The best Christmas gift ever – My parents deciding to come to Paris =) We had such a wonderful time together. They came bearing wonderful things from home such as: clothes, socks, Tapatio (hot sauce), Bath and Body Works, and much more.
The Champs Elysee is a truly magical place during the Christmas season- everything is lit up and decorated so festively. So from my place, Mom, Dad and I walked down the Champs and through the Christmas markets, and through the snow to la Concorde to really take in the whole Christmas in Paris feel of things. It was nice, but we were freezing so we went to this really dumpy hotel (sarcasm) to have drinks and warm up.
A few days later, mom and I decided to go do something cultural – I took her to the Cartier Foundation to a Graffiti exposition. It was about the movement of Graffiti in New York during the 80’s and how it turned into “modern art” and is now being practiced all over the world – legally and illegally.
Christmas itself was good, different from what I am used to, but it was good. My aunt Nicole invited some of her friends over and cooked us a wonderful dinner consisting of smoked salmon, foie gras with fig sauce, a giant castrated male chicken stuffed with a meat mixture (un Chapon), and many many other yummy things – oh and lots of Champagne.
A few days after Christmas, we traveled up north to Lille to visit my cousin Alex’s family. And that was awesome. From Lille, Alex, his brother and sister in-law, his dad, and me and my mom, we all drove to Belgium (25 minutes away from their home) to buy cheep cigarettes and more importantly CHOCOLATE AND BEER =) While we were there, we went to this Christmas market and ate yummy treats and drank some hot wine.
Then a few days later a dear friend of ours, Cecile, came up to Paris to spend some time with my mom and dad and I before they left. We walked around Paris, ate delicious food, shopped, and even took a ride on La Grande Roue (the big ferris Wheel – similar to the London Eye). Only offered during Christmas, the ferris wheel was really magical – we got to see Paris from all angles and were even able to see most of the main sights and attractions.
Seeing mom and dad leave was sad, but getting to spend the Christmas holidays with them was really special and most definitely a great way to end 2009 for me.
My cousin Martine (the daughter of my Aunt and Uncle who live in Paris) invited us all out to her home for a Sunday brunch. It was really nice to go out and spend the afternoon with everyone. To my surprise my cousin Daniel and his daughter Zoe were there too. They live in Avignon, in the south of France - so it was most definitely a special treat to see them. Martine made some really delicious things to eat, all following a theme of sucré-salé (sweet and salty). She is such a sweet woman, I really enjoy each time I get to see her and her family.
Thanksgiving, my favorite time of year =) I was a little worried when the holiday was approaching…where was I going to find a turkey and more importantly GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE. A few days after my Thanksgiving-day-feast-freak-out, my dear friend Stephanie called and invited me to spend the holiday with her and Dorus and their friends, and told me that coincidently that same weekend our favorite dj Dr. Lektroluv was going to be playing in the Netherlands too.
I was sold. (Unfortunatley, I missed out on the gourmet meal cooked by Aimee and eaten by all my friends in Paris)
The feast was so good!! We had everything from a real, home-cooked turkey. KFC hot wings, green bean casserole, salad, lots of mashed taters, bread, cheese, and delicious desserts.
The following night we all ventured to Den Bosch and partied all night long with the music of Dr. Lektroluv, Erol Alkan, and Paul Kalkbrenner =)
Stockholm, where to begin. What a beautiful and amazing city. As usual, I just happened to be on Ryanair.com (and no I am not getting paid to do advertising for them) and saw they were having 10 euro flights to Stockholm – yes please. I immediately called my dear friend Jesse in Belgium, told him the details, and he was sold.
So as I found the plane tickets, his job was to find lodging. We decided that staying in a hostel would be way to expensive so we agreed on another alternative…Couchsurfing. I’m guessing most of you reading this have no idea what Couchsurfing is. Well, it’s this really amazing website where thousands, maybe millions, of people register themselves online as having an extra room, bed, couch, floor, or are just willing to meet new people and welcome travelers into their homes. So three days before we were leaving I asked Jesse if he had found a place for us yet- his response was a big, fat NO. So he sent out over 100 requests to stay with people from Stockholm on the website, and only two people responded. Luckily for us, this really cool kid named Jack welcomed us into his home.
I can honestly say I have never met someone so genuine, welcoming, and interesting. He met both of us in downtown Stockholm and took us to his apartment. His apartment was so clean and Swedish (modern, awesome, and IKEA-esque). Jack took us on a little walking tour around the city that afternoon, and then brought us back to his place where he cooked us a delicious dinner and then we got ready to go out.
We went to meet up with his friends at their place, do a little pre-drinking and socializing, and off we all went to this club. The theme of the club was 60’s and it was honestly a great time, dancing to Motown, oldies, and some good soul music. We stayed there till I don’t know when, and then I begged them to go home in a taxi.
After some sleep the next day, we all got up, ate some lunch at a pizzeria, and then Jack took us on a walking tour of his city, and when I say walking tour, I mean like 5 or 6 hours of walking, all over the city. It was really amazing and tiring at the same time. He took us to where the Parliament meets, we saw where the Nobel Prize honoring takes place, and even got to see some Christmas markets which were awesome.
The next day, while Jack went to work, Jesse and I did some shopping (my idea) and walked around the city some more. We explored the “newer” part of Stockholm. We went on a boat ride and it was really nice to get to see all the nature the city embodies and just the overall atmosphere. That night Jack’s mom had invited us over to her home for dinner, which was totally awesome! What an interesting, cultivated, and loving person Petra was. She is a jazz musician, playing percussion, and so the whole evening we all talked about music, she played us some of hers, and then revealed to us that she was also an artist, so we began to look at her works of art. It was a really special evening for me, in the senses that these total strangers welcomed Jesse and I into their homes and made us feel so welcome.
I think Jesse and I were both very sad to leave Stockholm and both look forward to going back when the weather is nicer and the sun stays out a bit longer.
I decided to go on a long weekend escapade with my cousin Alex and my dear friend Ajay, who just happened to be in Europe after his visit home to India. It was really a wonderful trip.
After nearly missing our bus (Thanks Ajay ;) ) we boarded our plane to Porto and did not arrive until about midnight the next morning. So we took the night bus into the city, but before that we had to put all of our heads together using a mélange of English, French and Spanish to figure out where our hostel was located. During this group effort we ran into three drunken Portuguese students who kindly offered to help us find out hostel. After walking around for 2 hours, up and down many stone steps, we located our little hostel.
When we got inside we did not see anyone, so we dropped our bags off and our « tour guides » kindly invited us out for a typical night in a Portuguese bar. It was 3 am. After some pints of beer, shots of I-don’t-know-what, the server brings out some type of Portuguese tapas which was grilled sausages slices with pieces of bread and cheese. DELICIOUS. At about 5 am, the bar was getting ready to close up, so we took out last shots, paid (total bill for 5 people was 20 euros) and headed back to the hostel.
The next morning we woke up in our newly remodeled hostel feeling pretty tired and extremely hungry so the lady who worked at the hostel recommended to us a great restaurant at the bottom of the steps (Porto is a city filled with steps) called Cafe Mira. When we arrived chez Mira, Mira herself came over and took our order. This was most definitely a typical Portuguese restaurant/café. We ordered the plate of the day and some beers – 5 minutes later she came back with streaming bowls of soup which were delicious, then 10 minutes after that she came back carrying plates of meat, rice, and frites (french fries). It was all sooo delicious. So when we got the bill to leave we almost died – the total for everything was 15 Euros =) Finally, a cost effective vacation destination!
Later that day we went on a lovely ride along the river that divides the city of Porto and Mira Gaya, and although the weather was not so nice, it was still really beautiful. The architecture in Porto is very different, all the houses look like they have been stacked upon one another, and there is drying laundry hanging on lines out of nearly every window – its quite charming.
So after the boat ride, we decided to check out some of the famous caves of Porto. At the beginning of the trip the lady in our hostel let us taste some Porto wine, and I did not like it – too sweet for me. But anyways, we went and looked inside the Sandman caves and it was pretty interesting to see all the giant barrels.
The following day we went to visit this monument called Cheese Castle. Basically it was an old military outpost, not too horribly interesting, but there was a great view of the sea.
After that, sadly, Ajay left us to go back to the states so Alex and I stayed one more day in Porto and just did a lot of walking and relaxing – life in Paris is really tiring.
I had a fabulous time in Porto with Alex and Ajay and really look forward to exploring more of Portugal – I’m thinking next time Lisbon will be my destination.
Well where to begin!? Oktoberfest was absolutely amazing and I am so glad that I was able to experience that insane festival. But let me do the story-telling with some sort of chronological order =)
So Thursday, the first of the month (I can NOT believe it is already October) I headed out of Paris, yet again, for an adventure. I was off to Maastricht, NL to meet up with my very good friend Stephanie. I arrived pretty late that night so we just went out with a few of her friends so I could get a feel of the Maastricht bar scene. The next morning we ran errands before we had to be at the train station to catch the bus that would bring us to Aachen, Germany, where we would meet up with everyone else and get our rental car. ROAD TRIP!
We ended up getting, what some might call, a small bus lol. It was a Volkswagen Transporter…felt very European. There were 7 of us in the car, but we could have easily fit three more. Ben and Maja (Maya in English) were our lovely drivers who safely transported us on the autobahn, where we reached speeds of 120-180 kph (you do the conversion, freaks me out too much to know how fast we were actually going- there is no speed limit in Germany). In the back of the van were Myles, Hanne, Harm, Stephanie, and myself. The ride was okay despite the 8-hour drive, but when we arrived to our camping site, the greeting we received in the main tent of 20 drunk and scantily dressed men screaming German drinking songs while stomping on tables made everything alright. My description did no justice to what I saw that morning at 2am haha. So after we checked in, we decided to try and get some sleep, seeing as how the plan was to get up in 3.5 hours and be to the tents at Oktoberfest at 7am.
Yeah Right.
After waking up late- at 6:00 am (lol) we managed to finally arrive at the glorious festival grounds of Oktoberfest at 7:30 am. The subway ride over there was insane. Hundreds of people were dressed in lederhosen, the typical Bavarian attire that Germans and tourists alike wear around Munich for the 3-week festival. Not to mention that about 85% of the people were chugging beer too! So when we arrive on the scene, it looks like a giant carnival! It’s really amazing. There are tents everywhere, which calling them tents is kind of deceiving because you don’t really get the idea of how massive they are. Our tent, which was called “Schüten Festzelt” has the reputation of being the best tent at the festival. Unfortunately the reason that we were supposed to arrive at the tent at 7am was because we were not lucky enough to have made reservations- reservations sold out in February of last year =) SOO we waited in line with like 400 hundred other people to try and get one of the unreserved tables. Luckily we made it in and were able to get a table, but only allowed to stay there until 12:15pm and when I heard that the only thing I thought was POWER DRINK. It was 9am and 9 liters of beer arrived at our table, you bet we were happy. Our group in the tent was Stephanie, Ben, Harm, Myles, Lieka, Philip, Heiner, Esther and myself. These are all Stephanie’s friends from UCM. Shortly after the beers arrived, the “breakfast” was served. The breakfast was a typical white Bavarian sausage and a pretzel. This was the strangest combination of food to eat at 9 am, but I could not think of anything that could have tasted better.
I would estimate that there were about 500+ people inside our tent/exhibition-hall thing, and everyone was chanting, singing and screaming with joy. Finally the music started, and for me that was the foam on the beer, the mustard on the bratwurst, the icing on the cake! (The salt on the pretzel…okay I will stop) It completed the ambiance for me and really made the experience that much more amazing.
After 2 liters of beer, 1 sausage, 1 pretzel, and 1 delicious cheesy-ham-bread-thing, it was 12:30 pm and we had to evacuate the building so the jerks with reservations could drink themselves into oblivion (unfair). After that, we were all feeling amazing, and we decided to walk to this beautiful park called the English Gardens, to hit up the beer garden there, and continue the festivities.
30 minutes of walking later, when we arrived at the park, the only thing each and every one of us managed to do was find a patch of grass that was in the shade and collapse to the ground. We napped in that park for 3 hours, and it was the best nap and worst nap I have ever had. The best nap, because when I woke up I was rejuvenated and surrounded by nature in a beautiful park, and the worst nap because I woke up to an old, naked man walking around next to me. I guess Germany is liberal.
The next day was devoted to exploring the beautiful city of Munich, and what a beautiful city it is! This was my first time ever coming to Germany, and I am so glad that Munich was my icebreaker.It is a typical cosmopolitan European city. I was really fascinated with the Germans, who are way too cool, seriously. I think maybe a new obsession may have started. The architecture was beautiful, the shopping district looked fabulous (the one Saturday we are there, it was a national holiday so everything was closed and you don’t honestly think Europeans work on Sunday do you, hahaha). The cathedrals were stunning and the subway system rocked. We climbed to the top of this bell tower and go to see the most stunning 360-degree view of the city, and literally had probably the best weather anyone could have asked for. I’m not sure that I saw enough of the touristy things that one should see when in Munich, but honestly I feel that for a two day trip, I got a great feel for the city and most definitely loved it.
That night, Ben made reservations for us to eat at a restaurant that served typical German and Bavarian food. It was so freaking delicious. Lets just say that Bavarian cuisine has three staple items: meat, bread, and potatoes. Sausage, wiener schnitzel, half-roasted chickens, roasted fish, currywourst, pommes, country potatoes, and my personal favorite “the breast from a male cow whose balls have been removed” (this was the translation from Maja about an item on the menu that we could not read…I thought it was pretty funny). I ordered the typical wiener schnitzel (pork pounded really flat, breaded, and then pan-fried) with pommes (fries) and a beer. It was delicious. After the dinner, we were all pretty tired so we retired to the camping site to get sleep before our journey back to Maastricht.
Overall, this trip was really amazing and was my first trip thus far, in which I have been introduced to new places!! Maastricht, although I was there for 24 hours, seemed like a really cute town and I am going to return so I can ride the entire city by bike (slowly getting over my fear of bikes). The trip to Munich has really sparked my interest in seeing more of Germany, and I really want to go back to Munich if the chance arises!
Tomorrow is my first day of class! I am so excited, and I am even more exited that I was able to go on this amazing adventure before my classes begin and life gets crazy. I think I have officially put a cap on my summer-time séjours and opened the door for autumn’s adventures to come in – which we all know there will be.
Here is a link to check out all of my picture, enjoy =)
So this past weekend, which I am starting on Thursday, was awesome!! Thursday night my favorite DJ duo, Digitalism, played in Paris at the Social Club. I knew I wanted to go from the moment I saw they were scheduled to play, only problem was finding people who would join me. Well sure enough, it was Thursday night, and I still didn't have anyone planning on going, so I headed over there myself. But sure enough, at the very last minute, my buddy Matt decided to join me. It was an awesome show! I shoved my way right to the front so I could watch their every move and become plastered with other peoples sweat as well as my own. It was awesome. Seeing as how clubs don't usually close here till 5 or 6 am, I proceeded to catch the first metro at 6am, and get home around 6:45 am. Lets just say that I was very tired during class the next morning at 10 am!
Friday was the last day of my PLP (Preparatory Language Program) and that evening all the students as well as our teachers went out to a lovely celebratory dinner on a boat on the Siene (river that runs through Paris). It was so nice!! The food was delicious, the ambiance was perfect, and they had karaoke!! Of course, I had to get up and sing a few songs, with the help of my friends. It was a really wonderful night.
Saturday, was a day of repose. I went to meet some of my friends at the Eiffel Tower for a little picnic and to just take in the beautiful weekend we were having. It was so nice to see all the tourists walking around trying to get in line to go to the top of the Tower- and for us to be laying on the grass like typical Parisians, sipping our wine. I felt quite cool, if I say so myself. After that, I headed over to my aunt Nicole's house. Shortly after I arrived we left to go out the the "banlieu" or suburbs, of Paris. My cousine Martine lives in a very cute suburb called Arcueil. We ate a delicious dinner at her home, followed by the most decadent chocolate cake I have ever eaten. I can not even begin to describe the explosion of flavor that happened in my mouth- just know that it was amazing. Quickly after eating, we rushed out the door to get to the theatre in time for our play. We were going to see a play called, "Le Malade Imaginaire" written by Molière. The play was really wonderful. The parts I could understand, I really enjoyed. After the play, Nicole and I returned back to Paris and I spent the night at her house because we were going to the movies the next afternoon,
Sunday, we went and saw this movie- I forget the name, but it was a British film, and it was about Queen Victoria and her reign in her young years. It was a really cute film. After the movie, we ate some yummy chinese food, and I returned back to my gloomy studio. But fortunately that night, I got to go visit my cousin Alex, who lives very close to Paris, and had a wonderful evening spent with him.
This weekend, I really realized how glad and lucky I am to have family here. Its so nice to be surrounded by people that you care about and that care about you. Its comforting to know that I have a "family unit" here.
As most of you can tell, I kinda fell behind of the whole blog thing, and I have been like writing these entries for the past 2 hours lol, but I promise from here on out- no more of that business. Basically I am kind of retelling you what has been going on for the last 3 or 4 weeks (give or take).
After 3 weeks I am finally becoming Parisian (not really)- I have a cell phone, internet, monthly metro pass, my student card,and a devellpoing taste for wine. The only thing that's missing is my studio!
The French classes have been going good- a little over whelming. Over whelming in the sense that looking for a place to live and trying to do good in a class is not that fun. But all in all, it has been a very fulfilling experience and I think my french has most definitely improved this month. I really am loving my time here in Paris. Its truly amazing. And I am so lucky to be surrounded by my wonderful family here who has extended about every hand they have to help me in my déménagement à Paris (move to Paris). I think this year will definitely be crucial in building my relationships with my family here- it's exciting! So at this point, I think we are all up to speed: Madison loves Paris, Madison has been to Belgium too many times in one month, Madison is going to write on her blog once a week (eekkkk, cant promise that), and Madison is still looking for a place to live.
I miss all of you so much and know that I think of you often.
Gros Bisous (big kisses) OMG MOM- your going to freak. I eat goat cheese now!!!
Where to begin. Techno parade was nuts! Stephanie came from Maastricht, NL to partyicipate in the weekends festivites. Friday night we went to a little party with my cousin Alex at his friends home. We made crepes which was kind of fun. Then afterwards Steph and I headed out for Social Club where we were meetibg up with my friends for the night to see a Brodinski play a set. It was a cool club but the opening djs were horrible- like so bad I considered never listening to electronic music ever again.
Anyways, once Brodinski finally went on it was awesome and like 3 am. So around 4am Steph and I decided to go home, but the metro was closed, so we ventured to the NIGHT BUS! It was amazing. Super fast, convienient- minus the one covered in barf, and the drivers were really helpful too. So needless to say, we got home around 5am and had to sleep so we could get up in 6 hours and party at TechnoParade. Well, let's say that when the alarm went off at 11:30, we were not too excited to get up until we realized there was a bottle of champagne in the fridge waiting for us! We met up with a bunch of people from my program and had a really awesome day. All of the music was amazing, the people were rowdy, the floats were huge and the overall ambiance was good. Going to technoparade was a blast but I think that lovefest in sf is better. I am so glad Steph came for the weekend and got to experience a little bit of the craziness Paris has to offer.
So while house hunting has been interesting it has also been difficult. Paris is an old city and along with that comes old buildings and chambres de bonnes- maids quarters. The kind of studio that most students find are these maids rooms. The rooms usually come equipped with a shower with no room to move, a really tiny kitchen some sort of futon and the toilets are in the hallway. Basically, they are small and often on the 6th floor with NO ELEVATOR- buns of steel eat your heart out!
So about two days before we had to be out of the hostel, I was freaking out because I had not found anything yet. Well that day I was going to look at a room in the 16th arrondissement. When I saw the room, I thought it was cute, clean and close to school- so why not? It wan not until after I had already paid the firsts month rent, the deposit and moved in that I began to realize I made a big mistake. The room I picked was 8.3 meters sq (small), on the 6th floor with no lift, no window, and no interphone. After seeing my neighbors room that has everything mine was missing and was 100 euros less...I decided it was time for me to continue the house hunt.
So I am back to square one, but with a better idea of what I want and I'm keeping positivity on my side. Here is hoping for the best - and a building with an elevator =)
So this weekend our MICEFA group (all the study abroad students from the CSU's) went on a little field trip to the Chateau at Fontainbleau, and it was amazing!! Such a beautiful place. Fontainebleau is a château located about and hour out of Paris, in the forest. Fontainebleau was created so that the french royalty could have some place to stay when they went hunting!! This beautiful, amazing château was built as a hunting-vacation home?!?! Gotta love the french =)
Anyways, it was really lovely getting to see the beautiful gardens, architecture, decor, and overall ambiance of the Château and even the cute little town.
Okay okay okay, I know what you might be thinking, "Jeeze Madison, will you ever spend one weekend in Paris?" And the answer is yes, next weekend =)
But I had a very good reason to visit Belgium- Dorus is leaving for Africa...and it was his going away party. Dorus (my 2nd exchange student or mijn broer...figure it out) is going to do an internship in South Africa where he works in the wild with ELEPHANTS and other amazing safari animals. I am sad to see him go, but so excited to see his pictures and hear about his adventures. Another reason I went was because I will not get to see him at I Love Techno (which will probably be the best post of this year....keep waiting) because he will be sitting at the aeroport in London waiting to catch his next plane =(
Long story short, it was a magical weekend of seeing old friends, having some good laughs, good drinks, lots of dancing, and minimal amounts of sleep. If I say so myself, a recipe for a great séjour (weekend trip).
Things in Paris have been good so far, minus the fact that I have a horrible cold from my festival festivities, all well worth it =) I have a really great room mate at the hostel (Emily) who is from Sonoma State. It's nice getting to meet everyone from the CSU program and even meeting some really cool people from State who I never knew.
But although it was a good first week, it was stressful (we began looking for housing, placement exams, classes starting). Fortunately I had an opportunity to escape the madness, and I jumped on it! Alex invited me to spend the weekend in Le Touquet with him and his cousin Etienne. So glad i Decided to go. Le Touquet is a super cute coastal town where all the Parisians and people from the north go to get away.
We all had a great time, and it was really wonderful getting to see Alex's grandma, Jean Marie. She is such a sweet lady who always tells these great stories from her younger days (a lot of these stories having to do with my dad and his parents). I think my favorite things from this weekend were moule-frites (again), bar hopping with Etienne, dancing in the street with Alex, and the discovery of my new friend Leffe =)
After my very short arrival in Paris, and lovely dinner with Paul and Nicole, I quickly sped off to Belgium - my home away from home. I went to Belgium for two very important reasons, one, to see my amazing cousin/aunt Janice and two, to go to PUKKELPOP.
Seeing Janice was so wonderful. Now, this was my second time meeting her, but I can honestly say that I really feel like I have known her my whole life. I am so glad that we met each other and have started to build this really great relationship. Long story short- Janice is cousins with my Grandma, and I found out that she and her husband (Hendrik) lived in Belgium and instantly wanted to meet her.
Being with her and Hendrik was really relaxing and wonderful. We went to the lake, I watched Janice make beads from glass (really cool) and we ate yummmmmmmmyyyy home-made moule-frites - Hendrik's specialty. Now you might be wondering, what is this Pukkelpop thing I mentioned above. WELL. Pukkelpop is one of the best music festivals in the entire world (160,000 attendees)- and it just happens to take place less than 2km from where Janice and Hendrik live =)
Pukkelpop was such an amazing experiencing. I went with Dorus (my 2nd exchange student) and his friend Ben. We did it big, really big. It was all of our first time at the festival so I think we were really happy to be there. We camped with about,oh, what felt like 20,000 other people and it was seriously nuts - but in a good way. The festival lasted for 3 days and I have not had that much fun since Rock Werchter in 2006. I found lots of new DJs to become obsessed with and met some really amazing and interesting people.
But after 3 days of intense Belgian partying (multiply American party standards by 3),no sleep, and eating frites (french fries, but I will never call them that)- I was spent. I had to wake up very early on the last day of the festival and catch the train back to Paris so I could make it back to Paris in time for an orientation and meet all of the other CSU students at the hostel.
All in all, Belgium was fantastic - without going into too much detail, and I can not wait to go back!
Well I have just arrived in Europe. I am sitting at a quaint café in the Dublin Airport. The sky is cloudy and it looks rather windy outdoors. But I am quite comfortable in the café, only wishing that there were wireless Internet available. I have about a four-hour layover, and I am not really sure what I am going to do. Unfortunately I am confined to the terminal- c’est la vie. My flight was overall, pretty comfortable. I sat next to this attractive man from South Africa who now lives in Delft (Holland). We chatted for a while, and I learned that he went to Rock Werchter this summer…so that was a fun thing to talk about. I watched two movies. The Boat that Rocks and Gran Torino- great movies. I also used some time wisely and finished a book that I have been trying to read for about 2 years now. That was a huge accomplishment in my eyes. I slept for about half of the flight but unfortunately I slept during the wrong half, so my guestimate would be that I have been awake since 4 or 5 this morning. Basically I am going to be very happy once it is time for bed.
My departure from the San Francisco Airport was kind of bizarre. It took me probably 20 minutes to check in and re-arrange some baggage (silly Irish workers unions and their rights). So after I checked in, I assumed that my parents and I would go sit and grab a bite to eat- BUT NO. The security line was obscenely long-probably a quarter mile long. So we waited in line and said our very quick good byes. I always hate that part. It’s never easy for me. But I held it together and got on my way.
I am really looking forward to seeing Paul and Nicole today. It will be good to catch up with them. I am really looking forward to the yummy meal that Nicole might have possibly cooked too =) But my top priority is buying my train ticket to Belgium and getting a good night’s rest. Well I think this is it for now. Until next time…
Well, finally- My travel blog.
I wanted an easy and fun way to keep everyone I care about updated on my year abroad; so voila! MADemoiselle a Paris has (finally) been created.
I hope you enjoy the blog and thanks for stopping by to check in.
