Monday, October 26, 2009

Weekend in Loire Valley


Saturday morning I went with the CEA Study Abroad group to the Loire Valley. After a three hour bus ride, we arrived at Château d'Amboise for a guided tour. Afterwards we were free to explore the area on our own for an hour before we needed to meet back at the bus to depart for another château tour. Unfortunately our bus wouldn't start we so were left waiting quite a while until another bus showed up. By the time it came we needed to head to the hotel Château de Razay to check in for the night.


Myself and three friends were assigned the Chambord chambre, which was very elegant. It was the perfect place for a romantic get away. In the morning they provided us coffee, chocolat chaud, croissants, bread and cereal for breakfast. (Very typical French breakfast.)

Then we headed to visit Château Nitray, a privately owned château that produces wine. We had a short tour of the area and demonstration on the process of making wine followed by a wine tasting.


Immediately after, we quickly loaded back onto the bus and headed to Château de Chenonceau. We were able to explore this château and garden on our own and thankfully the weather was surprisingly nice. After a couple hours we all met back at the bus and left for the final Château of the trip.

Château de Chambord.
My friends and I decided that with the weather being so nice, we rather rent bikes and ride around the château instead of walking around inside. So we slipped away from the group and headed to rent some bikes. Lucky for us, they had the 4-person "bike" for 10 euros for 30 minutes. So we all pitched in and rented one. It was definitely worth it! We had so much fun riding around the château and got a good work-out from it as well!


It was a really fun weekend and so nice to get out of Paris and see more of France. It really is enchanting in the countryside.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

More pictures from Cagliari...

I stole some pictures that Kalyn and Sarah took at the beach.
Here they are! :-)



Monday, October 19, 2009

Back from Cagliari!


Throughout my entire life I've always wanted to visit Italy, after spending a weekend there I'm convinced I could live there forever and be happy. There's something to be said about the laid back attitude of the Italians and their love of life. My favorite thing was walking to the cafe, ordering my cappuccino and just watching everyone coming in and out. I imagined the table of old men were discussing the news or weather. The little girls holding hands with their dads and excitedly talking while the dad's just smiled. It was truly beautiful. There's no such thing as getting a coffee to go, because there's no reason to be in such a hurry. Every moment is meant to be enjoyed and not rushed through.

In the area we were at, no one spoke English but they would smile and try their best to explain using hand gestures. The contrast of the way I was treated from the Italians and the Parisiens was night/day. I'm not alluding that everyone in Paris is rude, or that everyone in Italy is nice. But there was definitely a difference.

The man who ran the Bed and Breakfast was the nicest person of all. When we checked in, he wanted to make sure we liked our rooms. When we said we were hungry, he called a place to see if they were still open for us. When we mentioned we wanted to go to the beach, he had his sister drive us there. And when we got home late at night he had taped a note on our door that said, "I wish you the best night." We were all so in love with him by the end that we wanted to just bring him back to Paris with us.
The food there was amazing. The breakfast pasteries were delectable and the pizza was unlike any American pizza. I could have eaten pizza for every meal and loved every bite. The best pizza I had was a mozzarella pesto pizza. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

But my favorite thing of all was swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. It was cold Saturday but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I jumped in and swam around until it started raining and the wind was unbearable. I had to remind myself that I've swam in colder waters in Alaska. On Sunday after we checked out of the B&B we walked back to the beach and did some more swimming. Thankfully the weather was a little nicer and it didn't rain that time. Afterwards we caught a bus into the city and got lunch before heading back to the airport. It was a short stay but was so incredible. I can't wait to explore other areas of Italy!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Au Revoir Paris. Bonjour Italy!

Today myself and three friends are leaving for Cagliari Italy! We found some very cheap airfare through RyanAir and a nice bed and breakfast through a hostel website. Our flight leaves at 7:30 p.m. and we'll arrive around 10:30 p.m.
I truthfully had never heard of Cagliari when Jason asked if I wanted to go but when I found out it's on an island with white sand and palm trees, I couldn't say no!
I've now learned it's located on the island of Sardinia south of Italy. It's a big city but we'll be staying on the outskirts near the sea. We will only be there for a total of around 40 hours and will be flying back to Paris Sunday evening. So I plan to make every hour the most amazing! I've always wanted to visit Italy and am finally doing it!
It should be quite the adventure and hopefully all goes well! Wish me luck!
xoxo

Monday, October 12, 2009

Best weekend in Paris yet!

Friday night my friends and I wandered the streets of Paris doing a little clothes shopping and enjoying the sites. After a beautiful Paris rainstorm we decided to stop at a little Greek cafe for some food. We had an amazing dinner (mostly due to our server) and so we all left him our numbers in hopes of being able to hang out with him another time.
(Note: Most waiters here are very rude to Americans so we were all thrilled to have such a nice waiter for once!)
Saturday I went to Fontaine Bleau with the CEA Group and we took a walk through the forest, which was beautiful and much needed! It was rejuvenating to get out of the city and breathe clean air! After we explored the forest we walked around the city and visited the Chateau. Then we were all exhausted from so much walking so we caught the train back to Paris.
Saturday night there was a festival in Montmartre so my friends and I went and had dinner and watched the fireworks. It was so amazing! They had it matched to music, which was really fun! After that ended the night was young so we decided to go dancing. The server from Friday night called me and wanted to meet up with us so we all went dancing together and had a great night.
This was easily the most fun I’ve had in Paris since being here!

*Also*
I would like to wish a Happy Birthday to Seth and Dad! Hope you guys had a great weekend!
Love you and miss you.










Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Cimetière du Père-Lachaise

Yesterday after class, some friends and I walked around the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. It's only a 5 minute walk from the Foyer where I'm living and is famous for being the resting spot for Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. Unfortunately it closed before I was able to find either of them so I will be back to visit them soon. None-the-less, here are some photos of what I did see.





Sunday, October 4, 2009

I survived the first week of school somehow.

On Tuesday I started classes at the Institut Catholique. I am in beginner 2 and have class Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9-1 and Thursdays 9-1 plus an oral class from 2-5. The classes are all in French and they won't allow you to speak English, which is understandable because it's the best way to learn. However, concentrating for 4 hours and trying to understand my professor is quite exhausting! By the time class is over my head hurts and I just want to sleep. I feel completely lost in my class and am worried of falling behind, but I know I'm not the only one that feels that way -so that helps. I'm hoping that my roommate Sarah, and I can study together and work on speaking and pronouncing.
It's been a hard week but I hope it will just get better from here!