Avignon Day One & Two

June 16th/June 17th

Wednesday I hopped on the TGV for Avignon, and the ride went smoothly. I made it off the train okay, and was introduced to my host family. M. et Mme. Duret are very nice, and very patient with me and my french. Since I have not used it very much I am a little rusty, but it is slowly coming back to me.

I meet their daughter in law, son, and their grand-daughter. The grand-daughter ate dinner with us, and she was very nice as well. I was also briefly introduced to the girl, who is living with the son. Her name is Brittany, and she is from Florida. After meeting the various family members, it was time for relaxation and bed. I have gotten used to going to bed around 10:30/11pm, since that is when my aunt and uncle would go to bed.

Thursday was orientation, and I meet some of the other students. Four of the students are from Carnegie Melon, but other than that everyone is from different places. A lot of the students travel pretty far to go to school, which I guess is pretty normal. So, after the mandatory orientation stuff, we crossed the Rhone and ate at a yummy restaurant. Then we were taken on a tour of the city, where I took a lot of pictures.

Once the tour was over, it was time for us to do whatever. I played on the internet and went with some of the other kids to a phone store, so they could get a phone or a SIM card. At 5:30pm, Brittany and I left with another girl to head back to our homes. It was very interesting to get back home and have my host family ask how my day was, what we had for lunch, ect. I then had time to relax before dinner, where we had some sort of tomato and tuna salad with cucumbers, then I think it was breaded zucchini. There was also chicken courdon blue, which I did not eat.

The one thing I find odd, is that the tv is on while we eat dinner and we watch one show called Plus Belle La Vie. It reminds me of a very bad soap opera. Around 9 or so everyone heads to their bedrooms to get ready for bed, and the process starts all over again the next day. Apparently they have the internet, yet my computer will not connect for some reason or another. I think their grand-daughter determined that their internet is not currently working, and they need to call the company to fix it.

So far everything has been going well, and I am kinda excited for my classes to start. I have class starting at 9am on Monday, which means I need to catch the bus at 8:20am to be on time for class. I think I finish around 4pm or so, but that is only on Mondays. Tuesdays I do not start until 1pm and go until 5pm. Oh well, that is the life of school. Hopefully I will explore the city tomorrow with some of the other students. I feel like I was born to enjoy the French lifestyle.

Paris Day Four

Today I revisited the Eiffel Tower, and ended up at the highest point in Paris (geographically speaking). I also hung out in my favorite park for about an hour today, enjoying the sunshine before heading back towards the apartment to get some gelato. Mmmmm Pistache et Cafe, yummy stuff. For my last meal in Paris, my family took me out to an authentic French Restaurant. We had a three course meal, and oh it was sooooo good. I wish I was able to make out to Roland Garros, but it was waaaay outside of the city.

Paris has been very good to me, but after wandering the city by myself for the majority of the time it is time to say goodbye. Tomorrow I will hop on the train for Avignon, and will meet people that I will be spending the next month and then some with. I will finally have someone to walk around with/travel with. The added bonus to staying in Paris means I am accumulated to the time difference, which is why this particular blog will not be juicy entertainment. I am exhausted and will head to bed, which should have happened an hour ago.

Paris Day Three

So under the insistence of my aunt and uncle, I went to a museum. I ended up at the Louvre because I wanted to explore the Tuileries Garden, which my aunt showed me yesterday on our bike ride. I was able to get into the Louvre for free, but I was not impressed by it. There were waaay too many people, and it was really hot. I mostly went to the less traveled places, which ended up being cooler. I did not stay very long, and went to the Tuileries.

It felt amazing outside, mostly due to the storm that was slowly rolling in making for perfectly cool weather. Every garden/park I have been to have been gorgeous, and there are always plenty of pathways to explore. There are also a lot of chairs spread all of the place, which I took advantage of in front of the large pond. It was also exciting to see the Eiffel Tower peak behind trees and the like, because it was on the other side of the river a ways from the Tuileries. I then went to Pont Alexander III, that I saw on the bike ride yesterday.

After passing the National Assembly building, I quickly hopped on the metro to avoid the rain. I then ended up at a cafe to stay out of the rain, and to get a bite to eat. I love the fact that I can get Orangina pretty much everywhere I go, which is awesome! I also felt very Parisian, using my french ordering food, drinking coffee, and people watching. From there I went to the plant park (Jardin de Plantes). Another perfectly manicured park, with multiple pathways, and loads of flowers. There were also a few buildings to explore, but I did not feel like spending the 10 Euro to go inside. This park also had a zoo, which you could see some of the animals from outside of the actual zoo section. The weirdest I could see were the deer, but I think they might be a normal occurrence on this side of the Atlantic. It was also nicely sunny at this point in time. Once I thoroughly explored the park, I traveled back to the apartment to upload my multitude of pictures taken today.


Hotel d'Ville, which is across the river from the apartment.

Paris Day Two

After sleeping a whole night through, I woke up today and went to the BIO Market with my aunt and cousin. This particular market is only open on Sundays, and sells only organic food items. The colors were very vibrant, and everything was a lot bigger than fruits/veggies in the states.

The cherries are sooooo delicious. The fresh veggies we got today were also tasty. Dinner tonight was made of fresh salmon, fresh snow peas, and an interesting rice mixture. Both the salmon and snow peas were from the market, oh and some tasty bread too.

After finishing up at the market, we brought everything back home. My aunt took me to see the Arc de Triomphe, the neighborhood they were living/will be living in again soon, and the Tour Eiffel. I am hoping to revisit these areas on Tuesday, hoping there will be less people. Right in front of the Tour Eiffel was a large screen set up for people to watch the world cup. Since Algeria had a match today, a number of fans were milling around the area, which lead to a "manifestation" leading to closing of the Tour Eiffle. My aunt and I got out of there pretty quickly, and ended up outside a museum where part of the wall was made of plants.

From there we hopped on public bikes and biked back to their house. We biked on one section of the road that gets closed off for a period of time, and it follows right along the Seine. I also got to see the other end of the Champs Elysees, and a park(jardin) that leads one to the Louvre. I am hoping to go back to that jardin to check it out and go into the Louvre.

After dinner, I did a bit of wandering on my own. I took some picture of Notre Dame, and went to Le Jardin de Luxemburg, which is a park I found yesterday. Once the park began to close I walked to Le Pantheon, and took pictures of it as well as anything I decided to take a picture of. Overall, today was an awesome day!

*My facebook page has more pictures*

Hating on Airports

I am not a fan of airports in any way, shape or form. Yesterday, aka June 11th, rode in a car for about 3 hours give or take to arrive at the Dulles Airport in enough time to check in. I stand at one ticket counter for probably 15 minutes or so to find out I need to go to the other end of the airport and stand in another line. The International line was super long, yet it magically moved fairly quickly. My flight began boarding at 4:45 or so, and I received my boarding pass a tiny bit before 4:30. I then had to wait in the super long line of security, which by now it is 5:10, and I arrive at the gate at 5:15. Plane leaves on time at 5:30 and the long flight begins.

I was seated next to a fairly nice/calm family that slept pretty much the whole time. Unfortunately behind and to the side of me, were two Stupid Americans that decided to booze the entire trip. They were buying liquor and wine, as well as stealing sips from a bottle they brought onto the plane. So, once I decide to sleep the Drunks were annoying and I did not get any sleep on the flight itself. Breakfast was also a not so fun affair, mostly because I do not eat yogurt.

Finally, the plane touched down in Paris at 6:55 in the morning, and I began the journey of going through immigration and all that jazz. One cool part of leaving the gate and heading to the baggage claim area, is that I rode on a flat escalator in a tube that went outside and then back in to the other side of the building. Retrieved my bags, and began to figure out the train system.

I eventually made it to my aunt and uncle's apartment a little before nine this morning. The cool thing was seeing Notre Dame up close and personal. I napped for a few hours, and I then went around the neighborhoods, partially with my family and the other by myself. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me, but I will go back and take pictures of the places I went today.

I am just glad I made it here in one piece.

Tomorrow

Holy Cow! I will be leaving the country tomorrow, and I cannot believe that it is happening. Everything is packed, yet I feel like I will remove some items tomorrow morning before we head in the general direction of the airport. I am so excited and nervous. Hopefully everything goes well and I arrive safe and sound Saturday morning.

Last Week and a Half

I cannot believe that I will be leaving next week. Every time I think about it I get really exited, yet at the same time I am nervous. I still have so much to do, and I have no clue how I will be fully prepared to leave. I really need to write down a true to-do list and get shit done.

One way I have begun to prepare, is by looking up the address of my relatives in Paris. Their apartment is literally right around the corner from Notre Dame! How cool is that? The apartment also has a view of the Seine, which is also exciting. I am excited to explore Paris, and I may beg to go see Roland Garros. Too bad the French Open ends on Sunday. All of the paintings of various places of France will come to life for me, as well as the Eiffel Tower.

I have also looked up my host family's house. I finally received the information on my host family, and I am excited to meet them. The couple lives next to their son and his family, and share a garden, pool and other things. Another student in the program will be staying in the son's house, which makes me happy so I am not the only foreign kid. I will also get to experience the public transportation system via bus, since my host family lives 30 mins (by foot) away from the school. I am also allotted a certain amount of money for taxis, since the buses stop running at 7pm.

I still have sooooo much to do. June 11th will be here very quickly.