Adios Spain!

Well, that time has finally come. The time I have been dreading/looking forward to for so long. It's such a weird mix of feelings to be leaving, but at the present time, those feelings are mostly sad. I have grown to love Spain and my life here so much, that I almost can't imagine life before it. Like I had said before, time is weird here. It feels like I've only been here for a day, yet it also feels like I've been here for years.

Anyway, I had planned to write out a nice, long post about my deeper feelings and thoughts on moving away, but naturally, I waited to pack until last night which was no easy task. And I'm writing this now as I should be heading out to catch my bus to the airport. So I'm sure once I get home I'll try and recreate those feelings as I'm sure they'll still be just as strong.

But as for me right now, I'm getting more and more excited for my whirlwind two week tour of Scandinavia! First Copenhagen today, then Malmo and Stockholm, Sweden for a few days, then Oslo and Bergen, Norway. It's going to be crazy, but it's going to be incredible. Especially finally getting to see Anne in her home environment.

So for now I'm saying adios to Spain with a sad heart, but with a little excitement for the next phase, too.

Hide and Seek in Spain

Okay, so I know I've already written once today (if you haven't read the previous post yet, go check it out, it's a good one!) but I just got in from one of the best nights of my life thus far. Possibly ranking in top 5, but the jury is still out.

Regardless, it was a good one. :)

So it is currently 3:09 A.M. Spain time and I just got in. Was I out drinking you ask? Nope, not a drop. Did I go dancing? No, or not at a discoteca at least.

So what was it that I did that was such a blast? Three little words.....

Hide and Seek.

A big group of us (basically me and all the girls since there are no Oklahoma guys left and Matt is gone now) decided to go out on the town tonight and celebrate finals being over since classes officially ended today. Yet Alcala is kinda dead on Monday nights and most of our usual places weren't open. So we decided to make our own fun and play hide and seek in Plaza de Cervantes. So all of us are running around and being completely oblivious to all of the spaniards around us, and we don't really realize that we're really gaining their interest.

So this big group of big tough-looking Spanish guys come up to us and we're all wondering what exactly they are about to do......

And they ask us if they can play.

Oh man, and then the game was on. Old people in the plaza started showing us good places to hide and giving us tips on when to go and when to stay hidden.

And we definitely played until after 2 in the morning. And I really can't think of any better way to pass the time.

After our new Spanish friends left to head off to bed, all of us Okies decided to stick around in the plaza until the next bus came, which was supposed to be in about an hour. And we got up in the huge gazebo in the middle of the Plaza and played "signs" which is a game that Cherrie suggested. We were all a bit skeptical at first, but it ended up being a blast too.

Finally, we realized that the bus wasn't coming and all of us just decided to make the long walks home. Which wasn't too bad since everyone had a buddy to walk with.

Basically, it was a fantastic night with good friends. If every one of the upcoming nights go like this, then Spain will definitely go out with a bang.

The Beginning of the End

Well folks, that time is rapidly approaching. I've already begun the goodbyes, the end of school celebrations, and the lasts (the last weekend in Alcala, the last time to see Retiro, the last time to see the kids). And as hard as I try, I just can't really wrap my mind around the fact that my time in Spain is almost done and that I have been here for nine weeks. I knew that time was going to fly from the beginning, but I had no idea it would go this fast.

So these last few days I've been trying my absolute hardest to squeeze in every last drop of Alcala, Madrid, and my host family because I know it will be awhile before I see any of the above again. Hopefully not too far in the future (if everything goes to plan), but still, it could be awhile.

So first thing on the agenda had been to spend a lot of time with my little hermanos. And, after much waiting and wondering, I finally have a couple of pictures of the two.

First of all, meet Guille (pronounced GEE-yay). Guille is nine years old and he is the perfect model of a spanish big brother. Sometimes he picks on Mario, but it's always out of love. :) He is really athletic and he loves to play soccer and swim, and he loves it when I join him for either one. He acts like a tough guy, but really he's just a big softy.


Now meet Mario. Mario is seven years old and he is also the perfect image of a spanish little brother. Occasionally he can be whiny when he doesn't get his way, but he always has a smile on his face again before too long. He is a little ball of energy and can barely stand to sit still for more than five minutes at a time. He never could be around me without climbing up onto my shoulders or into my arms.

So last night, I had to say my final goodbye to these two. They're going on vacation with their mom to Ibiza and they won't be back until after I'm gone. For the last couple of days, Mario has been telling me that he doesn't want me to go and they both have been getting kind of upset talking about it. So last night when they finally had to leave, they both ran up to me and cried and gave me big hugs.

My gosh I am going to miss those kids. Who knew that I would get so attached?

So other than saying my first of few goodbyes, I have also been going out to get my last views in of Alcala and Madrid. One our favorite traditions this summer has been to go to Gabanna, a bar/discoteca, to hang out and hit the dance floor. We always meet up there every Thursday night, and this Thursday was our last one. Here are a few pictures from our last gathering.

Here are Hannah and Cherrie and their french roommate (whose name I can't pronounce). And of course, Briana squeezed in the background and Ashley slid in the side.

Here I am with Evie and Ashley, the dynamic duo. And together we make up the Three Musketeers! I've had so much fun with these two this summer that I can't even describe it.

Another thing that I've done a lot while I've been in Spain is travelling around the country and taking in as much Spanish culture as possible. Well, Hannah and I decided to make one last day trip together seeing as how we make such great travel buddies. And this time we decided to go to Zaragoza in the northeast of Spain, because we had heard to much about the Zaragoza Expo. However, I have one little bit of advice for anyone thinking about going to Zaragoza:

Don't go.

Hannah and I had really high hopes for this trip. We had been told that the Zaragoza World Expo was really cool and that it alone was worth the trip. However, we soon learned that the expo was just a big science fair. Nearly every country in the world had a pavilion that was supposed to show you a little bit about their culture and to educate you on water problems and how their country is solving it. However, it was a lot less culture and a lot more nerdy stuff. Hannah described it as "MGM without the rides." I described it as "science camp." Basically, it was the type of thing that you would go on a school field trip to, except we had to pay to get in.

This is Hannah when we first got off the bus. Notice how she's smiling and actually has a happy look on her face. If only we knew that this trip was going to be a bust. haha

Here is Hannah in front of the Nepal expo. As you walked in, you had to spin these little golden wheels as you walked by. Nepal was actually kind of cool, because they had some more cultural stuff. But other than that, the expo didn't really reach our expectations.

So after we left the expo, we decided to walk around Zaragoza and see some of the city's sights. We basically just needed something to redeem the city. And on our way, we found this fountain, which partially did that. haha

After getting lost for awhile, we finally found this giant basilica, which was actually pretty impressive. Impressive enough to change our opinion on Zaragoza? Well.......nearly.

Final verdict on Zaragoza? Thumbs down.

And of course, I couldn't possibly squeeze my last favorites in without spending as much time in Madrid as possible. It is such an incredible city and I love wandering around and taking it all in. This weekend a group of us went up to go inside the Royal Palace and to see a few of its surroundings.

Here are Hannah and I in front of the Palace Cathedral.

While we were in front of the Cathedral, we were treated to this really awesome cultural show that seemed to be almost Irish. There were bagpipe players and dancers and it was basically a huge parade. We're pretty sure it was for some festival in Spain, even though a lady told us that it wasn't.

And then here are Molly, Hannah, and I in front of the Bank of Spain, I think. We really just walked around for the rest of the day and took in as many sights as possible.

So is it sad to be leaving Spain? Definitely yes.

Is it hard to have so many goodbyes and lasts in such a short period of time? Without a doubt.

Is it all worth it? Definitely.

Productivity - Life's #1 Morale Booster

Woo-Hoo for being productive! There's nothing like riding an adrenaline high to really make your outlook on the world oh so much better.

I got so much accomplished today, that I really feel the need to tell the world. And by the world, I mean those two or three people who actually read this blog. :)

So things started out fairly normal. Got up for class as usual. However, things began to get really productive at the break between classes when I decided to take my current situation in my own hands. (of course, I've gotta give some credit to those few friends who also gave me a lot of encouragement to do so)

So I went and talked to Ernesto, my program director, about the stolen Alcala student ID. At the beginning of the program, we were told that losing the ID would mean paying 100 euros to have it replaced. And ladies and gentlement, I was most definitely not excited about doing that, especially when the exchange rate made it about 170 American dollars. Sick. So Ernesto tells me that if I go to the police and file a report and bring it to the school, I won't have to pay. Hooray for me. However, I don't get to go to the local police. Oh no. Not even the Madrid Community police. No, I had to go to the big daddies, the Policia Nacional. One step below the military. (or so I assume, haha) And let me tell you, these guys are kind of intimidating. However, I used my spanish and filed my police report and got everything taken care of. So now I have a Spanish police record! How many people can say that?! :)

So do I have to pay for the student ID? NO! And that is good enough news for me.

Oh, but just wait. I'm not even finished yet.

I made my way up to Madrid to go to the Western Union that my parents used to wire me some money, and man was that ever a fiasco. First of all, we had been told that I had to have two forms of ID in order to pick up my money, which, thanks to some asshole spanish pickpocket, I no longer have. So I had to bring Hannah into the mix so that my parents could send the money to her.

So we get to Calle O'Donnell where this place was supposed to be. But according to the western union (that's right, they no longer get capital letters from me) website, they were only open until 5. So naturally Hannah and I stroll up to the area around 4:45 and still don't really have a clue where to go. So we take off sprinting through the city to find it before it closed. And did I mention that the temperature was around 110 degrees today? Oh, well it was.

So we finally get there right at 5 only to see that, nope, they aren't closing, and nope, we can't get our money there. Great.

So we make our way to the REAL place we needed to go to, sign in, get my money, and head out. Of course, I've gotta mention that I was super paranoid about guarding my money until I got it home safely tucked far away from any possible thieves.

Oh, and of course they ended up only asking us for one form of ID. So I didn't even need to drag Hannah along on any of this. Wow, did I feel (and still do feel) like a jerk for that one. What a good friend Hannah is. Not sure what I would do without her. (you raised a good one, Mr. Sharp!) haha

Regardless, the fact that I have money now is very, very good news.

Okay, so in my state of blissful productivity euphoria, I have decided to announce to everyone still reading my exciting new life plans! Because if you've made it this far, you deserve to get this, right?

So there is a program at my school, the Universidad de Alcala, for a Masters in Language, Literature, and Culture of the Hispanic World. Which is really perfect for what I want to do! I want to work in international marketing, which demands a very strong knowledge of the language and culture you want to work in. So could there be a more perfect masters program? I think not.

But it gets better! There is an option to teach English in the Madrid schools that would pay the entire tuition, a stipend for room and board, and a partial stipend for the flight over. So I could be getting paid to go to school for a year in Spain! And I would get to mold the lives of little future Spaniards (and maybe teach them the perks of deodorant at an early age). How awesome would that be?

Even better, a couple of my friends are seriously considering it as well, so we're thinking about coming back over here and living together to make rent cheaper.

Man, I'm getting all excited just thinking about it!

Of course, I would want to go back to the US to get my MBA, but with a Masters in Spanish language and culture and a Masters of Business, I can't imagine getting any less than an incredible job, right?

Feel free to give me your opinion against this. But just know that any anti-Masters in Spain remarks will be met with extreme animosity and hatred. :) Just kidding.

Kind of.

Living Like A True Spaniard

So today was easily one of my favorite days in Europe thus far. I can honestly say that with 100% sincerity.

And the incredible thing is that I didn't step foot into one tourist spot, one cathedral, one souvenir shop, or anything else like that. All it took was for me and a couple of friends to decide to go on a hike on one of the mountains outside of Alcala. And good times soon followed.

First of all, let me begin by saying that being pickpocketed makes you pretty much famous. Everyone wants to talk to "that guy" and hear his story of how his pocket got picked. My plan was to keep things on the DL so that I wouldn't have to re-tell the story 100 times, but that went out the window pretty quick. So now, even though I'm basically a tourism statistic, I've at least gained some popularity around here.

Okay, on to the fun times that were had today.

After class I got a facebook message AND a text message from Kayla and Hannah to go on a hike on one of the mountains around Alcala. And when those two tell me to be somewhere, I've just got to give in and go with it. haha

So we met at the school and made our way to the outskirts of the city led by Hannah who had gone on this hike last month. We get out to the path and come up on the river, which we have to wade through to get to the mountain.

Here is a picture of Kayla and Hannah right before we trekked across the dangerous, slippery pathway. :)

For real though, there was this little dam where the water was rushing pretty quickly over the side, and a really slippery walkway that made it kind of tough to walk across. So we all slowly inched our way across because none of us really wanted to walk away with a soaking wet cell phone or iPod.

And here are Hannah and I crossing over. You can tell pretty well how quickly the water was rushing if you look at it pooling up around our feet.

We were SO lucky to get this little surprise at the river as well. You know, there really is nothing quite like an old, fat, hairy man in a tiny purple man-thong. It just really brightens your day, you know?

And of course he was completely oblivious to the fact that we were taking pictures of him. Whatever he was reading must have been really interesting.


Finally we got to the other side and begin the hike up the mountain. Which for a smaller mountain, it was awfully steep in some parts. So we got quite the workout making our way up the mountain. This picture was taken right as we got near the top, where you can see it kind of level out. And I can't lie, we had to stop and take several breaks. Pretty much any shady spot became reason enough to stop and wait for awhile. But we got some great chats in and made tons of plans for next year in those stops. :)

But the view from the top was definitely worth the climb. I've always thought that Alcala was a beautiful old city, but the view from high up made it look even more spectacular.

And while we were up there we all took the time to stop and pose in front of the view. This is Kayla and I. And yeah, I know I look pretty shaggy. I needed to shave and I've been needing a haircut for about a month now.

Here is a picture of Hannah and I. Hannah has pretty much become my travel buddy throughout the summer, which has been great. We both get stared at a lot, me for being tall and Hannah for being tall and pretty, so it takes a little bit of the awkwardness of it off. haha

And here are the girls with a little bit of a view of the other mountains in the background.

The sun finally started getting to us, as Spain definitely heats up in late July (over 40 degrees Celsius pretty much every single day), so here is a picture of us making our way down the mountain. You might notice that the path we took down is a bit different than our path up. This mainly revolved around the fact that there was a lot more shade on this side of the mountain.

So finally we got back down to the river. And I don't think you could see in my earlier pictures of the river, but there were several spaniards hanging out in the river. There were a few guys fishing, the random old fat guy in a thong sunning himself, and a bunch of kids that had either brought swimsuits or just stripped down to underwear and jumped in the river for a swim.

And as hot as it was outside, the three of us looked at each other and basically said, "You know, these kids have got the right idea." So we all stripped down and made our way into the water to cool off.

Here is Hannah jumping in.

And here is Kayla.

And of course I was the last one in, so no pictures of me. But I promise I stripped down and jumped in, too!

However, one thing that you can't really see in this picture are the 3 boys (probably around 13 years old or so) who decided to come swim with us. Except these weren't just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill Spanish boys. These were some vulgar little dudes. In addition to making some fairly lewd hang gestures, they pretty continually said to the girls "Madre Mia, las tetas!"

Which I'm pretty sure you can translate on your own. :)

So they kept swimming around us and being general little pests and the girls finally started getting some payback by holding their little heads under the water. hahaha

And finally, here is a picture of the 3 of us after we went for our dip. It was a really incredible afternoon, dirty little 13 year olds and all. Definitely not one I'll soon forget.

A Little Shot of Reality

Well, there is nothing quite like having your bubble burst.

Today, after a long, satisfying day walking around Madrid, seeing some incredible sights, and buying some great souvenirs, I stepped onto the subway to head home and was robbed. Just as the day ended. Big boo to that.

And let me tell you, being in a foreign country with no cash, no identification, and no access to your bank account is really, really not fun.

So here's how things went down. Hannah and I are waiting to hop onto the subway, literally on our way home. It pulls up and we see that it's super crowded, which really isn't all that unusual. Yet this time as we step on there is a ton of pushing and shoving as people to try to get on and off. That should have tipped me off right there.

So all of the sudden I see this guy's hand slip into this lady's purse and I think to myself, "Oh man, the shit's about to hit the fan." Luckily the lady notices, turns around and slaps the guy across the face and proceeds to keep slapping him and screaming in his face. That's when I feel around my pockets to take account of everything and realize, "Well damn. My wallet's gone."

So I immediately look around to try and catch the guy and this old Spanish man points to this guy that was walking away and I take off after him. He turns around, sees me coming after him, and sprints off. The metro was so crowded that I lost him within seconds.

I guess I really only have myself to blame. I had my wallet in my back pocket, which I usually don't do. Except today I had on shorts that I was able to button the pocket on, so I thought the wallet was safe. Yet I forgot that Madrid has some of the most talented thieves in the world. I literally never felt a thing as this douchebag unbuttoned my pocket and slid my wallet out of my pants.

My only consolation is that I didn't have a single dollar in there. He did get my debit card, but I promptly called home and had it cancelled within minutes. And it's not like he can do a lot with my drivers license or student ID. Have fun with that stuff man. I guess there is a bright side to everything. :)

However, it's going to be a pain figuring out how I'm going to spend the rest of my time here without having access to cash. Things could get interesting as I get really, really cheap.

Another good thing that has come of this is that it was an important lesson learned. I was becoming way too relaxed in my life here and wasn't nearly vigilant enough. As comfortable and at home as I feel here, I'm still a foreigner and an easily visible one at that. I am always a target wherever I go.

Regardless, I refuse to let this ruin my time in Europe. I have had way too amazing of an experience here to let this trash everything. And I have too much exciting stuff coming up that I can't let this ruin as well. I'm so ready to see Anne that it's ridiculous and I know she's excited to see me, too.

So this experience really was a little shot of reality. It reminded me that there are bad people everywhere in the world, but that all I can do is persevere and keep my chin up. Things can always seem horrible and tragic, but in the grand scheme of life, it doesn't matter. What will matter is that I kept on chugging along and made the best of it and became a better person for it. That is my silver lining.

But still. Damn pickpockets.

A Very Spanish Weekend

As my time in study abroad slowly but surely winds down, I find myself wanting to spend the maximum amount of time possible exploring and appreciating Spain. Whether that means going out every night to sit in the Plaza de Cervantes with friends or to take several day trips all over the place, I'm trying to get my final views in of the country.

Thursday Hannah and I decided to take the Ave, Spain's bullet train, down to Sevilla to check out everything the city has to offer. And first and foremost, let me just say that Sevilla has a reputation for being the hottest city in Spain, and it definitely lives up to it.

But Hannah and I had a nice long list of things we wanted to see in the city. And we only had about 9 hours to do it in, so as soon as we got there, we hit the ground running. And when we got there, we got a little view from back home (or at least fairly close to it).

Right as we step off the train we see an exit for Kansas City. I guess we took a wrong turn somewhere along the way, but that sure was a fast trip from Madrid to Kansas.

The first place we went to see was this giant, ancient mansion with all kinds of Roman, Muslim, and Catholic influences in it. Even though it had a ton of renovations going on in it, it still was pretty cool to walk through.

And then Hannah got arrested. It was really sad, but I had to keep going because there was still way too much to see. haha

One of the main things we wanted to do was see the Sevilla Cathedral and the giant tower that stands over it. Supposedly (according to our guidebook, of course) the Segovia Cathedral is the third largest cathedral in the world, after Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome and Westminster Abbey in London. So we expected great things.

And I've gotta say, the cathedral delivered. It was absolutely massive from the inside and outside and it was pretty jaw-dropping. I couldn't use a flash inside, so the pictures didn't turn out too incredibly well, but you can kind of tell how high up the ceiling is here.

And you can definitely tell how massive the pillars were when you see Hannah standing next to them. I mean, Hannah is a tall girl and all, so when she looks like an ant standing next to them, you know it's big. haha

We definitely wanted to climb the tower, which was around 30 stories tall (I think) so it wasn't an easy climb. What was cool about it was that it was built without any stairs at all. It's just a big circular ramp that goes all the way up to the top. This is a picture of Hannah in one of the windows on the way to the top.

Of course once we got to the top the view was totally worth the climb. Sevilla is a really pretty, almost Mediterranean looking city with all of its white-washed houses. And it was great to get to see it all from so high up.

Here is a picture of the great view from the top of the tower.

And, as always, Spain has a never-ending supply of weird/crazy people. So as Hannah and I settled down for lunch in one of the parks in Sevilla (there were several) we got to see this handsome fella strip down to his boxers and proceed to bathe off in one of the fountains. Hey, I guess if you need to wash off, a fountain is just as good as any shower. :)

While Hannah and I walked around, we stumbled onto several different landmarks that we didn't plan on. So we had several impromptu photo shoots, which usually ended in some interesting pictures. This is Hannah in front of a Colombus monument. Which it was actually kinda tough to get Hannah to point in the right direction. Pointing behind you is surprisingly difficult.

Another really cool thing we saw in Sevilla was the huge palace that, like most Spanish palaces, used to house the royal family but now is just kind of a museum for the masses to come see. This is a picture of the beautiful gardens that were outside of the palace.

The next day (Friday) I went to Segovia with the school. Because you just can't beat a free trip no matter how hard you try. Sadly Hannah, my travel buddy, had already been there and didn't go on this trip. But luckily I had some other Okies to tag along with. This is a picture of Julie, Kayla, and me in front of the gardens of another palace on the way to Segovia.

One cool thing that Segovia has is this huge ancient Roman aqueduct. Segovia has a TON of history with the Romans and there are little reminders of it everywhere, but none as prevalent as these. It really is amazing to think about how these aqueducts have been standing for literally centuries. They've been there since around the time of Christ. Just crazy.

Pretty much the main attraction in Segovia is this castle right here. Look familiar? It should if you like the movie Cinderella! Walt Disney modeled the castle in the cartoon after this exact castle, so they are almost exactly the same.

However, one of my favorite parts of the castle was this incredibly beautiful view. The castle is situated up on a hill, so you get a great vista of the outskirts of Segovia and the rural area around it. The view was just so incredibly spanish. And the view from the castle windows looked really cool.

And here is a clear shot of the view. I don't know about you, but when I think of a Spanish pueblo, this is exactly what comes to mind.

And a castle just wouldn't be a castle without some suits of armor. Or at least in Europe. I can't really say for all those American castles we have. But these guys were also very Spanish looking, mainly just because of their conquistador helmets. No matter what, I've never seen a suit of armor that actually looked comfortable.

The Spanish version is particularly vicious, mainly because of their shoes, pictured here. The reason they have these sharp little points is for when the guy is riding his horse. That way when he rides by other guys on foot or other guys riding on horses, he can kick them and do some serious damage.

Here is a picture of the entire Segovia group. This was such a fun bunch! And it's even more incredible, because we are such a diverse group. Some of these kids are from Loyola in Chicago, some from Tennessee, some from James Madison in D.C., some from Pittsburgh, and of course, the Okies. So the experience here moves past just learning about Spain, but also about learning about other areas of our own country.

And then here is a picture of the 4 Oklahomans. We stick together. haha But from left to right you have Julie, Molly, me, and Kayla.

And we're always ready to rep our University and throw up an OU. You better believe we have Oklahoma pride.

So all in all it was a great time. For the rest of the weekend I'll just be hanging around Alcala and Madrid trying to soak it all in and enjoy things. It's almost impossible to believe that this is my last full week in Spain. I just hope I'm able to finish out strong!

The Past, Present, and Future

One of the newbies (the kids who just came in July) asked me today what the differences have been between the June and July programs. And honestly, one would think that there wouldn't be many. I mean, they're two identical programs with students from all over the country coming together and studying in Spain. It's essentially the same classes, a lot of the same students, and all the same teachers and staff.

Yet even though these two programs were only separated by a span of a few days, the differences between the two are almost mind-blowing. The dynamic is completely and totally 100% different. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's just......well, it's different. For example, last month it was very unusual for me to be at home. Ever. I was always out with a huge group of people getting tapas or sitting in the plaza or Lord knows what else. But this month has been much, much more chill. I spend a lot of time alone taking walks and listening to music or just sitting in the sun reading a good book. Don't get me wrong, a huge majority of my time is devoted to being with my friends here, but I've had time to be a lot more introspective. And here is the direction my thoughts have turned:

I've been thinking a lot about my past, my present, and my future. All of them, of course, revolving around this experience in Spain because I can honestly say that it has been life-changing in oh so many ways. So for the sake of easiness, we'll refer to life before study abroad as PS (Pre-Spain) and life after AS (after Spain). Easy enough, right?

So first of all, let's address my past. I think of it in a couple of different ways. One is my recent past, which pretty much just covers my time in Spain. The other is the more distant past, which is pretty much just PS. :) Thinking back over my entire past, it almost seems like a different life. I was looking on facebook through some old pictures from CAC events, Camp Crimson, and other campus involvement stuff. Things that used to be my entire life. Now they just seem like distant memories of a time long-gone. Which is weird. Of course, those will always be things I cherish, but somehow this new phase of my life has helped me close that chapter and find some closure, which is a good thing.

Now my AS past, that just blows me away. How in the world have I already been here for almost two months? It just doesn't seem right. Surely someone has hit the fast forward button. I have done so many incredible things and seen so much that I can't help but have an overwhelming feeling of thankfulness for this incredible opportunity.

As to my present, well, as always with this blog, things really couldn't be better. I'm pretty sure my classes are going well and my relationships with other people continue to grow and develop. Having fewer people here is kind of nice because it lets me devote more time and attention to those few friendships and make them deeper. There is nothing I appreciate more than time well spent in the company of good friends, so that has been a blessing. And my Spanish continues to improve, which is really great. I've been told three times today by native spaniards that I speak really well, which has been a good morale boost. Sometimes I still feel like such a beginner, so receiving affirmation is great.

And then to my future, which once again can be broken up into the close and the distant. My near future is incredibly, tremendously exciting. I have my final couple of weeks of class, which is nice that those will soon be done. But my plans for my last two weeks here seem fantastic. I'll be taking in as much Spain as I possibly can as I may not be back to terribly soon. And then for the two and half weeks or so after class I'm beginning the crazy travel phase of my time in Europe. I've decided to go on a big Scandinavian adventure through Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. I've got everything all mapped out and will be starting in Copenhagen, then Malmo and Stockholm, Sweden, and finally Oslo and Bergen, Norway. How exciting!

The distant future has more possibility now than I ever thought possible. Which is interesting, because after graduation in May things were starting to look bleak. I really had no actual direction of where I wanted to go and I was pretty listlessly tossing around ideas, none of which sounded too horribly appealing. But I've got ambitions and goals now, regardless of how lofty they may be. I don't want to dive too deep into them because I could go on for days and things are still in the really tricky uncertain phase, but it just feels good to have some sort of life plan.

So really that's that. I love having the time to think things over and really get excited over the small things. Of course, there are those few big things, too, like, oh, I don't know, trips to Paris and such. But all in all, I would say that if this study abroad accomplishes absolutely nothing else, it has accomplished making a HUGE difference in my life in oh so many ways.

Now if only it wasn't ending so soon!

Bonjour Paris!

You know how sometimes you have those moments where you just can't possibly find the perfect way to describe something because it's just too amazing for words? Well that is what I am currently going through in trying to describe my trip to Paris. It really couldn't have been a more perfect trip. The people I went with were incredible. The things we saw were incredible. Everything was great.

But I'm going to go ahead as usual and try and find the way to describe everything. And I'll try and choose the best of the over 250 pictures that I took on the trip to show as well.

The trip started out early. And I mean early. As I mentioned in my previous post, my flight out was at 8:30. Which meant I had to be at Barajas Airport by 6:30. Which meant I had to be on the bus to the airport by 5:30. Which meant I had to get up by 4:30. Ugh. I am definitely not an early riser, and getting up several hours before sunrise was rough for me. However, eventually the excitement of going to Paris kicked in and I realized that it was all for a good cause, so my mood got a little better. But only a little. :)

This is a picture of the sunrise over Madrid. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of sunrises. I love seeing them and I love taking pictures of them. However, I like them a whole lot better when I can go back to bed for an hour or two after I see them. haha But this was one of my last views of my wonderful Spain before I left for gay old Paris.

I've become an old pro at snapping welcome signs in airports and train stations, and this trip was no exception. By all means, if someone or something is willing to welcome me to France, I'll be more than willing to take a picture of it.

So I went with two girls, Cherrie and Lindsay, but we took different methods of travel. The girls took the overnight train on Thursday night and got into Paris at 9 in the morning, whereas I took the plane on Friday morning and got into Paris around 10:30. The original plan was to meet the girls in Versailles at noon and spend the rest of the day together. However, and this is something I have learned extremely well throughout my time here, plans never work out. So, of course, my flight gets delayed for about an hour, and then it takes me awhile to get to the hotel, so I don't even show up to check in until 2:30. Obviously very very late for my noon meeting time.

However, the girls had left me a note at the hotel saying that they had got in late too and that they were going to go ahead and go to Versailles but if I didn't make it there, then we would just meet at the Louvre. Which sounded good at the time, but we didn't realize that three people meeting at the Louvre was like reuniting three needles in a stack of needles.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.

So after I realized that I wouldn't be going to Versailles (which I wasn't too horribly upset about. once you've seen one European palace, you've seen them all), I decided to go exploring. I mean, if you're in Paris, you don't just sit around with your thumb up your butt. So naturally the very first place I went was......

The oh-so-incredible Eiffel Tower. It has always been one of the places that I have most wanted to see in the entire world, so I made a bee line for it. And I'll never forget the moment when I finally walked up to it and stood underneath it for the first time. It was the most incredible feeling in the entire world, like I had just accomplished something amazing. And I was pleasantly surprised by how enormous it was. For real, the Eiffel is gigantic.

So after walking underneath it for awhile (and calling my family to scream that I was under the Eiffel Tower) I decided to walk down the field to get a few shots of the entire tower. Which I think turned out very postcard-worthy.

Here is a picture of the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the background. This picture is from a little later in the day when it started getting kind of overcast and chilly. But it wasn't a problem, because Paris weather is like Oklahoma weather. One minute it was sunny and hot and the next it was rainy and freezing. But the bad weather never lasted long, which was nice.

Finally the time came to go the Louvre and meet up with the girls. I got there a little early from our meeting time, so I walked around, shot some pictures, and just kind of checked things out. The Louvre is incredible and it has this huge glass pyramid as the entrance. The whole building is really incredible from the outside and it's a perfect representation of what is inside.

So back to my story about meeting up with the girls. I was supposed to meet them "at the entrance" at 5. But there are a ton of different entrances into this plaza, so meeting them was nearly impossible. So I waited until 7 and decided, okay, screw it, I'm going in. I didn't want to miss out on this, too.

So I go inside, and after completely giving up on ever seeing my friends again (slight exaggeration), who do I run into? You guessed it, Cherrie and Lindsay. Which just goes to prove that once you aren't looking for something, that is when you find it. :)

So we proceeded to look around the Louvre for several hours because you could literally spend days in there and not see everything. But we hit up all the big stuff, like....

The Mona Lisa. Which to me was slightly disappointing. It's very tiny and not even that great. I don't really understand why it's so famous, but then again, I'm not really much of an "art" person.

We also saw the Venus de Milo, which was really cool. After seeing all these great works of art for my entire life, actually seeing them in person was crazy.

The next day (Saturday) we had a full itinerary worked for the entire day. There is so much to see in Paris and so little time to do it in. So the first item on the agenda was Notre Dame. And this cathedral really is incredible. It's huge and ornate and everything you could ever imagine. We didn't plan on staying long there, but after getting in and seeing the beauty of it all, we decided to just sit for awhile and take it all in. We sat in the pews and listened to the choirs singing ever so softly and just closed our eyes and appreciated it all. What a great experience.

Next item on the agenda: Napoleon's Tomb. This picture is of the Paris dome, which houses old Napoleon himself. You can see up at the top that the dome is made of gold, which is very standard all over Paris. The "sun king," which was Louis XIV or XVI or some other roman numeral, decorated the entire city with it. And this place was no exception. Of course, this building was perfect for Napoleon, because he had the original "little man syndrome." His Napoleon complex was the very first one, and everything was gigantic, including his actual resting place.

This is his actual tomb. You can't really tell from the picture but it had to have been at least 20 feet tall, probably much more. Napoleon himself is resting inside of this giant hunk of rock and I would imagine he's probably still smiling to himself about how he pulled off being buried in a giant casket in the middle of Paris. Such an over-compensater.

After we left Napoleon's Tomb, we decided to walk to see the Arc de Triomphe, which required us to walk down the Champs-Elysees. Which I was totally cool with. :) So, of course, I had to take a picture of the street sign just to prove I was there.

Here is a shot of the view down Champs-Elysees. You can see the Arc de Triomphe down at the end. You might also notice that this picture was taken from the middle of the busy street. No worries, everyone was doing it. And I follow the practice of "follow the Europeans." If they do it, then it must be okay for me. And it worked out fine, because all of the drivers know to just zoom around the picture-takers rather than running into them.

Oh, and Champs-Elysees is the place that has all the big-time shops and designer stores, but they were just a bit further down closer to the Arc.

Here the three of us are in front of the Arc. This is just another one of the landmarks that was incredible to see in person. And we were able to go right up under it and look around. Under the Arc is also where the French Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is, so we got a few pictures of that too. You can go up to the top of the Arc, but we decided to go the top of the Eiffel Tower instead because it's much taller. And because it's just cooler to say that you've been to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Here is a picture of one of my favorite French guilty pleasures: the crepe. Kind of embarassing to admit, but I had three while I was in Paris. The first I ate had chocolate and bananas on it, the second one I ate had ham and cheese, and the third had nutella. The second and third were my lunch on Sunday, though, so don't judge me. But I can honestly vouche for the fact that crepes are delicious. I might try to learn to make them once I get home.

So finally, we made our way over the Eiffel Tower to end our day there. We wanted to spend plenty of time hanging out in the lawn in front of it and going up to the top, so we got there a little before sunset so we could see the transition from night to day. And we were all so excited to be there that we took the following pictures:

This is Lindsay.

This is Cherrie.

And this handsome devil is, of course, me.

For real, though. Who can help jumping for joy when you're in front of the Eiffel Tower?

And, being one of the most romantic spots in the world, Lindsay and I decided to go for the dip. No kisses, and it was slightly awkward looking, but it was still fun. haha

And then Cherrie and I decided to represent the University of Oklahoma. If this picture doesn't somehow end up on the OU website, I'm going to be really sad.

And then night finally came, which meant that the Eiffel Tower lit up with all of its splendor. I guess normally it just lights up white, but for some reason it was blue that night. And I matched perfectly with it. You know, me and the Eiffel Tower, we're pretty tight. So Cherrie and Lindsay took a picture of me matching with the Eiffel.

We got our tickets to go up to the top, but being the intrepid adventurers that we are, we decided to walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Which by the time we got to the second floor we were slightly regretting that decision. Over 650 stairs makes for a tough time. haha

But really, it wasn't nearly as hard of a hike as I thought it would be. And now I can say I've climbed the Eiffel Tower. This picture is looking down from the first floor I think. And you can tell how high up we were already. Like I said, the Eiffel Tower is huge, and climbing up the stairs with just a little chainlink thing separating you from the ground was kind of scary!

But we made it to the top safe and sound and took in all the beauty of Paris lit up at night. And it truly is the "city of light." Here is a picture of the three of us from the viewing deck at the top.

One incredible surprise at the tower was that after dark, every hour on the hour the tower lights up and twinkles for a good ten minutes or so. And it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The photos really truly do not do it justice even slightly. I took several videos of it, so once I get back to the states if any of you want to see them, just let me know.

Sunday morning we had a few hours to get a few last sights in, so our first stop was Moulin Rouge. It was actually just about a block from our hotel, so it was an easy walk. We went inside of it to check out exactly what goes on in there, and we were surprised to find that lots of photos of naked women everywhere. It's definitely not a whorehouse anymore, but more like a really risque burlesque show. Very cool to see, but a lot dirtier than what I thought it was.

After Moulin Rouge, we headed up the hills in Paris to Montmartre, the art district of the city. It was incredible for two reasons. One was because there was more art here than I have ever seen. Way too expensive to actually buy, but really cool to look at. The other reason is because since it was at the very top of the hill, it gave some spectacular views of the city. It was a very quaint little district and it was extremely artsy. There were even the little old men playing accordions at the bistros. It just seemed very, very French.

Lastly, we walked down to the Musee D'Orsay. But it ended up taking us so long to get there, that I didn't have to go in. So we just walked around the area and checked out the street vendors. We actually found a really cool surprise at one of them, though, as you can see in the next photo.

We found a poster for sale that was from a concert that took place at OU! How wild is that?! We were so excited to find something from Norman that we had to take a picture with it.

After buying a couple of pieces of art, it was finally time for me to get on the train and head back to Charles de Gaulle airport to get back to Madrid. It was sad leaving the girls even though I would be seeing them again in a day. But after being together for such an incredible experience, it felt like we had this really really tight bond. We are a team now, and Team Paris didn't want to be split up. :)

On my way home, we flew over some body of water and it looked really cool, so I took a picture of it. I'm starting to become an old pro at taking pictures out of the airplane window as well. haha

Getting home was nice because I was finally able to sit back and relax. I got plenty of sleep in Paris but after doing SO much walking and exploring, I had never been so exhausted. No matter what, it was totally worth it because this was one of the best experiences ever. How lucky am I that I get to just make a quick jaunt up to Paris for the weekend? :)

And finally, here are the two pieces of art I bought outside of the Musee D'Orsay. I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them. I'm starting to become quite the art connoisseur. :)