Adam and Mary Visit

A week after I met with the IEP, I headed to the airport to pick up Adam and his sister Mary. They were starting their European adventure in France. Because they had been travelling all night and most of the day, we just headed back to Compiègne so they could shower, eat something and go to bed early. It was a holiday on Thursday so of course there were no buses running so we took a cab. It was my first time ever taking a cab in France.

On Friday, we got up early and headed into Paris. We started with Sacré Coeur and worked our way around the city. We had breakfast at a little café in Montmartre before heading down to see Moulin Rouge. Mary wanted to go to the Hard Rock Café so we found out where it was and took the metro over there. She likes to buy a shirt from each city she visits. I didn’t even know there was one in Paris. After she shopped, we went to the bar and ordered a bucket of Coronas. I know, I know, how American of us. We ended up staying for lunch too. After lunch we headed over to see the Eiffel Tower and Trocádero. Adam ended up taking a nap in the grass while Mary sketched.  They were still jetlagged so we headed home after the Eiffel Tower. We made dinner at my place and just hung out.

Saturday morning we headed to Pierrefonds, a tiny medieval town just down the road from Compiègne. This was my first time there so I was excited to see the Chateau. The castle reminded us of Harry Potter but it is actually the filming location for Merlin. It was pretty sweet. We toured the castle and the crypt which was so eerie, but very cool and then had lunch down by the lake. After lunch we had a little time before the bus came so we went exploring a little bit and ended up finding some nature trails in the woods. When we got back to Compiègne I showed them the Chateau of Compiègne and then we walked through the medieval fair that was taking place in town that weekend. We had a very medieval day!

The Crypt

View of Pierrefonds from the Chateau

Church in Pierrefonds

The pews were numbered!

Sunday’s schedule involved Paris again so we got up early and took the train. Adam and Mary would be leaving for Spain on Monday morning so they stayed over in a hostel on Sunday night. We got them all checked in and then headed towards the Bastille. From there we went to Breakfast in America for brunch, Notre Dame, and the Louvre. I had already been inside so I decided to leave them and head home. It was really nice to see them and hang out with friends from home. 

The 44th Floor

This year’s annual IEP board meeting was scheduled to be in France. It would be the first time that the IEP meeting would be held in France and it was very exciting because I was going to be able to meet up with everyone! I was asked to talk at the meeting about my internship and experience in France. I met up with everyone on Thursday May 11^th.  I met them at the hotel, which by the way was gorgeous. I had been looking for Angela when I came across Dean Wright (the Dean of Engineering) sitting in the lobby. So I went up and talked with him for a little while before everyone else made their way down. Turns out it was his first time in France.

                Once I had my little IEP reunion with Angela and Katie, the whole group went to Total. Total has had a number of French IEP students intern with them during their year abroad. I actually work for a subsidiary of Total.  We headed to the headquarters in La Defense, which is right outside of Paris. Our meeting was held on the 44^th floor (the top floor) and the view from the conference room was breathtaking. One of the Total workers whom we were with, said that it was her first time to have a meeting on the 44^th floor. It is only reserved for special occasions. I gave my presentation without a problem. I wasn’t even nervous, which was probably a first for me. I was just so excited to see familiar faces and tell everyone what I have been doing. Everyone said I did a great job. Katie said that I was a natural and looked so relaxed to be talking in front of so many important people such as the Deans and President Dooley, the President of URI. Who me? I don't like to talk!

                After the meeting, Total treated the IEP board to a dinner cruise along the Seine. I had never done this before, so it was a great experience. When you first boarded the boat, they handed you a glass of champagne. At that moment I knew that this was going to be a fantastic dinner. As the evening wore on, we mingled with our glasses of never ending champagne, hors d’oeuvres and the sun setting against the Eiffel Tower. I felt like I was in a movie! It was amazing. We then went below and had a lovely dinner and I got to catch up with Katie and Angela and also some of the others. It was pretty awesome to be talking to the Board, the Deans and President Dooley, who is such a nice guy and is quite funny too. Not many people can say that they have ever met their President, let alone share stories over champagne. I felt so important! The whole day was just perfect. I had the pleasure of staying at the hotel that night with everyone else. Unfortunately in the morning I had to work and wouldn’t be able to spend the day with everyone. Thanks to the IEP for giving me such a fantastic day :)

Paris with Pryor

Opéra Garnier

After getting back from Spain on Tuesday, I worked for a few days before I met Alex Pryor who is studying in Germany in the Paris train station.  We spent the weekend touring Paris. It was his first time here. We actually stayed in Paris too because the commute back to Compiègne would have been too much. Our hotel was reasonably cheap and huge, for a Parisian hotel that is, and we even got our own shower and toilet in our room! It’s the little things!

Notre Dame

Alex arrived late Friday night so we got dinner and then headed back to the hotel. Saturday morning we started our day off at the Bastille and worked our way down to Breakfast in America. Yes, we went to Breakfast in America. I know what you are all saying, not too French, but the food is really good and filling. I had real French toast and homefries. Yummy. If you remember I went to Breakfast in America back in August. Since then, they have built a second one and that is where we went this time.  After breakfast we continued on to Notre Dame, past the Louvre and onto the Eiffel Tower. At the Eiffel Tower, Alex and I stopped for lunch and sat along the Seine listening to a 

                                                                                         Native American band play. It was very 

                                                                                         unique.  

Louvre

Afterwards, we headed to the Champs-Elysées and the Arc du Triomphe. It started raining so we went shopping in a few stores and then by that time we were hungry again so we went to a pizzeria for dinner. Again, not too French. After dinner we were going to see a movie but we stumbled upon and Irish pub instead. We had Murphys, which was delicious as usual, and watched a Liverpool vs. Chelsea game. The bar was filled with a bunch of Irishmen. After the game, we met some kids at the bar and started talking with them and they knew the bartenders so we got free drinks for the rest of the night!

What a good dog!!

Sunday morning we got up and headed to Sacré Coeur and Montmartre. It was lovely as always. Then we made our way down to Moulin Rouge. Our next stop was the Opéra Garnier. I had wanted to tour the inside of the Opera house since I arrived in Paris, but never had had the chance to go in. It was gorgeous inside. I would love to see a ballet there someday. Afterwards we went to the Louvre, to actually go inside this time. It was the first Sunday of May so the Louvre was free to the public. Every first Sunday of the month is free admission. Everyone and their mother decided that they wanted to go to the Louvre so it was packed, but we still got to see all the main attractions.

Grand Hall at the Opéra Garnier

Theatre

Once we were done looking at art, we headed over to Montparnasse and had dinner before I dropped Alex off at the train station and headed back to Compiègne myself. It was nice to see a familiar face from home. Alex was determined to see as much as he could while he was here and we certainly accomplished that. We walked the entire length of the city! Well not really, but it seemed that way. It was nice to walk through all the streets, but it was very tiring.

O Valencia!

On Thursday, April 26^th, I left work a little early and headed to the airport because I was going to Spain! Exciting, I know. This would mark my first trip to Spain. I got there without a hitch and my friend Matt met me at the airport. I got there around 9pm, just in time to see a beautiful sunset. After he picked me up, we went and sat by the ocean, can you believe that, he lives near the ocean :) and we drank some wine while we waited for our other two friends, Ashley and Kelly to come in from San Sebastian (another Spanish town). When they got there we headed to our hostel and finished drinking some wine and catching up with each other.

Friday morning, Kelly, Ashley and I left for Valencia. O Valencia! – 10 points to anyone can guess the band who sings this?  I had the song stuck in my head all weekend! We took a quick one hour flight and arrived early afternoon. First, we checked into our hostel, the most adorable and quaint hostel ever, in which the owners even had a cat that greeted us at the door. I of course made friends with him immediately.. Since it was really nice out, we decided to take the opportunity to eat lunch outside in one of the little restaurants and then tour the city. Both Ashley and I got paella along with the appetizer sampler. Everything was delicious and so cheap compared to France. Afterwards we headed into the center of the city and walked all around.

 We ended up seeing almost all of the inner city on Friday. At night, we were out in town looking for something to do when we came across a spring version of Oktoberfest. We decided what the hell and joined the party. It was awesome because they had the long tables set up and Maβ glasses filled with German beer. They even had bratwurst and other German cuisine.  I felt like I was at the real thing, minus all the Spanish people of course. Ashley and I both had so much beer that we were completely full and couldn’t drink anymore. We even finished Kelly’s Maβ because she couldn’t drink anymore. When it ended we stumbled home and 

                                                                                          fell right asleep.

  

For Saturday, we planned to shop in the city center in the morning and then head to the beach and to the science museum and aquarium complex in the afternoon. The morning turned out to be gorgeous and we all enjoyed shopping in all the little shops. I mean, what girl doesn’t. Then as we were taking the bus toward the science museum complex, it started to downpour and didn’t let up. We didn’t get to go to the beach because the weather was not the nicest. Ashley and I really wanted to go to the aquarium because it was supposed to be one of the best but Kelly didn’t want to. When we found out that most of the exhibits were outside, we decided to pass on that as well. It was really disappointing because that was the main thing I was looking forward to seeing in Valencia. We didn’t do anything too crazy on Saturday night but we still had a great time. Even little blonde puppy got in on the fun!

 

On Sunday, my birthday, we got up and ate breakfast on the go. We went through all the markets and then headed to the airport to go back to northern Spain. We landed back in Santander and then had to take a 3 hour bus to San Sebastian.  We didn’t end up getting home (to Ashley’s apartment in San Sebastian) until after 7pm. It was quite a long day of traveling. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my birthday, but I was with one of my best friends so it didn’t matter. When we got to Ashley’s apartment, we met up with her boyfriend and headed out to tour San Sebastian which is also on the coast. It was so nice to hear the surf and watch the sunset of the water. God did I miss seeing the ocean and the beach. Then we went to dinner at a place called Fosters which served American cuisine. Afterwards we got ice cream, walked around a little more and then called it a night. We were both exhausted and couldn’t wait to get into bed.

Monday was dedicated to touring San Sebastian. We did and saw everything there was to see by midafternoon. The town was truly quite beautiful and seemed very rich.  We lucked out with the weather too. It was supposed to rain all day, but didn’t. We even got bagels, real bagels for breakfast. I had a blueberry bagel and it was so good! You don’t think bagels would be something you’d miss from home, but you do. I took lots of pictures and walked a lot and got to enjoy the sun, even got a little color, and had a wonderful day. We went home and made sandwiches and relaxed a bit before we headed to Sidrería Petritegi (a cider house) for dinner. I have never been to one and after wondering around the little town it was in and getting completely soaked because it decided to start raining, we finally found it and had a typical Basque dinner, (Basque is the region of Spain we were in) along with tasting all of the ciders.  Something I will probably never do again in my life, but amazing nonetheless.

Tuesday morning I got up and Ashley made me breakfast – bacon, eggs and toast, and then I boarded another bus back to Santander to head back to Paris. The bus takes you along the coast so it quite beautiful despite the 3 hour and 45 minute ride. I left Ashley’s at 11:15am and didn’t get back to my room until 10:30pm. It was quite an exhausting day. This was the first trip in which there were no problems and/or stupid things that I did to mess up my travel plans. It was quite a success in my book; it only took me 9 months to figure it out!  It was also my birthday so that made the trip that much better :)

Just Keep Walking ...

It still amazes me that people in Compiègne don’t drive to do normal things like going to the grocery store, to the hairdressers, to the pharmacy, to church, to just about anywhere.  On Saturday I went to get my haircut and it hit me that I walked to get my haircut. At home, that would be unheard of.  It just baffles me how we drive everywhere in the US while they walk here – old, young, everyone. Granted their towns are set up more geared to walking places rather than driving whereas at home, our houses and towns are more widely spread out. It is just another example of how life differs. 

Margarita Monday

On Monday I took the day out of work because I was meeting up with Elena's mom, Margarita, and Auntie Kathy. They were in Paris with the annual high school trip. I was so excited to see them because I haven't really seen too many people from home! So I got up and actually took my normal train into the city and met Auntie Kathy at the hotel. She wasn't feeling very well so I picked up some medicine for her at the pharmacy and left her to rest. Really, I just didn't want to get sick. Now I had a little free time before I was to meet Margarita at Notre Dame so I decided to head to the mall. I just did some window shopping because everything was so expensive. I picked out a pair of super cute leggins that were 150 euros. I decided to put those back on the rack and move along. Once I finished window shopping, I jumped back on the metro and headed to meet them. At first I didn't see them so I decided to wait by the bathrooms. If I know anything about the Dempsey woman, its that they are always in need of a bathroom! They showed up a few minutes later and I literally ran to Margarita and gave her a huge hug!

I met her kids and the other mother on the trip, but I have been out of high school so long that I didn't even know any of them. It was so strange and I felt so old. The other mom on the trip was so nice. She kept asking me questions about being abroad and everything. I felt like a superstar haha. After Notre Dame, Margarita, myself, and this other girl went to get a quick kebab for lunch. The place didn't take cards so I had to ask Margarita for money haha. She goes, "I feel like I am with Elena." I just laughed. We were supposed to meet back with the rest of the group at 1, but Margarita thought it was 1245 so she told her kids to meet then. When we got to the meeting place, at 1245, there were these two girls that basically told Margarita that they were leaving to get lunch because they didn't have time and left. I just sat there and was in awe. I told Margarita that she was loosing her touch and needs to be more intimidating! Students never would have stood up to her like that.

After that little tobacle, we walked to the Louvre. Margarita did her little tour that she always gives and right in the middle one of the girls comes up to me and was like I think I am dehydrated and feel like I am going to pass out. I handled the situation very well. I know you are all shocked because I myself am a little nervous nellie, but at the same time, I know the feeling of almost passing out, so I knew what to do. She asked where the bubbler was and I was like this is France, there aren't any. So I gave her my vitamin water and told her she could finish it. She looked relieved. Then she thought she was going to get in trouble because she had a water bottle. I was like oh my god, I see myself four years ago. Luckily I have grown up a lot since then and for the better. I am hoping the same happens for this girl. After the Margarita tour, the kids had free time, so we of course went shopping in the little boutiques and then got starbucks. She also paid for me again. I was like no no I can pay and she was like please, let me treat you. Totes adorable. She also treated me to the fancy bathroom too. They personally clean the seat for you before you enter the toilet room. Its so nice. While we were waiting, we saw someone legit buy colored toilet paper.

What did you get while you were in France?

Oh you know, the usual, colored toilet paper. I hear its one of kind.

After the Louvre, we went to the Opera and then had some more free time so we went to Galeries Lafayette and just walked around. You should have seen the line for the Chanel store. There were only Asians in it. We just laughed and were like totes China. No one bought anything because it would have cost us a kidney, but we looked around for a while and then decided we wanted to rest so we sat on the steps of the Opera. Some of the group was already there resting as well. Everyone looked so tired. After that it was time for dinner. I asked Margarita what we were having and she said she didn't know. I was like well I hope its duck! Turns out we went to the same restaurant that we went to when I was there four years ago on the same trip and had duck! I was like wow full circle. After dinner I had to leave Margarita and catch the train back home. They were headed to the Eiffel Tower. I was so sad to leave and I was like I don't want to go. I almost cried, but I didn't. I was a big girl.

It was a wonderful day and I was so happy to have met up with her.

French Easter

France does things a little differently for Easter. Let's start with Palm Sunday. Everyone brings their own "palms" to church. Their palms look more like thorns and they wrap the stems in tin foil to hold them. At first I thought it was just one family that was bringing this type of palms until I saw everyone else walking to church with them. Very odd.

Next up is Good Friday. Kids do not have Good Friday off and no one really celebrates it. At work there was no special non meat dish or anything. I found it quite strange. Everyone ate meat like it was a normal day and I was thinking the whole time, how can they be eating meat! After work on Friday, I met up with Ashley and her boyfriend. They were up from Spain for the weekend and I was so excited to see them. I had never met Ashley's boyfriend before because she met him while she was studying in Spain, but he was so nice and I really liked him. This was also the first time I had seen Ashley since I left so I was super excited. We met at Les Invalides and I got in for free because I am technically a long term France resident! It was pretty awesome. After that we walked to the Eiffel Tower. Apparently the thing to do Easter weekend is go to Paris. There were so many people it was ridiculous. The line to go the top of the Eiffel Tower was a good 300 people long. We decided to skip that and move on. We then went to see the Statue of Liberty replica. It was the first time that I had seen that. Afterwords we got soft serve ice cream - fantastic by the way - and Ashley got cotton candy. She was like a little kid standing there with ice cream in one hand and cotton candy in the other with the biggest smile on her face. After that we just meandered our way through the city and I eventually left them to head home.

I was supposed to meet up with them on Saturday but I didn't really feel well so I ended up staying home. For most of Saturday and Sunday, I spent the day in bed because I wasn't feeling well. It was a very quiet Easter. I didn't even eat an Easter dinner or anything. My friends were making chili for Easter dinner, a new way to do Easter, but I didn't partake. 

That brings us to today, Easter Monday. France celebrates Easter Monday by having a day off. I don't really know what they do today but I am happy to have a day off. Easter is like the forgotten holiday in France. No one decorates or has Easter eggs hunts or anything. It was very weird. There was hardly any Easter candy in the grocery store too. There is no Easter Bunny in France; they have an Easter Bell. I don't really understand how a bell is supposed to bring candy but that is what their tradition is. As you can tell, I am looking forward to an American Easter next year!

We did get to get a family picture though. It is by far the most interesting family picture we have to date.

Little Blonde Puppy even made the family photo :)

Hope everyone had a nice Easter!!