Espana!

Like I mentioned before, I went on a quick getaway to Barcelona this weekend for 2 nights and 2 days. It was quite an experience- tiring in many ways, but also very engaging and novel. Here's a quick breakdown of what I did.

Friday
- Woke up at 4am to catch a 6:30am flight to BCN (remind me to never book early flights again)
- Met with the girls from Madrid and headed to Avenue Mistral to check into our weekend house
- Dropped off all of our stuff and headed to Boqueria, a famous food market near La Ramblas
- Had the best coconut juice I've ever tasted in my life, paired with some other mind-blowing croquettes and snacks
- Went shopping at Zara and finally bought that blue jacket I've been eyeing for a month now
- Visited Casa Batlló
- Went back home and PTFO-ed for a few hours from exhaustion
- Ate dinner at Blai 2Night and had the most delicious and affordable pintxos ever ever ever.
- Met with Lumi and headed to Opium for a night of clubbing and fighting off creepy 30-year old men
- Jumped into the beach with all of our clothes still on
- Die at 5 in the morning and revived promptly at 12pm the next day  

Saturday
- Had brunch at another tapas place
- Visited Sagrada Familia
- Walked a very long walk to the beaches at Barceloneta
- Ended up swimming in my undergarments :x
- Collected sea glass for the first time! I was super excited about that :)
- Ate a late lunch at another tapas bar that we went to by accident, but it ended up being very yummy
- Visited Parc Guell and saw a breathtaking view of Barcelona, along with some of the most intriguing tiles that I've seen
- Went home for another siesta
- Had dinner at some paella place
- Walked around a bit and ended the night by getting McFlurries at Mcdonalds

Sunday
- 4am departure (reminder #2 to never book early flights again)

Since I'm on a run with lists, here are some random things that I noticed about Spain:
- Spaniards are truly some of the most beautiful groups of people that I've laid eyes on
- Spaniards also have no shame in cat-calling to girls in addition to shouting "ne hao" at us every other block
- Prices are notably cheaper than in France
- Sausages and potatoes are a large part of their diet
- Spanish food is hands down some of the best food I've had. Their bombas and spanish omelettes are to die for.
- I'll add more as they come into my head.


Once again, I leave you with some photos of our trip :)

i would give my left leg to eat this again

First Week of Classes & London

Oh dear! I haven't blogged in ten whole days! I guess I've been pretty busy, so blogging hasn't been at the top of my priorities but I'll make a better effort to do so in the following days.

Last week, I started my first week of classes. They weren't as bad as I was expecting, and one of my professors is actually really engaging and a very curious man. He actually makes attending class pretty interesting. On the other hand, Jenn, Erica, and I dropped out of our Power and Representation class because it was quite possibly the driest class I've ever been to. That means I'm only taking 3 classes this semester, which leaves me with a lot of time to relax and enjoy myself. I hope that I can utilize my time wisely and really make the most with the time that I have here.

This weekend, I visited London for my first inter-continental trip! The 8am flight made traveling pretty tiring, but I had such a fun-filled, joyous weekend. It felt so good to see all my closest friends again, not to mention a nice return to English as the official language. London is actually very similar to New York in many ways, so even though it was my first time there, I felt very comfortable. Steve and I had planned on going to the countryside, but we ended up staying in the suburbs because getting a place in inner-city London is ridiculously expensive. We were dreading the long commute at first, but South Ealing ended up being such a lovely and quaint town. There are so many mom and pop shops around the neighborhood, and we had a very yummy and homemade Irish breakfast on Sunday morning.

I didn't end up exploring the touristy side of London as much as I thought I would've, but I was actually totally fine with just spending time with my friends and relaxing. I feel like Paris has thrown me completely out of my comfort zone, and even though I know I'll end up loving it soon enough, I think London was the perfect break for me. Also, I got to satisfy my Asian food cravings with sushi and thai thanks to my lovely boyfren.

Something happened and I ended up getting sick on my last day there as I was going to Big Ben (I was too sick to take photos of it, actually),  and although the experience was terrible, it reminded me again of how blessed I am to have such caring, kind people in my life.

Being in France again got me feeling a little blue for a few hours, but I've since adjusted well! I was really hungry yesterday and ended up devouring fries, gelato, and an entire box of chips within a few hours. I was also very dizzy, but I think my body was tired from the traveling. I also realized that part of the reason why I have no energy these days might be because I haven't been eating much protein. While ham is a staple part of the diet here, it's not as easy to come across chicken or red meat in simple, cheap dishes. I bought some chicken, and hopefully I'll start making other meat-related foods soon instead of stuffing carbs down my throat all the time.

Today, we didn't have global media seminar so I basically had a free day after 10:30am. I was planning on going out and exploring, but I have a lot of plans in the coming weekends, so I thought it would be a good idea to sit down and get some solid work done for once. Everyone left school early, but I ended up staying till about 6pm. It was grueling, but I managed to get a little ahead in my studies, so hopefully it'll pay off. I'm going to Barcelona this weekend, so time to finish the week strong! One more day :)

I will leave you with a random assortment of photos from the last 10 days~

*_*

so thankful for this guy

so so happy to see them :)

mf hell yea

the big black thing is pigs blood. it was kinda good actually

Le Premier Weekend

During our first few nights here, Jenn and I decided to go to Zurich on a total whim. We bought our flights without any concrete plans, but we were really excited to go and enjoy all the scenic beauty that Switzerland has to offer. After a few days though, we noticed that our cards weren't being charged, so we were a little confused and decided to give the booking agency a call. Turns out, they never charged our cards and cancelled our transactions.. for no reason. We were annoyed at first, but then came to realize that a. we just saved ourselves $300 and b. maybe it was a good idea to stay in Paris this weekend and familiarize ourselves a little more with our new city.

Friday was the last day of our orientation, and we were really excited to go on a boat tour along the Seine with our classmates. It actually ended up being pretty boring, but it was nice to familiarize myself with the main attractions and tourist spots of Paris so that I can show my friends around when they visit. Afterwards, we had falafel with the girls, but it ended up being a lot more 느끼해 and less tasty than the first time around. Garam and Erica went to go move into their new apartment in Montmarte, and I went shopping with Jenn. We figured that since we were saving so much money, we could afford to do some retail therapy after this rough week.

On Saturday, we had planned on going to Versailles, but we overslept so we ended up eating lunch at home and visiting le Jardin du Luxembourg. We've been eating Korean food at home a lot lately, and for some reason I kind of like it this way. French food is very rich and yummy, but I'm not sure if its completely suited to my palette. Plus, the price... need I say more?

The Jardins du Luxembourg were kind of tricky to get to, but it's ok because we made a pit stop at the Notre Dame and had some wonderful sorbet/ice cream beforehand. The garden is more like a huge (and I mean huge), carefully curated park filled with families, lovers, and freestanding individuals- all engaging in their respective practices and relaxation. It was really beautiful, and since it's so close to school, I think I'm going to end up studying there once in a while.

We visited Erica & Garam's place afterwards, and I must admit that it makes our apartment look very cozy and humble. I couldn't help but to feel a little envious, but I am so happy for them because they went through a lot of stress with apartment hunting this past week. We had a wonderful meal of pasta & wine/cheese/baguettes, and proceeded to enter into a few hours of food coma on Erica's nice big bed. We figured that we shouldn't waste our Saturday night, so we walked around the Moulin Rouge area, which was cool BUT NOT REALLY. There were so many creepy guys following us around, and the area is filled to the brim with weird, creepy, porno/sex toy stores. It made me feel really uncomfortable, but it was also kind of interesting to acknowledge that Paris, with all of it's haute glamour and glory, also houses a much seedier kind of populace.

After some deliberation, we visited an Irish pub for some beer. It was once again very refreshing to hear English all around us, and we got 2 orders of a beer sampler. We tried an IPA, a wheat beer, a double IPA, regular Irish lager, and some dark Russian beer. I liked the IPA and lager, Jenn liked the lager, Erica liked the wheat and IPA, and Garam preferred the dark beer (ew). It was pretty docile for our wild~~~ first Saturday night out, but we actually had some really good conversations going and I felt so refreshed. T'was a good night.

most amazing rocher ever holy jesus

right before some guy went up to jenn and asked her "do you want to f*** me"

notre dame!

the beautiful gardens

fun fact: iced coffee isn't a thing here in Paris.. only starbucks has it :'(

Food

During our first two days here, Jenn and I were so discombobulated and tired that we barely ate anything. I was constantly hungry, but eating a proper meal was so inconvenient that we just skimped on our dietary needs. Now that Erica and Garam are here and we have more company, we've been eating much better. Hopefully this doesn't flow into the opposite end of the spectrum because I am not looking to gain weight during this trip. Thank you, Jesus.

After our day at 57 Boulevard St.Germain, we went to the key bridge and Louvre again to show Garam around. We stopped by Amorinos, and I'm really not a gelato person, but the ones that I've tried so far have just been too heavenly to resist. Luckily, I don't think the pastries and other doughy products are getting to me as much as I thought they would. That would've been pretttyyy bad. We stopped by K-mart again, and after the other two met with their new landlord, we decided to bring a bit of home to Paris and had a 부대찌개 party! We bought 막걸리, and cooked up a storm in the kitchen. We sat on the floor with our legs crossed and had a good old Korean meal, complete of course with lots of loud laughter and obnoxious commentary. All of us have expressed that we haven't felt like ourselves lately, so I think this kind of spontaneous dinner day was really good for all of us. I can slowly feel myself getting back to my normal self. Whoohoo!

Orientation and Other Shenanigans

I realized that blogging everyday is tough work, so I think I'm going to try updating this every few days or so starting from now on!

Two days ago, Jenn and I visited Galleries Lafayette, which is a huge, beautiful Barneys-esque mall in the 9th arrondisement. I was really excited to shop for French brands, but it turns out most things (even the French ones) are more expensive here than the states.

Afterwards, we went to our orientation site, which was located near the bank of the 4th arrondisement. We had amazingggg gelato and went to pick up our welcome packets at MIJE. I finally got to see Erica and met Garam for the first time :) While Garam was unpacking, Erica, Jenn, and I went to eat at a famous falafel shop, and although it was pretty expensive, it was seriously some of the best falafel I've ever had. Drool.

The girls ended up coming over afterwards, and even though it was only for a short while, it was really refreshing to see some familiar faces around.

best falafel.. ever

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Orientation's been pretty dull, and as much as I'd like to go out and meet people and explore, I've been pretty comfortable hanging out with Jenn, Erica, and Garam. I was such a social butterfly freshman year, and it was so draining. This is also the first semester where I'm free from an internship, so it feels good to just kick back and have some alone time for once. Maybe things will be different once I start classes, who knows?

I had a food scare today! We stepped out to a cafe for lunch, and I was craving American food pretty badly so I ordered a cheeseburger. Low and behold, the French definition of a burger isn't what Americans would consider a traditional burger. It's more like a slab of meat (cooked medium) with lettuce on the bottom and fries on the side. Regardless, I was grateful for the familiarity so I finished it in a good mood. When we got the bill, I was looking at the menu items again, and noticed that my burger said "hamburger au cheval"- cheval...cheval.. CHEVAL?! Cheval means horse in French, and I almost died right there on the spot. My gag reflex kicked in, and I was ready to puke my guts out at the thought of eating a cute pony that could've been my pet. Luckily, some Googling taught me that "hamburger au cheval" literally translates to "hamburger on horseback," which is foodie lingo for "burger with an egg on top." A burger made from horse meat would be called hamburger de cheval. Sweet jesus.

Jenn and I had time to kill, so we walked along the Seine near St.Michel-Notre Dame and enjoyed the beautiful weather and stunning scenery. We walked across the bridge with all of the locks, and I told Jenn that instead of locking my lock, I was going to throw it down the river because the government keeps clipping all the locks off anyways. I'd rather keep it safe from a clipping, thank you very much.

We ended up at the Louvre, which is quite a sight, but didn't go in because the line was tremendously long and we were too tired to explore the place. Instead, we headed to K-Mart, which is a small Korean supermarket that is probably going to end up being the saving grace of our wallets and our culinary woes. The prices were more expensive than New York, but it was such a welcoming sight to enter into. Even saying "안녕하세요" to the Korean employees put a smile on my face. Not to say that I want to go home! France is lovely, and I'm sure I'll fall in love with it soon enough, but adjustment to change has never been one of my strong suits.

Groceries and Le Tour Eiffel!

Jenn and I planned on waking up at 10, but ended up sleeping into the afternoon and waking up close to 1pm. We hauled our tired butts to the supermarket and bought food and some household staples. We cooked a simple meal at home, only to realize that our first meal of the day was at 4pm. Parisien groceries aren't much more expensive than the ones in Manhattan, but I feel like we're spending a lot of money buying things that we need to settle into our apartment. Also, reading and writing French is bearable, but speaking and listening to it is on a whole new caliber. Holy crap. Jenn and I have the most difficult time communicating with the French people. It's mostly us using hand signals and speaking broken English, sometimes to their dismay.

Speaking of which, I actually managed to complete a transaction today in French! We went to the metro station to buy tickets, but the machine was confusing, so we went to the information counter. I was so nervous, but I managed to converse with the lady enough to get what we needed, YAY!

The French metro system is relatively simple and straightforward. It reminds me a lot of the Japanese and Korean railroad systems in the way that the systems work. Anyways, we took the train to see the Eiffel Tower, and while Jenn and I were a little burned out from the culture shock that we went through during the past 2 days, seeing the Tower blew me away. I was expecting it to be really cliche and not very memorable, but the Eiffel Tower is such a magnificent building. We were awestruck at it's beauty. We ended up walking all around that area, taking lots of photos and just enjoying the beautiful scenery. I can't wait to take my parents and Steve to the fields in front of the Tower and drink wine and enjoy life hehe. We also bought 10 chichis (churros) for 5 Euro, and they were so fresh and delicious. We sat on the other side of the Seine, and ended up seeing the view of the Tower as they put on the glittering light show. People behind us started waltzing, and someone put on a very French song that matched the rhythm of the dancers. Talk about a scene from a movie.

I also decided to Skype with Steve tonight to talk about traveling plans. Traveling with a significant other as well as a handful of other friends scattered around Europe is really difficult. Everyone wants to do different things, but nobody wants to compromise. I was tearing from frustration for a bit, but I think that if I really want to make the best of my experience here, I have to just go and do it. Waiting around for everyone else to plan is just going to waste my time and money, so I'll just start planning along my trips. If things work out, I think Steve is visiting in 2 weeks! Yay!

Yesterday was a little stressful and tiring, but today really helped to make up for it. I am a little weary and am still settling into the culture of France, but I'm sure that all will work out for the better soon enough. Can't wait to see what the future holds in store!