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!!!