I finally made it back! (And this time it’s a little more permanent than a vacation!)
After flying to Paris in a group with the other students going on the Sweet Briar program, we took a bus to Tours, where we are staying for a 2 week orientation. Basically, the whole trip was like this:
Then when we got to Tours we met our host families. My host parents have like 4 or 5 kids, but they’re all off on vacation somewhere so currently another girl from Rice, a Japanese student and I are their replacement kids for the next 2 weeks. They also have two adorable dogs.
The only problem is they keep trying to feed me nuts.
Definitely mentioned I was allergic
Just because the hazelnut powder is only at the bottom of the chocolate mousse does not mean I can eat it! Good thing I always have allergy medicine ready!
On the other hand my host mom makes me coffee every morning, so there’s some points in her favor. Have to ward off those caffeine headaches!
Let’s be honest. This will never happen.
Saturday we visited the Château de Chenonceau, which is basically the most fairy tale looking French castle I’ve ever seen:
Complete with pink bedrooms:
Catherine de Medici either really loved pink or must have really hated the person who picked out the furniture!
Then we took the bus to Amboise and passed by another gorgeous castle in favor of Leonardo da Vinci’s final resting place.
Definitely geeked out trying to imagine da Vinci walking the same halls!
Then of course being the American college students that we are, we had to find the playground in the garden full of da Vinci’s inventions. Then this happened:
Don’t worry though, because school started today at the Institut de Touraine. The first day consisted of 3 hours of almost non-stop French!
Speaking of school… I should probably start that homework right?
Because I’m definitely going to listen to anything Lucifer tells me to do
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Last night I dreamed about this trip for the first time. My parents had dropped me off at the airport and I was going to meet up with the rest of the group when I realized I had left all of my chargers at home. ALL of them. Not just the simple iPhone charger that can be purchased all over the world, but laptop chargers and camera chargers. I’ve never been so glad to wake up.
I haven’t seen this movie in I don’t even know, but it’s kind of perfect
I think the notion that I’m actually leaving for a year is just hitting me.
My suitcase at this moment is only half packed and I still have a giant list of things I need to do.
If you didn’t already know, I will be spending the next year living in Paris, France with the Sweet Briar Junior Year in France program. I chose this program because not only was it the most recommended program at my university, but it also gives me the opportunity to take classes side by side with French students at the Sorbonne while providing me with an extensive support network that other study abroad programs do not provide. Furthermore, since I am going for the entire year Sweet Briar will help me to find an internship in the spring semester.
Straight off Sweet Briar’s website. This is going to be me. All smiley and French and stuff.
Now if you know me, you’re probably wondering how I’m going to the “JUNIOR” year in France when it’s only my second year in college. Well since I came into college with so many AP credits, academically speaking I am a junior and apparently that’s all that matters. Going my sophomore year, for me, makes the most sense academically. My French speaking level has hit a plateau (or decreased!) since coming to college because all I ever do anymore is read, write, and listen to my professor lecture. Going my sophomore year means I don’t have to worry as much about academic credit since I will have two more years at college to finish my degree.
I’ve been planning running off to France ever since I went the first time, the summer between 4th and 5th grade, so no amount of begging (I’ve heard plenty!) is going to make me change my mind!
Tomorrow morning I will fly off to Washington D.C. where I will meet up with the rest of the Sweet Briar students and then in the evening we will fly to Paris. From Paris we will leave our luggage, except for our puny carry ons and board a bus for Tours, a smaller town in central France where we will have an intensive 2 week orientation. (Probably to make sure we remember how to speak everyday French instead of spouting lines from Candide or Madame Bovary!)
So I’ll try to update as soon as possible when I get there, WiFi permitting.
Wow. I’m nervous now.
Wish me luck!
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If you read my earlier post you’ll know I took a quick jaunt around Europe earlier this summer and went to London, Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. I’m stating my top 3 favorite and 2 least favorite things about each city and yet I do believe these blog posts are turning out longer than the trip itself!
Paris: ❤ ❤ ❤
+1. It felt like home: An overwhelming wave of nostalgia hit me as our bus took us from the train station to our dinner in the center of Paris. This was the city where I’d shared some of my fondest memories with my family and even adventured by myself as a young teenager. I didn’t feel like a tourist this time around. I felt like I was coming home ❤
It’s the obligatory picture every time you go
+2. Macarons: If you have never had a macaroon, (macaron in French) consider yourself a deprived individual and order yourself a box straight away. I hunted down Laduree, the most famous macaron chain in Paris and got a box of them with my family. Worth every centine 😉
Quite possible the most famous macaron vendor in ParisAnd these are the delightfully delicious aforementioned sweets ❤
+3. Cinnamon chocolate: I have been dying the last 2 years, deprived of this delicacy I have only every been able to find in France. If you’ve every added cinnamon to your hot chocolate in the winter you have tasted just a fraction of the bliss of what true cinnamon chocolate gives you. If you find a supplier of cinnamon chocolate who ships to the states, please let me know! Thankfully, the chocolate store under the Louvre will serve as my chocolate drug dealer in the upcoming year.
-1. The Lock Bridge: Two years ago it was one of my favorite things about Paris. It’s been my iPhone’s home screen for that long as well. So you can imagine that I was a little distressed to see my favorite bridge go from this:
June 2012
To this:
June 2014
Shocking huh? They’ve started locking chains onto the bridge so that even MORE locks can go on!
-2. Tourists: I know I know. Technically I was a tourist, but when I’m in France I want to speak French not English! The tourism industry makes it very difficult to speak French since almost everyone there speaks English.
Brussels:
+1. Chocolate: Not as good as French cinnamon chocolate, but when you have entire streets dedicated to chocolate stores who make everything from dark chocolate to basil honey chocolate you know you’re in heaven!
+2. Waffles: Belgian Waffles.
No words necessary
If that didn’t convince you:
+3. They speak French! Definitely a plus that they speak my favorite language. Especially handy when you need to yell at your waiter for not telling you that it would take an hour and a half to prepare lunch. Ahh Belgians.
-1. Belgian Pralines: I have the unfortunate malady of being allergic to nuts. So whenever I walk into a chocolate shop I make sure to ask (in 2 different languages) if the chocolate I wish to buy has nuts. (Side story: I almost didn’t get into Rice because of an incident that occurred right before my interview!) I was quite distraught in this one chocolate store because everything was labelled as “Praline.” Now I’ve never eaten a praline for obvious reasons, but I’ve always labelled them in my mind as “chocolate things with nuts.” I told this to the shopkeeper, in French, who assured me that Belgian pralines did not have nuts.
So I bought a TON of chocolate from that store.
Unfortunately as I learned by about my 3rd piece, is that sure enough Belgian pralines do not contain nuts, but that Belgium also likes to make normal pralines as well. So I had a bag full of “Belgian” pralines and “nutty” pralines and no way of knowing which was which unless I wanted to put myself in the hospital.
“Good” Praline“Bad” Praline
I feel like this kid:
Blame Tumblr
I think I’ll stick to my French chocolate…
-2. Time: We spent a morning there. Maybe 10 am to 12:30? I know Brussels isn’t famous for much, but I wish I could have toured the European Parliament!
Amsterdam:
+1. Raw Fish: I ate raw fish. I ATE RAW FISH AND I LIKED IT.
Anyways… It was raw herring to be exact. It was delicious.
Tastes better than it looks I promise!
+2. Dutch Country Life: Endless windmills and green rolling hills, tulips of all sorts and life on the waterfront. Plus their outfits were super colorful!
When my dad came to Amsterdam in 1970 he and his family took a family portrait at one of those “dress-up” places:
Approximately taken in 1970
So of course we had to take one all together too!
2014: 44 years later!
+3. Environmentally Friendly: Don’t have to worry about pollution here, you just have to worry about being run down by the thousands upon thousands of bicyclists.
So many bikes!
-1. Amsterdam itself: Unfortunately as we were travelling with a group of 14 year olds, the tour guides thought it wise to find a hotel far outside the city limits to make it impossible for anyone to sneak out and sample some of Amsterdam’s more explicit activities. So I didn’t actually see much of the city. Which is even more unfortunate because they have a museum full of Vermeer’s! Girl with a Pearl Earring anyone??
They made a movie based off of this painting! AKA I missed seeing a movie star in real life
-2. Dutch Toilets:
You walk into the bathroom (that you had to pay half a euro for because of course there’s free healthcare in Europe, but no free loos) and you see that all of the stall doors are made of glass. Not frosty glass oh no, the completely clear glassy glass.
Thank goodness it frosts over when you lock the stall door.
But still, that was a weird experience…
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London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam to be exact!
This summer my parents decided to lead their students on a guided tour of Europe.
Blah blah blah all I heard when they told me about it was “trip to Europe!”
This exactly, except in reverse since we went into London first
I have mixed feelings about my first “big tour” experience. Honestly, The introvert in me didn’t being part of a 80 something strong group. The fact that a majority of these 80 something people were all 13 or 14 year olds did not help either. The biggest thing however was that the entire 8 days I was there I spent yearning to go off and explore on my own. This is the unfortunate thing about a scheduled tour. Everything is set into stone and you cannot deviate from what the tour director has set.
For example, while in London our tour made a stop at St. Paul’s cathedral. Now I’m not religious, but when I see something that in one form of another has existed for over a millennium I would like to do more than stop inside for a group bathroom break.
Exactly.
Also, because we were a group of 80 something people and because we all absolutely had to stick together at all times, dinner was not ideal. There were no menus. We ate what was given to us. This is completely fine if the restaurant happens to be serving a local recipe, but again without a menu you don’t even know the names of the dishes your eating, much less know if there are any allergens inside said dishes. How was I supposed to know that the vanilla ice cream we were served was chock full of ground up nuts? That one made for a very unpleasant evening. If my allergy was more severe or if I had not had my medicine with me, I could have died.
Then again, if you are a person who has not traveled outside of the country before, or are quite young, a tour might be perfect. It provides a safe environment to learn how a foreign country’s infrastructure and culture work so that the next time you decide to travel, it can be on your own.
Thankfully, the next time I travel, I will be on my own. For a year… Oh my.
To keep things as short as this trip was I will give you my top 3 favorite things and 2 least favorite things from each city.
London:
+1. British accents: I could live in London the rest of my life just to hear their accents every where I go. Basically, everything you’ve ever imagined about accents is true. An offshoot of this is I discovered I loved hearing all of their quirky words and phrases that you never hear in America!
+2. My inner nerd: I have to admit I was fangirling over the entire city. Especially when I saw the crown jewels…
Watch it. Watch it now.
+3. The varied architecture: London did not have a Haussmann to tear down streets and re-build London with one uniform design. Ironically, one of my favorite things about Paris is what makes London so refreshing to me: the variety!
A bird’s eye view… or maybe just an eye’s view since this is from the London Eye…
-1. It was too American: It was just weird to walk into a store and hear Avicii playing on the radio. There’s absolutely no reason for them to NOT play Avicii or American music, but I guess I expected more Beatles and One Direction.
Also… There were Starbucks everywhere. More Starbucks than I have ever seen in one place. There were literally 3 on the same tiny street. Two of those three could have fit into a photograph if I’d thought to take one. They were completely separate stores yet less than 100 feet from each other! You think living in London would mean you would miss American food. Nope! They had everything from KFC, to Chipotle and Five Guys!
-2. Pollution: **WARNING** TMI right here! I started to feel a little sick my second day in London and so while blowing my nose I discovered that all the snot coming out of my nostrils was black. My snot was black. Boy that freaked me out. It freaked me out so much so that I then decided to blow my nose in every city we went to on the trip from that day forward. My snot did not suffer from the same discoloration at any city after London… which means that I was breathing in black stuff in London. Nasty.
So now this post is already ridiculously long so stay tuned for updates on my city-soul mate, belgium chocolate, and my secret life as a time travelling Dutch girl which has absolutely nothing to do with those magic truffles I saw in Amsterdam. Promise!
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A blog about a girl with a serious case of wanderlust and her quest to travel
Flooding the World 