Travels through Italy

From Dec 15th to Dec 21st I traveled through Italy: Rome, Florence and Venice. It was tons of fun and I definitely miss the adventure that is traveling by the seat of your pants. This is the journal that I kept of my time:

12/15: Cody and I are on our way to Rome, somehow we made it. It was a crazy day: For grammar we had a petite fete in the Foyer. Our class had bought Daniele (my grammar teacher) a book about Impressionism so we gave that to her and took a million pictures. Then we watched Les Choiristes (for the second time in a week-it's such a good movie). Lunch was fun with lots of little appetizers and dessert was an assortment of tarts.

After lunch everyone was busy doing last minute packing and getting ready to leave. Amy and I went to the beach one last time-I tried really hard to memorize everything I can about Cannes because I know that once I get home the last 4 months will seem like a dream. Cody and I ended up being really rushed (he had to finish his senior sem paper and say his goodbyes). So we were running VERY late and didn't leave the college until 6:05...our train was at 6:20.

We ran to the station and just barely missed the train because we had to print out the tickets from online and the machine wouldn't work. Luckily Cody got us cheaper seats on a later train. We had lots of time to kill and decided to stand outside to cool off. We got on the second train uneventfully.

We got off the train in Marseille and had to run in order to make sure we didn't miss the blue shuttle bus to the airport. We got there and had some dinner. Then we had to walk to terminal 2, because we were in the wrong place, of course. Terminal 2 is not as nice; it's very gray and has metal benches. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and then tried to sleep.

12/16: We were trying to sleep and at 12:30 we were told that the terminal was closing and we needed to move to terminal 1. So we walked back and found another bench. We started sleeping around 1 and I woke up around 3:45. We hadn't planned on getting up til 5 so I tried to find a more comfortable position and failed. Finally it was time to get up and we went back to Terminal 2. We quickly checked in, went through security (they took my purell and put it in a "bomb-proof" bag...a ziploc, which made us feel really safe!). After standing in a huge mob of people for awhile we managed to get on the plane; Cody quickly went to sleep and I read.

We landed in Rome, picked up our bags and got on the shuttle. We were dropped off at the Termini train station. From there we walked to the hostel. There was no sign so Cody hesitated when I just walked in to someone's driveway but after closer examination we managed to find the buzzer and get in (it was exactly where I had said it was). We had breakfast and headed out to see the Eternal City.

We saw Trajan's Column, the Markets of Trajan, the Vittorio Emanuele monument and the Roman Forum. When we were finished with our audio tours we headed to the Colosseum and had a thorough tour. We also had a tour of the Palatine Hill included in the price. I learned a lot about the history of Rome, but it was really hard to stay awake.

Being that we were incredibly exhausted we decided to go back to the hostel and sleep. We bought some delicious pizze from a stand and explored the neighborhood on our way back. We napped for 3 hours and then decided to see Rome at night. First we went to the Centro Storico district where we stumbled upon the Campo di Fiori and Palazzo Navona. They were decorated with Christmas lights and there were lots of people hanging around. At one point we stopped and bought gelato and then sat in one of the palazzos while we ate. We went back to the hostel around 11:30 and crashed.

12/17: We woke up early so that we could get to mass. We headed to St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. We got there a little bit late (it took us awhile to weave our way through security and then to find the right door into the church, and then to figure out where mass was being held). After mass we toured the church and decided to see the roof and dome. At the first level we were able to watch the cardinals file in for the next mass. Then we climbed up into the dome; it was weird because the walls tilted in...Cody got freaked out. The view from the top was so cool. It was cloudy so you couldn't see the mountains in the distance but it was cool to look for the window where the pope talks from and try to guess where he lives. We also tried to guess which smoke stack was the one that people watched when they pick a new pope.

We climbed down and took some pictures. We noticed a bunch of people hanging around and decided to try to figure out what was going on. The pope was scheduled to give an address (pray the angelus with the faithful) at 12 (in 20 minutes). So we started scouting out a good location...having no idea where the pope would be speaking from. He finally came out and gave his talk (I understood some of it, even though it was in Italian) and he greeted people in many languages.

After leaving we went to a small outdoor market and then walked over to the Piazza del Popolo-I couldn't tell you what it was, but I can say I've been there. Then we started looking for the metro and we rode it to San Giovanni Laterano (the church of St John the Lateran). This church used to be the papal palace before it moved to Avignon (we have visited the palace there...so we've seen the history of papal palaces now). We walked around the church and then headed to another one: Santa Maria Maggiore (St Mary Major). It was not very interesting.

We finished touring and headed to the train station to get our ticket to Venice. We went back to the hostel and Cody decided that he wanted to see Florence; so he went back to the train station and changed our ticket. I was in charge of looking for a hostel in Florence. After making our changes and having a rest time we went out for dinner. It wasn't as cheap or as filling as we would have liked but it was fun to go out. We walked around Rome some more; saw the famous Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. We got some more gelato and headed back to the hostel.

12/18: It was another early day for us. We went to the Vatican museum. Luckily we had done some research and knew exactly what we wanted to see. We cruised through most of the museum and spent more time in the Sistine Chapel and the painting collection. It was fun to hear other people talk about their impressions and interpretations of the work in the Chapel. I ended up sitting next to an American family that was well versed in Biblical knowledge and learned a lot by eavesdropping.

When we finished we headed to the Pantheon. It isn't the most exciting place but it was cool to see the floor being redone. Then Cody decided that we should see more fountains (there are 7 big fountains in Rome). The first one was no longer operating and it took us awhile to get to the second one. It's called Fonte Acqua Paola and it was up a HUGE hill (I was really glad we weren't doing all of this in the summer, it wouldn't have been much fun). We hung out there for awhile and headed back to the hostel.

We had a snack and did some research about what to see in Florence (I did the research...not Cody). Then we went to the train station. We are going to be very busy because we want to see everything in Florence in 24 hours!

We got to Florence around 7pm and found our "guesthouse." After quickly getting settled we went out to see the city. There were a bunch of markets that were just closing down and almost all the streets had Christmas lights hung. We spent a long time just wandering around. Cody convinced me to get a gelato which ended up being 5euro! Walking through one of the piazzas we found some street performers and ended up listening to them for more than a half hour before heading back to the hostel. I was attracted to the sounds of Canon in D and the lights of the large Christmas tree; it was so nice...and really cold.

When we got back to the hostel we tried to figure out where we were going to stay in Venice. After looking at prices of places Cody decided that we should spend another day in Florence because it was cheaper and he really liked it. After booking the Venice hostel for only one night I went to bed.

12/19: We were up early to beat the crowds of people at the Uffizi museum (there were no crowds...we were 3rd in line). We spent 2 hours walking around; the best part was the DaVinci exhibit. The worst part about the Uffizi was the lack of benches, especially considering the guidebook tells you that you're going to spend 4 hours there. The exhibit included videos about all the things that DaVinci discovered and invented.

After leaving we went to the hostel to make arrangements for our second night and Cody had to go to the train station to change our ticket...again. We spent some leisure time shopping at teh various markets. I bought postcards, necklaces and food. We also visited the Duomo. The outside of it is really decorated and the inside is really plain, a reverse from most of the churches we've seen during the semester. Cody waited while I climbed a bajillion stairs (or 414) to get a view of the city from the bell tower.

Then we went to the Christmas market where Cody bought hot wine. The sign said it was 2euro, but he had to pay 4 because the mug was included. I ended up buying it from him; it says Buon Natale, Firenze, so it's a fairly cheap souvenir of my time in Florence. We also walked around twice sampling the different olive oils, cheeses and biscotti that were offered.

We walked to Ponte Vecchio; the oldest bridge in Florence. There were a lot of really nice jewelry stores which we didn't go in. We sat on the bridge and took a picture; Cody sat in bird poo so I laughed at him for awhile. Then we went back to the hostel for rest time.

We went out for a "traditional Tuscan meal." It can't really be traditional for only 13euro but it was filling and good; we had bread, pasta, salad, meat and wine. We walked around looking for a cool place to hang out. The most promising one has Beatles night. The bar is called BeBop and it was tons of fun. Cody even splurged and bought a 3euro beer! It was fun to listen to the music and watch people...we had some really good stories about some of them: red sweater guy, the sisters and the emotional, controlling boyfriend. We ended up staying out until 1 and decided that we could sleep in.

12/20: We got up at 9 and were ready to leave at 10:30. It turns out that there were another couple of CSBSJU students staying at the same hostel...small world! We went to Palazzo Vecchio to make a reservation for the secret passageways tour. We did a personal tour after making reservations. Then, because we had hours to waste, we walked around.

Cody decided that he was getting sick and needed to eat more oranges to increase his vitamin C so we found a market that was closing. After picking out the orange the lady told us that we could just have it for free. Because of his budgeting, Cody was really happy about that and talked about it for the rest of the trip. He saw a nearby park on the map and we headed over to it...we ended up in a cemetery. He tried again and we found it. While he ate his orange I played on the swings. I tried to get Cody to join me when he finished but he's apparently not cool enough to swing.

We went in search of the best gelato in Italy, at Vivoli. Cody had coffee and I got gelato...it was amazing and the books are true it really is the best. We strolled through some more markets and then went back to the Palazzo Vecchio for our tour. It was really cool. We got to go up to see the ceiling, which isn't held together with bolts or screws but by balancing. We also saw secret rooms where treasures were stored and the office of Medici.

When the tour was finished we went back to the hostel to get ready. I bought some cheese to go with bread that Cody had bought. We went to the train station and had supper. We only made it through half the cheese before we were sick of it. Our train was late so we spent a long time sitting around. Finally we got on the train and we were on our way to Venice.

I had spent 15 or 20 minutes trying to figure out the directions to the hotel and when we got to the train station we had to start weaving through the twisted "streets." We got a little side-tracked when I didn't read all of the directions to Cody but after we righted ourselves it didn't take us long to find it. It was the most questionable hotel we'd stayed at: the guy at reception was not incredibly friendly or helpful, the rooms may or may not have been clean and they were really far away from the reception...."across the campo, the 4th door on the left, up 2 Italian flights, through the door" and worst of all you could only use the internet for 15 min a day between 3 and 10pm.

After throwing our stuff down we decided to try and find the cool place to walk around in Venice...turns out we were staying at it. Without a map Cody had to try and figure out how to get us to Piazza San Marco, the reception guy told us to follow the signs. Like normal Cody did a great job, but San Marco is not so cool at night. We took a few pictures and headed back. We crawled into our sleep sacks (to protect us from the possible fleas) and went to sleep.

12/21: We were ready to go at 8 and had breakfast at a little cafe near the hotel. Then we started walking. There wasn't a lot that we necessarily wanted to see in Venice, mostly we just wanted to experience it and we've discovered that the best way to do that is walk around and see it. We headed back to San Marco and enjoyed an orange (Cody needed his vitamin C). Cody tried to chase pigeons but they weren't really interested and he ended up just looking like a fool...but I got it on video and it was really funny to watch.

We walked around and ended up at Ponte Rialto where we took some pictures. Then we went back to see San Marco. Cody was only able to fit in a quick tour of the church before he had to leave. We stopped at the market for bread and he took off to catch his train to Milan. I didn't think I would be as sad as I was, but it was really lonely after he left.

I had to make my arrangements to get to the airport...it was quite the experience. Eventually I weaved my way to the bus station and managed to buy the right ticket for the bus. I visited the Guggenheim Museum. It's fun to recognize pieces or artists after seeing them in art history this semester. It was sad to be doing everything alone and not have anyone to talk to.

I went to the bell tower near San Marco and saw the amazing view of Venice. I didn't really like my time in Venice but it was really gorgeous to look around with the sun shining. After taking a million pictures I decided to be adventurous and go to Ponte Rialto. Luckily I had been watching the things in the windows when we walked there the first time and I found it without too many turn arounds. I bought myself a picture frame and headed back to the hotel to get my stuff.

It was cold and boring and I had seen everything I wanted to see so I decided to catch an earlier bus to the airport where it would be warm and I could sit and read. I got to the airport around 4:30 and sat around until 6:30 when it was time to check in and go through security. My flight ended up being delayed so I didn't get to Paris until 11 and the shuttle didn't get to downtown Paris until 12:30 and dad (who met me at the bus drop-off) and I had to run to catch the last metro. We got to the apartment just before 1 and after saying hi to mom and David I went to bed. What an amazing experience I had in Italy!

My Last Week in Cannes

Wow! In 2 days I leave for Italy, then Paris and back to the US. I can't believe that my time in France is through. It really amazes me that I'll be back to my "regular" life in just a couple of weeks; my life here has become so normal for me.

We've been really busy trying to fit everything in before we leave. Last Friday night we had one last crazy party at the college (there will be another one this week but half of the people are leaving before it starts). Then on Saturday we went shopping at the Christmas market. Sadly there was no Christmas music and all the snow was fake but it was still fun. Saturday night we ended up going to the opera. We saw La Boheme, it was so cool. We didn't understand any of it but we sort of knew the story (from RENT) so we were all pretty interested through the whole thing. After it was over we ended up going to the pub and sitting around talking about all the fun times we've had here.

Sunday was pretty low key. We had church and brunch, and then we did some more shopping and some studying. Most of us had finals this week; I had a French civ final on Monday and a grammar one on Tuesday. Today, Wednesday, Caitlin, Sharon and I had a picnic on the beach and then I finished up my souvenir shopping. Later tonight Caitlin and I are going to go to the Christmas market again (it's all lit up at night and hopefully there will be music this time).

Tomorrow the college is having a bunch of little parties. We have one for grammar, one for art and a reception after the play (which thank goodness I'm not in). Also we're planning on swimming just to say we did...because when else are we going to be able to go in the Mediterranean in December? Friday we only have grammar class although I'm not sure about that since grades are handed out tomorrow. Then we pack up and leave (I have to be on a train at 6:20pm). It's going to be a sad day, but I'm looking forward to seeing all the cool stuff that Italy has to offer...especially the food! Hopefully I'll get a chance to write an entry while I'm there.

My first taste of Italy!

Our days are numbered here in France and I've started to realize all the things that I'm going to miss and all the things that I'm excited to go home to. Every day that I wake up and watch the sun rise over the Mediterranean I am amazed at where I've been living and I get sad that I only have a few more days here.

Last Friday night we got free tickets to go to a world music concert in Cannes. There were 2 groups from Corsica that performed. I really liked the first group; they had faster songs and they moved around a lot. The second group, although really interesting, was very long and many of their songs had the same slow sound. The concert was nearly 3 hours long so by the time it was over we were all ready for bed.

Saturday we woke up and took a day trip to Italy. It's a lot of fun to say that I have taken a day trip to Italy and been home in time for dinner! We visited San Remo and Dolceacqua. I love the Italian accent, and we spent a lot of time speaking French with Italian accents. We wandered around the huge market for awhile and then got a pasta lunch at a cute little cafe. After lunch we decided to just wander around to take up some time. I started walking and after taking some random turns and we ended up on a hill with a beautiful view. My friends couldn't believe what we had randomly stumbled upon (they also couldn't believe that I knew where we were and how to get us down...I have the worst track record for directions!).

When we got back into the city we stopped at a gelato shop and bought some really good gelato. I had coffee, pistachio and chocolate. Some of the people I was with were more adventuresome and just pointed to random kinds. It was all good. When we were done eating we got back on the bus for the drive to Dolceacqua.

Dolceacqua is a cute little town with some old "neighborhoods" (buildings all squeezed next to each other with tunnels running in every direction). After choosing a random path and taking a bunch of random turns we ended up outside of town, on another hill. I started exploring and ended up getting close to some ruins (possibly a church). It had been locked up because of construction being done to solidify the remains. There was a gate but it wasn't too difficult to get over and I got some really cool pictures of the inside of the building. When I joined up with my friends again we continued our wandering and then just hung out until it was time to go.

We got back to the college and had dinner. Then we all gathered in the salle de video to watch a movie (Tanguy, the French version of Failure to Launch). It was a really nice night.

Sunday morning I did my laundry and then went to church. After church we went to brunch (I can't believe that I only have two brunches left). I was supposed to do a lot of homework on Sunday but I got really distracted. Caitlin had lent me the book Kite Runner and I was hooked (compared to Crime and Punishment it was a quick read). I ended up reading from about 12:30 until 4:30. I would have continued reading but I had decided to go to our director's house for another cooking class.

I really love the cooking classes because we get to eat way better food than is served in the salle a manger (cafeteria). We had crostini with eggplant and chevre, pumpkin soup, canneloni with spinach and mushrooms, green beans, chocolate chip cookies and custard. I can't wait to get the "cookbook" that Vera is making for us with all the recipes in it. It will be so much fun to eat all of this delicious food at home (and share it with all my friends and family).

Sunday night I finished Kite Runner and talked to Mom and Dad on the phone. I did manage to get some of my homework done and should be working on it instead of typing this. After Thursday most of my tests, papers, etc will all be done and I'll be able to relax and enjoy my last week.

There are times when I thought the last week would never come, and there have been times when I wished it would come faster but right now I don't want to think about it's swift arrival. I prefer to think about the moment I'm in because it's less sad than thinking of the memories I've made here and the fact that I have to leave. (Only one more blog in Cannes...and hopefully a couple from Italy and Paris!)

Thanksgiving in France!

Not a whole lot has been going on here recently. We've all started the big countdown to the end of the semester (only 3 weeks to go)! A lot of people are ready to go home (although they're excited to do their after semester traveling). I haven't been homesick, but there are definitely some things that I really miss about home; large cups of to-go coffee, choosing what food I want to eat, people who pick up their dog's poo, convenient internet/computer usage, cheap laundry and having more than 8 shirts to pick from in the morning!

This week's big event was THANKSGIVING; my favorite holiday. It was really fun although we had class all day. Thursday is everyone's very busy day. We had grammar from 9-12 and then after lunch we had a museum tour for art history. Then when we got back at 5 we had to go to French Civ until 6:45. Then it was time for dinner! The cafeteria ladies had pushed all the tables into a U shape so that we could be one big happy family. They also brought in props; an American flag, a teepee, window clings, flowers, etc. One of the ladies has 2 grandkids and they were dressed up like Native Americans, and the ladies all dressed up like cowboys (we didn't really get it but it was the thought that counted)!

We started with bread and cranberry sauce (they thought it was like jelly so they served it with the bread). Then we had corn chowder, green beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, turkey and gravy. I didn't think that they would be able to pull off a meal anything like the ones that we eat at home but I was pleasantly surprised that they did. Although it wasn't Mom/Grandma's, it was really good. It turns out that our St John's director spent the day in the kitchen making the food. We finished the meal with pecan and pumpkin pie...I had one pumpkin, one pecan and helped Caitlin and Cody finish their pecan slices (Caitlin's 2nd and Cody's 3rd).

After dinner we went to the bar on campus. The school does a karaoke night after Thanksgiving, as part of the "tradition." It took awhile for it to get started but once it did we could have gone all night. It was fun to have karaoke at an international school because everyone got up and sang songs in their native language. We all tried to sing along with the French ones but it wasn't very good. Then the Spanish speakers got up to do the macarena and all of a sudden it turned into a huge dance party. For half an hour we all danced around like we were at the discotheque. Then the karaoke started again and continued until 12. At that point Cody and I decided that we would watch the movie Eurotrip so we didn't get to bed until 2! And we had to get up for class at 9 on Friday.

Friday night we all stayed in and got to bed before 12 since we'd gotten so little sleep. Saturday we were supposed to go on a trip to Marseille but it was cancelled because there was rain forecasted (it was a gorgeous sunny day!). Instead we went to Marseille on Sunday.

Marseille is not one of the best places to go in France. It's not particularly safe and it's not particularly interesting. When we got there we went to a soap factory; it was interesting to see how soap is made and, even though the tour was in French, I learned a lot. Then we went to the basilica; Notre Dame de la Garde. We had a lovely picnic lunch looking out over the water. After a short tour of the church we went to a few more places...I'm not sure what they were. The best part was the Christmas market. It was fun to see all the Christmas ornaments, even though it really doesn't seem like Christmas. We all miss the snow; well miss isn't quite the right word, but the lack of snow doesn't provide a Christmas atmosphere.

There's only 13 days left of classes; I have a presentation, 4 tests (2 in grammar, 1 in art and 1 in civ), and 1 paper left to do. We've all started making lists of things that we have to do before we leave: jumping in the Mediterranean in December, getting ice cream, going to our favorite bars/clubs, finishing our souvenir shopping, having a picnic, etc. Time is flying by and it's hard to believe that my 4 months are really coming to a close, but I'm really excited to get home. I've started making a list of food that I will enjoy when I return. I've also started to realize how much I'm going to appreciate my own computer with Internet at any hour. I know I'll miss France tons when I get back to the States, mostly I'll miss the laid back lifestyle and the humor that this country provides!

Relaxing weekends...finally!

The last 2 weekends have been very relaxing and a total change of pace. The weekend of Nov 4-5th we took a college excursion to Aix en Provence. It was really cool to go to the market and then see Cezanne’s studio. The best part about the studio was that it was set up with all the stuff from the paintings still in it. The guide flipped through a portfolio of paintings and pointed out where each vase, chair, table, basket, etc, were at. It wasn’t the most exciting place and we didn’t spend a lot of time there but it was still a pretty good time.

Sunday was a nice day of homework and hanging out. I started my day with mass and then a nice long brunch. Afterwards I did some homework on the terrace (which looks out on the water). Then Amy and I did a short workout because we haven’t done that in awhile. After that I took a nap for most of the afternoon. I went to dinner and then watched a movie with Cody. We watched Asterlix and Obelix which is a French cartoon. It’s about these 2 guys who live in a small France town during the reign of Caesar and in each episode they have to fight against the evils of Rome (or something like that…it was in French, I didn’t understand all of it).

The big event of the week was the play; Quelque Chose (“Something”). I couldn’t give you the plot line if I tried; one girl finds something (it’s a red dot, made by a laser) and that’s where the story stops making sense. It was so much fun to be in the play. I am amazed at how far I came from mumbling the lines to getting up on stage and “fluently” speaking. We did two shows and the first one was probably the best because a bunch of students came and enjoyed laughing at everyone. I couldn’t believe how fast the shows actually went. We spent so much time preparing and it was over so quickly. Now, I’m excited to watch the second show (the first week in Dec) and see how much I can understand.

Last weekend I went out on Friday night to a dance club in Cannes. We had really wanted to go to Karaoke but the place was really crowded. Then Saturday after a late and leisurely brunch I ended up with an allergic reaction (swelling of the eye). I did a little homework and started planning my trip to Italy. I ended up taking a 2 hour nap and then I hung out with Cody while he tried to solve the world’s problems. After dinner we watched a couple of movies (I slept through half of one). At 1 we went to bed.

Sunday morning I had a quick brunch before being picked up by my echange-langue. I went to their house and we ended up going for a walk in the mountains before having a lovely picnic on the side of the mountain. I spent about 5 or 6 hours with them and got back to the college at 4. At 5 I went to the SJU director’s house for cooking lessons. She gives a lesson to 6 people every Sunday night. We made aioli (garlic mayo dip), tomato basil soup, quiche and chocolate mousse. It was amazing. We didn’t get back to the school until 9:30 and then I talked to Mom and Dad for awhile before going to bed.

I’ve started to try and incorporate more French into my daily life in hopes that my ability will improve and also in hopes that more of the language will stick with me when I leave. I watch movies in French occasionally (the college usually offers 1 or 2 per month), and last week I started reading the French paper, Le Figaro. Usually I just read the headlines and then pick one or two articles to read since it would take me all day to read and comprehend the whole thing. I’ve also started to concentrate more on memorizing verb tenses and expanding my vocabulary. When Caitlin, Sharon and I went to Monoprix this week we spoke in French the whole time which is something I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do. Only 5 weeks until Italy!

Paris

First off, I have just booked my tickets for a trip to Italy! I will be traveling there immediately after the semester for a few days. Cody and I will be flying to Rome and, after a few days, we'll continue on to Florence and Venice. After that we will go our separate ways (me to Paris for Christmas and him to various European countries).

Last weekend was very relaxing. Friday night I watched Good Will Hunting with Amy and Cody. Then, we woke up on Saturday around 10 and had brunch, the best meal on campus. Then around 12 we went to the mediatheque, the public library. After doing some research for our art history midterm, we came back to the college and Cody and I spent some more time studying. Around 4 I took a nap and read until 7 (dinner time). Saturday night we got beers and sat on the terrace looking out over the water. Sunday morning we got up early and headed to the local markets. I also had to stop by the train station. We got back and went to church (which is on campus), then it was time for brunch. This is the first time all semester that I’ve had brunch twice in one weekend. Cody and I headed down to the Hotel de Ville where you can get free internet, we were going to try to figure out our plans for after semester travel. The internet wasn’t working though and after a half hour of trying I headed to the train station to meet my friend Katie, who is studying abroad in Ireland this semester. She had a 10 day break and she came to visit me. She brought her friend Holly with her and after getting them we headed back to the college to get them settled in. Then I took them on a tour of Cannes and we got kebabs for dinner. That night I took them to Quay’s (our Irish pub) for drinks. Monday and Tuesday they spent a lot of time hanging out at the beach and doing some shopping. I also took them to a French movie on campus on Tuesday night, which they understood parts of (it was in French, Spanish and English so it was easy to pick up on). Wednesday night we went out for a traditional 3 course French dinner which was really fun. I left for Paris on Thursday morning and they left to go back to Ireland on Thursday afternoon.

Paris was amazing! We got there Thursday around 3 and Amy, Cody, Sarah, Nick and I decided to start walking around to see what there was to see. We saw the Opera House, the Jardin des Halles (lots of fun pictures from there…there are a bunch of pillars of different sizes and we did lots of jumping pictures), St Eustache church and Pont Neuf (the most romantic place in Paris…apparently). Then we headed to Flunch for dinner. After a very long walk we sat in front of the Eiffel Tower and watched it sparkle before walking to the Arc de Triomphe which was closed (this became a theme for us that continued for the rest of the weekend). Sarah had heard about a really cool jazz club so we decided to head there. There were some problems and by the time we got there the live music was done so we went home.

Friday morning after breakfast we walked to Pont Neuf for a boat ride on the Seine. Then we went to Notre Dame. I really liked the stained glass rosettes and the gargoyles were pretty sweet too. We decided to go up to the towers, and a million steps later we were there. The view was really nice and we took tons of pictures; the best ones are of us acting like gargoyles. Then we tried to go to the Crypte (decided it cost too much), the Deportation (it was closed for lunch), and the Conciergerie (we didn’t want to see it too badly).

Then we decided to go to the catacombs so we got on the RER (a different type of metro) except we got on the wrong one and we ended up at the Musee D’Orsay! We saw Jessica sitting outside so we ended up walking to a nearby café for lunch and then we visited the museum. I really like seeing the actual works of art instead of slides; sometimes it’s hard to remember that it is the real thing.

When we were done there we decided to head over to the Dome church where Napoleon’s tomb is (the Hotel des Invalides). When we got there Cody decided that we should sit for a minute and take pictures…but when we were done with that the place had closed and we couldn’t get inside (we were getting used to this). There was a grassy area behind the church so we sat there for awhile and then walked to the Concorde (I’m not sure what it is other than a cemented area with a tower thing). We got a baguette for a snack on our way back to the hostel and then headed to the Louvre. It’s free for students to go to the Louvre on Friday nights…so if you’re ever in Paris on a Friday head to the Louvre.

Since we’ve been studying art history it was tons of fun to walk around and see the art that we’ve been studying. Cody and I were probably bordering on annoying the people we were with. My family is really going to be excited that I can give them a whole tour of French art. We spent our time looking at works by Raphael, David, Rubens, Watteau, Chardin, Poussin and other classical/baroque/rococo/neo-classical artists. We left the Louvre at 9 and went out for pizza. It was a really great night.

Saturday morning we decided to look for a Starbucks…we had seen them everywhere but we had resisted…then we caved. It took us forever to find one and we had just given up when we found one. After getting a grande to-go cup we headed to the Pantheon. There was an art exhibit inside so it was kind of weird to be there. It was fun to go down into the crypt and see the tombs of a bunch of famous French people (the Curie’s, Rousseau, Voltaire, just to name few). After we left the Pantheon we walked over to the Jardin du Luxembourg (the Palais de Luxembourg is where parliament is held…you can’t go in the building but you can sit outside). The fall colors were gorgeous…we all really enjoyed having the cool fall weather and the orange trees.

We decided to go to the Mosque but it was closed for prayer…go figure! Then we headed to the Arc de Triomphe. There was a really cool view from the top of it, and we took tons of pictures. We had heard that it was a crazy place for pickpockets so we were being overly cautious of keeping track of each other and our stuff. As we were leaving we saw a girl being targeted (they give you a bracelet to wear), so Nick walked over to warn the girl. Well the guy who was giving the girl the bracelet got really mad and grabbed Nick’s collar. It was a little bit scary for awhile because Amy and I were standing alone off to the side (Cody was buying a painting) and we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Luckily, nothing serious happened and we got out of there as fast as possible, all a little bit shaken up but ok.

We headed back to the Hotel des Invalides and managed to make it in before they closed. It was not very exciting and we basically paid to use the bathroom. We did tour the military museum a little bit; I looked at the WW2 stuff which was kind of cool, and the others looked at the medieval stuff. Then we headed to the grassy area for a little nap in the sun. We went back to the hostel and took a little nap. That night we went to the Eiffel Tower. It was really cool. There was this little boy in front of us in line and I passed most of the time getting him to laugh. He loved it, he started looking for me whenever the line moved and he couldn’t see me anymore; Cody didn’t like it so much and started blocking me from seeing him. At the top we took some group pictures and tried not to blow away (it was so windy and cold). We did a little song and dance while we waited for the light show to start (the tower blinks for 10 min on the hour). Then we had to run to catch the last metro because the tower had taken more time than we thought it would. We ended up getting split up and meeting in the metro station, it’s a good thing we did because otherwise some people would have had to walk home (and it’s a long ways).

Sunday morning after breakfast I went to Victor Hugo’s house (he wrote Les Miserables). It wasn’t very interesting but it was free. Then we walked to the Bastille, it’s only a tower so it’s not that exciting either. We took a picture of the girls and then we got on the metro and headed to the catacombs. They were pretty sweet. It’s a bunch of skulls and bones lined up in different configurations. It goes for blocks underground and when we emerged (an hour, and many ridiculous pictures later) we had no idea where we were. Amy, Jessica, Nick and I went to get lunch at a creperie (yummy ham, cheese and egg crepes).

After lunch we went to Sacre Coeur, another very dangerous place for tourists. We decided that we weren’t going to be there long and that we weren’t going to talk to anyone or try to stop someone from getting pick pocketed (at this point 3 people from the SJU group had been pick pocketed; our director lost her wallet, one girl lost her wallet and one lost her camera). When we got out of the subway we had no idea where we were going and we were a little nervous about pulling out a map (it was a sketchy area). We eventually found our way there and after a couple quick pictures and a speedy walk around the church we left.

We got back to the hostel and decided to do a little souvenir shopping (there were lots of places very close, which was good because we were tired of walking). I ended up buying a couple of scarves. Then we went to the Louvre to hang out before dinner. We ate at a great little Italian-type place. SJU paid for us to eat; we got salad, pizza/pasta and chicken, ice cream and beverages. Then we decided to go to Notre Dame to see the street performers, except they weren’t…I wasn’t surprised, I was getting used to some things never happening. We went to a bar instead and got a drink, the boys had cigars. Then, a bunch of people went to a hookah bar, I ended up going back to the hostel and going to bed.

Monday morning we decided that we wanted to go back near Sacre Coeur and go to the markets there. It was a lot of fun; we found a lot of really great deals. I bought some great souvenirs for people at home. We didn’t realize how much there was to see so we missed a lot of it. We got back on the metro to pick up our stuff from the hostel and grabbed lunch on the way. We got to the train station and waited for the rest of the group to show up. Everyone made it on the train and we got back to Cannes around dinner time. It was a really great weekend.

Halloween was a lot of fun too. We all got dressed up, with the stuff that we had available to us here and then we went out dancing. Wednesday we didn’t have class because All Saints Day is holiday. I slept until 9:30 and then met with my echange-langue. I meet with a family (husband, wife and 12 year old son) for a few hours every week. They get to work on their English, and I work on my French. They took me to some mountains near Cannes and we walked around for awhile. Then we had a picnic on the beach. It was fun, but I was really tired from being out the night before.

It’s hard to believe that I’ll be leaving the college in 6 weeks (and France in 8). Everything is going so quickly, I never thought that November would come but it’s already the 4th and all the papers and tests that seemed so far away are creeping up on me. We’re now looking at going to Egypt in a few weeks and opening night for the play is less than a week away! What a crazy, amazing experience.

An expensive weekend to Blois

Amy, Cody and I took a trip to Blois this weekend (it's in the Loire Valley). We got on a train Friday afternoon and had to switch trains in Paris. That gave us a lovely opportunity to figure out the metro system (although we later discovered that there's a bridge that you can go across; a much cheaper alternative). We arrived in Blois at 12:30am and took a taxi to our hotel, but the reception desk had closed at 11 so we couldn't get in. We weren't really sure what to do...sleep near the hotel or try to find another place. We hadn't realized that Blois was so large and our hotel was on the outskirts of town so there weren't a lot of available options. Luckily there was a guy closing up his restaurant next door and he suggested we go a few blocks away to another (more expensive) hotel. So we got a room there and went to sleep.

We woke up on Saturday morning and checked out of the hotel. Then we walked back to our other hotel (the Tour Hotel) and checked in there. The reception desk person was VERY nice and didn't charge us for the room. After dropping off our things we got a taxi (very expensive because he went to the wrong hotel and charged us for it) and headed to the tourism office. We got some information about a few different chateaux and bought tickets to see 3 of them. Then it was time for breakfast. We walked through the labyrinth that is Blois and found a boulangerie (bakery). It didn't have tables but there was a nice bench next to it. We bought our baguettes and coffee and enjoyed watching the French (who always provide a lot of entertainment).

After a while it was time to take the bus to Cheverny. After finding it, we walked around a little bit confused about what we should do. We had read about the hunting dogs that were supposed to be hunting on Saturday so we were hoping to see that. Instead we saw a man roll a HUGE wheelbarrow of dog food and raw meat into the dog kennels and then the dogs were released. It was so cool, although the housing seemed very inhumane. Then we toured the house and tried to learn more about French history and culture. We were trying to figure out what else to do when we saw a sign for a boat tour. So we paid for that and jumped right on. It was really cool to see all the trees. In Cannes they have a lot of palms and other tropical plants but in Cheverny they have deciduous trees (pines, birches, etc). After that we decided to call the taxi to come pick us up (because there was no return bus, another large cost).

When we got back to Blois we started looking for a good place to have dinner. We really wanted to do something authentic to the region and there are some really good menus (3 courses offered for one price) that are fairly inexpensive. Amy and Cody decided that I hadn't had enough practice with my French so it was my job to try and make reservations. That was an experience; one lady didn't like me and kept correcting my French, another guy was full and the third place had food that we normally eat in the cafeteria at the college. Finally I was able to get us a table in the smoking section of one restaurant (I didn't realize that there was a no smoking section because everywhere we go there are people smoking).

We had some time to kill before dinner so we headed out to tour a few churches. Then we decided to get beers because we'd had a long day. After that it was time for dinner. It was the most amazing dinner (and also the most expensive). We started with bread, fish pate, and aperitifs (I had kir, white wine with black currant syrup). Then for my entree I had mushrooms and escargot in a garlic butter sauce (delicious). My plat was duck with fried potatoes and for dessert I had a regional specialty, tarte tatin (like apple pie). We also got a bottle of wine to go with the meal (a red from Cheverny). When we finished dinner we were still having a good time talking and hanging out so we got another bottle of wine and a plate of cheese. All in all for 3 people to eat 4 courses we spent 115€! Well worth it in my opinion. We had the restaurant people call us a taxi and then we went to bed.

Sunday morning we woke up and took a taxi to church. After church we struggled to find a place to get breakfast and we ended up back at the same boulangerie. When we were finished we toured the Chateau de Blois, which was very over patterned, but it was built in 4 different architectural styles. We learned a little more about the history of France while we were there. Then we headed over to the train station to catch the bus to Chambord. This was an amazing chateau. There is a double helix staircase in the middle of the building so Amy took one and I took the other and we took pictures of each other through the openings. We learned a lot more about the history of France while we were there. We also took a ton of pictures, especially of the fall landscape. When we were done touring the inside we went into the gardens and enjoyed our afternoon croissants near some gorgeous changing trees. Then we caught the bus back to Blois.

We got on the train to Paris and arrived in Paris around 8 Sunday night. We had some time to kill so we ate our leftover baguette and croissants for dinner (which is why we could afford to pay so much for dinner...we only ate baguettes otherwise). We had a sleeper train on the way from Paris to Cannes which was really nice because we were able to get real sleep. Although there was a slightly creepy guy who kept looking at me. We got to Cannes at 7:30 Monday morning and headed back to the college for class.

It's so much fun to do those weekend trips although I probably won't do any for awhile until I decide what I'm going to be doing after the semester. At this point I'm hoping to spend a few days in Italy, but we'll have to see if I can afford it and if I can go with other people. Either way this has been an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I've been able to do everything I've wanted.