Europe 2010

Total Eclipse of the Heart is stuck in my head. I am here again in Paris. Except yesterday we all rode a train (which we missed the first one, thank you mom) down to Blois and then rode a bus and visited Chambord and then Cheverny. It was pretty awesome; however we missed the feeding of the dogs, but we could still smell them all. Today we’re supposed to go to the Louvre but it’s 10AM and only my mom is out of the shower; my grandma and auntie are still sleeping. Apparently mom thinks if we get there at 12ish and the Louvre starts closing up around 5:30 to be closed at 6 that 5 and a half hours is not enough time to go through it. I don’t know about you, but that seems like a long time for me. For my grandma? Probably not. We’ll have to see. I don’t know what we’ll do if we don’t.

My turn for the shower. Adios!

And is bittersweet.

I’ve really started to fail at this blog. It’s wednesday. Friday morning I hop on a train away from Tours to Paris to meet up with my mom, grandma, and auntie amy. I’m so excited! But at the same time I’m not ready to leave my host family here in Tours. They have been the most amazing family I could have asked for; easily the best family from my university. I will be leaving not being able to make complete phrases in English and will have to ask people at home “parlez-vous francais?” oh well.

Tonight is dinner with my University. Our last get together as a group (minus Doug) before everyone goes their separate ways! Which is what I’m getting ready to do; get ready. If only you could see my type this ive had to delete so much for spelling and grammar errors; its’ embarrasing. But the point of the program i suppose. 

Versailles and Amboise were absolutely amazing places; if you haven’t seen my pictures on facebook go here; http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=186910&id=728381952&l=b115951529. Idk how to make it cool and clickable so you may have to copy and paste it but there you go.

now my font has changed. wonderful. whatever. i don’t have anything else to say at the moment except that i’m sorry that i slacked off and couldn’t keep it up as well. i guess you’ll just be able to look forward to posts afterward, like continual surprises! Ohwell. 

Au revoir!

So was Amboise.

That’s all I feel like saying, I’m exhausted.

I hate facebook photo. I’ve tried 4 times today to upload photos, and it hasn’t worked a SINGLE time. WHY DOES IT HATE ME?!

The inevitable. For me I can’t seem to pay attention when I have homework. I have to write a newspaper article on whatever the heck I want (Tours related, of course) and there’s no real limit to how long or short it needs to be. This should take me like 10 minutes, I know I’m going to write about my trip to Chinon. So why can’t I do it? 

Every time I find myself needing to do homework on this trip I find myself reading one or all of my friend’s blogs that are also studying abroad at the moment. It’s a great way for me to feel connected to them when we are SO far apart. Shelley, who I’ve seen every day throughout the school year, is in Ireland. I haven’t seen her in over a month, it’s kind of crazy! We’re on similar time zones, so we chat every now and then, but reading her blog is great for me to have. On the other hand there’s David, whose on the other side of the WORLD in China! And he’s not there just for a month like I am, but for an entire YEAR! I had over half my classes with him this year, so it’s going to be different not cramming with him for tests or making lame accounting jokes that still make me laugh. I wonder if I’m making my sales goal? While their blogs are very different from each other and from mine (there’s a rhyme and reason to theirs), it’s reflective of who they are and why I love them :)

Also instead of doing my homework I played Star Wars Battlefront or something like that with 9 year old Paul, my host-brother. It was great! Except I’m awful. I almost always died twice as many times as he did. One time though I killed more people than him! Haha. Believe it or not sometimes he helps me more than anyone else (not that he even knows that)! His speech is still simple enough and slow enough that he never has to repeat anything. Who would have thought that a 20 year old and a 9 year old would have the same speaking skills?

We had Chicken Basque for dinner tonight, which we had probably my 2nd or 3rd day here. Doesn’t make it ANY less delicious!

I feel like I have sufficiently wasted more time than necessary, again, when I could have been done with this assignment and in bed! Cooking course tomorrow, really pumped. And then it’s Gary’s birthday tomorrow, so I get to come home from my cooking class and have cake! The French love their desserts too much. The perfect place for me :)

I am aware this picture is ridiculous.

This past Saturday USC/the coolest kids in the world (-2 people) took a little trip to Chinon with our professor Daniela. This has probably been my FAVORITE excursion so far. Yes Mont Saint Michel is massive and in the clouds, yes Chenonceau has great wine and is pretty. But. Chinon was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It’s a very small town on the river and has a very old Fortress that is actually closed now for renovations all summer so we visited JUST in time. This picture was taken in one of the fortress towers where Mollie and I swore they put the prisoners. It was freaking scary man. After our visit of the amazing fortress we all went to lunch. I had duck which was WONDERFUL but every time I say I ate duck I think of the ducks that I pass by in the gardens on my way to and from school and I get kind of sad. But it tasted good so whatever.

Today in school (I rarely actually talk about that) we had an oral presentation that was filmed. We were in pairs of two and our assignment was to sell the other person as if they were an object. Due to the fact that these instructions were given in french, one pair didn’t even do the right assignment. They did a skit where one person was the seller, one the buyer and Jose was trying to sell, PAR EXAMPLE, a magic box. To the 3 people that will get that joke, DONC that’s for you :) oh and those same 3 people will get the other joke :)

Also, today for dinner I MADE SPICY CHICKEN! Which to the many of you that don’t know, is one of my favorite meals in the whole world. My host mom Cecile and I made it together, along with an amazing cherry tarte. Let’s see, I haven’t updated in a few days, what else have I eaten? Yesterday was quiche with salad, and instead of our usual cheese course she took medallions of chevre (goat cheese), put them on sliced bread, and put them in the oven. It was delicious. I can’t even describe how amazing it was to me. I have decided that if I take anything away from this experience, it’s that I’m making dinner as much as possible, a variety of things, and will splurge for cheese and have a cheese course every night. I don’t know how I ever lived without it.

Tomorrow I’ll be picking up my train ticket (WOW already) from the station. I head back to Paris on an 812h train Friday June 25th to meet up with my mommy, auntie Amy and grandma! I’m so excited for that. That’s about all I had planned for tomorrow. Nope, I want to try brioche tomorrow. That’s also in my plan.

Thursday I have my cooking class! I don’t know whose most excited, me or my host mom. I’m learning how to make tartes des legumes (vegetable tart) and molleux au chocolat (chocolate cake type thing!) She keeps saying how much she loves it and how we can make it once I know how, or I can make it, or something. Friday nothing’s going on. But Saturday. Saturday is my last excursion of my study abroad, and I am going to Versailles. I am STOKED. My host family has told me it is the most beautiful/nicest/biggest/whatever other positive -est adjective you want to put in there chateau in all of France. I’m sure it is, and I can’t wait! I’m holding off looking at pictures because I want it to be a TOTAL surprise. 

Random thought: If I had unlimited funds and didn’t care about only staying a place for like a day and a half, I would want to go/would have gone to Poland to see Auschwitz. Call me morbid. Idk. World War 2 is my favorite time in history and I did a very extensive project in the 8th grade on the Holocaust. It’s always been a topic that’s captivated me. I know I would need a box of tissues with me the whole time I was there, but how amazing would that be. To be able to walk where they were. To be able to see everything. Seeing pictures is one thing. To be there is something entirely different. I never really looked into it because goodness knows I don’t speak the language because I doubt they speak french there and it’s probably really expensive because unless I’m worse at geography than I thought Poland isn’t really near France at all. Whatever. Random thought.

Has this been my longest entry? Sheesh. 

I have tried to upload photos to Facebook now 5 times, and a total of 12 out of 80 photos got uploaded. I don’t understand why it won’t work for me, it is SO frustrating! It makes me want to throw facebook out of the window, which isn’t even possible.

It also makes me want to not do anything, which is part of why i haven’t posted another blog.

I went to Chinon on Saturday, it was ABSOLUTELY beautiful. Probably my favorite place I’ve visited, definitely the most beautiful in my opinion. I’d SHOW you, if Facebook would freaking let me! We had lunch at this amazing place where I ate delicious duck! I would have never believed that I would like duck…or even try it for that matter.

I watched Date Night (in english, not in french) and thought it was a VERY quality movie! I also started watching Madeline, one of my favorite childhood movies on youtube, but then I decided to try and upload photos and turned it off in hopes it would help the upload. false.

Shelley found her bridesmaids dresses! That means when I get back into the States (even before that) I’ve gotta figure out when she’s free and when Katie, Kellye, and Katrina are going to be there so we can all try on our dresses or whatever. Something like that. I am REALLY excited, and this is a tangent. haha. Mine is also the only name that doesn’t start with a “K” so I need a legit “K” name so I can fit in! Every time we think of one I totally forget what it is.

I’m getting to the point where I’m kind of ready to go home, but would be sad if I did. I have gotten a WONDERFUL experience out of this study abroad, it’s been amazing! And it would’ve been better if I didn’t actually have classes. Those kind of put a damper on things. Oh well.

Got to go. I have homework to do. Tut tut, it looks like rain. Listening to the Glee soundtrack, which I bought. The 2nd half of the season, I already had the 1st half :)

this is my awesome dinner from last night. tonight I MADE dinner with my host family tonight (mostly me how cool?!) and i made salmon! it was really delicious. We had new cheeses tonight and then…did you know Nesquick makes pudding? Well if you did, I didn’t. It was really good. Then I took a shower so that I can sleep in some tomorrow and watched this french movie called Didier. It’s like The Shaggy Dog, but backwards. Like the dog becomes the man, not the man becomes the dog. Anyway.

Facebook recently has gone on strike and gives me the HARDEST time with uploading photos. Be patient, photos from Chenonceau(x) are making their way up there! I am attaching my favorite shot of the chateau with this blog, I think it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL. We visited that chateau (where I’ve decided I’m living when I become royal) and also a wine cave where they make Vouvray, which was also really cool. Picture is attached :)

We got to see how the wine is made, and then taste three different kinds! A month ago if you had asked me if I would drink wine I would have told you NO WAY. All in all it was an amazing afternoon.

Tomorrow I’m buying a french cell phone (cuz Verizon made me send the global american phone back) and my train ticket to Paris (guess I should do some research on that) and then going SHOPPING before watching the first round of the WORLD CUP!! Am I a soccer fan? nah. But it’ll be fun. I think it’s South America vs. Mexico tomorrow, and the USA vs. England on saturday maybe. But i’ll be at Chinon all day saturday, so I will miss it. Oh well. I’d much rather be sight-seeing.

All right. One more attempt at uploading pictures to facebook, then bed.

Chenonceaux (i had been spelling it wrong i think) was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. pictures will come, for sure. Once I feel like putting them on the computer. And I will also elaborate more. I’m exhausted, full, and have homework. So this really IS going to be short.

I had probably my favorite meal so far: spicy shrimp, mini scallops and smoked salmon. then cheese (always) and chocolate mousse!! and i took a picture of that too.

Yay chateau visit, wine tasting, and getting to miss my afternoon class! No, I am not a drinker, and don’t have any intentions to once back in the states. But, I figured, all the wine (I’ve heard) is AMAZING in France, I need to at least try it. I’m of age over here, and when am I going to get another chance to visit a chateau and drink their wine and eat their cheese?! Probably never. So I figure, I may not like the taste, but I AM going to drink it. I drink a little bit at dinner, especially when we have the cheese course (a WHOLE course for cheese, can you believe it?!). At first it’s gross. But then it gets a little better. Maybe my half glass of wine each night is why I can’t remember what I’ve eaten for dinner.

Tonight I am going to hang out with Gary and his friends at some place that I can’t remember the name of near the Institute. I figure I have nothing better to do and every other night of the week I just sit around after dinner on the computer, so I may as well get out into the world and DO something. My mom tells me I need to stop being such a homebody. The problem is I have no problem being a homebody. Oh well, I suppose. Why on a tuesday night I’m not sure but I doubt it’s going to be any kind of hoopla, we all of class at 9AM.

Okay I’m dedicated on remembering what I ate for dinner so from now on bear with me while I tell you what I eat every night. Tonight we had Pork filet mignons or whatever, and like a zucchini/egg quiche side thing. Which. I’m not a huge fan of quiche, but it tasted pretty good. Cheese and then fruit followed, which is becoming the norm (the fruit that is, the cheese has ALWAYS been there). Which is good for me, because I ate a pistachio macaroon today with lunch.

Today was uneventful. I went to school, learned more about pronouns, had a debate on whether public places should be totally non-smoking. i did my homework in the park, then came home and read. Ate chicken and macaroni for dinner with cheese and bread (as always) and then fruit for dessert. Everything is always so good! Tomorrow morning I have a phonetics lab and then class the whole day. Wednesday I’m going to Chenonceau, and saturday I’m going to Chinon. The walk to/from school is always wonderful, except when it rains, which I think it’s supposed to the rest of the week.

I’m going to hopefully work on my newspaper article a little bit before going to bed tonight, I tried to watch a movie but the tv in my room decided it didn’t want to work anymore. Can someone please help me? Or tell me why I repel technology?