Passport To Paris

Attention fellow Mary Kate and Ashley lovers: If you know a thing or two about the movie Passport to Paris (Kayla you will get every joke in here!) then that pretty sums up my fabulous weekend... starting in Sevilla on Thursday night!! (Again, female friends, pay close attention to this first part...you will be impressed!) So going back to the solo flight, I had met a guy named Juan on the airplane. He had said he liked the cine...as do I... so long story short he decided he wanted to take me out to dinner and a movie. Fun/adorable part? He picked me up on his "scooter" (translation: sweeeet 2 seater motorbike). Mom -- he brought a helmet AND padded jacket for warmth/safety...impressed yet? Girlfriends..picturing PAssport to Paris yet??? Literally got to jump on the back of his bike as he drove us in between cars and just got to see Sevilla at night ... I will never forget that let's just say :) I may have squeeled a little bit .. but he took this as an indication that I wanted to go faster... and it was just a blast!!! We parked and walked to this little restaurant.. well that took a bit to find. We got lost since ALL the streets look the same here. We asked directions from a lady and she literally said "Derecha, izquierda, derecha, izquierda, derecha..." Gracias lady! She told us right, left, ...you get the point. Somehow, I'd say 20 minutes later, we found this GREAT little restaurant. You walk in and see like tiers of floors...you sit on like one step and put your food on the one above you. Mix between eating Chinese style (on the floor)... Sevillano style (with food) and one part indescribable! 

Juan (who, by the way I guess I could've mentioned this, speaks PERFECT English) ordered for us. He ordered tapas (appetizers) and said he is an exotic eater... then said "I can see by your face you are the opposite!" Well he ordered us a few sandwiches and a whole bunch of other things...MOST of which i liked. My favorite? Gambas ... prawns in garlic sauce on a bun.. YUM! My LEAST favorite that he failed to tell me what I was eating.. tuna and some cheese thing... yuck. All around though it was a fabulous meal .. and this kid can eat pretty much a cow I think without ever showing it.. yeah he is one of them! So he finished for us..then we were kicked out since it was closing .. I am really good at getting kicked out of places here ! (So far no authorities have been involved parentals...) 

After eating we had to find our way back to the parked scooter...again, an adventure! Got strapped in .. I thought the helmet was too small for my ginormous head but he told me I had it on the wrong way..woops! Got that on and was good to go..back across town to get to the cine. We saw "Enredados" or Rapunzel in Spanish ... was actually adorable and pretty funny! Movie started at 12:30am..yikes! When we left we were like literally the only people on the street and we saw the Portugal futbol get escorted out of the city .. they all waved to us and it was pretty cool to see all those buses! He took me home where we proceeded to talk outside until about 4:30 am... yes I was still unpacked for my upcoming trip to Paris AND had to be up at 6:50 am. Regrets? None at all :) Will leave it at that... NEedless to say I had my ideal Spanish date that I never really thought I would have! 

Enough about that (For my dad's sake!) Once I got my nap in, I had to wake up and pack super fast and off to PAris I went!! My adventures always seem to start in the airplanes. We were descending into Paris where they warned us it might not work... reassuring? Hardly! We start dipping down below the clouds and then VOOM start shooting upwards like we are in a rocketship. Captain gets on and says "Well don't worry we still have one more shot..I can take one other approach. If that doesn't work, we will take you to Lille (way north of France). GREAT! Actually, wasn't worried and told my friends no worries I have a friend there who would show us around.. they proceeded to ask me if I knew someone in every city in the world.. Back to the flight: We start descending more slowly this time and just as we see the clouds are breaking up and when you would EXPECT to see the city below you..yeah we see about 10 feet below us is the runway. Our captain landed us in a friken cloud and it couldn't have gone smoother. Needless to say the plane went WILD and cheered..music even came on. It was actually really fun to witness...and great that we landed. THEN we had about a 90min wait to get on our bus but finally made it to the city of Paris and I was greeted by one of my best friends Jordyn and her roomie R'Taija! 

After fighting talking with the rudest metro lady on the face of this earth, I finally got my metro pass for the weekend. Then Jordyn warned me to be careful and hurry...so I put my pass in the metro thing and like down head first into the doors...yeah they didn't open. I think Jordyn about peed herself. Turns out..doors are a bit delayed. Got onto the most overcrowded metro I have ever seen and some girl (who does she think she is) starts blasting music, which I think was a diversion, and tried to pick pocket me. No such luck! Went to Jordyn's humble abode, dropped off backpack, and off to Moulin Rouge we went!

 

As you can see, Jordyn and I in front of Moulin Rouge .. so pretty! 

Sidenote Ann: CHECK WEATHER!! Man it was cold in Paris...well at least compared to our 70s that we are accustomed to!!

 

R'Taija and I with some fat man on the street 

The highest point in Paris .. we got to look over the city. No pictures as the weather was SUPER foggy but it was beautiful. Will I EVER remember the name of this church? That is a negative. I took a picture of the name of the church and this angry little man came running over to me saying "Delete Delete!!" He wanted me to delete old pictures too and I was like heck no, and left the joint... But it was so pretty!

Spotted: Jacob from Twilight in the metro.. HA

After seeing the church at night, we decided to see the Eiffel Tower at night and we wanted to see it sparkle. It was definitely worth a wait in the cold!!! 

 

 The site was unbelieveable. Even though we saw plenty of couples taking adorable smooching pics, we still enjoyed our site! This was the first time they had seen the Eiffel tower at night. Turns out we were smart to go Fri night because the next day when we passed it you could not even see the top since it was so foggy. It was also pretty foggy that night so we did not go up in it, but it was pretty unreal to see. My brain is lagging right now, but I think after this we went home and rested up (2 hours wasn't cutting it for me..) and woke up early to tour Paris in probably the worst touring weather possible... 40s and rain! 

All lit up and pretty! Sorry, forgot to add that one. My attention span is minimal at best right now...

Anways, Saturday we woke up and headed to the Arc! As you can see from the rain and umbrellas...pretty awful out..but what a butte! 

 Of course we spent all of our money here... not. But it was really fun to see inside..it was HUGE. It was a huge reality check...like all celebrities shop here...just cool to think about!! Between dreaming and staying warm I could have stayed there all day...but places to see!

Jordyn and I traveling via metro! 

 We did some umbrella shopping and then found the Opera House...que bonita!! Honestly as dreary as it looks it was still a site to see! The other side...see below

Isn't it amazing???

 J and I in Paris :) 

The Louvre...it is HUGE! We did not go inside, art just does not trip my fancy , but it was incredible just to see the outside of it! 

 This right here just totally reminds me of the Davinci Code!

 After seeing the Louvre we just toured around the area...found some scenic areas...SO wish it was sunny but hey, beggers can't be choosers

 Institute de France...really have no idea what it is it just looked super pretty and that's what it said on the building!

 You guessed it...Notre Dame!! And man oh man I couldn't call it the right name for the life of me..the girls kept laughing when I would pronounce it like the college. I was struggling wtih language between Eng, Spanish, French, and lack of sleep. I would say gracias when I meant merci... and when I got back to my homestay on Sunday night I said merci to my senora...lord

 Notre Dame from the back side... the architeriture inside was out of this world. Pics did not turn out too great but nothing can capture the true sites anyways.

Look hard at this one, and no not at me. SEe the camo guys behind me? Yes this is still outside of Notre Dame and these guys are carrying big old machine guns. You'd think they would patrol the metros...oh wait yeah they did that too! To ensure I had enough metro tickets to last the weekend Jordyn would like swipe me in with her...we would have to check to make sure our brains would not be blown out by these guys first though!! 

That about sums up my trip to Paris. All in all it was beautiful, but I must say I think to thoroughy enjoy it you have to be there with your significant other. Mom, Dad, you will love it here!! I am so glad for the experience I had and SO loved seeing you Jordyn and R'Taija, but it is great to be back in Espana and enjoying the warm southern heat again.. 

Also, if you are interested in seeing Passport to Paris: The Remake, please see my FB homepage. What a laugh!! Jordyn thanks for a super fun weekend!!! Next up: Alemania (Germany!) 

Peace, Amor, Espana

Ana

(Hopefully that didn't put you to sleep!)

So unfortunately I do not think this blog is going to amount to my last one, but it still will have some beautiful pictures and adventures so KEEP READING :)

The first few days after Palma Mallorca I saw my friends here and most of them seemed relieved to see me back and alive .. I guess they just don't know how I roll. This week was the first week of actual classes. My schedule goes as follows : M W class from 11:00-12:30 and 7-830pm. Tu Th 9-10:30 and 11-12:30 then done. Not to shabby ehh? The Tu Th gets a little tricky because we have about 25min to make a 30min walk to a different building, but the teachers are pretty understanding about it! I think classes will be kind of tough but as long as I stay on the work I will be fine... okay so onto the good stuff

Wednesday we got to tour "El Catedral" which is one of the largest cathedrals in the world...I believe the 3rd biggest ( I kind of space out during the tours seeing as it is all in Spanish... and I am slightly if not very ADHD). The picture above is only just a small part of it but as you can see it is a site!

It was built by both Gothics and romans...clearly the gothic shot

A little hard to tell but this is an organ...yes, the whole thing!

Once done with the tour we got to climb up "La Giralda" to see the view of Sevilla from the top...36 ramps in heels..or should I say Hell. Going up, not so bad. Down...well needless to say the boots came off! But hey, they look good, right? (For my own peace of mind..and for my feet..just agree with me) That was also after walking around the city for about 2 hrs. 

So worth the climb to the top. Familia, can't wait to take you guys here. Andy I can already hear you complaining but don't worry there is food at the top..kidding

The girls at the top.. pics were slightly difficult but no complaints since it was sunny and perfect for site seeing!

The bells started ringing when we were at the top...holy loud! I swear I almost fell off the top it scared me so bad. Mom -- kidding it is all barred in so no need to be afraid of heights!

Don't I wish I could be in this city everyday? Oh wait..I am :)

Over looking the city

Another little nook we found..taken by some very cute Dutch men

Outside in the "patio" looking in on the doors of el catedral

La giralda that we climbed...I know-- postcard material right?

So the pic above was the first from our day trip to Cadiz. It is about 1.5 hrs from Sevilla and I WILL be returning...what a view. We toured the city but the only thing on our minds were the beaches! That is a castle over the water and although we could not tour it, we did get to use their bathrooms. I don't think Spaniards believe in toilet paper...but oh well just one other thing I have gotten accustomed to..shake...I will just stop there for my dad's sake

Overlooking the ocean with the girls: Colleen, Nina, and I! 

Beach to one side, city to the other. Paradise? Yup!

 Another church!

 At the top of a church in Cadiz...

 Sun kind of obstructed our view but cute girl shot I spose

Can anyone say Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants? Except Spain...not Greece. So beautiful!

Once the tour was over, we all just laid on the beach to siesta and chat for a few hours. Some boys went swimming... crazy. I went pretty far in with my legs but that is about it. It was perfect... having some sun on my face in February? No complaints there. It was a beautiful albeit somewhat tiring day. Will be returning there with my swimsuit soon!

One other adventure (although no documentation) was on Thursday night. We went to el rio to "boteon" aka pre-game by the river. Everyone goes to this tower place to drink and then proceed to hit the bars...or walk 3 hrs depending on your company. We had a bottle of wine (Side note: glass of my favorite wine in the bars=2 euros. BOTTLE of my favorite wine in stores..1.85. JACKPOT!) We decided to walk down to a club...got there about 25 min later to find the cover charge was more than we cared to pay. SO we decided to go on an adventure throughout Sevilla at like 1am...we started with 7 and ended at 4am with 3! Me and my two brothers on the trip, Jake and Paul. We saw people cleaning the streets, drunk people, you name it! We stopped at a bar called Perdido Nino (lost child) thinking that sounded appropraite to have a drink. Every person we asked how to get home just laughed at us and said TAXI TAXI. Well, not one to drop out on our challenge, we persisted to ask what direction. All I can say is I am SO SO glad I was not wearing heels..although the next day my feet thought different. Man and I thought I needed a pedicure before this trip! While walking we also saw a homeless man sleeping not 10 feet from a mattress on the street... I will never forget that night. We had some great laughs and it was definitely a journey...and as you all know I am always up for a journey. No worries..boys saw to it that I got home safely!! That is about all for now, next weekend, Paris to see Jordyn :) Can't wait!!!

Peace, Amor, Espana
Ana

Flying Solo

So before I start to write this blog (which, bear with me, will be a long..yet comical... story) I want to warn my mother, father, grandmother and company that I AM FINE AND HOME SAFE AND SOUND. Now, onto the good stuff :) 

This weekend was my first weekend trip to Palma de Mallorca, which you should know because if you are reading this --you are one of maybe 5 people -- I had mentioned going there with a friend. WELLL turns out that didn't happen. You see, the airline failed to let her know that she didn't pay for it correctly and long story short, she did not have a ticket. I found this out less than 24 hrs before my flight was to depart. Well.. I never second guessed going. I had a few friends try to buy tix last minute, but due to stupid internet connections and the fact that prices skyrocketed, I embarked on an adventure that (as cliche as it sounds) was life changing. Mom, Dad, Grandma, remember, no worries...

So the trip started off with a bang from the start. I knew I had to get a bus from Sevilla to airport, and knew I was in the general vicinity of busses. Turns out, I had visited all stops, but the bus stop for the airport bus was around the corner. Guess I should've noticed all the people with suitcases coming from that direction...but needless to say I got my bus and got to the airport in plenty of time. I figured I should but a book (I love my little sister Laura, she gave me High School Musical, the book, to bring since it was in English...but I had a long, relaxing weekend ahead of me, or so I thought...) so I bought a book. The only title I could read in English was "The Horse Dancer"...I was hesitant at first, btu then I read a sentence below the title. It sounded perfect actually. The quote on the front was "You have to be lost before you can be found." Sounded appropriate seeing as I was lost in the airport and about to get 10X more lost...

So, Ryanair huh, well that alone is a story. Waiting in line to have your bag "measured" just about had me sweating. People all had the same size bags and knew what they were doing -- yeah me, not so much. I was mentally adding 30 euros to every flight I had booked thinking there was no way my bag was going to fit into this little box to meet requirements. Fortunately, I was fine. Then getting on the plane, another adventure. We had to wait in a smothering hot staircase, then led outside and had to walk to plane, to find we don't have seating arrangements. Well, a guy smiled at me, so I was like okay, this will do. Sat by mi nuevo amigo Alvaro. He spoke lots of Spanish to me, but slowly, and was very nice. He commended me for my bravery on flying solo, but I think he (like most of my friends here) thought I was a tad bit loca. Also flying with us is a soccer team from a nearby city, Granada, and one guy was afraid of flying, so they were all calling him pollo (chicken) and he even had a hat. When we landed he stood up and bowed while we all clapped. Then I thought, well, here goes nothing...

I knew I had to find a bus #21 to find my hostel, Hostal Atlanta, but heck if I knew anything else. Finally after 30 minutes a bus pulls up, so I get on. After being on that bad boy for about 30 min (mind you, it's like 11:45pm) I figure I should probably ask if this is where I want to be ... all I understood from the bus driver was no, you want bus #15, get off here. HA well okay senor, so I jumped off and got waited another 10 min for this bus to come get me from the middle of downtown Mallorca, so I thought...

I get on the #15 and start talking to a lady. She advises me of where I should go on the island (I took her advice!!!) and told me about the island and how it is about 80km long. I asked her if she knew what stop I needed, she didn't, so I figured I was sleeping on the bus that night. Then (as I always say, everything happens for a reason)..I heard English. I saw two girls talking, I asked them where they were staying, I grinned ear to ear when I heard them say Atlanta. They said follow us, I did, and thank god because let me tell ya I NEVER would have found this place. We get to the hostel, like 12:45am now, and it is closed, but there is a number to call. I call the guy and try explaining I had a reservation, he said nothing he can do I was late and he was an hr away, but no te preocupes (don't worry!) I could sleep on the sofa. Um... I knew mama bear would not be fond of that. These two girls, or should I say martyrs, kindly said they had another bed, not to worry, sleep with them. God love em for it. The hostel was great!! Even had a porch...see below for my first hostel stay (taken on our porch)

The girls, Taylor and Dina, were wanting to travel together, so that was great for me (god knows I can't go a full weekend without talking anyways!) Taylor is a jr. in HS back at home and Dina is from Germany... we talked to guy at the Hostel and he recommended same trip as bus lady to Soller, and to get there you take an old train. We thought "GReat" but train was to leave in 20 min...and it was only one of day. We asked what bus to take, he said run to taxi. We did, and said "tenemos prensa", we are in a hurry, and man oh man they take that phrase seriously around here. Meanwhile, it was my first glimpse of the island in daylight, and the mountains and beach combo was unreall... somewhat like Costa Rica but just gorgeous. We made it to train station, bought our tickets, and decided to take a picture. NOPE, bell tooted and we literally had to jump on the slightly moving train ... close call to say the least. We had about a 50min journey through mountains... see below

A bunch of orange trees and cute little houses on way up the mountains

Unreal, right? We are about 5 min from city at this point. See the church in the middle? That is where train station is

We had time to take a quick picture here, and this was our train! 

Once we were there, we got to relax a little bit. We had a great brunch at a cafe and then we had some gelato... to die for!!! 

This is right by that church you can see in the above picture.. right by where we ate

After that, we wanted to explore the city a little bit. We asked a guy at a hotel where we should go, he said oh just follow the train tracks and you will see a great view. Well, we decided what the heck?

 Literally we walked on the tracks and there was nowhere to stray from .. Pretty unreal, right? Well, yes, until the train comes, then you just run.... Again, no worries, am alive and well!

You know, just hopping over the tracks to take a quick picture on the bridge... in retrospect probably wasn't the smartest thing because if a train would have come.. well I would have been swimming !

 Taylor and I by a bridge... all of these pictures were so great I had to post them!

Just a prospect of where I could live... figure start searching early!

After this and other touring we took the train back into town, shopped a little big (the first time I DIDN'T buy anything..) and grabbed some dinner. We went back to hostal and met some people, hung out, and went to bed... and woke up and it was already our last day! We decided to rent bikes for, get this, 4 euros!!! We just walked up and down the beautiful coast all day and biked and grabbed lunch. I left the girls then to do some exploring on my own...

 They don't call it Palma Mallorca for nothing...

Oh just being a tourist..and loving it! 

Honestly, going to the beach yesterday was the best thing I have decided to do in a while. Laying in the sun, listening to Kenny Chesney, reading and thinking, it was awesome. I couldn't help but think, I have to be one of the luckiest girls on this planet. Not many get the chance to study abroad. Of those that do, who has the courage to go off to an unknown island by themselves? I take pride in the fact that I finnessed my way around town. You really know how much Spanish you can speak in times like those... and I loved it. I always knew I was a very independent girl, but I proved to myself this weekend that life can be as great as you make it... I do have my wonderful parents to thank for this opportunity (and I am not just saying this so they don't kill me after reading this...  being oceans apart does have its perks I suppose ;) ) It has been 3 weeks and this is one of my better choices I have made. I probably laid on the beach reading, but mostly thinking, for about 2.5 hrs. I thought a lot about Spain, what I want to make of my journey here, work, school, friends, (boys....naturally), and just about the adventure I took upon myself. And about the adventures yet to come... Bring it on. 

So as my trip wound down, went back to the hostel to get my things, and made my way back to the airport. While waiting for bus, there was a band like STOMP playing on the beach...playing on garbage cans and all sorts of things, as the sun was setting. It was surreal -- I watched the sun set before my eyes in literally about 7 minutes and the sun was gone beyond the horizon. I just read, waved on the first bus that came, and the next one came about 40min later. Since my plane wasn't until 10:30 pm I was in no rush, so got to the airport, had some dinner, and thought I could finally start my book on the plane and relax.... WRONG AGAIN :) 

I sat next to a really nice guy, Jimmy, from Connecticut and he is here in Seville to play American football here with some Spanish guys. They had just played and were heading home to watch the superbowl. Well, I met a bunch of the teammates and they were all so great. The head coach, from Chicago, said I should go to the bar with them they're good guys (and to tell him otherwise ... ) My friend Nacho (no that is not a joke..I clarified) and his dad and Jimmy and I drove to the bar that was open only for them since they are family friends. It was great -- we watched the entire game. I made some other friends that drove me home at 5am (yes, was struggling to keep eyes open at this point). Clearly I could care less the Packers won... not even going there.. but was so much fun and met a lot of great friends!!!

In the bar with some of the guys at like 4 am... 

All in all, very successful and fun weekend. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, regular classes have already started up today, so I guess I have to get into that state of mind ... somehow!!! 

Until my next adventure ( most likely not solo)

Peace, Amor, Espana

Ana