Belle-Ile-en-Mer

This past summer while I was working in Alaska I met quite a few people from France. One of which was Bastien, a young man hitchhiking through Alaska who had stopped in Denali Park for a couple days. When we started talking I told him I'd be studying in Paris for the winter, so we exchanged information and have kept in touch. Last week he invited me to visit him at his parents house on a small island on the west coast of France called Belle-Ile-en-Mer. I decided I should go for it and Friday I caught the train to Auray where I switched to a bus to go to Quiberon. In Quiberon Bastien and his mother met me and took the ferry from Quiberon to Belle-Ile-en-Mer with me. His parents don't speak English so my dictionary was my constant companion and it was really good practice even though I still had to rely on Bastien to translate basically everything.
It was great to stay in a "real" French house and have that experience. Bastien and his Father built their home which they later transformed into a Bed & Breakfast. It was so rejuvinating to get away from the busy streets of Paris and enjoy the laid back lifestyle on the island.
The other great thing was the food! I haven't eaten that good in months! Every morning for breakfast they made me hot chocolate with French bread and blackberry jam that his mother had made. Lunch was vegetables and meat followed by more bread and cheese. (The cheese in France is amazing! I will definitely miss it when I go back to the states.) For dinner it was more vegetables, meat, bread, cheese and just when you didn't think you could eat anymore they brought out the dessert. I even ate rabbit and pheasant for the first time in my life and was truthfully surprised they were so good.
While the weather wasn't the greatest it didn't stop me from going out and exploring all the different beaches in the area. I was in constant awe of the beauty everywhere. I'm afraid my pictures don't do it justice. Monday when I woke up and started packing the weather was gorgeous. The sun was out and the skies were blue and clear. Bastien kept trying to talk me into staying longer but I had to get back to Paris for a test so he went with me on the ferry back to Quiberon where I waited to catch the bus. It was a quick trip but I'm so glad I was able to go and have such an amazing experience. I truly am blessed to be able to get out at see different sides of life. I love it!

London Trip

Tuesday morning Jason and I caught our bus to London. It was about a 4 hour ride to Calais, where we caught a ferry and relaxed for about an hour, then back on the bus for another few hours to London. It was such a LONG trip but was also VERY cheap. So really you pay for what you get.
We arrived in London late Tuesday night and checked into our hostel and called it a night. Wednesday we met Natalie, a really sweet girl from Australia, who was sleeping in our same room so we spent the day out exploring London with her. We visited the Tate Museum and saw some really interesting art. I enjoyed seeing Andy Warhol's work, but didn't necessarily enjoy Jeff Koons. lol.. (If you haven't heard of him, you're not missing out on much except pretty much porn they call "art".)
After an entire afternoon spent wandering through the museum, we set off to explore the streets and saw Big Ben and the Eye. It was so nice being able to ask questions in English and not worry about trying to translate anything. Although it was odd crossing the street and having to look right instead of left and vise versa. Even walking down the sidewalk was confusing, because I kept walking on the right naturally and then being in the way of people.
Thursday we visited the Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey. Jason kept talking about how much I was going to like Westminster and he was right, it was my favorite place of the whole trip. Such a beautiful church and very interesting to learn of the history and all the royalty buried there. By the time we were done touring it, the choral services were getting ready to start so we stayed and for that. The Choir was made up of men and boys and they sounded very beautiful. It was definitely unlike anything I've experienced and I really enjoyed it.
Friday we walked around the Soho area and explored the different shops. Afterwards we bought tickets to the musical Blood Brothers, staring Melanie C (formally known as Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls). It was a very different plot, playing with the theme of nature vs nurture but I enjoyed it. By the time it was over it was 10:30 so we headed back to the hostel for the night.
Saturday morning we got up, packed and headed back to the bus station for the long journey. The ride home seemed to go a little faster and we got back just in time to celebrate Halloween in Paris with some friends. It was definitely entertaining seeing the looks we got from the French, seeing how they don't really celebrate Halloween. A lot of people would yell out "ca-boy!" when they saw Jason on the street and metro but it was a fun night.

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.

More pictures from Cagliari...

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

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!

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

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.