Last week in Europe: Barcelona and Madrid

(Video shot and edited by Ikram Abdulmajeed and me)

The fourteen-hour train ride from Lille to Barcelona was worth it as I made friends with two French ladies (Graca and Katia) with whom I shared the cabin. When we arrived at l'Estació de França in Barcelona, we ate un croissant for breakfast at a local restaurant across the train station. After we said our au-revoir's, I didn't think we would see each other again in a city of a population of more than one million, but how it's a small world and things happen for a reason (I believe), I did see them again after le petit-déjeuner.

I walked to the bus station 20 minutes away from the restaurant and put my belongings in a locker (5€ for 24 hours). I soon headed to the Arc de Triomf just a two-minute walk from the station, and who do I see taking pictures of the 1888 arch? Graca and Katia! I joined them on their city exploration in which we went to the Barcelona World Race sailboat exposition on Port Vell and had free yogurt treats by their sponsors. Our afternoon was very relaxing, and I enjoyed their compagnie very much...

I then met mon amie Charlotte who did a business internship in Barcelona for one semester. We went out that night to meet other friends from Lille who came for vacation. My first day in Spain was great thanks to mes amis (and I thought my French-speaking day

s would be over once here)! Merci Charlotte for your hospitality!

The next day, I went to the Barcelona Airport to meet one of my best friends, Ikram who will be doing a study abroad program in Barcelona to earn Spanish credit. I was so happy to see her after six months! We ate a kebab for lunch, found a hotel for the night and brought my luggages from Charlotte's place in the metro. It didn't happen so smoothly like that because started raining while we were rolling the suitcases...

But the next day, we managed to secure a chic apartment for her five-month stay while I acted as a Spanish interpreter between her and the real estate agent. Then, we met our friend Kafiyah who flew in from Arizona, so we could spend one week together in Ikram's future city!

For New Years Eve, we ate a Spanish dinner of paella and tapas de patatas walking-distance to Port Vell and the beach. We then walked to the infamous boulevard in central Barcelona, Las Ramblas, where we walked around and waited for the New Year. In the next days of the new year 2011, we went sightseeing of the city!

The days flew by as it was soon time to go to Madrid, so Kafiyah and I could take the flight back home to Arizona. We all bought ALSA bus tickets to make our eight-hour ride to the capital of Spain, Madrid. The ride did not seem that long to me because I slept for most of the ride and then read the newspaper.

When we arrived, we took an airport shuttle to a bus to the metro to our stop in Madrid's central square. The city in front of my eyes reminded me a bit of New York with its tall buildings, crowded streets and busy traffic. It is definitely a captivating scene especially at night!

We celebrated my birthday the next day on January 6th and went out to sightsee the city. Of course, I had to continue the the tradition of eating rosca de reyes on my birthday to celebrate the Three Wise Men, so I ordered a piece at a restaurant in the central square.

By nighttime, I went out with my Spanish friend, David, who I met at ASU when he did his study abroad one year ago. I tried the traditional dish of tortilla de patata mmm :) and then, we went out with some of his friends to a club called Cats. We socialized and danced a little until 2am because I had a flight to take the next day (which is technically today as I am typing this).

Gracias David for a great last night in Spain before boarding the plane back to the US!

So Ikram stays in Madrid for her study abroad program orientation, while Kafiyah and I go back to Arizona. I wish Ikram the best during her new chapter in her life, while my study abroad journey is ending. Hers is barely the start and mine the end, but what we shared this one week was another beautiful experience we can add to our memories bank...

Video compilation: last day in Lille

December 28th was my last jour in Lille, France for my foreign exchange.

Mon ami Guillaume picked me up from my host family's home.

I said au revoir to all of them with hugs and kisses.

It was very sad to leave them after two months.

I really felt their affection and cried with them.

I hope that I will come back one day...

Thank you everyone who made this experience wonderful! Merci beaucoup!

In the meantime, I left for my last week in Europe to Barcelona, Spain where one of my best friends, Ikram, will start her foreign exchange in January for one semester. This will be my last week in Europe to celebrate the new year and my birthday. Look at my next blog post!

My first white Christmas

(Photo by Dominique, my host dad)

As the title hints, I experienced my first white Christmas-- the snow gave me that American film-feeling to my Christmas celebration this year. It was beautiful! The picture above is in the neighborhood I resided for my last two months with my very nice host family or famille d'accueil. They were kind enough to accept me into their home not as their son's past French class college student, but as a motivated French-language learner in a foreign country.

I am very thankful to have spent Christmas with them because I missed my family back in Arizona and our usual tradition of going to my grandparent's house and eating Mexican delicacies. However, I got to experience the French culture during my homestay. Everyone just made me feel like a part of the famille. For Christmas Eve or le reveillon my host mom, Isabelle, made a variety of hors d'oeuvres platters, in which I helped cut mini-tomatoes and fill them with tuna.

All the platters looked so delicieux, but we waited for both mami and papi (grandparents) to arrive and start the feast. I had a wonderful celebration and even received some presents: Harry Potter dictionary and a chocolate box. Merci!

Snowball fight

A short video about my snowball experience

with my host brother, Paul, and host sister, Gladys.

It is in their hometown of Linselles, France.

Enjoy! Amusez-vous! :)

Adieu, Franco-American Club!

Some of my French students and I at the Franco-American Club at Lambersart.

We did a small fête de noël at the Franco-American Club at Lambersart where we sang Christmas songs in English and enjoyed chocolate-covered fruit and marshmallows thanks to Elisabeth's fontaine du chocolat!



I will miss my French students where I taught them English every Wednesday evening. Both of my beginner classes were wonderful, and I will never forget this experience!

Merci à tous! Vous allez me manquer!

Picture slideshow for last French class

Here is a short photo slideshow I did for our last day as a Groupe 2 de français (students in the class sent me pictures from their foreign exchange experience in Lille or other parts of Europe):

Au revoir Groupe 2!

C'était vraiment génial d'avoir être

ensemble dans le cours français à la Catho!

My host sister's violin performance

My 11-year-old host sister, Gladys, started playing le violon when she was 6. She had one of her many performances yesterday in a nearby city called Mouvaux.

She played Oskar Rieding's Concerto in G Op. 34 for violin and piano. Her friend and she played a beautiful duet in the Maurice Andre Auditorium.

They practiced for three weeks as well as another morceau for an orchestra performance. I made a short video of the performance:

A snowy Thanksgiving in Lille

(Lalie's "Happy Thanksgiving" pumpkin)

It is the last Thursday of November, which means it is Thanksgiving in the US, but this year I celebrated the holiday in Lille. It was a beautiful, snowy day.

This holiday is not celebrated in France, but a group of friends and I made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner chez Elise and Kendall. Everyone was in charge of making a dish (mine was stuffing or la farce) or bringing something to drink. For two of our French friends, it was the first time they celebrated this holiday =)

Thank you everyone for a great soirée and to Elise and Kendall for letting us have the dinner at your apartment! Merci beaucoup, c'était vraiment génial!

Wine tasting in Lille

Wine tasting/dégustation du vin

What: Salon des vins des Vignerons Indépendants

When: November 19-22

Where: Lille Grand Palais

Being a student at La Catho, I got a free entrance billet to go to a wine tasting (my first one)!

This particular dégustation du vin is one of two big wine exhibitions or salons in France during November (the other one in Paris).



I went with two of mes copines, Lalie and Kendall, whom I had a nice time tasting wine from various regions in France and interviewing some independent wine producers...

Interviewees:

1. Jean-Luc Tissier, Domaine des Crais, Leynes

2. Pierre-Charles Dartier, Château Cailleteau Bergeron, Bordeaux

Merci pour les interviews! Thank you for the interviews! :)

Vacances de la Toussaint: Amsterdam, Milan, Rome, The Vatican

My one and a half week of school vacation started in the picturesque, bicycle-driven city of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. I stayed with my friend, Jessica, who is an au pair (nanny) for a Dutch family.



In one weekend, we managed to take a boat tour, visit Anne Frank's house and museum, walk down the Red Light District, take pictures with the large "I amsterdam" letters and eat the infamous Dutch pancakes and stroop waffles.




It was great seeing Jessica across the world (not just in our usual sunny Arizona setting) and meeting some of her friends!





On my last day with Jess, I took le train from Amsterdam to Brussels, Belgium and met my friend, Mayra. We then took a one-hour bus to the Brussels South Charleroi Airport and our adventure began then--we slept at l'aéroport overnight.

Next stop: Milan, Italy.

When we arrived at Orio al Serio International Airport (Bergamo, Italy), we took yet another bus to Milan gare centrale. I did not check the weather before arriving, and of course, it was raining... I bought two umbrellas from the many vendeurs outside the train station, and he tried to give me a deal of 8 for two (and ended up keeping my 10 euro bill). If you could keep up with that... I got swindled.



The next two days in Milan were beautiful, but rainy! Mayra and I got our first taste of Italian ice-cream, gelato. We visited the Milan Cathedral, Duomo di Milano, and next to it the célèbre tourist shopping plaza, Piazza Duomo, with all the brand-name stores. We even watched "Buried" with Ryan Reynolds in Italian! That was a new experience: you have assigned seating in the theatre (letter and number).




Out next stop: Rome, Italy and The Vatican.

Again, we spent la nuit at the airport and left for Rome at 6am. There to pick us up was my friend Ikram's uncle, Federico, who hosted us for four days. He is Italian-Somali and has a house in the outskirts of Rome.

I had never met Federico (and neither has Ikram for that matter because she was in vacation when he visited her family in Arizona last summer haha), but I had talked to him through Facebook a few weeks before our visit. I tried speaking Italian to him (thanks to my first language course this September), and we communicated very well.




He was so nice throughout the whole trip-- taking three days off work to be our guide through the streets of Rome: The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Mouth of Truth, restaurant outings, nightclub and salsa-dancing.



We spent half a day in The Vatican with so much beautiful architecture and history to take in St. Peter's Basilica and the Castle Saint Angelo. We saw the popes' tombs, including that of John Paul II.

By the end of the trip, Mayra and I learned various Italian words and phrases and made a new friend- Hassan. He is one of Federico's Moroccan friends who does martial arts and plays soccer. He went out with us to eat dinner two nights, dancing and walking down the Trevi fountain by night (where he gave Mayra red roses). Talk about Rome being the city of l'amour? Aww :)

We went back to Milan for our last night before heading to Brussels and eventually back to Lille. Here, we spent the night with one of my friends, Paola. We went out to an Italian restaurant, Zio Pesce, with Paola and her friends: Paola, Eduardo and Aldo. It was a fun night with great conversation in which we exchanged our American/Italian views on the culture, language, economy, government...

I want to thank Jessica, Federico and Paola for hosting us the days that I was on vacation! Mayra thank you as well for being a pleasant traveling buddy :) I am very thankful to have such great friends as you. Thank you! Grazie! Merci!

All Saint's Day or La Toussaint, falls on November 1 each year. It is a national holiday in many countries including, the United States and Western Europe, that commemorates all saints in the Roman Catholic Church.