Post-Travel Videos - Paris Day One

Hola! 

Yep, this blog is still happening! Aren't you happy you checked on it today?

Anyways, today's video documents the day when Laura, Maddie, and I roamed the streets of Paris for the first time. We saw all the major sites: Notre Dame, Seine River, Lover's Lock Bridge, Lourve Museum, Champs de Elysées, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower.

What a day! 


Stay tuned for upcoming videos:
Paris Day Two
Brussels
Bruges
Amsterdam
...and even a surprise video!

Cheers,
Anna

Post-Travel Videos - Marseille

Hola! 

Is anyone still reading this blog? I hope so! In fact, you should comment on this entry if you are currently viewing my website! Anyways, today's post is finally ready! It is a video on my time in Marseille, France. I know I already posted about my time in France, but making a video brings it more to life. 

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Anna

Final Hike in Segovia

Hola! 

Recently, I have told some of my faithful followers that I would make more posts about my time abroad. As you know, I post-traveled without a computer and so I could not easily blog about my final adventures. Then, I returned home to Minnesota and had to quickly unpack, see friends, and then repack and move to Columbia, Missouri (where I am now). Thus, I have been extremely busy and have not had time to tend to my blog. 

That is, until now. Today is the day! On this gloomy Memorial Day, I decided to spend the morning updating old entries (I added more photos to recent posts- check it out) and creating a new video blog. This video is about my final two days in Segovia. 

Enjoy!

Cheers to a wonderful semester!

Cheers,
Anna

Bus Thoughts - Paris Day One

Hola!

Today, my friends and I are leaving Paris and are taking a bus to Brussels, Belgium! It's crazy how fast this trip and these cities are passing - we are halfway done!

One thing that will never cease to amaze me is the fact that you can get to an entirely new city or country in a few short hours. It took us two hours to get from Madrid to Marseille, three hours from Marseille to Paris, and now four hours from Paris to Brussels. It's cheap, too! This bus ticket price was €25 (and it's not even our cheapest transportation cost!). I love it. In fact, I think the quick speed and inexpensive cost of travel and adventure is one of the greatest things I am going to miss about my time in Europe.

Anyways, this bus has free wifi, so I thought I would use my blogger application on my iPhone to write a quick post about my amazing two days in Paris, France!

It's incredible all you can do in 48 hours. On our first day, we started by getting Nutella crepes at one of the many Parisian cafes in the city. It was made hot and fresh in front of us - yum! Next, we took a free walking tour and were guided around the top sites by an American living in Paris. As we walked, he told us all about the history of places such as Notre Dame, lover's lock bridge, the Lourve museum, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs de Elysses, and the Eiffel Tower. It was fascinating.

I can check "eat a crepe in Paris" off my bucket list!

I am a big fan of the free walking tours that are available in major European cities because the young workers are always passionate about their city. They are knowledgable and tell you helpful tips about traveling throughout the town too. Plus, their salary is dependent on tips, so they work for their money! I love starting a trip with a walking tour because you 1) get situated in the unfamiliar land 2) see many of the major sites and 3) learn a lot, which makes you appreciate the city and its people.

We learned about equestrian statuary during the walking tour.
Specifically, our guide spoke of the symbolism of the horse's front legs.
If both are in the air, it means the person riding the horse died in battle.
If only one leg is up, it means the person died of unnatural causes (e.g. murder)
If both are rooted on the ground, it means the person died naturally. 

After the tour, we decided to walk the Champs de Elysses to the Arc de Triomphe. It is such an iconic street filled with shops and people. The only purchase I made was a jar of peanut butter, which was a surprising find!

The Champs de Elysses leads up to the Arc de Triomphe

It was fun window shopping on this iconic street!

Arc de Triomphe

Next, we walked along the river to the Eiffel Tower. By this time, it was getting late so we wanted to stop at a cafe for dinner. Unfortunately, everything was ridiculously expensive! All of the entrees were priced around €20-30, which equates to $25-35. My friends and I were not going to pay the price, so we decided to buy baguettes from a local bakery instead - it only cost us €0.60, so it was much better! With our baguettes and peanut butter in hand, we made a picnic on the Eiffel Tower lawn and had dinner while watching the sunset. We spent hours in this spot, laughing and reminiscing about our wonderful semester. It was a surreal experience - I felt like I was looking at a photograph because it was so beautiful and perfect.

Picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower!

Eiffel Tower at dusk

To end the night, we crossed the bridge to get a wonderful view of the tower lit up at night. As if it weren't pretty enough, it starts to sparkle and glitter with lights at 10 PM. It was an incredible sight to see!

What a sight to see!

Well, I've come to realize that my trip to Paris deserves more than one post, so I'm going to stop now.

Stay tuned for Paris: Day Two (we did even more on this day!).

Cheers,
Anna

Ps. Did I mention that I'm trying to last the week on €40? That's all the euros I have left, and I want to see if I can make it through without having to visit the ATM. Oh, and my debit card expires after today, too. Wish me luck!

Paris Preview

Hola! 

I decided I would do another post because I am absolutely thrilled to be going to Paris in the morning! With this, I wanted to dedicate an entry to preview what I hope to do and see in the next two days:

Midnight in Paris 

Arc de Triomphe

Beautiful both day and night!

Montmartre Walk

Parisian neighborhood

Shakespeare and Company Bookshop

Located across from Notre Dame on the left bank

Pierre Hermé

World famous macarons! 

Jardin du Luxembourg

Beautiful gardens!

Eiffel Tower

Cliche, but it's still a must!

Lourve Museum

Another cliche, but a must in Paris!

Cheers,

Anna

Marseille, France

Hola! 

Today was a fabulous and relaxing day in the south of France! After getting some well needed rest, we caught the metro and bus to Calanque de Morgiou. There, we hiked and went to the Mediterranean Sea. It was incredibly peaceful and had some of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. 

My favorite part of the day was lunch. We packed food and hiked to the top of a mountain that overlooked the water. There, we ate and chatted about our amazing experiences that we have had so far this semester. We are so blessed! 

View from where we stopped to have our bag lunches

Maddie and I on our French hike!

Our hike was incredibly beautiful!

After the hike, we took the metro to the Marseille port and walked around the cute neighborhood filled with shops and cafés. It started to rain, so we decided to grab Starbucks (got another mug!) and head home to make dinner in our amazing apartment.

View from the port!

We are having another relaxing night again because our train for Paris leaves at 6:00 AM tomorrow! I can't wait!

Cheers,
Anna

Welcome to Heaven Hotel

Hola! 

Today, Maddie and I left Segovia and embarked on our post-travel adventure! We took the bus to Madrid at 9:00 AM and then caught a 1:40 PM plane to Marseille, France. There, we met up with our friend Laura Kosch, who studied abroad in London this semester! 

Tonight, we decided to lay low as we arrived around 5:00 PM. We checked into our apartment, which is amazing by the way. I am used to sharing a dorm room in a hostel when traveling, so I am obsessed with this place. We have two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom all to ourselves. It's so pretty and clean, too. 

Wanna hear the best part? It's cheaper than hostels here in the south of France.

Anyways, so we have simply walked around, went grocery shopping, and cooked dinner in our apartment tonight. Specifically, we ate vegetable stir-fry, soup, and salad. Yum. 

Our lovely dinner!

Now, we are pulling all of the beds into the living room so that we can all sleep in the same room - slumber party style! We are about to watch a movie on Laura's computer too - so pumped. 

Never too old for slumber parties!

First day of post travel: relaxing with close friends - all I ever wanted after a long semester. 

Cheers,
Anna