Barcelona

I had been to Barcelona before, but it is definitely a much different experience with friends. I was traveling with two other girls and two guys from my OSU program. We got there late wednesday night. so we just checked into our hostel (which was very nice) and passed out. We hadn't slept in a longgg time so luckily nobody set an alarm for the next morning. When we finally woke up and got ready, we found some much needed starbucks and were on our way. We took a VERY long walk to las ramblas which is the main street in barcelona with a ton of kiosks, restaurants, markets, etc. We bought some lunch and a had a little picnic while enjoying the nice weather. After that it was time to head to the beach. The nice sand was much better than the rocks on the beaches at Nice. That night we had a nice authentic spanish dinner (although i wasn't too fond of the seafood paella)

Friday we slept in again and went to see the Barcelona stadium which was very nice. We went to the sagrada familia, but the line was too long and we were too hungry, so we got some lunch and headed to the beach again. We ended up staying on the beach most of the day and having a yummy dinner on the boardwalk. That night we went to one of the big clubs on the beach and it was so much fun. We met a lot of americans and most everybody spoke english, so that was an added plus. In true spanish form, we didn't end up getting home until about 5. 

We slept in late again on saturday and decided to finish up all the touristy things we hadn't done yet. We went to the sagrada familia again and went inside this time. Although this was my second time seeing it, it was still very cool to see how much they had worked on it in the 2 years since i'd seen it last. Afterwards we went to the Guell park to see gaudi's works and to have an awesome view of the city. We had some good tapas for dinner and then got to bed early. this morning was very early (5:30) and i didn't get back to my hostel until 7:30 p.m. woof

This week we only have 3 days of classes and then a long weekend for bastille day. Can't believe i'll be home in less than two weeks!

Tours and Belgium

The following weekend (the 3rd of the program) my parents, brother, and my brother´s girlfriend (betty) came to france. they had been in paris for a bit and then came to Nantes to visit me. They took me and some of my friends out to dinner and we´re excited to see where i had been studying. That weekend we rented a car and drove through the Loire valley. This is the famous valley of the chateaus and we saw 4 of them. Including the one that inspired sleeping beauty and the beauty and the beast. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend where i could go to bed early and sleep in. That sunday I took a train to belgium. For part of our program, we were spending three days in Brussels seeing various parts of the European Union. I had been to brussels before, but it was a long time ago. The hotel we were all staying in was very nice and in a good location.

The first night we were was the 4th of july. needless to say, we needed to celebrate. there were about 50 americans staying at the hotel in brussels and almost all of us ended up at the same bar that night. it was called delirium (i think) and had over 2,000 beers and a very cool atmosphere. they played lots of american music for us to sing along to, and i´m pretty sure most people that weren´t american there hated us, but oh well. all in the name of ´¨murrica.

I could tell  you about what we did during the day (the european comission, council and parliament) but honestly i don´t remember much because it was all so boring (sorry EU). Overall it was a fun week and nice to have classes outside of Nantes, but i didn´t really learn much about the EU, which was probably the intended purpose.

Wednesday night we took a flight to barcelona and will be here until sunday. So far we´ve shopped, went to the beach, and had an authentic spanish meal complete with sangria. Today we´re going to la sagrada familia and to see the barcelona stadium. (and hopefully some more beach time!) I´ll update more on sunday when i get home and finally upload pics to facebook!

Nice

It´s been way too long since i´ve had a decent computer to write on or enough time to actually do it. so time to catch up

The week after paris we had our first test that thursday morning. it wasn´t very clear what our test was even on, but i studied as best as i could. unfortunatley there were things on there that im not sure we had ever even discussed in class, let alone known they would be on the test. Needless to say im not sure i did too well, but we dont have our grades back yet, so oh well. That night we took a train to paris and then a night train to Nice. I had been on a night train before to switzerland a couple years ago and i didn´t remember it being that bad. so i went in with a optimistic outlook. clearly the train we took to nice was not as nice as the one we took to switzerland. It was the smallest room ever (smaller than my cloest) which had two sets of bunk beds. but these bunks had 3 beds, not just 2. so it was myself and the three other girls i was traveling with and another french lady. very awkward

by the time we got to nice we were beyond exhausted but it was so worth it. I´ve been to tons of cities and countries, but nice is by far my favorite. theres a cute old part with buildings hundreds of years old and twisty turny walkways full of shops and restaurants. theres also a newer place with nice hotels and restuarants on the beach. speaking of the beach, i´m used to nice soft bermuda sand, so the rocks on the beaches of nice weren´t that fun, but it wasnt too bad. It was the birthday of the twins i was traveling with. so we definitely had a good night out for that. the train ride home on sunday was pretty crappy as i hadn´t slept much the night before. but as our fellow french friend said "when you´re dead you may sleep". clearly we´re teaching them helpful phrases.