Victoria Barça!!!!

Last night, I went with Dan and Vicky to a local bar to watch the Clásico match, the big game of the season; FC Barcelona versus Real Madrid. BARCELONA WON!!!!! 1 - 0!!!!!

Ibrahimovic, after scoring the winning goal! Source: FCBarcelona.cat

We had to sit outside because the bar was so packed, but in the end we were lucky to even have seats! So many others were standing outside with us! The bar had the game projected onto the wall, and while we couldn't hear the official commentary, all the catalans outside provided their own colorful commentary!

Even with my limited knowledge of fútbol, it was so evident from the moment the game started that the level of talent and focus was off the charts. It was such an intense game!!! Everyone was yelling at the players ("venga venga VENGA!" "molt bé Xavi, molt bé!") and cursing the referees. Barça had control of the ball for the majority of the game though, and their passing was just perfect. The only thing that was frustrating was that they all seemed to hesitate a bit to long at the critical moment when a goal could be scored.

The only goal of the game was scored by Ibhrahimovic, and it happened so fast I almost missed it. The ball had scarcely been passed to him when he launched it, como un fúsil, into the goal! Everyone erupted in cheers!! We could hear fireworks being set off in the distance!!

I enjoyed watching this game so much! It was so fun to be cheering for Barça alongside all these locals, and I also felt great because it turns out, I have a pretty good knowledge of all the players!

SO PROUD OF FCB!!!!

dia final de Paris!

Hi everyone!

So it is my last day in Paris and I am very very sad to be leaving. Usually after a weekend of frantic museum hopping and expensive meals, I am ready to be back in Barcelona. Not this time, I already feel so at home here I just don't feel even remotely done, even considering the fact that I will most likely have to return in the near future because I will miss it too much.

But my last day was perfect! I started with a trip to the Musee d'Orsay, which has an INCREDIBLE collection of impressionism and post-impressionism. I nearly died in the room of Cezannes, his work is just so incredibly gorgeous. Degas as well, so lovely! But the best part for me was a temporary exhibit on Art Nouveau revival in the 1960 and 1970s. It was such a well done exhibit, they juxtaposed the original Art Nouveau from the turn of the century with examples from the later decades that drew on it for inspiration. The exhibit had a huge collection of 'psychadelic art,' meaning concert posters, album covers, and magazine articles!

As if all this wasn't enough, I walked into one of the rooms only to find myself face to face with the original copies of 3 illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley, who is an incredible illustrator that I am actually obsessed with right now. Aubrey Beardsley!!! I had to sit down and collect myself I was so shocked and excited!! One illustration, 'Salome,' is actually saved on my desktop right now! His illustrations are so incredibly gorgeous and brilliant, it was such an amazing experience to see them in person.

"Salomé," or "The Peacock Skirt" by Aubrey Beardsley. Source: The Victorian Web

I was also able to see more Van Gogh (I went to the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam!), some symbolism art by Klimpt and Bocklin, and so much impressionism! Monet, Manet, Pissaro, Renior... incredible! I loved this museum.

Next I met all the girls in my group (Erin, Evie, Sabrina, and Staci) to take a picture in front of the other Arc de Triomph (it had to be done!) and then we all made our way to the famous Shakespeare and Co. bookstore, located along the Seine across from Notre Dame, to do some intellectual browsing. I asked a worker if they had any books with Beardsley illustrations in stock, and while she sadly informed me that they didn't, she was excited about my asking and told me that she LOVES him as well! I bought two other books instead, which she stamped so they now say 'Shakespeare and Co.' on the inside cover. Then I spent a few hours reading back at the hostel in Montmartre.

We went to a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves (haha!) which was actually awesome, then Erin and I went to the Eiffel Tower so I could spend my last night watching the light show up close and riding the carousel! Then, after stopping by the Christmas market for the third time so we could get chocolate and I could get a snack for the train ride, we came back here.

And here I am. I have fallen in love with this city and I am so sad to leave but for me its been a perfect weekend and a perfect introduction to this city that I hope to visit many more times in the years to come!

Bon soir!

Elena

segundo dia de Paris!

So guess what I saw today!! ... VERSAILLES!!!! It was awesome! Hall of mirrors and the Kings bedchambers, Grand Trianon, Petit Trianon (Marie Antoinettes estate, I saw the door she escaped out of to flee from the revolution!) and the gardens! What gardens!! There isn't much to say about Versaille except that, in the words of Kelly Boehner, it was 'sinfully ornate!' I went with Erin and we were in awe the whole time!

We took the train back from Versaille directly to the Eiffel Tower!! We sat at a cafe and ordered cafe au lait and almond merenges and read (I'm working on the Unbearable Lightness of Being, translated into Spanish) until we were joined by Sabrina to make a loop through the Eiffel Tower gardens, past the Assemblee Nationale and Les Invalides, and across the Pont Alexandre III bridge (supposedly the most beautiful in Paris!). We then went to the Bastille metro stop to try and find a cafe recommended to me by my good friend Carl, whose opinion I trust immensely. He didn't let me down!! After being joined by Evie, we sat down to a delicious dinner in the artsy cafe, whose wall were decorated with modern art and pictures of tribal women that looked like they belonged in National Geographic. And the best part? When the waitress took us to our booth there was a cat sitting on the bench. A CAT!!! The waitress tried to coax it away but it was too sleepy to have any of that, so it stayed and let Sabrina and I pet it until I jousteled it on a trip back from the bathroom. Anyone who knows me knows that finding a cat in my chair is pretty much the best thing that could happen to me, even in a restaurant. It was great!!

We ended out night with a jaunt past the Moulin Rouge (the letters M O U were blacked out... according to Evie, it was asian night...) and a hilarious encounter with the witty workers at a grocery store that ended up employing basically everyone in the store as translators.

This city has claimed anther one... I am in love with Paris.

al resto del primer dia

...so to the rest of my day! I'll go through this in bullet point style!

• lunch at a cafe along the Seine: I got french onion soup and the waitress was so nice to me! She and one of the other patrons complemented me on the doodles I was doing to amuse myself while sitting by myself. It was very sweet.
• Louvre: I got in for free with my student card and passport (score!) and found the whole thing to be very overwhelming. I don't know enough about Rennaissance art or mythology or religion to really appreciate 90 percent of what I saw. What I could appreciate very well was the sheer size of the collections. I mean, to say that the collection in the Louvre is priceless would be a gross understatement. It represents the combined collections of many nobel and royal families and past leaders of France such as Napoleon Bonaparte. Even the building itself represents the combined arquitectural work of centuries. Always, I ran through, stopping to see the Mona Lisa (so small!), Venus de Milo, and the Egypt exibit before making my way back up through the pyramid and out into fresh air.
• Tuileries gardens: I stopped at a cafe to grab a snack and people watch before heading back to the hostel for a bit of rest.
• Champs-Elysee: So right now, the first part of the street is transformed into a Christmas market! It is lined with adorable white stalls decked out in Christmas lights where vendors sell basically anything kitchy or delicious that you might give as a Christmas present. I bought myself some 'christmas wine,' which is like the deranged love child of apple cider and sangria. It was delicious though, and so warming on a cold night. Suddenly, it occured to me that I was alone for the first Thanksgiving in my entire life. As I might have mentioned, I arrived a day before any of my friends to maximize my time spent here, and they didn't arrive until late the night of Thanksgiving. So I was really alone, which almost made me feel sorry for myself. Almost, because as soon as I began to think about it I couldn't have felt more lucky. I was walking past twinkling lights and cheerful stalls while drinking wine, in the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I know that I have friends and family all over the world who I care about and who care about me, and the most wonderfully supportive parents, sister, and boyfriend a girl could ever ask for! Not to mention that study abroad in general is the chance of a lifetime! Basically, I have everything in the world to be thankful for!!!! Oddly enough, it was the perfect way to spend thanksgiving. Don't expect me to make a habit of it though, next year its stuffing and yams for me!!!
• I rounded out the evening with a mozzarella and goat cheese sandwich and some macaroons from Lauduree (thank you Emmy for the tip! They were delicious!) which I ate in front of the arc de triomph (which is, by the way, totally inferior to Barcelona's arc, no contest really. But yes it is a competition. And Lisbon looses, their arc isn't even free standing)

So that was my Thanksgiving. Ahhh its late but I should just suck it up and post about today, or else it will get stale and I never will!

Mas sobre PARIS

Hello again!

I don't know what it is about Paris that makes me want to blog, but I'm all about it right now.

By the way, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! Its a bit strange to be sightseeing rather than eating mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, but I figure I have many more years ahead of me to stuff myself with stuffing so I'm not letting myself get homesick. I'm in Paris after all!

(side note: french keyboards are sooo annoying!!! the a, w, z, and m are all in the wrong spots. I keep writing like this --> zriting qnd ,qshed potqtoes. I feel like I'm six again and learning how to type!!)

Today I visited Notre Dame, as I mentioned I would do earlier, and it was awesome! I managed to finagle my way into a free entrance to the towers even though I'm not technically an EU citizen (pretty much EVERYTHING is free if you are under 18 or between 18 and 25 AND an EU resident. Thank you, shengen visa!). I got to go all the way to the top! On my tour was an extended family of long island jews who were really funny; the mom especially, because they were sooo ridiculous. One of the kids said at one point that the eiffel tower looked 'very eiffely,' which I suppose it does! My tour ran into a group of french students, about 8 years old, and they were sooo cute!! They kept horsing around and a little blond boy ran into me and said 'pardon, madame.' I wanted to steal him!!! He was so cute!

Oh and the view was awesome.

Next I went to Sainte-Chapelle, which is a small cathedral built in the 13th century to show off the religious relics possessed by the French King and provide a space for royal worship. It is a gorgeous room with 15 panels of stained glass each depicting a book of the old testament or scenes from christ's life. In all there are over 1000 small scenes depicted in the cathedral, and though some were undergoing restoration the ones I was able to see were gorgeous!

Okay I want to spend some time on the Champs-Elysees tonight and its already 7:30! I should get going! But I will finish talking about my day!

Au revoir!

Elena

Elena de Montmartre!

Hello everyone!!

So I just arrived in PARIS last night and I wanted to share an experience that I had. I arrived here at 8pm, a day earlier than everyone else I am traveling with, and I was hungry and went to do a little exploring. I found a cute cafe to get a bite to eat... it actually occured to me at this point that I have NO IDEA how to order vegetarian in french. I haven't had that much of a problem yet... portuguese is similar to spanish so I can make educated guesses, in Rome I had a friend who is studying abroad there to give me guidance, and in Amsterdam everything is in english because dutch is too ridiculous on its own. But anyways, I ordered a soup with endives and some mystery ingredient that I am scared to look up; nothing seemed meaty, but you never know. Oh well, travel is the one time that I am very willing to be lax about not eating meat, so c'est la vie!

After my dinner, which was delicious, I went for a bit of a walk. My hostel is in Montmartre and I knew that Sacre Coeur was somewhere nearby; I had a vague idea of where it was but wasn't really sure, I was mostly just wandering. Just as I was about to give up and admit I had no idea where I was I suddenly turned a corner and THERE IT WAS!

It was one of those moments that you know you will remember for the rest of your life the instant it happens. It was just SO BEAUTIFUL, sitting uptop the hill and lit up from below. It is a gorgeous white, a big and imposing cathedral. I couldn't stop smiling! I made my way around, assuming it was closed for the night and that I could always return in the morning. Turns out, not only was it open, but there was a service going on inside. I walked in to hear the sound of a bell commanding all the parishoners to stand and begin singing the opening song, it was magical.

The view of Paris from the top of Montmartre hill is incredible. It was a perfect first night in this gorgeous city.

I finished out my night by making a stop in a small store to grab a snack and do a bit of studying in the meat section... jambon is ham, porc is pork... its not too difficult actually, pretty similar to spanish.

Anyways, I need to get going! I was supposed to make my way to Notre Dame an hour ago according to last night's plan, so I'm already late to see Quasimodo and the talking gargoyles!

Elena

PS the mystery ingredient was poireaux. I looked it up, means leeks!! Whew haha

frustración

I just wanted to share my thoughts quickly about something that's been bothering me...

European men can be so sleazy!!

Today, as I was getting off the Renfe train at Arc de Triomf, this man who had been kind of staring at me for the short duration of the ride gestured to let me exit ahead of him. Then, as he was stepping off the train, he "fell" and blatantly slid his arm around my waist. I didn't know what to do but run out of the station! It was very creepy.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened. Beyond getting the honking that girls sometimes get even in the United States, I've also been called a "sexy mamacita" by a garbage truck driver and had men in the metro stations try and begin conversation with "hola chica..."

This isn't the worst of what happens, by far. A friend was told by a man in Portugal, "hey chica I want to have sex with you," another was groped on a tram, and another two friends had men leaning in for kisses and attempting to look up their skirts while traveling by train in Italy.

It's infuriating. What gives men the right to treat women like that? Why would they even want to? Do they think any woman would respond favorably to being treated that way? Do any women respond favorably to being treated that way?

Maybe it's a hyper-machismo that makes these men act this way; an elevated need to prove that they have power over women.

I shouldn't generalize; by and large the men here aren't openly disrespectful to women. It's just that the ones that are who stick out and leave me with a general frustration toward men here. Also, this kind of sexism supposedly doesn't exist in Northern Europe. In fact, in states like Sweden there is supposedly an atmosphere of absolute gender equality.

Anyways, I'm just annoyed and wanted to share. I just got back from a trip to Lisbon, which was INCREDIBLE! More about that later.