Okay, its been a very long time since I've written anything. Sorry!
So what has happened since going to Italy?
2 midterms, 2 papers, and in the midst of a third paper due on Tuesday. Then, finals. Yes, that is correct, finals start next Friday. I leave Nantes for Paris in two weeks. That is so scary. I am not ready to go home yet! I just got here.
So, Advent in France is very pretty. There are decorations everywhere. And in the centre-ville there is a Christmas market (marché de Noël) with a lot of mini- "Châlets" that sell crafts and vin chaud (hot wine) and chocolat chaud and so many other delicious looking things. Many of which I can't eat. (Really, I have decided Celiac is a good thing because I really don't think that I would have enough will power to resist all the pasteries and now all the Christmas goodies... but problem solved, can't eat them. It helps me not gain 300 lbs).
Pictures of the châlets and decorations and stuff will probably come tomorrow or Saturday. Now, I really do have to get back to this prehistoric archeology paper.
Many happy Advent thoughts,
Laura
PS My sister and I are making an advent calendar of Phil the Penguin. Every day I send my sister what Phil is doing for advent and she draws it.
http://adventofphil.blogspot.com
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Oof.
So, this weekend has consisted solely of paper writing, studying, running and eating. Ok, and no lies, procrastination. Two of my friends and I tried a different creperie on Friday night. It was very disappointing: not crispy and buttery galettes. Sadness.
Haverford Squash had their first match of the season yesterday: Go Bears! I am actually feeling kind of sad, missing out on the first half of the season (I miss playing squash so much). Anyways, here are a couple of pictures from the Italy trip!
My Ideal Vespa- Seafoam
Venice on the night of our arrival
Fish Mar-ket?
Where Vivaldi lived and taught (how cool!!)
Clothes drying over the canals
This picture was actually taken in the Jewish Ghetto- Venice is so rich in history it was amazing walking around. Going to the Jewish Ghetto was, in my opinion, really important, a reminder of the importance of remembering the sad, and horrible times.
On that note, I must return to my paper writing.
Bonne Journée!
Laura
Haverford Squash had their first match of the season yesterday: Go Bears! I am actually feeling kind of sad, missing out on the first half of the season (I miss playing squash so much). Anyways, here are a couple of pictures from the Italy trip!
My Ideal Vespa- Seafoam
Venice on the night of our arrival
Fish Mar-ket?
Where Vivaldi lived and taught (how cool!!)
Clothes drying over the canals
This picture was actually taken in the Jewish Ghetto- Venice is so rich in history it was amazing walking around. Going to the Jewish Ghetto was, in my opinion, really important, a reminder of the importance of remembering the sad, and horrible times.
On that note, I must return to my paper writing.
Bonne Journée!
Laura
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
What a 5 day weekend. Whew.
So, warning, this is going to be a ridiculously long post!
It started Thursday, with a French rail strike! Luckily, unlike alot of my fellow students, our train was not cancelled! Woohoo! But it did create worry among our group. So, we took the train from Nantes to Paris. Then metro in Paris. Then bus to Beauvais (airport about 1 hr outside of Paris) then flew to Bergamo and took a taxi to our hostel. Ok, so it was a long day. But highlights included GF fried rice in Paris and when we were in the taxi in Bergamo, translating the taxi man's broken English into French for two French girls! Yup, the Americans are translating!
So Friday. I started out the day bright and early running along ways up a hill (not the whole thing because it was literally foothills to mountains) and turning the corners every switchback were amazing views of Bergamo! Then, we needed to take the public transportation to the airport to catch our bus to Milan. So, first we see a bus coming and these two old Italian ladies are telling us its the wrong bus (but they don't speak English). We then get on the next bus following them, only to discover that you need to buy tickets at a tabacchi. But the little old ladies force the bus driver to let us on anyways. Then, about two stops down the line, they kick us off the bus because there is a tabacchi where we can buy tickets! Once we got to Milan, we wandered the fashion district (oh mon dieu, très cher) and saw the giant Duomo. Along with TRL Italy being filmed and TONS of shrieking Italian teenyboppers. We caught our train to Venice, no problem and upon arrival in Venice, we discover that our map ended before our hostel and we went around asking for "San Polo?" which turns out to be a square, a neighborhood, a street and a church. So not helpful. Then we started asking for the Fish market. Much better responses! Finally, we found our hostel and checked in! Absolutely amazing, with a 4 person room.
Saturday, the fish market (and fruit market) was open! We bought a lot a lot a lot of fruit! Then wandered to the Duomo and saw the place where Vivaldi lived and taught! (Definitely a highlight for me). We then wandered to find food. We decided to eat a nicer lunch and stopped at a cute little restaurant. I handed the guy my food card and was asking what I can eat and he was like "Well of course we have rice pasta for you!" I love Italy. I went for a really nice run that afternoon but was so the tourist because I had to stop a couple of times on bridges to look at my map! My friends ate really good looking pizza that night (pizza jealousy!).
Sunday, we wandered more, starting out in search of Vivaldi tickets (which we then passed on due to not having tickets for the concert we wanted and the other concerts being très cher). We basically just explored Venice for the day. Mainly in search (at all times) of Vivaldi, gelato, pizza, chocolat chaud (or cappuccinos for my friends) and Italian leather purses and boots. That evening, we went out in search of dessert and looking at a menu, a guy passed us (about 50 years old) and in an Italian accent, he told us that it was no good and asked us what we were looking for. He sent us down the street and his young child offered to accompany us. On the walk, the boy (maybe 10) was telling us about "what us typically Venetians do." So cute. Then at a restaurant on round 2 (of dessert) later that evening, a cute little girl (maybe 1.5 years old) came and flirted with us. And the waiter offered to have my friend's babies. She politely turned him down.
Monday brought the second train strike of the trip. This time, our train was canceled, so we had to (such a burden) spend a few more hours in Venice and then we sat on folding chairs in the aisle of a later train! We got into Milan later than we wanted and got straight on a bus to Bergamo. In Bergamo, we thought that the public transportation bus would run up to the Citta Alta. But apparently, it had two stops: the train station and the airport. Since we got on at the airport, and didn't get off at the train station, we rode the bus in a circle. And a half (because we still needed to be downtown). After dinner, we found the bus line that we needed, unfortunately, it didn't come for another 40 min. We debated walking or taking a taxi. Right then a taxi came flying down the otherwise empty street and I flagged it down. Which was described as the "most baller taxi flagging ever." Ok, so maybe I did leap into the street. We then checked in and tried to book a taxi for the morning but the taxi place was closed, so they told us to call in the morning 10 min before needing a taxi. I might add that we were leaving the hostel at 4:15 the next morning.
Tuesday, so we all got up at 3:45 after going to bed after midnight. Took our taxi to the airport and then had to wait an hour for the boarding! We all napped on the plane and then upon arrival, took a bus to Paris where we hung out for the day, ate galettes, adored the french language (so easy to understand compared to Italian) and took a late train back to Nantes.
Overall, it was a very fun trip. I really want to go back to Italy (mountains next time!) and visit Venice again (during Carnaval!)
Ok, sorrry for the uber long post! Pictures to come!
Ciao
Laura
It started Thursday, with a French rail strike! Luckily, unlike alot of my fellow students, our train was not cancelled! Woohoo! But it did create worry among our group. So, we took the train from Nantes to Paris. Then metro in Paris. Then bus to Beauvais (airport about 1 hr outside of Paris) then flew to Bergamo and took a taxi to our hostel. Ok, so it was a long day. But highlights included GF fried rice in Paris and when we were in the taxi in Bergamo, translating the taxi man's broken English into French for two French girls! Yup, the Americans are translating!
So Friday. I started out the day bright and early running along ways up a hill (not the whole thing because it was literally foothills to mountains) and turning the corners every switchback were amazing views of Bergamo! Then, we needed to take the public transportation to the airport to catch our bus to Milan. So, first we see a bus coming and these two old Italian ladies are telling us its the wrong bus (but they don't speak English). We then get on the next bus following them, only to discover that you need to buy tickets at a tabacchi. But the little old ladies force the bus driver to let us on anyways. Then, about two stops down the line, they kick us off the bus because there is a tabacchi where we can buy tickets! Once we got to Milan, we wandered the fashion district (oh mon dieu, très cher) and saw the giant Duomo. Along with TRL Italy being filmed and TONS of shrieking Italian teenyboppers. We caught our train to Venice, no problem and upon arrival in Venice, we discover that our map ended before our hostel and we went around asking for "San Polo?" which turns out to be a square, a neighborhood, a street and a church. So not helpful. Then we started asking for the Fish market. Much better responses! Finally, we found our hostel and checked in! Absolutely amazing, with a 4 person room.
Saturday, the fish market (and fruit market) was open! We bought a lot a lot a lot of fruit! Then wandered to the Duomo and saw the place where Vivaldi lived and taught! (Definitely a highlight for me). We then wandered to find food. We decided to eat a nicer lunch and stopped at a cute little restaurant. I handed the guy my food card and was asking what I can eat and he was like "Well of course we have rice pasta for you!" I love Italy. I went for a really nice run that afternoon but was so the tourist because I had to stop a couple of times on bridges to look at my map! My friends ate really good looking pizza that night (pizza jealousy!).
Sunday, we wandered more, starting out in search of Vivaldi tickets (which we then passed on due to not having tickets for the concert we wanted and the other concerts being très cher). We basically just explored Venice for the day. Mainly in search (at all times) of Vivaldi, gelato, pizza, chocolat chaud (or cappuccinos for my friends) and Italian leather purses and boots. That evening, we went out in search of dessert and looking at a menu, a guy passed us (about 50 years old) and in an Italian accent, he told us that it was no good and asked us what we were looking for. He sent us down the street and his young child offered to accompany us. On the walk, the boy (maybe 10) was telling us about "what us typically Venetians do." So cute. Then at a restaurant on round 2 (of dessert) later that evening, a cute little girl (maybe 1.5 years old) came and flirted with us. And the waiter offered to have my friend's babies. She politely turned him down.
Monday brought the second train strike of the trip. This time, our train was canceled, so we had to (such a burden) spend a few more hours in Venice and then we sat on folding chairs in the aisle of a later train! We got into Milan later than we wanted and got straight on a bus to Bergamo. In Bergamo, we thought that the public transportation bus would run up to the Citta Alta. But apparently, it had two stops: the train station and the airport. Since we got on at the airport, and didn't get off at the train station, we rode the bus in a circle. And a half (because we still needed to be downtown). After dinner, we found the bus line that we needed, unfortunately, it didn't come for another 40 min. We debated walking or taking a taxi. Right then a taxi came flying down the otherwise empty street and I flagged it down. Which was described as the "most baller taxi flagging ever." Ok, so maybe I did leap into the street. We then checked in and tried to book a taxi for the morning but the taxi place was closed, so they told us to call in the morning 10 min before needing a taxi. I might add that we were leaving the hostel at 4:15 the next morning.
Tuesday, so we all got up at 3:45 after going to bed after midnight. Took our taxi to the airport and then had to wait an hour for the boarding! We all napped on the plane and then upon arrival, took a bus to Paris where we hung out for the day, ate galettes, adored the french language (so easy to understand compared to Italian) and took a late train back to Nantes.
Overall, it was a very fun trip. I really want to go back to Italy (mountains next time!) and visit Venice again (during Carnaval!)
Ok, sorrry for the uber long post! Pictures to come!
Ciao
Laura
Monday, November 3, 2008
Everythings in SPANISH!
Well, this weekend a friend (Amanda) and I went to Madrid!
So starting on Thursday, I finished class at 9:30 am and had a train to Paris. (No class Friday this past week). I walked around the city of love, by myself, in the rain, which was actually really fun. I was walking down the street when I turned a corner and it was like BAM Eiffel Tower. I just kind of wandered around and then decided (since it started to rain alot harder) that I would stop in a café for a chocolat viennois, but every café I passed was full to the limits. Finally, I see in a window an open table, and I was so excited. But I walked in the door and realized it was Starbucks (ugh). I, however, took the table and decided to be positive about it and think that I was helping the American economy. I then metroed my way to see Emma (a Haverfriend). We ate dinner together (DELICIOUS rotisserie chicken) and hung out talking. It was so much fun. Around 11 pm, I found my way to the hostel to check in, where they told me that for 2 euros extra per night person we could be in a double. I asked what the other room was, it was a 15 person dorm with 13 guys (who were drinking at the bar) booked. I payed the extra money. I met Amanda at the train station at midnight (she had a late class).
The next morning, we got up early and flew to Madrid (on a flight that was an hour late). We met Charles at the Plaza del Sol. It was really great to see him yet kind of bizarre since he's a St Louis friend but we were in Madrid. We got some food and that night saw a movie (in English) that was so ridiculous it was good. The next day, I ran through the parc el retiro (or something like that). Beautiful. And we went to el Prado and generally just walked around and ate. We met a bunch of Charles friends both nights which was fun.
After 3ish hours of sleep, I got up on Sunday (I was proud of myself for dragging myself out of bed to run), and we checked out and saw the Palace Reel. (Royal Palace) that was incroyable.
Overall, it was such a fun weekend (and maybe rather tiring). And every where I went I brought clouds and rain (except Sat/Sun). Wow, that makes me sound like a downer. Our hostel in Madrid was nice, super clean and I really liked it!
A bientôt,
Laura
So starting on Thursday, I finished class at 9:30 am and had a train to Paris. (No class Friday this past week). I walked around the city of love, by myself, in the rain, which was actually really fun. I was walking down the street when I turned a corner and it was like BAM Eiffel Tower. I just kind of wandered around and then decided (since it started to rain alot harder) that I would stop in a café for a chocolat viennois, but every café I passed was full to the limits. Finally, I see in a window an open table, and I was so excited. But I walked in the door and realized it was Starbucks (ugh). I, however, took the table and decided to be positive about it and think that I was helping the American economy. I then metroed my way to see Emma (a Haverfriend). We ate dinner together (DELICIOUS rotisserie chicken) and hung out talking. It was so much fun. Around 11 pm, I found my way to the hostel to check in, where they told me that for 2 euros extra per night person we could be in a double. I asked what the other room was, it was a 15 person dorm with 13 guys (who were drinking at the bar) booked. I payed the extra money. I met Amanda at the train station at midnight (she had a late class).
The next morning, we got up early and flew to Madrid (on a flight that was an hour late). We met Charles at the Plaza del Sol. It was really great to see him yet kind of bizarre since he's a St Louis friend but we were in Madrid. We got some food and that night saw a movie (in English) that was so ridiculous it was good. The next day, I ran through the parc el retiro (or something like that). Beautiful. And we went to el Prado and generally just walked around and ate. We met a bunch of Charles friends both nights which was fun.
After 3ish hours of sleep, I got up on Sunday (I was proud of myself for dragging myself out of bed to run), and we checked out and saw the Palace Reel. (Royal Palace) that was incroyable.
Overall, it was such a fun weekend (and maybe rather tiring). And every where I went I brought clouds and rain (except Sat/Sun). Wow, that makes me sound like a downer. Our hostel in Madrid was nice, super clean and I really liked it!
A bientôt,
Laura
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Birds Galore!
So, yesterday I went for a great run through the marshes and then downtown and then returned to my house. However, in the marshey area I saw some really cool birds. So I was on a rather quiet trail (normally there are alot of people, it was actually kind of eerie) and since it was so calm alot of zildlife was out and about. The first really cool thing I saw, I came around a bend and on the edge of the trail (the trail its self was rather marshy) was a giant bird; when I say giant, I mean came up to about the bottom of my ribs. So tall. Like a heron. Sure enough, today I looked at birds in the area and I am positive that it was a grey heron. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Greyheron.jpg
Absolutly beautiful. It was taller than the wikipedia article says but it looks exactly the same. Then I saw alot more really cool birds in the marsh which I can't remember well enough to identify. I think that one was a eurasian curlew though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Numenius_arquata.jpg
Overall, it was a very cool run just on principal of seeing really cool birds. It makes me want to go run on the boardwalks outside of Nantes that are all swamps.
A plus tard,
Laura
Absolutly beautiful. It was taller than the wikipedia article says but it looks exactly the same. Then I saw alot more really cool birds in the marsh which I can't remember well enough to identify. I think that one was a eurasian curlew though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Numenius_arquata.jpg
Overall, it was a very cool run just on principal of seeing really cool birds. It makes me want to go run on the boardwalks outside of Nantes that are all swamps.
A plus tard,
Laura
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Pictures
View from Amboise! So pretty.
Chenonceau (ie the Château that I am thinking of buying, its probably a good think they are doing work on it now, that way when I own it, there will be less to do)
View from the Belltower of the Monolithic church in Saint Emilion
(taken by my father not me)
Chenonceau (ie the Château that I am thinking of buying, its probably a good think they are doing work on it now, that way when I own it, there will be less to do)
View from the Belltower of the Monolithic church in Saint Emilion
(taken by my father not me)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Oh dear, its been awhile.
Wow. I can't believe its been 10 days since I last updated. Since then, I went to the Chateaux de la Loire with my program/my friends! Wow are they cool!
I loved the gardens of Villandry (it was so nice just to be outside again, not to mention the walk I took in the woods!)
Amboise had, by far, the best most interesting tour. Plus I got to see Leonardo Da Vinci (well his tomb, same concept really).
But my favorite above all was Chenonceau. it is a bridge over (untroubled) water. In case you didn't know, I have recently been shopping to buy a château. Before I really was considering this one I found that has 35 bedrooms. But, now I am considering Chenonceau just on account of the coolness factor. I'm not sure if I would be able to actually buy it but you know, I can try. But not only did Chenonceau have the awe factor but it also had amazing gardens and lots of woods! Theoretically for hunting but they would be amazing for running and walking and I'm sure the dogs would love it! Ha.
To keep the update relatively short, this past week, my family was here (Mom, Dad and sister)! And what fun! We hung in Nantes for a couple days then when down to the Bordeaux/Borgogne wine region. I learned so much about wine, it was absolutely beautiful and I ate amazing food the entire time they were here. Oh, and it was fun to see the family (and wow them with my acquired mad french skills. Ha).
Pictures to come soon! (Sooner than 10 days!)
A plus tard!
Laura
I loved the gardens of Villandry (it was so nice just to be outside again, not to mention the walk I took in the woods!)
Amboise had, by far, the best most interesting tour. Plus I got to see Leonardo Da Vinci (well his tomb, same concept really).
But my favorite above all was Chenonceau. it is a bridge over (untroubled) water. In case you didn't know, I have recently been shopping to buy a château. Before I really was considering this one I found that has 35 bedrooms. But, now I am considering Chenonceau just on account of the coolness factor. I'm not sure if I would be able to actually buy it but you know, I can try. But not only did Chenonceau have the awe factor but it also had amazing gardens and lots of woods! Theoretically for hunting but they would be amazing for running and walking and I'm sure the dogs would love it! Ha.
To keep the update relatively short, this past week, my family was here (Mom, Dad and sister)! And what fun! We hung in Nantes for a couple days then when down to the Bordeaux/Borgogne wine region. I learned so much about wine, it was absolutely beautiful and I ate amazing food the entire time they were here. Oh, and it was fun to see the family (and wow them with my acquired mad french skills. Ha).
Pictures to come soon! (Sooner than 10 days!)
A plus tard!
Laura
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
