Last couple weeks

Monday last week was a work, no-play type of day, where I worked on my paper for France Mosaique all day. Luckily I finished it! Tuesday was a bank holiday of sorts, so I went to grab coffee with friends that afternoon and then a bar later that night. Wednesday was a test-filled morning, with a conversation final and then a final presentation for my France Mosaique class. Later, I slept over at Darren's, where we just hung out and talked, and watched movies.

On Thursday night, a bunch of us pitched in to cook steak fried rice, so that was a lot of fun, and after, I had my art history class. Later that day, Mary, her brother Newton and I went out to dinner for Crepes, which were absolutely delicious. I got one with rocquefort cheese, cream and walnuts and for dessert I tried a chocolate-coconut crepe. After that, a large group of Americans went to karaoke, even the staff from our office! It was a BLAST. After the karaoke, some of us went to my friend Robert's to continue the festivities.

On Friday, Lydia, Mary her brother and I went bowling, which I hadn't done yet, so that was a change of pace. I got my typical score of 32 :). Saturday was Cinco de Mayo, so or course, I went to my friend's apartment so we could celebrate with chips and dip and margaritas. That Sunday, I went out to gelato with Darren, Casey and Mary, and after, we went to Jardin Des Plantes, a beautiful park in Montpellier, to play a few games of Hearts. All in all, it was a perfect week! Now I just have one more paper left to write and I'm done. My goal is to get it done today (Tuesday, may 8).

April 28

I cannot believe my time in Montpellier is almost over. The past almost 9 months have gone unbelievably fast, and I will be sad to leave. I can only hope this is not my last time living in France.  As usual, it's crunch-time as far as school goes, and I'm avoiding homework as much as possible. Typical. I've finished 2 of my 4 papers, and am in the middle of my third one. I've finished my one oral exam, and I think it went well, so that's good!

I've been just doing as many things as possible and seeing as many people as possible before leaving. So on Wednesday, I went to the Vert Anglais for the French-English conversation exchange as usual, and on Thursday, a bunch of us went to the Panama Cafe for karaoke! Today was our last excursion, and we went to Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert, a small medieval village. It was really charming, and very unspoiled. This was probalby my favorite excursion! After, we went to a cave and then to Pont Diable (a bridge), which was really pretty, but would have been better if it weren't cloudy. Anyway, that's it for now!

Oslo, Norway

So I went to Oslo last weekend with Casey and Darren, and it was a lot of fun! The first night, we just hung out near the hotel, walked around a bit and ate sandwiches in our room while trying to find English or French channels. On Saturday, we walked around downtown Oslo pretty much all day, and it was really beautiful. We went to the opera house, city hall, a couple parks of which I'm not sure of the name, and to a local town festival, where we bought lefse and watched a band play! We ended up being invited to a bachelorette party, but turned it down. We did join for a couple games, however! And then that night, we went to a bar near our hotel.

The next day was a little rainy, but we got out of the hotel room to go go a sculpture park and then back downtown to the harbor, which was really beautiful. We had planned to go to a fjord that day, but since it was cloudy and rainy, we decided against.

It was a really beautiful city,  but if I ever go back to Norway, I'm for sure going to the countryside.

Morocco

I just got back yesterday from a week in Morocco. It was probably the second best experience of my life, after studying abroad in Montpellier of course. The countryside itself was absolutely stunning, filled with mountains and desert, and the weather was really beautiful (around 75 or 80 degrees) every day, so we were lucky in that respect. We had 2 vehicles, 1 guide, 1 cook and 1 other driver. All three of them were some of the best people I've met, and really knew the country, and showed us things we could not have otherwise experienced. I don't know of anyone else of whom I've felt so fondly after only knowing them for a week. I might attribute this to the welcoming nature of the people of Morocco. Almost every single person I encountered was sincerely welcoming and wanted to make me feel comfortable and at home, so that was a really wonderful atmosphere to be a part of.

The first day, we just got to our hotel in Marrakesh and spent the night there. The next day, we woke up early, left the city and drove through the Atlas Mountains, and stopped for a picture at the Tichka Peak. The drive was stunning, and the contrast between the base of the mountains (dry and arid) was a huge contrast to the snow-covered peaks. After driving for a while, we eventually stopped at Ait Ben Haddou, where we went into a Kasbah (a fortified village), and saw a typical Berbere home. After, the cook traveling with us made us a delicious lunch of a vegetable/ fish salad and couscous. After, we continued on to our guesthouse at Skoura, where we stayed for the night. The place was run by a family, and everything felt really comfortable. They cooked us a giant meal of vegetable soup, chicken tagine with eggplant, zucchini, carrots, turnips, potatoes and onions. For dessert, we had oranges, bananas and strawberries sprinkled with cinnamon. We had nan and crepes with honey and jam, with freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast.

We continued driving, and stopped at a pottery shop where we got to see the processes involved in making homemade pottery. After, we continued to another Kasbah and got to meet with a few of the inhabitants. Then we continued to Kelaa de M'Gouna, the "capital of the rose". We went through the Valley of the Roses, where there weren't actually any roses, but it was very lush in any case. Down in the valley, there were lots of shepherds herding sheep and goats. We spent the night at an inn in the Todhra Gorges. The inn had drums and a guitar, so of course our whole group (20 of us and our guides), had a sing along/ jam session. It was so much fun! After dinner, a bunch of employees put on a drumming show for us, so that was a lot of fun.


The next day, we drove through the valleys of Ziz and Tafilalet, where the largest palm grove can be found. We continued on to Erfoud, an oasis known for its fossils. We got to stop at a workshop where people recover fossils and then polish them and make various items to sell, such as tables, necklace pendants, plates, ash trays, etc. Eventually, we got to a hotel in Erg Chebbi, where we stopped to drop most of our belongings before a camel ride into the desert. After, we took a 2-hour camel ride into the Sahara, which was something I will never be able to replicate. It was super cool to see the many miles of sand dunes, as well as a line of 20 camels walking in them. I named my camel Mr. Feeny, and we had a pretty unbreakable bond. I'm sure he felt the same way. My butt and legs were a little sore afterwards, however, so as much as we bonded, I was relieved to leave him until the morning. Finally, we reached our camp in the desert, and slept in a bivouac tent. A bunch of us climbed up a sand dune, which is one of the most difficult things I've ever done. Newsflash: There is no traction on a sand dune! I was shocked.

The next day was mostly driving through Alnife, an arid landscape with palm groves weaved in. We reached our hotel in Agdz, where we got a tour of the city. I learned that the part of the village we were staying in had been abandoned for about 30 years, and that it was built in the 17th century. After returning to the hotel, the women cooking our dinner invited us in to help them prepare the meal, as well as have a dance party in the kitchen. It was a lot of fun learning some traditional African dance moves in the kitchen! :)

 The next day, we drove through the Atlas Mountains, but at a higher altitude, so we saw SNOW! It was like being home again (except the whole mountain part). It was really beautiful. We pretty much just drove all day, except for one stop at an oil shop-- oil for food, essential oils, etc, and we got to learn how they were made. That night, we made it to Marrakesh and went out for dinner.

The next morning, we took a guided tour of Marrakesh, where we went to a garden of plants (which I forgot the name of)-- it was really beautiful and colorful. After, we went to a Koran school, and got to see the bedrooms of the students who lived there. We had a free afternoon, so we went to the souk to go barter and shop for various things. I bought a necklace and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. The atmosphere at the market was a little overwhelming for me, since there were so many people and all the vendors were quite pushy. The coolest part of the souk was seeing monkeys sitting on peoples' shoulders, as well as seeing snake charmers. The next day, we spent the morning and early afternoon in the city, and then left to go home.

All in all, it was the best trip I've ever taken. Morocco was such a different experience than any westernized European country, and I absolutely loved it.

April 1

This week has been pretty uneventful. I had class as usual, and finished my internship! It was a great internship, but I can't complain about now being able to sleep in on Mondays and Thursdays. :)

Anyway, on Tuesday, I went to my friend Robert's concert at a club in France, and there were about 60 people who came out, so that was a lot of fun! It was a great concert, and I got to drink cheap beer, so there's no complaints here. On Thursday, I went out to coffee with a couple friends. Friday afternoon, Casey and I went shopping, and I didn't buy a thing, so that wasn't too exciting. That night, I went to my friend Zsofia's birthday party. We started in her apartment, and later that night, we went out dancing at the Panama Cafe, which I hadn't done in a while!

Today, I stayed in all day,  got some homework done, skyped Sam and my parents,  and started planning for which classes I want to take next year. In less than a week, I will be in Morocco, so I'm super excited for that!

26.03.2012

This week has been absolutely packed, but in the best ways possible! :). I of course had my internship on Monday and Friday as usual, which was fun. I get to sing a bunch and hang out with little kids! Who wouldn't want to do that? Also, I picked the topic of 2 of my 4 papers and started brainstorming a bit, so next week I should be able to get cracking. I keep saying that and still nothing happens. Funny how that works.

On Tuesday for dinner, we made quiche at the office-- one of which was traditional quiche lorraine (ham and cheese), and the other was tomatoes and goat cheese. Both were delicious! After that, I went to karaoke at the Panama Cafe with my friends Mary, Darren, Robert and Fanni. Thursday afternoon, I got to go to a modern art museum in the city of Nimes for my art history class, which was a lot of fun! That night, Darren and I went to a showing of the movie West Side Story, and after, we went to Robert's. Friday afternoon, I went to coffee with Lydia and Emily, and after, just relaxed most of the day. I had to be up pretty early on Saturday, since we had an excursion planned by the program office! We first went to Lierab Ling, a Buddhist Temple, which was really beautiful, and the tour was interesting. After, we had a picnic at a bridge called "Viaduc de Millaud", which was absolutely stunning. I've never seen a view anything like it, and to top it off, it was about 70 degrees and sunny, so perfect hiking weather! Lastly, we went to the Roquefort Cheese caves, which was enjoyable. The tour itself was a little dull, since I'm not actually all that interested in the process of cheese-making, but the sampling of cheese and bread afterword was definitely worth it. Rocquefort is my host mom's favorite cheese, and has become one of my favorites as well. :). Today, I went to the beach with some friends-- Casey, Darren, Robert, Fanni and Zsofia, which was absolutely wonderful. It had been a while since it has been warm enough to even want to make the trek out there, so I can't wait to do it again soon! Afterwords, we went back to Zsofia's apartment for pizza and a movie night. All in all, it's been a fantastic week!

18.03.2012

As usual, this has been another lovely week in Montpellier! I had my internship on Monday and Thursday, which went very well. One of the teachers told me that I had made a lot of improvement over the past 5 weeks, which was really nice to hear. :). It's always fun, since I get to teach a lot of songs and fun vocabulary words. The kids retain a lot as well, so that makes my job a lot easier! The rest of my classes have been just fine as well.

On Monday, a few friends and I went to Karaoke, which was a lot of fun. Tuesday after class, Robert and I met up to take a walk around the park since it was such a beautiful day, and after we watched a movie on Netflix. Wednesday night, I went to the French-English conversation exchange as usual at the Vert Anglais. I had a lot of fun as always, and even met a couple new people this week! On Thursday, Casey, Darren and I went to our friend Bastien's apartment, where we just hung out and caught up, as none of us had seen him for over a month! He had been traveling around the United States for a few weeks. On Friday, Mary, Darren and I had a picnic in the park, and after did a little spring/ summer shopping. I managed to only buy a pair of sunglasses, phew! That night, I went to a combined birthday party for a couple girls, Alice and Mathylda. It was really great, and I got to see some people who I hadn't seen for a while, which was nice. Saturday afternoon consisted of watching movies all day with Robert and Darren, and it was of course St. Patricks Day, so later that evening, a bunch of us bar-hopped around Montpellier. The streets were absolutely packed with young people, and the atmosphere of the city was just incredible that night! Today has been pretty relaxing, as I've just finished typing a couple short papers and did a little reading. :)

11.03.2012

So this week has  been just delightful! I've been on top of my homework, my internship is going quite well, and I've been able to hang out with people a lot.

On Tuesday, I saw "The Artist", which was very good and I would recommend it to anybody! It's definitely a feel-good movie. On Wednesday I went to the Vert Anglais for the English-French conversation exchange, where I saw some people I hadn't talked to since before winter break, so that was a lot of fun! On Thursday afternoon, I went to coffee with Robert, and later that night, Darren and I went to our friend Morgane's birthday party. I got to meet a few of her other French friends, so that was nice to meet some new people!

 On Friday, I went out to lunch with my friends Emily and Lydia, and after we went out for coffee at a little cafe called "The Bookshop", and after we went to "Jardin des plantes", a beautiful park in Montpellier. That night,  Casey and I went to Darren's house for some gossiping, drinking beer, eating popcorn and watching movies. It was nice to just hang out with those two as we hadn't for a couple weeks. Saturday night, Darren, Robert and I went to a birthday party, and after, Robert and I went to the Panama Cafe for some karaoke! It was a blast and since the bar was practically empty, we got to sing a good number of songs. :). After that, we met up with a few other girls at The Temple Bar (which resembles an American sports bar)for some dancing. After, we went back to Robert's apartment to watch a movie. Today, I went to Jardin des Plantes again to write a paper and start reading for one of my classes. It's been beautiful outside this week (about 65 and sunny), so I've gotten to wear less wintery clothes, which is excellent!

04.03.2012

I've been getting back into my school routine this week, so that's always fun. I had all my regular classes, a bit of homework, and of course my internship which is going quite well! Last week I taught the students body parts as well as the song "head, shoulders, knees and toes", so that was a lot of fun. I really like working with 3-4 year olds because they're pretty cute, but definitely prefer the older (6-7) year olds, since they actually listen and retain a lot of what I teach them from week to week.

I didn't do much outside of my classes this week-- I didn't even go to the conversation exchange, which I normally do. I have gotten to be outside and reading a lot though, which has been fantastic! For the past couple weeks, it has been sunny and around 60 degrees, so I hope the weather stays like this. On Friday night, I went out with some friends, and then Saturday, Darren, Robert and I watched movies on Netflix all afternoon. That night, my host parents had a dinner party with a few people, so we ate Rocklette (basically cheese fondue) over potatoes and various types of meat, followed by salad and dessert, which was fruit and cookies. Today, my host parents took me to a little beach town just 20  minutes out of Montpellier, where they went golfing, and I sat on the beach and finished my homework and read more Harry Potter. I would call it a pretty successful sunday all in all.

So I really want to see the movie "The Artist" now, as there has been a ton of hype about it both in the United States and in France. The French are extremely proud that the movie won best picture and that a French actor one best actor at the oscars. On another cultural note, the New York Times rated Montpellier as the best French city! I must be pretty lucky to live here. :). I couldn't find the NY Times article, but I did find a French article about it:

http://www.midilibre.fr/2012/01/12/montpellier-ville-francaise-preferee-du-new-york-times,442671.php

Anyway, that's all I really have to talk about for now! I have nothing big planned for this next week, just school as usual.

Geneva, Amsterdam and Prague

For the past 8 days, I have been traveling to Geneva, Amsteardam and Prague with my best friends in the Montpellier program, Darren and Casey. It was the funnest thing I've done this semester, but I'm incredibly tired and happy to be home. Montpellier is currently sunny and 65 degrees! I'll just give a little rundown of every city we went to. :)

Geneva, Switzerland

We only spent about a day and a half in Geneva, but we managed to do everything we wanted to while there! The first day, we walked around downtown, saw the lake, and just took pictures. That night, we went to a grocery store and bought fajita ingredients and wine, and after we just relaxed in the hostel. The next day, we went to the United Nations and went on a tour of various rooms, and learned the various functions of the rooms. The building itself was really beautiful, with artwork and materials donated from several member nations. The biggest conference room was where Hillary Clinton gave an important speech declaring that gay rights are human rights. I posted the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABzMAuI1vj0&feature=related

Geneva was really beautiful, but also the most expensive place we traveled.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

This was by far my favorite city of the trip. The energy in Amsterdam is just amazing, and there are tons of young people, and every single Dutch person with whom we interacted were extremely friendly and helpful. It seemed as if English was a second national language in Amsterdam-- Everyone spoke it, so that was beneficial for us, since none of us speak a word of Dutch. Seemingly everybody bikes in the city-- The bridges along the canals and bike stands along the buildings were literally filled with bikes all the time.

The first day, we got right down to business and went to the red light district and to a sex museum. It was kind of a surreal experience, since I've never seen prostitutes behind glass windows with prices and such listed, nor have I seen "coffee shops" selling marijuana before (though coffee shops were not at all limited to the red light district). The sex museum was in no way classy or tasteful. There were lots of animatronic models, "movies", pictures, posters and advertisements. We managed to have fun there somehow :). That night, the three of us went to "The Bump", a gay-friendly bar close to our hotel. It was a lot of fun, I got a cosmopolitan and danced the night away. :)

The next day was, we went to the Anne Frank house, and it was a really great and sad experience. We got to see where the Frank family lived, read about who helped them, watched various video clips from friends of various family members, as well as one from Otto Frank (the father of the family). Throughtout the museum, there were quotes from Anne's diary, some of which were very insightful and difficult to read, other ones much lighter and funnier. I got the impression that she was very hopeful and intelligent. As much as I read about the conditions the family lived in, I cannot even try to imagine what it must have been like. The curtain always had to be down. The family could not use running water after about 4:30 p.m. (no sink, no flushing, etc). It was really awful and depressing but also very important to read about everything this family (as well as many others) went through during that time in history.

That night, we tried another bar called "the cooldown cafe", where the waitors were all in strange costumes that didn't seem to correspond with a particular theme. I saw a pirate, a superhero and elvis for example. The music was a lot of fun, because a lot of the songs were traditional Dutch drinking songs with dances and everything, while others were top 40 songs that everyone could sing to. Not to mention the waitors were giving out free shots left and right. :).

The next day, we went to the Rijkmuseum, which contains the most important collection of classical Dutch art. Everything there was really beautiful, and the two most well-known artists featured in the museum are Rembrandt and Vermeer. Aside from paintings, there was a lot of decorative art, such as 17th century dollhouses, model ships, and fine china. It was a really beautiful museum, and I'm glad I got a chance to go. After, we went to Vondelpark, which was really beautiful, and just walked around there for a while. The park is filled with foot and bike paths, bridges, ponds and cafes. That night, we went to the cooldown cafe again.

I was sad to see this part of the trip end, but maybe I'll go back one day. Amsterdam is easily one of my favorite cities I've visited in Europe.

Prague, Czech Republic

Hands down, Prague is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. It's extremely colorful and the architecture is unreal. We basically went to see a lot of tourist attractions and took pictures. It was definitely a transition from Amsterdam, since not everyone spoke English. And of course, none of us speak a word of Czech.

The first day, we went to Old Town Square, where we saw the astronomical clock and after went to New Town square. I don't exactly know what to say about either place, except that both were stunning and you should look at my pictures. :). That night, we went to a traditional restaurant and I had goulash (beef with dumplings and gravy), and of course a pint of Czech beer. After, we went to a 5-story club (advertised as the biggest music club in central europe, which was a lot of fun. We got to go into an ice bar which was really cool!

The last day there, we went to Charles Bridge, took a lot of pictures, crossed the river, and went to see the Prague Castle as well as St. Vitus cathedral, both of which were beautiful. After those two things, we headed to the airport to go to Lyon for the night and headed back to Montpellier on the train today.

The trip was a blast, and I couldn't have asked for better weather or better travel partners!

15.02.2012

So this first week of vacation has been pretty great. I got a couple papers done, and Casey, Darren and I planned some things to do on our trip, including buying tickets to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, and of course painting a picture for the staff in our Minnesota program office. On Tuesday, I went to a friend's apartment to celebrate Valentines Day, with spaghetti and wine. It was  a lot of fun! Tonight is Casey's birthday, so his host mom is cooking a few of us dinner! Tomorrow, I leave for my trip to Geneva, Amsterdam, Prague and Lyon with Darren and Casey, and it should be a blast! I'll take lots of pictures and update about it when I get back to Montpellier. :)

10.02.2012

The last couple of weeks have been pretty normal, and good overall! School is the same, going well, and not too much homework, but a little to keep me in line :). My favorite class is turning out to be my art history course, because I get to see interesting paintings and other pieces of art from various periods throughout history, and I would not otherwise be learning as much about any of these periods! It's a lot of fun. I also love my culture class, which discusses current events in France. We watched a movie called "The Prophet", a film about a young Arab man who gets thrown into jail, and all the various politics among different groups of prisoners (predominantly Arabs and Corsicans). It's very violent and hard to watch at times, but very well done and I would recommend it to anyone.
Last weekend, I didn't really do much. I went over to my friends Robert and Andre's apartment. It was a good night, filled with horror movies, dancing and making crepes. A couple nights ago (Tuesday), I went over to Darren's house with Casey and we had a "superbowl party", which consisted of watching the halftime show and eating lots of junkfood and perhaps drinking beer. Perfect. The next night, as usual, I went to the Vert Anglais and had a lot of good conversations in French with other foreign and French students. :). Last night was pretty relaxed, and Darren, Robert, Andre and I watched some quality 90s tv shows (mostly Buffy), and drinking lots of tea. Today (Friday), I'm going to stay in for the night and go to bed early, because tomorrow I might be going ice skating, and tomorrow night am for sure going over to a Hungarian friend's apartment in the evening.
Darren, Casey and I leave for Geneva, Amsterdam, Prague, and a half-day in Lyon on Thursday!!! I absolutely cannot wait! It's going to be such a blast, and I can't think of anyone here who I would rather traavel with. I'll try to update this one more time before my trip, and then after I won't update until I get home to Montpellier. I hope everyone has a happy Valentines Day, and thank you mom and dad and Grandma Barb for the package and cards!! It was all really nice. :)

1.29.2012

It has been a really fun last couple of weeks (and I promise to update this weekly-- I just forgot last week), and I've been feeling very on top of school as well as French so that's all fantastic.
I got my grades back from last semester: 4 A's, 1 A-, and 1 B. I was expecting the one class (France au Feminin) to be a B but was slightly concerned it would turn into a C. Luckily that didn't happen. I'm very satisfied with how last semester turned out academically and hope to get the same type of grades this semester. I've finally formed some opinions about my current classes, so I'll update about those a bit. My internship class is very interesting, and I really love learning about French work laws. For example, a full time job is working 35 hours/ week and their minimum wage is about 9.50 euros/ hour. On top of all that, every worker starts out with 5 weeks of paid vacation!!
My conversation class is a lot of fun. The first half is the student's presenting an article of their choice and then discussing the article after the presentation. The second half is learning about a specific topic (such as food or education) and learning important vocabulary, as well as useful phrases that one can use when talking about any of these topics. The class has virtually no writing, which is a nice break from all my other classes.
My integrated class, History of Wine in the Languedoc region, is kind of interesting, but so far we've been getting a lot of lists of wine and the region where they come from. I guess the geography aspect of the class does not particularly interest me. On the other hand, I do enjoy learning about the connotations of wine in various centuries, and the many types of consumers there have been throughout history.
My French Mosaique (culture) class has been very interesting. We've been focusing on immigrants in France, and what defines being "French". There is a lot of debate going on right now in France about what constitutes being a French citizen. It's one of the major issues being discussed in French politics, specifically presidential debates, right now. On a side note, I am lucky enough to be here during an election year, and will get to experience the elections as they happen at the end of April.
The art history class is a lot of fun, and probably my favorite class. Half the class is spent in a lecture hall learning about a certain point in art history, and the second half is walking around the museum to see examples of art from the era. It's taught by guest lecturers each week, so it's always a nice change of pace, and we get to go on 4 excursions for the class during normal class time, so that should be fun. We just went to the Paul Valery museum in Sete last Thursday, which I will admit was not the most interesting museum, but it was still enjoyable. So that's all I have to update about as far as classes are concerned! Oh, I also start my internship tomorrow. I will be working at an "Ecole maternelle" (kind of like a preschool and kindergarten), with children aged 3-7. I will be teaching simple English, such as colors, body parts, counting to 10, etc. Tomorrow I'm just introducing myself and teaching them a song (which will be the itsy bitsy spider) with actions.
France is having one of their two national sales right now, and it's a dangerous game. I'm tempted to pretty much buy out every store I see, but I've limited myself to a new purse, a few new shirts and a pair of shoes. That doesn't sound particularly limiting somehow... :). A few friends and I went to the zoo last weekend, and it was absolutely gorgeous. First of all, it's been an average of 55 degrees and sunny every day for the past couple weeks, which my host parents told me was very unusual for Montpellier. I guess it's just been an unusual year weather-wise all around the world. Anyway, the zoo here is absolutely beautiful. It's in a huge park with tons of trees, so it feels like you're just walking through a forest and suddenly stumble upon giraffes or lions. We were there for about 3 hours and couldn't make it through the whole thing because of all the walking, so we're going back sometime later in the semester. The conversation hour at the Vert Anglais has been fun as usual, and I've met a couple new French people this semester who are really great. I could really get used to this 3-day weekend thing. On Thursday night, Darren, Casey and I had a movie night at Darren's house which really just turned into us talking for 6 hours and falling asleep to a movie after that. It was a really good night-- we hadn't hung out just us three for a long time. Friday night was relaxing and I just spent the night at my host family's house. Saturday, I went to my friend Andre's apartment and hung out with a few people over there for the night which was really nice. There were a few people who I hadn't seen for a while over there. I realize that I have made friends from all over the world here and feel so lucky! In the groups of people I hang out with, there are often French, Hungarian, Polish, British and American people, and French is our common language, so it's really great practicing my French in an informal environment like that.
That is pretty much it for now! Today I'm going to do a little homework, watch a lot or some random tv show, and skype with Sam and my parents.

1.15.2012

I just had the first real week of the second semester, and it was a lot of fun! I'm finally back to my normal routine, which is staying at my host family's house, going to classes, hanging out with friends, and of course, not traveling around Europe.
I'm taking an internship class, where we learn about French work laws and the  education system. I have not yet started my internship, but I will be working in a preschool-type environment where I will be working with 3-6 year olds! I'm very excited. I am also taking an advanced conversation class that seems like a lot of fun. We talk about everything, and we will be presenting an article every other week to practice speaking more on the spot. I'm also taking a French culture class (called France Mosaique), where we will be talking a lot about current issues, such as immigration. My favorite class so far is my art history class, which is taught by guest lecturers each week and is at the art museum, so we get to see paintings of the era we are discussing. We will be going on a couple excursions for the class and it should be a lot of fun! The integrated class I chose is about the history of wine in the Languedoc region of France, so that will hopefully be interesting.
On Wednesday I went to the French-English conversation exchange again and as usual it was  a lot of fun. I got to see a bunch of people who I hadn't seen for a few weeks, as well as met some new people. 
On Friday, my friends and I went to my friends apartment where we got to meet a lot of the new Americans in the program this semester. That was a lot of fun, and everyone seems really nice.
Saturday, I went on excursion to Arles that was planned by the Program. It's a beautiful Roman city, where we went to a museum, a cathedral, saw Roman Ruins of a theater, and went to the small Colosseum.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arles

Ireland 2011/2012

I met Sam in Ireland on December 28th, where we got to our hotel in the Temple Bar area, and went to a pub right away. Of course we got our fair share of Guinness and Bulmer's Irish cider, and just sat and soaked in the atmosphere.
The next day we got up and went to the Dublin Castle which was pretty cool, then to some library that was nearby with a Chinese photographer's works. Later that day, we went to the Guinness Storehouse, where we took a tour of the factory and learned about how Guinness is made, as well as various marketing strategies. The last part of the tour was in the Gravity Bar, where we got a free pint of Guinness and a beautiful 360 degree view of Dublin.
The next few days were spent in London, but when we got back to Dublin, we went on a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher, along with a lot of other sites and a couple pubs along the way. I got Guinness beef stew with brown bread, which was absolutely delicious. The cliffs were beautiful, and Irish Countryside looks just like it does in the movies. It was a stormy day, but still a ton of fun! We went to about 10 different sites, and the tour took all day. Our guide was perfect! He was an older Irish man with a thick accents who told us about all the legends and stories behind all the sites we got to see. He made a lot of drinking jokes, Catholic jokes and of course talked about love and how by the end of the trip he will have seduced all the women on the bus. It was just a wonderful day! Here's a link to a more detailed itinerary: http://www.dublintourcompany.com/dtc/tourinfo.jsp?id=1
Our last day in Dublin, we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room, both of which were very cool! We weren't allowed to take pictures, unfortunately. We spent the rest of the day just walking around and exploring downtown Dublin.
It was a wonderful trip, and I can't wait to see Sam again when I get back home! 

London 2011- 2012

London with Sam is absolutely wonderful! We had a ton of fun, and our hotel was close to a tube station, so it was very easy to get everywhere we wanted to go.
The first day, we went to two musicals, both of which were fantastic. We bought student rush tickets for both, which are very discounted tickets that you can only buy the day of the show. Les Miserables was in the afternoon, and it was excellent. All the voices were beautiful, and every character was spot-on. I feel very lucky that I got to see my favorite musical of all time on Broadway in London! We saw Legally Blonde that night, which was so much fun! The show has a ton of energy, lots of strong voices and lots of dancing. The entire play was hilarious and I'm glad we were able to go!

The second day we were there it was raining, so we went downtown to see Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Buckingham Palace and caught the last half of the New Years Day parade by chance. After, we got out of the rain and went to the National Gallery, a beautiful art museum with paintings from a lot of different eras. We headed back in the late afternoon, and saw "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" at a theater by our hotel.

The next day we went to the British Museum, a history museum where we saw exhibits about Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Americas, China, Japan, Korea, Africa, and a little bit of Natural History. We spent the entire morning there, and after lunch, we walked around parks in the neighborhood. It was lovely, and I definitely want to go back to the museum someday.

We had a really great time in London, and had some delicious English breakfasts and had fun just walking around and exploring the city. :)

Paris December 2011

Paris was absolutely fantastic! I got there on Christmas Eve night and just got settled into my hotel. On Christmas day, I went to a mass service at Notre Dame, where there were 2 adult choirs, one men chorus and one women chorus. It was a very traditional service, with beautiful French carols. After, I got lunch at a cute little cafe, and after, I went to the Centre Pompidou (a modern art museum), where I got to see a number of exhibits including an Edward Munch one! So that was really cool. That same day I walked down the Seine River and went to the Eiffel Tower.
The next day I went down to the Champs Elysees and did a bit of shopping and climbed up the Arc du Triomphe where you can see a beautiful view of the city. After taking that all in, I went to see a movie called "Carnage" (an American movies that had French subtitles), so that was a nice break.
The last day I went down to the Monte Martre neighborhood where I saw Sacre Coeur, a bunch of street performers and local artists. I got a picture of myself drawn and gave it to Sam as a Christmas gift. :)

All in all, Paris was absolutely wonderful!! I absolutely love that city and can't wait to go back someday.