Welcome back to the U S of A

I'm back!!

I have been back in the United States for 12 days exactly! What a change it has been too.

First off, getting back into the country was quite an experience. I landed on time, which was a shock since my flight out of London was delayed half an hour. So I landed in Atlanta at 7:05pm EST. When I got off the plane I had to head straight for customs check, which the line was outrageous! Then to top off the long line, one of the Customs people came over the intercom and announced that they were having computer problems and to bare with them. So a process that could have taken 30 minutes at the most, turned into a 2 hour process! To make matters worse, I had to use the restroom as soon as I got off the plane! OUCH!

I FINALLY got through the first part of the customs check and headed to the baggage claim section. I collected my two LARGE suitcases, my small rolling carry-one, my purse, and my laptop case on a trolley and then was off to the third part of customs. At the third location, I had to hand someone a form declaring all of my purchases. Which took all of 2 minutes. After that, it was off to the final check point where I had to hand back my checked luggage and go through a security check. One thing I didn't know, was that a snow globe has to be in your checked luggage, you can't just carry it in your carry on. Which completely sucked! I had to find an attendant that could write a slip to check my small carry on so I could put the snow globe in it. Urgh!

By this time, I had been up for 19 hours! So I was exhausted and annoyed. Once I checked my carry on, I was then able to go through the security check, which took all of 15-20 minutes. Once I got re-dressed, I headed into the main terminal of the airport, jumped on the subway, and headed to baggage claim.

Finally, after 3+ hours, I was greeted at baggage by my Mom, Mike and my best friend Gin! Which was great! We had to quickly separate to get all my luggage - the two main checked bags were on one side of baggage claim, and the newly checked bag was on the other side.

All my bags were collected and then it was off to the parking garage, then off to the house. When I was finally able to go to bed, I had been up for a straight 24 hours!

Traveling around the World is a great opportunity, but the return is chaotic and stressful, and extremely tiresome!

A Special Shout-Out

Today is the day! Graduation Day in Cullowhee, North Carolina! The Spring 2010 graduates will soon be walking across that stage in the Ramsey Center to officially conclude their years as an undergrad.

Jessica
Banjo
Jo Beth
Stinger
Chak
Pam
Levi

I wish I could be there to celebrate with all of you, but know that I am so proud and I send all my best and love to you all who are becoming WCU Alumni today!

Congratulations Class of 2010!!!!

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCgWdZmoE9E
(Check out the video I made for my best friend Jess)

One Week... and A Few Days Notice

I am FINALLY done with Skema Business School! I finished up my classes, and I took all of my exams! Thank the Lord!

As of today I have exactly 10 days until I head back to Atlanta, Georgia. Wow! If I haven't said this enough, I will say it again, time sure does fly by when you're having fun.

My roommates and I keep trying to figure out where the month of March went. I suppose it went to Dublin and London. For Brittany, it went to Dublin, Paris, Florence and Pisa. Crazy!

All that is left now is a few mini trips to Nice, Cannes and Saint Tropez before packing and cleaning up the apartment. And of course several beach trips have been planned in between all of that. :)

So far this entire trip has been incredible. I don't think I could have asked for anything better.

Let the Exams Begin...

Today was my very first day of exams at Skema. I had an 8:30 a.m. exam for Intro to Public Relations. I think it went pretty good. All I had to do was compose a press conference for a new product created by Evian water.

Being that I just gave a real press conference last week with my group, I had the setup fresh in my mind. Hopefully I did as good as I think I did. Fingers crossed.

Now that I have one down, I only have 4 more left.

Wednesday @ 8:30 - Intro to Film
Thursday @ 4 - Elementary French
Friday @ 4 - Photography
Next Week - Makeup Exam for French Riviera Art

Once my exam next week is complete, I will be finished with the semester! Then my roommate Miriam and I will be doing some local traveling through the Cote d'Azur. We are planning on doing a few day trips to Saint-Tropez, Eze, Monte Carlo, Grasse, Cannes, and Nice. Should be exciting.

Then come the 12th I will be heading back to the United States. Today leaves me with only 16 days until the move back. :(

I will be sure to keep you all posted on my upcoming adventures, as well as my return back to the states.

All Roads Lead to Rome

This trip was by far the most ridiculous trip of my European adventures.

My mother will be upset reading this but Brittany, Nicole, Abby and I didn't book a place to stay in Rome until 3 hours before we left. Yes Mom, three hours before. Oops! We are all last minute travelers, to say the least. To top that off, we found our hotel on lastminute.com and it was described as a "Secret Hotel." What is this you might ask? Well, this is a hotel deal that is so good to be true, the website cannot disclose any information about the location, information, or even the name of the hotel until you book and pay for it.

Rather ridiculous, I know.

Nevertheless, Brittany booked the hotel using her credit card, and the rest of us made plans to pay her back. And we even made plans to pay her extra if for some reason the hotel turned into a scam or something.

So if that didn't start the day of the trip off spontaneously, I don't know what else would. Thankfully, the hotel was not a scam, and it ended up being in a rather great location. It was still outside of the city center, but it included breakfast and a suite that would accommodate four people. It also had airport transportation included.

Now that the hotel was booked, we headed to the airport. Another factor to keep in mind - This very same day, the Volcano in Iceland first erupted, canceling numerous flights and bringing most of Europe to a stand-still. So while Brittany was booking our "Secret Hotel," I was keeping an eye on EasyJet to make sure our flight was still a go.

We arrived at the airport, which was practically deserted, and found our way to our gate. About 30 minutes before our flight, the herds of people accompanying us on the flight arrived at the gate as well. I would like to point out that EasyJet is a first come, first serve airline. In other words, you get in line and once you show your boarding pass you jump on the plane and sit where ever you want. It's the epitome of chaos at its finest.

Before long, the four of us were seated in two rows and we were ready to take off. Brittany and I decided that the best way to prepare for Rome was to purchase a beer and a pizza on the flight. Eight euros later and a somewhat decent pizza, we were having to chug our beer because we were preparing to land. It was only a 40 minute flight from take off to landing.

During the flight the flight attendants, who were males (still not use to that), were at first a bit rude. Brittany actually made the statement that they were the EasyJet "Nazi's." But once they came by with the food/drink cart they began talking to us. And right before we were getting ready to get off the plane, one of them pulled Nicole aside and said that the captain wanted to see us. Crazy, right? Well we set our luggage in the front row and walking through the cabin door to where the captain and co-pilot were sitting. Talk about awesome! We took pictures with them, and then we all wanted pictures in the captain seat but one of the attendants told us that the buses were waiting for us. Hahaha. There were two buses sitting outside the plane, with all the other passengers on them, waiting for us to jump on board so we could all get to the terminal. Oops!

Finally, we jumped in a cab and headed to our "Secret Hotel," which we finally got the address and name of once the purchase was complete. As soon as we got to the hotel, we checked in and headed straight up to head to bed.

We woke up the next morning at 7:40am so that we could all get ready, go have are complementary breakfast and catch the 9:45am bus into the City Centre. Let me just start by saying that the breakfast at this hotel was AMAZING! Freshly baked pastries, ham and cheese, cereal, yogurt and granola, rolls, and a coffee/cappacino/hot chocolate machine. GREAT way to start the morning!

We grabbed the bus and headed into town. There were two different stops that our hotel bus took, the first was to the termini train station and the second was to the city centre. On the first day we decided to get off at the first stop, because we thought that was the one the conceiere told us to take. That was wrong. So we attempted to find our way to the city centre by the map we had in hand. Along the way we found some great fountains, a beautiful church, and a lot of Nuns walking around. It was pretty cool. We finally made it to City Centre and headed right for the Colosseum, or Colosseo in Italian.

We walked around the Colosseum for quite awhile until we found the entrance, and a rather handsome student guide that was offering us a tour for ten euros, which normally cost 22 euros because of the entrance fee to the Colosseum. However, he was telling us that it was reduced because it was Cultural Week in Rome that weekend, and the entrance fee was not being charged. Talk about LUCK! We had not planned for that to happen at all. So far our trip was becoming better and better each moment.

The second day set out on the same schedule, but this time we ventured to the Vatican, and the Vatican Museum, where the Sistine Chapel is housed. We found this great little pizza place that was only 3 euros for a big double slice, that was delicious! We also found this gelato place that had a line wrapped around the building... which made all of us curious. Of course the line was too long for us to find out, so we continued on.

By the third day, we had already seen so much, and there was still so much more to see. La Fountaine de Trevi, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and the Crypts of the Vatican.

As planned, the girls and I saw everything that Rome had to offer... and then some.

Come the 19th, Nicole and Abby had found out that their flight back to Nice was canceled due to the continuous volcanic ash that kept erupting from Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl), the volcano in Iceland. After running around with their heads cut off, the two of them changed their flights to leave on the following day with Brittany and I. Once the ticket change was confirmed, we booked another night in the hotel and walked around Rome some more. We went out to dinner and then headed over the La Fountaine de Trevi at night and to the Colosseum too.

Finally the last day in Rome arrived, and by noon we learned that our flight to Nice was canceled too. Once we heard this news, we booked it to the train station to look into possible ways to get home. It was extremely urgent to get home since all of us had exams that were taking place that very week! Nicole and I ran to jump in the long line, and Brittany and Abby contemplated a trip to Venice.

After about 40 minutes in-line, and being interviewed for a news station, we made it to the front of the line and bought two tickets back to Antibes, France. But not just any ticket, four different tickets. Our train itinerary was as followed:

6pm - Leave Rome
9:50pm - Arrive in Genova (station 1)
10:10pm - Depart Genova 1
10:20pm - Arrive in Genova (station 2)
10:35pm - Depart Genova 2
1:10am - Arrive in Ventimiglia
4:37am - Depart Ventimiglia
5:30am - Arrive in Nice, France

From Nice we illegally jumped on a train to Antibes. We FINALLY made it back to Antibes by 6am on April 21st. Almost 12 hours of traveling and 5 trains later, we made it back. Talk about the adventure of a lifetime!

The following day, April 22nd, flights into Nice were running again. Including flights from Rome.

Regardless of issues at the end of our trip, we all had a FABULOUS time! I definitely plan on going back sometime in the future! I would title it as one of the GREATEST cities I have ever been to, and I would recommend it to anyone!

Paris is Always a Good Idea

Let me first start by saying that Paris is absolutely INCREDIBLE!!!

Vanessa and I left on April 9th for 4 days in the real city of lights. I was so excited!

A close friend of Vanessa's, Annyu, has been studying abroad in Paris since February, and luckily we had a free place to stay - which always makes traveling that much easier. So we boarded our train and were off to Paris!

Mid-trip we were about an hour and a half away from Marseilles (where we were catching our second train) when the train came to a stop at the St Raphael station. It was one of the stops on the train, but oddly enough we had been stopped for a lot longer than normal, about 40 minutes. Finally, the conductor came over the speakers and said there had been an accident and that we were going to be sitting there for a while longer. At that very second, there were a bunch of cops and a few paramedics that appeared outside the train. Briefly after that, the car behind us was asked to exit the train. The interesting part was that the people passing where the paramedics were kept looking in the opposite direction and covering their kids eyes. That action alone made Vanessa and I question what the accident was. Of course I thought that it was a person that got caught under the train, but no one actually knew.

After a few more minutes, our car was asked to exit the train as well, and then the remainder of the passengers were asked to exit. After everyone was off the train, we were asked to wait at the main station until the accident was sorted out. This took another 40 plus minutes, which caused us to miss our connecting train to Paris.

While we were waiting on the train to pick us all back up, I noticed this guy that was standing on the other side of the people. I giggled a little bit because after looking at him I realized that he was the epitome of a "European Man," or at least he was in my eyes. He had crazy long, greasy hair, a V-neck white t-shirt, and slightly skinny jeans on. Hahaha. I know he wasn't a true European man, but before I left for France that is what I pictured most of them to look like.

Anyways, the train finally pulled back up and we were all boarding. Once we made it to Marseilles, the conductor said that all the other connecting trains knew about the accident and would allow us all to connect on other trains. So Vanessa and I had about 20-25 minutes until the second train to Paris came.

When we FINALLY arrived in Paris, it was about 12:30 p.m. and we had a whole day ahead of us. We first went to Annyu's apartment to drop off our things before heading out all over the city. First stop was the Louvre Museum, where I saw first hand the Mona Lisa and La Victoire de Samothrace. After the Louvre we headed to Pont des Arts, and St. Michael fountain.

On the second day, Vanessa and I headed to Versailles to view the Chateau of King Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. After walking through the entire Chateau, we walked back to the Metro station and headed back into town. We decided that since we had a good part of the day left we would head to Sacré-Cœur Basilica and eat the lunch that we had packed for the day. After that, we headed to Champs Élysées for a little bit of shopping and to see the Arc de Triomphe.
From there we headed to Laduree, which is by far the cutest little pastry shop I have ever been too! They have the best Macaroons I have ever had, and will ever have. Yum! Mental note: If you ever go to Paris be sure to stop at this little shop in Champs Élysées and be sure to buy some, they may cost up to 6 euros for four, but they are WELL worth it! Believe me, I went back one more time before I left. :)

The following day, Vanessa, Annyu, Nikki and I headed to the Eiffel Tower. I was SO excited! When we began walking to it I literally acted like a little girl would had she just saw Minnie Mouse for the first time. I giggled, danced and jumped around all at the same time. It was slightly pathetic. The girls and I took a few pictures underneath the tower before we bought our tickets to go up. We bought the tickets that allowed you to climb the stairs... didn't know that at first, but we did. So we climbed up a LOT to steps to get to the first level of the tower. Talk about a view! We walked around, took a lot of pictures, used the toilets, and walked through the shop. When we walked out of the shop the wind was blowing like no other and we decided that the first level was as far as we would be going. So we headed back down. We took some more pictures... we A LOT more pictures and then headed back into the city. From there we went to the Palace, and to some church that we had no idea what the name was.

On the third day, Vanessa and I went back to the Tower to have a picnic in front of it, as well as to have a baguette fight. :) On the fourth day we decided while in Paris we needed to go shopping, so we did, Parisian style! I bought two new tops and a blazer, all of which made me look very Euro!

Once the day came to an end, we headed back to Annyu's to collect our stuff and get ready for our overnight train back to Antibes. Little did we know, the train strike had picked back up and our overnight was canceled. We got to the station and had to wait in an extremely long line just to find out that the next train to Antibes was at 7:45 the next morning. Thankfully, we didn't have to buy a ticket for that train because it wasn't our fault for the cancellation. So we headed back to Annyu's and went right to sleep.

The next morning we got up bright and early and headed to Charles de Gaulle station, boarded our train, and said our final goodbyes to Paris.

If there is any place in the world that I would recommend someone travel to, it would by far be Paris. You truly do fall in love with the city, I know I did. <3

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

I’ll be on my way up! I’ll be seeing great sights!


The day has finally come. It is finally happening. I am leaving on a 7:45am train for Paris, France tomorrow!

I have been in France for 3 months, and I am just now getting to Paris. I feel this is ridiculous, especially since it is only about 5-6 hours away. Guess I am a little slow at all this common sense traveling.

I'll be sure to take a lot of photos and post back as soon as I get a chance. After all, I will get back Tuesday morning and come Thursday night I will be leaving again, this time for Rome, Italy. Oh the excitement that is running through my veins. It is unbearable!


I'm off to Great Places! Today is my day!