so this is it kids...the home stretch. the time here has flown by sooooo incredibly fast, it feels like a WHOLE day packed into one huge mumble jumble mess (a good mess at that.) i did some last minute shopping today, i bought the cutest black skirt, and some really cheap tank shirts at zara, succumbed to buying the cutest underwear package from etam, and i WILL be buying the new Thierry Mugler perfume: Le Lys Angel. mmmm yummy, it smells so nice!

we're going out for karaoke tonight, it's the last U of T self organized trip, and anyone who is still in Tours will be coming out...hahaha, i might sing if i'm drunk enough...hahaha. tomorrow i will be leaving early from class to go to Paris where i will crash with my sister and cousin belinda friday and saturday evening before we all go home on the group flight. so this is most likely my last post before i get back home...unless i feel like spending some money on internet in Paris, but that is quite unlikely. so watch out, here i come...home, something i haven't really started to miss yet, but nevertheless i'm sure i will be glad to be home when i do get back. just a little heads up to people who are planning on seeing me as soon as i get back...i've lost enough weight that even the people i live with has noticed. nono, i'm not aneorexic, i've been eating well enough, but it's been all healthy food (except for the little bag of chips i splurged on yesterday) and i've been walking an incredible amount. you know those stories where our parents start off with "when i was your age i had to walk 30 mins to school..."? yah, well i guess i can pull that one on my future kids too. hahahaha.

au revoir, see you all back in Toronto!

ok, before everyone freaks out...i went to london, and i came back unscathed. in fact, it's really no big deal, it's all over-hyped, everyone there doesn't really care. actually, it's the attitude of londoners that just doesn't strike a good chord with me...i really prefer France, Paris soooo much more. i think i'm more of a French girl, my personality seems to fit that atmosphere better, in fact, i've decided that when i come home, i'm going to look up french courses to further my studies, and i want to look in the direction of coming back to France in the near future....just seeds of thought right now.

london was nice, belinda took us to Windsor castle, and luckily for us...not only did it rain that day (before sunday, london was ALMOST in the state of calling a DROUGHT, so yay, i got the real london experience!) but the QUEEN was also in that day, we knew because her offical flag was flying from the tower (if she wasn't, the union jack would have been up instead.) i really like the display of queen mary's dollhouse, and we had a really late lunch at the crooked tea house (it's literally a house that is crooked, apparently it was demolished but then rebuilt, but the foundation was kind of sketchy so now it's crooked...hahaha)

but for me, the best parts just isn't really in london. alot of my london experiences with the guards just scare me. i think it's because i'm so gullible, and i just don't get londoners dry, sarcastic humour...it all goes over my head!!! belinda is forever making fun of me, and i don't even know it! i even didn't know it was a joke when i went to ask some english guards for a photo, and they were pretending to be mean and i thought it was for real! i got all red and embarrassed and my cousins and my sister were all in stiches! :0 yah, i think i love FRANCE. i went back to paris sunday evening at 8pm and arrived 11:45pm Paris time. i called up larissa (thank god she answered, i don't know what i would have done if her phone hadn't been working) and i stayed with her in a 4 star hotel, and the next morning we had brunch on the house before we went market shopping and then went to see notre dame before i came back home to Tours.

marks are going in today, so my professor has been giving all these tests and stuff...but yay for me, i've been doing well, last time i checked i had an A but after today's comprehension test, we'll see how i'll do...hahaha. i'm actually starting to feel sad that this the last couple of days here and i'll be home soon...i miss everyone at home, but i also really really love it here, and i wish i had more time to see everything that i want to see!

anyway, people are going out, and i must too, peace out.

hey kids, i'm in london!

ok, i lied. i'm actually staying with my cousin belinda about 1hr and a half outside of london. we're in maidenhead, berkshire, about 5 mins from windsor, where the queen lives...and Eaton, where prince william and prince henry went to school! we're actually going to get ready to go sightseeing around windsor today, and then before we leave tonight, head back to london to see westminister abbey.

i'm still reeling from taking in yesterday's sights. we went to buckingham palace to see the changing of the guard...unfortunately, there was so many people gathered around, amelia, grace and i went across to the park and i stood on the gate surrounding the park. afterwards we went to see the tower of london, where the crown jewels were being displayed. they are simply breathtaking, the amount of jewels on these crowns and sceptres and even the gold plates....incredible.

and then in the afternoon, we went back to london, to st. pauls cathedrale where princess diana was married, and then we walked around the picadilly, the strand, and regent st. in the evening after my sister and i came out of "the phantom of the opera." let me take this moment to say how glad i am that we caught a show in london. we've seen phantom of the opera before in toronto, and we've even seen the movie when it came out, but it just seems 10 times more fantastic in the london showing. the girl singing as christine was incredible, as was the guy who sang as raoul. i think amelia and i have decided that the role of the phantom is really hard, because the guy who sang for him wasn't and won't ever be as good as the original, michael crawford.

we even went to this crazy multiplex centre, the trocadero, where we were able to shop until almost 11:30pm, where afterwards when we were on our way out of london, we passed by harrods, which was lit up in bright white lights, and i was able to snap a photo literally 30 seconds before midnight when they turned off all the lights!

karina is also currently in london, and we've been trying to meet up. since i only have today left, i suppose it's now or never! hahaha. london is very nice, i like it...but i think i like france a lot more...i think i like their style and culture a lot more!

oh yes, incase you all haven't gathered, my whole plan to meet up with my sister in paris, gare du nord station was a complete success! i really did worry about her friday morning in class, and the amount of relief i felt (as well as her, because she thought we'd be there by 1:30pm but we showed up about an hour later) when i spotted her in the station was just unbelivable. she brought with her my hair dryer!! yay, now i can have straight hair again, hahaha. i brought my hair gel for the specific purpose of when i didn't have time to blow dry my hair...but seeing as i had forgotten it at home, i pretty much had crazy wavy hair for most of the trip. hahahaha.

belinda is the best hostess ever. i haven't had to look at a map since i've come here. we get up in the mornings, pile into her car, and she takes us into london and drops us off infront of a landmark and waits for us to finish (she entertains a lot of people in london so she does this often.) since she's lived here for 15 years, she knows all the streets to take, and she's very informed with the sightseeing in london. and she does this all with a british accent! when i have more time, i will list a bunch of cultural difference i see in london from north america. as for now, i need to get dressed to see the queen! ;p

i really wanted to see château langeais today, but i had class until 4:30 today and the last train back to Tours is at 6:37 so there was no point in going. oh well, everyone is already making fun of me already as i've gone to see sooo many château's as it is. i went with the institut yesterday for a nice FRENCH guided tour of château chenonceau (sooo cool, it was where henry II and his wife catherine de médici lived, and cat took the château from henry II's mistress Diane de Poitier and they both made their own gardens....just some background) which is the prettiest castle i've seen yet. the castle is built over water, and their kitchens are humongous. we also stopped off in the caves of vouvray where i had my first (and only...most likely anyway) wine tasting. we tried three types of white wine, the first two were much too strong and dry for my liking...but the last one...oh la la!!! i had to buy my own bottle! hahaha...but at the price of 8,15€ i think that was a good deal! ;) BESIDES...since i couldn't see the château, i went shopping instead, and scored myself a real sweet pair of shoes for under 20€ from mango. i swear, i don't know what i'll do when the sales are over and i want mango stuff!!! i will probably go again before i leave...hahahaha...

tonight is salsa night, and i'm debating if i should go or not. i have a very large verb conjugation test tomorrow, so we'll see how that studying goes. i have a feeling that i will go for a little bit, but since i am heading straight to Paris to meet ames afterschool tomorrow, i need to get my packing stuff done tonight...as well as change my bedsheets and throw out garbage (which if it ISN'T thrown out SMELLS soooo much) tomorrow morning!

Londres (london) this weekend! so i'll most likely post when i get back from le weekend!

a bientot!

i almost overslept the last two nights, especially the night after i got back from la rochelle. sara and i ran into jerry, jason, bryant, tanya and helen at the train station and our train left la rochelle at 1:50am and then we had a stopover in Poitier from 3:30-5:06am. so we really didn't get back to tonnelle until 6:00am.

after class monday, i was supposed to go to blois with reva, but the silly girl thought she could get away with not paying for a ticket, and the outcome was that we got kicked off at the night train station from tours, mont louis. hahaha, we went to look for the chateau there but it was so far away, and after 40 mins of walking, we decided to head back to the station, and i ended up going to the grocery store there and then buying chocolate cookies...yum!!

today was more successful, after learning from my mistake yesterday, i decided to go see chateau chinon by myself, and i caught the 4:33pm train right after class. chateau chinon is a medieaval ruin, and it was so gorgeous. walking around the ruins, i wished it was still intact because it would have been soooo beautiful, and so large and grand. i even saw the place where joan of arc went and stayed. so great!

i've just come back from my trip and i'm kind of tired, even though that is the story of my life here. so now i have to go eat (it's 9pm now) and study before bed, and maybe i can go to sleep early tonight...hahaha, yah riiiight.

i miss everyone!!!

i'm sooooo cold!!!! i'm currently sitting in an internet cafe in la rochelle with my friend sara. we both decided to sit in the internet place because it got so cold outside, and of course, we both didn't bring sweaters or anything. i have a big beach towel though, because i wanted to go to the beach today, so i think i'll wear it around my shoulders.

la rochelle is sooooo beautiful. it's close to the atlantic sea, so it's pretty much a port. sara and i were really lucky because we decided to go on the last day of the "francofollies" a french musicfest that was on from july 12 to today (july 17.) we went to see all the FREE shows, and we caught all of the bands doing sound check. they were: N & SK (nomades & skaetera), daniel fernandez, usmar (i love usmar, i bought his cd, AND i stole a poster from a gate...ahahaha), and BRG. these french people are soooooo good! and while these acts were playing, we sat in a cafe and i had moules (mussels) in cream sauce and frites (fries) with vanilla ice cream, yum! i'm becoming soooo french! ;p

yesterday, i went with the asian posse, elena and sara to mont st. michel. the castle is pretty from the outside, it's like on this massive mountain, but the inside is not as impressive. we got shushed...hahahahaha. we also went to st. malo, but it's like a huge massive tourist attraction, sort of like niagara falls...la rochelle is so much better!

anyway, my migraine is clearing up (oh, did i mention i had a migraine? i had a migraine) and i'm no longer freezing cold. BUT our train back to Tours leaves at 1:50am and we have a two hour stop over in Poitiers so we won't be back until....6:30am...no sleep!!!

so depending on how tired i am, i might be going to blois (pronounced blwah hahaha) tomorrow, or sleeping after school....we'll see! amelia, you need to blog.

Bastille Day fireworks are sooooo much better than toronto, niagara falls fireworks. like 100x better. they lasted almost 20mins, and the theme was the four seasons (except it seemed more like 7 seasons to me.) they have some crazy cool fireworks that i'd never seen before, like they bunch like flowers, so pretty. although, the only thing thing i didn't like was that people would randomly throw firecrackers on the streets, and they'd throw them so close to us, and it's so loud and scary. but i'm just glad nothing messed up my face, hahaha.

after class let out at 12:10pm today, elena and i went to la gare to buy tickets for Saumur. while we waited for out train to arrive for 2:30pm, we went shopping on rue de bordeaux, and ended up with a nice nice tank top from promod (my favorite french store), and a really pretty jacket from mango. i really need to stop shopping!!!

so we went to Saumur, and it was sooooo hot outside! we walked to the château which took forever because it was très chaud and we sort of overshot our destination so we had to walk back, and then walk UP a mountain. and when we reached the château, we find out that it was under renovations until 2008 and we could pay 2€ to walk the perimeter. hahaha, no thanks, i can take pictures from the outside! hahahaha.

so that's my productive day. tomorrow i will be going to mont st. michel and st. malo, and i reserved tickets for bordeaux on sunday. so more updates later. c'est toute!

hello! today is Bastille Day in France, it's equivalent to Canada on July 1st. because i accidently missed the last train back to Tours last night (i'll explain that in a min) i was able to catch the Bastille Day celebrations/parade along Champs Elysées. as i am short, i wasn't able to see much, but bryant held up his camcorder so i was able to see a little tiny bit of the guys all dressed up and marching on the street. there was also planes flying in the air in different formations, very cool.

right, so yesterday i left class a little bit earlier so that i could catch the train to paris at 12:09pm, otherwise i'd have to wait until 2:15pm for another train. i went with 4 other ASIAN guys, charles, bryant, jerry and ian (aka, romeo...hahaha, that's going into the explanations section along with dimples). we went to versailles to see where Louis XIV lived and it was just incredible. the palace was gorgeous, so much gold and paintings. my favorite was the garden area, it was sooooo large, so large that the palace rented out mini golf carts for people to travel around in!!! i saw the king's chamber, and the state apartments as well.

afterwards, the 5 of us went and met up with 3 other girls (patricia, cinzia, and lisa) for dinner, and i ordered a "hamburger avec frites". right. so hamburger in france is not the same as north america. here they just give the meat and fries. and on top of the meat, there was also an egg. hahaha. that's why french people stay thin, they don't eat the carbs from the bread bun!!!!

we finished dinner at almost 10pm, and then after saying goodbye to the girls, we went for the train station. we MISSED the last train by barely 30secs!!! hahahaha. you would think i'd freak out, but i thought it was funny. we were originally going to stay up all night, hit up a pub and go drinking till morning, but romeo needed his sleep so we got 2 double bed rooms for a very nice price of 30€ per person. bryant stayed in a room with me, but these guys are such gentlemen. he insisted on sleeping on the floor, who am i do change his mind? but that kid is a snorer! hahaha. it's ok, after so many years of putting up with my father's snoring while on vacation, this was pretty much a piece of cake.

so you might be wondering why i was with a bunch of ASIAN guys? i don't know, they're fun to hang around with, much better then the girls last weekend. not that i didn't have a good time in Nice, but there wasn't any crazy girl drama, it was just me and the guys.

so La Rochelle is probably not happening since today happened, but i'm most likely going to Blois tomorrow to see the Chateau Blois, and Chambord. yes! so exciting!

haha, elena, my next door neighbor, lent me her laundry detergent this morning and i did my "delicates". they have now been drying all day, and i'm hoping they'll be ready to wear by tomorrow (but it's all good, i'm not lacking too much in underwear.) ;)

so this is my plan for this loooong weekend (with a sporadic class on friday):
i plan to go straight to paris to visit versaille right after class tomorrow (wednesday; actually i'll be leaving 15mins earlier from class) have dinner with patricia, cinzia and lisa.

thursday i plan on spending the day in la rochelle, chill at the beach, take in site-seeing (it's 2 hrs from Tours)

friday i have class until 12:10pm so i have to go do that, do a dictation, and then i will be heading back towards Paris to see Monet's flower garden in Giverny.

saturday is the institut trip to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo which will take all day, and finally sunday i will probably head towards Bordeaux to St. émilion, a small mediaeval village for the day before going back to Tours.

hopefully it will go through, and if it does, i might not be in on the internet for awhile, so i'll update everyone when i get back! bonne chance!

adieu!

i just got back from Nice, it's incredibly beautiful and peaceful there. i'm proud to say that i've had ice cream and coffee on the Riveria. hahaha. i have a bit of a tan, but i wasn't out on the beach too long because the beaches in Nice aren't all that it's cut out to be. it's all large rocks! i also went to see vielle Nice and the Matisse Museum and i also went to Monacco yesterday to the casino Monte Carlo and Prince Rainier's Palace. That was also a very beautiful place. i am now back in Tours, and am currently trying to figure out what i want to do this upcoming weekend.

i miss everyone at home so much. there's too much female hormones raging, and even though i had an amazing time in Nice there was a lot of drama that i will tell you about when i get back! all i have to say is, i will never go with a large group of females (8 total) and i will never share a ticket with anyone ever again. there's a bunch of irresponsible people, and i guess highschool cliques just never disappear. oh girls are so bitchy. i miss my guy friends, and the non drama.

thanks jake for the email updates, i enjoy them alot! but i have to buy groceries and figure out how to do my laundry now.

i'm soooo lucky, there's no one in the internet room today, so i'll be able to write a relatively in depth blog now.

school is really good right now. i was put in the level one french classes, but since i actually have a background in french, everything that i am learning right now, i actually learned before. it can be a little bit boring, but i'm glad i'm in the beginner class because i can focus on the fine attention detail. i have classes everday which really sucks (and the prof won't change the day of our test next friday so i HAVE to go back to Tours for a little dictation) but it's also kind of good because for a good couple hours each day, i'm just hearing french because the professors refuse to speak in english (but they KNOW english.) i have two professors. one of them, Monsieur Bolo, is the regular professor and he teaches grammar and comprehension. the other, Mademosielle Laurie, teaches us pronounciation. we also have classes in the library and labo where we wear headphones and speak into a microphone to listen to our pronounciation. it's a really good technique!

i really like it here in Tours, but the weather is forever changing. one min it's sunny and hot, another min it's raining, windy and cold. if i look out my window in the morning, it means pretty much nothing if the suns out because at noon, dimples will point out that it's raining.

i wonder if culture shock has set in? hahaa, here are some things i've noticed that are different from home:
- dogs and people shit everywhere, everyone HAS TO watch where we're going, and when we are walking in a pack, people will shout out "watch out for the poo!"
- the convenience store is called a tabac, and stores are called magazins.
- people driving cars have a different way of defensive driving. actually, it's not really defensive, they just drive. they pay absolutely no attention to anything on the right side, but if anything happens on the left (such as turning left) and an accident happen, they take full responsiblity.
- there are no stop signs at the small intersections, us pedestrians just have to keep our eyes peeled.
- milk is not in boxes or bags, they are in jugs, either frozen or not.

yah, so that's just a bit of stuff i've noticed.

SHOPPING here is amazing. in my post yesterday, i mentioned that i spent alot of money. but almost all of it was spent on my institut trips to mont st. michel, chenonceau, and d'azay le rideau. those trips are taking place next saturday (the 16th), and 2 wednesdays. because i have afternoons free on wednesdays and fridays, what better time? the trips will definitely be interesting as they will guide us in french. not like the amboise trip which was part of u of t and was guided in english. i'm actually kind of excited because i know that i understand alot more then i can speak. but i'm proud to say that my french classes actually paid off because i can now converse alot better to people such as the lady who booked the institut trips, and the lady at the poste office when i went to cash in a traveller's cheque today.

oh yes, back to shopping. well, since i don't have class until 11:15am on thursdays, i got up early yesterday to walk along rue de bordeaux and rue nationale. they are the best streets for shopping. i bought a dress, and pretty sweater at this shop called promod, a very very pretty pink satin tank top, earrings and a beautiful purse (soft like butter) at MANGO for just under 60€. it's sale season here, so all these clothing at usually expensive shops are sooooo cheap!!! like the purse from mango, i'd never buy anything from toronto, but here it was 8.95€. soooo cheap! i also so this really nice jacket, but i'm going to hold off buying it just for now, i don't want to spend ALL my money now. hahaha.

anyway, this was good, i was really sad that i had to rush my blog from yesterday, there was a lady waiting for the computer and she kept sighing, so i couldn't think on the spot. but it's now 3pm and i have to be at the train station for 6:57pm and i have to pack, and look for a hostel in Paris for next weekend's Bastille Day.

Off to pack! ;)

i have spent so much money on clothing today. in fact, i spent so much that i have to cash in some traveller's cheques. ;) but the clothing is soooo cheap (because of the sale season in france right now) so i think i'm going to take advantage of the sales now, and then i'll not spend so much the next couple of weeks.

so i don't know if i'm going to london anymore, because i heard about the bombings after class today. i still want to go, so i'll see what happens in the next two weeks. man, that would suck if i couldn't go, but i guess i'd rather be around then not.

i'm off to nice tomorrow at 7pm, so i won't be back until after school monday. not only will be exhausted, i'll also be TANNED!!!!! whooo!

oh yah, for everyone who emailed me their home addresses, i sent out postcards today. so that means you'll get either in a week, or a month. hahaha.

anyway, i'm out.

the first day of classes started yesterday. i'm convinced that i'm in the wrong level as i've been put in level one. but the people in level one don't know a word of french, and i have 3 years of french under my belt. no matter, i'm having a great time learning how to say my name, count numbers and spell my last name. hahahahaha. i'm also in the class with dimples (hahaha, i'll explain if you ask me when i get home) and we're always both zoning out while everyone is struggling. i have classes everyday mostly starting at 9am, but on thursdays i start at 11:15am. they sometimes end pretty late (like around 4:15pm on tuesdays and thursdays.)

i stayed in rez last night and chilled with larissa and the girls. we had such a great time and somehow i still managed to not get to bed until 1:30am. i finally got my defective alarm clock to the shop and they were really nice to give me a brand new one. so now i don't need the girls to knock on my door in the morning anymore!!!

i bought a skirt at the market on rue belanger today, it's so pretty, blue and cute!!! i'm wearing that to the nice dinner restaurant when we go to Nice! yay!

anyway, i have to get ready for a special surprise tonight that's being hosted by larissa. bye!!!

today there was a mandatory group excursion with the institut and we went to visit the city of amboise. before we reached that destination, we stopped for a boat cruise in the river 'le cher' in mont richard, to see troglydytes (these are houses that people live in but their roofs are made of the forest floor). we also took a tour of mushroom caves and after the tour, i bought a bottle of mushroom soup (made from shiitake mushrooms) and i made some for dinner tonight and it was soooo yummy. of course OUR bus was late and even though the tonnellé people made it on time to the destination, the professor favored her 'hameau and homestay' students and left on the first bus right away. it kind of sucked because we ended up not having anytime for lunch when we reached amboise before we went on the tour of the chateux amboise. the tour was amazing, so pretty, and AFTERWARDS we had 2 hours to check out the little shops around the town.

the tour de france reached tours this afternoon while we were in amboise, but a bunch of us are planning on attending the leaving tomorrow after our first day of class!! it will be pretty exciting. anyway, before i forget, after dinner tonight (consisting of the mushroom soup and a left over HEATED on a pan panini) 9 girls and our RA (larissa) went to the train station and we have now booked tickets to go to NICE THIS WEEKEND (july 8-10.) whooohoo!!!

well it's pretty late now (2:04am,) so i'm off to bed. goodnight.

hi everyone!!! guess where i am!?!?!?

it' been pretty hectic these past few days. thursday just seemed never ending. the flight was about 7 hours but when we landed, several students didn't show up so we had to wait about 2 hrs before the professor realized the students were NEVER on the flight!!!!! and then our bus broke down JUST outside tours, so we had to wait for the other bus to come back to pick us up.

however, the residence is very very nice. it's quite clean, and i have my own kitchen area, bathroom shower, and a big, spacious room with a long desk and bed. our residence even have our own internet!!! the students living at hameau (i'm at tonnellé) have no internet so they have to either wait inline at the institut or pay 1€ for 20mins. HAHA! the only downfall is that we are about 30 mins away from the institut. it's a pretty long walk and i'm now convinced that my feet will never speak to me ever again.

im typing on a french keyboard so the keys are kind of funny. it is currently 7:30pm july 3rd in Tours. i just got back to the tonnellé residence as i went to paris today to visit the louvre (the museum is free the first sunday of each month.) it was a gorgeous day, no rain. the train ride to paris was surprisingly fast. we had to switch trains 5 mins after leaving the train station at tours, but afterwards, the TGV took an hour to gare montparnesse.

the institut hosted a free dinner for us last night and after the dinner, most of the students went to this club called "xcaliber". it was ok but the guys in france are very forward, so a bunch of us females (10 total...it varies) made a pact to always stick together in a group and to watch out for everyone else. one random girl (who wasn't part of the group but from our residence) decided she wanted to buy drugs from some sketchy guys and she gave us quite a scare. the few guys that are part of our residence stepped in to help her out, but alot of us girls are very unhappy with her stupid decision that almost put us all in danger. i don't think i really enjoy french clubs so i don't think i will be going out very often for these excursions. However, because of the drama last night, everyone ended up not getting back to our residence (it's a 30 min walk) until 4:30am. and i was supposed to meet grace and some other people at hameau to book our train tickets to paris this morning at 7am. so i ended up not sleeping...yet...no worries, i'm fine as french coffee is VERY different from north america, it's literally an expresso, so i've been pretty wired as of yesterday's dinner drink. i will be having a full night's sleep tonight because the institut is organizing a bus tour for ambroise for tomorrow morning at 8:30am.

so, now that i'm done, i'm off to dreamland...