As I sit here in my room, I feel a cold chill every now-and-then and then it hits me. It is winter. Winter is here. And that means a couple of things. One, it is Christmas time, which I love oh so very much. But seriously. I really, really love Christmas. Two, it means finals are just around the corner. Bleh. Three, I get to wear my favorite clothes. If you didn't know this about me, I love winter clothes. Simple. And last, it means my stay here in Spain is almost up. I have two weeks left here in beautiful Sevilla and it has gone by way too fast. So, before I continue with this post, please listen to this song about winter. Cheesy? Probably. Awesome song? Definitely. Not only is Matt Corby an amazing musician, but this song is incredible. My mom is going to say it is a boring song(s), but I'll live.
Enjoy.
"Winter/My False" by Matt Corby
So, this past weekend, some of us went to the Maritime Museum as well as the Titanic Exhibition that is here in Sevilla. Both were absolutely mind blowing. I loved them.
The Maritime Museum was so cool because it is a children's museum, so everything was so interactive and visually appealing as well as educational. We were able to hear a lot of different stories of people who traveled across the ocean in basically a pirate ship. As we all know, I do love pirate ships.
We were able to go onto the lookout of the city. Again, I am still in awe of this place. I love it here. Honestly, how could you not?
After that, we all went to the Titanic Exhibit which is a traveling exhibit and it just so happens that it is in Sevilla until spring next year. It was an amazing thing to go through and experience. I will never be able to read about the Titanic or watch the movie and think the same as before. I have gained such a new perspective and understanding about the entire event and I can't put to words how great it was.
So, a part from going to school, exploring a European city, and going to awesome museums, it is also Christmas time, which means the shops have Christmas stuff out. Naturally. I thought that I would share with you some stuff that Leah and I discovered while enjoying the shops.
Bear made of pine cones.
Penguin made of wood chips.
Leah and Christmas fairy ornaments.
Me with a fairy ornament.
Poinsettias in the city center.
There is also this plunger that I couldn't get over. I couldn't help not sharing it. It is just way too good to keep to myself.
So, all in all, it has been a great and busy week. We leave for Portugal in the morning and I honestly must say that this is one of the trips I have been looking forward to the most. Wish us luck!
Hope everyone is well! I sure can't wait to see you all!
Love Always,
Ang
P.S. Here is a quote that I really love right now. Thought I'd share it with you.
"Joy is a state of mind that must be purposely cultivated if you are to live and love and influence others as God intended."
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I am sad I could not share it with you, but know that I had a great Thanksgiving here in Spain with all my friends. ISA decided to throw us a Thanksgiving meal and we all dressed up and celebrated together.
I just want to say that after the welcoming toast, they played the national anthem. I think every household should do the same thing. It was great.
At any rate, here are photos of my Thanksgiving. :)
I hope all is going well with you all! I miss you more during this week of Thanksgiving, but know that there is a lady in Spain who misses and loves you guys!
In other news, I went to Paris this weekend and it was absolutely amazing!!! Before I tell you all about it, here is a famous French song by an amazing musician. I like this version because there is a beautiful trumpet solo in this song. Enjoy.
So, it all started when my friend Allie (who also attends SNU) chose to study abroad and we had talked about visiting each other while we were here in Europe. So, I told Leah we should go to Paris, and welp. We did.
Thursday afternoon Leah, Warren, and I got on the plane and we were on our way to Paris, France! Leah and I met up with Allie that night and it was wonderful. I loved catching up with someone from the states.
Friday morning, Allie had told us about this amazing pastry place right next to her house that she advised us to go to. It was a croissant with some chocolate inside. Oh my word. Heaven in my mouth. After that, we went to the Palace of Versailles, and although it took us 2 hours to find our way there, it was well worth it. It is about 15 miles outside of Paris and it is absolutely stunning. We arrived at Versailles and it was still pretty foggy from the morning. We bought our tickets and were about to have our minds blown.
The inside is absolutely gorgeous and so different than what we had seen before. The inside is so massive and honestly I don't think we even made a dent into what all that there is to see. Of course we saw the Hall of Mirrors which was crazy cool. We also saw all the different rooms and gathering places that our tour provided. Here is just a glimpse of what we saw.
The next thing that we saw was the Palace of Versailles gardens. Although it was foggy and we were unable to fully see the garden in it's entirety, the fog made it a tad bit romantic. All the trees were turning colors and it was stunning. And yes, it was cold. Very cold. Thanks for asking.
After the Palace of Versailles Leah, Warren, and I went to eat some real French food. It was awesome. I had a great roasted chicken with fries. Mmm.
After lunch, we went back onto the train to meet Allie (she had class on Friday) at Notre Dame. Now, this is a place that I was really really excited to see. Not only did I grow up watching the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but I just love it in general. And it is beautiful.
After Notre Dame, we walked to the Louvre to see some famous paintings. I wasn't sure what to expect when going to the Louvre, but I was excited nonetheless. So, after getting in, we were trying to find our way through different exhibits and holy moly. This place is giant. There are so many different exhibits and you honestly need a map to see it all. We saw so many cool things at the Louvre. We saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and sculptures that Michelangelo had done on top of many other cool things. You seriously walk in and are bombarded by painting and sculptures everywhere. A person honestly needs to go there multiple times to really take in all that there is at the Louvre.
That night, we were so tired from walking 13+ hours, but it was so worth it. We went out to this really cool little restaurant and I got French Onion Soup, but they just call it onion soup since, well, y'know. We were in France. It was so cool. Everyone was so nice to us.
After our dinner, we went to this pastry shop that Allie loves and got this croissant with nutella, almond, and chocolate chips and right then in there, my mouth had experienced something that is not of this world. It came straight from heaven. I thought the croissant from the morning was great (and it was), but this one was out of this world good. We saved half of it to heat it up at the house and oh my word. I want one right now.
Saturday was a full day of sight seeing and it was great. We started off at the Arc de Triomphe. It is massive and gorgeous.
We then walked all along Champs-Elysees. There were so many high fashion places there. We even went into Louis Vuitton. There are things in there are are more expensive of my entire college education. My word.
We kept on walking down and saw the Christmas market which was so cool. They have been putting up Christmas lights all around the city, but this was the place where you can buy any trinket known to man and it was awesome.
We then walked along the Seine River and were on our way to see the Eiffel Tower. I just need to add a little fact about the weekend. 1) It is cold. Really cold. I know I am a pansy when it comes to weather, but the day we left it was gorgeous 75 degrees in Sevilla. We arrived to 40 degrees and foggy. 2) It was foggy and sorta wet all weekend. It made it a mysterious and romantic city to see, but it also meant that the Eiffel Tower was not going to be fully visible during the day.
I seriously took a kajillion pictures of the Eiffel Tower and I don't care who knows it. Even in the fog, it was beautiful. At the Eiffel Tower, there was a traveling bear exhibit of all the countries of the EU. So, of course we walked and took pictures with the bears. This is of Leah, Warren, and I with the Spanish bear.
After the Eiffel Tower, we made our way to Sacre Coeur. It is on top of a hill (that we climbed) and on our way we walked by Moulin Rouge. But that is besides the point.
Sacre Coeur is so cool because it has one of the best views of the city as well as great street performers. Here are a couple of photos.
Sacre Coeur is a cathedral and it is so beautiful inside and out. Check it out.
After that, we went and got some nutella filled crepes. Oh my word. France has some amazing food. We walked around the shops and found our way to Shakespeare and Company which is this awesome bookstore. When you go in, you are pinned up against the bookshelves trying to get through to see everything. There was a writer's club upstairs as well as a man just jamming on the piano. There were some cool little knooks where there was a massive amount of notes on the wall. They are notes from people all around the world who are writing notes to Shakespeare and Company. It was cool because the notes varied from love notes to inspirational notes in every language. It was awesome.
We then made our way to the Latin Quarter for a while, and finally found a place to eat dinner. It was cool because there was a man and woman playing piano and drums and serenaded the entire time we ate. Can I just add I got a steak. No regrets.
We then walked to the Eiffel Tower to watch it glitter and night. We got there and we were surprised. The entire Eiffel Tower was visible! And on top of that, it was lit up! So pretty! But honestly, when it glitters, words can't describe how cool it is. A picture will definitely not do it.
After that, we went back to the apartment and seriously passed out from our 15+ hour day. It was so worth it, but let me say, our feet were not happy with us. But we didn't care.
The next morning, Allie, Leah, and I went to Hillsong Paris. It was so amazing and so encouraging. It was wonderful to worship in French and in English. We had a guest speaker from Quebec and the message was so powerful. If you want to know all about it, please ask me because I would love to share with you all the details of the service.
After church, we went to Allie's favorite felafel place and had lunch. It was in the Jewish Quarter and it was amazing. After lunch, we had to make our way to the airport, but it was so amazing to see Allie and spend some time with a fellow SNU student. And luckily, we are friends!!!
Paris is beautiful and if you ever get the chance to go, please do. You won't regret it. What a jammed packed weekend, but a wonderful one at that.
Well there ya go. My Paris experience. I loved it and wish I had more time there.
