London Life

Well hello everybody:) I am in London right now with Sierra. We arrived on Thursday night at about midnight. We took the train from Tours to Paris and then Paris to London. The train rides were a lot of fun except for I didn't get to sit next to Sierra on the way to London. When we arrived in Paris we were next to the hotel where Mamie was staying with her family so Sierra and I went to meet her family.

I was really happy to get to meet her family because I had heard so much about them and they seem like awesome people and I was sad when I didn't think I was going to get to meet them. On the way to the hotel we happened to find some delicious Nutella crepes that were completely delicious. Luckily I learned how to eat them now so I didn't make a mess or a complete fool of myself. The guy thought we were tourists (which we kind of are but not lol) and so we decided to play along with it and take pictures of him making our crepes.

After meeting Mamie's family we headed back to the train station so that we wouldn't miss our train. We found that we had to go through customs...Who would have thought, right? Well obviously not me. For some reason I didn't think you had to go through customs because it's a train so I was freaking out a little bit when we got there. We had to fill in some cards with our information and then go through two people that asked us questions about why we were going to London, kind of making you feel guilty that you were going. I was so nervous for absolutely no reason. Then we had to put our bags through an X-ray machine, it was the whole deal. It freaked me out. Then Sierra and I realized that we didn't have seats next to each other. :( It was a sad moment for the both of us. We were only a car apart but still...

On the train to London I wrote in my journal and wrote about a total of 20 pages or so within the 2.5 hr train ride. I was writing like a maniac and the guy sitting next to me asked me if I was writing a book. I might as well have been, right? I thought that was pretty funny.

So when we arrived in London, we bought our Oyster cards so that we can travel on the metro and bus and it's unlimited. Otherwise we would have to pay a couple £'s every time and it would add up VERY quickly. It was a great investment. We took the metro to our hostel and we found it quite easily.

Friday we woke up early and headed into downtown London. We took a bus because the metro station we needed was closed because of Easter weekend. The bus took about an hour to get into town, I almost fell asleep. London is a very strange place. I really like it, don't get me wrong but I just don't know how to describe it. The architecture is really awesome, all of the building have different shapes that one could never imagine. The metro is easy to use, not as easy as Paris... and it is super dirty. But getting to see everything is really exciting and then you actually realize that you are in London and everything is so much better.

We have visited most of the main sites, at least the ones that people told us to go visit but we haven't gone into a lot of places because it costs about £15 to go in, even with your student card. Getting to see everything even from the outside is quite cool. We won't be able to see the changing of the guard this time around because we didn't know it is every other day and we scheduled to go to Stonehenge tomorrow morning but hopefully some day we will get to see it. We did go to Buckingham Palace today and at least got to see what it is all about.

It is hard to compare London with Paris because they are so different but at the same time, it's hard not to compare them. Paris definitely beats London. The first day we were here I met up with Caroline Petersson from high school, she's from Sweden but was in London for the weekend. We went to starbucks with her and her brother and hung out for about an hour or so. It rained cats and dogs. It was ridiculous. I was quite angry about it because I couldn't enjoy anything about London at the time. I was too worried about my umbrella turning inside out, my shoes getting wet, finding where we were supposed to go next..I really didn't like London at that moment and said that "it is fake".. the French us the word "fake" to say that something is stupid. But now I take it back because I really like London now and I am super glad I came!

Today we went to Camden Town, which is like a downtown L.A. and it was by far my favorite thing in London. It was really crowded but even then, I loved it. There are tiny shops everywhere and little posts with handmade crafts (LOVE IT!) and it was all just really fun to see. We took lots of great pictures that you will all have to see on Facebook in about two weeks.

Our hostel in London is a little crazy. It is painted black with white trim. It has really unique architecture and character but when we first got here we were really sketched out by it. We thought it was super ghetto but we gain trust in it every night. It is attached to a bar and they call it the No. 8 Bar Club Hostel. We almost peed laughing when we arrived and read that on the door. We walk through the bar to get to our hostel which is the best part. It's really not that bad though. It's cheap and you get what you pay for. Except it would be nice if the water was warm in the shower.

Tomorrow we are going to Stonehenge! I am excited for it but I have heard from several people that it's not that great. We are meeting our tour group at around noon and then heading out and won't get back into London until 630pm. We will be staying with some family friends of Hallie's for the next two nights. We couldn't stay there the whole time because she had family at her house but she is willing to have us at her house right after her family leaves which is very generous. I am thankful because it saves us some money. :D

We are heading to Barce(lona) on Tuesday very early in the morning. We will arrive in Girona at about 10am and then we will head to Sierra's family friend's house. I am excited to hit some warm weather. I bought a cute flowery dress today in Camden Town that I really like and can't wait to wear.

I am really fortunate that I have been able to go to these amazing places especially with friends. I have been having such a great experience abroad, I would never take it back. I love my life right now and I have grown so much from all of these experiences. I am excited to see what's in the future for me with all of these other amazing places that I am headed towards. I wish you could all come join me in this great experience! I miss you all very much and don't think that I don't think about you because I am abroad and having fun. I see things everywhere that remind me of every single one of you. I will try to update my blog as often as possible. I didn't think I would have internet but it's the 21st century.. which I spaced out.. There are internet cafes everywhere and hopefully the people we are staying with will have the internet.

I hope everyone has a great Easter/Vacation. I love you all!

Quick update!!!

Hello my beautiful people! I am so sorry that I have been a complete stranger and haven't updated in such a long time. I have been having a great time here in France as you can all imagine. This past week was our last week of classes! So exciting!

I had tests all week and I think I did pretty great on all of them. We'll see what I get when I get back. I am just updating you all quick before I leave on this 2 week crazy fun vacation (sorry Romain). I will be going to London in less than an hour, Barcelona on Tuesday, Pisa on Saturday and then Florence on Sunday and then Thursday I will be returning to my beautiful hometown of Tours. I am so excited for this trip with Sierra and I am even more excited to be meeting up with Mamie so that the three of us can have a blast.

We are planning on going to stonehenge on Sunday, I am SUPER excited. (art major, yes I am a geek) I don't know what else we will see but it is all going to be amazing. This blog is kind of scatter brained, sorry. I am just really excited and typing my thoughts as they come into my head.

Last weekend was probably one of my favorite weekends here in Tours. On Friday night we went to the bar to celebrate Aaron (Baune's) 21st birthday and then we went over to Place Plum to meet up with the boys. The boys were with all of their soccer friends, which are a blast to be around, btw, and then we went over to Le Pacio. We were there until like 5am and then we went home. On Saturday we spent all day wit the boys and played singstar at Romain's. I didn't think I would have the guts to sing in front of everyone but I was the first to play with him, mainly because I was forced. lol After that first song we kept singing and singing until we had to go buy food for the Bordeaux vs. Marseille (soccer) game.

We watched the game at their soccer club house and then just hung out a little bit afterwards until Aurelien and Romain brought us home. On Sunday, Romain picked Sierra and me up to go to Aurelien's soccer game. Aurelien is the goalie, I'm not sure if I've written that before or not. He won his game and then we went to the train station to come back to Tours and have a big dinner with Grant's family. We got to the station an hour early so we just hung out until our train came.

I don't know what it is about the boys but we just have the greatest times with them even if we only do little things here and there. I love being with them and this trip would be completely different and probably super boring if we hadn't met them.

Last night Aurelien came and picked me up at like 11pm and we went to an arcade to meet up with Sierra, Romain, Mamie and Alban. Aurelien and I played foosball against Mamie and Alban and they kicked our butts. I am horrible and should never be allowed to play again. lol Then Sierra and I played airhockey and I lost at that too. hmm I'm starting to see a pattern. :D Oh well, I had fun!

I will not be able to update until April 16th because I am not bringing my laptop with me. I love you all and I hope you have wonderful Easter breaks! I want to hear all about them. Take care my lovelies.

Peace and blessings.

Well, that was a quick update on what I have been up to lately.

Weekly Update

School has been getting very old lately. I mean it's going well but we are getting really bored of it. I know studying abroad includes STUDYING but I would rather not. I just like living life here and school just interrupts it. The weather is getting super nice. This week it has been really sunny and warm outside. I even got to wear my gladiator sandals! We have two more weeks of school and then we go on our 2 week Spring/Easter break. I'm not really sure what the break is all about but it's around Easter so I assume it's for Easter. The girls and I planned an amazing trip around Europe. :) Mamie's family will be here with her for the first week of break but she will meet up with Sierra and me in Pisa. For that first week Sierra and I are going to London and Barcelona. After we all meet up in Pisa we are heading over to Florence where we will spend the rest of our amazing vacation. I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun. I will take LOTS of pictures, don't worry. I'm not sure if I already mentioned this but we are also going to Ireland at the beginning of May which I am also thrilled about!

Last night, the girls were over in Monts with the boys so Grant, Aaron and I went out dancing for a little bit because we didn't just want to sit around. At first I wasn't feeling too well because I am starting to get sick but in the end I felt well enough to go. We went to Le Pacio for a little bit.. we got there at around 1 am and it wasn't busy at all. There were about 20 people there. Within a half hour it filled up and we danced for a while. It was fun but then the music got pretty lame. I think l'académie and pym's are the only places where I know I'll like the music for sure. Not everyone likes going to the same places though so we try to switch it up so everyone is satisfied. Friday night's are girl's nights at pym's so Mamie and I are going tonight.

On another note, Madame Dhommée's birthday is this weekend. She is the woman that we were supposed to live with but she passed away in November. Then her son and his wife and their son moved in to take care of us. Anyway, her birthday is this weekend so one of her old friend's is coming to stay for the weekend and on Sunday we are all going to mass together at the cathedral right down the street. We aren't obligated to go but I think I will go, just to experience mass in France and to be respectful.

Xavier and Jaqueline are going crazy right now cleaning the whole house. I think Xav's works in a little bit but Friday's are Jaqueline's day off. I feel lazy sitting in my bed not doing anything but no one is awake and the girls are gone. Grant and I are going to the library sometime today to work on some homework for our writing class. We have to find an article and write a response or something. I'm not really sure. Ok, now I am just rambling about nothing so I will try to update tomorrow or Sunday and tell you all about my weekend. I am going to try and update this as much as possible from now on. I miss you all so much!

i.l.y.a. :) :) :)

Jude Law And A Semester Abroad

I haven't updated this in a while because this has become my life now and I feel as things aren't new and exciting anymore. I know you would still like to hear about my weeks and adventures but there isn't really anything to update. Not a lot has been going on lately, mainly going to school and then going out with friends on the weekends.

Last week I had 3 tests which weren't exactly fun. The first one was in Langue Orale and I also had a presentation on work differences between France and the states. Grant and I worked on the presentation together. It ended up being about 20 minutes when we were done presenting, it was pretty awesome haha. We got our tests back today in this class and I got 8.5/10 which isn't too bad. My other tests were in translation (french-english) and langue écrite. The translation test wasn't TOO bad but I can't say I did awesome. Hopefully we get that test back tomorrow so I can see how I did. Langue écrite on the other hand, I do not want to get back because I probably got a 2 on it. I did not feel very confident about it.

We had to read an article and answer questions which weren't too difficult. Then we had to write a fake complaint about an apartment that "I had rented" but wasn't as amazing as the advertisement had said. That wasn't too bad except the making up a story part of it. The third section was grammar, which I love so that was easy.. The last part killed me though... We had to re-write two paragraphs and write them in past tenses but it's not as easy as it sounds. I don't know.. each section had it's rough patches, overall I think I failed it. Oh well, life goes on.

My social life here in France has kind of died out... but that's just my luck right? The weekends will hopefully start getting better and we have a break coming up in April so we have to start planning for that. Sierra and I want to go to Barcelona and Italy. We'll see how that works out. In May, Sierra, Mamie, Aaron and I are going to Ireland!!! We are all SO excited. We are flying there and the tickets were 33€ round trip :D

I would also like to say that I watched 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother in two weeks. Not exactly proud of how big of a loser I am but like I said... there's no reason to go out on the weekends anymore...

vous me manquezzzzz! :(

..i.l.y.a..

my ears keep on ringing!!

We just got back from Le Pacio and my ears won't stop ringing. I can barely hear anything and it's sort of driving me insane lol. The weeks here go by so quickly, it's insane. It's already THURSDAY... well technically it is now Friday but that's besides the point. It felt like yesterday was Monday and I was only wishing it were Thursday.

School started back up this week and none of us really wanted to go back. It's always hard to get back into the routine once you've been on break for a little bit. On Tuesday I was super tired and almost fell asleep in class. Luckily, she gives us breaks so I went and got a coffee and was able to survive the rest of the night. When I got home we all sat in my room and hung out (minus Mamie..she was with Alban). Alban is trying to steal Mamie from me but it won't work. JK, lol.

Yesterday was also a long day. Mamie and I went to our first translation class and it was quite interesting. Martine Pelletier teaches it and she is sort of weird. She laughs every 5 words and I can't exactly understand everything she is saying. Students in her class talk over her and have their own conversations on the side and it is very strange to me. That would NEVER be allowed back home. The second you talk when the prof is talking, you're out of there.

I had a class today and a class tomorrow because our prof was gone for the first class so we have to make it up. I have homework to do beforehand but it shouldn't be too hard to do.

I am so tired. I am going to head to bed soon.. tomorrow is Friday and we are going out again :) and I'm sure we will go out on Saturday too.. haha what a great life we live! I'm not sure what else we would be doing if we were at home..perhaps doing some homework for Concordia? That seems to be everyone else's lives there. :( I wish you could all be with me but it's your SPRING BREAK!!! I want to hear ALL about your trips when you get back ! I miss you my besties!

Bonne nuit et bisous,

I.LOVE.YOU.ALL!

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My family left on Saturday evening at around 6:42pm. I went to the train station with them and surprisingly none of us cried. Well, I did after I left the train and sat waiting for it to leave. I miss them already but I will be home soon so it will be ok. :) Good-bye's are never easy! It was fun having my family here for 10 days. We got to see a lot of things that everyone had been dreaming of for years. It was my sister's first time in Europe and my mom's first time in France. Since I had already visited all of the places we went to in Paris it was fun to see their reaction to everything. Even though I had already been to all of those places it was amazing to see it all.. it was even more beautiful than I had remembered it all.

So after my family left I came home and had dinner with the fam. I FINALLY got to Skype with Britt, it had been WAY too long. Almost two weeks without hearing her voice or seeing her face was killing me. I got ready to go out with the boys and she was helping me pick out my outfit and how to do my hair over Skype..it was pretty sweet it was as if she was here with me. That's what best friends do ..even when one of us is overseas! haha :)

M and S were on their way back from Paris and their Train arrived around 10:30pm. The boys said they would be here at 11pm so I was ready by the time the girls got home and then they got ready and I just hung out with them in their room. The boys didn't get here until 12:30am. I was falling asleep in the salon talking with Maims, Aaron and Mitchel. Mitchel is Aaron's friend from the states but he is studying abroad in southern France. I only met him for about 2 hours but he seems really outgoing and funny. I like him. He told us a story about a British man that walked up to him and said (with a British accent, of course) "You're accent is ATROCIOUS, I can barely understand you!" Mitchel replied "Oh, well I'm sorry dude" (kind of confused)..two weeks later Mitchel was shopping with a friend and the same man walked up to him and said "You're accent is atrocious!", once more. Mitchel said "Dude, you said that to me two weeks ago!" then the man replied with "I know but it hasn't changed!". I think it was one of the funniest stories I have heard in my life. I think about it every day...ok it has only been 2 days since he told me but it's still pretty funny.

Anyway, when the boys got here we went to Place Plum and met the rest of the "crew". We were only there for a little bit and then headed over to the usual place, l'académie de la bière. I think it's everyone's favorite place, just because it's a bar but there is also a dancing part. I can't say I had very much fun that night but it could have been worse. I sat with Luze, Paul and Benjamin most of the night and danced a few times with Aurélien but it wasn't for very long because he was hot or something. At the end of the night I danced with Aaron like a free spirit and had more fun in 10 minutes that I did the whole night. But then everyone decided to leave so we left as well because my purse would have been all alone at the table which is kind of sketch. Hopefully next weekend will be more fun :D

Now it's Monday and I don't have class. I feel like I should do something productive but I know it won't happen. I am going shopping with Maims after she is done with class today at around 4pm. I'm not sure if SiSi will be there or not, I think she has another class. I think I might start watching "How I Met Your Mother". M and S started watching it and they keep talking about it and so does every other European so I think that's what I will do today. Maybe when I go shopping today I will look harder for my necklace that I've been looking for since I got here. :) I must get dressed now because I am still in my jammies. :S

Love ya'll!!

**Shout out to everyone in the states: I left my fav necklace at home (in the states) when I left for France and I forgot to tell my momma to bring it for me and i miss it so very very much. If you know me well enough.. it's my "V" necklace. IF you happen to see ANYTHING similar to it and it's cheap (probably Claire's) I will LOVE YOU FOREVER if you send it my way!! I've been looking ALL over France for a cute necklace and I can't find one like it. I want something I can wear every day with every outfit. I will pay you back when I get to the states because I know mailing isn't cheap. Thanks!! :) **

This is all that there is to it...

Paris and my family :)

It has been a very long time since I have updated. I was in Paris from last Thursday until Tuesday night. I met my mom and sister at the airport on Thursday and then we had to pick George up on Friday. We stayed at a very cute and cozy hotel in the "Middle-Eastern" district. There were Middle-Eastern people everywhere and I saw about 3 women the whole weekend. Ok, yes I am exaggerating but there weren't very many women around.

In Paris, we visited all of the touristic places, of course. We went to: Notre-Dame, Le Louvre, Sacré Cœur, Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomphe... and I feel like I am forgetting something. We also went to Delphine's house for dinner. Delphine and her dad met us at the Opera in Paris and then gave us a tour of "Paris by night". It was super pretty, I loved it. At their house we had delicious food and great conversations. lol We were there until 2am!! It was a lot of fun..they are really great people.

We met up with Mamie and Sierra on Monday and went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was amazing!! We had a lot of fun even though it was really cold and windy. After spending the WHOLE day at the tower we went to eat at a fancy restaurant. I had delicious chicken and chocolate mousse for dessert. We ordered a bottle of wine for everyone which was also delicious. It was totally worth it and made the experience ten times better. After dinner we headed back to the beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower. Sierra hadn't seen it at night and was dying to see it. When it started sparkling she couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I guess, I can't get over how beautiful it is either and I have seen it multiple times. Meeting up with Mamie and Sierra was exciting because I had missed them so much! It's crazy how close we have all gotten but even now I miss them like crazy, I can't imagine what I would feel like if I hadn't seen them on Monday.

Right now the house is really lonely. My family is still in Tours with me but they are staying at a hotel. I figured it would just be cheaper for me to stay at "home". Alex arrived on Saturday but I haven't seen much of her since I got back. Hallie, Grant and Joel are in London...Sierra and Mamie are still in Paris...Aaron is in Amsterdam...this house is EMPTY !! It is driving me insane, I miss everyone and want everyone to come back ASAP!!!

Last night Jaqui-D invited my family over for dinner except Xavs wasn't there. We all spoke Spanish but Alex and Joel didn't talk much. Alex could understand and would say things every now and then but Joel just sat there confused. (I don't blame him) Dinner was great, as usual and then we had crêpes for dessert. It was perfect because Paola had been dying to have a crêpe(in France).

My family leaves on Saturday and I am not looking forward to it. It all went by way too quickly. :( Ugh, I am super tired. I am heading to bed.

i.L.y.A!

It's the life I was born to live.

My life here is starting...well, not getting boring, but it's always the same thing. Every week we do the same things and I mean, it's fun but I wish we would travel more or something. During the week it's hard to do anything fun and exciting because we all have class the next day so we leave it for the weekends but even then we haven't visited very many places.

We have break this coming week and my mom, sister and her boyfriend are coming! I am super excited. We are going to Paris, Venice and then we'll come here to Tours so they can see what my life is all about. Sad thing is that when they come here everyone will be in Paris or London so they won't get to meet any of my friends. :( It's ok, they can meet them back at CC. I can't wait to show my mom and sister and george everything here. My mom is going to fall in love and never want to go back home, which is fine by me because if she lives here... then I can live with her, :)

I haven't hit any type of culture shock yet which I find weird. I think that it may have to do with the fact that 7 CC people live in the same house and we are practically always together. Don't get me wrong, I love living here with everyone but I am REALLY starting to get annoyed with the fact that we only speak English. I feel like my French is getting worse the more I am here and it is really starting to frustrate me. When I try speaking French to the others or say we should speak French they all say "I know" and keep speaking English..granted I am to blame as well for not going through with the plan. Back to culture shock... I'm not really homesick, although at moments I do miss home and everyone in the states but I also don't find myself being in the "honeymoon" stage. I know this isn't "home", but other than my French, I do feel at home. I don't think that everything is amazing here, but I do love it a lot here and in my opinion, it's better than home. Everything is gorgeous here and life is just completely different. It's the life I was born to live.

Now I have to get ready for class, but I will try to update before I leave for Paris on Thursday morning!
i.l.y.a.

Gotta feel it all in your system-xoxo

I always forget to update my blog and I'm really sorry. Alright so I last updated on Friday night.. Saturday night we went out with the boys again except Luze came with us as well. :) Hallie had to stay home because she was terribly sick :(. We met up with the boys again at L'épée royale, a bar. We hung out there for a little bit and then headed to l'académie de la bière. These are some of my favorite places that we go to. L'Académie is a ton of fun because of the "club" part of it. I love love love dancing, as you all already know. I'm going to miss going out dancing when I get back home.. especially since no one ever wants to have dance parties with me.

Anyway, sunday I finally got to skype with my momma! It had been too long since I had spoken with her. We are planning our trip to Paris and Venice. There is so much planning to do and such little time, it's stressful! I've been trying to find train tickets for a cheap price but it's just not happening. I'm sure I will find something.

This week has gone by super fast and I'm not sure I'm wanting my weeks to go by quickly, although when the weekends are here, I'm not complaining. I love the weekends in France, there are actually things to do and people to see. :)

I haven't done anything too exciting this week, just school and some more school. I'm sorry this is so boring, but I am really tired and school is honestly all I have done this week except go shopping.. lol I missed that part. Mamie, Grant and I went shopping on Monday and then Mamie, Sierra and I went shopping again today.

Tomorrow is Thursday so I bet you can all guess what that entails. I miss you all!

i.l.y.ALL!

French, French, French!

Hello all :) On Monday we got our results from our placement tests and I got into the "third level" there are really 6 groups but they are only letting people into 4 groups for some reason. Grant is in my group and Hallie tested into the 4th level. The others tested one below us but Mamie is going to switch to my group, where she should be. We chose our classes on Monday at our meeting, we only had a few to choose from so it wasn't very difficult because there were some that we couldn't take because of other classes we already have.

The classes that I actually wanted to take were all on Wednesday and I already have my art history and drawing class that day so they didn't fit in. It's all good though, I figured it all out. I don't have class on Monday's or Friday's but I have 3 classes on Tuesday's, 2 on Wednesday and 1 on Thursday. I was supposed to add one more class but they couldn't find any classes for us to get into because of the whole art deal. These classes are all a credit away from what we need so hopefully we will be okay. Transferring is going to be tough no matter what so I think we will be okay with what we have.

Tuesday was a busy day and I was really tired. For some reason I didn't go to bed until 2am or 3am on Monday night so I was tired for classes on Tuesday. I start at 1130am so it's not too early but I was still tired. Our classes are all at different buildings scattered all over the city of Tours. The classes that I have on Tuesday's are at the building on Rue Fromont. It's 1.5 miles from our house so I walk a total of 3 miles to school and back. But I also walk more than that because when I go to lunch I walk halfway home and then back to the school. It's a good workout!

Classes are going well, except my art history course. I love all of my classes on Tuesday especially my history course. It's European history and I LOVE my professor. He is super cute (little boy cute) and super nice! We learned about Greek wars and the solar and lunar calendars. It was quite interesting. I hope the rest of the course is like that.

On Wednesday I had my art history course for the 2nd time and it was a lot harder to understand the professor than the first time. We understood the main point of the lecture but we couldn't follow as easily so it was a little bit frustrating. Hopefully it starts getting better otherwise we are going to have to do A LOT of research outside of class. Which is o.k., I suppose. :P

We also had our drawing class on Wednesday. We took a nap on my bed beforehand (mamie and I)..it's really not as weird as it sounds. We crawl up in the fetal position and each of us is on one end of the bed. We take naps all the time like this. lol Anyway when we woke up we did not want to go to class whatsoever but we sucked it up and went. We had to draw humans using the "head" method. I don't know what it is really called. It's where you count how many heads the length of the body is so that you can draw it proportionately. Mamie and I looked at each other in fear but by the 2nd human we had to draw it was a piece of cake. Ok, ok, not that easy but it got easier and we were actually enjoying ourselves. Our teacher is semi-young and has a good sense of humor. *the humans we drew were pictures of sculptures, not real naked humans* Quel dommage! jk

Thursday I had one class. Mamie and Grant are in my same class so we walked to class at the same building so 1.5 miles. We were the only ones in the classroom and a couple of other people walked in but no teacher. We were wondering if we were in the right classroom or if the class started at a different time. Then a lady walked in and told us that our professor was sick and had just sent her an e-mail. MY ONE CLASS WAS CANCELLED!! Can you say "Hello, weekend?"? It was awesome, but instead of going back home we went and had lunch at the cafeteria which is about half a mile to a mile away from the building we were at. It is really cheap and you get a TON of food and it's delicious (for a cafeteria). We then went shopping and then split up because Grant had another class but Mamie and I walked home.

Of course, we went out Thursday night with the boys. Aaron, Grant and Luze came with Mamie, Sierra and me. If you don't remember Luze is the Mexican girl from Canada that lives with us. (She's awesome and beautiful!) Anyway, we all went out to our fav bar, that's where the boys were waiting for us at. We chilled there for an hour or two and then we went to a club called "le Pacio" . Grant and Luze headed home because Grant wasn't feeling well and Luze had class in the morning.

The club was almost empty when we got there because the clubs here don't open until 2am. We were the first ones to start dancing but we (mamie, sierra and me) danced with Aaron because the boys didn't want to dance yet. They joined us later and it was a ton of fun. I love dancing and it was just a lot of fun! The boys drove us home at around 4am and then we went to bed:)

On Friday, I did nothing but write in my journal. I started out by writing about things that were bothering me and then I decided to write a little about everyone on the trip. Hallie and I thought it would be interesting to write about how I feel about people now and then do the same at the end of the trip and then compare. I wrote about 2 pages about each person and now I want to write some more in it so I'm going to go do so. Mamie and Sierra were gone all day because they went to Chinon with Romain and Alban.

OH! I can't go write in my journal until I write about last night. We had some of Madame Dhommée's friends over for dinner because they wanted to meet us. We were all wearing our every day clothes and then Mamie went downstairs to grab her waterbottle and saw that everyone else in the family was dressed up so she ran back up here and told us all. We all changed in approx 10 minutes and were all looking cute. We had a dance party in my room before the guests arrived and then headed downstairs to get our French on. The "event" lasted about 5.5 hours but it was actually fun. Of course they are all 40+ and asked a lot of "adult" questions but it was fun talking with them and getting to know them. Some of them taught Grant and Hallie how to drink and serve wine properly so now we all know! We had a lot of food and wine, and it was all delicious. We all had a better time than we all thought we would. Afterwards we all did the dishes and then headed to our computers to check what we had missed in the last 5 hours. Haha silly us!

This past week was a great one and I love life!! I hope the rest of the weeks here are just as happy! I have almost been here a month. Actually, a month ago from today I was packing and getting ready to leave for Paris. It's crazy how quickly time goes by. Enjoy every minute of it! :)

i.l.y.a. so very very much.

I'm getting lazy

Hello my beautiful people! I haven't been updating very often, I'm sorry. This past week has been very busy. I last updated about Thursday, a week from yesterday. On Friday, we didn't do very much but then Sierra and Mamie went out at night for a little bit. I was tired and decided to stay in because we were planning on going to Amboise, another castle, on Saturday.


Although we decided to take the later train, I still wanted to get my sleep. So Saturday, we got up at 9 to catch the 11am train. We all showered and got ready and walked to the train station. Everyone went this time except for Joel because he apparently didn't know we were going. We all made it to the train station just in time for everyone to buy their train tickets and then we all "compostaged"* our tickets and got on the train. The train ride was about 20 minutes, like the one to Chenonceau.

We got there and decided to eat something because we had checked the castle hours and noticed that it closed during lunch hour. We went to a little pizzeria and ate delicious pizza. Sierra and I shared one that had mushrooms, and something else on it. I can't remember anymore. We got these really sharp knives to cut the pizza with. They were actually a little frightening and lethal but they cut the pizza right up! lol


After the pizza we had dark chocolate ice cream for dessert. It was very delicious because it also had tiny chocolate chips in it! Yumm! We then headed to the castle which was actually quit a ways from the train station and pizzeria. When we got to the castle it was still closed so we just hung out and took some pictures. :) When we finally got in, we were all really excited.

Amboise is the castle where Leonardo Da Vinci is buried. There is a small cathedral at the castle where his body lies. It is beautiful!

The little cathedral is adorable, it is tiny but the stained glass windows are gorgeous and the architecture is beautiful. Everything in France is beautiful. When you first walk into the actual castle there is a huge layout of the castle and there are parts in red and parts in black. The black is what is still standing today and the red is what used to be the castle but got destroyed by Napoleon because he hated Henry II who lived there at the time. 1/5 of the castle is what remains standing today. It is so depressing to think of how much beauty was destroyed. After looking at the layout of it, you can tell outside where the castle used to be, it's insane.

I believe that Chenonceau is still my favorite castle but this one was beautiful as well. The gardens at Amboise are way better than Chenonceau's but it's winter so it's hard to appreciate the gardens when majority of things are dead. I wanted to stay in the gardens forever!

We had so much fun in the gardens taking pictures. There was so much to take pictures with. I'm not sure what type of trees these are but they are at all the castles and I really like them. Amboise has a lot of pretty furniture inside of it and a bed that I would die for! It was beautiful :). We were at this castle for quite some time and then we headed back a little early so that we wouldn't miss our train like at Chenonceau.

At Amboise you can actually visit Leonardo Da Vinci's ACTUAL house that he lived in. It is down the road but we didn't think of going there while we were there because we had heard that it wasn't even exciting and it was a "tourist trap". Maybe one day we'll go back and see what it's all about. The train tickets are super cheap here. Especially if you have your "carte 12-25". It's a card that costs 49€ but it gives you discounts on all train rides so instead of paying 7€ for a train ride you pay 4€ or something like that. The card eventually pays itself. I love it!

I'm sorry this castle story was a bit random and unorganized but all-in-all it was a beautiful castle that you should all visit some day and I LOVED the gardens!


*"Compostage"-stamps your train ticket with the date and time. It's mandatory to have it stamped before you get on. We're not really quite sure why but Grant said it's probably so that people don't try selling their tickets when they get off of the train because when you buy your ticket it's good for about a week. If the train guy comes around and checks your ticket and it's not stamped you have to pay a fine.

i live in FRANCE! by CASTLES.. WHAT?!

(this was all on thursday)
The placement test went well, I think. Jacqueline, our host mom, says that there are three levels that you can test into. I'm not really sure where I will be placed. Hopefully in the 3rd level but I'm thinking 2nd level is calling my name. The test didn't seem to be very hard but I always second guess myself. I had an asian chick sitting next to me and she was copying my answers the WHOLE time. I about punched her. When we got to the more difficult part of the test, grammar, we had to write about our trip to Tours and if we encountered any problems or not. The second part of the grammar section was writing a longer story on either the media or "money makes you happy". Of course, she couldn't copy THAT part of the test so when I left I looked at her paper and she had one sentence written, and she left it like that because she left like 3 minutes after me.

On Monday we get to go back at 17h30 (5:30pm) and we get our results and grouped with the people we will be having class with. After that then I will have 6 classes and I still have to add one more but we're not sure which one.

At the university, where we took the test, we ran into some girls we had met in Caroline's office. Their names are Kate and Christina and they are from New Jersey so Aaron (Baune) calls them "Jersey Shore". We invited them to go out with us later in the night and then headed to lunch.

We ate so FRICKIN much! Well, first of all, when we got there at 4:30pm they told us that they had stopped serving food at 3pm but that he would still make us food since we didn't know. The people at this bar are super nice. It's called Dheli's. I will take a picture sometime so you guys can see what it looks like. I got a "sandwich rustique" and fries. The sandwich is so delicious! It has mozzarella cheese, tomato, lettuce, mayo, and raw ham. It's going to suck going back to American food because I love it ALL here SO much! Anyway, we didn't get our food until around 5pm and then we walked home at around 6-630. Dinner is always at 8pm and we were all going to tell Jacq(ueline) that we weren't eating but then we felt bad so we ate anyway. BAD IDEA.

We were all SO full we felt sick. But we still wanted to go out so there we all go, drinking away feeling like cow's and a half. I had eaten way too much to drink. I took a couple shots and gagged, everything was just gross because I had eaten so much. I stopped drinking that night and just decided to have fun not drunk. We went to "le Puits Sait Tout".

We met up with Romain, Alban, Thomas and their new friend, Aurélien. We got there at around 11:30pm and met up with Kate as well. We sat at the comfortable couches at the corner of the bar and somehow managed to fit Sierra, Romain, Alban, Mamie, Thomas, Kate, Aurélian, Hallie, Aaron, Joel and me in that corner. lol We weren't at the bar very long because some people were really drunk and were embarrassing. It was a short night, we got home at like 1:30am.

Frist day of French class

SO today was my first day of classes.. yes I finally have TWO French classes. Tomorrow we all have to take a French proficiency test to see what level of French classes we are allowed to take. The other classes we take are just all in French no matter how well you speak. We'll see how that test goes...wish me luck!

So my first class of the day was Art History..19th - 20th century. We looked at about 20 Picasso images and talked about cubism and it's 3 different stages. Now that I look back, I understood quite a bit and I'm proud of myself. The class is 2 hours long but I don't mind because my professor is beautiful. I wish I could post a pic. Just kidding. I think I am really going to enjoy this class once I can fully understand the professor. There is no textbook that goes along with this course so there's a bunch of money I can save.

Mamie and I have that class together so we got lunch afterwards and headed home. I took a much needed nap and then got ready for my night class of drawing. Mamie and I got to the classroom half an hour early and the classroom was locked so we sat outside the room in some chairs that were sitting there. A kid with a magic touch opened the classroom but walked right back out and went down the stairs. Mamie and I were a bit confused because we thought the door was locked. We decided to just sit in the classroom and wait for everyone else. Class was supposed to start at 18h00 and it was already 18h07. We decided to wait until 18h15 and then we went looking for a "front desk" to see if they could tell us where the class was actually at.

We didn't find a front desk but we found a janitor. She told us there was a professor upstairs that we could ask. He was teaching, so we peeked in the room and saw that it was the class we were supposed to be in. At this point we were half an hour late. He said "bonjour" and the whole class (of 8 students) turned around and looked at us. We recognized a kid with sick burgundy hair from our art history class from earlier in the day. We sat down and pulled out some pieces of paper and looked at pictures our professor was showing us of drawings.

After looking at these images we started drawing random objects like a watering can, a plastic hat, a basket and a jar. Since we didn't have the proper supplies he came up to us and asked us to bring the correct supplies for the next class period. Our assignment for next Wednesday is to draw THREE objects. I have a whole week to draw three things.. At CC, they gave us two days to draw 10 objects. Alright well that was my day...

For dinner we had : vegetable soup but they were all blended together so it looked like pea soup and some cooked broccoli with chicken.
dessert was: chocolate cake but it wasn't done all the way so it was gooey. It was still delicious though and we all still ate the whole thing! :) yummm!

À demain (until tomorrow)

je vous adore!

quickest weekend so far..

This weekend went by super quickly. On Saturday morning Mamie, Hallie, Joel and I woke up early to go to Chenonceau. It is one of the smallest castles ever but it is also one of the most BEAUTIFUL. If you look at my fb album you can see pictures of it. They might seem gloomy from the outside but it was raining. We plan to go back in the Spring when it is sunny outside.



We took the train from Tours to Chenonceau which is about 20 minutes. There were barely any people there, it was awesome. We saw all of the castle in a very short amount of time. I love it though, I think it's going to be one of my favorite castles I visit. The rest are just so big and you can't appreciate it all because it's so overwhelming. My favorite part of this castle is that it's in a river...I mean WHO IN THE WORLD decides to build a castle IN a river?! It's amazing, I love it.

There is a huge history about this castle. I will post the link because it will be easier to post it and have you read it than me typing it all and misinforming you all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Chenonceau

We walked through the gardens but it was very quick because it was raining outside and the umbrella's weren't big enough for more than one person. We walked through the maze and then headed back for the train. We were a little early so we waited in the gift shop for a little bit and then decided to into the town of Chenonceau and find something to eat. This isn't even a town.. it's a small village. haha We found a boulangerie (bakery type place) and had some sandwiches and dessert. I had a "cigare de chocolat" I was like a big lady finger type of breading wrapped like a taco with chocolate and almonds on the inside. It was good but I probably wouldn't have it again.

Our train left at 1:33pm but then when we checked again Hallie said it left at 1:53pm so at 1:30ish we headed down to the train station. We saw the train arrive and we started running towards it but it left right when we got to it. The next train didn't leave for another THREE hours. We waited outside for about 10 minutes and froze so we went back to the gift store and played games on our cell phones.. told stories..luckily time flew by so then we got on our correct train and made it home. :) We were soaking wet and my feet were freezing so then I crawled into bed. It was lovely.

Saturday night we all wanted to go out to a disco/club that Aaron had found on Thursday night (when we all split up). We ended up going to the bar we always go to and then we got home at around 2:30am. It was a long day.

Sunday was definitely a day of rest and lots of water drinking.

ilya!!

the Triple T's

Thirsty Thursday in Tours. the end. haha just kidding!

After being super stressed about classes on Thursday, we all decided to go to our favorite bar...<>...it's pretty much the best. It's not very big but the atmosphere is just great. First we sat on some bar stools where my leggings got caught and ripped a hole into them. :( Then we moved to some couches in the corner of the bar. We all got our drinks and were laughing and dancing to the music they were playing. (it's mostly all american) It almost seemed like they were playing the songs on purpose because they were like Spice Girls, the Happy Days theme song, Shania Twain... just really American music. But we didn't care, we just had a good time.

Well, eventually I had to go to the bathroom, and of course all the girls came with. The bathroom at the bar is quite unusual... it's one room with a sink, a urinal, and a stall. They leave the main door open so that a guy can pee while a girl pees and then you share a sink. The sink is sketch so I had brought hand sanitizer with me to use after the bathroom. Well this guy, Romain, started saying "I just saw you walk out and you didn't wash your hands!!", all in French. I didn't understand what he was saying at first and then I went back and washed my hands lol. That was a bit embarrassing but stupid because no one else had washed their hands but he didn't see them not wash them. Anyway, we were waiting for Mamie to walk out and they were waiting for their friend, Alban. We were talking to them for a little bit and then we told them where we were sitting.

We walked back to the couches and a minute later Romain, Alban and their other friend Thomas came over. Mamie and I went to go get more drinks and then we hung out at the bar for a little longer. Then we went to a disco but it was super lame so Hallie and I left right away. Sierra and Mamie stayed with Romain and Alban. Thomas had disappeared somewhere once we got to the club. Hallie and I walked home and called it a night.

I'm not sure what we did on Friday... I know we slept in for quite a long time. I think we probably just went out for panini's and walked around a bit. I was planning on losing weight with all the walking here but in order for that to happen I need to stop shoving my face with panini's and chocolate. I bought pringles 3 days ago and I finished them this morning.. haha ICK.

I'm sending out more post cards soon so if you didn't get one this time, you will next time. They're expensive so I have to space out when I send them out otherwise they will ALL say the same things and all look the same. So don't worry, I didn't forget you;)

i.l.y.a.

it's been a while..:)

I'm sorry that I haven't updated my blog. It has been a really busy, stressful and long week. So last time I updated I was hoping to have registered for classes the next day but that didn't happen. We met with Caroline again but we didn't get anything accomplished. By the time we met with her we are all so tired that we were just pissed off. She tried explaining how the courses worked and gave us these little booklets to look at but we didn't understand them because they had weird charts in them. She took a few of us into her office at a time and tried explaining things to us but it all went in one ear and out the other. At the moment, she only had booklets for Italian courses for Hallie and I to look at. But I just wanted to sleep...

You see, Mamie, Sierra and I woke up early that morning and went shopping we walked quite a bit so when we met the others at Caroline's office the three of us were like LET'S GO HOME!! So we didn't get anything figured out with Caroline and when we walk outside it was snowing cats and dogs. haha I know that's not the saying but it was pretty much a blizzard outside. Everything was covered in slush and our faces were getting hit with huge ass snowflakes. I was getting so angry and we were all asking each other what Caroline had said and we were all coming up with different answers and yelling at each other because that's how frustrated we were. From that point on we decided to not talk the whole way home. The boys ended up splitting up and going shopping because Aaron had to buy some things.

So we got home and had dinner but everyone just wanted to go to bed because we were so upset.

On Wednesday we had received an e-mail from Frédéric, the guy who is helping us with registration here, saying that Caroline was searching for more little books about classes for us to look at for each department. These were the same books we had looked at before but she had "taught" us how to read them so she found them for each department and told us to go in tomorrow in the morning and pick them up.

Caroline had told us on Tuesday night that if she had time to visit with us the next day that she would e-mail us in the morning telling us what time to come in but if we didn't hear anything to not go into her office because she wouldn't have time for us. Well, we never heard from her.. just from Frédéric telling us to go in Thursday morning.

We found another person to help us and her name is Carine Berberi. She has been the most help out of the 5 people that have been trying to help us with registration and even finding classes we can take. We met with her on Thursday after picking up the little booklets from Caroline. Carine was frustrated and not necessarily with us, but we were lacking information about credits and credit hours, and exams that had to be taken and a bunch of other things but she helped us the best she could.

She asked each one of us what type of classes we wanted to take and gave us class options until we all had classes. There was one little problem though... Mamie and I need to take art studio classes and that is with a different part of the university and apparently it's not well-known because the 5 people that have tried helping us don't know anything about it. They have tried contacting the people of the program (l'école de Beaux-Arts) but no one has replied. They need to know if we are even ALLOWED to take classes there because apparently it's a special program. It is MONDAY, when ALL classes have started now and I still don't have my classes.

Another issue is that each department starts school at different times so my art history course started last Wednesday but I missed it because I didn't even know I was taking that class until Thursday. That is the only class I am signed up for right now and it is REALLY frustrating because everyone else has classes. There are still a lot of issues because we don't know how many classes we need to take in order for them to transfer to Concordia. Everything is so different and it's so frustrating because we were told that it was all worked out before we left the states. We all thought that all we had to do is pick the classes we wanted to take and go to them. It has been complete hell trying to figure all of this out.

The classes in France go by credits and not credit hours or something like that.. I don't even know anymore but it doesn't work with Concordia's system at all. In the end, we were told to take 200 credit hours by the end of the semester but that means that we might have to take 7+ classes. But some classes you only have once a week...or they end at half of the semester and then you take more/different courses. It's so stupid I'm getting angry just typing all of this out. It's so complicated.

On Thursday after visiting with Carine we were all even more upset than Tuesday because classes start today (monday) and we weren't registered for any even though some people had classes to choose from. Like I said, there is still so much to figure out that everyone whether they have classes or not are really stressed.

Anyway, after our meeting we went out to this cute little bar that Mamie, Sierra and I had found on Tuesday and ate lunch there. It's really cheap. You get a TON of fries, a huge sandwich and a drink for 4,50€ which is about $5.50. When we first got there wasn't anywhere for us to sit so we had to sit in the "game room" of the bar and there were 15 yr olds playing foosball and pool. It was so loud in the little room and we were all just sitting at our table not talking trying to not think about classes.

After lunch we went back to Caroline's office to ask about courses at the OTHER university where we will be taking actual French classes to learn and perfect our French. We were told that the courses start on the 25th and that we have to take a proficiency test on the 21st..which is this Thursday. We'll see how that goes. We went home after that and I crawled into my bed, cried and fell asleep. I woke up a little before dinner but I just wanted to keep sleeping.

Thursday night is a completely different story so I will write a separate blog for that.

I don't even remember what nights we had what dinner so I screwed myself over by not blogging because I want to remember every meal lol. We've had chicken with mushrooms and rice for one dinner, we had sushi last night which was delicious with homemade tiramisu for dessert, one night we had shepherd's pie. That's all I remember...Oops.

sorry this is so LONG and boring but this is what my life is about here in lovely france.

iloveyouall!

Instead of boring you...

Hello all. I just want you all to know that I miss you dearly and I wish I could run back to the apt every night to share my stories while I sit in the living room and hula hoop. I miss Annie playing with my hair before bed while I looked down from the top bunk and told her all of my stories about work and such. I miss talking to Rach about my problems and her calling my Valkyrie and having to tell me that I need to just move on. Of course, I miss TayLA staying up late with me and laughing until we couldn't breathe. I miss EVERYONE, my momma, paola, emilies, micaela, JEN!, j-man. I miss you all. Maybe the title of this should be "homesick"? No, I don't think I'm VERY homesick yet I just miss you all and wish I could personally tell you my stories and adventures.

So the past few days have been quite eventful... yesterday we all woke up early and went to rue Nationale and bought cell phones! haha That's right, I have a French cell phone... with a French number and everything! They're mainly for emergencies and to contact each other if we ever have to. Apparently not a lot of young French people have cell phones so we'll see how much I will use it. Luckily it's just a pay as you go phone so I don't have to spend very much on it. The process was actually quite easy.. we just told the guy what we wanted and BOOM he went back, got the phones we wanted and set them up.

For lunch we went to rue Bordeaux and had panini's it was my first time ever and it was good but I wouldn't say delicious. Maybe a different kind would be better? Probs. We went to Sephora after we were done eating them and tried about 20 different perfumes and I fell in love with one called LeeLee but it's a small bottle for 36€ so if you would like to donate to the cause please do so because I REALLY REALLY want it! It smells delicious.. also, my Armani Code perfume costs 89€=$129!! I bought it for $40 at TjMaxx in the states. :D

Dinner tonight was: salad with lentils and Andives wrapped with ham and a hard boiled egg
dessert was: dark chocolate pudding cups

i love most of you...no just kidding...i love you ALL! BisOus!

I don't exactly remember what happened yesterday but in my notes about my next blog, I have things written from Saturday. For dinner we had Paella which was really good. It was rice with sea food and it was pretty much delicious. haha I feel like I have to write about every meal because I want to remember it all.

Before dinner on Saturday Mathias was making videos on my laptop about "le criminel". He would call someone a criminal and then interview them and tell them when it was time to eat and when to go to bed. One time he told Mamie "the prisoner" that she could escape if she wanted while he pretended to sleep. Mamie left the room, then Mathias turned the light back on and went chasing after her but he got his foot caught on the lamp cord and flew across the room and pretty much landed face first. Fortunately, he didn't get hurt and just got right back up and ran away. He said he was fine but it sounded like it really hurt. Since we were recording the whole thing we watched it on video but you can't see him actually fall. You can just hear all of the commotion and Hallie's reaction to it. Quite funny.

Anyway, the 7 of us from Concordia have created a secret group on FB that has different discussion groups about Mathias, things that our professor at Concordia is wrong about the French, Who fell down the stairs today...etc. That's also where we post our pictures that the rest of the world shouldn't see and just fun things from our trip. It's probably the best group out there.

On Sunday:

I woke up at around 11:30am to get ready in time for brunch at 12:30pm, however, we didn't eat brunch until about 1:30pm. It was quite ridiculous because it wasted a bunch of time. We had delicious pizza with mushrooms and salad with tomato and onions for brunch. Then we all kind of sat around. Hallie was searching for classes online because no one can seem to find them and it seems like we have to e-mail a specific person in our department to get the course list. Sierra took a nap because she wasn't feeling very well. Mamie and I sat on our computers until we both fell asleep on my bed. Grant was doing his own thing as well as Aaron and Joel. Joel is always sleeping, or in his room with the light off so we don't know what he's doing. Anyway, we woke up to Grant breathing heavily at our doorstep but then we realized he was laughing at all of us but trying not to wake us up. Apparently Hallie had fallen asleep as well on her bed and we were all in the fetal position.

Once we woke up Grant, Sierra, Mamie and I went shopping. Since the sales are only for a little bit longer and Sierra needed some things because her suitcase was lost and hadn't arrived yet. After shopping we went and took a stroll down by the river and took some pictures. This place is absolutely beautiful! Then when we got home we played with Mathias a little bit more. He always comes upstairs before dinner and then we all go downstairs for dinner together.

For dinner we had RABBIT and potatoes. The rabbit was really good, it's dark meat and didn't really taste any different than other meats. I know it's rabbit and you're all probably puking but it was delicious and I think you should all try it. Live a little.

After dinner we stayed downstairs in the "salon" and just hung out for the VERY first time. Jacqueline and Xavier were probably excited that we have lives beyond the internet. We played some card games and then I came up to my room and skyped with J-man. :D

peace out!!

illlllooooovvvvveeeeyouall

Untitled

Yesterday was a long day...on the weekends instead of breakfast we have brunch as a family. We weren't told what time it would be at so Hallie and I woke up earlier than the others just in case. We were both up and ready by 11 but then we were told that brunch wasn't until 12:30pm. We thought that was late but oh well. For brunch we had "croque-monsieurs" which is kind of like a grilled sandwich but better. It had toasted bread, ham, cheese inside of the sandwich and then pineapple and more cheese covering it. It was really good except I had to eat the pineapple on the side because I don't like warm pineapple let alone with ham. My momma knows this :D. We also had a little bit of salad with it. The food here is delicious, I like it all.

After brunch we all went out to Rue Nationale to try and get cell phones so that we can contact each other somehow while we are here, and of course be able to contact our friends when we make some. It was way too crowded and everyone decided to just wait until Monday when it wouldn't be so crowded. We went to Monoprix, kind of like a more expensive/higher quality Super Target and bought some things. I bought a cute new purse, Mamie bought a super cute sweater and some orange juice and cookies for the both of us, Hallie bought some orange juice and things to snack on, I'm not sure what the others bought. After that we headed back home and took naps. Surprise, surprise. I'm not sure if I have written this but we have a bell that they ring for dinner time. Well Fabiola rang the bell when dinner was ready last night. It took me a while to hear it since I had been sleeping but I got up and started waking everyone else up even though I was still half asleep. Everyone was starting to get up and go downstairs but since we weren't quick enough Fabiola started ringing the bell again but this time she didn't stop until we were all the way at the bottom of the stairs. I could have honestly choked her out. If you know me and know me well, you know that Valeria doesn't like to be woken up, let alone be woken up by LOUD noises. My poor little ears. Just kidding. Anyway, I was so angry that she rang the bell non-stop for what seemed to be 10 minutes. That of course just made me angry during dinner.

Everyone was really quite and not talkative at all during dinner because we had all just woken up. Jacqueline and Xavier kept asking us what we had done the night before but we just kept saying we went out dancing cuz we weren't sure if they would get mad that we went out to the bars. Apparently, they don't care. Dinner was long and awkward but then we all headed right back upstairs...I am sick of writing that phrase.

Anyway, we were all trying to figure out what our plans were for the night and decided that we would probably go to a club at 2am because they don't open until then anyway. Grant decided to sleep until then and the rest of us were just hanging out and chatting. It was getting super late and then we all decided that we were too tired to go out and about. But apparently to some people here it means getting drunk in the house. Some people stayed up late drinking and waking the others up in the house. I stayed up until 4:30am but I was online in my room minding my own business talking with Grant and Hallie. Mamie had gone to bed because she was super tired but Sierra and Aaron were in Sierra's room and then moved to Aaron's room because Mamie wanted to sleep. Joel eventually went over to Aaron's room where they proceeded to take shots of vodka. At around 4am Aaron went outside to have a cigarette and locked himself out. He then had no choice but to ring the doorbell so that someone could let him in, except he rang the doorbell frantically and woke pretty much everyone in the house up. Joel had to let him in and then they both came back upstairs stomping their feet the whole way.

This house is very old, it's from the 19th century so it's all made of wood and the walls are paper thin. You can hear everything that is going on. No matter how hard you try to be quiet, you will still make some noise. Some people don't care though, they just walk around like they're the only one's here or as if they own the house. It is really starting to frustrate me because I don't want them to think that we are just a bunch of rude little kids that think they can do whatever they want. So anyway, after Aaron and Joel came back they went into Aaron's room and were talking quite loudly. We could hear the whole conversation in our room. Our rooms are right next to each other but if you talk normally, you can't hear anything. Meaning that they were being super loud and obnoxious. There are some other things that have been bothering me but my blog is supposed to be positive so I will stop where I am at. I've already said enough. I am so frustrated with everything that happened last night.... peace out.

ilya

The day I saw the man of my dreams <3

I couldn't think of a title for this blog or ANY blog for that matter, that's why they are always so random. Anyway, after the tour with Caroline we came back home and tried to warm up. I think I might have written that already but I'm not sure. Maybe I should re-read my blogs before writing another. Oops.

At dinner (yesterday), we had RATATOUILLE. Yes, like the movie. It was delicious and didn't even know it was ratatouille until the middle of supper. It wasn't neatly stacked like the one on the movie. It is actually quite messy because all the cooked vegetables slide around everywhere but it was still delicious. For dessert we had baked apples with cinnamon and honey. They were delicious. It was soft enough so that the peel came right off and Jacqueline had cut off the top and carved into the middle of the apple to fill it in with honey. The night before that we had some type of really thick yogurt with raspberries. We asked if it was yogurt but they said it was some sort of cheese, so I'm not really sure.

After dinner we weren't sure what we were going to do for the night so we all kind of separated into our own bedrooms and hung out for a little bit. Apparently the boys (Grant and Aaron) had a plan all along to go out to the bars and get drunk. Right when they were leaving they asked if we wanted to come along so we (the rest of us) got ready and went out to the bars. Aaron had googled some bars before we left and took us where we needed to go. On our way there we saw "the man of my dreams" and I almost fainted. Just kidding. We were all fairly close to the 1st bar we went to so I was hoping they'd go to the same one but they kept walking around the corner.

When we walked into the bar "The Pale" it was supper crowded, granted it was fairly small but we managed to get a table in the lower part of the bar. While we were waiting around looking for a table, I looked outside the window of the bar, and guess who was standing right outside of it? Yes, you guess correctly! THE MAN OF MY DREAMS. He was just having a (nasty) cigarette before he went into the bar. We got our table and set our things down and then a few of us would go order our beers one at a time. While I was waiting for it to be my turn to get my beer, "my guy" and his friends walk down the stairs and choose a table on the opposite side of the pool table. haha I bet you are all waiting to hear that I got his number or that we hooked up but nothing happened. He was just really cute and thought that I would make a big deal out if. *Rach, quit shaking your head* Anyway, he had brown hair, not too dark, not too light, and it was long but he had it in a bun. And he was well dressed..with a scarf. Uffda he was cute.

Along with my night... we all finished our beers and decided to get the heck out of there and went and found another bar. This time we didn't know where we were going. We just got up and left and went strolling down the streets and Aaron would go into a bar and check it out and if he didn't approve we would hit up the next one. After about 3 bars, we found one and luckily enough, people were leaving right when we ordered so again, we found a table. In front of our table was a creeper who stared at Sierra the whole night until he left. Kind of creepy but I protected her, don't worry. Everyone was fairly buzzed AT LEAST except Grant because he ended up not drinking...but we had a lot of fun. We had a lot of funny quotes to add to the group and a lot of great pictures;). We only went to those two bars for the night and then headed home. The way home was not far away whatsoever but little miss Valeria had to go to the bathroom more than anything so it felt like it was 10 miles. I almost went in the bushes at a park...behind two cars...but each time I convinced myself that I am a lady and that I could wait 2 more blocks. Also, I didn't want to get arrested. So then we got back home at 2:3-3 but I didn't go to bed until 4am. Quite sick.

Tomorrow I will update on today... I am dead tired and going to bed. Gute nacht

i looove youuuu allllll.

P.S. I got to Skype with Miss Jennifer Hurd today for 1/2 an hour. PRETTY MUCH THE BEST HALF HOUR EVER. It was so great catching up and getting to see a little bit of campus through her window. :D:D

the past two days....

First of all... my stomach has been growling for the past 2 hours. I'm not sure why since today I ate something way close to lunch than a brioche. Mamie and I shared a ham sandwich. Doesn't sound like much but it was on a baguette and baguettes are huge. Anyway, this sandwich should have filled me up until dinner which is in half an hour but it clearly didn't.

The last two days have been....boring? Ah, yes that's the word I was looking for! Yesterday we waited for Aaron and Sierra to arrive. We all thought it would be around noon or around then but to everyone's surprise it ended up being almost dinner time. It actually delayed dinner and everyone's faces started looking like hot dogs and hamburgers to me. Only kidding. We went out for a little bit just to get out of the house because we were all so bored. Hallie and I got more brioches... wait I think I already wrote about this. Maybe that was in my journal.. who knows. The point of this story is that we didn't do anything yesterday.

Now back to today..None of us really know when classes start. At first we were told the 11th, then I found a schedule on the website that said the 18th, but when I went back to the website to show Hallie and Mamie that we started the 18th, of course it said the 11th. We then e-mailed Dr. Rawson and she forwarded a message from a person at the university who wanted to meet with us about all of this. SO.. We all woke up early to go to the university and meet with some people about registration and possibly take a placement test. No placement test was taken but we did have to fill out 3-4 forms. The guy that had sent the e-mail felt that he was too good to talk to us so he had his assistant tell us all. I'm just kidding about the being too good for us part. ;) he had a cough and was embarrassed to talk to us. Anyway, Caroline explained the rest to us and then took us on another tour of Tours. Of course, she didn't know we had already done so except Aaron and Sierra missed it so we just went along any way. We visited the same places we had been to with Jacqueline but this time we took shortcuts and skipped half of the things. I don't like how I worded that last sentence but I am too tired to try and fix it. Sorry. I took more pictures of the city today since I had already visited those places. I had more time to just stroll. Again, after a while it was freezing outside and my toes were saying their last good-byes. We finally ended the tour at the Cathedral de Tours. <3

After the cathedral we went to the immigration office to turn in our papers and finalize the visa process. Just to make sure that the French know we are here and that we are here legally. The office didn't open until 1pm and it was 12:40pm when we arrived. This is when we all decided to buy sandwiches. There were many choices but Mamie and I went with the simple ham and butter sandwich. It doesn't sound very good but the bread was delicious and the butter was whipped and creamy and it was just delicious. Maybe it was the fact that we were all half-frozen and had finally found something else to concentrate on. Aaron didn't bring a coat to France so he headed to the "Tabac" to pretend and read a magazine and warm up but ended up buying espresso. The Tabac is a tiny shop on almost every street and they sell tobacco products and small things like postcards. Finally it was 1pm and the office opened. After freezing outside for 20 extra minutes, the lady tells us to mail the forms in. WTF?! was the main phrase running through my head...but then I thought hmm ok that's easy enough. Better than having to do an interview about why I am in France for so long or something crazy like that. After we left we headed straight "home".

We have all been sitting here on our beds, on facebook, taking silly pictures, talking about boys (only the girls of course), stalking friends on facebook, stalking friends OF friends on facebook...and trying to come up with male names that start with L's. Lord knows what topic will come up next in this awesome little chatter box room! I love hanging out with the girls and OBVIOUSLY talking about boys, boys, boys. It's close to dinner time and then I believe we are all going to watch a movie. I am tired from not doing anything but it's Friday night... in France... why not go out and have fun??! Who knows what will end up happening...I'm sure you will find out by tomorrow ;).

P.S. Caroline (the university lady) told us that the first day of school starts the 18th but then at the other place where we will be taking our other classes don't start until the 25th. Next week is going to be a lot of FUNNNNN!


i love you all.

so much time to blog...

If you are my friend on facebook you can see my photo shoot with Mathias. He came into our room before dinner and was showing us some christmas presents he had gotten in the mail from a girl that lived here this summer. He told Hallie, Mamie and I that he had put his robots together and that he could take them apart again and put them together to show us. Mamie said ok do it...you have 2 minutes GO! I was recording Mathias the whole time and when I told him he had one minute he started rushing. Unfortunately, Mathias didn't finish in time but he's so cute it doesn't matter. I will upload the video on facebook in a little bit. lol
Yes yes, you can say I'm obsessed. When he was done putting his robots back together is when we had our little photo shoot with Hallie and Mamie. After about 30 pictures Xavier rang the bell for dinner.

We had pasta with mushrooms and chicken for dinner. It was delicious. Just like all the other dinners we've had so far. :) For dessert we had une galette de rois which is a flaky pastry type of cake. I think I wrote about it when I was in Paris. It was the same type of cake I had at Delphine's. It is to celebrate "3 kings day". Mathias and Lucé were the King and Queen. Then we all did the dishes together and came upstairs and hung out . Not one word of French was spoken until Xavier came upstairs to help us with immigration papers. We have done horrible about speaking French ever since Grant and Mamie arrived. That will soon change. Everyone went to bed very early last night (Wednesday) and so I had no other choice but go to bed as well.

BONNE NUIT <3

i.l.y.a!

Long days!

Bonjour mes amis! I am going to update you on my day yesterday and a little on this morning :). I hope everything is going well in Moorhead. I've had people tell me they read my blog but then they don't update me on what they are up to and I WANT TO KNOW! So just fill me in on your life because I would love to hear about it.

Okay so yesterday was an eventful day! Hallie and I woke up at the same time and ate breakfast. At this house..our house I should say, we eat breakfast whenever we want but then we eat dinner as a family. After every meal we must wash our dishes. In the morning of course, we do our own dishes since we eat at separate times but after dinner we're like a little team. One person washes, one rinses, several dry and several others set the table for breakfast and the others put the extra dishes away. It's an interesting system but I like it. There are 12 of us living here. 7 Concordia students; Hallie, Joel, Mamie, Sierra, Aaron, Grant and myself. Then our host parents and little brother which I have already introduced; Jacqueline (host mom), Xavier (host dad) and Mathias (host brother) (also the love of my life. jk i don't love him like that, but he's adorable!!!). Then the other two are helpers around the house...I think. I'm not really sure but their names are Fabiola and Lucé. Fabiola is Jacqueline's niece and Lucé is a girl from Canada but she was born in Mexico. COMME MOI!! (like myself) So there are a lot of us here but it will be a ton of fun!

Anyway, back to yesterday's story, during breakfast Joel had walked in and ate with us. We then made a plan to go to the store to by shampoo, conditioner, make-up remover, etc. Joel had already gotten dressed before going down to breakfast so he just waited patiently for us girls to finish getting ready. We then took our little maps and went "downtown" or what kind of looks like a "downtown". There are 250,000 people in this city so there are multiple "downtowns". lol So we look on the map and see a symbol for a market. When we got to the "market" we realized it was an open-air market (that wasn't even open) not a store. It was freezing and my ears had once again gotten close to falling off so we headed home. Once we got back we asked Xavier where the nearest store was at and headed that way. When we got to the store it was CLOSED. UGH so frustrating. We bought "Brioches Chocolats" and took a stroll down that downtown looking street. Un brioche chocolat is kind of like a muffin but not really. It's more flaky than fluffy but it has tiny chocolate chips in it. It isn't nearly as sweet as a muffin either. It's sort of difficult to describe. GOOGLE IT ;). Now that you are done googling it, i'll get back to my story :D.

While we were strolling down the street I saw an OLD FRIEND, GUESS WHO??? THE AMERICAN GIRL FROM THE TRAIN. That's right the rude little porno reading blonde. I almost peed my pants with excitement that I could show Hallie and Joel who she was. Then we saw a store called Deux Euros "2 Euros" sort of like a dollar store but a bit more expensive because 2€=approx $3. Everything here is more expensive but what do you do? feel free to donate to the poor. lol just kidding. At the store I bought my shampoo, bobby pins, conditioner, body wash, other hair clips, make-up remover, post-its. It was quite a bit but I needed it! Again, the little blonde entered the store. IF i see here again, I will take a picture so that you guys have the privilege of meeting her. Ok, I'm done being mean about her.

We headed home after we all bought what we needed and took naps. Longer than expected because then at bedtime I couldn't fall asleep for the life of me. We went to bed at 1am-ish and I didn't fall asleep until like 3am. It was horrible! *Another thing to note is that when it is Midnight here it is 5pm for you Minnesotans. Therefore, if you would EVER like to speak to me while I am in France, please do so at this time.* I love sounding dramatic. I know you all have lives, and choir but hopefully we can find a time to chat on FB or Skype or something. I miss you all and like I said, I want to hear about your adventures in Moorhead. :)

Back to yesterday.. After our "nap" we headed downstairs for dinner. We had like an hour until we actually ate so we sat in the living room and talked with Fabiola and Jacqueline and Mathias. We watched "Charmed" for a little bit but then Mathias wanted to watc the Simpsons. I helped him finish his Spiderman puzzle I had given him and then we found Waldo. Waldo's name in French is Charlie...very weird. Mathias cheated though because he has the book memorized. I would flip the page and he would yell out "Il est là!!" (There he is!) I beat him a few times though. ;)

When we were done with the puzzle and finding "charlie" it was time for dinner. It was a delicious casserole type dish that had chicken, carrots, green beans, rice and I think peas or something. For dessert we had chocolate cake that Xavier had made. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Unfortunately, Mathias didn't get any because he wouldn't finish his dinner. I think he gets shy around us at dinner or he likes to show off in front of us because he doesn't eat all of his food and he talks back to his parents. It's hard not to laugh because his voice is so darn adorable but obviously it's not funny so I can't laugh. His parents tried explaining to him that there are children in the world without food and that they would die to have a bite of his dinner. I think this is what my mom used on me as a child and why I don't waste food. *RACHEL, TAYLOR, MICAELA & ANNIE! You girls better be eating the food I left in the apt. Don't forget the stuff in the freezer (ham, crab, shrimp, etc)*

Anyway, after dinner we came back up to our rooms and tried talking to you guys but you weren't online because it's so darn early there. :( Now today's story!

Wednesday:

Hallie and I woke up at 9am and started getting ready for breakfast when we heard a knock at the door. GRANT AND MAMIE, I exclaimed. We ran down the stairs as quietly as possible and answered the door. There were Grant and Mamie :). Jacqueline came down and showed them to their rooms and then we all ate breakfast together. And of course, did dishes as a family. After breakfast, I got ready to go out and about and everyone else was already dressed so they just freshened up, I suppose you could say. We went on a small tour of Tours ;) with Jacqueline. It was about 2 hours of walking around Tours showing us the cathedral, shopping center, city hall, the river..pretty much everything we need to know. The city is split into three parts by two rivers. The Cher river and Loire river. Throughout the tour today we saw three carousels, a ferris wheel and some other sort of fairground ride. This city is beautiful and is full of old architecture which I could stare at for days. We went down la Rue Nationale which is where the shopping center is. It is full of stores but everything is very modern because it had all been destroyed during WWII. Of course there is no way I could find it on my own yet but I will get used to it(I'm not as gifted as Hallie is when it comes to finding my way around). It's all fairly simple once you learn the names of the streets.

A few of us bought some more things that we needed and then headed back home. When we arrived I was completely exhausted and to no one's surprise, my back KILLED :(. C'est la vie. Mathias came into our room for a little bit to show us the gift Mamie had gotten him. It's a small hamster that makes a ton of different noises. Mathias speaks French, Spanish and is learning English. I spoke to him in Spanish but he was too shy to respond. He would just shake/nod his head yes and no with a big smile. What a cutie. Well I have been typing for quite a long time and now I have to write all of this in my journal :).

I just read Hallie's blog and need to add that our rooms have names. Hallie and I are in "Les Marguerites", Grant and Aaron are in "Les Pigeonniers", Mamie and Sierra are in "La Petite Marie" and I'm not sure what the name for Joel's room is. I just thought it was cute and something to share with you all :). Each room also has a sac where we put our dirty laundry and they each have the names of our rooms on it. ok peace out!

i.l.y.a! Have a great day, since yours is just starting.

Quick update continues..

So yesterday I wrote about being at the airport waiting for Hallie to arrive so that we could meet up and take the train to Tours. I sat down in a waiting area for Terminal 2D where the lady told me her flight would land. I sat there until 11:40 ish and then I went and stood by the door where the people walked out of. Hallie was nowhere to be seen. After about an hour, I thought it was strange and went and asked a different lady and she told me to go to Terminal 1. There I went again on the airport tram/shuttle to Terminal 1 and ask information one last time where Hallie's flight was landing. She told me right where to go and ten minutes later Hallie arrived. Luckily, Hallie's flight had been delayed so we ended up meeting as planned.

Now in order to get to the train station we had to take the shuttle ONCE more. We finally made it to the train station and looked on the schedule of trains departing but of course, ours wasn't there. We stood in line and asked the Information Desk (ironic lol) what time and where our train was leaving from. He told us where to go and what time but it was for the wrong train. The train he told us to take was #5232 and the one we needed to take was #5222. You see, the French are very stubborn and won't admit that they are wrong. I had told him no, we don't want that train we want #5222 but he insisted that it was the same one. Hallie and I didn't feel right about it so we just sat in the waiting area and waited about an hour more until our train information finally come on the schedule. We finally found out where we wanted to go but at that point we just wanted to get out of there because it was FREEZING!! I couldn't feel my toes or my ears and we still had one more hour until our train came.

When we were about to get on the train I ran into another student from Concordia, Joel. We didn't know that he was arriving that day or that he was taking our same train but it was fun to find him. We all rode in separate cars on the train and I sat by very interesting people. Two French girls and a 13 year old American girl who was reading a book on Jenna Jameson, yes the porn star. Anyway, this American girl had packed a huge suitcase that didn't fit normally on the rack so one of the French girls said "why don't u put it on top of the others?", in French of course, and the American gave her the nastiest look and said "EXCUSE ME?!" not understanding one word that girl had just said to her. So of course, I tell her she said you could try putting your suitcase on top of the others. No thank you, or anything...just "oh". SO as this girl is reading her nasty book the train is making stops dropping people off and picking others up. A French girl got on the train at one of our stops and it turns out that the American girl had sat in the wrong seat. So the French girl says "this is my seat" and one of the other French girls says "Which number?" just to make sure she wasn't mistaking. (Again, ALL in French) The girl keeps reading her book while the other is standing in confusion about what to do next. The American girl soon realizes that they are trying to talk to her so she looks up with her nasty look again and says "WHAT? Excuse me?! What's your problem?!" I almost freaked out on her but I just said "She says that you are sitting in her seat." Without questions the girl gets up and let's the other sit down and then she just stood in the aisle not knowing what to do. She then went to the upper level of the train and came back down. I have no idea where she ended up. It was RIDICULOUS. lol

Finally, it was time for us to get off the train so I got my things and got off and met up with Hallie and Joel. We then had to take a different train to get to Tours. It was only a 5 minute long train. When we arrived we had to walk to our house. Dr. Rawson had given us a map before we left for Christmas vaca so that we would know where to go once we got here. Fortunately, Hallie can read a French map better than I can read a book in English, so we had no problems finding our house. Jacqueline, our host mom, let us in and showed us the house a little bit, our rooms and explained some of the rules. I share a room with Hallie and it is all the way at the top, on the 3rd floor, so my thighs will be super fit when I return to the states.

Anyway, we went back downstairs and we gave our gifts to Jacqueline, Xavier and Mathias. Jacqueline, is of course our host mom. Xavier is our host dad and Mathias is their 7 year old son. He is the most adorable kid ever and I am already in love with him. He is also super shy. lol... anyway we ate dinner, which was delicious, and then headed upstairs to unpack and go to bed.

That was my Monday! busy, busy, busy! I miss you all :) Hope it's not too cold in Moorhead for you!

i.l.y.a.

Quick update :)

Hello all :)

I arrived in Paris on Saturday morning and took a taxi to my friend's (Delphine) house. She was on a trip so I just took a nap until she got home and she showed me a TV show from England, which is interesting. It's called "Skins". It's weird but funny, you should all watch it on youtube.

Anyway, yesterday after lunch we went to the Eiffel Tower just to take a few pictures and then we went back home. We celebrated "three kings day" with her family and just ate a cake that is specifically for the event. This is celebrated among catholics, I know we celebrate it in Mexico but I am not sure if American Catholics celebrate it because I've never seen it in the U.S.

Last night for dinner I had oysters for the first time and they were delicious! I never thought I would like them because of course they look disgusting but they were quite delicious.

Right now I am back at the airport in Paris waiting for Hallie. She's another girl from Concordia and then we are taking the train to Tours, where we will be living, at 4pm. This airport is crazy!! There are 7 terminals and they each have their own baggage claim instead of having ONE baggage claim and 7 terminals. It's so confusing. I just spent the last half hour running around trying to find where Hallie is arriving. I hope I am at the right one this time.

Everything is going well so far other than trying to understand how the subway works by myself and trying to find where Hallie will arrive. It's all good though, in the end it all works out.

I feel as though I've been gone for a month but it has only been a few days! I can't wait to get situated in Tours. :) Well, I better get going. I hope everyone at Concordia has a great first day back at school!


Peace & Blessings!

I.L.Y.A.