I'll DEFINITELY be home for Christmas

Let's say my trip to Barcelona was "interesting"..  The best part about the trip was buying my grandmother a souvenir and going to the aquarium. But I must say, the New Orleans Aquarium is SO MUCH BETTER.

Here's a bit of a simplification of my trip:

Leaving Paris, YAY!

Happy to get away....

But I just want to write a little while about flying. For me, there's nothing comparable to taking off on a jet plane. The feeling I get during take off is indescribable, despite where I'm going or coming from. It amazes me that the human brain can invent a machine powerful enough to take hundreds of passengers off of the ground and into the air. When I take off in the plane, everything else in my head goes out of the window... I get so excited, and I love having the window seat. I love seeing the plane rise off the ground and into the air. It's just so amazing. You may think I'm silly, but it's the truth. It makes me believe and remember that there is actually intelligence among mankind.

Literally ontop of the CLOUDS :)

How cool is this picture?? A shadow of the plane in the clouds.. PERFECT

Hello Barcelona! The flight coming in was breathtaking!

So I arrive in Barcelona, and at first, I can't figure out how to get out of the damn airport!! I'm thinking to myself, "I'm going to waste all of my time here trying to find the freakin exit!".

Eventually, I found the exit, and at that point, I just wanted to get to the hostel, so I got a cab. THIRTY FREAKIN EUROS from the airport to the hostel. I didn't care.

The hostel was pretty nice, but the bathroom smelled as if it hadn't been cleaned in months. I used other friends' showers. Ick.

So after I got situated, I walked around the area a little bit to find a shopping center, mainly to buy a memory card because I realized once I left for the airport that I left my memory card in my computer...PERFECT... But unfortunately, my camera is "special" and they don't sell memory cards like that in most places in Europe. Go figure.

So I walked around a bit, and found this tappas place. It was my first real SPANISH meal. So I was excited. I had a pork sandwich, and it was pretty yummy. I also had some Spanish beer, which was REALLY yummy :)

Come to find out, it's harder getting around in Spain than it is in France. At least I know a little French, but they don't really know English, and it's not SPANISH either, it's something like, Cantalonian or something...

So after my wonderful lunch, I walked back to the hostel and napped for a bit.. Napping is so UNDERESTIMATED.

After napping, I went to the hostel bar. WHICH HAPPENED TO BE THE BEST PLACE IN BARCELONA.

Happy Hour was from 6:30 to 8, and I just so happened to arrive  in time.

Come to find out, I was wearing 2 sombreros, LOL. Just FYI.

OLA, Sangria!

I stayed at the bar and waited for my friends from school to arrive from Edinburgh, but they didn't get in until really late, so we just spent the night in the hostel.

The next day, they (the boys) went to the stadium and left me at the hostel because they figured I wasn't intereseted. My reply: Your assuming things makes and ASS out of U and ME.

So I did my own thing.. Walked around for a bit and got a REALLY good dinner.  I went to a bakery and managed to get a loaf of bread FRESH out of the oven. It was so HOT I couldn't hold it. Then I found a butcher and got some fresh jambon rostido (roasted ham, or smoked ham) and I got some queso crema.. not cream cheese, just a really spreadable cheese. SO YUMMY.

When the boys got back, we decided to go out. There was a special at the hostel bar every night offering free entrance for hostel members at certain clubs and discos. Thurday night was a bar-hopping night. We got cabs to SHOKO, and the next place was supposed to be CATWALK, but we didn't make it there. So we got a cab home. JUST A WARNING TO ANYONE GOING TO BARCELONA: if you don't give the cab drivers exact change, they take the liberty of TAKING YOUR MONEY AND NOT GIVING YOUR CHANGE BACK. Now, if you have an outspoken personality, like myself, this may result in the police coming. SO my advice, is just to have EXTRA CHANGE ON YOU. That's it.

Drama, drama, drama after that. But I'm not gonna talk about it, because I'm a bigger person than he is.

Anyway, the next day I went to Sagrida Familla, which is one of Gaudi's most famous works of art. He was a famous Spanish architect. I didn't go in because they were charging like, 15 euros. As if. My church at home is lucky if I have enough cash to give 2 dollars to the basket. Sorry, Jesus. I'm a broke college student.

After that, I went to the aquarium. I love aquariums and I had a lot of fun there, but it was no comparison to the New Orleans Aquarium of the Americas.

This was the view of the beach on the walk to the aquarium. Eventually, we took a bus because we were so tired of walking in the rain...and it was cold. Not sunny or warm unfortunately, but the beach was still beautiful...

This is an embryo of a rarely seen dogfish. It was squiggling int the eggsac. One of the coolest things I've ever seen...

I love the sharks.. I'm more afraid of spiders.. Love the sharks, but hate spiders, ick.

Purty, huh?

It's like a scene from 'Finding Nemo'.. "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...."

Hi, Stingray :)

His mouth was open like he was thinking, "WTF?!"

These are a bunch of baby squids, just chillin at the top of the tank

Tunnel with moving sidewalk: pretty convenient for me and other lazy people :)

Everyone loves the seahorses!

I found you, NEMO!

And this guy was way cool...

On the way home we came across a few monuments and what not...

I think this was the Christopher Columbus monument...

A modern piece: Lichensteins "head of Barcelona"

Afterwards, I met a few girls studying in Holland from America and Canada. Our plans were to go out, but we I didn't make it out, because unfortunately I went to the hospital instead.... some stupid guy from Denmark decided it was ok to push me so hard that I gashed my head open... the ambulance was called, and I was screaming and crying not to go because I HATE hospitals. HATE THEM... but they made me go because they thought I needed stitches, thankfully, I didn't. So I snuck out and called myself a cab...

Everything was just COVERED in blood. ICK.

and ICK, Hosptials.. even more ick that they don't speak ENGLISH or ACCEPT YOUR INSURANCE.

Whatever, they cleaned me up and I went home and slept mostly all of the next day. I slept until about 4, and then decided it was time for me to get some REAL spanish food.

They said it was PRAWNS, but it tasted and looked like SHRIMP to me. But who knows? And they have coke in glass bottles, so I was satisfied, especially for 6 euros, including coke.

I made some Cadanian friends at the hostel later on, and went out for a bit before my flight left Sunday morning.

This is Katelyn. She is one of the nicest, smartest, most beautiful women I have ever met.

Unfortunately I had to leave very early. My flight was at 7:55 and the train left at 5:55. YIKES.. Luckily I managed to get there on time.Thank GOD.. But when I got there, once I got to the gate, the bitches flight attendants at the gate tried telling me my bag was too big. I said, "Look, the woman at check-in weighed it, I got in on the flight FROM Paris, AND I'M TAKING IT BACK TO PARIS, AND I'M NOT PAYING FOR IT." So I had to shove it in the stupid stand thing that makes you check the dimensions of your bag.. AND GUESS WHAT???? MY BAG FIT!

SCREW YOU, FLIGHT ATTENDANTS. It's called "knowing how to pack", something all WOMEN should know how to do....

I slept the whole way home, made it home in one piece, and managed the rest of the school week of srudying and prjoects... THANK GOD IT'S OVER.

I spent all day on the couch.

So,  I say goodbye for now... I will update you later.. Hope you enjoyed..

Later Gators,

À Plus tard!

Kristen

An "AMAZING" Week...

Monday..
Monday started my 4th class. Development of International Business and Sales. Twice a week. Monday is theory, Wednesday is practice... Let's just say it was the earliest I have woken up since I've been to France. Not easy. After class ended at 11, Laura and I had lunch at school. It was my first time eating in the cafeteria, and it was pretty good: Chicken Cordon Bleu. Afterwards, French civ class: Always good :) This week we talked about WWI and WWII. Very interesting and compelling discussions.

Turns out, no French test Tuesday, but the test is after the holidays :(  However, the class was about the process of making wine, so you would imagine that it grabbed my attention. Also met a new friend; his name is Pablo and he's from Peru. We've had French together the whole semester, but this was the first I'd talked to him. He said he thought he knew one of my roommates, Jos. Pablo said Jos was always telling him how "amazing" my cooking was, so I told him he should come over for dinner sometime; it's the southern hospitality, we invite everyone over.  Tuesday night we went to Duplex.. I hung out with Pablo, and he mentioned that his birthday was Saturday, but since vacations were coming up, he wanted to celebrate on Friday. I offered to cook for him and we arranged a dinner party for Friday. After the club, Lauma and I decided to walk home, except in the wrong direction, in the cold. Thank God a bus passed shortly after.

Wednesday started the practice part of the new class. Not too bad, but the rest of my group is French, and they prefer to speak that way as well. So, it's going to be difficult, but I think I can manage.

Thursday we had marketing presentations. I'm not sure exactly what my teacher's criticism was, because to me it seemed like he just kept giving us examples about how our idea was a good one. WHO KNOWS?
Thursday night I went to James Joyce to pay Will back the money he'd loaned me from when I lost everything. Lauma and Laura came to meet me, and Laura brought her friend from Finland. She is so sweet. Always a good night at James Joyce.

AND for FRIDAY, FRIDAY! (in a Rebecca Black voice)
Friday I slept in because now, it's my only day off from school apart from the weekend. I cleaned the apartment and started cooking around 4.. I made a 5 course cajun meal TO DIE FOR!

Yours truly <3

Hors d'oeuvres: Fresh grapes, cheese, and baguettes

Salad: Shrimp Remoulade. Unfortunately my camera died and I charged it and forgot about it, so no pictures of the remoulade :(  But it was DELICIOUS. Fresh boiled shrimp served on a bed of lettuce with a side of homemade-secret-recipe-remoulade dip. YUM, and YUM.

Entree and side: Gumbo and potato salad :) This time, I finally remembered to put the OKRA in the gumbo!

And for Dessert: My very first PECAN PRALINES!!!! My mother was so proud of me, because she had her doubts, but I knew I could do it :)

Not only was Pablo amazed, but I think everyone was impressed. Lauma said I made her night, lol. I must say, I impressed myself...

Saturday was an AMAZING day. Kot, Jos, Lauma and I went to the Eiffel Tower with intentions of climbing to the top, but the lift was closed due to congestion, so we decided to go when it wasn't so busy. However, I did manage to get a picture of my name on the Eiffel Tower!!!

I know I know, I'm famous :)

 We decided to visit the Statue of Liberty and had coffee and eclairs afterwards.

Again, these are just a few pictures. Check out my facebook for the complete album.

Today I went shopping for a Halloween costume with the intent of creating a Moulin Rouge dancer costume; instead it looked more Gangster. I guess this year I'll be going as myself, haha. Just a joke.

All in all, it was an AMAZING week.

Oh, and I'm leaving Wednesday for Barcelona for vacation. Be jealous :)

Later Gators!

À plus tard!

Kristen

..

Internet man, call me. 0637049653.

Oh, Mon Dieu

Although I was up until 3 AM Monday morning updating the blog, I woke up super early. I was feeling productive and decided I would start a new healthy lifestyle. I started Yoga, and I LOVE IT. It's a great workout AND it's relaxing. I also started eating healthier. Mainly because I had no food in the house.. and I had no money to buy food because the wire transfer hadn't gone through yet.
I've pretty much been sticking to it. I mean, I have to, because the WINE is so plentiful and cheap here, I have to counteract it some kind of way. Let's see how long this eating healthy thing will last...

I had my French civ class Monday afternoon, and it was a pretty good class. We got our grades back from our midterm, and I got a 14.1 out of 20. Not too shabby (all my friends got 10s). The reason why it was a good class is because I'm a smartypants. We have group lectures every week, and every week is a different group. This week, the group presentation included information on the catacombs of Paris, etc.. The catacombs is an underground osuary where the bones of about 6 million bodies are stored in old mining quarries. Well you see, I went to the catacombs about 3 weeks ago. So, I was pretty well informed. Nothing against the group presenting, I thought their presentation was good. But after the part about the catacombs, the teacher (the hot one) asked if anyone knew why the catacombs were REALLY built. So of course, I raised my hand, and I said, "Well, the catacombs were built because the decaying bodies in the mass graveyards, specifically the Cemetery of the Innocent, were contaminating the groundwater, and at the time, well water was the city's main source of drinking water. So, the city ordered the removal of the bodies." My teacher said, "50 points for you!" Even though I didn't really get 50 points, I was very proud of myself. After talking about the catacombs and the Cemetery of the Innocent, the presenter, Tim (another Erasmus student from the US, Coastal Carolina) asked the class if anyone knew what the biggest cemetery in Paris was. OF COURSE, I knew the answer to this too, because I went to it a few days before! So I raise my hand, and he laughs at me because I answered the previous question as well. And I said, "Pere Lachaise." He asked if I knew what arrondissement it was in. AND OF COURSE I DO, because my group will have to present the 11th, 12th, and 20th arrondissements. So AGAIN, I answer, "The 20th." And he tells me, wow, you just know everything. HAHA. I love it when other people realize this.

So that was it for Monday; I came home and had a healthy dinner.

Tuesday, however, was also interesting. Tuesday is French class. As if it isn't hard enough learning French IN FRENCH, and majority of the class speaks SPANISH; Tuesday, I had the two most obnoxious people in the world sitting next to me. They talked in Spanish for the ENTIRE CLASS, and it got to the point that I could not hear what the teacher was saying or concentrate on the class. This was important, because we have our first test TUESDAY. So, I had enough. I turned to my side, and said loudly, "Can you two please SHUT THE F UP? Because you keep talking in SPANISH, this is FRENCH class, AND I CANNOT CONCENTRATE." Obviously they were pretty embarassed. The teacher had words with them after class, in FRENCH, haha. I usually "try" to hold my tongue, but this time I couldn't help it. SORRY!

After class, I went to the bank, AND MY MONEY WAS THERE!!! WOOHOO!!! I was with my groupmate Santiago, and he told me that he was happy I got my money, because he was tired of seeing me looking so depressed all week. He said the second I took the money out of the ATM my face lit up. Haha.
So now that I had money, I HAD TO go grocery shopping. I had absolutely NO FOOD at home.
The weather finally got cold, so I also decided to pick up the ingredients for my Momma's homemade chicken noodle soup.
Santiago had never heard of Auchan, and he was so excited that I introduced him to the cheap grocery store that he decided to stick with me for my grocery shopping.
Turned out I bought way more than I expected to, mostly fruits and veggies and such, so I asked him if he would help me haul the groceries back to my apartment. And he replied with, "I'll make you a deal. I'll help you with the groceries if you cook for me tonight." GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME!

^^ This was one of the reasons I needed help with the groceries. THE BIGGEST CELERY STALK I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.

Went home and made 2 pots of chicken noodle soup, and IT WAS SO GOOD. It was gone by the next day. The Ales were still in Madrid, so it was only Lauma, Santiago, Jos and me.

Lauma and I decided to go to James Joyce after dinner. So after twisting my arm, yeah right, I agreed to go with her. It was supposed to be for ONE beer.
We all know how that goes. But, good thing we stayed.
After Lauma went outside for a smokebreak, she came back inside and said, "Hey, there's someone really important standing behind you..." And of course I turn around, and I ask, "WHO, WHO?!?!" She explains that she met this guy MONKEY, when she was outside smoking.

He just so happens to work for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and they just so happen to be one of my FAVORITE bands, and they just so happened to be playing in Paris that night and the next night. Of course I BEG for tickets, and Monkey says, "I don't know.. name 5 songs." So of course I can't think of the names of t 5 songs, so it takes me about ten minutes, but I DID IT! Monkey says, "OK.OK. I still don't know." Turns out, he was messing with me all along. When he and Lauma were outside smoking, he told her he thought we were cool and wanted us to go to the concert the next night, and gave us 2 tickets, but told Lauma to keep it a secret.

OH MON DIEU! WE GOT FREE TICKETS TO THE FREAKIN RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS CONCERT!!

All in all, it was AN AMAZING NIGHT.

Wednesday, I was asked by a fellow student to be a "business angel". Even though it wasn't MY presentation, I thought I should look professional :) So I got all dressed up and listened to RHCP ALL DAY!

I had to sit in on their presentation, and at the end, decide whether or not I would invest in their company and business concept. It was a really good experience, and I'm glad I volunteered to do it. The class and the teacher were SO HARD ON THEM. I couldn't be so harsh. I was a softy.

After the presentation, I decided I would stop by H&M to get something cool to wear for the concert. I ended up finding this cool set of tees. One ws one half of a broke heart with LO, the other had the other half of the heart with VE. PERFECT!
Lauma was so excited when she saw the shirts. So we put them on and headed out to Palais Omnisports BERCY. It just so happened to be in the 12th arrondissement, one of the districts I have to do a presentation on. Hitting two birds with one stone!

When we got to the arena, we were so excited. Our tickets were at willcall, and when we saw them, we couldn't stop giggling.

We managed to find our seats and have a few beers and enjoyed the concert. IT WAS AWESOME.

Our uber cool tees :) LOVE!

They have a few fans...

The arena was PACKED!

Yep. That's the Red Hot Chili Peppers ^ :)

What was funny was that not only did everyone around us get to see the RHCP, but they got to see me fall from our row to the row below us. THAT was a rough one. But hey, it's not a real rock concert unless you leave slightly injured.

Thursday morning I woke up bruised, sore, sick, and without a voice. I managed to get myself out of bed for my marketing class. The teacher was talking about Freud's ego theories and how they apply to marketing; but not only how they apply to marketing, more specifically PEANUTS. YEAH, Peanuts. After the peanut lecture we did some groupwork, and surprise: we have to give "pre-presentations next class". I don't think it's going to be a problem...I got this.

After class I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some things to make another soup, since I was sick. This time it was tomato, corn, and sausage. Pretty good. But the roomies didn't make it home :(

They went to a party, but I needed to stay home anyway because I was sick, and I'm still a little sick...

Friday was a pretty lazy day. I spent the day drinking mint tea, eating Riccolas like candy, and popping Sudafed to try to get myself better. It worked! I was feeling better, so I decided to go to the Belleville Chinatown to get some pictures for my french civ project before going to a get-together at a friend's. It was nice.. I practiced my French a little :)

Saturday I slept in, and then Lauma came over and surprised us with a Baguette and fresh cheese and ham and tomatoes. It was so yummy. Saturday night, Lauma and I went to a friend's apartment, but we ended up parting ways, and I went off by myself for the rest of the night.

Today Kot and I deep cleaned the apartment. You would be disgusted at the things we found in the toaster.

Now, I have LOTS OF STUDYING TO DO, especially if I wanna catch the Saints game. WHO DAT?!

My 4th class,  Development of Business and Sales International, starts tomorrow at 8 AM AND its on Wednesdays at 2. No more Wednesdays off :/

We already have a huge case study to look over for the new class, I have a French test Tuesday and a marketing presentation Thursday.

Wish me luck!

That's all for now.

Later Gators

À plus tard!

Kristen