Bridging Post...

Hello world.

I am currently on my 2-week spring break and just got to a computer :) Hahaha It has been completely crazy, awesome, beautiful, and the best 2 weeks (so far)! I have been keeping a list of everything I have been doing and I have been trying to keep up with journaling -- not working so well... Typical. BUT, I will be updating the blog during this next week (starting Monday). Here's a quick rundown of what is to come:

Friday April 22nd: Vichy, France to Torino, Italy to Milan, Italy
Saturday April 23rd: Milan, Italy to Florence, Italy
Sunday April 24th: Easter Sunday in Florence, Italy
Monday April 25th: Florence, Italy to Venice, Italy
Tuesday April 26th: Day trip to Verona, Italy and Venice, Italy exploring
Wednesday April 27th: More Venice, Italy then I go to Munich, Germany to meet Mom, Dad, and Katie!!
Thursday April 28th: Day trip to Salzburg, Austria
Friday April 29th: Day trip to Fussen, Germany to see some castles
Saturday April 30th: Munich, Germany to Rothenburg, Germany
Sunday May 1st: Rothenburg, Germany to Bacharach, Germany (Rhein River castles)
Monday May 2nd: Rhein River tour to see castles!! Onward to drop Katie off then to Switzerland!
Tuesday May 3rd: Switzerland (Interlaken and Geneva) to Lyon, France
Wednesday May 4th: Lyon, France to Vichy, France
Thursday May 5th: Vichy, France to Paris, France
Friday May 6th - May 8th: Paris, France and Versailles

That's the Spark Notes version of the past 13 days and now it's onto Paris tomorrow with Mom and Dad :) There have been so many crazy stories and fun moments that I hate to report that I will not be posting full posts as I have been, but rather short blurbs. They will be coming along slowly but surely as I have time to do them. Same with pictures. There's just too much!!! Hahahaha!! It's nice to have constant internet and a computer in my hands though... It's been too long. Ha.

My Dad Thinks I'm a Princess!

This past weekend we decided to take a relaxing 2 day trip to the Loire Valley to see some real French châteaux!! We started in a town called Tours which is a little bit southwest of Paris. It is in the countryside of France and is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!!!!! Let the fairy tale begin:

Friday morning we left at 8am. Funny story though -- my alarm didn't wake me up, so I literally got out of bed at 7:30... When we were supposed to meet. Hahaha!!!!! Typical. So I was looking realllllll good that day. Perfect start to the day :) I'm just glad I was already packed and we were only staying 1 night! We arrived in Tours, France about 12 just in time to eat the sandwiches we had made and brought with us. The tour started at 1:00 so we basically just sat at the tourist office for an hour... Cool I know. All of a sudden we see a couple of school bus yellow VW vans pull up. Ummmm what?! If there is more of a way to be spotted as a tourist, please, let me know. Luckily, we got a rocking guide who was really excited to take us into the countryside for the afternoon :)
As our journey began, we were introduced to the beautiful land full of rolling hills and farms scattered across the horizon. Literally, there are castles just hanging out around there. We saw 2 or 3 just on the way to the first one on our tour!!! Crazy!
We arrived to Chambord within about an hour and a half (after a nice nap in the car) ready to explore! Chambord is a giant estate that was originally built to be a hunting lodge so it is on a ridiculous amount of land! It also was built to resemble a crown, and it does. It's ginormous!!! Our guide got us our tickets and we took off running to try and see as much as could! Unfortunately, there was  fire in the castle earlier that day so part of it was closed off :( Boo. Probably due to the fact that there are 300+ fireplaces in the place!! I guess that would be nice after a long day of hunting in the forest though since France stays pretty chilly most of the time... It was incredible! Granted, it wasn't Cinderella's castle because it's so masculine, but it felt like a castle with its towering spires, intimidating walls, and lack of "homey" decorations inside. We meandered throughout it's hundreds of rooms (only seeing 2 wings) and took a stroll on the double helix staircase!!! That was so cool. I don't know how they did it, but it is impressive. After exploring the interior, we decided to go outside and enjoy the beautiful river and open space. It looked like an area out of a movie!! So so pretty!!

Next we were off to Chenonceau, the most beautiful castle in the Loire Valley and 2nd most visited castle in France behind Versailles! Seriously, it's incredible. It is built on the Cher River and extends out all the way across it!! King Francis I of France seized the castle from its original owner for unpaid debts to the crown. His mistress, Diane de Poitiers, was partial to the castle and after his death she took over. It was she who actually extended the castle out across the river and began building the gardens on the banks of the river. His widowed wife (Queen Catherine) took back the castle from Diane. She then built a separate garden and then there were 2. Since then, the château changed hands multiple times between the royal family and the king's mistresses. Yep, pretty much all of them had it for at least a while. Weird huh? I thought so too. Haha
Anyway, the castle is absolutely amazing!!!!! It's unlike anything you've ever seen before and looks fake almost. When you walk up to it (via a walkway with trees growing over it, mind you), it seems sort of anticlimactic. But it most definitely is not!! The 2 gardens are on both sides of the château and it just goes on forever over the river. It's really really cool. I can't even describe it.
After we explored the castle and the gardens though, we went and found the hedge maze!!! YES!! Like out of Harry Potter! It was so much fun!

After the castles we went to our hotel (Hotel Mister Bed... yeah). That was interesting. Hahahaha Very very interesting. But an experience nonetheless.
The next morning we woke up and went to some free wine tastings!! That was so much fun!! We went to this one called Montlouis. It was about a 10 minute taxi ride away but TOTALLY worth it. We tried 7 different wines both sparkling and still. The vineyards in this region produce grapes that make white wine and they specialize in sparkling white wines (like champagne). We tried a rose wine also that wasn't from the region just because the lady told us it was good :) It was. I ended up buying 2 wines from them and a wine glass :) WIN! On our way to the train station we found another wine tasting and of course stopped in!! The little man was precious. He didn't speak a lick of English so we all got to practice our French with him! He was so funny and loved joking with us! Some Irish men came in and we translated for them with the owner man.

It was a really great weekend that was quintessentially French!! Castles and wine -- what more could a girl ask for?! :)

I'm leaving in the morning for my 2 week spring break!! We are going to Italy and doing Milan, Florence, Venice, and a day trip to Verona!!!!!!!! Then I'm meeting mom, dad, and Katie in Munich and we are doing the castles in that area and Neuschwanstein which is the inspiration of Cinderella's castle by Walt Disney! :) :) :) Then we are doing Salzburg, Austria; Interlaken, Switzerland; Vichy, France (so I can show mom and dad around of course!!) then Paris, France!!!!!! :) :) :) I'm so beyond excited right now and can't wait to see all of these awesome places! Get ready for the best blog ever in 2 weeks! :)

Au revoir!

They Don't Speak Spanish in Spain?!?! (Part 2)

We now continue my Spanish adventure to the more relaxing side of the trip. Enjoy :)

FRIDAY APRIL 8th:

Friday we decided was going to be a very lazy day... I'm talking European lazy style, people. It's legit. So we woke up and had to move hostels first off. We were more than happy to be leaving hostel #1 after the scene we had witnessed outside the door the night before. We had to walk sort of across town, but it wasn't too far. We literally felt like we were in a new town!!! It was crazy how different Barcelona could feel depending on which neighborhood you're in! We were now in the Gothic Quarter which is really really cool. So after finding our hostel, we dropped our bags off then went to explore the famous Ramblas. OOOOOOH BOY!!! They are so fun! It's basically just a giant road but in the median, it's a pedestrian area with cafes, vendors, and funny/weird/scary street entertainers. Technically, it's a system of streets in that area that run through the middle of Barcelona, but it's really just the big one that has all the good stuff on it. It was a beautiful day so I got to bust out my shorts and a tshirt!! It was great. We took our time just meandering down Las Ramblas looking at everything and everyone! Our plan was to hit the beach for the day, but it's us, so we got distracted. Hahahaha All the entertainers on the Ramblas were so fascinating that we had to stop and check out a few of them of course! There was this one guy who was FLOATING!!!! I know, we couldn't figure it out either. I took a picture with him.

We then found this market that Rick had told us about and that Ellen had found online. It's massive!!! Of course we went in to look around and get some snacks for the beach. Seriously, there was anything you could ever want! Meat (heads, eyes, etc...), fruit, candy, eggs, veggies, fish, nuts, and smoothies!! We got some fresh fruit smoothies (I got coconut and raspberry and Ellen got coconut and mango) and continued to walk around looking at all the weird and gross stuff. Hahahaha I am still not (and will never be) ok with seeing full bodies of dead animals laying in a glass box waiting to be bought and consumed. The worst were the random heads of something that I believe are sheep just hanging out together in the box. Eyeballs and all. Vomit. But we kept going past all of that and to the fruit stands!! We bought delicious fresh fruit salads for 1 Euro! It had strawberries, mango, pineapple, star fruit, oranges, and I think grapes in it. Perfect for a hot Spanish day at the beach!! :)

But before we could make it to the beach, we needed something of real sustenance... What else but tapas?! When in Spain right?! We had our signature, patates braves. Booyah. Then we headed to the beach :) Hahahaha It was gorgeous!! That Mediterranean Sea is so blue and the sand was so white and fluffy! Oh and the sun :) Yeah, I have tan lines. It was amazing. We laid out for a good 3-4 hours probably before calling it a day. After going back to the hostel and showering, we went and had a fabulous tapas meal all the way up the Ramblas (the ritzy part). I don't remember the name of the place, but it was swanky. And delicious. We split (of course) patates braves, Ellen got a steak thing, and I got a mini hot dog!! And of course, a pitcher of sangria. INCREDIBLE MEAL!!! And it only cost about 6 Euros each! Unreal. And on the way back as we were walking through the Ramblas, we both bought new purses :) Hahahaha mine is a really bad Burberry knockoff and Ellen's is a really good Prada knockoff. I laughed at the guy when he told me it was real... This ain't my first rodeo. It feels like a picnic tablecloth. Hahahaha!!! Yeah, real Burberry. But it's still pretty and looks good from a distance! :)
Our 2nd hostel like I said was in a better part of town, but it definitely wasn't as nice... And it was what you would expect when you think of a hostel -- bohemian flair, very dorm-like, and lots of weird people. Haha We had a 8-person room this time so that was nice. But the window was not a normal window, no. It had an iron decorative thing on it and was completely open!!! As in no glass! Crazy nonsense! And of course I was top bunk right by it. Good thing we were by the sea!! Hahahaha!! It was an experience for sure.

SATURDAY APRIL 9TH:

Saturday morning we woke up refreshed and ready to go!! We had both brought cute outfits to wear one day since the weather was predicted to be so gorgeous. So we did exactly that, got all dressed up to explore the coast! We ate our included breakfast (and grabbed some snacks for later of course!!) and headed out. The plan was to head down to the pier by Port Olympic (Olympic village and where all the yachts are) then walk along the coast a bit then maybe shop. Since we had already done most of the "touristy" stuff, the next few days were sort of just do-what-we-please kind of days :) wonderful.
Thus, our adventure began. We walked for forever down to the Port then admired the beautiful beaches, sky, and boats!! It was still early enough that there weren't too many people out yet, so it was almost like having a private viewing of the area! But since there really wasn't a whole lot to do, we started walking again. This time we were on the hunt for Parc de la Ciutadella. I had read about it somewhere and knew we needed to see it because it took up like half of our map. Hahaha! So eventually we found it and went inside. It was so pretty!! It is attached to the zoo so it is very open and well kept. Unfortunately, there were some running clubs in the park that morning so they kept looking at us which was really awkward... Haha especially when I started eating my orange and couldn't get the peelings into the trash can. Whoops! :) As we began to explore the area though, we found a precious little pond in the middle of the park! It was seriously adorable! There were palm trees and benches around it and in the middle of it there were some plants and some little paddle boats that ducks were sitting on!! It was so picturesque. So obviously we took pictures. Haha typical. Walking away from the pond we found Gaudi's fountain!! Unfortunately, there wasn't any water in it for some reason... Weird I know. But it was still amazing! And random... Hahahaha but we thoroughly enjoyed it :)

Pond

Gaudi's Fountain

After the park we went back to the hostel and got dressed for the beach again! There were definitely a lot more people out today than Friday. Most likely just because it was Saturday and all. But it was still magnificent! I look at my tan line on my arm every day :)



So since we missed the Magic Fountain Friday night, we HAD to make it tonight. And we did :) We saw the early shows and the later ones. For the early ones (when it's still light out) it's very family oriented ie, Spanish Disney medley that the water was choreographed to!!!! We were dying. We found a little perch above the stairs that had a fantastic view of the fountain and the street on the other side. There was also a Catalan soccer game earlier that day so there were people running around in red and yellow clothing from head to toe... kinda reminded me of Ronald McDonald. But it was awesome!!! I'm assuming they won because people would drive by with their flag hanging out the window and honk and yell the Catalan chant. It was quite hilarious. And the amount of drunk people running around cheering for their team just reminded me of football season in Oklahoma... It's basically the same, right?!? But anyway, the fountain show was quite magnificent. And as the sun went down, the music got more serious (still lighthearted though) and lights came on in the fountain!! I was so giddy. Our "friend" we made while sitting there was enjoying it too. He was from Greece :) They were there with their school so there were like 50 of them! Crazy! So we watched the fountain show then tried to go to a place called "Shot Bar" that Becky had told me to go to but we couldn't find it... So instead we went and bought a 2 Euro bottle of Sangria from the grocery store and went and sat on the beach with a bunch of other people who had the same idea. It was a beautiful night in Spain and I couldn't have asked for anything better!!


SUNDAY APRIL 10TH:

Alright, so by this point we were seriously just ready to go home. Sunday was basically a wasted day. Hahaha not really, but sort of. We slept in and since we had to leave this hostel to go to #3 for the night, we just haphazardly packed up all of our junk. Here is where it gets interesting: So we decided that since it was Sunday and a bunch of stuff is free (like the cathedral and Picasso Museum) that we would go do those. So we walk out of our hostel and after getting out of the side road we were on the main road, ok. We heard drums as soon as we stepped out and were like "oh cool! A parade or something!" Ummmm yeah not quite. It was a 10K. I know that doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but DANG!!!! When we got back to France I researched it and here is what I found out: It was started 13 years ago as a fireman's race. Basically what they did was each fire station would have a team and it was like a relay. The catch? They had to wear all their gear while running... Yeah. Intense. But now it is open to anybody and 20,000 applicants were running in it this year!! WHAAAAAAAAT?!?!?! We literally couldn't cross the street. Hahahaha We eventually had to take the subway just to go under the street. It was really really cool though. If you want to research it google "Cursa Bombers 10k Run 2011" and see if you can find any videos too!! I got a couple, but they are like 3 seconds. The drums we heard? Yeah, they have people come out as a sort of pep band for the runners!! It's really fun and energetic! Unfortunately, for some reason people were dropping like flies (runners) which doesn't really make sense because a 10K is only about 6.2 miles. People who run shouldn't be passing out from that. It was still cool though.

Eventually we made it to the cathedral across the street. It was pretty cool I guess... Hahahaha no Notre Dame that's for sure. But they were having Mass so that was very interesting to witness! But there is a bunch of history with this place and I have a couple of stories compliments of Rick Steves. So there are X's all over the place in this church and that doesn't really make sense if you don't know what they are. According to Rick, there was a girl who was sacrificed there back in the day and she was only 13. She was tortured and sacrificed on a X rather than a cross so now they are in honor of her. Kind of interesting. Apparently her grave is somewhere in the church but we could only see about half of it. When you go outside to the other part in the back, it is a fairly open courtyard. There are geese. Hahaha Again, according to Rick, these geese used to be the alarm system for the church. If there was an intruder or any noise they would start honking and alert the clergy men. That's what I call high-tech security right there. Haha Now they are mostly just for nostalgia, but apparently sometimes they still honk at night. Cool fact.

After the church we headed to the Picasso Museum. It was free because it was Sunday! Neither of us are big museum people (thank goodness) so we literally flew through it!! Hahaha we were through that sucker in about 20 minutes. Most people spend at least 2 hours. I don't really know how, but true story. It was cool to see the progression he made though. His early works were amazingly good!!! Although, I am partial to his weird, abstract stuff more than the portraits or really good scenery paintings. So after that we didn't really know what to do with ourselves!! Hahaha Rick had recommended this "Sweet Tour" off of the Ramblas so we hit that up. We ended up only going to 1 out of the 3, but it was still so good!! We had Churros con Chocolate!! Basically there are little churro sticks and they bring you a mug with chocolate in it and you dip the churros in it and eat them!! SOOOOOOO GOOD!!! Too bad it was kinda pricey and could have split a cup of chocolate, but something that is stereotypical Spanish apparently -- so it was a cultural experience :) I was feeling a little under the weather mainly due to allergies since the flowers had all started to bloom, so we visited a pharmacia (pharmacy) to get me some drugs. And since we literally didn't have anything else to do, we went and grabbed some food and went back to the hostel at like 7:30 to pack up all our stuff to leave in the morning.

We had some creeper McGee's in our room, but they were slightly entertaining. I think they were German, but I'm not positive. Oh btw, this hostel had an underwater theme... It made for a very interesting night. Hahaha The rooms were all named (we were the Deep Room) and the bathrooms had signs on them like "Mermaids" and "Prepare your Tritons". Hahahahaha!!!!!! We were dying. And in our room there was a giant WHALE on the wall. Yeah, not kidding. It was hilarious!! There was a sign outside our door saying "Shhhh! Dreaming about mermaids and sea creatures is hard work" ........ BAHAHA!!!!!!! What?! It was a good ending point for sure.

MONDAY APRIL 11th:

We didn't sleep at all the night before mainly because people were coming in the room all night making noise and some idiot decided to open the window all the way making it FREEZING!!!! But we woke up just the same to catch our RyanAir flight back to France. We were way more than ready to be home. It was just inconvenience after inconvenience on that journey back though. So unfortunate. Our train from the metro to the airport was 20 minutes late, RyanAir doesn't label ANYTHING so we were running all over the Barcelona airport before we could finally get to security... What. A. Joke. They have 1 security point in the whole airport. Hahahahaha But we both got through and after proving that our bags did indeed fit the size limit, we made it on board and eventually back to Vichy. We were both just completely drained!! 

Seriously, it was a FANTASTIC weekend and I absolutely LOVED Barcelona! I would go back in a heartbeat. It's a great city with great food, great sites, and just a really good feel in it. We also learned that weekend trips are WEEKEND trips for a reason... Hahaha 5 days is way too long, especially if you pack everything into the first day and a half pretty much. But I had so much fun and made a lot of good memories!! Viva Barcelona!

They Don't Speak Spanish in Spain?!?!

Hola/Bonjour/Hello!!

I feel like I have been literally been traveling the globe with my country count for the past 2 months up to 5!! WHOOOOOO!!!! Hahaha
This past weekend Ellen and I went to Barcelona, Spain for 5 days! Yes, 5 days. And I only missed 1 class :) Glad my school is a joke, but my education is superb (brainteaser!!!) Within these 5 days of being super tourists we saw basically the entire city, stayed in 3 very different hostels in 3 very different parts of town (so much so that we thought we were in different cities!!), and did a bunch of stupid things. Please enjoy the stories and pictures :)
First off, Barcelona is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!!! I will definitely be making my way back to that city at some point in my life, no doubt. Secondly, if you didn't know, they speak a different language in Barcelona apparently... Yeah, it's not Spanish. It's Catalan. Good to know. Hahaha My Western Europe phrase book did not have that as an option unfortunately so we were literally flying by the seats of our pants on that one! Good thing people liked us :) Thirdly, I got a tan and ate wonderful food so I am already missing Spain!
I am going to be doing this post in probably 3 parts because there is just so much information that it will be easier to separate it all :) So this particular one is going to be days 1 and 2 (Wednesday and Thursday).

WEDNESDAY APRIL 6th:

We had the brilliant idea of booking our flights to Barcelona for this day because they were dirt cheap -- we figured we would be able to make it to class before having to leave... Wrong. We had to take the 6am train out of Vichy to make it to Paris in time to make our flight. Hahaha sweeeeeeeet... So we hopped our train (I slept) and made it to the greatest city in the world by 9am!! We had a solid 6ish hours to kill so we got our metro tickets for the day and hopped the metro to the Tuileries Garden. Oh my gosh. They had landscaped the garden with tulips in multiple colors and shaped up the trees and of course trimmed the grass. My breath was literally taken away as soon as we stepped through the gates!! It was so surreal. Everything looked fake.

So naturally we found some seats, put our feet up and had a snack while taking in the beautiful sights of Paris before us. Louvre to the left and Champs-Elysées to the right. It really was the good life.
After enjoying that wonderful treat, we started walking out to the Champs-Elysées so that Ellen could experience it!! And what do you know, we passed the pond/fountain where we (my family) heard little French kids "quacking" at ducks when we were here years ago! It was great. I giggled. So we walked the street up to the Arc de Triomphe and obviously had to be tourists and take pictures with it! Haha We made it all the way up the street then hopped the metro to the Eiffel Tower!!!!!! Ellen had never seen it so we had to go! We ended up claiming a spot on the grass in front of it to have lunch and nap :) It really was one of the happiest mornings of my life. Like a dream come true! During my nap, I may have gotten a little sunburned... Hahaha with a farmer's tan. Yes, classy. Whatever. If someone were to ask me about it I could just say "yeah, I got it while napping by the Eiffel Tower. What about it?" thank you very much. We people watched a lot and there were these adorable kids playing soccer right around us and I was obsessed!! They were precious!
After the Eiffel Tower we still had about an hour to kill so we were walking around on the other side of the Seine and found a dance crew that was warming up. We found a seat (the Eiffel Tower was their background of course... Haha) and watched them perform a hilarious/amazing little show! They were really funny too. After one of them attempted to "steal" my backpack while it was sitting on my feet! Haha It's a lot funnier if I could act it out... Just trust me. Ellen was dying.
RyanAir was an experience for sure... Hahahaha one that I will never be doing again actually! Not worth it. On board, they leave all the cabin lights on, play ads over the PA system, have the flight attendants selling you stuff such as cigarettes and lottery tickets!! What a joke. I was slightly perturbed/really amused that it was real life. But we made it safely to Barcelona and had to find our way to our hostel - at night. We were told to take a train from the airport to a stop that would meet up with the metro system. Easy enough right?? Of course not!! The directions we were given were crap and we had absolutely no idea what was happening. And it was around this time that we realized the language wasn't Spanish. Haha oooooh how I love traveling!! Always an adventure with such simple tasks! Luckily we met the most precious elderly woman on the train and she asked if she could help us out and she told us exactly what stops we needed on which lines and how to get to those lines. Such a sweetie!! We were both so relieved!! So eventually we made it to our hostel and it was super nice!! I loved it. We were in a 16 bed mixed dorm, which means there were 14 other people from all over the world, boys and girls. That was interesting. Hahaha Everyone was really nice though except one creeper who literally went crazy in the middle of the night when he made his way back after his night of partying. He was legitimately crazy. But we survived :)

THURSDAY APRIL 7th:

We woke up ready to start exploring the beautiful city before us!! We had made a list of things we wanted to see and looked on the map to figure out where they all are in relation to each other. Since all of our other trips have been like 2-3 days we had the urge to see everything as fast as possible... And we did. Hahaha we decided to do Sagrada Familia first. Wow!!! It's MASSIVE!! And for some reason (apparently it's common knowledge according to Katie) I didn't know that it has always been under construction and is no where near finished. We were very disappointed by the cranes and scaffolding but when we found this out, we realized it was just part of it's character! But we didn't go inside because it was like 20 Euros or something absurd like that!!! Eh, I'm fine with it.

Next stop, Gaudi's house!!! Also known as Casa Batllò, it is literally the most amazing building I've ever seen in my life! The outside is completely covered in tiles and there are absolutely NO 90 degree angles in the entire building! Amazing, right?! I know!!!! We learned so many fascinating things about Gaudi and the building because we got the audio guide. Oooooh yeah! So basically he modeled the house after natural inspirations -- the ocean, animals, plants... In the 1st room for example, the staircase to go up looks like the spine of a dinosaur. Real life, that's what the audio guide lady told us (I named her Rita). In the living rooms upstairs the glass above the doors are different colors depending on how/when you look at them. And in one room there was a mushroom nook!! Yes! Oh and the lightwell! There is this lightwell which is basically a skylight that has it's own open column going from the top of the house to the floor. The fascination you might be wondering? It is completely tiled in blue tiles, all different shades. But not randomly, no no. The bottom ones are very light and they get darker as you go up. From the bottom you can't tell because of how the sun hits them (he did this on purpose... GENIUS!) but as you go up you can tell they get darker and at the top they are a very deep navy. It's incredible! Everything in the house was made to be comfortable when you touch it -- literally everything. The door handles on the doors are ergonomically designed to fit the form of the human hand - no matter which hand you use!!! And the hand rails on the stairs are just like butter under your hands. It's ridiculously awesome and obviously I am slightly obsessed.
After leaving Gaudi's house, we decided to go get some food, and where else than a Tapas bar in Spain?! So of course we found a place called Tapas Tapas :) Hahaha I giggled, then chowed down. I had sesame chicken skewers, Ellen had a really good salad, and we shared patates braves which is potato wedges with mayonnaise (it's good, I promise) and hot sauce!!!! We literally ordered them at every tapas place we went in the 5 days :) 
So after filling up our bellies we headed to Parc Güell (another one of Gaudi's masterpieces). It is the famous park with the tiled benches that overlook the city. It was gorgeous!! Again, I'm obsessed. We walked around a bit looking at what the vendors had to sell then chose a seat to just watch people and the city from our eagle-eye view. It was divine. I was tempted to buy a little owl figurine from a vendor there but they were charging 6 Euros, it was tiny, and they wouldn't haggle with me!! So I decided that I really have enough owls... Hahahaha it wasn't a necessity. After having a breather on the benches, we started walking again around the rest of the park to explore. Turns out there's a "hallway" that is very cave-like that we played in for a while :) It was so fun! As we made our way down, we found another surprise - under the benches there's an area of all these columns (obviously holding up everything above it) and all tiled!! It was amazing! Gaudi really wanted people to enjoy this area and I believe he did a very good job of that :)

After leaving the park, we decided to head WAAAAAY south and west a little bit to a little area known as Montjuic. This is where there are beautiful gardens, the Magic Fountain (coming later), Olympic Stadium, and a castle!! Like a legit fortress. So we arrived and found out we need to either pay 10 Euros to take the gondola up or hike -- naturally we chose hike. We literally climbed a mountain, but it was totally worth it because we got to the top to find a giant medieval, stone castle awaiting our arrival. It was incredible. Seriously, it looked like it was out of a movie and on one side you overlooked the Mediterranean Sea and to the other, it was an eagle-eye view of the gorgeous city of Barcelona! So surreal! Best part, it was free :) Muahahaha!!!!! Of course, we hung out there for a bit, took typical stupid pictures, then made our way down hoping to catch a glimpse of Magic Fountain. Rick Steves told me about this fountain and said it is a "Definite Must-See". So we started the trek. What did we find along the way?! Olympic Stadium. NBD. The 1992 Olympics were played in Barcelona for those of you who didn't know. It was originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition and was renovated for the '92 Olympics. It has hosted concerts and many sporting events since. (Compliments of Wikipedia) We didn't get to go in because it was closed, but we took a couple of pictures of the outside and of the inside through the gates :) Win! There were also some foot prints on the sidewalk such as Rafael Nadal and Lance Armstrong!! Cool, right?! I KNOW!!! But we had continue our journey because the sun was starting to set and we didn't want to get caught in the dark... We're paranoid. Good news: we found Magic Fountain!! Bad news: it wasn't on... I was soooooo upset!! Actually, I was nervous that for some reason maybe it didn't run during the off-season or something and was going to cry if that was the case. Alas, after finding some tapas and returning to our hostel we found out it just runs Friday and Saturday nights from October-April :) It was only Thursday. But before we went back to the hostel we decided we should do something at least since it was only about 8pm and we didn't want to be 100% lame. So we saw this structure down the way from MF that legitimately looked like either a stadium or a bull-fighting arena. Being in Spain, both seemed plausible especially considering it said "Arenas de Barcelona" on the outside. Ummmm yeah, it was a shopping mall :) Hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!! Seriously. How would anyone in their right mind think that this was a mall?!?!?

So anyway, we obviously walked around there for a little while to kill some time and it was cool. Then we went back to the hostel :) Hahahaha One thing you should know about our hostel: it was very nice, but not in the nicest part of town... Haha actually when we were walking back this night, once we were on the "street" (more like an alley) our hostel was on, we saw a couple of people in a small circle. What were they around?? A man passed out. Cool. We don't know what happened, if he was just really really drunk and decided to take a little snoozer in the street, or if something bad had happened. I like to think it was the first one. But that solidified our feeling good about moving hostels the next day :) For sure.


That's what I've got for now. Next post coming very very soon!!! (this one was the doozy)

C'est La Vie

Friday is where we left off, so it is where we shall begin. We skipped our run along the river and instead slept in to catch up on sleep :) Again, it was another beautiful day in Vichy so we walked around a bit running some errands and then went and bought masks for our masquerade party! It was a really fun party and everyone looked very nice. It was a birthday party for both Kristi and Melanie so there were a bunch of people there!!! After the party had started to die down, it was suggested that we should all go down to the river at like 2am!! I love this country! Hahaha So, we did! A big group of us trekked down there and were just hanging out. The stars out here are INCREDIBLE so I was fascinated by that fact in itself. Then Nico and Eleanor decided it was a good idea to jump in the river :) I was thinking about it... Literally had my shoes off ready to go. But I didn't. When it gets warmer I will though!! That was pretty much all of Friday... Hahahaha.

Saturday we had class at gross 8am... Ugh. That kills me. Almost literally. But Geoff being the sweetheart that he is, let us out at 11 instead of 12 so that we "could enjoy the beautiful weather and sun" :) And that we did!! After taking a quick nap (of course) we all headed down to the river in shorts and tshirts with all of our pasty-skinned glory!! It was awesome. There were so many people out and about just enjoying the change of seasons and basically just loving life. We laid out on the "beach" for a little while then joined some of our friends up on the grass for baseball and football games :) It was so surreal to just be there not worrying about anything and playing baseball in France... But so much fun! It really is the simple pleasures in life. Everything is finally a ridiculous shade of green (think super Crayola marker green) and there are flowers trying to bloom both on the ground and in the trees!! It's absolutely gorgeous!! Birds are out, ducks are out, and even more importantly, doggies are out :) frolicking and playing, probably just happy to be out of their homes! I don't blame them, I feel the saaaaame way. But following our riverside afternoon, we went to Flunch and had gelato :) It was perfection in a glass. That night we had a party at Nico's with everyone so that was again, a lot of fun. Hahaha that phrase seems very repetitive in this post... Whoops!! ;)

Sunday was a pretty lazy day for the most part. We slept in, showered, then went to Meng and Xiaohui's apartment and they cooked us the most amazing Chinese food I've ever had!!!!! (Well duh, it was authentic! Always better than the American wannabes...) We made Chinese cookie things with Nutella, a hazelnut/vanilla spread, honey, sugar, and beans in them! Don't worry, they were all separate cookies... And delicious! While we were making those, Meng baked some chicken she had marinated and oh my lanta. It was absolutely incredible!!!!!! I don't know how these girls do it, but they cook like fiends!! They then proceeded to make us fried rice! I was in love. They even cut up little hot dogs and cooked them in it!!!!! AAAAAAHMAZING!! Their apartment is ridiculously adorable too, just like them. It was such a great afternoon with great friends :)

Monday we had class in the afternoon, but Ellen, Kristi and I got up and went and ran some errands kinda early. For lunch though, I made some sandwiches and headed down to the river. I have this sweet bread so I took chicken slices (like turkey slices in the states but chicken), cheese, and RANCH and made some bomb-diggity sandwiches :) I grabbed my corn nuts and limonade as well and decided to just go walk around a little before. I meandered through the little streets in the heart of Veesh-town just checking it all out. I found a really cute road somewhere, but will probably never be able to find it again.... Hahahaha!! At the river I was just eating watching the duckies play in the water and see people walk by with their doggies. Something I've noticed a lot here -- people rarely use leashes on their dogs. They just walk and they dog follows (or in most instances runs ahead) of them but never gets too far. And the human is almost always reading a book WHILE walking! It's so bizarre! But these 2 guys came near where I was and they had 2 dogs with them and when I was reaching in my bag at one point, I look up to see a giant dog face right in mine and he was trying to get in my bag!! HAHAHA!! He licked my arm a little bit just trying to get around into my bag before his owner came over to take him away. It was really funny and when I looked over at him like a minute later he was just sitting there looking at me with the saddest look on his adorable little face! His name was either "Flush" or "Flash". I couldn't tell. I'm hoping it's the latter though... Hahahaha. Then I packed up and went to class!

Tomorrow (technically today) Ellen and I are going to BARCELONA, SPAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so beyond excited!! We get to spend the morning in Paris because we are taking the 6am train (kill me) from Vichy and will be in Spain in time for their dinner! Hahaha Oh and J-Biebs is playing there tomorrow night too... So we're hoping we somehow run into him or something since we're missing the concert. Hmmm... We are just really excited to get to relax and see some cool stuff and eat great food all in the sun and 70+ degree (Fahrenheit) weather! It's going to be great and I can't wait to blog about it when we get back!

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!! :) :)

“There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday...

If you know what this title is from, I'm sorry :) If you don't, consider yourself lucky... Or at least your ears.
Soooooo I skyped with Katie today and she told me I need to update this little booger more than just once a week after I go somewhere cool. So here you are -- a little update of my daily life here in Vichy.
The other day it was wonderful weather (I'm talking like 60s and sunny people) so Ellen and I decided to go have a picnic by the river before class! I made some pasta salad (needs work) but it was pretty dang good!! It was just pasta, bell pepper, onion, mozzarella, and some salt. YUM-OOOOO!!!!! And I of course took my new signature drink, Limonade. Yes, that's how it's spelled because it is French. You can buy it at the grocery store here and it's basically just a carbonated water that tastes like lemonade. I'm in love. I literally bought a giant 6-pack the other day at the store and the lady gave me the weirdest look like I was planning to feed an army or something. Strange. But anyway, we took our food, backpacks, and sunglasses (FINALLY!!!) and just went and sat and ate and enjoyed the beautiful day!! Then we went to France as a Tourist Destination -- best class ever. Tuesday night I had a Skype interview for a MIS scholarship back in the states. It was a total joke because they just asked me a bunch of questions about how I like France and whatnot!! Hahaha I wish all interviews were like that!
Wednesday, I had French class in the morning then came back to the dorm and it was again, a gorgeous day! So I decided to pack some snacks and go hang out by the river again, this time solo. I packed up some red ripe strawberries and my new bag of corn nuts (yeah, buddy) and my limonade :) I also brought along my French magazine that I read - yes, read. I didn't just look at the pictures, Katie. And my camera!! I met a duck and named him Hector. He was sitting on the piece of wood in the water directly in front of me and kept looking at me. I was just waiting for him to come over for a corn nut!! But he didn't... :( He was silly though because he kept standing on just one leg! At one point he stood on one leg and took a nap before his friend came and told him to come with him. Then they both left. There were also a bunch of people out rowing on the river!! That was really cool since we haven't really seen anyone out there since we've been here (granted, it's been freezing until now, but still). It started getting really cloudy and chilly so I decided to go home.
Thursday I had class at 8:30am!!!!!! Ughhhh... But surprisingly it wasn't too bad. After class I took a nap then skyped with Katie for nearly 2 1/2 hours! Hahahahaha love it. Then for dinner I really wanted pizza so I convinced Josh to go with me since BJ didn't want to go for some reason... Haha (love ya, Beej). Ally decided she wanted to come too so the 3 of us went to find some good 'ol pizza in this town. We ended up at a place called "Wok and Pizza" (say it fast and it's funny. HAHAHAHA!) Yes, Chinese and Pizza. Sweet. So we got a giant pizza and some cokes. It was fabulous! :) Just what I wanted! Ellen and I decided we needed to look into things we need to do in Barcelona next weekend [IF YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS PLEASE EMAIL ME!!!!] but all we ended up doing was looking for places to go the weekend after that :) Hahaha we are wanting to go on a wine tour in the Auvergne region (where we are) because they are known for their wine all over the world. Bad news, all of the vineyards are obviously in the country so there aren't trains that go anywhere close and obviously we don't have a car... bummer. But alas!! Travel Agent Ellen and I found some places up north by Tours, France that have excellent wine tours and CASTLES!!!! Google image this baby: Château de la Bourdaisière. It is absolutely breathtaking so we are trying to go there one day and do a wine tour in the neighboring city the next day. They use the grounds of that château to film movies! It's amazing. I still haven't found a cheese tour yet and I am getting very upset because it is the same problem - country and no trains... I'm about ready to buy a vespa.
I've been losing weight like crazy and really just want some fried chicken so if anyone is feeling gracious enough to attempt to mail some chick-fil-a or Canes, I'm always ready to receive a package like that :) Hahahaha I have ranch now thanks to Nico so all I need now is some good 'ol fried chicken!!!! I attempted to make chicken nuggets the other night and they tasted like rubber... I'm wondering if French chicken nuggets aren't really chicken... Hmmmm. One of the many questions I have started asking since being here.
Ummmmm so that's about all I've got for ya, folks. It's late and we are going to run by the river tomorrow morning then go shopping for our Masquerade party tomorrow night so I am going to say bonsoir mes amis and ma famille. J'espère que vous avez un bon vendredi!
Bisous,
Hayley

The dam of the Amstel (Amsterdam)

Well, this weekend was definitely one of my favorites so far! :) It was crazy fast, but we ended up seeing 3 capital cities within a matter of hours and also stayed in one of the coolest cities on the planet -- Amsterdam. It was incredible. Here goes the nearly play-by-play:

First off, we wondered all weekend what the 3 X's were on everything so naturally I wikipedia-ed it. Here's what it says: The official city motto is Valor, Resolution, and Mercy. The three X's, saltires (St. Andrew's crosses), are taken to represent these even though the X's are older than the motto. A popular tradition also links the X's to the three threats to the city: Water, Fire and Pestilence.

Good to know. Thank you, Wikipedia :)

THURSDAY March 24th:

Our train left Vichy at 6am... Now if you know me, you know I'm definitely NOT a morning person. Yeah. It sucked. But we all made it with all our luggage and boarded the train to Paris!! We had a 4 hour layover there so of course we had to go see some stuff!! We bought some metro tickets and went to La Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower)!!!! :) I was in absolute heaven and almost started crying. The Eiffel Tower is my absolute favorite thing in the world and Paris is my favorite place in the world and is the whole reason I even started learning French and wanted to study abroad here :) and thank goodness it didn't let me down!! It was great because we got there before all the other tourists and tour groups so we basically had an almost private viewing of the majestic metal icon. We took a ridiculous amount of pictures because it was an absolutely gorgeous day and hey, it's the Eiffel Tower. You have to. Then we walked around and took the metro to the Champs-Élysées just to see it. Again, it didn't let me down and I couldn't stop smiling. I officially feel like I am in France now :) Literally, that made my life and nothing could bring me down - not even an 8-hour bus ride.
About that bus ride... We had decided to go to Amsterdam just because we had found a bus (the European Greyhound) for super cheap and thought it sounded fun. It actually wasn't too bad!! It's not a train, that's for sure, but it wasn't as tight as I imagined it would be. I slept most of the way anyway so it really wasn't bad... Hahaha! About halfway through we stop in Brussels, Belgium for a rest break and people were getting off there too. We drove past all of the really cool stuff so we didn't get to actually SEE it, but we got a taste :) It sort of reminded me of San Fransisco oddly enough... I don't really know why, but it did. It was cute. But the bus stop is in the business district so that's what we really got to see. Hahaha typical. But back on the bus and about 4 hours later, we were in Amsterdam!!! :) :) :)
It was so cool at night! A little creepy, but cool. there were little lights on the bridges over the canals that were reflecting and whatnot and all the little bars had people in them and were all lit up but other than that it was pretty quiet. So we found our apartment and settled in! It literally looked like it was straight out of an IKEA catalogue... So basically it was epic. We walked around our area of town a little bit and found the local McDonalds (duh) and KFC of all things!! Right across the street! How convenient.


FRIDAY March 25th:
Friday morning we woke up and decided we wanted to rent bikes for the day. We found a place that rented them for 10 Euros for 24 hours and no deposit so we said "YES!" and went and got our bikes! Let me just preface all of this by saying that EVERYONE rides bikes in Amsterdam. For real. It's nuts how many bikes are in that city. Every bridge, light pole, tree, trash can, you name it - there were bikes locked to it. Nutso, but awesome. So we started riding our bikes around town obviously having absolutely NO idea where we were going, but that's half the fun right?! It was great. Unfortunately, as Rick Steve's had warned me, they are crazy bike riders here... crazy as in, they WILL run you over if you are in their way. There were definitely a couple of times we thought we were going to die -- either by being run out of the bike lane or people coming and finding us later. But we found our way to the square in the center of town (the "plaza" if you will) where are the food and tourist shops were. So yes, that's where we parked our bikes :) There was a van selling American hot dogs and behind it was Burger King and McDonalds with KFC not too far away - ummmm hi, America. But being the worldly crew that we are, we found a local little café/restaurant to eat at that sold the local dish "pancakes" :) WOOOO BABY!!!! I had one with spinach, tomato, cheese, and bacon! Basically it was just a giant crêpe the size of a pizza with all that on it, but whatever. It was legit and delicious. So after lunch, we walked around a bit and shopped then decided to go on Rick's bike tour that he planned for us in his book. It took us all around town and really didn't make much sense so we ended up only hitting 1 of the places on his list, but oh well. We were just enjoying the beautiful day in a beautiful city! Our bike tour lead us to the infamous Red Light District... Yeah, pretty self-explanatory I believe. Hahahaha Literally, it is what you would imagine it as. It's so hidden that if you didn't know where to look, you wouldn't find it. I mean, I guess the crowds of people and sudden burst of liberalism in every form basically attacking you kinda give it away, but it's a lot more hidden that I expected. You have to go through creepy little alleys to get into it, but once you do, there's no second guessing of where you are. The name says it all - Red Light because there are literally red lights above the doors of the, lack for a better term, prostitutes. After we made a walk through, we all came out feeling so sorry for them!! What an awful job. But, it makes me appreciate even more how great of an education I am getting so that I can do something better than that for a living!! Hahahaha!! 
So we just sort of walked around the neighborhood for a bit then went to Anne Frank's house. That was so cool. Very sad, but very cool. It was so surreal actually being there and IN the place where she hid with her family before being taken away. It's like a tour through the Secret Annex and also a museum all in one. And at the end there's a bunch of information about the family and a lot of the actual pages from her diary. Again, it made me very appreciative of my life.
After Anne Frank, we rode home and made dinner then just hung out there. Hahaha chill night.


SATURDAY March 26th:
Saturday was a lot of fun!! We woke up a lot later than we planned, but what do you expect?! We aren't on a schedule in Europe!! Hahaha But we had to go return our bikes so we did that then went and found lunch! On our way to find food after returning the bikes we saw a street band performing on a bridge and they were hilarious!!!! They were 3 old men playing classic songs (that I don't know the name of, of course...) and really putting on a show. They were great. Then we went to a flea market down the street and 3 of us bought new scarves! They're so cute and can be worn through the spring especially in France :) I'm super pumped about that. So since we were all getting cranky and couldn't decide on a place to eat, we went to Burger King to switch it up a bit from McDonalds. Hahaha I was really mad because I asked for "no ketchup" on my burger and she repeated it to make sure yet what do you know?? There was ketchup. I almost vommed. But of course, I just scraped most of it off and sucked it up and ate it because I was STARVING! And they had mozzarella sticks!!!!! WITH MARINARA SAUCE INSIDE THEM!!!!!! Genius.
So after lunch we went back to the apartment and showered and stuff then went to Heineken!!! That was AWESOME!! It was very laid back and chill so we just sort of meandered around taking a ridiculous amount of pictures with stupid things like goblets and medals just because we could. We learned a lot about how they make beer which is actually kinda interesting. And we got to taste the different ingredients like hops and barley then go see the massive tanks they use to brew it and stuff! So cool. They have this thing called the "Brew You Ride; Be The Beer". It kinda speaks for itself I think, but it was hilarious. It's just a video you watch but it's one of those interactive ones where for instance, when the hops get thrown in the water, you get misted with water. And when they heat it all up, there are heat lamps that heat you up. So it was really funny for all of us to be doing. Then we got free beer!! (Well I guess it wasn't technically "free" but they make you think it is). There was a bartender and he poured too many so as he was teaching us about how to drink it, he would ask questions about things such as "What do you smell when you sniff it?" and I for some reason answered "HOPS!!!!" and won a Bonus Beer! Hahahaha Who would've thought that I would ever in my life a) answer a question correctly about beer and b) actually win free beer?!?! I was ecstatic. Hahahaha
Following our free beers in there, we went into a room that had couches and videos and, wait for it, the ceiling was 100% Heineken bottles!!!!! YES!!! The famous green bottles were in a wavy pattern on the ceiling with lights shining through them. [Mom and Dad -- decorating idea for the lake?! :) HAHA] It was great. Leaving that room, we went to the interactive area and made a really funny video of us trying to sing in Dutch... Yeah, not so much. It was funny though! People were laughing at us. Finally we made it to the real bar!!! At the end we were allowed 2 free beers with the buttons on our bracelets. But sad to say that by that point, I could not drink my 2. Hahaha I think Tyler was the only one who drank his 2. But hey, I had my Bonus Beer so it evens out right?? Hahaha
After Heineken, it was getting dark so we started wandering around looking for this sign that Carlos wanted to see. Apparently it's kinda famous?? I don't know. Haha but it really was cool!! All of a sudden we turned the corner and there's this park and a giant set of letters saying "I amsterdam" (I am Amsterdam... get it?? Hahaha it's ok. Took me a while too) So of course we climbed on them to take pictures! Haha After having our photoshoot, we began the hunt for food. And heya!! We spotted Hard Rock Cafe yonder and began walking towards the pretty lights. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday night and it would be a 2 hour wait... Not cool. But, fortunately, there was a hot dog cart right outside :) Oh yesh. You bet your bottom dollar I got me a hot dog!! Josh did too so I had a buddy on my side of that argument. It was delicious! I have been craving hot dogs and was so happy to have one!! We then went into a more populated part of town and found a little Mexican restaurant (????) that of all things had a Texas Burger... I am literally still dumbfounded by this. I would be weirded out by it IN Texas, but being in Amsterdam raised the weird meter about 1000 times. Duh, I took a picture and thought it was hilarious. And of course, we went in. Hahaha It was pretty good too, surprisingly!! Ally got some fajitas that I had one of (since I had already had my hot dog) and the waitress was NOT happy with us for doing that. She had issues. But, moral of the story: we ate, we paid, we went on our way. Hahaha Coming out of the restaurant we heard music and were drawn to it like bugs to a light. It was a boy singing and his buddy was playing the guitar. OMG. He was Irish and so good!!!! We stayed and listened to 2 songs and then he was done :( boo. But I recorded a song :) Don't worry.
The boys really wanted to go see Red Light District at night... Now, Rick Steve's told me to not go after 10pm because a) it's Red Light... and b) it's just not smart to be out after then anyway!! Duh. ;)
But, alas, we went. Seriously, 100x sketchier than the day before. I was appalled at some of the things I saw. Not only was it just craziness, but you remember how I said it was like a little hidden area with all of them?? Well, apparently as soon as the sun goes to sleep, Red Light comes to life and expands... As in, not only was it just the hidden alleys, but on the main street as well. Just out of control. I don't understand. Hahahaha Guess that's my conservative Texan self talking. But we survived and went to a bar down the street to hang out and people watch. Then we walked home :)


SUNDAY March 27th:
Sunday morning our bus left at 9am. We didn't think this would be a problem considering we just needed to hop on the tram by our apartment... We were wrong. Hahahaha First of all, we lost our hour for daylight savings that night, so that kinda threw all of us off. Secondly, we woke up later than planned but thought we were still fine. Thirdly, come to find out that on Sundays, the trams only come by every 30 minutes... and we got to the stop at 8:07 -- 7 minutes too late and we needed to be at the bus stop by 8:30. Cool. Hahaha But we eventually made it after walking a ways and then finding a bus to take us. This bus ride to Brussels though was a complete blur because I literally passed out the whole way except to get up at the break to eat. Win.
Once we got to Paris, we got trapped in the parking garage, walked on the highway, then proceeded to ride the metro alllllll the way across town because we were too lazy to move :) We must have been quite a sight to onlookers.
But obviously we made it safely back to Vichy by Sunday night and were welcomed by rain. Sweet.


This was a wonderful weekend and I am so glad we decided to go to Amsterdam!!! It was an absolutely beautiful city with amazing sights, people, and adventures to be had. It was so much fun from start to finish even including the most painful couple of days following our bike riding experiences... Hahahaha yes, I am still sore. But it was incredible. I finally feel like I am really in Europe and am enjoying every bit of it! The weather is supposed to finally start to be nicer here so that is very exciting news. New goal -- try a new type of cheese every week :) and maybe a wine or 2 ;) Hey, it's France.


C'est la vie, mes amis.

It's A Wonderful Life

Salut mes amis et ma famille!!
Every day is an adventure over here in France. It's incredible to wake up every morning in a foreign country knowing that I will learn something new that day. This past week has been ridiculously amazing so this is going to be a ridiculously long post to tell you all about the great things we have been doing over here. :) Sit back and enjoy.

Tuesday, Ally and I didn't have class so we decided to go have a picnic down by the river since it was finally sunny!! So we went walking through town to find some bread to make sandwiches then made our way to the river. We had a wonderful lunch and then went to the giant grocery store across the bridge. It's called L'Eclerc and literally looks like Walmart... It was almost scary how much it looked like Walmart, but I liked it :) We wanted some tortilla chips for that night (details following) and had heard that they had them -- we didn't find them. So we just bought some stuff we needed and left.
Tuesday night was Mardi Gras, and being in France we figured we would have a little celebration of our own. So naturally, we had a Mexican fiesta. Everyone had to bring something so that we could all eat, and it was amazing!! There were 4 things of guacamole (1 of which I made, thank you), chicken tacos, queso (made with French cheese of course!! Haha), mixed lettuce/fruit salad, a Spanish dish Carlos made along with his Sangria, banana crepes from Ellen, and the Mexican girls made mini burritos and guacamole -- OMG they were INCREDIBLE!!! It was soooooo delicious!! Oh and Tyler and Ally made "Beeritas" (margaritas made with beer?? They were good though) Hahaha. So there were about 20-25 people there and we all just hung out and ate wonderful food. It was fantastic!

LYON, FRANCE

Greetings from Lyon!!! Yes, that is real (not the coloring, but the actual picture) :)

Wednesday we went to Lyon for the day!! Ellen's friend, Catherine, came to visit for 3 days during her spring break so we took her to Lyon considering we hadn't even seen it yet and were told we needed to. It was so cool!!! Basically, Lyon is like a smaller Paris, sort of. It is the 2nd largest city in France, so it's not like they are lacking anything... Except Tom's shoes. I looked. But anyway, Ellen, Catherine, Ally, and myself left Vichy at 9:30 and got to Lyon about 11:30 just in time for lunch!! But silly us, as soon as we got off at the train station, we went outside and saw skyscrapers... Well, that did not seem correct, so we called some of our friends who went to Lyon Tuesday and were still there for the day. We had to go buy a metro ticket for the day and find our way to the part of town where all the interesting stuff was. Haha we thought we had really messed up!! But we were fine :) So we met up with them at a little café and went and had lunch! It was really good and they showed us around the part of the city they had seen Tuesday on our way. Lyon is gorgeous!!! And it was a gorgeous day so that helped :) We went to a little restaurant by the river and I got a CHEESEBURGER!!!!! Yes. Unfortunately, the French process their meat differently so it wasn't what I expected, but it was still good and filling. After lunch we hiked up the hill across the bridge to the Basilica de Notre-Dame de Fourvière. The walk itself was amazing! With every step we got a new view of the city down below. We walked through cobblestone streets with little shops and cafés lining them and they were so small the sun couldn't even come through. It was marvelous. It's times like that that really make me feel like I'm in Europe. So as we made our way up to the Basilica, it's sheer majesticness was astounding. It was white so it almost shined as the sun hit it and it was right on the edge of the hill so it almost looked as if it might fall off!! So going in, we had no idea what to expect as far as what it would look like on the inside... Were our wildest expectations met!! We walked in and it was so ornate and elaborate, it literally took my breath away. Every inch of that place was covered in either tiles or paint and it was utterly incredible. There aren't even words for how gorgeous it was!

Front

Inside

So after experiencing that wonderful Basilica and the crypt under it (yes, a crypt!) we started to make our way back to the metro stop, but on the way we were told to go see the Roman Ruins. WOW is all I can say. They literally look like part of the Coliseum in Rome! But we came to the conclusion that the steps/seats weren't actually ruins because they were too perfect. Hahaha but there were some really cool ruins right beside those steps that were legit. And there was a little bit of a park in the area where people were just sitting and either eating, reading, or playing with their kids so that was cool.

Upon leaving the ruins, we decided to go get some crêpes just because hey, this IS France after all :) So we got our crêpes and went and sat on the fountain in the plaza in the center of town before heading back to the train station. It truly was a perfect day.

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Geneva. Oh, Geneva. How I love thee. I have officially found my 2nd favorite city in the world, assuming money is not an issue of course... Hahaha Geneva is the epicenter of the world for business and the ultra melting pot of every different culture. Being the home of the UN, it caters to people of every nationality -- we heard French, English, Italian, German, and Spanish while there for 3 days. It was incredible. It is a beautiful, clean, über European city that unfortunately is insanely pricey and not recommended for the college kid on a budget haha. But seriously, when we were walking down by the lake after getting off the train, I literally almost cried at how gorgeous it was (and I do not cry). Ellen was laughing at me because I was speechless except to say "I love this city" or "this is incredible". They had little water fountains that were just flowing Alp water so duh, I refilled my water bottle like 4 times!! Hahaha it was delicious!!

How could this NOT take your breath away?!

AWESOME

Fresh Alp water!!!

Hahahahahaha

So Friday, we were supposed to leave Vichy at 9:30am and we did... But Michael didn't make it. Hahahaha he literally was running through the train station doors as it was pulling away. Sad day. But when we got to Lyon (our layover) we were delayed so we thought maybe he would be able to make it and ride with us to Geneva! No such luck. His got delayed too. Bummer. But eventually we all made it and met up and all was well :) So we walked around, I fell in love with the city, and we tried to make our way to our hotel (which we had absolutely NO idea where it was)... Haha but luckily public transportation is free!!! So after purchasing an unnecessary ticket, we hopped on the tram to try and get there. Ally and Tyler had already gone ahead while me, Ellen, and BJ waited for Michael so we asked them where to get off. Funny story, we didn't get off at the right place. We were across town. But did we care?! Not really, because it was still kinda light outside and we were in SWITZERLAND!! So we walked around asking people where we were supposed to go and no one had any idea what we were talking about. Cool. All we knew is that it was IN a mall, but there are like 5. So after having an adventure walking around town, finding a guy selling the best rotisserie chickens out of a van, and walking across a creepy highway, we finally found it! So we went in, freshened up, and headed out on the search for food!!! Remember, this is a ridiculously pricey city so there is no such thing as "cheap food". McDonald's was even 11-13 Francs ($13-$15) for a combo meal.... Not ok. But we found a cute little restaurant/café that was still open so we went in. Want to know the best part?? The owners were Italian!!! Haha it was so cute and they loved us. We all ordered our food and decided it was going to be Michael's birthday :) So they got the whole restaurant to sing Happy Birthday to him and gave him a free tiramisu (amazing btw) that we all ate. It was so fun. Now that we were full and happy again, we headed back to the hotel. We had talked to some locals earlier who told us about a club called "Bypass" that we had to go to... Yeah. If you know me well, you know that a) I love to dance but b) not in public at a club... But since we didn't have any cute clothes, we put on what we had (sweaters, jeans, and boots) and headed to Bypass. Hahahaha what a joke. It's Europe. So people were decked out in short dresses, heels, jewelry, the whole 10 yards. We stuck out like sore thumbs. Michael and BJ had to switch shoes because the bouncers were not going to let them in!! But we got in just the same, girls with our mom-bags and everything, and were shocked by the inside. First of all, we got there at like 11:30. Things don't START in Europe until at least 1am... Sweet. Secondly, there were old people there!!! Seriously, men in suits hanging out in the VIP couches. AWKWARDDDDDD. So we just sort of stood around. But the club was really cool looking!! on the downstairs, there were VIP couches surrounding the dance floor and upstairs was VIP only (but we went up there to check it out ;) haha). But while we were standing around we looked at the menu at the bar and OMG. A beer was 16 Francs!!!! And for the VIP tables, a bottle of vodka was $500... Ummmmmm WHAT?!?!?!?! How do these people afford to live in a place like this?! We were all in shock. It was craziness. But once things picked up, we joined the party and they started playing American music so that was fun :)

Saturday was our exploring day. We got up, found some food at the grocery store, and set off. We started just walking around, thanks to the free public transportation for allowing us to get from our hotel to downtown without walking, and saw a flea market in the big park!! So obviously we had to go. I found a couple of precious owl things and a cool owl for my house next year!! :) :) I'm very excited. I made a bargain with the old lady on it in French!! Check me out! Hahahaha so from the market we just started walking and found the famous Flower Clock of Geneva!! It was pretty cool I guess... Haha

Flower Clock

We then headed to St. Pierre's cathedral. It is in a very ritzy part of town (by ritzy I really just mean expensive). It was really cute!! Honestly, it was kinda letdown after Lyon, but it was still really nice. I enjoyed the area around it more than the actual cathedral. Haha typical. On our way up to it though, we were just walking and saw a little park so Ellen and I went over to play! They had one of those toys you sit on and it spins like the teacups at Disney World (my favesies!!!) so we did that. 2 boys came and joined us and one ended up getting sick!! :( but after he got off of course. We felt bad so we left. Haha Then we found some swings instead :) But we explored all the little side streets from the church and Michael and BJ went and tried on expensive watches in a little shop -- one was $45,000!!!!! Ridiculous. After that, we grabbed some paninis and went shopping!! We went to H&M and all I ended up buying was a shirt... Hahaha again, typical. It was pretty expensive though so I figured if I found something, I could find it at a cheaper H&M. 

Giant chair... UN behind it.

We then began the search for the UN!! That was cool. When you get off the tram at it, there is a giant chair (I'm not exaggerating) in the square out front. It is symbolic of something but I don't know what... Hahaha it's missing a leg and I think someone said something about it being about land-mines or something like that. I don't know. I just look at things :) But it was really cool and random at the same time so it was something different than the same old thing that you would expect.

So we stayed there for about 10 minutes then were over it. Haha the boys and Ally headed to the Geneva Auto Show but Ellen and I headed back to the hotel because we really didn't feel like looking at a bunch of cars for hours. But on the way home we decided we wanted some Swiss chocolate!!! :) So we found a shop right next to Versace and bought our bars of Lindt Premium Swiss chocolate :) It's scrumdiddlyumpcious!!! We then went back and had nap time to prepare for the evening festivities. We met the crew at McDonald's for dinner (btw they have a RANCH chicken wrap!!! Yes, I ate it and was in heaven) before heading back out to the club for round 2. This time, we dressed a little nicer, lost the mom bags and jackets, and got in free!!! :) What up?!?! It was so much more fun Saturday night. Hahaha There were actually people there and people our age!! There were these guys on stilts and dressed up in these outfits that lit up (think BEP Super Bowl halftime show) that were walking through the crowd on the dance floor dancing and stuff. That was really cool. It was so fun. We stayed a lot later before calling it a night this time. 

Swiss chocolate and cheese!! :) Yummmmm!

Sunday we slept in, cleaned up, and checked out by 12:30 then headed back out into the town. We went back to that park and they were having a Farmer's Market!! I was on the hunt for some Swiss cheese and we saw cheese vans. So we went walking through there and we went to the first cheese guy. I wanted Swiss cheese so I asked Ellen and Ally what I should ask for... because hi, it's ALL Swiss cheese. Hahahahaha so I didn't know what to do! I ended up buying some asiago because it was delicious. :) We then went to McDonald's because we didn't know what else to do and I had a Ranch Chicken wrap again... Haha Ally had to catch a train 2 hours before ours so we just went to the one by the train station and used the wifi. Boring, I know. But we googled Daylight Savings because we saw people's facebook status' talking about losing an hour of sleep and whatnot. So turns out, North America did it yesterday, but France doesn't do it until March 27th. Weird?! Yes. But good to know. Hahahaha

We got on our train back to Lyon and the Vichy and for the first leg of the trip we had a couchette (sleeper train)!!! :) It has been on my bucket list to ride on one of these so now I guess I can mark it off! It was so Harry Potter-esque that I was tickled pink to get to take a nap ON A BED, ON A TRAIN!! Hahaha It was hilarious.

So that's what I've been up to!! It's been so much fun and the next big trip is Amsterdam in 2 weeks!!! I am so excited!! We are going to stay in Vichy this weekend since we spent so much money this weekend, but I'm sure something exciting will happen during the week... hopefully. Hahahaha

Love you and miss you all!!! :)