Catch up..

so my computer is being gay so just read the text below and you should be able to figure out which pictures go with which text... sorry for the inconvienence

So i haven't written in a long time... 

First off--- i went to the Loire valley and visited  a bunch of castles...

Recently we have gone on a trip to Strasbourg(which is like a small german town in France). We were able to have the typical Alsacian meal- sour crout and pig- literally there was every part of a pig on my plate- heart and all: A typical man's kind of meal(i was thinking of Mike McGlaughlin when i was eating it). As for me, I was unable to scarf down everything because the thought of eating pig heart didn't really role with me. But i did try everything so i can say i have eaten pig heart.

We also visited Mont St Michel. This is a huge abbey in the middle of the english channel. Probably one of the funniest days of my life... My friend marissa decided to buy the fugliest hat ever that was like a hikers hat, bright orange, with "Mont St. Michel" written across the top and to top it off she paid my friend Megan to wear it all day. Here are a few pics just to give you an idea. I laugh at everything and i could not resist cracking up everytime i saw Megan wearing it. But wait... IT GETS BETTER.. As we were doing the guided tour in mont st michel, the orange hat flies off over the edge of the abbey(as you can see in the pictures it is very windy). When this happens me and megan just look at each other wide-eyed and start busting up laughing.. then we look over and marissa is jumping over the edge with about 4 ft on the ledge -- she is not going to loose the hat! Anyways, after I thought Marissa was going to die getting the orange hat we decided that everyone needed to sign it in memory of the trip and the suicide saving by Marissa. 

I also have gone to the beaches of Normandie- almost got left here in paris for that trip because the metro wasn't working but luckily my director decided by persuasion of some of my sweet friends to have the bus come pick me up on way out of the city- lucky day for me! it was my favorite place by far. Walking on the beaches and through the american cemetery made WWII so much more real to me. It was very impressionalble. here are some pics..

 

Lastly I want to tell you about a crazy experience that just happened- this is the story told by my friend- long story short- she got a 50 euro fine on the metro but the way the story plays out is hilarious: here it is... click here  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=72623436804

Funniest day of my life

Yesterday, my friends and I decided to do one of our paris walks for class. Who knew it was going to turn out to be the funniest day ever. And I really hope that these stories aren't all" you had to be there stories", so i will try to tell them as funny as possible. First of I have to describe two of my friends to put this into perspective:

Jessica- crazy, spastic, tall, and dumb blonde(except she has brown hair), some of the things she does and says would be considered socially akward-but they are so funny and ridiculous we just laugh, she is also so dang beautiful, tall and model-like. She is the best!

Marissa-crazy, ridiculous, loud, likable, and hilarious. She talks a lot-in a good way, not one of those people that you want to shut up every time they open there mouth. We both also share the love for the show the bachelor... hence some of the funny stories are going to be about that. side note-And she is obsessed with singing one of the songs from twilight- I pretty much love her!

So my first funny story involves jessica. We were walking on our paris walks and there was a woman in full out prayer position, with her body completely bowed to the ground begging for money. Usually people are not in this position when they beg in paris, so it was a little odd, but very obvious what she was doing. She was using a pringles short stack can for her coin cup. Anyways, my friend jessica says as we walked by her, "Oh my gosh is she ok?" and then she proceeded to say, " Oh ya she has pringles." We all busted up laughing and were like, "Jessica she was begging with that pringles cup not eating them. "

My Next story occured shortly after. We were walking through the Jardin du Luxumburg and there is one B-ball court there. So, feeling spontaneous, my friends and i decided to join in with the guys shooting the ball. Not knowing how to be smooth about it, we all were a little unsure how to ask to see if we could play in french. We all were nervous and were telling each other, "you ask-no you ask". Finally my, very loud, forward, crazy friend Marissa, just runs onto the court and tries to still the ball from these two guys that are playing one on one, but instead of even touching the ball, she just runs straight into him and then walks away. IT WAS so funny. Then it gets even better... after one of us finally got the courage up to play with them- I think it was jessica, we decide to get serious and take our jackets off, etc. Anyways, my friend marissa happen to be wearing a "Je t'aime Paris shirt" that day. So she takes of her jacket and walks onto the court and two of the guys just start busting up laughing at her... It was so funny because i think they though she was a joke/freak before we even started playing. Then when we did start playing Marissa has this phrase she made up to say in place of crap or shot... its "freaknasty". Don't ask me were she got it friend, she lived in Singapore- so maybe that can explain some of her weirdness. (PS MOM-she knows the Waldrons) Anyways, the french boys started copying what we were saying and one of them started saying "pricknasty" and we kept telling him. Stop! thats bad. But he kept saying it everytime we passed the ball to Marissa. 

Next story: Later that day we went to the apt of some of our other friends to eat crepes together and my friend Megan was telling Marissa, as she was grabbing all the condiments for the crepes out of the kitchen, to be really careful. About 2 seconds after she said "Don't break anything Marissa." We all hear a crash on the tile floor in the kitchen. Everyone just busted up laughing. Turns out she was trying to grab the honey of a plate, but the jar was so sticky that the plate came with it and she didn't know. But the honey was obviously not sticky enough to hold the plate onto it because approximently 3 secs after she picked it up it fell to the ground and broke. 

Next story: Later we were talking to this guy and I pointed out this bald spot on his head. I asked him "Did you slip when you were shaving or what?" He told me that he was just born with it- THEN jessica says, "oh is that why you always wear hats?" That girl is a hoot- that is just another example of her.

Next story:

So i just saw the movie taken- which is about a bunch of american girls who get stolen and sold off into prostitution in Paris by these albanian guys. On the walk back home from crepes it was really dark and we all were freaking each other out. One of us would hear a noise and then look back and it would freak out the rest of us so we would all just start running. Lets just say i think we worked of some of those crepes. 

Lastly:

I came back to my friend's house and we all watched the Bachelor together. Can I just say i do not like Jason! I cannot believe him! He deserves to not get the girl of his dreams.-especially if he is just going to pick and chose like they are candy! First off, go MELISSA for telling him off-he doesn't deserve her. And second of all Molly, grow a backbone-he refused you the first time, why wouldn't he do it again-especially since he did it to Melissa. RIDICULOUS! 

Also, what was up with molly's hair. it looked like a box. THis is something that probably will only be funny to me and my friends but right as she walk out my friend Marissa yells, " What is up with her hair, it is a box. Why doesn't she and Jason go live in a box under a freeway pass together and give ty to a mormon family." It was really funny at the time, but probably one of those thing were you had to be there at the time. Anyways, there's some funny stories for ya.. hope at least one of them made you laugh!

So.. I can honestly say i don't have any hilarious stories. Darn it. But I have done some pretty dang cool trips lately. First off, I went to Rouen for my art class and I saw the place where joan of arc was held in prison before she was executed. Also, we went to a museum there and looked at tons of art from the medieval ages. Personally, my favorite paintings I saw there were not the ones we looked at for art class but the impressionist paintings.... My favorite was Monet--- His paintings were so amazing and I cant believe that all the individual strokes makes up such a gorgeous painting. SO pretty!

I also had my first religion test which wasn't too bad, but it was all essays-- and lets just say i am not a writer. At least I have trouble with essay questions that ask you to tie in the big picture. So I'm just crossing my fingers that I did well on it. I'm hoping to boost up my GPA while i am here so I am kind of depending on good grades. It is looking pretty optimistic so far, but it is very hard to concentrate on school when I am in Paris. All I want to do is play!

We also went  on a trip to La vallee de la loire, which is known specifically for its numerous castles along the loire river. We went to Chinon, Blois, Chaumbourd and a few others. Chambourd was huge and the surroundings were gorgeous! Although we didn't go inside to see the castle because it is just a bunch of empty rooms, I had a blast just walking around it. THere was this long walk(probably about 2 miles)around it and half way through the walk you end up on a bridge with a breathtaking view of the river leading up to the castle. I just can't get over how beautiful everything is.... I am just feeling so much gratitude to be here and not just to be in France but to be alive and to be able to see everything around me. The world is so different everywhere, but i am finding that each place i travel is different and beautiful in its own way.

Besides traveling around France, I am also making a lot of good friends within the program. THere are some really awesome girls on the trip and i don't think that the trip would be as fun without them. In fact, I decided that nothing is really that great unless you have good company with ya.. anyways, sorry for not having any amazing stories to tell but i will post them as soon as they come!

having tr0ouble cut and pasting my blog that goes with these pictures

Trips, museums.. France

I'm Scurred...

So my roommate tested positive....to her blood test for Mono. Unfortunately, she might have to go home from paris and i am really sad for her:( The other bad thing is the fact that I drank out of her water bottle on the way back from Nice. So i'm pretty much in big trouble.

My director of our program wants me to get blood test as well due to the circumstances and for those who know me well. Well, I'm scurred. I have memories from my childhood of my mother and father holding down my body on the medical table while they poke me with needles. it was pretty much a wrestling match when it came to shots. I am going to admit I cry almost everytime I get shots and I am going to say proudly/ embrassingly that this last may 2008 was the first time I was poked and did not cry. You wanna know why? There were two event that led to my bravery. The first event was in the summer of 2007 and I had to get a shot in my shoulder in order to work in the food buisness(zaba's-the job from heck). I think it was hepatitis A shot. Anyways, I got the shot and although it didn't hurt that bad I cried as always. It's a mental thing: I work myself up before the shot, then i go into the room to get the shot, I see the needle, I watch the needle go into my skin, then eyes start to water, tears flow, I get faint...etc etc. Back to the story. I walked outside to where my sister was picking me up and hopped into the car. I looked back and my nephew saw my tears and so did everyone else. I decided I really needed to pull myself together when I saw my 9 year old nephew laughing at me because he didn't even cry when he got shots. The second event happen right before my knee surgery when I had to give a blood sample for some pre surgury thing. Having been one of the first times I had been poke since the hep A shot I once again I worked my self up. But my mother came and knocked some sense into me and gave me a smack down on how I need to BUCK up. So from then on I learned to not look and take a deep breath. Although I still do feel faint, I still can manage with out crying. And let me just add that I was poked for an IV like 5 times this last semester when I had ovarian cyst and still didn't cry.

Anyways I will reveal the results of my test to you in a later blog. I really hope I don't have mono. and I guess if I do, it will show up in 4 to 6 weeks or it will lay dorment in my body and i will probably give it to the next boy I kiss.... haha

Some more french stories and stuff

This one is copy/posted from Allison/Karin's blog, because i am to lazy to type it up and i think it is funny.
"Jill, Karin, and I did one of our walks at the flea markets in the ghettos of Paris. On the way there, our metro decided to screech to a stop throwing us all basically onto each other, and then all the lights went out. We heard some unidentifiable screams which we then identified as our own, then fumbled around in the dark for a minute to find each other. This then prompted the following conversation:

Allison: Who would've guessed that we would've died in a metro in the middle of Paris...
Karin: What if when you died, people saw you in your casket in the same position that you died in?
Jill: We should've colored my hair before we left...my roots are so long. I don't want to look like this in my casket.

Needless to say, less then a minute later the lights turned back on and we were on our way."

One other funny note from me: when the train stopped, a message came on the intercom that I didn't understand one bit. A man who knew a little bit of English caught my eye, knew I was American, and could tell I was freaking out. He just looked me in the eye and translated the intercom message for me "One hour. They are going to sleep and we're staying here." Don't you love people like that? Hahaha, he made me laugh.


We went to the Patterson's for dinner. Here's a picture of Jill, Allison, and I with the baguettes we brought.