My Semester Abroad!

Hey Family!

I love all the updates recently. This blog definitely has more life to it, yet! To contribute to this renewed movement, here is my update:)

So this semester was amaaaazing for me. I got to study abroad in Paris, France! So much fun. I was gone for just over four months. I missed everyone at home but I was also just sooo happy where I was. The program was based from my university here - it was 24 students that all went over and took classes in Paris. We were still based from our home university instead of enrolled in a university in Paris. A professor came over with us, and our other classes were taught by professors living permanently in Paris. I had pretty much saved up my electives for the past 2 1/2 years in order for my potential exchange, so it won't hurt me moving forward! We took classes like history, literature, cinema, and architecture (...that was a three hour walking tour every Thursday!) All of it was in English, of course, as my 'Bonjour', 'oui!', 'merci' and 'C'est bon' really doesn't suffice in the classroom setting:) Classes were from Tuesday-Thursday giving us a four day weekend EVERY weekend.

A friend of mine took this one.. I love it!

Galleries LaFayette - the biggest store you've ever seen - seven floors all in this layout with the biggest labels. Not a big deal to see a 1000 euro dress. ...so at least it's fun to look in!

Clearly, with those four day weekends, class really wasn't the focus of this semester! People ask if I went to class this semester... I do recall several books being read and quite an intense paper-writing last couple of weeks, but really, there are much more interesting things to discuss about my semester! First off, I absolutely love Paris! The city is amazing. So beautiful, so many amazing spaces within the city, very walkable, interesting, vibrant, cafes at every corner, then bakeries in between... it's an amazing city! All of the iconic 'pictures' of Paris don't disappoint.. the Eifel Tower still amazes me, Notre Dame is gorgeous, the Louvre is just ridiculous, etc., but I also love all the little things now too... particular shopping streets, favourite restaurants, the best 'cafe cremes'.. these are the things I'm dieing to go back to! If ANYBODY is going to Paris (and not taking me with them) get a list of must-sees from me!

My mum came over her break in March for ten days. It was so great! She had been already a couple years ago, so though we kept up a pretty good pace, there wasn't any major rush or frenzy to the week. We went on a few day trips - out to Versailles (Marie Antoinette's chateau... among other French aristocrats) and Chartre (a small French country-ish town). These were great. But then we also just walked the city, shopped a little, ate well, etc. It was so good! She took me to a concert at Saint Chapelle (one of the most beautiful churches in Paris... small with the most unbelievable stained glass covering all the walls) which was such a highlight for me - it was a string quartet playing Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'. Amaaazing.

The 'Hall of Mirrors' in Versaille

I did get around to some other places too! The first somewhat spontaneous weekend was to Edinburgh - flying within Europe is SO cheap. I think this flight (through Ryanair) came to thirty euros round trip?! So we were pretty much like, "Whooooo wants to go to Edinburgh?!" It was a really great weekend. We were in rainy Scotland but got one gorgeous day. It was really fun to be in the UK... food was way cheaper which we were excited about! Our hostel was in the heart of the city on the 'Royal Mile' so everything was so close. We went on walking tours, went through the castle, shopped, ate, and stopped for lots of coffees! It was wonderful:)

Our break in February was one of my favourite times of the whole semester. My roommate and I, Margot, went to Italy for twelve days. We stretched it out as long as possible! We left the Thursday that classes ended, and arrived back the Tuesday that they began again. It was awesome! We spent four nights in Rome (with a family friend of mine from home!), two nights in Siena, three nights in Florence, and two nights in Milan. I can't even begin to tell you my favourite place - they were all so good! Rome was amazing with so much to see... Siena was a wonderful, more quiet and authentic town - especially nice after the hype of the big-city Rome, Florence had so much art and culture (plus Tuscany thrown in there!) and Milan had shopping to die for. Food was a highlight of this trip! My best plate of pasta was in Siena, followed closely by the meal we had on a day-trip in Tuscany (had lunch in a private villa!) The pizza was phenominal, followed by the at-least-daily helping of gelato. We saw a lot of art, walked through many, many churches, sat in countless piazzas, shopped, admired, and spent most of the week in awe! There's still so many things in Italy that I want to see, but that's for the next trip, I suppose!

The view at the Michelangelo Piazza in Florence

At the Roman Forum

Inside St. Peter's in Rome... the scale and all the ornate detail... absolutely amazing.

There were some other trips in there... smaller ones and a ton of things done in Paris, but the next big trip was to Belgium, Germany, and Holland. My good friend from high school, Leslie, joined me for this. She had been in Ghana, Africa for eight months and came through Europe on her way home. We had the best time! We always stayed with people we knew - not one night was spent at a hostel or a hotel. This was amazing because a) saved a lot of money and b) we had the most wonderful hosts who made the places we were staying. Each one was so good to us.

The Canals in Amsterdam

Leslie and I

After the trip with Leslie I went back to Paris for a few days, then headed for Barcelona to meet up with Margot (my roommate), her friend that she was travelling with, and a few other friends that were also in Barcelona at the time. This was the perfect way to end the semester. Barcelona is an amazing city - tropical Europe! It had a beautiful beach, as well as all the culture that you expect from Europe.

After Barcelona I came back to Paris, stayed with a friend, and then flew home the next day! It's still quite strange to be back. SO good to see everyone, but I miss Paris/Europe a lot! I'm not sure that I can stay put for too long... we'll have to see what's next!

If you're not too bored/saturated with this post, there are way more pictures on my facebook of each trip. Thanks for the updates that have been shared so far! I love reading them!

Love and miss you all!

Em