July 15, 2012

We to a trip to Monet's house to see his garden and lily-pad pond. It was so beautiful there and it was super cool to walk through his art room and see his paintings. We also then set out for the town of Rouen to see where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Sad news is, I lost the group and got distracted listening to the most amazing cello player I've ever heard in all my days. Her name is Lunacello and I spent nearly an hour listening to her. All that to say, I never found Joan, but it's ok because it turns out it was just a lame sign that said, "Joan of Arc was killed somewhere around here" or something like that. Not mad. I saw an amazing cathedral and, I'm convinced, the cutest mini pug alive. So it was a good day.

But a few days have passed and in those days came Bastille Day. Also, if you know what Bastille Day is you're probably a Political Science major or a knowledgeable American.  But if you don't, you're someone like me who was just blissfully unaware of this holiday. Guess I missed that day of French history. So instead of learning about Bastille Day, I lived it. And to sum it up, it goes like this: wake up, eat crepes, drink, throw firecrackers at strangers on the street, eat some more, watch men compete in a battle of 'who can run up the greased pole and snatch the French flag', drink some more, more firecrackers, now dynamite is being thrown, dancing, drunk dancing, drunk dynamite throwing, then a bomb fireworks show. So needless to say it was a good time. A terrifying time, but a good time.Viva la France!

July 11, 2012

I keep forgetting that we are living here rather than stopping by for a short visit. So instead of taking my camera everywhere to take pictures of new sights, I'm really enjoying getting to stop and notice the little things and photograph the people as well. We visited Mon St. Michel two days ago and it is basically a cathedral on an island, built in the sky on a huge piece of stone. It's magnificent. So here are a few from the past couple of days.

July 8, 2012

Today was the complete French day. It started with French Catholic mass in a beautiful 17th century church, followed by banana nutella crepes and espresso, topped off with a country side walk. I think my favorite part of the day was just talking to strangers in French. Walking into stores and saying "Bonjour Monsieur!" or "Bonjour Madame!", which is the customary greeting when entering someones store, is so wonderful. I ordered macaroons in French while I ventured off on my own and it was so satisfying and scary at the same time. But I did it right, and I got the macaroons, and don't worry-- they were stupid delicious. All day I just kept saying to myself  'I just love this', Honfleur is like a movie and it just keeps getting better. We start class tomorrow which should be exciting so I'm just going to post a few pictures before heading to bed. Au Revoir!

July 7, 2012

Well this morning at 5am, Breegan and I woke up to our alarm clock of "it's 5 o'clock in the morning" by Lily Allen, followed by Ni***s in Paris--since we were taking the train to Paris to meet up with our study abroad group. So after two trains (one which we almost missed in France due to the fact that everyone was only speaking French/ the signs and instructions were all in French) and a 3 hour bus ride, we have made it to Honfleur. And it is one of the most glorious cities I've ever been to. The small town French feel is exactly what I wanted to experience when I knew I was coming to France. Big cities are wonderful, but the charm and beauty of a low-key city on the water, full of people drinking their espresso and smoking their cigarettes while a stand up bass and guitar play in the background is just magical. I feel like I'm in a movie. And to top it all off, we are staying in a villa (pretty much mansion) by the water and we have a huge dutch window that we can sit in and drink our morning coffee. It's just unreal, all of it.

July 6, 2012

Cheers from London! Breegan and I got into London yesterday at noon and stayed up for about 35 hours, which were spent traveling and then exploring around in a comatose state of jetlag, followed by sleeping for about 12. So today we woke up ready to see the city (without feeling as if we were watching ourselves in an out of body experience like we did the day before). London is one of my new favorite cities. The people are fantastic, the city is safe as can be, everything is beautiful (literally everything), and people have been thinking we are British when we fake the accent- which is probably my favorite part. So from Buckingham Palace to petting swans in Hyde Park, this trip has been top drawer. We are off to Paris tomorrow, followed by our two week stay in Honfluer. So here are only a few of my favorites from the past two days: