A week with one of my favorite people! Jessye

Monday we slept in pretty late. We woke up just in time for lunch. For lunch we went by a little bakery and picked out a few things and then headed over to Parc de la Cuitedella to eat our lunch in the park. It was fun and relaxing. Near the park there is the Barcelona Arc de Triomph which is really pretty, so we went by there and then also by this cool fountain in the park, although is is under construction. I had class at three so we started heading back to the dorm. On the way, we stopped in a few boutique stores. It is so nice because normally when I am in Barcelona I have to be working on school work, but since Jessye is here, I have an excuse to tour around the city...and eat out and go shopping! I bought a pair of leggings that are really warm and I like them a lot. Then while I was in class, Jessye just did her own thing...which included a little siesta and i was jealous! After I was done with class, we sat in my room for a little bit and caught up on each other's afternoons, and then headed out for dinner. The only problem is that I dont really eat out that much here because it is hard for me to find good food so I don't really ever know where to take her for dinner...and she is so picky...she only eats chicken, which they dont make much in spain, and pasta. For dinner, we just hopped on a random subway, got off at a random stop and walked around looking for something to eat. Awful idea, it was a disaster. We walked and walked and walked and only passed like two restaurants in total, and nothing that looked good at all. Finally, we had to just settle for the next place we saw because i was weak and shaking because of how hungry i was. It happened to be this really sketchy looking place with only one other couple in there eating. The first thing we ordered, they came back five minutes later and said they didn't have anymore, and it was something easy like ravioli, so we had to order again. It was quite an interesting adventure, and not something I will be doing again. Tuesday, we got up a bit earlier, around 9 so we could go get some stuff done before I had to go to class. Today we went up to Passeig de Gracia to look at some of the Antoni Gaudi stuff. lunch, and also heading back towards the shopping district of town. We stopped at a place called We toured Casa Batllo with little information head set things. It was a really cool building inside because his work is just so different. There was not one right angle in the whole building either! There is a part where it is supposed to remind you of the ocean and its cool because you do feel like that. From there, we walked a couple of blocks down so Jessye could see casa Mila, also done by Gaudi. Then we walked down Rambla Catalunya looking for somewhere to stop and eat el Roco which was an italian/mediterranean food place. We got there at like 12:45 and the kitchen wasnt open yet so we just ordered sodas and waited. We sat outside on the patio which was really nice. We ordered a pizza and spinach risotto and split it, and man was it good. It was my first time to have risotto and its a very filling dish, and good, i need to learn how to make it! After lunch we went shopping for just a little while before i had to go to class. While I was in class jessye went shopping some more and walked around town, which i would have rather been doing for sure. Our professor hated everthing we had done over the weekend, like always, so we basically were just wasting all our time working for nothing which is so frustrating. After class, Jess and I talked for a while and then headed off to dinner. We decided to go to this place called Cheese Me that looked pretty good, and on our way there, we ran into one of the guys on my trip so i just said hey in passing. Before i knew it, he was back at our side asking where we were going. We told him and convinced him to come with us. At dinner we ordered this rose wine from Portugal that was different but good and came in a crazy looking bottle. Dinner was very good and afterwards, we walked across the street for our daily gelato. The place we went to was the best gelato i have had in europe thus far. man it was so good. After dinner, we went back and chilled in the room before going to bed. Wednesday I had a final project and presentation due so I could not take any chances in being late for class. Because of this, we decided to just due things around where I live that had no time requirements like going to the boqueria (market) going shopping and eating lunch. It was really fun to go to the market because we just walked around and looked at everything and took pictures of it. We also, each got some fruit to snack on that was so good like always. When we were done at the market, we walked over to the born district to do a little bit of shopping at some cute stores we had seen earlier in the week. I bought two pair of really cute flats and jessye bought a purse for her sister, but other than that, we didnt find much. We ended up eating lunch in that district at this really good italian food place. we started the meal with a cheese platter and white wine. I felt so high class :). The cheese was really good, but by the time we finished the cheese, i was full, and still had my main course coming. The main course was egg noodles with spinach and blue cheese and it was to die for. After lunch I hurried off to class to do my presentation. Bhavika and I were in a group together and we ended up being first to present. It was good because we got to just get it over with and then I left class so me and jess could hang out more, and i didnt have to listen to all the other presentations. During class, Jessye had gone to the Barcelona cathedral and the Picasso Museum. She went to the cathedral, which is huge and beautiful, but she went in the wrong part, like to some side wing or something lame, and didn't even see the church but she took all these pictures because i had told her how awesome it was. It was really funny and I made fun of her for a while for that one. We sat in my room and ate bread with cheese that jessye got at the market and drank wine and talked. It was fun to just relax for a while. For dinner we went and had tapas and of course gelato at the best place ever! Thursday morning we went to Sagrada Familia which is possibly the most famous thing in Barcelona. It is a church done by Gaudi, that is still not finished. I hadnt been yet so today was both of our first times to go. I loved it and thought it was stunning because it is such a piece of art work and so different and crazy. I dont think Jessye really liked it that much, but I guess some things only architecture students really appreciate, I dont know. Today was my long day of class so I didnt get out until around 8 and then we went and had dinner with a group of people. We had mediterranean food that was pretty good, but considering that it was Thanksgiving, it was hard to really enjoy the food knowing all of you were eating a wonderful feast. We were planning on having a thanksgiving meal, but we had class all day so we moved ours to friday for dinner. Later that evening, four friends of our from a&m who were studying in Italy came to visit us for the weekend, so we met them up and all went out to a club called Sutton Club. We took taxis because the metros were closed when we went and our cab driver didnt know where the club was so we ended up having to walk Espanol that I had never been to. It is this place in Barcelona where they have recreated a small town sort of thing bringing in different styles from all over spain in the design of the buildings and also there are a lot of places to eat and shop and stuff. I thought it sounded cool, so we went. It definitely sounded much cooler than it actually was, but it was still fun. We ate lunch there and just had pizza at this little restaurant. We both had diet cokes and we had to drink our cokes out of wine glasses which was a little humorous so we took pictures! After lunch we went walking around and shopping. The shops have all kinds of random stuff and I didnt end up buying anything, but Jessye bought another purse for her other sister that was really cute. One thing that was really cool was that there were orange trees everywhere with oranges on them. After we were done there, we headed back to my room and started making the mac n cheese. Problem with that was none of us really know how to cook that well, and here in spain, they dont just have velveeta cheese to melt, so we had to try and come up with some way to make the cheese. Anthony came over and helped us, and put cream, milk and we tore up sandwhich cheese and put it on the stove. It took forever to melt and it tasted pretty bad and bland, but it was time to go so we couldnt do anything. We had made three pots of it which was SO much, but it was forever trying to find this place. We asked all these random people how to get there and they just kept sending us in cirlces, it was ridiculous. But, on the ride over there, i was having a conversation with the cab driver all in spanish and it was really fun! i was proud of myself! The club was so much fun but me and jess ended up going home earlier than everyone else, at 5 am, because we were getting tired. Friday was the day i had been waiting for because it was the day we planned to celebrate thanksgiving. we broke it us potluck style, and everybody had a certain dish they were responsible for bringing. one of the girls parents was in town so they cooked the turkey, and stuffing, and two pumpkin pies. Me and Bhavika and Jessye were in charge of the Mac n Cheese. Dinner was at eight, so we had the whole day to do whatever and then had to get back around 5 to start cooking and getting ready! So for the day, Jessye and I went to this place called Poble funny. We had dinner up at studio because it was the only place we could all fit, and some people had to cook there because there is a kitchen with an oven, and we only have stoves. Anyway, so we had to carry our pots with us to studio and all our plates and stuff down the street so of course everybody is looking at us so incredibly weird, and some random guys were like hey whats is there, we're hungry, just being stupid. I was glad when we got there because it was such an awkward walk. I can't even describe how amazing Thanksgiving was. It was hard for me because it was the first time I was away from home for Thanksgiving and not getting to get together with all the family and have a huge feast, but it felt as much like a real thanksgiving as possible without family. There were so many people there and SO much food. There was not a single traditional dish that we didnt have either. We had the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese, bread, and pumpkin pie. And we had more, just not so traditional dishes. Those were fried rice with chicken, potato soup, chicken and dumplings and corn. Then one of our professors, the one from the states, also joined us and she brought an apple crumble that was amazing! It was such a good meal, and fun to all sit around the table and eat too much! After the meal, we all went back and hung out for a while before we went out to a club. The club was a lot of fun, but super crowded. At one point, they dropped confetti on everyone! By the time we left it was 6am so a small group of us decided to ride the metro to the beach, and sit on the beach and watch the sunrise. It was freesing, and the sunrise was less than par because it was so cloudy, but it was fun anyway. I liked it because it was so relaxing, and something that we were told to do before we left Barcelona. It was actually kind of funny becuase we thought the sun rose around 7, but it really came up around 8 so we sat there for quite a while freezing our butts off waiting. Obviously, we slept in kinda late, until about 12, but we had to go out and enjoy the city some today because it was jessye's last day in Barcelona. We went to the famous Park Guell for the afternoon, and i was thinking she would like it a lot, but i think she was kind of bored with it, so we just did a quick walk through and left. I had planned on that taking a little longer so I was at a loss of what to do for the rest of the day. We ended up getting gelato at our favorite place we ate at everyday she was here, even though it is a little out of the way, and then did some last minute souvenir shopping. For dinner we went back to a place we had had for lunch earlier in the week just to make sure jess's last meal here was good, and we even ordered the same thing we had gotten before because it was so good. We ended up not finishing dinner until around 11 and then we met up with everyone else and went to a bar. We didnt stay out too late because we were exhausted from the night before still and jessye had to leave at 7 in the morning to catch her flight home. It was a really fun week and it was really sad to send her home. It was so nice having someone from home to talk to and spend time with!

Jessye is HERE! November 18th

Sunday I had to get up at 5:30 and walk to get the bus to the airport to pick up Jessye! It was a very unpleasant, scary walk, but I made it, and it was totally worth it to be at the airport when Jess arrived! I was so excited to see her face and hug her! It was really funny because with the amount of luggage that girl has it looked like she was coming for 2 months! We took the bus back into town and then the metro to my dorm. In the metro there were all these stairs so here we go clunking all this luggage down every step...haha, we aren't tourists at all! When we got to my dorm we just dropped her stuff off and went across the street to get some money. We had some difficulties and had to come back and call the bank and all that fun stuff, but it all worked out, so no worries. Although, understandably, she was freaking out. After at this, it was still only at 8:30 in the morning, but we were too excited to sleep so i took her on a little tour of the area I live in. It was hard because it was a Sunday morning, and here everything is closed on Sundays and it is dead because people stay out until 7am Saturday night and sleep all day Sunday. But we started out by going to the statue of Columbus and seeing that and then continued down to the beach. We rolled up our jeans and put our feet in the water which was absolutely freezing, but she had to touch the Mediterranean! Then we stoped at this little cafe on the beach and had coffee and a pastry. It was really good pastries and I really want to go back! We started out sitting outside, but it was cold and windy so we went back inside to sit. But there were no tables, so we just stood there for this second, and then this older couple motioned that we could just sit with them because they were fixing to leave anyway. It was really sweet of them. When we were done, it was about 10 till 11 and I wanted to show Jessye the old gothic quarter but the cool things are the cathedrals which of course would be in mass. We decided to go anyway and maybe sit in on a mass in one of these old churches. We got to one, Santa Maria del Mar, and took pictures of the outside and then went in to mass about 15 minutes late. We sat in the very back because we were late, and there were other tourists back there too. The whole thing was obviously in Spanish so we couldn't understand anything, but the church was beautiful and Jessye is sitting there in church taking pictures. It was really funny. About 11:35, we quietly got up and left. From there, we walked around the old Roman areas of the city and then down part of La Rambla. There were tons of people on La Rambla for some reason and all the street performers were out. Also, we saw the animal vendors on the street who have all these birds and chickens, and also rabbits and such. Today they had bright yellow baby duckies. Oh my lord they were SO cute, but i felt kinda bad for them. By then we had been walking around for over 4 hours and Jessye was getting a blister so we went back to the room for a little break. We were both really tired from the lack of sleep, but we wanted to wait until after lunch for a nap. During our little break, Jessye was going to blow up her air mattress so she pulls out the pump, and it didn't have any batteries. how sad. so then of course we had to go out and try and find some D batteries, and then go to lunch. The batteries actually weren't hard to find luckily, the hard thing was picking a restaurant that looked good...because you just never know what will be good here. We settled on this place that looked reasonably priced and had pasta as well as the regular food dishes. We got white wine with our meal and we both ordered pesto ravioli. It was a very good meal...when they brought it out i was like there is no way that is going to fill me up because it was such a small portion, but surprisingly, i was full when i was done. Not miserably full like I am at American restaurants, but content. Then we walked across the street and got some gelato, but it was nasty. It was weird because it was like flavored ice almost. Then we went back to the room to blow up the air mattress and take our siesta. We slept for 3 hours and it was so nice! Again it was really hard to come up with something to do for the evening because unless its the weekend, there isn't really anything to do. We ended up just going to get dinner. Dinner was good and we shared a bottle of rose wine that was very good. Then we went back to the room and then to a bar very close by for an hour or so before bed.

School is overtaking my life :( week after paris...12-15

When we finally got back to Barcelona on Monday, 3 hours after expected, and after class was already half over, I went directly back to the dorm, unpacked my suitcase and went to buy groceries. I took the empty suitcase with me because when you go grocery shopping you have to walk 10-15 minutes to get to the store, and then carry back everything that you buy. This means that you can't buy very much because one, it gets really heavy really fast, and two the bags start to break about half way home. No good. Solution: take a small suitcase and load it up with groceries to roll home! I mean, I feel kinda silly rolling an empty suitcase down the street and then rolling home a suitcase full of food, but you do what you gotta do! It was really nice to go grocery shopping because I haven't had groceries in so long considering we have been gone every weekend, and I didn't want my food to spoil. It was a good little shopping trip and when I got back to the room everyone else was back from class. We had our big review Thursday before the Paris trip but as I probably already mentioned one of the reviewers wasn't there so we were supposed to take the comments we got Thursday and fix some of them and then represent on Tuesday. Such a hassel. So all night Monday was devoted to working on our projects. The review Tuesday went surprisingly well once again. The other guy liked our project and actually said some things that contradicted what our professor said on Thursday. Tuesday night was devoted to worked on our 15 page paper due for one of our seminar classes every Wednesday. The class finishes earlier than all the rest of the so we only have two more classes, and the last one our paper is due. Also, since Jessye is coming to visit me for a week, we are trying to get our paper done a week early so I don't have to work the whole time she is here. We worked all evening on that and got a good chunk of it done. When we talked to our professor about it on Wednesday she really liked it and said we are doing good. Wednesday night once again was to work on our studio project. Thursday we were in class all day. It was our last day of spanish class so we had a test, but it doesnt count for anything. Then we had studio and our professor made us all feel very overwhelmed with the amount of work we have to do in three weeks. Its crazy. After class was over at 8 we went back to Resa. I have a lot to do before Jessye gets here so i was doing laundry and all that fun stuff and typing on my blog. And talking to mom because we hadn't talked in 3 weeks. Everyone went out to some club and I was supposed to go but i really wasn't feeling like it so i just decided to stay in the room and relax by myself. It was really nice! Friday I spent the whole day in studio. Literally the whole day. And once again, saturday i spent the whole day in studio. it was awful. in the evening, i cleaned the room some and finished last minute things for jessye's arrival, and then went to bed.

Paris Sunday(3)- Versailles, Moulin Rouge, Nutella Crepe

Our third day in Paris, a small group of us went to Versailles. In case you don't know, Versailles used to be a palace, built by Louis XIV. It is also the Palace the Marie Antoinette lived at, and it a huge tourist attraction now. We were told that in order to not have to stand in a line to get in, you need to get there right when it opens at nine, so we woke up early planning to leave by 8, since it is about an hour outside of the city. To get there from Paris, you have to buy a special ticket and then ride the metro and a train. First of all, the train system is very very confusing so it took us a while to figure that out, and also, the connection of the metro to the train is actually like a 30 minute hike across town...at least the way we were told to go. So we finally get on a train and realize that we are actually on the wrong train, so we get off and try asking for help. The guy working hands us this flier that says that saturday and sunday of this week only, the normal train to versailles is not working. We were so pissed becuase all of this could have been prevented if the guy we bought our tickets from would have just told us. So, basically we had to go back to where we started and by this time it was already 10, meaning, we had spent 2 hours and ended up in exactly the same place we started. It was really frustrating, but finally at least we knew we were in the right place. We got on the train and rode to Versailles and then had to walk another 15 minutes just to get to the Palace. The front is cool, but a lot of it was under construction, and the back and the gardens is what it is really known for. We were all worried when we got there that we were going to have to wait in line forever for a ticket, but it turned out that there was practically no line at all. We started with the gardens in the back. They are huge and on an axial plan framing views of fountains, a lake and so on. It was pretty, but not what I was expecting because they had a lot of it turned off or covered. I am sure it is absolutely beautiful in the summer when the peak of the tourists go visit it and they have everything running though. All the fountains were turned off, there were no flowers and most of the statues were covered. The fountains were still pretty and very intricate, but it would have been much better if they were on. We walked around the garden taking pictures for a while and joking around about how much cooler it could have been, and then we went inside to tour the actual palace. It was cool inside because everything is just so intricate. There are these huge paintings covering the entire ceiling, and furniture made out of silver and gold. Also, this is where the hall of mirrors is. It is this huge hall with one wall made of windows opening to the gardens and the other wall solid mirrors. It is so pretty in there. The king and queens chambers were really cool too with the royal beds and stuff like that. When we were leaving, we looked at the line and it was really long, so we were glad we made it when we did. Also, it was starting to rain, so on our walk back to the train station we got kinda wet. We stopped along the way at just a little bakery and picked up some lunch because it was about that time. I got some quiche lorraine and an apple tart, and then we took our lunch and ate it while we were on the train. It was really nice because the train was a non stop train so instead of the 45 minutes it took us to get there, it was only about 15 minutes. The quiche was the best quiche i've ever had, and I am sad to say that La Madeline just doesn't compare. When we got back into Paris, we met one of the other girls, Maoi, at the Arc de Triumphe to climb it and see the city. Getting there we had a bit of a mix up becuase we had to ride the subway and we didnt know which stop we were supposed to get off at. Using our context clues and well educated brains, we knew the name of the famous shopping street it is at the end of, and the other stops around that street said nothing about the arc de triumphe so we decided that was our best bet. Nope. wrong. We came up out of the metro at the other end of the street. And, the street doesnt look that long and you can see the arc at the end so we just decided to walk. Well, becuase of the one point perspective created by the road with the arc at the end, it looks a lot closer than it actually is. It ended up being about a 25 minute walk at a pretty good pace. We got there and took pictures and then took the underground tunnel to cross over to the arc itself (if you dont know, its in the middle of a busy roundabout). It was a public holiday in Paris that day, so there was a HUGE french flag hanging down from the center of the arc that made the pictures that much better because the flag is not normally there. To get to the top of the arc you have to climb stairs, how fun! It actually wasn't that bad compared to some other towers we have climbed to see views of cities, but it still got the heart pumping plenty. When we got to the top, it started drizzling and raining some. The views weren't as cool because of the rain, but it was still awesome and here's why. first of all because the way that the city of paris is designed, six main avenues fan out from the arc, so from the top you see them all and it looks cool, second of all, the eiffel tower is huge and in the pictures which is why its better to go up the arc than the tower, and then last and best, since it rained, while we were up there a rainbow came out over the city and we could see both ends! it was so amazing! From here, we took a metro to go to Montmarte, which is just like a hill or small mountain in Paris where there is a famous church, Sac Le Cour, and also it is famous for a little "square" area where a lot of the artists go and paint and sell artwork. When we got out of the subway, it was pouring. I mean absolutely pouring. There were all these people just standing at the exit of the subway so that they wouldnt have to get drenched. At first, we got a little sidetracked and forgot about the rain because the metro had an entrance that we studied in classes because of its design, done by hector guimard. the whole trip we had been wondering where it was in the city but didnt know how to find that out, and we just happened upon it, so it was really random. The other cool thing was that because of his design, you could walk further becuase it doubled as protection from the rain. the entrance to the subway was really crowded so, we ran to a church across the street to take cover from the rain and figure out what to do. We stood there for a while and then headed out to find Sac Le Cour. It was still raining, but it had let up some. Regardless, we got really wet. When we got to where we could see the church, we opted to take the furnicular up the hill because it was so steep. Before we got on, Anthony had to pee so we had to wait for him, and while we were waiting, several black guys came up to us and were like, hey let me tie this on your wrist, holding some string. I was like no, and tried to ignore them, because they tie it on and then expect you to pay them for it, but they would leave us alone and at one point the guy grabbed my arm and was like dont be mean, blah blah blah, and i was like dont touch me and yanked my arm from him. After that, we went to the top of the hill and took pictures of the outside of the church, but weren't allowed to take pictures of the inside. I tried looking for a postcard of the inside because i liked it because it is so different from other churches, but they didnt have any postcards. When we were done there, we attempted to go souvenir shopping, but we could only find one store, and also, since it was raining, none of the artists were there. i was pissed because thats the main reason i wanted to go there, but oh well, nothing you can do. Moulin Rouge is also on Montmarte so that was our next stop. Problem was we had no idea where it was or how to get there. We asked this lady how to get there and we did what she said, but it didn't lead us there, so we wandered for a while. Then Maio asked this chinese lady and finally got us there. It took forever because we had walked all over everwhere looking for this place. When we got there, it was cool, but kind of a let down. I took pictures of the windmill though. We walked down the street more looking for a place to eat with both onion soup and reasonable prices. Kinda hard to find. We ended up finding this place, and i ordered the french onion soup since we were in france! when we got the check, we thought they had done it wrong because what they do is put all the prices and stuff and then put the service charge. The tricky thing is the service charge is already added into the meals, not something extra we had to pay, but thats how it appears, so we ended up paying like 15 euros too much, but we decided to make that guys night and leave a huge tip because it was just easier than trying to go back and make change for everybody to have two more euros. After dinner we went back over to a place close to Notre Dame where we had seen some souvenir shops since we couldnt find any on MontMarte. Turns out it was so late that only two of them were open, but at least we got to look in two. I got a few things and then we headed back to the hostel. We got one last crepe, and this one i had nutella in. For any of you chocolate lovers, its heaven! It kinda made my stomach hurt because it was so much chocolate, but so worth it at the same time. Back at the hostel we just chilled in our room and stayed up kinda late talking about random stuff and laughing together. It was hilarious because we were talking about the differences in girls and guys using the restroom and about girls "airdrying" and "hovering" and so on. Our flight out was supposed to leave at like noon or something like that, and it was delayed. So far on our trips we have been super lucky and had no delayed flights, but not this time. It kept getting bumped back farther and farther and we ended up not leaving until like two something. This isnt a big problem except that we have class at 3 on mondays. Our flight was supposed to get back by around 2 and we ended up getting back around 5.

Paris Saturday (2)-picnic at the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and escargot at a parisian flat

Today we split up into two groups because some of us wanted to do different things. Everybody except for Anthony and I wanted to go to a little town on the outside of the city and tour this famous house that we study in architecture called Villa Savoye designed by Le Corbusier. I mean, its a cool house, but definitely something I wanted to be wasting half a day on when there is so much more you can see in half a day staying in Paris. So, anthony and I woke up a little later than everybody else and skipped out on/woke up too late for the hostel breakfast. Instead, we just got ready and then headed back over to the St. Michel Place to eat crepes for breakfast! We got them from some little street vendor and walked around a little because it was cheaper and faster than sitting down at a cafe. They were really good though. It was my first crepe experience! The batter was my favorite part because it was like a sweet pancake except for it was really light and thin....so good. We both got ham and cheese in ours, and they put way too much cheese, but it was still good. When we finished those, we walked into a little coffee shop to get a drink before we started the day. I learned that in Paris "coffee with milk" is called cafe creme, where as i am so used to it in Spain being cafe con leche. Its funny because thats all i drink here and in the states i dont even know what thats called...i dont think you just order coffee with milk do you? Anyway, then we headed over to a church called St. Chapelle to check that out. The church is inside the "courtyard" of the government building I was talking about on my last post, so to get into just the courtyard you have to go through all this security and stuff. Then you get in and you have to pay...which is normal except it says free for architecture students. Hey, that's me, but I have no way to prove it. All of our IDs are just student IDs and don't say what you are studying....so we had to pay 4.50. Oh, well, would have been nice. Inside the church is really cool, but very very small. The cool thing about it is that basically the walls are made out of stain glass. Normally, there are big pieces of stained glass, but this church it was like a column and then the glass, and then again, with no stone walls or anything. And all the stained glass was so intricate and different from each other. After that we went to the Luxemburg gardens and Palace. It was really pretty although I am sure it is prettier in the summer when the trees are green. That was the weird thing...in Prague all the trees had yellow and orange leaves, in Paris, they had all already lost their leaves. The palace wasn't anything all that spectacular, but still pretty. It was funny though because there was a guard outside, but he was standing in an intense looking glass case. And he was real. Strange? From there, we headed to another church called St. German or something like that, and it was quite a let down. It wasn't pretty at all and it was really run down. We kept walking and walking and walking, making our way to the base of the Eiffel Tower. Along the way we saw this gorgeous looking church that wasn't on our map, so we went in. I have no clue why it was not marked like all the other churches because it was so pretty and it was huge too. By this point i had to pee really really bad, and we couldn't find anywhere to go. Finally we passed by this little cafe so we went in and I ordered some espresso just so i could use the bathroom...because of course you can't just use the bathroom. I got locked in and couldn't get the door to open for anything. It was awful and I was trying to figure outI what I should do, and then it just popped open...luckily. The coffee was awful too, but hey, i got to pee! We continued on our way to the Eiffel tower and by the time we were getting close it was lunch time...perfect to have a picnic next to the tower! So we each stopped at different places and got food for our picnic. Anthony got chinese food...sick...and I stopped at a little bakery and got a ham and cheese croissant and a sugar crepe. We found a bench next to the lawn behind the Eiffel Tower and sat there and had our lunch. When we were finished we took turns taking pictures of each other in front of the Eiffel Tower...being normal and then goofy. We also took a lot of "artsy pics" and compared them. Mine were much better :) it turned into this big joke of who could take the best one, but sarcastically so we would take a ridiculously bad picture and be like, oh my gosh, look at this one, how artsy is that. We kept moving closer and closer to the base of the tower taking pictures all along the way. When we were pretty close, both of us held out our own cameras and took pictures of ourselves with the tower...being goofy, so its like a photo shoot of me and the tower, pointing, with my thumb up, etc. The base of the Eiffel tower is really cool. It is so much more amazing from the base than from all the other points of the city in my opinion because first you can see the details and also, you understand the scale of this thing. huge. I am so glad I didn't go with the other group because they didn't ever go see the Eiffel tower up close and it is so cool. When we were done we were supposed to meet the other group to go to Notre Dame. It just so happened that the metro stop closest to where we were was under construction so they had a temporary one but it was 600 meters away...a long way. It was like going on a hike just to get on a metro. When we finally got to the meeting spot we caught up on each others days while we were walking to Notre Dame, and the people who went said that it was kind of a disappointment. Notre Dame was really cool, but in my opinion it was cooler on the outside than the inside. The outside has a huge rosette window with two towers on either side and then underneath all this all the way across the entire front of the facade are these statues of people one after the other. Also, flying buttresses surround the outside. Its just amazing the amount of detail there is in stone and everywhere on the building. The inside has double aisles and radiating chapels, and 3 huge rosette windows in the transept ends. Also, Notre Dame supposedly has the crown of thorns and a piece of the cross, but you have to pay to see it so we didn't. After we were done at Notre Dame we headed over to see the Pompidou Center which is a very very modern building done by Renzo Piano that we have studied in architecture classes some. It is a very industrial, crazy looking building with a clear tube attached to the outside with escalators going up it. All of the normal mechanics of a building that are hidden, on this building are exposed and painted bright colors like blues and reds. Then we walked over to this mall that is part underground that was close to us that was an architectural failure although I am not sure why. If it hadn't been so deserted and run down, I think it would have been a pretty cool place. Also, near that was another church so we went over there to look at it. They were having mass but we just peeked in without being distracting. The inside was really pretty because it had some cool vaulting pattern on the ceiling different than just normal vaulting. We had been invited to go eat at Edith's apartment for dinner and we were supposed to be there at a certain time and it was too early so we just sat around killing time, some people shopping, and some sitting in on church in french. I was really tired so i went to try and find some coffee. I found this little place that was like a bar/restaurant but i went in because i saw a coffee machine. Before I ordered I asked if I could take it to go, and the lady didn't speak very good english, but she was like yes, of course. So i ordered and she served it to me not in a to go glass. So i was like, can I get it to take out, and she was like no, here only. Well, crap. I needed to be back at the church asap and here I am with a cup of steaming hot coffee that i have to pay for so of course i am going to drink it. I just blew on it and started drinking. It took me about 10 minutes to finish and when i was done, my tounge was SO burned. It hurt so bad. I met back up with everyone and we got on the metro and rode it to the outskirts of the city where Edith lives. Her apartment is really cute but very small too. They have a dog named cookie who is a westie and VERY hyper. Edith made us dinner that was escargot, potatoes au gratin, and some meat and vegetable mixture thing. I was very nervous about the snails and really didn't even want to try them, but I did and they were surprisingly good, but very salty. The rest of the meal was very good too! After dinner we just sat around and talked for a couple of hours and then went back to the hostel and went to sleep because it was about midnight, and we had an early morning in front of us again...going to Versailles. The first picture is of the stained glass at st. chapelle, the second is of part of the luxembourg gardens, the third and forth are the eiffel tower, the fift and sixth are notre dame, and the seventh is the pompidou center and the last is me and a random statue.

Paris Friday (1)- no talking, free tour, cheeseburgers!

So I'm not sure what we were thinking booking our flight to take off at 6am and land in Paris at 7:55, but thats what we did. The cab sucked because we were driving down the street and there were still all these people out partying and stuff....it was actually kinda funny. When we got to the airport the cab driver was like that will be 38 euros. Usually it is about 30, so Rosie, who was in our cab and can speak spanish was like no, why. And he went into this big thing about thats just how the prices are and was being a jerk so we just payed him and left. But thats so ridiculous. We take cabs in the middle of the night every other weekend. The flight there I slept obviously and then we met one of Denise's friends at the airport. Denise is just a girl on our trip and she has a friend who lives in Paris who visited us in Barcelona, and she is so sweet. She helped us figure out how to get to the hostel and we left to go drop off our stuff. We had to ride a train from the airport and then get on a metro and then walk another 10 minutes so it was quite a trek. On the train we noticed that we were the only people in the whole car talking at all. We had been warned that the French people don't talk and man, its true. They are silent, and when they talk its in a whisper. Also, the train was going so painfully slow. At one point in the ride anthony was like, guys, i think i just saw a rabbit hop past us, obviously kidding but it was hilarious because it felt like that could happen any second. When we got to the hostel, we dropped off our stuff and looked at the pamphlets they had about Paris to figure out what we wanted to do on our first day. They had this flier about a free tour and it sounded cool because it would take us by all these places that we wanted to walk by and hear about but not necessarily go in to. The tour started at one thirty so we had some time to kill before it started so we just started walking in search of some coffee and a little something for lunch. We settled on this little cafe looking place and decided to just get a drink there and find somewhere else for actual food. Good decision because when the check came we found out that the tiny cappuccinos that we had were 4.50 each. We could not believe how expensive it was. For food we ended up just going right next door to a little backery/pastry place. In France they are every other door it seems like, but I love it because they have all this fresh bread, a million different types of pastries, tarts and desserts and it was really good but different than i was expecting. It had mushrooms and ham...aren't you proud of me, i branched out with the mushrooms...and it was like a big pie and you just got a pie piece and it was cold. I enjoyed it though. From there we walked over the the latin quarter of town where our tour started. It was a really long walk but it was cool because on the way we got to see a lot of the city. Paris is so beautiful to just walk around in. The buildings are all so old and gorgeous and also the way the streets are laid out is really cool. They are on this plan where the major streets come out from the Arc de Triumph in a radial pattern and they all end and frame a view of an important building in the city. So while you are walking down the streets, you will come to a cross street and if you look down it, there is a cool building being framed at the end. Along the way, we passed two streets that did this, and one of them was framing the Eiffel tower so of course we had to stop and take pictures! that all look delicious, and then also quiche and other little food items. I ended up getting quiche The meeting place for the tour was a place called St. Michel Place which was really cool. It was this big fountain in the middle of the streets with a statue in the middle. When the tour started, the first thing our guide told us about was the fountain and it actually has a really cool story. Th Paris and made it his western europe hub and operated from that building. On the outside there are all these indentions and holes in the stone from when the Parisians fought back and reclaimed the city four years later. We continued on our tour and walked past the Louvre, the church where Tony Parker and Eva got married, this courtyard with cool fountains that had these huge metal balls everywhere, and then we broke for lunch. After lunch we continued on the tour to the Louvre gardens, a plaza with a huge obelisk where Marie Antoinette and Henry the 16th got beheaded, the arc de triomphe, and finished by these two pretty, old buildings that are now museums. The tour was definitely worth it and good to get some history behind some of the things in Paris. After the tour, a group of us walked to a mall to get some gloves because it was so freezing outside. The walk to the mall was more like a hike because it was so far away, but ite statue is of the Angel Michel sending/taking Satan to hell, so it represents the battle between good and evil and good being victorious. Then we walked across the bridge and got a glimpse of Notre Dame, but didn't actually go to it. Also we stopped at this building that is currently some government building. Our guide told us that during Hitler's move across Europe, he captured was worth it because i bought gloves and tights to wear under my jeans and it made me much warmer. Then, we walked back over to the arc de triomphe to get a closer, better view of it. From there we rode the metro over to the Louvre because we found out on the tour that every Friday night after 6 if you are under 26 you get in for free. We definitely wanted to that because it is expensive to get it and also it is huge so it doesnt make sense to pay that much unless you are going to spend a lot time doing the whole museum and we just wanted to see a couple of things. So we went and saw the Mona Lisa and the Nike statue. It was really cool and it is one of those things you just have to do while in Paris. Also, the inside of the Louvre is just really pretty because it is an old palace. We went in one room that had all these jewels and diamonds and crowns from past royalty that was pretty neat to. After the Louvre we were planning on getting dinner because it was about 10 but we got nervous about loosing our spot at the hostel because we still hadn't checked in, so we just went back to check in and then eat around there afterwards. By the time we were done checking in, it was 11:20 and we weren't sure if anything would still be open. The guy at the front desk said there were a few things, including a pizza hut that would be open but only until 11:30. We rushed out to make it on time and when we got to pizza hut they were closed, along with every other place to get food. We ended up going to this little "grocery store" but more like a gas station selection without gas. All of us got frozen cheeseburgers and took them back to the hostel and microwaved them. It was funny because paris has amazing food and our first dinner we ate microwaved burgers that im pretty sure weren't even real meat, and we stole some ketchup out of the hostel refrigerator to make it taste decent. After dinner we went to our room which was nice because the four of us had our own room without any strangers. We had a sink and mirror in our room and then the there were two toilets down the hall and one shower across the hall all for a whole floor to share. I decided to take a shower first which was a bad idea. I got in the shower and pushed the knob (there were no handles for temperature) and it was ICE cold. I mean ICE. I jumped out because it was so cold and just stood there shivering. I just washed my hair by standing there and sticking my head in the water and eventually it got warm but it took forever. I warned everybody else so they didn't have such a traumatic experience. Then we all went to bed. the first pic is of the good vs. evil fountain, the second is of notre dame from kinda far away, the third is just a picture of the river going through a part of the city, the forth is of me at the Louvre of course this is only a portion because it is huge, and the last is of the obelisk where the guillotine used to be. The 6th pic is of Mona Lisa, and then is the Nike statue. next is just a random ceiling of a room in the Louvre and then the Louvre at night. Last is us girls with our amazing cheeseburgers!

week after prague... studio review 2 and no sleep

The week after Prague was insane and filled with only work on our studio projects. What really makes me mad about our class is that there are five groups and one of the groups the professor loves because he gave them their idea for the project, another group he likes because they are all grad students...and he doesn't like our group at all. So anything we come up with he hates and makes us start over while all the other groups are advancing farther and farther. The same thing happened on Tuesday. He trashed our project and said it looks like we are not working at all, even though we work harder than some other groups. Basically that meant we had two days to design a completely new project and come up with a presentation on it, plus have other classes to deal with. It was absolutely ridiculous. Needless to say, we didn't sleep. We came up with a project and were just hoping he would like it, but really feeling like he would absolutely hate it. In our opinions it was the worst one we had come up with because it was so rushed. On the day of the review, our other reviewer never showed up so only our professor was there to hear about it. We had to go first which was a good thing because i was so nervous I was fixing to throw up and I needed to just get it over with. Much to our surprise, he really liked it. I mean we still are behind most other groups, but finally we have a design he likes! After studio, I went back and went to sleep at 8:30 and then woke up at 3 to pack for Paris, and we left at 3:45 for the airport.

Prague Sunday (3)- ripped off, jewish community, mcdonalds

Our last day in Prague, we woke up around 9:30 because half of the group wanted to go to church. The other half of us just lied in bed while they got ready, and then when they left we started getting ready. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I didn’t want to go to church, but they are all devout Catholics and so I felt really out of place because I have no idea what to do at mass. So anyway, after we got ready the plan was to meet them in the Old Town Square where the church was after they got out. In the mean time, we were going to just go sit at a little café in the town square and have some coffee and a pastry and wait. Just before we got ready to leave, I decided to just go off by myself to another side of town we were at the day before, near the Prague Castle, to go by an art store we had been to the day before. So I went, and because of the “small” language barrier, I accidentally got off a stop too early so I had to wander through the streets and find my way around. It was actually really nice and fun except for the fact that I was in a bit of a time crunch. I ended up walking all the way to the art shop which is up this huge hill, and it was closed. So, I had to turn around and go meet them in the town square. I went to try and get on the tram to go there, but again the language barrier was a problem and I couldn’t figure out what tram to get on, so I had to walk, and it wasn’t close. I had about 5 minutes for a 25 minute walk. I started walking and I got to the beginning of Charles Bridge and I hear my name from somebody right next to me. I looked up and it was Anthony and the other three that were supposed to be in church. Talk about random. It was absolutely crazy. We stopped and talked and it turns out that church was not when they thought it was so they had coffee and were on their way to a different church for a later service. I still wanted more time in the area I was out so we made a meeting time and I went off shopping and exploring. I walked up these big hills looking for some artwork. I ended up finding some that I really liked and I paid, only to realize it actually ended up being really expensive for what it is. The exchange rate is so confusing in Czech. Then I walked back down and sat in a little café and got this really good apple strudel, which is a traditional Czech pastry. It was warm and had little chunks of apples and cinnamon and nuts and stuff. Mmm. I met up with the rest of the group and we set out to go to the Old Town square to meet the other three. It turned out they weren’t there, so after we waited a while we just headed over to the Jewish quarter because that was the plan for the day anyway. We all had this preconceived notion that it was dealing with World War II, but it turned out that it was pretty much just a museum with loads and loads of information about Jewish culture. I mean don’t get me wrong, it was interesting, but we just weren’t in the mood to spend all this time going through a cultural museum. Also, the museum complex was spread out between 10 or so city blocks, so you would go through one synagogue and then move to another one in a different area. There was one really pretty synagogue that we went to that was Moorish Architecture so it was extremely ornate and detailed with geometric patterns and designs everywhere. In this synagogue they actually did have some interesting information about the holocaust. Also, as part of the museum there was the old Jewish Cemetery dating back to at least the thirteen hundreds. The grave stones are in really bad shape and it looks like a very strewn about cemetery but it is just because it was so old. We happened to run into the rest of the group here, so we set a meeting time in front of the complex. We all met up then but half of us were hungry and the other half had already eaten so we split up again and decided to meet at the mall. Me, Anthony and Preston went to this little restaurant to eat and I got pizza because for some reason I had been craving it all day. It was huge so the two guys ate half my pizza. Then we met them up at the mall just to make a meeting time back at the hostel and then split up and go shopping. Most of the people stayed in the mall but Anthony and I went to look in some more of the street shops. In the Czech Republic they are known for their handmade toys and handmade wooden items, so we went in a toy store to check it out. It was so cool because the toys are mostly hand carved out of wood and they are such simple toy ideas but would keep me entertained for hours. Then we went in this other shop that was about being all from nature so they had anything you could imagine made of wood or other natural materials. They had kitchen utensils, toys, decorations…It was a store that anybody would love and buy something at so I wanted to buy people gifts from there but I had no idea what anybody would want so I just didn’t get anything. After the little shopping escapade we went back to the hostel and everyone else was already there. For an evening snack we all went to McDonalds and got cheeseburgers because they actually tasted like the ones at home and they had a “dollar menu” called something else, which Barcelona doesn’t have. In Barcelona McDonalds is really expensive. Then we went back to the hostel bar/restaurant and just hung out there for a while. The plan was to go out that night because we hadn’t been out at all in Prague, but everyone was all like I’m tired, my head hurts, blah, blah, blah. So Anthony, Bhavika and I went out by ourselves to this bar that was really close to the hostel. When we walked in I was in shock because it was so crazy and different. Inside is like this big maze of a building with hallways everywhere opening up into several small rooms. Also, it was dark inside illuminates with neon lighting everywhere. The ceiling was covered with old machine parts that moved and were also lit up. We sat in this “booth” that was old chair couches of some sort and just talked. This hilarious creepy stoned guy came and sat in the booth next to us and just stared at us with this huge grin on his face. Hilarious. I was crying I was laughing so hard because he wouldn’t stop. And when I would laugh he would smile bigger. After a while of this Anthony was like lets move away from him, so we got up and went to look at the dance floor and I turn around the same guy is standing right behind me. I screamed and jumped behind Anthony because it was creepy that he had followed us. We walked away quickly and lost him and then went back to the first room but upstairs. We only stayed a little bit longer and then headed back to the hostel and went to sleep. Monday we woke up and left the hostel to catch our flight. Once again, the airline was amazing and this time I stayed awake for our meal. It was just some lunch meat and bread with a desert but it was actually really good. The service was awesome too. First they came by with drinks, then food, then coffee or tea, and then water. All back to back. Also on the plane ride we watched a part of the old Mr. Bean and it was so funny. I could not stop laughing at this show that barely even has dialogue.

Prague Saturday (2)- Prague Castle, Charles Bridge, and Hot Chocolate like pudding

The sleep was very restless due to the many people coming into our room at different times. The group that went to the club came back in shifts and were very loud each time. First it was Bhavika and Preston who came back and woke me up. I am kinda glad because i was so cold it was miserable so preston figured out how to use the heater for us, and Bhavika was just funny. Then I fell back asleep and the other group came in. Greg woke me up and started having a conversation with me, which needless to say, I don't remember anything we talked about. Then at 4:30 Rosie's cell phone alarm started going off and wouldn't stop and she never woke up. And, just like the cherry on top, the pillow was like a tissue it was so thin. It was awful. When 9 rolled around and it was actually time to get up for the day I was still so tired. We had breakfast at the hostel and it was alright but nothing more. It was well picked over when we got there, so basically we just got the leftover stuff. The room we were staying in was an 8 person room and there were 7 of us, so we had a stranger in our room as well, but it turned out to be ok because it was a girl our same age studying abroad in Italy and on a weekend trip by herself. We had breakfast with her and then she decided to join us for the rest of the day. First of the agenda was to go to the Prague Castle. When we got there, we were greeted by a long path of stairs up a never ending hill. It took the breath out of me, but it was worth it. At the top of the stairs is a small viewing area of the city and also the "castle walls" guarded by two guards. They were supposed to be real serious and still but one of them was really bad at his job because he kept moving his eyes around looking at people and smirking and stuff. This castle is not really a castle though. It is more like a royal complex with an array of different buildings like the palace, a church, a toy museum...The church is a huge gothic cathedral and it was amazing! I mean it was huge. We had to stand in this really long line just to get in the church. While they were waiting in line, Anthony and I went and got something to eat and drink. I tried a real kolache which is totally different than what we call a kolache. It is like a small pastry with different fruit and stuff on top. I had an apple one and it was very good. When we were done, they were still only about half through the line. It actually ended up moving pretty fast. I can't explain this church, but it was awesome and on such a huge scale. I felt smaller than an ant. We climbed up the bell tower, 287 steps straight up in a steep spiral with no breaks, and got great views of the city. From here you could see everything. One of the cool things you could see was Charles Bridge and how packed with people it was...i will explain later. While still in the Castle complex we went by the toy museum but didnt end up going in. Me and Anthony were on the hunt for our kind of kolache because we thought they were czech. We saw a lady with something that looked like it, but it happened to be a hot dog. By the toy museum there was this statue of a naked teenage boy and he had a particularly awkward private area, and all these middle aged woment kept coming up to the statue laughing and taking pictures touching it. It was a very puzzling situation. I didn't understand why this was so funny to that aged crowd, but I guess to each their own. After that, we left the castle grounds opposite the way we came in and i think it was actually the entrance because it was stunning and so ornate with huge sculputes and such. The stairs down had wall covered with vines and it was just all so pretty. We were hungry so we tried to find a traditional place to eat, but all that we went in were too full. We found this one that had a table and ate there. Our waiter was a jerk. He spoke italian and very obviously didn't like americans. He was making fun of us and being very short with us too. It was actually kind of funny because he already hated us for doing absolutely nothing wrong and then sloan spilled his beer and than just made him furious. Most of us got goulash which is like beef chunks in gravy with "czech dumplings"...they were like squishy bread but very good. Needless to say, we left no tip at all. Lunch took a while and by the time we were done it was around three, meaning only an hour and a half of daylight left to see stuff. We walked over to the Charles Bridge which is a very famous Bridge in Prague that is for pedestrians only and has these huge statues on the sides at even intervals. There are the twelve disciples and many others. On the bridge there are also vendors selling things like paintings and jewelry and stuff. On the bridge, we lost one person in the group so we waited on the other side for at least half an hour, probably more. Finally we called her and it turns out she had already left and gone to the dancing building by Frank Ghery. We met her there and saw the building too. Its cool, but hard to see at night. It was made off a sketch he did where he just puts his pen and scribbles random lines and then makes a building design out of it. Kinda weird in my opinion but whatever. From here we went back to the city center and did some souvenir shopping. It took a while because we were shopping around for the best prices...dad you would be so proud of me. One thing that is very popular here, I guess they are known for them, is those wooden dolls that all stack inside of each other. I didn't get one, but they were cool. Since today was Preston's real birthday, turning 26...old man, we went out to dinner where he wanted to go, which was mexican food. We found this really good restaurant that tasted very close to what ours tastes like. We had strawberry margaritas on the rocks too. I had a burrito plate with rice and beans. It was so good, and the beans were tan like ours, and thats the first time i have seen that here because normally they are black. After dinner we went back to the hostel bar and just chilled. I had some hot chocolate and it was amazing! I have never seen anything like it because seriously it looked like pudding thats how thick it was. It is even served in a cup with a spoon because you can't drink it. It was so good, i think ours should be that thick too. We were planning on going out and celebrating for Preston's birthday but we were all so tired we just ended up going to sleep.

Prague Friday (1)-a real airline, dark at 4:30, birthday celebration

As early as that might sound, it is actually rather late for us because we are used to leaving at 3. When we got to the airport we checked in like normal and then much to our surprise, after security, we had to go through Passport check. What? We have never had to do that at the Barcelona airport even the first day we got here, and now to leave Spain we had to go through passport check. But hey, I got my first Barcelona stamp in my passport! When we boarded the plane we were all pleasantly surprised by the airline. It was a real, normal airline, not the cheapy, cramped airlines we always take on our trips. Those don't even serve you water and each person has about three inches of leg room. On this airline, the seats were roomy and comfortable (even better than our flight to Europe), there were tvs with shows playing, and it was only a three hour flight and they served a whole brunch...which i didn't get to eat :( The seats were so comfortable and I was so sleep deprived that I just couldn't help but fall asleep, and I slept without disruption until the flight attendants had just finished passing out the food an then I woke up...meaning I didn't get any food, but I had to watch everyone else eat it. Lame. Oh, and another thing about the flight, it was one of those where you stop in a city on the way and people get on and off tSo, as I mentioned before, we had to leave Resa for the airport at 5 in the morning.he plane while some people stay on the plane. So, on the first part I had this older lady sitting next to me, and when I woke up she had moved up two rows, but i didn't think anything of it. Then, when we stopped, two little girls got on the plane alone and were sat next to me. They were about eight or nine and could speak both czech and perfect english and were really cute, except that they were laughing and spitting coke at each other. Then, when I woke up again, they had moved seats too, so, I'm not sure if I smelled bad, or what was going on. Strange. Also during the flight, I woke up for a short moment and looked out the window and saw mountains as far as the horizon covered in snow and a valley with a river winding through it and the valley filled with fog. It was absolutely gorgeous. I thought it was the Alps, but it wasn't. Anyway, when we got to Prague we got a stamp in our passports! Then we went to get money out of the atm because in the Czech Republic they use Krowns, not Euros. There money is not doing so well so it is like 18 euros to 1 Krown meaning everything seems really expensive. For example, a meal would be like 300 Krowns, so that was really hard to get used to. Back to the atm, we had just got there, so none of us really knew the conversions and had no idea how much money to get out of the machine so we just picked an amount. I chose 2000 Krowns, and out of the atm comes a 2000 Krown bill. Are you kidding me? What am I supposed to do with that? I went to get coffee in the airport and I was going to pay with this 2000 bill and break it, but the lady was like no. And was really rude about it. Luckily they took Euros, so i payed with that and got change in Krowns. But, there was this lady behind me who was like what just happened, they wouldnt take it. And I told her and she was like, that's just so Czech of them...so I guess meaning they are just not helpful at all, which I noticed very quickly. To get to the hostel from the airport, we took a bus with an awful driver who made me sick. I had to go sit in the very front of the bus just so i didnt puke. But, I looked out the window the whole ride and it was so pretty. There are hills with rocks sticking out and grass all over and trees with yellow and orange leaves! Also, all the buildings are just so old and historical looking, and the sidewalks in certain areas of town were cobblestoned! We just stopped by the hostel to drop off our bags and then went to see the city. It was really cold and kind of overcast, but the weather fits the city well i think. We bought transportation passes for three days and it was only 220 Krowns, about 10 euros....incredibly cheap, and unlimited for bus, tram, and metro! We got on the tram and rode along, passing the erotic sex convention Prague 2007. Haha. Shortly after this, we were in a pretty deserted part of town and the tram stopped and everyone got off but us. Then after a little bit, the driver turned to us and was like, this is the last stop. We all started laughing and got off the tram...how embarrassing. We thought we were headed into the city center. Nope. Regardless, it was a good laugh, and where we got off was a pretty park with all these trees everywhere and their oranges leaves all over the ground. We took some pictures and waited for the tram to turn around and got back on with the same driver! This time we rode the tram all the way to the city center and then got off. We happened to be right next to the mall so we went in there and had lunch. I had this salmon fillet with spinach and cheese on top and some amazing vegetables smothered in butter. Oh man they were so good. The mall was really cool too. It was really new looking and was just a good design. The only annoying thing was that in order to make you shop and look in windows and stuff, they designed the escalators to make you walk around half the mall just to go down each floor. There was one really cool escalator that took you up two flights through the center of the mall and you go into this covered thing that has laser lights and stuff. After the mall, we started walking towards the old town. On the way, we stumbled across this tower and decided to go up it and look at the city. You climb all these stairs and come out in a room that you can't see out of and here you have to pay and get these electronic talking guides that explain the tower and then you can go all the way up. So we got them and started listening, but they looked like huge old school telephones so we were too distracted and laughing too hard to pay attention to the audio. Instead we took pictures. Then we walked the rest of the way up and took pictures of the city. It was cool, but not worth having to pay money for. After that we kept walking and ran into the old town square. Gorgeous. I loved it. It is this huge square with all these old buildings surrounding it, including several churches, a meridian line through it, and the atomic clock. We went in the church, which was pretty, and while we were in there, the choir started singing so that was really cool, they were really good! When we went back outside, all these people were gathering around the atomic clock so we went to see what was going on. We waited ten minutes for the hour and then statues circled around, but it was really lame. We laughed about it. About this time it was getting pretty dark outside. We walked down this street connected to the square and it turned out to be the ritzy street with all the expensive stores so we window shopped. By this time we thought it was about 7 at night because of how dark it was, but it turned out it was only 4:30. Yep, thats right. Its gets dark at 4:30 in Prague. Talk about messing up your sleeping schedule. It felt so late that we all wanted to go back to the hostel. While we were walking to find the tram we stumbled onto a bridge where you could see the Prague Castle all lit up on the hill. It was really pretty. From there we caught the tram and went back to the hostel to check in. Two people, Rosie and Denise stayed back to try and find a cake for Preston's birthday becuase it was the following day, but we planned on celebrating it a night early while the whole group was still in town. At the hostel, we met up with the other group that had been there since Wednesday, and we all went to dinner together. It was really good food, and a traditional czech restaurant. I had chicken with hungarian sausage and cheese it the middle with czech pancakes, which are similar to hash browns. Because it was prestons birthday celebration, one of the other guys bought a bottle of champagne and we toasted to preston. Then we went back to the hostel and surprised him with some cake. It was chocolate and very different from a birthday cake in the states because apparently they don't do that in the czech republic. We had to use a plastic knife and when i cut my piece, some how it shot through the air and landed in a pile on the ground. The funny thing was, it looked just like a pile of poop had been thrown on the ground. Oh my goodness it was hilarious. Then we went across the parking lot to a separate building also part of the hostel that is like a lounge during the day and a bar at night, only for people staying at the hostel. It was pretty cool so we hung out there and some people drank a little too much. Then most people went out to a club, and some of us stayed and went to sleep...preparing for the early morning ahead. pic one is when we were on the wrong tram, pic two is the tower we went up, pic three is the amazing audio that looks like telephones, pic four is of preston, bhavika and me with hats on in a souvenir shop, and pic five is of the church we went in in the old town square. this picture is taken around 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon. notice the color of the sky and that all the buildings are already lit up :)