Paula's Blog

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I can't believe how fast January has flown by! It's now 3 months left until my 'real' senior year is over! I can remember freshman year, with all of the mixers, meeting new people, date parties, etc. like it was yesterday...I can also remember that list I had for myself of all the things I wanted to accomplish before I graduated...Well I'm proud to announce that I can mark another thing off.

#7: JOIN A YOGA STUDIO

Well ladies (and gentlemen), I have found one, and I am certainly in love. And because I am so ecstatic about this place, I've chosen to share my happiness with you all. Now, for those of you who think yoga is just 'a bunch of stretching,' I'm here to challenge to take one power yoga session with Philip Clift, and tell me if it's really just 'stretching.' The studio that I've found is called The Glowing Body, and it's a quaint, charming, very intimate studio with a cafe inside, and is run by the most welcoming employees.
I decided that I wanted to join a yoga studio because I knew my body was getting used to the cardio and weights that I've incorporated into my workout routine and was craving something different, so I opted to try a real yoga place while I was abroad in Spain. Needless to say, I immensley enjoyed it and was determined to find one in Ktown.
The Glowing Body offers classes throughout the day for all levels, targeting beginner, intermediate, or advance in each designated class. It's located downtown, off of Central, by Magpies. It also has "learning sessions" that is taught in series and is offered throughout the year. (I'm doing the Power Yoga Series) It's $10/class for UT students and $15/class for all. (which is an amazing deal for everyone who knows how expensive yoga is!)

New Years Resolution #1: Spend More Time with Those You Love
It is such a simple resolution, but this statement often forms more into a request more than anything. "Could you please find some time to squeeze me in?" or "I never see you anymore, where have you been?!" are two phrases most commonly used, either with significant others or friends. Between class, work, (trying to find a job), and figuring out what I want to do with the rest of my life, I sometimes forget that the good things in life are meant to be shared. Luckily, I have great friends who help remind me of that!

This weekend was a friend of mine's birthday weekend. We celebrated at a small Egyptian restaurant, King Tut's, and proceeded to the strip. "The Strip" is Cumberland Ave which is where a lot of UT social outings occur. The street is filled with yummy restaurants, bars, and has other convenient stores such as a FedEx or Wal-greens that are very accessible to the students at UT. My friend's birthday, Carli, happened to be on one of the coldest nights of the year and after getting out of class at 9pm, I honestly wanted to retire in my fuzzy PJs and snooze the rest of the night away...but of course, because this day is so special, I decided to embrace the cold winds and celebrate with the girls Karaokee style! Thankfully, I made the right decision! It was a wonderful night, not only for the birthday girl, but for all the others as well. It was great seeing everyone again, especially those I haven't seen since last December!

The morale of this story is that I learned that although there are going to be those nights that are so cold and freezing, or that I might be busy studying for an exam, to let loose and remember to spend time with those that I love, because in the end, those are the moments that'll give me the best memories.

*King Tut's Restaurant is a small Egyptian restaurant located on the other side of Henley Bridge. The restaurant is filled with karaokee, a tricycle, different halloween masks, and lots of fun!

Every year, we make the same resolutions. We promise ourselves to lose weight, eat healthier, exercise,....attend class more often, and sometimes we throw in the righteous ones like "Be a better daughter, sister, friend, person, etc.," but in the end (and by 'end' I mean Februrary) those once reachable goals, cease to exist. We then ask ourselves as though this incident has never occurred, What happened? Perplexed by our lack of success, we blame our unfinished resolutions with sentences such as "I just never had the time" or "I sort of just forgot" and we slowly, but surely slide back into the mold we had created for ourselves the year before that we so desperately wanted to break. Now some of you might say, this has NOTHING to do with UT or you for that matter because you actually DO keep your resolutions, but for those of us who are slightly less than perfect, the remainder of this month and partial of next months blogs are made for you!

First things first. I know that beginning new tasks are difficult, but we can all learn by the popular NIKE slogan, to even get started you have to have the mentality of "JUST DO IT." First, you need to make a list of the things you want to achieve in 2009. The list can have anything from exercising more to riding a hot air balloon, the point is to just make it. Okay, so now after you're done with that list, you need to organize it into two categories. One being Attainable and the other Ultimatey Cool if Acheived (or whatever, you get the idea). Now that you have those two columns, I want you to organzie it even more and rank how each important each one is to you. I know this seems either way too simple or way too much work, but trust me it pays off! After the ranking system I want you to chose your top 5 most important resolutions, 4 of them being from you Attainable list and 1 from the other. Look at it, think about it, and set it aside. After you've engaged yourself in another activity return to that list that should be posted somewhere visible at a majority of the time and set a timeline of when you think you can accomplish that goal.

You're probably wondering why I had you "engage in another activity" and the reason for that is the same reasonswhy New Years' Resolutions always fade out. People get themselves so fired up so quickly about these things that their spark, as quickly as it was ignited, is burnt out. So even from the beginning, remind yourself to slow down and not have the attitude of "It's all or nothing!" and go cold turkey on the things you've loved for the past year!

This first blog of the New Year was a lot to take in, so I'm going to leave you with that list and that timeline for now, but here are things to look forward to on this blog. So I know that I addressed those of you who have trouble of keeping these promises to yourselves every year, but what about the Prospective UT student? Well dear Sir or Ma'am, you have nothing to fret about. During these next few blogs, I'm going to be incorporating everything from "where to buy healthy food, what machines to use at the TRECS, WHEN is the best time of the day to go to the TRECS, Where to get the BEST burger in town when you have your "splurge" days, Where to go for your spiritual feed," and trust me...there's a whole lot more! I look forward to your comments, and remember the only way to get started...is to "JUST DO IT."

As I visited the Eifel tower and the Colesseum these past 2 weekends, I stood in awe of these magnficent monuments. I never thought I would be so moved by mass pieces of metal or stone, but standing before them, I thought to myself....How blessed am I to be here? Hw fortunate am I to be given an opportunity to stand where millions of people have stood, past and future, and where millions upon millions will never be given the chance to stand? The city of lights truly is one of the most equisite places to visit, and I think was my favorite trip that I'vet taken during my experience abroad! While I watched the lights sparkling on the Eifel tower and watched the couples beside and the families with their children exclaiming how beautiful it was (really, a little Spanish girl said so preciously 'que bonita!me encanta mucha!-it was darling and definitely one of those moments that gives you the warm feeling of family) I came to the realization that I wouldn't have wanted to see those lights any other way than the way I saw them. Mind you, I saw most of Paris, well all of Paris in my 1st trip there, alone. I came to the conclusion that weekend, that it's not about visiting the place, but about the people you're there with to share that moment you see Claude Monet's paintings or the Mona Lisa...and because of this , while Rome was filled with sweet delicacies and amazing pastas! , I chose the option to see this miraculous thing alone, so that when I come back (and I will be coming back) I can relish in the expression that the person (or ppl) that I truly care for (and I'm not talking just about a boyfriend, but family, best friends, etc) will have. While Paris was probably my favorite city that I've visited, now don't get me wrong, all the places each offered something special, but there was just something about this city that I really enjoyed, Rome by FAR had the most amazing food! With its sweet pastries and savory pastas, I'm sure that tourists bring back more than souvenirs with their gained pounds from this delicacy of a city!

So, I just went to the Barca Futbol (soccer) game, and pretty sure...it was AMAZING! The stadium here is the largest one in Spain and being back in the stadium, I felt back at home in Neyland! The fans were amazing, the soccer team was great, the atmosphere was pretty much SUPERB! My seats were almost at the top, but I had a great view behind the goal, and really it was all about the experience. Today I went to Gaudi's Parc Guell, and it was so beautiful. All of his peices are gorgeous and they can be seen throughout the streets of Barcelona. I'm off for Paris this weekend and Rome the next, so more exciting news will be following!

Whichever you would like to call it, I went to Florence, Italy this past weekend! The city is beautiful, charming, and has all the characteristics that you would think of when talking about Italy. My weekend was filled with pasta, pizza, and of course gelato. I visited the Academia, the Uffizi, the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, and other spectacular touristic spots. Although each place was magnificent, my favorite was the David, by Michaelangelo. It was by far the most extravagant piece of art I've ever seen. I didn't even try to take a picture of it because photos wouldn't give justice to this masterpiece. I know corny, right? I never thought I would be the one to really appreciate art, but as I stood before this grand statue, I think for a moment I stopped breathing. The detail in David's eyes, fingers, the rocks in his right arm, etc....it gives me chills to think how old this marble is.

The lines of course were long for the Uffizi and Academia, but well worth the hour and a half plus the 10 euro. ( You can get tickets in advance offline but it's not worth the 18 euro you'll have to pay plus the 10 euro, oh and you don't get student discounts, so don't buy the ISIC card that the study abroad office makes you pay $22 for) Italy was definitely a romantic city, and I'm so glad I got the opporutnity to go...but I'm so happy to be back in BCN and am so thankful that this is the city I chose to live in for 4 months. There's just something about Spanish culture that I've fallen in love with. It could be that I wake up, go to class, have lunch, do siesta, go back to class, have coffee, have dinner, and then possibly go out/hang out with friends until the wee hours of the morning, and start my day again.
One of the senoras here said that she doesn't understand the American saying 'the early bird gets the worm.' She understands the meaning, but not the reason behind it. I found that Spainards take life as it goes, not filling it with always 'on the go' mentality, and filling their schedules to the nit and gritty minute with their 'to-do list.' Even when I first got to Spain, I was already inquiring about volunteering, yoga classes, churches around me, planning trips....It's so funny how in 4 weeks, I've learned to just...relax. Tranquilo, tranquilo...So whoever reads this, do me a favor will you? Take time out of your day and take a nap, people watch, smile while you're running because you're SO happy that you get to run the path that you chose today...enjoy your life because it's taken me awhile to learn to enjoy mine.