Paris and the like
Time for my monthly update, it seems. Spring is in full swing, or at least that's what the kids tell me when I ask them what season we are in every day, because in Madrid, it morphs into spring in March and stays that way until June. This spring so far has been punctuated by a rigorous work schedule, running training schedule, private class schedule, university schedule, etc. But last weekend, I got a welcome reprieve from the grind, in the form of a trip to Paris to visit the lovable and wonderful Georgia W. Fu.
To those of you who don't know, G-Fu was one of my suite mates freshman year at Brittany, and we shared some good times, mostly involving Spongebob Squarepants, the nerd Michael from Faye's cafe, and the song "Last Christmas I gave you My heart" But Georgia is a very special girl in that she has a variety of interests that fascinate me, too, and now include international travel. After stints in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, her birthplace, studying Mandarin like a badass, she decided to kick back in Paris with an internship at the International Herald Tribune.
Our trip commenced with a lovely lunch filled with lots of catch-up conversation, since it had been more or less two years since we had last seen each other (though we had communicated with letters since then). We walked through the Luxemburg gardens and ate fresh sandwiches, she took me to Shakespeare and Company, an amazing English bookstore that has nearly everything that I wish we had in Madrid, we walked by the river, by the louvre, the gardens, and watched an episode of My So-Called Life called" The Zit" which was amazing.
I think that I enjoyed this trip more than anything not only because of the good company, but because it was the first time I have been to Paris and not felt like a tourist. Maybe it was because I stayed with Georgia at her apartment, maybe it was because we did normal everyday things like go to the supermarket and go to the movies, and maybe it was because we did not follow the normal tourist crowds. But it was very relaxing. The entire time I was there, I had flashbacks to my trip last year celebrating my sister Anna's graduation from high school and it made me remember all of the good times that we had back then and how it didn't feel like it was so long ago. I have a lot of great memories in Paris with both my family and friends from study abroad, and now with G-Fu, and I'm excited to go back and make more someday.
In other news, the half marathon is coming up in just two weeks and then Semana Santa when I will see the fam again. I just got off the phone with them tonight, and it makes me realize how much I miss them and curse the continents for being so far apart.
To those of you who don't know, G-Fu was one of my suite mates freshman year at Brittany, and we shared some good times, mostly involving Spongebob Squarepants, the nerd Michael from Faye's cafe, and the song "Last Christmas I gave you My heart" But Georgia is a very special girl in that she has a variety of interests that fascinate me, too, and now include international travel. After stints in both Hong Kong and Taiwan, her birthplace, studying Mandarin like a badass, she decided to kick back in Paris with an internship at the International Herald Tribune.
Our trip commenced with a lovely lunch filled with lots of catch-up conversation, since it had been more or less two years since we had last seen each other (though we had communicated with letters since then). We walked through the Luxemburg gardens and ate fresh sandwiches, she took me to Shakespeare and Company, an amazing English bookstore that has nearly everything that I wish we had in Madrid, we walked by the river, by the louvre, the gardens, and watched an episode of My So-Called Life called" The Zit" which was amazing.
I think that I enjoyed this trip more than anything not only because of the good company, but because it was the first time I have been to Paris and not felt like a tourist. Maybe it was because I stayed with Georgia at her apartment, maybe it was because we did normal everyday things like go to the supermarket and go to the movies, and maybe it was because we did not follow the normal tourist crowds. But it was very relaxing. The entire time I was there, I had flashbacks to my trip last year celebrating my sister Anna's graduation from high school and it made me remember all of the good times that we had back then and how it didn't feel like it was so long ago. I have a lot of great memories in Paris with both my family and friends from study abroad, and now with G-Fu, and I'm excited to go back and make more someday.
In other news, the half marathon is coming up in just two weeks and then Semana Santa when I will see the fam again. I just got off the phone with them tonight, and it makes me realize how much I miss them and curse the continents for being so far apart.