Munchen, Germany

Last weekend, I packed my bag, grabed my passport, and headed on the RER out to Charles De Gaulle Airport to begin my adventure to Munich. Of course, I didn't want to be pressed for time, so I made it to the aiport with more than enough time to spare. I went in the little gift shop, and bought my self the book "The Devil Wears Prada" (in English of course). I then sat in the terminal waiting for my gate to be announced. The flight was delayed because of weather, fog I think, they didn't really say. So after having to wait around for an extra hour, we finally left, putting me into Germany later than expected. My friend Rena met me at the airport and we took the train to her house. As soon as I arrived in Munich, I noticed all of the Christmas decorations. The next day, Friday, we got up early, and went downtown and took a city bus tour. It was really nice to see a lot of the city without having to walk. After the bus tour, we grabbed a bite to eat, and then headed out to the Olympic Park. It was built for the 1972 olympics. There is a huge tower (much like the Space Needle for those of you familiar with Seattle). It was kind of overcast, but we still got a pretty good view. On a clear day you can see all the way to Austria (it's only 1.5 hours away). After the tower, we discovered a small aquarium called Sea Life. Seeing as we are both guides, we thought we would check it out. The aquarium displayed the Isar River (the main one going through Munich) starting at its source and ending in the Black Sea. It was really cool. After that, we headed back downtown, to be at the official opening of the Christmas Markets. We only stayed for a little while, as we would be going back the next day. Saturday, we slept in, and then went to lunch with Rena's family to celebrate her dad's birthday. It was lots of fun, and her nieces and nephews spoke english too. Her sister in law translates from English to German for the news, so she was really helpful too. After lunch, we went downtown, we went up the tower of a church and since the day was clearer I got some more pictures of the city. After that, we hit up the Christmas Markets. Never in my whole 21 years have I seen so much Christmas it was amazing. We went to a couple of Christmas Markets downtown, and then went to the one that is where they hold Oktoberfest. This market is more modern, and has less Christmassy stuff, but still has suff to sell. While we were there, I got a ring, a Munich snowglobe, and a cool star lamp with dolphins, that you just put over a bare bulb. After that we went home, and I got ready to head back to Paris the next day. Sunday we slept in, and Rena's mom made a special lunch complete with Rabbit and Spaetzle. It was really good. Then Rena and her dad drove me to the airport. I had plenty of time, so I picked up a few gifts in the Duty Free shop. My flight was delayed going back to Paris, because it was delayed from wherever it was coming from, I think London. All in all it was a really fun time.













The Christmas Market at Marienplaz.




















Totally awesome Christmas Tree!!!
















Me at the top of the Olympic Tower.

Danielle's Visit, and Thanksgiving Paris Style

WOW!!! It's been ages since I've postedI've done lots of stuff. My friend Danielle from Gonzaga in Florence (GIF) came to visit me the week before Thanksgiving. We had so much fun. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, it was really beautiful to see the city all lut up. We also walked the Champs Elysees, hung out in the Latin Quarter, met up with some other GIF people who happenend to be in town for the weekend, and went to the Musee D'Orsay and then had Greek food for dinner. We went to the Picasso Museum, and Louvre, as well as Notre Dame. I would say we hit all of the highlights. It was just really nice to see a friend from GU, and get caught up. We also drank Starbucks, man was it tasty. After that, we had Thanksgiving. It would be an understatement, if I didn't say that we went all out, and by all out, I mean OVER THE TOP!!!We had roughly 50 people, two turkeys, 5 pies, tons of mashed potatoes (I'm not kidding), 3 different kinds of yams, two kinds of stuffing, and all of the other fixings. It was amazing. We started all of the prep the night before, and continued to cook all day long on Thanksgiving day. Since we only have a toaster oven, the bakery up the street cooked the turkey's, pies, and some of the other stuff too. It was really fun, because each person brought recipes from their own families, so it made it really special. Next stop...Munich,
Germany.












Me and Danielle in front of the Eiffel Tower.



















Eiffel Tower sparkling at night.





















Tim carving the turkey, while Sanjay oversees.

Vacation, Chartres, Auvers-Sur-Oise, and Musee d'Orsay

This week we had a week off for vacation because of Toussaint, which is all Saint's Day. I decidied to stay in Paris, and it was definately worth it. My freinds Sarah and Lara, and I started the weekend and vacation off right with a trip to a canadian bar near school called the Moose. It was really fun. On Monday, I went and babysat Marie and we got to play lots of fun games. Tuesday and Wednesday I just hung around Paris. By the way, my mom and dad are coming to visit me the 13th-26th of February. Dad will be here until the 21st, and Mom the whole time. Since they fly into London I thought that I would do London and see my friend at Oxford the week before. We will then meet up in London, see a play, spend the night and then head to Paris the next day, me by train, them by plane. Thursday, I decided that I wanted to go to the Cathedral at Chartres, so I bought train tickets and got ready for my adventure. Taking the train was really cool. I have taken trains in France before, but this was the first one I had ever taken by myself. I got to the train station early (no surprises there) but I figured it would be better to be there early than late. The train ride to Chartres took about an hour, and as we left Paris there was some really pretty countryside. The train got to Chartres a little after 10 am. I decided to go straight to the Cathedral to check it out. Chartres Cathedral has some of the oldest stained glass, and man is it amazing. Some of it had just been recently cleaned so it was even more beautiful. At 12 o'clock, there was a tour in English by a man named Malcom Miller who is world reknowned for his tours. I took advantage of it it and learned a lot about the Cathedral. Another thing that makes Chartres famous is that it supposedly houses the veil that Mary wore when she gave birth to Jesus. The next day, Thursday, I decided to go to Auvers-Sur-Oise which is where Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theodore are buried. I went and saw the tombs of the Van Gogh brothers, and then the church which Van Gogh painted in one of his last paintings. After that, I went to the Chateu d'Auvers which is a museum detailing the life during the time of the inpresionist painters. Today, being the fisrt Sunday of the month, all of the musums were free in Paris. I got up early and headed over to see the Musee d'Orsay. Originally the Musee d'Orsay was a train station. There were a ton of really cool paintings and sculptures. I only ended up staying for about 2 hours because there ending up being so many people there. That's all for now, I will update more later.







 

Salon du Chocolat

Last weekend Paris was hosting "Le Salon du Chocolat". Basically, it was a huge chocolate exposition with big name chocolatiers such as Lindt, Nestle, etc. It was absolutely amazing, Pretty much there was any kind of chocolate that one could ever want. There were also sculptures made out of chocolate. This chocolate TGV (see photo below) took 45 hours to make!!! Holy Cow!!! Lots of the different chocolatiers were giving out free samples. There was chocolate ice cream, amazing chocolates, chocolate margarita's yum!!!!, and even Bailey's Irish Cream, 3 different flavors. Here in Europe, they don't just have Original Baileys, but they have Creme Caramel, and Mint Chocolate. Of course I had to sample all three flavors, and they were amazing. They also had a fashion show with people wearing choolate clothes. That was really cool too. Pretty much, the entire exposistion was devoted ti chocolate and all things chocolate. It was the most amazing experience and well worth the 12 euro ($15) entrance fee.













Amazing TGV train made of chocolate!!!













Amazing fountain of dark and white chocolate!!!!











Salon du Chocolat official sign!!! 

Classes, Shopping, Mass at Notre Dame

Classes are going well. I succcessfully finished a week of classes in intermediare 3. Its much better. Wednesday, I didn't have to babysit, because Marie's grandma was in town, so I had the day off. On thursday I went over to Rue Rivoli to look around and maybe do some shopping. I stopped in this Dutch chain store called C&A. I started to look around and prceeded to find a really cute long sweater that is black and white striped, as well as a smaller messengerbag for school. Originally I was looking for a trench coat or something, so that I could have a non winter coat to wear, but there were none to be found. The only ones that existed, were wool coats or puffy winter ones. After C&A, I went to a store called Etam where I got two pairs of shoes, a black pair of ballet flats, and a brown pair with a bronze colored bow. Today, I went to 11:30 mass at Notre Dame. It was so beautiful. It was the international mass, so they did the second reading and part of the mass in English. The choir sang, and they are so amazing. When mass was over, I went to one of the Crepe stands and had a banana and Nutella crepe, and it was amazing. That's all for now. I will write more next week.















The Organ at Notre Dame. 

Trocadero Aquarium, Mont St. Michel, and Class!!

Last week I went to the Cine Aqua aquarium at the Trocadero. First off, the student ticket price was 15 euros which is about $18. I figured that although it was expensive I might as well give it a shot. To make a long story short, it was the WORST Aquarium that I have ever been to. Maybe I'm a bit biased b/c I work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. There were no guides or people to help you , and their touch pool consisted of Coi and Sturgeon. They did have some really cool interactive games for kids. All in all it was a complete waste of 15 euros considering I was only there for an hour. On Sunday, our group took a 5 hour bus ride to Mont St. Michel. That's right 5 hours there, and 5 more back. Mont St. Michel is this really cool abbey on top of a rock jutting out in to the Atlantic Ocean in Normandy. We paid 5 euros to go inside the Abbey and it was really cool. We even were able to listen to part of mass. After that, we went to a Biscuiterie, aka a cookie factory. Classes are going well. I moved up a level in my language class, and it is much better. The last class would have bored me to tears for the whole semester. Now I have two classes Monday, two on Tuesday, and one Wednesday morning. After class on Wednesday's I babysit. Everything is going well here. It is really starting to feel like fall, as the temperature has dropped. Time for scarves and peacoats!! YAY!!!


Shark at the Trocadero Aquarium.

The Abbey of Mont St. Michel.

Me at Mont St. Michel.

Paris Week 2, Classes, Notre Dame and the Louvre...

Our second week of Paris was great. We had more walking tours of the city, including the Moulin Rouge, Sacre Coeur, the Marais District, Versailles, and many others. Classes started for me this past week. Monday, I have 20th Century French History from 2-5. We are talking about background events leading up to WWI. Tuesday's I have French Language in the morning from 9-12, and in the afternoon, I have Phonetics. My French Language class is like my regualr french classes back home. Phonetics is really cool, it is basically learning the proper pronounciation of words, as well as learning the different vowel sounds. It should really improve my oral French. Wednesday and Thursday mornings I have French Language from 9-12. My half day off on Thursday plus half a day on Monday gives me 4-day weekends. On Friday I didn't have any class so I decided to go to 12pm mass at the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Church itself is absolutely gorgeous!! Mass was really cool. I followed it for the most part, but it would have been easier if I had a miselette in French so I could follow the readings. However, the only two prayers that I know in French, the Hail Mary, and the Our Father came right back to me. I then went to Maison Berthillion, the best ice cream in Paris which is located on the Ile St. Louis. The Island in the middle of the Seine. I had one scoop of Raspberry, and one of Lime, and it was so amazing. Saturday, I woke up with a stuffy nose. Instead of wasting my daym I decided to head over to the Louvre for a bit and wander around. I bought a "carte Louvre jeunes" for 15 euros I have unlimited access to the Louvre for the entire year. It's a pretty good deal. Sort of by chance, I found the Winged Victory, the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde), and the Venus de Milo. Today I have just been hanging low and doing some homework. Next weekend we are going to castle of Mont St.- Michel in Northern France near Brittany. More to come later.

This weekend we went to a Chateau near the Loire Valley. It was tons of fun. When we arrived at 10:3o am we had bread, cheese, meat and wine. Then we harvested grapes for an hour. After that we walked around a bit, and had aperitifs. Then we had a 4 hour long declicious meal complete with bread and meat, salad, chicken, potatoes au gratin, a cheese plate, and for dessert apple tart, as well as more wine. We then walked around the property, and saw the donkeys. After our much needed walk, we listened to the guy who owns the chateau tell us about it, but by that time we were tired, had drank plenty of wine, and didn't really want to listen to him all in French. Then we got on our bus, and slept for most of the 2 hour bus ride home.

WOW!!! I can't believe that I have been in Paris over a week. Lots has happened since I got here. We have a ticket system for meals, and there are 3 places that we can use the tickets for. The Patisserie, Don Luigi's an italian resaurant, and the University Cafeteria. At the Patisserie,one ticket gets us a sandwich, drink, and dessert. After lunch, we came back to the Foyer and had a little meeting. After the meeting a bunch of us went to find a market. We found a really cool antique market with lots of things. Then we kept walking, and found a really cool cafe, where we got a drink. Then we saw the little Statue of Liberty. From there we turned around and saw the Eiffel Tower. So we walked to the Eiffel Tower, and looked at the huge line for going up. Then we wandered around some more, and happened on this event that was occuring for Breast Cancer. We saw French Step Aerobics. It was hilarious. After that, we went and walked to the Arc de Triomphe, then we took the metro back home. Our first weekend here has mainly consisted of going and exploring Paris, hopping on the Metro and getting off randomly to look around. We have a great guide Renan, who has been taking us around Paris and showing us some really cool stuff. Today we walked to the Eiffel Tower and around the Trocadero. School doesn't start until October 2. I took my oral exam and am happy with my placement. I have class 4 days a week. Monday 2-5, Tuesday 9-12 and 2-5, Wednesday 9-12, and Thursday 9-12. With my half day Thursday and my half day Monday I have a four day weekend every week. Its going to be pretty sweet. This weekend on Sunday we are going to harvest grapes at a winery/chateau. It should be really cool. Next week we have more touring of Paris to do, and we are also going to Versailles. I will update more next week.