A Little Bit of Paris, a Lot a bit of Spain

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Sorry I have not blogged in a while but, I have been so crazy busy, but in a good way, I just never have access to internet for extended periods of time.

Anyways, so about two weeks ago, I went to Paris for the weekend. I was visiting my friend Mathilde there and it was absolutely wonderful! She has a great apartment in the center of the city. So, I arrived on Thursday night and it was obviously so great to see her and we stayed up late just catching up on everything. So, on Friday and Saturday Mathilde had work during the day so I just wandered around by myself. It was so nice to just walk around Paris. I was not sure what I wanted to see so, I just walked to the Pompodou museum and around the area that Mathilde's apartment is in. Then I walked to the Notre Dame cathedral. I realized that I did not go into the cathedral last time I was in Paris so I slipped into the line with a tour group and just walked aroung inside the cathedral. It is so beautiful. After the cathedral, I just walked along the Seine and I walked down to the Louvre and then to the ferris wheel and then I made my way up to Champs Elysees and the Aarc de Triomphe. From there I just head back because it was about time to meet Mathilde back at the house. It was so great to see all of Paris and so nice just to walk by myself and see everything. On Saturday I then just walked around a little bit and window shopped. I then went to Sacqrue Coer( sorry about the spelling) on Montmarte. When I got out of the metro it was the most crowded area of Paris, there were so many people because there are a lot of discount stores there. It was crazy. There I just had a quite little lunch in a cafe. One of my assignments for a class that weekend was to sit for an hour in the cafe and observe people and things so I just got that done there. Then I climbed to the top of Montmarte and watched some of the performers that were up there. Then on my way back to Mathilde's apartment I decided I just had to swing by the Eifel tower, I was there just at dusk, so I was there when it just started to light up. That is my favorite part about the eiffel tower, when the lights flash! I guess I am just kind of easily amused that way.

Then that Saturday night Mathilde introduced me to a lot of her friends who were so cool and we went to a really cool hip hop bar which is just a very chill place where people go to listen to great music. Then we checked out the French clubbing scene, I have to say I prefer others. Not to sound like a snob, maybe it was just my experience. On Sunday Mathilde was off from work so we went to this outdoor market a little bit outside of the center of the city. It was huge and I really liked it. Everything was so cheap, I bought a bag and some music and we just walked around for a while. Mathilde knows some of teh djs selling the music, so we got to meet all of them. It was very interesting and I really loev the concept of big outdoor markets and it is definetely one of teh only things that Barcelona is seriously lacking. So, then that night we came back and Mathilde and I made a big dinner for her brothers and their girlfriends, which really means Mathilde made this delicious homemade pizza, and I washed and dressed the salad, oh and I also made pan con tomate, a Barcelona special.

So, overall my Paris excursion was extremely good and a very much needed familiar face! Then to continue the much needed familiar faces, my friend Jen from CMU visited Barcelona from Tuesday until Wednesday. It was an absolute mess getting in touch with eachother because of course as soon as I was explaining to her where to meet me, I ran out of minutes, and she did not have any either. And for some reason it is nearly impossible to call an italian cellphone from a Spanish landline. My senora had invited me and her to take a few tapas and a beer at a small little cafe she used to go to with her borther. So during our whole cute little excursion I was fretting about my ppor lost friend wandering around Barcelona. So, to make a long story short, about 2 and a half hours after we were supposed to meet and I was waiting for her where I had just about told her and trying to get in touch with her, I ended up going to her hostel to see if they knew anything about her whereaouts and as I was walking up the block she was crossing the street in the other direction. So, I ran and finally we caught up with eachother haha. We ended up going back to my senoras house and we had a light dinner and then went out for a little bit. So, it was very good to see her and it just kept the stream of familiar faces going, which is really nice especially since it has been a while since I have been home! The next day was Halloween and although Spanish people do not celebrate it, or at least not in the ways that Americans celebrate it, there were still tons of parties. Most of the Halloween parties were for the Americans though but, we went out to celebrate! I was a pirate! I figured that was appropriate and there were very few other pirates at the party!

This past weekend I was in Barcelona and I took a bunch of little day trips with my friends who were also here. On Friday we went to Sitges, which is a huge party scene in the summer but is still a really cute town about 45 minutes outside of BCN. We had a very nice lunch on the shore and then we walked around on the beach and then checked out the really old cathedral that is up on a little cliff looking out on the water. It is all just so picturesque, and perfect. It was nice to be out of the city as well, the air was just some much cleaner and fresher in Sitges. The next day I went on a Cava aka Champagne excursion. We went to visit the Freixenet cellars. They give a free tour of their cellars and a little info video on the beginning of their company, all in English. It was really nice and at the end you get to taste a little bit of their product. After the tour we were all starved but there was no sign of civilization in the area surrounding the Freixenet cellars, which was kind of wierd. But after we crossed like this long bridge we got to a little town, where everything was closed! We finally found this one place that seemed like a cafeteria, but really it was like the best food I have had here yet! The next day was teh first Sunday of the month so a few museums were free. We checked out the Museo de Frederic Mares, he was a sculptor who also collected just like anything he could get his hands on. It was an interesting museum, there was sooo much random stuff but it was cool, a bit off the beaten path, I like it like that!

Then this past week I have just been doing school, the other night on my way back from tutoring, I stopped at this small photo gallery that is around teh corner from my house, it was a really nice exhibition. I love that I could just stop in there for 30 minutes on my way home. This week also I had a very nice dinner with my friend Helaina, who is also studying in Barcelona, and her parents. So, I am not at a loss for familiar faces. I am afraid that they were the last people I will see until I see Aunt Liz in 3 weeks in Dublin! Last night my program took us to the movies, we saw El Orfanato, which is a Spanish thriller. It was very good but extremely scary, I'm talking I watched half of the movie through my scarf and I may have screamed out loud once, or twice.

And after these crazy past two weeks, I have just arrived for my next adventure throughout Andalucia! I am in Seville right now, in Southern Spain. My friend who I am travelling with is coming in tomorrow and on Saturday we are going to Cordoba for about half a day and then we are continuing on to Granada. This southern area of Spain are the cities which the Moors maintained until the Catholic kings defeated them. So I am quite excited ! The hostel I am in is so great! The Oasis Backpackers Hostel, it is quite cool. There is a terrace and it has a pool. I know, a hostel with a pool! If only it were a bit warmer, but it is not bad.

Anyways, I am dead tired. I am going to try and blog more often because I feel I miss the details and some of the little experiences if I write it too much later.

Peace and Love from Sevilla
Nessa

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