Megan in Montpellier

May 16, 2012

So I got my belly button pierced! I have never been so exciteddd, its super cute a bright dark pink and soo pretty! I love playing with it and knowing its there. Steve made some joke that every time after we break up i self annihalate myself like freshman year when i got my nose pierced. We are still talking.. its alright. the usual but a little better? just more realistic this time around.

My classes are going pretty well, I have a really tough essay that is due in a few days and finding motiviation to write it is my biggest problem. two more weeks of school tho, could not be more excited!

Im sitting outside in the quad on a bench in the sun right now waiting for my Belgium meeting to start. Im excited to finally get some information on this program and meet my fellow abroad friends. Im mostly just excited to be able to speak french. That is something i really do miss, i just love that language. I met with the UW French program director and she told me how I have an energy about me and that she usually does not have as long of conversations with students as we did. I was very flattered, also because my uncly Mark kept telling me I have this energy when I was in Arizona.

Mac died. This is really sad. Im not sure how I feel because I have not had the chance to go home where I would normally see him. Lillian died too a few days ago. Im so surrounded with death lately that it scares me. But honestly, im very void of emotions. Its like since my mother was taken from me, nothing else compares. Ive lost the most important thing in my life and losing anything else does not compare. I almost feel bad for my like of sadness right now when I should be feeling so much also with my cousin Katelynn. Ive tried talking to her but I just dont know what to say. When I was in Arizona it was hard too because I didnt know how to get her to open up or let loose and just have fun with me. I dont like being sad, so I choose not to be.

Mothers day was two days ago and I was as happy as ever. Everyone came in to Cutters very happy and glad to be with their families and nothing affected me negatively. While I was a little sad seeing all these happy mothers and daughters, I once again handled teh situation with no emotions. My dad emailed me this letter that my mom wrote about working at Meir and Frank and I did not even recognize her in it. There was just so much that I did not know about her that I will never know and that is what breaks my heart and makes me sad. This person that I loved more than anything and thought I knew so well seems like a mystery to me in many ways and that breaks my heart. She sounded so smart and intelligent in the letter that I just wanted to be like her and have her help me and tell me what to do and rub her wisdom on me. Like usual this yeah I can still feel myself growing. I think I grew a lot and now I have the choice of whether or not I want to continue growing and educating myself. I need to continue to find this motivation to be a better and mor educated person. Now it is my turn to chose my growth rather than watching it happen to me. I will read books. I can be who I want to be and I can educate myself.

I love my house still, I have no drama with anyone we all just hang out and get along. I life with out drama truley is a great one. There is always someone around that I can hang out with and I never feel alone. Yesterday me lauren kim and kate went to alki beach and ate pizza! The other day me milli lauren kim and molly went to gas works and layed out in the sun! I have been working which i love doing. We had people over on thursday adn Caitlin came and Ankar and Zach. I cooked dinner with Marta the other day. I talk with tori zoe and katherine pretty often and lauren sometimes too. I still talk with marit and brittany which is nice and i have class with sprute.

I had a great talk with gma ruth on mothers day. She is still very much sane and able to converse and have conversation. she is still fully there even in her old age. its refreshing to hear her voice. I chatted with aunt patricia today and i am very excited to see her at my brothers graduation! I am surrounded with family and friends and I am living a great life full of love eduction and travel! I am constantly happy but it is not the same as the overwhelming happiness that i had in europe but it is a more calm and real happiness because I knew my time abroad was really just a vacation.

Im excited for school to be over and to finally commence all my summer activites. and im excited to still have a month of summer left when I get back to work and hang out with my friends. Im looking forward to these trips but I am also a little sad about missing summer in seattle but I will have many of those to look forward to Im sure… I am enjoying my life and I look forward to seeing what the world has in store for me or what I will make happen with my life. The only thing that I am really wanting is a boyfraaannn to cuddle with every night. I miss that type of affection.

ok well thats all I have for now. Love to all and especially Katelynn and Sam <3

April 20, 2012

Once again have not blogged in a while. sorry :( its so hard to keep up. Even though I am happy with life and having a great time its still hard for me to blog about my day when it is just a typical american living lifestyle day. I got back from Nicaragua for spring break and that was amazing and I am right now figuring out all of my flight informations for Israel and Belgium and Holland this summer. I have been working at Cutters Crabhouse in downtown Seattle and that has been amazing. I’m a host so I dont do much but walk people to their tables but i really like taking the bus and being independant and making my money. Plus the the management is amazing as are the people I work with! Meghan and Kaitlin, my roomies also work with me :)

Nicaragua was a really cool experience because I got to physically educate myself and become aware of a whole other culture and community. The people we met were so welcoming and loving and I got to work on my spanish which was fun. We worked every morning building a grain storage facility as well as creating relationships with the people. Two relationships on this trip were very meaningful to me. First, I met a new friend who I respected from the first moment I met her and she helped me figure out a lot of things about myself in the brief conversations we had. Also, Ronald, our driver was amazing. He was a photographer and captured some amazing moments. On our last day at our good bye dinner we had a very emotional conversation and through the language barrier we were able to understand eachother as I was telling him about my life and family. It meant a lot that even though neither of us could speak the others language very well we were still able to listen and understand and create a bond that I will miss!

This trip was emotionally and physically hard. We had to participate in Social Justice conversations that were very intense and draining but in the end I realized that even if I dont have an opinion or am not educated on the subject, I would like to take the time to educate myself and find my voice. My SIS 201 class helped me so much by educating me on the past 100 years or wars and so much more. I am so grateful for my classes last quarter because it was the first time where I craved learning, where I was excited to learn more and where I felt positively stimulated by my learning. The Nicaragua trip was a perfect way to end a very educational semester for me.

Nicaragua was also amazing because it strengthened my friendships with my current roomates, it was fun, and it allowed me to travel which i love doing. I also have always been very curious about these service projects and while I was not too happy with the leaders on the trip, the trip was a great experience and one that I took for granted at the beginning before realizing how important and fun it is to have real conversations about issues that really matter.

My classes this quarter as not as educationally stimulating as last quarter and that is very hard for me. Oh well, life is good and I have an awesome job, friends, and summer plans. It’s hard to complain about life when I see others life and realize how unbelievable lucky I am and how I have taken for granted so many things in my life. In this moment right now, if my mother had not passed away, I could honestly say that I lived the fairytale life and had a perfect family.

I am also very upset because my cousin Katelynn who I ADORE just had open heart surgery and her many cancerous tumors were unable to be removed and she only has a few months to live. This breaks my heart for so many reasons. After losing my mom, it was always nice to know that I still had my Aunt Shelly and Cousin Katelynn for support when I need a gurlll to talk to. But in the bigger picture its just so unfair. How would you handle the news that your life is going to end so soon?

March 2, 2012

So I have not blogged in a while. Today is Thursday and I turned in my SIS 201 Final Paper, wow that feels good. Except the work in that class never ends, so much reading plus an honors assignment and my group sucks, wont lie. oh well. it will all work out like it always does.

So our roomate moved out, and the whole house is pretty happy about that. It’s not that I didnt like her as a person, I just do more with my life than take drugs. It will just be nice to have someone that I can actually build a friendship with move in. Other than that situation, the house has continually been amazing, the myster of who is not doing their dishes will never be solved but today we finally got a dishwasher!

Last weekend was the soccer tournament in Oregon. We beat UO and I scored one goal, and assisted the next. It felt really good. Even though Steve slept through my game, I still got to see him for a little bit so that was nice. From there the weekend really jsut went down hill.. like usual in Portland these days I had an anxiety panick attack and could not stop crying. I think that is mostly because I was annoyed of being in a car with our coach and another person that jsut annoyed me. Last year it was me, Kim, Kate, Marsh, and Kristen so the car ride was like epiiccc so this year was still fun, I think my expectations were just a little too high. We stayed at my house on Saturday and everyone had fun :)

The week before went by fast because we had Monday off and that weekend I stayed with Steve in Eugene. It was okay. Boring mostly. He just really does not do anything besides eat sleep workout and party. I hung out with Gabby and got to see Lauren so that was nice as well! Also I had a lot of fun with Steves little brother Nick and drove his friend Anna to Corvallis on Monday and had a nice deep talk about life and deatch, it was coool.

On friday I drove down to portland with Caitlin and Marshelle so that was fun and when I got to Portland I went to dinner at PF Changs with Nicole, Melissa, Marylin and Ron. So it was nice seeing the relatives.

Leaving Lauren that weekend was sad! It was our first time apart haha that week went to Hillel and made Hamsas! I did mine pink and made one for Steve for valentines day in duck colors but his broke. Also he told me I should have known better and done Florida Gator colors (blue and orange) lol.

Meghan and I went downtown to get her passport sitch figured out, and while walking downtown we saw TREES with SWEATERS it was sooo cute. Just one of those things that made me happy <3 nice sunny day in down town Seattle.

Nothing really eventful going on in my life sadly. I have been getting lots and lots of donations for Nicaragua so that is exciting! Two more weeks until the quarter is over wooohooo :)

February 11, 2012

Flashhhmobbb :)

So on Friday at 2:30 after finally finishing my Khmer Rouge SIS 201 paper, I walked to red sqaure to watch the Flash Mob set up by the Make A Wish Foundation for a 10 yeard old boy named alex who, since he is wheel chair bound, wants robots to come together and make world peace. This was his wish because it has been betting harder and harder for his mother to lift him in and out of his wheel chair and he wishes there was some sort of technology to do it for him. Seeing him and his family was so cute, but also so sad and we were like 4 ft from him. He was so happy to see everyond dancing, and it was all so cute!

Another cool thins about the flash mob was that the cheer leaders participated so I asked them if I could get a picture!! They were sooo cute! And all these guys crashed our photo and one cheerleader goes, “oh shit, your stuck, just smile and they will go away” lol I think we have pretty hot female cheerleaders <3

Friday was also fun because I hung out with Caitlin and we chatted in Paccar, then I met up with Alison, Willada, and Marta for a bit and then I went home and me, Lauren, and Maayan went to jew dinner and Millie came laterrr and then we all just hung out at the house and there was a baby lab puppyy!! soooo precious running around ccRaZzZzYy!

The past week has been pretty good. Lots of drama with the cats, because Luna attacked peter and he had to go to the vet because of various war wounds to get antibiotics. Some drama in the basement.. bleeechh but overall love the house love the girls. I think we are all getting Lucky tickets todayyyy :) :) which will be the night before NIcaragua! SO waaay to much bonding, my fav!! lol

Been chatting with Esto, but keeping my guard up, which is hard! Self control to hold back is hard! But I guess that will only make me stronger :)

Soccer has not been as fun this year because I dont have a buddy like I used to. Which is fine, I get to hang out with everyone but I always like having a buddy. We are going to Oregon in 2 weeks to play OSU UO and then on Sunday UP so we will be staying at my house on Sundayy!! :) :) :) which I am soo excited to go home and have everyone come over!!

Class is good, its hard but its good cuz it keeps me busy. I dont think I could have a job because I am at the library for 6 hours a day trying to read, research, and write papers plus busy work and studying. It’s crazy, but im learning more than I ever have this quarter which I really like.

Ive still been doing Hot Yoga and Yoga To The People and I loooove it, mastered two new poses so I feel awesome about that! I have been heating healthy and staying in shape and taking care of myself and drinking water and taking vitamins and emergenC and yaaa now I’m just rambling, not really sure what else to write hehehehehe

byeee love you all <3

February 8, 2012

This is our little house kitten named Peter! My first night moving into the house I felt a little scared and then I saw Peter with his cone and knew everything was going to be okay :)

February 7, 2012 • 325 notes • belezabrasileira

WEird > NOrmal

(via changemyperspective)

February 6, 2012

Weeeeeird tumbling again. Oh how ive missed it! I wanted to blog today because I had such an amazing day with Marta. I am in this SE Asian anthropolgy class and an assignment was to somehow do an ethnographic research project. I picked Laotian assimilation into the United States. For that, after having panic attacks about not knowing what to do or how to do it, Marta, being as aweseome as she is agreed to go on a little adventure with me. Lets just say that first of all, the IPhone SAVED us. How I have lived with out that wonderful piece of technology is beyond me. Anyway, thats beside the point. On another tangent, blogging releases endorphins in my body I think. Just sitting here, on my bed, typing about my life makes me happy. Or maybe its just that I feel like I have more of a purpose to my life when I do something worth blogging. Who knows, still in the transitional changing growing maturing stage of my life.. wowweee long process…

BUT BACK TO MY ASSIGNMENT. we bussed it to South Seattle and walked for .9 miles until we finally arrived at the laotian temple. IT WAS SO COOL. we met the cutest monk dressed in all orange taking out the trash. He started with, “thank your for visiting MY temple” then proceeded with an attempt to talk with us… I say attempt because his accent and mixture of languages made him very difficult to understand. We think he moved here from loas many years ago, reason unknown sadly, and built the temple in 2000. Since he does not have a wife or kids (not sure if his type of monk is allowed to get married) it took him about 20 years to get citizenship. He has only one big yellow tooth on the right side of his upper jaw. lol. he was soooo cute and precious and loving and happy happy happy. Very inviting. We knew he wanted to help and talk to us but the language and culture barrier made it very difficult. It was an experience none the less and I live this life for experiences :)

So I’m back in Seattle, Ive been here for a month and this month has been exceptional. I live with some great, confident, secure girls. A great environment and a big change from sorority life. We live in a 9 bedroom house of 56th and 15th. It’s been really fun. I have gotten really close to Lauren Selinger who is my basement buddy. We have been going to Hillel and Jewish events with Maayan and that has been really nice. The services almost made me cry a little bit because it reminded me of mommy and my child hood. I learned the other day that one of my roomates dad died two years ago and so we talked and got a little closer.

I think one of the biggest things that I am still learning is just relationships with people. My last night in France, Val told me that all people have good and bad traits, when the bad becomes present you just have to remember the good and all the good times youve had together. This came up today while talking with Marta because freshman year she told me that I am really bipolar with my friends: one second I like them and the next I dont. But I think the best thing to do is breathe, stay calm, and put myself in their position and realize that not everyone can fit the perfect friend expectations that I get too quickly. Also I am still working on being less sensitive and not taking this personally. It’s working :)

It’s weird: I went to Tridelt the other day and hung out with the girls all day. And when I say the girls i mean everybody. I switched from room to room to clique to clique and really spent good amount of times with everyone. I left feeling shitty and sad because I hate the person that I am there. I hate how it makes me feel and I hate how it affects me. I also left super happy with my current living and friend situation. Even though I love those girls and always will it’s nice to know who my friends are. Just to reiterate me: I HATE MEAN JOKING AND BEING CALLED ANNOYING. I’ve never liked that and I never will and that probably will never change. preach sista.

Im going to keep blogging. I hope I continue doing stuff worth blogging because it does make me feel so good to get everything out in the open, disclose information, and know that I will have it forever to look back on. I have my baby journals, the journal my mom wrote for me when she was sick, i have this awesome tumblr, and one day soon my dad will let me read my moms college and high school journal that he has banned from my eyes for now. rude.

anyway love you, love my life and stay happy <3

December 28, 2011

Home

Well, I’m home now. And not too happy about it. More than happy that I have this blog to remember the amazing what feels like a one night dream trip that I took. This four months was the best four months of my life. Being back, it has been so easy to resort back to my emo depressed self that no one would even know about. But here I am, a new changed person, or am I? It’s hard to remember all the things I learned while being abroad, but wow I learned so much. I just wish I was back in Triolet with Adriane next door, Caitlin, Val, Max, and Barbara one floor up, Ga in the batiment next door, Andie on the opposite side of school and Anne Marie in the comedie. It’s weird how time flies, people change, and memories fade. But I know that that time only taught me and changed me for the better, and the memories will never be forgotten because of my tumblr :)

Lucky me.

I still love life, just gotta find what I found in France here. Given, I’m in Portland and not in Seattle, but I know I will find my place.

I LOVE FRANCE parce que je suis francaise… that is, once i marry Max héhéhé

December 28, 2011

Val’s Class Essay, the part about me:

Megan
The trip was originally intended for Anne Marie, Kim and I because we were friends from pre-session and we’d decided we wanted to go somewhere. Megan decided to tag along after her plans to go to Rome with her good friend Erin fell through. It was really random as she wasn’t friends with any of us except casually nice to Kim. From the first couple of days in Montpellier, I’d already figured out who Megan was. We don’t have sorority life at Loyola but I’ve seen enough movies and heard enough stories to realize she fit the stereotypical sorority girl. She only hung out with the other University of Washington girls in the program who were in the Greek system and while she seemed fun loving and extroverted it was only directed to those she deemed “worthy” of her time. It didn’t really bother me because there were 30 other people in the program who were more than willing to be friendly and branch out. I just pegged her as one of those girls I’d end up being facebook friends with and write a “Happy birthday!” wall post to. When Kim first told us Megan was coming with us, I was confused more than anything. After hearing the whole story about her not having anything better to do it made a lot more sense.
As it turns out Megan ended up teaching me the most about traveling. I guess outside of Montpellier and the dorms where she was only surrounded by what she knew Megan rose to the occasion. I had no idea what a free spirited person she was and how infectious it could be. When we were in the Birmingham airport she made friends with 2 British blonde haired and blue eyed toddlers who were the most angelic and well behaved children. Fast forward thirty minutes later, while waiting in the crowd to board and the father is trying to get them to stop because they keep making Megan jump and twirl and throwing themselves at her feet. She tried to divert the attention from her a bit by telling Isabella (the older one) to play with me. She laughed I couldn’t help but do so as well as I tried to keep my balance while jumping and not trip over my backpack.
On the Dublin pub crawl she even got Anne Marie to loosen up after a couple of swigs of a bottle of wine. That night Megan stole a Guinness from the bar and when the owner, a guy with a skull mask, came to get it he asked me if I’d seen who took it. I obviously acted stupid and when she came up to me I laughed and told her, “The guy is looking for his beer you’re better off leaving it alone.” She didn’t believe me at first but when she saw him questioning other people she waited about 30 seconds before saying, “Okay, come to the back with me and drink it I hid it we’re good!” In the moment it was absolutely hysterical. Later on that night, she jumped on a stranger’s back who surprisingly held her and when he asked me where she was from and I said, “Oregon,” he just smiled and said, “Figures.”
The following morning when we woke up at 6 am and boarded a bus for 3 hours to Galway, instead of being hung-over and temperamental she was the exact opposite. If you’ve ever seen a commercial with the Energizer bunny, it was like that but if the bunny had swallowed massive amount of adderall. She was prancing and dancing in the grassy hills on our tour of an authentic Irish Bern. Most memorable quote from that trip being her logic of why the Irish countryside was spelled differently, “It’s Bern like Barn like Fern is Farm,” sounds crazy enough to sound right but it’s not… Then she fell in “love” with the boy sitting in front of us on the bus who happened to be a self-hating Italian living in the Germanic autonomous region of northern Italy. His name was Andreas but Megan quickly nicknamed him Andy and proceeded to shout things like, “I love you Andy! Don’t you just love to love? I love to love things.” The poor kid, it probably took him all day to realize that it was all in good fun. He even asked me a few times if she was a little crazy with a pantomime and smile. It was the funniest thing hearing him attempt to communicate in his broken English with a heavy German accent of his intense dislike for Italy and watching Megan’s face fall (partially serious and joking) as she realized he wasn’t the perfect guy she wished he’d be. It didn’t stop her from crushing on him though, as she stole his orange hat repeatedly and they exchanged facebook information. It must have been fate because as we got off the Cork bus into Dublin we ran into Andy on the street as he was leaving for Italy When Megan shouted, “Andy! Don’t go I love youuuu!” He replied, “Me too…” Which I’m guessing was his English attempt at saying, “I love you too!” They still facebook poke to this day…
What I love about Megan is her gusto for living and experiencing everything. She’s open to doing anything and everything and she rarely thinks about the consequences. For example, she thought it was a perfectly good idea to change from her yoga pants to jeans under the table of a supermarket in Dublin. People were eating their baps and paying for their milk, while she casually stripped down to her thong and no one noticed. I think getting to know her allowed me to realize I was missing out. It can be a lot of fun when you just let yourself be you and not think about how you look. Case in point, Halloween night in Cork, while walking back we somehow decided it would be fun to spin each other and proceeded to do so the entire way home. It doesn’t sound so bad, until you factor in that practically everyone from Loyola was in Cork that weekend and on that same street.

Valentina Guzzo, part of her essay for school

December 24, 2011

Paris

Paris was beautiful and cheap! Being a european student, pretty much everything is free. We got into the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Centre Pompidou and Versaille for free yo! lovin it. The first day we got in and we met up with Francois to get settled in. That night August and I walked along the Seine all the way to the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triumphe. We accidently stumbled upon Le Pont d’Arts and Le Pont d’Archeveche along with Notre Dame. We also passed pretty much everything but on the first night we werent sure what it all was yet. After we walked for over an hour we took the metro to La Bastille where we ate at a restaurant called Iguana LOL and I made the mistake of ordering Fois Gras.. no offense, but french people love cat food. ew. Then we went to a bar, got a pitcher of Mad Dog beer, whatever that means, and ordered nachosss yummmm!

The next day we started early and hit up the Louvre. It was huge, and I honestly enjoyed the outside more than the inside. Such a beautiful, ginormous building. We ended up walking through le jardin des Tuileries and then headed to VillJuif to eat. Villejuif was kinda disapointing, we didnt really know what to look for and we couldnt find any falafel places. Also I thought it was appropriate to call it a jewish ghetto but I guess that is derogatory. Still unsure… lol After we did Musee d’Orsay which I loved!! I got to see paintings from Monet, Renoit, Van Gogh and Im blanking on the others, but a bunch of Artists that I learned about from french american school that was cool! This night we went to a hacker party with Francois… IT WAS AWESOME! We got there a little early so we just kinda hung out on the couch and there was a little light show going on.. we start drinking some wine and more people start coming and soon the light show turns into green lazers everywhere and then smoke that smells like hookah.. it was sick. We got some cool pixx that I need august to dropbox me! wooo

The third day was kind of awkward because I accidently messed up the dates with the couch surfing website so we had to move out. With my huge bags this was kind of a big deal. Francois, being as nice as he was offered to let me leave my bags for as long as I needed. August and I headed for Versaille. This was definately my favorite part of Paris. Versaille was beautiful and full of Jardins! We all know how much i love Jardins, or big grassy areas! After touring the palace itself we just started walking and ended up in the center of jardin. It was so beautiful and while it was cold out, the sun was still shining. Atleast for a little, it sunddenly started to rain so we decided to walk a little faster to etunder cover, then it started to hail hahahah so we started running but the hail only got worse. When we got near the top of the Jardin and back to Versaille palace the hail stopped and we got pictures in front of the magnificent jardin with a beautiful view. On our way back we met up with Joe at the train station and then the weather turned for the worst. It was pouring down rain. We hung out at Francois to get my luggage and drink tea and then headed off the find a hostel. It was a nice plane in the Marré area. Best known as the arrondissement for fashion and a bigger gay population. We loved it. We had a formule dinner of onion soup, and salmon with a bottle of red wine. That night we walked along the Seine, again. It was so much fun. I loved that Joe was there, he is so friendly and fun and an overall great person! We walked all the way to the eiffel tower and he then took us to the best look out spot that we would not have found with out him. Also, he was in pictures with me which helped my, “paris with a lover” idea that I tried to portray with August. fail. After walking for hours we went back and passed out.

The next morning before Joe went to the airport to fly back to the states, we all had free breakfast at the hostel and then August and I headed out to Sacre Coeur. wow oh wow oh wow BEAUTIFUL. We got really lucky because it was such a beautiful day. I went to the top and got the panoramic view of the city while August stayed down below smoking his cigs. We got a tartiflette, which is potato, lardon, and cream yumm and walked around the Montmart neighborhood. Later we met up with my friend Hayley that ive known since kindergarten. We finally made it to her appt and just passed out. We were so tired for all of our adventuring. It was really great to see Hayley, a familiar friendly face! We had so much reminiscing and catching up to do! It was nice thinking back to all the older memories we shared.

The next morning since the Catacombs are closed on Mondays, we went to Le Jardin de Luxembourg. It was so pretty! Then we met up with her friend Richie to eat the most famous falafels, which was AMAZING! August and I went to the famous cemetary where Edith Piaf is burried. This cemetary is HUGE and full of ginarmous tomb stones. I found it very meaningful because there was a lot of memorials for the people who suffered in the Nazi Concentration camps. That night we went to a French Slam Poetry reading. lololol It was interesting. And I got the best crepe salé yet.

Left the next morning. Bittersweet. Home now. I hate it. lol Best four months of my life, so its hard to be happy being back.

Thanks to all my friends who made the trip for me :)

December 13, 2011

December 12, 2011

Lyon et la fete des lumieres! We left Montpell at 17h and got to Lyon around 20h. The light show was not what I had expected, it was a scavenger hunt around the entire down town city with different lights and food on every corner. The down town area was blocked off so no cars could get through, it was honestly exceptional! My favorite was the white stick shift people. 100 stick shift people doing random positions and with the music told multiple different stories. My other favorite was an outdoor sqaure and the walls lit up with different patterns and colors. This was also where we posed infront of the lights and I was spinning and dancing lol and Lupita dropped it low to the ground.. but she didnt fall… lol The whole night was such an experience. We laughed sooooo much at everything. Seriously though, Lupita needs her own reality show cuz we were dying everything was so funny! We got candied apples.. MIAM!!! so good. We loved Lyon, it was really big, and tons of cool areas and the architecture was awesome. It would have been cool to see Lyon during the day but oh well. We got home at 3am. I slept the entire car ride home THANK YOU BAPTISTE FOR DRIVING!!!! such a great night :)

Anne Marie came over today to say her FINAL good bye :( :( so sad!! but I’m planning on doing Thanksgiving in AZ next year and I invited her and Val, so hopefully that works out!!!

Last grammar class today!!! partayyy even though like no one is going to be there. Rox, Berto and Nate have left the country and Adriane and Sam just arent coming….. sooo luckily I have other friends and love french food. I still need to go buy cheeeese.

Ive been kinda lazy with blogging, just quickly summing up my week. BUTTT I’m like at peace with going home. Im excited to see Paris with august! And im excited for portland with my family and friends and im excited for my house in Seattle. Its going to be so weird going back to UW after this awesome 4 month long vacation. Why cant this be real life?!?!

December 11, 2011

Today is Sunday!! Woke up and went to Mass at le Cathedrale St. Pierre with Adriane. It was really nice. I did not participate in the catholic communion but it was nice to listen to the songs in french. Before church we got chocolat chaud and pain au chocolat at a cute little café off Albert Premier. I just finished packing up my big suitcase while doing laundry and I’m waiting for Andie, Caitlin, Lupita, and Baptiste to go to Lyon pour la fete des lumieres! Je suis trop contenteeee

Saturday: kicked it allll dayyyy and then went ice skating with Adriane! IT WAS SO AWESOME! literally a discotèque at night! Then we walked around Odysseum, got a fig tart and headed towards la comedie where we ate at the christmas market. I tried choucroute. Didn’t like it. oh well. Came home, hung out with Barbie and Max and went to bed!

Friday: GAAAA’s birthday!! Was supposed to go to the zoo with Berto but he bailed so I went shopping with Val and Caitlin. Bough cuuutieee frenchy clothes woohoo. Got Ga’s present which he loveddd and bought Caitlin her bday present! We went to Soleil sandwhich shop before and saw all the boyzz. That night I had quiche dinner with Lupita, Baptiste, Thomas, and Caitlin. Then headed over to Ga’s room with Barbie, Max, Thomas, Josy, Caitlin, Thomas, and Adriane and Clement and Andie. It was fun! Then we went to Jasons house. Max a allumé l’herbe en utilisant his toaster MDR

Thursday: Bothered Adriane until she finally agreed to go to the Jardin des plantes avec moi! lol C’était incroyable! J’ai tombé amoureux avec ce jardin! Hung out with Val, Anne Marie, Mary and Rowena this night. just kicked it in Val’s room kicking in with Gingy! Mary got sick…

Wednesday: Phonetics final and doneee with the semester! Went out to dinner at Au Deux Fondue avec Caitlin et Mary Castle! I love that restaurant! Soooo cute! We drank wine out of a baby bottle! lol Then after we met Thomas and others at Vert Anglais. I loved it because i just hung out with Thomas french girl friends! I love french people lol

Tuesday: Theatre final! Then I went to Anne Maries house and hunggg out for a while. We went to the christmas market and got Vin Chaud, Raclette YUMM! and this patoatoe and lardon in a cream sauce thing nom nom. Then went and got a sandwhich with Caitlin, and hung out until we went to le cinema avec moi, Caitlin, Adriane, et Thomas. We saw the new rum movie with Johnny Depp. It was weird….

Monday: weirdly hard grammar final! wtf lol

December 11, 2011

December 7, 2011

Long overdue.. first day of Barcelona with just me, Adriane, and Roxie. We just started walking with the only purpose of arriving at the highest spot in the city while taking pictures every stop of the way. Walked up a path and accidently found a huge castle type thing.

Pics Below:

Ps: If you click the pictures you can see them bigger :)