Airports and Airplanes and Customs Oh My...

Hello everyone!

After a week in Montreal and three days in Spain, I'm back in Paris for the long(ish) haul of the semester. While I wasn't in Montreal for the best of reasons, it was still nice to see the whole family. It was a sad weekend, but it allowed for all of us to be together which doesn't happen very often. 

I had already made plans to go to Madrid to visit my friend Jessalyn and decided to go through with them instead of coming straight back to Paris. My classes hadn't started yet, so it was a convenient moment to get some traveling done.

I loved Madrid! I can barely remember being there in high school because it was such a different experience. When you're with a group of Americans being herded from one destination to another and too young to 

really enjoy the nightlife, a city definitely seems different. Some things though, like the Plaza Mayor are pretty unforgettable.

The first night in Madrid, I was somewhat tired after having done an overnight flight from Montreal with a short stop in Paris. I met up with Jess at my hostel and we walked to a nearby tapas bar. Another thing that's great about Madrid is that it's SO much cheaper than Paris! I almost laughed when we got our first bill - an entire meal cost less than a salad does in Paris.

The next day, we brought lunch to the Plaza Mayor and went to see La Guernica at the Reina Sofia modern art museum. We had both been before, sin

ce we participated in the same exchange in Madrid during high school, but La Guernica is the kind of painting that you can see again and again. That night, we managed to get into a flamenco show at Casa Patas. The manager was nice enough to let us in at the last minute even though we didn't have

 reservations. The show was amazing! I love flamenco music. It was separated into three parts, one with a female dancer, then a male dancer, then the two of them together, all with a five person band behind them. That was the one thing I wanted to do while in Spain, and I was so excited that I got the chance.

After flamenco, Jess and I went to meet some of her friends from her Duke program, and we went out to the discotecas. All

 techno music like most European clubs, but it's always fun to see how people dress and dance differently.

My flight was leaving at 5:00 on Sunday, so we only had a little bit of time in the morning. We went to the rastro, which is a HUGE outdoor market. I bought a really nice purse for 5 euro and a scarf for 2. Overall, Madrid was a great trip. It was nice to have a little bit of a buffer between Montreal and Paris. And I was pleasantly surprised that I had retained most of my spanish - I was worried that a few years off from class would but a

 dent in it, but it was easy to get back into. People in Madrid are also so friendly, which is a refreshing change from Paris, where they're a little bit more reserved.

I started classes this morning, but only had my grammar class with my program. Later this week, I'll be starting classes at the Sorbonne, which I'm excited about. It's weird to think about my friends at Yale starting midterms when I haven't even started, so my semester will seem really short. Next week, I go to Aix-en-Provence in southern France for a week-long homestay with a family, and the following weekend I go to London to visit Barb and Jeremy. A lot of things at once, but I'm excited!

xo

Stephanie