And the trip continues

First of all, let me just make a random and unrelated comment. I'm not a person to re-read things. I finish tests quickly, and rarely look back (inhale and exhale mom and dad, I make exceptions for finals). Even with papers, my motto is most often (again, exceptions have most definitely been made), once I'm done... I'm done. That being said, proofreading is probably something that I could improve upon. Where is this going, you may ask? Well doing a comparison of my blog posts, and my former roommate Audrey's blog who happens to be an English major, I realize that my posts have a significant higher amount of gramatical/spelling/general errors. That being said, thank you for being able to tolerate them, and continuing to read this occasionally incomprehensible blog. The recent addition of more pictures may be related to the phrase "a pictures tells a thousand words."
So, where did I leave off...? Oh yes, Lucas, misery, unsweetened cheesecake, beer and war. So the next morning we woke up and were both able to sleep in a while. Claire had class and some official Visa business to do, as did Veronica (the friend that Elena was staying with) so we were on our own again. They gave us a recommendation of where to go for lunch, so we headed on over that way. The restaurant was adorable, whimsical, and very reasonable priced. It specialized in these open-faced sandwich type things that were delicious. I got one with some type of cheese spread on it, smoked salmon, and capers. Elena had one with brie, walnuts, and honey. Yum! Dessert was coffee for Elena, a ginormous hot chocolate for me, and crepes at the Christmas market! After stuffing our faces (recurring theme of the trip) we went back to Veronica's house and just relaxed, and watched some American TV shows online. While I'd never met Veronica prior to this visit, I would say that if a Christmas episode of Glee can't unite people together, either one of them is untrustworthy, or nothing is possible. After watching Glee, we learned that there's a movie theater that shows movies in English, something that Spain has yet to even consider. Elena and I jumped on that idea like white on rice, and soon enough we were surrounded by the smell of hot, buttery popcorn, and watching The Next Three Days starring Russell Crowe. I'm a terrible critic because I tend to like almost every movie I see, but I would definitely recommend it if you're looking for an action/thriller flick!

Wait, how do you know I don't live here?

The next morning we took a train back to Paris. A few hours later Elena and I were dropped off at the train station surrounded by Lucas, Lucas Jr, Misako, Borealis, and Big Red. Our overnight train to Madrid didn't leave until 7:30 PM so we decided to go to the Louvre and store all our friends at the bag drop. Another random and fun fact, with our student I.D we got into every museum in Paris for free. Back to the subject! The Louvre is huge, thankfully on the map they point out the main pieces and where to find them. So off we went to the Mona Lisa! I'm not much of an art person, but I have to admit it was pretty cool to see the actual Mona Lisa. Unfortunately from there my attention span and good attitude both spiraled down to that of about a 5 year old. God bless Elena for dealing with me. I admit that I probably should have tried to appreciate the moment a little more, but for some reason I was just not enjoying it. We all have days we're not proud of. One observation I did make though was the unnaturally high concentration of Asian tourists. Some stereotypes are just too true. Giant cameras were seen. Peace signs witnessed. Headphones, tour-guides with microphones- the whole kit and kaboodle.

Soon enough we found ourselves back on Elipsos, our train hotel. Unfortunately, due to our student budget, we had previously booked the cheapest options, which happened to be "super-butacas". Sounds cool right? Wrong answer. They're recliner seats. Like a first class seat on a plane, but older, and uncomfortable and for 13 hours. Oh also, I'd say it was about 80 degrees in this room that we shared with more or less 16 other people. We did meet some guys from South Africa who were doing a full-out EuroTrip by train. I'd never met anyone from there so it was pretty cool to talk to them. And when they offered us each a free beer at the bar on the train? Added bonus! Don't mind if I do. Anyways, I think the best way to describe my sleeping patterns that night is "hot yoga." Hot, because I was legitimately sweating in my t-shirt and jeans. Yoga because of the innumerable and incomprehensible ways I managed to sleep. Many of you are aware of my unique sleeping patterns. Multiply the creativity/intensity by 100 and you get what occurred that night. A lot of fetal position, strange leg twisting, and perpendicular angles all happened.

It was totally worth it though to wake up in Madrid, where they speak SPANISH and had abnormally warm weather of about 60 degrees. We were also happy to be saving some money since we were staying with Elena's, sister-in-law's best friend, who lives in Madrid with her husband. Neither of us had ever met her so we were a little nervous about how it would be, but I have to say that Belen and her husband were some of the kindest and most gracious hosts ever. They fed us, gave us suggestions of what to do, and even printed out google maps showing us how to get from metro stops to major attractions.

Plaza Mayor

Madrid was absolutely amazing, and I totally wish I could have had some more time there. It was also really cool to be in the city that my best friend, Sarah, lived in for 6 weeks this summer. She gave us the name of this amazing churros place that's open until 7 AM, so everyone goes there after partying. Naturally, Elena and I had to experience this tradition for ourselves. Let's just say, it's probably a good thing that Coruña's churro spot doesn't do that. It was also interesting being in Madrid because there were so many Americans! We met some guys from Vassar, and it was cool to talk to them and their experiences. Clearly we're a little biased, but Elena and I both think that it's much better that we're in a smaller city like Coruña. We are basically THE Americans in the city, and it's nice to feel like you're part of a community instead of in a constantly moving, changing, and touristy city.

That being said, after being away for over a week, we were both VERY happy to be getting back to Coruña, our families, home-cooked meals, and our houses. Arinelli is leaving for the U.S tomorrow, Elena- Friday, and I'll be back in WeHa in 1 week! It's a strange feeling that we're all experiencing right now. We're definitely excited to be going home, but it's going to be a bit surreal to be back in America. At the same time we all agree that we'd be perfectly happy had we decided to stay in Coruña. Things are good, things feel normal, comfortable and right. Hopefully that feeling won't seize after being away from it! Here are a couple Christmas themed photo-shout outs!

Fashionable glasses Mom

Papa and I

Merry Christmas From Coruña

Speak Little French

Elena, James, and I left Friday afternoon for our whirlwind trip to Paris, Strasbourg, and Madrid. Per usual, things did not go smoothly, but everything worked out. So the travel plans were to take a plane from Coruña to Madrid, and then an overnight train from Madrid to Paris. We gave ourselves a 2 hour layover between getting to Madrid and the train leaving, thinking that would be plenty. We didn't expect a 30 minute delaying, and actually leaving the airport 1 hour late. We also forgot that for the first time we were checking a bag, so we had to wait for the baggage to come in Madrid, which is a huge airport. Needless to say there was some airport running, and a hectic taxi ride. Thankfully we got onto the train though, and 5 minutes later, we were off!

 The overnight train was pretty cool. Elena and I had our own room with bunkbeds, and a sink. I have to say thought I would not recommend it to people who are claustrophobic or get motion sick. The room was verrry small, and it felt like we were sleeping in a washing machine. I think I got about 1 hour (tops) of sleep that night. Funny story: Elena and I learned that your room key can open more than just your room, when we busted into this random man´s room. But the next morning we were in Paris and I got to see Claire and Elizabeth! It was really fun to walk around, and we went to a few museums. It was absolutely freezing but still fun. Later that night we went to the Eiffel Tower which was really cool. There were all these vendor people selling mini Eiffel towers for five for 1 euro. They seemed a little unnecessary but definitely a good deal if you´re into that sort of thing!

I think they liked stained glass

The next morning Elena, James, and I woke up, and got going a little later than Claire and Elizabeth. This was partially due to the necessary trip to Starbucks that we now take in every available city. Let me reiterate: Toffee Nut Latte...oh how I love you. After getting breakfast and caffeine we headed to a church called Sainte-Chappelle. There was about a 45 minute wait to get in, but it was absolutely gorgeous. I think the combination of caffeine, cold weather, and a relatively early-morning wake up call made us a little crazy though. Elena, James, and I ended up making some weird jokes about cankles and discussing English linguistics. Normal?
After Sainte-Chappelle we headed over to Notre-Dame. Again, the line was really long so we just decided to look at it from the outside in hopes of catching up with Claire and Elizabeth. The cathedral is huge and the architecture really is stunning. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to Paris and see the inside of it! From there we headed over to the military museum and tomb of Napoleon. I gotta say, Napoleon really outdid himself with his tomb. It is humongous! After checking out the inside, the next step was naturally to take some jumping pictures outside.

 

 

 

We started a trend too

The next day was mostly spent packing up all of our stuff, since we were heading off to Strasbourg. We needed to check out of the hotel at 11:45 which meant lugging all of our stuff around Paris. It was at that moment that we formed The Clan. The Clan consisted of naming every piece of luggage, usually by their brand name. So, we had: Lucas, Lucas Jr, Misako, Big Red, and Borealis. Quite a crowd, and yes we referred to them by name in public. Lucas was the standout star...as you'll see later in the post.

We got to Strasbourg that night, where I was staying with Claire and Elena was staying with Veronica. For dinner we were invited over to Veronica's house to celebrate her birthday with all of the Strasbourg girls and her host family. It was a crepe party which was really fun, since they had these griddle things, that had 6 mini crepe spots on them. So Veronica's host parents continuously kept pouring batter onto the griddles and showed us how to flip them, and put on delicious toppings like cheese, ham, smoked salmon, and even eggs for the brave. Of course after the Crepes Saladas ("salty" crepes) we had Crepes Dulces (sweet crepes) where we smeared nuttella, marmelades, and the occasional simple cinnamon and sugar over them. So. Good.

The next morning the Strasbourg girls had to go to class so Elena and I were on our own. Poor Elena brought Lucas Jr (her huge backpack) along with her laptop in it, thinking that we were going to find an internet café, but I was in a rush and completely forgot about that plan. It was cold and rainy out, and Elena had to carry Lucas around with her which was kind of a pain. We also realized that not too many people speak English in Strasbourg when we went to this delicious chain café named Paul. The place was packed, and everyone just went in a line kind of shouting out what they wanted. Needless to say there was a lot of murdering of the french language, frustrated workers, and general chaos and confusion. Thankfully we made it through the line and got our chicken sandwiches, sodas, and pastries!

When Claire got out of class we went back to her house. Elena and I quickly fell into quite a slumber, we blame the siesta-withdrawal. Unfortunately, Elena couldn't go back to Veronica's house so Lucas came out to dinner with us! After dinner the Strasbourg girls had a planned trip to the circus, so we were once again on our own. This is when the misery began. We couldn't find anywhere to just sit and get a coffee/dessert indoors. Although there is a wonderful Christmas market in Strasbourg with crepes, and waffles with delicious topics, it was freezing, and pouring, so we really didn't even consider that an option. So we finally found a place that was open. Little did we know that a cappuccino and cheesecake would cost us 9 euros each. Let me also add that it was the most disgusting cappuccino EVER, and we later learned that cheesecake in France is nothing like the cheesecake we're used to. I'm pretty sure no sugar or sweetener was used. At that point we were pretty much miserable. We had spent a lot of money that night, in addition to a lot in Paris. Let me just say that we looked at the prices of getting a hotel room for a night. We decided instead to go to bar and drink. Of course we had Lucas with us too. Lucas, a couple beers, and intense game of the card game war. Does it get any better?
Well this is pretty long already, so I think I'll save the rest of the trip, which is basically just our weekend in Madrid for my next post. On this note, I have a few shout-outs to make. I know I said that I would only be doing 1 post at a time, but I can't choose, so this week there are 3. Why did I choose 3? Well that's because I received 3 cards today! So my shout outs go to:
1. Kelly Garvey: Thank you so much for the Halloween card, I found it to be rather amusing given that it finally arrived about a month and a half later!
2. The Rossi family: Alec and Matt you guys look amazing on your card! I think my host sisters may have some crushes...
3. Aunt Maureen, Uncle Lenny, Danny, Andrew, and Jackie: Another stunning Christmas card and I can't wait to see you guys at Christmas!

Shout-outs

So I've decided that I'm going to try and do a "shout-out" on every post. Of course I can't do all the work people, you gotta earn these shout-outs! Some hints include: posting comments at the end of blog posts, sending emails to kc415@comcast.net, care packages/cards, and of course flattery is always nice. Oh and don't let me forget that Christmas is right around the corner?
Anyways, we're going to pretend that I'm putting this at the end of my Thanksgiving post. So obviously a lot of people could receive this shout out, but due to a direct request via my mother, this shout-out goes to Uncle Michael and the entire McCann family! I truly missed Thanksgiving morning with you guys this year! A brisk run around the lake, monkey bread, mimosas? Does it get any better. I also missed watching the Macy's day parade, 10 minutes of the Eukanuba dog show, and the inevitable changing of channels to football. My memories of Thanksgiving morning always include playing hide and go seek with Grace and Maya, but I realize that we're probably a bit beyond that stage by now. I hope you had a wonderful day, and I can't wait to see you, whenever that may be!

Just as a bonus, let's consider this to be a photo shout-out. Doesn't your family whip out the caution tape every Thanksgiving? We're a normal bunch for sure.