And I wondered what kind of food was Parisian food

Two blog posts in one day?!! Woah there!

Bonjour, merci, si vous plais....The only three french words that I knew that I didn't start using until I finally got back to Spain. Last weekend, I met Hannah, Jessie, and Ann Louise in Paris! I had gotten so used to Spanish that even in Paris I would say Hola and Gracias. It wasn't until when I got back in Seville did I try to say merci to someone.

I arrived in Paris Thursday night, met Ann Louise and went out for a delicious dinner before we picked Jessie up at the train station.

Friday, we woke up and headed to the Arc de Triumph and climbed to the top, only 285 steps. From there we wandered down Champs-Elysees, peeking into all the fancy stores, and the Disney Store of course. Despite the freezing cold, we wandered around for a while, stumbling upon Christmas markets, Hotel Invalides, and the Army Museum. Coming from 60 degree weather in Seville, Paris was freezing! We grabbed some lunch, the first of many bread and cheese combinations in Paris. Then we headed down to San Chapelle. The church was much smaller than I expected it to be but it was filled with beautiful stained glass windows. From there we went back to the train station to meet Hannah then went to Sacre Core. It was a beautiful church. Like in Rome, there was a statue of St. Peter where many pilgrims touch his foot. I had a croque monseuir for dinner, layers of bread, ham, cheese, bread, cheese. Like I said, so much bread and cheese! Dinner was full of catching up and gossip and laughs. So nice to be reunited again. Before we headed back, we made a quick stop for some crepes and then down to Moulin Rouge!

Arc de Triumph

View from the top

Inside of San Chapelle

Sacre Core

Saturday we woke up earlier because it was going to be a long day, but a good day! Started off the day being so Paris and went to the Eiffel Tower. After plenty of pictures, we climbed 670 stairs to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower! Whew, that was a workout for the day. The view was really pretty though. Most definately worth it. We headed down to the other end of the river, where we went to the lock bridge! I had brought the lock that I bought for my hostel locker in Cadiz. Early that morning, we all signed the lock and decorated it. We locked it to the bridge and threw the key away, officially locking in our friendship. Like we really weren't official friends before that? haha. Grabbed some more lunch...you guessed it, more bread and cheese! Then we headed to Notre Dame. I want to give a shout out again to Rick Steves for enlightening us about another fabulous city and cathedral and another shout out to Ann Louise for knowing all about Gothic architecture and telling us about it! We were going to climb the bell towers but we figured we should keep moving onto the Louvre. We were fortunate enough to be visiting Paris during the off-tourist month and got right in to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a bunch of other famous paintings, including the Wedding at Cana right across from the Mona Lisa. From there we walked back up Champs-Eysees and stopped at Lauderee for some macaroons. It was our last night in Paris so we walked down to the Eiffel Tower to see the whole thing at night (even though we could see it from our apartment window!). We even got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle. We headed back up to the Monmarte area for dinner at a delicious fondue place. They gave you wine in baby bottles too! Even though we were so full we stopped for a crepe filled with nutella and banana for dessert. What's a Parisian experience without some crepes?

Eiffel Tower

We are now officially friends

Notre Dame

Wow, she really is that small

Selfies at the Eiffel Tower 

Sunday we said goodbye to Ann Louise and Jessie early. Both Hannah and I didn't leave until later in the day so we went to Musee d'Orsay to check out some impressionist art. It was cool because I liked the Van Gogh and Degas paintings and Hannah loved the Monet paintings. What can I say, we are quite the cultured art connoisseurs. Grabbed some lunch....bread and cheese? No, omelets for a change! But yes, we did grabbed another crepes before we said goodbye and left Paris.

Luckily I had a relaxing weekend in Seville where I was able to catch up on my journal and blog posts. Next weekend I will be in Vienna visiting WheezeDog with a guest appearance from Momma Fron! From there we come back to Seville where more Frons will be visiting! I've got some exciting last few days coming up before I head home from this incredible semester abroad.

A Birthday I'll Never Forget

Sorry its been so long since I have blogged. I knew it was a long time when both my dad and Ann Louise were looking for blog posts. Traveling has been incredible but it takes a lot of planning and is exhausting. I now understand how much time my parents put into planning our incredible family vacations. And I thought planning for a weekend was a lot. Mix traveling in with some school work that I suddenly have and I've been busy. haha.

Anyways. Over my birthday weekend, Abby Burns met me in Seville and then we travelled to Morocco for the weekend. What better way to spend a birthday than traveling to Africa with a great friend! Abby got to Seville on Thursday. It was so nice to catch up with her, especially since I haven't seen her since Oktoberfest! We spent Friday dinking around Seville then got on a bus to head to Morocco in the afternoon. After a long bus ride and a ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar, we arrived in Morocco. Had some couscous at our hotel for dinner and headed to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

Saturday, we had to wake up at 6:30! We went to the cave of Hercules, supposedly where Hercules lived. Then we rode camels! We were in a smaller group of about 25 people so we got to ride the camels down along the beach. It was so fun! Kinda, like riding a horse, but not quite. You had to hold on when the camels stood up! Also, some of them were not the friendliest and would make a growling noise.

Selfies with the camel

After riding camels we took a bus to the blue city, Chefchauen. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Aladdin. We took a tour through the city and got to see all of the really pretty blue doors and walls. Then we had some free time to explore the city and shop around. In Morocco, it is very common to bargain with the shopkeepers. It was not the easiest to say the least. It was one of the first times I had really bargained, usually momma fron helps me. Also, it was all in Spanish, so that was interesting. The artisans and shop keepers liked it though. It was like a game to them. My first bargaining experience was when I bought a blanket and I started bargaining with the guy and he was smiling and saying "change your number, change your number" and was so excited about it all. After some more bargaining, it started to get really cold and windy. Luckily we had all bought a bunch of pretty scarves that we bundled up in. We drove 3 hours back to our hotel for dinner again.

Pretty curtains in the medina

Sunday, I woke up in Morocco on my 21st birthday! Had some crepes and nutella for breakfast. Then we took a bus ride to Assilah. It's famous for an art festival where people create beautiful graffiti on the walls. We explored the city a little. It was really cool. Some of the graffiti was still left from the last art festival. 

"the road that joins us does not need maps"

Spending my birthday in Morocco was one I will never forget. It gave me a taste of Moroccan culture and I cannot wait to return to both Africa and specifically, Morocco. 

In the words of Lizzie McGuire, "This is what dreams are made of"

This past weekend Hayley, Meredith, Cece, and I traveled to Rome, the eternal city. Friday, those who weren't Catholic had to pretend they were for the day as we explored Vatican City. After a few bumps in the morning (tickets wouldn't print and a small pickpocketing incident - don't worry the worst part was a coach wallet was gone) we arrived at Vatican City. We trudged through ancient artifacts, roman statues and decorative tapestries to finally arrive at the Sistine Chapel! I want to give a shout out to Rick Steves for informing us on the magic of Rome throughout the weekend! I appreciated the Sistine Chapel so much more after really understanding every piece of Michelangelo's work even if the guards kept yelling for everyone to be silent in this sacred place. Oops, sorry. After that we went inside the largest cathedral in the world, St. Peter's Basilica! It was incredible! Before we entered we waited in St. Peter's Square and saw the pope's bedroom! Actually, Pope Francis I is so cool that he does not stay in the fancy Vatican Apartments but in a much humbler apartment outside of St. Peter's Square. Inside St. Peter's Basilica I saw Michelangelo's La Pieta, Blessed John Paul II who will be canonized on April 28, the place where St. Peter was crucified upside down, and the tombs of many former popes. I was in chills more than half the time I was there.

Second on the right on the top floor is usually the Pope's bedroom

La Pieta

Pope John Paul II's tomb

Like many pilgrims, I passed through and touched the foot of St. Peter

Saturday was Hayley's birthday!!! Woo! Meredith woke her up with a cake? nah, pizza of course! After some celebration we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. While yesterday, everyone was a Catholic for the day, the last thing we wanted to be were Catholics today since many Christians were killed in the arena. It was cool to see where the gladiators fought. Hayley had taken Latin so she knew a lot about it all too. The Roman Forum was cool but unfortunately, my Rick Steves tour script would not download so we ended up just looking at a bunch of old ruins and not really knowing what we were looking at. I tried to remember back to 7th grade summer reading about the mystery book in the Roman times and when we read Julius Caesar around freshman year in high school. It's hard to remember all the way back to then.

Who wants cake when you can have pizza?!

Colosseum

Check out the columns: doric, ionic and corinthian

That is...uh?

Of course we had to have Hayley make a special wish on her birthday so we went to the Trevi Fountain to make a wish! It was beautiful at night!

Make a wish! Now where's Paolo?!

Sunday, I saw the pope! Yes, Pope Francis I! Every Sunday that he is in Rome he says a blessing in St. Peter's Square. One of the coolest experiences of my life. Friday, we learned that St. Peter's Square holds about 80,000 people. I am not kidding when I say there were at least 75,000 people there to see the pope. The only part of the square that was empty was the part where the view to the window was blocked by the columns in the square. Even though Pope Francis I does not live in the Vatican Apartments, he still speaks from the next window. It was all in Italian. I could understand a few phrases here and there. Hearing everyone pray the Hail Mary was unbelievable. After the pope said his final blessing, all those 80,000 people had to get back to the city, probably via the metro. I realized that I hadn't had gelato yet. And how could I leave Rome without eating gelato?! So I decided to let some people rush to the metro while I ate some delicious strawberry gelato and watch the masses of people head back on the metro.

There he is, Pope Francis I!

So many people!

Everything in Rome was bigger than I was expecting it to be, literally. I mean everything, St. Peter's, the Colosseum, and the crowds to see the pope. It was an experience in the Eternal City that I will never forget. Get ready for next weekend's adventures where I will be riding a camel on my 21st birthday!

Adventures around Spain: Madrid and Pamplona

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, the season of travel is in its height for me so I've been busy getting ready for all my travels.

Two weekends ago, I decided to hop on a bus and head to Madrid for the weekend to visit Jessie! We saw the royal palace and the royal cathedral. I was almost overwhelmed at the big city feel of Madrid - I guess I really have started to get used to Seville. We went out just the two of us for dinner. It was so nice to catch up, even though it had only been a few weeks since I had seen Jessie in Portugal. That night we went out to a cave bar. It was so cool! There were stalactites hanging all over the place!

The Royal Palace

Royal Cathedral

The next day we woke up and went to Retiro Park. It was a beautiful fall day with leaves changing and a nice breeze, a nice change from the warm weather and green leaves in Seville. It's just weird that it is the end of October and it is still 75 degrees in Seville. We saw the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park. Always so fun to see things in real life that you have pinned on pinterest so many times.

Crystal Palace on a fall day

Retiro Park

 That afternoon we were going to go to the top of city center and get a beautiful view of the city but there was a major cleaning strike going on. People were throwing trash everywhere and there were unattended fires in the street and in random trashcans! So instead I showed Jessie the vertical garden because she had not seen it yet! We took a little siesta then went to a bar to watch the Madrid vs. Barcelona futbol game! Barcelona won 2-1. Since we were at an Irish bar, there were fans for both sides, not just Madrid.

Cleaning strike

Woke up Sunday morning and went to a huge market - so many people and stands everywhere! I found some pretty scarfs though! Then we went to a famous churros place and ate some delicious churros. There were pictures of all the famous people that had been there. It kind of reminded me of the cheesesteak places in Philly.


Last weekend I went to Pamplona to visit Lucia!!!! I hadn't seen her in over 2 years! It was so nice to see her and meet her family and all her friends! I arrived Thursday morning and we met Claudia, who came to visit PA for a week, before she left for Paris for the weekend! We saw some old Roman walls in the city. We went back to her house for one of many typical Spanish meals--green beans, potatoes and fish. That evening we walked around a different part of the city. I saw the start of the running of the bulls. Then we met her friends out for drinks and pinchos (it's what they call tapas in the north of Spain). We were on the street that is the end of the running of the bulls. I got to practice my Spanish with her friends because some of them didn't really know English. It was freezing though! 5 degrees celcius - that's about 40! And when you are used to 75, it's freezing!

Lucia, Claudia and I outside the Roman walls of the city

Who knew Hemingway made the Running of the Bulls famous worldwide in "The Sun Also Rises"?

The next day we woke up and took a quick bus ride to San Sebastian. It was such a pretty city! We watched the waves crash onto the rocks and spray 6 feet into the air. It was so cool! We reminisced about high school over lunch. So funny to think all the way back to high school, junior year seems so far away now. Man, how time flies. I had a burger with pickles for lunch! My madre has made me burgers numerous times, but they are only ok and they never have pickles, the pickles today were a real treat!

And I thought this was the pretty part of the city...

Waves crashing against the wall

Beautiful beach in San Sebastian

I got to experience a typical Saturday in the Beloqui household. We woke up later and went for a walk. I walked part of the Camino de Santiago (even if only was a few meters)! and I walked part of the path of the running of the bulls! After touring the Cathedral in Pamplona we had an aperitivo with her mom. Basically you just get a few drinks and a few tapas before lunch and hang out. Lucia's mom knew everyone! It kind of reminded me of my own mom. We would walk through the streets and she was always saying hello and talking to people. That night Lucia had all of her friends over for pizza. That was a night completely of Spanish. When the first friend came who didn't speak English, Lucia looked at me and said, ok no more English, only Spanish. It was hard but I got to experience what she had gone through the first few months when she was in the states and barely understood what we were saying. I have a whole new perspective on that now.

Running of the Bulls statue

Path of the Running of the Bulls

Sign for the Camino de Santiago

It was a fantastic weekend visiting Lucia, and her family and her friends! I hope it is not another 2 years before I see her again.

Life in Sevillle

Things have really started to settle in here in Seville. Two weeks ago, my culture class was cancelled for the week so we made it up last week by going to a flamenco show. While, the flamenco show was really cool, I've realized that I just don't like flamenco that much. The music and singing is usually very winey. And for me, I'm just not that impressed with ladies just stomping their feet around. But that's just my opinion, I encourage you all to see flamenco at some point if you have the chance, whether you like it or not, it is a good experience. During intermission, I was talking to one girl in my class who was also a dancer and she understood what I was saying about the relatively simple footwork. She had been to a flamenco show the night before for another one of her classes and said that you have to appreciate flamenco from more of a cultural and historical perspective instead of from a dance perspective. After that, I did appreciate the second half more. But I kept thinking about the tango show I saw in Argentina where it was incredible both from a historical/cultural perspective and a dance perspective.

Also, last weekend, I went on top of las setas (the mushrooms) with my friends, Hayley and Meredith. Las Setas are the largest wooden structure in the world. They are just a giant wooden structure that looks like a mushroom. You can go on top and see beautiful view of the city. We got lucky and happened to go up at sunset...

While I have really been trying to immerse myself in the Spanish culture and act as they do, many times people just know I am an American. I went to church this past weekend and a man and his 3 kids sat in front of me. They did not look Spanish at all but then there were speaking Spanish so I was quite confused. For the peace be with you, Spaniards usually give each other a kiss on the cheek, so I went for that but he knew I was American and went for the handshake, we kinda did a combination. Turns on he was actually Scottish but has lived in Seville for the past 20 years and is one of the directors for CEA, one of the study abroad programs. I'll keep trying to act as Spanish as possible :)

This weekend I am visiting Jessie in Madrid! Real Madrid plays FC Barcelona this weekend too! The game is in Barcelona so we won't actually be going to it but it will be so fun just to watch it. While I'd rather root for Barcelona, I think I have to root for Madrid if I am in Madrid!