Paris for my birthday

So I hate to be cliche, but I will have to agree with the rest of the world on thinking that Paris is the most romantic places in the world. This weekend was everything that I wanted it to be and so much more. Because I dan't have time to go into details, but I will hit the highlights-and let you know everything that we did in 3 days in paris. My friends that went with me are Jennifer, Erica, Maggie and Micah. Then, I had some other of our friends meet us there to participate in other evernts. They are Amy, Cayla, John, Nicole and Sasha.


We saw and explored:
-Cimetiere du Montparnasse
-Palais de Congrés
-Arc d´Triomphe
-La Siene
-Moulin Rouge
-Opéra Garnier-my favoirte building in all of Paris
-Palais du Louvre-WOW!
-Palais du Luxembourg-Sénate
-Jardins du Luxembourg
-The Pantheón
-Notre-Dame
-The Place where Princess Diana died
-Of course, the Tour Eiffel

Some of these places were explored extensivly while others we simply saw from a distance, but none the less, we saw it all. Are you impresed? You should be.

I don't know why the French have such a bad reputation in the states. The French have been the nicest out of anyone from any country that I have been in thus far. They all wanted to help is get around the city easily. When we tried to speak French, they helped us out (by teaching us Frnech) and then clarified in English. It was great! I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that France is run by tourists, but I don't know. They all went above and beyond about being nice. Long story short, I think lots of my friends will be going back again soon. Some for long term, other just to visit.

My new found love has become crépes. Crépes with chocolate, crépes with Nutella, crépes with Jelly, crépes with Cinnamon and sugar, crépes with applebutter and cinnamon. All sorts of delicious crépes. I would highly recommend them from France... ;-) Nedless to say, we tried delicious French food.

All these things + Paris+my birthday+my 22nd birthday+some of my favorite people=a really unforgettable weekend.

Lisbon, Portugal and all it's happenings!

Yes, my second try in Portugal was much more sucessful than the first, although it did rain again. It didn't pour all weekend, though, which was a definate plus.

We saw all sorts of neat things while we were in Lisbon. Lisbon is the capital of Portugal and it is very different than Spain. I have descirbed Lisbon as the San Fransico of Europe. It has a suspension bridge that the one in San Fransico was desinged after. It is right on the water and the city is huge. It has a very efficient metro system and LOTS of history in it. The city is WAY to big to feel like we explored the whole thing in 4 days. I would say we only hit the tip of the iceberg...We went shopping in a shopping center right under a bull ring. That was an adventure. We also got to see the aquarium. When I went out exploring, I happened upon a National Park of Portugal, which was beautiful. We also went to a nearby city called Sintra. This is the place where all the nobles of Lisbon when to build their summer castles. It was really neat to be able to see. Also, Portugal is the number one producer of cork in the world. We got to see all sorts of cork trees and fun things that were made out of cork. It was really neat climbing in the national park because cork trees were everywhere.

The group and I also went to a huge monastary dedicated to one of the great explorers of Portugal. There were so many different parts of this city that I don't feel like I can do it justice by describing it. The architecture of this city was incredible. There weren't two buildings next to eachother that were both the same shape. Everything in Lisbon was different colors and shapes and styles. It was a haven for people that love and can apperciate architecture-needless to say the architects in our group were happy...

Anyways, I leave for Madrid by bus tomorrow. Then Thursday morning I fly out with some friends to Paris. That's right. I will be there Thursday monring through Sunday morning. Awesome trip, huh? I'm excited!

Guess what? I also voted today. I finished my absentee ballott and it will be sent in soon. My second presidental election, and I have now voted from two different countries... cool, huh? I thought so! Love you and miss you all!

Venice

Yes, the rumors you heard are true. I spent the weekend in Venice. My roommate, Maggie and I had a roomies trip. We flew from Sevilla to Milan (the fashion capital of the world) and took a train to Venice from there. The train station was everything I had hoped it would be. The train was great because we got to see lots of the countryside, which was beautiful. Here is a picture of the train station.

We spent Thursday and Friday exploring Venice. We stayed in a cabin/hostel thing. We only had 2 real Italian meals, in a successful effort to save some money. We got lost in Venice, which was planned, because we left our map at the hostel. We met our neighbors, Max and Sarah from Seattle. We also met some Gondola friends, Jess and Ian. That's right! I said Gondola! Not only did we get to ride a gondola, we got to ride it for 1/2 price because we made friends with the drivers! Great job, huh? We thought so. We also saw St. Marcos Plaza and the Grand canal.

We left Venice and it's all Italian autmosphere to view Milan on Saturday morning. We spent the day in Milan. No one there speaks English or Spanish, which made communication quite difficult. Maggie even dared to get her hair cut, although she couldn't speak the language. It turned out great, though. After a long day of shopping (and not buying) we headed to the airport on our first double decker bus! We had the whole top layer to ourselfes.... which is dangerous with a camera.

We spent the night in the cold, cold airport on the ground because our flight left at 6:30 am. We didn't want to get a hotel. Only catch? The airport closed at 10:30 p.m. hahahaha. Fun night overall. We came back into town exhausted, only to find we were locked out of our house and our family wasn't home. They quickly came to our rescue and we slept the day away. All in all a very good weekend.

Culture differences

-smoking is everywhere. Everyone does it

-Everyone here thows thier trash on the ground because the street sweepers come every night and clean the streets

-There is only one trashcan and one clock in the whole house...and no kleenex

-There is no phrase in Spanish for "Can I please have" only "I want" and "I need" Everyone here is very upfront. Oiga!

-You must wear shoes at all times, even walking around the house

-They don't ever drink milk... only EAT CHEESE!!!!

P.S.-My birthday is in 10 days. If you want to mail me something, you better get to it. Here is my address:

Jessica Fowler

44 Recaredo

41003 Sevilla, Spain

I expect lots of packages and mail!