Bonjour Paris.

Bonjour!

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.

Until next time, have a wonderful week!

Love Always,
Angela

Lover of the Light.

Dear Family and Friends.

I want to share with you not only a song by my one of my favorite bands, but an amazing music video that they made from their latest album.  I really like it so I thought I'd share it with you.

Please enjoy.

Love Always,
Angela

"Lover of the Light" by Mumford and Sons

Green Pants Envy.

Hello,

So, I haven't done one of these yet, so I am going to give you some general thoughts that I have been having the past couple of days.  Please, enjoy.

1)  I have green pants envy.

You're probably wondering what this really means.  I shall tell you.  It means exactly what it says.  I love green pants, and apparently so does everyone in Spain.  My friend Leah coined this term and it basically means the more I see green pants the closer I am to buying a pair.  I don't know what it is.  I just love them so much, and Spain is so stylish that it just adds that much more of a "cute factor".  Sheesh.


2) I have such a cool host mom.

My host mom's name is Puri.  She is really cool.  Even though I may not be able to have a full on conversation with her, we still understand each other pretty well.  One night when she was teaching me how to cook a Spanish tortilla, she pulled out the big coke bottle and it had a little bit left.  She asks if I want some.  Of course I say yes.  She says we should just finish it and keep it a secret from everyone else.  BAM.  Best friends.  She also made me some really cute (green) earrings.  Yeah, she's cool.

3) I don't like the rain.

I already knew this about myself, but the fact that it has been raining almost nonstop the past three weeks confirms my dislike for that form of the weather that much more.  Yes, I know that it is necessary and what not.  But still.  Rain for weeks?  Come on.

4) I miss my guitar.

I didn't realize how much I missed my guitar until I heard a song the other day and wanted to learn it on the guitar and play it.  I mean, I play my guitar everyday when I am home.  Note to self: bring some form of instrument on next international adventure.

5) I am so happy I came to Spain.

I can't tell you how many times I have to pinch myself to remind myself that this is reality.  I knew I was supposed to come here and I am so glad that I did.  It has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I would advise anyone who is considering study abroad to just do it.  It has been amazing.  And I'm not just saying that.

6) I feel so refreshed.

Coming here you really get to push the reset button and really just start over.  I know that I will have to return home and go back to the "real world", but I know that this refreshing feeling will also come back with me.  I am ready to conquer the next step in my life.

7) We serve an amazing God.

I can't tell you how many things have gone wrong whether it was with me or someone else I know.  It can be anything from crazy big blisters to being allergic to mosquito bites and having to go to the hospital.  In every situation, the Lord still provides and takes care of what is going on, whether we recognize it or saw it coming.  He truly does care about what we're going through and isn't going to leave us hanging.  I love that.  Man, what a cool Guy.  With that said, it is a two way street.  Just sayin'.

8) I am so excited for Christmas.

Yes, I am one of those people who listen to Christmas music way before Thanksgiving and I don't care who knows it.  To each their own.  I do what I want, yo.  But seriously, Christmas lights are beginning to go up around the city and the nativity scene stores are comin' out.  I am so extremely pumped.  Can you tell me you're not excited for hot cocoa, monkey bread, Christmas music, candy canes, family, and parties?  Seriously.  Also, all of you who can buy gingerbread oreos, go buy them right now and eat them in my honor.  Please.  Then write me a message telling me how great they are.  I'm being serious.

9) The Civil Wars broke up.

I still can't get over it.  I'm sorry.  I am sad.  Therefore, I need to vent.

10) I have the best family.

I mean, I know that everyone says that.  But I'm sorry to tell you that you are wrong.  I'm sorry.  But seriously, my family is the coolest.


Until next time I come up with something, hasta luego.

Love Always,
Angela

I've Got My Ticket And I'm Goin' To Go.

Hello Dear Friends.

I want to officially apologize for the amount of pictures that I am about to post.  I hope you don't mind.  But because you are reading this and spending the time to look at all this and what not, I shall give you a great song to listen to while you are reading about my adventure abroad.

You're welcome.

So, some of you may know that I went to Barcelona this past weekend.  Some of you may not have known that.  Either way, now you know.

Thursday morning, my good friend Leah and I woke up at 4:15am and began our journey to the north to Barcelona.  Our flight left at 8:00am and we arrived in sunny Barcelona around 10:30am.  We made our way to our Ikea hostel and then began our exploring.

Here is proof that we survived our first RyanAir flight.

 
Our first stop was Park Guell.  Neither one of us knew what we were getting into, but I am glad we didn't.  I love surprises.  At first we hiked up this steep hill and when we arrived, we were given the best view of the entire city.  Please take a look.

We were serenaded by street performers the entire time at the park.  It was awesome.  If you know me, you know that live music is one of my all time favorites, so it was just the cherry on top.

After that, we went back down to the city and explored a little bit more downtown.  We saw some more of Gaudi's famous architecture.  Here, take a look.

It is cool to see different style buildings.  I kind of liked it.  Barcelona is very different than Sevilla; not in a good or bad way, just different.  To me, it feels a lot more European than Spanish.

After exploring some more, we decided to walk to the harbor to see the water, but by then, we were exhausted and decided to go to the grocery store to buy our food for the weekend and to settle in for the night.  Leah and I had an awesome time painting nails, watching stand up comedy, and just being girls.  I have really missed girl's nights.

In the morning, we went straight to the Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction for the past century.  Gaudi started to build it and towards the end of his life, he focused solely on the Sagrada Familia.  It is so incredibly different than any cathedral that we have visited thus far.  It was amazing.  You walk in and all you see are rainbow colors everywhere on the crisp white-ish interior.  It is so "modern" compared to the other cathedrals in the country.  I can't do it justice and pictures won't do it justice eithe, but it will just have to do.  Please, enjoy.  I know I did.

I absolutely loved it.  Leah and I spent two hours there and we could have easily spent more.  I can't wait to see it finished because when all the stained glass is put in, my oh my it will be absolutely breathtaking.  And get this, on the top level, there is seating for 1,000+ choir singers.  Can you imagine?  Sitting in a rainbow filled cathedral hearing 1,000+ voices singing?  Oh my word, that sounds awesome.  We also climbed the towers (which was a tad scary) and saw the cityscape which was so awesome.  I could talk all day about this place, but to spare you, I will move on. 

After the Sagrada Familia, we decided to go up to the Olympic Stadium, which is on top of another hill.  You can bet by this time our feet and legs were definitely letting us know that we were abusing them.  But alas, we went on.

The olympic stadium is a lot smaller than we had expected and honestly, it seemed pretty deserted.  There was a concert being set up in the stadium, but it wasn't anything too extravagant.  I did like visiting it though.  This is my third Olympic stadium.  I am pretty proud of that, not gonna lie.

It was really fun to visit.  But like the rule of gravity, what must go up, must come down.  The same rule applies for climbing hills.  So, we took the metro up to the top of the hill, but unfortunately, we had to climb down the hill.  It was pretty because it was sunset and all, but still.  By this time, we were definitely feeling all the walking.  At any rate, we made it to the bottom and got ready for the Magic Fountains in the center.

The Magic Fountains are in Plaza de Espana.  We got there around 6:00pm and decided we needed to sit and maybe get a Sprite or something (we all know I am absolutely addicted to Sprite).  So, we were walking around the plaza and noticed that there was an abnormally large amount of people on one side of the street.  Of course, curious one that I am, we walked on that side of the street to see all that was going on.  We realized it was for an anime convention.  I have nothing against anime or anything, but it was quite interesting to see the way that everyone dressed.  I think I will leave it at that.

We went back to the Magic Fountains and there were so many people there ready to watch the show.  Basically the fountains light up and change according to music that is playing.  It was absolutely wonderful.

That night, we went back to our apartment and decided to cook some pasta.  It was super exciting.  A little back story, I decided that in my small backpack that I took with me to Barcelona, I was going to bring my head lamp in case we were faced with sudden blackouts.  You never know when light will suddenly be gone.  We must be prepared at all times.  Do take note that my lovely friend Leah was very skeptical of my packing list (cough my head lamp cough).

Low-and-behold our power goes out in the middle of our cooking session.  So, here is proof that I am a superhero and saved the day (in my SNU gear of course).

It was awesome.

The next day, we checked out of our hostel and decided that our last morning would be well spent if we went to the beach.  So.  We did.  It was such nice weather too.  We put our feet in and relished in the fact that we were standing in the Mediterranean Sea.  No big deal.

It was a lot of fun and really relaxing.  I just have to pinch myself everyday.  Seriously.

After that, we decided to explore more of the city and it eventually brought us to this huge market.  It had every type of food possible.  We bought pineapple for $1euro.  It was awesome.

Our next stop was the Barcelona Cathedral.

Wow.  It never ceases to amazing me how intricate and enormous these places are.  We also went to mass at the cathedral that night.  It was such a learning experience.

After mass, we were hungry and because we were already checked out of our hostel and couldn't cook, we decided we were going to treat ourselves to some great food.  So, we went to Hard Rock Cafe.  I mean, who wouldn't go to the Hard Rock Cafe?  We bought BBQ bacon and cheese hamburgers with fries and ranch.  I haven't had ranch for 9 weeks.  I nearly cried from happiness.  You think I am kidding.

That night we had to go back to the airport which was quite the chore.  In short, we were going to take the $5.75 euros airport bus that night but we couldn't find the bus stop.  Go figure.  So, we asked one of the city bus drivers and he said the airport bus doesn't run at night.  We were so confused because we could've have sworn we understood the times on the sign.  But we trusted in the bus driver.

We shouldn't have trusted him.

We got in a cab and knew that it was going to be pricey, but we had no choice, right?  As we are driving to the airport, we see the airport bus at the bus station getting ready for a trip to the airport.

Dumb.  Dumb.  Dumb.

We paid $25 euros.  We're not bitter.  I promise.

But seriously.  Come on.

At any rate, we were there at 12am and our flight left at 6am.  So, we listened to Hamish and Andy on their new app to kill time and it was awesome.

We arrived home at 8:30am and I finally crawled in my bed at 9:15am.  It was glorious.  Whoever thought flying out that early was smart, is not smart at all (aka me).

I had an amazing time with Leah and I am so incredibly blessed to have a wonderful friend to travel with.  Honestly, she is awesome.  I couldn't have asked for a better person to travel with.

The Lord is stretching me in so many different ways, but I shall save that for another post.

Oh man.  We serve a wonderful God.  I love it.

A couple little facts.

1) Here they call granny smith apples, Granny Smith Apples.  Love it.  Best apple I have had here in Spain.  Beautiful.

2) I love that my Spanish name has an accent.  So, taking this picture was extra exciting.

3) I miss you all.  I am excited to see you and hug you and to hear all about your lives.   I love being here though, not gonna lie.  I just wish you could share all of these experiences with me.  Seriously, how fun would that be?

Love Always,
Ang