before, during and after vacation

hello everybody! i sincerely apologize for my lack of blog writing. i dont want to call it hate mail, but the 'disappointment mail' has been coming in, so here i am, yet again, writing a lengthy blog to keep you all updated on my frenchy life.

so its already march?! can you believe it, its been over a month since my last blog and for that i am sorry! february went by SO fast, as it usually does with its short 29 days. PLUS for over half of february i was on vacation! i know, the french life is a hard one for me ;). but before i talk about vacation, just before vacation, the teacher i assist most, Céline, was taking some of the students along with another teacher to <<classe de la neige>>, which is basically they all pack up in a bus and head to the mountains to have class there AND learn how to ski! how fun, right? so while she was gone, i took over the english classes for her and it was quite the experience. it actually went fairly well, but i give mad props to teachers. kids are exhausting. and they are there all day, everyday! i was only there for a couple hours each day. wow, they really are some of the heros of the world! but i was asked to teach them all about the UK, which was interesting considering i knew practically nothing about it. but it wasn't difficult, just had to talk about the countries, their capitals, their symbols and how to say "Where do you come from?, I come from ________. I'm _______ (give their nationality). so nothing too strenuous. all in all it was a good experience. i learned i have to be more stern before being fun, and thats always hard for me! and although i was exhausted and frustrated about 80% of the time, the kids are good kids and always fun to be around. plus, i just had to remember that i had a 17 day vacation just around the corner!

vivement les vacances!! LONG LIVE VACATION!! i think that is france's motto. if not, it should be. so to start off my vacation i went to paris to see mon chéri, alex! we were going to celebrate valentine's day a little early since it fell during the middle of the week when he would be working and i would be jetting of to portugal (yeah, i know, portugal, right!? more on that later.) so we did the usual, walking around paris, hanging out in his tiny apartment, watching tv, doing a little window shopping, etc. also, we hung out with alex's friend hadrien and his girlfriend alexandra on sunday and that was fun, and alex hadn't seen hadrien in a long time so he was happy to catch up with him. but i must mention how strangely (well strange for france) cold it was! like MN cold, and its hardly EVER like that in france. so after walking around all day in the freezing, blustery cold we parted ways with hadrien and alexandra with the intentions of meeting up with them later for a drink or something of the sort. but by the time we made it back towards alex's apartment, we knew that we were ready for a night in. so instead of going to a fancy restaurant to celebrate our valentine's day, we snuggled in and ate kebabs (sidenote:kebabs are like gyros and SO FREEGEN DELISH!) that we picked up on the way. it was nice to warm up after a bone chilling day (you'd think i wasn't minnesotan at this point!) and exchange gifts with our bellies full of kebab. i bought alex some cuff links to go with some new work shirts he bought, and he bought me this lovely perfume with a pretty poppy on the bottle. it was a nice relaxing night, all we needed.

so the weekend was over, but i wasn't leaving paris yet! so i got to see alex extra this time around :). but he had to work monday, so i spent all day at the louvre, walking around, seeing my favorite pieces and reading my book surrounded by sculptures. it was a good day, indeed! after a lovely day at the museum, i went to get alex's shirt that was ready for pick up at the store (successful french speaking experience!) and then i went to the grocery store to get the fixings for a yummy nacho/fajita dinner to surprise alex when he got home! i also bought some chocolate and strawberries to make what turned out to be some of the ugliest, but tastiest chocolate covered strawberries. he was very happy to come home to a cooked meal and his girly. :) so we ate and ate until we could eat not more and then went to bed early because i had to be at the shuttle bus station to go to the airport at 7AM, ugh! next stop, oporto, portugal!

so from paris, my friends valeria, aaron and i flew to portugal (for 60 euros roundtrip!). it was about a two hour flight, but there is a one hour time difference so we only lost one hour. i'm not gonna do a day by day recap of what we did, but i will tell you that portugal is beautiful! we went to oporto first and then lisbon, but i have to say that oporto was my favorite. so much to see and do and the view from everywhere is breathtaking. a few highlights of oporto:

1. our hostel: SUPER nice and SUPER clean and SUPER cheap. not to mention the very friendly faculty and the nice big open kitchen to cook dinner and stay on budget!
2. the 2 1/2 hour FREE walking tour: there were some non official tour guides who come around to the hostels offering free walking tours, we thought why not. it was a great way to see the city and learn some history behind it at the same time! and a great opportunity to some picture snapping :)
3. port wine cellar tour: we got to tour the cellar and try port wine, which was a first for me. very yummy, very sugary. much different from the wine in france, but really good. great, educational, and delicious tour!
4. the river/bridges: the views along the river and from the bridges was amazing! the sunsets, impeccable.

here is a little picture tour of our time in oporto (because pictures are worth a thousand words!): http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150641525342137.414503.503662136&type=3&l=91c3e9876b

after 3 days in oporto, we boarded the train and headed to lisbon (a nice 3 hour journey!) and upon our arrival we found a beautiful downtown square just along the riverbank with a beautiful view of more bridges! must be a thing down there in portugal ;). some highlights of lisbon:

1. yet again our hostel: we didn't think our hostel could get any better than in oporto, but oh were we wrong! the hostel in lisbon was cool and artsy and quirky, just the way i like all my things to be :). the best part about the hostel was the chef, pedro. oh my good googly goo, if i could hire that man on as my personal chef, i would do it in .02 seconds flat. every night he would cook a 4 course meal (all for the small cost of 9 euros, yeah you heard me NINE euros!) soup, salad, endless wine, main dish and dessert. oh man, we ate to our hearts content. my favorite meal, chickin piri piri. seriously, i have dreams about this stuff.. so damn delish. i bought the piri piri sauce in hopes of trying to replicate it, but have yet to attempt. so good. ok yeah, im done. sorry. :)
2. nice downtown area: fun to walk around, soak in the sun that was beating down on us CONSTANTLY, which was a nice change of pace from the frigidness that was france.
3. met some nice people: francine is brazilian and was traveling with her whole family (mom, dad, sister, brother, sister's friend AND grandparents) to celebrate her grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. they all ate dinner one night at the hostel with us and were super nice. we also met jan, a 50 yr old or so man from holland who was really funny. ate dinner at the hostel with us a couple nights and played cards with us late into the evening. he was a hoot.
4. the belem neighborhood: lots to see here! gardens, cathedral/monastery, art museums, belem tower, some yummy pastries that are super famous but i cant remember the name, etc. a nice place to stroll around. we went twice, it was a good time.

pictures from lisbon:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150641560977137.414514.503662136&type=3&l=124628dc7e

so all in all it was amazing. good sight seeing, great food, and nice company! after 4 days in lisbon, valeria and i took the bus back to oporto where our flight was leaving from, but aaron was going to do a little more traveling in portugal. so after a LONG day of traveling (3 1/2 hours on a bus, 40 minutes on metro to airport, 2 hours in the plane, 1 hour on the shuttle to the city center, another 30 minutes on the metro and FINALLY a short 10 minute walk to our hotel in paris!) we finally made it back to france. val and i spent the night at the hostel and then took early trains back to laval/la roche sur yon. the next 4 days of vacation, i did a whole lot of nothing! laid around in my pajamas, did a little working out, ate dinner with ben and mark every night.. it was lovely.

this week was my first week back to school. it wasn't as hard getting back into as i thought it was going to be. the kids are having a hard time getting back into the grind i think, but that'll come with time. and lets get real, only one month until our next vacation!! i love france :)

i'm leaving to see alex at his parents house tonight and will be there for the weekend. i havent seen him in about three weeks so i'm really looking forward to it, as always! :) we are going to go see the movie 'the artist' and see what all this hype is about. should be fun!

i hope this blog didn't tire you out like it did me! oofda, but you all should know that i miss you like crazy and i am STILL waiting to hear more about all you back home (that goes for you grandmas and grandpas and aunties and cousins! i know you are all reading!)  i love you all very very much! talk soon.

XOXO,
france-y pants

p.s. only 59 days 14 hours and 15 minutes until mom and diana arrive!!! can't wait! :) :) :)

strolling the streets of pareeee with my chéri :)

hi everybody,

 just a short blog to tell you i had an amazing time in paris this last weekend. the weather was brisk, but the skies were a lovely blue and the sun was beating on our faces! we did a little of this, and a little of that. some strolling, some shopping, some snuggling. all in all a great weekend! (except i was on the hunt for the perfect pair of boots and i was unsuccessful :/) here are a few pictures to share with y'all:

here we are, sitting in the park soaking up the sun!

these two chairs are waiting for mom and diana! :)

along the seine

blue skies

notre dame

there you have it! i hope all is well with everyone back home, i'm missing you guys a lot and i think about you everyday.

i love you! XOXO,

france-y pants

the start of a new year

IM ALIVE! i swear, i know its been a while, and so much has happened since i've last written to all of you!


so as i indicated in my post before break, i started my christmas vacation by helping alex move out of his apartment in rennes. i arrived late friday night and everything had to be out of his apartment by 10AM saturday morning. we were pressed for time because a guy was coming that night to buy alex's car and so that took up a lot of our time, so by the time that was all said and done, it was close to 11PM. so we did a little organizing and then called it a night, and planned on waking up early the next morning. welllllll we all know what a monster i am in the morning, so alex was less than impressed with my help, something i'm not very proud of. (sorry alex!) but in the end, everything was out of the apartment and clean by 10AM. after a pit stop for a hamburger (duh!) we headed to alex's hometown of Le Mans in the big moving van. When we got to his house, we had the pleasure of unloading everything from the moving van into his garage because we had to bring the van back that night. let's just say not the best thing that happened over break! haha :)


it was nice to be in Le Mans with alex and his family. they are super nice and especially during the holiday season, it was nice to spend family time, even if it wasn't with my family. so we spent a few days at his parents house, just hanging out, doing some last minute christmas things, going to the movies, walking around the christmas market and so on.


on the wednesday before christmas, alex and i headed to PARIS! :) i was super excited to see the big city during the christmas season (it was the only season i have never been). we stayed with alex's brother, romain, and we brought some of alex's things to bring to his new (tiny!) apartment that friday. so we spent most of our time seeing the touristy things around the city. we went and saw where alex will be working in the business district of paris. (i'm really proud of him, he seems to be enjoying his internship so far, and is looking forward to working on some projects he has been assigned to involving a little bit of traveling). we went to my favorite part of paris, montmartre. this is where all the artists are painting portraits and little paintings and selling them in the square, not to mention the beautiful view down on the city with the amazing church, le sacre coeur, just behind you. ahh, bliss! :) love it! we also walked the champs elysees and saw some lots of christmas markets, christmas lights, and dad's favorite, l'arc de triomphe. then, of course, you can't leave paris without seeing the eiffel tower! still as magnificent as the last time. :) and this time, not far from the eiffel tower, there was a christmas market and a little ice rink where kids were ice skating, it was super cute! it was a short lived trip, only three days, but we packed it full of things and had a great time, i can't wait to get back and now that alex is living there it will be much more often. :) so excited!


visit this site to see a few pictures from the trip: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150516413462137.397612.503662136&type=1&l=1de4de3dda


on friday night, alex, romain, romain's girlfriend eva and i headed back to Le Mans to celebrate christmas with his family. eva is from estonia, so i wasn't the only non french speaking person, which took a little pressure off of me! and she is super nice, as is romain, so it was fun to get to know them better. we got back really late friday night, and then saturday was already christmas eve! time was already flying by, but thats what happens on vacation. so for christmas eve, we had fondu and it was DELICIOUS. we did fondu with meat, and the last time i had done that was prom junior year. i forgot how delicious it was, and lots of fun! it was a nice relaxing day and before we went to bed, we watched a movie. :)


after a good nights sleep, it was CHRISTMAS!! it was weird not to have maddie knocking on my door at 8AM to open presents this year ;) (love you moo!) so we slept in until about 10:30AM, took a quick shower and headed downstairs to open presents. thanks to my LOVING family and alex's very generous parents, i had many presents to open. (thank you family! you are the best! :D) alex's mom and dad bought me two bracelets and a jewelry box and some chocolates, romain and eva got me some bath scrub and such and alex bought me a ring! :) i was so surprised, i was shaking. it was a little bit too big, so we brought it back to get resized so i won't have it until next weekend :( i can't wait to have it back! apparently everyone back in the U.S. thinks that this ring has to have some sort of meaning, so to all of you who want to know what it means i asked alex: 'so apparently this ring has to have some sort of meaning behind it, so what does it mean?' and he said, 'it means i like you'. so there you are folks. :) 


after christmas, alex and i spent some nice quality time relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing. it was nice to be with him! but on the tuesday after christmas, he left for london to celebrate new years with some of his childhood friends. it was hard to share him with his friends, but christmas break is really the only break they all have at the same time, so i had to put on my big girl boots. :) so since alex took off to england with his buddies, i met up with ben, steven and ben's american friends, phil and molly who came to visit ben for the holidays in Caen, France. Here we visited the Peace Memorial Museum and explored the town a bit. i got to spend some good time with steven, the other Cobber studying in Tours, France because there were only 3 open slots for the Normandy Beaches tour, so while ben, molly and phil were on the tour, steven and i explored downtown Caen. after Caen, we headed over to St. Malo for a day or so. it has to be one of my favorite cities; right on the ocean! although, it is a lot more enjoyable when it isn't super windy and rainy, but it was still fun to do a little more exploring with steven! after our short tim in St. Malo, steven and i headed to Tours for new years. so we said goodbye to ben, molly and phil and made our way by train to meet up with our friends. 


when we got to Tours, we met up with grant and valeria and headed over to fanny's apartment. fanny was nice enough to let us crash at her apartment which was really nice of her! we hung out for a bit, and then grant, valeria and i headed back into town to go to our host families house for dinner. it was really really nice to see them! pretty much the same old same old with them, although mathias has grown SO much. it is so nice to feel welcomed in their home every time we go back. they are such a great family, and i am so grateful to have been a part of their little family. after a long night of catching up, we went right back to fanny's and went straight to bed. 


the next morning we slept in super late, preparing for the nights festivities because it was new years eve! once grant and i were up and ready for the day, we hit the town to do a little bit of exploring and we also wanted to buy fanny a present to say thank you for hosting us for the new years celebrations. she spend all day cooking an AMAZING four course meal. seriously, it was so delicious. we had some appetizers, foie gras, duck and potatoes as our main course and caramel cheesecake for dessert. after our delicious dinner, we could barely move. but we drank in the new year and played cards and called a night around 2AM. it was a really nice night had by all! 


after new years, i took the train back to la roche and it felt nice to settle back into my apartment after being gone for so long. it has been hard getting back into a rhythm after vacation, and only 31 days away ;) school is pretty much the same as before, nothing too exciting. just yesterday i went out dancing with the other teacher ladies from my school. that was pretty fun to get out and to be able to get to know them a little better. they are fun and super nice! this weekend im going to paris to see alex and i am SUPER anxious and excited! i will be going thursday night and staying until sunday evening. he will be working on friday, so i plan on spending most of my day at the musée d'orsay soaking in as much impressionist art as possible! :D i can't wait, and then the rest of the weekend we will be hitting up the sales that start this week and relaxing. its going to be great! 


sorry for taking so long to write this post! it was quite daunting, considering so much has happened since i last wrote. but now you are all caught up! and i promise to blog more often to appease you and make it easier on me! 


i love you all and miss you to pieces! i hope you all had an amazing christmas and a happy new year. it'd be good to hear from some of you soon, seems like its been forever!


XOXO,
france-y pants