I have just over six weeks (less than 40 days) left in Europe before returning home.. My, oh my, what a journey. And - as predicted - I have fallen immensely behind on my tumblr. I apologize to you all for this, because I have not been able to share anything new with you. I am trying to live every moment and it often results in very little computer time… And when I do have time to relax - all I want to do is sleep. I am very much looking forward to seeing my friends and family when I come home… and dropping all of this travel weight I have gained…. thanks Europe for being delicious. ;)
Since my Brussels and London trip, I have been to Vienna, Salzburg, Olso, Dublin, Prague, Monaco, and Berlin. I have also been all over the French countryside - Mont St. Michel, Normandy, Chinon, Sarlat, and Nice - with my beautiful parents and their two best friends. I’m off to Scotland next, and hopefully I can fit a trip to Champagne or Amsterdam in there.
I will post high lights of photos after this week of finals. My classes are about to finish, and so I will have plenty of time.
London is incredible. I had the most amazing trip in London. Maybe it had to do with the fact that a beautiful Miss Amanda Simons came to visit me in Europe? Or that England holds so much of the history and life that I find absolutely fascinating.
January 4th, Natalie and I woke up nice and early. I played The Clash and we headed to the train station! We rode on the Eurostar - the train that goes under the channel. Incredible :)
After Natalie and I got into London, we locked up our suitcases in a shed at the hostel and went out for the day. We couldn’t check in until Amanda arrived - and she wouldn’t arrive until around 10 or 11pm that night. So we hopped onto the tube and just headed for downtown London to explore and kill time!
Pictures say a thousand words… right? Here’s a few thousand words for your eyes. :)
Finding time to caption and detail all my trips is quite consuming - so I think I will just post photos for you all to see my adventures through my camera’s lens…
Get ready for an enormous update in the next few days. The past two weeks have been spent with the wonderful Amanda Simons (with cameos by the lovely Natalie Koudsi) and we visited three cities together - London, Paris, and Brussels. During this time I have taken over 600 pictures, while Miss Amanda took over 3000. Yes, three thousand.
In short, however, London was incredible. Absolutely amazing. Paris with someone back home was splendid and quite relaxing. Brussels was something I did not expect but enjoyed nonetheless. :)
I am back in Paris for a bit. Classes start next Monday - the 30th. My next trip will take me to Austria on February 1st. Matthieu comes home early February… Things are looking up and up. I cannot believe my time here is halfway over… but I am ever thankful that I was able to do this exchange for an entire year. I cannot imagine beign here only a semester - right when my French is becoming decent!
My folks and their close friends are coming in 70ish days! :) So much to do and so little time. I have no food in the house after all my traveling, so it’s time to shop for something to eat!
This American girl had the most incredible Christmas in Paris. Although I wasn’t with my own family, I was embraced and accepted into another family. If you ever have the opportunity to spend a holiday with people from another culture - do not hesitate. Jump at the opportunity before it passes by! For the past few months, I was worried about feeling lonely or empty on Christmas but was I ever surprised. I was filled with so much love and cheer… :) Joyeux Noel!
For Christmas Eve, Matthieu had planned a little surprise for us. He told me about a month ago to clear my calendar for Christmas Eve and be ready to dress up! :) In order to make the month pass along faster I studied for finals and Natalie and I visited Christmas markets all over Paris. Finally, the night arrived… after the days slowly passing by - I found myself on Christmas Eve brushing and curling my hair before picking out my Christmas Eve dress. Matthieu had me meet him at the Chatelet metro, and he was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Dressed up in a dashing suit and tie - he greeted me with a lovely smile and un petit bisous. He was convinced that I had figured out the surprise - but in honesty I had not. We started to cross the street and head over to a theater where …. THE SOUND OF MUSIC was playing! My favorite musical! :) He got us lovely tickets to see the Sound of Music! The show was in its original English format but there were French supertitles so I could read the show in French! :)
We moved away from the pillar once the show started. :)
The lighting was dim - it was hard to get a photo of us. :)
After a wonderful show, Matthieu said it was time for dinner. Cliche French - eating dinner at 10:30… He wouldn’t tell me where we were going. He lead me through the streets of Paris… and we finally arrive in a huge plaza where no one was around. He said that we had arrived. I was completely lost. At the opposite side of the plaza was the Centre Georges Pompidou. I wasn’t aware of this - but apparently this center is more than just a museum and a library. There is a restaurant on the top of the center! We made our way up 6 flights of escalators and had the most incredible view of Paris…
A bottle of wine, foie gras, a lambchop, and a taxi ride later … it was time for Santa’s flight and a night of dreaming of sugar plum fairies before the big Christmas day! :)
Christmas morning, Matthieu and I met up with his mother’s close friend to ride with her to the country side! We were to spend Christmas in the country side with his family. :) After a beautiful, sunny, and green drive heading South away from Paris - we arrived just in time for lunch.
Matthieu, son pere, et moi. :)
And that was just lunch! We had lunch with Matthieu’s mother, his father, and his mother’s best friend. I tried oysters - which I could not stomach, and we also had lobster - not just the usual parts of the lobster but everything… It was delicious! Did I mention that we ate tons and tons of foie gras ? It was delicious. Everything was delicious.
A fire was lit… and Taylor napped. :)
When I woke up, it was time to get my family on Skype and wish them a Merry Christmas! :) Both grandma’s, brother, mother, and father all in one computer screen! :) It was too bad the pups didn’t come to say hello! It was so sweet because I got to see all my family, and Matthieu’s parents as well as Matthieu himself leaned into the computer to exchange warm wishes from thousands of miles away. :) It was such a heart warming moment…
Not too long after, Matthieu’s godmother and her husband had arrived, making our group a total of seven and also signifying that dinner very soon. :)
His godmother is German so she brought a candle of “Gluck” which is luck and happiness. So much incredible diversity :)
For dinner we enjoyed some of the left over foods from lunch and a delicious castrated rooster… I bet your face shares the same expression that my grandmother expressed when I said that exact sentence to her. :) Cheese and left over cake were for dessert! :) Delicious!
Matthieu had to leave for work early on Monday morning, and I had planned to go with them. However, his family insisted that I remain in the country side with them. Who am I to turn down a loving family and a beautiful country home? They kept me for two extra days! :) I helped out with some yard work by raking leaves, I tidied up in the kitchen before and after each meal, I enjoyed a long walk with Matthieu’s mother… Here is a photo of some of the yard work we did… We started at the back, and took a little break… :)
Lunch break! :)
Mount Ermay stroll with Caroline :)
And then it was time for dinner :)
Dinner was incredible. It was a doe casserole and salad. Matthieu’s father had a pheasant and he gave me a leg to try - and it was delicious! :) I have never tried so many foods in one weekend! :)
The next morning I woke up and enjoy a lovely petit dejeuner with everyone and not too long after we had a lovely lunch. :) Matthieu’s father took me to the train station later that day because Matthieu only had three nights left in Paris because his big adventure - and I wanted to hang out again before he left! :)
I am not sure if this tumblr post properly portrayed just how wonderful everything was this Christmas weekend. The dominating language spoken was French - and it truly challenged my American ear to listen. Occasionally they would translate for me, but I really enjoyed piecing together what they were saying from the French that I know. :) They told me that I was their American daughter and they would be there for me if I ever needed anything. I feel like I have a real family in Paris. I have my fantastic sister-like roommate who challenges me to expand my boundaries and now I have a French mom and dad to call or escape to the country when Paris overwhelms me.
What an incredible and well needed trip. I got to see the ever lovely and ever growing Julie. It was a perfect trip. :) I was able to see my best friend and such an interesting city through her eyes. Rather than living in a very tourist area of the city - Julie lives in an area with is densely populated with immigrants. I had the most delicious food from all over the world. The kebap is better in Madrid than the kebab in Paris… just saying. :)
Natalie and her friend Cole planned a trip to Spain as well and coincidentally we had the same flight into Madrid! :) The three of us planned to arrive at the airport extra early because there was security strikes the day before… so we got very little sleep and were quiet exhausted at the airport…
Julie introduced me to many of her friends and we walked almost the entire four days I was there. My first day there - Julie introduced me to a small circle of her friends and we had a lovely brunch which lasted all day. We headed over to an area where we went to a few bars and sampled delicious Spanish appetizers! We walked through Grand Via and Sol which were lit up with Christmas lights.
The next morning we went to the Rastro flea market which was incredible. I bought two paris of tights for only 5 euro! Incredible. :) We had delicious coffee and I sampled some little Spanish breakfast which was bread with tomatoes sauces and olive oil. Julie showed me a really interesting squat and then we took in the city by foot. Dinner was incredible Indian food… Wow. I want -slash- need more Indian food in my life. We ended up in the beautiful Plaza de Espana overlooking the city at twilight. That night I met with some more of Julie’s friends and we saw a rather bizarre movie - Melancholia. I was not a fan necessarily…
Julie had class the next morning so I slept in a bit to recover from a fantastic weekend. I brought Julie French wine and French cheese so she could get a preview of what was to come when she visits me in Paris! :) We had a lovely picnic and strolled about the city even more. That night Julie had me sample some traditional Spanish food… which was… interesting. :) We had some potatoes with some yellow cheese tasting sauce and a bowl of delicious soup.
On my last day in Madrid, I got up early and took Madrid by foot on my own. I made a big circle and hit all the spots that were very touristic. :) So I really got the best of Madrid… We had a tasty lunch together and said our goodbyes… It was absolutely bittersweet. Julie is such a beautiful person and the more time I spend with her the more I feel I learn about myself. She is a wonderful person to bounce ideas off of and discuss the most fantastic topics. :)
It was this time last month that I arrived back in Paris after spending a magnificent five days in Florence, Italy. What an incredible trip… Florence is absolutely beautiful. You feel like you are walking through a postcard the entire time. My lovely friend Kelsey from California is studying abroad in Florence - so guess who was able to house me! Actually, this incredible trip would not have even come to light if it wasn’t for Matthieu. It was completely his idea to travel to Florence together - and I am so thankful that I jumped on board when he said it. I did not even hesitate - and my instinct was spot on. I got a taste of travel, and next semester I will be traveling like a nomad.
Matthieu and I flew from Paris to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to Florence. It was an evening flight so when we arrived we took a taxi. Kelsey’s place is absolutely huge. It’s a completely mansion in comparison to the apartments in Paris. In their giant living room, Matthieu pushed the two couches together to make a sort of bed equivalent thing for our stay there. It was rather adorable. In retrospect I wish I would have taken a picture of it… We went to bed almost immediately and decided that we would explore Florence the next day.
When we left the house in the late morning, Kelsey took us to a little market near her house so that she could pick up a few things and show us the out door market. I got my first taste of the Italian language, and my absolute failure at pronunciation. My French accent has taken over… I bought an orange for breakfast and we were off! :)
We walked down the streets of Florence…
And we went to Kelsey’s favorite cafe where I had my first Italian coffee. It was incredible. The cafe was super cute as well. Very small and very artsy. Local artists are featured in the cafe each week.
Our first historic stop was to go to Santa Croce. Michelangelo and Galileo are both buried here which was quite incredible. It holds many other tombs as well most of which are one the floor. It was quite incredible.
Matthieu was doing the audio tour of the church and so Kelsey and I skipped ahead and went for a walk around Florence. The sun was out and I wanted to enjoy it! Kelsey took me over the Pnte Vecchio - the extremely famous bridge. We enjoyed the side streets and ended up at Kelsey’s favorite gelato place. Yum! :)
Matthieu met back up with us and we headed over to the Palazzo Pitti. Kelsey scored me a free ticket with her fancy Italian student card, and Matthieu is an EU citizen… so Matthieu and I went into the Palazzo to enjoy some sites while Kelsey headed off to her last class. Matthieu and I skipped the exhibits and went to the gardens. What a beautiful site…
Matthieu made me a little bouquet of autumn leaves and things. :)
After the gorgeous views of the city we decided we should head back to the house. Taylor needed a shower. It was during the Italy trip that we had no hot water back in Paris - so I was very excited to take a hot shower to wash my hair! After getting all cleaned up, Kelsey came back from class and the three of us went to a place called the Art Bar. Here the bartender hand made beautiful arrangements of fruit on top of his cocktails. It was incredible!
We crossed the river and went to Gusta Pizza! Absolutely delicious! Matthieu was a little hurt because the Italian pizza boys gave Kelsey and I heart shaped pizzas while his was just a circle. :) We left a little note in the table and headed off!
On the walk home, we all grabbed gelato… Yes gelato twice in once day! I’m still only talking about day 1! :) Florence had so much to offer! We saw that the river was low, and there was a place we could walk out onto the river. So we hoped down to the river and took a seat. We all just shared good conversation and enjoyed a chilly breeze and the Italian bridge lights…
The next morning - DAY TWO - we grabbed coffee and pastries and headed over to Accademia where Michelangelo’s David is on display. That was an incredible experience. It’s an absolute masterpiece. I was amazed. Alas, photos in the entire Accademia are prohibited so I have no pictures :( And so we went out and had lunch! DELICIOUS :)
Kelsey brought us to some street markets… I should say leather markets because that was the majority of the things on sale… And we had some fun :)
We made our way to the very west of the city at the Santa Maria Novella.. we didn’t pay to go in but we admired the outside of the building. The three of us searched for a perfume factory… and eventually found it. It was magnificent but too dim to take any real pictures… On our way home it was started to become very chilly so we grabbed some incredible hazelnut hot chocolate. It was life changing. :)
Around what in America is known as dinner time, we headed over to a bar for aperitivos. Essentially you buy a drink and have full access to unlimited meal. It was again too dim to take pictures other than of my drink - a pink lady.
That night we cracked open the French wine and camembert and introduced Kelsey to France. She was planning to visit me two weeks later. :) And we called it an early night again. I have a very difficult time going out at night. I definitely don’t feel like a 20 year old because I don’t enjoy going out like most 20 year olds do… I’m trying to be more like the other kids but if I can’t, I’ll just have to come to terms with my old lady-ness.
DAY THREE: We three went to San Lorenzo Market. The markets they have in Florence are quite incredible. While at the market, Matthieu went for a walk - separated from us - and Kelsey and I wandered. We found incredible odd flavored muffins - pineapple and kiwi! I bought an Italian leather purse - actually the same one as Kelsey but I just loved it so much! Matthieu rejoined us and he had bought Kelsey and I each a flower :) Did I mention that I was a bit sick and slightly cranky on this trip? Well the flower changed everything… That day Matthieu ended up making lunch for Kelsey and myself. It was so beautiful outside - Matthieu decided we should take advantage of the huge backyard Kelsey has…
After lunch and clean up - Matthieu and I tried to visit the Duomo, but it was too late… so we just enjoyed the church and went for a nice long walk… We ended up at the Pizzale Michelangelo right at dusk. It was tres romantique et magical! :) We ended the skyline and the setting sun - but it got chilly we headed home. Matthieu made dinner for the entire house. Kelsey, her 3 other roommates, and myself were the lucky ones to enjoy an incredible treat created by Matthieu. And we ate outside by candle light. :)
I finally rallied and after dinner - we went out for the first and only “night out” in Florence we did. I’m glad we only did it once. Over priced menus, inappropriate boys, sweating, and low lights are not at all appealing are not unbearable but when the music is bad - I cannot handle it. So we didn’t stay long.
On our last morning Matthieu and I went to the Uffizi Gallery. That was quite a gallery. Matthieu again with the audio guide, and myself with my intuition and translating skills took the gallery at our own pace. Afterwards we tried to find Gusta Pizza - and we finally managed to find it. :) We ate our last Italian meal on the steps on a church and then headed back to grab out bags to head to the airpot…
We fly from Florence to Frankfurt, and ended up having an overnight layout. So Matthieu and I booked it from the airport and found a German restaurant that would serve us a late hot meal. I had a knuckle of pork with sauerkraut (I SPELLED IT RIGHT - I’m really proud) while Matthieu had a plate of … assorted meats. We got back to the airport and found ourselves a night little spot to curl up in and sleep. We caught out flight in the morning. We ended up waiting on the plane for an hour before take off because the plane was frozen. It was so cold!
Florence was really incredible. I’m so sorry it took me this long to finally share my incredible experience with you all. I leave for Madrid in the morning - so expect another one of this long blogs next week! I have to stay on top of this :)
Wonderful, real French breakfast yesterday compliments of Matthieu with a bit of historical context. :)
Brioche, a multitude of jams, yogurt, and breakfast tea. <3
When the Queen said “Let them eat cake,” she was referring to brioche - a delicious pastry but look like bread… Just a wonderful lazy Sunday spent with Matthieu before an intense dinner cook off with our new friends… Pictures to come - after Florence of course!
I’m about to take my first final… then just two more… then Spain! So sometime this week, I’ll have the time. :)
I have decided that I avoid updating my tumblr because I psyche myself out about the amount of time that I dedicate to each post. When I try to upload photos it ends up taking me a few hours because of the speed of which the photos take to upload to tumblr… Don’t worry though - Florence will happen in the next 7 days. I mean pictures and details of the trip. I’m going to Madrid next Saturday - I AM SO HAPPY I CANNOT STAND IT - and I promised myself to update my tumblr with the most recent trip before I go on another.
Yesterday was my last day of classes! Yay! :) Just have three finals to knock out and then I am half way down with junior year. Wow. It’s a lot to take in. This time next year I’ll be scouting for jobs and paying internships… It’ll be quite a different year next year.
So it’s cold in Paris. Who would have thought? I am so thankful to my brilliant mother who had the brilliant idea that her daughter would not pack warm enough clothes and sent me a down coat. It’s incredible. I haven’t worn it yet but I think I will bust it out this coming week. It is so cold - and I hear it’ll get colder?
I do have moments of excitement for coming back to California… just five and a half months… woo. :) However, next semester will be PACKED with travels. It’s going to fly by…
Time for me to enjoy my weekend though… Enjoy your days as well <3
