Learning life

(Alsace)

We took a group trip a last week to the Alsace. We were only there for a few days (Monday-Wednesday) but it was so great. I had a blast. Our first stop was at Strasbourg were we stayed for most of the trip. Monday and part of Tuesday. I love this town sooo much. It was so pretty. Were there the weekend before the Christmas celebration started, so we didn't get to see that. (Bummer right?) However, the parts that I did get to see were fantastic. I love going around a visiting the beautiful cathedral, plus they have some pretty good food. 

After Strasbourg we went to Keisersberg, (not sure how it is spelled) on tuesday afternoon. I liked this town to. It was tiny we walked up and down it in about 40 minutes. It was really cold though up there. It's in the border between Germany in France, and the two countries have always been fighting over the Alsace region. So Keisersberg is a strange mix of French and German cultures. It's the same for Strasbourg, but in Keisersbers  it's more visible.

The next day on Wednesday, we got back on our bus and drove to back to Paris, but along the way we stopped in Reins. This City with a really cool cathedral where most of the past French kings have been coronated. (Think Westminster Abbey.) It was such a great cathedral, but we only got to stay for an hour and we had to eat lunch in that hour also. We didn't get to see much of the city, but we did see the cathedral and that was great. Plus I ate some really good Chinese food there. (Pictures coming soon.)

Learning life

(Visiting Castles)

Hello, I know that I haven't written in my blog for over a month, but hey... I am now. I'm going to write about some of the outside of Paris trips we've taken and then talk about how things have been going in Paris Itself. It's hard to imagine that my time in this great city is nearly at an end. The outside of Paris trips are going to be split into two parts, the visit to Fontainebleu and Vaux-le-Viconte Castles in one post and then our trip to Alsace in another. Up first, the Castles.

Fontainebleu Castle

Our whole group went to visit these two castles on October 13th. I know... i'm writing about it long pass the time. The two castles were very pretty, but in such different ways. (Don't worry, I have pictures.) I really liked Fontainebleu, it has pretty rooms and huge grounds and reminds me of the Versailles Palace. I liked learning of it history, but my favorite part was walking around the grounds which are gorgeous. I really liked this castle, and we had a lot of fun around it. (Pictures coming soon.)

Vaud-le-Viconte

This was the second castle we went to that Saturday. It was pretty great too, but the inside was not nearly as pretty as Fontainebleu. This castle has more history to it though. It was build by King Louis XIV's Minister of Finance. At the time, it was considered more grand than Louis's palace in Paris, so the King got jealous and suspicious. He accused his minister of finance of embezzlement and sent him to prison for life. This castle had the pretties gardens. We almost did not get to the gardens because it was raining, but it was worth it. They were so pretty. (Pictures coming soon.)

Learning life

In Chartres

The delicious and delicious looking dessert.

So, we went to Chartres for a day trip last week-end. It was pretty great, but there is a reason why this blog is under learning life instead of being a loving life moment. So we take the train for an hour both ways to get to Chartres and we were there for maybe three or four hours. It was still fine because we got to take this tour with this old British man who probably knew everything you needed to know about the Chartres Cathedral. Everything was still fine at that point. Where life got sucky was the part were we had to climb about a thousand stairs (I am not even joking right now) to get to the very tippy top of the cathedral. My legs have never burned so much. It was cool up there though. After that we went and ate lunch where I had a delicious and a delicious looking dessert, then we came home to Paris. It was pretty fun. Check out the pictures! After I got home, I'm all ready to get on my computer and be productive, then my suddenly, it starts FREAKING OUT. That's when our war started. If you want to know more, go to my French Project Page!

Some of the windows of Chartres

This is view AFTER we climb those forsaken stairs.

Cori and I at the top. Look at the view behind us.

Olivia, Cori, and I enjoying our success.

Olivia, Kaitlin and me enjoying the view.

It was somewhat worth it.

Annie, Sage, Alicia, Lucy, and Heather strike a pose.

You see the tip top, that's how high up we were.

Going down is always better.
(I think it's actually scarier, it's so much easier to fall!)

Cori wasn't scare of no stairs though. 

Learning life

In Normandy

Everything is colorful in the Gardens. 

If I could fall in love with one place, that would be Normandy (and Australia, but let's concentrate on Normandy). I shall venture to explain to the world (or the few people who read my blog) why Normandy was so GREAT! First of all, there were these wonderful gardens there, Monet's Gardens. They were so pretty, so colorful, and magnificent that pictures can't do them justice, but don't worry, I took some anyway. I can't say that I like Monet as a painter, but the guy knew how to plant a garden. (At least his gardener did.) After the gardens, our study abroad group when to a town devoted to Joan of Arc. I don't know what it was called. All I know is that I ate the BEST, BIGGEST, and CHEAPEST pizza I have ever had in my life. Those words don't normally go together, but in this town they did. I also had an awful bathroom experience there. I have never wanted to curse someone as much as I did this girl. To bad I'm not a wizard and couldn't do a body bind spell on her. That would have been great. After the Joan of Arc town, (as I will forever think of it) we went to these ruins of a cathedral. That was so cool. We were all a little apprehensive about this before going, but it was actually fantastic. The pictures will show all. After that, we were of to Bayeux were we stayed for the night.
The next day, we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry, or the tapestry that is really an embroidery. (This fact entertained us a lot more than you would expect.) The tapestry was really cool though. I don't envy the people who had to create it at all. Then we got to my FAVORITE parts of the trip. We started going to the WWII beaches and battlement grounds. I could probably write a book about how much I love visiting all those spots. It was great. I love learning about WWII (The Civil War is still my baby though). The most memorable part was visiting the cemetery at Omaha Beach. I think we all cried at some point during that visit.

Don't they all look delicious!!!

The next day, we returned to Paris, but not before going to the WWII museum. The museum was actually on WWI, WWII, and other things, but I learned the most about WWII while there. After the museum, we went to a cheese factory (a fromagerie in french) were we learned about the process of making three different types of cheese. That was cool, but smelly. Then we returned to Paris were I celebrated my 20th birthday (YEAH-YEAH!) with dinner and a dance. Such a great weekend. I will NEVER forget Normandy. 

Maddie and Kayla by the Lili Pad Pond

The Gardens

The pretties sunflower EVER!

Clear view of the lili pads

The Ruins

These are the ruins of a church that was torn
down during the time of the French Revolution.

Annie, Olivia and me enjoying history.

The Beaches and Battlements

Me, Olivia, Caitlyn, Lucy and Mallory
by a firing cannon used in WWII

Kayla and Maddie posing with the cannon.
Not sure what I'm doing there. 

They look great don't they. I love this picture.
Sydney, Noah, Maddie, Alicia, Heather, and Nate
on top of one of the bunkers. 

Annie and Sydney on one of the Beaches

Olivia is clearly enjoying herself here.

The Omaha Cemetery 

This is the cross that was used to mark the
graves of the unknown soldiers.
This one really hit me hard. 

This is the stone cutting used to mark
the graves of the Jewish soldiers

The Cemetery was so pretty and so sad.
Everywhere I looked in every direction,
the crosses seemed to go on and on. 

Kayla posing on the steps leading down to
Omaha Beach. It's was a long and steep
walk down. 

   

Living life 

In Paris

Hello all! I know that it has been a while since I last posted something, so here I am.  Since my last post, we (our study abroad group) have taken two other trips. The first one was a three-day one to Normandy and then a day trip to Chartres. They were awesome, and I will definitely talk about them later, but I want to talk about Paris life right now. People are always asking me, “Hey Carine, what do you do while you’re in Paris?” (No one asks me that really, but I wish someone would.) To those people I say, read my blog. Well, here are the details. DON’T WORRY! There are PICTURES bellow the words. (I give you full permission to skip the blog and go straight to the pictures, that’s what I normally do.)

            I’m taking five classes while I’m here, but only three of them require me to go to an actual classroom. In the other two, I can do what I want, but I need to meet the requirements every week or at the end of the semester. So here is my schedule.

·      Monday thru Friday l’École Étoile: 9 to 11

o   I have to wake up around 7:20 to be ready for this class. I have a 50 minutes metro commute everyday to get to school.

o   This were I learn the most French

·      Every Monday I have religion from 1:30 to 3:30

o   This is a really cool class. It’s religion in a world setting, so we learn about the start of the Mormon Church through out Europe.

·      Then I have three hours of Art History once or twice a week.

o   This class is completely random and I never know when we’re going to meet. Luckily there is a syllabus that tell us where to be when

o   The cool thing though, we meet at different times in all sort of museums all over Paris. It’s REALLY great.

o   We had class at the Louvre last Wednesday, SO GREAT!

·      Then I have 211. This is a conversation class. I have certain requirements that I need to meet every week, but I can do them whenever I want.

o   I can be diligent and get it all done through out the week, or freak out and cram it all in at the end. NBD!

·      The last class is the Paris Walks class. THIS class is the diamond in the bunch. It is the class with so many perks. The walks take you around Paris and teach you about the city, they take time so you don’t get bored, and they allow you to mingle and have fun with everyone. There’s more to it then just doing the walks, we have to read books and do cultural activities, but it is a great class.

o   I have taken some pretty great walks. I have pictures below that will show the amazing things I do everyday.

So, my days consists of me going to classes, doing Paris walks, eating delicious Parisian foods, hanging out with the other people on the study abroad, hanging out with my host family, doing homework and taking everything in. All I have to say is that life is AMAZING.

Pictures of our groups enjoying Paris

In front of St. Michelle

Being silly in front of St. Michelle

In front of Notre Dames

Kayla and Maddie chilling behind
Notre Dames

The back of Notre Dames

Sydney, Kaitlin and Heather strike a pose!

Some of us relaxing, still behind Notre Dames

Me, Sydney, Olivia, Maddie, and Kayla in
our Art History Class. This is how I learn!

Me in Art History. I really like
Pretending to be statues. It's a
Reoccurring theme in my pictures.

Cori (my roommate) eating Chinese
food In France! I was too along with
Noah Veloz.

Aside from the chinese food, look at the things
we eat. This Maddie enjoying a Moose
covered Macaroon.

Pierre Hérmé is a real upscale bakery in paris. And it
is a delicious bakery. This is a Mille Feuille that I
got. It cost 6.90 Euros. I enjoyed every bite of it.

This was Kayla's little piece of heaven, also from
Pierre Hérmé. We found the Bakery during
one of our Paris walks.

    

Learning life

(Around France)

Pilgrimage Part II

Well, since I have my wallet back, I can proceed to fascinate you all with the second part of our pilgrimage. Pilgrimage part II covers five or so days. I'm going to cover it in about 15 pictures. (Sorry) Our second day started in Rondez and we drove for forty-five minutes and stopped about five miles outside of Conques, our final destination. We then hiked into Conques on the Pilgrimage trials. The pictures bellow will tell the story! The day after that, we saw some cave paints (photography was prohibited) and then we went canoeing. It was fun especially since we got to do it for 9 miles. (YEAH-YEAH!) The day after that, we saw some more cave paintings and drove for five hours to Anger a city about 2 hours from Paris. The last day we went to Puy du Fou! The photos will show our joy. 

Kayla Bowman and me starting our pilgrimage
walk to Conques 

We kept ourselves entertained by elaborately
decorating our hair

I saw a donkey along the way

View from our path, we are about half a mile
from Conques at this point

WE DID IT! Kayla, Kaitlin and me showing our joy.

The view as we entered the town.
It was really amazing!

This is the tympanum of the cathedral in Conques
It is of judgement day, SO worth 5 mile of hiking!

View of the village of Conques and
the cathedral (Yeah, this is for real)

Cori and me documenting the amazing
moment. (I felt like I had just entered a
postcard.)

This is the last thing I saw as we drove out
Conques. This placed everything in
perspective.

The next day, after seeing the lovely cave paitings
at le Pech-Merle, we canoed for 9 miles! Yes,
we were excited.

 

One of the many castles we saw along the way
(No big deal.)

One of the FIVE bridges we canoed under.
(YES, they were all this great!)

The start of our day at Puy du Fou, one of my
Favorite parts of the trip. Puy du Fou is an amusement
park that goes through french history.
It is great! I will recommend it to EVERYONE!

At Puy du Fou, we saw the Gladiators. (They had
real lions. Eight of them!)

There were lances and jousting!

And of course, who can forget about the vikings.
There were also musketeers, but they TOO interesting
for this blog. Everything else was brilliant though.

After Puy du Fou, we went back to Anger
and the next day was our last. We went and
saw the Apocalypse Tapestry at Anger

Some of our group at the top of the castle
where we saw the tapestry 

Alas, all good things must come to an end. We said
goodbye to Jaques our bus driver and took a
train for two hours to return back to Paris,
but I will never forget those great days.