Passport to Paris

My weekend in Paris was absolutely amazing! Not only is the city beautiful, but filled with such rich history!

After waking up at 4:40 Friday morning, the 14 of us took the metro to the bus station to get a bus to the airport. We made it to the airport and after figuring out where to get our passports checked, made it through security in about 10 minutes. We then had an hour to waste, so we sat in a cafe and waited for our gate to appear on the screen. We used RyanAir, which is a low fare airline, but if you want anything additional you had to pay. This meant we weren't all guaranteed seats, luckily the flight wasn't overbooked and we all got seats. I guess one of the neat things about RyanAir is due to the additional cost associated with reserving seats, you can choose not to. This allows you to sit where you want and with whomever you want to.

We arrived in Paris around 1 PM and had no security checkpoint as we exited the airport. We then had to journey from the airport to the hostel, this meant taking a bus to the bus station and then the metro (with 2 transfers) to another stop and then walking the rest of the way. With all of that combined, it took about 2 hours to make it to the hostel. By this point we were all starving. After checking in and dropping our stuff off we decided to grab something to eat from a small cafe and then head back into the city to do some sightseeing and other things. The group split up and one group headed out to go sightseeing and the other did some shopping before going to see a few things.

My group decided to go to the Eiffel Tower first. We got there shortly before 6 PM and took some pictures before they turned the lights on and then more once they were turned on.

The four of us then decided to wander around the city for a while. We walked down by the river and through the streets of Paris. We passed lovely cafes and pastry shops, even a Tour Eiffel de Macarons (they looked delicious by the way; due to time constraints I wasn't able to get any this weekend). We then stopped at a lovely restaurant with delicious food and creme brulee!

Saturday we spent the majority of the day doing a walking tour around the city. We saw (but not up close and personal like we thought) the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triumph, and several other things. We ended at a little cafe where I had my first (and only) pastry of the weekend, (yes, I only had one. Hard to believe right?) a chocolate crepe! It was delicious, but it would have been so much better with strawberries or bananas, yum!

After finishing lunch at the cafe, we decided to backtrack and hit the Louvre again before meeting the rest of the group at the Eiffel Tower at 5. We did a drive by of the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, stopped by The Kiss, and saw several other statues and paintings along the way. I would definitely love to go back and spend more time in the museum!

We then went back to the Eiffel Tower so we could wait in line to go to the top. There were a few complications and I wasn't able to make it, (I definitely will one day!) so the next set of photos are courtesy of my stand-in photographer Alex.

 Everyone say hi to Alex! Didn't she do a wonderful job? Thanks Alex, it feels as if I was there :)

Alex, Felicia, Kaycee, and I then rushed to make it to the Notre Dame. The other group had seen it the night before, but we had chosen to go to the Eiffel Tower instead. The Notre Dame is beautiful! We weren't able to walk around the whole thing, but we did get to hear some amazing organ music!

After hitting up the Notre Dame, the four of us then made our way to the Arc de Triumph. We learned during our walking tour on Saturday that there are 9 lanes of traffic surrounding the Arc and that there are technically no lanes. Can you even imagine? The tour guide said based on statistics that if you stand at the Arc for 17 minutes you will most likely see an accident occur. We weren't there for 17 minutes and we didn't see an accident, but it sure was close a couple of times!

It sure was a whirlwind of a weekend in Paris, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I had so much fun and got to see a ton; pretty much everything I wanted to see in only 1 and 1/2 days!

I hope you all enjoy the pictures! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

xoxo
Kelcey

Au Revoir y Bonjour!

I am headed to Paris bright and early in the morning for a girl's weekend -- my alarm is set for an alarming 4:45 AM! I am packed (almost, just have a few last minute things) and raring to go! Dale and I, along with the other girls, plan on going into the Louvre, climbing the Eiffel Tower, sightseeing around the Arc de Triumph, and eating loads of crepes and croissants, good thing we will be walking a lot! I have a feeling two days will not be enough time to accomplish everything! 

I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! I will catch up with you all on Sunday; be prepared for loads of pictures :)

xoxo
Kelcey

No Me Gusta el Metro

Today definitely had an interesting start to it. I had read many articles about political protests in Spain and had talked to friends who studied abroad over the summer about protests that occurred while they were here; but, I never expected that 2 weeks into my semester I would walk into the middle of a protest trying to get to class via the metro, and at 8 in the morning (during rush hour I might add). It was definitely an overwhelming experience that early in the morning.

As our small group walked to the metro station, I had noticed 5 or 6 police cars out front, but thought there had been some sort of emergency or injury and the ambulance had already left. We began walking down the stairs and in that instant started to hear chanting. I think they were saying "No Paguemos" or "We won't pay" (loosely translated). They were all wearing some sort of mask and were taping open the gates so people could walk through without scanning their tickets. They had a banner stretched out in front of them, but I couldn't tell you what it said. I was focused on making it to the other side and making sure Hannah and Alex made it through as well.

As we were standing there trying to decide what to do (we had no other choice but to take the metro), or what would happen to us if we tried to cross, all I could think was, 'I am an American student. I clearly look American. How are they going to react when I try to go through?' So I did what I thought was best, avoided eye contact and went through the gates furthest from where they were taping (and ran my ticket through I must add). They were not violent in any way, and the police were not close by (they were standing on the entrance stairs), but I didn't know if they would be violent towards me or my friends. When we finally made it to the metro, my hands were shaking from a combination of fear and adrenaline. By the time I came back through the metro stop this afternoon everything had cleared up (although some of the doors did look to be semi-broken...oops). I was worried about other friends who possibly had to go through the protest alone, so I made sure to warn everyone else about it via the AIFS Facebook page. I wasn't sure how long it would last, but it is better to be safe than sorry!

I'm sure this won't be the last protest I'll go through, but I hope it is the last one that takes place in the cramped quarters of a metro stop. It definitely didn't help with my metro anxiety...

Hope everyone has had a good start to their week!

xoxo
Kelcey

Maybe, Just Maybe...

For all of the problems Dale and I have had cooking the last few days, we may finally be getting our act together! Last night after getting back from our journey to Montserrat and Sitges, I decided pasta would be good for dinner. We had a little bit of tomato sauce left, so I just added a bit of salt and pepper to it and warmed it up while cooking the pasta. Tonight, I decided to be a bit more creative and made a white wine pasta sauce. It is hard cooking on Sunday's because everything, literally almost everything, is closed. The majority of shops and cafes are closed, and the market behind the Residencia is closed as well. Whatever we had for dinner had to be done with ingredients we already had. So, thank goodness for Google, I did a search for white wine pasta sauce and found one that would work. I did have to borrow some garlic powder, but other than that we had everything. Our dinner tonight consisted of macaroni (dinosaur shaped, we ran out of normal pasta), 6 tablespoons of butter, 3/4 cups of white wine, garlic powder, asparagus, and some ground pepper. It was delicious!

My Sunday consisted of me doing absolutely nothing. I did go out with a group for lunch at our normal cafe, but after that I came back to the room and got back in bed, and it was glorious! I was able to finish catching up on TV shows and I watched two movies. I know I probably should have been out exploring the city, but some days I need me time. This was the first day that I had nothing planned and I needed to recuperate for the week coming up.

This week includes four days of class and a flight to Paris early Friday morning for a girl's weekend! The hostel we are staying at includes a walking tour of the city; I can't wait to take pictures!

So, maybe, just maybe, we are starting to get the hang of things. Hopefully we will continue to have good food and time to just hang out, because as fun as it is to go out, I love being able to just sit and talk and get to know everyone a little bit deeper. These girls are awesome! They offer great advice and I know I can count on them to listen.

Hope everyone has a good week! Looking at the forecast for Paris, it is possible that we might see some snow while we are there!

xoxo
Kelcey