how to get little kids to love you

1) mention "High School Musical" as much as possible

2) do the Macarena in class.

We did some of the Macarena last week just for fun (as in: I got to class and completely BLANKED. I couldn't remember my own name, let alone remember what I was supposed to do for class. So I turned on my computer and we danced the macarena). Turned the Macarena into a numbers-song: "One maca two maca three macarena." I'm going to try it with body parts, too: "hand maca hand maca hand macarena maca arm maca arm maca something macarena."

One little girl didn't know the song and she felt pretty left out. After class, our exchange went like this:
"emilie, emilie, peux tu m'apprendre le macarena la semaine prochaine?"

OK YOU ARE SO CUTE I LOVE YOU LITTLE KID

aaaaand see y'all later!

cultural things in 'n around Avignon

Good morning.

The Mistral is blowing something FIERCE right now - so much that it kept me awake most of the night - well, that and my intense fear of teaching. But yeah - the Mistral is laying the smack down and taking names.

So I've done some very cool cultural things around Avignon and I figure I better write them down before I forget. Forgive me for this list-y trip I've been on. Eventually I'll get around to writing in an eloquent way (let's hope) and it'll be more fun for your eyeballs and brains!

1) Avignon is the new Ann Arbor
What does that mean? Well, Avignon has its very own food co-op! On Wednesday night after our French class we all went to what we thought was going to be a pizzeria (and can I just tell you that if I don't have a pepperoni pizza STAT I might go freakin' crazy! - oh yeah - there's a Domino's here. And it may or may not be true that one of the assistants here has a discount card because she's a frequent customer... yeah buddy) and it turns out it's a food co-op kinda thing. Ca veut dire: it's open three nights a week, I think, and people sign up to provide food for the night. Ok, that's not clear, is it? Shoot, it's 6:30 am! What I mean is that you can sign up with a group of homies and present a menu to the people who own the place and say "Bonjour, on veut faire ca, s'il vous plait." And then you go rock that stuff in the kitchen. You can sign up as a group or individually so you get to meet Frenchies and all of that! And by Frenchies I mean the "let's all get our instruments and have band practice in the room over"-dreadlocks-hemp clothing-coop-peaceloving-AnnArborite Frenchies. I was feeling very at home. Almost like I was in Lester co-op or chilling on the diag. So I hope we do that sometime! And then I can go have French friends, too!

2) Church. Les deux.
Went to a Catholic church last Sunday.
Whoa.
I'm not going to go again. I'm glad I went because I got to hear church music and I got to hear liturgy (French) but I realized that it's definitely not what I'm looking for, no matter how church-y it is. Our plans for Protestant church-going had fallen through so we went to Catholic mass and we decided that it's not for us so...

Went to Protestant church yesterday.
It rocked.
It was so so simple. There was one celebrant and no one else up at the front. The church itself was like how Avignon usually rolls - you know, stone, tall, 'fortified'-like, old, etc. etc. The service was an hour long with a sermon that I could follow when I wasn't daydreaming (sorry, guys, my mind wanders no matter where I am) and it was beautiful saying the Lord's Prayer and the Nicene Creed in French. One problem: only three hymns! What the bananas? I go to church to sing! No matter, though - I'm glad I went.

3) Piano concert at the Opera Theater House on Saturday night.
Saw a concert pianist play and it only cost me 3 euros. He was stunning. The Opera House is bautiful and majestic and there are so many reasons that I'm glad I went. What's extra awesome is how there's still so much left to discover here (cue violins for this cheesy part) and I have so much time to really hunker down and live the Avignonnaise life... makes me happy.

4) Ice Skating
AssocEchanges is going ice skating on Friday night! Yeahhhhhhhh buddy!

In other news, I found Sarah McLachlan's "Wintersong" CD and I've been listening to it on repeat. It's the only holiday music I have on my computer! I mean, it rocks, but I can't wait for more from home :)

REALLY GOOD THINGS!

This is my excited voice:

OHMYGOSHYESTERDAYWASTHEFIRSTTIMEI'VEEVERSKYPEDMYFAMILY
ANDISAWALLTHEIRFACESANDITALKEDTOEVERYONEANDITWASAMAZING
BECAUSEIMISSTHEMALLANDISAWTHEIRSMILESINSTEADOFJUSTHEARINGTHEM
ANDTHEYAREWONDERFULANDIMISSTHEMALOT

ahem.

ANDIFOUNDOUTTHATHEATHERBOUGHTHERPLANETICKETTOCOMETOFRANCE
ANDSHEISCOMINGONSUNDAYMARCHSECOND,FLYINGINTOMARSEILLEANDSHEIS
STAYINGUNTILSATURDAYANDSHEISGOINGTOMEETEVERYONEANDITWILLBEAWESOME

And my Dad's going to send me Christmas music!
And I bought my plane tickets for my England Christmas!
And I'll be in Avignon for New Year's!
And my family knows how to Skype!
And I had this awesome cake at a cafe today!


And more good things...
Thanksgiving this year was a little weird - it doesn't feel like Thanksgiving time because I'm not getting time off from school, I'm not making the trajet from Ann Arbor to East Lansing, I'm not in a land of snow or (tremendous) cold, and I'm not around my fam. I missed out on Buffy marathons, I missed out on my yearly turnip consumption and I missed out on Pajama Day. But I made do and ended up having a really good Thanksgiving anyway!

The American assistants decided to have a lil' Thanksgiving of their own. Twelve of us got together at Celine's and rocked the hell out of Turkey Day, I kid you not. Amy and I spent the afternoon cooking stuffing (great recipe, Mom! it was a huge hit!) and a corn/pepper souffle (heaven in your mouth - good one, Amy!) and Nicole made to-die-for mashed potatoes. We hurried through the rain to Celine's and were greeted by pots and pots and pans and plates of food. It was an enormous spread. The twelve of us managed to put together a delicious meal - who knew we could all be such gourmet chefs? And I think we're all gourmands now, too! Turkey, stuffing, corn souffle, mashed potatoes, green beans, Serbia soup (we made Darija make it even though it is, in no way, a part of Thanksgiving), mashed sweet potatoes (Emily went out and found marshmallows - they exist here!), quiche, cookies (praise everything! They were off the HOOK), salads like whoa, apple crumble and ice cream, aaaaand six baguettes. Because you really can'th ave a meal here without a baguette. Good gravy it was all amazing.

I ate so much that I had a stomachache alllllll day on Friday. In fact, I might still be recovering.

But it was great - we ate, we drank wine, we played guitar and sang songs. It was homey and comfortable and it was really really nice to be in such good company. We're all missing home on varying levels and in different ways and I couldn't have asked for a better Thanksgiving Abroad than the one I had on Thursday.

I'd like to give another shoutout to all my postcard pen pals: Thanks, guys, for sending me all the postcards! I think I get at least two a week and it does wonders for my mood and ego - I'm feelin' pretty popular all up I here :) Haha, it's just really nice to have these things from home. I miss y'all.

I hope your Thanksgivings were awesome and family- and friends- and fun- and smiles-filled. I hope you're all preparing your stomachs for the holiday season. Don't forget the egg nog!

love,
emily




p.s. Saved by the Bell, Seasons 1 and 2 are sale on Amazon.com. Yeah buddy.

Vive la France!

My teachers are all on strike today so I don't have to teach!

Wheeeeeeeeee!

i'm going to go embrace my day!

xox

Today I got my first bisous from my students.

I melted.

Vacayyyy de la Toussaint, Part Two

PARIS

Yes, mesdames et messieurs, I hit up Paris. And it was beautiful.

Thursday, arrived from Tours. Nicole, Amy, Emily, Darija and I got into our little Hotel Printemps, turns out we were to stay on the top floor. Ok, I know the French are all into being skinny and buff and stuff but good lorde, could you please put an elevator in your VERY TALL building so I don't lose die every time I ascend your stairs? Just a few things to consider: premature death by respiratory failure, fire hazards, death by falling (wobbly banisters like WHOA) and over all death by fatigue. Yes, my friends, making that ascent with our eight hundred-pound valises was not a pretty sight. But hey, I just figured every time I walked up I got to reward myself with a pain au chocolat, right?

Hotel Printemps worked nicely for us, though. We were right by the subway stop so, as soon as we'd put down our bags, we we headed for the Eiffel Tower.

No, just kidding, we headed to Starbucks. Seriously. Starbucks.

Now, before you write me off as a coffee-crazed, addicted and slightly pathetic American, hear me out: I haven't had a coffee larger than a shot glass here. Ever. I pay a euro fifty once a week for a teeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiiny coffee and knowing that Starbucks was in Paris was like knowing that the Cadbury Chocolate Superstore is in your hometown. We just HAD to go. And go, we did. I will neither confirm nor deny that I went to Starbucks a (truly satisfying) four times while in Paris. I own that! I loved every single over-priced sip! I savored the sugary syrup of my latte, the four pounds of butter in each muffin, the stares I got from the Parisians as I took out my knitting to do what any American does in a coffeeshop - stop, put her feet up, and people-watch . I leafed through their "We're environmentally-friendly and we're humanitarians, we swear!" leaflets and I browsed through their beautiful shiny thermoses (thermoses is a weird-looking word, eh?) and I salivated over their caramel macchiatos, their chocolats chaud and their regular old coffee. Holy whoa, who knew I could write such a long paragraph dedicated to Starbucks? I think I'm longing for some America back in my life.

After Starbucks, our first stop on our Paris-tour was Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. It was a Thursday afternoon, grey and dreary - reminded me of England. Amy had scuttled off to meet with her friends so it was just me, the D(arija, my colocatrice), Emily, and Nicole. We saw the stairs. The stairs were intimidating. We took the stairs by storm.

Yeahhhhh buddy.

Once we got to the top we got to look out over all of Paris while simultaneously getting to listen to some dudes sing Bob Marley. It was like a flashback to college except I wasn't eating ramen and no one was locked out of the bathroom. It was beautiful, it was breathtaking, it was exciting. We posed for pictures for approximately eight million hours and then headed back down to wander the streets of Paris. I decided to start a photo shoot of me looking like a fool at every grand Paris monument. I'm pretty sure I succeded!

Next stop on Paris Tour was the Champs-Elysees. I'd like to give a shout out and a hollah to Madame Weltzer, who put me through French 2-4 at East Lansing High and had us sing "Au Champs-Elysees" a million times. Hollah! Thanks to you, I know the song and I know how singing can really help in a class with foreign languages (heads up: I taught my kids "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" the other day and it was one of the greatest moments in my life). We walked down the street, we checked out l'Arc de Triomph, we strolled down the Avenue. I couldn't help but feel a little like I was in New York walking up 5th Avenue and then I got all nostalgic for New York but I was in Paris so what was I doing thinking about New York but hey , homesickness is hitting me a little bit at the moment so it makes sense.

ANYway. I made a video. On the Champs-Elysees. And it goes a little like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKHLd9jwy-Q

Next stop was... the Eiffel Tower! It went a little like this:

"Hey guys, let's take the metro to the Eiffel Tower!"
"Ok!"
yaddayaddayaddachattingonthemetromakingfoolsofourselveslookingreallyamericanlaughingourbuttsoffmakingdarijacringewitheveryhugeloudguffawandthen
BAM
the freaking Eiffel Tower. Out the window.




Good gravy that was amazing!
I seriously was very very close to crying. Not sure why - it's not like I have a history with the Tower or anything but it was just like WHOA I was not expecting that. Emily and I fumbled around on the metro for our cameras, as we wanted to get a shot of the Tower as we whizzed by, but we couldn't do it. Nice-looking Parisians (say WHAT!) smiled at our touristy-efforts and we basically ran off the metro at our stop trying to get to the monument AFAP.

Photos photos photos. I went to the Tower a total of three times during the trip wait maybe more and I took artsty ones, stupid ones, fun ones, ugly ones, blurry ones, night ones, I got 'em all. So good to go with four girls who all realize how important it is to get everysingleangle for everysinglecamera for everysinglepersoninthegroup. I'm surprised our cameras didn't all run out of batts there! Oh yeah - I too my "Hi I'm Emily the crazy American tourist" shot at the Tower, too.

Amy had gone off earlier in the day to go meet up with her British Uni friends and Nicole took Thursday afternoon off for herself so it was just me, the D, and Emily who then went to the Louvre. It should be said that we're all ballers on budgets and were trying to do Paris on the cheap so we didn't acutally go into anything. Seriously. Photo ops on the outside were just fiiiiine by me. Some day when I am famous and make a million dollars makign stilly videos on YouTube or singing covers of Girlyman I will be able to go back to Paris and live it up but for now... outside-of-important-buildings shots are a-ok with me. And holycrapican'tbelievewe'reinparislet'slookreallyshockedandhappy shots are also ok.

So we went to the Louvre and went all DaVinci Code on it and took pictures of the giant triangle thing. That was cool.

I just realized that I think I've gotten my days mixed up. Or I've made my Paris experience into one long adventure, like the sun didn't set on my vacation. But, uh, I just can't remember when one day ended (Eiffel Tower at night) and the next day began (obligatory Starbucks). So bear with me, it'll make sense or something.

Ahhhhh I think I remember. I went to the Louvre on Friday. Ok who the hell knows. We'll just say that's what happened.

Friday was my day with just me, Darija, and Emily. We went to the Louvre (on the outside - hells no were we gonna pay to go in! Ciao, Mona Lisa) and we went to the Notre Dame and we went and ate ice cream at the best ice cream place in all of Paris and we walked on the Seine and took artsy fartsy photos and we went to this really famous square but I can't remember what it's called. That night Darija left to go party with her fam out in Lyon and Nicole and I took an amazing repose back at the hotel that consisted of us watching Scrubs for a lil' bit. That night we met up with Nicole and her friend, Lorraine, and had a delicious Menu meal (you know, like 14 euros for an entree, plat, and dessert) and I drank, literally, 7 carafes de l'eau - j'ai soif like WHOA here in France!

Aaaaaaand we went back to the Eiffel Tower for some night shots. Holler!
Found a lil' art exposition on the Seine as we finished up at the Tower. Very very cool.

And of course we had to go to the Moulin Rouge! At night!
Crazy sketch.
I've never seen so many sex shops in my life. Here in Europe they're called "sexy shops" and, for some reason, that makes them sound dirtier than usual to me.
I hunted around for Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman but, alas, they weren't there. Instead, the group of us were whistled at, men gave me confused look (the garcon ou fille? look) and there was all that whistling and hollering that comes with being young (totally beautiful) women in France. The guys who do all the catcalling are called drageurs and they're everywhere. And annoying. Luckily, I don't get much of that.

Anyway, we were pretty excited to be on the street of Lights 'n Filth. Elysia met up with us that night (ok i remember! This was Saturday night!) and she had her first Paris crepe and it was all merry and stuff.

Sunday was our last day in Paris. I'd left Avignon at 5:00 am on Tuesday and, being the homebody that I am, by Saturday night I was ready to be back in my fortified walled city, back at the Lalogene, back at Place Pie, back at 5 rue Saint Thomas d'Aquin, back on Rue de la Republique, back at the Palais, back to everything that's familiar. But just because I was feeling like I wanted my Avignon home didn't mean we didn't live up Paris for our last day!

We checked out of Hotel Printemps in the morning, took all our bags to the train station for the day. For those of you who are doing international travel and all of that, i totally recommend it! Useful and not too pricey and useful!

After the Gare me and Emily and Elysia took off for the Louvre again, to give Elysia a few sights to see. This time we went IN the Louvre because guess what! All museums in Paris are free to the public on the first Sunday of every month! And we were there on the first Sunday of November! Woohoo!!! But someone shoulda given me a whistle or something to blow because I got lost in the Louvre and I couldn't Marco/Polo my way to my friends. Oh well - found 'em and then we went and saw the Mona Lisa.
And then I saw a bunch of statues.
And then I saw a bunch of paintings.
And then I saw a lot of African art.
And then I wished I knew more about art. I couldn't fully appreciate the Louvre. But it was still freaking cool.

Sunday was our first and only beautiful day in Paris but we really took advantage of it. We went to Place de la Concord, we went to the Louvre, we went to l'Arc de Triomph. It was all beautiful. And we went UP l'Arc de Triomph because guess what oh yeah it as open to the public and it was AWESOME. I looked out onto Paris from its center - it was breathtaking. That was an wesome moment.


Ok, so I think that ends my Paris Tour. Eiffel Tower, Louvre, Notre Dame, Moulin Rouge, Champs-Elysees, Montmartre... I feel like I did it all! Of course I didn't and I need to go back a million times to get the city in its entirety but it was a nice entree to a plat, I feel. And I was with these really freaking sweet people the whole time. I wish Parisians wore color. I wish they picked up after their dogs. I wish they smiled more. Makes me miss home :)

Paris was an awesome time!

Attention: email is DOWN!

Hi everyone!

I wanted to apologize: I haven't been in contact too much recently and I've been trying to write e-mails back alllllll day but my e-mail is down for some reason, although I can blog and I can do other things. I think gmail is having some sort of hiccup. Hiccup is a weird word to see.

Anyway, please know that I am trying to get back to you. Internet here is ALWAYS iffy and for some reason I can access IM sometimes, sometimes not, I can access e-mail sometimes, sometimes not. I see it as a part of France - doing what it wants to do and not letting you in on the game.

So yes - I am here, things are nice... I joined a gym (hollerrrrrr), I listen to Joshua Radin on repeat and I am still discovering Avignon. Next week is Thanksgiving! I hope I can find some turkey other than the pre-sliced dinde meant for my baguette. Fingers crossed!

Montpellier and Nimes!

So this past weekend I went to Montpellier and Nimes.
I took a trip with the Association Echanges, a group from the University of Avignon that works to bring all the foreign kids together and tries to get them with Frenchies so we can all live in multilingual harmony. I'm going to become a member of AssocEchanges so I can get all their e-mails and get hooked up on other amazing trips - next month we're going to Lyon to see a festival of lights! Or something. Ok, I'm not really sure what's going on but it's guaranteed to be cool and cheap and cultural and stuff.

Thursday night I went to a soiree for the AssocEchanges which is where I had conversations with Frenchies (this is hard for me to do because I get so nervous and, unfortunately, I don't do it enough (but, Mom and Dad, know that I'm speaking lots of French every day!)) and learned about the trip. I wasn't going to go because I didn't want to give up a weekend of extremely thrilling lesson planning but then oh wait people started talking sense in to me ("Emily, you gotta go, why would you NOT go to Montpellier and Nimes with a bunch of foreign kids for only 25 euro for the whole weekend?"). At 8:30 on Saturday morning I dragged my booty to the University bus stop and was whisked away to the coast of la France. On our itinerary was: the Pont du Gard, drive to Montpellier, stay in Montpellier for the night, and head to Nimes on Sunday. Awesome.

Besides the fact that we didn't leave the bus stop precisely at 8:30, the trip was the most organized I have ever seen in France. More organized than the French educational system, than our disastrous orientation in Marseille, more organized than the circonscription in which I work, more organized than the bank to which I (unfortunately) belong. Simply brilliant! I just want to give a hollah and a shout out to the organizers of AssocEchanges for being amazing and actually making things happen! Hollah!

Here's a rundown of each part of our trip:

Pont du Gard... wow. Everyone, please forgive my ignorance about the area of France I live in (and, unfortunately, my general ignorance of the country/of life at the moment)... I didn't know there were a bunch of Roman ruins chillin' all around us. Well, there are. In Arles there's the giant arena, in Nimes there's another one, and halfway between Avignon and Nimes is the Pont du Gard, an freaking huge. How bleeping amazing. So we took lots o' pics and I tried to be all artsy and stuff but it didn't really work out. I also spent a lot of time chatting up other foreign kids, attempting French, and figuring out how we can all be friends. Because this is something I need to do - I need to put myself out there more with people outside this 'posse' I've jumped into in Avignon and hell, we were spending the weekend together so why not!?

Then we all piled back into our bus and went to Montpellier. Montpellier's a big city on the coast. We were supposed to meet up with Montpellier's AssocEchanges but they didn't show up (vive la France!) so we all just dispersed within the city to go explore and discover it for ourselves. I spent the afternoon with the world's two greatest Italians and what did we do? We got to rent bikes and take them around town. It only cost 1 euro for 4 hours! Oh man, that's the ONE good deal I've found here in France! Aaaaand so we took it and it was so much fun. Highlights of our stay in the Mont? Jardin des Plants, conquering the hilly tiny roads of Montpellier, watching the leaves change color and thinking of Michigan, and happening upon a "wishing tree" (passersby have written tons of hopes and wishes on pieces of paper and left them in the little cracks of this tree). We also witnessed this little kid just JAM on a bongo drum at the town's center and I saw a street protest. All in all, an eventful day!

Saturday night was a chill evening of kabab-eating. Somehow, at the end of the night we found ourselves at a reggae-DJ-rock bar with a bunch of dreadheads. I, of course, was wearing my American/French combination of my pink Northface winter coat (very chic, non?) and my H & M hat... I don't think I've ever looked more out of place. But the music was great and it was nice to see a little bit of Montpellier's nightlife - they're pretty renowned here for it.

We spent the night in Montpellier's giant youth hostel. Yeahhhhhh buddy! It was my first time in a youth hostel and it was a good time. It reminded me of ASB and of youth group trips and stuff - tons of people crowded into not-so-awesome bathrooms and sleeping in bunk beds and all of that. I don't know why but I chose the room with ten beds. So I spent the night with two Italians, three Germans, two Spaniards, one other American and a Brit. That is why I love it here - I meet so many people from everywhere. We all had polite chit chat in French throughout the evening but as the night wore on we all just gave up and spoke to one another in our native tongues. Phew! I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to slip into the good ol' comfort zone of speaking in my langue maternelle.

Sunday we woke up, ate a giant breakfast of bread, bread, and more bread and headed to Nimes.

I'd like to make an announcement? I freaking love public transportation. I mean, I could ride the bus or the train all freaking day. I really think I've regressed or something. You know how I love having the ceiling fan on at night so I can hear the sound of the blades moving in the air and I can watch the fan if I have trouble falling asleep? Well that makes me feel like I'm four, as does my love of public transportation. But no matter! So everytime we got on the bus I was really sad to get off it. No matter, though, because everything we did rocked.

In Nimes we had the chance to walk all around and take in all the sites of the city but I ended up passing out at the town's fountain with Amy and Emily, after a visit to the church (it was Sunday, after all) and feeling a little overwhelmed at the sound of church music. I need to find myself an Anglican church here, that's fo ho. Nothing compares to All Saints, but I want the music and the liturgy and the community.

So after our nap we went and had our giant lunch that was included in the price of only 25 bones for the weekend!

Then we went and saw the Arena of Nimes. Giant giant Roman ruin in town and we got to go in it (for free!) and I took so many pictures. I also was the coolest foreigner around as I walked up and down the ruin singing "The Top of the World" by the Carpenters. THat made me rul popular, fo sho.

All in all, a great weekend. I am so glad I decided to up and go - two more French cities under my belt, I saw the Pont du Gard which is bleeping fantastic, and I met a million new people and had tons o' fun with my usual homies. But don't let me go on a trip like this again without doing a little lesson plan before hand!

Vocabulary

So we all know that my knowledge of French vocabulary is pretty crud. In an attempt to ameliorate it, I bought a book full o' helpful words in helpful list-form at a bookstore in Paris. Uh-oh, repetition of helpful... need a thesaurus, too.

QUAND même...

I was with my friend, Alice, yesterday at our new favorite Avignon cafe, "francoise," and we busted out the book to learn a few words. I am telling you, dear readers, that I can now say: “Quotidiennement je télécharge des images des cafards.”

This of course means:
"Daily I download images of cockroaches"

Merci.

Vacayyyy de la Toussaint, Part One

Vacances de la Toussaint started for me, Emily Findley, on Wednesday, October 24th. My vacation ends on Sunday, November 11th. There is seriously something wrong with that. Vive la France!

After a rockin' bday weekend, I went back to work on Monday the 22nd and I did some Halloween stuff. By "did some Halloween stuff" I mean that I'd completely panicked the night before teaching and couldn't come up with anything except a coloring worksheet. Not my brightest or proudest moment. It was pretty much like I'd procrastinated the heck out of studying for a big exam and then BAM the multiple choice were way harder than I thought they'd be. Actually, I currently feel that's how teaching is - one big ol' test that I freak out about every week b/c I don't know what I'm doing and I don't know how to prepare and I procrastinate a bit too much. Hmm...

ANYway, after my two days of work for the week, I found myself in vacation. I was actually kind of surprised on Wednesday when I realized I didn't have to go back to work for two and a half weeks. Surprised, overjoyed, etc. So it was time to get my vacay-on. And I fo sho did!

I spent the first few days of vacation in Avignon. While I'm currently trying to turn myself into a fancy shmancy world traveler who's seen everything and is all cultured and amazing like that, we all know how much of a homebody I am. So staying home in Avignon for a few days in vacation was still vacation and still fun and homebody-ish - just how I like it. I'm really glad I stayed in Avignon because I hung out with other assistants with whom I spend less time, usually, like Marius, Neil, Ciaran, Robyn, etc. All of these people are amazing, of course, and I had a freaking sweet time chillin', playing cards, going on a picnic, going on a bike ride through the French countryside, eatin' candy, and talking with all of them. I am always smiling here because I am always always happy with the company I get to keep. I feel so lucky.

Then on Tuesday I left Avignon. At 5:00 am.

At 5:06 am on Tuesday morning, my TGV train left Avignon Centre for Tours. My first train took me to Paris, I cabbed my way to Gare Austerlitz and took another train from Paris to Tours. On the second train I sat next to a really sweet girl who brought her cats with her (oh man, peeps and their pets!) and I tried to have conversation with her but she was really shy and quiet and when she did speak, I could not understand a word she said because she mumbled like WHOA and, of course, my French isn't that good yet. So I sat, loving public transportation, knitting and smiling to myself as I listened to my iPod and watched the French landscape zip by.

I interrupt this blog post to state that it smells like burning in my bedroom but I have no idea why. Hmmmm...

Back to Tours. I was met at the train station by Emily and Amy and it was like we hadn't seen each other in ages. Everyone remember the movie "Love Actually"? And how, at the film's beginning and end, the narrator person says that Love Actually is all around and the film montage is all about how you can see love in all its forms at the airport and all of that? Well I don't think there's anything quite like being picked up at the train station. It rocks. So Amy and Emily swept me up in their arms and we headed back to our Hotel Foch (everyone pronounce that however you want) and then we went to a castle with Nicole and Darija. I'm ashamed b/c I can't remember the name of the castle but I can tell you that it was beautiful and very castle-y. My camera was without battery, unfortunately, so I couldn't take any pics but I think there are tons of them on facebook and Nicole and Emily both have pics up, prob, so y'all can see. There was a maze, there was a super long walk up to the castle, the leaves were perfect shades of red and orange, it was a beautiful day... picture perfect, really! Also, that night I had my first crepe in France (the first of my time here) and I died from happiness. Ok, so I had two crepes: a dinner one and a dessert one and it was all amazing.
Me and the D(arija)
Emily and Amy


That was Tours, day 1.

Tours, day 2, was a day for Nicole and I to hang out in the city while the others went off and castled all day long. I think they say five of them or something like that. Oh, I should mention that Tours is in the part of France that's known for its castles so that's the reason for going. Nicole and I hung out in Tours and took pics and had a grand old time. Very chill, very beautiful. It was nice to be in a bigger city. Good preparation for...

PARIS.

I've been to Paris. And OMG it's exactly how I thought it'd be. Yeahhhhhhh buddy!

But more on Paris later. I currently have to go into my room and clean it up so my landlady doesn't yell at me. Yay.

Champs-Elysees like WHAT

I think I just updated my first-ever video onto YouTube! Click on the link below and get whisked away to the whackiness of singing "Au Champs-Elysees" in Paris. It was a beautiful day, I was with my amazing friends, and of course I had to sing the song. Oh p.s. - that's the Arc de Triomph behind us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKHLd9jwy-Q