When In Rome

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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!