Sorry, I don't have any pictures this time. My bad.

Good news! According to my host parents, Marie and Vincent, my French has greatly improved within the past week. Hooray!

More good news! There was an amazing sale at Marc by Marc Jacobs today. I bought a lovely wallet and keychain (the actual clothes were still a little out of my price range. But mark my words, one day, I will have the money for ridiculously expensive clothing.)

Yesterday Marie (love that woman) took me to a play called "Le Cid". Apparently it's a play that is very famous in France, and it is often studied in high school. It was really cool- lots of flamenco dancing, and for the most part, I understood what was going on. Towards the end, however, I kind of lost track of what was happening, and was confused when the character that I SWEAR died, kept popping up on stage. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I really have been getting used to this lifestyle (minus the whole only drinking about a shot glass of water with your dinner. I'm probably going to faint here. Also, there should be a law about actually putting on deodorant in the morning...I'm just saying). I adore my host family and the area that we live in. City life just seems perfect for me, minus the occasional homeless person peeing in the metro. Again, you win some, you lose some.

Sur la Seine

Yesterday was pretty much perfect. I spent the day with a few people from my group shopping in the area of the St. Michel fountain. (It’s a really cool area where a lot of students like to hang out) We were hungry for lunch, so we started wandering down random streets, and we found something spectacular: A MEXICAN RESTAURANT. Now let me explain how magical this was.Finding a Mexican restaurant in Paris is like finding a giraffe in your backyard in Kansas; it just doesn’t happen. Unless maybe you’re Michael Jackson. (RIP Jacko) I spent 10 Euros on a plate of guacamole with a couple chips, and was pretty satisfied. I also got to chat with my parents during lunch. According to my dad, it’s “about as hot as a bamboo shoot in a sauna”…whatever that means. Oh Steve, you and your metaphors.

After our delicious lunch, we decided to walk to Ile de St. Louis for some ice cream. There’s a famous ice cream parlor called Berthillion, and it’s by far the best ice cream I’ve ever had.(Hads, if I could bring some home to you, you know I would.) I really have no idea how to describe how amazing this ice cream is. I can’t wait to take the parentals there when they visit in a couple weeks.

The ice cream made Katie and I pretty tired, so we sat in the park behind Notre Dame and watched as a couple took their wedding pictures. It was precious, but I’ve got to say, the photographer was doing some weird things. Those will be some different pictures.

We finally got some energy back, and decided to go to Les Halles for some intense shopping.That mall is ridiculously huge, and since we went on a Saturday afternoon, it was insanely packed with people. Add in no air conditioning and lack of water, and you’ve got my daily Parisian life. It really wasn’t too hot, but there were a few moments when I considered stealing a bottle of water from a vendor. (3 Euro for a bottle of water? I don’t think so. Not on my time.)

Katie and I met up with the rest of the group at the fountain again, and we decided that we needed the most American meal we could find in order to properly celebrate the 4^th of July. A feast of McDonalds was the prefect solution. (plus, a lot of McDonalds have air conditioning!!)Once we finished our hamburgers and such, we all walked down to Monoprix (a large grocery store chain in France) and bought several bottles of Vieux Papes (Old Popes). It’s by far the cheapest wine you can find in Paris, but god damn it, I love me some Vieux Papes. We walked down the Seine (and of course grabbed a crepe along the way. Duh.) and sat on one of the banks. On the other side of the Seine, there were two guys playing music, which made our setting perfect. Vieux Papes, the Seine, Bob Marley, and American friends= so much fun. We sat there for about two or three hours, drinking our wine, and listening to acoustic versions Oasis, Otis Redding, Jason Mraz, etc. Like I said, this day was pretty much perfect.

A few more people from our group found us, and we all decided to go to an Irish Pub that was having a 4^th of July party. We discothequed the night away at this pub. AND they had Bud for 4 Euro, which is basically unheard of for beer in bars in Paris.

4th of July!

oooh Vieux Papes...so good.

Me being an idiot on the Seine.

With Katie on our boat tour

Notre Dame!

I got mistaken for a Parisian twice today. Best.

I HAVE INTERNET AGAIN!!!

Okay, moving on...let's start with the day I arrived in Paris. Turns out, everyone in my group lives within city limits with at least one roommate. And me? I'm in Vincennes, sans roomie. (Vincennes is basically a suburb- but a good one. It's the 2nd to last stop on the yellow 1 line on the metro). I grabbed a cab after taking a placement test for my school, and watched as everyone climbed into their cabs, and I drove away alone. I was eerily calm during this experience. After about a 25 minute drive, I arrived at my house. My host mom and sister were waiting outside for me, and treated me as if I was one of their own. They hugged me, did the French kiss on the cheek thing, and showed me the house.

The next day, Saturday, after running some errands with my new mom and sister, I met up with the group under the Eiffel Tower. We grabbed food, bought cell phones, and kinda roamed around town. The best part of this day: accidentally running into a gay pride parade. I've always wanted to go to one, because they seem like so much fun. Finally, my dream has come true. Seriously though, it was awesome. I mean, you have to give mad props to drag queens; that can't be easy. Especially with such marvelous heels!

I spent all of Sunday with Katie and Jason (aka Jambon. don't ask.) We met at the Arc de Triomphe, ate lunch, and pretty much shopped all day, much to Jason's demise. We saw the most hilarious thing on the Champs Elysees- a 75 year old man, wearing a shirt that said "Papy Dance", who was stepping around to Michael Jackson, while holding an umbrella. I'll put the video on facebook.

Today was the first day of classes. I spend 4 hours in one classroom every morning, learning grammar, vocabulary, and phonetics. After class, Katie and I went to Galleries Lafayette (pause to hear the angels sing), and shopped like crazy. I bought a new Longchamp, and fondled many designer items by Versace, Gucci, Fendi, Prada, Burberry, Marc Jacobs, etc. After a marvelous afternoon at the happiest place on Earth, I came back to Vincennes and ate dinner with the fam. I seriously adore these people; I could not have asked for a better family. They are all super nice, very understanding, helpful and welcoming. Love them.

Probably my favorite monument in Paris. I don't know why, but I am fascinated by it.

Just a little pond in the garden where GYWNETH PALTROW RUNS. I mean, it's whatever. I'm going to find her and get an autograph. Mark my words.

Pikachu getting down at the gay pride parade.

"Giaaaaant Buttterrrrrrfllllyyyyyyyy!!!!!"

"holy crap, you weren't kidding."

Work it, girl.

Porkchop sandwiches?!

I was not born with grace or balance. I remembered this little fact today when I fell as hard as I could on my ass on a pebble beach, and accidentally mooned the small children who were kayaking in the ocean.

But I digress.

Yesterday was pretty much dedicated to WWII, so it was another depressing day. We went to the American cemetery at Omaha Beach, and it was overwhelming. There were white crosses everywhere, and as we walked down the main aisle, the bells started to play "My Country 'Tis of Thee". I may or may not have cried a little bit behind my sunglasses. At the monument with the list of all the names, I found Luther Waugh. I wonder if he's a relative of my family or the Scottish Waughs. Either way, still very sad.

We then continued to another part of Omaha Beach, where there is a statue dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives. Another sad moment, but I did liven it up a bit when I took my Titanic picture. (see below) Next was another beach with insane cliffs. I can't remember the name of the area, but it was seriously bombed; there were deep craters everywhere. After paying some respect, Liz, Katie and I took some top model pix. (Because I still act like I'm 5 years old, from time to time)

Next was another war museum, which was kind of small, but it was significant for the town. The church, St. Mere Eglise, was were American troops landed. One soldier got caught on the actual roof of the church, and had to play dead for 2 hours. Intense.

And now, today. We started out in a cute little town, Enfleur, and I drank some Earl Grey tea (and obviously thought of Richard Green while doing so) with some of the group, while looking at the river.

After that, we headed to another small town for lunch. We had 3 hours at this town, so we got to have a decent, relaxing lunch. And once we finished, I went down to the pebble beach with 2 other people, and stayed there for a good hour and half. Most of the time was spent throwing rocks into the beach. It was pretty sweet.

On the way to our current hotel, we stopped at a local farm that makes sparkling cider. We learned about the process, and then had a tasting. Very good, and pretty cheap if you bought it there. I liked the cider, but not enough to buy a bottle of it. The apple juice, however, was BOMB. So good. I still prefer wine over anything else. Surprise, surprise.

Tonight was our last night eating together as a traveling group. It was a delicious dinner (duck entree..yum!), and a lot of fun. We finished dinner with what I think was brandy. All I was missing was a cigar.

Tomorrow we head to the town where Joan of Arc was burned, and then.....PARIS. I'm so excited to meet my family, but I'm sure I'll be ridiculously nervous once I get there. I'll keep everyone updated via blog and skype, of course.

P.S. anybody ever watched the G.I. Joe parodies on youtube? So funny.

I'm a cocktail!

Watching for enemy troops. Serious business.

Inappropriate? Yes. Awesome? Oh hell yeah.

At the cemetery

Saddest day of the trip.

I'm so international.

Note to self: the joke "oh hey, J.C., how's it hanging?" doesn't go over well when standing in front of a crucifix in a cathedral.

Today was another ridiculously long day. We went to Abbaye aux l'hommes, which was really cool. The tour was in all French, which wasn't a problem, until my ADD kicked in.

Then we headed to a WWII museum. Holy depressing. I mean, obviously nothing was going to be uplifting, but I was pretty depressed for the rest of the day after going there. Sidenote: there were wayyy too many kids there. I was very close to drop-kicking all of them. Even the cute British ones. Anyway, it was kind of hard to enjoy it while tripping over small children.

Next was one of the beaches of Normandy. Again, very depressing. It's hard to enjoy such beautiful scenery when you know the history behind it all. I kept imagining dead bodies all over the beach. How morbid.

The last place we went to had the tapestry of Bayeux. Not my cup of tea. I mean, it's really old, and impressive that's it has survived so long, but I was just not into it. Plus the little headset things they gave us to listen to smelled bad. There's a cathedral in the same area as the tapestry, which is where I said the faux-pas. Whoops. Some people just can't take jokes...

in the cathedral near the tapestry

I love the name of this restaurant. Brilliant.

War remains and such.

A view of one of the beaches of Normandy

In the war museum. The bench says, "forbidden for Jews"

Ton visage est un blague! (your face is a joke!)

Helllllloooo, blog!

Word of the wise: the internet in Moelan sur Mer= not good. And the people who owned our hotel hated us.

Saturday was our free day, which meant beach day. The thing is, though, the beach was on the whole other side of the town. So Liz and I (we were the first to get up, I think.) asked our bus driver how to get to the beach. He gave us directions, and we started to walk. Long story short, we got lost. We ended up by a dried-up river. And by dried up, I mean boats were sitting in mud. There were two maps in this area, so we went to look at them. Neither one said where we were on the map, so we were forced to ask for directions again. We went to an older man who had just pulled up in his truck, and was playing with his jack russell terrier. Liz and I did our best in French, but he decided to answer in English. Apparently, we were no where near the beach, so he told us to get into his car. While Liz hesitated, I hopped into the backseat, so she followed. (The cute dog, Chip, got to sit her lap. So jealous.) So the nameless man drove us to the beach. And that's how I accidentally hitch-hiked.

Beach day was pretty good, although it was cold. Annnnd the beach wasn't a swimming beach. Whatevs, there was a creperie nearby, so I was happy.

Later that night, I went out with a bunch of people to our group to the beach. We drank while watching the sun set, and played never-have-I-ever. (I learned quite a bit about these people.) I went back with 3 other girls around midnight, while everyone else went to some biker bar. I refuse to be extremely tired and/or hungover on this part of the trip. We had a dog, whom we named Brian, after our GTA, walk with us all the way back to the hotel. Quel bon chien.

Let me take this time to describe the hotel. I mean, it seemed pretty sweet at first. Liz and I had three beds at our disposal, there was a restaurant attached, and we were kinda near a beach. However, this hotel had some character flaws. For example, after the beach, we wandered into our room to find a giant puddle in the middle of the room. The bathroom was dry, the ceiling was dry, and nothing had been spilt. And yet, the carpet was soaked. It took 3 towels to soak it up, and it still started to smell like mold. The toilet ran all night, we had only one working outlet, the remote only worked on rare occasions, our sink broke, and the entire management despised us. Literally, they were straight-up rude.

Sunday was kind of a weird day. We went to several little port towns, but since it was Sunday, nothing was open. So we basically drove around all day.

Today was pretty awesome, not gonna lie. Liz and I found PIZZA for lunch. This is a pretty big deal, because usually for lunch, we have a picnic of sandwiches on the side of a random road, and always with the same ingredients. We went to Mt. Saint Michel, which I am in love with. Amazing views, fun touristy shops, and great history. I bought some really pretty prints that I'll probably frame. After spending some time there, we went to a bell foundry. SO COOL. We saw how bells are made, which is actually pretty intense. We were one of three foundries in France, and I think there's a total of 30 in the world, but don't quote me on that.

Now we are in Caen, which is a really cool city. And everything in our hotel works, and dinner was soooo good. I'm so happy to be here. I'm not homesick anymore, although I am still going through cellphone withdraw. It's not easy, man.

R.I.P. hair straightener

With some of the girls at Mt. Saint Michel

love, love, love

With Liz at one of the swimming beaches. Too bad we were in normal clothes.

Beach day, post-accidental hitch-hiking

soooo pretty.

French Ivy?

Today was another looooong day. We got up super early to leave our hotel, and head to Moelan Sur Mer.  On the way, we stopped in Angers to see the chateau and a museum of ridiculous tapestries.  Another long drive later, we saw the dolmens in Locmarquier and Carnac.  In Carnac, I was taking funny pictures with some of the girls on the trip.  We were running around the outskirts of a forest-like area, when we all felt pain on our feet.  We all stepped in something, maybe some sort of poisonous plant.  Anyway, my foot is still burning, and is blue on one side.  I'm not really sure what to do about that.

Then we finally arrived in Moelan Sur Mer, which is a beach side town. It's sooo pretty, but very small.   Liz and I lucked out on our hotel room, and have 3 beds. To ourselves.  I'm just going to switch off beds every other night, I think. (The room is paid for, so damn it, I'm going to use it!)

Dinner was awful tonight.  We started out with king prawns, which weren't that bad, but a lot of people could not rip them apart without wanting to throw up.  I just got annoyed by all the work I had to do in order to eat a bite of seafood. Next was tuna. Yes, I tried it, yes it was disgusting.  I love fish, but this...was not okay.  It was weird.  Dessert was pretty good, but it was something that we had had previously.

I miss home a lot.

Je suis sur un bateau et...je vais vite et... (I'm on a boat and...I go fast and..)

Holy long day.

I grabbed a croissant as we ran out of the hotel doors this morning. We went straight to the chateau Chenonceau, which was beautiful, of course. The history there is amazing, and the decorations are very elaborate. We spent about 2 hours there, then headed to the chateau Chambord. (about a 1.5 hour drive) Once Robbie parked the bus, we had a picnic with sandwiches, various cheeses, and things that I am not very well acquainted with. Chambord is by far my favorite chateau. It's enormous, glamorous, and will one day be mine. For parties.

Next we headed to the chateau Blois, which I had not been to before. It was very different than the others. It was in the middle of the city, surrounded by buildings, and is composed of 4 different buildings, all in varying styles. The museum was really confusing, though. I'm fairly sure that Liz and I went through it backwards. Oh well.

By the end of the day, I was exhausted. But then we had a vocab quiz, which I totally aced. After was our last dinner in Tours, at the same restaurant. The woman who owns it is ridiculously cool. Once we finished eating, she brought her dog into the room and showed us some tricks. And then a group photo, of course.

I have to write 2 (short) papers tonight, so I won't be going out, but that's okay. I'd rather have my stuff done and get a fairly good amount of rest before my RIDICULOUS day tomorrow. The itinerary says this for tomorrow: travel to Moelan Sur Mer, visit the town of Angers, go to the Jean Lurcat museum, and the chateau with it. Then visit the dolmens, then Carnac, then Locmariaquer. Like I said, RIDICULOUS.

On another note, I'm practicing my French! We speak it all during dinner, and almost all day. I'm getting a lot better at it- I just really need to work on my confidence. I can understand fairly well, but when it's my turn to speak, it's quite a bit harder. Today I accidently said "she's raining" instead of "she's crying". Soo, I'm still making some mistakes, but other than that, all is well!

Liz, Katie, and me before dinner in Tours for the last time

Francoise the 1st used the salamander as his symbol. All of the chateaux that we saw today were his at one point, so they were everywhere. I dug it.

Chateau de Blois

Me and Katie with the original stonework from Chambord

Chateau de Chenonceau. Not only is this place absolutely gorgeous, but I have so much fun saying it's name.

Bonjour, ya'll

Sorry about my previous post- the pictures are all over the place. I still don't really know how to work this thing.

Last night after dinner I went out with most of the group to a really cool bar district. All of the buildings were very Renaissance, which I loved. I had the best beer of my life there, but I can't remember the name, because it was German. Or Dutch. Probably German.

Today we went to the town of Amboise and went to the De Vinci museum. It was his house, with some of the original furniture. The basement was full of his sketches (not originals, sadly) and actual models of the sketches. Very cool. Next we went down the street to the chateau, which was amazing. It overlooks the entire town, and the Loire river. It was a pretty good work out, too, because you had travel up steep ramps and staircase after staircase to get around the chateau.

We had a picnic by our bus, food provided by Robbie the bus driver. Then we headed off to MontLouis for wine tasting. (!!!!!!!) We ended up only trying 2 different wines, but the 2nd one I tried was fantastic. It was very fruity, not too dry, and was from 2005, I think. I wanted to get a bottle, but then I realized that I didn't want to lug it around for the next month. (Or drink it alone tonight. Hi mom and dad!)

Dinner was at the same restaurant tonight. The meal started with a smoked salmon dish that had been mixed with a variety of spices, and a creamy sauce on the side. Next was duck, and I have no idea what to call dessert. (Besides delicious, that is.) I think it was ice cream with a variety of crushed nuts and a cream cheese sauce. I don't know, I'm still working on perfecting my palette. We have to get up early tomorrow to see approximately 8,712,636 chateaux, so I don't think I'll go to the bars tonight. Plus we have a quiz tomorrow and a short paper due Friday.

Katie and I after wine tasting- superbe!

Me and Liz at Chateau d'Amboise

Artsy fartsy flags and such

De Vinci's garden

De Vinci's quaint house. And by that I mean manor.

Planes, planes, planes. I hate them.

Day 1: no word or food from home.

Kidding. I've always wanted to start a blog entry that way. I refuse to discuss the plane rides, so I will start with landing in Paris. We grabbed our luggage and met up with Professor Scott, a fantastic British man with hair that resembles an albino cockatoo. Afterwards, we got onto our bus and immediately got into French mode. It was a little difficult at first, because I was still a little groggy (Oh Tylenol PM...), and the bus driver, Robbie, gave a little speech about the rules of the bus, which took about 10 minutes. Six of those minutes were reserved for toilet rules. I didn't really understand him, so I've decided to never use the bathroom on the bus. Problem solved.

I took a catnap on the bus, and woke up to us pulling over to a rest-stop area. We all got out and had a picnic with bananas and cookies. After chilling in the grass for a bit, we hopped back onto the bus and headed to Chartres. The cathedral was even more amazing than I had remembered. Now I may not be one for "religion", but I am obsessed with cathedrals. This is one of my favorites, by far. I will add pictures later tonight. (I got all artsy with my photos, so you all should b

e impressed.

And by you all, I mean the 5 people that might take the time to read my ramblings). We split into smaller groups and were each given 10 Euro for lunch. Some of the girls and I went to a little sandwich shop, and got a delightful deal. When they asked what I wanted to drink, the first thing that came to mind was Coca Light, so sorry mom, I drank a pop.

We stayed in Chartres for about 2 hours, and then loaded onto the bus again. This time we were heading to Tours, where we are staying for 3 nights. I fell asleep to the sweet, sultry tunes of Michael Jackson, while watching the countryside fly by. And now, I am in my hotel room! We are about to leave to do something, perhaps dinner. I'm not really sure though.