Now that mid-terms are over (thank goodness!) and I’m back to some type of
routine here in Aix, I figured it was a good time to sit down and reflect on my
winter vacation. I knew this post was going to take a while, and as much as I
wanted to procrastinate during mid-terms week, I figured I couldn't chance the exams that already have to undergo the grueling French grading
system. Get ready for a long post about my voyages to Spain and Portugal; you
can’t say I didn’t warn you!
The eight days of winter vacation were jam-packed with culture, history,
architecture, amazing food, sangria, and some fun stories! I can’t believe we
managed to squeeze in two countries and four whole cities in that time. Yes, at
the end we definitely paid for it with our worn-out bodies and the huge bags under
our eyes, but during the trip we took full
advantage of every city from the walking tours and museums, to sitting in the
parks, walking around the downtowns, and of course profiting from the
nightlife! For me, it was most surprising to discover Lisbon and the Portuguese
culture; a country I never thought I’d end up seeing was nonetheless a
spell-binding and eye-opening experience. Looking back on my good luck that landed me Lisbon, I couldn’t help but wonder…
How many other unexpected cultures will I get to
discover?
My unforeseen adventure to Lisbon reminded me of my trip to China with my
college music program a couple of summers ago. Just like Lisbon, China was a location I never thought I’d have the opportunity to see.
Honestly, it didn’t hold much appeal to me, and I wasn’t too heart-broken over
the thought of never getting there. The culture of Europe was much more
fascinating in my opinion. But, as anyone can tell you, when I came back from
China I couldn’t rave about it enough! The culture was so different from any
I’d ever seen (I know, state the obvious!), but the style of architecture, the
palaces, the art, the everyday life was truly eye-opening and instructive. My
trip to Lisbon felt much the same way; once again I was blessed with the
opportunity to see a new culture and a new style of life that I would probably
never have seen if it weren’t for my friend who speaks Portuguese. I hope the
rest of my life brings many more of these unpredicted experiences my way!
 |
| In a square in Lisbon before our walking tour. |
The 8 days brought many new realizations and lessons my way! I never
noticed how much I feel at home in France, or how comforting it is to have
that homebase to go back to at the end of a long journey. I am so blessed to
now call France my second home, even if I was welcomed back by mid-terms the
day after our bus from Barcelona rolled in. Enjoy the pictures and little
stories from each city below!
Friday, Feb. 24
The five of us caught the bus to the airport for our 9:55pm flight to
Madrid. After the tragic confiscation of our three peanut butter jars, i.e. la
catastrophe de buerre de cacahuète, we were on our flight and super excited to
start the adventures! However, the first night wasn’t over yet, we still had a
good 40 min. metro commute to the hostel in Madrid, during which my friend had
her wallet stolen. Not the best way to start a trip! Thankfully, she only had
20€ in the wallet and her passport was in another bag. We were extremely
paranoid after this incident, but our alertness paid off as no one lost any
other valuable items for the rest of the trip!
Madrid
Saturday morning, we were ready to take Madrid by storm and profit from
our first taste of the Spanish culture! In the morning we walked to the Plaza
del Sol, took some pics with the monuments, and one with SpongeBob (of course!)
and wandered over to the gardens surrounding the Palacio Real de Madrid
(Royal Palace of Madrid) before heading in to check out the palace itself. Most of the rooms were furnished in the original style
from the wallpaper and chandeliers to the paintings and statues on display. It
was opulent to say the least. I was also a huge fan of the Stradivarius room,
in which I imparted my musical knowledge on my two friends with me. (For those
of you music lovers out there, there were 3 violins and one cello in the same
room! They all had beautiful etchings in the wood!)
 |
| In the Plaza del Sol in Madrid. |
After our first historical experience, we
enjoyed our lunch and Spanish beer in a plaza and soaked up some sun (the beginning of 9/10 full sunny and 60+ degree days on our vacation). In the
afternoon we wandered around, took a little siesta in a park, and enjoyed the
streets of Madrid. While dinner wasn’t that great our first night, we did
happen to be sitting next to a table of French couples. I didn’t know how
comforting it would be to hear a familiar language! I discovered throughout the
trip that I felt a connection with the French culture. It was
a little surprising at first to realize how strong this connection was, but I think it’s a very positive sign of my comfortability with the French culture as I’m already halfway through the semester.
That night we went out clubbing with a friend
of the group who is studying in Madrid for the semester. Talk about a Europen
club! It was huge, with at least three floors, some exotic dancers (just for a
well-rounded experience), and a pretty cool fog machine. I definitely danced my
heart out that night, and loved my taste of the Spanish nightlife!
 |
| Clubbing à la "The Hills" in Madrid. |
We spent our second day in Madrid going to the
El Museo de arte Thyssen-Bornemisza
in the morning and resting in the park in the afternoon. The museum was
beautiful, and I specifically loved their collection of French Impressionist
art. I don’t think you can go wrong with a good art museum, and was very glad
we found one in Madrid to enjoy. I miss my Art Institute of Chicago, but the
Degas’ in Madrid were very nice too! As we took a break in the park that
afternoon, we of course brought a bottle of white wine to share! It made the
nap much more enjoyable. Unfortunately the Museo Nacional del Prado wasn’t open
that evening (we had read that it was free Sunday evenings), but we took the
extra time to have a delicious and authentic Spanish tapas experience! We had a
few dishes for dinner: two potato dishes, shrimp, asparagus, and calamari along
with two pitchers of fabulous sangria! (Our logic to buying the second pitcher:
well you have to buy water anyway, why not just pay for some sangria instead?
This logic paid off, obviously.)
Lisbon
 |
| Love the beach in Lisbon! |
It was an extremely early morning to catch our flight to Lisbon (4:30am departure from the hostel anyone?), but we got there safe and sound.
Unfortunately, we still had three large (and I mean San Francisco size) hills
to walk up to get to our hostel. Fortunately, we got into our room right away
and passed out for a few hours before enjoying the free coffee, fresh rolls, and jam for breakfast! Due to our extremely tired state, we decided to go to
the beach for our first afternoon. The sun was out, the sand was warm, and it
was only February! We enjoyed Pina Coladas and Tequila Sunrises on the beach,
taking in the Lisbon experience! For dinner I had the best salmon of my life (I
really should research that recipe) and tried my friend’s traditional Portuguese dish of
fish/rice/vegetable stew-the flavor was awesome!
 |
| Enjoying our Pina Coladas on the beach. |
Due to our late start the first day, we got up early the second morning
to go on the walking tour. I’m so glad we took advantage of this opportunity as
I learned so much about the Portuguese culture and history. After our two hour walk learning about everything from
the historic earthquake in Lisbon to the fact that Lisbon has 7 large hills in
total (yeah right!) we decided to hop on a tram to Belém for the afternoon.
 |
| In front of the Monastery with our Starbucks. |
 |
| Inside the Monastery. |
 |
| Tower of Belém |
Belém (besides being another Portuguese word I cannot pronounce) is a
neighborhood of Lisbon where you can find the Mosteiro dos
Jerónimos (Monastery),
Torre de Belém (Belém Tower), and the world-famous Pastéis de Belém (pastry).
The Monastery was incredible; I’ve yet to find a church/cathedral/place of
worship in Europe that doesn’t astound me. The sunlight happened to be perfect
at the time, and I caught some great pictures. The Tower of Belém is truly right out
of a fairytale. It was a beautiful sight to see,
even if we didn’t get there early enough to go inside. And, of course, since we
were in Belém we had to try the internationally known pastry that apparently
they sold 40,000 of last summer (or some ridiculous number like that!). If you
happen to go there, I definitely recommend it: it’s a small flaky muffin-shaped
pastry with an egg-custard filling, and you add powdered sugar or cinnamon.
Don’t worry if you didn’t know it was world-famous, I definitely didn’t. But,
now I can say that I ate one; always profit fully from your new cultural
experiences!
 |
 |
| Plaza del Espana |
Seville
We took an overnight bus to Sevilla (just as enchanting as it sounds, not), and spent the early morning passed out in the lobby, attempting to make up on the sleep we missed during the night. While that didn’t work so well, I was able to make a fresh pot of coffee the next morning to get us energized for the walking tour! On the way to our meet-up spot, I discovered that the woman who was taking us to the official tour guide was actually from Paris. We spoke in French on the way there, and once again I felt more comfortable conversing with someone in a familiar language, and connecting with the same culture. The walking tour had some amazing highlights: the cathedral, the river where Columbus set sail for the Americas, the Plaza del Espana, and a ton of history! On the downside, it was 3.5 hours long. You try walking for 3.5 hours in direct sunlight after an overnight bus on your 5th day of vacation, not so easy.
 |
| Catedral de Santa María de la Sede |
 |
| View from the Catedral de Santa María de la Sede |
But, we rallied again in the afternoon to go back to the Catedral de Santa
María de la Sede and walk to the top of the tower. The view was definitely
worth it! And, once again, I fell in love with the architecture and grandeur of
the cathedral, no surprise there. After a much-needed nap, we took advantage of
the hostel’s free sangria hour (as amazing as it sounds!) and paella dinner.
Paella is a native Spanish dish with rice, seafood, vegetables, and sometimes
chicken (that was a fun one to pick out!). During the sangria hour we met two
other American students who are studying in Strasbourg for the semester. After
speaking with them about their experiences in their respective program, we couldn’t have
been happier to have chosen AUCP. The students in their program rarely spoke
French outside of the classroom, a part of my program that I enjoy and profit
from the most! The weather is also gray and cold all the time (I can’t go
without my Provençal sunshine!), and they eat a lot of ham. (Ok, that last point
might not sound that important, but coming from a vegetarian who doesn’t want
to offend her host family, it would not be a good aspect of the French
culture.)
Overall, Sevilla was a huge success in terms of
culture and history! I definitely recommend it if you want to see the south of
Spain. Amazing! But don’t go in the summer, it got to 130°F last year, not so
much fun.
Barcelona
 |
| Ready to go out in Barca! |
We finally made it to Barcelona, the last leg of our
journey! Even though our plane got in around 8:00pm, we were determined to go
out that night! We met up with my friend’s cousin and some of his classmates. While we had a great time at the bar we went to, I couldn’t help
but notice that all of his friends at the apartment and at the bar were so
stereotypically American. Read: the girls were dressed exactly like college
American girls ready to go out, the guys were total bros, etc. Once again, I realized how fortunate I am to be in my program
where we make an effort to assimilate into the French culture and make French
friends. I really appreciate that our program isn’t just a displaced American
university campus in the middle of Europe, but feels like an authentic French
experience.
Even though it was a little Americanized, we had a fun time at the bar, and had
an…interesting experience at the club. It was reggae night, enough said.
Since we only had one full day in Barcelona, we made sure to make the most of it! In the morning we went to La Sagrada Familia, designed by Antoni Gaudi. All I can say is: wow. Just wow. I wish the pictures could capture how mind-blowing and spectacular this cathedral was. You just have to go there and stand in the aisle to get the full effect. The tree-like columns, the intricately designed flower-patterned ceiling, the bright light from the stain-glassed windows, the list could go on forever. It was an astounding combination of gothic and modern styles, even though it started construction in 1882. I think one of the most captivating aspects was the natural light that took up the space, making it a much more peaceful, breathtaking, and sacred environment as opposed to most of the historic cathedrals that are practically pitch-black or artificially lit. I am definitely going back there some day. Probably my favorite stop the whole trip. Lots of pics below!
 |
| In front of La Sagrada Familia. |
That afternoon we got to see some more Gaudi artwork
at the Parc Guëll. Walking around this space, marveling at the nature-inspired
walkways, arches, statues, etc. was spell-binding. I honestly felt like I was
living in a fairytale. The designs are so whimsical, organic, and natural! If
you’ve ever seen Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, the one with Whitney
Houston, I felt like I was living there. Disney in real life. On the way to the
Parc we also strolled on Las Ramblas by accident (as usual, we were a little
confused by the Spanish language and the maps. We found that it took us
approximately twice the time someone told us to get anywhere during the trip.
Gotta love the adventure of getting lost on vacation!)
 |
| In the Parc Güell |
That afternoon we got on our 8-hour bus ride home to Aix, my many postcards and new scarf in tow! Getting into Aix that night and walking down the Cours Mirabeau was a true homecoming. I felt so comfortable to be in France again; I was home! The vacation was amazing, and I loved every experience we had! The liberty and freedom of planning our own vacation was exhilarating, and I’d say we definitely took full advantage of those 8 days!
Side Note: if you ever decide to go travelling in
Europe, bring a dossier. My friends will understand this :)
Gros Bisous!!
SA
No comments:
Post a Comment