Droit Au But, a Nicki Minaj Song and The Cheetah Girls

My fellow Georgian named Preston invited Alli and I to a football match on the 6th of October. His parents got him tickets as a present and I was honored to be the first person he asked to go. He had four tickets in total. I felt like I won the lottery. This would be my first time attending a for real for real football match. By football, I actually mean soccer. Why do we call American football, football? I find that to be really stupid. The rest of the world calls it football...why can't we? And why do we not use Celsius? Why do we measure in feet? DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW HARD IT IS FOR US STUDY ABROAD STUDENTS TO SWITCH? (End rant). We had to take the bus to Marseille, then take the metro to Stade Vélodrome. With the help of our Australian friend, Tom, we got there safely. He used to live in Marseille, so he knew his way around. I had never been to Marseille before that, so it put me at ease to know that he knew what he was doing. The weather was awful, but the game was incredible. People in France love their football. They get very serious about their team. In fact, Olympique de Marseille fans were flicking off the Paris Saint-Germain fans. The opposing team's fans were caged off...I assume it was a safety measure. Unfortunately, OM lost last night, but it was still a great experience. I hope to go again sometime. Their slogan is "droit au but," which means right to the goal.

My homie Alli!

                                         

On the bus!

Stade Vélodrome

                               

SO COOL!

Start of the game!

After living in Aix for so long, a gal gets bored and wants a change of scenery. One weekend, Alli and I booked a hostel and went by bus to Nice. The whole time...that awful Nicki Minaj song was stuck in my head.

Yes, this song. Click here if you wish to lose faith in all of humanity.

From Aix to Nice...the ride only took about two and a half hours if I remember correctly. On our way to the Gare, we saw Rue D'Anglais, which is the long beach road. It was an incredible view. After we got off at the Gare/bus station, Alli and I got a map from the office and tried to navigate to the hotel using our brains, the map, and Google Maps. We ended up just following the tram and eventually getting on it. Alli was a genius and saw where we needed to go on the map, so we ended up at the hostel. We were pretty lost and clueless for the most part, but thanks to her wonderful observation, we got there. Before going to any hostel or hotel, I always check TripAdvisor. The hostel we were going to was free of bedbugs and had excellent reviews, so I was excited to see it. I had never stayed in a hostel before, but I felt at ease that it wouldn't break the bank. Alli and I each paid thirty euros for our two nights.

The front of our hostel

The "Chill Out" Room

Alli and I got to the hostel when it was getting dark out, so we couldn't do much that night. We only had one other roommate who was Chinese. She didn't speak any French, but for some reason, I kept speaking French to her. She spoke English really well, so we ended up speaking that so that everyone could understand. Her name was Lin and she is studying in London at the moment. Alli and I wondered what we were going to do that night and we ended up just walking around Nice...at night! Before anyone says anything, it was perfectly safe. We didn't stray into alleys or do anything illogical. We also found our way back to the hostel without any issues.

Nice at night!

Alli and I stopped at a store and I bought some chips and beer. Alli bought this parfait thing and then we got back to the hostel. We took showers and went to this chill out room that the hostel had. There were already people in there. Alli and I plopped down at a table next to them. It wasn't long before they invited us to play a drinking game with them. Luckily, I had two beers with me! The game was something I never understood, so I am not going to try and explain it, but I had two Leffe beers that night. Leffe is a delicious blonde beer from Belgium!

YUM

It turns out that they were all backpackers from Australia and Canada. There might have been one British girl too, but they all spoke English. They were all very nice. We all just sat there playing a drinking game, listening to the Weeknd, and having a good time. Then, the other Americans came! Alli and I met two people from Florida. A girl named Joëlle and her boyfriend who were backpacking through Europe. Alli and I eventually got tired, said our goodbyes, and went to bed. When Alli and I got to our room, a new person had arrived. She was also Chinese! Unfortunately, we never caught her name, but she was awfully nice. She was in Nice for a conference because she was a PhD of some sort. We all chatted for a bit and eventually went to bed. The next morning, Alli and I took the tram to Messena Square. We took so many pictures that day! 

Messena Square on that cloudy day. October 19th, 2013.

That's me on the beach!

Alli and I sitting on a beach made of just rocks.

COOL!

                       

A typical street in Nice.

We had breakfast by the marketplace.

The first thing Alli and I did that day was go to the beach. It wasn't swimming weather, so we just took some photos and then got some breakfast. Nice is quite lively in the morning. People were buying things from the market and I enjoyed people-watching at our table when we were eating breakfast. After we ate, we walked all around Nice the entire day and then ended up at the beach again, but this time...we had bubble tea. So, there we were...sipping bubble tea and laying on a bed of rocks. At first, it hurt to lay there, but it felt like a massage after about five minutes. That night, Alli and I ate at a local restaurant and then went back to the hostel for a good night's sleep. We had to be back in Aix the next day.

Here comes the finale of the post...I went to Barcelona for four days! At the low price of 150 €!!! Included in the price was the bus ride there and back, the hostel stay, and breakfast. George was our tour guide and we left around 6 or 7 AM. By we, I mean me, a Mexican (Israel), a German (Vincent), and a Swedish dude (Phillip). The guys stayed up ALL night, so they were all knocked out on the bus. I was nervous about going to a new country because I am now comfortable around French. They don't exactly speak Spanish in Barcelona. They actually speak Catalan, which is sort of a mixture between Spanish and French. I couldn't understand a thing! We got to Barcelona in the afternoon. It was rather windy. The whole time, I was thinking about the Cheetah Girls 2 movie where they go to Barcelona. Here is the video when they were dancing in the streets. It's not my favorite song by them in that movie, but I think it will help for visualization.


Strut by the Cheetah Girls

This song...on the other hand...was the best song in the movie. HELL YEAH.

Dance with Me by Drew Seely ft. Belinda

La Columna

A typical street in Barcelona

All four of us

After a little tour of Barcelona. We went to the hostel, which was called Ideal Hostel right next the main road aka La Rambla. That night, we had plans to go to hottest club in Barcelona. We went to our friend's rented apartment to pre-game! There were two French people there too, so I started speaking to them in French and they are very nice. We must have spent a few hours just having a good time and talking about anything, really.

The gals

Pierre et moi

When we were ready to go, we walked there. The walk about fifteen minutes and when we arrived at the club, it was packed. That night was the Real Madrid VS. Barcelona game. Barcelona won and the city was alive. We all stood in line and I was busy talking to Israel by the time we got to the front and we were unable to get in. It was a disappointment, but we just headed back to the apartment and then back to the hostel that night. The day after, we went on a tour by bus with George and our group. It was a pretty hot day with a bit of a breeze. I took plenty of photos.

All of Barcelona

That's me!

Basilique de la Sagrada Familia

That night, Erasmus, a foreign exchange program invited everyone out to the Catwalk, which is a nice club in Barcelona. It was my first club experience and I am happy to say that it was in a wonderful city. We walked from the hostel to the club, but our walk had one stop...the beach! The beach in Barcelona is beautiful...and we were there at night. What a life! After everyone got done chillin' at the beach, we walked a little further and got to the club. The look on the outside is modern. Once you get into the club, the stairs lead you to the bathrooms, and then you get to the wonderful dance floor. It was around midnight when we got there...the night life doesn't get started until 2 AM in Barcelona. We just danced and danced until our feet were gonna fall off. It was maybe 5 AM when we left the club and we ended up going to a pub close by. Vincent ended up buying cheap beer from shady street vendors. Some of the beer cans were sort of frozen, which was hilarious! We called it frozen piss. It took us forever to walk home because of our drunkards, but when we did...it was 7 AM. We were all so exhausted!

Israel and I on the beach before the club

The outside of Catwalk

The inside of Catwalk

Our group at the end of the night

It was our last full day in Barcelona when we woke up, so we decided to go to the beach. I met a very nice girl named Maren, who is German. She speaks so many languages! She came with us and we all had a lovely time. Who knew so many hours could pass on a beach when you just sit and talk?

Walking to the beach

The port

Maren!

My friends chillin' on the beach

That's me!

That night, we would finally get into Opium. We all went as a big group to a very nice bar near the beach for some karaoke! As we were walking to the metro, we took a group picture. It was funny because Israel and I are actually part of ISEP, not Erasmus. IT WAS BETRAYAL. Haha. Opium is one cool club, but I prefer Catwalk. There were plenty of people there when we came in and we danced for a long time, but not as long as the night before. We were even able to get to the VIP section. I have to give Erasmus props for that! Opium had a nice deck next the beach too, so if you were tired from the dancing, it was nice to sit and watch the waves. The weather that night wasn't ideal because it started raining when we walked home. It was a fun time!

Group photo!

The deck

Inside of the club

The next day, it rained and rained. George gave us a few hours to get ready to go. We all checked out of our hostels and left our things in the main room downstairs while we did our last-minute shopping and goodbyes. We were all pretty tired, so our bus ride home was long. One thing I must say...if anyone stays in Barcelona, pick a good hostel. Our hostel had bed bugs. Thank goodness we didn't sleep that much, but still...it's unsettling. It was a lot easier to get rid of them than everyone thinks. I washed my clothes and my backpack in very, very hot water when I got home. That's the only way they will die. The hostel we stayed at was less than ideal...ironically enough haha. I am not too proud to stay in a hostel because I like the atmosphere, but bed bugs are really annoying and the bites are extremely itchy. Other than that, the trip was incredible. The people of Barcelona are so very nice. I hope to go back one day to such a beautiful city, full of beautiful people.