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| Sadly, my mom is not in this picture because she was taking it, but she's there in spirit! |
Showing posts with label france. Show all posts
Showing posts with label france. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Ah Paris!!!
After a lovely weekend with my family, I am back in Vichy. We spent Friday to Sunday in Paris, and then proceeded to Vichy for some relaxation. Since it's a small town, there's not much to do here. Mostly we just shopped and slept! However, Paris was very exciting. I'm not sure that I'd like to live there, but visiting was awesome. I'm so glad that I get to go back in just over a week!
I loved being able to see my family, even if it was just for a short time. Being away from them for so long makes me extra grateful for the time we get to spend together. For me, now it's back to classes and everyday life in Vichy. I'll keep you updated!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Les Règles
Dear readers Mom and Dad,
I'd like to apologize for the radio silence recently. It seems I'm not a very good blogger, or at lease a very faithful one. To be fair, not much has happened since my last post. I've been a good little student, going to classes and studying (sort of). The classes are really laid back, so there's not much homework.
After almost two weeks of "trial classes" I've picked the classes I will take for the semester. They are "The European Union," "France as a Tourist Destination," and "International Marketing." OK, those might not be the exact titles, but they're pretty close.
For the two or three of you reading who aren't my mother or father, you should know that I'll be meeting my family in Paris this weekend! It will be a magical adventure, filled with too much patriotism from my father, and the exhausted ramblings of my sisters, who will most likely detest French food. I'm super excited. But really, their craziness is going to make it even more fun and unique. After all, what's a family vacation without a few (or about ten) roadblocks? If family vacations in America (where everyone speaks English) are interesting, a family vacation in a foreign country should give me enough material to write my own novel.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Since I don't want this post to be completely pointless, here are a few useful facts I've learned about France:
1.) You must bring your own bags to grocery shop. They don't supply bags...ever.
2.) At restaurants, tips are never required. They are appreciated occasionally, but not necessary.
3.) When going out at night, ladies should never have bare legs. Apparently pantyhose are still a thing in France (yuck).
4.) There are few (if any) rules about bringing pets into stores. Dogs are allowed and even welcomed into most places, even clothing stores!
5.) Parking rules are not enforced (if there are any). Don't be surprised if you're walking down the sidewalk and a car decides to park right in front of you. Sidewalks are equal opportunity parking spaces.
I'd like to apologize for the radio silence recently. It seems I'm not a very good blogger, or at lease a very faithful one. To be fair, not much has happened since my last post. I've been a good little student, going to classes and studying (sort of). The classes are really laid back, so there's not much homework.
After almost two weeks of "trial classes" I've picked the classes I will take for the semester. They are "The European Union," "France as a Tourist Destination," and "International Marketing." OK, those might not be the exact titles, but they're pretty close.
For the two or three of you reading who aren't my mother or father, you should know that I'll be meeting my family in Paris this weekend! It will be a magical adventure, filled with too much patriotism from my father, and the exhausted ramblings of my sisters, who will most likely detest French food. I'm super excited. But really, their craziness is going to make it even more fun and unique. After all, what's a family vacation without a few (or about ten) roadblocks? If family vacations in America (where everyone speaks English) are interesting, a family vacation in a foreign country should give me enough material to write my own novel.
Anyways, that's all I've got for now. Since I don't want this post to be completely pointless, here are a few useful facts I've learned about France:
1.) You must bring your own bags to grocery shop. They don't supply bags...ever.
2.) At restaurants, tips are never required. They are appreciated occasionally, but not necessary.
3.) When going out at night, ladies should never have bare legs. Apparently pantyhose are still a thing in France (yuck).
4.) There are few (if any) rules about bringing pets into stores. Dogs are allowed and even welcomed into most places, even clothing stores!
5.) Parking rules are not enforced (if there are any). Don't be surprised if you're walking down the sidewalk and a car decides to park right in front of you. Sidewalks are equal opportunity parking spaces.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Le Premier Voyage
This weekend I took my first "official" trip in France! We went to a nearby town called Clermont-Ferrand. It's much bigger than Vichy, so the shopping is better. Plus, there's this AMAZING church built entirely out of rock from the region. It's some sort of lava rock, so it's a dark, black color.
Pretty impressive, huh? I could have stared at it for hours, but I'll do that some other time. The rest of our trip involved a lot of shopping, an Irish pub, some partying (don't worry mom, nothing major), and a VERY crowded hotel room. We had two hotel rooms that were supposed to be for three people each. There were nineteen of us. Yeah. I slept on the floor with a blanket and used someone's bag as a pillow. I'm a bit sore today, but at least it added to the adventure!
To top it all off, we found out that the buses don't run on Sunday (or so we thought), so we had to walk a lot to get to a tram station to take us to the train station. I'm sure we painted an interesting picture, with all nineteen (I think?) of us meandering down the road with backpacks and bedhead. We finally made it back in the afternoon, and I think most of us just crashed for a much-needed nap.
I must say I'm pretty happy with my first trip in France. Not everything went as planned, but that's what makes it an adventure!
Pretty impressive, huh? I could have stared at it for hours, but I'll do that some other time. The rest of our trip involved a lot of shopping, an Irish pub, some partying (don't worry mom, nothing major), and a VERY crowded hotel room. We had two hotel rooms that were supposed to be for three people each. There were nineteen of us. Yeah. I slept on the floor with a blanket and used someone's bag as a pillow. I'm a bit sore today, but at least it added to the adventure!
To top it all off, we found out that the buses don't run on Sunday (or so we thought), so we had to walk a lot to get to a tram station to take us to the train station. I'm sure we painted an interesting picture, with all nineteen (I think?) of us meandering down the road with backpacks and bedhead. We finally made it back in the afternoon, and I think most of us just crashed for a much-needed nap.
I must say I'm pretty happy with my first trip in France. Not everything went as planned, but that's what makes it an adventure!
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