Paris with Alli!!

Deciding to ignore the fact that I was sick, I went and spent Saturday night and all of Sunday with Alli in Paris. She's there for a week and this was the only time I'd be able to see her all semester, so off I went.

The trip was fantastic, it was wonderful to see her again, and even though Paris was bitterly cold, I always love the City of Love. There was a seasonal winter festival going on down Champs-Elysees, including even a huge ferris wheel, so that too was really cool to see. We made a stop at the Musee D'Orsay for the last hour that it was open (we got in free) which was nice too--we saw some amazing Van Goghs and then an expo on Art Nouveau (top righthand photo is the museum). Their hotel was right in front of the Louvre so Saturday night we took a walk and sat in front of the glass pyramid, catching up on life. Very cool.

Now I'm back in Angers and while less sick than last week, I still skipped classes today and slept the whole day instead. Boo. But it was worth it, definitely.

Lyon

Yes I am back to collages. Obviously I wasn't doing too well posting when I was trying to do things individually (given the fact that this was 2 weekends ago by now), so I'm giving up and going back to the easy Picasa-made collages.

I went to visit Urzsula in Lyon the 13th through the 15th, and it was a wonderful little trip. Only a 4 hour train ride (don't ask me about prices though, ugh) through the pretty countryside (I even saw at least 6 castles from the train) and I got to see an old friend and experience a totally different French city. I really loved Lyon, it had a much more urban feel to it than any other French city I've been to. It also felt demographically quite young and busy all the time--not the France I know, haha. The weather wasn't wonderful but didn't inhibit our biking throughout the city to see her workplace (Interpol's International Headquarters) and the various and varied sections of the city. Cool city, good food, good friends = happy weekend. =]

some last few

un petit peu plus

weekend with a host family in the Vendée region

So I had the chance this weekend to go to the little town of Saint Gilles Croix de Vie in the department of Vendée which is on the coast and about 2 hours from here. We literally got put on a bus and when we got to the town, a middle school English teacher (who had a daughter who went to ND for a year, thus the connection) called our names one by one, gave us away to a family and said "ok be back at 1pm on Sunday!" Nerve-wracking? I think yes. But it turned out wonderfully, as these things often do. My family included Lisa, 14 and Pauline, 17, and their parents. The dad, who had hurt his back and was out of commission for the weekend, used to be a potter and they had gorgeous pieces of pottery all over the house. All of the dishes and everything were made by him. It was left up to the girls and the mom, Isabelle, to show me around, and they did a wonderful job of it. They drove me all over the place, to different beaches and islands and even a creperie, hehee. I spoke french the ENTIRE weekend too. Go me. So yep. here are some pictures from that little adventure. Enjoy.

les couleurs de l'automne en France