Oops.

How does one effectively communicate to their host mother that in an attempt to run into the shower while simultaneously pulling out their pony tail, they accidentally elbowed the ceramic clock causing it to fall in two neat pieces on the floor?

And I thought I was so close to achieving my goal of not breaking anything this semester.

the countdown begins

My mother told me that my last entry was "dumb" and that I had to conclude my semester with something intelligent. I guess since she birthed me, she apparently has total control over what I do. That statement is false, I am updating this because I want to and because I am motivated. Let it be known!!!

This past week has been full of excitement, which is nice because who wants to spend a boring final week in France? I spent the weekend doing fun summer things like attending bbqs and climbing a mountain. It was no easy feat and I am proud to say that I conquered Mount Sainte Victoire...for the most part. I won't actually tell you whet

her or not I made it to the tippy top. Some time constraints and the need to catch a bus might have been involved, so don't judge too much.

Once the actual week commenced, things were not that fun because of my many mind numbing finals. HOWEVER, as of this morning, all of that is finished and I can continue to enjoy my remaining days here in peace. Tonight was my host father's birthday which we celebrated by eating outdoors and staring at a hedgehog while it lay motionless in the grass for 15 minutes. I also had the following conversation with my 11 year old brother.

Me: C'est vraiment un bordel dans ma chambre.

Mathieu: Oui! Je l'ai vu!

Which translates to "My room is a mess!" "Yeah, I saw." So presh.

Somehow I got roped into cooking dinner with LB for the fam on Friday. I am making mashed potatoes and if I can find the ingredients, jello poke cake. I have never been more frightened in my life. Except maybe on the night before I took my 6th road test. That ended well and so will this. Right?

A glorious return

So I'm back from my 10 day whirlwind of vacances. I've got tons of beauty shots of Florence and Athens and will definitely share them with you all. At some point. I haven't the time to recap my entire vaycay but I just wanted to share something with you all.

I can't stop eating those English licorice candies. I eat them all day and then I want to vom. It's a vicious cycle but they are sooo delicious.

I give, I give.

I can't take it! After weeks of tactful avoidance, the nagging e-mails from my mother and the words of disappointment from Elena have finally wore me down. What can I say? I'm sorry? I've been washing my hair for the past 3 weeks? What do you people want??? LIES or the truth?!?! Well, the truth is I started recounting the details of my break, got bored and walked away. I wrote a nice review of Amsterdam and you can have it. I don't want it anymore. Tragically, Paris is no longer fresh in my mind so you will all have to be contented with photographical evidence. Personally, I'm a visual learner. I would love it if someone told me I didn't have to read about their life but simply SEE it with my own EYES. So here it is, just for you, my adoring public. February 28th through March 8th in pictures AND words.

Amsterdam

Break officially began when I forced myself awake at the ungodly hour of 3:30 on a Saturday to run to the gare routière and catch a bus to the Marseille Airport for my 6:25 am flight to Eindhoven. Once there, myself and my traveling mates(some friends from my program) got on another bus which, after and hour and 45 minutes, finally dropped us off in front of Central Station in the heart of Amsterdam. A few words about the city, it is one of the most beautiful and impressive places I have been to yet. The layout and general appearance of the buildings is really cool and they all border little canals that snake about Amsterdam. For being there only 4 days, I managed to see a lot. I visited such gems as the Tropenmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the Rijkmuseum. Lots of museums! I think the Van Gogh museum was my favorite because I got to see Starry Night which quite ironically was on loan from the Met. I think, however, that it was a lot more appropriate to see it in Amsterdam in a place dedicated to the works of Van Gogh. The piece was beautiful and I feel extremely lucky to have gotten to see it. In addition to gallery hopping, I took a pleasant canal ride, wandered the red light district, and visited the zoo!

And that, in a nutshell, was Amsterdam.

Paris

And there you have it.

I'm still here...

Hey guys, I apologize for the lack of updates but I promise they are coming! I'm working on two pretty epic posts right now so get ready.

Soyez patient!

Springtime for Hitler

So, I had a slight epic fail with my lunch today after horribly burning the garlic for my garlic and olive oil pasta. However, the need to escape the stench led me to open the kitchen window above the sink and breath in the delicious spring air. It is so beautiful outside today, I almost cried. I am actually looking forward to strolling down the hill towards my 3-6pm class this afternoon. Unfortunately, tomorrow I am headed north and back into nuclear winter. I'm not too worried though because a week from now, it will probably be so wonderful I won't know what to do with myself. C'est le printemps!

Side note: I would like to direct your eyes to the photograph posted below. I managed to fit 8 days of clothing including toiletries and 2 pairs of shoes into that bag. When I originally showed the empty version of it to my host mother and told her my intentions, she laughed at me and walked away. Who's laughing now, Hélène?

I love my host father dearly, but if I have to listen to him clear his throat mucous one more time, I will absolutely vomit. It resonates throughout the house which, while impressive, worries me slightly. Normal humans do not sound like that.