Bordeaux

In major efforts to see another area of France, and to get some good sun tans on the beach Erin and I made our way to Bordeaux this weekend. After class Friday ending at 5 I sprinted my way through the enormous Montparnasse train station to make our 5:40 train. After a long day of class it was nice to relax on the three hour long train ride. Once we got there Erin and I hopped in a cab over to our hotel/condo. I say this because there was a full kitchenette in the hotel room. Perfect for making the two boxs of macaroni and cheese I brought. I was hungry so I made some mac and cheese and we tried for about an hour to change our TV settings to English but ended up just settling for French NCSI, a show I have never watched in English either. Then shortly after the episode ended we both fell asleep.
We wanted this weekend to be nice and relaxing so what's more relaxing then going to a beach. We woke up at around 9 and checked the weather. It said sunny and 70 degrees. We stuck our hands out the window and saw there was potential for a very nice day. We threw on sundresses and put our beach bags together. Then we went took the tram over to the train station where we hopped on a bus that brought us two hours out side of Bordeaux to a city called Lacanau, on the Atlantic coast. During this bus ride the sky turned grey and it started to rain. Awesome right? When we finally got to the town we got off the bus shaking! We ran to a grocery store and grabbed cheese, cookies, and chips for lunch then into a boulangerie for a baguette. We had lunch and we were so sad that we weren't picnicing on the beach. We saw that the bus doesn't come back till 6:50 (it was 12:30 when we arrived). So we had to make the best of our day. We saw a movie theater so we ran over there just to see that it was closed. Then we walked down the strip and there were a ton of stores, they just all had sweatshirts for over 50 euro. We finally found one store that had 20 euro sweatshirts and we made the very smart investment into buying them. This made our time there much more bearable. Then we found a cafe right on the beach, ordered some warm drinks, and played sudoku for a few hours. It truly was relaxing and the view was amazing, it just wasn't very warm. After a while we were getting antsy so we decided to go down to the beach. We ran around down by the water for a little and then made our way back over to the bus stop. Don't get me wrong if it was warm out this little city would have been fantastic! The beach was beautiful, the town was adorable! I wouldn've even wanted to stay there all weekend if the weather was nice. It was just such a bummer. It started to rain so we went and sat at the bus stop and waited for it for an hour. It was such a nice relief to be on that bus and almost be warm. Two hours later we were back in Bordeaux then back on the tram, then back to our hotel, for some more mac and cheese. Erin is taking an online econ course so she had to do some homework so I did some of mine as well. This actually made for a very productive night. I went to bad soon after.

On Sunday we wanted to explore the town of Bordeaux. Two problems with that, everything is closed on Sundays, and it was rainy and cold. We still managed to entertain ourselves. We took the tram into the city center and walked along the lake and saw all the pretty fountains, and buildings of Bordeaux. It's a much bigger town then I thought, but since it was Sunday the place was practically dead. I'm not really sure of anything I saw but here were some of my favorite things. After walking around we took the tram back to our hotel and had lunch (we luckily found a grocery store open) and did some more homework. Then we went back to the train station and waited for our train. Hopped on and had the longest 4 hour ride back ever. We were in the same car as this group of people that were so wild. They were so loud and running around. I had my ipod all the way up and still could hear them. One guy wouldn't stop harassing us. First he brought his friends head over to us and kept saying "dit bonjour madame" (say hello madame). Later in the trip he took some bread and put some foi gras on it and stuffed it in our face saying "gout gout" (taste, taste). Clearly we didn't do it but he was very insistent and wouldn't leave us a lone. Finally we arrived back at Montparnasse and shortly after I was back at home. I walked in to see a little baby sleeping on the couch. That's always the best. Now I am just updating everyone and will shortly be going to bed soon!

WAIT actually I realized I was super hungry so I made Maya go on an adventure with me to get food. First we went to Macdo and it was closed, then we found that this place near us that has a good deal on noodles was open so I made her sit with me while I ate. Then we got back home around midnight and our keys weren't working to open the doors. We both freaked out and Maya called our host mom and she came and opened the door for us! Now for real I am heading to bed soon.

Allergies

I have been so bad with updating my blog these past few weeks!! This post won't be too exciting considering this week hasn't been too exciting. On Monday after I dropped Brian off I went home and straight to sleep. I slept all day and tried to sleep my allergies away until about 5:00. At that point I went over to Erin's dorm, Tolbiac, to make some macaroni and cheese. Caroline, her visitors, and Erin were all making curry but me with my eating habits wanted to be included, but not badly enough to try curry. After dinner at around 8:00 a few more people came over and we all watched the last episode of Lost. It was so nice watching Lost with people, so I wasn't the only person sitting alone and confused. After a puzzeling 2 and a half hours we went to go get crepes back over by my house. We ran into a few other people from my program at the metro stop and I was going to go out with them, but I was just feeling way too sick for that so I just went home and went to bed.

On Tuesday morning Maya and I were going to wake up and go to the catacombs but everyone who gonna go happened to wake up with a headache. I on the other hand still felt like crap from the 80 degree Paris weather. I went to grab a sandwhich with Maya and walk her to class but I started feeling really sick so I ran home and went to sleep. I woke up at around 5 and went to meet Beth at the Pasteur metro stop because we were going to walk together to our cooking class! One of the excursions for our program was a cooking class. Half our program did it Tuesday, and half on Wednesday. It was really fun. I thought it would be like an industrial size kitchen where we all had our own stations and stuff, but it was really just at this womans house on her dining room table. We made potatoes au gratin with lots of cheese and an apple cake. They were both really delicious and it was a really fun night. Rydberg, Sean and I ended up talking about Lost for 2 hours but we still were kind of caught up in the series finale aftermath. After the cooking class I headed home with Maya and from there I just went to bed.

Wednesday I had started feeling a little better due to a Z-Pack and rain!! The rain started washing away all pollan and cooled down the air so much. I had theater in the morning, which was nothing too exciting. Then Rydberg, Brian, Beth, Caroline, Michael, and Gavin all went to lunch at this Italian place we tend to go to on St. Michele. It was a nice fun big lunch, and of course we got gelato afterwards and hung out in the Jardin du Luxoumbourg. We parted ways and I went home and then two hours later I was on the metro heading outside of Paris. We were going to see a play for theater that was just so out of the way from everyone. It's called Roberto Zucco. It was dark and scary and eerie and there was some nakedness in it. We all kind of agreed it was kind of a waste of four hours (2 hours of play, 2 hours of travel time). Then we all went our seperate ways and I didn't get home till around midnight.

On Thursday we had a walking tour of Momarte for Paris class. I love getting out of the classroom and actually doing stuff for that class. Momarte is a hill in the 18th of Paris where Sacre Cour is located. We walked around the area and then to Sacre Cour. A lot of the books we have read for that class have taken place in that area so that's why we went around that area. After the walking tour we went to a place similar to noodles for lunch (great thing I discovered it at the end of the trip because it was really good and that would just add more to the obnoxious amount of weight I've gained). Then I had litt class at the Institute Catholique. A brutal 3 hours (and 20 min, she kept us late) later I was headed back home in the pouring rain without an umbrella. I got home and rested a little and then at 7:00 Maya and her parents came over. We had champaign, snacks, and cake and I was more full after that then a usual host dinner. It was funny to see the host parents act all nice and cordial in front of Maya's parents. Me and Maya even played piano (heart and soul) and they danced along. I have some great pictures that will come up here soon. After snacks (2 and a half hours later) Maya and I walked her parents back to their hotel and then walked back home, talked for a while, and then I had to pack up for this weekends adventure to wine country: Bordeaux France!

Lady Gaga and the Rest of Brian's Visit

The weekend started the more relaxing, less touristy part of Brian's visit. Saturday we went to the grocery store to get lunch food, and then met Erin Caroline and her visitors, Michael and Gavin, in the park with the waterfall for a picnic. The weather was so beautiful so we just hung around, ate some food, and relaxed for a while. Then we explored the bridge and waterfall area. After that we all went our separate ways because, Erin, Brian and I had to get ready for the Lady Gaga concert that night! At around 6 we met up with Erin and Tolbiac and from there went to Bercy, to go to the concert. There were a ton of people at the concert and even with our nosebleed seats we still had so much fun (Erin and I, not so much Brian). The show was really amazing and Lady Gaga loves Paris so she spoke in French at some points! After the show we bought shirts- to later learn the woman gave us the wrong shirts. Then we went back the hotel to drop our stuff off before meeting everyone else off. When we got there the man working at the front desk came up to Erin and I and asked if we could speak English and French to help translate with a woman who was being really uncooperative who didn't speak French. I guess this woman was placed in one room but then they realized she was actually in a different room, and she freaked out because she was being treated badly and she wanted to switch rooms. Remember this is 12am, where in the world was she going to go? She was using their land line to make a long distance call to expedia and after she wouldn't listen to us the man just unplugged the land line. This woman was being ridiculous but it was cool being able to be the middle man between French and English in the situation. Later we found out she ended up staying there for free from the hotel. After that fiasco we went to rue de Princess to try and find everyone else but the bars were packed from a soccer game earlier and we just were exhausted and decided to go home.

On Sunday Brian and I went to the Bastille market. We randomly ran into Lauren and her roommates there as well (not completly random because she loves it there). I got some dried bananas and strawberrys per usual. From there we walked over to the Marais and then walked over to Pomidou. We didn't actually go in the museum but the outside of it is so cool so I couldn't resist showing him it. We sat outside and talked for a while and then Erin Caroline and co. came and met us. Funny story, while we were sitting there Caroline got pooped on by a bird. Only her luck of course. We moved spots and then sat and all talked for a while. It was really nice and relaxing. Hungry, Brian and I left and headed towards the Latin quarter. We went to a fixed price resturant and got some French food. We walked around a little and went to a park by my house. There we ran into Maya, Sean, John, Alla and Pilar. We hung out with them for a little and then went to get gelato (once more I know). From there we went and walked down the bridge with all the love padlocks and then sat and talked along the Seine. Maya called me and said some people were meeting up to go play mafia so Brian and I wandered over to that area. After some succesfful games (meaning I was the mafia and I won!) it was getting dark out so Brian and I headed out.

This morning bright and early I took him to the airport and said some teary eyed good byes. I felt dumb being sad considering I go home in LESS than a month, 27 days to be exact, but we still had such a fun week and with him leaving I have to go back to my usual Paris routine. I had an amazing week that flew by way to fast and I hope he did too. Right now I am laying in bed. We have no school today and with the weather being so nice my allergies are killing me so I can barley go outside, and from all the walking my feet are callused over so the best place for me right now is defintly my bed! But tonight I am going to a Lost party and there's a lot of other fun stuff planned for this week. I just need to rest up today and then get ready for the crazy stuff about to go down for next month.

Brian!

I haven't updated in a while but I have SO much to update on!! I might have to split this up into two separate posts. Where do I even begin? Boring but I had class Monday in Invalides. That is the war museum and the giant tomb that Napoleon's tomb is in. The tomb is enormous for such a little guy!! I tried to focus during class but I really just couldn't because I was so excited for the next day. I went to the airport at around 7am Tuesday morning to pick Brian up! He was so exhausted from traveling but after a nice first class treat I didn't feel too bad so we still had our whole day ahead of us. Our first stop was to the hotel where he dropped off his stuff. Then we went straight to the RER and headed towards Versailles. Dumb move on my part, I didn't look into buying tickets in advance so we were stuck waiting in an hour and a half line. I had already been to Versailles but when I went it was freezing out and I was not happy to be there. This time the weather was so much nicer. We explored the castle first and Brian being the history loser he is loved all the rooms and listened closely to hear about this history with the audio guide. My favorite part was going to see the gardens, becuase as I said before we couldn't last time. The gardens were HUGE and very beautiful. We walked around for a while but we were so tired, him from traveling, and me from Amsterdam that we headed back towards Paris. We were hungry for dinner at around this time so we headed towards the Bastille and found a place for cheeseburgers for dinner (man I miss American cheese, what I would do for portillos!). After dinner we got gelato and walked around the Bastille area. Then very exhausted we both passed out while it was still light out.

Wednesday was another super busy day. We headed to Gare St. Lazare at 9am to make our 10h10 train to Bayeux. Bayeux is a city in the north of France in the Normandy area, only a half hour away from the D-Day beachs and American Cemetary. We were talking a half day tour of those areas. After two hours of sleeping on the train we woke up in Bayeux. We waited outside the train station for the tour to pick us up. Once the tour guide got there we realized he was just a man in a sketch mini-van. I would've been hesitant about this but my friends had taken the same tour just last week, so I figured it would be fine. We were the first two in the car but shortly after 4 other Americans joined us. They were a good bunch, pretty funny and asked a lot of questions. I defintely had to hold in my laughter at some points. Our first stop on the tour was Pointe du Hoc. This was a German bunker on the top of a cliff. The American rangers scaled the 100 ft cliff (some in only 5 minutes) to get to the top to sneak attack the Germans. The land on the top of the cliff was filled with craters made from all the bombs. The bunks (in shambles) still remained there too. Our tour guide, Fredricke, gave us some information on the area and then we got to explore a little. After Pointe du Hoc we went to Omaha Beach, one of the beaches the Americans landed on in Normandy. The beach is now used as a resort beach, as shocking as that sounds our tour guide gave us a good explanation. The reason the Americans came here was to set Europe free and allowing people to be free to hang out on beaches and do what they wanted. There was a memorial there but it was for all the wars. It was still pretty interesting stuff. Our next stop was the American Cemetery. This is actual American owned land in France, closest I've been to home yet. The cemetery is really cool. We first went to see the small museum on the property and from there went to look at the graves. All the graves are lined up perfectly symmetrical so whichever way you look at them you see a straight line. We walked around the graves and looked at all the names and just checked it all out. It was very powerful. Our last stop on the tour was a German bunker (more typical then the one at Pointe du Hoc). It was in the middle of a wheat field and it was still very intact. We looked around for 15 minutes but then suddenly it was already 6:00. We drove back to the train station and made it just in time for our 6h41 train back to Paris. That of course we slept through as well. When we got back we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant on St. Michele and then went to go see the Eiffel Tower. We got there just in time to see it all lit up and sparkling. We took some pictures then exhausted headed to sleep.

Thursday we finally spent the day in Paris! I went to class in the morning and then Brian successfully made it to the Jardin du Louxumbourg, read for a little while, and then met me at class. I was very impressed with his navigating skills. After class we got crepes, him egg cheese and ham, and me nutella and banana, and walked over to Notre Dame. We did the walk through of Notre Dame really quick and admired it from the outside. Then we walked towards the Louvre. Once we got there I was really nervous that's where we were going to spend the rest of our day due to outrageous lines during tourist seasons. Boy was I wrong. There were no lines and the museum was really empty. We got in, saw the Mona Lisa first of course, then headed to the Venus de Milo. We saw a lot of the other rooms on the way and Brian really liked all the old Egyptian and Mesopotamia stuff, again the true history teacher coming up. After the Louvre we walked through the Jardin de Tulieres and the Place de Concorde and found ourselves at the Champs Elysse. We walked down the street and went to the Arc De Triomphe. We walked the 200 some steps up to get a great view of Paris. Then we sat up there for a little while. When we came down we saw a little bit of a Ceremony for soldiers and then headed out from there. We went to the Chinese place I always go to for dinner and then headed over to the Bastille again. We sat on the opera steps of the Bastille waiting for Lauren to come to all get dessert (gelato again of course). While we were waiting there were trick bike riders messing around and riding down the banister of the opera house, only in Paris ha. We finally found Lauren, got Gelato, walked around and then we headed separate ways to get some sleep.

Friday was another toursity day of Paris. We started at the Catacombs but unfortunaetly they were closed due to flooding, such a bummer. Then we headed over to Musee D'Orsay for some impressionist art fix. I found a painting there that I missed a few other times, but I have a remake (Ashley Isaacson original from 3rd grade art) hanging up in my room at home. I thought that was pretty cool. We walked around the museum and after feeling cultured enough headed out. From there we walked around the area I live by and went to print out our Eiffel Tower tickets from an internet cafe for later in the day. We then walked over to Musee Rodin, one of my favorites. We saw all the statues outside and sat in the park for a little. After that we went over to the Eiffel Tower and fell asleep in a park over there for a little. Then it was 4:30 which was time for our reservation to go to the top. While waiting to go we saw a gypsy fight. That was something I hadn't seen in Paris before. Once the commotion calmed down we went all the way to the top of the tower. We saw a great view of Paris and picked out some of the landmarks that are noticeable from all the way up there. It was really cool. After that we went back and got ready to go out. We met up with Erin, Caroline, and Carolines two visitors from home to go to Baby Bottles for dinner. Dinner was delicious as usual and afterward we went to go see Sacre Cour all lit up at night. We headed down back to the Latin quarter to go to Temple bar for the night. It was a fun time just hanging out in a small group and everyone getting to know the visitors. After the bar I was super exhausted and headed to sleep.

Amster Amster I Don't Swear!!

If there are any Agawakians that read my blog out there you will definitely understand the title of this blog post. For normal people out there I went to Amsterdam this weekend! This trip was really cool because we literally had picked out this weekend for Amsterdam so long ago and we actually went through with these plans. Unfortunately we only started planning a short while ago so we had some interesting accommodations. Let me start with my day on Friday. Friday morning I woke up very nervous because I had a presentation in theater class first thing in the morning. Another girl was giving her presentation before me on the same author I was doing, and a boy the Wednesday before just gave the bio of the same author again. I had no knowledge of this so I was freaking out a little that I had to give a presentation to my poor class about the same author they already knew about. I decided to start off the presentation with a joke. "Je vous presente dans un autour vous ne connaissez pas. Il s'appelle Marivaux (I am presenting to you on an author you don't know. His name is Marivaux). My sarcasm didn't translate well and no one laughed at my joke! Great way to start it off right? My presentation flew by and so did class. We had other issues on our mind because Caroline's bus ticket was reserved for the wrong times and the people at the station were being jerks and not letting her get refunded or just switch trains. While that drama was going on she decided to leave class early to go figure stuff out at the train station while I went to a long three hours of phonetics. After class I went to get Chinese food with Rydberg and Beth and then we walked around and they went to the supermarket by me: Carrefour, to pick out some snacks for the bus. Then I went home and packed and headed to the bus station way to early. As I said before our accommodations weren't great so our cheapest option to get there was by a 8 hour night bus. Erin, Caroline (yes she bought a new ticket to come on our bus) and I were on it together so we knew it would be fine. I slept most of the time so it was totally fine for me. Shortly after we arrived in Amsterdam and suddenly it was 6am Saturday morning.

First sight of Amsterdam: garbage. I have never been to a more disgusting city in my life. There was garbage every where, huge piles, and it all smelled so bad. We were all so confused because no one had warned us about that (I'll have more info later in the blog). We also noticed it was freezing. All my friends told me I would be so lucky to go to Amsterdam in May when the weather was beautiful. Unfortunately Spring in Europe this year is more similar to winter so we were freezing the entire trip.

When we got to Amsterdam we had to figure out how to take the train to the tram. We did this but didn't by tickets and had to talk our way out of getting fined to a security guard. Erin had a good line with this one "Did we have to buy our tickets on the internet?" At this point the guards knew we were dumb tourists and let us in. We made our way to the train, then the tram, then found our hotel. We couldn't check in till 2 so we got directions and walked over to the Anne Frank House. It was still very early in the morning so the girls got coffee and we sat and waitied in a little square near the house. We didn't want to head over cause it was so early but when we eventually did we saw the line was enormous anyways. We waited in line for about an hour and then got to go in her house. The museum was really nicely done. It wasn't so much a Holocaust museum rather just a personal story. It is harda to imagine the Holocaust when you hear it was 6,000,000 Jews. Once stories get personal, especially a story this well known and famous, the idea of the Holocaust becomes more personal. We learned that the Diary of Anne Frank has been translated into 60 different languages which means it is second from the Bible in translations. Pretty crazy!After the museum we went to this famous pancake place for breakfast. I had these little baby pancakes. They were pretty good. After that we started heading back to the hotel. We found a vintage

shop along the way (our first of many) browsed a
little bit and then made it back to our hotel. We finally got to our room and probably not even 20 minutes later we were asleep. A few hours later we woke up, walked around a bit, and then walked over to Vondel Park. A pretty park that Aaron recommended we go to. It would have been really nice if not for the lack of sun. We froze for a little while longer and then decided we jsut had to go back to the hotel. We got some food first and then went back, slept some more, and woke up again around 9. At this point we hopped on a tram over to the red light district. This place was literally crazy. It was completely filled with tourists of all ages and girls in bikinis in windows beckoning you to come in. We were significantly creeped out but still really glad we saw it and explored one of those stranger parts of the city. Tired enough we went home and talked for a while then fell back asleep for the night. As you can see that night bus really took a lot out of us.

We woke up Sunday morning much more relaxed! We went down to the hotel lobby (which was oddly a few doors away from the actual hotel) and checked out. We also had some of there provided breakfast. Then we walked down to Dam Square to go on a walking tour. Yup the same company as the walking tour I always go on. This tour was really great becasue we learned so much about the city we really never would've learned before. The first thing we learned was that the reason why the city was so dirty is because the trash people had been on strike for the past 3 WEEKS! That's a lot of trash to accumulate. The first stop on the tour was the Red Light distrcit. We learned a lot more about it this way. During the day the girls are still in the windows! This disctrict has been a while for a very long time. Pimping is illegal in Amsterdam so the girls have to rent out these windows themselves from 70-150 euro a night. Then we learned that for an average sessions its 50 euro for 15 minutes. Pretty high prices haha. Then we came across this church (the oldest in Amsterdam I believe) right at the end of the district. The guide said this church used to sell indulgence cards to the sailors that would come have there fun in the city. Then the sailors wouldn't feel bad about all the skrewing around they were doing because they would still be able to go to heaven. They could buy these cards before or after the wrong doings. I'm sure the church made a hefty profit off of that. Then we learned a little bit about why the houses lean to the sides and forwards. It's from the bad foundation of Amsterdam and how if a house was poorly built it starts to slant over time. Slanting forward was seen as a goot thing but to the side was seen as bad. Then we went to the highest point in Amsterdam. It's only 3m above sea level. Not very high. We got a quick lunch at subway and then went to Amsterdam's widest bridge which is ironically close to it's skinniest house. The tour continued and we went through on museum. On the side of the museum there were these cobble stones in the wall. They had pictures of different professions on them. They were used before surnames were invented and they were posted on peoples houses. You would always know where the baker lived or the dentist, or even the town drunk. Interesting way of labeling their citizens. Some other stories the tour guide told us was about the Miracle of Amsterdam. This was a story in the Catholic faith about a piece of bread that was thrown up but then magically levitated and reformed into its original shape. In the Catholic faith that means the bread is Jesus's body. The Vatican determined this as a miracle and put the bread in a silver box. Then the box was put in some other museum for a while. A criminal ran into the museum and stole the silver box not knowing what was in it. When he saw it was only bread he said that was dumb and through the bread into a canal. Then he was caught and the authorities were so mad they couldn't find the bread they had the entire town looking for the bread. So this bread could, reshape itself, was fire proof, could levitate, but it couldn't swim. Pretty funny stuff! That's the miracle of Amsterdam. He also showed us these things on corners of buildings that would stop men from peeing in them because they were put at an angle where the pee would shoot right back up. After the interesting and exciting tour we asked the tour guide directions to go back to the vintage shopping area he told us about. He directed us there and we finally found it. The stores were really fun and really reasonably priced- very different than Paris vintage. We went to one store and they had all these awesome sweatshirts from Wisconsin, and Minnesota and all these other places but none were pertinent to me which was a bummer. I didn't end up buying anything but we still had a fun time looking around.

After shopping we went to this coffee shop where part of Ocean's 12 was filmed in that we learned about on the tour. We were just sitting minding our own buisness when Erin and Caroline decided to take a picture of the shop. The minute their flash went off a security guard came over and said not to take pictures. We realized fast that this was actually a body guard and sitting about 15 feet away from us was Lady Gaga! I know this sounds crazy and we have no pictures or autographs to prove it but just hear me out. She was wearing fishnets, crazy high shoes, a black leotard, and had long blonde hair wiht a big blonde bow on the top of her head. She also had a tatoo on her left shoulder blade, which Thanks to Allie Bell, we were able to compare it to a picture and we realized it was exactly her. She was also in the Netherlands May 15th for a concert and wasn't heading towards Belgium till the 17th. So we sat and stared at her for a while and an hour later we left the shop. It was so cool and shocking to just run into someone so famous. I am SO upset we have no pictures or anything but please believe I am for sure telling you the truth!

After the shop we wandered around some more and went to the I amstedam sign. It was pretty anti climactic. We sat in the grass for a while and then went back to a kebab stand and grabbed some stuff to eat for dinner at the hotel. I had chicken nuggets and french fries and we just ate in the hotel lobby and played bananagrams. We were all so tired again at this point I slept through most of banangrams. We hopped on the tram at around 7:30 and then the train and made it to the bus station with time to spare. We checked in and then got window seats on the bus which was nice. We were all completely asleep 30 minutes in and we all did a good job on sleeping through most of the ride.

We got into Paris at around 6am and I headed straight to Gare du Nord to get train tickets for me and Brian to go to Normandy on Wednesday. I went to the English counter but started in French and the guy was so nice and patient that I did the whole thing in French, got my tickets and everything. Now it's 11:30 Monday morning. I just woke up from a nap and I have so much to do between now and 6am tomorrow morning when Brian comes!!! I also have to add that this was my last trip outside of the country of France for my time being abroad! Next country I go to will be America!!

Lazy Lazy Week

I have so much stuff going on from tomorrow and here on out that that this week was just super lazy/homework filled and kind of boring. On Monday I woke up and had class. We learned about WWII in history which is always an interesting subject. It was very different hearing it from the European point of view. After history Maya and I went home to make Macaroni and Cheese!! That clearly means I was super full and super tired the rest of the night. The night consisted of homework/facebook/skype the usual.On Tuesday I had no class and I really was going to wake up early and go do something, but I just couldn't. I have so much sleep deprivation here I just couldn't do it. I stayed home all day and did lots of homework. I am trying to get all my work done so when Brian gets here next week I have no homework to do. I left mid day to grab a bite to eat and then went back and did more work. At night I had a long host family dinner that lasted till 10 and by that point I was exhausted and went to sleep. Please factor into my laziness that Paris has been absolutely freezing and rainy this entire week, and Tuesday was one of the worse days of it.Wednesday was a little more exciting. I had theater early in the morning. In theater we had to read an excerpt from a play out loud and our teacher picked who would play the two parts of the play randomly. Somehow I was picked to play both parts so that was a great way to start my morning. After that I went with Beth and Brian to Musse D'Orsay to see the Crime et Chatiment exhibit for Paris class. Usually doing things for class is a drag but this exhibit was awesome! It had all different types of paintings, sculptures, drawings and even a guillotine that represented the crimes throughout the ages. It was a very interesting exhibit and I am very glad I went. I only have to write a two page paper on it but I feel like I would be able to write a lot more on it. After the exhibit I walked around with Beth and Brian and then I went home at around 4:20 to babysit! I was babysitting my host parents grandson Ashille. He is absolutely adorable and 2 years old. He is so full of energy so he's really fun to play with. About 20 minutes into babysitting my host mom came home with Alma, his one year old cousin. She was sick so my host mom had to take her to the doctor. I stayed downstairs with the three of them and helped watch the little ones. I had a blast but at the end of the 2 hours I was completely exhausted. I took a quick nap and then had host dinner again. Both nights it was just my host mom, Maya and I so we had some long conversations and lots of food. Then I did some homework and went to bed.
Today was a French holiday so school was canceled. It was great not having class today. I watched TV and did some homework in the morning. I met Erin at the train station to buy our tickets for Bordeaux at 2 and at 3 we met up with Caroline at Angelina's. We got some hot chocolate and pastries. I got a Mont Blanc. It is a pastry they are famous for. It kind of looks like a cup cake but its made out of a meringue, whipped cream, and almond paste. It was good but after two bites it became too rich, kind of like their hot chocolate. After that we went to Zara, shopped around for a little and then I walked home. We met up again at 7:15 and went to go see the movie "New York, I Love You." It was a remake of the film "Paris Je t'aime" which I absolutely loved a few years ago so I was very excited to see it. The movie was a bit bizarre but I liked it. After that I went home and made some noodles for dinner. I was lonely during dinner so I brought my computer down and me and Daniel skyped through my meal. It was just like we were eating dinner together. Now I am just trying to stay up as late as possible so I will be very tired for the long overnight bus ride to Amsterdam tomorrow night! I will definitely have a more interesting post for this weekend!

Loire Valley

This weekend we had a whole program group excursion to the Loire Valley! The Loire Valley is a few hours outside of Paris and is most famously known for the beautiful chateaus (castles) that reside there. Our trip started way early Saturday morning. I woke up bright and early at around 5:30am. I was really excited and still had to pack. I was out of the house by 7:30 and at the bus 15 minutes later. Then the minute I got on the bus I was passed out. A short 2 hours later we arrived at our first Chateau. This was called Chambord. I really don't know anything about these chateaus except that they were very beautiful and that very rich kings lived in them. The outside of this castle was awesome but the inside wasn't very excited. We spent about two hours at that
one and then headed off to Amboise which was about an hour away. Once we got there we were able to have some free time to grab lunch. Erin, Amira, Lizzie, Antonia and I went to a pizza place. After lunch we met up with Caroline. Caroline had missed the bus so took a train to come meet us in Amboise. We got some ice cream and then headed into the Chateau. This wasn't one of the prettier ones we saw all weekend. It was where Leonardo Da Vinchi lived for the end of his life and he was buried there so that was kind of neat. After that Chateau we went on the bus and drove to a city named Tours. We dropped all our stuff off at the hotel and relaxed for a few hours. A bunch of us went into Maya, Mari and Alla's room and played this game where people have a celebrity's name posted on them and they have to guess what it was. It was really fun but I was so exhausted and I ended up falling asleep throughout all the excitement. Two hours later we all had to go down and walk to the restaurant for dinner. We went to a restaurant and all had a fixed meal of goat cheese (ew), chicken (eh), and chocolate cake (delicious). Everyone went out after dinner but being the lame party pooper I am I went back to the hotel with Erin and Caroline and we talked for a while and then went to sleep.

Good thing we went to sleep early because we were up bright and early again this morning. We went down and had a huge breakfast. I had two croissants, two cups of tea, an attempt at an orange, and an apple. It was a great way to start the day. Then once everyone came down we hopped back on the bus again and trekked 45 minutes over to Chenonceau. This chateau is probably the one most of you have heard of. It is completely on the water and pictures of it are very famous. The outside is beautiful and the location is just so cool. The inside was just alright but then we walked around the gardens for a while. There is also a labyrinth in one of the gardens. We thought it would be like a giant maze but we realized there was nothing to difficult about it because we found the center of the maze with no problems. Then Erin, Caroline and I just sat and talked for a while and suddenly it was time to get back on the bus to go to the last chateau of the weekend. This last one another 45 minute drive away and it was called Blois. It definitely was anticlimactic and by this time we were all chateaued our and everything started looking the same. One memorable part of this chateau was that in the middle of our guided tour by Dr. Costello, all these old men and women dressed in middle ages outfits started doing a dance in the reception room. After a few laughs and a few pictures we bee-lined out of there. We finished our tour of the castle and after some oos, ahhs and a few pictures we found our selves back on the bus for the 2 hours trip back to Paris. After a short nap later we ended up right back where we started. While I was napping on the bus a bunch of girls were playing mafia in the back. They went to go finish their game in the Jardin du Luxembourg and I joined them to watch. Then Maya, Beth and I went to get some dinner at Macdo and some gelato (well I was the only one who got gelato). Then Maya and I went home and talked with our host mom for a little. I was so shocked she actually told me my French was getting better!!! It was definitely the highlight of my entire weekend, haha. But in all seriousness I had a really great weekend and a really great time with my group. We all needed this bonding time to be together. I have a huge week ahead of me, lots of homework, lots of fun stuff planned so I am going to stop blogging and start working on a paper!

Ballet

If you can't tell I am getting very lazy with the names of my blogs. This was my first week back in Paris after spring break and boy was it nice to be back in familiar territory. On Tuesday I didn't have any class. I woke up and headed towards school area to meet up with Lauren to plan our trip to Nice. That actually isn't happening any more because it just doesn't work out with our schedules :( After catching up about spring breaks for a few hours she had to go to class and I walked over to the 4eme to go to the Musee Carnavelet. This is the history of Paris museum. It was interesting and free so gave me something to do on my day off. After the museum I headed over to the Champs Elysee to meet up with JILLIAN who was visiting from London. I met up with her and her boyfriend and we walked down the Champs. Around an hour later I had to leave them to meet up with Erin and Caroline at the train station to buy or train tickets to Amsterdam. Wow did ticket prices go up! We ended up not buying the tickets and figured we would figure something else out later. I came home expecting host family dinner but my host mom was going to be late so she left everything out for me and Maya to make ourselves. All the precooked things were good, but she left out raw meet for us to cook. That was pretty much a disaster. It tasted fine but both of us aren't very skilled in the kitchen. I'm just glad because it's been a few days now and I didn't get sick at all. After dinner I just came up stairs and did some homework and hung out with Maya until falling asleep.

On Wednesday I had theater as usual and after theater Beth, Brian and I went to Le Pavillion de l'Arsenal. I am still not sure what it is but we went for extra credit for our Paris class. It has huge timelines of the development of Paris and lots of mini models of the city throughout the years. It was pretty cool and something I would have never seen with out being told to go there. Usually Wednesdays I like to go exploring but it was way to cold today. I just went home. A few hours after I got home my host mom got home and she brought her two year old grandson with her. He was adorable and I had the best time playing with him all night. Such a nice break from everything. I then had host family dinner and it was nice because I was just playing with the little boy the whole time. After dinner I went upstairs, did some homework and then went to bed.

Thursday started with our Paris class going on an excursion to the La Defense area of Paris. It is very modern with all the sky scarpers and other modern looking building. We had a mini walking tour in that area and then went to the Les Halles area to look at a little more architecture. After that class I busted over to Litt and sat/slept through 3 hours of that awesome class. After litt I went to dinner with Collie. We got French onigon soup which I was craving because it has been so cold out recently. Then we walked over to the Opera Garnier for a ballet! The Opera Garnier is the setting for the Phantom of the Opera. They really do have canals and passageways under the opera and the chandler really is incredible!




We all found our seats and watched the ballet. It was called "Hommage a Jerome Robbins." He was the choreographer of West Side Story so some of the numbers were really reminiscent of the dancing from that show. The show was composed of 4 different ballets and two intermissions. During the intermissions we walked around the opera and just took so many pictures because it was so beautiful. After the ballet a ton of us went over to Eden Park Bar on rue de princess. We all went to the basement and took over! We had a really fun dance party. It was great because there were so many people out. I had a really great night and headed home at around 12:30ish.














This morning I had theater class and then phonetics. Nothing really too exciting. After class Erin and I met up with Lauren and went to Chinese food for dinner. Now I am just avoiding homework (per usual) and sitting in bed with a stomach ache. This week I feel like I took it easy homework wise but next week I have a ton of work to do. I'm totally dreading it but I know I need to get all my work done for all the plans have a coming up these next 6 weeks!