The joy of a year abroad is it makes everything a little more accessible, it makes you a lot more spontaneous, and it brings about opportunities you don't normally have. Consequently, I've been lucky enough to go to places, see sights and do things I wouldn't necessarily have had the chance to do at home. In the past month, I've been to see The XX in an outdoor Spanish museum, followed by an impromptu dinner with three soldiers, showed the beautiful Em around this beautiful city including an educated visit to the Miró museum AND popped over to Paris to see my lovely Beth!
This concludes my high-class living. The 'not so much' part is the reason I haven't posted for so long. I had a run in with my laptop charger and spent a few days sin laptop. I hate how tech-dependent I am, but seriously, try a few days without internet. It's hard. Em and I also spent a day without electricity here which was pretty interesting. And this weekend I attempted to cook blondies (recipe by the fantastic blogger Lucy Burton) in the pre-caveman oven in my flat and failed horribly. Oh well, cake goo still tastes good.
Anywho, back to the good parts. Wow oh wow. If you haven't seen The XX live, even if you don't know them that well, for the love of Spain go and see them. This was the second time I was lucky enough to experience them and it was just chillingly good. As in, I still get goosebumps when I hear their music now. Minus a small disagreement between myself and a Spanish couple who believed it wasn't appropriate to cheer at the END of a song to show your appreciation. (¡¿QUE?!), the concert was so much fun that the night could have happily ended there.
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| Joy. |
However, it didn't. Somehow we found ourselves sitting outside a little tapas bar, tankards full of beer, with three American soldiers! Yes, this is my life. I really haven't laughed so much in one night; they were a right giggle and really showed the good stereotypes of Americans - they were AWESOME. My high opinion of them was further enhanced when we discovered one of them had casually taken care of the bill, no questions asked. I need to find me an American man if they're all like these boys were.
Cut to a few weeks later and my fabulous uni chum Em came out to spend six whole days here which was just glorious. It's so nice to not be in a rush showing someone around the city.
We tried to be cultural and visited the Modern Art Museum as well as the Miró museum. In the latter we ended up using the phrase 'I could have done that' more times than Miró probably would have liked. That and pointing out boobs in every painting. It's safe to say we're not art connoisseurs. We were far better food critics and visited a few of my favourite spots to test the cuisine, over and over again.
From one wonderful friend to another, I said goodbye to Em one day and was hopping on a plane to Charles de Gaulle the next! The jet set lifestyle is becoming ever so comfortable. I had a whirlwind stay in Paris with just two nights there but it was still such a perfect weekend. We ate more than our body weight and then some of delicious French food. In my previous trips to Paris I've managed to tick off the main sights, so we were able to do a bit more wandering around and just soaking up the culture. And when I say soaking up the culture I mean serving it up on a plate and eating it. Boy was it good.
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| Brunch o'clock. |
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| 150 years of sheer, heavenly joy. |
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| And the obligatory whatshisface tower photo. |
And in other news:
My street seems to get smellier and more vermin-filled every day; I'm not sure it passes as 'authentic' and 'quirky' anymore.
I recently discovered that some of Vicky Cristina Barcelona was filmed near my flat, although I need to see the film to confirm. The reason I know this is that in the local fruit & veg shop there is a picture of the young, frantic but always smiling girl who works there with...Woody Allen. I almost dropped my spuds when I saw it.
Lastly, a huge, HUGE congratulations to all of my amigos who have finished uni for good! It absolutely terrifies me to think you are all grown-ups now, but I'm sure it terrifies you more so we'll leave it at that.
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