long update

ok so yesterday i got back from Barcelona...it was the best weekend i've had. I really enjoyed Spain and i would love to go back to Barcelona aka Catalonia. There is so much history there that i never even realized. For example this crazy ruler named Franco and how the Catalonia became apart of spain. This wouldnt be that interesting if it wasnt for the fact that this all just happened in the 1900s. I bought a book yesterday from WHSmith about catalonia and the struggle the people of barcelona went through in the 30s. The food of course was yummy...paellas and tapas...real cheap too. So we got to Barcelona around 1130am on Saturday, checked in, went up a tiny elevator to the top of the chris colombus monument, went to the beach, and took a bike tour at 4:30. The bike tour lasted 4hours and we went to a ton of places...Sagrada Familia, arc de triomph, city park, music hall, the cathedral, bull fighting arena, beach again, a square where Franco killed some Univ Professors, um and tons of other places. Got some grub from Happy's and got a little happy from the champagne...it was delicious. we woke up really early to go to the beach and people seemed like they were just getting back from clubs and going out. i dont know when they sleep in spain. walked around las ramblas saw more Gaudi buildings and went in the Sagrada Familia...which is not suppose to be done un til 2082!!!!!! Gaudi was a crazy man with an amazing gift but i think he might have been a little to compulsive at times. He died in 1928 by a tram(trolley) he was walking backwards looking up at his church he was building when a tram hit him....and they say only 30% of the church is done.....but it really does look like it is melting.
Amsterdam...i really enjoyed it...i know some people didnt find it that special but i really liked it. I loved all the canals flowing through the city and all the bikes that everyone is on looks fun. Me and this girl katie rented bikes for a whole day and saw so much. They say there are more bikes than people, and i probably almost died because of all the bikers. but while we were therer we went to the Van Gogh museum the rijks Museum and saw and amazing Rembrandt and Carvagio show. It was a Dutch and italian artist being compared to each other, these two artists painted at the same time and painted similar pictures from bible stories. It was so neat to see how different artist from different countries portrayed the same story. didnt smoke any weed...thought about it but i had too much fun on my bike to actually stop and buy some, plus i wasnt very good at stopping anyways. Also went to the Heineken Factory and the Anne Frank House. The anne frank house was much more moving and powerful than i thought...i forgot how amazing this little girl was and it made me want to read her diary again.

now back in paris for a few more days and i leave sunday the 2nd fro Italy...Florence, Rome and then off to Austria, PRague, munich, and switzerland. I miss everyone...and being in paris makes me miss home and america. It is very different here and i dont know if i could live here anymore...i would love to but i miss the convience and the lazy america way sometimes. I will be sad though to leave paris because the feeling you get walking around the city is something i cant explain, and i dont think any place could really compare.

short update

so i know i said i would update soon but things have been crazy....real quick
got back from Amsterdam on tuesday...saw my mom and grandma yesterday.....and today i am going to a ballet in the Opera house Palais Garnier! the music is all done to CHOPIN! ok i only have 12 minutes left.
tomorrow Patrick and i are going to SPAIN, Barcelona! i am so excited to get out of paris...i like it here i really do but i guess you can only take so much of a place before it gets old. not that it is boring....but it takes effort to do things. the metro isnt clean and it is always hot....you just have to have tons of energy to walk around and sightsee. anyways i gots to go. i miss yall! and i promise i will explain amsterdam and barcelona in full detail.

i dont know how much time i have

ok... so im at the internet cafe again. i dont know how much time i have so if i stop mid sentence you know why. so let me tell you about the FIAP...it is the hotel we are staying at...um it isnt that great....little british kids are running around slamming the door 247. the other night these drunk americans were talking outside my window and offering the 13 yr old kids a cigarette...i got so annoyed that i threw a piece of salami at them...it was funny because they didnt see the salami fall and just heard the splat so they thought the british teens spit at them. it has been so hot n paris the past few days. i know it isnt as hot as LA but there is no AC. being smushed in the metro with 500000000000 people who are all sweaty with no ac in the metro either is the worst. anyways starting with this past Sunday...
the first day of our Musee pass was the 11th....Pompideu center, it was all modern and the theme was motion, there was a ton of movie clips and they had fish swimming and being projected so their shadow would appear on the wall...
Then over to the Aquarium...small place but fish are always fun to look at
Over to Chateau Vinncenes... the spelling is all wrong i know....it had a dungeon and a mote...king Louis the 14th had his honeymoon there...and that was it
Then lastly to the cite Science ...it is like the childrens museum in NO but 10 times bigger...tons of buttons to push..space, water, electricity, sound, medical, i got to put my finger on a machine and they could recognize my prints on ly finger and pull up a picture that i took in the front of the museum, there is this sound booth where they have unusal nosies...a bunny dreaming, snails eating; ice thawing...it was very nerdy but cool.
Monday....Top of the arc du triomphe.... dome church where napolean is buried.... and to the Pantheon...207 steps to the top and the view was amazing.
Tuesday...versailles...once again spelling....IT was so HOOOOTTTT and there were so many people that it wasnt enjoyable but stil very neat and pretty to see...then to the top of the Notre Dame 387 steps...that was the best view so far...you can look out at Paris with the gargoyles right next to you.
Wednesday....um i spent 4 hours in the LOUVRE! it is huge but all the paintings; sculptures and artifacts are fun to see. and today im doing errands because tomorrow i leave for Amsterdam....so no emails for a while but hopefully i will have fun stories to tell about this 5 day trip to the Netherlands. love you guys!

this place is crazy

hello my friends...this is going to be long so get ready...
i am sorry about not updating 247, life in paris is not at all what i thought it would be. first of all i got here on the 29th last monday, now it is thursday 8th of june! i mean holy crap where has it all gone, but the strange thing is i feel like ive been here forever...the first week patrick and i just went exploring, pretty much hit up every garden there is in france...jardins, they are so amazing here, huge trees, tons of roses, little french kids, runners, and these gardens are massive. we did get somewhat lost in one garden and probably walked 14miles before we found our way out. this past saturday we went to giverny. this is where monet lived and is buried. we saw the bridge and the waterlilies. beautiful but not worth 20euros....i think i lost 10 pounds that day from all the walking. last friday i went to the louvre.HUGE, no one could only spend a day in there you need at least a week! so im going back this friday, its free from 6-10pm for those under 26. hmmmSunday i went to mass at Notre Dame, i almost cried when i heard the choir...i didnt understand anything but still amazing just to be in that building. On the first Sunday of every month many musees are free so i went to the Picasso and Rodin Museums....and that was last week
THis week...well classes are fun. we had art class in this near by parc where we just sat and drew....im not that good. im hoping that i can fool people and maybe i will get an A in that class. French is great, we just do the basics.numbers, hellos, goodbyes, food. real easy but its fun to just take classes and not feel pressured. um what else did errands, eh saw xmen 3...made plans for Barcelona24-26 of june. um went to 3 museums yesterday. Tuesday we went to the catacombs...its where millions of bones are on display in this tunnel. in the 1800s the graveyards were overflowing and the governtment had no other solution but to dig bodies up and stack their bones underground...really creepy but i have cool pictures of skulls! well i think that is it for now....it is really hard for me to get to an internet. the hotel we are staying at is really not as great as it started out to be. the internet is expensive and it doesnt work well. the food is no longer good, and it is expensive to wash clothes. i mean it is nice it is just that it seems people in europe do things so opposite. things are just very inconviently timed, things close early open late, things never open; things close when you wouldnt expect it....it is hard to get usto. but i love paris and the smell on the streets. people are nice but i have run across so arrogant parisians. but i mean america has people like that too...the eiffel is always beautiful. it doesnt matter how many times i see it, it still make my heart burst. its one of those chronic good feelings that will never ever diminish in intensity. anyways i love you guys and here is my address if you want to send anything. FIAP JEAN MONNET/ Alicia Wang - 30 rue Cabanis -75014 Paris - FRANCE ...if you want a postcard give me your address!