My life as a European!!

I just got back from Paris yesterday and WOW what a surreal experience!

First and foremost, not being able to speak more than a word of French made for a very interesting weekend!! There were numerous times that I would start speaking Spanish without even thinking and then I would realize the person had no idea what I was saying so I would just make grunting noises and arm movements to attempt to get across what I wanted to say! The whole weekend was full of funny, but difficult times like this!!

So, Thursday night we got settled into our hotel (which was borderline flea-bag!) and headed out to see the Eiffel Tower. The metro ride there was pretty crowded so we all didn't get to sit together. 2 of my friends and I were sitting by this French boy. We were being kind of loud and probably annoying because we were so excited to be in Paris that we started feeling bad for the boy that was sitting near us. Since we couldn't speak a lick of French, my friend got out her electronic translator and we held up "I'm sorry" in French to the boy. He smiled and continued listening to his I-Pod. We noticed him periodically laughing at the things we were saying and we started talking about him saying things like, "Oh he's so cute! He's probably at the most about 14 or 15 years old!" In mid-conversation (still about him), he interruped us and said "I would just like to say that in fact I'm 19 years old." We all looked at each other and busted out laughing and apologized to him! He said he understood everything we had been saying and didn't say he could speak English because listening to us was just too funny!! We decided to go with him and meet his friend to have a drink before going to the Eiffel Tower and ended up have a great time!

After that minor deviation, we got back on track to go to the Eiffel Tower. When I saw it for the first time, I was literally in awe. It was so magical to see it for the first time all lit up! We went all the way up to the top and saw a spectacular view of the city. The whole time I couldn't believe it was actually happening. After about an hour we went back down because we wanted to see the last light show of the night (the Eiffel Tower sparkles all over). The show was so incredible!! There really are no words to describe it! After that, we were lured to a crepe stand right in front of the ET where I enjoyed my first crepe!! The night was a perfect prelude to an amazing weekend!

Friday morning we headed out early to The Louvre! The museum premices where absolutely goregeous! YES, I saw the Mona Lisa! I was surprised at how small it was, but none the less, I was very very excited to actually see it face to face!! I saw a lot of other Italian art as well as Spanish and French. I'm currently taking an art class so it was cool to be able to classify all of the art by style and time period and also note the iconography. We left after a few hours to have lunch in a gorgeous park and then headed out to see the Arc de Triomf. We have an Arc de Triomf in Barcelona, but I guess the one in Paris is the original and it is MUCH larger! There is also a tomb of an unknown soldier in front of the Arc. After this, we walked to the Eiffel Tower to see it during the day and take pictures. After this, we returned to The Louvre to check out more of the museum. On the way there, a bird pooped in my friend Kara's hair so we spent about 15 minutes in the middle of the sidewalk cleaning it off and getting very strange looks from passerbys!! Anyway..we chose to do a lot of walking because we felt that we'd get a better feel for the city and see a lot more than if we were to take the metro everywhere. This held true and I saw a lot of beautiful buildings and took some great pictures! We got home late and decided against going out because we had a lot to do the following day!

This brings me to Saturday!! We started off the morning by going to Notre Dame. It was gorgeous of course! I took a picture in front of it hunched over like "the hunchback of Notre Dame" haha! We took a tour inside and it was soo soo pretty (I have a lot of pictures)! We ate lunch outside of the church overlooking a river that encapsules the church. There were street performers and tents with people selling paintings and other things. The neighborhood the church was in was very quaint and cute and I really enjoyed my time there! After this, we headed to the Sacre-Coeur de Montmartre which was a basilica nestled up in a hill. Right as we were walking up the hill, the sun broke through and the sky cleared to a crystal blue leaving us with an amazing view of the basillica. We had almost climbed all the way to the top when we heard music playing. There was a small band playing American and Spanish music and swarms of people were sitting on the steps singing and enjoying the view of France. We joined in and ended up spending over an hour just singing, laughing, and swaying to the music! I got another rush of emotions sitting up on that hill looking at people from all over the world come together through the music...it made me realize what a small world it really is and that although I was so far from what I know and who I am, it made no difference. We're all so different, but just as much the same.

We took a tour of the basilica (no pictures were allowed) and set off to do some shopping and to see the Opera House. We, again, wanted to walk. On our way, we found ourselves in a crowd watching some street performers. The neighborhood was a little more downscale with a lot of flea-market type stores. We also saw a lot places that seemed like they would be whore houses or strip clubs but just kind of overlooked them, making a joke like "what is this the red light district?!" Well, we found out later that in fact it was the red light district of Paris! I guess in a sense we were kind of happy we came across it just to see what it was like! The shopping didn't turn out too successful-we were all very tired from all the walking!

We went out to some British bar that night (I'm not sure why) but I loved it because I love the British accent! I talked to a lot of British people about the differences between the US and England...sounds pretty lame, but I had a great time! Funny story: on the way to the bar we were switching between metros and some French girls called after me. I turned around and they were pointing to the ground at a black cardigan. Clearly they thought that one of my friends had dropped it. I looked at the tag and thought for sure it was my friend's sweater because she has a lot very similar to this one. I thanked them and ran over to my friend and told her she left her cardigan. There was a lot of confusion as to whether or not she brought it out that night and then I asked her what size hers was and she said it was a large...well the one I had was a medium! We later discovered that she didn't even have a cardigan like that, but in her drunken stooper she seemed to think she did! Point of the story: I acquired the cardigan and I'm very excited about it because it's probably worth about $30!!

Sunday morning we had to leave early so we didn't really do anything but have our lovely continental breakfast at the hotel. It consisted of a baguette, croissante, and coffee. VERY impressive!!

So, I had an AMAZING, indescribable weekend in Paris, one I know I will never forget! I'll be posting pictures on webshots very soon so please check them out!

What's next? I have a day trip with my program to Valencia, a city south of Barcelona outside of Catalunya, on Saturday.

***Random Barcelona Fact: Most stores, cafes, and restaurants allow you to bring your dog with you!! It's so weird to be in a clothing store shopping and see a dog right next to you!! Also, most dogs don't have leashes and they're apparently so well trained they don't even approach strangers, they just walk along very calmly***

Hi!!! I´m so sorry for not getting this together as things happened. From here on out, I´m going to be updating my blog weekly(ish) depending on whether or not I do something exciting! Actually, I´m going to Paris TOMORROW!!!! [b]so I will have a lot to talk about when I get back!

Also, I have a Webshots account: http://community.webshots.com/user/jenineurope08 It takes a long time to upload pictures so getting them up is a process. After reading this information and looking at the pictures I have so far, you should have a general idea of where I am and what I´m doing. I know there was an error with a couple of the pictures in my album as well...I´ll get to fixing those soon enough!!

Remember, my e-mail is jchassay@indiana.edu so feel free to e-mail any time!! I miss everyone so much and I hope all is well back in the good old US!!

More updates: I´m going to Amsterdam in 2 weeks, then for Spring Break I´m going to the Canary Islands for 5 days, then Italy for 5!! I´ll be in Italy on Easter Sunday!!!! I can´t wait!!

This was an AMAZING weekend!! The trip was organized by my program. Madrid is the capital of Spain and has SO much to see and do that a weekend was definitely not enough time spent! I thought Barcelona was an active city--until I got to Madrid! The hustle and bussle of the city, the architecture, the parks...everything was so great!

Friday when we arrived, we took a general tour of the city. I can´t really recall much that I saw because it was a 3 hour walking tour, but all of it was so cool!

Saturday, we went to El Prado. For me, this was such an exhilerating experience...I can´t even explain! I studied Spanish Art history in high school (one of my favorite classes ever!) and my interest in this subject led me pursue Spanish in college, which further led me to Spain. I got the chills when I saw the paintings I had analyzed so carefully right in front of me and it made me feel so accomplished, like everything I had gone through in life-the struggles, the stress, etc-all happened for a reason because it all led me right there. Wow, that sounds really corny, but it was a very personal experience for me and one that I will NEVER forget!!

We also visited the Royal Palace of Spain which was sooo cool! The palace has over 1000 rooms, fully decorated, each with a story of its own. We went to all of them! ...just kidding, we only fit in 20 in the 2 hours we had...but it was all so beautiful. The King and Queen of Spain don´t actually live there, but they visit about 2 times a month. Saturday night I went to one of the biggest discotecas in Spain. It had 7 floors, live entertainment, great atmosphere and A LOT of fun!!

OH yeah, one big thing I have left out...I had a 26 year old girl named Mónica living with me up until 2 weeks ago. She is from Madrid but was working in Barcelona. She recently lost her job so she moved back to Madrid where her family and friends are. This was really sad for me because we had gotten really close living together for a month and a half. She was a really good friend of mine and much easier to relate to than Eli. She would spend hours telling me about culture in Spain and asking me questions and teaching me...she was sooo great!! I was really sad when she left, but was lucky to see her the following weekend when I visited Madrid. She came out to the discoteca on Saturday with my friends and I and had a great time!! (She calls me once a week to catch up and she´s planning on visiting Barcelona once or twice before I go back to the US!!)

Anyway, Sunday I went to a big flea market and spent time with Mónica before I left!! She even went to the train station with me to say goodbye!! How cute! That concludes my weekend in Madrid! One of the best weekends yet!! (Don´t worry, I still like Barcelona better!)

Picasso Museum (1/18)-This was a pretty interesting museum. It had a few really famous pieces of art. It was broken down by period which was interesting as well.

Parc Guëll (1/19): This was a great time! Gaudí actually created this park. It´s in the mountains so the view is absolutely amazing! The art within the park-between sculptures, buildings, benches, etc-was sooo amazing! My friends and I actually ended up climbing a mountain that day and got to see Barcelona from an amazing angle!! This day was a lot of fun!

History Museum of Catalunya (1/25): This was cool, but very hard to appreciate because it was all Roman ruins aka rocks. You entered the museum, took an elevator down, and entered what used to be a Roman city (dating back to 11BC). It was preserved and studied to an extent that they were able to figure out where the laundry facilities were, where they made wine, etc. After about an hour of being there, I finally got really into it and started taking pictures of everything because I thought it was so cool. By the time I left, I had about 50 or more pictures that in reality looked like a bunch of rocks!!

Tarragona (1/26): I took a trip during the day here! It´s a beach city in the south of Catalunya, very calm and quaint, with Roman ruins scattered through the city. The biggest attraction was the Roman Ampitheater which was VERY well preserved and pretty cool! It was a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. It was really interesting to see how the atmosphere changes just by going a little bit south.

Sitges (2/2): I went here to celebrate Carnaval which I still don´t have too great of an understanding of! Basically Carnaval is a week-long thing where people dress up in crazy costumes. I´m pretty sure it has to do with lent because it was the week right before lent and the biggest night for the celebration was Fat Tuesday. This trip was pretty interesting...my friends and I tried to cram an extreme number of people into a small hotel room and ended up getting in trouble by the staff! I had to calm down the receptionist (in Spanish) and let him know that we would only have 3 people say in the room...it put a slight damper on the trip but was a worthwhile experience to say the least!

National Museum of Art in Catalunya (2/5): This was a trip for class, kind of boring, but cool! It had Roman art restored from churches. We learned a lot about the symbology of art during that time...blah blah blah The best part about the museum is that it´s a huge palace-looking building nestled in the mountains. The view of Barcelona is amazing as well! I´m going to go back sometime because at night there´s a light show and the ponds leading up to the top having fountains and lights...it should be pretty spectacular!

I think I´m missing a museum...I´m sorry, but I think you´ll be okay not knowing about it!!

Now that we have the logistics out of the way, I want to tell you about my life here in Barcelona!!

Home: I´m living with a 35 year old woman named Eli. She´s a VERY nice woman--easy to get along with, very helpful and caring, and fun-loving! I´m living in a 3-bedroom flat, not very big, but comfortable and in nice condition. The location is so great. I live right off of the street that runs all through Barcelona so I have good access to the bus (the metro is 6 blocks away). The neighborhood is more up-scale, so there are a lot of fancy restaurants and boutiques lining all of the streets. The atmosphere of my neighborhood is so great, especially in the morning. I´ve gone for runs numerous times and found myself in beautiful parks--it´s simply amazing, no words can describe!

Social: I have met SOO many great people here! Everyone gets along very well. We go out together at night, we go on weekend and day trips, we make lunch at the residency halls--it´s been alot of fun! Thinking about leaving them scares me because they have become a huge part of my life! The nightlife here is a lot of fun as well! Just like everything else, going out is pushed back--you don´t usually go to a big discoteca (club) until about 2 or 3am and you stay out until 6 or 7am! (It really is a part of the culture, even Eli goes out at this time!)

School: If I have one complaint about Barcelona, I´m going to have to say I don´t like school very much! No, not because it´s school and no one likes it; it´s more or less because everything is very unorganized. All of my teachers are foreign and they have a very different style and method of teaching. All of my classes except my Spanish class are in Englihs which is very nice. I have 2 marketing classes--one international and one managerial--with the same teacher! I also have an international management class (I´d say the most organized of them all) which is pretty challenging. I also have an art history class and I don´t really like my teacher here either. I think it´s mainly because of the cultural boundary. Oh well, ya can´t win em all!

Food: This is a tough category to write about! I guess the main difference is how they mix foods that I would never imagine would be mixed together. For example, rice, egg, and tomato sauce or egg and potato. Just things I wouldn´t typically think of. They eat a lot of pastries for breakfast...fortunately I let Eli know right off the bat that was NOT something I was into! For lunch, they have "Menu del día" which is menu of the day--they brink you an appetizer, a main dish, and a dessert. I don´t do that though. I usually go to a market and buy things to make a sandwhich or a salad or I get something from the café at my university. I´ve tried a lot of interesting things...and everyone knows how picky I am!! Well, things are changing! Since I´ve been here I´ve tried duck, squid, clams, muscles, snails, shrimp (with heads), mushrooms, raw meat, salmon, and probably an assortment of other things that I have no knowledge of! I´m actually getting very used to eating squid, although it´s not my favorite!

Culture: The first weekend I got here was huge for Spain. Here, they celebrate The Three Kings so there were huge parades and decorations everywhere! It was like Christmas all over again! With my program, I´ve gone to see Flamenco dancing and I took a cooking class! These were both really fun activities! The Flamenco dancer was male which was very unexpected and kind of amusing! I picked up some good recipes in the cooking class as well--one being my favorite dish here--potato tortilla.

These are all of the general categories I can think of for now!