More of Paris

Versilles. The chateau de versilles is 45 minutes outside of the city by train. It is quite large. There is a very extensive garden of fountains and we got to see a fountain show. We walked very far to the estate of Marie Antoinette. There we found a pond and several small buildings that look very much like something from Thomas Kincaid.

What else did I see?
The tomb of Napolean.
The arc de Triumph.
The monument to the Bastille
The Sacré Cour
The Notre Dame

It´s great to be a Student or a Citizen of the EU. In Paris, a lot of the museumes are free to EU citizens between the ages of 18 and 26. Since we have student visas, we are EU residents!

Another fun part of Paris was meeting people in the hostel. I met Americans from Austria, a girl from Portugal, girls from Sweden, and a couple from New Zealand. Paris is very diverse.

Paris baby, Paris.

Well I am successfully home from Paris! It was a crazy four days. I left on Thursday afternoon at six o´clock and got home monday at about one. Paris is a beautiful and charming place and its position as one of the most popular toursit destinations in the World is justifiable. Part of me doesn´t ever want to go back due to the crowds and for the sake of being un cliché, but another part of me is drawn to the city in a curious way and I suppose that many toursits feel this way about it.

The Buildings.
The buildings of Paris were everything I ever dreamed of. While Sevilla is very yellow and white, Paris is tan and grey. It is swank. I love the fact that so many of the buildings are classicly European and not all fresh and modern. The streets are like triangles and if I got the chance to go back, I think I would enjoy wandering through the city and simply enjoying the ambiance rather than making my days busy with attempting to see all of the sights.

The Eiffel Tower.
Yes, it is beautiful. I can´t help but love it. The first thing that we did in Paris was go up the Eiffel Tower and I was bothered by the mobs of people, the incessant vendors, and the long lines at every step of the way. But after fighting, our way to the top and back down, we got to view the tower from further away and I began to love it a lot more. At night it sparkles, which is breathtaking. Again, I would reccomend enjoying the tower from a distance rather than making the trek up.

The Food.
Paris did not let us down with the food. I was expecting the prices to be expensive, and they were, but I did not feel bitter. We went to a restaraunt usually for lunch. All of the meals were fairly large portions and included bread and salad. For dinner we went to smaller establishments and got sandwiches. I got cheese peninis, which I thoughouly enjoyed. And then there were the Crepes. Note- Europe loves Nutella. There are lots of street stands where they make fresh crepes with Nutella or jelly. I personally am a fan of the Nutella.

Sad Day Laptop

I took my laptop to the beach to work on my essay like a good Spanish student. I got a lot done but on the way home my backpack fell on to the street and now it is not working. The screen is very black but you can tell the things are there. I took it to a repair shop and they say five days which is five months in Spain time.
I was most upset about the loss of my essay so yesterday afternoon I went back to the store and with a flashlight, attempted to find my lost essay on the dark screen. I actually succeeded and saved my essays to a USB drive. Menos Mal.
I´ve been at school, using the school computers, trying to finish my essay before PARIS!

Tarifa...The South

Well Isabel asked me to go to the beach again last weekend, and I´m going to be honest, I didn´t really want to. But as a rule in Spain, it´s always better to go then stay at home so I agreed. The only bad thing was I didn´t get to go to the little Spanish church on Sunday. BUT, I am SO glad I went because Tarifa is beautiful!! The beach trip was also much more eventful than the first one because it involved Isabel´s brother and nephew. Tarifa is the southern most point in Europe. From there you can see mountains full of wind mills, Africa, and the beautiful Mediterranean.
We left Saturday around 12.30. There was a delay because we lost the dog and we all had to run around the neighborhood looking for him. We were five people, a dog, and some water sport equipment so the car was fully crowded. We stopped at a bar on the way for a snack. We had tiny sandwiches of I think lamb which were delicious. As a side note let me say that it is very common to see giant ham legs hanging from ceilings in food establishments all over Andalucia.
Tarifa, being the southern point of Spain, is very windy. The ocean is full of kite surfers and it´s spectacular to see the sky full of kites. Guillermo knows how to kite surf. Due to the wind, the water was pretty cold and I could only get in up to my knees.
After the beach, we drove up a mountain until we could no longer drive. Then we walked the rest of the way to see the sun set over the ocean. It was georgeous. After that we went to the city part of Tarifa and got slices of pizza and drinks. (I tend to get the Fanta in the glass bottel. It´s big here.) I do miss pizza. One time Isabel made zucchini pizza. It was not the same. The Tarifa pizza was good, but it was not the same. We got home very late and had dinner at about 11.
I finally got to sleep for a long time. They say that the beach is good for sleeping. However, in the summer, the bars in Tarifa stay opened all night and the clubs until 8 am. haha. On Sunday, Rafael took me up the mountain on motorcycle. I was very scared. Also, I had to borrow pants and a coat because I didn´t bring any, forgetting that the beach is cold.
We went to the beach again and Isabel and I went to a little beach cafe where we got a snack of Morrocan lentils. So we had lunch very late. Around six, they went back to the beach, at which point I knew it would be a long night. The beach cafe had live flamenco music so I listened to that for a while. We got home at about ten thirty and had dinner.
This was a good weekend.
I did forget to bring my camera but here I will post links to pictures of the kite surfers and the wind mills.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/49/109196854_279f2e8142.jpg
http://ellenvanderslice.com/adventures/spain/images/6005_tarifa.jpg

The Barcelona Epic

If there's one thing that provides confusion and excitement in Spain, it's planning trips. My final trip will be to Barcelona after classes are over and before I come home. One way tickets to Barcelona are cheap... about 60 Euro. HOWEVER, you cannot carry more than 23 Kg of luggage all together. So, that wouldn't work since I'll have both of my big suitcases. I wanted to mail one suitcase home so then I wouldn't have to worry about it at all and take it with me to the hostel and such in Barcelona. That costs 155 Euro. [$205 USD]. So, we looked into taking the AVE. A normal train to Barcelona takes 12 hours and the AVE takes 5.5 hours. The Ave tickets were 140 Euro. I was feeling pretty hopeless when ALL OF THE SUDDEN
We found a button on the AVE website that said "web price"..... 55 Euro!
Kids, I am all set.
BARCELONA / NEW YORK / ATLANTA [that beautiful city] Here I come!

*Ave - Alta Velocidad Espanola, High Speed Spain
Also, Bird.
This is a super fast, expensive train, except not so expensive when you find out you can buy tickets for 55 Euro.

You can sleep when you're dead

Sleep.
I haven't done it much lately.
Sunday... Stayed up to see the 12:00 Fireworks show.
Monday... Full 8 hours
Tuesday... Working on Paper and visiting the senior picnic via Skype
Wednesday... Flamenco Show

The truth is, a lot of people in Spain rarely sleep. At midnight, there are plenty of people out on the streets and on the weekends it's even later. At 8 AM the next morning though, everyone's out and about. I suppose that is just how cities are. The siesta is a built in nap time and yes, some people observe it. However, you can still see just as many people out and about during siesta although all of the smaller shops are closed.
For me, I don't take my siesta very often, only on the rare occasion. Actually, Monday - Thursday I either have class or tutoring in the afternoons.

Heat, Loquats and Flamenco

All of the sudden, it's ridiculously hot in Spain. Do you think if I had been brought up without air conditioning, it wouldn't seem as hot now? I've converted to sandals and shorts or skirts only.
Today I ate a loquat. That is what it is in English and I have never heard of it in my life. I think they're from China. Also, yesterday I ate snails. They were not bad, but it was just weird to suck them out of their shells.

Tonight we went to a bar that has a genuine flamenco show. It was one of those cultural experiences. Flamenco seems very strange to me still.
Quick facts about Flamenco: It is native to Andalucia. (southern Spain, where I live)
It is rhythmical. Along with guitar, a lot of it is hand clapping and foot stomping.
It has a sad sound, almost like crying.
Its popularity in Spain began about 150 years ago.

I am now taking questions over Spanish life.