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!