quiero más barcelona

Yes despite the Catalonian lisp and myriad heads of mullets, Barcelona is my favorite trip thus far.

I was so happy to be in a Spanish speaking country. Getting lost in the language barrier in France can get overwhelming at times. It’s funny how much vocabulary the good ole brain remembers when you need it to.

After almost eight hours of buses and plane rides, we finally arrived at our hostel on the northside of Barcelona Thursday evening. All in all, thirteen girls from the program came.

(Meagan is missing from the pic)

We headed out to La Princesa 23, a recommended restaurant, for dinner. The restaurant was decorated with dark colors and plush seats – very Moorish. We tried traditional Spanish tapas – Tortilla Espanola and Pan con Tomate. Tortilla Espanola is like a potato quiche, and the pan con tomate is simple bread with fresh tomato spread. Then onto a pulled pork sandwich with asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes.

Tapas buddy at La Princesa:

Exhausted, we headed back to the hostel. Catch was, once we got of the metro, we had to walk up two HUGE hills to get back. We got our work out this weekend.

Friday morning we headed off to the beach. No clouds, just the sun beating BEATING down on us.

The beach in Nice was all pebbles, so it was wonderful to lay on the soft sand.

And yes, I evened out my nose tan. We stayed there for a good five hours and tried some great Sangria.

My attempt at drawing 907:

Then we headed off to a busy shopping area of Barcelona called Catalunya. We weaved in and out of shops and wound up at this quasi-upety Japanese restaurant – except it wasn't really Japanese. Some of us just decided to get appetizer and then find some paella later on. Other people decided to get meals – or so they thought. Meagan and Joy split a ‘hamburger’, except what arrived was ground beef on a cracker. Literally. Nora and Paola unknowingly ordered raw beef. Needless to say we got out of there as soon as possible. Comida aside, this place was uniquely decorated. Magazine lamps hung from the ceiling (center of the left pic) and the fridge was exposed to the eating area (right pic). Yep, that's a fridge.

A hop, skip, and a jump across the street, we found paella. It was good, but I am sure there is better in Barcelona. I walked around Catalunya and found a mini concert on the street.

Later on, the crew went out to find a recommended club. We got off at the wrong metro stop, but happened upon another spot. The bouncer out front asked us if we had our invitations. We said, “No.” He said, “Sorry.” As we retreated, he asked us, “Well…how many of you are there?” After we told him thirteen he let us in. Not sure why we let thirteen uninvited people into this shindig, but we’ll take it! Fyi, people dance weird in Barcelona.

Saturday, we went to La Boqueria. This is a famous open air market was established in 1826.

It is a huge farmer’s market full of fruit, veggies, fresh seafood, meat, cheeses, spices, and nuts. Many fruit vendors sold freshly squeezed juice.

Jugo:

It's what's for dinner:

Unas zanahorias, cebollas, y pimientas:

And guess what I found? A homemade pasta stand! I tried homemade veal ravioli with pesto sauce. Pesto was too oily, but the pasta was AMAZING.

We walked around the city until our bike tour began. Let’s remember I have not been on a bike since…uhhhh…a long time (stationary bikes at the gym don’t count).

One of the bike tour guides was from Austin, and a group of A&M students who were studying in Spain were along for the ride, too. Go Texas.

We biked around the city for the next four hours and saw some famous tourist spots. A violinist was playing Pachabel during on one of the small alley ways of the tour in the historic district of Barcelona. It was my favorite part of the ride.

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand greeted Chris Columbus on these steps upon his return from the New World:

The Arc de Triomf. There are four replicas (slight variations) in the world: Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, and New York City.

Shamefully, I don't remember what this building is. I think it is a music or theatre hall:

We stopped off at a park. I made friends with an elephant:

Row, row, row your boat:

Gaudí’s famous Sagrada Familia:

This church has been under construction since 1882. Gaudí was hit by a tram in 1926. He was mistaken for a bum and was taken to a lower-end hospital. Three days after his death, hospital staff realized that the bum was Barcelona’s most prized architect. Gaudí was buried beneath his famous church. The work will hopefully be completed by 2026 – the 100^th anniversary of Gaudí’s death. Personally, the church isn’t my style, but I admire the unbelievable devotion to detail.

A bike ride and minor collision later, we went back to La Princesa 23 for dinner. The nachos were the closest thing to Mexican food I’ve had, and it was delish.

Heads up to people trying to fly cheap airliners within Europe. Avoid Ryan Air if you value your life. Our descent was a consecutive series of stair step drops. Heads simultaneously rose one foot in the cabin as the plane hit the runway. We were like bobble-head dolls. People even clapped after the plane decelerated and crawled up to the gate – people clapping that they were still alive, seriously. No worries parentals. I don’t have any more flights booked with Ryan Air.

Lesson: If you are flying cheap, take Easy Jet.

Bye Barcelona. Te extraño.

matinées, mas iglesias, and monarch mansions

Not rest for the weary. This week has been packed with activities.

Sunday, I arrived back in Paris and immediately changed to try to make it to the last showing of the opera. I managed to arrive at the new Opera house near the Bastille an hour an a half before the matinée started at 2:30pm. I was waiting in line for the cheap 5 euro tickets. They sold out when I was in line. Again. Luckily, my liaison was there, and she suggested I go to another ticket counter where they would sell discounted tickets to students. An hour of standing (in heels) later, I got a ticket to Les Capulets et les Montaigus. I paid 25 euro for a seat that was normally sold for 150 euro! The seat location was great - center right on the floor level. The opera lasted about 2 1/2 hours. I have never gone to an Opera before. These people's voices were incredible.

Monday, after our Consumer Behavior test, a couple friends went down to the Eiffel Tower at night. There was a picnic and a photo shoot:



Tuesday, I went to Palais de la Cite and St. Chapelle on the Il-de-la-Cite. The Il-de-la-Cite is one of the two islands on the Seine. The Palais currently houses the Palace of Justice, but this was the official residence to French kings from the tenth to fourteenth centuries. St. Chapelle is two-leveled Gothic church with gorgeous stained-glass windows. Here is a shot of the lower chapel:

The upper chapel is the gem. Fifteen gigantic stained glass windows circumvent the church walls. There is a total of 1,113 scenes from different books in the Bible.


Ceiling shot:
We had a group excursion to the Chateau de Versailles on Wednesday. We took the forty minute train ride west of the city to visit. This is where Louis XIV and the descending French royalty (including Marie Antoinette) lived until the French revolution. Also, the treaty that ended the World War I was signed here. Way back when, there were no restrooms in Versailles. People would pop a squat, do their business, and wait for butlers to come behind to clean up the mess. Sounds pretty royal to me. Overall, the palace is very gaudy. Gilded gold and marble EVERYWHERE.

This is the famous Hall of Mirrors. The seventeen panes of mirrors stand opposite a wall of windows looking out to the gardens:

A famous portrait of Marie Antoinette:


Outside in the gardens:


The trees in the right hand picture reminded me of snowmen (or treemen):


Rachel, Frances, Meagan, and I:


We leave for Barcelona this weekend. I am looking forward to seeing La Boqueria, Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, and paella. The beach will be another attraction as I should probably work on evening out my one-sided nose tan from last weekend. I apparently fell asleep on the right side of my face.

I recently discovered new tricks on camera software = Kristin spending even more time messing with her pictures. I am going to try to post them all online at some point. There are just too many to post on the blog. Will keep you updated.

Voy a Espana hoy!

Nice, you are oh so nice

I tried forever to think of a clever title for this post. Above is all I could come up with. Regardless, Nice is beautiful.

About fourteen other students from my marketing group traveled to southeast France this weekend. We arrived on Thursday afternoon and made our way to the hostel. The hostel – Villa St. Exupery – was absolutely fantastic. Now, I’m no hostel connoisseur, but out of the three I have stayed at thus far, this one takes the cake by a long shot. Free internet, rooms with connecting bathrooms with detachable showerheads, free breakfast (cereal for the first time since I’ve been home!), and the view:

I was in a 6 bed room with Joy and Frances (both from my program) and three other girls from Canada. The group shortly went out for dinner thereafter. We traveled down to Old Town Nice. This is the historic part of town near the coast. Small winding alleys are home to cute restaurant vendors and small boutiques.

The hostel recommended a bar called Wayne’s to us. It was a famous tourist bar that spoke English. We hopped in after dinner. It was like this English hiatus in the middle of South France. English speaking patrons and bartenders. Even burgers and fries. We went back to hang out at the hostel.

The next morning, we decided it was a beach day. We took the complimentary hostel shuttle (another perk) down to the tram station that would take us back down to Old Town near the beach. On the car ride from the hostel to the tram, I had a classic vacation moment: the sky was clear, music was blarring in the car piled with kids, and wind blowing through my hair. It felt great to be out of a crowded city. A tram ride later, we said hello to the gorgeous beach.

Frances, Joy, me, and Rachel:

We stayed there beach for several hours. I forgot my suntan lotion and got a little burned. It’s about the first time I have got some decent sun in the past two years (not exaggerating). But forget about my skin, it was everyone else’s scantily clad bodies that stole the show. Check out this sister:

I don't think commentary is necessary. And can you find Mr. Hotstuff?

In between my fill of speedo Sams and topless Tammies, I walked along the Promenade de Anglais to find Fenocchio – a famous gelato shop in Nice that serves its 96 flavors to patrons daily. I tried tiramisu and vanilla. You could see the black vanilla specs in it. qualiTAY.

Later that night we found a small restaurant in Old Town. Sidenote: basically, this blog is revolving into what I eat during my summer instead of where I am going. Salivating? Possibly. Boring? Hopefully not. I decided I needed to take advantage of all the fresh seafood in Nice. I ordered Spaghetti Pescatore (homage to mom) with fresh mussels and grilled calamari in a pesto/marinara sauce. We went back Wayne’s were we met up with our new friends from Pittsburg – Drew and Elizabeth. Drew just finished his Spring semester abroad in Dubai and Elizabeth is studying in Florence in July. We also met two other Canadian girls – Emily and Becca from Ontario. They were on their 7^th week of backpacking around Europe. The soccer World Cup is going on in Europe right now. The French v. Holland game was on at Wayne's. We took pleasure in pitching in our participatory yells throughout the game, but the REAL fun started when the live music commenced. They played the Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynard, and other music that reminded me of my dad. Naturally, a dance party ensued.

Gabby, me, Joy, and Frances at Wayne's (World):

Joy was giving complimentary piggybacks that evening:

Back at the hostel that night, we met three different groups of UT grads. Crazy, really. Hook ‘em. France, Joy, and I went back to the room to find a new set of roommates – Mike, Nigel, and Gabrielle from Singapore.

The next morning we headed off to Monaco with our new Canadian and Pittsburgian friends from the night before. We were also joined by Tim from Tanzmania and three University of Illinois grads who were off traveling before starting consulting gigs in Chicago in August. We took a bus ride along the coast and stopped at a small little town called Eze Village. The hostel suggested we climb up to the top of the hill for a fantastic view and a coffee. I ended up ordering the cheapest thing on the menu – a 6.50 euro hot chocolate. That’s at $10 cup of warm milk and chocolate syrup. That aside, the view was well worth it:

More Eze Village:

The gang traveled on to Monaco. Group shot in front of Monte Carlo is below. Tanzmanian Tim was apparently preoccupied:

We walked into the foyer of the Monte Carlo casino, but you had to pay 10 euro just to get into the actually playing room. The guys went in, and the girls stayed outside to drool over the ostentatious display of ridiculous wealth – the cars. Chase, Frances, Joy, and I went into a smaller casino later on. I bet one euro and lost. Big spender.

We walked around the town and grabbed lunch while we admired the yachts.

Chase ‘Linen Pants’ Lancarte posing with his yacht.

Frances and I with our nutella and banana crepe.

We took another picturesque drive back to Nice. Sunday morning we left the hostel before 7am to catch our flight.

Adieu, Nice. It was a fantastic weekend.

quasimodo's stomping grounds (and opera hopes)

Second week of school: done.

We do not have school Thursday or Friday of this week. Yeah for a three day school-week. ESCP is a great facility (and offers very very cheap food), but I wish we had more interaction with the French students. Given it's summer, attendance is lower than normal, but I wish we didn't feel so isolated. I realize that our courses are taught in different languages, so I cannot possibly expect to be in actual class with them. We are only in the same room as the other students during lunch. It is hard to walk up to a group of French students and start a conversation when the extent of your French vocabulary pretty much consists of standard greetings and "parlez-vous anglais?" I should probably work on that.

On Monday, many of students on my program went to Notre Dame. While I had already visited the cathedral, I had not climbed up to the towers. We managed to conquer the dizzy, staircase up 400 steps to the top. We were greeted by stoic gargoyles keeping watch over the city:


Quasimodo's door and his bell. We did not see him. He must be on vacation.

Athough we didn't spot the hunchback, we did see Esmereldas. Handfuls of gypsies were walking around the entrance of Notre Dame and asking if anyone spoke English. If you say yes, they hand you a piece of paper summarizing their depressing (but hardly believable) situation and then beg for money. I think I prefer the Disney Esmerelda.


Wednesday evening, our program liaison took us to the new Opera House. We were planning on buying tickets to Les Capulets et les Montaigus - a take on Romeo and Juliet. There was some confusion in how early our group should arrive at the Opera. Our liaison had even tried to buy tickets last week, but she was told to come an hour before show time. We arrived an hour before only to be told that all the tickets (in our price range) were sold out. I'll try to go to another show before I leave. All dressed up, we decided to go out to dinner. I suggested we go to the St. Germain area. We found a small whole in the wall.

Our Host/Waiter: "Are you from America?"
Us: "Yes"
Host/Waiter: "Where in America?"
Us: "Texas"
Host/Waiter: "Ohhhhh, TEXASSSSSSS" (while flashing the Hook 'em Horns sign)

Even the Parisians know about us. I decided to order two French classics: French Onion soup and Beef Bourguignon.

Naomi, Brittney, Nora, Paola and yours truly after dinner:


I am leaving for Nice (pronounced 'Nees', not like the adjective) today. It is in southeast France and near Monaco. Check back in for Mediterranean shenanigans.