Birthday Adventures and Misadventures

Just two weeks ago I turned 21! I really can't believe it myself... Maria surprised me with a tarta de galletas, a typical Spanish cake. The cookies were soaked in coffee and then layered with a chocolate pudding-like frosting. Yum!

That night I went out with a group of girls from my orientation group and I had a really good time with them. In the bar people sang me Happy Birthday in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Unfortunately, in the club I put down my jacket with my phone and wallet in the pockets and they were stolen. The wallet without the cash was recovered, but the phone was not. I feel so useless without a phone!
On Friday morning we began birthday celebration round two by hopping on a plane to Paris. I was happy to be going, but wasn't sure what to expect. What I found was a city much more charming than I had imagined. The idea of it had been so romanticized that I thought it would be even slightly disappointing, but it wasn't. We struggled a bit getting from the train station to the hostel without a map or a phone with internet, but we found it eventually with the help of a friendly Frenchman. We also found the Sacre Coeur on the way there.

Not to mention the weather and the view were spectacular.

 The hostel itself was very cute and I really enjoyed my stay there. They gave us our much-needed map and we set off walking towards the Eiffel Tower. We passed so many grand buildings and charming streets that our walk down there gave us a really great taste of Paris. I don't even know what half the landmarks we saw were!

Lunch: pastry with cheese and sausage! Ordering this was about the time we realized we knew no French at all.

Had to sample these. From left: Raspberry-filled, chocolate chip, chocolate, apricot-filled, and candied orange.

No idea what this is.

Opera House?

We found the Arc de Triomphe!

It's a lot bigger than I expected.

When we caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, Miranda and I freaked out a little bit haha. So exciting to see it in person!

Golden Hour

Sunset

Night

We didn't have enough time to rush to the Louvre, so we decided to find some dinner. Surprisingly, we didn't find very many options near the tower. When we finally picked a place, I decided to splurge and get some fancy scallops and green beans.

The next day, we started out with a trip to the Luxembourg Gardens. We wanted to see it before it started to rain. It didn't end up raining that day, but it was very chilly and overcast.

I had to capture that lip action.

After failing to find crepes nearby, we headed towards Notre Dame. we stopped on the way to see the Pantheon, and happened to find our crepes! I think they were pretty stingy with the chocolate.

It was pretty magnificent. I loved the towering ceilings and candlelight, the hushed voices.
Then it was lunch time! Miranda and I split a sandwich and French onion soup. YUM

And then we caved and got more crepes. Nutella this time.

I was so happy

Then we decided we'd go to Versailles! It was a bit of a struggle getting there. There are many train station stops called "Versailles". We had to ask two different people in the station for help, but we eventually made it! We had to go fast through the palace because it was closing soon, but we saw everything we needed to see. It was very gaudy. I preferred the gardens. They were HUGE.

If you look to the left, you'll see some people in military uniforms. There were people like this all over Paris, even in the airport.

When we got back to the hostel, Miranda invited two of her roommates (Stephane, the Frenchman, and Jeremy, an American) to come to dinner with us. We went to a place nearby called Renaissance and Stephane convinced me to order foie gras, saying it was one of his favorite things to eat. There it was on the menu: homemade foie gras with apple and strawberry coulis. I decided to go on a food adventure and ordered it.

It was a mistake. I couldn't form an opinion at first... I covered it with the fruity coulis and kept going. I ate about half of it when I stopped and admitted I couldn't eat it anymore, I didn't like it. Stephane tried some and immediately grimaced. "It's disgusting!" he cried out in his French accent. I was like come on, you told me to eat this! He said that they must have added something to it, because it was not like other foie gras he's eaten. He told me to order it again the next day and eat the real stuff. I said no thanks. I could already feel the onset of a stomach ache. After dinner, Miranda and I went with Sephane to see Moulin Rouge all lit up. That street was crazy.
The last day, we started out by checking out of the hostel and going to the Louvre. The line was long, but it was free and definitely worth the wait. We hit all the exhibits that we were interested in, but by the time we got to the Mona Lisa, we were exhausted.

I wish we had the time and the energy to see the whole museum. I wish we had time and energy to see the other museums that Paris has to offer! I plan on coming back one day.
So the rest of the trip was just a whirlwind. We ate lunch and booked it back to the hostel, got our bags, got back on the metro, couldn't figure out which train was right. Two people told us we were in the wrong place, but we were right all along. We are realizing we are going to cut it very close to our flight time. We arrive at the tram station, my card is getting denied so Miranda pays, we hop on the tram, arrive at the airport as our gate is closing, we run to the information desk and she shows us which direction to run. We run, we scan our boarding passes but the doors to our terminal won't open, we run to the Vueling desk and tell the lady to call the gate, she practically laughs at us, makes the call, and says it's too late. We decide to fly out the next morning. I eat leftover snack nuts for dinner. We sleep on top of towels and dirty laundry under some stairs (I've never felt more homeless). The next morning, we get up and ignore the strange looks we are getting from people passing by. Thankfully we get on the plane no problem and make it back to beautiful Seville. This amazing city has never felt more like home!!
Long story short, for my 21st birthday I got a lot of life lessons. The morning of my birthday, I did not feel any older. But I do now.