Only 10 days left!!!!!

Updates: since the return from Nice.... 

I have been to... the Pompidou Museum, inside Notre Dame, the Opera House, the shops at Printemps, L'Arc de Triomphe, Martyrs de la Deportation, Hotel de Ville, Eiffel Tower nightlife, Loire Valley, Chateau that is in a Vogue issue, wine tasting, the Princess and the Frog bar, the Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle, L'ile se St Louis, and the French flea market. 

I have also...seen/stood next to Jake Gyllenhaal, Maggie Gyllenhaal and her husband in the metro, and had tonsillitis. Neatooo. 

This weekend is Barcelonaaaaa and we have a lot to accomplish in Paris this week. Updates soon!!!

Nice Nice Nice Adventures and Pictures!!!

I looooooved Nice!!! Wednesday, after class, we walked through the streets of Paris with our duffels and of course good old "furstenberg", who was my traveling companion. We hopped a local bus to the Orly bus stop and headed to the Orly Airport. We had complications at check in and thennn once we got into the gates and boarded the plane, we had to de-board because they were (once again) having technical difficulties. Cool. So a good hour and a half of waiting around on the plane/back in the airport and then we finally got onto another plane and flew into Nice. The French Riviera is incredible. The flight overlooked the Alps and then the crystal clear beaches and hills. It was amazing. So we get taxi's to our four star hotel, the Sheraton. It literally was bejeweled... it had glitter diamond strings hanging down the sides haha. Anyways, it was right on the beach and had a rooftop pool that overlooked the whole city. It was sooo beautiful. I'll add some pics to this post just to prove it...but i dont think they'll do it justice. We also saw the hospital where Angelina Jolie had her twins. It was a teal color. Ok, so the first night we went to dinner on the beach at this disco bar/restaurant that had neon dots floating all around the room and on our faces while we ate. Interesting experience to say the least. I tried escargot for the first time :) and i liked it! I even got it once more on the trip before we left. After dinner we went to get gelato... what's new... and we sat on the beach while we indulged. The next day we woke up early and i got kicked out of the private beach for no reason... also very cool... and then spent the day on the top of the hotel at the pool with my friends :) we got tan. real tan/burnt. It was such a pleasant day, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and the water was insanely blue. Around 5 we went to get ready and headed to dinner at the "Atmosphere Cafe". We ate outside in between the market area and then walked around for a bit. Day 2 over. Friday, we took the train to Monaco/Monte Carlo and it was soooo much fun. We walked around saw the most expensive cars, the Casino, the gardens, the beach, the yachts, met some cute boys on the train/while walking around who we made friends with and we ate at a restaurant called Tip Top. The boys invited us to meet up with them at the train station and go out that night back in Nice... so we did. After getting ready we went to dinner near the same place as Thursday night, took taxis to the train station, picked the boys up and went back to around the area where we were previously eating. We went to a bar with live American music which was so much fun. Then we walked to another bar that had even more live music and they were so good! We danced and stayed until the bar was closing around 2 a.m., then we all walked along the beach and played in the water. Stars were out, moon was full, the beach hurt my feet because of the rocks...but apart from that it was a perfect night. The next day we went to the beach to lay out, the boys came and met us and we spent our day between the beach and the pool. Got more tan. Said bye to the boys, walked around the city, showered, and had dinner with like 11 of us at a restaurant on the beach with the best pizza and wine. It was a great way to end the trip together... and what could've been a better way to end the last night than with 3 big scoops of some seriously delish gelato. Leaving Nice (at 6:30 a.m.) was really sad... it was such a relaxing trip and so much fun, it couldn't have been more perfect. Here's some pics....

Tuesday Class and Musee d'Orsay

This morning my International Affairs class met at Notre Dame and interviewed people about their knowledge on current facts of the European Union and their thoughts on Turkey's membership in it. Then we took the metro home for lunch. After lunch we walked towards the Seine River and got to tour the Musee d'Orsay today and see the coolest Impressionist paintings. We saw pieces from van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, Whistler, Pissarro, Courbet and many more. It was really cool, and the paintings were beautiful. After a few hours there we walked along the Seine and past the Louvre to a shining beacon of light, that being a Starbucks. We sipped our frappuccino on this blazing summer day in Paris and then came home for the evening. I am now packing for Nice tomorrow and trying to work on my presentation for IA.... boooo. Can't wait for the beaches this weekenddddd!!!!!!

Week 3: Louvre, French Open, and London visit :)

After Normandy we hit the week off with a visit to the Louvre!!! I got to see the Mona Lisa, the Grande Odalisque and various other incredible pieces of art that I have studied in my art history class. It was awesome. On Wednesday Devan and I traveled to the French Open in search of tickets to see Nadal, the love of my life. We payed 125 euros a piece and got in to the Susan Langdon court and not only did we get to see Nadal play, but we also saw Sharapova, Kendrick, and later Venus Williams played at that court. It was awesome. Nadal walked right past me after his victory. He's a fox. It was a great experience and we got to stay there until about 7 p.m. ...so we were there for like 7 straight hours. Insane. On Thursday my class had a debate about whether or not Turkey should be admitted into the European Union...the other classes came to watch. Things got heated. It was an intense debate. After that a group of about 12 of our girls got ready and packed our bags for London! We took the chunnel train and got there at about 6, checked into our hotel which was right across from the ritz in central london and then got ready very quickly for our musical Les Miserables!!!! Before the show we each got a glass of wine and then watched the first act...i cried, what's new. Another glass of wine later and the second act under way i was a complete basket-case... this musical is incredible. And the girl who played Eponine was amazing. Brought me to tears... lots of tears. The story is just so moving. It was a great night. Then we topped it off by going to a club called On Anon. It was 4 stories and filled with some attractive european men, we made friends with a couple german boys and then these really cute British ones. Maddie and I walked home at around 2 a.m., and that was seen as early. The next morning we went touring the city, starting at Buckingham Palace and watching the changing of the guards, then visiting Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Thames River, etc. We walked around and came back to the hotel to get ready and head to 'Tiger Tiger' for another clubbing adventure. It was a night to remember. Mary Catherine was danced upon by a man in a turban and the spitting image of William Hung... plus i found "Raoul". But i let the moment pass me by when I decided to leave early again... probably a bad move. But if it's meant to be.... well we all know it's not so scratch that. Saturday we went to Shakespeare's globe theatre and to the London Tower. We also saw all the different bridges (London, Tower, Waterloo...) and took a cruise on the Thames River. It was a great way to finish off the trip. Now we are back in Paris and we have a few days of class before we leave Wednesday for Nice!!!! And Musee d'Orsay is tomorrow... updates coming soon!

Overdue Blog... Normandy

Normandy was one of the most incredible places I have ever been. We got to see the Bayou Tapestry on May 22nd. Later that day we got to see the British cemetery from WW2 as well as a memorial museum dedicated to the events of WW2. Later that night we had dinner at the hotel in Normandy, which was where we learned about Meghan Ann's dead cats and friends who jump through dead manatees...you had to be there. Then went out on the town with our professors which was interesting to say the least. They were so funny and we bought them a bottle of wine to share which they greatly appreciated. The next morning on May 23rd we went to the German cemetery in Normandy which was an interesting experience, their graves are very dark and different than the other cemeteries. We then went to Point de Hoc where the Americans climbed the cliffs and invaded the Germans bunkers off the shores of Normandy. We saw the craters left by the massive bombs that were used during the battle. We then traveled down the coast to the Normandy beaches where our soldiers basically went on a suicide mission on D-day. It was incredible. I was so in awe to be standing on the same beach that I saw a few pictures from at the museum the day previous. The number of men that died there was astounding. We stayed at Omaha Beach for a while and stood in the sand/water where the battle took place. It was a moving experience. Then we headed to the American cemetery....i have never seen anything like it. I cried a lot. the crosses go on as far as your eye can see and we were able to see so many graves that held brothers and there was one grave site in particular that had a father and a son buried side by side who died in battle together. No words can describe it. I highly recommend visiting it. Later, we went to where the artificial harbor was built, and there are still pieces that are in the water which was really cool. We ate lunch at this seafood restaurant and i got the mussels...they were delish and since i have never had them it made for a memorable experience as well. We finished with another museum and then took the bus back home to Paris.

Life is Beautiful... and this is a long post (but you have to read the end!!)

Soooo the first school block started this week, my class is International Affairs and I am learning all about the European Union...I really like it!  Now that I'm waaayyyy more interested in politics and governmental issues, it probably would've helped for me to pay attention to classes relating to these subjects in high school. Anyways, I've really enjoyed it thus far. Monday, we had class and then a bunch of us girls walked around random streets of Paris and window shopped. A man followed us that day for a solid 15 minutes. There's a lot more to that story... but it's a kind of a "you had to be there" thing. Tuesday, after class, we went to Champs-Elysees and L'arc de Triomphe and stopped at the Starbucks near where a scene of "Taken" was filmed. Then we went back home and a bunch of us watched Taken :) My favorite movie right now. Wednesday, we watched a video on numerous historical events involving the city of Normandy, since we are taking a weekend trip there starting tomorrow. Then we went to the Catacombs and saw the bones of all of the bodies stored underground in Paris from all of the deaths in the late seventeenth century. It was creepy. Afterwards, we went to this awesome street about a 35 minute walk from the Catacombs and had dinner at "Paul's"...fun fact: Paula Deen apparently suggests going there. The waiter sucked. But the food was great. Then I decided to take off by myself to go shopping at Zara...brilliant idea...i found myself extremely lost for a few moments, then i figured out i had walked approximately 30 minutes in the opposite direction of our humble abode. Cool. Once I made it home, after making a few fashion purchases, my roomie (Maddie) and I decided to go for a run through the streets of Paris. We went all the way to the Seine River and watched the sunset there. As we sat on the bridge overlooking the river, the eiffel tower, the pont neuf, and a few incredible museums, we noticed a huge boat with an open top carrying a couple hundred people headed our way...so we sprinted to the top of the bridge (literally, no one else was on the bridge) and waved to everyone underneath us on the boat. They apparently thought we were celebrities. Every single one of them was waving and taking pictures and videos of the two of us... the asians held up peace signs, and the creepy old men blew us kisses... it was a moment to remember. Then we ran/walked back, passing by Les Invalides Museum (where Napoleon's tomb is located) on our way. We hurdled a few sidewalk posts and made it home. Then we got ready and went out on the town. We met some really great french people, a cute australian bar tender, and a bunch of students from UF in the same bar as us. It was so much fun. On the way home we took the metro... and i had the privilege of seeing a homeless man sleeping on the metro bench pull out his ween and (without getting up) pee ALL OVER the waiting area and metro stop seats. As if that wasn't enough, he pulled down his pants even further and scratched his butt to full satisfaction, pulled up his pants (did not zip/button them) and proceeded to use the back of his hand to wipe the urine off of the part of the bench where he was sleeping and onto the floor.....  he continued sleeping. That image will forever be implanted into my memory. That's my novel for the week... Normandy this weekend!!!! I'm sure I will have another one after that experience... sorry. Au revoir!!!!

First Detailed Blog :)

Day 1 (Wednesday): Visited Eiffel Tower during the day, went to our first French cafe, napped for a solid 3 hours and stayed at the L'Hotel Mayet 

Day 2 (Thursday): The rest of the group came in, we walked around the city, ate at a quaint little cafe with all 8 Phi Mu girls, and then went to bed very early.

Day 3 (Friday): Breakfast then Orientation with the entire "UGA a Paris" group. Then we toured the city on a bus and saw Le Tour Eiffel, Le Musee d'Orsay, Le Louvre, L'Arc de Triomphe, The Ritz where Princess Diana was right before she died in the car accident, The Pantheon, L'Hotel des Invalides, The Seine River, and every museum/monument that means anything in Paris. We had dinner and then called it a night because of our early adventure in the morning.

Day 4 (Saturday): We woke up at 7 a.m. and hopped the metro and the r.e.r. to get to Versailles. We spent the day looking at the entire city including Marie Antoinette's humble abode. It was awesome. Then we ate lunch in the gardens at Versailles and left around 2 p.m. We napped then got up and went to dinner at a really great cafe, came back, got dressed, bought some wine on the way to the Eiffel Tower and hung out at the Eiffel Tower all night....in the rain. It was great. 

Day 5 (Sunday): Do absolutely nothing besides read, eat baguettes and visit the local grocery store called the "Shopi"....school starts tomorrow...great.