Hi, it's been a while!

Wow. So I’m pretty sure that it has been a month or so since I have written. I hope that this is the kick-start I need to continue on a weekly pattern again. Anyway, this is what I started writing weeks ago, and I will just update it to current times!

I feel silly that I haven’t written in two weeks! It seriously feels that only one week went by and that I didn’t just miss my duties of a weekly writing. Last Monday I spent the night writing my first two assignments for my art history classes (so I was writing a bunch, but just not in English…) Boy, there is a lot to catch up on! I just don’t know where to start. The last two weeks have felt like a giant blur- in a nutshell it has been filled with planning out trips (spent four hours in my favorite tea salon trying to plan out train and plane tickets, then going to the actual train station to exchange old tickets and buy new ones- I wish that I had a travel agent genie that would just appear when needed!) doing homework (yes, mom I actually do go to class and do homework!), and just running around getting things done. I finally ordered my new phone- the sim card arrived and my actual new phone is theoretically coming tomorrow! I’m so excited! With my new plan I can call the states anytime and I don’t have to continuously be buying credit ALL THE TIME. I’m excited to be able to call my parents more frequently and not have to feel weird about using my homestay family’s phone.

I think that most students who are abroad (I know my friends here do it all the time) use Skype to call their families back home- but I don’t quite have that luxury because it is not supported by our satellite internet that is our only option at home. So therefore I am, once again, either behind in the technology or unable to use the technology that is present for use today (example: did not get texting until college, didn’t get picture texts ‘til a few months ago…).  It just amazes me though that we have all this technology at our disposal. The other day I was thinking about how I now have my new phone that allows me to call anywhere in the world, yet when my mom studied abroad she could only call home one every month or so from a payphone. And it had to be quick phone call. I can’t even imagine how we will communicate with our children when they go abroad for college!

Okay… Now to present times!

Where to start? First of all, my new phone is all set up and I loooove being able to call home/cell phones anytime and anywhere. It’s just great and makes me feel a little bit more connected to my family.  I have truthfully had a bit of a struggle being away from home for so long- it has now been 11 weeks. I’m proud of myself for going abroad, but I am such a homebody and a family person that it has been hard to have so much distance between me and my loved ones (including my amigos!!!). I was so happy to see Syd over my Toussaint break! (she even got to use my new phone to call home! Yay!)

I just got back from my Toussaint trip. I spent five days in Paris then took the chunnel to spend three days in London and then I spent two days (shortened from four…) in the countryside of Luxembourg. I love, love, love Paris. Charley, (who was my travel partner during this trip!) said the other day that when I used to say that I love Paris he thought it was because of all the cliché aspects, but that after seeing me interact with the city, he understood that I loved Paris as a city- not just the glorified idea of Paris. I loved spending time running around the streets of Paris, visiting my old neighborhood Le Marais, going to museums and exploring places that I hadn’t been before! (Charley stayed with his friend Julian, who took us for lunch one day to a little village inside of Paris- it was great!) and of course, I GOT TO SEE SYD! I went to church on Sunday with Sydney and spent the afternoon and evening with her walking around beautiful Paris in the nighttime.

I had such a great time in Paris and I got to visit with my de Limur family, see Syd and stay in Karin’s apartment. I was so sad to have to say goodbye and hop on the train to London. But I loved London so much more than I expected I would, that now I am a bit torn between Paris and London. But I still love Paris a bit more I think… they just speak English in London…. I had a lovely, lovely time in London though, I stayed with Flynn and Diana (LOVE THEM!) and visited a bunch with my friend Emma from UCLA. It was a great trip and again when I came time to leave, I was so sad! It was lovely getting to know London as a city beyond the tourist sights (though we did spend time visiting them!) I just felt like there was so much more we could have seen and done and that three days was very, very short. I am planning to come back to London though soon! Luxembourg was next… it was interesting to say the least. We arrived at the airport in the late afternoon to discover that the buses that would take us to the village where our hostel was weren’t running that day due to a holiday…. We had a bit of a panic as we were told that to take a taxi out to the village it would cost more than 70 euros! We decided to take a shuttle into the actual city of Luxembourg and after much debate (we were thinking of just getting a hotel in the city, which would have been around the same price as our hostel and the taxi ride) we decided to take a train into the closest city to Hollenfels. Once we were in Merch we took a short taxis ride into the 400-person village. He told us some history about Luxembourg, which is always a treat! The hostel was cute, but a bit isolated and the village, well, was tiny with only one restaurant…. We laughed each time we went because there was obviously a communication issue with the waitress each night (we tried to speak French, but she we think spoke German or “Luxembourgish”….) but we laughed so hard when on our last night we overheard her saying to some English folk “Oh I speak English….” WHAT? We have had quite a few of those situations… haha. Luxembourg was chilly and rainy and we hiked the first day we were there. Even though it was beyond freezing in Paris and London, Luxembourg seems colder and damper to me. The hiking made me homesick because I felt like I was back home and would eventually stumble upon my house and have hot chocolate by the fire with my family.

The whole trip was amazing- I just love Paris and London- but it all made me a bit homesick to not have my family there with me. It was the first time I have had to plan and implement an entire trip by myself (of course I had Charley, but it wasn’t like having a parent there to help when need-be and seeing family friends made me homesick too because I would remember all the times we would all spend together). 

Well, I am back in Lyon and though I like the city, I don’t feel that innate feeling of being at home here… maybe it will come? I don’t know. At this moment I am feeling like going home to California and part of me wishes I was just a semester student here, but I am so grateful for being here and the amount of amazing adventures that are on the horizon (I’m going to Madrid this weekend to see Anjali and our “Moroccan cousin” Abdel!) and I know that I will learn so much about myself by staying here the full academic year, I just have to overcome these feelings of separation. Don’t get me wrong, I love being here, there are just little ruts that I have to maneuver around…Originally, I thought I would stay for 12 months, but I might go home at the beginning of the summer, haven’t decided yet and I have plenty of time to figure it out!

Oh boy, this is a long post! And it only scratched the surface!

Chloe and Syd, I miss you two a lot and I can’t wait ‘til we are all back together again!

xoxox

Don't forget to Remember!!!

What. A. Phenomenal. Day.

But I'll get to that in a bit.

I'm having one of those days where I really don't want to forget what it feels like for things to go well.

This shouldn't insinuate, by any means, that things aren't going well but today was an example of things that went SO well!

A lot of what I've been working on lately has been lots of preparation for a single, short event. Looking back, it's hard to believe how much effort, planning and stress went into planning something that would last an hour. There have been meetings, detailed email correspondences, practices, rehearsals, safety waivers, arts and crafts, (but no tears), loss of sleep and definitely sweat that have gone into an hour and a half long event today.

And I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

There are few things that I find as satisfying as things going well, and few things give me that over-the-top happy feeling in my stomach when I can see other people enjoying something about as much as I am. Finding others who get excited and enthusiastic about all the goofy things that I do really keeps me motivated to keep foraging ahead and doing bigger and better things.

So this was our Quidditch team and Stanford after our Match.

I am soooo grateful for the whole team, how enthusiastic the staff and faculty of my school was, to all the Parents, families and students that hung out cheered on our team and for Stanford's team for being gracious, patient and FUN!

We played a Quidditch match.

And then it was done!! And we gathered up our brooms, quaffles, bludgers and hoops, shared a meal and sent them on their way. 

And it all happened before 1 PM.

I'm totally on cloud nine (and very VERY sleepy) but, as I spoke with Sydney about the other day (on Facebook chat) I'm so excited to be at the point I am in my life! I'm learning so much, having so much fun and just incredibly happy to be here!!!

Miss you girls so much, but I really do hope you're having incredibly adventures!!!

Sydney || How to Properly Eat a French Pastry

This week, we were each challenged by our professor to take buses around the city instead of just the metro. 

I would like to say that I love this challenge.

It makes me happy inside.

The metro is fun, but it gets old. Sometimes it is hot, and smelly, and squishy, and not all that pleasant. But only sometimes.

The bus is great because you can sit and look o u t s i d e. My professor and I were talking and he was saying, "Anyone can know the metro. That's not much of an accomplishment. But to know the city...now that's what we should all aim for."

So I took him up on it. 

Today I am spending the day writing papers. Exciting, no? For my art history class. (It's actually very exciting. Yesterday I spent about an hour in the Louvre, looking at the pieces I am using in my paper IN REAL LIFE. Who does that?!). So...I wasn't being sarcastic about the paper being exciting.

Anyway. I'm writing this paper. And I decided that I didn't want to just sit in my house to write it. So I got up, skyped with my daddy for about an hour, and then I packed up my things and got on a bus to go to Dr H's apartment. His wife and I are both doing work together. 

But when I went to get on the bus...turns out I had missed it by 2 minutes. 

And I said, "Zut," a French phrase which here means, "Darn." 

So what was I supposed to do while I waited 10 minutes for the next bus?

Find a good pastry shop. Duh.

So I found one. And I was quite pleased.

Enjoy the attached photo of me, eating my pastry properly :)

This week has been fantastic!!

Last Friday, I volunteered at the American Church of Paris where a few friends and I were able to serve lunch to the homeless. It was such a neat experience. A lot of times, I am wary of the homeless here. There are the people who beg for money, check their watches, and take a coffee break at McDonald's (which is much more high class here than in the states). Then there are the people who are genuinely hungry. Who genuinely are in need of help. They pull at my heart strings. Like the little old man who sits in the metro station and tries to sell worn out maps of Paris. And he always has a bow-tie on, but you can just tell that he needs help. So when I was given the opportunity to serve this lunch, I jumped on it. It was such an amazing opportunity to work with good people and give back to people who really truly need it. The lunch was a three course meal. None of that lunch-line-slop, this food was prepared by chefs who went to culinary school. With a cheese course and a salad and dessert and coffee. It was really wonderful. And so many people thanked us. There was one man, who when my friend Sage tried to clear his paper napkin, said, "Oh, I'd like to keep that. I need to shine my shoes later." It just got to us. I'm definitely going back. 

On Saturday night, it was La Nuit Blanche, which is the annual all-night art festival! It was super cool. People were out all night long, and there were art exhibits at most of the major museums and monuments around Paris. I LOVED it. We didn't see many of the art exhibits (bad planning on our part, we didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into), but I loved seeing Paris alive at night. I'll be posting more about that on my other blog, if you'd like to read about it it more detail!

The rest of the week has been fairly low-key...just a lot of prep for mid-terms! Whoo! Sometimes I forget that I'm here for school. Oops. But it's okay, the classes are designed to let me do that every once in a while :)

Love you all, hope you're doing well! Chloe, give my love to the valley. I miss the fall colors. Every single day. Sasha, will you go to a mass at la Basilisque Notre Dame La Fourviere? I miss that place, too.

xoxo,

Syd

Sydney || I'm back!

Hello family and friends!

So...I forgot to blog last week. I'll admit. I just completely forgot. Last Thursday, my study abroad group took a 3 day trip to Normandy and we had a really early start. I wanted to make sure I got in bed on time (and did that happen? no...) and I just completely forgot. I'm so sorry!

But I'm here to make up for it :)

If you want to read about my Normandy trip, go to this page :

http://sydneyvoitlemonde.blogspot.fr/2012/10/normandie-normandy.html

This is the blog I have been using as a class project. We're required to journal about significant experiences, group travel, and the walks we take for our Paris Walks class. It's all pretty detailed, so I understand if you don't want to read all the details. Ha. But it is there, nonetheless!

Now, on to other exciting things.

This week for the BYU students in Paris is FRENCH CHALLENGE WEEK. This means that (with very few exceptions - blogging being one of them) we are only allowed to speak in French. Oh la la la la la la, it is hard. But - and here's the cool part - I can tell that I am actually improving. You see, starting Sunday morning, I really haven't spoken that much English. Only to a few people back home, on my blog, and sometimes around the city if someone starts a conversation in English. Other than that, it's been in French! I carry my French-English dictionary around with me like it is my Bible. That thing has saved my life so many times. But I have found that despite how frustrated and confused I have gotten, I am actually better able to speak. I have more confidence and I am able to tell people in audible tones what I want to say. Hahaha. Oh, and a big plus, each day we complete the challenge, we get a macaron! Now THAT is incentive.

On Tuesday a group of my friends and I went on one of our walks around Montmartre. We got to wander around the neighborhood, stop into one of the best chocolate shops in Paris, and we ended it with a long tour of le Jardin du Luxembourg. I love that garden. The last time I was there, it was spring. Everything was green. Now it's fall. While I loved the garden in the spring, I think I might love it more in fall. There are still flowers everywhere, but all the trees are changing color. Seriously, they're all orange and yellow. It was gorgeous.

Today we went to Saint Denis, the oldest Gothic church in France. This cathedral really started the Gothic movement in all of Europe, actually. The neighborhood outside the cathedral is a little sketchy...and I wasn't expecting to love the chapel as much as I did. When I got inside, I fell in love. Les vitraux (stained glass windows) were amazing. I loved the crypte, too. I'm pretty sure that was my favorite part. As creepy as it sounds, it was way cool to see Marie Antoinette's grave, Louis XVIII's heart, and the slightly gruesome carvings on some of the stones. And we had audio guides of the whole thing (for those of you who don't know...I LOVE audio guides with my whole heart).

I may or may not have taken a 2 hour nap today, as well.

I guess I needed it. Just as much as I need to blog! (It's funny saying "I HAVE to blog...but it's true! It's for school! Ha!)

Tomorrow my friends Annie, Sage, and Alicia, and I are going to volunteer at the American Cathedral of Paris. We are going to be serving lunch to the homeless and we're all super excited about it. It's going to be such a great experience.

I love you all, I hope you're doing well! Paris is treating me very well, I think France suits me. It makes me so happy. :)

Plein de bisous,

Syd

Alicia and me at Giverny

Sage, Annie, Alicia, and me at Gold Beach

American Cemetery at Normandy

Annie, Nate, Carine, and me at the beach! It was just as cold as the beaches at home. Haha.

macarons!

Sage, Alicia, Annie, Nate, Noah, and me.

The cutest photo ever - Alicia, Annie, Sage, and me in le Jardin du Luxembourg!

Home says hi!

I'm happy to report that: 

home is doing just fine :)

But back to the beginning!

This week was exciting! We had our first round of interviews (which was SO exciting and fun for me). They're group interviews that allow us to get to know everyone a bit better and laugh a fair amount.

I AM ALSO SO PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE PACIFIC QUIDDITCH TEAM IS PLAYING STANFORD THIS SATURDAY.

I'm so excited I could die. It will be spectacular.

Classes are going very well also! Copious amounts of group projects, creating websites and discussions but it's so much fun and I'm getting really excited about figuring out ways to apply what I'm doing to Grown Up Life.

I went home this weekend and the valley is looking beautiful. The vines are about to start to turn colors, but the trees are all green and yellow and it smells like the woods and misses you very much!! (So does Jean - I stopped  by to say hi and she sends her love)

Hopefully I'll be able to dump a whole bunch of quidditch pictures this time next week.

Happy week to you all!!

la fille qui parle avec ses mains

This week has been very different from the others that I have spent here in Lyon. I really feel like I am getting settled here and I'm getting into a routine of all things normal (well, life here is the least bit normal, but normal is relative- so my normal at the moment is just saying 'yes' to everything and seeing what happens...) And I just got off the phone with my mom after a much needed catch up session! Feeling happy.

Here is how my week went:

Tuesday:
My first SLM (suivi langue et methologique) class.... the teacher was an hour and a half late (out of a FOUR HOUR CLASS, yes, four hours.... today I had the full four hours and it was tedious...) and he was very strange and used hand gestures to 'talk' to us. Today he made me place my hands on the table while I spoke (I use my hands to talk. a lot.) and started calling me 'the girl who talks with her hands': la fille qui parle avec ses mains.... endearing? haven't quite figured that one out yet.
Then I had my geographie class- favorite class of the week!

Wednesday:
6 hours of back to back lectures: History of Photography, Art History and then Linguistics Française. A very sweet french student sent me lecture notes for both the photography and art class! yay for new French friends!

Thursday:
Day 1 of my four day weekend. *BOTH FISTS IN THE AIR, rocky style* Lounged around, slept a lot, listened to french radio in the kitchen and just enjoyed the day. I love my friends here and love being with them, but it was nice to have a day where I literally didn't have to interact with ANYONE. hit the reset button for sure.

Friday: 
Met up with Charley and Kristy to meet with Sophia for Pho at a really, really good Vietnamese restaurant. Sophia is our new Austrailian friend. We met her in Monoprix. True story. Last week Kristy, Charley and I were debating whether or not to try the pre-made sushi in Monoprix (in the end we didn't...) and Sophia chips in and tells us about a good sushi place down the block. She has been here since April and has scoped out a bunch of good restaurants and after discussing our search for good Asian food, we decide to meet up for Vietnamese. It was delicious and indeed a great find.

Sophia then took us to her favorite cafe- a cupcake and tea salon. IT WAS SO GOOD. amazing cupcakes. I mean amazing- moist and not too sweet. plus they serve one of my favorite tea brands: Kusmi tea. I have declared that salon our new hang out spot (already have plans to hang out there this Thursday!)
After lunch C, K and I met up with Monica and Phoebe to go thrifting at Bric-a-Brac. It's basically a huge salvation army type place with really good stuff. I found a great leather tote/school bag (for 5 euros!) and a few other fun things.... a red wallet and some little jars.
Friday night rolled around and we sort of forgot all our plans that we made for the week (later when we realized we were kicking ourselves for it!) but we ended up going to see Savages. Terrible movie (too much violence and not a strong story line), but it was kind of hilarious (bad writing! "they don't call it a high jinx for nothing..." or "CAN I JUST HAVE A SALAD FOR ONCE" *declared by hostage....* too funny) so we did enjoy ourselves in the end. Finished the night up with crepes in Vieux Lyon (Kristy got a rhum crepe, but the guy forgot/didn't burn the rhum off- we tried to later, but it was a lost cause....)

Saturday:
Our program organized a day trip to Beaujolais, located an hour north of Lyon. Beaujolais is in Burgundy and know for its wine. We had a lovely day in the country at a family owned winery where we had a wine tasting in the morning followed by a 2 and 1/2 hour lunch. The main porc dish had been slow cooked for 10 hours!!! Delicious French cooking! Plus later we got a tour of the farm and were given fresh bread out of their stone oven! The family was so nice and sweet- and so happy!
We all got to romp around and play in the vineyards- felt sort of like coming home for a short visit, but of course it was all new and very different. and it was so nice to spend time in the country! It was a beautiful, beautiful day. A few of us finished up the night with dinner and watching Hocus Pocus at a friends' (beautiful!!!) apartment. Overall, it was a great day- I wish I could just have a million and one of those days, where everything is just fun and wonderful.

Sunday/Monday/Tuesday: (I confess I am a day late for posting!)
Charley and I got together on Sunday to plan our Toussaint- our week and 1/2 trip in October. (I'll write more about that another time- next week?) But over the last few days I have bought tickets for Madrid, Luxembourg, Paris, Geneva.... and sorted out most of my traveling this semester. I'll be doing a lot of traveling- which makes me exhausted just thinking about it- but then I get really, really, excited and I rationalize that I am here to also learn about the world and see as much as I can.

On the flip side, school has really kicked in- I'm getting more and more worried for the amount of homework I have to do- in French! yikes, but I am mainly here to learn French so I know that the more I have to do the better I will be in the long run.

Also, yesterday I bought myself an orchid. It's sort of my symbol for feeling settled and at home, making my new room more my home. It's beautiful and I love it!

Anyway, that's about it. 'Till next week!
Cheers,
Sasha

Better late than never...

THIS WEEK IS OVER!!!

It was inevitable. I should have seen it coming. But it was still such a pleasant surprise when it actually happened.

This was one of THE BUSIEST, CRAZIEST weeks of my life.

I have:
simulated growth and business population land grow based on land area
written a paper on the ethics of Nokia falsely advertising things that didn't exist
accepted 29 applications for ambassadors!!! :)
attended a staff meeting
put on two recruitment sessions
put on another, different recruitment session
went to a (sort of) quidditch practice
went to ALL of my classes
made a pretty dang good dinner
saw a production of Grease put on by the Stockton community

I'm pretty pleased with myself, and have been working the most on keeping myself on track today. (I tend to do the everything thing, and it can be very dangerous).

Lots of thoughts lately have been on the future, and as scary and far away as it seems, I also can't wait to see what happens. I really like work, really like elements of what I'm doing in school, and am so excited to find something that allows me to combine the two ways of thinking and really make a lifestyle of it.

I also think of my beloved friends, off having adventures and wonder what they'll do as well!!!

I'm off to watch Zoolander - living it up on a Saturday night!

Nice was nice!

My apologies for being a little late- it's Tuesday morning here in France.... I was (am still) super sick yesterday and came home and just crashed. There has been a lot going on in my life and this "rhume" (in my case- a REALLY bad cold, possibly flu-ish...) is a manifestation of my stress and a way for my body to say- whoa let's just take a break (but of course I can't because university has just started!)

On that note: University has finally started, I'm excited but at the same time I love just hanging out and enjoying being in France- I'm also terrified about lectures, as at this moment I only understand a small percentage of what is being said.... but I like my classes, so that's good. First of all, I'm taking two manitory classes- one called French Society (Societe Française) that is only five weeks long and the other is the SLM- Suivi Language et Methologie class- both of these combined are essentially a continuation of the Intensive Language Program that we had for two weeks. And they will both net me a credit for taking a mandatory class that I need for my French minor. But it is really frustrating because we were not told very much information about these classes (what levels we were in, that there was a meeting we needed to attend to sign up....) and as a result it was sort of a mess last week- very disorganized and just stressful.
My favorite class this semester I think will be my Geographie: Landscape class.... (Okay don't judge me, but it's in English, but if it were taught in French it still would be my favorite class...) It's Tuesday evening at the Bron campus (gag me...) which is 45 minutes by tram outside of Lyon. On the first day- my friends and I were sitting in the front row of the class- the prof. started his intro (in French) then said he was switching to English- we were really confused- really, really confused- until the other students produced their emploi du temps that had a completely different title for this class (have I mentioned the lack of organization here is just ridiculous???). Anyway, we loved the Professor (he is a specialist in U.S. State Capitals- didn't know that was a thing....) and the class is very interesting. We decided that it would be nice to have a class taught in English- and to make up for the two hours of not listening to French we can just watch an extra French movie... haha. That's how it works right?
My other classes are taught in French and will be a lot more rigorous: I'm taking two art history classes that are basically the same class (same prof., same assignments....) but one is   Photographie and the other is about paintings (again we were told they were both photography classes that had different focuses, structures... I wonder sometimes how things get done here...) Then I have a French linguistics class, (even though I really don't enjoy linguistics at all, hopefully it will help with my pronunciation and listening, plus since I have already taken ling. it seems more manageable...) My schedule is really nice too- my society french class ends after October, so I won't have classes on Mondays starting in November, Tuesday and Wednesday I have six hours of class each day (that's icky, but I don't start until 12 and 2.... so it's sort of doable...) then I don't have class on Thursdays or Fridays... Four day weekend! whoohoo! One or two of those days will be homework days, but it is nice to be able to have a good option for traveling a bit on the weekends :)

Speaking of traveling, I just went to Nice this last weekend.
The rumors are true everyone- Nice is nice.
haha.
 But in all seriousness- I did have a nice time. I went with my friends Monica, Kristy and Charley and just had a blast! We left super, super early in the morning on Saturday (we originally were planning to leave Friday mid-morning, but we had that meeting we had to go to....). The train ride was about 4.5 hours- we mostly slept because we were so tired. When we got to Nice, we had one hour to find our hostel and get back on another train to go to Grasse for the day. We didn't remember the name or location of the hostel (even though it was slightly a disaster, it was a great learning lesson: never travel without knowing were you are going to be staying- the name of the place and how to get there...) we ended up finding a wifi place, finding the name in the conformation email and grabbing a taxi because we didn't know where the street was- turns out it was just a five minute walk from the train station- but again we didn't know which direction, the street name, etc.

We made it back to the station right on time to hop a train to Grasse- the perfumerie capital of France.
Kristy had gone once before and loved it and wanted to go again- it was a great place and I thank you Kristy for wanting to go again! We got to have a little tour of the Fragonard factory and see how they make perfumes- and they told us about the Noses- the highly, highly trained and gifted people who sit at the "organ" of scents and create new combinations of perfumes. We spent more than an hour in the gift shop sampling the different perfumes. We strolled around the small streets of Grasse in the afternoon and decided to take the train back to Nice for dinner. However we missed the 6:38 train and didn't want to wait for another hour (we took a bus down to the train station and we didn't want to hang out there with nothing to do or see) so we continued on the bus to Cannes. I love that we were able to just roll with what was in front of us and not have solid plans to get back to- plus being flexible in general. It was so nice to see the little towns and the countryside from the bus. Once we got to Cannes we walked around for a bit and found a cute little restaurant- the waitress looked like a movie star! After dinner we went back to the beach and grabbed some crepes and ate on the sand over looking the Mediterranean and the fancy sailboats in the cove. Cannes was beautiful, but it was definitely for a much older, wealthier clientele and the fancy vibe was a little intimidating- it felt sort of like a France version of Beverly Hills.
Later that night we hopped a train back to Nice- and we decided to go out and explore the city a little bit. The weather was great and it was lovely just to sit on the Quai overlooking the ocean.
The next morning we woke up on the early side and headed over to Vieux Nice, where Kristy's host mom told us about a huge flower market that happens everyday- it was Amazing. Boothe's and Boothe's of flowers, dried fruit, fresh fruits and vegetables. After seeing the flowers, we walked over to the stony beach- which actually was quite comfortable and it was nice not having sand everywhere when the wind picked up. The only thing I didn't like about the rocks was it made getting in an out of the water very difficult and painful (we saw many people were Crocs- so next time I will grab a pair just to project my feet!). I loved swimming in the water though- so clear and had a nice gray teal color. Beautiful. And it was warm too! We spent the day going back and forth from the water to our towels for sunbathing. It was a glorious way to spend Sunday afternoon if you ask me.
In the afternoon we packed up our sunbathing camp and grabbed some crepes before walking through the town to catch our train back to Lyon.
Nice was beautiful- many of the buildings were brightly painted (terracotta with teal shutters for example!), the whole city looked exotic and different from what I have seen before. Overall I had a great weekend and love to spend it in a beautiful place with great friends!
Now, back to reality- I have school in an hour!

Beacoup de bisous!
Sasha

Busy as a Bee!

Hello world!

My oh my, what a busy week!

Usually, I'm in class.
When I'm not, I'm taking tours.*
When I'm not on tours, I'm putting on info sessions about Ambassadors.
When I'm not putting on info sessions about Ambassadors, I'm probably sleeping.

And that's how things have gone all week!

I can't say I have to much to report! Lots of tours, a little bit of Very Potter Musical at our DA meeting.

This are just chugging along happily here, until next week when things will really amp up (applications are due next Friday! I can't wait!!!)

I got to talk briefly with both Sash and Syd and was so happy to hear about their travels.

Thats all for now!

*I'm evaluating all the ambassadors by having them give me tours. It's been an adventure. And a lot of walking.

Sydney || Sainte-Chappelle

Yesterday I went to Sainte-Chappelle. For those of you who don't know about this cathedral, it was built in the 13th century to house relics brought back to Paris from the crusades. King Louis IX was the king over the project and wanted it to be amazing. They did a good job.

I have been dreaming about going to Sainte-Chappelle for years. I'd heard of it before, but it was in an art history class my freshman year at BYU where I became fascinated with it. We learned all about the painting of the interior, the stained glass windows, the gothic architecture of the inside and outside. I went so far as to spend an hour taking a virtual tour online and examining all the different parts of the cathedral from the library on campus.

Most of my study abroad group was with me when we entered Sainte-Chappelle. There are two levels to the cathedral, and we entered on the bottom floor. We climbed a narrow spiral staircase for a while and could see nothing but the white stones of the walls and stairs.

I really wish I could have seen my face when I came out of the staircase. I had no warning at all that just around the curve of the stairs would be the most amazing cathedral I had dreamed of for years.

You'll forgive me when I tell you that my eyes watered. The entire time I could not believe that I had actually made it. I had actually made it to Sainte-Chappelle.

It was definitely a highlight of my stay in France so far!

And then we went and got crêpes afterwards. The perfect end to the most amazing experience.

Enjoy my photos! :)

As if the downstairs weren't impressive enought...

They went and did this to the upstairs!

Altar

This is Cori. She and I had pretty much the same experience with Sainte-Chappelle.

Seriously?! This was killing me.

Nate, Cori, and I eating nutella and banana crêpes!

Day trippin' to the Alps

C'est Lundi encore!
You know what that means? Another update from yours truly.
Oh boy, I can't believe that it's Monday already, I feel like this week went by in a blink!
First of all, I am done with the ILP (the intensive Language Program) that I had everyday for the last two weeks. I have to say that I did in fact enjoy it, mainly because it was discussion based and I loved our Science Po prep class where we learned about current French politics. The Science Po(litiques) is a very prestigious school in France, even though I'm pretty positive that I will not be taking classes there this semester (my classes will be at Lyon 2 and Bron, which is outside of Lyon...), I might next semester. With the close of our ILP came our exams- yikes! but they weren't too bad- an oral presentation, a small written assignment and an exam on current affairs in France. The day of the exams (last Friday) was pretty stressful and I am glad they're over, but that also means that real school is coming up! (I start tomorrow!)

During our Academic Meeting, two weeks ago, our directors told us that in this upcoming year we need to disregard all the things- planning wise- that we have grown accustom to during our years at our respective UC's.
Oh boy, did we know what was coming?
nope. we. did. not.
Planning classes has just been ridiculously stressful and all that we have been thinking about for the last few days.
First of all, each department sends out an "emploi du temps" with it's schedule of classes for that specific department/campus. You have to go through all the emploi du temps (sometimes there are multiple ones for the same department...) and write down all the classes that seem interesting. BUT the catch is that there aren't any course descriptions! Just the titles. And unlike UCLA (and I think most colleges at this point) there isn't an online way to plan your course schedule- so it is very confusing and messy. very messy.
So, what we have to do is find somewhere between 8 to 10 classes that we think will be good, and spend the first two weeks going to all of them- then in two weeks we decide which four (out of the 8 or 10) that we like the best, ask for our Prof's signatures and voila! we have classes! OH but wait! Add the additional complication that there are two campuses, 30 + minutes apart, and that we have a mandatory class (called the SLM or Suivi Methologique) that we have yet to be told the schedule for, which means that it may conflict with classes that we are planning to take! My friends and I have decided that we will just resort to running around like chickens without our heads for the next two weeks and then we will be able to settle down and relax.

Anyway, enough about classes! Lemme tell you about the fun adventures that I've been up to in the last week! Here are the highlights:

My friends (Kristy, Charley and Monica) and I bought train tickets to Nice for this upcoming weekend! (We are still working out some details, okay, big details: like where we are going to sleep and we have to change the time we are leaving on Friday...) But I am so excited!

This week I got the pleasure of hanging out in the apartments of my other EAP (Education Abroad Program... aka the UC program) friends- it's nice to see the different housing options in Lyon- We will have to start looking for housing for next semester!

On Saturday, Charley and I met up to enjoy the Day of Patrimony in Lyon. Throughout Lyon, many buildings were open for tours and there were lots of festival-type activities going on. We did a tour of the Opera house and the Hotel de Ville (beautiful by the way! and very classical French!) and then we saw some of the galleries at the Musee des Beaux Arts. I loved that we were able to get to know parts of the city in a new, intimate way.
Later, we went wild goose chase to find a specific Mexican restaurant (they were having a festival) only to discover that we needed reservations! We settled at another Mex. restaurant and had such a bizarre time- we had the tasting menu and it was NOT AT ALL Mexican food- so strange with avante garde dishes. Our dinner came with Tequila Rapideo- which were fizzing Tequila shots that we drank while the WHOLE restaurant watched... was quite the experience! And just a very funny and strange night.

Sunday, I went to Parc de la Tete D'Or with Charley and just walked around, ate some crepes and just enjoyed the sunshine.

Today (Monday), since Charley and Kristy and I didn't have class, we decided to go to the train station to see if we could buy same-day tickets to Grenoble.
You know, we wanted to just live in the moment!
Sure enough we got tickets for 12:15, but all the way across town at the other station! After a mad dash over there (we bought out tickets at 11:30) we hopped the hour and half train to Grenoble. We didn't quite have a plan, but we've heard of some interesting places in Grenoble so we just wandered around for a bit until we stumbled upon the gondola/funicular that takes you up to the Bastille- an old fortress high above the town. OH what a view! We hiked around for a bit, took lots of photos and just had some good old fashioned fun over looking the base of the Alps (and parts of the Alps themselves)! Beautiful! We played cards the whole train ride back to Lyon. Overall it was just a lovely and great day. I love little adventures like the one that I had today- it makes life a bit more interesting and spontaneous! I'm sure that throughout the year we will have more day trips- perhaps with a little more advanced planning.... but maybe not, who knows?

Beacoup de bisous!
Sasha

sydney || late post!

hi friends! and family! and everyone!






so yeah...i am late on posting. but i was on the road! please forgive!


so i'm officially back in paris after spending 8 days traveling through central and southern france. (oh yeah, and i got to see sasha before that. sa-weeeeet! see chloe's latest post with the little photo of us in front of the eiffel tower!) i can easily say this has been one of the best (and longest) weeks of my life.

brief run down:

lyon
le puy en velay
pilgrimage hikes on the saint jacques de compostella trail
lots of beautiful french countryside
a few cows
lots of franglais (french and english combo that we have all gotten really really good at. scarily good.)
conques
figeac
pech-merle cave paintings (25,000 years old, people)
canoeing on the dordogne river
sarlat
amazing food
lascaux ii (15,000 year old cave paintings)
lots of bus time with our bus driver, jacquie
puy du fou - a french medieval amusement park
exploring castles
and coming back to paris

it has been amazing. it has felt like we've been in france forever. being on a study abroad is really very strange because you are immediately so close and comfortable with all the people you are with. i can honestly say i feel like i've known everyone here forever and it's been amazing.

i'll update more as soon as possible! with photos! tomorrow we are moving into our houses with our host families. good news : i'll have wifi. haha. so don't even worry about that.

so with that, a bientôt! ♡

Wizards For Obama

Hello world!

What a busy, busy week!

Things are buzzing on campus (mostly because Greek life was recruiting like crazy) but exams are starting to appear on people's radii (such a great word) and school is definitely real.

I was not excluded from this Greek life recruitment, and was out at events for my professional fraternity wrangling in new people and being really mediocre at small talk. The last night of our rush was so ridiculously goofy and refreshing, and really reminded me of why I'm so proud to be part of that organization. It was organized to be Game Night, and we spent the first 45 minutes playing our board games and putting together puzzles, but it didn't take long before things escalated to a whole new level. I don't know if you've ever seen a room full of sugared up engineers play Jenga, but if you ever get the chance it's a fairly phenomenal experience.

This is the photo I got right as it was falling down. It was up to 35 moves!!! At this point they'd gathered an audience of at least 25 people.

From there it just kind of naturally progressed to ninja, (click here for example (jump to 1:06)), until at one point I looked around the room and there was one group making beautiful, intricate and tall structures out of jenga blocks, some break dancing in the center of the room, a large group arm wrestling at the welcome table and the rest chatting and making friends. 

I wish I could make this up. 

The rest of my week was filled with class projects, more ambassador recruitment and FINALLY QUIDDITCH PRACTICE. There's something so oddly nostalgic about dragging the PVC pipe quidditch hoops across campus, finding a spot center field on our lovely little quidditch lawn and watching some of my favorite people on campus run around on broomsticks as Burns Tower chimes (you can start placing your bets on how many of these posts will involve The Tower, Harry Potter or both). And the strange looks from passerbys, many of whom stop to take a photo or two. 

Throughout practice we couldn't help but noticed the, ehem, variety of athleticism amongst our players, which ranged from a whispy computer science boy in a Blue Man Group t-shirt and pageboy cap, to a six-plus foot senior rugby player, racing up and down the field on a baseball bat, because that's the closest thing he had to a broom. I can't express my fascination and adoration for the things that Nerd Culture have produced, and quidditch is at the top of that list. 

SPEAKING OF WHICH, check out what I received in the mail this week: 

So very pleased with myself. 

And as the Imperial March (from Star Wars) pops up on my iTunes, I feel I have reached my cue to sign off.

Sydney has been without a computer, but will return to the blog next week. 

Paris for the Weekend!

Wow. What a week!
I had my first week of the Intensive Language Program at Lyon 2- I like the classes a lot- they are fun and discussion based, but boy it really gave me a big ol' reality check in the sense that I really don't know very much French!  Yikes! But I know that this year will be tough and I have a big learning mountain ahead of me, but that's why I'm here. I want to learn French. I really want to have French under my belt as a life long skill. Not only do I feel culturally connected to France (my Dad's family is French, and I lived in Paris for a year and have visited France many times...) and I have a strong feeling that French will be very important in my future...

Anyway, this week was filled with fun adventures: for example last Wednesday night I hung out with some friends from our program and ended up dancing the night away at a Cuban salsa dancing club. It was a blast and just a few blocks away from where I live! (so more salsa nights are a must!) Then on Thursday, Lyon had what they call an "Afterwork" party- it was a mixture between a full on rave and a grown up cocktail party. It was held at this huge, huge warehouse in the Confluence (where the two rives the Rhone and Saone come together- Lyon is currently revitalizing the industrial area of the confluence...) It was a blast- but strange to see adults enjoying the rave! also we had a bit of a panic- trying to get to the last tram and they trapped us in the warehouse! crazy times! but dancing two nights in a row- unbelievable!

After class on Friday I hopped a train to Paris for the weekend. I still can't get over the fact that I was in Paris for the weekend. my dream come true. seriously. I woke up this morning (Monday) and had to ask myself if that really happened- it just felt like a really lovely dream.

The train ride was super easy- 2 hours of just sitting and watching the French countryside go by and writing in my journal. I love trains. so. much.

During the weekend I stayed with Karin- a dear, dear friend of the family who I just adore- she is one of the warmest and kindest people I know and she is basically like family to me. I love her so much and it was so good to see her, especially after such a long journey and tough transition into my new life. Sidenote: we rented Karin's apartment when my family lived in Paris in 2006-07, so going back to visit truly felt like I had come home for the weekend. No. Joke. It was the best feeling. It was like feeling that I was supposed to be in that moment, like it was meant to be.
I know that it is not my home, but it was for that year and I will always love that apartment- and I am blessed to have such a good friend who has invited me to come stay anytime. Therefore, if I am homesick- my cure is only a train ride away.

The whole weekend was just amazing. I'm still on a high from it all.
Friday, Karin and I went out to dinner at a tapas place down the block in the Marais- yum. Around 10 pm I headed over to meet up with Sydney (I was soo thrilled that worked out!!! she was leaving the next morning for Lyon, of all places- so I was happy to have met up with her in Paris!) I met some of her lovely friends from her study abroad program and we hung out (aka: a lot of hugging and laughing) under the twinkling of the Eiffel Tower- so magical. Syd I know that you will just have the time of your life in Paris! So excited! (I'll come visit again soon and actually spend more than a few hours with you!)

I will be honest that going back to Paris for the weekend did make me a bit melancholy. I love Paris so much and I wish that I could have lived their again this year- but I made the decision to go to Lyon for various reasons: I wanted to get to know a new city, wanted fresh experiences, didn't want to fall back on old habits. I love Paris and I am thrilled to be able to just be a train ride away from my favorite city.

Anyway, back to Friday night: I got back to the Marais around midnight- but I wasn't ready to call it a night so I headed over to Place de Saint Catherine- right behind the apartment- and had a cup of tea, in the cobble stoned square and enjoyed watching the Parisians turn in for the night. The glow from the light of the cafes on the square was right out of a scene from a movie. Very romantic and whimsical.

On Saturday I woke up, in awe that I was in my old bedroom, and had a sweet breakfast with Karin. I ate fresh croissants with homemade Jam (made by Karin)  at Karin's bedside while watching a French soap opera. Twas the life!
I then moseyed over to Mariage Freres (best tea shop ever) to meet up with Brooke! She was in Paris for a business trip and I was lucky enough to spend the day with her! We leisurely toured around the Marais and did some shopping in fun boutiques. We had an in-between-meal at this great French cafe- it had such a great vibe and you could instantly tell that it was loved by the locals. In the afternoon I took her up to the apartment to meet Karin while I changed for dinner- I was so glad they got to meet each other- bringing my favorite people together just makes me so happy!

Brooke and I then headed to the Costes Hotel for dinner- I think that was the swankiest dinner I have ever had (not only was it a beautiful out door patio, there were models at every other table and our waitresses were models... and the food was delicious!) Thanks Brooke! I will cherish that dinner for ever- great food and even better company. I was so sad to say goodbye to Brooke- she is like my Momma when I am down in L.A. and I will miss seeing her (as well as David and Devon- who just headed out to school! whoohoo!) this year.
Sunday morning, after having croissants and jam with Karin- I headed over to a hotel between the Palais Royal (where my Dad grew up) and the Opera. My friend Brandy (from UCLA) was arriving in Paris that afternoon and because I wouldn't have been able to see her, I decide to write her a little note and deliver it to her hotel! (She did get it by the way! I realized I didn't have the name of her grandfather who had the reservations, so I left it in the hands of a very nice woman behind the desk who reassured me she would ask every person who came through if they were Brandy! haha. so nice!)

So all day on Sunday I wandered around Paris just taking every moment in- the Palais Royal, the Louvre, the Quai along the Seine, the Notre Dame, Shakespeare and Company.... I got some Berthillon ice sorbet before heading back to the apartment. It was hard to say goodbye to Karin as I rushed to catch my 3:30 train back to Lyon. I know that I will be back to Paris soon enough, though.

Overall, it was one of my favorite weekends of my life. I just really enjoyed every single minute of it and didn't want the weekend to end and reality to set back in. I feel truly blessed to have such amazing friends-who I consider family-that I can spend time with half-way around the world!

Rough game, Quidditch

Hello world!

It is finally FRIDAY after a long and spectacular week. It's week two here on campus and things are really beginning to gain momentum.

We're recruiting in full swing with Ambassadors, tabling around campus, holding recruitment sessions and planning our fun events (Like an open house of Burn's Tower!)

Ahhh how I love my tower.

We're passing out applications like there's no tomorrow and on Saturday we have a mini-retreat. I get to facilitate a discussion and get my own slide on the powerpoint and be grown up and responsible.

Dumbledore's Army: Pacific Division had their first meeting on Thursday night and it went swimmingly! We had about 40 people show up, most of whom were Freshman, but I'm really excited for the club this year. As it turns out, developing a Harry Potter club that has a strong sustainable backbone is no small feat. I was a little nervous at the end of last semester, but things really are looking up. We're going to take things in a community service based direction, and I think it's going to really change us in a positive way. We have plans for some teamwork with the Harry Potter Alliance, have some Mrs. Weasley gift drives around the holidays, and maybe even a Triwizard tournament fundraiser that would involve the whole campus. I'm so excited for our progress, and just to be reunited with the fabulous members of the club!

But on to the title reason for the post!

During our parent and family weekend coming up in October weekend, and our University has asked us to hold a quidditch game!!! We did the same thing last year, and used it as a launching point to start our intercollegiate quidditch team. This time, instead of playing our own students, we decided to reach out to some local schools in the area. I shot out e-mails to Cal, Stanford and a community team called the Silicon Valley Skrewts and GOT RESPONSES FROM ALL OF THEM THAT DAY! It ended up as a squealing-bouncing-up-and-down-in-your-seat kind of days. They were so helpful and enthusiastic and made me so excited for the sport I've missed so very much! We had 15 new freshman sign up as interested to play this semester and I can't wait to watch us become something that really lasts on this campus.

It has been an EXCITING week!!!

OH MY NERD OUT HARDCORE.

Now I'm going to go hang out with some buds at a fraternity house and watch some movies.
COLLEGE EXPERIENCES! Take that, frenchies.

They sent me this photo today :) I cried in the office. So glad my amigos are happy and safe!

T minus 2 hours and 50 minutes

Syd here again. Last time I blogged, I told you that I only had a few more days until I left for Paris. Well, folks, it’s here! Today is the day I fly out of Salt Lake to the city of lights. And love. And all other things wonderful. It’s pretty exciting. I’m sitting in the Salt Lake airport right now just waiting to board my plane! I’ve realized that it’s been weird, I haven’t felt nervous at all until today. But even today I don’t really feel all that nervous. It’s strange. Just excitement. It’s great. :)

This past week I was able to do all sorts of great things before leaving. I was able to go to Walker’s football game. It was so much fun! He started playing the same year I started school at BYU, so I’ve never been able to see him play. I always felt so sad about that. But now I have and I picked an awesome game to go to! They won 61-28 (I think), and I even got to see a deer run onto the field in the middle of the game. And we stopped at this rest stop called “The Legend of Big Foot” and that was pretty cool, too.

Then I came to Provo. This city really has become my second home. I’ve got a ton of second homes…haha. The list includes LA, Bouchon Bakery, and Provo, just to name a few. Anyway, I’ve been able to see all my favorite people here. I went to game nights, was social with people in my friend’s apartment complex, and went tubing down Provo River. I have never seen such a gorgeous day in my life. The trees all down Provo Canyon were changing colors and we were floating along down the river, just talking, soaking up the sun, and looking at this beauty that I don’t even have words to describe. And I lost a shoe. Actually, I lost it twice. The first time I caught it, the second time I didn’t and lost it forever. That was unfortunate. But it was okay, I got myself a cheap pair of flip-flops from the BYU bookstore, so that was cool. Yesterday I spent the day on campus and went to a few classes, met up with friends, and got fingerprinted for a class I have to take winter semester (part of our lab hours include sitting in on high school French classes so I have to have an official FBI background clearance check).

Every time I come back to Utah, I forget how incredibly beautiful it is. The mountains seriously blow me away every time I see them. Right now they are especially gorgeous with the trees all changing color. Oh, and the sunsets are amazing. We get amazing sunsets in California every once in a while that are so vivid that everyone stops and looks and then posts a facebook status about it. Those are the kind of sunsets that Utah has every night. I can’t even. And then they reflect off the mountains and turn them these crazy shades of pink and red and orange. Combine the light with the fall colors and it literally looks like the mountains are on fire. I will never get tired of it.

Anyway, so I’m leaving for Paris today. And that is what I wanted to say. And tell you that I love the Utah mountains. Sorry if this is all over the place. My mind won’t quite sit still long enough to let me focus. Ahh! Next time you hear from me, I’ll be in France!

Beaucoup d’amour,

Syd