I fail....

Alright! Well I’m certainly not getting any better at this. At least this time I have an excuse. I’ve been traveling the world!!! The first weekend in November, I took a trip to Barcelona with my roommate. It was wonderful but really, really cold there. The first night (Saturday) we went to see a FC Barcelona match. Our seats were horrible but it was still so much fun. Not only did Barcelona win, but we met quite a few interesting characters as well plus some guys that go to the university in Granada with us (random…I think so). Sunday, we spent on a city bus tour. It was really convenient because we could just hop off the bus when we wanted to see something. We got to see so much of the city: works by Gaudi like the Sagrada Familia and Park Güell, palaces, gardens, the port, etc. We spent Monday morning walking around the gothic quarter and enjoying the sites. Then it was back to Granada. The next weekend, I went to Morocco, and spent way too much money. I went with this tour group I found online so everything was planned for me…this was nice but it also felt like a high school trip with schedules free time and overpriced goods. In the end, I was glad I went to Morocco but I feel like I didn’t really do anything there…just saw a bunch of markets and paid way too much for a rug. Luckily, I didn’t get sick though! Finally, last weekend I went to PARIS!!! I had been there before but not for this long or with this much free time so I was very excited. I spent hours wandering around the city and using the little French I know. As a group, (because I went with my study abroad program) we took a 3.5 hour bus tour around the city and spent some time at the Louvre. Other than that, the time was mine. I spent some time at musse d’orsay a museum in an old train station, which was beautiful. After the museum, I went and spent some time in Versailles…it was huge, probably a waste of all the money that was spent on it, I could have gotten in free if I had remembered my year visa for Spain, and it was freezing cold. But I’m glad I got to see it…now I never have to go back. I went to Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart cathedral) and of course, I did go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower…which leads me to talking about my problems with the public transportation in Paris.

To begin with, when riding on the metro we had a sudden loss of power and came to a very quick stop then sat there for a few minutes before regaining power and continuing on our journey. Unlike the other passengers who seemed a little nervous and confused (one even started crying but I won’t name names) I had to be the idiot that started laughing uncontrollably. Which then drew some very strange looks from the other passengers on the metro (whatever, I thought it was funny). The next problem was one the train to Versailles. As we were about to leave, a woman tried to get on the train and proceeded to get stuck between the closing doors (the doors in Paris are ruthless) She then started screaming because it hurt so much and this man had to go and pry the doors open to let her in the train. Final problem occurred on the Eiffel Tower. We had to wait in line for quite a while but when we finally got in, it was only a quick ride up to the top (they weren’t letting anyone walk but I’m not sure why). We got up to the top of the tower and spent some time talking pictures, looking around, I found my future husband…you know nothing out of the ordinary. On the way down my 3 friends and I decided to use the bathroom before heading to the elevator…smart idea right. Maybe not, because of this, I lost my future husband and then we got on the next elevator. And that’s when it all started. About 2 seconds after the elevator left the 2 floor platform it jerked to a stop and just hung there. The conductor then started calling a ton of people and was on the phone for ever. I don’t know a lot of French but even I was able to figure out that no one knew what had happened (specifically because the conductor kept checking the emergency stop button, which had not been pushed). Someone started crying again because this French guy behind us told us there was a problem…may or may not have been the same person that started crying on the metro (it was) and I started laughing again. The poor French guy felt so bad that he made my roommate cry so he refused to tell us anything else. We spent the next 45 min (yes we were dangling there for 45 min) talking with the French man and his girlfriend/wife, laughing about the situation, and noticing that the power kept going out on the part of the tower we were in. Finally, they lowered up down with the emergency lowering system. Then some guy had to unscrew stuff to let us out. It has never felt so good to get out of an elevator before. After that, we spent an hour eating chocolate crepes and waiting for the tower to have its light show. We also met this guy from Seattle and his two French friends who tried to help us find our way back home. All in all, I’d say I had a trip that no one else will ever experience. This weekend, I’m staying in Granada not because of my trip to Paris and all the problems but because I need to save a little money for traveling next semester and over Christmas break. Then in 2 weeks school is over! I can’t believe it has gone by so fast.

So that’s about it…if anyone has suggestions of where I should travel over Christmas break, let me know. I have like 2 free months.