Perhaps we should spend ONE weekend in France...

We've been to Paris on five occasions this trip...FINALLY we got to see it!

First stop, Le Tour Eiffel! The hardest decision of the day for the group was whether or not to take the stairs. We (partially) opted for YES, and after 668 steps, those of us who did were a bit winded. The view was spectacular, though! We could see for miles. We didn't realize how big Paris is until we could see it all. Paris is special that way; a long time ago, they passed a regulation that no buildings could be taller than six stories tall in the inner city, so nothing blocked our view. Beautiful! We also returned to see it twinkling the next night. =)

Friday night = Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles! We'd waited so long and it was better than we could've ever imagined. YAY!

What do you do when you're King Louis XIV, crazy and rich? What else?! Build the Palace of Versailles, duh. It just has like a bazillion rooms and fountains. Saturday morning was spent exploring this beautiful estate and its gardens. We thought it was ridiculous - all the extravagance. Fun still.

Later we walked all over the city. We saw Notre Dame, St. Chapelle (680 square meters of stained glass), the Arc de Triomphe, les Champs-Elysees, and all the neat buildings. AND tasty ICE CREAM, aka glace Berthillon. This was a very full day as you can see. But hey, we're tourists, that's what we do. Dinner was delightful and sitting down for it was all the better.

So, we saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Nike, and bunches of other things just as artsy but not famous. The Louvre itself was gorgeous too! We definitely got the full view...(meaning) we went through the whole thing, which is a feat if you've ever been there! All of Sunday morning was spent here. Speaking of Sunday...HAPPY FATHERS DAY to our dads! Thanks for paying for all of this! =)

To wrap it all up, we are officially done with class. We finished our last of three final tests this morning. We know we passed History, but the rest is up in the air (haha j/k...kinda). It's weird to think that we're leaving in two days after being here six weeks. Just think, one more week and we'll get to see your smiling faces! Friday we train to Switzerland, then it's off to Italy until next Wednesday! We're sure it will fly by like all the time here has.

Au revoir to all of you and to France.

With love,
Danielle and Kely

So this is summer...

We were asked the question, “so what is Barcelona known for?” Truth is, we didn’t know. We heard it had some neat architecture…and maybe…a BEACH. We were convinced.

This time we got to share our weekend with some fellow Sooners. We met up with Jordan Carlton and two girls who are studying with him in Madrid. Also, a friend studying with us in Clermont, Erin, came too. Add all that up and you get WAY too much fun.

If we had to describe Barcelona in one word it would be architecture; more specifically, Gaudi. No, not “gaudy”, even though Kely tried way too hard for that pun multiple times. The people there are obsessed with him, and with good reason. Pieces of his were all throughout the city: the cathedral, Sagrada Familia, even random lampposts and fountains. Even though we only got to spend two full days there, we definitely tried to take in as much as we could – most of which happened on Saturday when we saw all those structures. In the morning, we went to the beautiful Cathedral where we took an elevator to the roof! After that, we rode the metro to a local park that was dedicated to the display of Gaudi’s work throughout the city. We never expected to have to climb some 5,382 (give or take) steps to get there. Okay maybe not…we didn’t actually count them…but it was way up there. It was so worth it, though. The view was spectacular! Plus, we got to sit on the world’s longest bench. Then we walked back downtown toward the Sagrada Familia – the most famous of all Gaudi’s works. The pictures say more than we can, but here’s a little of what we learned about it. It’s a massive Roman Catholic church with every little thing representing some aspect of Christianity. Gaudi himself worked on it for forty years, pretty much all he did the last fifteen years of his life, and has been carried on since his death consistently, minus a few years for a civil war or something. Construction began in 1882, and it is set to be completed in 2026, a lofty goal! Um, wow.

The next thing on the to-do list was hit the beach! After stopping by the “supermercado” for some jamon, queso, pan, y bebidas (ham, cheese, bread, and drinks for you unilingual folk) we brought our towels and picnic to the Mediterranean. After lounging for a bit, working on our tans, we had to see how cold the water was. The verdict is in…it’s cold. Of course that didn’t stop three of us – Danielle, Jordan, and Kely – from playing in the salt water. Being in France, we really haven’t had much of an Oklahoma summer, aka sun, so this was perfect!

We now know the answer to that question. There are countless things that make Barcelona memorable. Things like: its distinct Catalunian culture, architecture, beach, etc. But also a lot of things that you can’t begin to describe unless you’ve (not seen) felt it. Honestly, we didn’t realize what made Barcelona the unique city it is until we, well, left – the little things: plazas every two blocks, street performers, flamenco dancing (which we watched…and Kely tried), and LATE nightlife.

Barcelona – a city that never sleeps! At least we didn’t.
Danielle got a chance to use her Spanish, though! All in all, we had another fabulous weekend!

Those words are LONG...

Together, we speak a lot of English, some French, and some Spanish. Notice how German is NOT listed!

This past weekend, we traversed to Tubingen, Germany, which is in the southwest corner of the country. It was a perfect example of a quaint German town: timbered houses, a river flowing through it, coffee shops everywhere, a castle, bratwurst and schnitzel, and polka music...aka splendid! We took a paddle-boat ride down the river (Jody's amazing idea)! Saturday, we ventured downtown where there was a traditional German festival going on. There were people dressed up in the funniest clothes! They were there a LONG time...dancing. We ate (what we guess was) the German form of a hot-dog and watched from a picnic table. We did so much, but it was still really laid back.

What made it such a great weekend was the fact that we spent it with some of Danielle's family - whom Kely now considers his own. They showed us everything! We had a blast playing with the little girls, Izzy and Allie, too. They were sad to see us go; we were sad too. Uncle Jamie even took us up to the hospital to show us the lab where he does research. Both of us were extremely interested! Danielle found it thrilling, thinking about how one day she might have her own lab. Seeing it all made her ambitions more of a reality. For Kely, however, it just reassured him that he has NO IDEA what he wants to do with his life. Let us explain - Kely changes his major (in his head) weekly; he's interested in so many things that it's hard to dedicate to just one. Being in the medical atmosphere made aspirations of medical school resurface. Back to the point, Danielle was so grateful to have gotten to spend the weekend with loved ones.

Miss/Love you all.



P.S. You can never have too much coffee and ice cream.
P.S.S. Danielle bought those aforementioned shoes today = exciting!