We hit a little rough patch there, folks! Sorry for the delay. :)
So, the last time I posted, I filled you all in on my trip to Toledo, Spain and the failed attempt to steal a sword for my uncle, as well as the failed attempt to meet up with my fellow Versailles alumnus, Margaret.
Well, surprise surprise, there was yet another failed attempt at meeting up with Margaret (not at stealing a sword, sorry. I can't always live on the dangerous side of life. I think prison in Spain might be a little too tough for me). This time, we made plans to meet closer to my block of Spain, but somehow we managed to mess it up AGAIN. I think fate was keeping us from showing Spain what's up.
After my trip to Toledo, 3 other girls and myself had a trip to Paris planned for Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning. Yes, a night in Paris. Which sounds really disgusting because of Paris Hilton and her gross escapades on video. But we'll just leave it at that. We pulled an all-nighter in Paris, France and I had the best time ever doing it. We got to see everything we wanted to and there wasn't anyone in the way or ruining our pictures. Enjoy a few of my favorites:
It just seems so unreal, right? I almost cried a little. It was just so beautiful. I'm so thankful for the many opportunities of living in Europe.
The best company I could have asked for!
At the top of every hour, the Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes. I hope the video works for you all. It was breathtaking. Ignore Jody ruining the video at the end. :)
The same week we had a Thanksgiving dinner here in Spain with our group of American students. Now before you get all excited for me and think that we had a normal Thanksgiving feast, think again. Although the meal was wonderfully delicious, it still wasn't quite the same. But that's ok. I still appreciated the attempt at some good old American cuisine.
The morning after Thanksgiving, the girls and I headed to Geneva, Switzerland! I know, we were absolutely nuts pulling an all-nighter in Paris on Tuesday night and then heading to Switzerland on Friday. But it was so worth it! Vale la pena! Geneva was ugly. There is really no other way to describe it. Just plain ugly. So our second day there, we ventured out to find the older part of the city (which the city itself was surprisingly super tiny) and there's where we found the beauty we had heard all about.
No, we didn't play chess, but it was still really cool.
We rode the bus to the end of the line to see the mountains and then rode it back to the other end just for fun. It was a relaxing trip full of great views.
After Switzerland, we only had a few weeks before finals. Jody and I planned a trip to Portugal for the weekend before our finals, because for some reason we thought that was a SUPER idea. In the end, it was definitely a super idea, because Portugal is my absolute favorite place on Earth. I can't even describe all of its beauty. Every time I turned a corner, I was in awe. And that was in the rain. Yea. Get my point, now?
The Holiday tree in front of the city hall.
The adorable streets.
Ferreira Wine Cellars, where we took our tour.
The big barrel is for Ruby wines and the small barrels are for Tawny wines. The Rubies are dryer, while the Tawny wine is sweeter because of how much contact it has with the wood barrel. The oldest wine they had was from the 1860s and was priced at over 1600 Euros per bottle. That's a lot of money, folks.
The second day in Portugal, Jody and I took a bus tour which was great! We got to see everything we saw the day before, but this time with an explanation and no rain!
This is supposed to be the most beautiful view in all of Portugal…
However, I think this view is much better.
And this is the Atlantic ocean coast. The most breathtaking view of any ocean I have ever seen. Poets would often use this view as inspiration for their work, but a lot of times it was tragedy because many people have lost their lives on this rocky coast.
Besides the beauty we saw out and about, we had a pretty awkward time in our hostel. We were the two nerds who spent the weekend studying before bed and getting up early to go sight seeing. It was embarrassing. AND, the second night of our trip, we got 2 male roommates who barely spoke English and who made the whole situation just that much more awkward. It was a lovely experience. Hostels are great people. Just great.
Directly after Portugal, we had 2 finals on Monday morning. YAY! Followed by one on Tuesday and the last one on Wednesday. And I'm happy to say, that even after all the traveling and fun I've had this semester, I still managed 3 A's and one B. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
And now, we wait. My last responsibility was Wednesday morning at 10:30. My flight is Saturday at 1:25 pm. SO ANNOYING. Huge shout-out to the AYA program schedule on that one. If you can't tell I'm slightly salty that I'm now wasting 2 extra days here (in the rain) instead of spending those two days in Ohio with everyone else. Or maybe we could talk about the amount of money I could have saved by having a flight on a Thursday instead of a Saturday, and the Saturday before Christmas for that matter. So wonderful…
But on that note, I will be seeing you Ohio! So soon!
Happy reading. Stay excellent, ME.
