I think that's pretty ok

Saturday I decided to go to Paris with a couple of my friends. It was Tytti, Oliver, and Dan. Tytti was going to meet with her friend Joonas from Finland and we all wanted to go to the HUGE outlets just outside Paris called Val d'Europe. Ito was 3 finns to 2 North Americans (Dan is Canadian) and 3 boys to 2 girls.


In the metro-
Matt this is how you should dress when you come to France:



The Mall was all christmased out!



Dan hated this picture on the metro advertising English language courses


Joonas is a student studying on exchange in Germany right now, specifically in Mannheim. He's one of those people that are ridiculously nice and ridiculously funny so we got on quite well from the start. My favorite thing about Joonas is that his favorite phrase in English is "That's pretty ok." which he uses it where we would say "that's not bad." So I've decided that his phrase is pretty ok and I think I might try to use it.

It was a day full of adventuring. The weather was really nice as well which was amazing since it was supposed to rain. I was worried about that since I don't have an umbrella right now since mine decided to commit harakiri.

The fancy outlets are called La Callee Village and is full of store like Longchamp, Diesel (I wanted the entire store!), Armani, Tytti and I went into the Jimmy Choo outlet, etc. In the mall place there was also an aquiarium and a whole bunch of regular stores like Pimkie, Esprit, Mim, etc. Tytti bought a hat from Diesel and a purse from Longchamp.

After the mall we decided to head back downtown for lunch before meeting 2 more of Tytti's Finnish friends. Dan and Joonas have never been to Montmartre so we decided to take them there for the rest of the afternoon.



Tytti and Joonas goofing off

Paris!


On the steps to the Basilica there were 2 guys playing Hotel California on guitar and they weren't bad. Here's some video of it:

On the way down we heard another band playing down at the bottom of the hill and they were AMAZING so I took to videos for you. There were also some goofy young boys playing football and dancing to the music. The band's name is Samenakoa (click to go to their myspace to listen to their music)

After Montmartre we went to St Michel which is in the heart of Paris where all the cheap food is and Notre Dame. There in front of the fountain we met Laura and Miro Tytti's friends from Finland that are studying in England and were visiting Paris for a few days. The key to eating in St Michel (or Brussels) is to eat using the special menus. They are menus with a set price for usually a 3 course meal (appetizer, main entrée, desert) that you get anywhere from 3-6 options per course. The menus range from 8-20 Euro most times you can get the restaurant to throw in free drinks as well.

We went to an Italian restaurant and got free sangria with our 9 euro meal. I ordered calamari, lasagna, and ice cream. If you eat off the menu you do get smaller portions but you get more variety for less money. At most restaurants the meal total is less than all the items on the traditional menus.

Dinner was really funny because there was 7 of us in total. 5 out of 7 were Finnish. 4 out of 7 were boys. We yet we spoke English at the table because the Finns are super nice and didn't want to leave myself and Dan out. And we were eating at an Italian restaurant in France. It was a funny moment.

After dinner we had to literally run to catch our train back to Rouen. Joonas came with us on the way back to stay in Rouen until Monday. Back in Rouen it was a girl from Canada's roommate so we hung out in the common room a bit and socialized and I learned more Finnish words.

Sunday and Monday were lazy days for everyone, we just watched movies in Corey's room and hung out. Sunday was Old School and Monday was Anchor Man. I hadn't seen either so it was good.

Tomorrow night is a Soirée that my school is putting on and it is superhero themed, I'm pretty excited.

You've got red on you

It has been nicer weather here in the last week though it is supposed to be quite nasty again soon. This is from the lookout point 5 mins from my dorm overlooking Rouen



It is very fallish out my window all the trees are changing and loosing their leaves. This is my first real "Fall" in some time.

Every week in Ango (my dorm) a continent prepares food traditional to their personal country. Last week was Europe and this week was North America (minus Mexico because they decided to cook with Latin America). Since Thanksgiving is a week away Laine and I decided to cook traditional Thanksgiving food. May I make a note that all we have is a single hot plate and nothing more, on top of that my hot plate doesn't really get hot. Another hitch was that I didn't have a recipe because all I found were in American measurements and needed fancy things to complete it. But I decided to soldier on and basically make it up as I went along and just try to channel the power of Julia Child. Here is the Result:

I bought a loaf of hardy French brioche type bread and cut it up into cubes and toasted them




Then in a very French manner I made a mirepoix which is equal parts onion celery and carrots in French cuisine, and cooked it in butter

Then I added seasonings like salt and pepper of course and several cubes of bouillon cubes since the French don't have chicken stock available to buy in the stores. After that I added the toasted cubes of bread and mixed it all together and added a tiny splash of water



It weirdly tasted really good since I was making it up as I went along. It did leave quite a bit of mess however, here is half of the mess:

There was a wide range of American and Canadian foods. Jeanna made chicken nuggets, I made stuffing and Laine made mashed potatoes. There was also chili, ribds, PB&Js, Poutine (fries with cheese and gravy on them, Pizza, French toast and pancakes, etc...


I didn't eat any of the food because there wasn't very much and it is all things that I eat rather normally back at home so I thought I'd leave it to the non NAs to eat it all.


It was one heck of a party that was a lot of socializing and catching up with people who have been traveling and/or studying for exams etc. The weirdest part of the night was my friends Anna and Magda met this guy in Amsterdam (he's British) just showed up in Rouen to see them and ended up coming to the party. He stayed the night in Anna's room and Anna stayed with Tytti it was really odd. But now he's gone because everyone left for Budapest this morning.

Some of the Canadian boys decided to make it what's called a Graffiti party where you wear a white t shirt that everyone can write messages on and it is like a memento from the party. I however did not have a white t shirt that could be written on so my friends decided to write on me instead. I gathered messages in the languages of: English, French, Spanish, Brazilian Portugese, Polish, Finnish, and Japanese. Here are a few photos of the damage. During this time I have also managed to learn basic Finnish phrases and every swearword, including some in Polish from Magda.

The heart with L+L is from Laine (Laine + Lauren) then the second is in Portuguese from Alexandre from Brazil

This one is on the top a Canadian guy, Brian, wrote I'm magnificent in French, then below it is my friend Corey who was beyond the ability of writing anything of sense.

This says I love you in Finnish and it's from Anna

One of them just said Carlos Rabasso who is one of my professors here. I had a presentation in his class this week and after while I was packing up my stuff I was explaining to him how I still dance and that I'm Basque (He's from Barcelona) and he was apparently really impressed by me and told his other class (which all of my friends are in) about me. It was really funny.



This morning when I woke up I took a shower and tried to scrub off the writing, it is almost gone though I still have a reddish tint to my skin. Oh well it was funny and totally worth it.

I've been working on 2 more dance videos I still have some work to do but look for them to be up soon. Tomorrow I think I'm headed to Paris and next weekend I signed up for a school trip to Chateau Loire where we will see 3 castles in 2 days. It was only 100 euro for transport, entrance to the castles, 1 night in a hostel, food and a soirée.

Well I'm off to clean my apartment and do some work on my presentation for next week.


*UPDATE* I still have red on my arms and back, thanks Laine and Dan, but it is almost gone!

Obsessions of the moment:

• my version of a grilled cheese- french bread, mozzarella, chevre, garlic cheese spread thing, lettuce, tomato, and herb de provence
• stagevu.com because I can watch movies and tv shows in really good quality since hulu doesn't work here and it's FREE
• kalimotxos
• boys! I have so many cool guy friends here I love hanging out with them and all their ridiculousness. There are also lots of cute foreign boys here as well
  
• The Finnish language
  
• yoga, pilates, and ballet in my TINY apartment (it is quite comical but I try to work out every day)
• thekitchn.com it has amazing cooking, kitchen, food realted articles that are so useful and interesting I LOVE it
  
• Top Gear season 13 - I just finished it yesterday and it is an AMAZING season everyone should go watch it it is worth 7 hours of your life trust me (unless you don't like laughing or cars then don't bother)

There is SO much more but I'll stop myself there. I'm off to Paris in the morning with a bunch of friends I'm not sure what we'll do but it will be fun no matter what. Next week is a school soiree and then the weekend is the Chateau Loire trip.

classes are almost over I only have a few left which is a weird feeling this morning one of my friends informed me he is leaving exactly 1 month from today. It was probably the most depressing sentence I have ever heard. I don't want to leave Ango and all my crazy friends.

Lauren, it's the underdog world strike

Ok so my life is pretty dang boring/random lately but that's ok because at least I'm bored in France with some really cool people. Since my trip it has been a very routine sort of life here in Mont Saint Aignan. I go to class (I have a final exam on monday), I go to the common room, I go to Laine's, I go to Casual Corey's. One of our "things" I guess you could say is that as a group we always hang out for what's called Casual wine and Casual Corey's which is where we sit around drink cheap French wine usually watch movies or play music for each other from around the world. The usuals at Casual Corey's are myself, Laine, Team Finland: Anna, Tytti, Anniina, and Oliver, Magda from Poland, Adrian from Australia, and lastly Dan Justin and Corey from Canada. Last week it was just Corey and the five girls watching the movie Jackass 2 and talking about all our crazy travel stories. Magda has a bunch of this on video which I'm sure will be quite epic when I see it.

In the afternoon I took a break from studying to go see the woods near by unfortunately my camera died as I went to take the first photo so I will have to get some from Jeanna and post them later. It is GORGEOUS here right now. Because it is really windy it has kept the fog and clouds from settling so we have actually had sun recently.

Last night we had the first International night organized by a bunch of girls from Mexico. This week the Europeans had to make a bunch of food for everyone to try. Each country brought a specialty. Some French students even showed up (we NEVER see French students outside of class because they are a bit snobby and don't hang out with us) There was even a European dance off everything from traditional Hungarian dance to Russian to the Viennese Waltz. It was very cool. I had the pleasure of trying real Hungarian moonshine made by my friend Kata's grandmother. It was very strong (I heard rumors of it being 60%) and interesting tasting trust me one very tiny sip was enough for a week. All in all a very fun night.

Last week I was so over studying so I made a dance in my apartment and made a little dance film that I am quite proud of really





I have another one planned out for the little hallway between me and Fran's rooms.

Last week I also went to the Burn site of Joan of Arc which was less awesome than I thought it would be to be honest. It was a bit of a let down.







Also tuesday it was Jeanna's 22 birthday and Laine and I bought her an Opera cake which is like a dark chocolate coffee layered thing, it's awesome!







We get really beautiful sunsets out our windows. I took this about a month ago but I thought I should still put it up.

Lastly my list of recent obsessions:
Sea Wolf and Taken by trees (bands)
intense French wind
Wicked the book
all the new music I have binged on the last couple of weeks
My friends in France
my new H&M sequin mini skirt (I not kidding and it was only 10 euro)
I figured out how to make toast on my burner! (which I can now almost boil water on!!!!!)
dance (technically not new but I love making these little videos)

by the way this is what I like to call an interactive blog so if you have comments questions opinions etc feel free to comment below and I promise to get back to you. I really like comments too they make me feel loved

PS KIRSTEN THIS IS YOUR LAST DAY IN BA!!!!! I'm so sad that you have to leave but I hope I can see you when I get back.

Ciao Bella!

Day 1: Thursday, Rouen to Paris to Rome to Naples to Lago Patria

Wednesday night there was a fiesta in the common room because it was a Mexican and a Spanish girls' birthday. It was a really great time with music food and sangria. I'm so glad I went because it would be the last time I would see people for a week or so. My Finnish friends introduced us to their strange obsession with salted licorice flavored items like salmiakki vodka which is a slated licorice flavored vodka that looks more like melted black tar than something to drink and salted licorice candies. I have been adopted as a Finn because I didn't mind either and everyone else wanted to spit it out. (it must be the Swedish blood in me because apparently they drink it too). It was a late night of socializing which wasn't the best idea since I had to wake up at 5 am to get ready and leave for Italy!

I made it on the 6:30am train to Paris and once on the train passed out of exhaustion (little did I know that would be the last of my sleep for some time). Once in Paris I had a network of metros to take to get to the airport, and arrived to check in at 9am. Then to my joy my flight has been delayed due to the worker stike until later in the afternoon. Here are a few photos from what turned out to be a 5 hour delay:

At the gate you get on a bus which takes you to the air strip where you actually board the plane

Luckily our of the delay I got some food vouchers. During the second set of vouchers a couple of very nice gentlemen gave me theirs which made me happier than I could explain (there were almost tears of relief and joy) with their vouchers I could get water, a sandwich, and an apple. At this point I feel like a zombie from lack of sleep.

Finally at 4 I get on the plane where they tell us they have lost 8 passengers and once they are found we will be on our way. *then I fell asleep* I woke up as we were about to begin decent where over the speaker system they started to play Clair de Lune by Debussy it was very relaxing and after 2 hours of sleep in the plane I felt much happier.

In Rome I got my bag and grabbed a shuttle to the train station where I worked through intense sleep deprivation to kind of figure out the ticket machine. I ran to the train and asked to ticket master man if it was the right one. He said yes and helped me get on the train. I then watched him get in an argument with another man who had bought the wrong ticket and was being charged for it. (this is about 8:30pm now). 10 mins before my stop was to come the man next to me asked where I was going and I told him and he said that the train wasn't going to Napoli Centrale. I had a slight panic attack and then logically figured out he was wrong and I got off on my stop.

In Naples I stayed with a stellar family who so kindly picked me up from the train station in Naples since it was so late (10:45pm). They had, had to borrow a friends car since theirs had been broken into and the window smashed earlier that evening. They took me home and showed me my room for the week, it was the sun room on the top floor with view of the lake and ocean. I was stoked beyond belief.

Then I passed out for several hours


Day 2: Friday, Lago Patria

here is a of the lake from where I stayed

They whole Lori and I bonded over family photos, tv, food, and movies. It was the most relaxing day I had had in a very long time.

Day 3: Saturday, Naples

Lori and I decided to venture to Naples for the day, she hadn't been there for some time and wanted to go experience the city with me.

We took the Alibus from the airport to the theater next to the Umberto shopping center and Piazza



here is a view of Vesuvius






there was a run or some kind of event they were setting up for



We had breakfast at a beautiful coffee shop in Umberto we drank cappucinos and ate cornetti (croissants) and brioche

We then wandered around the heart of Naples a bit until we decided to find a small church which is now a museum that holds a statue called the veiled christ.



*insert veiled christ visit here* I wasn't allowed to take photos but it was amazing it is a place called Cappella Sansevero it is 6 euro for adults and 4 for students if you like churches, sculpture, or me and you are ever in Naples you MUST go. Or I will hunt you down and drag you with me.


Lunch: my street food abilities didn't let me down this was 2,70 euro! so cheap

After lunch it started to rain, Lori and I tried to find a chocolate shop but gave up when we discovered it had moved and the rain started to pour down in buckets. We retreated back into Umberto to get some gelati. This is where I met my future sugar daddy. We were waiting to be served and a man came up and asked us where we were from (he was american) we told him and Lori introduced me as a friend told him she lived there, I studied in France etc. He told us he was from Everett Washington, now worked on a private yacht (he made a big deal of that) that was headed from the Greek Isles back up to Northern Italy. As we were leaving Lori said to him "It was so nice to meet you" but he was too busy staring at my assets to really take notice of what was going on. So the new joke became the task of finding matching purple track suits and a sugar daddy.


Lago Partia has some of the most incredible sunsets and sunrises I have ever seen (thank you pollution) here are a few photos from that evening


Day 4: Sunday, Lago Patria

Sunday was a lazy day watching movies, exploring the small town of Lago Patria here is a photos of some random ruins in the middle of two subdivisions

Day 5: Monday, Naples

Monday Lori and I decided to head back to downtown Naples to see the Archaeological Museum that is world renowned specifically for it's sculpture garden and it's items from Pompeii. So Micheal drove us in to the Navel base on his way to work. During the drive there was the most amazing sight to be held.

In the tiny little car below you will see a VERY big man in the driver's seat ans his wife who is most likely in her 70's pushing the car all by herself while wearing some pretty serious heels.


Eventually a man from another car got out and helped her push start the car once traffic let up a little. The entire situation was extraordinarily comical though.


Once we got to dowtown Naples we went in search for the chocolate shop again (this time however we had aid of google maps from the night before) After finding the shop and buying a box we stopped in this small piazza and had a few






Then we decided to wander through downtown on our way to the museum. here are some shots taken from the walk






For lunch we had street food king: Kebabs. This is Lori's first kebab and I had to take a photo in order to remember this moment forever

the view from our lunch spot


There was also piano music coming from one of the restaurants near by.



The museum was only a few blocks away so we walked straight there after lunch




The National Archaeological Museum was the highlight of Monday! It was the one thing I felt like I had to see in Naples if nothing else. Mostly because if I had, had my way when I was 10 I would be a student at University of Chicago studying Archeology specifically Egyptology. So Lori and I headed over and spent most of the afternoon nerding out with all of the sculptures since it is both our favorite form of art (well my favorite is like a 10 way tie but go with it). Here are photos from the actual museum

This was the creepiest sculpture of my life!


Yes we are complete dorks



no biggy this is just the ceiling in one of the halls


I had to take this photo 4 times because I had the hiccups



Hercules and Omphalus


This is my favorite statue in the museum. I'm in love with it!



Flora


Artemis

Muse


Eros with dolphin


Pan and Daphne


My new boyfriend:


The courtyard:


My Sugar Daddy!
After the museum we went and grabbed some coffee before grabbing the Alibus back to the airport. Then we took the shuttle on base to the support site which is another base which has the commissary (grocery store), hospital schools, etc. I totally got checked out by the gate guard too. One of the most surprising things is the fact that you get your id checked everywhere! getting on base, going into the grocery store on base. I have never had so many people see my passport in one day.


Day 5 : Tuesday, Rome

On Tuesday I took the train into Rome to meet up with some friends and see some sights. When I got to Rome my friends were already in the Vatican museum so I went to the Colosseum and revisited some memories from a couple years ago. It was such a nice day outside I was amazed.










When I travel alone I am almost always mistook as a Spaniard which frankly I don't mind and my Spanish is good enough that I can fake it.

On my way to meet my friends for lunch I ran into this Basilica S. Paolo which was beautiful. I didn't go in because it cost money and frankly I was already running late to meet Team Finland and Canada for lunch.



At the Vatican I hung out with Tytti and Anniina in the square and waited for the rest of the crew to finish climbing the church. Mostly we just enjoyed the sun and warmth.

We had lunch at a cafe nearby and afterwards we split up again. I was running out of time and decided to see Saint Peter's before I left and they went to see a castle or something. So we bid farewell and went off sight seeing






In the church there were nuns singing at this alter and it was soooo beautiful I had to try and capture it on video

After the church I wandered around the Vatican for a bit before heading back to the metro station.

I grabbed the train back to Naples and headed home. Lori and Michael picked me up from the airport at around 9:30


Day 6: Wednesday, Caserta Market

Wednesday Lori and I decided to go on a trip to Caserta Market organized by the Navel base. It is a lot like Camden market or a big street market. We were bused there and back it was awesome.

We finally found our purple track suits! We were so excited I can't even explain it
The market was amazing it had everything you could want. shoes, clothing, kitchen supplies, fabric, food, plants, etc. I bought a cute blue sweater dress, some sunglasses and Lori a Christmas cactus for their house as a thank you.



This nice man held up his live octopus for me to take a photo


That night I went out to drinks and dinner with Lori, Michael and a bunch of their friends. I had some of the best mussels I have ever eaten in my life. They were so good I am demanding them for my last meal along with croquetas, lamb stew, and Belgian/Naples chocolate, and some other stuff I can't think of right now (bigs juds bacon cheese buger, wok king dinner b with chicken corn soup, popcorn, mint chocolate chip ice cream, bacon and hash browns... Belgian waffles, lamb shoarma...) Back to the point, it was the perfect last night in Italy.


Day 7: Thursday, Lago Patria to Navel Base to Naples to Rome to Paris to Rouen

Thursday morning Michael drove me to the airport to grab the bus, to grab the train to Rome. The sunrise was amazing over Naples and I arrived in Rome with plenty of time before my plane so I sat in front of a museum across from the train station and read my book, ate some lunch etc.





The flight was boring and I got to Paris on time, unfortunately the trains in and out of Rouen were running late so even though I should have been home around 9:30pm it was more like 11pm. But I made it and it was a great week all in all.