It's almost April?

Well hello everyone! Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile. There hasn't really been too much going on here in España, but I'll provide an update anyways!

Since we've been back from Paris, I've pretty much just been going to class and hanging out with the other WIP kids. Kate's boyfriend Jesse got to Madrid on the 10th, and unfortunately she couldn't come with us on a program-planned excursion to a region of Spain called "Extremadura". It was weird traveling without her, but it also gave me a chance to get to know the other kids in the program- I'm especially getting close to a few girls from Madison, who are all so fun and sweet- I really can't wait to roadtrip there next year!!

Extremadura wasn't too bad- it was a very roman-esque trip: we saw a lot of ancient ruins and walked around the different towns, learning about their history and culture. The weather was wonderful though! Extremadura is the region of Spain right next to Portugal, so there were a lot of palm trees and temperatures in the upper 60's! We all got some sun, and spent a lot time just sitting outside enjoying the days.


After checking into our hotel, we had about an hour to relax before dinner. The program had everything paid for us, so of course we took advantage and our table decided to enjoy all of the free wine. It was one of the funnier moments I've had in Spain, having our program director come over to tell us we were cut off. (he was sort of kidding though, so it wasn't a big deal- just really embarrassing) The next day we walked around some more and saw some amazing views of the Spanish countryside.



This past week Kate and Jesse were in Mallorca, and island off the east coast of Spain, so I spent most of the week over at my friends' Whitney and Andrea's apartment. It was a really fun week- I love, love, love only having classes Monday and Tuesday- it frees up my entire week! I just wished I liked my classes more- they're not so bad content wise, but it's always really hard to follow the professors, and they're an hour and half long which is longer than I'm used to. I'm taking an art history class about the paintings found at the Prado, and then on Wednesdays I get to go to the Prado museum for free for two hours to actually see the paintings we've seen in class and learn more about them. This class is definitely my favorite. I'm also taking a Spanish Grammar class (as a review), a class about Greek Mythology, a Latin American History class, and a Spanish Film class where we watch a different movie each week and then write reviews about them. This class is pretty cool too, and there are a ton of the WIP kids in it.

Saturday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day: Madrid Style! We spent the majority of the beautiful day outside at "Parque Oeste", drinking sangria, socializing, and having a great time. A kid on my program, Pat, had his dad in town so he spent the day with us too. It was so awesome having our first parent visit- I'm so excited to meet everyone else's families and friends. In true Irish fashion, we left the park, got some food, and hit up some pubs! I was so excited to meet back up with Kate! All in all it was a really great day.


This week I've been hanging out, getting some errands done, studying for my midterm I have on Monday, and preparing for everyone's arrival!! I am SO excited to see everyone on Saturday- it's going to be an amazing week- and we leave for Lisbon, Portugal on Thursday, which is somewhere I have wanted to go for forever, and now I get to go with all the people that I love. The timing works out really well too, because after my fam leaves on the 1st, Kate's mom and sister come here, which will also be really fun.

I can't believe that it's almost Spring Break- this is what I have planned for the rest of my time here:
after Kate's family leaves we have about two weeks before our awesomely planned trip to Edinburgh and Glascow, Scotland, Dublin and Galway, Ireland, and Amsterdam. Then it's May, where I am planning on going to London to visit my Purdue roomie, Whitney, who will be there for the summer- hopefully getting to see my friend Ray from Liverpool also! Then we finish classes and take finals- finals are done in June, and then anytime after the 25th we are off to Greece to spend the rest of our time with Kate's family friends at their place! Home on the 3rd o July! Woah! So surreal..

All right, gotta go study! Keep in touch everyone- I've loved all the emails! And be sure to check out my photo site for more pics from Madrid and my trips.


Love you all!
-Nicole

PS MY MOM AND BROTHER ARE COMING TO VISIT!! YAY!! I AM SOOO EXCITED!! :)

Bonjour!

Oh my goodness, Paris was amaaazing! Loved every second of it and I already can't wait to go back again someday. Besides the crazy weather everything went really smoothly for our trip, which is great considering this is the first time I've left Spain since getting here in January.

Here's what we did:

Tuesday: I got home from class around 5 and bummed around/packed/hung out with the roomies until Kate and I had to leave for the metro. The metro closes at 1:30 so we left the apartment around 12:45 to take it to the airport. Not a bad ride at all- except that our flight wasn't until 5:45. So, we basically had to sleep on the airport floor until the check in counters opened at around 4. We were both tired and crabby by the time we actually boarded our flight, but that's to be expected. (Ryanair is also really tricky, because there are no assigned seats so when they announce that they are boarding, everyone pretty much just bum-rushes to the front of the line, pushing others out or the way, in order to get seats together- now that we've gone through that experience once, we'll be more prepared for the next cheap flights we take)

Wednesday: We landed in France at around 10:30 then boarded a bus to take into Paris (also really easy- our tickets were cheaper if we flew into an airport about an hour outside of Paris). We took the Metro (bigger and a little more complicated than Madrid's) to our hostel, checkedd in, changed, and headed out to explore the city. Our hostel was about a 20 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower!!

It was pretty cool to see in person- I wish the weather hadn't been so crazy (cloudy, then sunshine, then downpour, then sunny, then rain again) but we ended up being able to get some really pretty pictures. After the Eiffel tower we walked all around the area and down the Champs Elysees. I talked with Melissa before we left and we had scheduled to meet at the Notre Dame at 2, and not knowing how far it was from the Eiffel Tower to Notre Dame, we walked....(woah baby that was faaar) but we got to see so much along the way and got some more great pics.

(Nice view of the Arc de Triomphe , the Louvre, and Notre Dame)
When we finally made it Notre Dame where we met up with Melissa!!! I haven't seen her in god knows how long and it was so surreal being there with her in Paris! By this time Kate and I had worked up quite an appetite so Mel took us to this random Greek restaurant which was amazing. The decor was a little random though, but it was fun.

After the meal we walked around some more and then Kate and I headed back to the Hostel to nap and get ready for the evening. "3 Ducks" is a great place to stay, if only to check out the bar: fun times and good people. We met a few people from Paris, England, Mexico, Brazil, and Australia. Melissa and dHung out there for awhile and then headed to bed.

Thursday: We woke up early, grabbed breakfast at the hostel, and then walked around some more til we met Melissa for lunch at 12. She took us to this great bagel/sandwich place and then we headed north on the Metro to Montmartre area (home of the famous Moulin Rouge!)

After that, Melissa took us to the beautiful Luxembourge Gardens where we relaxed and enjoyed the sun. The gardens were so gorgeous, and literally right down the street from Melissa's place.

We walked towards Melissa's area, ate some delicious crepes, then grabbed some wine and snacks and spent the rest of the night hanging out at her apartment. We were fortunate enough to not only have wine from a bottle, but individual "wine boxes", a true French delight! ;) After going to get crepes (again) we headed home on the Metro, woke up early Friday morning to catch our flight back to Madrid, and spent the rest of the day bumming around, looking at pictures, and catching up with our roomates.

All in all it was a wonderful trip- very relxing and fun, and Melissa was an excellent tour guide/translator. I'd love to go back to Paris: two days was definitely not long enough! I have tons more pictures on Facebook, and I'll post them on my other picture sight as well. This weekend we're working on some homework, doing laundry, and hanging out with the WIP kids before classes start again on Monday. On the 10/11th the program is taking us on a trip to Extremadura, Spain. I'm not sure what to expect but I'm very excited! (plus it's already paid for!) Kate's boyfriend Jesse is coming into town then, so they'll be hanging out in Madrid- what am I going to do without my travel buddy?? Haha, okay...entry has been long enough!

Ciao!
-Nicole