Hola amigos! I wish I had gotten around to this post sooner, but since finals are one of the two times all study abroad students actually decide to study, everyone went into hiding for a week and dedicated all of their time to that. I basically lived under a rock for a little bit. As of right now, I am officially done with my time in Granada. Throughout the semester I have continuously asked myself, "where does the time go?" STILL ASKING MYSELF. Besides the last minute cramming for finals, the last month or so were some of the best weeks of the semester. The last time I talked about any sort of traveling, I left off right before my time in Lagos, Portugal. Let me tell ya, it was absolutely beautiful. Me and a few girlfriends didn’t think the forecast would be on our side (once again,) but we went on a sangria cruise, kayaked, and spent time on the beach, and there was sun throughout all of it! A little wind, but we tried not to think about that. While other trips have been go, go, go, this one was a nice change of pace, because we took the whole weekend to relax and unwind.
The next trip gets me excited just talking about it. Earlier last year, I found out that one of my sorority sisters, Alexa, would be studying in Paris, while I was in Granada! It was hard to ever find a weekend to plan a visit, because our travel schedules never seemed to match up…UNTIL, we caught up and found out that the second weekend in May would work for the both of us! I can’t even being to explain how amazing of a trip it was. That city is truly magical. There’s no other way to describe it! A lot of other cities have been a little different than what I had expected, but Paris was exactly how I had pictured it in my mind. Another reason this was one of my favorite cities, was that it is surprisingly student friendly. Although it takes the cake for one of the most extravagant and expensive cities in the world, if you’re between 18-25 years old and have an id/visa/passport, you get into most of the main attractions for free! Over the course of three days, I barely spent any money attraction wise, which was great. The metro was even three euros for unlimited rides one day, since it was a holiday, so for a girl who is all about saving some moolah, it was perfect!
The first thing on the agenda was a walking tour around the city, where we started at Place Saint-Michel in the Latin quarter. From there, we saw quite a few of the main sights in the city. We stopped at Notre-Dame, The Love Lock Bridge, The Louvre Museum, walked through The Jardin des Tuileries, and ended at Concorde Square. It was a great way to get a feel for the city.
The first thing on the agenda was a walking tour around the city, where we started at Place Saint-Michel in the Latin quarter. From there, we saw quite a few of the main sights in the city. We stopped at Notre-Dame, The Love Lock Bridge, The Louvre Museum, walked through The Jardin des Tuileries, and ended at Concorde Square. It was a great way to get a feel for the city.
So as some of you might know...I’m very into spending hours and hours on Pinterest and Buzzfeed finding unique cafes, museums, restaurants, to go to in each city, so the next stop on our list for the day was the Shakespeare and Company bookstore! I had seen it all over Pinterest, heard about it from friends, and saw in a Buzzfeed article that it was “one of the top twenty bookstore in the world.” Buzzfeed is a very reliable source. IT WAS THE BEST. I have a weird obsession for cafes and bookstores in the first place, so this was heaven. I raided the bookshelves and eventually found a book on The French Revolution, that I am stoked to read....nerd alert. The rest of the day was spent hopping on and off the metro and exploring some of the other districts. Alexa, her roommate, and I went to The Love Lock Bridge one more time, ate some croissants, and wandered in Montmartre, a district well-known as home for many artists and other creative minds, such as Salvador Dalí and Pablo Picasso. It had such a hip and free-spirited feel to it, it took the win for my favorite district in Paris.
Day two started with the same “go, go, go” mentality. It was a little gloomy, so I figured it would be best if I started off at The Louvre. I’m giving myself an A+ for walking around the museum as much as I could. It is absolutely impossibe to see it all in one day, or even a week. My tour guide had said that there was over 30,000 pieces of art throughout the museum. 30,000?! After entering and becoming overwhelmed with the size of the place, I opted for one of the audio tours. Did I mention the tour was on a Nintendo DS? How cool is that? The DS had all sorts of virtual paths, so I took the one that walked you by all of the most famous pieces of art in the museum. After getting my selfie with Mona, I grabbed a baguette and headed to Concorde Park to enjoy some lunch (trying to blend in with the French.) While I was eating, the Eiffel Tower was to my left and straight ahead was the world famous, Champs-Élysées Avenue. It felt surreal. Right around the corner was one of Paris’ most well-known cafes, Angelina’s. Angelina’s was one of Audrey Hepburn’s favorite cafes when she came to visit the city, so there was no way I was leaving without trying her favorite drink, their old-fashioned hot chocolate. Again, thank you Pinterest.
After meeting up with Alexa, we went to Laduree for some world famous macarons, walked down Champs-Élysées, went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, and ended the day, as everyone should in Paris, with some champagne in front of the Eiffel Tower. My last day was much more relaxed and laid back. I went to the Montmartre district again, visited the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, and walked through Notre Dame. You know, just your average day in Paris. It was incredible! My heart sank when I had to go, but there is good news! I will be back in about a week!
As sad as it was to leave Granada, it was hard to be too upset, because that meant I was that much closer to going on my backpacking trip to meet my family in Austria. Less than two weeks until the gang is all here. I can’t contain my excitement. So where am I now? I am currently going ten hours strong, on my second train of the day, traveling from Valencia to San Sebastian! The blogging is keeping me from going crazy. This final little bit of my adventure is a whole new ball game for me, because I’m solo traveling for the first time. If you would have told me I’d be doing this, before I first came to Spain, I would have told you you were crazy. While it’s only just begun, I am loving it so far. Traveling with friends or a group is great, but as my toothless friend Marcus (miss you buddy) told me before I left, “there is something about sitting in a café or restaurant all alone and learning to really enjoy that time by yourself.” I get to see all that I want to see in a city, go at my own pace, heck, take a nap whenever I want. It’s great!
I like to keep the few readers that I do have for this blog, so I’m going to cut this off, before I go too deep into my fifth page. Whoops. There is SO much to say about Valencia and I’m sure there will be about San Sebastian and the rest of the stops along this little journey, so I’ll be writing again soon. Until then friends, I’m going to keep on wandering.
XOXO,
Bri
I like to keep the few readers that I do have for this blog, so I’m going to cut this off, before I go too deep into my fifth page. Whoops. There is SO much to say about Valencia and I’m sure there will be about San Sebastian and the rest of the stops along this little journey, so I’ll be writing again soon. Until then friends, I’m going to keep on wandering.
XOXO,
Bri