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!

The Sun is Shining and this Girl is Smiling

April Fool's Day marks my 3rd month of living in France. Which only leaves me with a month and 12 days until I return back to the United States.

Enough about my leaving France though. Today, like yesterday, and the day before, has been absolutely beautiful. The sun has been shining, the temperature has been in the twenties (that's Celsius), and I have been in a bikini twice already! It has been amazing. The bikini weather that I was promised has FINALLY arrived.

This past Thursday, Miriam's boyfriend, Jake, left to head back to London, and her cousin Sunny came into town from Hamburg, Germany. That same day Brittany left to meet her Mom and her aunt in Paris for a long weekend. Thursday was a busy day for all travelers except for myself. But regardless, all of us have had a good time. Sunny has been staying with us until today, she is actually heading back to Germany later today. Once she heads out, Miriam's Mom and Aunt are coming in. It's been a crazy few days.

Luckily, the sun is out already, and it looks like it will be a beautiful day! I think the three of us are going to head to the beach before it gets too late. :) Oh, well I'm being called, looks like I need to get back into my bikini so we can hit the beach. Promise I will be back soon.

Celebrating St. Paddy's Day like a TRUE Irishmen!

One of my favorite holidays, Saint Patrick's Day, finally came around about a week ago. My roommate and I decided, prior to leaving for France, that it was of extreme importance that we celebrate the Irish holiday in the only country that it was created... IRELAND! On February 23rd, we booked our roundtrip tickets from Nice to Dublin for six FULL days in the land of the Irish. Once the tickets were finalized the countdown began. The two of us were so excited! It was a few days later when we learned that our friend Nicole would be joining us in Ireland the following day. Sadly, she had a midterm on St. Paddy's Day that she could not miss.

Nonetheless, the day arrived, Brittany and I were extremely excited! Brittany and I began the morning with a drink and then we headed to the airport. Our first flight to Zurich was a bit depressing, as we looked around the plane there wasn't a single person dressed in anything green. We began to think we made the wrong decision. Once we landed in Zurich we had just enough time to get to our gate in time for boarding to begin. This is when it hit - We were flying to Dublin to celebrate the Irish holiday in TRUE Irish fashion! As soon as we arrived at our gate we saw the mass amount of people who were dressed, head-to-toe, in green! It was insane! There was one guy that had spray painted his buzzed cut hair green. I now wish I had taken a picture of him.

Once we FINALLY landed in Dublin, we got off the plane and headed to passport check and customs. Brittany and I were on a mission. The game plan was as followed:

Get to the hotel, check in if possible, otherwise leave luggage
Take some form of transportation to City Centre for parade
Have lunch
Begin Pub Crawl

Surprisingly, we were able to check into our hotel as soon as we arrived. Must have been the luck of the Irish. :) Once we did that we jumped in a taxi and headed into town. We arrived at O'Connell Street, where the parade was already in action, and attempted to see the parade. However, it was half past twelve when we got into town, and the parade began at noon. Meaning the crowd of people were blocking our view of the parade. So we decided to just head to a pub, grab a bit and a pint then continue celebrating the day.

Brittany got a text from her Mom later that day explaining that there had been 50,000 people who flew into Dublin just for St. Paddy's Day, and Brittany and I were 2 of that 50,000. I also found out that on the day there were over half a million people just in Dublin alone. This included tourists, internationals and other Irish people from other counties. Overall, the day was insane!

Brittany and I finally concluded our evening, and made our way back to the hotel. The next morning was terrible! For me at least. I didn't remember what a day of drinking would do to you until I woke up. Lucky for me, right? We laid around most of the morning until Nicole finally arrived. By that time, it was time to get back into the regular world - the regular world of Dublin City Centre. We stopped in to Cassidy's, a great little pub that has great food. The girls ordered a pint and I drank as much water as physically possible. I kept kidding around with the girls saying, 'this is what happens when you get old.' Hahaha. Even though I am only about 7+ months older than Nicole. Once lunch was concluded, we walked up and down both sides of the Liffey River. It was a fantastically beautiful day outside, the sun was shining and it was barely chilly. It was perfect!

By Saturday, we met up with Michaila for lunch and settled in at Messr McGuire's pub to enjoy the final 6 Nations Rugby match - Ireland v. Scotland! Rugby is by far my new favorite sport! Solely because of the gorgeous rugby players. ;) If you get a chance Google both Rob Kearney and Paul O'Connell. Talk about AMAZING! (They, along with the rest of the team, are part of the reason I feel in love with Ireland in the first place.) Nicole and Brittany dipped out to grab some food, and Michaila and I grabbed another pint then headed for food ourselves. I ended up crashing at Michaila's place, and the girls didn't head back to the hotel until 11:30-ish, when the last bus came.

Come Sunday, Michaila and I didn't get up until about 10 or 11am. We finally got a hold of Brittany and Nicole and decided to meet in City Centre at the train station. It was time to see a castle in Ireland. We bought our return train tickets to Malahide for the day.

We arrived in Malahide after a 20-30 minute train ride. It was a cute little town. Funny thing about it was the houses. Two years ago, when Michaila and I lived together in our house off campus, she had bought this poster with colorful houses in Ireland on it. To our surprise, that picture was taken right there in Malahide!

We found the castle, after following a bunch of tourists. It was a bit disappointing because there was work being down on the outside which blocked decent views of the castle for pictures. Nevertheless, Brittany set up her state of the art camera and we took none other than jumping pictures. Every kind of jumping pic from attempted cheerleading jumps to the Kill Bill action jump. It was a great way to start the castle tour. Once inside, we paid for the tour, which later we found out was automated through a speaker system. The castle belonged to the Talbot family for hundreds of years until the last daughter sold it to the state of Ireland in 1975.

Once we wrapped the castle up, we headed into town for lunch/dinner at the Greedy Goose cafe. It was a bit pricey, but definitely well worth it. Brittany claimed to have eaten the BEST steak she had ever had there. And I had an AMAZING whipped goat cheese with crusty bread crackers there. Yum! After food we headed back home. Said our final goodbyes to Michaila and then headed back to the hotel to pack for our flight home the following morning.

Nicole, Brittany and I decided to get up early, jump on the 6:15am bus to City Centre and finish up any last minute shopping or picture taking we wanted before jumping on the next bus to the airport. Wrong! We woke up to a monsoon outside (first bit of bad weather we had had all week). So we packed up and headed to the bus stop... 40 MINUTES later, the bus showed up... LATE! We were drenched and cold! Go figure. And of course, once we got to City Centre, the rain had stopped and it was beginning to warm up. So we stopped at the post office to mail off our postcards, and then we decided to just head to the airport early. Once we got to the airport, the sun was shining! We were so upset. Instead of being normal and waking up a bit later, we would have completely avoided being wet and cold. Story of our lives.

Our first flight wasn't too bad. Nicole was in the back of the plane, and Brittany and I were in the same row, at each of the windows. Of course, Brittany's luck changed when she got a very studly Swedish guy sitting next to her. Nicole said there was a child next to her, and I lucked out with a spastic guy next to me, and two small children in front and behind me. Oye! Our second flight from Zurich to Nice was much better. We got to get our seats changed so we could be next to each other. This flight was awesome because the video monitors came down and displayed a camera view from the front of the plane. So we actually saw what the pilots saw as we took off. It was awesome!

We are finally back home in Antibes, and have been back to class for most of the week. For me, it sucks to be back. I miss my best friend, and I miss being able to understand the people around me. I miss the English speakers. But I know I will be back to Ireland again some day. There is no doubt about that. Until then, I am here for over a month. Come April 1st I will only have a month and 12 days left. Time is beginning to fly by!

Next trip is in 19 days. Nicole, Brittany, Abby and I are heading to Rome, Italy for 5 days! I am actually going to Rome, the number one place I have always wanted to see. I am so EXCITED!

It is OFFICIAL...

I have completely fallen in love with London! Just got back from spending 8 days in the city and I honestly didn't want to leave. I know I said that about Ireland too, but for real, I think London topped Dublin!

I flew out of Nice on March 5th and arrived in London around 5:30pm, London time. After going through the passport check, I went to the luggage carousel only to find that the suitcase I borrowed from Brittany lost a wheel during its journey. Dia Trieste! Any who, once I found out where the Stansted Express train was, I picked up my ticket and boarded. I am assuming that it typically took 35-40 minutes to get from Stansted airport to Liverpool station... but that was wrong. Instead it took about an hour. While on the train I had an British-English man ask me where I was from, what I was doing in London, and that I had a beautiful smile. I suppose that was a great way to be greeted for your first time in England. Hahaha.

I finally arrived at Liverpool station. Once I made it through the mass rush hour of people I saw Mom and Mike waiting for me on the other side of the exit. Not to my knowledge, I had to reshow my ticket from the train in order to leave the train. So I had to move to the side and search for the new location of my ticket. Talk about a pain in the butt! I finally found it, showed it to the exit man and ran to give my Mom a hug! It was so great to see her. It was just over the two month mark when I got to see her, it was fabulous! We left the station, jumped on the Tube and headed for the apartment. Another plus about London... the real estate is little bigger there then it is in France.

The first night there was pretty relaxing, especially since Mom and Mike had just flown 8 hours to get there. We made pizza and set plans with some friends of our, Steve and Lesley, who came into town because we were going to be there. The itinerary for the weekend was:

Saturday - Meet Lesley and Steve at Covent Garden, shop, and begin traveling through London
Sunday - Meet with L & S at Camden Street Market, do lunch and say our goodbyes

Once we did all that we began to explore even more. We saw St. Paul's Cathedral, West Minster Abbey, Parliament, the London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and the Tower Bridge Starbucks [not a major destination, but highly needed].

All in all, we had a great week together!

Calling London.... London Come in

As of tomorrow afternoon, I will be touching down in London-town!

I still cannot believe that it has been over 2 months since I arrived here in France. It's crazy to think that I have exactly 2 months and 8 days left here in France. And as I said I am leaving tomorrow for a week in London, then when I get back on March 12th I will be in Antibes for 4 days before heading to Dublin,, Ireland for St. Paddy's Day weekend. With those two trips, March is going to FLY BY!

At the moment my roommates and I are trying to figure out when we are going to go to Barcelona, Rome and Amsterdam! It is looking like we will do Barcelona at the end of April, Amsterdam around mid-month and then Rome after we get out of school. It should be extremely exciting! :) Even if we don't get to Barca or Amsterdam (which we will) I really just want to go to Rome and Venice before I leave Europe. As I've always told everyone, Italy is the ONLY place on the planet that I have always wanted to go to! I guess it is the artist in me, but I want to see the Sistine Chapel in person. I have a feeling I will be standing, staring at the ceiling for hours. :)

But enough about upcoming trips. :) Last night the roommates and I ventured out to La Gaffe again for happy hour! It was so much fun! I tried my first Desperado, which is a beer made with tequila. As much as I HATE tequila, I was extremely surprised at how good this drink was. Whoa. Hahahaha. Anywho, we got there as happy hour was coming to an end so Brittany and I both bought 4 beers each. It was so funny watching the two of us walk around with all these bottles. Thankfully though, we aren't the only American exchanges that do this. :)

All in all, it was a fabulous night with new friends!

Only bad thing about last night was waking up this morning. Hahaha. Guess that is typical though. However, I did get a nice package in the mail from my stepmom that had a LOT of fun goodies inside of it. Movies, candy, chocolate, cookies, St. Paddy's Day stuff, and a bunch more! It was a nice way to start my day. :)

Now I just have one class to go to today at 4 p.m. my time then it will be back to finish packing for London. I cannot wait to get there!!!

Party Pants take on NEW MEANING

Last night was AMAZING to say the least!

I finally decided to go out to this pub that is within a 5 minute walk from my apartment, La Gaffe. Every Wednesday night the pub had happy hour from 7-10pm (two for one drinks, which include everything!) Most of the exchange students end up heading out for a good night on the town and as I said, I finally decided to join in on the fun.

Brittany, Miriam and I all got out of class at 7pm and we ran to the bus at school in order to make it home in time to stop at the intermarche for some food and time to get ready. As typical college students we decided that ramen noodles would do the trick. One thing I've learned is that France has a lot of similar things (food, drinks, shops, etc.) that the United States does, and lucky for us ramen noodles is one of those things. However, here they are called "Yum Yum."

The three of us intended on meeting our other friends, Abby and Nicole outside of our place and then head to the pub all together, however we were running a little behind. Oh well. Once we got to La Gaffe, it was slowly filling up. Let me also add that Wednesday nights must be the night that all the extremely GOOD LOOKING men come out to play! Talk about a large group of insanely gorgeous men, LOVED IT! :)

Anyways, we all had a fabulous evening out! The place eventually got super packed, and even though it was a bit claustrophobic, just being able to be there with good friends and to be out having a good time with everyone, it really didn't matter that you could barely move.

At the pub, there was a Kings of Leon cover band that was absolutely incredible! Funny thing was, the lead singer looked about 40 years old... just a bit off from the actual group. It was a lot of fun though. I have a feeling that is going to be a regular spot on Wednesday nights for me. :)

When we were all there, and about ready to leave, Miriam and I were trying to find Brittany, however, she was MIA. When she finally came out from the bathroom line she informed us what had previously taken place inside La Gaffe. As she was waiting in line for the bathroom, which was extremely long, the girl in front of her I suppose could not hold "it" long enough. Brittany said that she saw the girl awkwardly bend down in front of her and when she finally popped back up the girl took off running from the line. Brittany and the other girls in line were a bit confused by what had just taken place, until Brittany looked down a saw a puddle in front of her and noticed that her leggings were wet and so were her boots. Apparently, the girl in line peed right there, right on Brittany! As disgusting as it was, all of us couldn't help but laugh at what had just happened. So Brittany and I ran home so that she could take her now wet pee clothes off and get them washed. Talk about a wild and crazy evening out!

So far, it has been a lot of fun here in France. I wake up every morning and realize I am actually living here. It blows my mind each day! I think now that all is going much much better, it will end up being extremely hard to go back to the states. But I guess I will cross that bridge when it gets here. Until then, I am going to be doing as much traveling and exploring as I can! Brittany and I actually booked our flight and hotel in Dublin, Ireland for March 17th-22nd! We are so excited that we get to spend St. Patrick's Day in the Irish country. It is going to be a lot of fun!

Let the Rain Fall Down...

Surprise surprise, it is raining again. Blast this weather. Last time I checked I came to the French Riviera for the sunshine!

Any who, Spring Break has officially come to an end. As of tomorrow morning at 7am I will be waking up to attend my 8:30am Elementary French class. Oh the fun. Hahaha. Good news though, I ended SB with a fantastic evening at my friend Eivind and David's. It was there that I met Alessandra and Csenge. The girls cooked dinner and we ate, drank and David played his guitar and sang. It was overall a fabulous time!

I headed home in the pouring rain once we were done chatting. When I returned home the apartment was empty. I was a bit concerned being that my roommates where suppose to be back today. But I am sure that they are fine, somewhere in Antibes.

I told my Mom yesterday that I was ready for classes to start again. Never thought I would say that... EVER! But I am ready to get back into the swing of things. Crazy!

That's it for me here today. But once classes start back up I'm sure there will be more to add. I am only 11 days away from being in London, England! And once that trip is over I will be heading to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, which I cannot wait for! :)

Signing out again from Antibes. Au Revoir!

Bonjour!

It has taken me almost 2 months to get this thing up and running, but regardless of the time frame here it is! My official blog from France.

Starting a week from Monday, I will have been in France for exactly two months. I still can't believe it. It really does seem like only last week I was packing my two extremely LARGE suitcases to head over here. Crazy how time flies when you're having fun.

Anyways, I have been on Spring Break since February 18th and it has been one of the most relaxing breaks ever! I literally have done absolutely nothing all week! It's been amazing. Hahaha. Originally, before I even got over here my plan was to travel as much as I possible could. I wanted to go to Spain, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and England. My roommate and I were planning on traveling up and down Italy for all of Spring Break, but instead we decided to push that trip back until the weather was nicer. So she booked a flight to London and Athens, and I decided to spend the week in France. Neither of which were bad ideas. But SB is coming to an end and I am surprisingly happy that I decided to take it easy. :)


Since I have been here I have met some pretty amazing friends. Friends from all over too. One of my roommates, Miriam, is from Germany but studies in London. She is pretty awesome. I think the best part about living with her is getting to learn the differences between American-English and British-English. The conversations we've had have been highly entertaining and informative. My other roommate Brittany is from WCU. The two of us came to France together through the same exchange program. Outside of the two of them I have met a lot of people. Some from Germany, England, South Africa, Norway, and others from all over the United States. It has been amazing to say the least!

Another fun-filled thing since I've been here is that I have been allowed to write a column for the newspaper back at my university. Which has been very exciting! I love that I can write for the students back home and they can read what kind of adventures I am having while I'm here. This is the link http://www.westerncarolinian.com/campus-views/girl-meets-france-1.1116473 Go check it out!

Last month I traveled up to Dublin, Ireland to visit my best friend Michaila. OMG! I absolutely LOVED Ireland! I think the one thing I loved was the fact that everyone spoke English... with an accent. It was amazing. Here in France, it is a given that most people speak french, and being that I have never taken any type of french course in the past I have been at a huge disadvantage from communicating with locals. It sucks, but hopefully taking an Elementary French class at my university here will help. Hopefully! Anyways, back to Ireland. Michaila and I attempted to do as much touristy stuff as possible. She took me to the Guinness Factory which was within walking distance of her house. There is a self-lead walking tour of the factory that is shaped like a pint glass, and at the top is the gravity bar. With the cost of your admission inside, you receive a voucher that gets you a free pint of Guinness in the gravity bar. Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10 my trip to Dublin was definitely a 15! Shopping, the Guinness Factory and spending time with my best friend was great! So great that I am planning on going back from March 17th-22nd, to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! :)

In a week from this Friday, I will be leaving for 8 days in London. I am flying up there to spend some time with my mom. It should be grand!

Well it is Lazy Sunday here in France. Just going to finish up some cleaning and laundry. Probably going to take a nap and watch a movie or two. Keep checking back to see my next blog post. :) Until then, goodbye from France.