La Ciudad de la Luz

cheap inter-european travel + a free weekend = trip to Paris :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

On a thursday after Spanish class Rebecca, Emily, Sara, Alyssa, Erin, Carly, and I boarded the metro toward the airport and embarked on a grand adventure. Our destination: the city of the lights. The weekend turned out to be a whirlwind of excitement, but we learned a few things along the way. Here are a few of the do's and don'ts of traveling in Paris:

DO book your flight through easyjet...less than $100 round trip!

DON'T attempt to fit 6 girls into a 2 person hotel room. 1. the rooms aren't big enough. 2. the front desk takes your key every time you enter and exit the hotel, thus checking how many people are actually staying in the room. We ended up searching the streets late thursday night for another hotel with vacancy. Only two of us were able to stay in the original pint-sized room, while the other four bunked down the street in what we deemed as a little more than slightly sketchy hotel.

DO replace every meal with a nutella and banana crepe. self explanatory.

DON'T try to walk everywhere. Although it is an excellent strategy for burning off some of those crepes, you can definitely save some time if you invest in a book of metro tickets. The first day we pretty much just pinpointed the big sites (which are hard to miss) and walked in those general directions. Although this was a fun way to explore the city, we could have saved some time by figuring out the metros a little earlier.

DO see all the major sites :)

The Louvre

 Shout out to Nike

 Lady Madonna- Leonardo Da Vinci

 Mona Lisa Smile

 Venus De Milo 

 Sphinx

Eiffel Tower

 Arch De Triumph

 Notre Dame

 Moulin Rouge

DON'T skip the ferris wheel or carousel. These may seem juvenile, but you are never too old for a little magic :) The view from the top of the ferris wheel was truly spectacular; we discovered why Paris earned the title "city of lights".

DON'T get to the dance clubs until 1 am, DO stay until they close at 5 am, DON'T make the bouncers angry (they are large and scary and we watched them throw a guy against the wall and beat him to a pulp), DO make new friends from the Paris business school, DON'T sleep in too late and miss your check out time the next day!

Rebecca. Sara, and I made the front page of "Le Players" club ad :) 

DO encourage the performers in the metro. They can be quite entertaining. Ejemplo: Here is Emily holding a board for a circus performer who pretended to break it with his head. Maybe you had to be there, but we got quite the laugh from it.

DON'T stand too close to the doors on the metro. They randomly swing open while the train is moving at very high speeds. Never have I been so thankful for the cleanliness and safety of Spain's public transportation.

DO make friends with the captains of Scotland's rugby team. There were thousands of Scots in Paris for the weekend's rugby match and we happened to run in to the captains of the team who happened to want a picture in front of the Eiffel tower with the cute American girls :)

DON'T follow all the latest fashion trends...

man on a pink vespa with a plaid kilt and thigh highs anyone?

DON'T respond to French people in Spanish. After only speaking Spanish to people outside our group for over a month, it just comes naturally to respond to other people in Spanish. French people, however, could not seem to get over the fact that 6 very American looking girls were speaking Spanish...we got many a confused and bewildered look.

DO savor every moment of a magical weekend in Paris with some of the most amazing girls i know!

Te Amo,

Brooke

Yo Como entonces Yo Corro

Pastries and churros and crepes- OH MY!

It would seem that Spain has quite the plethora of dulces to offer. There are pastelerias on every corner, and the divine smell of freshly baked chocolate croissants wafts through the air every morning on our walk to school.  (I am proud to say I have only had one of those thus far.) Grabbing a pastry or stopping for tapas while strolling down Calle Mayor is a social norm here. Socializing revolves around eating and drinking. Needless to say, I have been enjoying a few of these Spanish delicacies -- soley for social purposes of course ;). A few of my favorites have been:

-rosquillos: doughnut-like pastry only found in Alcala 

-costrada: creme based pastry also a specialty in Alcala (looks like I picked the right town to live in!)

-churros con chocolate: this is a real Spanish tradition. don't be fooled, the mug is not filled with hot chocolate. it is basically a chocolate bar melted in a cup!

 -crepes: lo siento, this is not actually a Spanish postre, but, since our weekend trip to Paris revolved around them, I feel they are definitely worth mentioning

                                                 -bueno bars: an appropriate name; these are definitely bueno! addicting. enough said. there are some people in our group who will have some serious issues returning to the states without these. 

Alright, before you start thinking that I am living in complete and utter gluttony over here, I should add that these delectable treats are not even close to an every day indulgence. Yo solomente como estos a veces!

With all this incredible food, I have also found it necessary to supercharge my enthusiasm for running while I have been here! But really I love just heading out the door on a run, meandering through streets, and exploring the city. My favorite running spots are the park that is about a mile from my house and the river trail. The park is the hot spot for all people over 60 and their dogs. I love the enthusiastic old men who cheer "corre, corre, corre" from their cute little park benches with their pint sized terriers. The river trail is absolutely beautiful as well; it runs next to the river (obviously) between the edge of Alcala and the mountains. I run here when I want to just go forever -- last week I went over 10 miles on one of my runs there! 

I have also found some awesome running buddies in my group who are willing to wake up early on our weekend trips to get our workouts in. Funny story:

Last weekend we traveled to the south of Spain and spent a couple nights in Sevilla. One morning we needed to get up at 5:45 (just a bit earlier than usual) in order to be ready to leave with the group on time.  As we headed out on our run we realized that something was very different about this city at 5:45 in the morning...it wasn't actually morning yet! We ran through throngs of people still out for the night and partying hard. A number of people tried to start running with us, but, when they stated tripping over themselves, I think they realized that they were a little bit incapacitated for such "strenuous" activity. I would say Sevilla is the city that never sleeps, but I am pretty sure that all the late night fiestaers had a nice long siesta the next day. What a lifestyle!

Well thats the recap of my eating and running endeavors here in Spain, mis dos cosas favoritas!

Te Amo,

Brooke

Buenas Suerte de la Rana

I FOUND THE FROG!

can you see it? (on the top of the skull)

Legend has it that if you find the frog on the old campus of Salamanca University you will do well on your next exams and/or get married. Lucky me :)

I have quite a few weekend trips to catch up on..so here it goes! One at a time though. A few weekends ago we braved the cold and ventured north to Avila, Tordesilles, Toro and Salamanca in Castille y Leon. Here are a few snapshots  of the trip:

Avila

 hace frio!

 Las Murallas-known for the medieval Roman walls surrounding the whole city, all 2,516 meters of them 

 also known for the many romanesque and gothic cathedrals, the city is basically a conglomeration of architectural eras (Sara and I with one of the larger cathedrals)

Salamanca

La Catedral Vieja

gothic art...note the gold embossment and the crazy serpent looking creatures up top

oldest university in Spain and first in Europe to be recognized by King Alfonso and Pope Alexander

Toro

 Colegiata de Santa Maria la Mayor

this is my lovely friend Emily

 what a view!

Te Amo,

Brooke

Baila, Baila, Baila

It would seem that I am about as good at blogging as I am at texting, e-mailing, returning phone calls, and all other forms of communication. And for that I apologize...sorry mom!

Last week I charted foreign territory and entered the world of dancing. Brace yourselves, it is just as odd an idea as it seems. It all started with the Madrid Flamenco Company performance...

Let me tell you, these Spaniards are serious about their flamenco. Since I am not so much of a dancing fan (maybe a bit of an understatement), I didn't have particularly high hopes for the performance. To my surprise, however, I absolutely loved watching the show and  joined the crowd in a standing ovation when it ended! The talent of the dancers astounded me, as they combined traditional flamenco, ballet, and a whole lot of castanets to create a fluid, dynamic, and entertaining performance. We definitely got a kick out of their outfits as well; never have I seen so many florals and polka dots on the same stage. Here is a little taste of the fabulous Madrid Flamenco:

As if attending a Flamenco show wasn't far enough out of my normal repertoire, I decided to do a little dancing myself. I attended the first flamenco class offered by Alcalingua Universidad, and, don't worry, I was just as bad as you might imagine! We learned the very basics, but for some reason I was not programmed with the dance coordination gene. At one point we had to do a small turn, but I just couldn't seem to get my feet to turn around. I ended up facing the wrong direction and tripping over myself much to the amusement of the rest of the class. It is really good that I love to laugh at myself :D Needless to say, I haven't been back and I am pretty sure I am not the next star of the Madrid Flamenco Ballet, but I am proud to say that I partook in this cultural experience!

To top off my danced filled week, I reveled in the much hyped discotecas of Salamanca. Well, reveled might be a bit of an overstatement, but it was certainly an experience. We celebrated the lovely Alyssa Smith's birthday Salamanca style, and our group of 20+ BYU girls was quite to force to be reckoned with. Spain didn't even know what hit it (especially when we all walked into a club and then proceeded not to order a single drink)! Also, it is important to know that here in Spain the night doesn't even start until 1 or 2 at the earliest or you might end up looking like dumb Americans waiting on the street for places to open!

 the cute BYU girls, the birthday girl, and some of our new friends :) 

All in all, I watched and participated in more dancing last week than in my whole life combined. Spain is definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone in so many ways, but I am learning so much about the culture and about myself in the process....and having the time of my life doing it! 

Te Amo de España,

Brooke