“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thursday 17 February 2011

My EuroTexalina Weekend!

WELCOME TO MY WONDERFUL PARIS WEEKEND!
So this past weekend, I ventured to Paris to meet up with some of my Oxford girls, Ashley Close, Allye Foster, and Lizzie Elston. You know those times when all your worlds collide, that was this weekend. My Carolina amie Ash and my two west texans, who all go to ACU met me in my new world...France!
So I arrived late Friday night and met the girls at Notre Dame. Yes, this is why I love France, you can say things like "oh yeah...we met up by the eiffel tower, or next to the louvre." Anyways, we went for a late French dinner at a restaurant au cuisine francaise. The girls tried a plate of Fromage and I got my typical Chevre salad. As is normal in France, our meal lasted forever, so we returned pretty late to the hostel.
In Front of the Louvre
Saturday:
We woke up a little late, and had a panicked trip to reach the Eiffel Tower to rendez-vous for the flat-tire bike tour. We BARELY made it on time, after sprinting through the courtyard of the tower.
We bike-toured it until around 3, seeing some awesome sites, and mostly just laughing a lot.

Ash and Lizzie

My Bike!!
Peace Memorial (Ironically it is the most terrorized memorial in the world)
The locks of love on Bridges in Paris!

The sky after the bike tour looked a little questionable so we decided it was museum time! We headed to the Musee d'Orsay. Definitely my new favorite musee. They had a Van Gogh Exhibition, along with Monet, Manet, and many more! The best part about it...Gratuit! FREE!

I tried to be serious like Van Gogh, but it didn't work
Again, in True French Fashion, we took a coffee break after the musee, to give our feet a rest. Then headed toward the Eiffel Tower for what we were soon to find out was going to be the best night ever!

C'est Magnifique!!
Perfect View of Paris from the top
Wildcat Tower??



I took about 1000 pictures of the tower, because it's my favorite part of France, and probably my favorite monument in the world.
After going to top of the Eiffel Tower, we were on our way down and they elevator manager said, "cette nivel a le cuisine et le patinoir gratuit." Did my ears deceive me? Free Ice Skating on the Eiffel Tower?? Why Yes? The 4 of us literally sprinted out of the elevator to the Ice Skating rink situated in the second floor, for one of the most surreal moments of my life. We skated for a while, get hit on by a very strange man working the shoe booth, and the set off for a nice French Dinner to finish our wonderful day!

Patinoir sur le Eiffel Tower
Sunday:
Sunday, was nothing too crazy. We woke up and headed for mass at Notre Dame. It was definitely cool, but it's not really a place of worship. I had a very long, incomprehensible service to sit through, so I did a lot of thinking (reflechir beaucoup). There are so many churches in Europe, yet so little religion, only habitual attendance for the sake of personal historic value, but for the purpose of worship. But that's a whole other blog post for the future...



After ca, we went on our great hunt! The hunt for Moulin Rouge. First, we ascended about 10000 stairs to reach La Sacre Coeur, a magnificent église that overlooks the whole city! After a brief stay here, we headed back down the mountain to spend a few brief moments at the Moulin Rouge...and more importantly, a yummy candy shop!

Afterwards, My Eurotexalina girls had to head back, and so did I.

It was a fantastic weekend and It could not have come at a better time! Hopefully this won't be the last opportunity to meet up in France!
For now, Au Revoir!

Sunday 13 February 2011

Yes I like things that Sparkle!

Here's a little Pre-blog Video From my wonderful weekend in Paris!!



Monday 7 February 2011

One Fine Day



So here's the story of one fine day:

So this morning, we woke up ready to take our first test in Langue Francaise, when I received a phone call from our professor, saying she had sick kids and had to cancel class. At first I was a little annoyed that I was already up and dressed for the day, but then I realized, I had a WHOLE free day ahead of me!

First, me and the roomies did some laundry, much needed and much fun!

We came back to the house for some downtime/catch up time. I got a lot of useless things done like blogging and editing every picture possible so, Around 13:00 I ventured to the mall to print some pictures. Alas, picture machine wasn't working, so instead, I decided to hit up the park

What i have failed to mention thus far is that we have had a whopping 50 degrees here in CF, which is both unusual and amazing!

La Recette joined me there with a diet coke, and pure bliss as we layed in the sun for an hour or so!
Afterwards, we had a meeting at l'ecole, where we discussed internship possibilities (which was definitely a lift to the spirit) and then we headed for our big adventure...the mountain climb.

So noah (le Bucheron) has been telling us about this park we have to visit. He warned us it was uphill, but I didn't realize it was actually up a mountain. So we ventured (all the while I'm in kitten heel flats) up the mountain, I can't remember what it is called exactly, to this incredible park on top of the hill where you can literally see all of CF.
about half-way up the mountain today

The walk with friends was enjoyable, and the view from the top has breathtaking. I'm thankfully reminded so frequently of all the beautiful sites God put on this earth, and today was just a reminder to take advantage of those "fine days." and Oh yea...we found a slide...I'm in love!

Oh yeah...I live here!!! The church in the middle is La Catedral du CF
The end to the perfect day was Shrimp Scampi and rice, with Fromage Cantal for dessert! Parfait! Tres Bien!

Who's Who


So I realized that you might need to meet the players in my game
So here's a story of 10 students..who live in France.

Here goes:
They Call me Blondie

Julia: AKA Fish or La Recette
Lisa: La Slachette
Brittany: Le reine
Noah: Le Bucheron
Cheny: La Fiancee
Stephanie: La Mysterie
Anthony: Tin tin
Parker: Le Avocat
Richard: Le Machine

Madame Nutella Crepe: The reason I wake up in the mornings
This is Mr. Espresso, and he get's my through every day
So now you know the important people in my day!