Amsterdam

Let me begin with Wednesday April 14. That day was my host mom’s birthday! After my morning classes and finishing my presentation in economics I set out to buy my mom some flowers for her birthday. I went to this flower shop near my school and I explained to the flower shop lady that I would like to buy some flowers for my host mom because it was her birthday. She showed me everything and I picked out these cute yellow flowers and I pot a silver pot for them. It was perfect! As I was paying the flower shop lady said my French was very good. That comment made my day so much better! She was very nice and helpful and she wrapped up the flowers very nicely! As I walked in the door with the flowers, I saw Francoise and immediately said “Joyeux Anniversaire!” and she said Merci and gave me bises (kisses on the cheeks). That evening for her birthday dinner, her niece and sister came over and Rochelle (her niece) had made an apple crumble cake. It was DELICIOUS. And we also had strawberries and kids champagne because her sister can not have alcohol. I didn’t mind. I loved the apple flavored bubble soda. It reminded me of the sparkling wine we always had as kids for new years. It was a good night spending it with the family and although I was super tired from a stressful day of my presentation it was relaxing to sit back and enjoy a French meal.

Thursday evening at 9:30pm I left the apartment to meet Kirsten and we were off to Amsterdam. We departed from the bus station later then the set time but I was happy to be getting out of Paris finally! Our bus was packed with Americans, which was kind of annoying, but they soon quieted down and fell asleep. Kirsten and I did not expect to have a full bus so we originally sat in separate seats across from each other so we could have the window seats. But as the bus filled up we were separated and I sat next to a guy who later in the night fell asleep with his head on my shoulder and his leg practically on top of mine. Our seats were not very big and there wasn’t really any room to stretch out and he was taking up 1/3 of my seat so I moved my shoulder and he woke up and finally moved away and out of my bubble. He made my shoulder quite sore and I was really happy when we were finally in Amsterdam! We arrived in Amsterdam at 6:30am and we found the metro and we were on our way to Centraal Station.

We first started by taking the tram to Kirsten’s hostel and she checked in and then we found my hostel and I checked in. When we were at Kirsten’s hostel we arrived 30 minutes early so we waited around and while we were waiting Kirsten made a comment about sitting on the couch and I thought she was being funny because the cushions were all messed up. 5 minutes later she said… “Is that a person?” At first I was like “Nah!” and I made a double look and I was speechless..IT WAS! Haha ..Her hair had looked like just one of those furry pillows and her body was covered by all the pillows. The guy working there then got up and woke the girl up and told her to get out. It was confusing as to why she was there. We thought maybe a prostitute but who knows, its Amsterdam! After we both checked in we headed out to find the Anne Frank house. The museum was very interesting but I was bummed that we could not take pictures at all. The stairs throughout the house were extremely steep and skinny. I wonder how those Nazi’s ran up the stairs so quickly. As we walked through Anne Frank’s room, it was completely quiet and all you heard were the sounds of the wood cracking from the people walking above you. It was very moving and it made me think of how quiet they must have been in order for no one to hear them. Part of the museum was under renovations so we could not view the real diary of Anne Frank so we saw the replicate which was a bummer too.

During the museum I received the BEST text message. My friend Brittney from Texas had finally made it to Amsterdam and they were at their hotel. After the Anne Frank Museum we booked it to her hotel and as we were walking down the right street I hear…KIRSTEN…and it was Brittney running up to me and her orange UTArlington sweatshirt on was not hard to miss! I gave her the BIGGEST hug and I started crying. It was not just little tear drops, it was like a waterfall on my face. It was so nice to see a really good friend and to get a HUG. After hugging her mom and grandma and finally I stopped crying, we dropping our backpacks off at brittney’s hotel and we went out to see Amsterdam together. We did most of our sight-seeing Friday and walking everywhere and then in the evening we picked up some food and went back to the hotel and ate and relaxed there. At night, they walked me back to my hostel and I noticed that my hostel was in the Red light district…haha. My hostel was horrible, 16 girls in a room, (I think none of them have never been in a hostel before because they didn’t act like they had been), the lights were turned on for about 2 hours during the night, girls were talking endlessly, phone alarms went off without being turned off, and finally when I left in the morning, the breakfast was packed so I just checked out and left. I picked up some bread, orange juice and an apple at the boulangerie next to my hostel and then I went to Brittney’s. Her hotel was so nice and they let me eat there. I had 2 pieces of toast and on one of my toasts I put half nutella and sprinkles and the other half blueberry jam. That jam was to die for!!! So because they let me eat there I saved my bread and apple for lunch!

Later that Saturday we found Kirsten and we headed out to the local market and I bought some caramel and chocolate fudge. It was soooo good! Everyone else bought cheese and other meats and vegetables. After the market, we walked around most of the day and then in the evening we ate along a bridge and below us was a boat full of people. We yelled out asking how much he charges for a ride and he said 100Euros. We were shocked by how expensive but we figured he was joking and then he said jokingly that Amsterdam is expensive…which is not true. Amsterdam is one of the cheapest cities in Europe. After sitting on the bridge for a while the man on the boat came up and invited us for a ride! It was SO nice of him and we of course could not deny his offer! We all got on the boat and he took us all through the canals through Amsterdam and behind Centraal Station where the big port is. The guy was hilarious, with a joint in one hand and a cigarette in the other and glass of wine sitting beside him! His dog in the boat was the first dog that I have gotten to pet while in Europe. I miss dogs SOOOO MUCH! His name was toby and he was absolutely adorable. Anyways, the guy showed us where the oldest part of Amsterdam is and he showed us where the celebrities stay like Sting when they come. After having a relaxing boat ride along the canal, we left the rest of our candy with the kids on the boat and the wine with the adults and we headed back to the hotel to rest for an hour before we left for the bus station. It was sad to leave Brittney and her family but we had to get back to Paris. Once again our bus was packed. Many of the people on the bus were trying to get home any way they could because the airports are closed and the trains are full so the buses are the only option for many. I don’t know why that volcano decided to erupt now! It better stop and the air better clear up because I have to get back to Texas soon! I hope Brittney and her family have a safe trip home and I hope they are able to leave on time! Overall, Amsterdam was relaxing and the only thing that I didn’t get to do was go to the Van Gogh museum but I think the free boat ride around the canal made up for it! J

PS: Amsterdam had TRILLIONS of bikes and I’m so happy I didn’t get run over by one.

Loire Valley

This past weekend was one of the best weekends! Saturday morning I got up early to catch the bus with ISA and head south of Paris to the Loire Valley. I sat next to Regina on the bus and I had so much fun talking to her and we basically spent the rest of our time together on our trip! We first stopped at the Chateau de Chenonceau and it was under renovations so the whole front was covered up by a tarp. It was a letdown. Inside the castle was quite small and the room extending over the river was actually a dance room where they had all of the masquerades. But the gardens were gorgeous and we later went to the maze and ran through it with Erik. He then took our picture by the flowers and by then it was time to head back to the bus. After the first chateau, we then went to Leonardo Da Vinci's house and it was quite beautiful inside. His garden was beautiful with his inventions scattered throughout. There were old paddle boats that you could rent and paddle around in the small river but we did not have time to do that. Visiting his house was quick so that we could get our surprise for the day. The surprise was not really a surprise because considering that the Loire Valley is known for its wine (like Bordeaux, France) we had a wine taste test. We tasted about 5 different wines and we also had some goat cheese which was pretty good. After the wine test we headed out to Tours, France and we checked in at our hotel, Holiday Inn.

After we put our stuff in our rooms I went out with a bunch of girls to find the ice cream shop that was supposedly amazing...it was. I had Tiramisu and Cookies ice cream. And because Christelle (our ISA leader) knew the lady working there we got free cream on our ice cream. I'm not a big fan of cream but hey I'm only in France how many times in my lifetime!!?! After the ice cream the girls stopped to get some pasta and then after we headed back to the hotel to try out the showers. I think our expectations were too high from the last hotel we stayed at in Normandy and this shower was just not good. BUT the beds were WONDERFUL! The covers were fluffy and the bed was stiff and perfect for my back and overall I just wanted to take that bed home with me to Paris. I think it took me less than 10 minutes to fall asleep. Besides the hotel alarm going off at midnight, I slept the best that night since the whole time I've been here. Breakfast in the morning was very good too. They had little jars of jam of Bonne Maman and I took 4 to bring home to the family. They are perfect size for my luggage and I instead of buying a regular size at the Franprix (grocery store) I'm now bringing 4 different kinds of jam. They are perfect for taste testing!

Later after breakfast on Sunday we checked out of the hotel and we went to the Chateau de Chambord. When we walked up to the castle I remember Tommy asking me if he could carry me to the castle. lol. I responded by saying, "can I carry you?" and so I carried him first and then he carried me! He always puts a smile on my face! Although I had already seen this castle the weekend before with my other friends, it was still amazing to see and I got to go inside of it this time! It was enormous and there were over 400 rooms in this castle. It was very spacious inside and not a lot of furnishings. The fireplaces were huge and the view from the balcony was spectacular. I could definitely live there! After walking around the castle and buying some gifts in the boutique, I went on the motor boat with Regina and Tommy and that was one of the highlights of my trip. We had a photo shoot on the boat with the castle in the background and it was so much fun! They are hilarious and we laughed nonstop! It was refreshing to be around people like me and to just be myself and have fun! After the castle and the boat ride, we had another surprise which was a no brainer....more wine. But we also had homemade cookies too. We taste tested 2 wines and had a wide selection of cookies to eat. The cookies and wine were a great lunch! (I know mom....totally nutritious). Then we hopped back on that bus and back to Paris.

I would have to say that this past weekend was very relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of it! I'm certainly going to miss the friends that I have made through ISA and hopefully we can visit each other in the US!

This Thursday night I leave for Amsterdam with Kirsten by bus and we will get there Friday morning around 7am. Brittney (from Texas) will arrive in Amsterdam with her family and I'm SO excited to see her! I LOVE seeing Texans! It definitely helps my homesickness. We're going to spend 2 days in Amsterdam and then we will be back in Paris Sunday morning.

School work has picked up and I have 3 presentations and 2 papers to write. One of my presentations is tomorrow and then 2 the next 2 weeks. I'm definitely ready for these group projects to be over with because for some reason I get stuck with most of the work. I question the importance of group projects??? There's always those people who don't do anything but yet they get the same group as the whole group. Anyways after all of my presentations are over with I will just have finals left and then it will be my birthday and then I will be on my way back to Texas. I have one month left!! Thats IT!!!

Amboise, Vouvray, and Blois

This past weekend was absolutely wonderful! My friend Dipesh and his girlfriend Eugenie took me out to see the country of France. Having a car was perfect so we could go wherever we wanted and to see whatever we wanted! It was so exciting! First we went to Ambroise and we stopped and walked through the village market and had a picnic by the river then headed up to see the chateau in Ambroise. Most of the chateau was renovated because almost all of it was torn down but there was still some of the castle left and it was beautiful to see! It was the highest point of the village and had a spectacular view of the city. After walking through the castle and trying to understand the French tour guide (Eugenie translated and helped me understand things about the castle) we walked through another small market by the chateau and I bought some gifts for the family!

sidenote: the coolest thing about the castle was that when the King died they used the very bottom level as a prison. I thought that was really interesting!

After we saw everything that Eugenie had a list for we got back in the car and drove to Vouvray, France. Here she had planned for us to do a degustation which is wine taste testing. We were driving by the river the whole time with amazing scenery and we started to pass these rocks with windows and I then learned from Eugenie that these are houses or apartments built in the rocks or in French "troglerdyte." We drove around looking for this one wine testing place then stopped to ask for directions and thank goodness Eugenie and Dipesh were there because their French is perfect!...Obviously because Eugenie is Parisian and Dipesh has lived in Paris for 5 years. Anyways, we finally found them but they were all closed. She wanted to take us to one that was in a cave or again what was a troglerdyte. We parked the car outside the wine place and walked up this street to look at the view of this small country village. It was a phenomonal view and so peaceful. As we started heading back to the car, Eugenie and Dipesh saw a man in his troglerdyte and asked him if he knew about any wine places around that are open on Sundays. He walked out and started talking to us. From right off the bat Dipesh knew he was not French. Come to find out he was actually from England but he spoke French very well. He was very nice and he actually gave us a tour of his cave or troglerdyte. It went far back and right now he uses it for storage and his house is across the road. The farther back of the cave the more humid it got. He owns a bed and breakfast and he gave us all his card if we ever wanted to stay there. He is thinking of putting like a dining area in the back of the cave for his guests. We thought that would be very neat and we thanked him for showing us his troglerdyte! So we then got back in our car and we finally found a wine taste testing place that was open. It was all free and we could taste as many wines as we wanted and we also got a free tour of the cave where they store the wine. There were racks after racks of bottles and he explained everything in French so once again Eugenie translated for me! I'm pretty sure he said there were over a billion bottles in that cave. The cave was built long ago for taking the rock and using that rock to build chateaus that were surrounding the village. After the tour we tasted some more wine that was much sweeter (because we started from dry to sweet) and then Eugenie and Dipesh bought some wine and we headed out. It was getting late so we went to the hotel (B&B) to check in and then we went to get some food. My stay in the hotel was free because Eugenie's dad travels so much and when he travels he stays in a B&B so he got us a free nights stay and breakfast in the morning. All we had to pay was 0.90Euros and I of course paid that! ha! I had to after all they have done for me! So we checked in then we had a choice to go to Flunch or McDonald's. Dipesh wanted Mcdo so I broke my promise and we ate at McDonald's. This place was PACKED. I thought it was quite funny but it was shocking to see so many French people in an American restaurant.

Anyways, the night in the hotel, the room all to my self was AWESOME. I took a shower, watched some soccer then went to bed because I was exhausted. The next morning we got up and had breakfast and it was wonderful! (Usually you have to pay to eat breakfast in European hotels and to have it paid for was awesome and very generous of Eugenie's father!)

So we hit the road and set out for Blois. We first went to Chambord which is the largest chateau in France and it was beautiful! After walking around the chateau we then rented a row boat and rowed around the chateau along the river. I started out rowing because Dipesh and Eugenie have never rowed before. When I was rowing Dipesh just laid on the boat as if he really was a King. It was absolutely hilarious when Dipesh tried to row. It took us about 20 minutes to get around the corner and to the other side of the chateau. I do have to admit that the boat was fit for fast rowing and because the boat was wide in the middle it was easier to have 2 people row at the same time. The rowing was relaxing and I needed that relaxation in the sun badly. The exercise, the fresh air, the beautiful scenery, it was a perfect hour to think about nothing but laugh and smile and enjoy my time with wonderful people.

Later we had a picnic near the chateau and we enjoyed some conversation then headed to explore the city of Blois. We started out by visiting the Royal Chateau of Blois then walked around to see the major attractions. My favorite was the statue of Joan of Arc! It was right at the lookout of the whole city and the river that ran through it! After walking around for about 2 hours we sat down and I had some hot chocolate because the wind had made me cold and I needed something to warm me up. The ice cream looked DELICIOUS but I had to be smart and say no to that wonderful looking goodness. We sat and relaxed and I helped Dipesh with his accounting homework then we walked back to the car and I got a baguette for the road back to Paris.

On the ride back to Paris Eugenie drove through all the villages and through the countryside to show me more of France instead of just the highway. Everything was spectacularly green and there were old bridges and she told me that every village in France has a church. There are around 52,000 cities in France and probably over 100,000 churches. She was very intelligent and I loved learning neat facts about France from her! As we were driving I also noticed all the huge wind turbines there were in the fields. There were so many of them! After a 3 hour drive back we finally get into Paris and there is no where to park so they drop me off at a metro and I head home. I am SO grateful that I have met them and they were so generous to take me to see things that I would have never seen probably. I plan on sending Eugenie's father a thank you note from Texas and also send Eugenie and Dipesh something as well. Going on this trip allowed me to not just see France but spend money on gifts for my family instead of a hotel or transportation. It was a wonderful trip and it was very nice to get away from Paris for 2 days.

Next weekend I'm back to the Loire Valley but I will be with ISA this time and we will be visiting more chateaus. Although we will be seeing the same chateau..the Chambord, its worth seeing again and this time I will get to go inside!

Last full month in Paris

So this past week has been eventful and tiring. Monday I went to the Centre Pompidou museum and it was the biggest letdown. It is a contemporary museum and the exhibition was Lucien Freud and all I have to say is...not my thing. I was uninterested in his paintings of naked people. He has a wonderful talent but I walked through the exhibition quickly and I was done probably within 5 minutes. After the exhibition I walked through the permanent collection and again I wasn't impressed. I spent 9Euros and the best part about the museum was the elevator. I spent most of my time going up and down the elevator and also looking around the boutique.

Tuesday, I went with ISA to the Le Maroc en Lumiere Exposition at l'Institute du Monde Arabe. This exhibition was much more interesting and I enjoyed walking through it! After walking through it, we got a surprise and we had tea and gateau at a Moroccan cafe. The room was very relaxing and the tea was wonderful. I had a crepe with raisins in it and it was SO GOOD. Before we were leaving, the server came over and took my hand and awkwardly asked me to marry him. All I could do was laugh and everyone else was laughing and taking pictures. He was kissing my hand and he told me to feel his heart and to see how fast it was beating. After this bizarre moment we got up and walked out. As we were walking out, the guy walked away from customers to ask me if he could have my number. Christelle (my ISA representative) said we should have given him the ISA director's number! It was all for fun and we all had a good laugh!

Wednesday, I had a french test and my last midterm for the semester in economics. Wednesday was a very stressful day and a long 8 hours of class really wore me out.

Thursday, I woke up early to go the Musee de la Vie Romantique to see the Frederic Chopin exhibition. It was very interesting and Nadine (my ISA representative) was extremely informative about Chopin and she helped me translate most of the labels next to the paintings of the people related to Chopin or were friends of Chopin. We also walked through the permanent collection and then I had to get to my french class. After I went to the ISA office to book my trip to Amsterdam in which I will be leaving for April 15 and coming back to Paris at the crack of dawn (6am) Sunday morning.

This weekend I was invited to go along on a road trip around Tours, France, which is about 2 hours south of Paris. It will be a nice 2 day get-a-way and it will basically be free because they are driving and they have free passes to stay at a bed-and-breakfast. So right now my April is looking pretty busy...

April 4-5 Tours, France

April 10-11 Loire Valley

April 15-18 Amsterdam

2 of those weekends are basically free and I just have to pay for food. Amsterdam...roundtrip and one night in a hostel was only 82Euros which is awesome! I'm excited and I think Amsterdam might be the last trip I make. For my birthday I might go to Disneyworld in Paris because I heard its only about 30Euros and it would be a good birthday present to me! Plus it's the only Disneyworld in Europe! There is still a lot for me to do in Paris like going up the eiffel tower and notre dame and Montparnasse. Right now I can not go all the way up the eiffel tower because of renovations so I am waiting for it to get warm and very nice outside for me to go up! I'm planning on going up in May before I leave. Lately the weather has been awful!....cold and rainy and cloudy. Not amazing. But with the not so beautiful weather I have been able to get some school work done. Coming up I have 3 big presentations with 2 20 page papers due all in April. Then in May, I have finals and I will soon be flying back to Texas.