Impatient and Imperfect

It's that time of year...you know, the time where everyone seems to be "coupled up". Everyone, except for me, that is. I'm single, as usual. It is really hard for me, because I watch all of my friends with these long-term and "budding" relationships and get so jealous. I ask myself "Why can't I have that", "What is wrong with me?!", "When will it be my turn?!". This is something I constantly think/worry about. What am I doing wrong? What is it that guys DON'T see in me, but see in my friends? How can I be more likable? This is a viscous game I give into. At the end of the day I feel just awful about myself and am even more discouraged about my future. I realize that I need to stop this, because all I'm doing is hurting myself.

Here's what I do know:
-God has a plan that is WAY greater than any plans I may have for myself
-God doesn't run on MY schedule, I run on HIS
-"The guy" is out there
-No matter how hard I try, I will not find him through all of my searching, God will reveal him to me when I am ready

All of this gives me peace...then my imperfection kicks in and I start to doubt. It's not that I doubt God or his plan, I start to doubt that "just waiting" is the answer. I text boys that I'm not interested just to get attention. I convince myself that I'm not worthy of the "best guys" and settle for whoever shows interest in me. I don't want to end up with "whoever", I want to end up with "the best".

I envy girls, like my best friend, Heidi, who prefer to be single. I wish I could be happy alone, and the truth is I've gotten to the point where I am. Then, there are those nights when my roommates are cuddled up with their boyfriends watching movies or on dates and I feel so lonely and jealous. Of course, I know I should continue to "be patient", and that the right thing to do is to be happy for them, but it is so hard!! I can't help but ask myself, "when is it going to be my turn?". And the cycle of self-destructive thinking begins again...

How do I stop this cycle? How do I calm down and wait it out PATIENTLY? How I do I learn to accept my imperfections? How do I keep my standards high, even if that means being single for longer? How do I cope when it feels like literally everyone around me is in a relationship? I honestly don't know. I wish I did. I know that I will take it one day at a time and realize that being single is by no means the worst thing that could happen. I just need to be myself and relax a little, in time things will happen for me. The best things are worth waiting for, as they say. Here's to hoping it will be worth the wait!

Ch-Ch-CHANGES

With move in day quickly approaching I am busier than ever! I've yet to pack...anything!! I have SO much to get to Waco and not nearly enough room. It'll all get there...one way or another! I'm so excited to move in and get settled back into my "Waco life". Moving back to Waco is very exciting, but for me it is also sad. I'm going to miss my friends and family here in Richmond. I love Baylor and all of my friends up there, but Richmond will always be my home. For that reason, leaving is very bittersweet for me.

There is one possible new addition to my "Waco life" I'm pretty excited about...PILATES!! I have an appointment on Wednesday (my move in day) with a lady who owns a Pilates studio in Waco. Ideally, I would like to take Pilates classes with her one or two times a week. I've been on a "health kick" lately and I must say I'm starting to love working out! I feel like adding Pilates classes is the perfect ingredient in my new, healthy lifestyle. Not only is Pilates a great workout, but, like Yoga, it can also be used a meditation time. (Something I definitely could use in the midst of my busy life!) All of this is why I am very, very excited about meeting with Rae on Wednesday. :]

Change seems to be a theme in my life. I think this is true for most college students. New town, new friends, new living quarters, new everything! Still, I find myself trying to cling on to the "old". Namely, old friendships. This isn't unusual, but recently clinging to old friendships has caused me a lot of hurt and frustration. Ever since I was in jr. high I've had 2 best friends. After high school, we vowed to stay friends no matter what. They went in one direction for school and I went in another. Things have been rocky, but we've remained friends. Only recently, have I had issues with these friendships. Tonight was sort of a breaking point for me. I'm exhausted from trying to hold friendships together. I feel like I am the only one trying. They hang out with each other more than either of them hang out with me. I never hear from either one unless I initiate contact through a text or call. I'm terrified that I'll leave Wednesday and never hear from them again. I'm so frustrated by always having to pursue them, but I'm afraid if I stop our friendship will fade away. We were supposed to be best friends forever (as cheesy as that sounds). Now we're closer to acquaintances. The question is, do I continue to put myself out there, or do I walk away? What do I do?? I'm so upset. I know change is difficult, but I never expected it to be this hard.

Amazing Love

Have you ever woken up and realized you were right where you are supposed to be? Lately, I've had this sense of belonging. Its like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. Life has its ups and downs, but suddenly the bumps in the road are a lot easier to take. You know what I mean? Like no matter what happens I know I'll get through it. It is such an amazing feeling.I mean, why wouldn't I feel great about life? I have an amazing family and great friends. In about a week I'll be moving into a gorgeous house with 5 of the greatest girls I know! Thanks to my recent major change, even fall classes can't bring me down! I am so blessed!!

This past Sunday, I went to church and heard one of the greatest sermons I had heard in a while. Gary Thomas, a guest speaker filling in for Dr. Young, preached. He is absolutely amazing. I always enjoy his sermons, but this one was on an entire different level. The sermon was based on mercy. He said that everyone needs God's mercy and we are kidding ourselves if we think otherwise. Sermons like this remind me of God's amazing love. God takes mercy upon us despite our flaws and despite our sins. If we could all love even a tiny bit like God, the world would be a completely different place. Gary ended his sermon with a story about a disabled boy and his father. The boy was so severely disabled that he couldn't talk. To communicate, the boy would use a machine that would type out what he wanted to say. (Sorry, I don't know the specifics) The boy wanted to run in a race benefitting a friend of his from his school. The father, a self proclaimed couch potato, knew that for his son to participate, he would have to push him in his wheelchair. Lovingly, the father pushed his son through the entire race. At the end of the day, the son told his father participating in the race was the first time in his life he hadn't felt disabled. This touched the father. He decided from that day on him and his son would compete in marathons. They competed in several marathons together, when the father decided they would start competing in IRON MAN TRIATHLONS (swimming, biking, AND running!!). Can you imagine?! This man pulled, pedaled, and pushed his son for miles just so that his son could feel "normal". At the end, we watched a video of the father/son team. Let me tell you, I was seriously holding back tears. I can't imagine such a deep love. The father did so much for his son all in the name of love. Gary ended the sermon by saying, "Just as that boy needed his father to cross the finish line, so do we". Those words have really stuck in my mind.

I know my little summary of his sermon didn't do it justice at all. Different people get different things out of sermons. That being said, this was just what I, personally, took from it. t blog without the excitement of Paris


This was my first blog in FOREVER!!! It was also my first blog in which I didn't write about my exciting, Parisian life. Sorry if you guys were totally bored! I promise I will get better at this! :] Until then, stick with me!! ;)

XOXO

Back in H-Town

I'm backkkk!! Okay, I've been back for a while now, but I sorta forgot about my blog! Oooops! How about a little update on what I've been up to....

Saw my Gran, Aunt Robin, and adorable great cousin Hayden the day I got back (along with my family, of course). What a great way to spend my first day home :] Spent some time shopping, laying around, and refinishing furniture for the Waco house. Spent Wed-most of Sun. in Waco working on BIG RED (our Waco house). Everything looks so good! My Gran and Papa Jack helped work on the house. They're awesome. I am so blessed to have so many great people in my life! The house is absolutely perfect! I can't wait for the other roomies to move in! :] I know they're going to love it!!!

Sadly, that's pretty much the extent of my life back from Paris thus far! Not sure what this blog is going to be like since I'm no longer living an exciting, Parisian life, but I'll figure it out. Bear with me, guys! ;]

Farewell Paris

Last night, we had our farewell dinner with the entire group. It was so sad. I love everyone here and will them all so much!!

At dinner, Dr. Uber gave a "farewell roast" speech. BEST.PART.OF.THE.TRIP. He made fun of EVERYONE. Absolutely hilarious. I, for example, was Darian the Librarian. He talked about how I should be quiet..but in fact am quite the opposite. So so sooo funny. Some people got long speeches, other got short ones....mine lasted FOREVER. I loved every second of it. More details to come later.

Rosalie, Dr. Bratu's wife, also gave a speech after the professors. She began by saying, "The first night I remember telling Cristian, 'Wow, some of those girls hate me!'". As she's saying this she is staring straight at me. She continues, "Darian, for example.". I'm all "WOW! WHAT!!?" I love Rosalie!!! We figured out that it was because I seemed standoffish and quiet. I felt terrible, though!!

Ahhh I would loveeee to write more about my final night in Paris, but it is now 5:40 and we are catching a taxi to the airport at 6, so I must go!

I'll finish filling ya'll in when I'm back in Htown!! :]

See you in a few hours lovies!!

Exploring Paris on my own

Today we got out of class at 12 instead of 1 since we have finals tomorrow. I'm not too worried about finals, so I decided to do a little last minute sightseeing and exploring before I hit the books. Everyone was too tired or too busy packing/studying, so I decided I'd just go exploring by myself. I realized this meant navigating the metro, but decided I was up to the challenge.

I dropped off my books and mapped out my plan of attack. I wanted to go to the Musee D'Orsay, Notre Dame, and Les Invalides. They were all on the same metro line, so it worked out perfectly! First stop was Musee D'Orsay which is an Impressionist art museum. This was the stop I was most excited about. A lot of the people on the trip had been and given it rave reviews, so I was pumped. Upon arriving, though, I learned the museum is closed on Mondays. Bummer!! I was super disappointed, but there's always tomorrow. I grabbed a sandwich at a nearby patisserie and hopped back on the metro.

Next stop was Notre Dame. Luckily, it was open and free to get in! :] Notre Dame is absolutely breathtaking. It is so impressive. I really enjoyed leisurely walking through the cathedral by myself. There was quiet music playing in the background, but besides that it was silent. After walking around the entire thing, I sat down in a chair and prayed and enjoyed the music. It was so relaxing. Definitely what I needed.

After Notre Dame I shopped for souvenirs. Let me just say that I got some of the greatest souvenirs. I bought souvenirs for my grandparents, parents, and sister. Usually, I'm not great at the whole gift buying thing, but today I was on top of my game. Somehow I found the perfect thing for everyone. Amazing! :] Can't wait to give them to you guys!

Les Invalides was the next stop on my journey. Les Invalides is the site of Napoleon's tomb and also houses armor and weapons. I'm gonna be completely honest, I know little to nothing about Les Invalides, but I wanted to go anyways. I actually ended up liking it. I saw Napoleon's tomb and lots and lots of swords, guns, and armor. I found one sword covered in gold fleur di lis. Kappa sword, oui n'est pas? HA HA Napoleon's tomb is ridiculous. Its huge. Like, literally HUGE! Wait 'till you guys see the pictures! Now, that is what you call a tomb.

After Les Invalides, I started the long trek home. On a whim, I decided to pop into a store close to our house. I ended up finding a cute black dress I think I'm going to wear to tomorrow's farewell dinner with the group. Its simple and sophisticated, so very me!! :] I plan on pairing it with my bright red pointy toe flats. I'm pretty excited, not gonna lie.

Being able to navigate the metro and city by myself made me feel so self-sufficient. I loved it! I think that's one thing I've learned during my time here, how to do things for myself. I mean, I know in college you have to be independent, but its totally different being in a foreign country alone. I've really learned that I can do things by myself, even if it takes a few tries. My map reading skills have also really improved. (Emily and Dad, I can practically hear you laughing!! :] )

I'm back at the apartment now. Its ridiculously hot. Whoever thought it would be okay to not have AC in Paris is out of their minds. I'm sweating. Seriously considering hopping in the shower and just standing under the cold water. No, but seriously. This morning I took the coldest shower ever, on purpose. It was probably the best shower yet. I woke up so hot! Anyways, we'll have our final dinner with our Madame around 8, then its study time for me! I'm so sad about our last dinner here tonight! I love our madame and her cooking! We're gonna take pictures with her tonight, so I'll have those to show everyone soon!! :]

Tomorrow, we're probably gonna go on a boat ride on the seine. My roommate, Sarah, went last night and said it was amazing! Apparently, you see all the major sights in Paris. Cool, huh?

Less than 48 hours and I'll be home! Everyone get excited!!! :] I cannot wait to tell you all more stories and show more pictures IN PERSON!! :] Yay!!

Czech, really?! It is in CZECH!?!?!

The Opera, where to begin. Let me just say that it was not at all what I thought it was going to be. It was about a fox and a bunch of forest animals. Thats pretty much the extent of what I got from the Opera. It was very hard to understand. Perhaps because it was in Czech. Oh yes, the FRENCH Opera we were promised turned out to be a Czech Opera. Cool, Professor Uber, cool. Despite my lack of understanding, I enjoyed the experience. It was cool. I'd definitely be willing to go again. Side note: Our professor left during intermission. This from the same man who lectured us on staying for the whole thing and really appreciating the experience. Do as I say and not as I do, I suppose. After the Opera, we hung out downtown for a little bit then headed home.

Yesterday, we spent the day in Giverny. We toured Monet's house and walked around the property. The gardens were beautiful! We were at Giverny for 3 hours. It took literally an hour to see everything there is to see at Giverny. We convinced the bus driver to tell Professor Uber that he needed us to leave early in order to beat traffic. Luckily he bought it and we got to head back to Paris early. Little did we know we actually WOULD run into traffic. Turns out yesterday was gay pride day or whatever. The streets were shut down for the pride parade. Lovely. We had to get dropped of like 5 metro stops away from school, which means it took us that much longer to get home. So not cool. To make matters worse, Pam and I decided to shop in the Latin Quarter when we got back. The only problem: we ended up in the heart of the festivities. Most ridiculous experience of my life. Everyone was dressed in weird costumes and super inappropriate outfits. Ugh so gross. Me and Pam stuck out like sore thumbs. Me in my white sundress and her in her nike shorts and tshirt. Could we get any more American? After a way too long shopping extravaganza, we parted ways at the metro.

We took such a long time shopping, I had to rush to get ready for the night. The boys had been planning last night all week. We were going to watch the game at their favorite restaurant at 8:30 then go to the discotheque afterwards. Unfortunately, plans became very thrown together and some didn't get the memo, so they missed out on the night. The group was much smaller than expected, but we still had fun. The discotheque we were originally going to was closed due to a private party thrown by people celebrating the pride day thing. (Are you getting that I was obviously not in support of the whole pride parade thing!?! Sorta just complicated the entire day!) Anyways, we made the most of it and had a good time at the other discotheque.

Today, I started packing to come home. I really really hate packing. Not sure how I got everything to fit in my 2 bags. Getting home with everything should be interesting! hehe Cannot believe we'll be taking finals on Tuesday! We only have 1 day of class left! I'm one French class away from never taking French ever again! So crazy! SO excited to be home in a few days!!! I have a list a mile long of everything I wanna do when I get back to H.Town. :]

The rundown for the week:
The rest of today- Dinner with the French fam, then meeting up with Kaitlyn
Monday- Class, Study for finals, last dinner with French fam (so sad :( )
Tuesday- FINALS!, last minute sight seeing, shopping, etc., farewell dinner with everyone in the program at a fancy restaurant, finish up packing
Wednesday- bye bye paris! howdy, texas!! :]

USA,USA,USA!

The trip to Chartres was cool. Our tour guide was great! He was an older, British gentleman that "was married to the cathedral", as he put it. Interesting?! They were renovating the cathedral, so it was really noisy inside. We took an hour long tour, which basically consisted of the tour guide, Charles, I think his name was, retelling the cathedral's history. He definitely knew everything there was to know about Chartres! After a quick recount of the Cathedral's history, Charles went on to explain a few of the several stain glass windows. He explained that the windows told stories, because back in the day most people were illiterate. I found his tour very interesting. (My Papa Jack totally would've loved the tour and the guy. He knew so much about so many different things. Just like my Papa Jack! :] )

After our tour of the cathedral, we were free to roam around the city until our train left at 3:30. I, along with 2 of my friends, opted to eat at a little cafe and then walk around until it was time to leave. Our time in Chartres was relaxing and very educational. It was nice to get out of the city for a little bit and have a chance to explore one of France's less hectic cities.

As great as our time in Chartres was, we were all very anxious to get back to Paris to watch the USA v. Algeria game. On the train, my pops hooked us up with the score. (The boys were really grateful, Dad. They say thanks, Papa Patterson :] ) As soon as the train doors open we began sprinting to the nearest cafe showing the game. We knew exactly where we were going. Kaitlyn had found an "American cafe" 2 minutes from the train station. Perfect, right!? Unfortunately, she remembered wrong. It was actually an English Pub, not an American Cafe. Normally, the boys wouldn't be opposed to watching the game in there, but there was one minor problem: they were showing the England game. So we walked and walked and walked some more looking for another place. Finally, the boys gave up and decided to go back and watch England play. Pam, determined to watch the USA game, managed to sweet talk the owner into putting the USA game on the t.v in the back of the pub. I'm not sure I've ever seen Pam, Evan, and Preston so happy in my life. Ha ha As you SHOULD all know, we won. It was a fun game to watch. I actually paid attention this time!

Today was so much less dramatic than expected. The city was supposed to be nearly shut down due to a strike. Everyone sorta planned on not being able to get to class, because of closed metros and bus lines. Lucky for me, my roommate LOVES class and made sure we got there on time. We were literally 2 of maybe 7 people that showed up. In the end, it was best that I went to class, though. It showed the professors that I'm not just here to have a good time and that I'm dedicated to their classes.

After class, Kaitlyn, Pam, and I walked the Champs Ellysses (I'm sure I totally butchered the spelling of that, sorry). The Champs is definitely very cool. Something you just have see if you spend anytime in Paris. The Swazorski crystal store was my favorite. The stairs are so cool! I'll post a picture!! :]

Dinner was lonely last night. It was just me at the dinner table, because Sarah went to a concert and our madame was at the theater. I had left overs from a few nights back. I didn't mind at all, because that was actually one of the meals I enjoy. (It was a meat and potatoes casserole type of thing) For dessert, i had an ice cream out of the freezer. Perfect! I took the metro to a Montparnesse Bievenue and then walked to meet up with Kaitlyn, Pam, and the boys at the boys' favorite pub. One thing I learned, I'm definitely not a pub person, but we sorta do whatever the boys want, so that's where we ended up. It was pretty cool, actually. There was a live band, so we weren't just sitting around watching sports and waiting for the boys to agree to head to somewhere else. The band was covering Beetles songs, but, of course, were nowhere near as good. Still, everyone was able to sing along to the songs. Once the band had finished, we walked to a cafe. "Didn't ya'll eat dinner before, though?!", you may ask. Yes, yes we did, but true to form, a few hours after dinner, the boys were hungry again. We sat and watched them devour 1 cheese plate, 2 salads, and 1 cheese and butter (gag me) sandwich. I believe we also went through 3 good sized baskets of bread. Ridiculous.

I know we rag on the boys a lot, but really they're great guys. They always look out for us (even we would prefer they just let us be) and are always willing to help any of us out in any way. They've been great. That being said, I'm definitely getting sad about leaving Paris. I'm going to miss the city, but I think what I'll miss most are all of the friends I've made. None of us will ever have a reason to all be together again after this, ya know? Luckily, the thought of seeing my friends and family back home totally trumps the idea of being sad about leaving. I am so excited to go home. I can't believe we have only a few days left in Paris. It feels like just yesterday I was at the airport hugging my family goodbye! So crazy!

This post was actually meant for yesterday, so "yesterday" in this post is Wed. and "today" is actually Thursday. In reality, its actually Friday. Okay, sorry if that was super confusing, but from this point on...today is Friday...

Today, we're going to the Opera. I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous. People say you either love it or you hate it. I am really hoping I love it. Okay, so I totally just got a flashback from the movie Pretty Woman with Julia Roberts. The scene where they go to the opera and she ends up loving it. Let's hope that's me tonight! :] hehe I have absolutely no idea what to wear. I'm either wearing a pencil skirt with a nice blouse or a dress I bought in Brussels. The dress is black and has some metallic beading at the top. My first instinct is the pencil skirt, but if we go out after the Opera (which is inevitable, since its Friday) I won't want to wear a tight pencil skirt. See the dilemma?! Soo if anyone reads this before 5 pm my time or I think like 10 am ya'lls time and has an opinion, comment or fbook me! haha No, but seriously!! :] I miss having all my friends around to help me get dressed!! Soo help me out, guys!

I'll update tomorrow on how the Opera went and what I wore :] Love you all! Have a fab Friday!

Sick, Gross, Nastyyyyy

Ohh heyyy guys just ate dinner. On the menu tonight: Tuna on raw cucumbers served with potatoes. Dessert was, of course, melon as usual. I don't cucumbers, but I HATE tuna. Needless to say, this was the hardest meal for me to eat. From the second I sat down, I knew it was going to be a long dinner. It was so nasty. Literally the worst thing she could have served me. Oh and don't even get me started on how it smelled. Ahh gross! SICK! Soo nastyyy!!

Alright, that is all. More to come tomorrow ya'll! :]

Marvelous Monday and Terrific Tuesday

Yesterday started out rocky. I was woken up by an unpleasant message. Long story...not going into details. Because I couldn't fall back asleep, I left for school an hour early. I walked around down by Cupa until school started. It was nice to walk and clear my head.
School was dull, no news to report on that front. After class we toured an Opera House. That particular Opera House was the one The Phantom of The Opera was modeled after. I've never seen the Phantom of the Opera, but the Opera house was very cool. Our tour guide was American, so our tour was in English. What a difference that made! I really enjoyed her commentary throughout our tour. She would say things like, "Imagine you are royalty and you are going for an evening out with your husband. You'd take his left arm and walk up this staircase, stopping at the top to strike a pose for all to see". She really made the tour fun and interesting. Probably one of my favorite tours we've had so far! After seeing the Opera house, we walked a few blocks over to Le Gallerie de Lafayette. It was a huge department store, similar to Harrods in London. I found tons of things I wanted there. Unfortunately, I didn't buy anything because everything was so expensive.

Upon returning from shopping, I set out to work on my homework. I had a take home test, an oral presentation to prepare for, and a quiz to study for. Crazy! Even crazier? Last night was La Fete de La Musique, which is a huge musical festival all over Paris. Everyone was rushing to finish up all the homework we were assigned, because we were told by our French families La fete de la musique was something we just couldn't miss. Somehow, I managed to finish all of my homework 30 minutes after dinner. I headed out to meet up with some friends at the nearest metro as soon as I'd finished my homework.

The closer I got to the metro, the crazier it got! There were people EVERYWHERE! The metros were packed! It was the craziest thing I've seen my entire time here! We took the metro the Latin Quarter and began to walk around. There were pretty much bands on every corner downtown. It was so cool! There was all types of music: rock, rap, jazz, you name it, we heard it! We stopped for a while and listened to some rock band play, then spent some time listening to a little rap. We even stopped and danced to some techno music! haha Good times, good times.

We were told the metros would be open all night, so we were really in no hurry to get home. That was, until my roommate called and informed me it took her 2 hrs to get home due to random metros being closed. The random metros happened to be the exact 2 I needed to take to get home. Awesome. Pam helped me navigate my way home, though. We had to take a very round about route home, but got there eventually. I got back pretty late and had to get up for school super early the next day, so I was absolutely exhausted.

At school the next morning I felt dead. It was awful. Even worse? I had an oral presentation to give. The assignment was to talk 3-4 minutes about anything French. Not big on monuments and museums, and not wanting to be cliche and talk about he Eiffel Tower, I choose to talk about French pastries. Yes, that's right, I talked for about 3 minutes about pastries. Speaking in front of people is just so not my thing. I was so nervous about the presentation all morning. When I got up there, my heart was beating so fast. It was awful. After I got over my initial fear I think I did a pretty good job, though. My presentation wasn't stiff and serious like the others before mine and I think the class really appreciated that. I got lots of laughs. Especially when I started with "Don't worry, I did a lot of research on this topic. I eat pastries everyday. Trust me, I'm an expert". hahaha It doesn't help that everyone says I speak "valley girl" French. I think I sound completely normal, but apparently I sound like I'm about to break into "like so totally" and "ew like gag me with a spoon". You know, classic valley girl sayings. Ha! Anyways, I felt good about it and that's all that matters! :]

After class yesterday, I ate lunch and headed straight home. A lot of people went to the Musee D'Orsay, but I didn't. I wasn't feeling well and I was so tired. I spent pretty much the entire afternoon asleep in my bed. I wish I could say it was nice, but I felt so sick the whole time it wasn't like I was enjoying myself. The only semi interesting thing I did yesterday was walk to the Eiffel Tower after dinner. It is so pretty at night! I just can't get over it!

Today, we're going to Chartres. We leave in about 45 min to meet the CUPA group at the train station. We should get to Chartres around 10:45. We'll be back around 4:30. This is very upsetting news for the die-hard USA fans, because we play at 4. Yes, this will be the first time we will most likely not get to watch the game. Of course, there is a plan in place to try and get to watch the end of the game. The plan is to run to a cafe right by the train station that will be showing the game. The only problem with this plan? The cafe will be so crowded I'm sure we won't all be able to go in. Ah well, whatcha gonna do, right!? Sooo not gonna lose sleep over that one! haha

Say CHEESE!
The cheese saga continues, folks. The games during the cheese course have become tiresome for my host parents, so they've decided that I need something else to do while everyone eats their cheese. I don't see why watching the t.v. that is ALWAYS on in the kitchen isn't sufficient, but whatever. My madame has decided my not eating cheese is keeping me from getting enough dairy. The solution? I now have to eat yogurt during the cheese course. Super weird. I love yogurt, just not between my meal and dessert. She seemed pleased that I've been eating it willingly, though, so I guess I'll suck it up and eat it.

Tomorrow, tomorrow...
There are going to be protests in Paris. They're protesting the retirement age, or something like that. Apparently, we may not be able to get to class, because the buses and metros may be closed down. Great. Gotta admit, I'm totally fine with hanging at the house all day tomorrow. Oh, no worries, though. The protest is going to be peaceful. I won't be any danger, guys! :]

Picture time! :]

#1- The girls in a cave in the Egyptian ruins part of the Louvre
#2- Me in front of the Eiffel Tower. Too bad you can't really see my face very well, because I'm so teeny tiny in the picture!
#3- Pam and me in the Senate building
#4- Me in the Senate
#5- The group in the Senate

8 strangers picked to live in a house...what happens we people stop being nice and start being REAL...THE REAL WORLD BRUSSELS

Okay, so the title of this one is only gonna make sense if you're familiar with MTV's "The Real World". It was kind of an ongoing joke this weekend living in the Real World House. Messy boys, girls yelling at the boys, everyone fighting over showers, boys sleeping most of the day away, girls having to clean up the kitchen after the boys attempted to make their own breakfasts...see what I mean!? haha There were tense moments, but in the end everyone had a great weekend in Belgium.

The train ride to Brussels was surprisingly fast. It took us only 1 1/2 to get to Brussels. After getting off the train we had to find a metro that could take us as close to our hotel as possible. The guys were a little overly excited to be in Brussels. From the moment the train pulled into the station, they were high energy. Unfortunately, when it took longer than planned to find the metro and then find our hotel, this high energy turned the already way to lively boys into very very angry, argumentative boys. The argument began over the map: who had it, why that person had it, and why the boys weren't in charge of it. The answer to these questions was simple: because you guys never asked for the map. "Can we have the map NOW, then!? We're ready to be at the hotel. We're starving", they said. The map holder got annoyed at this point and walked away from the rest of the group while she figured out the route. The boys never got the map from Pam. The most popular phrase after this: "I don't know...I don't have the map." Lovely, boys, lovely.

After A LOT of walking, we arrived at our hotel and checked in. The apartment we stayed in was perfect! There were 2 rooms with queen size beds, a great room with a kitchen, living area, and dining area, a big bathroom, and 2 toilet rooms. The living area had a pull out couch, so we had 3 beds for 6 people. Pam and Caroline slept in one room, I slept in the other, and all the boys slept in the living room. The fact that I was the only one not having to share a bed or room was mentioned at least 5 times a day. Honestly, though, it was the most logical set up for the beds. ;] hehe It just so happens that it worked in my favor! Oui, n'est pas!?

Kaitlin and her boyfriend Thomas picked Evan, Preston, and me up from the hotel and we all went to dinner. Pam, Caroline, and Ian stayed at the hotel and showered and got settled in. I didn't really pay attention to what kind of restaurant we ended up at, because I was so busy chatting with Kaitlin. Imagine that, me too busy talking to pay attention. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the menu and realized it was a seafood restaurant. Perfect, NOT! Actually, it turned out alright. I ordered crab. Unfortunately without my daddy there to help me crack the claws and get all the meat out it didn't go so well. Luckily for me, my "brother", Evan (we have the same last name, so I've gotten in the habit of telling people he's my brother), helped me out. It was good, but next time I'd choose something easier, for sure. After dinner we met up with the rest of the group in front of a pretty church in the center of Brussels or "Grand Place" as its called. We walked with them to a cafe so they could grab some food, then headed to meet some of Thomas' friends. It was really fun to meet them and hang out, but we were all pretty exhausted from the train and staying up late the night before studying. We ended up going back somewhat early. Everyone hung out at our apartment for an hour or two after we got back. Basically, the guys sat outside on the balcony because they were annoyed by our choice of t.v. show. The girls sat, warm and cozy, in the great room watching t.v. The hotel had 2 English channels: BBC 1 and BBC 2. The rest of the channels were in different languages, so we were stuck watching a British version of "Flip this house". Sorry, boys!

The next morning everyone took full of advantage of the fact we had absolutely no obligation to wake up early. I think everyone slept until at least 10. Ahh so nice!! Pam got up first and ran to the store to get bread, butter, and jam for breakfast. She's the sweetest! Breakfast wasn't much, but it was inexpensive and very good!! Thanks, Pamela! :] By the time everyone got showered and ready to head out for the day it was like 1. Yes, we wasted most of our day sleeping. In our defense, though, we reallyyy needed the rest. We are constantly going in Paris and never have time to stop and rest!! For lunch we had pizza and these amazing chocolate brownies for dessert. Yumm!! After lunch, we walked to the EU (European Union building). Pretty cool, except for the fact that there was a protest going on right in front of it. The protest totally freaked me out. I'm so not a fan of people yelling and holding up signs angrily (especially when I have NO idea what they're protesting or even saying for that matter). They were chanting to a beat that was apparently pretty catchy, though, because Evan proceeded to hum the beat all day long. Haha! We wanted to walk around town more, but USA played at 4 pm and we just could not under any circumstances miss that! You guys know how much I loveeee soccer!! Right... We had Thomas and Kaitlin over to watch the game with us. The girls turned the soccer watching party into a pajama party, because we were tired of wearing cute clothes. However, once everyone had pjs on, all we wanted to do was sleep. Caroline and I napped on and off throughout the game. Don't ask us how the game ended, we were napping. Ooops. Like I said, I just LOVE soccer! That night, we went to a discotheque. Definitely very different than we expected. It was 80's night, so we were all pumped. The only slight problem? It was FRENCH 80's music. They played one MJ song, though, so were were slightly impressed.

Saturday was a day chalked full of shopping!! Thomas drove us to Grand Palace and pointed us in the direction of all the good stores. We were a bit disappointed by the shopping in Brussels, though. The clothes were very "European", not at all the same as American fashion. Let's just say some of the European fashions would not be considered appropriate in The States. haha For lunch, we broke down and went to a Tex Mex place. Yes, I know it was silly to expect the TexMex to be good in Belgium, but we were desperate!! Surprisingly, it wasn't half bad. I mean, it wasn't Larry's or Lupe's or even Taco Cabana, BUT it was good enough for 4 very hungry Texans craving Tex Mex!!

Thomas picked us up from the stores and drove us to his house for dinner. The house was so cool! It was super modern. Kinda like walking into an Ikea catalog! hehe Dinner was unbelievable! Best meal I've had the entire trip. We had steak kabobs, shrimp kabobs, sausage, chicken, and pork as our main dishes. For sides we had: potato salad, fruit salad, pasta salad, and a regular salad. As if that wasn't enough, she made 5 different dips for chips in addition to guacamole and mango salsa for starters!! We ate and ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore!!

Sunday morning we all woke up very sad to be leaving Brussels. Nobody wanted to leave, and therefore no one was in a good mood. There was a lot of moping around and a lot of snapping at one another. We love Paris, but it was fun to get away. I really think the long weekend brought us all closer. I'm starting to realize how sad I'm going to be in about a week to leave all of my new friends. I'm sure I'll stay in touch with everyone I'm close with here, though. I mean we go to the same school, after all. Its just so crazy how people I'd never met before this have become such good friends of mine. We've had such an amazing time together. Its making me sad even thinking about leaving them. I've got to be honest, I will probably be more sad to leave my friends than I will be to leave my host family and Paris. Paris is great, but I'm definitely getting more and more homesick for Richmond everyday. So much so that I've planned out exactly what I want to do when I get back. Ready for this, everyone?
1. See my family (I miss you guys SO much!!)
2. Eat Mexican Food...preferably Lupe's or Larry's, but honestly Taco C or Taco Bell would do too. I just need some Mexican Food, pronto!!
3. Lay in my Cali King size bed. So over this teeny tiny Parisian twin bed.
4. Relax on the couch and watch American t.v shows in English!!
5. See all of my friends! Miss you guys!!
That's my Top 5 list of things I can't wait to do when I get back!! :] Oh, and Chick-Fil-A should go on there to. I would kill for a #5 with an 8pack of nuggets and extra barbeque sauce!! Sounds so good!!

Hope my summary of our long weekend wasn't too boring for you guys! I know it wasn't super exciting, at all, but we did have a good time! It was very relaxing and slow-paced. Exactly what we needed!! :] Oh, and don't worry, funny anecdotes from Brussels will be appearing in the next few blogs...just not enough time right now! :]

Short and Sweet :]

I made A's on both of my midterms! Woohoo!!! :] I just finished packing my bag for Brussels! Ah I am so so soo excited for the trip and even more excited about how well I did on the exams!! Great day so far!! :]

This Kappa just needs a Key!!

Hello all! I must admit I am writing this blog is a not so happy mood. Its not because I had a bad day, quite the contrary, actually, the day was perfect! We'll get to the "drama" in a sec, but first let me recap my day for you guys!

Woke up late this morning, but not late enough to really have a huge, dramatic impact on my day. (Just had to forego shaving my legs haha) Ate the usual breakfast: 2 pieces of toast with raspberry jam (absolutely obsessed...Mom, can you start buying raspberry jam for me?! Pretty please!!) and a thing of yogurt. We rode the metro to school, as always. I took my book, which made the ride much more pleasant! Classes were dull today. We had a quiz in Bratu's class, but it was easy. We tried out a new Bolongerie for lunch today. I ordered a "Mixte" sandwich. It had ham, mozzarella cheese, and tomato sauce -like stuff on it. It was probably the best sandwich I've had in Paris so far!! We ate our lunch at CUPA, because it was absolutely freezing and, of course, none of us were dressed properly. After lunch, we booked our hotel on the internet. We were all pumped because it has a pool, then we realized its probably wayyy too cold to swim. Bummer. It so doesn't even matter, though! We're going to have so much fun!

Our trip to the Louvre was today. My appreciation for the art lasted longer than I'd expected, honestly. The first few rooms I was really into the symbolism and meaning behind all the paintings. However, after about an hour and a half I was getting pretty bored. Lucky for me, so were the rest of my friends. We left earlier than the rest of our group, but we stayed for about 2-3 hours. It was cool. I think I appreciated it more this time which is good. I forgot how pretty the outside is! Wow!!

Alright that's pretty much my day....now for the bad mood and the title of today's blog:
As some of you may know, our family has given Sarah and me 1 key. Not 2, 1. 1 and only 1 key was given to us. No more, no less. ONE KEY! This means that we must share this key. I'm great at sharing, my kindergarden teacher taught me well. That being said, I happily agreed to let Sarah have the key for today when she asked this morning. My only request was that she call me when she got back home so she could let me in. I explained to her that my French cell is out of minutes and I could, therefore, not make any calls/send any texts. She said she'd call when she was on her way home. "Perfect!", I said. Fast forward to about 5:30 pm. I just got to my house after a very long day, my feet are in severe pain from all the walking. I know that Sarah must not be home, because I haven't received a call. I decide to ring the bell in hopes that my Monsieur or Madame will be home to let me in. No dice. "Its all good", I say to myself, "I'll walk to a nearby cafe and start studying for tomorrow's test while I wait for Sarah's call". Fast forward again to about 7 pm. Still no call. By this time I've finished all my readings for the test and have moved on to my novel. I realize that dinner is in exactly one hour, so Sarah is surely home by now. I recheck my phone, thinking I must not have heard it ring. No missed calls or texts. Perhaps Sarah is still out and about? No worries, I'm sure the family is home by now. I walk back to my house and ring the bell. Upon ringing the bell, I am let in by the Monsieur. He smiles and says, "Ah, you are so much later than Sarah. She's been here for about an hour now". "ABOUT AN HOUR!?!", I think to myself. I open the bedroom door, furious. What do I see when I walk in the room? What else but Sarah fast asleep on her bed. She looks so cozy and warm. I, on the other hand, look cold and miserable. My nose is red and running, my hair is a mess, and my dress is wrinkly. To say I am unhappy is an understatement. So, folks, now you see why this Kappa just needs a Key!

Sorry for that little rant, guys. This has just been the longest afternoon of my life. I've gotten accustomed to napping before dinner everyday. Her little stunt totally ruined that for me. So you see, I'm just grouchy because I haven't had my nap today!

Love you all!! Have a fab weekend!! Stay tuned for the next blog: The Prestonians travel to Brussels ;]

What would your dog think of Paris??

Sunday I rode the metro to the Latin Quarter, near CUPA. I bought a Subway sandwich. Yes, a Subway sandwich in Paris. I was a teeny bit homesick and totally craving the tastes of home. Unfortunately, Subway in Paris is not nearly as good as the one in Richmond. (The only upside...no creepy guy. You know what I'm talking about Emmy Kay ;] bahaha) I walked to Luxembourg Park and enjoyed my sandwich. I found a bench underneath a big shade tree that was right in front of a set of tennis courts. It was relaxing to just sit there and enjoy the day. I watched a group of little Parisians having a tennis lesson. Funny how tennis lessons are exactly the same here, oui n'est pas!? I worked on homework and journaled for about 2 hours. It was relaxing to spend the afternoon alone and completely consumed in my own thoughts. It really allowed me to clear my mind and realize how lucky I am to be here. When I returned from my trip to the park, I felt refreshed and ready to start the week.

The Cheese Saga Continues....
Okay, so I haven't been eating cheese at dinner my entire time here. It has become a joke to offer me cheese, though. The Egnells take turns asking me if I would care for cheese. After the question is asked, the other one says "No, no Darian doesn't eat cheese. Darian doesn't like dairy." Then, they both laugh hysterically. Lovely, right?! haha I don't mind, though. I love them. Anyways, this whole no cheese course thing really has its perks. Since I essentially skip an entire course, I always get to finish the dessert if there is extra at the end of the meal. Not one to turn away dessert, I always accept! It wasn't until Sunday night that skipping the meal backfired. I guess over the weekend they decided they need to find a way to entertain me during the cheese course, so they came up with a little game, if you will. Basically, they point to things at the table and I have to name them in French. Once I've named everything on the table, they start pointing to body parts. We stopped after body parts, because the cheese course was over. The next night I did the same. By tonight, though, I'd gotten really good, so they had to expand the range of my vocab. What did they do? They started making animal sounds and I had to name the animal. So funny! This game probably sounds familiar to my family, because we've most recently been playing it with Hayden. By now, though, I think even Hayden has outgrown it!! I feel so silly, especially when I return to my room and take 2 Gummy Vites! haha I feel like Sarah is the older sister and I am the little baby that entertains everyone with my childish antics. But then again, the babies of the family always get more attention and we all know I love attention! ;]

Yesterday (Monday) we visited the Senate. The rooms were so pretty. Because I'm not French and no nothing about the French government, I didn't really appreciate the tour that much. I wish I cared more, but I think maybe I'm too young!? Also, I suspect that history (especially French history) just isn't my "thing". Still, I'm so grateful to get to visit all of these places.

I spent Monday night studying for a test in Uber's class. His tests are rough, but I think I did okay. We just cover so much so fast! In case anyone was wondering, I'm making all A's over here. See, Mom and Dad, I'm making time for studying! :]

Today (Tuesday) we were all exhausted from staying up and studying last night, but we didn't wanna waste such a pretty day sleeping in our beds. We didn't, however, want to go to a museum today since we're going to the Louvre tomorrow. Our solution to this conundrum? Walk to the Eiffel Tower and have a picnic, of course! I mean, duh! We're in Paris, after all. Everyone got food from different shops. Shae and Pam got sandwiches from a Boulangerie. Carolyn and Ian got pizza from the same place. Evan and I decided to be different and grab some Chinese food. Yes, Chinese food in Paris. Yes, it is actually tasty! We all grabbed our food and set off to find an open spot in one of the gardens around the Eiffel Tower. We found a nice, little spot close to the tower and sat down and enjoyed our food. One of the best lunches we've had here, I'd say. You just can't beat the view of the Eiffel Tower. The tourist in us all kicked in and we ended up posing for countless pictures in front of the tower. We just couldn't resist!! Can you blame us!? We headed across the bridge and bought crepes from a little stand, after lunch. Mmm I could eat crepes everyday for the rest of my life! Definitely one of my faves, though chocolate eclairs are a very, very close second!

We planned on going home after lunch, but ended up sitting on a bench in Trocadero and watching a World Cup. They have a huge screen set up for everyone to come and watch the games. It was really neat. We all know I'm not a huge soccer fan, but it is sorta fun to watch the games. I was on the Kappa F team soccer team, after all!! hehe

I spent the rest of the day reading, studying, and napping. Perfect end to yet another fabulous day in Paris! :]

Tomorrow we have class then we're all going to the Louvre. I really hope I'm able to appreciate it more than I did the last time we visited. I just remember rushing through the whole thing. I'm sure it was way over our heads. I'm optimistic about tomorrow's visit, though. That Art Appreciation class had to have taught me something, right!? Let's all keep our fingers crossed!! I will also be packing tomorrow for our trip to Brussels, yay! We are all so pumped about the trip. To be honest, I have no idea what we are going to do. I think we are all just so excited to not have class for a few days! One of the girls in the program with us, Kaitlin, is dating a guy from Baylor that is from Brussels. His family has invited all 7 of us to a cook out at their house on Saturday night! Isn't that so sweet!? The boys are psyched for some "real" meat. The girls just can't wait to meet Thomas (the boyfriend). :] Typical, oui n'est pas!?

Funny anecdote time...
As we were eating lunch, pigeons were surrounding us. Gross! One of the guys made the comment, "My dog would love Paris. He'd have so much fun chasing these stupid birds". This comment started a convo about what our dogs would think of Paris. Random much?? Of course, I had to throw in my two cents worth, since I do have the greatest dog. (Emily I can practically hear you laughing and see you rolling your eyes) I said that Molly would love Paris. She would totes fit right in in Paris!
Okay so that was silly, but I thought it would make you guys giggle :] And you know you're totally thinking about what your pets would think of Paris. Admit it!

I'd love to write more (and we all know I could ramble on for hours), but I have to study for yet another quiz! Ew gross!! I'll try to update tomorrow since I probably won't have my trusty MacBook with me in Brussels!
XOXO
darepatt (just for you @erincjo and @MaryBlaire :] )

But wait...there's more!! :]

WOAH! These are oldies! From the first 2 days in Paris!
#1 is what we see daily (the boys snapping photos of us...just can't escape the paparazzi!)
#2 was "Look excited, we're in Paris!" and "I am SOO not getting pickpocketted. I'll wear my purse around my neck" -Pam
#3 was crepes in front of the Eiffel Tower...YUM!!
#4 striking a pose of the streets of Paris
#5 more Eiffel Tower pictures with Pam

Enjoy!! :]

Here you go, MOM! :]

The first few pictures are from L'arc de Triomphe and the rest are from Loire Valley. My internet is running super slow today, so I probably won't be able to put more up. Don't worry, more to come soon! :]

Lost in Paris Part Deux

The French play was called Les Femmes Savantes. It was about a girl who wanted to marry a man she had fallen in love with, but her the "femmes savantes" (her mother, aunt, and grandmother) wanted her to marry a con-artist poet they'd decided was the "next big thing". The story line of the play was great. Unfortunately, I had a hard time understanding AND we missed at least the entire first act, maybe more. Why did we miss the first act? We were lost, again!

We left our house around 8, as planned, to get to the theater by 9. Plenty of time, right? Unfortunately, we didn't plan for the metro we needed to take to be closed for 30 minutes! That's right, 30 minutes of sitting on a metro in nice dresses, sweating. Gross, gross, gross!! As we all know, I HATE being late. Always have, always will. That being said, of course I am completely flipping out. Once the metro finally started working again, we still had to climb dozens of staircases to get to the next line we needed to take. (At this point its about 9:15 and we've already missed the opening of the play). Finally, we get off the final metro and begin to sprint to the theater. Only one small problem, there are dozens of theaters on the block and we have no idea which one we're supposed to go to! After going straight to the one we were sure was "the one", we realize they're showing Les Miserables, not Les Femmes Savantes! Ooops! Try #2 turns out to be the one, thank goodness! Walking in late was literally mortifying for me, but I mean hey, at least we made it, right!? 

The play was hard to understand, but overall a cool experience. The actors and actresses were so good we could understand what was going on just by looking at their faces, which helped. After the play, we went to a nearby cafe where we met a group of very "fratty" looking boys. Obviously, they had to be from America, so we decided to find where about they were from. Turns out, they were from Houston! Not only were they from Houston, they knew people from Baylor that I am good friends with! It was crazy! Small world, right?!

Friday we had class for 2 hours, then we went to Versailles around 11. Versailles is one of those places you just have to go to. Its huge and so full of history! I didn't much care for the chateaus of Loire Valley, but I loved Versailles. Much of the original furnishing are left in Versailles, which is so cool. Its so crazy to me that the public is allowed to walk all through a place where so much history has taken place. We were given headset tour guides that made the experience much more enriching. I really enjoyed learning about the paintings, murals, and furnishing in each of the rooms we visited. The inside of Versailles is awesome, but the outside is absolutely awe inspiring. The gardens of Versailles are breathtaking. We spent the majority of our time there in the many gardens. The weather was perfect! It was mild and very sunny, absolutely perfect for walking through the gardens! The trip to Versailles has probably been my favorite trip yet!

After we returned from Versailles, we had dinner with the family, as usual. Dinners are becoming more and more comfortable and relaxed feeling. We were all so tired from the day that we had absolutely no desire to go out that night, so we stayed in and watched a movie at my house. Perfect end to a great day!

I woke up early Saturday morning so so SO excited, because I was going to meet up with my friend from Baylor, Blaire. She's been here with her family for about a week and we'd been trying to meet up, but we couldn't make the times work. Finally, though, we had found time to go to lunch and shop a little!! I found her hotel (all by myself) with no problem. She was really close to where my French house is. We walked down the Champs de Lysses (sp?!) and had lunch at a cafe. Probably one of the best meals I'd had so far! Great food and great conversation with a sweet friend! We shopped a little after lunch. I bought a really cute high waisted skirt I can't wait to wear!! We were both totally craving some yummy, French pastries, so we walked to a pastry shop. We decided to buy 2 chocolate eclairs and take them back to Blaire's hotel room to eat. Those were the most amazing chocolate eclairs, ever! I couldn't stay with Blaire long, after that, because I had to meet up with my friends from the Baylor in Paris program to head to some canadian pub/cafe/restaurant place that was showing the USA v. ENGLAND game. 

The game wasn't until 8:30, but apparently it was necessary to get there early to get a good table. I though this was totally ridiculous, until I got there! Woah baby was it crowded! The entire place was packed. Somehow, we found a table, though. Because it was so crowded, I only saw bits and pieces of the game. People were standing up and completely blocking our view of the t.v.'s! How rude! (Not that I cared much about the game! We mostly just sat there and talked to each other and the boys we'd met Thursday from Houston! haha). USA tied with England. Who knew you could tie in soccer? Not me! ha! After that, we pretty much headed to home. 

This week, I have something due everyday. I also have a quiz/test everyday! Therefore, I will be spending my Sunday studying and writing compositions in French. Woohoo!! I think I might walk down the street to a little cafe and study there. This room gets sorta boring and stuffy. Plus, I'd feel so disconnected from civilization if I just sat here alone all day! 

Thursday we're going to get out of class early for our long weekend! We are all so excited to be going to Brussels! We bought our tickets last week! It should be a blast! One of the girls in the program is dating a guy from Brussels (hence the random choice of local for the long weekend). 

This past week I got to call a lot of my family, which has made me so so happy! I love talking to everyone and miss all you guys so much!! I have especially enjoyed hearing all about the progress being made on the Waco house!! I can't wait to get in there and help!! Love and miss you all!! :] 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Today was rainy and very dreary in Paris. We didn't adventure out anywhere for fear of melting (being made of sugar and all). After class we grabbed lunch then took the metro to my house, where we watched "The Notebook" through teary eyes. Nothing terribly eventful happened today, I'm sorry to say. I think we're all so exhausted from the trip still! Tomorrow should be better, though. We're going to see a French play. I would love to tell you all the name of it, but unfortunately its slipped my mind. Further details shall be given tomorrow! :] 

Here's a funny story to make up for this rather boring post:

The running "inside joke":

Okay, so one of our professor's has an annoying habit of finishing every sentence with "n'est pas?", which means  "is it not?" in English. By the time we boarded the plane in Houston we had already grown tired of hearing it. He uses it constantly. (Even if he is speaking in English) One day we were making fun of him and said "n'est pas" after every thing we said. This little "game" if you caught on and spread like wild fire through the group. Now, everyone ends every sentence with "oui, n'est pas". He hasn't caught on yet, obviously. Today in class he said "n'est pas" about 92 times (we have a "n'est pas" tally sheet). 

I promise you guys I'll write more tomorrow! Today was just dull and dreary! 

Loire Valley Trip

Our Loire Valley trip was so much fun. We saw 4 chateaus, all of which were absolutely breath taking! I've officially decided that I'm going to marry a prince and move into my our chateau. You are all invited to visit! :] 

Monday morning started a little rough for Sarah and me. We overslept, because our alarms didn't go off. We woke up at 6:30 am and were supposed to be at the bus, which was 45  minutes away, at 7 am. YIKES! I woke up to Sarah screaming, "OH MY GOSH we are so late! GET UP, NOW!". We through last minute items in our bags and ran out the door. You're probably thinking, "I hope she had time to change out of her pajamas", right?! Well guess what boys and girls, I didn't. No, I didn't run to the metro in my super cute Anthro p.j. pants from my Aunt Jan. Luckily, I slept in my black yoga pants and a Vneck shirt, so all I had to do was throw on a scarf and shoes and I looked descent enough. Gotta love yoga pants! ha ha Anyways, we ran through the streets of Paris to make it to the bus on the time. We looked crazy, but it paid off. We arrived at the bus at exactly 7 am, very, very flustered, but nonetheless on time. 

The trip to Loire Valley took 3 hours. I guess I looked exhausted, because two of the boys took pity on me. One let me have his window seat so I could lean against the window and the other loaned me his frat fleece to use as a pillow. That was the best 3 hour nap I've ever taken! 

I woke in a quaint French town near the chateau Cheverny. Cheverny was pretty, but smaller than I expected. We were only able to tour the bottom level, because it was privately owned. The owner and his family actually live in the upper level! They legitimately live in a castle. Jealous, much? After walking through the lower level, we took a golf cart through the nearby forest. It was so pretty. We saw several deer. (Mom, I took pictures for you. I know how you love to spot deer! :] ) Next up was a boat ride on the river. On the boat we got to see the rest of the grounds. It was neat. The only problem was it was absolutely freezing and, of course, I forgot my fleece at home. Caroline and I wrapped ourselves in my scarf, not exactly the best way to keep warm. The part of the chateau I was most excited about was seeing the hunting dogs. Everyone found my enthusiasm about seeing some smelly dogs very childish and, therefore, amusing. (Not that I cared haha) Unfortunately, I didn't know how terrible the dogs were going to smell. The area surrounding the pin reeked. There were about 25 or so hounds in one pin. Basically, it was just a fenced in area full of smelly dogs. I was disappointed, to say the least. Nearby was a sweet, little garden that we killed time in. I took some awesome pictures I'll put up later. (I know I keeps saying that...its going to happen really soon, promise!)

We left Cheverny and headed to a nearby restaurant where we ate lunch. The first course was rabbit pate. Yes, rabbit and yes, pate. Guess who didn't eat course #1. The boys really enjoyed it, but I didn't. I tried it (before they told me it was rabbit), but didn't like it. (At least I tried it, though. Right, Dad?!) For the main course we had chicken and potatoes. I loved it! Dessert was by far the best, though! It was sort of like a French interpretation of strawberry shortcake. YUM! 

The chateau Chambord was next on the to do list, after lunch. Chambord was by far my favorite chateau. It was absolutely enormous, and had very intricate architecture. The rooms weren't furnished, but instead filled with sculptures and art pieces. It was sort of like an art museum inside a chateau. We took some really fun pictures at Chambord. I must admit a major reason I loved Chambord was because of all the fleur di lis. They were everywhere!! (I guess Francois the first was a Kappa fan! haha ;] ) The top of the tallest tower had a giant fleur di lis on top, because that was the symbol for the highest form of royalty. 

After we toured the chateau, we headed to the hotel for dinner. The hotel was literally a football field away from the chateau. We had a lovely dinner of pork and potatoes. Delicious! I could get used to this fine French cuisine! 

Since we were so close to the chateau, we were able to take a walk around Chambord in the dark. Now, let me say this was NOT my idea. I am not a fan of the great outdoors at night, especially not in a foreign country. Regardless, I agreed to go. It was actually pretty neat, though. They had huge spotlights on the castle, so it was awesome to look at. After the late night walk, we headed to bed.

This morning our first adventure was visiting a local chocolate factory. (No oompa loompas in sight, though! What a bummer!) We watched videos on how chocolate is made and then got to tour the factory. (Side note: The majority of all of the tours, videos, and pamphlets from the trip are all in French, AND i actually understand them! Super cool!) After the video we all got samples of chocolate mousse. Next, we had a chocolate tasting. We tasted chocolates of all darknesses and from all different beans. It was interesting how different all the chocolates tasted. I bought my French family chocolate molded to look like cacao beans. They loved them! 

Next we went to chateau Blois and chateau Cheneaucu (spelling?!) Both were really cool, but we kinda had to rush through them. Plus, once you see one chateau you've seen them all. I remember that from our last trip to Europe. The history is cool, but the actually rooms often look quite similar. 

We headed home around 5 pm and got back at about 8 pm. Our French family was so happy to see us when we got back. We had a frozen French pizza for dinner. (Thought ya'll might find that a bit humorous!) At dinner, they asked about our trip. We told them all about it (in only French). We cut dinner short, because Sarah and I have a test tomorrow morning, so we need to study. I just got finished reading through some of the material and I'll start reviewing some grammar when I finish this. 

Overall, the trip was great! I feel like the group as a whole really bonded on our time away from Paris. Our group is so cohesive. Everyone truly likes everyone else, which makes it that much more enjoyable! I've got a pretty regular small group of friends that I hang out with day to day. Caroline, Evan, Shae, Pam, Preston, and Ian. The professors have dubbed us the "Prestonians". Honestly, not sure why Preston is our namesake, but I'm assuming its because he's the loudest and therefore the most recognizable!? This first week has been better than I could have ever hoped. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to be here in Paris with all of the amazing people! Of course, I love and miss everyone back home, though! :] 

sick on a Saturday in Paris

Saturday I woke up with no voice. Not sure why, or how, but I lost my voice. My throat is scratchy, but doesn't hurt. I think I have a cold or allergies. (Mom, don't worry! I'll be okay :] ) I pretty much laid in bed all morning Saturday, because madame was worried I was too sick to go anywhere. I finally convinced her to let me leave for lunch and to go to the Arc de Triomph with my friends. 

L'arc de Triomph is so beautiful! We climbed all the way to the top. I'd done it before, but conveniently forgot how long the walk up was! I belive there were well over 200 steps. Crazy!! Once we made it to the top, though, the climb was well worth it. The view from the top is incredibly breath-taking. You can see everything! We took tons of pictures! Can't wait to show them all to you guys!

I headed back to my house with Shae shortly after we made it back to the bottom of the Arc, because I was tired and had some homework to work on. We had dinner with the Egnells, as always. We had chicken and pasta, delicious! She's yet to try and feed me anything weird, thank goodness!! At dinner I talked to Monsieur Egnell about the French Open. He's been watching everyday. He's a diehard tennis fan. Not only that, but a diehard Nadal fan. (He'll be rooting for Nadal today in the finals) 

The Egnells left early this morning for their country home in Normandy. They'll be there until Tuesday afternoon. We are to eat dinner with Madame Gauchet (Caroline and Shae's host mother) tonight. She's responsible for us until we leave for Loire Valley tomorrow morning, though we will continue to stay at the Egnell house. Madame Gauchet speaks no English and has a very harsh manner. I must admit I'm a bit afraid of her. Shae and Caroline think she hates them, because she complains about them all the time. She's called them lazy, accused them of eating too much bread, and said they make too much noise. Needless to say, I'm not so much looking forward to tonight's dinner. I know she's a nice woman, she just isn't the warm, grandmotherly type of madame we have become used to at our house. 

Today (Sunday) we woke up to a house without any electricity. Cool, huh? The bonus: the Egnell's had already left, so we had to get Madame Gauchet to help us. She wasn't too happy about having to come over, but thank goodness she did anyways! There was a big storm last night and we think that might have had something to do with it. 

We spent most of our day today walking around the city. We've been doing a lot of walking. Boy is that an understatement! There hasn't been a day yet that I haven't had sore legs and feet when I get back. My leg muscles are going to be insane after this month! ha ha! 

So since I don't have any interesting stories from today, here are some short little anecdotes:

-A few nights ago we watched t.v. while eating dinner. What did we watch? WHEEL-OF-FORTUNE! My Gran-C would be so proud!! It's pretty complicated in French, though! The French host hold his lap dog the whole time and the French Vana (sp?) is much younger than her American counterpart! haha! 

-In all the stores we go into they have American music playing. At one, I heard a girl singing along to The Black Eyed Pea's "My humps" and couldn't help but giggle. She spoke English and explained that she was sure the words were "racey", but she just liked the beat. She says most of the French love American music, the only problem is they don't understand it, so they don't know which songs are inappropriate and which aren't. Interesting, no?

Friday

These past few days have been quite eventful. In fact, I got so busy I completely forgot to update everyone on what I'd been doing! Sorry, guys! Hmmm...let's see, where to begin...

Yesterday we got to school on time (for the very first time) and even had enough time to look for a coffee shop. Unfortunately, since we're in Paris and not Houston there wasn't a Starbucks on every corner, so we just settled for the free water at CUPA. My classes went well. I really enjoy Bratu's class. He's a great professor and really makes an effort to make class lively and overall enjoyable. We took a quiz, but it wasn't too difficult. After the second class Nathalie came in and gave us a briefing on our trip to Loire Valley on Monday. We learned that we will have to be at Luxenbourg park at 7:00 am. This means that I will leave my house at about 6:15 am. Crazy! Sure, the meeting time is early, but we'll be able to sleep on the bus. The trip sounds great! We're going to see the chateaus, eat good, French food, and on the last day we get to go to a chocolate shop for a tour! (I have to admit we're all a little overly excited about the chocolate shop) I'm so excited about the whole trip. I think it is going to be such a neat experience!

After we were dismissed, we walked with Dr. Uber to a local cafeteria for students of the nearby French universities. He talked about this place up so much we were all expecting it to be awesome, so we were all pretty excited. However, when we arrived at this spectacular cafeteria we realized it was just that, a cafeteria. It looked like a school cafeteria. I never much cared for school cafeteria food. In fact, I'm pretty sure I took my lunch most everyday. All that being said, it goes without saying that we opted to fend for ourselves on the food front and ditch the cafeteria. We ended up buying sandwiches from a local sandwich shop and eating in the park. Luxenbourg park has become one of my favorite places. Its so large and has so much going on that there is something to please everyone. There's the area in front of what I believe is the Senate building that has a fountain where children float little sailboats. Surrounding the fountain are chairs for building to lounge in. If you walk towards CUPA, you'll enter the more playful area of the park where you'll find tennis courts, basketball courts, a carousel, and a vast amount of shade trees to sit under and enjoy a nice picnic lunch. I will try to remember to post pictures of the park soon for everyone to see. 

We walked around the Latin Quarter for a few hours after our lunch. There are so many fun, little shops around there to look at. We ended our afternoon with cokes at a cafe. 

For dinner, Caroline and Shae came over. Madame made the most amazing quiche. It was probably one of the best meals we've had. For dessert there was ice cream and strawberries. SO good! The dinner conversation was very lively and fun. The Egnell's are so warm and open its hard not to feel like one of the family when you're with them. Speaking of one of the family...their daughter had the Egnell's sixth grandchild yesterday. His name is Caesar, because his father is Italian. They're proud grandparents.

After dinner, we walked around the Latin Quarter. That seems to be where all the young people hang out at night. Its a neat area full of little cafes. Some people eat dinner, others just buy a coke and chat, and some even bring a deck of cards and play card games. Neat, huh? 

The sun came out in Paris

Unlike the night before, our Monsieur joined us for dinner last night. He's a jolly, older gentleman that speaks mainly French. We were told that the table would be strictly French conversation only last night, so I was a bit worried. To my surprise, though, speaking came quite easy to me. I did struggle with pronunciation of a few words, but both madame helped me when I struggled with words. 

Last night's dinner consisted of kabobs of pork, cheese, and peppers, carrots and zucchini, rice, and bread. Interesting, but not my favorite. Perhaps because the meet was not well seasoned, because we were supposed to dip it into a side sauce. What was this "side sauce", you ask. Its yellow and I have never liked it. You guessed it, MUSTARD. I know what you're thinking, "Its probably a much nicer type of mustard, though. You might have liked it". However, my dislike for mustard is far, far too strong, so I declined the mustard and relied on the seasoning of the vegetables to liven up my meat. Once again, we had a cheese course. The same 2 cheeses were presented. Now, I must admit I'd been feeling guilty for not even trying the cheese the night before. Which explains why, through gritted teeth, accepted the cheese. I cut a tiny piece, grabbed a piece of bread, spread the cheese on, and told myself "its just butter". To my surprise, it wasn't half bad. I didn't hate it, but its not my favorite. (Side note: I'm sure the cheese is very, very nice and quite delicious. I'm just not a cheese lover, so unfortunately I am unable to appreciate it)

One of the liveliest parts of dinner came when Sarah informed our parents she had seen a "drageur" on the metro. A "drageur" is a term used to describe a man who follows a (tourist) women in hopes to charm her and possibly pick pocket her. Our French parents laughed and told her that she must have the wrong word, because they assumed tourists, like us, were unfamiliar with this word. They asked us to describe what we were trying to say. When they realized she actually meant "drageur" they were dumbfounded. They couldn't believe we knew the word. Intrigued, our madame asked me what the English word for "drageur" would be. Sarah and I came up with con artist and pick up artist. Then, she wanted to know what the verb for these "artist", as she called them, would be. After much thought, Sarah declared there really was no verb in the English language. I, however, was a bit more clever. "Hitting on", I said. (Definitely one of those times when you say something in your head and it comes out of your mouth by accident. Ooops!) Sarah and I both bursts out laughing. I, then, had to explain to my host parents the meaning of "hitting on". They understood and thought it was very funny, as well. Madame ran over to the counter (in the middle of dinner) and grabbed a pen and notepad. She asked us to spell the words "pick up artist", "con artist", and "hitting on" so that she could memorize them. "I learn from you, just like you learn from me", she said. Cool, huh?

After our very exciting and encouraging dinner conversation madame told us that of all the students she's hosted, we were the best French speakers. Both Sarah and I were a bit shocked and very flattered. She also said that we should call our parents and tell them they did a wonderful job with us, because we were both such mannerly young ladies. (Snaps for my mom and dad! :] ) 

Later, we took a very short (only 1 metro stop away) trip to the Eiffel Tower to meet our friends. We took about a million touristy pictures at the Eiffel Tower. (I'm the first one to admit that its cheesy, but I mean come on, its teh EIFFEL TOWER!) We decided to give our cameras a break and hit a nearby crepe stand. Best.decision.ever. I had forgotten how delicious French crepes are. (Dad, your crepe's are great, but we all know French crepes are in a league of their own). Once we'd scarfed down the crepes, it was back to more picture taking! We ended the night sitting at a cafe drinking cocas (cokes) and watching the groups of tourists walk by and gawk at the Eiffel Tower. 

Today was the first truly sunny day we've had in Paris! It feels great! I was finally able to break out one of my cute sundresses! My bright cardigan makes me stand out, because the French were very muted/dark colors. Even though I stick out a bit, I continue to wear the cardis. Not even French culture can take my trusty Jcrew cardis from my wardrobe! haha

We had no problem at all getting to CUPA this morning. Its so simple we're not quite sure how we got so turned around! Classes went smoothly, as well. Dr. Bratu is a very funny man. He makes 2310 very interesting. We learned informatique pratique (practical information) like how to order like a true Parisian in the local cafes. With Dr. Uber in 232o we focused a lot on the upcoming trip to Loire Valley. We were assigned 2 readings (in French) on the castles (chateaux) of Loire Valley. (We leave for Loire Valley Monday and return sometime Tuesday.) 

Around 1 we were dismissed from class and headed out in Latin quarter to find some lunch. We ended up at a panini shop around the corner. I had a mozzarella and parmesan panini. It was tasty, and better yet, inexpensive! 

We were all pretty beat after lunch, so we took the metro to our houses to rest and work on homework until dinner time. 

I believe we'll all meet up sometime later on, after dinner. Caroline and Shae might be eating dinner with our family tonight, because our families are friends. None of us have really heard for sure, though. I have my first interro (quiz) tomorrow, so I've got to get to studying some vocabulary! 

These are just a few from my very, very long day! I can't put all on here, because it would take too long! Check out my facebook for all of them! I'll make the album public for everyone! :]

If you're gonna get lost you might as well get lost in Paris!

Day 1 was great! We went to CUPA, got our Navigo passes for le metro, and had dinner with our family. 

On the menu was what we believe was turkey (our madame told us it was like chicken, but not quite...we assumed turkey and would care not to believe otherwise) cooked on the stove in a pan with spices on it, a cooked zucchini and carrot vegetable mix, and, of course, un pain (bread). After our main meal we had a cheese course. As some of you may know, I am not a big cheese-eater. Luckily, the madame told us if we didn't want to take any we were not obligated to do so. My roommate took some of each (one made with goat's milk and the other made from cow's milk). She like the cow's milk one, but had a hard time pretending to enjoy the goat milk's one. Next was dessert, my fave! We had a mixture of oranges and strawberries. She also brought out crackers, or what we would call gingerbread cookies. Overall, it was a delicious meal!

After dinner we both finished our homework for the next day. I was done by 1o pm our time and fell asleep shortly after. Sarah was up much later, poor thing. She had to write 3 compositions in French. 

I woke at 7 am this morning to shower and get ready to leave. When we had both showered and gotten dressed we headed to the kitchen where our madame had laid out bowls, plates, utensils, and breakfast fixings for us. For breakfast we had toast with raspberry jam (soo good!) and chocolate granola with milk (also very good). We hurried through breakfast to meet our friends down the street to walk to the metro to get us to CUPA by 9 am to buy cell phones. 

At first, we did great with navigating the streets of Paris. In fact, none of us can even recall where we got lost, but nonetheless we did get lost. We spent about an hour walking through the 16th arrondissement of Paris. (A very wealthy area, so we didn't feel unsafe at any time. Thank goodness!) At one point we were on Victor Hugo Ave. when one of us looked down the street for the Metro sign. Instead of the metro sign we saw le Arc de Triumph! Sure, we were lost, but we couldn't help but enjoy the view of such an awesome structure! We used the very petite amount of French we all had to get us to where we needed to go. Unfortunately, that alone was not enough, so we were forced to break out our map navigation skills. Yes, that's right, Emily, your big sis read a map...and actually understood it. Long (very, very long) story short, we found the metro and navigated it without any problems. For us, the difficult part was finding the metro station, not navigating the metro routes! Needless to say, we didn't arrive at CUPA at 9, nor did we arrive at the assigned time of 10. Instead, we rolled in fashionably late at around 10:20. Luckily, on our way through the near CUPA we ran into the boys who, no doubt, kept us from getting lost any further. 

Lunch...

We picked up sandwiches from a nearby patisserie (pastry and bread store) and took them to a beautiful park for lunch. My sandwich had cheese and bacon bits on it. Okay, okay, I know it sounds strange, but I promise it was delicious! Caroline and I snuck away and bought a cookie from another patisserie after we had returned to CUPA. While standing in line, we asked 2 French boys how to say "cookie" in French. (Comment dit ton "cookie") Their reply..."hahaha...COOKIE"! Embarrassing? Um, yes! Then they laughed as we ordered the "cookie"! 

Class...

Classes are good. We didn't do much today, but we will do more from now on. Today was mostly a briefing and orientation on how things would run normally. 

Plans for the night...

Dinner should be served soonish...most likely between 8 and 9. (Ya...they eat late, even by college kid standards) After dinner, several of us are planning to go to the Eiffel Tower. The boys went last night (yes, just the boys) and said they people watched, sat in the grass, and "enjoyed life". Sounded fun, so we're stealing the idea tonight! :] 

I'm uploading pictures in just a second, so get excited!! I love you all so much! Thanks for the comments! That's the first thing I checked this morning and it totally made my day people are reading this! 

We're Here!

After a very, very long day we are finally in Paris! Our plane was delayed THREE HOURS due to mechanical difficulty! The delay wasn't too bad, though. I got to know a lot of the people on the trip with me, so it worked out well! The actual flight took 9 1/2 hours. I slept most of the way and watched the Proposal the rest of the time. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

Arriving in Paris...

Very surreal at first. I just couldn't believe we were finally here. At first I was a little intimidated, but that is slowly wearing off. My roommate, Sarah, and I got a taxi from the airport to our home. It took around 30 minutes to get here, but what a beautiful car ride it was!

Arriving at our Parisian home...

GORGEOUS neighborhood! Very beautiful and classic looking. We rang for them and were eventually let in to the stairs/elevator area. We took the elevator up one at a time, because it is tiny, literally the smallest elevator I've ever been in. (My Gran-C would hate it! haha) I went first up the elevator. The doors opened to a beautiful French lady dressed in jeans and a button down Polo blouse and intricate silk scarf. This, I came to find out, would be my French Madame. I was then introduced to her husband, a jolly looking older gentleman. They showed me to the room Sarah and I would be sharing while we waited for Sarah to come up. 

Our room/house...

The room we're staying in is great! It has 2 single beds, a bathroom, and plenty of armoire space for our clothes and other belongings! The entire 5th floor is their's. Their home is decorated beautifully. Simple, yet beautiful. Our house is a block or 2 from the Eiffel tower, so our Madame is going to take us there later tonight. Down the street from our building is a school, so the sound of children running and laughing can be heard from our open window. I am so thrilled with where we are living! I feel very blessed to have gotten such an amazing housing assignment!

Plans for the night...

Around 4:30 we're going to CUPA (our school) to check in and pick up our Navigo passes. Afterwards, I believe we'll return to the 16th arrondissement for dinner. Right now, I'm supposed to be resting, but I am not even a little bit tired! I am so excited sleep is the very last thing I want to do! Classes start tomorrow, so I should probably get a jump on my homework! 

So excited to share more as we do more! Keep reading!! :]