The Present... Almost

Getting to October, here are some more pictures that I haven't yet posted.

Started with taking a field trip to the champagne region with my class.

We saw this classic car that I think my father has been telling me about for the last 24 years. Glad to finally put a thing with name.

Then we walked down this huge hallway/staircase to visit the crown jewels, also known as Pommery Champagne. I was freaking out becuase I couldn't believe this was part of a school assingment. What the!

Lots of bottles...

Okay, you totally cannot tell what this is so it bring up two points. 1. Q. What is it? A. It's art. 2. What is it? It's the bottom of wine bottles that have been painted on so when light is shown through them it projects the painings.... aka art.

There, now you can kinda see. It was actually really cool!

And then of course me. I thought this was so clever. Most people did but apparently, it's a little weird to associate my name with a place. But I really like it, I think it's pretty!

And then of course you have to have a man pouring 30 glasses of champagne in a row.... duh!

Still on our field trip, but back on the bus.... just driving through FREAKING CHAMPAGNE FIELDS.

Went to a family owned champagne house. This is like the worst picture every but this was a really cool champagne glass. I really wanted to steal it and I was this close, but... I didn't. Should have, could have, would have... didn't.

Next and finally.. omg it was the longest day every, we went to Moet  & Chandon. Which was really cool. If you ask me, it's like the popular kids of champagnes, the ones that have all the cool clothes and totally missed their awkward stage. Case in point, this awesome chandelier made out of champagne glasses.

And than was the end of the field trip. Which was great. It was really good because they crammed our whole class of people who didn't know each other and shipped them away for a day and we all came back friends.

That night I was supposed to move into my appartment but my landlady wasn't ready for me I spent another night at Chez Bruno.. did I ever tell you about him. If someone comments and reminds me I will, otherwise, you can google Bruno Roland. I rented his apartment for a week. He likes to surf. Anyway, the next day, I was to get the keys to my appartment in the morning. Totally didn't happen that way, but like everything in this stage of my life, it is not going according to my plan but to someone else's and that is okay.

So Lauren is boozing it up in Germany, I boozed it  up the day before in France, and now, it is my turn to move my stuff and Lauren's stuff from the storage unit to my 5th floor apartment with no elevator.

Excellent!

Here it is in the storage unit, very neat. (I had just repacked everything that morning).

And here it is on the handy cart that the storage unit has for your use.

So long story short, I ask the guy working at the storage unit to call a taxi. World's Quietest Man Ever Award Right Here. I heard him say not one thing on the phone but after about 10 minutes he hands me a sticky note and whispers to me that the taxi is on it's way.

Taxi guy helps me load... we head off... I'm trying to wrap my head around getting all my stuff up 5 flights of stairs.... and then bam! We pull up to my appartment.

Taxi guy looks at me and says, "You're not carrying that up the stairs, I'll do it for you."

Was he Jesus? And then he did! I literally had no clue what to say! I gave him 10 euros because I didn't know what else to do.

Seriously, seriously!

And then still, my appartment wasn't ready, the cleaning lady had just gotten started. No problem, I was just stoked that everything was up those stairs! Anyway, I left, came back, got locked out... and then fianlly got back in!

Live next to this. The Pantheon. Actually, just found out today that this is where all the famous french writers are buried.

Obligatory trip to IKEA. Wouldn't these be perfect for The Table!

And then here is me waiting for some friends at the opera house.

And then here I am eating lunch and doing school work! Get ready for lots of this same picture, just with a change of food.

View from my window.

View of the park.

More park.

Waiting for another friend... this time I was actually in the wrong place but so worth it. So pretty!

Omg this is the longest blog post ever! The next day I had some time to kill before a french test so I went to hang out at the Eiffel Tower. Freak!

And I ate the world's largest sandwich. Here I am trying to show you that the sandwich was the lenght of my forearm. It was massive!

And of course, even take ways lunch comes in three parts, sandwich, drink, dessert.

Went to French then I ate dinner. Which doesn't look that great. It tasted great...

However...

I didn't do this long enough...

And the chicken, while beautiful... was not fully cooked.

But hey, who needs to know that, right?

Next day. Tuesday because it's my day off... I took yet another obligatory trio to IKEA. I had no dresser in my place and I am trying to move on from "the floor is the largest shelf in the house," method, so I need to buy one. Savior Inma came with me and helped me carry it back!

And then I put it together in a super rush because I had people coming over to dinner and clothes still everywhere!

Dinner with friends... this one guy made this traditional French dessert, île flottant. It was amazing, and the funny thing was, everyone that I told about this the next day, like, freaked out when I said that I had eaten île flottant. Apparently, it's the thing to eat!

Days later... Lauren came back from Germany and brought me a giant kinder egg. I have never had one but I have always wanted one so I was pumped to start off my kinder egg journey with the maxi size!

Next day, my class took a field trip to a wine bar in Paris. No words.

And then I came home and went to dinner with Lauren...

And we got the best gellato ever!

The end! Whew!

La La Land

Basically my life these days consists of eating large amounts of crackers and Caprice des Dieux, attempting to learn french, and reading "Harvard Business Cases." I have also added to that a small 10 euro bag of mini Reeces peanut butter cups which I have almost completely devoured. The only saving grace there was that thankfully, some friends ate some too. But I think I may cave and buy another bag... they are just so good!

So basically, I currently live in La La Land. (And I don't mean L.A.) I am like on crack. Whoever said the Lord will provide beyond what we could ever imagine wasn't kidding. I'm like a drooling idiot constantly... the other day I caught myself staring at the rain because it was just, "so beautiful."

For those of you in the know... do you remember Anna Dugger at her wedding? I mean she looked high the entire time. That is basically me.

Anyway... basically all is well and that is so cool! I have been trying to take a least a picture every day and I have a bunch of old ones.... enjoy! When I say a bunch.... there is a lot! I'll do a few days at a time!

Here is Bilda in France!

Up the Eiffel Tower.. totally NOT scary! Awesome view!

Then we headed to the Loire Valley... Chambord! It's a hunting castle and it's freaking cool!

Then we all (Bilda, Lauren, and me) went to Lyon where we proceeded to try all of Paul Bocuse's restaurants.  We hit two but we ate at one twice! So good!

Lauren discovered her favorite place in the world... the park in Lyon. That plus her bike, she nearly died she was so happy. Insert Anna Dugger face here.

Then Lauren and I went to Geneva. Do you remember how Lauren kept telling me that I looked like I had been stabbed because my face always looked terrible. (I was so stressed out!) She kept taking pictures of me when I wasn't looking and then would show them to me as proof. Here is an example.

Here is Lauren. This photo, she has no idea that I am taking it. She is just ALWAYS smiling. Notice the difference. Ha!

OMG Lake Geneva was amazing! I mean I think I died here and currently I am merely a reincarnation!

So freaking pretty. So what did we do... we got on a boat! Sat up on top with wine. Omg!

It was cold. Lauren took pictures of us bundled and we look like homeless people.

Inside of the ship.

A sign.

A clock lawn creation that everyone in Geneva was taking pictures of so I did to.

Back in France, Lauren and I went to dinner at my favorite place.... The Buca di Beppo of France! La Piazza Papa!

OMG so pumped! so happy and omg so hungry! So hungry!

Bilda left, we went back to Paris, still homeless I was at this point and this is me counting out money to pay my landlord a security deposit because I had no bank account and therefore no checks. Bilda and Lauren and I had spent days cleaning out ATM's trying to get enough money.

 Yeah! New ones tomorrow of what's going on in the present rather than the past!

Britt

Getting Back on Track

So to now to unconfuse everyone.... I landed in Paris, stayed for a few days, then headed up to Amsterdam, then we hit Brussels, and then we came back to Paris.

We had a few days to kill before my parents came. Ironically, made dad had a conference in Lyon the week before I was supposed to start school so it worked out perfectly that I could see and hang out with them on the first half of their trip!

The downside of this is that I took like no pictures because Milds was there and she took them all. If you are her facebook friend, you know what I am talking about. But I'll see what I have.

So Bilda came and I was so excited to see them! The plan was to stay in Paris for a few days and then head down to Lyon, stopping in places along the way. Well, we did a ton.

The first day, like an hour after they got here, we climbed the Eifel Tower! I have never done that. Actually, I have always been terrified to do it! It was not scary at all which was cool and the view was awesome.

We did Versailles (my like 5th time) on a golf cart (that was cool)..

You know what, I could keep recapping you on this or just catch up. Here's the deal.

I have an apartment. I love it, it's amazing! Really, amazing! I should post pictures.. but currently, I have no heat, no hot water, and no electricity in my bedroom. I'm fricken freezing. So how does one cope?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QH9BTixFNY

I buy a thousand candles.

And I proceed to light them everywhere. People keep telling me it's a fire hazard. I'm having a freezing hazard! Also, they look pretty!

I have had no all the mentioned about for about a week now. My slumlord doesn't seem to care. Hopefully it will get fixed soon. The electrician called me today but I had no clue what he said, so he's coming tonight or tomorrow at some point... when I wont be here.... All i can say is that is am sure that it will get fixed eventually!

But really, it is so amazing here! I am just loving it!

Here's a couple of pictures. I take these when I am having those, OMG I live in Paris moments.

And my dinner! What a terrible picture. My favorite part about eating it was that it was hot. I love all things hot. 

Wait, just got confirmation, the electrician is coming in 45 minutes! I am so pumped.. So I gotta share the Slumlord story. Come back next time for more. Hey as a bonus, i'll post some pics of my place. 

Amsterdam FinishedBlogenPltaz

Found this draft! So to finish out Amsterdam... this is before Brussels, here is the end of the story. To recap you, we went for three days, the first day we did the Anne Frank Museum and the Cocktail Cruise. 

Anyway, here is the massive hotel room that we stayed it. It was massive! This place also had scalding hot water, maybe it's a European thing. Lauren got burned, complained to me, I had no sympathy, I was like whatever, then I took a shower and karma won. Karma burns!

AmsterdamDamPlatz - okay, I made that name up but I bet my life on it that it's close to what it's really called.

Lauren approves of the name. Also, the weather!!! So amazing! So amazing!

So I can't remember exactly what we were doing, oh wait! I remember, we had to check out of the hotel so we went the train station to store our bags, as soon as we did that, Lauren fell into one of her, OMG I NEED FOOD RIGHT NOW OR I WILL DIE modes. So we went to find somewhere to eat. I was trying to hold out for a place because I wanted to eat on the canal! Duh!!!

Lauren finally got a Heineken. I did too. Can you see the canal?

Omg so I got this tandoori chicken salad which like the lunch in Burges, changed my life! Thinking about this now, I should really go eat a good meal because I'm in freaking Paris and have been essentially eating out of a vending machine lately. Anyway, the salad was amazing.

Shocker, but Lauren got a smoked salmon sandwich. I should start counting how many of these she has ordered. But in her defense, they are her favorite!

Really nice view. We then got attacked by a bee... this is also a theme on this trip. I am not sure why, but at the end of like every meal, we get attacked by bees.

Then it was dessert time of course! Cake pop anyone?!

After lunch, we headed to the Van Gogh Musuem. Also, when you say Van Gogh, you have to make like a lugee sound on the "ohg." It's what all the cool kids do.

I really enjoyed the museum and that was great because I was not all that excited going into it.

I took this picture for anyone who speaks french with a southern accent. Van Gogh painting in the south of France.

After the museum, we had some time to kill before our train to Brussels. I found this note on a shop that I thought was funny. Imagine if all stores ran like this!

We grabbed a drink at a cafe and then headed for the train station. Lauren had another FEED ME moment so she bought some bread which made her happy.

She then proceeded to add the three day old, refrigerated cheese to the mix.

In her words.... delicious! In my words.... yuck!

Anyway, so fun. Off the Brussels we went! But you already knew that!

Omg! Really!

Omg I am so sorry, has it really been almost a month! Wow.... anyway, well obviously I am not still in Amsterdam. There is not THAT much to see. I have so much to say and really no time to write it all down, but maybe one day I will because of course all of my stories are AMAZING! Ha, right, but they are also very long.

After The Netherlands, Lauren and I went to say with my good friend Celia in Brussels. Love Celia, love Brussels, we had a great time. So much so, that we stayed for a week. Celia was nice enough to let us keep staying at her place which was great because still, I had no apartment.

We hung out in Brussels, mingled or at least tried to with some people from the European Commission, discovered Rose Pamplemousse (omg!), ate too many waffles (for you Table people, it was amazing!), ate a lot of fries, went to Bruges and had the most amazing lunch (like top 10), ate at Le Pain Quotidien two days in a row (the have a few in the US, if you live near one, go!), went to a costume party that turned out to not really be a costume party (good thing that at the last minute Lauren decided to take off her eyeliner mustache), talked to Celia's English class about America......wow, wow, wow so many things.

But it was finally time to go! We took a bus back to Paris because it was wayy cheaper than a last minute train ticket. It was also an endlessly longer trip complete with a crazy man, Russians attached at the lips, a dying bird, and no bathroom, all on a 5.5 hour bus ride that was supposedly 3.5 hours however they set the clock back one hour to make you think that you are more on time than you actually are. I will take the train next time thank you. Lauren, fresh from China, had absolutely no problem and took a 12 hour bus ride to Lauren the next week, but that's a spoiler.

So this begins the part of our trip called, "Nowhere to Stay." Basically, we start the day with no home and hope that by the end of the day we have found somewhere to stay that night.

So back in Paris to find a home. I will spare you all the details, but two things. My god finding a place was/is hard work. And just like me to prefer the more challenging path, I have never looked for an apartment before, I have always lived with someone else, so why not try to do it in one of the most competitive markets in a language that I semi speak. Excellent.

So currently, in this part of the story, we are at Chez Anita. A possible German woman who's studio we rented for a few days. Cute, not bad location and complete with only hot water. Let's look at that. I have never been burned more times than I have been in the last month but French shower water. My god it scalds. By far the hottest tap water I have ever encountered. But usually, there is some extremely cold water to counteract and to osmosisize it to lukewarm. However, Chez Anita was having a plumbing problem and we only had hot water. Enter in large white bowl from the kitchen filled with cold water, a shower turned on drip and my green loofah to complete the sponge bath.

It was different. It also made it challenging to wash your hair which Lauren and I had waited to do and let me spare you details, but the water here is very drying. So you don't want to go too many days without washing your hair. Wait, thinking back to what I just said.... can water be drying? Is this the Tuxedo?

Okay, stay tuned for more.... I have internet consistently now so I can blog!

A Demain!
Britt