Le Fabuleux Destin de Lauren

The Crew

2010-01-19T00:39:00.018+01:00

The group, crew, posse, team... whatever you want to call us. This is a post suggested by Dan during our dinner before the secret santa exchange. He suggested that I do a post with little snippets about all of my friends in France... so here it is Dan just for you (and me and whoever else reads this, but mostly for you...DTMO?)

It pretty much all started in Versailles where I met almost everyone properly for the first time:

This is in contrast of one of my last nights after some of my friends had left and were about to leave:
The Boys:

The Girls (notice that I am the only brunette in the group):
ok the format will be
Photo
Name
Home city, country
Place of residence in france
How we met

In alphabetical order (because any other way seemed unfair):

Adrian
Kinglake, Melbourne, Australia
Ango 007
I met Adrian the night they closed the common room for the first time. He was wearing a ridiculous straw cowboy hat. He later helped me save a roast chicken, carry my groceries and invite Laine, Jeanna and myself on the Versailles trip. You could argue it's his fault I'm friends with these crazy/awesome people. Thank you Adrian.

Anna
Helsinki, Finland
Ango 117
I met Anna on the Versailles trip. She was the one in charge and frankly I was a bit afraid to talk to her because she was so cool. Typical Finn. However Anna and I started talking and became friends once we realized we both have a HUGE obsession with music. She's a DJ, no big deal.

Anniina
Turku, Finland
Ango 411
I met Anniina the first week of exchange in the common room when everyone was socializing. Then we met again on the Versailles trip. Finally I started hanging out with Anniina more when Laine and I hung out with her and Tytti at Emporium one Tuesday evening.

Corey
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Ango 407
I met Corey the second night of exchange when the school put on a mixer in the basement of the school. Jeanna, Laine and I walked over and talked a bit with him and Dan. Corey's room was the place to hang out and watch movies for us all.

Dan
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Ango 314
I met Dan at the mixer the same night as Corey and he graciously bought Laine and I a beer. It was very crowded and busy that night so Laine and I talked to him for a while then continued to meet and talk to other new people. Dan states that we blew him off, we argue that we didn't. I also completely forgot about this meeting and I honestly thought I had met Dan on the Versailles trip. I'm sorry Dan.

Justin
Niagara, Ontario, Canada
Pleiade Studio Apartments
I met Justin my second day in France. I went to the castle in order to register at the school and sign up to go and get groceries. I was sitting in line and next to me was a guy with a Brock University binder and I asked him where that was. Justin forgot about this meeting. We also were in the French intensive class together. Then I met him again on the Versailles trip.

Laine
Fort Bragg, California USA
Ango 212
I met Laine my first day, first class at Calpoly. It was in the Business 100 lecture in the Silo. We were friends during class, then we sort of lost touch until winter quarter 2nd year when I had marketing class with her and Jacki and we worked on a project together. We didn't know the other planned on studying abroad until we turned in the applications the same day during our break in class.

Magda
Gdansk, Poland
Ango 413
I first saw and noticed Magda the same night I met Anniina and Tytti in the common room. As you can tell she's gorgeous and every guy in the room was looking at her. It turns out she's also one of the sweetest people ever. I really met Magda on the Versailles trip with everyone else.

Oliver (Lepakkomies)
Espoo, Finland (now Helsinki)
Ango 408
I met Oliver in Murphy's bar the night after the common room closed when I was talking to Adrian. I then talked to him properly at Cliff's party the next night. I then met him again two days later on the Versailles trip.

Tytti
Helsinki, Finland (but she goes to school in Turku)
Ango 305
I met Tytti with Anniina in the common room the first week when she was asking who was going out to the club that night. She couldn't decide if she was going to or not so she was asking Laine and I if we were going. I also remember that she was drinking hard cider that night and it reminded me of my time in the Basque Country senior year. I then met her again on the Versailles trip.

Additional friends that should be acknowledged, also in alphabetical order:Francesco "Ciccio"
Rome, Italy
Ango 33 something
Ciccio is on here because we are engaged (kinda not really ish) I didn't actually meet him until very late in the exchange when he started hanging out with us all. This was the night we decided to get married, live in his apartment in Rome, and have 2 kids and adopt a bunch more (he wants 14 or so kids and I said 2 tops).

Fran
Mankato, Minnesota
Ango 207
Fran and I shared a bathroom and she is by far the funniest and nicest person I met in Rouen. She also has the best stories and needs to write a book or something because she would make billions. Seriously. Fran my life became a saying that is still used.

Jeanna
Palm Desert, California USA
Ango 211
Jeanna and Laine shared a bathroom and is a fellow member of team calpoly. She is one of my favorite people ever. We would randomly break into song together and dance in strange places. I didn't actually know Jeanna at calpoly though I met her when we arrived in Rouen. But now I will love her forever! Jeanna Nutella and Me.

There were of course a ton more people that were my friends in France and that I hung out with a lot, however these are the people I spent most of my time with and that needed to be on here to provide faces to go with all of the stories that I have told about them.

(If there are any clarifications or changes that need to be made please put them in the comment section at the bottom. I'm not 100% about all of the room numbers for one thing)

Go Team Rouen

GAHHH Travel and No sleep! This is just torture!

2010-01-12T07:33:00.007+01:00

Early in the morning we all had to get up and get ready for the LONG day of travel. I had to say goodbye to the family at the hotel because they were leaving out of Terminal 2 of CDG and I was out of Terminal 1. I took the next shuttle out of the hotel after the family, even though I wouldn't be able for 2 hours.

The shuttle ride was actually quite good. It was just myself and another girl. She was an Australian student going home to Melbourne from exchange in Lyon, France.

We get to the airport and find our flights and check in counters. I quickly realize my flight is one of two that is delayed. Crap. So I go and grab some breakfast at the cafe downstairs and then return upstairs and sit next to the counter that I will be allowed to check in at in 2 hours.

My favorite part was the awesome coffee ad next to me based on the mythical story of Romulus and Reamus. I felt very academic (or like a Jeopardy champ) since I knew what it was. Also there was this American man that stated quite loudly in front of his wife and children, who were only about 10 is, "WOW now that's an ad. I wonder what it's for!" I just giggled to myself

This is the line I really should have been sitting in but instead I decided to sit at the pillar so I would have something to lean against.

I'm Bored! Damn you delays!!!!

the airport was all Christmasy still. The inner section was made to look like a big snow globe (I was too tired to go get a photo sorry) But here is a red Christmas tree at one of the entrances as consolation!

I was so bored I thought this would be an interesting picture. Clearly the travel and lack of sleep has gone to my head.

FINALLY I make it into line about 15-20 mins before they start letting people through. I check in and have to beg the lady to let me have 2 small carry ons (one was my back pack with broken Fernando and the other was my school bag with Anna's vinyl)

I then, as directed, proceed quickly through security and to my gate. Where I then hang out for another 2 hours and text Finland and Poland (Anna and Magda) in a desperate attempt to keep from just running away and never returning home.

Here is the most depressed waiting area at a gate I have ever seen:

After a VERY long delay they start to board my flight and by board I mean manually check every passengers carry on luggage and then frisk/wand each person before heading to the breeze way. I was in section 3 seating meaning I was the penultimate female on the plane (they had more woman than men in the final boarding check area).

The flight itself had very strict rules. No under seat storage at all, everything must go overhead. No one can get out of their seat, there is no map, no blanket or pillows or electronics, no nothing for the first and last hour of the flight.

During the flight my stuff was stuffed into an overhead I was far to afraid of opening for fear everything would fall upon my head. So I didn't instead I watched Love Happens, Finding Nemo, half of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and 2 episodes of Mad Men.

When I arrived in Chicago it was the first time I had no problems with customs. Usually I get partially questioned before picking up my bags but this time it was a have a nice day ma'am. I was so glad. I was fighting REALLY hard to stay awake and fight through the need for sleep.

In Chicago I was supposed to have a 5 hour layover which was reduced to 3 when I was delayed leaving Paris then extended when it turned out my flight to Boise was delayed 30-45 mins. Balls.

In O'Hare I got some pizza and tea with ginsing (I REALLY want to sleep at this point) I also decided that it is ridiculous for my brother or dad to come and pick me up at the airport when they only get home an hour before me. So I make a few calls and arrange for one of my best friends, Keela, to come and pick me up instead.

While waiting in the airport I have a nice chat with a family from Caldwell trying to get a seat on the flight and an annoying man from god knows where traveling to Boise for a business trip. He really wasn't very pleasant and he was staring at my boobs which sleep deprived Lauren REALLY doesn't appreciate or want to deal with. Then annoying man was questioning me about Boise, school France etc. He really was trying hard to chat me up.

Finally we board the flight and I promptly buckle my seatbelt and pass out.

**insert 2 hours of bad sleep**

I awoke completely confused as to where I was and what was going on because a baby the next row up and over decided to make the most awful noise I have ever heard in my life. Imagine nails on a chalk board mixed with a screeching steam pipe mixed with a animal dying. I really can't explain in words how terrible it was.

That lasted the last hour of the flight.

We actually landed in Boise a bit early (I have no idea how) so I call keela and tell her to get ready and come meet me. I get off the plane and head towards baggage claim, where I see Trey McIntyre! I was so excited and the first thought in my head is "how do I look!?!" and then "Crap I look awful, I wonder if he recognizes me. No that's ridiculous, however he has seen some of my work, I wonder if he's coming home too or just picking that really hot guy up, damn he's probably gay. Just my luck..."

I have to explain that it is now 7-8 am in my bio clock so I am WIDE awake, but I am also really tired so the crazy, hyper, random Lauren comes out. As my friends would say the mental filter is removed and I say things I would normally never say let alone think, but I am so tired that it seems like a good idea when I say it.

Then I wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait and wait...you get the picture

I had to wait 40 mins for my baggage! that is kinda silly since the airport isn't that big and there were only 3 flights that had come in recently.

A little after midnight Boise local time I meet Keela out front of the airport (Trey is long gone by now) and I head home and try to sleep (I failed I slept from about 2 am to about 6 am). But I was home and had work to do! (unpack and then re pack)

Thus ends the great adventure of Lauren in France, for now at least (don't stop reading though I have a few more posts left by request of Dan)

PS Discotronic made it home fine and all the way to California as well

All I want is Euskadi for Christmas mom!

2010-01-10T02:07:00.039+01:00

On Tuesday December 22 after checking out of Ango and heading to Paris I took the metro over to Gare Montparnasse where I was to meet my family at the ticket office before getting on the train. I told them before I left them Saturday that just in case I can't get to Paris or don't meet them then they should just get on the train and go to Donostia without me.

Well I arrive just fine with a couple of hours to go before getting on the train and they aren't there, they still aren't there. So I walk around to a couple of the other ticket offices like the one for the metro. I still can't find them. Finally our platform number comes up and I had decided worst case Ontario I would meet them on the train. So I go and find our car and seats. they're not there. Panic mode begin... then out the window I see my mom walking around quite panicked and confused. I run to the open car door in the direction she walked and yell out. They all get on the train and I show them our seats. They had found a ticket office on the floor above that was not the one I meant. However we all made it and had a nice train ride through France ahead of us.

The train ride itself is about 5.5 hours from Paris to Hendaye then another half hour from Hendaye to Donostia on the Euskotren.

We finally arrived in a drizzly Donostia (San Sebastian for the non Basques) around 10:30pm and found our Hotel quicker than we had expected. Unfortunately the lady working the night shift did not speak any english so I had to act as translator. Then she got the owner on the phone who lived in New York for 6 years and speaks perfect english and she gave me the rest of the instructions in english.

We all promptly passed out of exhaustion in an ADORABLE pension (hotel) in Donostia. Not so bad, I think.

The next morning we awoke and were met by the owner's mother who lives upstairs and sometimes works in the office, Carmen (Marie Carmen). She doesn't really speak any English as well so she talked to me and then I would translate to the family. She recommended a couple of places for breakfast, we decided on the one by the cathedral in the heart of the city.

The day itself was rather gloomy but we had hope that it would get better, we were wrong.
After a wonderful breakfast of brioche a la plancha con marmalada (broche bread grilled and
smothered in marmalade) and cafe con leche we headed to the cathedral to take a couple of photos.

In the church there were these amazingly cute nativity scenes made by the children of the town

Here is the table for Mass in the Cathedral. Notice all the different languages, we went to the Basque service at 11 for Christmas.

After seeing the church we went for a walk around the city

then it started pouring rain and we decided to walk to the point and then run for cover in the local mall thing.

Matt, Matt the water rat!

We were being silly

the parents

In the mall was many very interesting stores like the Hello Kitty store and the Nerdy Live gamer store (for kids to make and play with D&D stuff) to a market in the basement.

After going to the market we went for lunch in a Lonley Plant recommended place and got some delicious traditional food.

kids in Europe still rollerblade, that's cool.

After passing out in the hotel for a bit we decided to go and eat some dinner Basque style meaning pintxo bars. This is where we met Leire the owner of the pension. She quickly became family for us. She lived 6 years in the US for high school and college. She speaks Spanish, Basque and English perfectly (maybe more I don't know). She is an advisor to the mayor of the city and works harder than anyone I know. The pension gave us a map with some recommended places to go, but first we went the long way along the beach.

The first place we went was a very local sort of place, my dad describes it as a Cheers bar where everyone seemed to know eachother. In these sorts of places they keep the cold pintxos on the bar and then you can order hot ones from the bartenders. The second place was a bit trendier but not really in a American definition of trendy.

I don't know what spawned this look but I find it funny

so did Matt

The next morning (Christmas Eve) we went to a more brasserie sort of place for breakfast and my coffee made a monster. I was excited.

The day was BEAUTIFUL! it was so warm we had to go back to the pension and take off some of our clothes. It was around 18 degrees Celsius.

This is Christmas Eve in Spain, Pelota on the Beach

And a morning swim

The symbol of Donostia

He was so over my paparazzi shenanigans

So I became artsy instead

All the families were dressed up in their traditional outfits these two kids were ridiculously cute!

We walked along the beach over to the statues on the point

Tiny Crab!!!!

This older woman had 3 roses that she threw in the water I'm guessing as a memorial or tradition or something. The whole day I saw people carrying the roses towards the water.

All the covers had the city symbol on them

Then we decided to see if the funicular was running so we could go to the top and take photos of the whole city.

My favorite was the Casa del Terror

after going to the top we went back down to the beach and walked in the sand and collected shells and rocks etc

We decided to go to the city center and eat a large meal since nothing would be open for dinner than night. Christmas Eve is a family day in Europe and EVERYTHING is closed.

They wear color in this country!!!!

Throughout the whole city there were people dancing and singing in traditional costumes

here are a couple of videos

We decided to go to a paella place for lunch since my mom had never had it.

I got some fish as part of my menu as the appetizer for my menu

then I got some chocolate cake for dessert (like Amatxi cake)

City hall

in front of the cathedral there were cute sheep and geese in pens. They were really cute

I love this little boy a lot I wanted to take him home cause he was so cute

That night we ended up hanging out with another family from the US, Arizona to be precise. It was a bit of a twilight zone moment, they were there with their daughter who had been studying in Madrid. She was 20 years old and they had a son who was 23 years old, like Matt. They had the reverse path though. They were going from Donostia to Paris and we were Paris to Donostia. Leire had left Champagne and treats for us. There was also a couple from France that were staying the night and I was laughing with them about the snow and how the French go on strike.

After everyone dispersed the two kids from the other family, Matt and myself decided to try and find a bar and grab some drinks. Unfortunately EVERYTHING was closed and it started raining so we headed back.

The next morning we ate some pastries we had picked up the afternoon before and went for a walk along the water.

That afternoon we had reservations at a restaurant in the old part. It turned out to be an 8 course meal! It was awesome except the caviar risotto, which would have been delicious except for the caviar. It took us 3 hours to eat all the food and we couldn't even finish it.

After the meal we went for a walk down to the water

You can't tell but there are surfers in the water. Now that is the way to spend Christmas

That night we skyped our family at home and watched Spanish television.

The next morning we headed back to Paris and grabbed a shuttle to the airport and then a shuttle to the hotel.

In the hotel we had a small picnic of food for dinner (there were no kebab shops near, which was sad since I was seriously craving a Kebab frites avec samurai). I was super antsy so I grabbed Matt and we went on an adventure in the hotel.

First we stopped by the front desk to ask for a corkscrew, delivered to our door was a screwdriver. Apparently there was a bit of a colloquial language barrier in effect here. Therefore we couldn't get the wine bottle open and I was doubly sad.

Sunday morning we parted ways in the hotel lobby and proceeded on our adventures home.

La Fin de la France

2010-01-07T03:12:00.020+01:00

On Sunday morning we congregated in Corey's room at 9:30 am for Breakfast. (*side note: we now = Anna Anniina, Adrian, Oliver, Corey, Magda and myself) Of course the only food we actually had was bacon, microwave curry rice, and some ham. But we also had Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas album, coffee, hot chocolate, photos/videos, and good friends (sorry that's really cheesey! but true.). So we made coffee, hot chocolate, and mochas for everyone and looked at photos and videos of our time in France. We then returned to our discussion of how we met everyone (The conversation actually started on the bus to dinner the weekend before). It was interesting to realize that a bunch of us had met a few times before really meeting. Perfect example is that I had met Dan and Corey at a party the school put on the second day we were there but I hadn't remembered that AT ALL. I thought I had met them for the first time on the Versailles trip. (Dan I really didn't blow you off at that party I swear!)

Anna made the most delicious bacon ever for everyone while we talked and laughed over all the stupid things we had done or said over the semester.

Around 10:30-11 we decided to finally head downtown for the lunch we'd been planning for over a week. Tytti was going to meet us there since she had been with her family the whole weekend so we separarted, showered and got ready for the day. I was helping Magda with her final moments of packing and forced Ciccio into making a video for her. After some time we all went on our way to stop by the train station and make sure Magda's train was for sure leaving (and they weren't on strike again).

Gare Rouen Rive Droite (Train Station Rouen Right Bank)
This was a Christmas display in one of the windows and the bear was moving his arm to scratch his chest.

This snowman was outside the restaurant we ate at. (Magda and Anniina)

I don't know where this came from or how she got it but I think Magda makes a good Santa
Oliver and Magda
Anniina and Adrian (Anniina looks surprised because Adrians making a normal face in a photo)
Anna and Tytti
Me and Corey (I make Corey smile pretty in photos with me )
Corey and Oliver

Corey Face!

my Tartiflette

my ice cream

Magda's Ile Flottante

Tarte tatain (upside down apple pie)

After lunch we all put Magda on her train and said our goodbyes. I followed through on my promise of being there to see her off and running along side of the train as it left.

After that the boys went home to do boy things I guess, I'm not really sure. the girls instead went to the christmas market to pick up a few last minute items for families and such and also our I heart rouen shirts. Anna and I got the last 2 shirts they had but they were men's larges so we wear them as dresses instead (which is good because Anna doesn't own pants anyways).

At the market we ran into Ciccio, Amine, Brian and Jordan who were headed to the big clock to climb up it and take the tour. Anna and I decided to join them (never mind I had a final the next morning I really needed to study for. Sorry mom). Tytti and Anniina decided to do some quick shopping and head home instead.

This is the view from inside the clock looking out on the main shopping street in Rouen

At the top of the clock there is a balcony with a view of the entire city

Here is the Cathedral

The clock mechanics
one of the bells

The city of Rouen

The coolest little apartment with an amazing garden

**insert studying here**

That night we all ordered pizza and watched Home Alone 1 and 2. Mid way through 2 the fire alarm went off (that was a first) so we kind of evacuated and then returned to our movie after the alarm was turned off (someone had accidentally leaned on the button). After the movie I went to bed at a very respectable time and got up in the mornign for my final.

**insert final here**

I literally had to run out of my final to catch Team Finland who was leaving that very moment. I was lucky though, because they had to stop and pick up Lotta and I caught them in one of the parking lots to say goodbye.

After that only Corey, Adrian and myself were left of our group of friends. So we three went for kebab in order to console ourselves.

I then returned to my room to begin the final stages of packing

I had to unplug my fridge so I had to put the last of my food on the window sill to keep it cold.

That night I made dinner for the boys with our left over food and we watched episodes of Band of Brothers and Trailer Park Boys. Then Corey and I watched Nightmare before Christmas, because he'd never seen it, I love it, and Adrian hates cartoons so he left.

After that it was snowing again so I went for a quick walk to the lookout point to say goodbye to my beloved Rouen

The next morning I finished cleaning and packing up my life and checked out of Ango with Fran and said goodbye to the last of my friends.

Then I headed to the train to meet my family in Paris to go to The Basque Country for Christmas. I was so excited and sad and emotionally drained at that point I took a couple of photos on the train and passed out for a bit.

In the red towel is Discotronic from Anna, it made it all the way to Euskadi and then to Idaho and then California in perfect condition! I was so excited

Next up, Euskadi with the fam

The City of Night life, I mean light and Magda's last night in France

2010-01-06T03:18:00.032+01:00

Friday December 18th:

It was checkout day for many of my friends which was really sad and depressing to watch Laine and Magda clean and pack up their lives. While they did that I stole Laine's computer for a couple of hours in order to organize everything for my parents and to a certain extent myself. I had a HUGE bag packed that I was taking to give to my parents so that when I met them Tuesday I would only have one large bag to take on the train and metros of Paris. (that bag is now dubbed The Beast for good reason).

I took the 3pm train with Tytti, Anniina, Oliver and Corey to Paris.

From the train we grabbed some Quick which is the French version of Mcdonalds. Then grabbed the metro to our hostel. Hostel Oops!. which is the first designer hostel in Paris, we ended up arriving WAY before everyone else so we decided to drop off our stuff and go ice skating at Hotel De Ville (which means city hall in French).

The roof was sparkling like the Eiffel Tower !

After skating for about an hour and a half we walked over to Notre Dame to see it at night

Just a couple of French tree huggers

After Notre Dame we called our friends since they had just arrived in Paris. They decided to drop their stuff off and eat near the hostel. Since we were so close to Saint Michel we chose to eat there then head back

We ended up going to a Gyro place on one of the main corners. We all got gyros with tzatziki sauce and ate in the back of the restaurant. When we were almost done eating all the sudden Corey gasps and makes a horrible spasm. I look to my right and see on the wall this cute little mouse crawling around the photos on the wall and behind the wall hangings.

To be honest the restaurants have their doors open all night to welcome/entice people to come in. They're in super old buildings that will most likely have mice in them. It's just not something you want to see while eating.

We then headed back to the hostel and on the way Corey wanted to get something from the local store so I went with him while the others went in to hang out with everyone who had arrived. (Basically 20-25 people from Ango stayed in Oops that night) On our way the store we saw this gem of a restaurant :

We're just wondering if they are speedy as a rabbit or sells rabbit pizza speedy

After hanging out at the hostel for a while we headed to Oberkampf in Paris to a bar that one of the French kids from our school was at. So we grabbed the metro over and on it was this nice accordian playing man in a Redskins jacket.

So we had a party on the metro

*insert bar here*
We had a raging good time and it was a proper send off for Laine, Justin, Dan and Jessica. I got home at about 4am and got up at about 4:45 in order to be at CDG by 7 am. (yes I got 45 mins of sleep that night)

One of the worst things about having an american credit card is that we don't have the chip thing in order to buy things from the automatic machines, and I didn't have 9 euros in coin so I had to illegally get to CDG because the windows weren't open for me to buy a ticket either. So I bought a ticket for the local metro in central Paris and then grabbed the RER train to CDG and when I got to CDG I threw my 20 kilo bag over a 6 foot high metro fence and then hopped over it myself. I literally don't know how I got that bag over. My dad can attest to what a feat that was.

From the airport I bought all of us tickets back to Paris (the windows were open then) and I took them to their hotel and promptly passed out on their hotel bed for an hour. I then checked in with my friends and figured out a plan for the day. I set up my parents with maps, metro tickets, how to buy more metro tickets, etc.

Then I took Matt (for those of you who don't know is my brother) to go meet my friends down on the Champs Elysees to go to the Christmas market and see a bit of Paris.

We met Oliver, Anna, Anniina, Magda and Corey outside the disney store and walked to the market.

See proof he his in Paris!

mmmmm Tartiflette
souble mmmmmm pan full of meat and onions

Cute cow from the "real" nativity scene

everything was covered in chocolate!

Cute sibling photo thanks to Magda

After the Christmas market and the Arc (and a quick stop at McDonalds so everyone could eat except Matt and myself) Corey really wanted to go see Saint Chapelle which is in the palace of justice near Notre Dame.

In order to see the church we had to go through metal detector where Corey got in trouble for having a cork screw in his backpack that he had to go check at the desk.

The church was really impressive because it was all stained glass

unfortunately the most impressive part was under renovation/maintenance so it was all behind scaffolding
But I took a photo of the display photo

the floor was really neat

Holy Crap mom! Matt's in a church! I have proof!

Matt wanted this photo

My new eurotrash haircut

After the church we went and did a touch of shopping where I bought some prints of Paris for my mom for Christmas. Then I took Matt back to the parental unit and said my goodbyes for the next couple of days

Then I was off to Saint Michel for dinner with Team Finland (sans Tytti) Magda and Corey

1st course Moules in white wine sauce
main course boeuf bourguignon

Corey Face!

She was the healthy one and got fruit

We got chocolate crepes

After dinner we RAN to Gare St Lazare to get our train back to Rouen. Unfortunately when we got back we had forgotten that the buses were on strike that day and there was a HUGE line for the taxis. so we went and got something to drink and some snacks for the taxi line.

When we got back we all decided to hang out and have a going away party for Magda who was leaving the next afternoon.

Somehow Anniina got Amine's cowboy hat and wore it all night

Francesco also dressed up in a costume
Finland!

The Girls (Tytti was with her family)

My besties

Everyone decided to dress up

I decided that it was a good idea to go for a walk so we did!

Corey was cold so he wrapped his scarf around his head like a turban

Corey FACE

Rouen
Corey and Me
Me and Magda!

Corey tackled Anna who was tackled by Anniina then Magda then Adrian

I love these people!

We drew messages in the snow on the cars for people

After the walk we Magda and I hijacked Adrian's tricycle and the no smoking sign we found on the floor and rode around the hallway

I'm sorry officer I didn't meant to speed
my room, photo thanks to Magda
That was pretty much the end of the night, next entry farewell breakfast and lunch The Big Clock (Le Gros Horloge)

SNOW!!!!!! in France = Strike

2010-01-06T02:56:00.004+01:00

On Thursday December 17th we awoke to snow. This was the first time that several of my friends had ever legitimately seen snow. France is also not a country accustomed to snow and it's snowy ways. Therefore the trains didn't run, the buses went on strike, and the taxis went on strike. Basically all transport stopped and the country as a whole freaked out. It was entertaining until we realized we were stuck in Mont Saint Aignan and people might miss flights home. Then proctors stopped coming to the school and finals started getting postponed. This just kept going from bad to worse.

I was supposed to leave the next morning to go to Paris with all my friends and then pick my family up from the airport. I was hoping all factors would go my way. But then I remembered that I was in France and everything works out in the end in France, seriously.

Thursday night a bunch of us tried to go downtown. A handful magically got a cab, a couple walked, but most of us had a huge snowball fight and then went back to Ango to hang out until the wee hours.

Here are some photos from that morning:

Secret Santa

2010-01-02T06:52:00.008+01:00

Laine decided it was a good idea, and everyone else agreed, to do a Secret Santa amongst our close group of friends. We all drew names and had like a week to get a gift between 10-15 euros. It couldn't be food or alcohol since it was supposed to be something we could take home and remember.

I drew Dan

Immediately I thought oh paska what am I going to get him!?! He's not the easiest person to buy a gift for. Corey get him something music related or Arnold Schwarzenegger. Anna buy vinyl, etc. But Dan (Dan if you are reading this I seriously thought about what to do for you for like a week straight)

Finally I decided to make him something he could take home and keep forever (or not). I thought about how much fun I have collecting weird things like receipts and train tickets etc. So I thought I'd make him a collage of stuff from France and a christmas card type thing that everyone can sign for him.

So early Sunday morning in the fridged cold and walked to maxi coop which is the only store open on Sunday and even then it's only open from 9-12am. I bought a ton of supplies and a picture frame and then spent the next 2 hours or so crafting until my heart was content.

I made this tree out of a green plastic folder for school papers. I layered 3 pieced of plastic and used scissors to texture them then I split gold ribbon into tiny strips and then colored paper and cut it out into red ornaments.

This is a mock-up of the collage that I used for placement, so I could move things around and figure out how I wanted to lay it out.

I created quite a mess

But the final products turned out really well so I'm happy. (I just wish I had, had better glue for it. I'm sorry Dan if it started falling apart on you!)

I used the same plastic folders to make the RBS school logo. I drew the logo on paper then stenciled it onto the plastic.

That night we decided to have a big group dinner all together one last time before finals started and everyone began heading home. We went to this restaurant in downtown Rouen with VERY French food. It was delicious!

Here is Tytti and Anniina's escargot, it was really good:

Corey's rabbit pate which was not as good, but not bad:

I think I deserve an award I got a nice photo of Corey without his "Corey Face"

My dinner was lamb and fries which was good but just not as good as the lamb from Epi's, sorry France the Basques are just better

Tytti's MONDO salad, seriously it was the size of my head.

Anniina with her huge salad

The boys minus Corey, who sat across from me, and Adrian who was a butt face and didn't come
All in all the food was rockin and the friends were even better. After dinner we headed back to Dan's room and exchanged gifts (minus Adrian who was still being a butt face). We went in alphabetical order so Anna started. Anna had me!

Anna is my bestest friend EVER because she go me the most amazing vinyl record called The Masterplan by Discotronic, and a beautiful hand painted pin.

then it was my turn and I gave Dan his gift. Then Dan gave a cute cat clock to Tytti who gave a photo collage to Magda (which is SO fitting since Magda is the Queen of takign photos). Then Magda gave cooking mitts (I think I'm not 100% on this one, Dan you read this clarification please) to Justin who gave a poster we all signed to Adrian who gave wine to Corey who gave AC/DC on vinyl to Anna. Which makes a circle so we moved to Anniina who is next in the alphabet.

Anniina gave a book in French to Oliver who gave a decorated box with a hat in it to Laine who gave slipper socks and socks to Anniina. Which makes another full circle and finishes the gift giving.

It was SO much fun I can't even explain it, everyone got really fitting gifts for everyone else.

That was my best secret santa experience ever.

Rouen's Christmas Market

2010-01-02T06:28:00.006+01:00

All of Rouen was decorated starting in late November in Christmas decorations it was quite beautiful and cheery since the weather was VERY cold.

Chocolate Pere Noels! they were too cute I couldn't not take a photo of them.

In almost every town, no matter how big or small, in Europe there is a Christmas market with local street foods and stalls with small trinkets and art for sale. Rouen's was in front of the Cathedral in a small square.

2 of the most popular stands were the lightup Santa hats and the I heart Rouen shirts

Yeah there was a Canadian tipi

It was seriously like Canada ville in the Christmas Market this photo is all maple syrup

There was even a Montreal booth

The cool French thing to do here is drink warm spiced wine while you wander the market (in French it is Vin Chaud pronounced like van show but cut off the n on van like you have a cold)

This guy was my new best friend he made me a fresh crepe avec nutella that was amazing!

do not get confused by this photo Gaufre is a waffle and the round things are beignets and the random person hand's are holding a crepe

I love the Christmas market, we went every couple days just to wander and shop for Christmas

Twilight - Dame Cakes - Highlands - Tex Mex Night

2010-01-02T05:45:00.014+01:00

Ok so technically I am back in the US now (currently in a hotel in Sparks, Nevada) but I will continue updating my blog to the end of the trip now that I have a laptop to do it. Never fear I didn't forget about my blog I just haven't had time to work on it. But now I do, sort of.

Okay on November 23 Anna Anniina, Tytti, Magda, Corey, Justin and I went to the new Twilight movie New Moon. We saw it in English (with French subtitles) and had a roaring good time making very inappropriate and ridiculous comments throughout the whole of the film (and much of the night following the film, in fact we still quote it quite often to each other). After the movie we went to Kebab at our favorite place Chez Wham! Walking to the bus I happened upon this treasure of an advertisement. It is half man half evil elf.

It is the up close that really scared me!

At the other bus stop we decided to take a photo with the random ruin in the middle of Rouen. To quote Laine "hey look it's old, let's take a photo with it!"

We are very silly!

On November 26th Laine, Magda, and I went to downtown Rouen to shop for christmas a bit and get some real coffee (80 cent Russian instant coffee was driving me crazy!). On our little walk we ran into this cute little tea house / bakery (It's Rick Steves recommended as I later found out)

the three of us split this epic brownie that I would have sold my mother for (sorry mom it's true)

We had a lovely afternoon all in all. I love my ladies!

***Instert Chateau de la Loire trip here***

On December 9th a large group of us decided to go downtown to Highlands an Irish pub in Rouen for a last night out before Finals and everyone started leaving.

Here are the girls in my wonderful group of friends - Note I am the ONLY brunette -

Me, Tytti, Laine, Anna, Magda, and Anniina (from left to right)

At one point we aquired Steve's sunglasses by way of Amine

This is Justin's most epic photobomb ever

Anna and Ciccio

Here is Ciccio on the bus trying to explain to me (in Spanish even though he is Italian) that he was not hitting on that French girl and that I am his one true love and that his heart is mine. It was cute because the girl had no idea who we were or what was going on, poor thing.

Dan and me on the bus
Anniina and Tytti

On December 10th before a Soiree put on by my school Anna organized a Tex Mex food night. I made quesadillas! Corey with a manly taco!
They were so mad I took photos while they were actually eating

ignore Tytti's crazy outfit the party theme that night was monsters and co. so vampires, zombies etc.

3 Castles, 2 Days, 1 Party...Chateau de la Loire

2009-12-09T13:59:00.049+01:00

At Rouen Business School there is a club you could say called Culture Connection Co. that takes care and entertains us international students. They are often the ones to put on the soirees, organized dinners, and events for students. The international program here is called Erasmus. One of the things that the club does is put on trips to "local" places in France for students to see and tour for a low price. The first trip was to Mont Saint Michel (which I wasn't able to attend) the next trip is Chateau de la Loire (castles of the Loire valley in France). The final trip will be to Amsterdam near Christmas time, which for obvious reasons I will not be attending.

The trip was for the weekend of November 28/29 it was advertised as 3 castles, 2 days, 1 party. For 99 euro you got entrance to 3 castles, a night in a hostel, wine tasting, a party, food, and transportation. That's pretty dang good!

So Friday night was the Latin American food night which was a little rowdy and caused us to lose the common room again. So that is now closed for the year. Awesome. So I was up pretty late. Then I over slept a little and let's just say I was a bit of a hot mess in the morning. I turned off my computer which decided to run updates before shutting down (many of you know the end of that story) Then luckily my friend helped me and I drank orange juice and ate yogurt on my way to the bus pick up point. On top of it all it was raining, and I don't own and umbrella, had no hood, and forgot my hat. So I am wet, cold, and very pathetic.

Then of course this being France the bus was late and we were standing out in the rain for sometime huddled under a tree in front of the school waiting and hoping it would arrive soon or we all got out of bed way too soon.

Finally it arrived and our 5 hour bus ride was underway. Unfortunately the bus driver had some sort of secret hate for us and decided at first there would be NO heat on the bus, then after our first stop he decided to turn it on full blast (which is how it stayed the rest of the trip)

On the bus we all chose rooms and roommates for the night. I got into a 3 person room with Laine and Magda. The only room with the possibility of being cooler was the boy's room with Francesco, Adrian (right there you know it's going to be crazy), Dan, Corey, and Justin.

After 5 hours of in and out of consciousness and some crazy facts provided by Boyd's iphone we arrived at the first castle. Chateau Chenonceau. It was a bit of a dreary day but we were all so happy to be off the sauna of a bus it didn't matter. Some of us started at the Maze (or Labyrinth depending on what language) and others headed on to the castle.

In the maze there were huge puddles everywhere so it was more a game of avoid getting muddy and wet than finding the best path to the center and back. At one point one of the boys decided to hide in the bushes in order to scare Francesco our new Italian friend.

Francesco is in white under the arch. Britti is hiding int the outer hedge waiting...

Eventually we subdued our childish antics and walked to the actual castle which was on the water (literally on the water)

I wanted to go in here it looked like a chapel or something but that wasn't allowed, I was bummed

here is the chapel in the castle

I have to warn you know I gained a slight obsession with the windows in all of the castles and there are LOADS of photos of windows and through windows. I limited myself to only putting the best ones up here.

The view from the library:

This was a bookcase in one of the bedrooms. I think I need one like this sine I always seem to run out of space for my books at home.

Here is a view of the part of the castle that is over the water

All of the castles had Christmas decorations up some were more subtle than others this particular castle had very simple decorations upstairs but in the servants quarters they had an entire table decorated

The floor was beautiful in this castle

This was my favorite room but I can't remember which one it was

I fell in love with this bust on the cab the window

This was the exhibition room which were simply for the purpose of displaying some of the Queen's favorite art.

The ceiling of the chapel

This is the basement where the servant's quarters are and the kitchen

The servant bells

The servant's dining room

There was a butchery in the basement as well. Here is a butcher table

the floor in the entrance hall

After seeing the castle we still had a little time before heading back to the bus. It was still drizzling rain but we wanted to see the donkeys before heading back. They were really cute and kept coming up to the fence and licking it.

After the first castle we went to a Winery with caves near Tour. It was a very small local type winery that only sell locally from what I could tell. Here is the machine where they label the bottles and seal the corks.

The Caves, which they don't really use anymore however this woman's great grandfather built them and they were used until the 70s I believe.

After the tour was time for the wine. Here is everything you need for classy wine tasting: delicious goat cheese (yeah I actually loved a cheese!) spittoon, and water

we tried 4 types of wine, a white (which was amazing!) a rose (pictured) and 2 reds.

Magda and Laine

Post tasting we went to the hostel to get a quick nap/refresher in. To be honest I have no idea what town we were in or where we were in France that night. I know that it was relatively close to the second castle but that's it. I don't know the name of the hostel or town or anything.

In the hostel was this poster of the first castle

At the hostel we had dinner in their restaurant and then got ready for a party in the basement where craziness broke out in every form. Here are a select number of photos from the fiesta.

Francesco

Anniina and Laine

Corey

Francesco, Juliana and I can't remember the other girl's name (I know that's really bad)

Fran and her new best friends (email me if you want the whole story here and more photos! seriously it's a good one)

the dance floor

Magda and Me (Britti was cropped out of this copy)

The next morning we got up, ate breakfast, and checked out of the hostel, and headed to castle number 2.

Chateau Blois

Before entering the Chateau we looked around outside first like this cool church across the street

This is the entrance to the castle

Here is overlooking the town and the church next door

This photos is for Matt: MF Doom anyone?
Another church next to the castle (the bells were ringing when I took this)

Finally we made it inside and got a quick history from a tour guide about the castle.

Inside the castel was basically a museum/art gallery, which I thoroghly enjoyed and wished we had more time to actually explore and look at. But we were running late that morning so we had to rush through the whole castle.

This is my new boyfriend, he's very regal and classy I think. As Amine said he has a lot of bling which is good.

The boys the morning after: Britti looks surprisingly alert, Amine is Amine, and Brian looks like he's hurting

The Calpoly girls triumph onward though!

Corey and Amine (Oh Canada)

This was a HUGE hall where in this photo I could only capture about 1/3 of it

They also had a museum of the ruins and sculptures that are no longer up or on display.

This is the inside of those crazy stairs

They also had a modern exhibit in one of the wings. It was a photographer who took photos of different people's feet from babies to older people, manual laborers to office workers. I walked in one room and knew immediately - Dancer!

I also loved some of the paintings and sculptures however whoever designed the lighting in the galleries should be fired because it was awful there was so much glare you could never get a good look at the entire painting. I was thoroughly irritated.

They also had a display of royal shoes

Ok here is my new favorite sculpture (ok it's a tie with Rodin's kiss and a lot of others but I like this one A LOT)

I also knew immediately this was a sculpture of a dancer, I'm really quite pathetic but I don't care

Here is the inner courtyard

Then we headed over to the look out and began being childish again

All of us gained a love for tiny doors this weekend as well, there has to be hundreds of photos of all of us in tiny doors acting silly.

The chapel
After Chateau Blois we headed towards the final castle, Chateau Chambord. Before heading in though we had a nice picnic lunch in the freezing cold rain, crammed under some gazebos. The food was sandwiches, baguettes, cheese, chips, clementines and cookies. Nothing really to warm the soul (or body for that matter).

Finally it stopped raining and we headed to the castle.

The gardens were beautiful and I'm sure on a nicer day with more time we would have walked along the paths but it was not the day for it.
The castle was sllightly decorated for Christmas and had these amazingly rugged looking trees all over.

One of my favorite wall hangings were these golden deer with real antlers attached

The chandeliers were beautiful and created an epic lighting in the rooms
there was also a central stairwell that centered around this hole. I don't know how to describe it but it reminds me of that scene in the little mermaid where she swims up the long tunnel sort of thing in her place of treasures. It felt kind of like that

more window shots

This was the chapel and it was very basic and bare, with just the stained glass windows as decoration. you could tell they had removed at some point all the frescos and paintings that once adorned the chapel. It looked almost like it had been sterilized of all emotion and drama.

The little girl was petting the big beasts it was really cute
The roof of Chateau Chambord was by far the best part of the entire trip in my opinion. I never wanted to come down, it was so dramatic and beautiful. I kept imagining what it had been like back in its glory days.

This is Fran my bathroom mate from Minnesota and Adrian the Australian
and this is what we like to call a photo bomb (thanks Britti that's 2 of my photos you've bombed)

The Boys: Luis (from culture connection), Vladie, Corey, Oliver, I don't know (he's polish I believe), Dan, and Brent.
A water spout on the roof
The grounds
looking down the pit
another tiny door photo
playing in the ruins
One of the courtyards of the castle
The end of the trip, yes Adrian is number 1

The trip back was very long and hot (the heat was all the way on again) and we begged and pleaded with the driver to let us stop at a station. Then the one he chose, the girl's bathroom was closed so we were forced to use the boys (that was interesting) one of the stalls looks like this:

We're not really sure what it's for but it was curious looking so I took a photo.

We got back home around 9pm and I promptly went to turn on my laptop to check email upload photos etc. and it decided to not start up properly and make horrible beeping noises at me. So now it is broken and all the people I've taken it to and the things I've tried haven't worked out. Now I am a computer mooch and I borrow all of my friends' computers whenever I can. It's a little sad but oh well.

Fun facts about:

I have been proposed to 2 times in 3 days by an Italian and a Canadian (I haven't decided whether I'll accept or not)
there was an open mic night at a pub the other night that was a lot of fun
another soiree put on by my school is tomorrow the theme is monsters and scary things, it's in french and doesn't really translate well. Basically it's stuff like vampires, zombies, werewolves, etc
Lykke Li is awesome and I love the remixes of her song Dance Dance Dance
We're doing a secret santa and I have a really hard person to shop for
The Christmas fair began and I've already been like 3-4 times
I am finally reading my fall Hemingway (I usually read him in November but Wicked took me a while) so now I'm on For Whom the Bell Tolls which is my first time reading
I'm done with classes!!!! I only have 2 finals, on the 16th and 21st.
I'm spending the night of the 18th in Paris with all my friends at a hostel called Oops before we all go our separate ways basically
Finnish independence day was last week and there was a small party on the 4th floor (since the common room is closed again)
Finns drink cider-ed everything like blueberry cider and pear cider I want to try these
I hate Christmas shopping I am a terrible present giver, I never seem to get people the right stuff.
Insomnia sucks
please email me or comment I get lonely without a computer so when I check things I feel REALLY happy when I have email and such waiting for me.

ok that is the end I will update again soon with Christmas market photos and such

Computer Broken!

2009-12-07T12:28:00.002+01:00

so my laptop decided not to work when I got back from La Loire Valley so I've been borrowing friends and the schools however! I do have an external hard drive (my savior) that I can patch photos through so keep calm and carry on! the blogging will continue don't worry. Hopefully I can get a couple up in the next couple of days.

here is a photo from the trip I think you all will enjoy

I think that's pretty ok

2009-11-24T13:10:00.006+01:00

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

2009-11-20T13:55:00.005+01:00

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

2009-11-14T16:22:00.012+01:00

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!

2009-11-03T13:24:00.054+01:00

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.

Amsterdam and Brussels is up!

2009-10-31T11:46:00.000+01:00

scroll down on the home page and you can finally see the Amsterdam/Brussels post I've been working on for almost 2 weeks

PS I figured out how to add video so I'll post a few from previous trips as well

Versailles:

London, Portobello Road performers:

Paris Pompadour Center Performer

Rouen street Performers

Amsterdam-Brussels-Naples

2009-10-25T11:50:00.000+01:00

ok so French internet didn't allow me to upload the photos for Amsterdam and Brussels before I left for Italy so just know that when I return there will be massive amounts of postings.

Right now I'm in just outside of Naples, staying with Caitlin's family who have so graciously given me a couch to sleep on. I made it here safe on Thursday (I barely made it) after a 5 hour delay in CDG airport in Paris and a rush for the shuttle and in Rome and the Train to Napoli. Let's just say I went to bed Wednesday night at 2:30 am got up Thursday at 5 am and arrived at Lori and Michael's house at 10:30pm I only slept on the train from Rouen to Paris and the plane from Paris to Rome so I gathered roughly 6.5 hours of sleep. It was rough to say the least.

I'll try to give a few updates while I'm here but all of you reading this will have to wait until I return to Rouen next Thursday to get the stories from my last 2 trips.

Appelbollen + Kroketten + Frites avec mayo + Gaufres = Amsterdam and Brussels

2009-10-20T14:09:00.000+02:00

Finally the trip to Amsterdam and Brussels! Laine and I don't have class on Thursdays and Fridays so we decided to go to Amsterdam and then meet all the rest of our friends in Brussels on Saturday morning.

Here we are Thursday morning in Paris Gare Nord trying to stay warm

I love the giant reader boards in Europe and watching people watch them. Especially when a platform number comes up and everyone scrambles to get there first

I entertained myself quite well if I do say so myself. I've decided to become a street performer in order to make money for my kebab fund, here I was writing down song lyrics

The view from the train was AMAZING, no seriously it was

AMSTERDAM! We got off the train and found a bus that went to our hostel
We were very happy

The bus ride was beautiful

After checking in to our Hostel we went to find food and see a bit of Amsterdam, we had arrived late since our train had to make an emergcency stop for a sick passenger

Kroket is a dutch food that is essentially meat, gravy, veggies, and spices, breaded and deep fat fried, it is amazing and comes out of these wall vending machines at a restaurant called Febo

This was attached to the train station construction wall, it is one of my favorite graffiti artists Shepard Fairy and his brand Obey. I took lots of photos I was so excited

The train station

That evening we hung out in Chinatown (a block over from the red light which we missed entirely that day)

We got dinner at a supermarket called ah, we both got a pasta salad sort of thing. Laine and I love to go into supermarkets and see what local people actually eat. It's really fun to see what's different from country to country and what is universal.

This is the view from where we ate dinner

Painted elephant!

There was some sort of Carnival type thing going on in Dam square while we were there, I'm not sure if it's always there or if it was a special thing.

Our hostel was awesome, it was a nice hotel turned into a youth hostel and the breakfasts were amazing. They had a legitimate espresso machine!

waiting for the tram to take us to the Van Gogh museum

The Van Gogh museum was one of the most amazing EVER we saw so many pieces. They also had loads of his letters that he wrote to his brother Theo. In many of the letters were sketchs of paintings he was working on or considering creating. They were amazing for someone with no formal training.

We had Shoarma and frites for lunch

The Anne Frank museum was astounding, we made reservations a day before so we could skip the line and go straight in (if you go do this! you can buy tickets at the train station in the tourist office). I'm still at a loss for everything I saw but it is a life experience I won't soon forget.

The painted elephants were all over Amsterdam and each had a name and theme here are 2 of my favorite that were in front of the church next to the Anne Frank House

The museum and warehouse/annex

The warehouse with the Annex is the one with the black doors in the middle

the canal next to the Anne Frank Annex

IF you want to know more about Anne Frank or the experience please email me and ask because I don't even know where to start in the blog so I won't. (I believe you can email me through my blog)

This is appelbollen my new obsession and possibly greatest love. Above on the left is my appelbollen and on the right is Laine's bananabollen that we both decided sucked in comparison of the mighty appelbollen. Seriously if I could marry a food it would be appelbollen

waiting for the bus to the train station we were caught in a sudden downpour

leaving Amsterdam I got the cliche windmill photo while on the bus to the train station

We grabbed a train from Amsterdam to Brussels where we met Jeanna and the Canadian girls: Kirsten, Laurel, Heather, and Leslie.

The first order of business in Brussels was frites and waffles (waffles are known as gaufres). I ordered my frites in the traditional way with mayo

They were really stinking delicious and I couldn't wait for Jeanna to take the photo

take 2 went much better
half of us got frites

and half of us got waffles

after waffles we went to the main square to see all the historic buildings

I don't know what this is but people were rubbing it for luck or something so I did too

here is a nice photo of a street performer in a sudden downpour

we went to the little peeing boy statue that Brussels is famous for and found a giant chocolate sculpture of him as well

apparently they like to dress him up, I heard that they have some 900 costumes for him

their street food is a little different from ours

This was parked outside of the church

This was across the street from the church

Jeanna and I met this really nice Polish skater living in Brussels and he let Jeanna ride his board a little. The other girls thought we were weird since we wanted to see the skate park more than the church.

I'm going to be honest and say I have no idea what the name of this church is

silly photo in a random ruin in Brussels

the best Belgian chocolate in Brussels according to a woman we met born and raised there

These are taken at a look out point next to the Palace of Justice

For dad

This was one of several HUGE tapestries in the metro station of all places it was really impressive to say the least

the California girls and snow we have no idea how it got there but there was a random pile of it in the street. After this photo was taken we proceeded to have a "snowball fight"

our breakfast room at the hostel

After checking out of the hostel we walked outside and were greeted by this sight

Triumph TR4-A, not to brag but I knew exactly what it was without even having to look at the back. It helps that this is one of my favorite models

The Royal Palace

These statues were everywhere so Jeanna and I had to goof off a little

Arc de Triumph

The BEST waffle I have ever had, reason: made from dough not batter! (for recipes just google "gaufre")

EU headquarters

Parliament building

It really felt like fall

there was these AWESOME lounge chairs in front of this random church in downtown Brussels

Oh GustavKilmt you amaze me

These are some of the closest things to holy I have ever eaten!

the most amazing truffles I have EVER eaten! for serious

I love chocolate!!!

The sad train ride home:

Update!!!!! I'm not being deported....

2009-10-14T12:35:00.001+02:00

So here is a quick update on my life (I know all 5 of you reading this are dying to hear from me) I passed my medical exams and I am not being deported!!!! I got a cool sticker thing in my passport and everything. I also got to keep my x-ray which is really cool looking I'm trying to find a way to hang it up in my room (I was thinking the window?)

I'm headed to Amsterdam and Brussels tomorrow and I bought my plane tickets to Italy for my big break this morning and I am officially broke, no seriously. I'm just lucky that I'm being hosted by a family in Italy so I am saving hundreds of dollars on housing for the week. (Thank you Smiths and Maulins!!!!!!!)

I've been socializing A TON this past week since classes keep getting canceled for everyone, crazy frenchies. Last weekend the spaniards had a house soiree in downtown Rouen that was really fun. (I made lots of friends at the doctors too, a couple Brazilians mostly) Then last night I watched a movie with Team Finland and Dan and Corey D from Canada. (there are 2 canadian Coreys and 3 Dans but only one is from Canada)

It is realy awesome here that I can go out and socialize and not drink and no one judges you (except for a few jerky Canadians that I am not friends with i.e. not Dan and Corey D). Here the point is to go out and meet people, I love it I can hang out and not have to spend any money but have a great time. I have also been adopted by Team Finland which I'm super excited about since they are the coolest people in the world (literally I know people from all over the world now). Jeanna and I have made friends with this really attractive guy that works at a Kebab stand and every time we walk by we always say hello and have a quick chat with him. I love it here. Sorry I'm rambling as usual.

Yesterday Laine and I went out in Mont Saint Aignan and took a bunch of photos (350 to be precise) of me dancing for her photo minor portfolio which is due Friday. I will attach the best at the end of this post no worries. Tonight Tytti, Anniina, Laine, Jeanna and I are having our cake and champagne party basically to celebrate being girly. I'm pretty excited.

So to sum up this lovely post (it's quit spastic in reality) in a truly random fashion here are photos

This dress was only 5 pounds and I look so tall and skinny here, I'd say that was 5 quid well spent!

right before this was taken a random french guy yelled at me that I was magnificent (in french of course)

This makes my extension look way better than it actually is

No photos, please

Do you like my iguana tongue?

The branch my hands are holding onto was starting to pull apart at that moment it was a little scary... I was just hoping it would hold so we could get the shot, it did

French men, surprise doctors, and train tickets

2009-10-08T11:23:00.000+02:00

Let me stsrt by saying that I love France, I do not, however, love French men. I have had too many incidents now where I have been solicited for sex, marriage, and a make out. The French men are ten times worse than the Italian or Spanish in this area. They are flat out overwhelmingly creepy. My friends and I have created safety words and fake names that if we hear any of them we immediately know to get out of the situation. My fake name is Gabriella and if I want rhubarb pie it's not because I'm hungry.

There are lots of cool French guys at the school but it seems whenever we go out or are sitting a a bus stop we attract the flat out weirdos. It doesn't help that my friend Jeanna is gorgeous and ridiculously nice, so the men (literally) flock to her. I love France but I have to say I'm excited for home when I can walk down the street in the middle of the afternoon and not get hit on by ever man in a five foot radius.

Secondly I found out last Wednesday that in order to validate my Visa I have to have a check up with a French doctor (every none EU foreign student has to do this) So today I have to go and get chest x rays and tomorrow I have an appointment with a general practitioner in order to have blood pressure taken, they'll listen to my heart and lungs, and go over my medical history, etc. Jeanna has already completed both appointments so luckily I know where I'm going and what to expect, which is nice.

Tonight there is a HUGE party that the school is putting on with shuttle service and an open bar, but I'm not going A because it cost 17 euro and I can't justify that because I would have one drink maybe two over the course of the evening and I have an unlimited local bus/metro pass. B I have my second doctor appointment at 9 am tomorrow and I don't want to be tired or get sick from lack of sleep etc. So I have no plans for tonight because practically everyone I know is going but that's ok I'm resourceful and I'll find something awesome to do.

Yesterday myself, Laine, Jeanna, and four Canadian grils all bought our train tickets for next weekend's trip. Laine and I are going to Amsterdam for 2 days (we don't have class thursday/friday) and we are meeting everyone else in Brussels for the weekend. I'm really excited to see both places it's going to be awesome. We got some great deals on Hostels and train tickets as well.

I have also pretty much decided to go to Italy for the big break and I might stay with a friend's family in Naples and meet up with other students in Rome. The Finnish girls Tytti and Anniina will be in Rome for some time and I LOVE hanging out with them. (Tytti said I could stay with her whenever I'm in Finland all I need is a toothbrush) Before the big break Tytti, Anniina, Laine, Jeanna, and I are having a French cake and champagne party where we each will bring a different type of french cake/tart and a bottle of champagne and share. It will be an uber girly night.

It has rained here everyday for the last week and we are starting to get antsy and cranky (California girls don't do well without sun, especially Jeanna). I have my first midterm monday in International Economics but I'm not worried because it is all review so far of what I learned in my econ classes at calpoly, and it's multiple choice. I'm going to be studying quite a bit for the next few days though (like today at the doctor while I wait).

I'm sure I have more to tell everyone but I can't think of it.

For Kirsten (an whoever else is interested) my current obsessions:
The Dead Weather
The Kills
Alison Mosshart and her hair (yes I am aware she is part of the first 2 on the list as well)
French pastries
Samurai sauce on Kebabs and Frites
my "sexy pink" perfume from pimkie
mad men
my bright yellow scarf
pesto pasta
DUPLO!!!!! (better than any american candy bar by far)

French Zen for the day:
Park in downtown Rouen

Seminar: les résultats finaux

2009-10-03T19:41:00.000+02:00

ok so The canadian never showed up so the final group borrowed a boy from my group to play Jordan's part. Their's was call How I met your UNESCO and it was based off a favorite show of mine - how I met your mother. It was really cute but not the best, though neither was out group's.

That afternoon we had a big assembly with 8 groups presenting their best presentations it was a little entertaining/informative but long and sometimes unbearably dull. In the end we had to as sections vote for the best team who would then win a prize for the section. Guess what...my team won and the prize, this being France and all, was Champagne. However it was 6 bottles for 30 people and I didn't want to wait around while the French tried to figure out how to divvy it up. I was just satisfied with the bragging rights. Now I have to write a 500 word essay on what I learned from the seminar.

Tomorrow everyone is going to the castle Mont Saint Michael, unfortunately I didn't sign up in time so I have the day to myself. I wish I could have gone but it's my own fault I guess but I will do some needed chores, i.e. laundry, homework, cleaning, shopping, and catching up on emailing and journaling.

Bonsoir

Cross Cultural Seminar

2009-10-03T11:24:00.000+02:00

I'm afraid I don't have any photos to make this post as snappy as the rest but too bad for once you'll just have to actually read what I write.

Ok I am taking this Cross Cultural seminar this weekend (Oct1-3) for my cross cultural class. As they say in France it was Compulsory for students taking that class. The seminar is unlike anything I've seen in the US. We had some reading to do on a specific subject according to our given section. My subject is UNESCO and specifically their cultural policies.

On Thursday afternoon we attended an opening speech/lecture and were sent to our groups where we took a quiz on the reading and the opening lecture. After that we realized that the majority of students there were french and there were only 5 international students. So the professor decided to interrogate us one at a time. I was first. I had to say my name, where I was from, what classes I was taking, how long I was going to be in france, if I had any culture shock, etc etc etc

Then we met in small groups within our sections to create a presentation for saturday morning based upon the reading. There was no rules other than it had to be based on the reading. No time limit, suggested style, etc. We had one hour to come up with something.

I was paired with 7 french students who wanted to speak french to each other (duh) but I don't speak french so it was REALLY awkward. They told me that growing up in school they never do group projects or think creatively so it was my job to come up with ideas. They decided on a quiz show idea (I tried to steer them elsewhere since it is so overdone) However once the french have decided there is no changing it.

Friday was devoted to creating and reifining the presentation, at calpoly a presentation of this nature (basic info in 10 mins) would take an hour tops to create plan and practice. With the french and translating ideas, disagreements, and scripts extends that time greatly. So we met at 9 am (all but 3 of us who were so drunk the night before they slept through their alarms and were and hour and a half late) We finished everything by 1pm which was awesome because I was able to go downtown with some friends and hang out that afternoon/evening.

Saturday is all about presentations galore. First the small groups within the section choose the best on their topic to present in front of all groups this afternoon. Right now we are on break wating for a Canadian boy to show up so his group to present then we will decided and have a lunch break (lunch breaks here are 1 and 1/2 hours longs I love it) before going to the big assembly this afternoon.

I'll update later on how the big bang goes down this afternoon