Gypsy Tales

It's happened again, as we all knew it would. Blogging is one of those activities that gets tucked away in a corner when anything more exciting or important happens to come up. Although I'd love to say that documenting all activities is something I find amusing, that would be a lie. But to satisfy those who happen to be curious, the last month or so in Europe has been quite a whirlwind. Sometimes I forget that I'm studying abroad in PARIS, considering that I've been everywhere but during the last weeks. I have mixed feelings about the whole situation. On the one hand, I want to get to know Paris better, improve my French, and experience the city where I am "living" for several months. However, à l'autre côté, there's so many places to explore in Europe and with such a limited amount of time here, I want to go everywhere. So that's the dilemma, now here are the tales:

Normandy
Our program took us on a weekend trip to Normandy, and although being stuck on a tour bus with 60 Americans for an entire weekend isn't exactly my ideal traveling situation, the trip was beautiful and absolutely worth it. We had the chance to visit the Normandy Museum, the American Cemetery, Omaha Beach, and Pointe du Hoc, all of which were surprisingly sad yet meaningful. I mean, I had never really thought about World War II in such a personal and human sort of way before and it made it all seem so much more real. The night we spent in the city of Caen was uneventful, although it did include a dinner comprised of massive amounts of the best mussels I've ever eaten and a little too much wine. The following day we went to Mont Saint-Michel, a monastery built on a tidal island connected to the mainland via a natural land bridge which makes it often unaccessible when the tide is too high. The architecture was beautiful, as was the weather which made the trip a great success.




The American Cemetery: Normandy, France



Mont Saint-Michel: Normandy, France



Belgium
The following weekend I went to Belgium to meet a friend from home who is studying in Barcelona. We met in Brussels (after several hours of searching for each other around the city because we had misunderstood one another about which hostel we were staying at and my phone wasn't working!). Brussels was quaint but...unimpressive? I've heard that it's not the best place to go in Belgium, and after walking around the city (which consistently smelled like fried food) for a day, we agreed on this sentiment. I ate some delicious waffles, french fries and chocolate of course so I suppose that made it worth it. We also took the train on Saturday to a smaller city called Hasselt to go to an enormous electronic music concert called Sensation White, which was an impressive amount of fun. Everyone wore white, the venue was gigantic, and the effects were amazing: at one point they handed out neon colored gloves to the 60,000+ attendees and periodically had us bend down, then raise our hands in the air so the venue went from a sea of white to thousands of colored hands.


Sensation White: Hasselt, Belgium



London
I spent the following weekend in London, visiting my friend who is studying there. I absolutely loved London. The city has such a different feel to it than somewhere like Paris but in the best way possible. I was having an extremely hard time getting used to the fact that I could say "Excuse me" instead of "Pardon" on the Tube and I could order in English anywhere I pleased! We saw everything you could really ever want to see in London (Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, the London Eye, Hyde Park, Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, the British Museum, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern Art Museum, the Globe, etc.), went to an Evensong worship service at Westminster Abby, and even saw the London Philharmonic Orchestra on Saturday night (for 4 pounds!). I ate fish and chips of course and absolutely went the the CHIPOTLE in London (I'm a Colorado girl at heart). I could have spent so much more time in London.


Springtime in Londontown



St. Paul's Cathedral: London, UK



Houses of Parliament: London, UK



London Eye: London, UK



Hyde Park: London, UK



Thames South Bank: London, UK



Chipotle: London, UK



Italy
This past weekend I flew to Milan with my best friend Valerie, where we met one of my other friends who is studying in Grenoble, France. Milan was uneventful at best, although we ate some really delicious pizza. It's the fashion/business capital of Italy and not much else, so there wasn't a lot to see there. On Saturday we took the train to Venice, which was beautiful. It's a touristy city, but absolutely worth the trip. The tiny alleyways, streets that dead end in canals, and absence of cars made the city something to see. We wondered and got lost most of the time we were there, ate some more pizza and gelato of course, and laughed at ourselves for the zero Italian we spoke (I learned the essentials: per favore, grazie, prego and "non parlo italiano"). Italian was actually so easy to understand because of the French and Spanish I speak, although communicating was something entirely different.


Venezia, Italia












I've had someone tell me that I am a gypsy-the worst type of person to fall in love with. I suppose the wanderlust in me has been the driving force of my time in Europe, but I'm ok with that. I'll be in Paris this weekend (maybe I'll finally make it to the Louvre?), but then it's off again, to Amsterdam the following weekend and then the Greek Islands for Spring Break. By the time all of that is said and done it will be May, and hopefully I'll spend my last 6 or so weeks in Paris to really enjoy the city, particularly now that spring is upon us and Paris in the springtime...well, you know. A trip to Spain might be inserted in there somewhere as well, we'll see. I'm sorry this was the most monumental blog entry known to mankind, as I have so much to tell with so little time! I love and miss you all!