Fun Times in Madrid

Hello!

Well I am about to embark on a 10 day journey through Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan/Lake Como- yes George Clooney has a house there), so get pumped for that post when I get back. But I supposed I should fill you in on what I've done since Paris 2 weeks ago.

School has just been school. I have had a little bit more work than usual, but nothing too stressful. I have been working on my final scene for theatre which is pretty fun. I am playing someone who is not even remotely close to who I am, so that's kind of interesting. I've had to do some research for a psych paper which I really like. I am researching the effects of putting a child in daycare. I think spanish class is really helping me with my spanish. I really like our teacher and the class. I wouldn't say that I am fluent in spanish, but I can definitely keep up a conversation with someone. Even if I can't say something, I usually understand the majority of what people are saying. That's about it for school.

This past weekend, I just hung around Madrid with 2 of my roommates, Megan D and Stephanie. The Megan who is the one in my room, went on a school trip to Grenada. Friday, we went to go get some chinese food for lunch, and it was delicious. I am very excited to find a good chinese place. Then we went to Retiro Park and rented a boat to paddle around the little pond they have. At first it was a struggle but then we got the hang of it. We had a good time people watching, there were some interesting characters. Then we walked around Retiro some more before heading back home. We just chilled and had a really enjoyable night.

Rowing

Some issues

Struggin'

Yay

Statue

Boats

Me and Megan

Issues

She's got it

Me and Steph

Haha

Americanas

Pretty

Saturday we were really lazy and just bummed around all day. We got a little bit of homework done, but we pretty much just relaxed the whole day. Sunday morning, Stephanie and I got up early and headed to el rastro, which is a huge flea market type thing they have every Sunday. I bought a watch necklace which I have been looking for for awhile, so I am excited. It was an interesting experience. There were a ton of people and it was an interesting atmosphere. The funniest thing that happened was when we went down an alley, we heard a whistle and all of a sudden all of the street vendors picked up their little cloths that had the stuff they were selling and ran away. Apparently they weren't actually supposed to be selling stuff. There was some other stuff I liked but I was being cheap and didn't want to buy them. After I am done with all of my trips I am going to go back and buy some more stuff.

That's about all I've been up to. I have gotten into a pattern now. I have a list of things I still want to do in Madrid, so I am going to try to work on that when I get back from Italy. I am so excited for me, the two Megans, Stephanie and Megan's friend from home to do all these amazing things in Italy. I will have a lengthy blog post with a lot of pictures when I get back. I can't believe when I get back from Italy I only have a month left! Time really flies. That's all for now.

Love,
Ashley

Paris- City of lights, sights and rude people

Bonjour!

Hello there! I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Paris, France. Well when I started writing this post I did, sorry it has taken me awhile to update. I haven't been in the writing mood. But anyway, Megan and I headed out on a Thursday night flight. Behind us were the most adorable little kids. There was a two year old and a four year old. Meg and I had so much fun playing with the two of them. They made me think of my kids and I miss them a lot. We were talking to the parents a bit and we found out they were french but they lived in Madrid. When we were leaving the mom asked us what age kids we were working with. When we said we weren't working with kids, she apologized and said she assumed that we were going to be au pairs because we were so good with her kids. I took this as a compliment. Luckily for us, they spoke english really well and her husband helped us find the way to our train from the airport to the city. They were a really nice family. We got to our hostel safe and sound then went to bed for the night.

The next morning we got up bright and early, and headed out for a free walking tour. Our guides name was Arnaud (pronounced R-no). He was really funny and gave us some good tips. Like a secret entrance to get into the Louvre without waiting in the super long line and you are right by the Mona Lisa (we used it and it was wonderful). So Arnaud showed us around Paris and gave us the history, along with some funny little tidbits and stories. We had a really nice group of people with us too. Basically we stopped in front of the majority of the places you need to see Paris. After that, he took us to a little French restaurant where I tried Napoleon ravioli (at least I think that's what it was). It was okay but nothing that I really liked. Then we walked with some girls who are studying in Segovia that we met to the Eiffel tower. They decided to do something else because the line was kind of long but we decided it was worth the wait.

Hostel

Balcony

Gard du Nord (train/metro station)

St. Michel

Again

Notre Dame

Head bridge (has heads of Henry IV friends)

Lock bridge of love

Island in Paris

(Part of) the Louvre

Again

Invisible pyramid

Me

Fountain

Creepin' on our guide

Baby arc de triomphe

Joan of Arc

Park

Egyptian Crypt

Government building

Museum

Eiffel Tower

Bridge

Napoleon's tomb (hotel de invalids)

Me with the Eiffel tower

Eiffel tower

Me and Meg

Going up

While waiting in line, we met a very nice couple from Britain. They were really cool and Meg and I enjoyed getting to know them. They have traveled to a ton of different places and are just enjoying life. I hope I am able to travel to places like that when I get older, they just seemed like they are living life to the fullest and loving it. We got to know them decently well because the line to get in was about two hours. But it was totally worth the wait. We got up to the top right as the sun was starting to set. The view was indescribable. It is one of those things that you just have to see to understand. It was absolutely breathtaking and there is no way I could put into words how amazing it was. Meg and I spent a long time just walk around and soaking up the beautiful view of the sun setting over Paris. I never really realized how big of a city Paris was until I was looking out at it from that point of view. It was a great place to just stand and think about life. After staying up there for at least an hour exploring all of the different parts of it (after all we did wait in line almost 2 hours) we headed to find some dinner.

The view

 Seine River

Me

Meg and Me at the top

Me

 Sun setting

Looking over Paris

Sunset

Lighting up

Megan and I were planning on going on a boat ride on the Seine river at night (a wonderful suggestion made by my friend Ben Raymond), which left from a spot right by the Eiffel tower. So we decided to get dinner close by, since it was cheaper and more convenient (Paris is expensiveeeee). This where I encountered my first language barrier problem. I can speak the most basic french phrases- hello, goodbye, please, thank you, do you speak english, my name is and I could count to ten (so useful right). Anyway, we just went to a little stand for food, and I order a chocolate crepe and french fries. Instead I received a chocolate and strawberry crepe. They charged me 2.50 euro to put in one little strawberry! I was ripped off. I was very unhappy, but dealt with it.

Luckily, my mood was uplifted when we went on a boat tour. Right as we were pulling away from the dock, the Eiffel tower started its light show (which happens every hour and costs $40 million a year to do) which was really cool to see. Meg and I just sat on the boat and cruised down the river. We heard about a lot of this sights we had seen earlier that day, but it was nice to just sit, relax and take everything in. After our nice boat ride, we returned back to our hostel for some much need sleep after 12 hours of walking around the city. Even though it was a long day, it was good that we did everything this day because it was 70 and sunny (very unlike Paris weather- the rain came later).

Boat

River

Glass building

Light show

Saturday we were up bright and early again for some breakfast. Then we headed out to Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, which is also known as the Sacred Heart Basilica. On our way up to the basilica, there were a lot of guys trying to get people to buy bracelets. I kept saying no and walked away but one grabbed my wrist. I pulled away and said no but he grabbed my wrist again and wouldn't let go. I struggled but he was persistent and made me the ugliest, not symmetrical bracelet ever. First, it is red, yellow and green and I just don't enjoy those colors together. Secondly, all it is, is the colors alternating in a circle, until the end where he did a chunk of green, then a chunk of red, then it just ended. Unfortunately, when Megan turned back to find me, she got roped into getting one too, but hers was at least cool looking. Then the guy had the nerve to charge me 10 euro for it! I could've made a better bracelet for 50 cents. So I paid the guy and stocked off in a grumpy mood. Good thing I did just pay him though because the same thing happened to one of my friends a few weekends earlier and they bent his fingers backwards until he paid them. They were brutal!

Basilica

Me

Cloudy in Paris

Anyway, we walked the rest of the way up to the basilica and it was actually really pretty. It had a really cool mosiac/mural at the top. I wasn't supposed to take a picture, but I snuck in a few! Mass was going on so we had to walk around quietly and pretty quickly. When we got outside it was raining, so we ducked into a nearby shop. We each got a little painting. The cashier thought we were German, which is understandable I guess because we both have blonde hair and blue or green eyes. After that we popped in and out of nearby touristy shops looking for gifts for others and ourselves. I'd say we were pretty successful. Then after that we ate lunch at none other than the lovely Subway. Yeah yeah, I know but it was cheap and they spoke English. 

Stain Glass

Jesus 

After lunch we headed over to Notre Dame to look inside there. That was really cool. It was really big and there were a lot of different things to look at. We walked around in there for a bit just looking at all the different little stations. We actually ran into the girls we met on the tour the day before, so we stopped to talk to them for a bit. After that we headed out. When we were leaving, we saw what we believe was two models doing a photo shoot/commercial. Either that or it was two extremely attractive people with a photographer and video crew following them around. So we creeped on them for a little bit before heading over to the arc de triomphe.

Statue

Notre Dame

Again

And again

Candles

Pretty

lights

Arches

Ceiling

Alter

Me

Long walkway

Models?

We went to the top of the arc de triomphe which was really cool. It was a different view than the Eiffel tower obviously, but it was interesting to see it from that point of view. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and rainy so we didn't stay up there for a very long time. But I did enjoy going up there. And then we walked around a little bit at the bottom and visited the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I. After that, we stopped at a little Italian restaurant for dinner. Then we went to go to a show called "How to become a Parisian in one hour" but it was more expensive than we expected so we stopped for crepes and just headed back to hostel and hung out there. We didn't go out because even though Paris has the second best night life, Madrid is number one, so we figured we would be disappointed and it would pale in comparison (any of you believe that excuse? haha). 

Arc de triomphe

View

tomb of the unknown soldier

Me

Nutella+Banana and Cholocate+ Whipped cream (I had no idea that it would be whipped cream- I picked a random thing on the menu)

Sunday morning we got up, ate breakfast, packed up all our stuff and headed out. We went to the Louvre, and lucky for us, our tour guide pointed out a secret entrance that had no line, so we got to skip the two hour one waiting out front. And we were right by the Mona Lisa. Everyone told us that it was really small and not to expect anything special, so I was surprised how big it was compared to what I imagined. But honestly, it wasn't as cool as I expected. Everyone was so excited to see it but it wasn't that big of a deal for me. Then again, I'm not a huge art person so maybe that is why. After we saw the Mona Lisa, we walked around that area and just looked at the nearby paintings and sculptures. My favorite thing about the Louvre though? The building itself. It was super pretty and had so many unique architectural designs. After walking around for about 2 hours, we got a little worn out and headed out to lunch.

Hall in the louvre

Most of the Louvre

Mona Lisa

Exhibit 

Outside

Think I could pass for Parisian with my beret?

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, we were going to walk around, but it was raining pretty heavily, so we decided to go to the airport early. We ended up spending about 3 and a half hours there because our plane got delayed a little bit, but the airport was really nice. They had these little circular coach/pod things that played music so I was content sitting in one of those and reading my book. On our flight back, a guy who was sitting next to us to start out with came back and asked us if we wanted to go sit with him and his friends in the back of the plane. We were kind of bored and he said his English wasn't very good so I saw this as an opportunity to practice my Spanish. They were really nice. One of them spoke English really well so if we had trouble communicating he translated. They are around our age and in a band, which I looked up and they are actually pretty good. After we landed, we parted ways and Meg and I headed back to Maria's.

In a pod 

In my pod :)

Monday we didn't have school, so we all just bummed around and watched quality lifetime movies together. Yesterday (Wednesday) was my other roommate Megan's birthday, so we got a special dinner. I want to just say Happy Birthday (for the billionth time)! This weekend Megan is going to Grenada with her class, but my other roommates are in Madrid too, so we are going to do a bunch of stuff around Madrid. It's weird to think that I have only one more week of class, then I go to Italy for Spring Break, then I only have a month left here! Time really flies. That's all for now. Hope you're all doing well :)

Attempting to blow out trick candles

Happy birthday Megan!

Love,
Ashley