Bonnes Fetes!

Joyeux Noel! I know Im late on the ball, but I just enjoyed being "disconnected" the last week in the south of France :) Our Christmas actually began last sunday afternoon in Paris. Not all of the family was able to travel south for the holiday, so our usual family sunday brunch was turned into a christmas feast. Before the food was served santa paid us a little visit and left gifts at each persons place setting. Santa even came for me! My host mamma gave me these adorable black slipper socks that had fuzzy white stripes! Then my host sister who works in thailand gave me a rosemary soap stone and a wooden elephant, both from thailand. Since probably the middle of november I had been going back and forth on what to give my family. In the end I decided on a classy pairing of pink champagne and a box of macaroons from the celebrated tea room Lauduree. Lucky for me, I had no idea what a hit it would be! The box came with all different flavors of macaroons and we all laughed as we "oooed" and "awwwed" and passed each around, everyone taking a little bite for taste.

Monday we left for the south- more specifically- we stopped in Barpeaux to have dinner with my host mothers mother-in-law, which is right next to Dordonne, before going on to pamier in the district of Ariége, where we stayed until the following monday. I now understand, before we went I had no clue. Iswear everytime we talked about christmas the location changed! Are we going to Dordonne? No, Ariége? Wait, your grandma lives in Pamier- i thought it was Ariége? I thought I was going craaazy! The south was wonderful- Bonne Mamman (grandma) lives in the foot hills of the Mountains and our view was unreal. All I really did was eat, sleep and read. And let me capitalise on all I really did was EAT. My host mom has a huge family (she is one of 7 children) and about half of them were there for the holidays. Just about every meal turned into several hrs sitting around the table chatting about anything and everything- which unfortuantely shined a light on just how much I do not know about my own country! We almost always followed the main course with cheese, then dessert and then coffee. Mmm! And lets not forget our delicious pairing of wine and champagne with everything. This girl was never hungry. I also had a bunch of "firsts" because, due to it being christmas time, we had a bunch of delicacies like foie gras and tamara. I also had a slice of homemade bouche de Noel (the traditional Christmas cake.) I couldn't help but laugh when one of the Uncles pulled out a "Recipes of South Carolina" booklet, asking me if Id make a pecan pie. Of course I did (with the help of a few other hands) and it was delicious.

On Christmas eve I went to mass with my host family, which took place in the beautiful " town church"- the same church that my host sister was married in and Madame's father was buried in, Madame told me as the service began. My host family is catholic- well, they go to a catholic church on holidays- and as I sat in the service I was transported back to Adams, MN. Don't get me wrong- I am so very thankful of the Lord and the real meaning of Christmas is very important to me- buut all I really wanted during the service was my mom and sisters to joke around with! Instead I settled for smiling to myself as an elderly women lead us in singing hymns, waving her right hand like she was instructing a choir.

I did miss home this Christmas, Dommie's plaid christmas skirt and all. I missed the hectic christmas shopping, the snow and the christmas music. I really missed going to coffee with all my girlfriends. BUT I definitely don't feel like I missed out this Christmas, not in the slightest. I am entering into this new year feeling completely blessed and thanking God for all he has provided me with. It was an amazing experience to take part in my French familys christmas traditions and feel like part of their family.

Now dont be too jealous, but my vacation is only just beginning..I leave to pick Miss Caroline up at the airport tomorrow morning at 11 and I know Im about to enter into a week long workout from laughing!!

Ill add some pics from Christmas soon..

Gros bisous à tous!

Ecoss, or for us anglophones, Scotland.

Well it was definitely worth it to take a little vacation and go visit my friend Rachael in Scotland the weekend before finals. If you’ve ever heard Scotland is beautiful, you heard right. I took the “cheaper” route from Paris to Edinburgh, which gave me ample time to enjoy the Scottish countryside while getting in a little revision. Perfect.
Sometimes the obvious isn’t obvious enough, so I was really enjoying seeing how different Rachael’s study abroad program/experience was compared with mine. First off, she lives in a huge student house with first years and international students, A.K.A. = way fun. In France your home is more of a private place and (generally) the French don’t enjoy opening their doors to just anybody. So, out of respect for my family I never have anybody over- one of the things I miss most about home! But anyways, it was so nice to just chill on the couches while chatting. Very cozy.




Saturday was incredible. I cannot even believe how much we packed into that day AND still had time for a little nap. We started with a walking tour that led to the Royal Mile and a Castle, quite appropriately. Afterwards we checked out an art museum with a lot of Scottish and Dutch paintings, followed by a little Christmas Market Action on Princes Street. We even saw the Brittania, which is the Queen’s ship when she comes to Scotland. Funny enough, it truly is a tourist attraction attached to a huge mall. Rach showed me the ropes- how to use the bus system, where she likes to shop and where she goes to school. We had lunch in Teviots, a building on her campus, and I seriously felt like I was in a Harry Potter book. Nerdy, but it was really exciting. (Not to mention I think I had the best burger in my life.)
Saturday night, Rach and her friends showed me how the Scottish like to do it: the Pubs. I had my first Guinness and it was an enjoyable experience. Another obvious: Parisian spots and Scottish pubs are not the same. The pubs were so relaxed and people just chat with you, kind of a nice escape from the Parisian formalities for a weekend. Anyways, Rach and her friends were terribly fun and she is too good to me.
Another nerdy moment: Sunday morning I made Rachael stop on the way to the train station so I could buy a mocha at The Elephant House! The Elephant House is “the birthplace of Harry Potter,” where J.K. Rowling started writing the Harry Potter books (apparently as she sat in the back and looked out the window overlooking the castle.) Bonus: the mocha was amazing.




I left Edinburgh a little early so I would be able to wander the streets of Glasgow before taking the train to the airport. An hour definitely enough to cover this city but I enjoyed popping in and out of stores and checking out the beautiful architecture.
It was really nice to get back to Paris after a day of traveling, felt strikingly close to coming home ☺ What made it even better was my family was just starting dinner as I walked in the door (at almost nine!) We had homemade pizza and then put fried eggs on top of each piece (your should definitely try this!) I couldn’t have thought of a better way to end my whirlwind weekend of travel than sitting at the table chatting about everything and nothing

I'll Be Home for Christmas..

Maybe I should take Josh Groban’s “Noel” CD off repeat? Or maybe it is because all of my friends going home are talking about Christmas with their family? Whatever it is, the last few nights I have had dreams of Christmas time at home! They don’t make me sad as much as they make me laugh- the things I dream about are ridiculous. The first dream I was just going home for the weekend and I couldn’t decide if I should stop and eat at Punch with all the workers and catch up, or if I should just take the pizzas home to my family? haha Ridiculous, but it gets better. The next dream I was waking up really early (missing my alarm in real life, nice.) and when I went downstairs Alan was sitting at the table with a hot pot of coffee and banana bread- apparently Jean and Alan slept over for Christmas? Anyways, I was so excited about this pot of American coffee as we sat and chatted about my European experiences.

Weird, I know. So all this just to say that I am feeling a strong connection this week with Josh Groban as he sings “I’ll be home for Christmas.”

Love you guys!

Last Saturday with my friend..

Man, I can’t believe this was the last weekend with my first semester friends! Next weekend I’m off to Scotland (so excited!!) and the weekend after they will be gone. The time truly has flown by (like I’d been warned of) and I have made some great friends. Yesterday I spent the entire day with one of them, Andrea. We had such a good time as we took in Paris from all angles. We seriously did so much this post would be way too long if I talked about it all, so I am just going to touch on a few of the bigger events. To start, it was the first time for both of us to go to the Centre George Pompidou! For those of you who are unfamiliar, it is a very modern museum of modern art. The structure itself is pretty amazing (worth a google, I promise) and the view from the top level was worth the admission fee. We went to a current expo called “Jacques Villeglé, La Comédie Urbaine (The Urban Comedy.)” All of this guy’s works were made from torn posters, it was pretty impressive. And now, know that I appreciate modern art and I find a lot of it fascinating, but some of it is just ridiculous. Example: the minimalists. Really? Really?? We came upon these three huge canvases side by side.. Completely white. Just white. Now I am sure there is a lot of deep symbolic life-altering meaning behind these absolute works of art, but come on! I’m curious how much that guy sold them for and what the guys where thinking when they hung them up?! Props to the artist, he had to have made bank if they’re hanging here in one of the biggest modern art galleries in Paris right now.
After enjoying several levels of the Pompidou we decided we were in the mood for another kind of modern art: the window displays at Gallery Lafayette. This “grand magasin” is known for it’s window displays and especially at Christmas. They’re always gorgeous! This year is a funky Alice in Wonderland feel to it, from what I could see! There were so many people on the sidewalk catching a glimpse that we couldn’t even get close to the windows! Pure craziness, so we decided to go inside where it was only slightly less crazy. Naturally, we picked the floor with all the specialty foods to explore. Beautiful! We were even given a sample of a gourmand chocolat that was prepared right in front of us! Though it was hard we behaved and refrained from buying anything.
Next we met our french friend (actually polish, but he is kind of french/polish) Remi at the Christmas market in La Defense. This year there are these adorable little Christmas markets all over Paris that sell outrageous gifts (anywhere from beautiful pieces of art to things that should have the label “as seen on TV!”) For the most part it is just a lot of knick-knacks I’m not interested in buying, but the atmosphere can’t be beat. There are food venders all around selling Christmas specialties; foie gras sandwiches, raclettes, and of course your Christmas in glass-vin chaud (hot wine.) There are Christmas lights, music, and it reminds me of the busy malls at home near Christmas time. I’ve gone to several of these little markets now and they are just too fun.
We ended the night off by having an authentic french dinner in Saint-Germain-des-Prés (told you all angles of Paris!) Quality time with quality people in Paris, something I am so very blessed to call “the norm.”