Hello all!

It's been a while since I've posted in my blog; I've been so incredibly busy lately! First off: Paris and England!! For my Winter Break, I had a week off from classes and spent the first 4 days in Paris and the next 4 days in England visiting some family members, the Williamson's! Paris is such an incredibly hug city! Bustling with people everywhere, insane traffic (almost died crossing the street once, haha... maybe not actually funny), monuments every which way you look, etc! I got to see so many famous monuments in Paris: Sacre Coeur, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, Musée d'Orsay, Musée d'Orangerie, Jardin des Tuilleries, the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and others! It was amazing to actually see everything in person; after studying French so long and seeing so many pictures and learning about Paris, it was such a great experience to see it all in real life! Got to see so many famous works of art (Mona Lisa, Starry Night, Venus de Milo, etc). And I saw a lot of paintings that I had seen in my Art History class before I dropped it. It was wonderful! I think that the Eiffel Tower was my favorite because it was such a unique structure and it really stands out from the rest of Paris because the style is so different and even the color of it makes it stand out. It looks surprisingly delicate for something metal and so massive. Walked all the way to the second level, which took quite a lot of energy. Got to see Paris all lit up at night. My second favorite was la Musée d'Orangerie. L'Orangerie has a lot of Monet's famous water lily paintings, which are my favorite. It's not often that I get lost in a painting, but I found myself mesmerized by the paintings; the colors are truly inspired and I loved it so much!
And then came England!!! Flew to Manchester, where Kath and I got lunch, and then went to Ilkeston where my family lives. The three daughters (oldest to youngest) are Claire, Beth and Ellen. Their parents are Kath and Steve. And it is official: the Williamson's are the nicest people in the world, no question. It was beyond wonderful to visit them and feel so welcomed and loved and well taken care of. A little slice of home in another country, if that makes any sense. :) Got to see a little of Manchester and Ilkeston, and went to York, Nottingham and London! York was my favorite; it's the most charming town ever and I had such a wonderful time there! Went to Betty's, a nice tea place where you can get afternoon tea with little cakes and scones and such. We had lunch there, and had tea and shared scones afterwards. Most delicious scone EVER! It was great! I would go there everyday if I lived there. Haha. Drank so much tea, which all of you know made me happy as a clam. I got to see Wollaton Hall in Nottingham, which is a fancy estate; it's also in the new Batman movie, so now I have to watch that movie to be that annoying person who says, "I've been there!!!" Ate lunch at a super cool restaurant that is part cave and had "bangers and mash" and Yorkshire pudding. Super delicious. Went to an old church-turned-bar for a cocktail later that night with Claire and her boyfriend, Tom, which was really fun! The next day (Friday) was the day we went to York; again, York was awesome and I am all ready to buy a summer home there; such a charming town! Then Saturday was London! Got to see the Westminster Abby, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, the Olympic Clock and lots of other places! It was such a cool city and the weather was so great! We also went to Harrod's, which is the fanciest, most posh place to shop in the universe probably. It was awesome. I wish I could afford to shop there. On my way back to the Manchester airport on Sunday, we dropped by the castle that is in Pride & Prejudice (the new one with Keira Knightly) and it was beautiful! We took the scenic route and it was overwhelmingly beautiful! It was purely idyllic English countryside and I felt like I was in a movie because the beauty of it was just unreal! Leaving the Williamson's was really sad, and I won't lie, I cried when we said goodbye at the airport. But I had the greatest time there!
One of the things I realized while traveling is that you just can't really capture the beauty of things and the emotion of a moment with a camera. The combination of everything that makes an experience exciting or wonderful is something only a memory can keep.
Hmmm. What else? This past weekend I had to meet from 10 am to 5 pm Saturday and Sunday with all of the other students in my theatre practice class to practice our play. It was fun, but really tiring! I'm really glad that I decided to take that class, it's really fun and it's a great outlet. It's also great for my pronunciation. This past Friday I went to dinner with Coline and Marine, two French pharmacy students (who are sisters!) that I met at the conversation club. They are such nice and adorable girls! We went to get a drink, then decided to also have dinner, which was delicious, of course. Then the waiter gave us each a free vodka caramel shot, which was surprisingly good and was my first shot ever. This past Saturday night, my French friend Chloé invited me and two other IES students (Haley and Eric!!) to her apartment for galettes and crepes!! They were delicious! Then we all went out (it was St. Patrick's day, so the bars were packed and there were people everywhere in the streets) to this cool bar/club place where the basement is like a cave with strobe lights and a DJ and we went dancing! It was so much fun, and it was great to spend a great evening with a big group of French students! 
Anyways, still having such a wonderful time here and enjoying it all! Nantes is really feeling like home and now that I am getting closer with the French students, I'm really feeling like I am integrating more deeply.


Jordan