down to the low single digits?!

Sorry for not keeping you all updated. In the last week Spain has become almost like real school where I dive into studying and lose all touch with the outside worlds while I have papers to write and finals to take. I've been a bit stressed with papers in Spanish over 10 pages long... but I turned in the last one on Thursday and it felt great. I've got three exams left, one Monday, one Tuesday, and one Wednesday, but Thursday morning I will be getting on a plane on it's way to the USA. I'm so excited!

I was in Paris last weekend and it was great, but there was a lot of rain which was a bit of a downer. We had a really short trip - arriving late Thursday evening and having to leave on Saturday night - but we saw the big sites and enjoyed ourselves regardless. As soon as we got in on Thursday night we were dropped off near the Arc de Triomphe so we stopped there first, but it was already past midnight and we had to find our hostel before 2am before lock-out so we didn't have time for anything else. Our hostel was super cheap (21Euros/night - yay!) and pretty fun, bit it was not as cool as the one we got for Brussels. We were just happy the 5 of us were together in one room without any strangers and that they had a free breakfast in the morning.

Friday we started out by taking a free tour that was offered by our hostel. The Spanish group was a lot smaller so we decided that we should take the tour in Spanish. I was pretty happy because I understood it, but our tour guide was actually French and was speaking Spanish at her second language, so I am sure that helped. =) We walked around the Seine (the river that runs through Paris), saw the big basilicas, walked past Notre Dame, went by the Royal Palace and garden and checked out the outside of the Louvre (the huge art museum that hosts Da Vinci's Mona Lisa) and went for lunch with our group at a cute little sandwich shop. After this we took our first trip to the Eiffel Tower and had our own little photo shoot. ;-) We took photos near and far, in sepia, in black and white, and even one featuring a fake wedding proposal (we saw a real one later that night when we went up the tower!)

We headed back to the Louvre at this time because after 6 it was free for people under 26. It was rather packed, but we got to look around the see some paintings we knew, including the Mona Lisa. By this time the truth is we were really tired and just wanted to sit somewhere and get a snack. Regardless, we decided we had to add in a nighttime excursion back to the Eiffel Tower so we could go to the top and get a view of Paris at night. It was raining a bit and REALLY windy, but we got to go up and this was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. It was really scary going up - I don't know if i realized how high it was - but just amazing! As soon as we reached the top level (after riding two different elevators) we saw a man who had just proposed to his apparent girlfriend. It was so cute! We walked around the outside, feeling like we were about to be blown off the top by the wind, and got some great pictures. It was especially nice because there were more lights for the holiday season and the tower was all lite up too! We found some dinner around 11pm and then headed back to the hostel to rest up for the next day.

Saturday we started by just walked around the Latin Quarter a bit and doing some shopping. The Latin Quarter is a studenty area and it's fun to hang around in. We went back to Notre Dame after this so we could enter and take a look around. This church is not like anything else I've ever seen before! It was completely packed despite the weather (it was just about pouring on Saturday all day) and it certainly was impressionable. We were not very happy about being soaking wet so we didn't go far to get lunch - back to the Latin Quarter where we stopped for some Greek Gyros, a nice cheap option since all of our funds were running low. We had crepes after lunch (I got one with apple and cinnamon) and they were absolutely delicious!

After this we tried to go see Paris' Catacombs, but we just ended up lost and more wet than before, so we turned around and headed for the train station where we had to pick up the bus to the airport. Our plane was pretty late, but we made it back home safe and sound by around 2am.

This past weekend has been nice. I've got my 3 finals, but I have time to study and I really just want to spend time with the people here who I have become very good friends with and not be stressed out. There are definitely people here who I will miss a lot, but the good thing is that we can always meet up in the US again.

I'll try to write again before I leave on Thursday morning! Pictures aren't working right now so I will have to put those up later. Hope everyone is well and I can't wait to see everyone back home!