barthelona, te quiero!

the reviews are in: barcelona was my favorite city. i don't know if it's that i've finally gotten used to traveling and can get the most out of it now, or because i'm getting sentimental at the end of my trip, or if it's because i'm spanish at heart, but i loved barcelona. it was the first place i really didn't want to leave. (it's not like i was DYING to get out of the other places...just never quite as disappointed to get back on the plane).

barcelona was europe's version of california...everyone was a bit more laid back, the sun was shining on a bright blue backdrop, the beach ran right up to the city, and i was comfortable walking around in a light jacket. okay, to be fair, it was more like so cal. i know that chico and eureka and weed aren't anything like what i described.

maybe barcelona charmed me so because it was like getting a little drop of home, which i just miss oh so much. 1 week and 1 day!

ah, but back to barcelona. we stayed in a small hostel with an adorable hostel keeper. me, mal, maddy and chris stayed in a four person room, which is WAY better than the 8 person in rome and 32 person in amsterdam (though, oddly, the 32 person was not quite as awk...). jasmin stayed in the party hostel down the street. we ended up going out with people from her hostel on wednesday night (aka my birthday!). we went to a bar with 500 different shots for only 180 euro each, and oh boy did we take advantage. everyone in the party hostel somehow knew it was my birthday, so the hostel keeper bought me a shot, then all my friends bought me shots, and i didn't have to buy myself a drink the whole night :-D

when my birthday shot came, there was a sparkler stuck in it. the bartender lit the sparkler, and everyone started singing...yeah, even strangers. i love that stuff. anyway, the birthday song came to an end, but the sparkler didnt. uh oh. what do i do? i tried to blow it out, but couldn't. everyone was looking at me sort of expectantly, and some people were even shouting, "come on, take it!" well, i CAN'T because there's fire on it. i couldn't blow it out. i looked over at my friends at one point with a look that was like, "uhm, hello, what do i do?" finally the catastrophe came to an end and the sparkler went out. shot number one down with ease ;-)

the other shots we took were: harry potter, boy scout (complete with marshmellow to roast!), acid, noel and princess (which was really just scotch, which is the opposite of a princess drink). one guy we went out with was from canada...he was wearing a sport jacket and a button down shirt with about 5 buttons undone. and he had brown hair with frosted tips (and was thus dubbed "frosty.") seven years ago, i thought my perfect man would have blue eyes and frosted tips...but today, that's just sort of ridiculous. anyway, frosty had this crazy theory that if he waited to enter the job market for like, oh, 4 or 5 years, he'd be able to get a job no problem cuz that's when the baby boomers were retired. so he's not doing anything till then, really. he told both me AND mal this exact same story. this is his line. frosty has no moves.

this other guy we met was from colorado. he was 19 and traveling around europe, "taking a break from school." you need a break already?

the hostel owner-mauro-had some of the best stories (most of which are too explicit to repeat). he also hooked up with one of the girls staying in the hostel. ahhh the life of the hostel keeper.

i love meeting new crazies in hostels. i poke fun, but really, they're all good people.

before we went to barcelona, everyone was like OMG YOU HAVE TO GET TAPAS!!! so we wandered around the city, starving and tired, looking for a good place to eat tapas. we finally settled on this little place near barcelona's arc de triopmf (aka the standard european monument) and we thought that because it looked pretty traditionally spanish, it must be good. we were confused about the tapas, so we asked the waiter for tapas in a mixture of awful spanish on our part and struggling english on his part. he gestured to the bar area, where the tapas were displayed. okay...i guess we pick tapas from under the glass. me, jasmin, maddy and mal each picked one. they served, and we ate.

i don't get tapas. they were just snacks, and they weren't that good. i would describe them, but it doesn't matter, becauset tapas can be ANYTHING. that's why i dont get why everyone was like, "OMG EAT TAPAS." it's just food, guys. that like saying to someone, "hey, when you go to california, eat stuff. yeah, anything. just eat stuff." tapas are totally not special. they're just snacks. don't give a fancy name to something that is just a stupid snack.

anyway, after the tapas incident, we were determined to get some good spanish food. luckily we ran into a friend of a friend in a park (like i say after every trip...small world) and she pointed us toward a place with cheap paella. mmmmm that's delicious. not in a unique way...paella is just rice and veggies and meat. but it was warm and the flavoring was good and it complimented our sangria quite well ;-)

oh, gosh, i have a funny story about getting to the airport and screwing up traveling, but that will wait until tomorrow. i'm just too tired for now.

8 days to home.

want a beer?

i'm about to turn 21 and guess what i'm doing...BLOGGING! and nothing could help ring in the new year of ME better.

ah, this is bizarre. when i wrote that first line, i was 20*. these sentences are my first ones written as a person who can drink alcohol legally in the united states and iceland. can't you tell the difference? i can.

anyway, i've gotta leave the house in 5 hours to get on the metro to catch a plane to barcelona. i need to get some rest. yeah, even 21-yr-olds need sleep.


*i looked back at it when i turned 21 1 minute later, and decided it needed editing. 21-yr-old me is a better writer.

what? it's my birthday?

i've been doing this weird thing the last couple years. i sort of forget about my birthday. i mean, it's not like i totally forget...it's just like it's no big deal. yeah, there's my birthday, a couple weeks away. whatev.

and then it gets up real close to the actual day and i start to get more excited. it's not even like i want to DO anything big on my birthday. it's just like..ooo, here's a special day where everyone's nicer to me and i get lots of wall posts. nothing making me happier than some good wall postings.

this is the big birthday...the big 2-1. it's the age that everyone wants to be. and now i'm there. I'M SO OLD.

so, what was your favorite part of the trip?

hell, i don't know. you're asking me to take every experience i had in the last 3.5 incredibly packed, phenomenal months, rank them instantly, and spit out my response. i can't do that very well. that's why i don't answer these sort of questions well.

"uhhh...uhmm...i dunno, the eiffel tower?"

see, that's a totally lame answer 1) because you were expecting something more in depth and 2) because that's not even true! *sigh* i think i'm gonna make a list of my favorite things in this blog and then, when people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, i'll retort, "defranceavecamour.blogspot.com...read it."

lol. how excited are you to have me home?! btw, i'm not saying don't ask me...please, please do ask me about my trip. just don't expect beautifully insightful answers :-P

<2 weeks

faire le dessin!

paul and i have been playing on the computer a lot lately. well, really, he plays and tells me what to do. whatever. we both have a grand ol' time. mr and mme jeanson usually just leave us alone, unless paul's gotta go take a bath or work on his homework or eat.

tonight while paul and i were doing some sort of christmas game, mme jeanson pops her head in and just sort of laughs at us (this little boy's sitting on my lap and we're both SO FOCUSED on getting every bulb lit on the virtual christmas tree, so we must look pretty funny). i smile back and she goes, "you're like the perfect big sister." i laughed and made some joke (because i don't take compliments well), and she chuckled and went back to her work.

it was probably a bit sarcastic, but it was the best compliment i've gotten in a while (and someone told me i looked like miss america today, too!). yeah, i'm gonna miss this little family when i leave. i mean, look at the kid...he's a frickin baller.

go away, rain

i'd be fine with the rain if i were in san ramon or sb right now. when it rains at home, i take that as i sign that i should stay inside all day and not feel guilty because only crazies go out in the rain.

but here, i have so much wandering left to do and so many christmas wonders to see. i try going out in the rain, but then my boots get soaked with water and my pants get drenched and sometimes, when i'm really lucky, all the water from the roof falls on my head. (that last thing seriously happened to me today...i shrieked then laughed hysterically, because seriously, when does that happen in real life?)

so i spent most of the day inside with my roommate facebook. once i did go outside to the christmas market at la defense (HUGE and wonderful), i got wet. the only good part about rain is that it makes changing into my pajamas better (and you thought that wasn't possible).

at the christmas market, this nice guy gave me one of his handmade metal ornament dealies for free. to be honest, i have no idea what i'll do with this, but it was the nicest thing that happened to me all day, so i'm thankful for it.


imagine this row of booths and times it by like 10. gigantor. i should have expected that...it's la defense. everything's bigger there.