Julie and Bob take on Bilbao!

Hey everyone! so this weekend my parents were here, and it was a good time! They got in around 2:30 on Friday. I went to pick them up at the airport and then we headed back to the hotel and got settled in. Then I just showed them around my school and the area we were staying. They were exhausted, so they called it quits pretty early and I just headed back home.

Saturday we went to the Guggenheim in the morning. It was my first time going, and to my surprise I really enjoyed it! It's a modern art museum, and while lots of the things were way over my head, I really enjoyed some of the exhibits. After the Gugg, we met my host mom in Casco Viejo (old town) and had a nice lunch. The food was delicious and even though I had to translate everything, i think the lunch went pretty well! Then Carmen left and we wandered around Casco Viejo for a bit. Then I headed back home because I was going out for Stephanie's 21st. So I went home, showered, ate, and then headed over to Steph's place to pregame. It was a a blast! Then I went with them over to Fever, a club, but didn't go in because it got late and I knew I had to wake up in the morning...

Sunday I met up with them and we went to get our rental car, and then we hit the road! First stop - Bermeo. This is the most famous port town in Pais Vasco (basque country) and was really neat. We just walked along the ocean and a bit into the town, grabbed some pintxos, and then moved on. Our next stop was Bakio. Another probably cool town, but unfortunately it was SOOO foggy we couldn't see anything! The road we were driving along seemed gorgeous too, but we didn't get to enjoy any of it :-( Below is a pic of what we saw out the window. haha

Final stop for the day was Gernika, probably one of the most important places in Pais Vasco. in like... the 1300's! they would hold their governmental meetings there underneath an oak tree. They have not the original, but the succesor petrified and displayed nicely. They say that the oak tree is probably the most known symbol of Pais Vasco.

We ended up getting back to the hotel around 6:30. My mom and I were starving, so we grabbed drinks and dinner while my pops rested. He wasn't feeling great... Now they are off in San Sebastian and going to head into France on Wednesday. Looks like it is supposed to be beautiful all week so that is good! And I am planning on taking a nice long walk today, and tomorrow it's supposed to be like 77! so if I can I will def be hitting up the beach.

that's all for now, hasta luego!!

hell week finally almost over!

weekend - FINALLY!

this week has been awful. My computer is still failing big time, and my sunglasses broke on me yesterday. haha shit.

but it's the weekend now, and so i am going to look ahead and hope that things start turning around! parents get here tomorrow, looking forward to it!

would write more, but about to chat with Dell support. hopefully they will be helpful today unlike yesterday!

strugglin

gahhh. this week is soo shitty and it's only tuesday.

tomorrow is Miriam's funeral back home. so wish i could be there so say a last goodbye and to support my friends who are hurting wayyyyy more than me. i'm surprised to see how much this has affected me, seeing as how we havent been as close the past few years. I think it's because I have known her for forever. it's just weird knowing I won't ever see her again. and also the fact that i am sooo far away from home. the only way i am getting updates is by googling her name, which is so sad.

on top of that, my computer is failing big time. i can't open anything and I am seriously concerned it's going to crash on me soon. ughh

just looking forward to my parents coming on friday! it will be nice to have a piece of home here with me

sorry for the past 2 posts, ps. i know whoever reads this does so to hear about my adventures, not my emo-ness. but i needed to write this down somewhere... hopefully the next few days will fly by and then i can start looking forward to some more things coming up

only the good die young <3

The New Trier class of 2007 is falling apart. We have lost our third member, and this time it was completely unexpected and unfair. Miriam Frankl was crossing the street at her university when she was struck by a hit and run driver. She died on Saturday.

I haven't been that close with her in recent years, but I have known her for forever. She was one of my closest friends at Hebrew school and I will forever treasure all the times we shared there (mainly when her me and annie would skip out on high holiday services and hang out in the bathroom for as long as possible haha). Then throughout high school, we shared a mutual good friend, Tess, who kept us in touch. We would hang out periodically at parties during the school year and over the summer. I by no means can claim her as a close friend, but she was definitely someone who lit up the room and who I always enjoyed hanging out with. My thoughts go out to her family and friends.

what a lovely afternoon!

So yes, another post from today. This afternoon was absolutely GORGEOUS! Around 4 I left my apt to take a stroll along the beach. I walked for about an hour by myself, then met up with Brittany. We took some awesome pics on the rocks along the water, and then did some rock climbing. haha. Then we walked some more, picked up an ice cream cone, and enjoyed watching the sun begin to set.

Then we headed over to a bar around 7 to watch the beginning of the soccer game. the people get instense watching it! it was fun, but for some reason we were both pooped and decided to just head home.

But it was honestly such an amazing afternoon. I still can't believe where I am living, and how unbelievably beautiful it is. The idea that I can walk for 5 minutes and be at the ocean is incredible. And I just love Bilbao soooo much! It isn't touristy so when you come here, you get straight up Spain. People expect you to speak spanish, not half ass it. Every day I am just sooo glad I chose Bilbao over other cities because of the incredible culture it has and how beautiful the city is. haha i could go on for days about it, but I will spare you. Here are a few pics from my afternoon though!

see what i mean by beautiful?

a beautiful day spent in southern france!

Hi!

So yesterday was a fabulous day! I had an 6:15am wake up call which was pretty rough, but totally worth it! with CIDE (the program I am here on) we had a trip to a couple towns on the coast in Southern France. First stop was St. Jean de Luz (picture to the left). A cute little town with picture perfect houses and streets. We went to (go figure) a church, but then had some time to wander around and explore the streets a bit. I first went and got some coffee to wake myself up, then we went in and out of the shops all along this one street. I ended up buying this sweet plate. Something you wouldnt imagine I would buy. It's tile with green and red, and the Basque symbol in the middle. (green and red are the Basque colors). I want to get some other Basque souveneirs, but most of the ones are kinda tacky. So this is something that I will be able to have out forever! because it is more of a decorative thing than normal tacky things to buy.

Then we headed to Biarritz, which was absolutely gorgeous. It was like a mini Paris with it's brand name shopping, but it was on the coast and has some of the most incredible views. We had 20 minutes right when we got there to explore a tiny bit. Of course I ran to the Longchamp store since I didn't have time to pick up one in Paris and bought a purse for my mom and I. Then there was an incredible market that was under all these tents. All the food you could imagine, soo incredibly fresh. I bought a crossiant with chocolate in the middle, and then a container of fresh rasberries. Delish! We then went to this lookout point and took tons of pics. Absolutely incredible! (wanted to post pictures, but it's failing. so check my fb for pics of Biarritz!)

Then we grabbed some lunch which I did not enjoy very much, and made one last stop (in northern spain this time though) and headed home. It was a great way to spend a day!

Still recovering from my cold, but I'm hoping I get better ASAP so i can get back out and enjoy some more Spain nightlife! Haha I haven't been out in over 2 weeks, and for those of you who know me, you know I'm probably itching to get back out on the town!

Will post agian soon!

Au Revoir!

...

Not much been going on lately. I have been sick ever since Paris. I think the weekend was just a little overwhelming for my body... SO much walking! so I have had this pretty bad cold. Cough and runny nose... blah. I went to the Spanish doctor on Tuesday. Ha that was interesting! but i managed to explain what was wrong and got medicine for it, so I felt pretty good afterwards!

Today we booked hostels for Barcelona and Morocco. Looks like Anna and her friends from school AND karen will all be in barcelona the same weekend, so we are all going to book the same hostel. Woo! soooo pumped!

Then I went shopping with Molly, Alyssa and Paige. Didn't buy any clothes but I got a pair of flats that I LOVE, a new scarf, gloves, and a headband! So i would call the outing a success. Still looking for some baller boots though. and a new purse

South of France for the day tomorrow with the school! Looking forward to it! especially since there is a chance i may just end up staying til sunday.... we shall see!

Agur!

Versailles and Paris!!!

Ahhhhh just got back from the most amazing weekend everrrrr! I went to Versailles and Paris with Molly, Alyssa, Stephanie, Nisha, and Ron and could not have had a better time! They are both such amazing cities (in very different ways). And it was just crazy seeing all those historical spots that you have seen pictures of forever. my post is probably going to be fairly long, so prepare yourselves. I am going to do my best though to just briefly describe my experiences everywhere...

First stop - Versailles. We were dropped off at the Palace which is incredible. Huge and beautiful! Then you could either go in and get a tour, or just wander around the town. Me, Alyssa, Ron and Molly did the latter. We first were walking around and stumbles upon the most amazing garden! It wasn't the famous one. There was no one in there, and it was HUGE with tons of beautiful flowers, lots of trees, a pumpkin/squash patch, fig and apple trees, some cool structures and was really just a cute place to walk around. Then we walked over to the Cathedral Saint Louis and walked around in there. The outside was very pretty, but the inside was just like every other church... Then we grabbed our first crepes of the trip and headed b

ack to the bus to go to paris!

So on day 1 in Paris we saw...

Arc de Triomphe - So Cool! A beautiful arc in the middle of 12? streets. From there we walked to...

The Eiffel Tower!!!! Definitely my favorite thing of the trip. It was a beautiful day f

or it, too! We waited in line for a while, then finally got to climb up! There were sooooooo many stairs, but the view from the first and second levels were great. Then we had to take an elevator to go up to the top, and we were there while the sun was setting. It was absolutely incredible! It felt so surreal for all of us to finally be at the eiffel tower!

Then we grabbed dinner at a restaurant by our hotel. We all devoured our food because we were starving! then we went back to the hotel, showered and changed, and headed to Sacre Couer. We went there at night because a girl on our program said it was beautiful at night, and it was! you could get a view of the Eiffel Tower and the whole city, so definitely glad i went. Although there was a wine festival there earlier in the day, so we were surrounded by drunks.

From Sacre Coeur we walked over to Moulin Rouge. A hilarious area, full of sex clubs and crazy discos. Looked like a fun area, but definitely lots of creepers around. We hung out o

utside Moulin Rouge for a while, and then finally we were exhausted and it was like 1:30 in the morning so we headed home.

Day 2 - First stop: Musee d'Orsay. This is probably my favorite museum I have ever been to. They had paintings by Monet and van Gogh, two of my favorites. And there was an artist, Sisley, who I don't think I have heard of but I really liked their stuff. Overall a great museum

Then we headed to Notre Dame. Another historical place. Not one of my favorites of Paris, but of course something you need to see when you are there. And just a couple minutes away is Sainte Chapelle. Most amazing stained glass windows I have ever seen! They were incredible!

Then we had lunch and headed over to the Pantheon and Luxembourg garden. Pantheon was alright and the garden was beautiful!

To end the day, we headed over to the Louvre to take some pics of the building and of course the pyramid. The we walked down Champs-Elysees for a while. They are having this thing there for Vogue where they have all their famous covers in a row. It was really cool! And by the time we actually got to all the fancy stores, our feet were killing us so we decided to go home instead of shop.

Yesterday we had our bus ride home.

It was absolutely miserable except w

e did stop at Chateau Chombard which was absolutely beautiful! I like castle's a lot more I decided when they are surrounded by beautiful landscape rather than plopped in a city

Overall it was an INCREDIBLE weekend. Paris was everything I imagined and more. It felt so surreal to be in the city and seeing all those incredible things. Only regret was that I never made it to the Longchamp store.... But I guess that means I'll have to go back!

just a quick update

Hi!

so, not too much has been going on this week. Got my test back in gramatica and did well, so I was happy about that! Then yesterday was Jes' 21st birthday! i was so sad that I was missing it, so me and my friend Alyssa went out and I toasted my drinks to her. I hope she is alive this morning!!! haha

Tonight Going over to Nisha's with all the people who are going to Paris this weekend (Nisha, Stephanie, Molly, Alyssa). Nisha is cooking dinner, I'm bringing the wine, and other people are bringing bread and dessert. We are going to enjoy a nice dinner and then plan what all we are going to see in Paris. Looking forward to it!

hiya!

Fun last couple days!

I had my grammar test on Thursday, and I think it went pretty well, so that's always nice. Then Thursday night was a party at this awesome bar called The Loft with all the Erasmus kids (the name of the program for all international students) and some local people. It was crazy fun! Although I will say that I probably drank a little bit too much because I was NOT feeling so hot friday morning... haha oops.

Then yesterdayI slept in and was lazy for a while, but then a group of us went kayaking in the river that runs through Bilbao! It was me, Molly, Brittany, Danyel, Rachel, and Ron. We didn't really know where to go, but found the place pretty easily. Then we met the people who run it and had a pleasant surprise with some finally good looking spanish men! haha. Then we all changed into wetsuits, got our lifejackets on, partnered up, and went out! It was a beautiful evening, so a great time to do a relaxing ride. Definitely not strenuous at all, but very fun. So glad we went! Here's a pic of all the ladies before we went:

Stayed in last night due to my extreme hangover in the morning. This morning I went to this small art fair in my town and found the perfect gift for my dad - very excited about it! It's something that was made by a woman who lives 2 netra stops away from me, so that was definitely cool. Not sure what's in store for the rest of the day, but definitely plan on going out later! I'll post again shortly I'm sure.

Agur!