a McFlurry Definitely the most delicious McDonald’s experience of my life! We spent a good bit there, and it may be sort of lame to eat at McDonald’s in France, but we regret nothing!! So with our tummies happy and our feet about ready to fall off, Lauren and I headed back to the hostel to rest up for another big day. To our further delight, we found out that our new roommates – a guy and a girl from Portugal, a girl from South Korea, and another guy from I don’t know where who are all studying English in the UK – were really nice, and that we didn’t need to worry about a thing in that department. What a blessing!
The next morning, we got ready for another big day. After grabbing some extra bread at breakfast to make sandwiches with (we had to be sneaky about it because the server lady didn’t like the fact that we were taking more. But then we saw a bunch of other people with multiple bread rolls and then we decided to stop worrying about it), we headed to the metro once again. Our first stop was the Louvre, which we got into for free because we’re studying in the European Union! So fabulous. Anyway, the Louvre was without a doubt my favorite part of the entire trip. I can’t imagine that there is a bigger or more beautiful museum in the world! They say it would take 64 days to see everything there is to see in the Louvre, and it’s chock full of everything from realist paintings to statues to Egyptian archeological finds. We’d had our fill after a couple of hours, though – one can only absorb so much at once, even when it’s something as fantastically gorgeous as the Louvre. But we saw so many wonderful things, my favorites of course being Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and the one and only Mona Lisa. My other favorite part was the ceilings – they’re full of beautiful paintings and sculpture that defy description. We also both loved a room that was full of statues – the ceiling was mostly glass and it let in the most beautiful sunlight. The serenity of the beautiful white marble statues and the quality of the light made our hearts happy :-)
After finishing up at the Louvre and having a quick lunch, we headed off to Notre Dame. I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at this point, and rather unnerved by the…interesting…people one sees on the streets of Paris, so I had a hard time absorbing it, but it was very beautiful. The pipe organ and stained glass windows were so gorgeous! I tried to take pictures, but like most photos, they don’t do any justice to the real thing.
After that we headed to the neighborhood around the Eiffel Tower. I was starting to run out of steam, but we got some delicious pastry at a patisserie and some coffee at Starbucks, and that helped to perk me up a bit. We did a little planning there and then explored the area a little. We were happy to see that the neighborhood had an Ed, which is apparently the cheapest grocery store chain in Paris – we decided we would definitely be coming back there later, since we were running low on bocadillos (sandwiches).
When we were done looking around, it was time to climb up the Eiffel Tower! We waited for a while to buy our tickets and then began the ascent – we decided to take the stairs and save a few euro. It was frigid outside (not so bad by Minnesota standards, but it doesn’t feel too nice when you’re out in it for a long time and are a couple hundred meters above the ground), so the walk up was pretty arduous before long. We were chilled to the bone and our legs were noodles by the time we got back down, but it was worth the view and the experience. We even got to see a beautiful sunset from the 2nd floor!
We then took a few great pictures and headed back to the neighborhood we’d been in before to do a little shopping before the tower’s light show. We got some provisions at Ed (along with copious amounts of French chocolate), stopped at a cute store or two, and looked around for a place to eat after the light show. And we learned that you shouldn’t take too long looking at the menu of a restaurant outside, because a waiter might sneak up behind you and stare you down, wondering what kind of weird foreigners are loitering in front of his restaurant. Anyway, we got back to the Eiffel Tower a little before 8:00 to wait for the show. By this time, I had absolutely nothing left. I was cold, tired, and dreadfully homesick. For some reason, as I was sitting there I felt a desperate need to go home – to my real home, not Pamplona – and see my family, and knowing that I couldn’t do that just made the feeling worse. But thankfully Lauren was there to give me a hug and remind me that this isn’t going to last forever – there may be homesick moments, but we’ll be home again before we know it so we need to enjoy this time while we have it. Anyway, the light show finally started, and it was gorgeous and blessedly short. After a few minutes of watching lights race up and down the tower, we left to get our frozen bodies into a restaurant. We had some delicious pizza with ham and mushrooms, which left us feeling a lot better. By the time we got back to our hostel, I was ready to fall over…I don’t remember a time when I was more exhausted. It was an incredible day, but boy, did I sleep well that night!
My and Lauren’s trip to Paris began on Wednesday, February 10. We got up, got on the bus to San Sebastian, and did our best to forget about how much school we were going to be missing. Our excitement was mounting all the way to the Euskotren station, where we boarded the TOPO train to Hendaye. We knew our trip was off to a good start when we got to the station without trouble and hopped on the next train, which left approximately five minutes after we got to the station. After a few stops at stations that had unpronounceable Basque names, we were excited to be across the French border in Hendaye! We got to the TGV train station with over two hours to spare. It got a little boring after a while, but we just read Cosmo (in Spanish!) and decided that we would far rather have to wait than be rushing to make our connections. Finally, our train to Paris arrived, and after a bit of confusion as to which direction we needed to go, we were sitting on our train car, brimming with excitement. We were the only ones in our car for a while (it was a smaller one, the kind with seats that face each other with tables in between), so we were naively holding onto the dream that we would have the car to ourselves for the trip. Alas, it was not to be – we made a few stops and the car filled up pretty quickly. But the two most attractive men in the car sat across from us, so we decided we were okay with it :-P
Five hours later, we were starting to get a little stir crazy, and were more than ready to stretch our stiff knees and find our hostel. When we got to the train station, we found out that it connects right to the metro, and since we’d written down the metro line and stop beforehand, we went to buy a book of ten metro tickets and got onto our line. We had to ask for help to find the street that our hostel was on, but a really nice lady showed us where it was on her map and we found it with no trouble after that. And we found out that it was really close to the metro stop, which proved to be super convenient for the rest of the trip. That night we pretty much just checked in and got settled, did some journaling, and went to bed. The hostel itself was pretty good – a little old and the beds were reeeeally shaky (though comfy), but the amenities were nice, and it met all of the needs we had there – but our roommates that night were a little interesting; it was us and three guys. They didn’t seem scary, but we chose the top bunks, slept with our luggage on our beds, and told them that we were from Canada (a tip we heard from my parents – a good way to steer clear of the stigma of being an American in France), just to be safe. Ironically, two of the guys in the room, who were the first people we used our Manitoba ruse with, were actually from Canada in real life. Thankfully, though, our cover was never blown. And all three men moved on the next day, which we were glad for, especially since the third dude decided it would be a good idea to stay in the shower room for two hours. I kid you not. This necessitated our use of the extremely tiny showers downstairs, but whatever. They were hot, at least.
The next morning, we were off on our first day of Parisian adventures! After a fantastically starchy breakfast at the hostel, we headed off to la Fontaine de Saint-Michel (a cool fountain with a statue of Saint Michael stomping on Lucifer) for our free tour at 11. We found it in time (after asking for help again) and were excited to see that Kristen and Lise were already there, waiting with the accumulating group. After a long day of travelling to a new city, it was great to see some familiar faces! While we waited, we talked with some of the other people in the group and made friends with a Chinese girl named Quay (I think this is the correct spelling…it’s pronounced Hway, in any case). Pretty soon our tour guide, an extremely cool and energetic British dude named Colin, gathered us up and introduced himself, and then we were off to explore Paris. He showed us Notre Dame, the river Seine, the Palace of Justice (one of the only places in Paris which bears bullet scars from WWII), the Jardin de Toulleries (gorgeous fountains and statues), the Egyptian obelisk (don’t remember the name of the courtyard it was in, but it stands in the place where they used to guillotine people during the revolution), the fountain into which Anne Hathaway throws her cell phone at the end of The Devil Wears Prada (my To-Do-When-I-Get-Home list now includes re-watching that movie), the president’s house, and several statues and other buildings along the way. We also saw the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe looking all foggy and mysterious in the distance (it was snowing for much of that day). And we even got to stop for a lunch break at Starbucks! It was so nice to warm up and eat one of the seemingly endless sandwiches that my host mom packed for me (seriously, this woman is awesome), and I had the best vanilla latte that I have ever had. In my life. Seriously.
Our fantastic tour ended at the famous street Champs d’Elysées, so Lauren, Kristen, Lise, Quay, and I decided to head down it toward the Arc de Triomphe, which is at the end of the street. Since the Arc de Triomphe is so big, we thought it was a lot closer than it actually was. Thankfully, Champs d’Elysées is one of the most famous places to shop in the entire world, so there were plenty of stores to check out along the way, even though we were afraid to touch anything, because this street is also known for selling the creations of some of the world’s most well-known designers. It was so cool to see places like Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabana, etc. Finally, we made it to the end of the street and got to the Arc de Triomphe. It was stunning with its amazing stone architecture. And the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whose place is marked by the Eternal Flame, was definitely worth seeing. It didn’t take us long to see all there was to see here, though, so we headed down the other side of Champs d’Elysées (at which point Quay left the group and continued on to meet a friend) and stopped in the McDonald’s for a while to warm up and eat again. McDonald’s is way ritzier in Paris than in Minnesota, let me tell you. They even sell beautiful French pastries and fancy coffee!
After that, we headed to a souvenir shop (these are everywhere in Paris) that Lauren and I had liked the looks of earlier. It took us a while to find it again, but find it we did, and we bought a few things to take home. Next, we headed to the Musée d’Orsay, which holds many realist and impressionist paintings, some by none other than Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir. We’d found out that this museum is open until 9:45 on Thursdays, so we decided it would be a good way to end the day. We were right – we had been getting colder and crankier by the minute at that point (or maybe that was just me…), so seeing the beautiful paintings and statues in a serene and gorgeous atmosphere was just what we needed right then. We loved the paintings and had a good time taking pictures of ourselves doing silly poses in front of the artwork. People probably thought we were crazy, but it was great fun and we were beyond caring at that point. We had to take our minds off of our aching feet somehow!
After the museum, we all headed back for some much-needed dinner. We were having trouble finding somewhere to eat that didn’t cost an arm and a leg at that time of night, and Lauren and I eventually ended up heading back to Saint-Michel, since we remembered seeing another McDonald’s there and decided that hamburgers and fries sounded like the most delicious thing in the world right then. When we got to Saint-Michel, we couldn’t remember where exactly the McDonald’s was, but we went in the direction that looked familiar. Just when we were despairing of its existence, we turned the corner, and there was McDonald’s, gleaming brightly in front of us! That was a beautiful moment. I can honestly say that I’ve never been more excited to see a McDonald’s in my entire life! We exclaimed for joy and went in. I ordered a burger, fries, a coke, and a salad (Not having had vegetables in a good 24 hours, the salad may have been my favorite part). And oh man, it was heaven. We even went back for round two, at which point I ordered a cheeseburger and a McFlurry Definitely the most delicious McDonald’s experience of my life! We spent a good bit there, and it may be sort of lame to eat at McDonald’s in France, but we regret nothing!! So with our tummies happy and our feet about ready to fall off, Lauren and I headed back to the hostel to rest up for another big day. To our further delight, we found out that our new roommates – a guy and a girl from Portugal, a girl from South Korea, and another guy from I don’t know where who are all studying English in the UK – were really nice, and that we didn’t need to worry about a thing in that department. What a blessing!
The next morning, we got ready for another big day. After grabbing some extra bread at breakfast to make sandwiches with (we had to be sneaky about it because the server lady didn’t like the fact that we were taking more. But then we saw a bunch of other people with multiple bread rolls and then we decided to stop worrying about it), we headed to the metro once again. Our first stop was the Louvre, which we got into for free because we’re studying in the European Union! So fabulous. Anyway, the Louvre was without a doubt my favorite part of the entire trip. I can’t imagine that there is a bigger or more beautiful museum in the world! They say it would take 64 days to see everything there is to see in the Louvre, and it’s chock full of everything from realist paintings to statues to Egyptian archeological finds. We’d had our fill after a couple of hours, though – one can only absorb so much at once, even when it’s something as fantastically gorgeous as the Louvre. But we saw so many wonderful things, my favorites of course being Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and the one and only Mona Lisa. My other favorite part was the ceilings – they’re full of beautiful paintings and sculpture that defy description. We also both loved a room that was full of statues – the ceiling was mostly glass and it let in the most beautiful sunlight. The serenity of the beautiful white marble statues and the quality of the light made our hearts happy :-)
After finishing up at the Louvre and having a quick lunch, we headed off to Notre Dame. I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed at this point, and rather unnerved by the…interesting…people one sees on the streets of Paris, so I had a hard time absorbing it, but it was very beautiful. The pipe organ and stained glass windows were so gorgeous! I tried to take pictures, but like most photos, they don’t do any justice to the real thing.
After that we headed to the neighborhood around the Eiffel Tower. I was starting to run out of steam, but we got some delicious pastry at a patisserie and some coffee at Starbucks, and that helped to perk me up a bit. We did a little planning there and then explored the area a little. We were happy to see that the neighborhood had an Ed, which is apparently the cheapest grocery store chain in Paris – we decided we would definitely be coming back there later, since we were running low on bocadillos (sandwiches).
When we were done looking around, it was time to climb up the Eiffel Tower! We waited for a while to buy our tickets and then began the ascent – we decided to take the stairs and save a few euro. It was frigid outside (not so bad by Minnesota standards, but it doesn’t feel too nice when you’re out in it for a long time and are a couple hundred meters above the ground), so the walk up was pretty arduous before long. We were chilled to the bone and our legs were noodles by the time we got back down, but it was worth the view and the experience. We even got to see a beautiful sunset from the 2nd floor!
We then took a few great pictures and headed back to the neighborhood we’d been in before to do a little shopping before the tower’s light show. We got some provisions at Ed (along with copious amounts of French chocolate), stopped at a cute store or two, and looked around for a place to eat after the light show. And we learned that you shouldn’t take too long looking at the menu of a restaurant outside, because a waiter might sneak up behind you and stare you down, wondering what kind of weird foreigners are loitering in front of his restaurant. Anyway, we got back to the Eiffel Tower a little before 8:00 to wait for the show. By this time, I had absolutely nothing left. I was cold, tired, and dreadfully homesick. For some reason, as I was sitting there I felt a desperate need to go home – to my real home, not Pamplona – and see my family, and knowing that I couldn’t do that just made the feeling worse. But thankfully Lauren was there to give me a hug and remind me that this isn’t going to last forever – there may be homesick moments, but we’ll be home again before we know it so we need to enjoy this time while we have it. Anyway, the light show finally started, and it was gorgeous and blessedly short. After a few minutes of watching lights race up and down the tower, we left to get our frozen bodies into a restaurant. We had some delicious pizza with ham and mushrooms, which left us feeling a lot better. By the time we got back to our hostel, I was ready to fall over…I don’t remember a time when I was more exhausted. It was an incredible day, but boy, did I sleep well that night!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
One Month Down
As of February 6 (yesterday), I have been in Spain for a month. How crazy is that? I can hardly believe that, one month ago, I was getting on a bus from Madrid to Pamplona, trying not to have a panic attack, or something equally drastic. It's encouraging to think about how far I've come since then! I've found my way around the city quite well, established a routine for the most part, made some friends, and learned a ton! Still working on the language thing, but it's getting a little easier.
This week has been fairly eventful. Thank goodness for my journal, or I'd never remember it all to tell you! The beginning of the week started out slowly, as they seem to do here. My days are even less full now that I've dropped translation class (still hoping I made the right decision there...making choices is still not my strong point), so I bummed around a lot on Monday and Tuesday. Things started picking up by Wednesday, however, right at the point where I was starting to get a little crazy from boredom.
Lauren had heard from her host mom that Wednesday, February 3rd, is the festival of San Blas, and that there is a nifty little market in Casco Antiguo. Julia (Lauren's host mom) said it was worth going to look at and take pictures, so Lauren, Julie, Maja, Skyla, and I went to check it out for a while. San Blas is the patron saint of people with sore throats, apparently (which I thought was really random and amusing in its specificity :-P), though there didn't seem to be anything relating to head colds at the festival, that we could see. There were a bunch of stalls there, all selling the same thing - yummy-looking sweet bread and a couple of kinds of candy. We couldn't figure out why there were so many stalls if there was no variety among them (how do you decide who to buy from?), but it was interesting to see. We even got to try a couple of samples, which were quite delicious. Julie and Maja left not long after this because they needed to get some food for meals at the regular market, but the rest of us stuck around Casco Antiguo for a little while.
Also, on the Dia de San Blas, the cathedral on Calle San Nicolas is open, so we decided to go inside. The place is gorgeous, and we got a lot of cool pictures. We even got into the balcony and saw the most beautiful pipe organ I've ever seen! It had a bunch of gold and sculptures on it and was painted with some really neat designs and pictures.
Another interesting fact about San Blas - if you bring food items, there is a priest that will bless them for you. We didn't witness this, unfortunately, but later in the day my host mom brought our bag of little muffins and had them blessed. I haven't tried them yet to see if blessed muffins taste better than normal ones, but I hope to someday soon :D
After we'd gotten our fill of the San Blas festivities, Lauren and Skyla and I went shopping for a little while. I found a gorgeous (purple!) scarf at a chino store (can't remember if I've mentioned these, but they're the have-all stores...quality is a little sketch, but they're good for small items, and prices are great) and one of those long shirts that are super popular here (generally worn with boots and leggings). It's sort of funny...I never cared that much about having the latest fashion back home; I just wear what I like. But here, I feel compelled to become a fashion conformist! Weird. Just one of the many unexpected things I've experienced.
That night, I was invited to go out to a bar/Marengo's. The bar is called La Habana, and they have reeeeally good mojitos (pretty much my new favorite alcoholic drink, no joke). Also, on Wednesday nights, they apparently have salsa dancing lessons, though we arrived after those were over. However, everyone there was raring to go as far as dancing went, it seemed, and us girls were asked to dance several times. I only did so once, with a man who was old enough to be my father :-P But he was really nice, and he taught me how to dance the merengue, which is nice and easy - perfect for a coordination-challenged person like me. And I had lots of fun watching the others - a couple of the intercambio girls can dance the salsa like pros!
After that we headed to Marengo's - this was my first experience at a discoteca, since we have nothing like that at home, really. I liked it, for the most part. It was super noisy, but there were a lot people I knew there, and the music was cool. After dancing for a while, I decided that it was getting way too late for a school night, so I headed back. I'm lucky enough to live two blocks away from Marengo's, so it was a nice, quick walk home, and it was well-lit with no one sketchy wandering the streets (read: Mom and Dad, you don't need to worry :D). My host mom was still up when I got back and said she was really worried - I must not have explained my plans for the night fully enough. So I felt really bad. In the future, I'm going to make sure to tell her when I plan to be out really late.
The next day in class, we were all pretty wiped, but we made it. And then, Thursday evening was our (Lauren, Lise, Kristen, and I) first Latin dance class! It was pretty cool. There are only two men in the class, so many of us women have to take the guy's part in the dance, but we kind of expected this. And it was a lot of fun! We've begun learning the cha-cha and the tango. I couldn't get the turn move down for the cha-cha, which of course made me feel really awkward, but whatever; it was only the first day of class. I did rather better with learning the base for the tango, even though that one is apparently harder (I think the styling is going to be the hard part, not the base), so that made me feel a bit more confident.
Friday was quite interesting as well. And long! Besides the fact that I woke up with a terrible crick in my neck (I still can't turn my head all the way), it was a fun day. Or should I say, evening. I went out with Valentina, Silvia, and Marco - my friends from Italy. Marco of course speaks English, but Silvia feels more comfortable with Spanish and Valentina doesn't speak English much at all, so this forced me to practice Spanish, which I was glad for. Anyway, we went to Casco Antiguo and had the obligatory pintxos and beer at Bar Burgales (I think the bartenders are starting to recognize us). After that we wandered around Casco Antiguo for a while and then headed to Bar Ensayo, where we knew a lot of intercambios would be hanging out. We got a little lost on the way, but after asking for directions a couple of times, we made it there a little before midnight. I didn't get anything to drink there (5 euro is plenty to spend on food and booze for one night, thank you very much), but I enjoyed talking with people, and was happy to see a lot of classmates and friends there. The bar quickly became extremely crowded and noisy, so we made periodic trips outside to breath some (comparatively) fresh air. Three hours later, after being hit on, squished in the mob, meeting some interesting new people, and probably breathing in the equivalent of a cigarette or two in second-hand smoke, I was more than ready to go home. It took a little while to shove our way back out of the crowd and round everyone up, but in the end, I ended up walking with Skyla to the Ciudadela. The buddy system was a good plan, we thought. And we talked the entire time in reasonably fast and articulate Spanish! I was proud of us. Maybe Spanish flows easier at three in the morning? Kind of strange, but cool.
So my consensus of the evening was that it was pretty fun, but I definitely do not want to do it all the time. I'll never be a party girl, I think, so once in a while is plenty. It definitely is interesting though - you never know what you'll see!
Today, I'm just chilling out. I'm going through church withdrawals, so I watched a sermon-thinger on the internet (not really a church service, so I'm not sure what to call it). At some point I'll get to a church, but it hasn't worked out yet. And there are really no protestant churches to be found in Pamplona, as far as I can tell, so I'll have to give the Catholic thing a go sometimes. It'll be fun to see what it's like to worship in a different style, I daresay.
Later, I'm hoping that Lauren and I can go get our tickets for the bus to San Sebastian, from which town we will get to our train to get to Paris on Wednesday! I'm sooo excited! I won't be bringing my computer with me (too risky, and too heavy), so I won't be updating for a while, but rest assured that I'll be posting about our adventure to France when I return :)
This week has been fairly eventful. Thank goodness for my journal, or I'd never remember it all to tell you! The beginning of the week started out slowly, as they seem to do here. My days are even less full now that I've dropped translation class (still hoping I made the right decision there...making choices is still not my strong point), so I bummed around a lot on Monday and Tuesday. Things started picking up by Wednesday, however, right at the point where I was starting to get a little crazy from boredom.
Lauren had heard from her host mom that Wednesday, February 3rd, is the festival of San Blas, and that there is a nifty little market in Casco Antiguo. Julia (Lauren's host mom) said it was worth going to look at and take pictures, so Lauren, Julie, Maja, Skyla, and I went to check it out for a while. San Blas is the patron saint of people with sore throats, apparently (which I thought was really random and amusing in its specificity :-P), though there didn't seem to be anything relating to head colds at the festival, that we could see. There were a bunch of stalls there, all selling the same thing - yummy-looking sweet bread and a couple of kinds of candy. We couldn't figure out why there were so many stalls if there was no variety among them (how do you decide who to buy from?), but it was interesting to see. We even got to try a couple of samples, which were quite delicious. Julie and Maja left not long after this because they needed to get some food for meals at the regular market, but the rest of us stuck around Casco Antiguo for a little while.
Also, on the Dia de San Blas, the cathedral on Calle San Nicolas is open, so we decided to go inside. The place is gorgeous, and we got a lot of cool pictures. We even got into the balcony and saw the most beautiful pipe organ I've ever seen! It had a bunch of gold and sculptures on it and was painted with some really neat designs and pictures.
Another interesting fact about San Blas - if you bring food items, there is a priest that will bless them for you. We didn't witness this, unfortunately, but later in the day my host mom brought our bag of little muffins and had them blessed. I haven't tried them yet to see if blessed muffins taste better than normal ones, but I hope to someday soon :D
After we'd gotten our fill of the San Blas festivities, Lauren and Skyla and I went shopping for a little while. I found a gorgeous (purple!) scarf at a chino store (can't remember if I've mentioned these, but they're the have-all stores...quality is a little sketch, but they're good for small items, and prices are great) and one of those long shirts that are super popular here (generally worn with boots and leggings). It's sort of funny...I never cared that much about having the latest fashion back home; I just wear what I like. But here, I feel compelled to become a fashion conformist! Weird. Just one of the many unexpected things I've experienced.
That night, I was invited to go out to a bar/Marengo's. The bar is called La Habana, and they have reeeeally good mojitos (pretty much my new favorite alcoholic drink, no joke). Also, on Wednesday nights, they apparently have salsa dancing lessons, though we arrived after those were over. However, everyone there was raring to go as far as dancing went, it seemed, and us girls were asked to dance several times. I only did so once, with a man who was old enough to be my father :-P But he was really nice, and he taught me how to dance the merengue, which is nice and easy - perfect for a coordination-challenged person like me. And I had lots of fun watching the others - a couple of the intercambio girls can dance the salsa like pros!
After that we headed to Marengo's - this was my first experience at a discoteca, since we have nothing like that at home, really. I liked it, for the most part. It was super noisy, but there were a lot people I knew there, and the music was cool. After dancing for a while, I decided that it was getting way too late for a school night, so I headed back. I'm lucky enough to live two blocks away from Marengo's, so it was a nice, quick walk home, and it was well-lit with no one sketchy wandering the streets (read: Mom and Dad, you don't need to worry :D). My host mom was still up when I got back and said she was really worried - I must not have explained my plans for the night fully enough. So I felt really bad. In the future, I'm going to make sure to tell her when I plan to be out really late.
The next day in class, we were all pretty wiped, but we made it. And then, Thursday evening was our (Lauren, Lise, Kristen, and I) first Latin dance class! It was pretty cool. There are only two men in the class, so many of us women have to take the guy's part in the dance, but we kind of expected this. And it was a lot of fun! We've begun learning the cha-cha and the tango. I couldn't get the turn move down for the cha-cha, which of course made me feel really awkward, but whatever; it was only the first day of class. I did rather better with learning the base for the tango, even though that one is apparently harder (I think the styling is going to be the hard part, not the base), so that made me feel a bit more confident.
Friday was quite interesting as well. And long! Besides the fact that I woke up with a terrible crick in my neck (I still can't turn my head all the way), it was a fun day. Or should I say, evening. I went out with Valentina, Silvia, and Marco - my friends from Italy. Marco of course speaks English, but Silvia feels more comfortable with Spanish and Valentina doesn't speak English much at all, so this forced me to practice Spanish, which I was glad for. Anyway, we went to Casco Antiguo and had the obligatory pintxos and beer at Bar Burgales (I think the bartenders are starting to recognize us). After that we wandered around Casco Antiguo for a while and then headed to Bar Ensayo, where we knew a lot of intercambios would be hanging out. We got a little lost on the way, but after asking for directions a couple of times, we made it there a little before midnight. I didn't get anything to drink there (5 euro is plenty to spend on food and booze for one night, thank you very much), but I enjoyed talking with people, and was happy to see a lot of classmates and friends there. The bar quickly became extremely crowded and noisy, so we made periodic trips outside to breath some (comparatively) fresh air. Three hours later, after being hit on, squished in the mob, meeting some interesting new people, and probably breathing in the equivalent of a cigarette or two in second-hand smoke, I was more than ready to go home. It took a little while to shove our way back out of the crowd and round everyone up, but in the end, I ended up walking with Skyla to the Ciudadela. The buddy system was a good plan, we thought. And we talked the entire time in reasonably fast and articulate Spanish! I was proud of us. Maybe Spanish flows easier at three in the morning? Kind of strange, but cool.
So my consensus of the evening was that it was pretty fun, but I definitely do not want to do it all the time. I'll never be a party girl, I think, so once in a while is plenty. It definitely is interesting though - you never know what you'll see!
Today, I'm just chilling out. I'm going through church withdrawals, so I watched a sermon-thinger on the internet (not really a church service, so I'm not sure what to call it). At some point I'll get to a church, but it hasn't worked out yet. And there are really no protestant churches to be found in Pamplona, as far as I can tell, so I'll have to give the Catholic thing a go sometimes. It'll be fun to see what it's like to worship in a different style, I daresay.
Later, I'm hoping that Lauren and I can go get our tickets for the bus to San Sebastian, from which town we will get to our train to get to Paris on Wednesday! I'm sooo excited! I won't be bringing my computer with me (too risky, and too heavy), so I won't be updating for a while, but rest assured that I'll be posting about our adventure to France when I return :)
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