Challenge: 20 Arrondisments in 24 Hours

I am now only recovering from a slightly ridiculous weekend gallivanting across Paris...

My fun began last Thursday when one of my closest friends, Jackie, arrived for the weekend. I think I have gotten quite good at showing people around the city--hopefully Jackie feels the same :) I also got to see some new things including the cafe and movie theatre featured in my favorite French film Amelie. Picture is of Jackie and I outside the cinema...



I also of course made her eat too may pastries (and ate some myself). I haven't posted pastries in a while because I eat them so often, but this one was just too good!



A pistachio round...will have to get that again before I leave :) We also went to La Durée for their famous Macarons. Wayyy too expensive to go more then once (1.65 and tiny), but I must admit they were rather delicious.

What was most fun was cooking together. Saturday night, after two consecutive days of picnics of wine, bread, and cheese, we decided to make a more proper meal. We stopped by a frommagerie, market, and Nicolas (for wine), and made a delicious pasta dinner. I think it was the first time I had cooked asparagus since leaving home..so good! The culinary-ness continued the next morning with some delicious pain perdu (French toast). Pain perdu means lost bread; basically you use old baguette (even rock hard haha) to make your French toast--it really soaks up the egg and softens when you cook. Quite delicious! I was sad to say goodbye to Jackie, but I am looking forward to spending 10 days with her in the Netherlands in just a few weeks!

Now, the title of this blog post refers to the craziness which ensued on Monday. One of my friends came up with a challenge: Visit all 20 arrondissements (neighborhoods) of Paris in one day. Now, this may not sound like a big deal, but when you think about it, it's quite ridiculous. If we were to spend just 30 minutes in each neighborhood, it would take us about 10 hours. For reference, here is a map:



Of course, just visiting them wasn't enough. It was finally decided that we would go in order, starting with the 20th neighborhood working our way in. In each neighborhood, we had a challenge (something silly like: no speaking, speaking only in French, not using one hand, etc) and we had to take a picture in each. Some of us had personal challenges. One of my friends sent 20 postcards throughout the day, another invited people to her concert (she's a jazz singer). My personal challenge was simply to make it to all 20 districts as I had woken up with a stuffy nose and a bit of a sore throat.



Proud to report that we made it successfully to each neighborhood and it only took us 8 hours!! Definitely one of the coolest things I have done in Paris and with such lovely people :)

Running around the city all day, however, probably wasn't the smartest thing for my health. Luckily, it didn't backfire. Although I was still rather sick yesterday, I am feeling much better today. I had an important presentation this morning and am relieved/excited to report that it went quite well! I still have three presentations to go this week (oi), but the one today was the only one I cared about since the others are Pass/Not Pass.

Three more weeks and then finals will be over! I plan to have a much more quiet and relaxed weekend--get going on my final studying in some pretty Paris parks :)

Perfecting Procrastination

Today marked the beginning of my one month countdown until the completion of my courses. I still have quite a good amount of work ahead of me, and I cannot wait for it to be over! As a disclaimer, it is not that I want my time abroad to be over, but this whole studying while in Paris thing is definitely overrated.

In the meantime, I am doing my best to procrastinate in the most awesome ways possible! I have created a food/place bucket list and am slowly checking things off.

A few weeks ago, I took care of a few of my foodie desires. Between classes, I went with a friend to La Maison Anglina--an incredibly overpriced and ritzy cafe, but quite famous for their celebrity patrons (past and present) and their hot chocolate. I had been to the cafe before, but had yet to take the plunge for the claimed infamous 7euro chocolat chaud....



I was not disappointed by the hot chocolate. However, it is not for the part-time chocolate fan. Incredibly rich and thick, definitely felt like a meal! (As a side comment, perhaps I simply haven't gone to the right place, but I have personally found that they definitely do hot chocolate in Europe so much better in the states. Angelina's in particular is basically just chocolate melted, maybe with a touch of cream. Back home, I feel like its more milk or water than anything else!)

I enlisted my housemate Julia for lunch at another restaurant I had found online, Chez Gladines, which is only about a 30 minute walk from our house. Definitely a very popular local spot for, as we discovered, good reason.



They serve delicious Basque food in quite large portions (for Paris)and at a fair price. Also, since it's located in the 13th arrondisement outside the center of Paris, the people are a little more laid back and actually reminded me a lot of Berkeley--definitely plan to go back!

What else...definitely have had too many French picnics at this point, but the weather has simply been way too nice to pass up an afternoon of baguettes, cheese, and wine! There are also endless options of fabulous places to picnic. Last Saturday, I spent about 5 hours in a gorgeous park in the north of Paris called Buttes-Chaumont.



I also have done a few "field trips" with the Buddy Program for international students at my school. Last week, I went on a tour of the Conseil Constitutionnel, which is basically the French Supreme Court.



And just today, I went to the Socialist Party headquarters.



Neither trip was "exciting," I unfortunately missed both opportunities to tour the Senate which probably would have been a bit more enticing since it is housed in the Jardin de Luxembourg building which is just gorgeous (from the outside at least). However, I'm still glad I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to get a more inside look at the French political institutions!

Tomorrow, thankfully, is Friday! I am looking forward to a busy weekend, but am hoping I can find motivation to do some amount of school work along with everything I have planned!

Roughing it in Berlin

I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Berlin. I stayed with my friend Mohit who is studying there for the semester and living with a lovely German family. The title of this blog is meant to be sarcastic, I don't think I could have had a more easy or comfortable time in Berlin.

I arrived in Berlin Saturday around 1:30pm. I met up with Mohit at a metro stop and went directly to his favorite bar to catch the second half of the Manchester United match. After the match--and a 2euro beer which never happens in Paris--we left my bag in the luggage room at the bar (which awesomely has a hostel on top) and went to the East Side Gallery.



For those who aren't familiar with Berlin, since I was not until just this past weekend :), the East Side Gallery is basically a strip of the Berlin Wall that is still standing and covered in awesome graffiti art done by artists from all over the world. I probably could have taken pictures of every painting, but that would have been a bit ridiculous :)



After walking along the wall, Mohit took me to get hamburgers at a place called Burgermeister--and no, not the American chain.



This place actually is in what use to be a public restroom now turned burger joint--hence the sign for "Manner," meaning men.



My hamburger was delicious--got a spicy one with jalapenos and a delicious pepper sauce (thought of you Jenny) and the patty had a really unique flavor--needless to say I enjoyed it :)



After dinner, we stopped by a Turkish bakery in the neighborhood for some yummy pastries before heading back to the bar to pick up my bag.



When we arrived, the world cup championship for cricket was still on. Mohit, who grew up in India, naturally wanted to stay to watch India compete. It was the first time I actually stood and watched a cricket match and I am happy to say that I actually now understand the game. It was also just an awesome experience because the bar was packed and went crazy when India won.

That night, Mohit showed me around the Berlin historical center so I could get a view of the major sites by night--I am an advocate for seeing famous things in both the night and day, it's important haha.



We then met up with some of his friends at a random bar which was a funny experience. After talking to some locals while waiting 10 plus minutes to order drinks, we learned that the man who owns the bar also owns half the street it's on. He opens the bar for fun and is also one of the few people in Berlin licensed to make and sell his own liquor. Unfortunately this description doesn't do it justice, but just imagine a quite large disinterested German bartender blasting random American music, chugging his own liquor, and spending more time getting one beer off tap for customers than seems physically possible haha.

The next morning, we were up and out of the house around 10am with a full day of sightseeing ahead of us. The city of Berlin is beautiful in a very grungy, unique, and real way.






There is just ridiculous amounts of history and significance to everything in the city. One of my favorite things is that where the wall once stood is marked with tiles through the whole city.



I am also very lucky I had Mohit to guide me because Berlin is HUGE. In addition, he managed to get me a free metro pass to use which saved me a ton of cash (metro in Berlin is a bit pricey) and tons of time that would have been spent walking between areas.

Mohit continued to make sure I was well-fed with Berlin's best. For lunch, we had amazing doners at a really popular shack called Mustafa's.



Best doner I've had...ever haha. After lunch, we continued exploring the city for a few more hours. Mohit, being a little crazy if you ask me, still had an entire paper to write that was due the next day. He was too good of a friend and stayed with me almost the entire day. We finally parted around 5 so he could go begin his work, but only after going up a building in the buisness center that had awesome views of Berlin.



I continued exploring the city for a bit and went to a museum, but made sure to be back at Mohit's by 7 for one of the best treats of the weekend, dinner with his host family. Mohit's German family was really lovely, intellectual, and incredibly welcoming to me. Not only did they let me stay in the house and feed me a delicious dinner on Sunday night, they offered me breakfast and engaged me in conversation all weekend. I must admit, I left the weekend jealous of Mohit's living situation and also understanding why he rarely misses a dinner at home :)

After dinner, I, exhausted from walking, crashed while Mohit, who had to have also been tired, embarked on an all-nighter to finish his essay for the next day. When my alarm went off at 8am the next morning, he had just completed his paper haha. Mohit took off for class and I embarked on a full day of museums and site-seeing on my own.

I started at an interesting museum called Checkpoint Charlie. The museum actually opened shortly after the wall first went up in the 60s. Today, it still documents the development of the wall, as well as some of the most entertaining and impressive stories of people successfully making their escape to the west.

I next embarked on a necessary food adventure, currywurst. On the walk to the restaurant, I let myself wander a little aimlessly through the streets and came across this adorable park with amazing art--there is simply cool stuff everywhere you turn in Berlin.



The currywurst was quite satisfying--basically just smothered in a yummy ketchupy sauce--apparently its a very popular after drinking food in Berlin :)



After lunch, I walked to a beautiful park in the neighborhood I was in that had great views of the city. What I love about Berlin parks is that they are basically forests. Unlike Paris, there isn't much attempt to manicure or control the nature.



After the park, I made my way to the Tempelhof Airport, which is where the US executed airlifts of food and other essential supplies to people trapped in East Berlin following the construction of the wall. I thought the monument in the park directly outside the airport was really well-done.



For the rest of the afternoon, I, with Mohit to thank, was able to Museum hop the state museums for free with a year pass borrowed from his friend. Berlin has many rivers that cut through the city and, like Paris, has an "island" in the middle.




In Berlin, this area is actually called Museum Island because it houses five museums--makes sense :). I was able to go to three of them before becoming too exhausted to continue. I headed back to Mohit's house, where he had just beaten me home from classes.

To kill some time before dinner, we stopped by Kaufhaus des Westens, which literally means store of the west.



This place is MASSIVE, and became a symbol is west Berlin of "supremacy" of the west. Going through the store actually felt a lot like home haha. They also had some of the most ridiculous things. For example, in Berlin the "walk" "dont walk" symbols on their street signs are these really cool looking figures which Berlin has turned into a brilliant marketing scheme....



I mean really pasta? They also had bibs...and more haha. I also found a 4500euro bottle of wine that should be arriving at my parents door anyyyy day now haha.

After walking around the store for a bit, we headed to dinner. We met Mohit's friend at a great find of a restaurant that serves delicious traditional German food. The two boys had Schnitzel, which is basically slab of deliciously deep fried pork (that basically took up an entire massive plate haha. I got Weiswurst, which is a white sausage, served with a pretzel, sauerkraut, and a really yummy sweet mustard sauce. Definitely has to go down as one of my favorite meals yet in Europe!



After a little break for some digestion, we headed to a popular bar in Berlin that has over 100 choices of beer. Though my indecisiveness almost got the best of me, I decided on a mango beer--of course it was delicious as well (deliciousness was definitely a trend of my time in Berlin haha).



And the trend didn't stop on my last night, Tuesday morning, Mohit and I went to a bakery to have coffee and cake which is a semi-traditional practice in Berlin apparently. I choose a rather amazing apricot tart :)



We then had just a little time before my flight, so we headed back to the Tempelhof Airport so I could actually see the runway before I left.



Even though I had visited the airport the day before when I saw the monument, I completely failed in my navigation to the actual runway where the airlifts took place haha. After that, it was unfortunately time to head to the airport.

Just a few hours later, I was back in Paris, which is still hard for me to wrap my head around. Even though I have now done quite a few trips, it still amazes me how close all these amazing, and quite different, places are! It is now back to school mode, which is about to get a little more stressful. I just had a French test yesterday, and have 6 presentations and one massive paper to complete in the next month. However, I'm pretty confident I will prevail over my work. Besides, one of my closest friends from high school, Amy, and her family are coming to Paris next week, which is much more important than any work :)

Playing Tourguide

This week I did my best at playing tourguide for my friend Cameron who came to Paris for the week of his spring break. Definitely was exhausting to juggle school, friends here, and a friend visiting from back home, but I'm really glad I got the chance to attempt, with my own limited two months of knowledge, to share the city. I definitely saw many things I hadn't before and also relearned neighborhoods, landmarks, and other random facts that I had only been exposed to once or twice.

Cameron got in Saturday night and we went for a very extended walk around Paris and saw most of the major sites by night. The next morning we embarked on a day trip to Versailles, something that I hadn't visited yet either. I really loved the palace and the gardens are incredibly massive!





They are just beginning spring planting which I'm sure will make it even more beautiful. As a "European student" I actually get in for free, so I'm definitely planning on going back when the gardens are in full bloom :)

Monday and Tuesday were jam packed. We basically spent all day out walking around seeing sites and some museums. I got to complete some items that we're on my own Paris "todo" list. I finally went into Sainte-Chappelle, the cathedral famous for its stained glass windows.



Also spent many many hours in the Army Museum where Napoleon is buried. Really a great museum, made even more awesome by the beautiful architecture of Les Invalides, the name of the building that houses the museum.





I finally made the commitment to go up the Eiffel Tower and see the view. To save money, and to be awesome, Cameron and I took the stairs up to the second level of the tower (which I have heard is the best view anyway). Instead of 11.50 we only had to pay 3.50, a much better deal!



Wednesday night, while Cameron decided to take a nap, I went with some friends for a picnic on the Seine. The night ended up being one of my favorite experiences yet abroad. Basically, our evening turned into a jam session with random guitar players, really nice homeless men, and other random people joining us. We ended up with a huge group, singing and eating delicious cheese and baguette and of course drinking some wine. There were so many tourists taking pictures of us and I kind of felt like I was living in the 1960s haha.

On Cameron's last day, I decided to skip a couple classes so I could visit the Pere-Lachaise cemetery with him--another first for me. We finished off his last night here with a proper french crepe dinner and then a performance at the gorgeous opera house!







Cameron left this morning, but left my housemates and I a big bag of pastries. I'm currently enjoying a chaussons aux pommes (apple pastry) while writing up this blog :).

As for the coming week, I am determined to get a start on a term paper so I can enjoy my coming weekend in....BERLIN!!! I am SO excited for Germany--I'm staying with my friend Mohit who's studying there for the semester. Berlin wall, cheap beer, sausages, awesome museums...yesss!! Of course there will be a blog update on that when I return :)

Tourist(ing)

Being back from Spain was a little bit of a harsh nudge back into the semi-reality of life which is study abroad. Unfortunately, unlike many of mes amis from back home, this study abroad program is not a study ABROAD program, its more of STUDY abroad (have to credit Mark with this distinction if he actually reads this haha). I would not say all of my time is dominated by school work, but it is just enough where it is on my mind, and in my calendar, more than I would like it to be at least.

However, I made an effort this week, despite having a midterm paper due today, to be a little more of a tourist in my now quasi-home of Paris. On Sunday, I went to see my friend and "buddy" Hannah in a choir performance with my housemate Julia. She is wayyy to modest and had me thinking it would be a normal youth choir group thing, but it ended up being a legitimate opera/orchestra/choir/theater compilation. It was also in this really awesome circus type building appropriately called Cirque d'Hiver. It was quite a treat, especially with some candy brought along from the grocery store :)



The last few days in Paris have had INCREDIBLE weather; we're talking 18 degrees on Tuesday!! Translation, about 65 degrees :). NORMALLY back in Berk at 65 degrees I would be cold, but my body has definitely adjusted to the climate here.

On Monday, I took advantage of the weather with quite a long walk by myself in the mid-afternoon when I wanted a study break. I hadn't seen the Mouffetard neighborhood properly during the daytime, which is basically an old cobble street area of Paris, so I made that my destination.

I also decided not to use my map, and just head in the general direction I knew I needed to go. However, I realized that the neighborhood to my right actually gets a bit sketchy once you go a bit farther in. Luckily, I still had brought my map and, after a few sketchy men hitting on me, made my way to the main roads.

Mouffetard is a really cute neighborhood, and is also pretty close to other famous attractions such as the Panthéon and Luxembourg Gardens, which explains why my hourish walk turned into almost three.



The next day, I joined some fellow Sciences-Po students for a lovely picnic at the Eiffel Tower for a few hours in the afternoon before taking off to rock climbing. As a side note, my rock climbing skills are definitely improving haha.



The next day, being Wednesday and technically yesterday haha, meant I actually had proper class to attend. I was put in a very good mood when I got my grade for my first proper expose...15/20 WHICH is actually really good here--the prof said it was the highest grade he has given so far :).

Last night, was also awesome because I got some close-to-Mexican food. My friend Steph had us over to her apartment and we did our best at making some fajitas. Everything was DELICIOUS, its just rather difficult to make actual Mexican food when they don't sell black or pinto beans, nor the proper spices or guacamole :)



Today, the weather finally took a turn for the worse, buttt today was also a day of many tasks that kept me inside, so I didn't mind too much. Instead of class this morning, I went to a mandatory doctor's appointment to complete my VISA (everyone with a visa in France has to do this). It actually turned into quite a lovely experience since I would say most of the people there were Sciences Po students, many of them at least acquaintances. It really turned the doctor's office into a social event, quite to the doctor's and nurses displeasure haha.

Appointment was nothing serious; they quickly weighed, took height, checked eyesight etc. Probably most random was the chest x-ray they made us do, but now I have a pretty souvenir of my ribs and spine to always remember my appointment :). I got cleared, and I am now OFFICIALLY done with much of my administration annoyances here--at least I hope so.

After the appointment, I grabbed a pastry with one of the girls I had spent the morning with. I got my second almond croissant, just as delicious as I remember it being on my first day in Paris! I then had class where I turned in a 10 page midterm paper--SO happy to have that finished!

This afternoon, Julia and I ran more admin errands. First, we paid rent, which always makes me feel slightly sketchy because it is in cash haha. Then, because I had become officially a legal residence by completing my VISA, I was able to finish my application for student housing assistance from the government. I'm looking forward to some euros being deposited into my banking account soon :)

Whattt else? Today is St. Patty's day, so I will be going to an Irish Pub in a few hours. Class tomorrow, and thennn...Cameron (close friend from childhood) will be arriving in Paris on Saturday. I hope that I can sufficiently entertain and feed him for the week he is here haha. Overall, things are going quite well. Definitely have school work on the too near horizon, but, again, I'm trying to ignore that as much as possible :)

Spain for a week?

PREFACE: If anyone actually reads this entire thing...well thank you for making me feel like my adventures are worth this much time haha. Wayyy to much written below, but I am more using this as an archive for myself for later when I can't remember random details anymore, soo ya. Definitely not an accessible quick entry haha

I just returned a few days ago from an 8 day adventure in Spain for "winter" break (since it's such an early break, it is called winter instead of spring haha). I don't think the trip could have gone much better...

BARCELONA (Days 1-3)

We began our trip with an early morning flight to Barcelona last Saturday. Everyone slept over at my apartment so that a shuttle could pick us up at 3:35am to get to the airport in time--so I guess I should say, everyone napped at my apartment haha. It ended up being more than worth it to get up early. We all just slept on the plain, and arrive in Barcelona around 9am with a full day still ahead of us!

We grabbed some breakfast tapas once we got into town, and then headed to our hostel. This trip was my first experience with hostels, and I think I have been spoiled. Our first was very clean and quiet. We had our own room, an adorable garden/patio, and a workable kitchen. After dropping our bags, we met up with my friend, Mohit, who was already in Barcelona the day before.

For the next three days, the five of us conquered Barcelona. We did all the touristy/food things possible. We hiked up to the top of Parc Güell the first morning.



The park, like really all of Barcelona, highlights the architecture of Antoni Gaudí, which I absolutely loved. It is so playful and fun, while still being absolutely beautiful!



We had tapas and sangria (DELICIOUS) for a late lunch, and continued exploring the Gothic District, Las Ramblas, and other parts of Barcelona.



Afterward, we went to a free fountain light show outside the art museum, best part was definitely when they had a Disney themed segment, with the songs in Spanish. Definitely had fun making a fool of ourselves and singing along :) That night, we ended up taking advantage of the hostel kitchen and cooking some pasta.

The second morning, we got up fairly early, determine to arrive at Sagrada Família when it opened, since the day before the lines to get in were absolutely ridiculous. This is a Gaudí Cathedral that is actually still under construction, the ticket you purchase actually helps pay for the work to complete it.





We also paid a couple extra euros to take a lift for the view at the top, which was definitely worth it!



The plan to get there early was definitely smart, we were in and out within 1.5 hours and still had the entire day ahead of us! Next on the agenda was the Montjuïc Castle which required another hike, slightly more intense then the day before. Great view from the top of the ocean and the city! We then hiked down the hill back towards the modern art museum through some really lovely and random parks.

We then put our focus on a mission of great importance: paella. We were determined to have it, but shockingly it wasn't that easy to find a place that was good and actually affordable. Just when I thought we were never going to eat, we ended up settling on a place and got our paella...and it was good.



You may or may not know, but I have really only begun eating fish in the last year and a half or so, it was definitely an intimidating dish for me! However, I was very proud when I actually enjoyed all the random assortment of seafood withing including crawfish, squid, scallops, mussels, and shrimp and also didn't squirm while ripping off the legs and cutting of the heads haha.

Since Mohit was heading back to Germany soon, our next mission also dealt with food: chocolate covered churros. We were told by a local about an obscure location that was suppose to have good, non-touristy, chocolate churros. After quite a bit of walking, we finally found the place which was pretty much literally in the middle of nowhere.



BUT it was, of course, super good AND, since it wasn't touristy, super cheap. I liked the Spanish churros, but they lack the cinnamon and texture of the churros I am use to back home. THOSE in chocolate, is something I'm now desperate to try :)

Mohit then left us to catch his flight and we headed to the Picasso Museum. Picasso grew up in Barcelona, and the museum, despite not having many significant works, was really interesting since it documented his progress as an artist year by year and had a bunch of random sketches and drawings from his early work. I think it was one of my favorite museums yet actually, it really made him more human and accessible to me.

Our last day in Barcelona was much more relaxed, mainly because we had conquered so much of the city in the first two days! We went to a market in the morning I had read about online to grab some breakfast, and then headed down to spend a little time on the beach. The beach in Barcelona isn't the most impressive part of the city, but I'm still glad we went. After, we went to look at a couple cathedrals that are open to the public and really impressive.

We still had a few more Gaudí houses to see, so we took the metro to the top of the city so we could walk downhill and make our way around :)


I'm so glad we did so, because I really enjoyed being out of the center of Barcelona. Barcelona is a great city, but it is full of tourists, even in off season I felt like I didn't I saw reallll locals around. But up north, there was much more Spanish life and we found an awesome three course lunch restaurant for under ten euros.


Food was delicious: wine, Spanish bread, asparagus soup, veal with garbanzo beans, and a chocolate cake for dessert.

After, we walked down the hill, saw the rest of the Gaudí houses, grabbed something to take with us to the train station for dinner, and went back to our hostel to grab our things.


We then departed for an 11 hour, overnight, train ride to Granada.

GRANADA (Days 4 & 5)



The train ride was ROUGH. Non-reclining uncomfortable seats, cold, stops the whole way with people coming on and off---oi! BUT it was a good deal, and that is what good deals get you haha. I was SO happy when we finally got to Granada and instantly felt better when we got to our second, and my favorite hostel. Just the cutest place ever, with free breakfast, and awesome staff. My new goal in life is to one day work there and just live in Granada...definitely my favorite city on the trip.



Granada has an Arab/Muslim influence and is unlike anything I have seen in Europe as of yet. After relaxing a bit in the hostel, I think we all needed some food and recovery time after the train ride, we hike to the top of the city to a point sacromonte, which is where the gypsy's live.





The houses, views, and people on our way up the hill were simply beautiful. We stopped for some pastries on the way and I had this guy...



Kinda like a tiramisu in that the cake is dipped, but also nothing like it haha. We then got deliciousss doner kebabs for lunch before heading back to our hostel to partake in siesta, which unlike in Barcelona, is followed religiously in Granada. Everything was shutting down as we made our way back to the hostel haha.

For dinner, we went tapas hopping, which is when I officially fell in love with Granada. At EVERY bar, when you order a drink, your tapas comes with it. So basically, I pay maybe 2euros at most and get a mini meal. It is incredible, and also just a lovely cultural tradition to partake it.

The next day, we had tickets for the main tourist attraction in Granada, the Alhambra. Another hike up the mountain took us to the palace, which was crazy intricate and also just really calming.



After the palace, we continue to walk around the expansive gardens.



We then had a lunch of mini meals including, for me, a spinich empanada, a beer with fried anchovies tapa, finished off with some random Spanish cake I wanted to try haha. After exploring the nieghborhood for a few more hours, and a small siesta, we finally went to a tetería, tea house. I had a delicious rose, cinnamon, black tea (Persian tea), and we all got amazing Maroccan pastries.



For dinner, went to my favorite tapas place (at least that we tried) at La Bella y La Bestia--of course the name helped win me over haha.



They just give you ridiculous amounts of food with your drink--ham and cheese sandwich, rice, and chips; kind of makes you feel like you're stealing.



MADRID (Days 6-8)

Took another train out of Granada the next morning and arrived in Spain around 1pm. The hostel here was definitely my least favorite, not so clean, kitchen not so great, and veryyy noisy (definitely a party hostel). But, we kind of new what we were getting into, and all wanted to have a more rough and real hostel experience on our trip. Joycerine took us on a lovely historical tour of Madrid where we stopped at the Palace to go inside.



This was my first palace experience in Europe, which almost made me cry--particularly when we saw the grand dining room. There are just some things that I have always wanted to see, and now that I am, it just feels a little surreal.

After, we grabbed chocolate churros again. However, they do chocolate churros a little differently in Madrid than Barcelona. Here they serve you churros with hot chocolate puddinglike deliciousness to dip them in.



For dinner, we made pasta in the hostel, which was definitely a challenge with the kitchen situation, but it worked haha. We ended up even using the toaster oven for a makeshift macaroni and cheese attempt with left over pasta and cheese--actually really good haha.

On suggestion from the hostel, we walked north in search of a bar, and found the perfect little place. It was a little bit hipster, complete with bookshelves, random decoration, and you artsy looking people. Cocktails were cheap, and good. I treated myself to a pina colada :)



The second day in Madrid began with the same place we had lunch when we got in the day before, Museo del Jamón. This place...is awesome. For only 1euro, you can order off a menu with a bunch of different sandwich choices. For me, I stuck with the croissant mixto (croissant with ham and cheese). Only took one to fill me up, I will NEVER find something that good and that cheap in Paris haha.

We went to a museum and further explored the queer/artsy/youth district in northern Madrid, same are we got drinks the night before. Definitely ended up being my favorite part of the city and actually had one place that served tapas like they do in Granada where we stopped for lunch :)

We finally had to retreat to the hostel because the rain was picking up. That evening, we went to the Prado Museum, which is simply massive. It has tons of really famous works, which, if I had more art history skills, I would begin naming off in an impressive way. However, I don't, and I am took lazy to look them up haha. That night, our hostel had a party which wassss good...except for the dirty bathrooms after. Definitely got to meet some fun people from random places.

Thankfully, the weather on our last day in Madrid was beautiful, which allowed us to explore the city more fully. I started the day with a Spanish pastry I wanted to try.



Its covered in candied fruit haha--healthy way to start the day I know :)

Our first destination on our last day was another major museum in Madrid, Reina Sofia, and afterward walked around the gigantic, 350 acre park.





After, Mark and I separated from the other two in our group while they went to a museum, and went jumping from plaza performance to plaza performance around Madrid haha.



The main plaza in Madrid,pictured above, is called Sol, but there are a bunch of other with tons of people and random and occasionally really impressive performers. My favorite part was this older women dancing with probably her daughter to a mariachi group...so precious.







We also found this random chocolate shop on our walk that had probably the best hot chocolate I have ever had, and a man who looked like he was straight out of the 1800s haha.



Our last night, we decided to avoid the hostel as much as possible. We grabbed delicious food from a random pizza shop we had seen again and again over the last couple days and really wanted to try. I had a really yummy veggie stromboli. We then spent more time in our favorite northern part of the city, and finally gave in and went back to the bar we had found a few nights before, this time I got an incredibly lemony margarita--you may or may not know, but I like my lemons haha.

After such a perfect trip, it was inevitable that something HAD to go wrong, but luckily it didn't happen until our return flight home which ended up getting delayed 5 hours. The plane we were suppose to take came in damaged and there wasn't another option until 3 pm. It was slightly painful since we were all pretty tired, but we made the best out of it. Lots of laughing, singing, and attempts at sleeping in the airport cafe.

I would have written this blog right when I got home had it not been for two presentations I had today (Wednesday). I definitely completely ignored my work over break, and I'm very glad I did. I don't think I could have had a better week off. I am also thankful for having an early break, because it made me realize I have been taking for granted being in Paris. Paris is an incredible city, but I think I have gotten too comfortable, and too caught up in school, that I haven't been taking advantage of where I am. New goal: start being touristy again, though it may have to wait until my midterm paper is turned in next week haha.