skip to main |
skip to sidebar
there have been really good moments and amazing experiences. and then there have been all the times in between. a week in london clouded the reality of my dwindling funds but did not help the situation at all. it totally SUCKS that i loved london so much but had a hard time enjoying it. especially the last day as i walked around the city trying to save the few pounds i had left in my pocket. i mean, london was so amazing that i spent several conversations debating whether or not i should live there. it changed my perspective on europe drastically. i don't want to say it was life changing because, let's be honest, it takes more than that to alter my very stoic view of how my life should play out. and because life changing seems a bit trite and unrealistic compared to what it really was. i just had a lot of fun. and i really enjoyed the history.
i should have written about london earlier. i might have had more to say other than 'it was great.' i saw 'wicked' on the west end. i watched the changing of the guard on a sunday morning. i walked down portabello road on a saturday afternoon. i did everything i wanted to do. i guess the pictures will tell the story better than i will at this point. so here are my albums: #1 and #2.
i just discovered yesterday how broke i actually am. it's scary that i'm in another country and have so much financial responsibility at home. i've been trying on a daily basis to spend as little money as possible. not that i could spend anything other than a little money. i only have 4 euros to last me until wednesday. i think i can do it. i have enough food in my apartment. it's just really difficult to do anything without spending money in paris. so i will be in my apartment a lot. emily and i went to pere lachaise cemetary today which was free. i need to find a few more things like that. i'll go crazy alone in my apartment for days at a time (caitlin is in spain for the break).
anyway, i'm going to watch slumdog millionaire. i haven't seen it yet and everyone keeps telling me to watch it. i'll write more soon. brad will be here on friday so that will give me something to share. enjoy your sundays...
hi folks! sorry it's been so long since i wrote. not much went on in january. caitlin and i spent a lot of time in our apartment trying not to spend money. nothing big to report.
but we broke our hermit rut this past weekend when we went to ireland. we left on thursday night - took ryan air into dublin. the flight was easy...because of the time difference we landed in ireland only minutes after we left france. it wasn't the most luxurious airline but it was fine for an hour.
we stayed at a hostel near the spire (an extremely tall, metal poke errected - no pun intended - to commemorate the milenium) called brown's hostel. it was...interesting to say the least. it was the cheapest we could find in dublin and because of the low rates there were a lot of long-term "guests." it was weird. we felt like we were in the middle of this strange dorm of women who never spoke to one another. i can't imagine living that way. it wasn't the cleanest place in the world and there was NEVER any toilet paper. people had put up posters and plants, shelves and curtains. it was so bizarre.
besides the hostel, however, it was SO good to be in a city where people smile at you on the street and speak your language! every time we stopped to look at a map, someone walking by would ask if we needed help. even little old ladies! that doesn't happen in paris. if you smile at someone on the street, they think you're crazy. and if you ask for directions, they scoff at you. so we were happy to meet the locals at the pubs and in the restaurants. the irish are so fun and sweet. no wonder dusty and erica love them so much! ;)
we started our first day at a GREAT little pastry/breakfast shop called 'the queen of tarts.' they had the best scones and warm apple porridge. i had tea and a scone for my first breakfast as well as some fruit with yogurt. it reminded me so much of my great grandmother. grama jean used to have 'a wee bit of tea and scone' every day at 2. and she made her own scones! my mom is scottish, though. same tradition i guess. it was great. and they played dylan and joni and james taylor and all sorts of great folk music. wonderful way to start your day!
after breakfast we wandered around for a little while looking for umbrellas. it rained all the time but it was misty rain for the most part. just enough to make you cold and stick to your clothes. oh and turn your hair into a whispy ball of ugliness. the irish women always looked beautiful though. i don't know how they do it. we found the best umbrellas ever in a little covered market and you can see them in many of the pictures. by far my favorite purchase of the trip.
somehow we managed to stumble upon a free walking tour of the city center. we were outside of the dublin castle and ari, the tour guide, started talking to us as he guided the rest of the tour to their next stop. finally he asked us if we wanted to join in and we couldn't resist his charming accent and ADORABLE smile. we loved ari. so he took us all over the city and told us about the history of each landmark. it was so lucky that we ran into ari. he was an amazing guide.
for dinner we stopped into a pub for some fish and chips. lucky for us, this past weekend was the traditional irish music festival in temple bar (the famous street in dublin with some really famous and wonderful bars...originally called temple's barr because it is on the river and the area was once owned by a man called temple - thank you ari). so we had our dinner and listened to some great music. i was in heaven! oh and the beer...soooo much beer. i never drank anything other than smithwick's or guiness. betsy and caitlin had a few whiskies because they're braver than i am.
after dinner we went on a litterary pub crawl. it was so fun! not your typical pub crawl with slobbery drunk college kids binging and making out in the bathroom. it was more based on the history of irish litterature and the pub scene in dublin. our hosts were these two irish actors, colin and frank, and we went from bar to historical site to pub to monument learning about dublin and listening to them act out some particularly important scenes. it was so fun. and colin and frank were so great! they gave us advice and places to visit. i wish i could have them on every trip from now on.
saturday morning we got up and went back to the queen of tarts for breakfast again. i had another scone (different flavor) and some apple cinnamon porridge. i was so full it was hard to stand up. but i managed and we were off to the christ church. it was, to say the least, an incredible building. i love churches - probably my favorite part of any european city. it had so much energy and character. i took tons of pictures! why don't we have anything that beautiful in the states?
after the church we took a train out to howth, a small fishing town outside of dublin. we wanted to see life outside the big city. it was so charming and beautiful. the landscape was cliffy and surrounded with hills. i loved it. right down to the strong winds and the raging surf. we got pelted in the face with the rain and betsy's umbrella turned inside out (these umbrellas were hard CORE so that's a big deal!). i loved every minute of it! we almost got soaked by the waves that came over the cliff wall. there were lighthouses and chowder shacks. we met some local guys who followed us to lunch and talked our ears off the whole time. what a perfect little town.
once we got back into dublin the rain had stopped and the wind died down. we left our umbrellas at the hostel and spent the night in temple bar going from pub to pub looking for irish music. the BEST pub we found was called gogarty's. it had the greatest music and we got great seats! (well...we stood but in good places) we saw two bands there. the second had 2 celtic drummers, 2 fiddlers, an accordian player and a guitar player. it was soooo fun! the whole crowd knew all the words to every song and they danced and drank all night long. everyone was laughing and talking and stomping their feet along with the music. it had the best energy and it made me feel like a part of their world and their traditions. but the best part is that they all WANTED us to be a part of it. they were happy to drink and laugh and sing with us. i tell ya...the irish charmed the PANTS off of me. i can't wait to go back!
sunday we spent some more time wandering around and checking out parts of the city we had missed. we had to leave around 3 so we didn't do much. we grabbed breakfast at a different cafe since we had only ever gone to the queen of tarts. it was ok but we weren't satisfied and ended up BACK at the queen of tarts to get scones. it's truly the greatest little shop i've ever been to. i wish i could work there!
all in all, our trip was great. i loved ireland and i loved the people. i'd love to go back and visit a few more cities. i have a few friends here from belfast so i might make it back to visit them. i'm happy to be back in my own bed but i can't help the anxious feeling to travel outside paris again. my cousin, dusty, is coming tomorrow for a week and then we're going to london for the weekend. i can't WAIT! i've never been outside the airport in london. and i can't wait to see my friend, giselle, who is living there. the next 3 months are going to fly by. i will have more to report, i promise! until then...xoxo
ireland photos
i've been meaning to write this for a while. it's been a long time since i last wrote. i went home on december 18th. it was great - what more can i say? it's hard to remember how much you miss home when there are so many distractions. like paris. :)
anyway, brad picked me up at the airport and i'm pretty sure i fell in love with him all over again the moment i saw him. don't care if that's trite or cheesy. i was so happy to see him and so tired from all the travel. it felt like i was melting into my seat - but that could have been the heated seats. i like to think it was brad though.
christmas was wonderful. i was right smack in the middle of a viscious cold (thank you stagnant airplane air) so my memories are a little vague through my nyquil clouds. brad and i spent christmas eve with his family at their annual party. we both spent the night at my parents' house and did the christmas morning, opening presents, big breakfast thing with my family. then we went to his parents' house for christmas dinner. i ended the night with my parents and my cousin, katie, at my aunt janet's house. that was great since our christmas party got snowed out the weekend before. i got to see some of my extended family. (i love janet - she's the BEST!)
andrew and i had our fourth annual new years party this year. there were too many people last year but we narrowed down the guest list and it worked out perfectly. with only a few essential people missing (dan...jenn...you party POOPERS! and amanda, we missed you!! yay babies!), all the right people were there. in the morning, after cleaning the first floor before bed at 4am, we woke up to mashed potatoes in the sink and drama passed out on the living room floor wrapped in about 18 beach towels. there were people asleep on every surface of the first floor. all in all, a successful new years party. bonjour 2009!
i only had a few more days before my flight back to paris. i spent a weekend in boston with uncle mike's family. i tried to see nana mae but she's in the hospital and wasn't feeling up to visitors. what else...i really just hung out and spent time with brad and my family. i was SO happy to have so much time with katie. i miss her so much already. i can't wait to see her in paris in a couple of months. she's going to LOVE it.
leaving again was less dificult this time. i think i was ready to come back actually. it's weird to think of home as a vacation destination. i really don't like living out of a suitcase so i was happy to unpack and settle back in. i think i'm one of the few of my friends who didn't have a really hard time coming back. not to say i don't miss everyone at home. i just know i'll see them all again soon. brad is coming in february and katie in march. i'll be home again in may or june. i'm taking all of this in while it lasts. i can't spend time regretting my decisions or dwelling on what i've left behind. i was never good at this before but i guess i've grown up a little since the last time.
anyway, here are the photo albums of my time at home. i've discovered that this is much easier than uploading a million pictures one at a time on blogger. happy new year everyone! xo
christmas
new years
everything else
fun little story - those pictures of the department stores all lit up? the night we took those pictures, they found dynomite in printemps. so that's awesome. i guess we can laugh about it since we are safe and sound. although a bomb threat in paris is not funny. anyway, thought i'd share.
i'm HOME! just in time for a snow storm! :)
and my kitten, tux, is a total fatty.
this one goes out to amanda, andrew and their new baby, james!!!
this past week has been good times. there were festive parties, late night light hopping, christmas markets, decorating, warm spiced wine, disney land...i couldn't imagine a better last week before break. i've been teaching a lesson on the holidays in the us to my students. i start with what christmas is like for my family - for example, i tell them about the christmas carol sing which is next sunday and i CAN'T WAIT!!. also, in france they generally celebrate on christmas eve instead of in the morning. and they love our stockings. i've been playing them christmas songs like rudolf and santa claus is coming to town. they all know all the words to jingle bells and they taught me the french version of silent night (douce nuit). the best part is watching them work on the word search i give them. they love that stuff. as soon as i pass it out, they have like 14 different highlighters and markers out. they color it in and everything. hard. core.
thursday blew my lesson out of the water though. caitlin and i went out in the afternoon and got a bunch of decorations for the flat. we also got the ingredients we needed for our warm spiced wine recipe. when we got home, we decorated, made the wine and put out gingerbread cookies all while listening to christmas songs. our friends came over around 8 and we warmed up with the wine and treats before spending the rest of the night light hopping. we started at our metro stop, abbesses, which has a little christmas market. then we took the metro to the champs elysees. we started at the arc de triomphe and walked down to concorde, stopping at another christmas market to get some more warm wine. at the end of the champs elysees is the obelisk at concorde which has a huge feris wheel set up for christmas. from there we walked to place vendome - it's another obelisk but it has really crazy christmas trees all around it. then we walked down rivoli and past the louvre to hotel de ville where they are setting up an ice skating rink. too bad it's not open yet. from there we walked over to notre dame where there is a big christmas tree. then it was on to opera and madeleine by metro. finally, we walked to haussman and saw printemps and galeries lafayette which have world famous christmas displays. we were EXHAUSTED by the time we got back and totally freezing but it was all worth it. we thawed quickly.
friday was mellow. i went for a run and froze to death. it felt good though - my ankles have been really bothering me and i hadn't run in a week or so. it probably wasn't the best choice in the long run but since when have i ever respected the signs my body gives me? i run when i WANT!
so friday night was bradley's birthday and caitlin and i made a brief appearance. i'm glad we went - i hadn't seen jake and ben in a while and we spent the whole time laughing. oh, those crazy brits. after the party we came back to the flat to meet caitlin's friend from high school. lauren is studying in nantes which is about 2 or 3 hours south of paris. she brought her friend from the program, april. we chatted for a little while and went to bed around midnight because we had to get some decent sleep before our saturday at EURO DISNEY!
we got up early and made our way to the rer (kind of like the commuter train to boston). it took about 45 minutes to get there and when we left the rer station, there it was - the happiest place on earth! i was giddy - i hadn't been to disneyland since i was a kid. we used to go at least once a year since my mom grew up in california and my grandparents still lived in la. so, needless to say, i was super pumped to be there. i can't really remember what disneyland looks like except for what i can see in the pictures so i had no expectations of preconceptions of what it should be. and i was very pleased.
it's really strange to be in a place that you identify with your childhood as an adult. euro disney has sleeping beauty's castle just like disneyland. sleeping beauty is my alltime favorite disney movie - i LOVE tchaikovsky and i even want to walk out to aurora's theme at my wedding. i've had it planned since i was little.
it turns out that lauren is the most experienced disney-goer ever. she knew exactly what to do which made my life so easy. i didn't care what we did. i was just happy to be there. she was easy to see with her purple coat and the santa hat (caitlin and i got us all santa hats when we went decoration shopping on thursday) so we just followed her around. we started with star tours where a little french boy threw up all over his mom right before we got on the ride. poor little kid (i only say that because he didn't throw up on me). it was REALLY funny to hear c3po talk in french and once we got into the actual ride it was in franglais. parts were taken from the movie and other parts were dubbed. soooo weird.
after star tours we walked through sleeping beauty's castle. i was so happy! i skipped through the whole thing - even the dragon's dungeon (which was a little incorrect since the dragon happens to be maleficent so there couldn't be both at the same time but...poetic liscence i guess). after the castle we went on the pinnochio ride which was SO cute and then the pirates of the carribean (mom's favorite ride). then we grabbed lunch and payed a fortune for a burger and fries...BUT we did get to see a live performance of the lion king while we ate. in english. it started raining by the time we finished eating and it was, at that point, 28 degrees and wet. we were frozen - couldn't feel our fingers or feet at all. but we were still happy!
after lunch we headed over to the buzz lightyear ride which is crazy! you sit in this little space pod thing that has laser guns on the front. there's a joystick that turns your car all the way around like the teacups and you shoot bad guys to get points. it's so fun. i've never seen any of the pixar stuff since i was too old when they made all the rides.
after buzz we went to the haunted mansion. that was one of my favorites when i was little. it was just as cool as i remembered. although, the french crazied it up a little and it was longer...which was AWESOME! i love the way they let you into the ride in that room that sinks. so creative. after the haunted mansion we made our way to santa's christmas village. we took some pictures with jessie from toy story and then jack and sally from the nightmare before christmas. and last but not least, we got a photo shoot with pere noel. he was so cute! when we all sat around him he goes 'i don't know what to do with my hands!' so in the picture he's just sticking them out like he's asking a question. it was so cute to see all the little european kids talk to him. ugh, everything is cuter in an accent.
our next stop was the light show so we walked through aladin's palace (so cute) and back to main street. they call it main street usa in france which i thought was strange. the light show was so pretty. they lit up sleeping beauty's castle little by little and in sync with the music. it looked like it had snow and diamonds all over it. and they lit up the big christmas tree and all the shops. so precious. it's funny because usually i think disney is kind of trite but now i get why people love it so much. i thought you had to be a kid to really appreciate it. WRONG!
when the light show was over we decided to go on the peter pan ride. totally awesome and adorable. you get on these little ships and sail over london and through neverland. there are stars all around you - it's totally trippy and awesome. after that, lauren and april didn't want to go on the indiana jones ride since it went outside and not only was the air freezing but the rain was as well and they didn't want to get pelted in the face. caitlin and i were hardcore though and the roller coaster turned out to be totally bitchin. except for one ice-in-the-eyeball incident, we didn't even notice the cold and rain. and we even had time to sprint over to space mountain which was the only ride i HAD to go on. it was my favorite when i was little and it is my favorite now. most trippy, crazy roller coaster ever. my favorite part is the black hole.
we were supposed to meet lauren and april before 9 to get a good spot for the candelibration parade and when we got off space mountain it was 9:02. we SPRINTED all the way to the castle and spotted the purple coat right away. the parade was so cute. i felt bad for the dancers though. they must have been freezing. i mean, i was numb all over and i was wearing about 3 more layers than them.
we finally got home around 12 and thawed out for about an hour before all passing out. lauren and april left early this morning and caitlin and i have hung around the apartment all day. we were all so sore from clenching and shivering all day yesterday (and from smiling :)!) anyway, i'm headed home on thursday for christmas. i couldn't possibly be more excited. i miss everyone so much. i will be happy to come back though. the past 3 months have been so perfect. this is the best thing i could have ever done for myself. i'm at the halfway point and if the next semester is even half as good as this one has been, i will be completely satisfied. happy holidays everyone! can't wait to see you when i get home! bonne nuit...
