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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Eurotour (aka best 12 days of my life!!)

*CAUTION: LONG AND SAPPY POST IS AHEAD*

From April 7-18 I went on a bus trip around Europe and we went to France, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. These were honestly the best 12 days of my life. I made some of the best friends in the world, and we all became a family of 48 within 12 short days together. I miss them all so much but I’ll never forget all the amazing times we had together wandering the streets of Europe.

I’m going to go ahead and list all the people I’ll talk about so I don’t have to explain who they are later on:

Everyone from my district, Jack (USA), Joao (Brazil), Jeff (Brazil), Luca (Mexico), Sergio (Brazil), Beaven (USA), Dhruvi (India), Candela (Argentina), Cami (USA), Emma (USA), Azul (USA), Rafheala (Brazil), Marina (Mexico), Hu (South Korea), Hannah (USA), Joe (Finland)

Day 1: Paris, France

The first day of Eurotour was so lit! I had so much fun! Ao we got on the train at 9, then around 12 we got to Paris. We met everyone then got on the bus. We went to a garden, The Invalids, the Eiffel Tower, and then the other places we saw were from the bus. We stayed in Paris for about 2 hours then we headed to Reims where our hostel was. We got there around 6pm, then we ate dinner at the hostel. Around 9:30 we walked to the cathedral that Reims is known for, and on the way there and back, I talked to Jack about life and how crazy everything around us was, and when we got there, Sarah was waiting for us. It was great being able to see her again. Once we got back to the hostel, we all headed to bed for the next day.

Day 2: Strasbourg, France

This day was great. We left the hostel in Reims at 8, and got to Strasbourg around 12:30. We had an hour and a half for lunch, so we ate at this really good Italian place. Then, my pen pal for the past year and a half, and one of my really good friends, Zelie, came to meet us. I had never met her before, so it was really cool to be able to meet her in France!! After lunch we took a little tour around Strasbourg, but it wasn’t very long. After that we had another break. We looked at the little market that was going on, got ice cream, sat by the river, and then went into the cathedral, which was super cool! There was a clock that had the Earth’s rotation, zodiac signs, time (obviously), and some other stuff on it. It was huge, and super cool to see, and the coolest part about it is that it has never been recreated! I really liked Strasbourg, and when we left, since Strasbourg is on the border of France and Germany in a region called Alsace, we drove in France for about five minutes then we were in Germany! It was crazy because when I was looking out the window, one minute I could read all the signs, then the next thing you know, everything was all in German! We got to the hotel, ate dinner (man was that hard to order seeing as NOBODY spoke English or French!), had a little party thing where I met Cami and her two friends Emma and Azul. After that we all went to bed, nothing too exciting that night!

Day 3: Munich, Germany

I LOVE GERMANY! Everyone was so nice, and it was so different than France! Unfortunately, it was a Sunday so that meant everything was closed. We got to Munich around noon, and we all walked to the town hall, and it was super cool because since it was noon, the glockenspiel was going off. We went on a search for lunch, and we found a burger place, and then after that we went and got ice cream. We headed back to the meeting spot, and in the town square, there was a protest going on for the EU and for France to stay in the EU with Germany. For those of you who aren’t in to French politics, the elections are in just a couple days and if Le Pen (France’s Trump) wins the presidency, she wants to take France out of the EU. Seeing as Britain just left the EU, France and Germany are the only powers left, and if France leaves, Germany will be the only main power left and at that point, the EU would basically fall apart. So it’s a pretty big deal to Germany that France stays in the EU. We stayed and watched that for a bit, then we started our tour. We walked around a little bit, then got on the bus and went to Miami Beach, which was super cool. It was basically this river with a really strong current so people were surfing. Then we went to the BMW museum where we had free time. Me, Izzy, Kayli, Jack, Dhruvi, Beaven, and Luca were in a group and we just looked at all the cars and such, but Jack and I got separated about half way through, so we just walked around by ourselves until we found the rest of the group. After our free time was over, we got back on the bus and headed to our hotel deeper into Germany. We drove for about two hours and then once we got to the hotel, we went to eat dinner. We went back to the hotel, where I attempted to corn row Jack’s hair, and Luca, Sergio, Jeff, and Joao came into our room to talk. We finally went to bed around 11:45.

Day 4-5: Prague, Czech Republic

Our day started at 7 with breakfast, and then we hit the road to Czech. We ate lunch outside of Prague at McDonald’s, and got to the center of Prague around 1:30. We did our walking tour and looked at all the buildings and clocks. We got the Charles Bridge, where we had 30 minutes of free time so we got ice cream (in case you haven’t noticed, our plan was to get ice cream in every country). This ice cream was different than all the other places though, because they don’t serve ice cream in cones in Prague, they serve them in really big churros. We did a little bit more of a tour, then we went back to the hotel. We ate dinner around 6, then we went to a YMCA kind of thing where we bowled and played squash until 11. We had to run back to the hotel in the rain, so we were all exhausted from the bowling, squash, and running, so we all immediately went to bed. Our last day in Prague was so much fun! We started the day with a tour of the castle. It was so cold that morning that it made the tour miserable. We saw the changing of the guard, the cathedral, and the rest of old Prague. At the end we saw the John Lennon wall, and that was by far my favorite thing. We had free time after that (our typical group, Izzy, Kayli, Jack, and I gained a member, Sergio), and we all just walked around and looked around. On the way back, we got lost, and so we were late to the meeting point. After getting lectured a bit, we got on the bus and drove across Czech to the complete opposite side to Brno. We stayed in a really cool hotel and all the rooms looked like apartments. The six guys, Jack, Joao, Sergio, Joe, Jeff, and Luca had the biggest room and so after dinner we all went over there to hang out. We went back to our rooms around 11:30 and talked a little bit more with our new roommate, Rafheala.

Day 6: Vienna, Austria

Oh my gosh, Vienna was so pretty! There wasn’t a lot to do in Vienna, so we just walked around the stores, but we spent most of our free time in souvenir shops, where Izzy and I found really cute matching (kinda) hats! Our main goal was to find Birkenstocks, but to my usual luck, Jack and Kayli found some, but I didn’t. We got Starbucks, and then towards the end, we got some really good pizza. And it was super cheap, only three euros! Then we got some really good ice cream. Our tour started after that. W didn’t walk around at all, it was all on the bus. We drove to the “min Versailles”, and walk around and took pictures. Then we drove around some. W went to a little amusement park after, but everything was so expensive, so we only rode 2 rides. After we left, and drove about 45 minutes to a really cute little hotel! We ate dinner, ten we went to a common room and played a brain storming game. it was good for bonding, but other than that kinda boring. After Izzy and I jumped on a trampoline for a bit, but then we all went back tot he hotel room and went to sleep.

Day 7: Travel Day

The drive from Austria to Italy really wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. We drove for about 10 hours, and when we stopped for lunch, we went to a place with an amazing view of the Alps and a river. It was so pretty. We listened to music, sang, talked, slept, and just chilled. When we finally got to Italy, we stopped in Jesolo, which is the town where most people stay when they’re going to Venice. We headed straight to the beach after we put everything in our rooms (Caroline joined us this time). We put our feet in the water, sang, played music, sand volleyball, and (inside joke) Hu tried to dig a hole back to Korea. Once we were done with the beach, we went back to the hotel, which was right across the street, and ate dinner. I don’t think I’ve ever had so much pasta, and who would’ve known that they serve pasta before every main course?? After dinner, we went on a walk, stopped at an arcade where Hu and Insu killed a fighting game, and then we went back to the beach for about 30 minutes. We went back to the hotel and washed off all the sand, then went to bed.

Day 8: Venice, Italy

The next moring w had breakfast at 7:30. Thenw e got on abus to take us to the boats for Venice! W got to Venice around 10 and then had 40 minutes for free time. Izzy and I bought masks, and other little things. Our tour was long and we walked around the entire time, because there aren’t any cars in Venice! Just walking, bikes, and gondolas! Although the tour was little boring, seeing everything was worth it! It was all so pretty! We saw a lot of Venice, so overall, it was worth it. After our tour, we had lunch, and 3.5 hours of free time. We ate pizza, got ice cream, and just walked around. Towards the end, the feeling became overwhelming, and we broke so we HAD to take a gondola ride! Sergio and Jack didn’t want to do it, so Izzy, Kayli, Dhruvi, Candela, and I all did it. We had a really great driver, Tommy, who was funny, and he even sang for us! He told us quite a bit, and come to find out, you can only be a gondola driver if you were born and raised in Venice! That was my favorite experience through all of Eurotour, even if it was only 30 minutes long. After the gondola ride, we went back to the meeting spot, and headed back to the boat to go back to Jesolo. When we got back to Jesolo, we met all the other exchange students, because there was another group that was a day behind us and we were all staying at the same hotel. We went to the beach, and did the same thing as the day before. After we went back to the hotel and ate dinner. We were all going to a club, so after dinner we all ran up to the room to get ready. Cami and another girl, Hannah from the other tour, were in our room getting ready with us. Around 10:30 we walked about 20 minutes to the club, and we stayed there until about 1am. It was a lot of fun! We walked home, and we all crashed.

Day 9: Milan, Italy

We headed for Milan the next morning, and it was like a four hour drive. WE got there and we had 2 hours fro free time. We ate pizza again, and I had planned on meeting my friend Natalie from back home who is on her exchange in Italy, but we ran out of time. We started our three hour tour, which was so boring. We walked around the outside of a fort, wen tot the cathedral, and to the seven pointed star, which is where all the really big name brands are. We had 30 minutes for free time after that and we got the best gelato. We headed back to the bus, and drove for maybe 30 minutes and then arrived to our hotel. We had dinner, then the Rotarian’s offered us time outside, but Jack wanted me to really corn row his hair, so that’s what I did. Kayli, Izzy, and Sergio were in and out, but in the end, Jack’s hair looked so freaking good. Luca saw it and he wanted me to do the same thing to his, so I did. His hair isn’t as long as Jack’s so it was a bit harder. After everyone left our room, we all went to bed.

Day 10: Chamonix, France

We woke up, had breakfast, and then headed for France. Chamonix was sooo pretty! It’s a little town surrounded by mountains on the border of Switzerland, Italy, and France. We had 2ish hours for lunch, so we looked for raclette, because man that stuff is amazing. Every exchange student in France says it’s their favorite meal. We looked for about 45 minutes, but we finally gave up because it was all so expensive. Izzy and I got sale and sucre crepes, but everyone else (Sergio, Caroline, Kayli, Jack, Cami, Emma, and Azul) got Subway. We headed back to the train station, and a train took up to the top of the mountain. We took some pictures, then took a ski lift car thing (sorry idk what it’s called) down to the mer de glace (a really big ice cave thing. )After that we took a train back down, took a group picture, then we went to our hotel. We had dinner, which included live music, and then we all talked outside for a bit, but Izzy and i fell asleep early. Apparently everyone else went back outside to hang out, but Izzy and I were out.

Day 11: Geneva, Switzerland

We left for Geneva around 9, and got there around 11. We took a tour of the United Nations Office of Switzerland, and that was super cool! I really enjoyed it. It was also really cool because there was a meeting in New York that day so all the offices were open and we got to see all the meeting rooms. This place was huge, even the ceilings were huge! The tour lasted about an hour, and then we went into the center of Geneva. We had more free time for lunch, but everything was pretty expensive so we ate at McDonald’s. We walked down to the river to see the fountain, and us girls (me, Kayli, and Izzy) got ice cream. Then we headed back to the bus to head to Dijon. The drive was about 3 hours, and so when we got to Dijon, we ate dinner right away. We were having a going away party since it was our last night together. It was honestly pretty boring, all they did was play music, but everyone was so tired. Plus it was all Brazilian music, don’t get me wrong, I love it, but when you don’t understand any of the music the entire night, it gets pretty annoying. We finished around midnight, and all headed to bed.

Day 12: Paris, France

Alright, so this is where it will get sappy.

Talk about the saddest day ever. I wasn’t even this sad when I left home. I don’t know if I’ve ever cried this much. We woke up at ^;30, left an hour later, stopped for lunch, Jack, Izzy, Dhruvi, and I talked about the end of the world/WW3/Trump/Nuclear War at lunch, and then once we arrived in Paris, that’s when the tears started. It was so incredibly hard to say goodbye to everyone. This is definitely the worst part of exchange. I miss them all so much, even now, I mean how could I not? They were the main part of the best days of my life. These kids, from all over the world, made this trip. Not the places, but the people and memories. I have friends from all over the world, and if I could visit every one of them, I would in a second. I miss them and love them so much and pray that one day I’ll be able to see some of them again. I’ll see Jack again, he lives in the same town as Izzy, hopefully I’ll see Beaven, and Cami, Emma, and Azul. The Americans aren’t as hard to see later on, but people like Luca and Marina from Mexico, and Sergio, Jeff, Joao, and everyone else from Brazil are where it gets tricky. Before I go too far, I’m going to stop and leave you all with, if you ever get the chance, GO ON EXCHANGE! STUDY ABROAD. It will change your life, and the people you meet will change you. Open yourselves up to the world, to other people, and other cultures. You won’t regret it, I know I never will.

#besteuropetour2017 #dab

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Lyon

The weekend after JRJ I went to Lyon to see my friend Shea from Seattle. I had so much fun, and I met even more people! Shea’s district didn’t go to La Rochelle, so this was my first time meeting him and all of his friends. I left from Toulon at 9:28 and I got there around 12. Shea didn’t get out school until 3 so I had some time to kill. I walked around outside for abit, then I went ot the mall across the road. Come to find out it was the biggest in France, and that was pretty cool. I went back to the train station and met Shea around 3:30. We took the tram back to his house where I met his host family. They were so nice! About an hour later, we took another tram to the centre of Lyon where we went down the the river and where I met the rest of his friends. There were even three different girls from Slovakia that weren't a part of Rotary, but I loved meeting them! We stayed down by the river until midnight, just talking, singing, and dancing, like typical exchange students. We took the metro to the tram station where we headed back to Shea’s house. We stayed up until about 2 talking, and at one point one of Shea’s friends called him from back home, so we talked to her for a bit too. The next morning we made pancakes for his host dad and sister, but they didn’t turn out too well. We accidentally used crepe flour, and crepes are supposed to be super thin, so we basically made crepes with apples in them (I guess it’s popular in Washington to put chunks of apples in their pancakes?). Then around 2 we headed to town again, and we were planning to have a taco party at one of the Slovakian’s houses. So we went to town to meet Alex (one of the Americans) and then we headed to Carrefour to go get everything we needed for that night. The three Slovakian’s and another Argentinean met us there.We bought so much stuff, we ended up spending like 90 euros! It was crazy. We headed back to Klaudi’s house where we started making the stuff for the tacos. We stayed up basically all night, and I had so much fun with it. We woke up around 9 the next morning and when we made pancakes this time, we were actually successful with it- and this time we used strawberries and chocolate, which was way better. We left around 11:45 so I could go back to Shea’s and get my stuff to head back. Shea took me to the gare and I left around 3. It was really hard to leave him and all his friends because they immediately made me feel like I was apart of their group, and just seeing how close they all were, and how many of them there were in just Lyon, kinda made me sad to go back to my small district. I love all the kids in my district, and they are family to me, but we barely get to see each other! Leaving Lyon was hard, but it wasn’t too hard because I knew I would be seeing Shea again before I went back home, and even if I didn’t Seattle isn’t too far from Missouri. Definitely a weekend for the books!

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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JRJ- La Rochelle

Wow it’s been awhile since I’ve written, but I’ll just pick up where I left off. So back in March, the huge Rotary convention for all the Rotary Exchange Students in France happened. It was so much fun and I loved meeting all these different people! It started Friday, but on Thursday, Izzy, Kayli, and I stayed at Emmanuel’s house. The next morning we woke up at 5:30 and met the rest of the exchange students in Toulon to get on the bus. In Aix-en-Provence, we met up with another district. There were 19 other exchange students in district 1760. The first bus trip took awhile, we didn’t all know each other that well, but towards the end it started to go faster once we all started to click. We got to La Rochelle around 6pm and we all got our roommates and keys. There were about 500 exchange students coming to La Rochelle, so obviously we couldn’t all stay in the same hotel. There were two other places the other exchange students were staying so we didn’t meet everyone on the same night. I roomed with Sophia and Kayli, but Izzy was right across the hallway so it was all okay. I met so many people in just that night, a few Australians, Canadians, Americans, Brazilians, Argentinians, and even some from New Zealand! We all went to bed around 11:30, then the next morning we woke up around 8. After breakfast, we headed to the harbor to go a boat museum. We stayed there for about 3 hours, but hey, I FINALLY MET SARAH!!! She’s from California, but we have been talking for quite a few months so it was super cool finally being able to meet her! Once we left the museum, we went to the place where we would be having our gala, but before we could start anything else, we had to take a group picture. Seeing as there so many of us, it took us an entire hour! Then we had the actual conference where there were previous French exchange students who shared how exchange/Rotary has changed their lives. Surprisingly, it wasn’t too boring. After we started getting ready for the gala, and then to begin the gala, we all sang our national anthems. That took awhile, but it was really cool being able to hear everyone’s, and of course us Americans made a fool out of ourselves, but it was a lot of fun. We had dinner then started our performances. Ours was our song that we sang for our gala back in Frejus, so naturally everyone laughed at our song, but the Rotarians thought it was amazing. It ended around 2:30am, so we were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. Breakfast was at 7:30 the next morning and we left shortly after that. Unfortunately since it took us so long to get there, we had to skip the aquarium and head straight home. The bus ride home was a lot more fun. We all sang and danced and talked. The last hour was hard, because we all knew we would have to say goodbye. Saying goodbye was so hard and I miss each and everyone of the people I met that weekend. La Rochelle/JRJ will always be one of the best weekends of my life!

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Gala pour la Paix

Last night all the exchange students went to the Rotary Gala for Peace in Frejus. We were told in September at our first overnight that we would have to do a performance for the gala, but not to worry because we had plenty of time. That seems like last week, but it was five and a half months ago. In January we began creaking out performance, which ended up being a song that we had to write about peace and living together as one, all that kind of stuff. Again, that seems like we were sitting in that conference room in Nice just the other day, but it was over a month ago. Then last weekend on Sunday we had a last practice for it. Luckily the gala landed on a Friday, so I didn’t have to go to school, and that’s always a plus. So Andre and Isabelle (YEO’s) came and picked me up in Hyeres, and along with Caroline, we headed to Frejus, which is about and hour and a half. Caroline and I were the first ones to the place where the gala was being held, and so we started setting up. About and hour later, everyone else showed up. We practiced the song two last times, we got our tshirts with our flags on them, we made origami bird things (I don’t know why because I didn’t see them anywhere later on that night), and then we started getting ready. Kayli did my hair, and in turn I did Ana’s and Pilar’s. We got all ready, hair, makeup, and dresses on, then we headed to the ballroom for the gala to begin. We stayed in the ballroom for about an hour, then at 8:30 we went to the dining room. I can’t say the meal was good, because it definitely wasn’t. We had duck, or should I say uncooked duck, mashed potatoes, and cold “steamed” vegetables. There were dancers to represent each country, but they were always dressed in some over the top outfit, that didn’t represent that country at all. The first time they came out and started dancing we were dumbfounded, and all of our chins were to the ground, it was definitely different, and not something I would’ve chosen for a gala. Then after all the cheese was served, we went to our dressing room to get changed into our tshirts, jeans, and tennis shoes to go do our song. The song went great, everyone really loved it, but of course they did because they were Rotarians. After the song, our night was over, we got back into our dresses and such, but we just went back to the table for about 30 minutes, then my host mom grabbed me so we could leave. Over all it was a really great night, and I know all us exchange students had fun together, but we always do. We won’t see each other until the last weekend in March, for JRJ in La Rochelle.

Countdowns: JRJ (La Rochelle)- 20 days, Eurotour- 34 days, heading home in 90 days (2 months and 29 days!!!), and 193 days down (remember my halfway mark? That was over 50 days ago)

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Vacance d’hiver

Sadly my winter break (two weeks break in February) has come to and end. I start school on Monday and let me tell you I’m not ready to go back to school. Only 39 days until the next break :) Anyway, break started on February 10th and it ended February 26th. In that time I went to Nice, Cannes, Sanary sur Mer, and Mouans-Sartoux. I spent my entire two weeks, other and two days, with Izzy, the exchange student from Ohio living in Mouans-Sartoux/Cannes. The first part of break we were in Mouans-Sartoux, then we came to Hyeres. The first Saturday of break we went ot Nice for Carnaval de Nice (Nice Carnival) and we attended the flower parade! Most of the exchange students went, Pilar (Brazil), Ashu (India), Kazu (Japan), Insu (South Korea), Sophia (Tawain), Izzy, and I. The parade was about two hours long, but Carnaval was so much fun! I am so glad I went to the parade! After our day in Nice was done, we went back to Izzy's host family's house for the next few days. We walked around her small town of Mouans-Sartoux, went to creperies (I am definitely going to miss crepes), and we went to Cannes also. Then I came back to Hyeres for two days without Izzy, then Saturday morning I went to Toulon to pick her up from the train station for her to stay with me for a few days. We went to the beach every day, and of course we thought the 70 degree weather was warm, but the natives thought it was pretty chilly. The sea was too cold to get in, but laying in the sand was enough for us. We went to the tea shop and got the Italian hot chocolate that we always get, made a few stops at McDonald's (or MacDo as the French would say), and just walked around town. Then we went back to Cannes, we were supposed to go to Menton, another town in Southern France in our district to go to the Festival de Citron (Lemon Festival) but all the events were going on at night, and we figured it wouldn't be worth the 20 euro there and back fee to go walk around for less than an hour. So then Kayli ended up coming for two days. She had just gotten back from the Barcelona bus trip, one of the two bus trips we could take(the other one is Eurotour which I keep talking about). We went to Cannes and shopped for gala dresses for our upcoming gala in Frejus on March 3rd, but we didn't find anything. So instead, us typical American's ate at Steak 'n Shake instead. We went back to Mouans-Sartoux and had raclette for dinner (hands down my favorite French meal) and chocolate fondue. We watched movies the rest of the night and the next day we went to Nice to go shopping at the big mall, Polygone, where we finally found gala dresses, and a few extra things. Kayli left that night, but I stayed with Izzy for one more day. We went to another creperie, then the next day we returned to Hyeres for the day on Saturday, because on Sunday we had a rotary meeting in Sanary sur Mer, which is about 30 minutes from Hyeres. On Sunday morning we went to Toulon to be picked up by our YEO, Andre, and his wife and assistant YEO, Isabelle. We met all the exchange students at the train station, then continued to Sanary where we practiced our written song for the gala the upcoming Friday night. We practiced all day, ate pizza and homemade pies for lunch, walked along the beach for about 30 minutes, and continued to practice our song until about 6pm. Then we went to the train station to all go back to our towns. My host family picked me up, and the rest of the exchange students took trains. Of course I’m sad break is over, and that I have to go back to school tomorrow, but during the school week, the days seem to go by faster. At this point, I want to be home, and for exchange to be over, but at the same time I never want to leave. I miss everyone at home, but I am going to miss this so much. Not the school part, not being able to drive, or the rude French people and their annoying French slang that they only use to confuse me, since they know I don’t understand it part, but my host families, my exchange friends from all over the world, the views, THE SEA AND CONSTANT WARM WEATHER, French foods/pastries/and obviously crepes, the freedom I have here, traveling all the time whenever I want, being able to slack off in school, and the feel of being an exchange student.

Countdowns: Gala-5 days, JRJ- 26 days, Eurotour- 40 days (!!!!!), heading home in 3m4d (96 days), 6m3d (187 days) down!!!

By the way, I’ve been in France for HALF A YEAR AND I HAVE LESS THAN 100 DAYS LEFT!!!!

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Cinq mois en France!

C’est cinq mois en France!!! Don’t worry I won’t write the rest in French, but for those of you who don’t speak French, it’s five months in France! I’m more than halfway over with my exchange (if you want to see the long sappy post I made for my halfway mark check my Facebook) and I only have four and a half months left. How crazy is that? I’ve always had more time left than I had spent here, but from now on, it will be opposite. I never really thought it would get to this point, that exchange would last forever, but now that time is running out, it’s come much faster than I realized. Today in English class, the prompt was if you had the chance to go on exchange, would you and where? From everyone that answered, they all said they would want to go to America. Of course the typical places like NYC, somewhere in Florida or California, but when the teacher asked if they would want to go to Missouri, they all laughed and said no. I mean I don’t blame them, if I were in their positions, I would much rather go to sunny Florida/California or The Big Apple, too. Going abroad isn’t something most people think of doing, or much knowledge on. My English teacher asked me (il est TRES nul) if I was on exchange last year, and if I was going again next year. I laughed and said no, this is my first year abroad, and he asked why I was going back to Missouri if nothing was there. I simply responded, “For me, everything is in Missouri. My life, family, friends, education, and my upcoming future”. He said he hadn’t really thought of it like that, and since I was on exchange I probably wasn’t very home-oriented, and that I was trying to escape my life. Of course that’s not why I went on exchange, but trying to explain this to someone who has never left France was proving to be quite difficult. The girl behind me was telling me all the states she knew, typical ones such as: California, Florida, New York, Louisiana, Colorado, Texas, and she added Missouri to try to be nice, but I knew she had no clue Missouri even existed until I came into the picture. I just smiled and she told me she wanted to know all the States. She asked me if I knew them all, and I said of course I do, and the English kid next to her said, “Really? What are they then?” thinking I didn’t know them all, so as the typical American I started Fifty Nifty United States. I wrote them all out on a piece of paper, game them to Eliza and she said she would come back with them all memorized next Friday when we had half English. I smiled and said okay, and I can honestly say that is one of the best English class experiences I have ever had in France.

Most of you are probably very confused as to why it was such a good class, but I have been here for five months, and it was one of the only times I had ever talked to this girl in my class, and for once, someone didn’t treat me like the weird exchange student. Sure, I still felt like I was the exchange student because she was asking me about America, but it was all in French, and it wasn’t forced. Most of the time when people at my school talk to me, it’s because they’re telling me where to go, but mostly it’s when they’re asking for a piece of paper, and it’s ALWAYS in English. At first I appreciated them speaking to me in English but now that I’ve been here for so long, it’s annoying. I can speak French, and we all know it’s easier for you to speak French, and it’s a lot easier for me to understand your French, rather than your English. Today, I didn’t feel that way. We talked about the States, the ones she wanted to go to, the ones she knew, and how no matter how many times the kid sitting next to her told that corn was the name of a state, she always turned to me asking “c’est vrai? C’est quoi ca, corn?” only to find out what corn meant.

These past five months have been some of the hardest months in my life, but I’ve had some of my best moments in them. I never would’ve met 13 exchange students, my host families and siblings, I never would’ve skied the French Alps or saw the Eiffel Tower in person. I’m doing so many things and while I’m complaining that it’s hard, or that “France really sucks sometimes” I know it’s going to be 10x harder having to leave this beautiful country. 136 days left, and to those of you that I talk to quite regularly, I’m sure there will be lots of complaining, and lots of bragging, but at the end of all of this, I’ll have two homes, across the globe from each other, and that’s pretty darn cool.

Countdowns: February break- 22 days, Gala- 42 days, JRJ- 63 days, Eurotour-77 days, Heading home in 134 days, 150 days down

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Just another Rotary weekend

Typically I put the name of the place as my title when I have a Rotary weekend or get together, but this time, I honestly couldn’t tell you where we were. I think we started off in Nice and ended up in Vence. Not 100% positive about that one though. Anyway, so we Saturday morning at 7:15 I caught a train with Caroline from Toulon, meaning I had to wake up at 5:45. At Les Arcs, Kayli, Insu, Giulia, and Ashu met up with us on the train. Then in Cannes, Izzy hopped on and after in Antibes is when Kazu joined us. We got to our destination, where Andre picked us up, and we drove to a hotel for our meeting. Later Pilar, Ana, and Sophia joined us. We knew this meeting would be used as a preparation for our gala in Frejus on March 3rd, but we didn’t quite know what all it entailed. We thought we would be choosing a song to sing but come to find out one of the Rotarians had already planned on us writing a song. I was not too pleased because while I love playing music, I can’t write a song to save my life, let alone a song in French. So about 5 hours later we had a cheesy song about how we all came together from our different countries and now we’re leaving together peacefully in France. Then we had about 45 minutes to walk around and do whatever we wanted, so naturally we walked down to the beach. There were planes flying over the Mediterranean, seeing as the airport was right next to us, and the sunset was absolutely gorgeous. We all took pictures and danced to the music Pilar was playing off of her phone. Around 5:30 we went back to the hotel to meet our host families for the night. Each of us were staying with a different Rotarian, instead of staying in the hotel. Luckily, my host parents had planned with some of the other families to go to Nice for the night and go to a little concert. So we drove to centre ville Nice where we met Ana and her family. We walked around the public parks and then we went on the Ferris Wheel. After we got off, Caroline and Kayli met up with us. Then we proceeded to walk around downtown Nice and we got socca, a typical Nice/Italian dish. It’s basically just chickpea flower cooked up into pancake form with tons of pepper. It was really good, but Ana and I were the only ones that liked it. Kayli and Caroline acted like they liked it, but we could tell they didn’t, but we didn’t mind because that just meant more for us. We waked around a little bit more and then we finally went to the concert thing, where Sophia met us, around 8:30. It was crazy, just this one lady singing with a dummer, bassist, and a guitarist. She was crazy and it definitely kept my attention. It finished around 9:30 and even though all us kids were exhausted we went out to eat. None of us got actual food, we all got ice cream because you’re only in France once right? Donc, pourquoi pas! Finally we were able to go home at midnight, and I immediately fell asleep. The next morning at 9:30 we left the house to go to a museum and it was really cool. There was a real Henri Matisse in there, and for those of you who know my mother, you know she was incredibly jealous when I sent her a snapchat of it. We went to other museums throughout the day and we ate lunch around noon, then walked around Vence. All in all it was a good weekend, next month we had another vacation, so once Pilar and Kayli get back from their bus trip to Barcelona, hopefully we will get together again. March 3rd is coming up soon, less than 55 days!

Countdowns: JRJ- 75 days, Eurotour- 89 days, Days left in France- 146(4 months and 26 days), 138(4 months and 16 days) days down (FOUR MORE DAYS UNTIL I’M HALFWAY THROUGH MY EXCHANGE! WHERE DID THE TIME GO??)

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Happy New Year 2017!

This New Years was definitely one for the books. It all started out on the 30th when I went to Cannes for a day with Izzy. We spent the day in Cannes shopping and then we went back to her house and we just hung out. The next day around 14h Sofia Pepin came to the house and we left to go get Kayli and went to Cannes to shop a little bit more. We ran into a band dressed up as different characters and playing random songs for a New Year parade. There was a man with a camera which was kinda weird when he started taking pictures of us, but then when the band passed we went inside the store but before we were able to get all the way in, a news reporter came and asked us if we liked the music and our names and why we were there. She said to buy the paper in the morning and that we would be in it! The rest of the girls (minus Ana because she’s in London) came in to Cannes around 16h and we all headed back to Izzy’s where Sophia met us. We did our Secret Santa gift exchange and we mostly danced and listened to music. I made mac and cheese from scratch and that was a mess, but it turned out really good. Most people made things from their countries and all the food was so good. Izzy’s host sister turned on Just Dance and all of us, even her host mom, danced along with each song. We took so many pictures and videos throughout the night. We did the countdown and then we shot confetti everywhere. Then we shot off fireworks, that was not what I was expecting, but still fun. We stayed up until around 4 in the morning and we welcomed the New Year together. It was great to spend it with all the girls from exchange, I wouldn’t have wanted to spend it any other way. This morning Kayli and I left around 13h and it was so incredibly hard to say goodbye to Sofia. She is leaving on Friday and I don’t know what I will do without her here. She was the oldie and she was always there for me. She was always there for all of us. She was the one who I went to for anything, or even if I was bored at school I would call her and we would talk until classes resumed. She brought so much joy and fun into our group, and now with both Sofia’s gone, we are all by ourselves without our oldies. Marie Claire, Izzy’s host mom, said that Sofia leaving isn’t sad, but instead a new reason to explore more of the world and go down to Australia to see her. She put a new perspective into it for me, and of course I cried when I left her and hugged her and waved as the bus drove off, but I will have that happiness and hope of seeing Sofia again. We arrived in Cannes to go find our newspaper, which we did, and there we were; our names, nationalities, and picture. We got our train and here I am now back in Hyeres incredibly tired, but never too tired to watch Vampire Diaries.

Next weekend is our Rotary overnight, and luckily I don’t have to wait too long to see all the others. Only down side to that is, is that I will have been back to school for a week, and then I have to wait until the middle of February for my next break. Christmas break literally flew by and I can’t believe I have to start school again Tuesday.

Countdowns: JRJ- 82 days, Eurotour- 96 days, Heading home- 153 days, 131 days down

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shelbiemays-blog · 8 years ago

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Christmas Break

The key word being Christmas, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt less Christmas-y in my entire life! This whole 60 degree thing in the middle of winter is not like typical Missouri Christmas weather. I think not having snow or any snow days is what got me the most. No end of the semester talent show, no finals, no candy grams, it’s all so different, but hey, isn’t that what exchange is all about? I will say that it’s been a hard month not being with my family, but it flew by. So much happened in such a short amount of time, I had multiple Christmas dinners, a birthday, skied for the first time (IN THE FRENCH ALPS), and I had my first Christmas away from home and my family. It all started out with my first Christmas meal was with my host moms Rotary club, and then the next week I had my other Christmas dinner with my Rotary club. That morning Izzy and Kayli came to Hyeres for my birthday. We spent the day watching movies and when I came back from my Rotary dinner, they were there waiting for me with cupcakes. On Wednesday, my actual birthday, we walked around Hyeres and went to the Christmas market. Wednesday night Emmaunel’s family came over for a dinner. Thursday we left for the ski resort in Risoul and we stayed there until Monday. My first day skiing was pretty difficult and I took a lesson in the morning, then I went skiing with my host family down the actual slopes. I can’t tell you how many times I fell the first day, but surprisingly for the next three days, I didn’t fall at all. I continued taking lessons and I got better every time we went down the mountain. On the last day I was able to go down the hard slopes along with my host family, instead of just the easy ones. Christmas Day came and I skied the entire day so I was able to keep myself occupied to not be too upset. That night I talked with my mom and dad, but I can’t say it was easy. We left the next day and now I’m back in Hyeres and waiting for New Years to come for Sofia’s going away party. At least the hardest part of exchange is over, and now there’s only five more months left until I go home. But the funny thing is, I now have two homes, and I’m going back to my past and future home, but not present.

Countdowns: JRJ- 86 days, Eurotour- 100 days, Heading home- 157 days, 127 days down

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shelbiemays-blog · 9 years ago

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So sitting in history class today my history teacher was talking about American stereotypes and the class said that they thought that a typical family had a large house, a big lawn, car parked out front, happily married mom and dad and two ideal children. My teacher asked me if that how American families really were, and I said a lot are not. He laughed and said I didn’t really come from America then. He then continued to say how perfect America was, although America is great, it is not perfect. He said majority of Americans were rich and had perfect lives. I again said that was false. He continued to laugh and said we were speaking of a different America. I’m not typically one to allow things to get to me, but for some reason, this really did. All I wanted to do was stand up and scream at him in English, but I knew he wouldn’t understand it, so instead I sat at my desk quietly while I was being mocked. This hasn’t happened to me ever, and this was not something I want to happen again. Just sitting there made me realize how alone you can feel as an exchange student. At home in Missouri I’m not one to sit by myself and not have fun. I don’t sit quietly at lunch, or fail tests. I’m not used to not feeling smart, and like I understand everything. I’ve always made really good grades and understood what I was being taught, but now I’m lucky to pass a test. It’s all very discouraging and I see all these other exchange students in other countries having a great time and making friends, but here I am in France, and I’ve never felt more alone. I love it here, and I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world because I can tell that I am growing so much and maturing, but I wish I didn’t feel this way so often. France is nothing like I expected it to be, I walked into exchange thinking everyone would want to be my friend because I was an exchange student. The principal of my school didn’t even know I was the exchange student. I thought people would want to talk to me and get to know me, invite me out places, but everyone in my class is so young, their maturity levels are so much lower than mine, I feel like I can’t have a real conversation with any of them. Even the other English speakers at my school tend to look the other way when I walk next to them, and I feel like a total outsider. I only have five and a half months left so I’m going to make the best of this situation and try to keep my head up, but next time you see someone sitting by themselves or if they look lonely, go up and talk to them. It would probably make their day, I know it would make mine.

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shelbiemays-blog · 9 years ago

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Monaco/Monte-Carlo

So Saturday I went to Monaco with Rotary. Monaco is its own country, and Monte-Carlo is the only city in Monaco. It’s 0.8 square miles, and it has its own Prince and Royal family. Isn’t that crazy? I spent the night with Isabelle and Andre (my YEO) Friday night and we went to a little American restaurant and it was so cute. It was like a diner that we would see in America with license plates on the walls and American flags everywhere. They thought that was how all American restaurants were in America, and I just laughed and said “well not quite”. Saturday morning I had to wake up at 5am to get to the train in Les Arcs in time. We picked up Caroline from Toulon and we drove about 45 minutes to Les Arcs where we met Kayli, Guilia, and Insu. We took a train to Cannes and that’s where we had to switch trains and where we met Izzy and Sophia. We went on to Nice where Ana Paula and Pilar got on, also where our train broke down, so we had to get on a different train. Finally we arrived in Monaco,where we met Ashu and Kaz, and we walked to the aquarium. They had everything there, we even got to touch some of the animals. Sharks, star fish, crabs, and other little things like that. It was super cool, and they had all sorts of marine life. They had skeletons of all sorts of animals, and it was probably the coolest aquarium I’ve ever been in. We also saw the change of the guard of the palace in Monaco, and we went to the Christmas market of Monte-Carlo. We met other outbound students, two going to Japan, and two hoping to go to America. They were with us the entire day, and they were great to be around. We saw the Casino of Monaco and there were so many expensive cars, and on all of them there were signs that said DON’T TOUCH, some in multiple languages. At the end of the day we took the train back and it was a great day. I was so tired, I fell asleep as soon as I got home. I’m not sure when I’m going to see the exchange students again, but I hope we all get together for New Years to see Sofia before she goes back to Australia. I know I will see them some time in January to prepare for our Rotary Gala in March, but I wish it was sooner. Time is flying by, it’s almost Christmas. I feel like I’ve been here for forever, but at the same time, I feel like I just got here and I won’t have enough time, seeing as I’m leaving in early June. I know that is what is best for me in the long run, but I’m already wishing I could stay longer and I have five and half months left.

Countdowns: 5 days until Christmas break, 103 days until JRJ, 117 days until Eurotour, I leave France in 174 days and I’ve been here for 110 long/short days.

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shelbiemays-blog · 9 years ago

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#ILoveNice

This weekend I went to Nice with Ana Paula and Izzy and it was a lot of fun! I woke up early Saturday morning and took a train to Nice. In Cannes Izzy got on the train with me and we made our way to Nice to meet Ana Paula. We started out with walking down the Gambetta down to the beach. The beaches in Nice are different than Hyeres, and even Cannes. It's a stone beach instead of a sand beach, but it's still just as pretty. We went into quite a few touristy shops, but in the end the only person who got things was Izzy and all she got was soap. We walked through a farmers market, and then decided to go on a search for food. We went to Old Nice and we found this amazing little pizza place. The pizzas were homemade, right in front of you. We all agreed it was the best pizza any of us had ever had. After we walked to the best ice cream shop of Nice, only to find it was closed until December 10th. So then we went to the market de Noel, and it was even bigger than the one in Toulon. There was a place for little kids to write letters to Santa, a skating rink, a Ferris Wheel, and le monde des enfants (basically a kiddie carnival, but literally translated into the world for kids) but in the end we all decided to get churros with nutella. They were amazing, and of course Ana Paula got it on her white shirt and jeans. Seeing as there was an ice skating rink, and ice skating doesn't exist in Argentina, Izzy and I dragged Ana to try it out. After all the protests from Ana, we finally got her into skates. Keep in mind these were very cheap ice skates, it didn't even have the stopper thing on the toe of the blade. So we "hit the ice" (as Ana would've said) and in the end we were all doing pretty well. Around 3:30, Izzy and I had to catch a train back to Cannes so we coud get back before dark, so we had to say our goodbyes to Ana. We got back to Cannes and we took a bus to Izzy's house. Of course it was raining, and it was freezing outside so the walk to Izzy's house from the bus top wasn't too pleasant. We had dinner with her host parents a few hours later, mussels, quiche lorraine (quiche with ham and cheese) and of course lots of bread. Before I left Hyeres, my host dad told me I couldn't eat a lot because the next day we were going to a really fancy restaurant for my host sisters birthday and there would be a ton of food. I was instructed to eat a very light dinner and no breakfast or else I wouldn't make it to the first course of dessert (he told me there would be three dessert courses, so who am I to complain?). So I just ate the quiche lorraine, and a few pieces of bread. No breakfast this morning, even when Marie Claire insisted I ate before I left the house, and after the hour train ride to Toulon we headed about another hour from Toulon to the restaurant. We got there around 12:30 and didn't leave until around 4:30. It's pretty crazy that we were at the restaurant for 4 hours, but it's even crazier we were eating the entire time! They brought out plate after plate, and at the end they brought out a birthday cake for Victoria, but we were all too full to eat any of it, so it is now currently sitting in our refrigerator. Once I got home, I did my weekly Facetimes, Shelby, Morgan, and my mom. I've noticed myself talking to my mom less and less as the time goes on, when I first got here, I Facetimed her every single day, and now it's down to maybe twice a week. It's crazy to think that after a few more months it will be my mom constantly trying to get a hold of me, and not the other way around. All in all it was a pretty great weekend, and I can't to see all the exchange students next week in Monaco!!

Countdowns: 6 days until Monaco, 17 days until my birthday, 13 days until Christmas break, 21 days until Christmas, 185 days until Eurotour, I've been here for 103 days, only 181 to go.

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shelbiemays-blog · 9 years ago

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Thanksgiving

So Thanksgiving didn’t quite go as planned, I can now say that I’ve had pizza for Thanksgiving dinner. That’s not really what this post is about, it’s about the amazing Thanksgiving celebration that I had with the other American exchange students at Caroline’s house. It all started Saturday morning at 9:13 when we picked up Kayli and Izzy from the train station in Toulon, then we went to Caroline’s house to start our day. We went to Carrefour (France’s Walmart) and that was quite an adventure. We had so many things to get, Caroline was making turkey, stuffing, and cornbread, I was making mashed potatoes and green beans, Kayli was making pumpkin pie, and Izzy was making cookies and helping out with whatever she could after that. So we’re going through Carrefour, and we look at the list and we realize that there isn’t anything for the pumpkin part of the pumpkin pie. So we told Caroline we needed to go get some pumpkin puree or something like that and she said “Oh don’t worry, we have a pumpkin at home”. Now I don’t know about you, but I have never seen someone make a pumpkin pie out of an actual pumpkin. Izzy, Kayli, and I all started to freak out a little bit, but we continued to get the rest of the things we needed. We ended up cutting out the cornbread because we were too stressed out and couldn’t find half of the ingredients, so we got everything else and headed back to the house. We ate a small lunch, went out to Caroline’s roof and took some pictures, then we headed downstairs around 14h to start cooking. I was peeling potatoes, Caroline, Izzy and Kayli were all working on the pumpkin trying to cut it and peel it, and by the time I cut and peeled a whole bag of potatoes, they had only done half of the pumpkin. So they decided to just work with half of it, and it ended up being more than enough. Izzy and I made cookies filled with nutella, and pumpkin spice cookies with the left over pumpkin that were totally awful. After everything was made, around 21h we finally set the table and sat down to eat. We were so proud of ourselves for making a real Thanksgiving dinner all by ourselves that included: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, cookies, a pumpkin spice loaf of bread thing, and a pumpkin pie made out of REAL pumpkin. Everyone loved everything and I am so thankful for my girls and that we were able to do this and have it be successful. Thanksgiving may not have gone as I would’ve hoped, and I may have broken down when I facetimed my family on Thursday night, but we all came together on Saturday and made a fantastic occasion.

On the plus side, Ohio State beat Michigan that night so I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend my Saturday.

We woke up this morning planning on going to L’avenue 83, the outlet mall, to go shopping for random things, but we couldn’t find a bus to take us there in time to shop and get back to Toulon centre for Kayli to catch her train at 12:21. So stranded in Toulon centre for 2 hours, we decided to go find somewhere with hot chocolate. We tried McDonald’s, they had some, but we wanted something to go with it, so then we tried Quick, but they were closed. We walked by a crepe stand and decided that’s what we wanted, but it was too cold to sit outside. So we were going to a cafe Caroline had told us about when we saw that the Christmas Market was open. They had a crepe stand, a huge Christmas tree, and a whole bunch of different stands with different things in them. So we got crepes, citron sucre (lemon juice and sugar), nutella, chocolat noir (dark chocolate syrup), and Smarties nutella (European Smarties are just like M&Ms). We all shared them, and we got hot chocolate to go with it. After that we walked around the market and they had so many things, but in the end Kayli and I got heated stuffed animals that smelled like lavender. We got one for Izzy too, but she didn’t know until we gave it to her right before Kayli got on her train. Caroline left before Kayli’s train left, and so it was just us three and we sat and talked until Kayli had to leave. Izzy left shortly after, and I right after Izzy.

It was a great weekend and I can’t wait to see all of them again in 13 days in Monaco where all the exchange students are meeting up for the day. Thanks again for reading, I’ll update you all soon.

Countdowns: 19 days until Christmas break, 131 days until Eurotour, leaving France in 188 days, and I’ve been here for 96 days.

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shelbiemays-blog · 9 years ago

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3 Months

So as my title suggests, I am 3 months in to my exchange, and it feels like I’ve been here for 3 seconds but 3 years at the same time. I have 6 months left in my exchange and that’s also crazy. I’m a third of the way done with my exchange. I’ve already changed host families, I’m back with the family in Hyeres with two host sisters. The past two weekends I’ve gone to Cannes to see Izzy, the first weekend was with Kayli and Sofia, but last weekend it was just me and Izzy. It was a three day weekend for Armistice Day, and so we had Friday off, and I went to Izzy’s Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday night. Last Sunday we went to a town just past Monaco with Sofia (Tiwanese) and Pilar and we took a “hike” around the coast of the Mediterranean and it was beautiful. You haven’t seen beautiful until you’ve seen the Mediterranean Sea. We had a little picnic thing and just walked the coast until Pilar had to take a train to go back home. Then Sofia’s host mom took me back to the train station in Cannes and I went home. This weekend was even better because I was with all the exchange students in Hyeres. We met up down by my high school yesterday (Saturday) and walked around the market going on on the Gambetta (their Broadway or Main Street). Then we took a historical tour around Hyeres and then went back to Emmanuel’s house to eat Paella, a really popular French or Spanish dish with a rice base and seafood and other meat and vegetables. We stayed there until 10:30ish and then Pilar and I came back to my host family’s house. Then today we took a boat to Ile de Porquerolles and rode bikes around the island. We ate lunch on the island as well. It was definitely not my favorite meal that I’ve had here. It started out with soupe de crabbe (crab soup), beef mixed with a bunch of herbs, and then ended with tarte de figues (fig pie). Anyway, the island was beautiful and it is so busy during the summer there is not one empty spot in the port on the beach. Ana Paula and I put our feet in the freezing cold water, but how could we not? I had the best time and I can’t wait until December 10th until we all meet up again in Monaco! Next weekend all the Americans are meeting up to have Thanksgiving dinner at Caroline’s house in Toulon and I am so excited, seeing as I won’t be having a big Thanksgiving, since it’s not a thing here. We are all cooking typical foods together and then having a big lunch.

School has slowly been getting easier. I’m beginning to understand more and more and my grades are showing it. I took a really big test in French the other day and I really hope I did okay on it. We are getting ready to end volleyball in PE so that kinda sucks, but our next unit is acrogym, which is like gymnastics and building pyramids and stuff like that. I am not excited for that, but some of the girls have already asked me to do it with them, so at least I won’t be totally alone. People are becoming more accepting towards me, but I still don’t have a lot of French friends. I have Maelle and Victoria, and I’m friends with more of Victoria’s friends than I am with people in my own class. Hopefully things continue to get better, but I don’t see a reason for them to get any worse.

Countdowns:

26 days until Christmas holidays, 138 days until Eurotour, 195 days until I leave France, and 89 days down in France.

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shelbiemays-blog · 9 years ago

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Paris!

Paris is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen! It’s exactly what I pictured it to be. When I first got to France, I was a little disappointed because it didn’t quite look like what I thought it would, it looked more like I was in Italy -but come to find out Southern France looks a lot like Italy- with the colorful buildings and not quite as elegant. Paris is a totally different story. Don’t get me wrong, Southern France is absolutely beautiful, but you can’t help but be in awe when you see Paris for the first time.

Wednesday:

We took the train from Toulon at 11:50 and we arrived in Paris around 3:45. We took a taxi to Nicole’s flat (the lady I went with), got settled, then walked to Notre Dame. That was beautiful. It was everything I thought it would be and more. Like of course when you think Notre Dame you think of Paris (or the Disney movie like I tend to do), but that wasn’t the highlight of the night. After taking a lot of pictures and walking around inside, we finally took a metro to the Eiffel Tower. First off, let me tell you that metros in Paris are probably the grossest things you will ever encounter. I’ve never been much of a germ freak but after being on the metros for five days, you learn to appreciate cleanliness. Anyway, we got off the metro and as we were walking up the stairs to get onto the streets of Paris, there it was. The Eiffel Tower. Huge, beautiful, breath taking. It’s a lot bigger than I pictured it, I mean of course I knew it was big, but this thing is huge! Did you know that it was supposed to be torn down after 20 years? I wonder what the symbol of Paris would be today without the Eiffel Tower. We ended our day with that and went back to the flat.

Thursday:

First thing on the list for Thursday was The Louvre. We took a metro (we took metros everywhere) to the museum and the first thing I did was run to the glass pyramid and snapped a few pictures. Then we went inside and walked around the Italian impressionist portion, working our way to Mona Lisa (La Joconde in French) and it is actually super small. I expected it to be a lot bigger, but it’s actually a small painting on a really big wall. The line was huge for pictures, but I just pushed my way through and eventually got to the second row, and thankfully I was tall enough to get a picture over everyone's heads. Then we walked around the Egyptian, Roman, and Greek portions of the museum, cutting our time short -trust me, you could spend days in there. Then we went for lunch at Quick, which is basically McDonald’s, and then it was off to Centre Pompidou. It’s a modern art museum, and it was probably my favorite. I could’ve spent hours in there but Leo was getting restless, so finally we left. I was kinda upset that entire day at the art museums, because it’s something my mom and I would’ve done together and I really missed her not being there with me. Luckily to cover my homesickness, we ended the art museums and went to the Grand Arc which is basically the modern L’arc de Triomphe and it holds a whole bunch of offices. Then we headed to the actual L’arc de Triomphe and that was so pretty. Again, larger than I expected. Leo and I climbed what seemed to be a thousand steps (but I bet that the lighthouse in Hannibal has more with it’s 244 steps) to get to the top. Once we got there, you could see everything. It was super pretty. We took some pictures, stared at the Eiffel Tower some more, then it was off to the flat to end the day.

Friday:

The day started out with chopping off all of my hair. Not actually, but I haven’t had my hair cut in years so it was a little traumatic for me. Again, kidding, but the lady who cut it, Stephanie, was really nice. She’s originally from Seattle so we talked about my exchange and why the heck I was in France for a year without my family. In the end, I loved my haircut and hope to see Stephanie again. We ate lunch at Nicole’s flat, then we went to the Opera house. That was probably my favorite thing, besides the Eiffel Tower, that we did in Paris. I got to see the ceiling painted by Marc Chagall, and the Phantom of the Opera’s box seat, and it was just crazy gorgeous. After that we went to Sacre-Coeur, and that was nothing like I thought it would be, but it was still pretty and you could see all of Paris from the top of the hill where it is. Not a lot happened on this day, but a day in Paris is still a day in Paris.

Saturday:

We got a late start Saturday and we only took a Seine River cruise, but it was still fun. We were going to go to the Catacombes, but the line was super long because they only allow 200 people in a time and once you’re inside, you can take as long as you want. I was disappointed we didn’t go in, that was one of the things I really wanted to do since I did a project on it in French this past year, but I think watching As Above, So Below kinda ruined that experience for me (I just watched it last night after we got back from Paris). We all returned back to the flat, but Nicole and I went back to the Champs-Elysees and we saw the Petit Palace, the Grand Palace (really original names, don’t you think?), and Pont Alexander the Third, which is the bridge that signifies the unity between France and Russia. We eventually returned to the flat and called it a day.

Sunday:

We spend the entire day in Versailles, but unfortunately we didn’t actually get to go inside the Palace. The lines were “too long” -by now I’m sure you understand that Nicole isn’t one for waiting in lines- and so we just stared at the Palace from outside the gates. Instead we walked around the gardens and it was a beautiful day. The fountains were amazing, and we got to see the Marie-Antoinette properties, so that was pretty cool. The gardens were huge, even though there weren’t any actually plants, just shrubs and tress to separate the fountains. There were ducks and swans everywhere, so naturally that was my favorite part, but eventually we had to leave the swans and ducks and return back to Nicole’s flat. I prepared my things to leave the next morning, then it was off to bed, which was really just laying in bed watching hours of Gilmore Girls until I fell asleep.

All and all, it was a great trip, sure I didn’t get to do everything I wanted to do, but I saw things people only dream of seeing. I can’t wait to go back, hopefully with my next host families, and then again for Eurotour (only 157 days now!). This upcoming weekend is the Rotary weekend in Hyeres, we are doing a tour of Hyeres Saturday, then going to Corsica, the island off the coast, and doing a biking tour since it is closed off to tourists and cars for the winter. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back with more soon!

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