Expanding My French Beyond Fries and Toast

When In Rome

2011-04-15T03:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry, it's been a while, I hope I still remember how to do this... I'm going to skip out on what I did last week and the week before (2 weeks ago I went to l'Orangerie, a museum that has Monet's water lilies, last week I studied for my impossible final on thursday)

Two weekends ago me and Torey ventured to ROME to visit our dear friend Marisa Mozer! It was such a fun weekend! Rome is an awesome city, ruins everywhere you look! Literally walking down the street, oh this ruin to the left looks important, but so does the one to the right... We arrived thursday night, I was under the weather with a bad cold so my ear didn't unpop for at least 3 hours. I also couldn't taste which was a disappointment (we know how I get about food) but no worries! I regained it in time for the good stuff. Mozer and Blinky picked us up from the train station and then we just hung out at her apartment where we saw KIM!!!

The tram drivers in Rome enjoy going on random strikes for no reason every month. Lucky for me and Torey it was Friday! So me and Torey walked EVERYWHERE. For those of you who have been to Rome, it is a large city. I would say we walked at least 7 miles. We went to the Forum and Colosseum first. They were both unreal, we went to the top of the Forum up a path and saw a really pretty view of Rome. After that me and Torey went to lunch at this cute little pizza place. We got pizza and bruschetta! mmmmmm DELISH! After that we walked to Vatican city where we just sat out by a fountain to soak up the sun in the 70 degree weather. Then we went into the Vatican Museum and into the Sistine Chapel. It was awesome to see Michaelangelo's pointing fingers. The museum was a maze to get to the chapel but we found our way! After that we headed back to Mozer's for a nap. (Her program had a full day field trip to this cheese farm thing where they made pizza). Friday night we went for dinner at a place where you buy a drink and then its all you can eat food. Fine by me, the food was different cous cous dishes and stuff like that. After dinner we had our first gelato experience. MMMMMM. Then that night we pregamed in Mozer's apartment and then we all went to a club.

Me at the Forum!

Me and Torey at the Forum!

Me and Torey at the Colosseum!

Me and Torey at a pretty fountain in Vatican City!

Me and Kim at dinner!

Blinky, Torey, Me, and Mozer at the club!

Saturday Mozer took us on a tour around Rome. I can't even remember all of the places we went but we did the important stuff: Trevi fountain, Spanish Steps, GELATO!!!!!, and then the best of all: riding segways through Borghese gardens in 75 degree weather!!! I don't think my smile had been that big since we were in Disneyland, I kid you not. Ughhhh best experience ever. Just want to let everyone know that my birthday is coming up in August so if everyone wants to chip in and get me one, I wouldn't refuse it. I wan't to be the coolest kid on campus next year. After all that stuff we went back to Mozer's apartment and then we went for dinner and had a multiple course meal! I had bruschetta, rigatoni with ragu sauce, meatballs, and a fruit salad! Yummmmm. Saturday Torey and I were so exhausted that we didn't end up going out. We both passed out by 10 pm. Oh, I forgot to mention that I slept on a couch, not a couch but a chair. I was in the fetal position all night. It's a good thing I'm short.

Torey, Me and Mozer on SEGWAYS!

Me making a wish at Trevi fountain.

My yummy pasta dinner.

Sunday mozer took us to the market that is right outside of her apartment. It was INSANE!!! So big and sold so much random stuff! I bought 3 scarves! Yay! Then me and Torey got, you guessed it, PIZZA for lunch! Yummmay! Then me and Torey were headed home.

Home Sweet Home

2011-03-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

The whole week I spent my time preparing for my midterm on Wednesday in International Finance. It came. It went. And then the weekend came... (wednesday night was typical ESCP bar night and then when we got back greg made us pasta and it was delish, I need to learn how to make sauce from scratch)

This weekend I was finally in Paris! Thursday Kim and her friend arrived at my door (I actually picked them up from the train station). We decided to make skillets for dinner which was yummy. After that we had big plans: Beer Pong Tournament at ESCP. I know I have told everyone that there is a bar and that there are parties and this was yet another one. They specifically ordered beer pong tables and red cups to be just like the Americans. We arrive with a bunch of guests to find out that they are checking student IDs (courtney's boyfriend Mike was visiting and also her and Christine's friends Big Cat and Figs). So what do we do? We call people who are already at the party to gather up as many ESCP IDs to pass out to the visitors. What are we in freshman year of college again? Real legit pass backs going on. The guy didn't even checking the actual IDs he just wanted to see the logo. Whatevs. Well we had made plans to meet up with people we had met at Duplex the week before. They said they would meet us at ESCP. The sly frenchmen they are they were able to get in without IDs. Well then they offered to drive us home on their motorcycles! Yeah! That's right, me and Kim got to ride motorcycles around Paris by night (don't worry, they only had one beer because they were driving).

Me and Kim all geared up!

Friday we woke up and I brought Kim to our bakery. mmmm. We eventually wander over to Notre Dame (Me, Kim, Torey, Christine, Figs, and Big Cat). We got berthillion ice cream from the island. I went with strawberry and banana. Yeahhhh. After that we decide to walk to the Eiffel tower (or at least walk most of the way) We walked along the Seine and then we went to walk down Rue Rivoli. We went into a few shops along the way to check out some cool shoes. We then get to the Eiffel Tower. Interesting things that occurred at the Eiffel Tower: someone took a picture flicking it off, there were multiple mullets, there was a man wearing a shirt that says I come with a manual, a couple that was probably 7 acting like a married couple because the guy was standing behind the girl with his arms around her waist, and a kid far too old with a pacifier. Interesting. Oh yeah, did I mention how beautiful it was? We all wore cute dresses! :) For dinner we went to our typical cafe, Faubourgs for yummmmy cheese and french onion soup.

Friday night we went to a pregame at Vivaldi (an international dorm with a bunch of people from our school). We were going to go to a club but we decided to go to Cocorans, the Irish pub. On the way we introduced everyone to Cotton. Figs got a crepe, a ham one, he wanted cheese but he didn't want to pay. Since Cotton loves us so much he snuck some cheese under Fig's ham for him. What a nice guy. We then went home.

The Group Getting our Ice Cream

The Group at the Tuileries near the Louvre

Saturday we woke up, I let Kim and Allison go to the Louvre while I did laundry. Our dryer is broken in our building so I used my entire room to dry everything. It was quite the site. Me and Torey then met Kim and Allison at Sacre Coeur. A few of Allison's friends had met us there too. It was crazy busy there because a building in the area had a fire a few days ago and they were hosting a benefit. We hiked up to the top where we saw a puppet show going on! Obviously we stayed and watched. It was a puppet show about Noah and the arc. Sweet, watched a puppet show with a view of Paris behind it. We then decided to go to Moulin Rouge and it started to rain. We went. Took a picture. Left. After that we came home and they made fajitas for dinner. I went out with Abby and her family because she was visiting. We went to a restaurant called Chez Clement Bastille. It was really good, I got duck for the first time ever! I actually enjoyed it, it just tasted like bacon to me. Abby then came back with me to my apartment where we met up with everyone else. We then ventured over to the Sangria bar in the Bastille I had gone to once before. Again with befriending the bartenders, he remembered me and gave us a hugeeee discount on our Sangria to say the least. We payed 12 euros for 60 euros worth of Sangria. I really like the atmosphere there, we just sat a big round table. One of Abby's friends from Drake actually met up with us there (and her roommate). It was nice to meet her because we booked our flights together to Barcelona (in two weeks). It was a nice chill night. We then called it a night early because it was day lights saving here. We lost an hour.

Noah and the Arc Puppet show with a beautiful view

Torey, Me, and Kim at Sacre Coeur

Me and Abby!!!

Sunday I went with Kim and Allison to Las Du Falafel for lunch. Then they left. After that I went to the market with Torey to get some fresh goodies. I then worked on a paper due monday (since when are there assignments abroad?). After that I met up with Jared because he was here for Spring Break. We walked from the Bastille to the Marais (Jewish quarter) he had falafel for the first time. Then we walked by the Louvre where we saw the most interesting scene of our lives. There was a ...rollerblading posse? I don't even know what to call them. They were weaving in and out of cones and also playing a game where they tried to get across the length without being tagged. It was strange. Then we saw the most interesting thing of all...

Later that night I watched Bride Wars with Courtney, Christine, and Torey.

I think I may start a shout outs Part of my blog since I have been so terrible with my french word of the day section (which I will add to this post also):

Mom and Dad: Hey! Hope Australia is treating you well and you're both feeling better from being sick!
Bari: Thanks for being such a loyal reader.
Betsy: It was great to see your face and hear your voice last night

French Words of the Weekend:

Home = Maison
Motorcycle = Moto (pretty complicated for this one)
Visitors = Visiteurs (also, pretty complicated)

London Bridge is Falling down

2011-03-28T07:04:00.000-07:00

Post 2 of Today - I'm going to go a different route for this one...

L-ightening, Go Grease Lightening! Me, Jenny, Torey, and Torey's friend Abi all saw Grease together at the Picadily theatre!

Me and Jenny in front of the theatre.

O-bviously one of these is going to be be about food bur there is no F so why not make it the first O. Fish and chips, BENS COOKIES (best cookies of my life-got it twice so that I didn't make the same mistake as Brussels), strawberry beer, a cinnamin/chocolate thing from the market. I think that's it that was out of the ordinary...

Looked better than it tasted...

Fish and Chips and my Strawberry Beer!

N-ice walking tour of the city. Me, Bari, Max, and Torey all went on a walking tour of London. We learned about a time in the 80s where someone was able to break into Buckingham Palace. He set off so many alarms that the guard thought it was a malfunction. The guy was able to sneak through the palace steal bottles of wine and then when he decided he was tired he happened to find the one bedroom with the Queen in it. Long story short, his lawyer was able to prove that breaking into the palace was not illegal and he got off with no jail time, all he had to do was pay for the wine he stole. Lucky break. The walking tour also went to the changing of the guard. It was pretty cool to watch even though it was sooo crowded that I could barely see.

Me, Torey, and Bari in front of Buckingham Palace

Torey, Me, Max and Bari on the walking tour

In a telephone booth, Hey Big Ben behind me!

D-amn expensive. The dollar should really work on its game....

harroO-ds was really cool! we walked around the food court and saw all of the awesome food! When I'm old and rich I'll go back and buy everything, but until then...I'll be a window shopper/gazer...

Food Court in Harrods

N-ightlife. The first night we went to a pub because we got to a club too late and we would have had to pay 20 pounds to get in. The next night we went to a club called Kanola. It was really cool, it was like Hawaiian/Caribbean themed! They both were a lot of fun. Big Difference: we had to be ready by 9 or 9:30, this was new for me!

Rando, Jenny, Lindsey, Me, Bari, and Max at the Irish pub!

Bari, Me, Jenny, and Michele at the club Kanola.

Treasure Chest Drink!

A Few Weeks Ago...

2011-03-28T05:05:00.000-07:00

Sorry I am so behind!!!! Here comes 3 Posts....

Monday: nothing fun happened (that I can remember, it was a while ago, sorry)

Tuesday: we went to the orchestra symphony to get a taste of parisian culture. it was an experience. it was a time where i just kind of zoned out and thought about things and life. fun fact: the parisians clap for literally 4 minutes straight in between song things (i don't know the right word because i am not a very musical person) but really? 4 minutes? my hands started turning red and they hurt. bad. it was so long that the audience eventually started to clap to a beat.

Theatre where we watched the Symphony

Tuesday Nigh: that night we went to a club called le duplex because every tuesday night it is free for erasmus students to get in. so the symphony and the club were right by each other so it made no sense to go back home to pregame. in paris it is legal to drink on the street. so me, torey, christine, monica, courtney, and greg (the 6 of us that were at the symphony) bought some stuff from monoprix and parked ourselves on a bench along the champs de elysees. for real? yes. real life? no. we then headed over to the club to celebrate our friend chelsea's 21st birthday! woooooh!

Me and Chelsea!

wednesday: nothing important happened. i played franks (quarters only the french version) with meghan and my french friend for like 20 minutes and then we went home.

thursday: St. Patricks day. we went to the market during the day. sooo fun! i love markets, new obsession. then for dinner me and monica got doner kebabs from cotton (AFCSM). i didn't want to go out too hard because i had to be up early for london the next day (next blog post) buttt that didn't happen. me monica courtney and christine pregamed for a few hours just talking and having a good time and then eventually we sported our green at our usual irish pub, cocorans. we made some french friends while we were there. i attempted a conversation with one that literally does not speak english: big challenge. it's all good. then me and courtney went to the bathroom and who do we see? MKB! so her and a few others came and hung out with us. then we left to go home. courtney and christine made us crepes! i showered and straightened my hair to get ready for the morning

Market!

1 post down, 2 to go!

My visit to Katie in Liverpool

2011-03-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

Last Week Summed up: Nothing exciting. We went out Tuesday night to watch the Barcelona vs. Arsenal game. Moral of the Story: Never befriend a bartender.

I went to Liverpool this past weekend to visit my au pair from when I was 4! It is crazy to think how long ago that was. Funny coincidences: I am the age she was when she looked after me and her kids are the ages that me and Steven were (4 and 6).

Thursday: I flew to Liverpool. I made a friend on the airplane, Elizabeth, she is from Liverpool and also studying in Paris. Katie picked me up from the airport and on the way home there was a lot of traffic because Justin Bieber was in Liverpool that weekend. OMGZ! BIEBER FEVER! I really think he's stalking me, first we're in Dublin at the same time and then Liverpool? He needs to get a life. When we got back to her house we stayed up for a little to catch up, I met Steve, and Bella (their beagle) and then we went to sleep.

Friday: I woke up and took Cameron to school and Issy to nursery with Katie. I had hot cross buns for breakfast (a traditional English breakfast around Easter time). It was like cinnamon rasin bread with butter. Very delish. Then me and katie took a ferry from Greasby (where they live) over to Liverpool across the Mersey. We then went to one of the Beatles museums. It was really cool because they ahd the Beatles Fab 4D!!! It was like a movie but you were on chairs that move AND they splashed you with water and had the scent of strawberrys when the song strawberry fields forever came on. Pretty cool stuff. After Fab 4D we went for lunch at Nando's, a Portugese chicken place. It was really good, I got a wrap and Katie got hers ona bun. We had some fun as she updated me on my 4-year-old self. First things I said to her when we picked her up from the airport:

1. My best friend is Shelby Mason

2. We have a movie of me being born at my house if you want to watch it

I sure am good with first impressions. After lunch we went on the Magical Mystery tour where we saw all of the famous Beatles landmarks around Liverpool like their childhood homes, Penny Lane, Strawberry fields, etc. It was really cool to see all of the places and think that John Lennon walked down this exact street. The last stop was right by the Cavern, where the Beatles performed. Me and Katie went in and had a beer there and listed to a guy sing Beatles songs. We then went back to their house and had Fajitas for dinner. They were very yummy. I taught Cam and Issy how to make faces out of their tortillas. After dinner we watched Bring It On. Then Cam and Issy went to sleep and I watched TV with Katie and Steve. We watched a few shows that I found very funny, fonejacker and balls of steel. They are both my humor to a T (prank calling people and people doing crazy things to mess with other people and see their reactions). We also watched a show called embarrassing bodies but we had to change it because it got a little too gruesome for our liking.

Me and Katie on the Ferry, pretty view of Liverpool behind

After Fab 4D

Me and Katie at Penny Lane

In front of our Magical Myster Tour Bus

Cam with his tortilla face

Issy and Bella (Spike look alike?)

Saturday: We had planned to go to Cam's soccer game but he got sick so weren't able to. Instead, Me, Katie, Issy, and Jessica had a girly day. We went for lunch at this place called Pizza Express which was really good! They told us that our food would take a while because there were a few big parties. An hour and a half later, we got our pizzas. It was delish but took a while. After lunch we finished up the other Beatles museum. Again, it was really cool to learn the history. After that we went on "the big wheel" as Issy called it aka the Ferris Wheel. It was really pretty to see the entire city from so high. AFter the Ferris wheel we went into a few shops where Jess and I got matching blazers. On the way to the shops Issy kept climbing up on benches and repeating: "I'm the king of the castle, you're a dirty rascal." (which I just realized is a line in the song Crash Into me by Dave Matthews band) Saturday night we got ready and went out. For dinner we had my new favorite meal in the entire world, a chip buttie. I should move to Liverpool because it is socially acceptable to have a sandwich with just fries on it! Literally, buttered bread, fries, ketchup, vinegar, salt. Yummmmm. We first went to Jess's friend, Ruth's apartment and then we went to a bar she works at. After that we "went to town" as they referred to going out in the actual city of Liverpool. We took the train there. We went to a couple of bars there. I taught them a few American expressions we use like heinous, awks, etc. It is so interesting to me how different the nightlife is at each place I visit. We took a taxi home and the driver, John, didn't really like us all that much. I tried to shmooze him about America, he's only been to New Orleans. He wasn't really feeling it.

Add caption

Jess, Me, Issy, and Katie at the Cavern

Katie, Jess, Me and Issy in the Yellow Submarine

The Ferris Wheel

View from the Ferris Wheel

Katie, Issy, and Me on the Ferris Wheel

Me and Jess Out with her Friends

Sunday: I went for breakfast with Katie, Steve, Issy, and Cam to have a "traditional breakfast." I really enjoyed it. The only thing I didn't really like is the black pudding (only because they told me what it was before I tried it). You can google it if you wanted to know what it is. Other than that it was delish, 2 poached eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, black pudding, beans, and toast. After breakfast Katie and I went shopping to say the least. I got some good stuff but did my best not to buy everything in sight. After that it was time for me to fly home. :(

My English Breakfast

This was an overal great weekend, it was sooo different than any of my other trips have been and will be. It was amazing to catch up with Katie and be able to stay in touch. I will be counting down the days until they come visit us in Chicago!

Irish I were Irish

2011-03-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

I love, love, love, love Ireland! Everything about it was AWESOME. Okay so here's a list of reasons why Ireland is so great...

THE PEOPLE: no language barrier, everyone was happy and nice and friendly and nice and spoke English. They have amazing accents too. Our (me, Monica, Cori, and Christina-Cori's roommate) tour guide on saturday was great. He was so funny and kept us entertained. He sang us a great song that he made up "All of the fish have disappeared. Where have they gone? I don't know." I learned that motion puts me to sleep, every time we got back on the bus I was out like a light.

This is Temple Bar street, where we stayed. It was a great street where people were always walking around.

THE BEAUTY: On saturday we took a tour to Cliffs of Moher which were absolutely stunning. The pictures don't do it justice because it was foggy but I was in shock when I was there. On sunday me, Monica, Torey, and Ryan did a walking tour of Ireland and it was so pretty. Yes, the history of the coutnry was womp womp after womp womp after womp womp. But still, everyone was happy and everything was so green and beautiful!

Cliffs of Moher

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

THE NIGHT(day)LIFE: Live music at every pub!!!! It was like sing alongs where everyone was jolly and happy and sang. I've never seen so many happy and drunk people singing along together. I wasn't the biggest fan of Guinness because it was so heavy, but it was still pretty good. We also celebrated UNOFFICIAL in Dublin!!!! It was so much fun, we just casually drank all day saturday in our hostel kitchen with like 30 people (at least) that go to U of I. I discovered that I am a big fan of cider, specifically berry. YUM! Friday night we attempted a pubcrawl but were all so tired that we went back early, we really liked the guys that were playing music at this one pub and decided to go back the next night. Saturday night we went back to the pub but unfortunately we got there too late and they were packing up to leave. sad. So me, Monica, Cori, and Christina went to Quays bar. It was a lot of fun, we just rocked out singing and dancing to the live music. We met a really weird dude who was a few inches shorter than me (perhaps a Leprechaun minus the charm and pot of gold). He took a liking to my cheeks and squeezed them a few times. It would be an understatement to say he was strange.

Me, Monica, Cori, and Courtney with Guinness. Like our green bows?

Me and Moncia ready for Unofficial 2012. (Yes, we did buy these)

THE FOOD: Let's see here, I ate, and then I ate more, and then I ate more. I really like the Irish food. We went to the "famous" fish n chips place in Dublin, Leo Burdocks. It was soooooo yummy. Saturday on our tour we went to this restaurant for lunch where I tried Guinness and Beef pie. It was soooo good!!! For dinner we went to a pub where I split mashed potatoes and sausage AND fish and chips with Monica. On sunday for breakfast I got an EGG HAM AND CHEESE BAGEL! Yes, you read that right, BAGEL. It's been a while, it was like reuniting with an old friend. Then for lunch I had beef stew. Who knew I liked beef stew so much? Not I. But, I do. I thoroughly enjoy it.

My fish and chips.

I was an epic failure when it came to taking PICTURES this past weekend. Cori took a million so once she puts them up I will steal some and add them to my blog. (thanks shelby for the correction from food, awks)

Weekly Activities

2011-03-03T02:02:00.000-08:00

I am currently struggling through my thursday 9:00 am class. Am I paying attention? You tell me. Finance is not so interesting to me, I like accounting soooo much more (weird, I know). This opinion was reaffirmed today when a fellow classmate inquired to another, "Where did you get the financial times? I want to read it too!" To me, reading the financial times would be like reading an instruction manual for how to put together furniture from IKEA. You may need to read it to get essential information from time to time, but you wouldn't read it for "fun."

What did I do this week? Great question. Sunday night we went out for dinner with a bunch of Rome people that were visiting (missed you Mozer and Kim). Me and Monica had already eaten dinner before so we decided to split a bottle of wine and dessert. As I pointed to the cheapest bottle of wine on the menu I had to double to check to make sure he did not think I was pointing the most expensive, 50 euro, bottle underneath. Monday night I don't think I did anything. I can't remember. Tuesday night me and Hugh met Ali and Megan at "the Great Canadian Bar" to watch the Chelsea soccer game. Me and Hugh got lost on our way and happened to ask the one American on the street where to go, lucky for us he had an iPhone and was able to look up directions for us. It wasn't so bad to get lost at night because we got to see how beautiful Notre Dame looked at night. I haven't put the picture on my computer yet, but when I do I will add it to this post. We eventually made it to the bar and had a nice chill night.

Last night we had our typical Wednesday night at the ESCP bar with a TWIST! As soon as we walk in we see these french guys sprint in with three boxes of Dominos pizza. (Not my favorite fast food pizza place, but hey, it was recognizable). We obviously asked them about it and they said down the street you it is buy 1 get 2 free (on Wednesdays). 15 euros. 3 pizzas. Sounds good. So, Casey and I went with two french guys to the Dominos down the street. We made it back an hour and a half later. When I say to you the french go crazy for Dominos I mean, the french go CrAzY for Dominos. I have never encountered such a scene in Dominos before. After I looked through the wild menu and asked these french guys what everything meant we finally decided on three random pizzas. Nothing was simple. I went with one that had bacon, one that had pepperoni, and one with just cheese. However, even their "4 Fromage" (four cheese) pizza came with a follow up question: cream or tomato sauce? Next came the severe complications. After about 45 minutes of waiting (guesitmaed time because I didn't have my phone with me or watch), they messed up on our pizzas so we literally just told them to give us any 3. One hour, 30 minutes, 5 missed calls later (left my phone at the bar), and 3 random pizzas later we arrived with our unidentifiable pizzas. We ate them and they were delicious. It also wasn't so bad because we finally had the opportunity to interact with actual ESCP french students, not just the exchange students. I haven't really gotten to know that much about the french culture from actual french students so this was a good change of pace.

Rachel arrives today!!! Yayyyyy! We are going for dinner at this restaurant that serves wine out of baby bottles. Tomorrow I leave bright and early for UNOFFICIAL IN DUBLIN!!! Wooooh! All of you people in Champaign think that you are celebrating in style? Well, you've got nothing on Unofficial in Dublin! On Saturday we are heading to Galway for a tour of the Cliffs of Moher. They are supposed to BEAUTIFUL. Oh, did I mention that Cori is meeting us in Dublin? YAY!!!

Alright, well maybe I should go pay attention or something? I will write more when I'm back from my trip!

Winter Break: Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, Vienna

2011-02-27T17:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, let's see if I still know how to do this...

Again, since it has been so long and so much has occurred I will split this one up by location...

LAST WEEKEND: The Ellenbys and Rachel were here! We went to Versaille which was soooo pretty! Unfortunately, it was raining so we didn't get to see the gardens. We also went up the Eiffel tower at night, sooooo pretty! We were there at the same time as a school field trip. Some schools take their students to the museum of Science and Industry, and others up the Eiffel Tower. I feel like an old person because I can barely remember what we did it's been so long. That night Jenny, Michelle, Rachel, and I went to this tapas bar in the Bastille area where we split a pitcher of Sangria. It was really good. We became besties with the bartender so I will be sure to go back there with eveyrone else. I then introduced them to cotton where he made us very fancy crepes, put the bananas on the outside and served them on a plate. Only the best service for us <3 It was so much fun to have them all here and hang out with them. Me, Jenny, and Michelle all tried authentic escargot which was surprisingly very good (I hope it wasn't Marcell that we ate, I'll feel really bad) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VF9-sEbqDvU) I got delicious scallops and Jenny ordered a fish not realizing she would get the actual fish, head, and all. Yikes! Saying goodbye was sad, I felt like we were on a family vacation where Sue shed a few tears. But as they say, all good things must come to an end.

Pretty canals in Amsterdam

AMSTERDAM: We arrived in Amsterdam around 1:30ish so we went straight to our hostel, Durty Nellys. A nice old man with a legitimate bear on his head guided us in the right direction. Our hostel had the PERFECT location right in the center of all of the action. It was on top of an Irish pub. That day we ate 5 euro cheeseburgers from the pub and then headed to the Jewish museum. It was okay, nothing too special. It was a good appetizer for the Anne Frank house which we went to right after. Thanks to Christine's friends who visited a few weeks ago we knew to pre order our tickets online so we didn't ahve to wait in line. Probably the best decision of our lives, it was better than a fast pass at disneyland! After Anne Frank we headed to dinner at the highly recommended Wok to Walk. It was soooo yummy it was like a fast food stir crazy. Oh how I miss tofu. After dinner we decided to stroll through the red light district. It was, interesting. We will leave it at that. That night we ate fries from a cone, my favorite, and the most amazing waffles I have ever tasted in my entire life. The next day we went to the Heinekin experience. We were going to go on a walking tour first but apparently if you don't get there 30 minutes early they run out of spots. That was fine we enjoyed Heinekin so much that we would have been rushed if we hadn't just gone there first. It was really fun, so many different activities and things to do. We got to be the beer, play games, pour our own beer. Oh, I forgot to mention that first thing int he morning we all bought matching Amsterdam hats we wore EVERYWHERE for the rest of the trip, and by everywhere I mean every other country we went to. We were THOSE tourists. After Heinekin we did our own walking tour to the Pancake Bakery (Skinny bridge, flower market, etc.) At the pancake bakery me and Christine split a Canadian omelet and banana chocolate pancake. YUM. I don't think I have ever eaten anything that delish before. We were the only smart ones who split right away, everyone else decided to copy us after. We then bought sandwiches and headed to the longest train ride of our lives. 9 hours from 7 pm to 4:30 am. Sweeeeeet. We started off choosing our own carts but then people came on and things got complicated. I sat with one of the nicest men I have ever met in my entire life. He saw me struggling to get comfortable so he offered to switch seats with me so I could lay down AND he gave me his sweater for a pillow. I still couldn't sleep because a fat lady got on 20 minutes later but it was still so nice of him!

THOSE tourists...

Zapata with our new friends and a rando

BrAtWuRsT

Two places at once at Checkpoint Charlie, East and West Berlin

BERLIN: What do you do when you arrive in a city at 4:30 am? A question we had been pondering but didn't really give much thought to. Well, you pay 80 cents to use the bathroom and then you linger in there. We spent a good 45 minutes in that place until the food area opened. How do you kill THAT much time in a bathroom you may ask. You brush your teeth, put on makeup, change your outfit (something we didn't do, you can notice that from the pictures, different country, different day, same outfit, whatever). Half way through our time in there this lady comes out of a stall and leaves, who knew she was in there. The man working the bathroom then went into her stall and threw out a McDonalds cup and then she came back and made him fetch it out of the garbage and give it to her. Looks like we weren't the people to be judged at that point. Okay so we eventually get out and then spend a good hour or two in the food area. After a glass of AMAZING orange juice, an asiago cheese bagel/roll thing, and a mocha we departed (well that's what I ate others were a different story). I guess you could say we got a taste of homelessness. Next stop, our hostel. It was an AMAZING hostel. We got upgraded to a private 6 person room with our own bathroom. I literally felt like I was at camp because it was bunkbeds and AWESOME! We napped for a while and then went to lunch for DONER KABABS! ummmm new favorite food (thanks steven for the recommendation, I speak for all of us when I say that). After that we went on a walking tour that had a pick up point straight from the hostel (avoided the risk of not getting on). On the walking tour we met these 4 boys 2 from USC and 2 from U of I, what are the chances. The tour went basically everywhere around Berlin, the wall, checkpoint Charlie, Hitler's bunker, the Jewish memorial (when we got here I was like why have I seen this before, I feel like I have been here, but then I realized it was from my Holocaust class last semester! we watched a video on it). After the walking tour we went to get Brats from the best known brat place. It was good, fun fact: they didn't serve them american style in a bun, it was cut up like it was being fed to a child. No matter the form, it was still good. After that we went back to our hostel to get ready for the night. We decided that we were going to go out with the boys from the walking tour so I have one of them my email to get in contact with us. (his carrier pigeon had a broken leg) We received one of the funniest emails of our lives and knew it would be a great night. Other people had told both of our groups to go the club Matrix but our tour guide persuaded us not to (dumb us). He recommended some other club, Zapata or something like that so we could get a real taste of the German nightlife. The boys came over to our hostel where we sat in the lobby and basically screamed as we pregamed (no one liked us). Then we headed to this other club, cookies, which apparently was invite only. We tried convincing them one of the boys was Michael Cera because they look and sound alike, didn't work. We then headed to Zapata where there was fire coming out of the walls. Interesting experience. We then hit they hay. Me and Kevin took a vow that night to be pen pals for the rest of study abroad.

Rachel!!!

Prettiest view ever.

PUBCRAWL!!!

PRAGUE: We arrived in the train station too late to make our walking tour. (catching onto a theme?) So we then decided we would do this tour that was half bus, half walking. It was a great way to see the city in 2 hours. The bus tour had an audio part to it and then we got off and walked around by the palace. When we got off the bus we saw the prettiest view of the city. Prague was beautiful, I wish we had another day there. Before the tour we stayed in the train station for two hours to eat lunch (another pattern?) Rachel came and met up with us!!!!! It was soooooo good to see her! Even though it was only like an hour, I miss my NJ friend! She was leaving for Rome, that's why it was so short. It's okay, she will be here thursday! She ordered a blueberry muffin and the guy thought she said Bulgarian muffin, gotta love language barriers. Okay so the tour, yeah we walked around and sat and watched. We were all so tired that we fell asleep by the end. Oh well. We then got to our hostel, Sir Toby's, where we got ripped off by a cab driver. You win some, you lose some. The hostel was really nice, it reminded us of an orphanage though. We had a private room with our own bathroom, can't complain. We got ready and then headed to our PUB CRAWL!!!!!!! I have literally been talking about this since the day we booked this trip, ask anyone. So we get to the first bar, which is like their own personal bar they use for the pregame. We arrive at 8 and it is free drinks until 10 (beer, wine, absinthe, vodka) soooo, we order food to come there and then we start drinking. It was awesome. We then headed to the first bar where we are greeted with a straight vodka shot. We head straight to the dance floor and rock out. We next headed to a Jazz bar, nice and chill. Then we went to another bar similar to the first one with dancing. We ended at a 5 story club. It was really cool because on each floor they played different music. We stuck to the oldies floor because Christine was in a swing dancing mood. In the earlier bars she swung dance with this kid who basically fell in love with her. Once she started avoiding him he came after me and Monica, as he swung danced with us he would whisper sweet nothings in our ears while looking at Christine. Sooo funny. We met people from all over the world, France, England, Australia, Japan, etc. The Japanese guy danced like a jackhammer. Rachel told us that we MUST try fried cheese before we head home but unfortunately we didn't find it anywhere and couldn't try it :( makes me sad. The next morning we woke up super early to shower before our train ride.

View from the top of the Cathedral

VIENNA: We took their form of metro system to meet Kelsey (Christine and Courtney's best friend from school). After a 5 minute embrace of screaming and jumping, we headed to her dorm. We then met up with all of the other business U of I kids. Talked to them for a while and then all of us went on a walking tour that Figs led. We walked past the H&M my mom got pickpocketed in (yikes Davi). Then we got to a cathedral you can go up and see the entire city. So, we got in an elevator, paid a few euros, and headed up. It was a really cool view. The roof of the cathedral was different colors. After that we continued on our tour just walking around the city. We went to an ice skating rink where we got amazing chips. The guy literally puts a potato into this machine that shreds the potato and then he fries it. mmmmm so good. After we bought groceries to just cook in. We made chicken parmesan, pasta, and vegetables. That night we went to this Erasmus (exchange student) boat party. It was soooo fun, we had to remind ourselves that we were raging on a boat in Austria. If we don't stop and think about things like that then we don't truly appreciate what is going on. The boat was awesome and yeah. I requested club can't handle me right now so I could rock out the proper way. The next day we caught up on sleep and woke up around 12:15 pm. We showered and then headed to the palace. But first, we ate another Doner Kabab. Sooooo good. Dangerous we found that they have them here (in Paris) too. We got the palace and went inside, it was pretty cool. All of the palaces are pretty similar, beautiful. We then trecked up this hill. Beautiful view, then we went into this cafe where we ate apple strudel. (another pattern, everything is about food). Me, Monica, and Kelsey all split one and it was sooo good. We got vanilla sauce on it. After that we went back to their dorm so they could get ready for a dinner party. While they were there we packed up and then went to this restaurant called Figl Muller which is known for the best Schnitzel in Vienna. They were right, it was like a big, round, chicken finger (only it was veal). yummmmy, I couldn't finish it. That night we went to this bar called the travel shack. It was a lot of fun. They had any shot you could possibly think of. The names of them are not the most appropriate so I will let you use your imagination for what they might be. (don't let your mind wander too far, it was just the names that were funny) We then went straight from the bar to the dorm to get our bags where our cab picked us up at 3:15 am. The airport was an experience. After sitting there for a while with no tellers, they all of a sudden showed up. We go to check in and Me and Monica do not have tickets. The company screwed us over (never book anything with Go Voyage). We bought new tickets and all was well. We eventually got on the plane and flew home. European airlines are a joke compared to American ones. They literally did not care about anything. It's going to be a rude awakening when we get back home.

Boat Party

Palace

Schnitzel

Got home at 9:30 am where we all slept until around 5 pm. Goooood times. 6 Girls. 4 Countries. 6 Days. I am sure that I am forgetting a lot of great things that happened but for now, this is the story, when I think of more I will write more.

Roses Are Red

2011-02-17T10:40:00.000-08:00

This post has nothing to do with Valentine's day but I decided to put it in the title because tis the season. Well not much has happened since I last posted. Today, Rachel got here! YAY VISITORS! She is staying with me until I depart on sunday morning. First stop, obviously french onion soup from my usual cafe. The Ellenbys are also here this weekend! I am currently waiting for them to get to their hotel and then I am meeting them for dinner. Their hotel is near the Eiffel Tower so we will likely go to it after we eat. I'm excited to be with them for a weekend, it will be just like our typical family vacations minus my parents, my brother, matching Hawaii shirts, and Marissa (sorry dude, looks like I'm replacing you for the weekend). Just won't be the same. (lies. it will probably be just fine but I'm trying to suck up to you 4 because I feel bad that you aren't in PARIS right now). I decided to add this picture because Cori put it up on facebook today and I really like it. Sigma Delta Tau Recruitment Wall 2011?! (Hey Rebecca and Becca!)

This big trip that I keep alluding to is a week long trip to Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna! (WOW! THAT'S 4 CITIES/COUNTRIES IN 7 DAYS!) We get back bright and early on next Saturday morning. I am going with Monica, Torey, Courtney, Chrisitne, and Jen. It should be a lot of fun!

Hmmm anything exciting happen in the past few days. We hit up the ESCP bar again after class last night. Could become a wednesday night ritual. Let me tell you, after that class, it's needed. No one has any idea what is going on or what our professor is talking about. He's an American guy that reminds me of my 8th grade math teacher because he always has THO and pit stains, riddle me that. Here's a picture of me Greg and Natalie in the basement of our school. We go by the death trio, don't ask questions. I really like the fact that there is a bar in the basement of our school (imagine having a bar in the basement of Foellinger, yeah exactly!)

I did some shopping today. Got three shirts for under 28 euro from H&M. I know, I know, I am quite the bargain shopper. Don't worry mom, I kept my purse close to me at all times so I don't get pick pocketed!

I will hopefully post again before I leave to talk about my weekend!

We on the Monica's 21st Grind

2011-02-13T12:38:00.000-08:00

Spark Notes of the Week...

Monday - Nothing special happened

Tuesday - Dane turned 21 so we drank here, didn't quite make it out because Dane took 21 shots

Me, Rebecca, Sade, and Casey at the ESCP bar after class.

Wednesday - Me and Torey walked a million miles during the day, we got Angelina's hot chocolate. It tasted like a melted chocolate bar, it was the best hot chocolate of my life. Literally. I went to the ESCP bar after my 5-8 PM class with a bunch of people that are in my class (yeah, that's right there is a bar in the basement of our school, pretty cool) hung out there for a while and then came back and hung out with Hugh, Greg, and Natalie in Accent. We were going to go to a club called Queens because girls get in free on Wednesdays and get free Champagne but we didn't make it out.

Torey, Me, Cori, and Monica on our tour!

Thursday - CORI ARRIVED!!!!!! We did a walking tour of Paris which I hadn't done before. It was cool to hear the explanations and history of things because we typically just look at them and don't know their significance. For dinner Torey cooked us her infamous stir fry. So domestic she is. At night we obvs got crepes and fries (what else is new) and then went to Corcarans (spelled that wrong, an Irish pub). Me and Monica played pool with some Parisians. We eventually came back and went to bed for our early morning because...

Friday Day - DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and Michele's arrival) Where to even begin, I don't know. It was AMAZING! When I say to you the 8 of us (Me, Monica, Torey, Christine, Courtney, Michele, Cori, and Megan) all smiled for 7 hours straight. I mean it. I felt like a little kid again. Me, Monica, Cori, and Christine were the group that went on all of the rollercoaster type rides while the other 4 did other rides and walked around. There are 2 parks and it was 44 euro for an all day both park ticket. Can't beat that. Hmmm it's a tough call as to what my favorite ride was. All of it was so great, I never appreciated the little things in Disneyland when I was younger. Did you ever realize that in it's a small world the little dolls sing in different languages and dress to those locations? There was a Finding Nemo ride which was fun, you ride on Crush's shell (the turtle dude) for the East Australian Current. Gnarly. Tower of Terror was an interesting experience because they would say everything in both French and English and the guy had the buggiest eyes I've ever seen in my life. We spent close to all day at one park and only had an hour at the second. The rollercoaster crew was able to accomplish all that we wanted to in this one hour: Rockin Rollercaoster, Finding Nemo ride, Tower of Terror, and walk through Toy Story Land. We had to run from ride to ride as I pulled up Eye of the Tiger on my phone for motivation. We could not have asked for a better day to go to Disneyland. It was 63 degrees in February (yikes for those of you in Chicago, don't hate us) and the sun was shining the ENTIRE day, we didn't even wear our coats, we were carrying them. As usual, a major part of Disneyland was all of the food: footlong hot dog with cheese, fries, ribs, fries. Others also had ice cream and churros. mmmmmmmm.

Christine, Courtney, Torey, Me and Megan at DISNEYLAND!

Monica really enjoyed her free birthday crepe...

Friday Night - MONICA TURNED 21!!!!! Woooooh!!! We got back from Disneyland late so we figured it would be best that Monica turns 21 at crepe stand man (what's a 21st birthday without food?!) She turned 21 on the way! Then, we went to this club called Cafe Oz. It was a lot of fun. It was soooo crowded though. Usually clubs make you check your coat but the coat check was full (to better illustrate the crowdedness). Eventually we left (21st birthdays typically are an early night) and couldn't find a cab. It is the weirdest thing in Paris how difficult it is to find a taxi (metros close at 2 am). We finally find a taxi and they won't take all 5 of us so me and Cori walked back. We went in the wrong direction for a good 10-15 minutes. It literally took us about 2 hours to get home. There were creeps screaming things at us the entire way (typical) if you ignore them they stop and its no biggie. We get to the Bastile area and all of a sudden we hear guys scream at us "Pardon! Crepes!" At this point, I realize these boys are American for 3 reasons: one was wearing a northface coat, Parisian men do not scream things about Paris at us but rather things about being American, and three they pernounced the french words the same way that I do. We talked to them for a few minutes and sure enough, they were American.

Saturday - Chill. We chilled all day. Me, Torey, and Monica met Michele and Cori for some hot chocolate and then came back as they did more touristy things. We later went to dinner at this place that was recommended to us by a lot of people. It's a fondue place that serves wine in baby bottles. Well, we didn't end up eating there because we were 30 minutes late and they gave our reservation away. We will have to go another time. Instead, we went to this Italian place. It was yummmmy. After that I went to the Eiffel tower with Monica, Cori, and Michele to see it twinkle again. After that we went to this bar called the Princess and the Frog. It was an English bar. I worked my magic to get a free drink for Monica from the bartender and then he gave me one too. Then we walked back because we missed the last metro. womp.

Long story short: this weekend was the bomb. I'd put it in my top 10.

Word of the day: Happy birthday = Bon anniversaire

Weekend Updates

2011-02-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

Sorry, it's been a while...here are some pictures of the highlights of my weekend... (I'm trying to limit the text so no one gets bored)

Me and Monica went to this place called Montparnasse. It is a 56 story building you can go up and view Paris. It only takes 38 seconds to get all the way up! The view was soooo pretty. On the roof it was sooo windy, hence why our hair looks crazy. We stayed until it got dark (the next picture). It was so beautiful because it was probably similar to going up the Eiffel tower, however, when you are up the Eiffel tower you cannot see it. (I know, I know, I'm really smart for being able to reason through that)

Ari and her friend Jess visited me this weekend! This is us on our way to the D'orsay museum. Long story short, its free every first sunday of the month so we didn't go in. The line was wayyyy too long.

Rita is in for the week and took me out to dinner at this restaurant called Le Petite Bofinger. It was delicious! There was a little bit of a language barrier though, Rita thought she was ordering Veal but it turned out to be liver and onions. I went the chicken route. In front of us is Tiramisu, it was delicious!

We went to an Irish Pub to watch the superbowl. We were very disappointed when Courtney went up to order onion rings and mozarella sticks for us. She waited for 5-10 minutes to get help, then they were like sorry the kitchen closed 5-10 minutes ago. Wellllll if you had helped right away then we wouldn't have had a problem! Grrrr, we wanted the taste of home.

OH YEAH!

2011-01-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVEN! YOU'RE 22 SOOOO OLD!! WOOOOH! You think the 22 inches of snow that is expected is for your birthday?! Looks like everyone has YOU to blame for the blizzard.

Oh and for the record, I was wrong twice. Courtney looked it up and there were 6 MILLION bodies in the tomb. Gross. Wow. Cool. Sick. Creepy. Awesome. Cramped. Party. A lot of emotions.

Last night the falafel was successful with Christine and not with Courtney, she liked the balls but didn't like all of the other stuff in it. It took forever to get in but then we finally got a table. When Torey got her falafel she accidentally said out loud "OH YEAH!" and the people there couldn't stop laughing. We will forever be the "OH YEAH!" girls. Apparently one of the staff there says it all the time. Is Christine praying or excited that she finished her falafel?

Courtney: F for Fail

Christine: Attempted A for A+

Today I had my most interesting class, marketing communication. I had an American Professor and it was cool learning about marketing since I am so used to learning about Finance and Accounting. The three hour classes actually aren't that bad. Each professor must give us a 15 minute break at the half mark. Since the second half of the class is shorter it tends to go by fast and a lot of professors let you out a few minutes early because they get so sick of teaching. Works for me, I'm sick of learning.

Alright, so I need to get a few language barrier issues off of my chest. I am an American, I sound like an American, I look like an American. American. You never know whether a person is going to speak English or not so you kind of have to hedge your bets on how you speak to them. I find that whenever I don't start off with "Par lay voo inglay?" or "Je na par le pa frances." (I spelled them the way you pronounce them) but rather I look up or ask Christine what to say in french and say it, they still respond to me in English. I am trying soooo hard! But they just don't get it. Real shot to the self esteem. Andddd another thing I want to get off my chest is how dumb it is when I say in french that I don't know how to speak french. Clearly I know how to say SOMETHING in french if I am saying it in french...ya dig?

Well, I think that is about it for now. Oh yeah, on our way back from falafel we found an UNREAL chocolate store. It could be deadly.

Word of the Day: Je pige que dalle. = I don't understand a word you're saying. (What goes through the French people's head when I attempt speaking to them in French)

My bad...

2011-01-30T10:20:00.003-08:00

By couple hundred I meant couple hundred thousand bodies worth of bones...

I See Dead People

2011-01-30T09:52:00.000-08:00

Yep. That happened. Yesterday me, Torey, Monica, Christine, Courtney, and Jen (a girl that goes to Wisco) went to the Catacombs. Tombs. That is what I was expecting. I envisioned the Egyptian tombs for some reason. Well, I was wrong. I was very wrong. To say I saw a few skeletons would be an understatement and it would cherry coat the truth. Before we entered the catacombs there was a sign that read:

We did not think much of it. We go down 130 steps and we arrive at some tunnels and such. There were some really cool sculptures that prisoners had made as well. Basically, spark note version of what we saw...back in the day the Romans built an underground tunnel/passageway thing, then during the Revolution the French used it to move bodies from cemetaries into this place as a mass grave almost to conserve space, there were also rooms large rooms they used to have secret meetings. To say a mass grave would be putting it politely, this was no pile of bones. The bones were intricately organzied and placed into patterns. The walls were lined with bones and skulls that went very deep. Some of the bones were arranged in crosses and others just other patterns. It was very cool and very frightening to say the least. I'd guestimate there were a good couple hundred people's bodies worth of bones. Between the bones and the narrow tunnels and dripping ceilings and musty scent, I understood the "cardiac or respiratory insufficiency." I am lucky I am so young and brave.

Why didn't the skeleton go to the dance? He had no body to go with...

After this experience we went for crepes and churros. I regret my decision to get a crepe because the churros were actually unreal. We then came back here and booked our train to Amsterdam. Me, Monica, and Torey then made dinner, Teriyaki chicken with broccoli. mmmmm. Monica had to cook because Torey took a tumble the other night at the club. To make her feel better about herself I will say she purposely slid down some stairs because she "wanted" to see what it was like...? After dinner we went to this Irish pub that is about a 5-10 minute walk from here. It was fun there. Christine got in a dance off with some French guy. I have come to realize that being sober when you go out is a spectator sport. It's a matter of learning how to appreciate the art of everyone around making a fool of themselves. If it were an olympic sport I would be well on my way to the gold, I'd make America proud. Connor and Hugh left pretty early so I left with them. I made us all grilled cheese. I then went to bed.

Today me and Monica and Torey went for some lunch and it was FREEEEZING out so we all came back. Tonight: Falafel round three, bringing some visitors that are about to try falafel for THE FIRST TIME. They have not been living I guess. I am going to be adventurous and get fries on mine today. I am still in withdrawl from those belgian fries, me and monica fantasize over them. So much so that we have discussed taking a day trip JUST for the fries. I probably shouldn't admit that to the general public butttt if you tried them you would understand. Well that's all for now, I have my marketing class tomorrow that was cancelled last week. I'm sure it will be a good time!

Word of the Day: C'est chouette. = That's cool. (Direct translation- That's a female owl.) I thought this was a weird expression haha

Playing Catch Up... Classes, Night life, Louvre...

2011-01-29T03:28:00.000-08:00

CLASSES: Well, they are much different than back at home. Once a week for 3 hours. Interesting. Once class I have, Negotiations, is literally going to be a joke. All you do for the entire semester is negotiate, the class is not based on theory but expanding your negotiation skills. There are no exams or anything. On the other hand, my two finance classes both have a final. One of them also has a midterm and the other also has a 10 page term paper (which you can do in a group). The finance classes likely won't be too fun, but they are much better than the upper level finance classes would be back at school, that's for sure. But hey, who studies abroad for the classes? No one. So some more important stuff...

this is a picture of the club, gives you an idea

NIGHTLIFE: It is a lot different than home, to say the least. One thing that is similar is that you can't smoke in the actual club, you have to smoke in this little private room thing. It makes dancing and stuff much more bearable and then you don't come home smelling like an ash tray. The school scheduled a party at this club so that all international students would get in free. Yeah, that's right, a party scheduled by your school. I don't think the University of Illinois would ever rent a club for its students. Before the club we went over to the Wisconsin girls' apartment to pregame. They pay a lot less money than us for a lot more space. I think we may be getting ripped off a little bit at Accent. Back to the club, it has legitimate bouncers, it's not like Kams or Staysh, these guys don't mess around. We all go in and the club is huge and everyone is dancing. There are these blocks you can stand on and dance to and there is also a stage and an upstairs. It was a little bit different than my typical thursday night red lion night. Another huge difference, DRINKS ARE SOO EXPENSIVE! It was like 8 euro for a mixed drink. It's hard when you don't know someone working to get you your drink for a dollar or 2. But that's not a problem for me right now since I'm not drinking (Hey Davi!). So yeah, it's safe to say I really like the discotecs there are a lot of fun!

I also thought the moon and fire were awesome

LOUVRE: I am now officially officially in Paris. I went to the Louvre and I saw, wait for it, Mona Lisa! For all of you who warned me she is TINY. I disagree, she was the size I was expecting her to be and I saw her at a distance I was expecting. So for everyone who tried to warn me that I was going to be disappointed, thank you because I went in with such low expectations that I was very pleased. There were so many paintings and sculptures and artifacts there that we didn't know where to begin. The Louvre is broken down into three wings so we decided to conquer one wing, Scully. After about three hours of walking around we didn't even get to see everything in that wing alone! (Mona was in the wing Denon but we were sure to make a pit stop for her to make sure that we were at the right museum and actually at the Louvre, you also can't say you've been to the Louvre if you don't stop in and say hey to Mona. She needs to watch her back though, I did not appreciate the way she kept staring at me). The paintings were actually so cool. I really liked looking at pictures that had skies and water. I think it's amazing how they were painted. I also thought that the realllllly small paintings were cool because from a distance they look like something but then when you get close up it was just globs of paint. There were paintings that were actually ENORMOUS. Words can't even describe so here's a picture. I am nothing next to this painting...

Just admiring the painting... Very Pensive...

Last night we were really tired from the night before and walking around the Louvre so we decided to stay in and watch Harry Potter and eat Magnums (delicious chocolate covered ice cream that they don't have in the United States). We alsoooo found a pizza place with very American pizza! Wooooh! The guy said he's very popular with the American exchange students and we discovered why. The pizza was a little thin for my liking but don't get me wrong, I still liked it and ate it. Me and Christine split a veggie pizza! Delish! Well, that's about all for now! I will write again soon!

Word of the Day: Party animal = un noceur

Brussels: Fries, Waffles, Chocolate. 10 pounds later.

2011-01-24T15:48:00.000-08:00

Well our trip to Brussels started off a little rusty when we ripped our tickets thinking they needed to be put in a machine. After each of us got yelled at in French by the ticket collector, we learned our lesson. The train ride was not too bad, only an hour and 20 minutes. We arrive in Brussels and realized we had no idea what to do. We had nothing planned besides our hostel. We purchase a map and Courtney (our human GPS) guided us to the Grand Place. On our way we walked past a Chocolate museum. Needless to say, 4.50 euros later we indulged. Let's just say we took full advantage of the free samples of each chocolate flavor. We also got TWO biscuits dipped in chocolate because the lady doing the dipping switched. We are such sneaky Americans. The museum was really cool it talked all about the history of chocolate and we got to see how it was made. You may have been one of the lucky ones to be a sent a picture of me enjoying my chocolate in my typical Jamie way.

Next, we headed to the center. It was really cool. But let's get to the important stuff. We followed our noses and found my heaven in a stand. FRENCH FRIES! We obviously ordered the "Frites especial": french fries, ketchup, mayo, and grilled onions. They were actually unreal, they were too big so I couldn't finish them. We then walked around a little bit. We went to the famous statue of the little boy peeing. I'm sorry but I'd have to say it was overrated. If you have been there then you know what I'm talking about. There were chocolate statues that were 5 times the size of the actual little boy peeing. It would be nice if it was life size but it was probably the size of a doll I played with when I was younger. Too much hype.

After the fries we decided to venture to our hostel to drop off our bags that we had been carrying all day. Saying our hostel was a hike away would be an understatement. I think I worked off every single calorie I consumed from the chocolate and fries on that walk. We finally got there and it was better than I expected! There were 5 beds for the 5 of us which was perfect! The shower was like 5 times the size of the shower here. I really can't complain. After 3 hour naps we awoke and decided to head for some dinner. We went to a waffle place to obviously eat BELGIUM WAFFLES IN BELGIUM! I got bananas and chocolate on mine! Sooo delish! After dinner we headed to Derillium, a bar we had been told to go to. They served over 2000 beers there! We literally could not find the place and were going in circles. We eventually ask these people (picked a group that had a girl in it so we knew they were legit) This guy was sooo nice, he walked us to the bar. It was a good thing because it was a maze! Aside from the smoke, it was sooo much fun. We got there and it was PACKED. Eventually we saw a table clear up so me, Monica, and Courtney jumped at it (Christine and Torey were getting beer) at the same time these guys got to it. The table was big so we decided to share it. The guys were from Spain, one of them was studying in Brussels. We had so much fun with them. We were finally able to communicate with people in a language we knew, Spanish (besides Christine who is the only one who speaks French) We eventually left and took a cab back, not in the mood for any hike.

(Notice the Adam Levy look alike in the center)

The next day we went to Brugges. On our way to the train station we had the pleasure of walking through a red light district. Let's just say if it were your daughter dressed in close to nothing sitting in a window waiting for someone to wander in, you would not be proud. We walked as fast as we could to get to the metro station which was just past the peep show theatre. We eventually get to Brugges and it is cold and rainy. It was a really pretty small town but very pretty. We went to this little place for more waffles and hot chocolate. The hot chocolate was AMAZING. You put the chocolate in the warm milk and that's how you make it (notice the whisker). I guess it was a little better than warm water and powder. The picture does not do it justice but the cup was HUGE. We went back to Brussels to then watch the Bears game. We found an American Sports Bar online, Fat Boy's. We get there and stake out our prime seats...3 hours before gametime. While we are there the men at the table behind us start talking to us and tell us that if we cheer loud enough for the red team (soccer game) then they will buy us a round of drinks. Sure enough, we cheer for the red team, who loses, but they still got us our round of drinks (don't worry Davi, I got a RedBull). We then watch the Bears game which was a little upsetting. Oh yeah, I forgot to talk about the creepy guy from Spain who told Torey that her face was good and then corrected himself to say that it was her teeth that were good.

The perfect way to close this blog entry is with a little anecdote about our walk home...
Two of the guys at the table behind us said they would point us in the right direction to get home. As we are walking we ask how old he is and he reveals he is 31 (we figured these guys were in their mid 30s). He then says so you guys have only been in Europe a week? We reply "yep." He goes "You have only been here for about a week, you are already in a country you know nothing about and you are accepting directions from two creepy middle aged guys. You are bound to have an amazing time in Europe."

After a successful weekend, I would have to agree. Oh yeah and I forgot I was here for school, classes start tomorrow.

woahhh first traveling blog post!

2011-01-22T04:38:00.001-08:00

Life changing discovery: I can blog right from the action! (Not sure if blog is a verb but it is now) I am currently on the the train to BRUSSELS, Belgium. Bucket list to do there: eat belgium waffles, waffle fries, NOT drink beer (is it february yet), eat muscles (first timer), and most importantly watch the bears beat the packers and go to the superbowl in an american sports bar. I am sure we will do sight seeing also, but those are the important things. The past few days have been the same, finished orientation. Yesterday we went shopping and at falafel again mmmm. Okay sooo basically I am becoming a fashionista! There was a pair of boots I was dying to get, they had to be the EXACT shoes I was envisioning. These boots are all I've been talking about since the longchamp purchase (three big purchases here: longchamp, boots, leather jacket). So I did such a good job explaining these bad boys that Torey saw my vision and spotted them for me! What a doll! They were 84 euro so I figure my winnings on 190 in the casino on my cruise will contribute to the purchase. I will be sure to post a pic when I get back from brussels!

Last night we went to an apartment party. There was a party for ESCP students at this club but we didn't make it because we had to be up early today and wanted to take the metro back (stops at 2 am, starts again at 5 am). I wasn't in any mood to rage until 5 am so we skipped out. Plenty of time for us to rage, 4 months to be exact. The apartment party was a lot of fun! I drank a redbull so I could fit in and didn't have to be empty handed the whole night. Not good for me but at least it won't cause my liver to die. It was a really cool apt, this guy Aaron found it on craigs list. It was HUGE the bathroom alone was the size of my entire room in Accent. There were actually two bathrooms, one of them was miniature and the door didn't work so a bunch of people got stuck. They used a wrench to get them out. We met a lot of cool people from like everywhere. We have a new bestie Sade from Finland (she's the one who took us shopping, she gave us a very cultured tour of the shops including the expensive bizarre stores). Awkward I just looked to my left and the lady is sleeping with her right hand down her pants. I'm uncomfortable. I'll just pretend like I don't notice...

Well off to play some gamez on my ipod. More to come after our one star hotel in Brussels.

French word of the day: this is difficult because I don't have my book with me, I'll give 2 next post! If I could choose one right now it would be fashionista so you will just have to wait in suspense to figure out how to say it in french

DAY 6 AND DAY 7: zzzzzzzz

2011-01-19T12:28:00.000-08:00

DAY 6:

Boring day of orientation, we got done early. I FINALLY GOT MY LONGCHAMP! We went to H&M and did some shopping. I tried stuff on but it was either too big or too small. Typical. Everything was SUPER cheap. I bought a scarf and a lint roller (ironic how I needed one and it saved me a trip to the Mono Prix). Let me tell you, this is the most fashionable lint roller I have and will ever own. Me Torey and Monica made my shape noodles for dinner. The animals they chose for the noodles were quite interesting: snails, turtles, dogs, bears, squirrels, yeahhhh strange. Last night me, Monica, Torey, Christine, and Courtney finalized our trip to BRUSSELS this weekend, planned our trip to Ireland for UnOfFiCiAl (yeahhhh! you should be jealous!), and also our monster winter break in february (Amsterdam, Berlin, Prague, and Vienna).

Word of the day: (going a different route with this one, it's from the dirty book, thanks auntie!) le loubard = a badass

DAY 7:

Really?! ESCP at 8 am?! 6 hours of listening to boring things about France. I paid attention when they asked "Why do you think there is a McDonalds in France?" My response was "The French love their french fries." Just because I'm in a different country does not mean that my humor is going to change. Tonight for dinner me Monica and Torey made a stir fry! We are becoming so domestic! ...then we walked and got BANANA NUTELLA CREPES from the afghan crepe stand man (hereafter ACSM). Sooooo yummy. I hate to break it to you Julie and Amanda but he already likes us better. As we were leaving I said see you soon and I am not sure if ACSM was blowing kisses at me or trying to say something I couldn't hear. Regardless, we're in love. We made some friends today in orientation, mainly Finnish people. Oh, and me and Monica gave in and tried French French fries from McDonalds (it was only fitting). They hit the spot.

Word of the day: frites = french fries

DAY 5: Orientation

2011-01-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

The following picture of Christine is pretty self explanatory as to how the first day of orientation was. Two adjectives I'll use: early and boring.

This is Monica, Hugh, Courtney, me and Christine still hungry after our baby sandwiches at orientation. The French eat baby size portions.

Tomorrow's orientation we are supposed to be learning about Paris. It's only a half day which is good. I will hopefully be spending the afternoon getting my Longchamp if someone will finally come with me. (Achem I hope one of you read this and actually come with me tomorrow, sorry I was sick the last time you went. womp womp)

Word of the day: train = renseignements (we learned how to take the metro to ESCP today)

DAY 4: My First Mass and Meeting Emma Thompson

2011-01-16T13:08:00.000-08:00

We found OUR daily bakery this morning and let me tell you, America should be embarrassed by their sad excuse of a croissant. Words cannot describe how good they are here! This morning me, Monica, Torey, Christine x 2, Courtney, and Alyssa all went to mass at Notre Dame. The building is absolutely beautiful. It blows my mind how it was built back in the day. Crazy stuff. I feel bad because I was asking Courtney questions the entire time. It was a very cool experience. Most of it was in French and Latin so I couldn't really understand what they were saying/what was going on, but I still enjoyed it. Parts of it were in English. The only bad thing is that the old man in front of me and Courtney kept letting off stink bombs. Not literally, but let's just say I want to find out what bakery he went to before mass and never go there.

After church we wandered through the islands over there and got some ice cream. I decided on pear, which at first taste I thought tasted like play dough, but then it grew on me. The ice cream is not even comparable to the United States. It is so fresh, I actually felt like I was eating a pear. We sat on a ledge that overlooked a river and ate it. I could really get used to this lifestyle (aside from my fear of falling in the river or dropping something). We then walked throughout the nearby shops.

We (and by we, I mean Monica) spotted Emma Thompson from Love Actually and apparently a million other movies (as Torey later pointed out) in a candy shop. We creepily followed her. Debated whether or not to go up to her and ask if it is HER. Not knowing her name at the time me and Christine brave it out as Christine asks "Were you in Love Actually?" Her response was "Well yes I was." We then talked to her for a while. She could not have been nicer. I guess that basically makes us famous then. Poor Monica, the spotter, wasn't there for the convo because she was hobbling behind with her torn up foot from her flats (long walk to Notre Dame).

Later we walked the rest of the city, came back, napped, went for dinner, and now we are back. Not going to do anything too rambunctious tonight because we have an early and LONGGGGG day tomorrow. We have our orientation for ESCP Europe (our place of study). It is supposed to be from 9 am to 6:30 pm. Rough. As long as we get a long lunch break, I'm fine. Expect a long list of complaints and passive aggressive comments for tomorrow's blog post!

Word of the day: eau = water (came in handy tonight at dinner as Torey asked for seconds, don't know how she has picked up on the French accent so well, props)

DAY 2: Twinkle Twinkle Little Eiffel Tower

2011-01-15T17:48:00.000-08:00

Biggest discovery of the day: at 6:50 pm the Eiffel Tower lights up and then at every hour after that for 5 whole minutes it TWINKLES. Saying it was beautiful would be an understatement.

Today, Me, Torey, Christine, and Courtney all ventured to the other side of Paris to see the Eiffel Tower. We got there during the day. Seeing it in the flesh really solidified that we are HERE! WE ARE IN PARIS! We wandered around there for the day and a Golden Dome caught Courtney's eye so we decided to follow it. It led us to this old French Military training site which was really pretty! I'm not really an architecture buff but I thoroughly enjoyed it. We then went to a cafe for hot chocolate where we will reach our French Word of the day: chocolat chaud = hot chocolate. It was soooo good I can't even put words to it. After that we went to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle. Going to the Eiffel Tower was a breath of fresh air: TOURIST CENTRAL! We fit in perfectly and it was beautiful. We fit in so well that we were able to spot other Americans (Torey spotted them) and as we passed Torey goes "Hey, are you American?" The response of "Yes" was then celebrated by a "SPOTTED!" from Torey's end. His North Face jacket was a dead give away. He obviously didn't get the same memo as us.

Sidenote from yesterday: Culture Barrier-> the French bag their own groceries, I did not find this out until after I had the lady bag all of my groceries (thanks friends). That explains the dirty and confused looks I got from her. Awkwarddddd. You live and you learn.

Oh and for dinner I had FRENCH ONION SOUP FROM FRANCE! Needless to say, it puts Panera and even Houlihan's to shame. mmmmmm. These places better step up their game if they want me to purchase their soup again.

Well, I best be getting to sleep. We didn't make it out tonight because we were having some hardcore female bonding in Christine and Courtney's room. We broke the cardinal rule #1 and #17 of Accent "No Parties" aka drinking in this place. I'm trusting you guys, don't tell. Well, we all know I didn't partake because I need my liver to get its heal on. Is it February yet? They all went to get crepes (Hey Julie and Amanda! #AfghanCrepeStandMan).

Off to bed! Tomorrow I am experiencing my first mass at Notre Dame! Get excited!

DAY 1 and DAY 2

2011-01-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

DAY 1: Out of Commission...

Let's just say my first day was a little rough. I tried to make it on the walking tour and fell ill in the awkward looking green garbage receptacles on the street. I got stared down by some French women. I guess it's not socially acceptable to puke in garbage cans in Paris. You win some. You lose some. I made a friend because I couldn't get into my room. Found a random kid named John, asked him to help me. As he got the door open for me I ran to the bathroom and threw up. I personally think that we hit it off.

On a lighter note, the city is BEAUTIFUL and we are right in the heart of it!

I've also decided to do a French word of the day. I am going to pick one out of my handy Rick Steve's French book (Thanks Davi! I think he could retire with all of the money he made off his travel stuff you bought for me). If I'm feeling adventerous I may pick one out of the Dirty French book my aunt got me from Urban.

Word of the day: la grippe = the flu

DAY 2: Catch Up

This morning we had our orientation with Accent (the dorm/apartment place we are living in). They went over the basic rules and where to get cell phones and our metro passes, etc. So the first thing all 13 of us Americans do is head to Orange (cell phone place) to get them. Surprisingly they were very nice to us Americans and put most of us with the few people that spoke English. Needless to say, if we didn't stick out as Americans already we all got the exact same phone.

We then ate at this little cafe. I only got a croissant but everything looked really good. They were so nice and gave us English menus. Again, I was surprised how nice we were being treated. Then I bought my toiletries and napped and unpacked. I am now waiting for Torey and Monica to get back from shopping to go for dinner (I wasn't feeling up for it yet, that's how you know I REALLY am sick). This immune system better pick up soon! We decided to wait until later today for dinner. As they learned the hard way yesterday, Monica phrased going to dinner before 8 pm as "Showing up early to a party and having to awkwardly talk to the host..."

Word of the day: Parlez-vous anglais? = Do you speak English? (pretty fitting for the day and a necessity)

Au Revoir America

2011-01-11T21:37:00.000-08:00

Well, tomorrow is the big day. I will be headed to Paris, France for the semester. I do not speak French, I have never been to France, and I know close to nothing about Paris. This should be a very interesting experience. Luckily, I will have Monica and Torey by my side. We will be there for exactly 4 months: January 12 to May 12.

I just barely conquered my first obstacle of packing as much as possible into two 50 pound duffles, a rolling carry on, and a backpack. The duffles weigh in at 50.66 and 50.78. Yikessss, I better hope the people at Lufthansa are feeling generous. Tonight I got my last wear out of my North Face winter jacket and my Ugg boots. I do not want to be branded as a dumb American tourist before I even open my mouth to attempt the little French I know in my heinous American accent. As hard as I try, the soft "J" in Bonjour just doesn't sound right. Why is it that the French only pronounce half of the word that is spelled out?

More to come after my eight hour plane ride! Au Revoir North Face and Bagels! Bonjour Pea-coats and Baguettes!