Je n'ai pas d'internet (I don't have internet)

Currently Listening Continuum By John Mayer see related

Strasbourg, Halloween France Style, Land Tour and more...

 Bonjour family and friends-

Here I am writing to you from Tours, France in our plush little hotel with amazing internet access! We are officially on day 2 of the Land Tour for the All Saint's day vacation. I will be living out of one of my rolly suitcases for 12 days! We have already seen some amazing stuff... but I'll tell you more about that later :). This past week officially midterm, and it is very hard to believe that I have been here 6 weeks! Time has definitely flown by... it seems like just yesterday that I was struggling to figure out the metro system or looking frantically at maps to find my way from class to chez moi (my house). I'm used to time passing fairly quickly because at Furman I feel like I blink and suddenly a semester is over, but here I am constantly going, constantly touring, constantly learning so the time-space continuum seems to be going at warp-speed. Although I think I will be happy to come back home and once again feel comfortable with my surroundings and my native culture, I am already starting to feel extremely sad that I won't be able to hop on a train to Paris every afternoon, of be able to see things that outdate the existence of the United States, or smell the smell of Versailles-- the smells of fresh bread, sugary pastries, rain-smell mixed with the multitude of fallen, wet leaves all over the ground. Life is definitely good here and I am trying to get everything I can out of everyday I am given.

Last weekend in Strasbourg was absolutely amazing! I took my first train ride ever from Paris to Strasbourg, which is almost exactly on the border of France and Germany. We left Paris about 4 pm and got into Strasbourg at 8:45. Leslie and I got off the train, and somehow stumbled upon our hotel after walking in a few different directions for about 10 minutes. I was so proud that we were able to check-in in French without any problems! Our hotel was absolutely charming and fantastic. It was a quiet, quaint hotel with lots of hospitality. Our room was clean and comfortable and we had a wonderful walk through a garden each time we went from our room to the front desk. After dropping our stuff, we decided to try and find some place to eat. Once again, we magically stumbled upon a very chic pizzeria which had the most delicious food ever. For dessert we had Profiterols, which are basically the best dessert I have ever had. They are a pastry filled with vanilla ice cream and then hot fudge and almonds are poured over the top of them. Gotta say I was quite bitter that I had never had them before. It is definitely a must for everyone. The next day, we began our sightseeing mission after sleeping in a little (the first time I have gotten to here in France!) We bought passes for the weekend which gave us freebies and admission discounts and of course the first coupon we decided to use was for a boat tour of Strasbourg on the Ill river. It was the perfect way to start our trip because we were able to get acquainted with the rough layout of the city. It was neat to see how diverse the city of Strasbourg was: one minute we'd be floating past La Petite France, an entire neighborhood of half-timbered houses that looked like they belonged in a Gingerbread house village, and then the next minute we'd be floating past the extremely modern European Union parliament building, which was a conglomeration of shiny black steel and mirrored glass which was lightyears away from the handmade, crooked wooden houses that are so typically French. After our wonderful boat tour we decided to try our luck at the Alsatian Museum (the Alsatians are basically the people who have lived on the border of Germany and France, they have their own langauge, own customs, own crazy rituals). It was really cool to see the intricate costumes and artifacts like carved doors that were 400 years old. After our museum we strolled around Strasbourg and looked at La Petite France which was honestly the most pittoresque thing I have seen in France yet! The half timbered houses were everywhere and the smell of beignets and pretzels (which the french for some reason call bretzels) was everywhere. After our Petite France excursion we set off to try and find the actual Strasbourg away from the touristy part of town. We saw a neat World War II monument and lots of really cool apartment buildings that definitely looked like they belonged in Brooklyn or DC, not a ridiculously old town in France. Our luck continued that night as we chose a beautiful Italian restaurant to eat in. We sat on the top floor of the restaurant and had to climb this really high, narrow spiral staircase to reach our table. It was clearly impossible to get food up those stairs from the kitchen on the first floor, so of course what did the ingenious french do? Installed a dumbwaiter of course. It was pretty much one of the coolest things ever. Around our table, the decor was vibrant, with yellow walls and forest green curtains, as copious amounts of statues and figurines of varying angels were everywhere. I had a delicious Cordon Bleu Salmon and an amazing piece of Black Forest cake for dessert. As Leslie and I were enjoying our fabulous meal, we could hear music from the Vendage festival playing. The Vendage is when the new year's wine is delivered for the first time to a city from the wineries, and the city throws a huge party complete with wine sampling, cakes, hors d'oeuvres, and music! As I was eating, we heard "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong being played by the huge oom-pa-pa band. It was a very special moment, but it definitely made me miss my momma because that is our song (but she will be coming soon YAY!). Sunday morning we got up and checked out of the hotel and went to see the massive cathedral of Strasbourg, which up until the 19th century was "the highest edifice in Christiandom" (I'm not lying its straight out of my guidebook haha). It was definitely refreshing to see a cathedral that was different from the flamboyant gothic styles we have seen all around Paris. It was a beautiful red color from the stone they used to build it, and had absolutely gorgeous spires and windows which scaled the entire church and seemed to truly touch the clouds. After looking around outside, we went inside to see the famous three-tiered astrological clock which keeps track of the rotating calendar of holy days, shows what day it currently is, the cycle of the moon, and of course keeps absolutely perfect time. Oh did I mention that it was built in the 1400s? The mechanisms of this clock were absolutely unreal and it was so amazing to see something that was 600 years old still work... well... like clockwork. In the top tier, the 12 disciples of Christ would file in front of Jesus as his arm would move to make the sign of the benediction for each one of them. The next level had a bell which a statue of death rang. Every 15 minutes a figure would move in front of the figure of death. At the top of the hour, it would be a child, then as time progressed, it would be a young adult, a middle aged soldier, and then finally an old man-- all symbolizing the march of time towards death. Upbeat right? The bottom portion had two angles representing the keepers of time, and then a cycle of 7 chariots, each representing a day of the week which would move at midnight each night. At the top of the clock was a rooster who would crow3 times, once after each time death would ring his bell, symbolizing the betrayal of Jesus. After seeing this incredible machine work, we looked around at the beautiful stained glass and intense architecture of the beautiful cathedral. From there, we finished up our visit of Strasbourg by seeing the Oeuvre Notre-Dame Musee (Work of our Lady Museum) which housed religious iconography, sculptures, paintings, etc dating back to the 11th century. It was so neat to see gargoyles, rosaries, holy texts, etc which played such an important role in the lives and history of people so long ago. We headed back to the train station after our visit and safely made it back to Versailles around 11 pm that night. It was definitely a fabulous weekend and was a much needed breather from the rest of the group, which can be at times overwhelming! It was also absolutely fabulous to see another part of France which was completely different from what I'm used to. So so very pleased that I was able to go and experience the charm of the melting pot that is Strasbourg.

This past weekend, I stayed in Paris and saw some of the stuff we haven't been able to see yet. On Saturday, we had a kind of morbid day in honor of Halloween (which unfortunately the french do not really celebrate!). I planned a trip to the Catacombs, which is basically about a mile and a half of the bones of former Parisian residents stacked on top of each other, about 60 feet under the streets of Paris. In the 18th century, the bones were moved to the underground quarries (which had been constructed by the Romans) because they had run out of space in the city to bury the dead because of the city's use of above ground tombs. So they state removed every last bone from the above surface crypts and painstakingly stacked them up on top of each other like a guardrail of bones lining the pathways of the quarry. It was definitely very creepy but also kind of interesting to see. Check out this crazy picture of it! Perfect for Halloween right? 

From there a few of us went to The Pantheon, where some of the most famous french citizens are buried. We saw the tombs of Marie and Pierre Curie, Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and many many others. It was a beautiful building which was constructed originally to honor Ste. Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, but after during the revolution was turned into a sort of tomb museum. After that visit, I had basically had enough of death for the day so I headed back to Versailles and just chilled for a little and then ate dinner with some friends. Sunday, I went to the American Church of Paris, which is located near the Seine, with my friends Myra and Leslie. It was really cool to see the vastly international crowd that the american service attracted. I know it sounds stupid, but it was just gave me a lot of comfort to hear things like the Lord's Prayer and the Doxology in my native language and to be with other people who were seeing this wonderful city from an outsider perspective just like me. From there, we went to the Institut du monde Arabe (The Arab World Institute) to see a wonderful exhibit on how the middle east, more specifically Turkey, really highly influenced and essentially launched the Renaissance in Venice and then later on though out all of Europe. It was definitely made me realized how skewed history can sometimes be, and that sometimes what we are taught in classes is not the whole story. From there, we went to have ice cream at the most famous ice cream place in all of France, Bartholinis. I paid 4 euros for a scoop of Honey Nougat ice cream(their specialty) and raspberry sorbet in a deliciously wonderful waffle cone. I can honestly say that it was probably the best thing I have ever eaten (which I know I have said a lot but it just keeps getting better and better I swear!). After that we headed to the Marche aux Puces (flea market) which was in a not so fun part of town. Fortunately though I found a wonderfully cute pair of brown kitten heals for only 5 euros!! Steal of the century :) All in all a somewhat restful weekend filled with lots of fun Parisian sights, sounds, and tastes!

This past week has been good... classes have been a little frustrating because I feel like I'm not really progressing as much as I'd like to be, but hopefully it'll come soon. I am definitely happy to be on the Toussaint (or All Saints) vacation! Its a much needed break from our normal schedule despite the exhausting pace we are going at. We left wednesday morning at 6:45 am!!! (which if you know me at all is not an hour my face is happy to see, EVER) and have spent our first couple days in the Loire Valley, known for wine, rivers, and of course ridiculous chateaux (ps I have seen 6 chateaux in the last 2 days!). Chenonceau or Azay le Rideau have got to be my favorites because once again both castles are straight out of a Disney movie. Chenonceau is built literally over a river, with a beautiful bridge with 5 arches supporting the enormous castle. The river perfectly reflected the chateau and the surrounding gardens and foliage just made it a gorgeous and relaxing spot. Azay le Rideau seemed like it was the enchanted castle from Beauty and the Beast, set amongst huge pine trees and complete with tower after tower fit for any princess to pensively look out of. We have already eaten ridiculous amounts of amazing food-- yesterday we had a 4 course meal of chicken in a wine reduction and for dessert a delicious chocolate mousse cake, while today I literally ate maybe 5 lbs of food-- salmon, duck a l'orange, fried potatoes, and an amazing flaming rum marangue dessert. I could not move after eating so much and was definitely not hungry tonight for dinner, some 8 hours after lunch. This afternoon was definitely my favorite excursion so far because we got to go to a winery and see the caves where they matured sparkling white wine as well as their whole production facility and of course at the end got to sample! It was so delicious and I'm pretty sure sparkling white wine is my favorite now :) Dont worry I broke down and bought some to bring back to the states so hopefully some of you will get to experience it. Tomorrow we are heading to Perigaux to tour some more wonderful places which played an enormous role in french history i'm sure. We will be traveling all around France for the next 10 days (I'm going to be gone until Nov 5th) and then after that its only 3 1/2 weeks until our semester here is technically over and mom will be coming to travel! So very, very excited!

Hope all is well in the States or wherever else you may be. Hope everyone is enjoying fall (something I really, really miss here)... and Amelia and Annabelle be sure to get lots of candy trick or treating, and think of me ok! I'm sure you will be adorable in your costumes (send me pics!) Think of me as you are bobbing for apples or carving pumpkins or dressing up in crazy outfits. Don't worry next year fat tourist will be back to rule All Hallows Eve once more. jk. Miss you all lots and hopefully will be updating you later on the Land Tour happenings depending on the hotel internet situation :) Thanks to stan for sending me the new John Mayer cd and grandma and poppy for the letters and $$!

Peace and Love, Rach

Currently Listening Josh Groban By Josh Groban Vincent see related

Who knew it was so hard to find a hotel!

Bonjour a tout le monde (hello to everyone!)-

The past few days have been quite interesting. As of my last post I thought this weekend I would be traveling to Switzerland with my friend Leslie. I was so psyched to go see the beautiful city of Lausanne on Lake Geneva and actually successfully book my first real, grown-up, totally planned by me sans parents vacation. I don't know if it was Friday the 13th, or if God just really didn't want Leslie and I to go to Lausanne for some reason but it definitely was not in the cards. Last Thursday we had successfully booked our train tickets on the TGV (Train Grand Vitesse, aka a really, really fast train) to Lausanne and had started looking at some pretty feasible hostels. Come Monday, we decided it would probably be a good idea to book a room. One major problem though: There were no availabilities. We checked the internet to see if anything else was open. We sadly were faced with email after email saying everything was booked solid.  Starting to freak out a bit, I frantically looked up every hotel/hostel listed for Lausanne in my Europe Guidebook (which is probably the best purchase I have ever made in my life, fyi). No room at the inn... ANYWHERE. So I come up with the plan to look for hostels in Geneva, only a short 50 min train ride away from Lausanne at a pretty cheap price. By now it is wednesday night and Leslie and are are crazily searching any hotel or hostel we can find. Nothing. It was not fun to go to sleep not knowing where I would be sleeping or even if I be going anywhere at all this weekend. So this afternoon Leslie came over to decide if we should A) keep our tickets for Lausanne and pay an arm and a leg for a hotel in Geneva 2) Cancel our tickets to Lausanne, and sadly stay here in Versailles all weekend or 3) Cancel our tickets for Lausanne, and pick somewhere else to go. We opted for #3 and began searching for train tickets to anywhere that sounded remotely cool. We stumbled upon Strasbourg, a city that is now called "The Crossroads of Europe" and has a rich history of both French and German influences as the city has changed hands nearly 6 or 7 times. I eagerly searched saying a prayer that we could find some tickets. I think God felt bad for putting us through the ringer the last few days because we easily found round-trip tickets for less than what we were going to pay for Lausanne! Before we booked them we wanted to MAKE SURE we had a place to sleep for two nights. Leslie worked her magic on her computer searching for a hostel while I had my computer open to the page for buying tickets. If people could have seen us frantically typing, searching website after website, I'm pretty sure hysterical laughing would have ensued. After a few minutes Leslie happily stumbled upon a HOTEL, as in private rooms, free wifi and a bathroom/shower in the room!!!! for only around 30 euros a night! I couldn't believe our luck. So long story short we immediately canceled our old tickets, rebooked new ones for Strasbourg, and booked our hotel. If you get a chance check out this website for info on where I'll be this weekend! It should be really nice to get away from our larger group for a while and just relax and see another beautiful part of France :)

Yesterday was our wonderful visit to Auvers-sur-Oise where we saw the home of Vincent VanGogh, and toured a spectacular museum about Impressionism. Auvers-sur-Oise was definitely a place I could see myself living after retirement or something. The town is built overlooking a valley and all of the houses there have character sprouting from every crevice from their orange tiled roofs to their magnificent gardens. I got the feeling that this was one of the few towns left in the world where people really cared about one another, and nothing bad could ever really happen to you here. As we walked about the quiet town, we would pass posters showing the paintings that VanGogh did of the very spot we were passing. It was amazing to see that this town marked their history with the paintings of a man who thought of himself as a failed artist and human, but who in reality made people see art and beauty in a new light. We toured his home, which was really just a tiny, dingy room at the top of a flight or creaky wooden stairs built over a restaurant. If you've ever seen the portrait he did of his room, it is exactly like that, only with no color at all. For me it was amazing to see how he transformed that drab, cold, inhabitable room into something so vibrant, warm, and livable with only his unique viewpoint and his masterful use of color. VanGogh is probably my favorite painter, and for me it was very neat to stand in his room, see what he painted, and walk in the city that inspired him. It sounds cheesy, but i felt like i could feel the creative pulse of Auvers-sur-Oise as I walked about and looked out upon wheat fields, staircases, and cathedrals all transformed through his unique perspective into masterful, dreamlike canvases.

All in all it has been a pretty good week! I am so thankful for all of my wonderful opportunities here and am getting really excited for mom to come and see the rest of Europe (our plan is to hit 5 cities--London, Dublin, Venice, Rome, and Paris--in 12 days!!) I am definitely missing the States at times-- all my family and friends, Mexican Food, Homecoming, pumpkins, Halloween!, Project Runway and Grey's, and of course FOOTBALL. Thanks to Grandma for sending me carmel apples and candy corn, among other things! It definitely gave me a taste of home that was much needed. Hope everyone is well! Have a wonderful weekend and I'll update you on my adventures in Strasbourg sometime next week!

Peace and love, Rach

Currently Watching Grey's Anatomy - Season Two By Ellen Pompeo, Sandra Oh, Katherine Heigl, Justin Chambers, T.R. Knight, Chandra Wilson, James Pickens Jr., Kate Walsh, Isaiah Washington, Patrick Dempsey see related

So clearly I am the worst blogger ever....

Hey fam and friends! Here we go again with what will surely be an entry for the record books... I think I have about two and a half weeks to cover in one post so be prepared to be reading for a while! So much has been going on here that its been hard to find time everyday to fill everyone in on my daily happenings. Anyway lets see where should I begin... Lets see almost three weeks ago (AHH! its been that long?) on Wed we finally saw the interior of the chateau of Versailles! It was extremely beautiful--lots and lots of gold, velvet, and awe inspiring fresco ceilings everywhere. It was so cool to see a place where so many powerful people had been and where so much history had taken place. I loved the Hall of Mirrors (what the French call La Gallerie de Glace) the most i think because of the immensity and intense beauty of the reflections which seemed to follow every step I took through the hall. The coolest part of the visit though for me was seeing the ORIGINAL of David's "Le Sacre de Napoleon" in which Napoleon crowns himself and Josephine emperor and empress of Western Europe. I couldn't believe that I was standing in front of the actual painting I had seen for years in history books. That week continued with Anna Dauer's 20th birthday on Thursday and of course we had to celebrate because after all we're in France! The group decided to go mission impossible style and found Anna a beautiful beaded necklace from this magasin (store) in Versailles that reminded me of Ten Thousand Villages. We also bought her a delicious chocolate cake that was almost too beautiful to eat-- All in complete secrecy. I must say we definitely have some covert operations skills. Anyway the night of her soiree we all headed to the somewhat sketchy cybercafe here in Versailles to let loose a little. I ordered my first drink ever from a bar which was a bit hilarious as I chose the only drink on the menu that came with its very own glowstick without really meaning to. It was pretty funny because as soon as everyone saw my radioactive looking drink, they all went and ordered one and by the end of the night we all had matching glowstick bracelets. oh the joys of american college students in France. The cybercafe actually turned out to be quite a fun time... we met some fellow Americans who hail from the University of Illinois and are here in Versailles studying architecture for a year and living with host families, but somehow know not a single word of French. Its always nice to hear your native language once in a while! After the cybercafe we decided it would be necessary to continue making fools of ourselves and decided to venture to a french karaoke bar. Our night was sadly cut short before Heather and I could belt out Tainted Love for our french fans because a group of creepy 45 year old french men who were pretending to be 25 thought it would be fun to try and pick us up. We quickly peaced out and decided we should probably end the night while we were ahead. It was probably for the best. :) That weekend was our trip to Normandy which was an absolute blast! We left Friday afternoon and traveled to Rouen for a tour of the picturesque town. Walking through the narrow little streets and wooden houses was definitely like being in the the opening number of Beauty and the Beast as Belle is walking through her "poor provincial town" where everyone in the streets is shouting Bonjour, Bonjour! It seemed like i was walking through the French part of Epcot or something. Then I realized no... this is what Epcot and Disney movies are modeled after! It was hard to give into the reality (for the french anyway) of what I was seeing.  After touring some beautiful cathedrals and lots and lots of extremely old buildings, we walked to the place where Joan of Arc was prosecuted and burned at the stake. The spot is marked with a small, simple plaque in a giant bed of vibrant violet flowers, and there is a statue of Joan of Arc about 100 ft away beside the entry to an extremely modern church. I know I've said it before but I am still constantly amazed by the unreal mixture of the past and present here in France. It was unbelievable that I was standing in the place where almost 600 years ago such a powerful figure in history was executed while the people of Rouen shopped, bought their groceries for the week at the open air market, and went on with their daily business all around us, as if the magnitude of the history of this place really wasn't that important. After Rouen, we hopped back on the bus and headed to our hotel in the tiny town of Bayeaux. We all ventured off on our own for dinner that night and afterwards a few of the girls and I stumbled upon this adorable little shop which sold everything from stationary to handbags to plates. I bought a few souvenirs and had a wonderful conversation with the cute couple who owned it. Saturday morning, we headed to the D-day beaches next to the tiny village of Arromanches. We first drove up to a beautiful cliff overlooking the English Channel. Once we got to the edge of the cliff, we could see a semicircle of large, looming grey objects floating in the water. The as we looked on the beach we could see a few large rectangular vessels, which were completely overgrown with algae, wedged deeply into the grey, pebble strewn sand. Then our guide told us that this was Omaha beach, the site of the D-day invasion. The large things floating in the ocean were apparently constructed as a launching area for the boats filled with American soldiers who would soon experience one of the bloodiest, but most important battles in the history of the world. It is unbelievable to me that I was able to see the actual vessels which carried many of these men to their deaths, washed up on the shore, standing as a silent relic of one of the fiercest battles in history. From there, we went to Le Point du Hoc, a little down the coastline of Omaha beach. This was where American Army Rangers scaled the dangerous cliffs and successfully destroy the Nazi artillery in the early hours before the great debarkment, making the American soldiers task a little less arduous. It was here that I truly felt the full emotion of seeing this place. All over the cliffside there stood testaments to the atrocities of WWII. The land looked as if it was a rolling countryside, but as I looked more closely I realized that the rise and fall of the earth all around me was actually one giant crater after another from where bombs had gone off some 60 years before. These craters were so large that someone could easily stand in them and be invisible to the people standing outside of it. There were also Nazi bunkers which looked as if they had just been abandoned the day before our visit. I decided to go look around in one and as I walked down the stairs and went to open the bunker door I was overwhelmed with the feeling of evil. It was almost as if i could feel the presence of those who fought and died here decades before. I didn't stay long, just enough to feel what these soldiers felt, and then I walked back up into the beautiful sunlight which shone down on this ravaged land. As I walked back to the main path, I noticed a mass of tangled up, rusted barbed wire. I looked closely and noticed a cluster of vibrant yellow daisies growing amongst the twisted, decaying metal. I thought this was an extremely powerful image of hope-- that even out of this destruction and hatred can grow new, beautiful life. After spending some time looking around at this healing battle ground, we headed to the American D-Day cemetery. As we walked into the grounds, I looked up and saw the American flag flying, a sight I was definitely not accustomed to. As I looked around and saw row after row of white crosses and Stars of David, I was filled with a pride for my homeland which I haven't felt in a very long time. I realized that although I may not agree with our policies, our lifestyle, or even our president, I am still an American, and this cemetery containing the remains of an innumerable amount of soldiers who fought for the rights of the world, is part of the tapestry of my and every other American citizen's heritage. There is no way to put into words how moving the immensity of this place was. I'm not even going to try to describe the tragic beauty of this tiny corner of the world, because my words won't do that sacred place justice. Just know that if you can ever go, you should. Not only to see for yourselves the profound sacrifice these men made in order to ensure the future of freedom loving people everywhere.From Arromanches, we headed back to Bayeaux to go see the famous Bayeaux tapestry, depicting the Battle of Hastings and the rise to power of William the conqueror, which dates back to the 11th century. While the tapestry itself is quite impressive, the fact that we had to hear the story of the tapestry THREE times, over a period of THREE hours was not so fun. Luckily, from the tapestry museum of hell we headed to Mont St. Michel to spend an hour or so looking around the fortified castle/functioning abbey before going to our hotel. I felt like i was seriously walking into a storybook as we walked up the stairs and through the drawbridge to enter the winding narrow streets of the little fortified village which were clogged with tourists, shop owners, and souvenirs galore. The views from the top of the ancient walls were absolutely breathtaking... I looked out over the sea (which during high tide completely surrounds the castle) shimmering from the weakening light of the setting sun and took a deep breath of the salty air and realized how completely lucky I was to be seeing this.That night at our quaint little hotel we had a wonderful dinner of regional dishes and french specialties like mousse au chocolat! Dinner was extremely entertaining because our amazing bus driver, Saiid, kept our sides splitting by trying to explain to Pam that he grew mangos, which he called australian bananas, outside of his parisian apartment and used a monkey to help him pick them everyday. He also added that he packed 8 of them in his suitcase because of course they helped him drive our bus well. I think you had to be there to get why this was so funny, but lets just say that I probably laughed off all of my calories that night! Sunday morning we headed back to Mont St. Michel for a guided tour. We were lucky enough to see it at high tide this time, adding to the immense beauty of the history-filled castle/abbey. All in all it was a wonderful morning filled with beautiful sights, insanely old buildings, and fascinating stories of the fortified city built upon the rock as a testament to the archangel Michael. We spent Sunday afternoon in St. Malo, a city off the coast of Nomandy which used to be a hot bed of pirate activity. I didn't see any Johnny Depp look-a-likes, but I did unfortunately find a sandwich made up of chicken and french fries. While our trip was definitely fun, I was very ready for it to be over and to have a little alone time after two days of living/riding on a bus with 13 other people. The week began well because my grammar quizzes, which i still despise btw, came back with some higher grades. That wednesday we went to the Musee Rodin, which was absolutely amazing. It was was so remarkable that Rodin was able to capture the motion of the human body so gracefully, and still charge each and every piece of his sculpture work with emotional intensity. After our fabulous visit, I went to the Latin Quarter of Paris for some sweet, student budget shoe shopping. I bought a pair of cute little black flats with flowers from a store called Cote a Cote (Coast to Coast in english) and then later that week returned to what is now my favorite store to buy another pair of pointy toe black kitten heals (sorry to all the men out there for the extreme details about my shoe purchases but to us girls its pretty important). That Friday night we went to see a ballet in Paris (i still cant believe that I can say that), Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring. It was extremely modern, but I absolutely loved every minute of it! That Saturday I nearly overslept and missed the bus for our group tour that day (thanks to Myra for coming in my house and waking me up!). I hurried up and got dressed and successfully made it to the bus, albeit 5 min late. We drove from Versailles to Vaux-Le-Vicomte, the chateau which inspired the grandeur of the Chateau of Versailles. We learned that Nicolas Fouquet, the man who built the massive Vaux-Le-Vicomte, had invited Louis XIV to a feast at his chateau. Louis took a look at poor old Nicolas's grand palace and immediately threw him in jail because he thought no man should have a nicer chateau than the king. The highlight of my visit was learning from our guide that Man In the Iron Mask was filmed there. I basically love that I wasn't impressed with the fact that Moliere and Voltaire were there, but as soon as she said that Leonardo DiCaprio stood in this room, I flip out. Clearly I haven't grown out of my awkward teenage obsession for hot actors. After standing in the footsteps of Leo, I recovered enough to have another wonderfully regional, classic French lunch. After that we continued our oh-so-exciting day with another tour of a huge chateau, this time Fontainebleau. While Fontainebleau has been the site of quite a few historical events, the most of important of which was Napoleon's farewell address on the horseshoe shaped steps before he was sent into exile, it was a little hard for me to get excited about seeing another chateau. After a while the gold filigree and patterned fleur de lys wallpaper all starts to look the same and the awesome effect places like this once had on me is starting to fade. Sunday I and a few other girls decided to strike out on our own in Paris once again and visit Le Centre Pompidou, which is Paris's modern art museum. For some reason modern art just fascinates me. I spent the entire time we were there on one floor. I wanted to go back and see more but I could tell that this was definitely not everyones cup of tea, so I decided maybe I'd come back on my own sometime later and get a chance to see everything. After lunch, Leslie, Megan, Maria, and I all decided that we weren't quite finished with sight-seeing for the day so we decided to go on a tour of the Garnier Opera House, the inspiration for The Phantom of the Opera. I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open for the first 10 minutes I was there. The embellishment in this place was absolutely unreal. The grand staircase, framed in mahogany and brightly lit with an enormous gilded chandelier, was definitely the most stunning part. We walked around, even peering into the theater itself at one point, marveling at the vibrant red, crushed velvet seats beneath the the pastel frescoed ceiling of Parisian Landmarks. The best part of the tour came when we walked through the archives of the Opera House which contained every single score of every performance that has taken place since Haussmann built the Garnier under Napoleon III in the 19th century. It seems that Paris can't ever stop surprising me with its hidden jewels scattered in every corner of the city. All in all it was a very relaxing weekend, filled with cultural experiences of both the old and the new. Wow, if you're still reading, we're finally up to this past week! Thanks for sticking with me! Last week went well, although it passed extremely quickly, like all my weeks seem to do these days! My classes are going well and after being here a month our routine is like second nature. Wednesday's visit was one of my favorites so far. Firstly we visited Ste. Chapelle, a beautifully ornate but tiny cathedral, which was built by Louis IX (or St. Louis) to house what is believed to be the crown of thorns and pieces of the cross from Jesus's crucifixion. After marveling at the beauty of the enormous panels of stained glass in Ste. Chapelle, we headed to the most famous of all cathedrals, Notre Dame. The beauty of the familiar white columns against the intensely blue sky made me feel like I had stepped into a Parisian guide book or postcard. Inside, my eyes darted from the enormous stained-glass rose windows to the bays and bays of candles which softened the stoic edges of the thick, harsh, stone walls. I lit a candle in the section of the church devoted to the patron saint of students and thanked God for giving me this unforgettable opportunity to experience the culture, history, and beauty of this wonderful culture. The week finished off well, with me getting a decent grade back on my first paper for my civ. class. This past weekend I stayed here and had one of my best days of the trip so far on Saturday. It started off with a trip into Paris to go see the play of Le Petit Prince, one of my favorite books! Of course we wanted to arrive in Paris early to eat and walk around around the area where the playhouse was. We had a fabulous lunch, and then decided that we should walk around the Champs-Elysees to kill some time. So we were just walking about, fantasizing about buying clothes from Chanel and shoes from Jimmy Choo when we passed the Four Seasons and saw a mob of people outside. I remember hearing that this week was Fashion Week in Paris, so of course we started to think, maybe just maybe there was a celebrity there. All of a sudden flash bulbs started going off, and then a man dressed in black and wearing a baseball cap started walking across the street towards us. My friend Megan casually goes, "That's... Orlando...Bloom" I was absolutely shocked at first, but as I looked closer, sure enough it was him. Of course at this point he is feet in front of us, and someone in our group had the guts to actually speak to him and ask him for a picture. He was actually really nice about it and told us all to get in one group around him. So in a flash, we surround him (don't worry I made sure I was right next to him) and one of his many assistants snapped a pic of us. At this point I am in utter shock... and all I can say is, "I... just touched... Orlando Bloom! I... just touched...Olrando Bloom!" I mean what the heck is my life that I meet a hot celebrity like Orlando on the Champs-Elysees? This whole trip has left me with experiences that are pretty unreal! The rest of the day went well post orlando, with the play being extremely enjoyable! Myra, Leslie, Megan, and I decided to stick around Paris afterwards and went to visit the Marais, which is a very artsy, creative neighborhood in Paris. Victor Hugo's house is there and of course we had to go see it, and it turned out to be free that day! Afterwards we went to dinner, and then decided to attend some of the events that were planned for that evening in Paris for La Nuit Blanche, or white night. Basically on this one night of the year, everything is open all night long until the first trains start running again at 5am. We definitely benefited by getting into the Louvre for free! and seeing some amazing artwork (including of course the obligatory visit to the Venus DeMilo and The Mona Lisa) as well as being able to see La Place de la Concorde completely lit in neon blue lights just for Nuit Blanche. We finished our wonderful day by going to Notre Dame again. We sat outside the cathedral for about a half hour listening to musicians play Beatles songs on a guitar and watching fire breathers wow the crowds, all amongst the dramatic backdrop of the beautifully lit Notre Dame against the pitch black sky. That moment is probably my favorite of this trip so far. We were planning on staying out all night, but as the witching hour drew nearer and nearer, we realized there was no way we could make it until 5am. So we decided to take the last train back to Versailles and ended up getting home around 2. Not a bad day in my book! This week has started off well so far. I went and spoke about American teenagers to french kids who are learning english today at the high school where we take classes. It was nice to be able to speak in english and finally sound somewhat intelligent! Tomorrow I'm super excited because we are going to visit the Van Gogh museum which should be absolutely fabulous. And I'm looking forward this weekend to getting away for my first free travel with my friend leslie. We'll be traveling on friday to Lausanne, Switzerland, which is located on Lake Geneva. It should be absolutely beautiful! Travel plans are finally starting to take shape, and I think for my upcoming free travel weekends I will splitting my time between staying here and going outside of France. I know for sure that Nov 11 and 12th I will be in Liverpool!!! So very very excited about that one. Other plans are Eurodisney, Chartres, and checking out all the other stuff I haven't gotten to see in Paris. I can't believe I am already a third of the way done with this amazing trip. I'm never going to have enough time to see it all!!! Well, I did it! I have finally caught everyone up on what the last three weeks of my life have been like. Thanks for subjecting yourself to this insanely long post! I'll be better about posting more frequently, I swear! Hope all is well with you and you are having as much fun as I have been! Miss you all so much! xoxoxo

peace and love,

Rachel

So I know its been a while...