Bucket List

My last week here in Dijon has been busy with taking exams, but more importantly crossing things off my bucket list:
Had a bonfire.
Drank wine with our French professors.
Wine tasting.
Saw the shop window from Chocolate.
Went up the Dijon Tower for an amazing view.
Went to a bakery at 3 am.
Passed our exams.
And tonight hopefully we will be going to the irish pub.

It has been a great last week. Today was sad as we had to say bye to Nathalie who has been like a mom to us. But we are all excited for our week in Spain and then summer- whatever that has in store for us. 

Provence: it rains but we carry on

Last weekend we went on our last group excursion (saddness..) to Provence. We started in Avignon. We had a fabulous lunch then went to the Palais des Papes, the bridge, laid in the sun, then walked through the gardens. We ended with another fabulous dinner in an old movie theater place. Saturday we drove to somewhere and got a tour of the city and the ancient roman colosseum which was quiet beautiful. We walked around the market and then drove to the beach where we looking forward to eating at a nice restaurant on the beach soaking in the sun. Unfortunately it was SOOO windy and cold that we sat under a covered thing while we ate, some of the boys went in the stormy death water just to say they went  in the Mediterranean, then we drove to our AWESOME hotel in Aigues Morte ( I think). The weather was pretty crappy but we didn't mind because we had a pool, suana, and steam room to entertain us. The next day it rained, no poured, all day long. We drove to Beaux en Provence which is a city on a hill. Our goal was to make it through the rain to the top to the chateaux. Dodging newly forming rivers and taking breaks under gift shop awnings we finally made it only for the chateaux to have no part of it covered- the tour is all outside. Some of the group decided to do it anyways, us sensible people hung out in the shops until lunch. The group came back soaking wet, but we had lunch, made it to the bus, and then to the train station.

Normandy

Last weekend I met Charlotte and we went to her grandparents house in Normandy. I hadn't been there since I was 11 or so- it was really cool being there again. Charlotte and I basically laid in the sun all weekend: we biked, played in the pool, relaxed in the jacuzzi and sauna, pet the horse, ate long meals outside, and sat by the fire drinking tea and catching up. To say the least it was amazing!

Spring Break-One for the books

Thessoloniki:
Erin, Hannah and I off to Greece. We started our trip finding the cutesy little restaurant and ate amazing Greek tapas for dirt cheap. The next day was spent touring the cute water side city. It was sunny and beautiful. We ate gyros and watched sunset at the port. The next day we spent hours exploring the open market and buying snacks for our bus ride. About 6 hours on a bus to Delphi- but totally worth it. The ride was amazing. We saw stunning views of Mt. Olympus as well as other valleys. We easily realized why the ancient Greeks picked this spot to house there gods.

Delphi: we had no idea that 15 euros a night could get you a view like the one we woke up too. Absolutely stunning of the valley all the way to the water. We started by exploring  the Delphi ruins all morning and eating a cheap lunch on our balcony and enjoying the scorching sun. We explored some more and did some shopping. The man whose store we were in gave us free ouzo- Greece's infamous liquor. So strong and flavored like black licorice. We ended with dinner that had an amazing view as well.

Athens:
Bus to Athens. Hectic once we got there. Found Hannah and Shanas hostel- then found Leah (who is studying abroad in Athens) and dropped off Erins and my stuff. Then We had to wait for Shana who was flying in from Rome- dropped her stuff off before we could begin exploring. We climbed up an amazing mountain side, found a little church and got an authentic little tour of it. Climbed higher, maybe through some people's back yards, and got an amazing view of all of Athens. Our original goal at climbing up was to get to this big castle we seemed to have stumbled on. Took us about 5 hours to realize that we didn't just stumble on a castle- it was the acropolis- we are all just idiots. We had dinner at an amazing gyro place. The next day was an early start to hike that castle, i.e. Acropolis. It was amazing, but SUPER hot. There were also these navy men there and we wanted a picture with them. After they agreed and we took one all the army men wanted photos with us. Seriously spent about 30 minutes taking photos with them before we had to tell them no- we wanted to keep exploring. We went to the gyros place again for lunch because it was THAT GOOD. We walked around the market before dinner. We met up with 3 other UPS kids for dinner at one of their favorite spots in Athens. Authentic Greek food- and lots of it.

Mykonos:
Ferry at 7:30. Erin Shana 2 different Leahs and Leahs roommate on our way to the island. When we got to our hotel the four of us (Erin shana Hannah and I) had the cheapest option: cAbins. Very funny, tiny rooms with 2 beds and a light, but whatever- what else did we need? Spent the after noon on the beach. Found a little rock outlet where we drank wine for sunset, something we did every night we were there. Met the rest of the gang for dinner on the beach. The next day we took a taxi into town and spent all day walking around Mykonos town finding it so beautiful and easy to entertain us all day. The bus back to our hostel/resort was at 4:30 so we sat enjoying the ocean while we waited. When we went to the bus we were not so entertained to find they had changed the bus schedule, just like that. Oh Greece. Taxi it was. We had bought dinner food and ate it on the other girls' (who weren't  on such a tight budget) patio. The next day Shana and I did the excursion to Delos. Hiked around some amazing ruins,hiked to the highest point getting an amazing view, spent time in Mykonos town, then Actually caught the bus back to meet the gang. Then Started probably one of the most memorable nights. We watched sunset, then had dinner in one of the beach restaurants- but we picked the one that had been having a big Greek party all day. Long story short we ended up getting invited and spent the night dancing and drinking with them at this traditional, never-ending, christening a new baby, Greek beach party.

Santorini:
Said bye to Hannah who was off to the Chinque Terre. We set off to Santorini on a small rocky boat which luckily was only two hours because I spent the whole time being sea sick from the constant heavy rocking. We got to our hotel only to find the most beautiful place a block from the beach. Plus we got upgraded and had a bathroom- how exciting.  Erin's brother and his girlfriend were there when we arrived. After we all got lunch we spent the afternoon at the pool. We rented a car for the evening and drove to Fira where we had an amazing dinner, looking at an amazing view, in an amazing town. The next day was our excursion. We took a cute little boat to the volcano and hiked around getting fun geology info about the island from our guide as we went. Then we were taken to a hot springs where we rubbed healthy natural mud on our body. Then taken to a little town for lunch. We ate pitta and tzatziki on the Beach the  hiked an excruciating hike to the top for an awesome view. The. The boat took us to Oia, for the famous sunset view. Spent lots of time there, spending the last hour seated at on of the best views waiting for the epic sunset. The next day we lounged by the pool, said bye to Connor and Maddie and got taken to our ferry. 8 hours. We ran to the metro to catch the last one at midnight so we didn't have to take a taxi. Got one last gyro from the place we'd already gone twice then to our hostel before waking up to start the last leg: Istanbul!

Istanbul:
We got to Istanbul- not knowing very much. From others we heard that though amazing it was uncomfortable, stressful, and that we would be again shocked at how few women we saw. We left thinking everyone is crazy. Istanbul was amazing.
Day one started with finding our hostel which wasn't too difficult- if anything just hot. We wondered around and ate an amazing Turkish meal where you kinda just point to what you want and they bring delicious food. Our hostel had a roof top terrace where we spent the evening meeting people and hanging out.
The next day was packed with sights. We started with the Blue Mosque then the Hagia Sophia. Both were so stunning and so interesting to walk around and soak in the history. We had turkish kebab for lunch (one of many) then went to the Grand Bazaar. This covered market place, a huge tourist trap, is the place to walk around, get lost, and spend money. We didn't buy anything this round- just wandered trying to get a sense of what we were going to buy. Then we went to the big cistern. I don't know how to describe this but an underground well with rows and rows of columns. It was really cool. We ate dinner at a delicious Turkish place again and got served free apple tea- something that is everywhere in this city. We wandered around, meeting a nice man who gave us free coasters from his shop as a welcome to Turkey gift  before going back to the hostel for the free belly dancing show. Saturday was crowded. We spent the morning shopping... Then after lunch ( delicious minced meat Turkish kebab) we wanted to go to Taksim Square which was described as rivaling Times Square or Picadelli Circus. Little did we know it was a monstrous hike that once we got there we almost fell over. But nonetheless it was cool to see that part of Istanbul. We got to walk along the bridge passing all the fish restaurants, eat ice cream, and dodge crowds of people. After we recouped we hiked back to the hostel, passed out for a little, then went to dinner (ending with free apple tea) before Erin had to leave. Shana and I spent the night on our hostels pub crawl which was super fun.
Sunday was luckily less crowded, but not really. We started with Topkapi Palace which was amazing. We saw relics from various prophets and jewels given to the sultans from around the world. Some of which were just ridiculous. The palace had awesome views along with awesome tiling all over. Shana and I were starving after our tour, so we walked a little out of our way to get the best kebab that we had had Saturday only for it to be closed. Starving, we settled for a mediocre kebab then sat in a cafe for coffee and rice pudding. Walked around, still exhausted from the never ending walks and sat on a bench in the Hippodrome ( I guess the old place for horse races, turned into an open area) people watching, mostly all the beautiful women (who were everywhere, whoever said there were none) in their head scarfs and talking. We sat for probably two hours. In that time we had a tourist guide come talk to us, got invited to coffee with some Turkish dudes (which we kindly declined), had a 30 minute interview for a class project of 15 year olds who have to speak English on camera with English speakers for 30 minutes, and posed for pictures with little boys dressed up as Sultans. It took us a while to realize why all these little boys were walking around dressed as sultans with smiling families close behind, until I remembered something I read. They dress up like that on Sunday's when they get their circumcision right. Interesting... We took a break at the hostel before adventuring out for dinner. Kind of sick of Turkish food we splurged on a restaurant and I had the best penne gorgonzola EVER. Then we were kindly served 2 glasses each of free apple tea. I'm starting to think we weren't getting free apple tea because we're cute Americans...maybe that's just the Turkish way.

Hello All
Sorry for the short message but Spring Break = always on the go!
We started in Thessoloniki which was a really fun hip beach city. Very fun. Then we took a 7 hour bus ride to Delphi (which was actually just stunning biews the WHOLE time). Delphi was this amazing little town with ancient ruins hidden in the hills. Our hotel rooms balcony had an AMAZING view. Then we took a short bus to Athens. We have really enjoyed Athens. We have walked ALL over and its been amazing! Now to the islands!!!!!!!!!

Marseille

This weekend I went to Marseille to visit Charlotte and the Boyer-Chammard clan for a short weekend. Saturday we played tennis, had a nice lunch, and rode bikes along the beach. Melanchamp, Frances Communist candidate was speaking, which meant the streets were filled with French Communists which was pretty cool. We didn't wait around to hear him speak but it was still cool to be in the midst of the mob of people.

Then Sunday we went with Agnes and Marc to Aixe-en-Provence and had for lunch what Charlottes friends say is the best kebab in France, it was pretty delicious. Then we walked around the town  a little, got ice cream, before going to their family friends newly bought modern chateau on a vineyard. They have decided to go into the wine making business and had a big open house wine tasting day. It was pretty cool. Hung out back in Marseille a little then the next morning went home.

Sud de la France

This weekend Erin and I went to visit her sophomore year high school host family, in the mountains above Cannes. It was absolutely amazing. We got there pretty late Friday, after a 6 hour train ride. Saturday we went to the market in Saint Cézaire sur Siagne and then drove to Nice. We had lunch on the beach, even though it was windy it was still sunny enough to enjoy. We walked around Nice, looking at all the pretty Nice things (get it?). Had ice cream at a famous ice cream place where I got Cinnamon, Coconut, and lavender ice cream- delicious. After Nice we stopped at a Perfumerie on the way home.  Once back at their house we walked around the town looking at the awesome views.

Sunday we went to a market in the morning then laid out and read. We had a fabulous lunch (really all the meals were fabulous) and then we all went (minus Jérôme who is studying for a big test/competition/life changing exam that is next week) to a glass blowing town where we watched, mesmorized, them blow glass then walked around the museum and shops. From there we went to another little town and went to the top of a tower in a castle and got some amazing views of the French coast. We sat and had a drink then went home.

Monday we relaxed in the morning, then had a nice Easter lunch (although maybe easter was on Sunday....??).  They then drove us to Cannes and showed us around a little before we got on the train for the 6 hour trip home!
I mentioned that Jerome was busy studying while we were there, which was as they say here, a dommage. But Eloïse (the daughter, 2nd year in high school I think) was learning how to drive. Props to her for learning how to drive on a stick shift car (props to all of Europe I suppose) but it brought me back to the good old days when I was learning to drive- oh the frustration with parental units. But good luck to her and good luck to Jérôme! And thank you Sophie and Robert for an awesome weekend- French version coming shortly I promise!

En Français:

Ce weekend Erin et moi sommes allées visiter sa famille d’accueil de lycée dans les montagnes qui surplombent Cannes. C’était vraiment génial. Nous sommes arrivées tard vendredi par le train après 6 heures de voyage. Samedi, nous sommes allées au marché à St. Cézaire sur Siagne puis à Nice. Nous avons mangé sur la plage, et même s’il y avait du vent, il y avait assez de soleil pour être contente. Nous avons fait le tour de Nice, regardé les jolis bâtiments et les places. Après avoir visité Nice, nous nous sommes arrêtées dans une parfumerie sur le retour. Quand nous sommes arrivées chez eux, Erin, Jérôme et moi avons fait le tour du village pour regarder les beaux points de vue.

Dimanche, nous sommes allées au marché le matin et après Erin et moi nous nous sommes allongées et avons lu. On a mangé un très bon déjeuner (tous les repas étaient fantastiques) et après nous sommes allés dans une verrerie (tous sauf Jérôme qui étudie pour un concours qui va décider de son avenir et qui aura lieu la semaine prochaine). Après nous sommes allés dans un petit village, et nous sommes montés au château pour faire le tour. On a pris une boisson et nous sommes rentrés.

Lundi nous nous sommes relaxées le matin et nous avons mangé un bon repas pour Pâques. Après ils nous ont conduit à Cannes et ils nous ont montré un peu la ville avant qu’Erin et moi reprenions notre train à Dijon.

C’était dommage que Jérôme étudie et soit occupé quand nous étions la. Mais Eloïse (leur fille au lycée) apprenait à conduire et comment passer les vitesses. Je me suis souvenue quand j’apprenais à conduire, du stress que j’avais et des conflits avec mes parents. Bonne chance Eloïse avec le permis et bonne chance Jérôme pour le concours. Merci pour ce bon weekend.

Alace

This past weekend the group went to Alsace, and it was amazing to say the least. We left friday morning, via bus, for Strasburg. When we arrived we started with the a tour at the European Parliment. Then, after dropping stuff off at the hotel, we had lunch where I had Spatzle!!!!! So delicious!!!! Then we had free time, so most of us took a tour on the boat and walked around town. We saw the beautiful cathedral, saw some guy playing cool music before dinner. We ate dinner in this awesome, authentic, German(ish) restaurant. I got spatzle...again.

The next day we got in the car and went to a castle that is on top of a hill. Very cool, unique, unlike any of the castles in the Loire Valley. We drove down and had free time in a village for a couple hours. A couple of us ate with Nathalie before going off and exploring the alleys of this little town. Such beatiful colors it was unreal. We met up with the other half of the group who had climbed up this vineyard and were sitting on the top looking out at the village. So we hiked up and just looked out. It was so amazing, so warm, so great. Then we met Nathalie and had a wine tasting- wine made from non other than the vineyard we had just hiked. We drove down to the next town, Coulmar (or somehting like that). We had free time in the city where Erin and I just walked around getting lost in this once again stunning village. We met up for dinner, which was in what is called Little Venice. My only meal where I did not eat Spatzle....

The next day, I was woken up by people freaking out about an April fools joke. The night before I had received a text from Nathalie saying that our rendez-vous had been moved up to 8:45 instead of 10. We were all very upset about the lost hours of sleep.... well in fact James had changed the number in my phone, sent me that text message, and played an April Fools joke on everyone. Although being mad at first, it was actually hilarious.
We went to the museum in the morning, before going to lunch then home. My last Spatzle dish- so delicious.
Overall Alsace was very amazing. We got so lucky with the weather and the towns were so adorable.

The days go by in Dijon

Last week was quite hectic:
Tuesday= Opera. It was interesting.... there was no real idea of time period, sometimes super modern (like jeans) sometimes fancy clothes. Sometimes there was a Lexus car on stage.... sometimes there was a remote control car. Sometimes there were people holding rubber ducks...sometimes there was a woman belching and rubbing whip cream all over herself. It was weird...
Wednesday= weekly dinner followed by going to see The Hunger Games in French.
Thursday= Soiree sur la penich. Night on a boat, with dinner and live music with the group. Quite fun and entertaining.
Friday= No school so we went and hung out at Lake Kir.
Saturday= Beautiful Day. Ate lunch outside and read then went on a hike with James, Grant, and James's little host brother. I don't like kids... and I thought I liked this one but he threw rocks at me and pulled kung fu moves on me- we have our differences. Then Charlotte came! We had dinner with my host family then I tried to show her a fun night out in Dijon!
Sunday= Slept in (clocks changed; time difference makes getting up 100 times harder) then I sat outside on our patio with Charlotte just enjoying the sun. When we finally did move we went to Lake Kir again and sat in the sun there. Then came back and then it was already time for Charlotte to catch her train!

Monday= nothing of importance.
Tuesday= No Internet Day. One of our professors challenged us to not use the internet for a whole day. I was one of 3 people who actually did it. So after class I read for like 3 hours then met up with Shana and we went to a volleyball class on campus. It was SO FUN! all the French were quite impressed with our skills. We decided to stay for the second hour and a half for the more advanced group. By the end of the 3 hours we were exhausted- but we will definitely be going back every Tuesday! Now I have to decide between going to volleyball or Kickboxing... dilemma.

What 40euros gets you

After 3 failed attempts, Shana, Grant, Kyle, and I finally managed to figure out the french system and sign up for a day skiing trip to the Alps with the university. The school has all their own gear, so we tried everything on Thursday so come Saturday that would all be taken care of. We left Saturday morning at 4:30am and got to the bottom of the mountain, resort Samoens, at 9. We had to unload all the gear but made it on the mountain in good time. The weather was so beautiful- we could not have asked for a better skiing day. Sunny, no wind, and the snow was actually pretty good. The resort was really big- we did some easy runs just messing around practicing 360s, riding switch (snowboarding with the other foot leading), going off little jumps on the side. It was awesome. We did some bigger runs too, they were just so beautiful, with views to die for and sunny. Such a wonderful day. We were told to be on the gondola heading down at 4, but I guess to the French that means they can show up at 5. We waited for 2 hours before the bus finally left for the 4 hour drive home. We were all so exhausted but it was such a glorious day, we didn't care.

Kickboxing

Fun story. Erin and I decided to take a kickboxing class offered on campus. It was the most fun thing ever- and such a workout. We probably looked ridiculous bouncing around punching and kicking each other- but it was great! We are going to go every week now. The highlight was definitely when I was paired up with a black man, one and a half times my size, and was told to punch and kick him....

Paris for the day- because we CAN

Shana and I splurged and spent 18 euros and went to Paris for one day. Our main goal? EAT FALAFEL. We have been craving it and you just can't get it in Dijon. So we hoped on a train and got ourselves some falafels.
After the 3 hour long train ride there we arrived in Paris at 10:30 and headed straight to the falafel eating area. Only problem is neither of us brought a map, guide book, compass.. nothing. We made it to the right(ish) area then wondered around for an hour and a half trying to find the exact falafel making street in the Marais. I was literally walking into stores asking "Ou est le rue ou on peut mangé les falafels?" literally translated: where is the street one can eat falafel? Luckily it is common enough that no one laughed at us and we actually did finally make it. And it was delicious!
We then strolled around Paris trying to find the Rodin Museum. Again- going off what little Shana could remember from were it was, it took a while. When we finally found it (exhausted from walking around for about 2 hours) I looked at Shana and said "If it is closed- Im leaving France."
... it was closed. Like so many other things in this country are half the time. The gardens were open so we strolled around them for a while, pretty... but no really cause its winter.
Then we walked to Charlottes apartment where her and her barcelona friend were. Once they were ready we took the metro back to the Marais (time was running up and we needed to get closer to the falafels) and sat and had a monaco. A friend (acquaintance really) of mine that I met in Youth and Government junior year of high school met us too- crazyyyyyy. We all sipped our monacos then went to get our second dinner falafel. We tried a different stand and this one was even better than the first.

That was really all we had time for... so we hoped back on the train and back to Dijon.
Just another Saturday in the life.

Chateaux de la Loire

This weekend we had our first long excursion to the Loire valley. Nathalie's husband and daughter came which made the trip even more amazing. We took trains Thursday afternoon to Blois and stayed at the Holiday Inn. No joke. It was super nice with a yummy breakfast.
Friday we woke up and went to Chateaux numero 1: Chateau Royal de Blois. A very beautiful chateau located smack in the enter of the city. After we had a nice lunch in town. One guy on our group ordered (mistakingly) intestines and it was hilarious. We then took taxis to Chambord, the huge gigantic castle. It was very beautiful, but very cold, but there were fires going in some of the chimneys. Then we had a drive back to our hotel and then again a nice 3 course dinner. I have started always ordering Salade de Chevre as an appetizer because it't the best thing ever (this trip I've had it 3 times).

The next day we woke up and saw Chateau de Chamont. A very beautiful castle that is supposedly Sleeping Beauty's castle. (I think...maybe I just made that up). Then we had lunch near our next castle: Chenonceaux, the most beautiful castle of all that crosses the river that I remember vaguely visiting as a kid. We had a really good (but too detailed) audio tour and spent a long while just enjoying the castle. Went back to the Holiday Inn (which we have all been saying with French accents-try it's très fun) and had another fabulous meal. Honestly we are so spoiled.

Took the train to Paris this morning and had lunch near the train stop then back to Dijon for another week of classes. Back to my host house to a lovely surprise. Children. 2 of Martine's friend's girls are staying here for the week... The woman who is dropping them off has another child- an infant who hasnt stopped screaming since he got here but luckily he's two young to pass on to a friend. Actually he is okay in the cute department- at dinner he just sat staring at me.... but now he's crying again.

Que Jura, Jura

Last Sunday 7 of us took a train into the Jura mountains for a day ski trip. It was amazing. We were told it was a really old train that you took called the Le Gentiane Bleu... but they most of just got rid of it as it was one of the newest trains I've ever been on.
We got to the mountain and it took forever to get our stuff together and rented because there is just some flaws with the French system, but ça va! The mountain was pretty relaxed and small but we had a great time. I spent most of the day with the other skiers as the other two snowboarders are pretty beginner level. But it was great. We finished with some vin chaud on the mountain then back to the train station.