Week 15: This one's for the girls!

For the most part, this week belonged to the girls! More than one night was filled with laughter and conversation between me and my friends here in Lille. But, to start off the week, there was a very important event: I finally got to the Spanish Consulate in Paris on Monday to get my visa for next semester!

To clarify, I didn’t actually get everything sorted per se, but I did get to actually hand them all my paperwork and they said they would call or email me when I could come back to get my actual visa. Compared to what I went through six months ago to get my French visa, this seemed like a breeze (other than paying 50 euros for a roundtrip train ticket from Lille to Paris, that is). I took the 5:51AM train from Lille to Paris for the third time, got there with plenty of time to spare, and made my way by metro to the Consulate. It was actually somewhat far from the Gare du Nord, but I made do. The only thing that was really stressing me out was that I had to use my other card to get cash from the ATM, and I wasn’t sure if it would work because I hadn’t had to use it until then, but it ended up working just fine, and I paid my visa costs and gave all my paperwork to a pretty friendly lady, and it went very well.

After I handed everything in at the Consulate, I headed over to the Eiffel Tower, because the only other time I had seen it was when I was a little too intoxicated to fully enjoy it. I even climbed all the stairs up to the second level – which was way more of a workout than I initially thought – and enjoyed a nice raspberry tart while looking out over the Seine and Paris in general. It was certainly a wonderful experience…but I’m saving the trip to the top for when my twin gets here – which is exactly a month from today!

Even though the day wasn't pretty, the Eiffel Tower was still magic as usual.

Then I headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral, because that was another big tourist to-do in Paris that I hadn’t done yet. It was cool to finally see one of the greatest (and most famous) cathedrals in the world, and it was even more beautiful with a giant Christmas tree outside and also a giant Advent wreath with big electric “candles” and everything.

Notre Dame!

Looking down the Seine

The last item on my list was a very personal one, if a little shallow: I wanted to see and explore Alésia, a neighborhood in Paris. This ended up being my final stop of the day, as I spent lunch there and then an hour or two afterward just walking around and taking it all in. It ended up not being the nicest neighborhood, but it was still cool to see a place that shares my name (and my real name how it’s truly spelled, not the more general “Alicia” that I see everywhere else). I even made it pretty far down the rue d’Alésia (after taking some selfies of course), and settled on lunch from a grocery store, as has become pretty much the norm for me. It ended up being a pretty cool experience, after which I made my way on the metro back to the Gare du Nord where I awaited my train to come home. A day in Paris (no matter how foggy or overcast) is always magical for me. When I made it back to Lille, I dropped my things in my room, and then not too long after I went to a movie night with my German friend Nele, and we saw “L’Auberge Espagnole” which turned out to be a pretty funny movie and very applicable to all of us foreign exchange students. So this Monday was a long day…but definitely a good one!

I walked by the Floriste Alésia on my way down the Rue d'Alésia.

I saw my name everywhere!

A street named after the chief of the Gauls, the ancestors of the French people.

Tuesday brought a couple classes as usual, and then I went to the university cafeteria with Fatima and Ellen, my lovely Belgian friends, for dinner. I always have a great time when those two are around, and this one was no exception! J And Wednesday was much the same – I had a few classes, and then afterward I headed to the cafeteria again actually with the two Belgians, and this time we were joined by two Austrians, Anna and Dina, and we all headed to Fatima’s apartment for a girls’ night with some mocktails (of which my new favorite is a Nottingham Sunset, thank you Rob… I have got to find out if they sell black currant syrup back in the States!). The night brought more laughter and fun, and we even came up with a few more inside jokes, which are always fun to share with friends. Thursday was a little less fun, what with an 8:00AM class and two exams (English to French Translation and French as a Foreign Language), but in the context of how much fun I had the rest of the week, it was a small price to pay.

Those crazy Austrians... :)

With love from Belgium and America!

Friday brought lots of fun! (Which is quite common if you don’t have any classes ;)) I did actually get my butt out of bed before 8:00AM so that I could do some much-needed laundry, and then after folding and hanging everything up, I headed out to the Christmas Markets in the city center with Katherine and our Polish friend Katia. It was a nice break from studying and thinking about how the end of the semester is coming soon (and God knows I’ve been doing the latter too much lately…and not enough of the former). Seeing as finals are coming up soon, Katia had a lot of work to do, and so we regrettably had to say goodbye to her after the Christmas Market. While spontaneously deciding to both try some marrons, roasted chestnuts, and then head to the movie theater to watch “Astérix: Le domaine des dieux”, Katherine and I ended up having a fabulous afternoon.

Finally, we had a big soirée to attend: a Christmas party hosted by AEU! I had such a fun time watching some performers on the stage (Gospel singers and a dance team) and dancing the night away with friends. The day really helped to kick-start my Christmas spirit, that’s for sure…although it was also bittersweet, as it was the last get-together with almost all of the international friends I’ve made here. All in all, it was a great event, and we all had a marvelous time – a great way to spend one of our last Friday nights here.

The Brits getting their Christmas on :)

A Gospel choir even sang some Christmas carols!

Saturday morning was a little bit of a letdown after the excitement and celebration of Friday night – I actually had class, Teaching French as a Foreign Language, for three whole hours. The funny thing is, I have this class this coming Monday in the morning, and then the exam the same day, in the afternoon. So, let’s hope I will have actually learned something in how to teach French, from a native French speaker, by the end of all this :) After that, I had a pretty relaxing afternoon…I tried to study a little bit, seeing as exams really are quite imminent…and then in the evening Rob and Yuli made some curry and I got to have my first ever taste of the dish. It was a little spicy, but it was delicious! And so I finished my Saturday night, peaceful and satisfied.

I actually made it to Mass at the Cathedral in the morning! I really enjoyed it because the atmosphere is pretty close to St. William, my home parish. After Mass, I spent a few hours (avoiding) studying, and then before I knew it, it was time to go to see Le Petit Prince at the Opéra de Lille! Grace, my two Belgian friends Fatima and Ellen, my Portuguese friend Karla and I all went together and made sure we dressed up, and we all enjoyed the show. I thought it was a little too modern, i.e. the music was atonal and less like a musical in the theater than I had expected, but then Karla reminded me that that is what opera is, and I realized that even if the music wasn’t exactly what I was used to, I did enjoy seeing all the characters interact on stage (and my favorite is still the little renard, the fox!). It definitely brought me back to my junior year of high school, when we read Le Petit Prince in class. Fatima, Karla and I then ended up going to a café afterwards to engage in some discussion and in general spend some time together, and then Fatima and Ellen came to my residence for dinner to study for exams, and we had a great night. What a great week!

This week has brought lots of fun and a little bit of stress with exams coming. I’ve been studying with some friends and trying to prepare on my own as well, but in the end I think I know as much now as I’ll ever know, which makes studying difficult sometimes… we’ll see, I guess. I’m also starting to make some travel plans over break, which include traveling to Slovakia! We’ll see how it all goes from here…but for now, à bientôt!

Week 14: Ciao, Roma!

I can’t even describe how awesome this week was! From having a packed birthday on Monday (one last celebration :)) to traveling to Rome as somewhat of a birthday present to myself on the weekend, and everything in between, I’ve hardly had a chance to breathe – in the best way possible!

Monday morning started out bright and early at 8:30am with my last midterm exam, in my French writing class. It was actually one of the shorter exams that I’ve had; it was only two hours, when I’ve sometimes had three- or even four-hour exams! After the exam, I went straight to another class that had already started (Teaching French as a Foreign Language), and then thankfully that was over at 12:30.

I had nothing planned for the majority of the afternoon, and so I decided to go to the movie theater to see a French film called Samba, which ended up being a great decision. After that, I met up with Manon, Fatima, Grace, and Corrinne, and we got manicures at a salon right around the corner from my residence (note to self: manicures in France, or at least at this salon, do NOT automatically come with color – mine was just clear polish). Then we made our way to the Christmas Market, which was spectacular as always (if a little too small), and then we decided to make a girls’ night out of it and headed to Flunch.

Girls' night at the Christmas Market!

At some point in the evening, I was invited to go to the movies with some friends to see Interstellar, and even though I had already been to the movies earlier the same day, I decided to go again, because yes I like the movies that much. This decision turned out to be excellent – the movie was so good, it was at a mind-blowing level! Apparently it’s already been rumored to be a favorite in the Oscars selection, and I wouldn’t doubt that at all. For not having planned anything besides manicures, I think it turned out to be an excellent way to spend the first day of my 21^st year :)

Tuesday was a transition back into the normal swing of things, as I had 19^th Century French Literature class right at 8am, and then instead of the normal History of French Literary and Artistic Movements lecture at 10am, I got to go on a field trip to an art museum! Some of the art was of the caliber that makes most people skeptical about art in general (i.e. the more modern/contemporary section), but other pieces were really interesting, and it was cool having the professor there to explain everything. It made for at least a little less monotony toward the middle of the week :)

It’s cool how interesting my 17^th Century French Literature class is most of the time. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, the class is always interesting to me, if only for the fact that it’s French literature, but also because the tangents the professor goes off onto are fascinating to me. So that’s usually at least a pretty decent start to my Wednesdays. Then there’s my French writing class…which is somewhat in the same line of interesting, except not really, because the tangents are a bit more wordy and lot less relevant to anything I’m interested in (which is saying a lot, because I’m interested in a lot of things…). Then I got to hang out with Amandine, which is always a good thing! J and homework, as always, was inevitable. It was a pretty normal Wednesday.

Thursday once again brought a fair amount of classes, but thankfully one of them (French-English translation) had been cancelled, so I only had three instead of four in a row. One of the highlights of the week happened this night: FRIENDSGIVING! Between the couple days before and the night of, we all got organized over a Facebook message and a Google doc with who would be bringing what, and we all got together and had our own special Thanksgiving dinner! We were even able to obtain an actual, whole, real turkey bird to put in the oven! We had the works: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, corn, salad, and some cranberry juice to make up for the lack of cranberry sauce (we couldn’t find either the berries themselves or the canned stuff anywhere!).

Happy Thanksgiving - Lille style!

It ended up being a pretty late night – we started eating at around 10pm and enjoyed the food, conversation, and laughs until well past midnight. I even got to Skype my family and talk to them on the phone for a little bit! It was an incredible night, and I appreciated it so much because Thanksgiving has always been near and dear to my heart simply due to its proximity to my birthday. Walking home with a big group of people at such a late hour that the metro was closed was even a pretty fun experience :) It was a little different to be celebrating with all these awesome people that I had met in the past few months rather than my family, but the celebration was certainly the best I could have asked for to make me feel like I was home from an ocean away. What an amazing night!

Then, the next day, my next adventure started: Rome! I spent the morning packing and getting everything together in my nice little travel backpack, and then Walker and I headed to the station in the afternoon to catch the shuttle to Brussels Charleroi airport, a 1.5 hour ride. This was my first Ryanair flight in my life, and my first time being up in the air since arriving in France, so I was definitely very excited to be flying to a new country! The 2-hour flight went just fine (I was excited as ever at the takeoff, as I always am!), and we touched down at Rome Ciampino airport by around 8pm. I must say, I was slightly disappointed that I got no passport stamps whatsoever (what with the lovely Schengen Zone nowadays), but we got into the country with no problems, got some cash, and then hopped on a bus into the heart of the city - after getting accustomed to the lovely warm temperature, of course! We got to our hostel (Hostel Alessandro Palace), checked in, dropped our bags while trying not to disturb two sleeping guys, and then got out to walk around and explore the city.

First Ryanair flight!

The first place we got to, was the Piazza della Repubblica, an impressive plaza not too far down the street with a beautiful fountain in the middle. Then we made our way to the impressive Colonna Traiana, which is a column that has a story carved into it that swirls its way up like a comic strip wrapped around a pole, but with a lot more history involved. Ruins were laid out behind the column, which was cool to see because it reminded me even more so than just being the city itself and looking at impressive monuments that all these things existed thousands of years ago – the history was living right there, in front of my eyes. We then crossed the street to get to the Vittoriale, a stately World War I monument which is Italy’s equivalent of France’s Arc de Triomphe, complete with the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and everything.

Piazza della Repubblica

The Colonna Traiana with the ruins behind it in perspective

The Vittoriale - an impressive memorial monument.

We then got to the Isola Tiberina, which is a tiny island in the middle of the Tiber River that runs through the middle of the city, and to get onto and off of the island, we crossed over the two oldest bridges in Rome, each at least 4,000 years old, the Ponte Cestio and the Ponte Fabricio. We admired the basilica that occupies the majority of the island for a bit, and then made our way to get a late dinner, which of course, was pizza! We ate right across from the oldest bridge, while watching soccer on the television and reminiscing about all the good times already gone by. After dinner, we passed by the Teatro Marcello on the top of a hill and the Tempio di Vesta with its imposing columns on the way to the Colosseum. Just before we got to the Colosseum, we stopped to walk through the Circo Massimo, the ancient amphitheater of chariot racing, and also the Pallatino ruins.

Our last stop before the Colosseum itself was the arch right in front, called the Arco di Constantino, where we ran into a few street salesmen who tried to get us to buy none other than the lovely selfie sticks (yes, as seen in the Sky Mall catalogue!). Then at last, we were there – we arrived at one of the most iconic monuments in history, il Colosseo! What an experience… it was very humbling to be standing in front of such a profoundly historically important place. There aren’t many words that can describe the feeling accurately.

Arco di Constantino

Il colosseo!

We then got some gelato (which was delicious!, but an important note here is that gelato is just the Italian word for ice cream, and so it wasn’t necessarily as special as gelato is back in the States, lol), saw our last church for the night, S. Maria Maggiore, and then decided to call it a night. We got back to the hostel and had a nice chat with a couple of friends from our residence back in France, Juan and Andres, who had been in Rome for two days already. We chatted about how our trips had been going so far, and they gave us some tips and pointers for what we should see and how to navigate the city. Finally, we said goodnight and settled into our beds to be able to do as much as possible the next day.

Saturday didn’t start too early, thank goodness, but we did start out the day with a nice (and cheap) breakfast in the restaurant next door to the hostel. We shared a nice meal (where, incidentally, I got the American option, and the guys got the English option), and then we headed our separate ways. While waiting for Rob to join us, as he couldn’t come with us the day before due to having an exam in the afternoon, Walker and I made our way toward the Pantheon, and stopped along the way at the Piazza Navona, the Chiesa Nuova, and the Castel S. Angelo. I kept getting really excited because sites like the Piazza Navona and the Castel S. Angelo are prominently featured in the Tom Hanks movie Angels & Demons, which is one of my favorites.

Fountain in the Piazza Navona

Chiesa Nuova

Castel S. Angelo - prominently featured in Angels & Demons!

Then, we finally made it to the Pantheon. Another of the most famous icons in history, and also the largest uninforced concrete dome in the world. We sat there for a while, just admiring the architecture and the history. I had been messaging a friend from St. Norbert in the hopes that we could meet up, since we’re both studying abroad in different places in Europe and we both happened to be in Rome on the same weekend, and we tried to meet up at the Pantheon, but to no avail – the internet didn’t work well at all, and there were just too many people. Oh well – we will most certainly meet up when we’ve both returned Stateside. :)

The Pantheon!

Finally, we got word from Rob that he was on his way, and so we went to meet him where my favorite part of the trip started: Vatican City. One interesting thing to note here is that we made part of our way by bus, and it seems that no one in Rome – neither locals nor anyone else – pays for the bus. I think I saw one person actually flash her bus pass by the machine. Anyways, after Rob got a little confused between the Piazza del Popolo and St. Peter’s Square, we finally all met up in St. Peter’s Square, we purchased tickets online (which ended up saving us a two hour wait in line), and since we booked a certain time for the tickets which wasn’t right away, we had some more pizza in a nice place just outside the Vatican City walls. After pizza and a chat, we headed into the Vatican Museums (Musei Vaticani). The religion, art, history all in one place made for an incredible experience, and I am going back as soon as I can! (Especially since the one place we didn’t get to see in the Vatican was St. Peter’s Basilica!) So many different pieces all in one place…Egyptian, Roman, Gregorian, and even some more contemporary works (Van Gogh and Matisse)…it was unreal. The Sistine Chapel was especially inspiring for me…to be able to see a place so central to the mission of Roman Catholicism and the universality of it all…it was intense. It was an experience I will never forget, and an experience that I hope to have again soon.

First glimpse into Vatican City!

Walking into St. Peter's Square

Rob finally joined us! Here are the boys in front of St. Peter's Basilica.

Inside the Vatican Museums

Absolutely gorgeous.

Le Penseur was even there!

Antiquated map of the world

Before we left Vatican City, Walker and I sent some postcards to friends and family from the one and only post office (since it is its own country), and then we went back to the Colosseum on the metro. We took a few more moments to take some pictures and take it all in, and then we headed again past the World War I monument before we made it to the Pantheon again, except now it was at night. We couldn’t go inside this time, because there was actually a Catholic mass taking place at the time! Once we finished taking everything in, we checked off a few more boxes of what one should see while in Rome: the Palazzo Chigi, where the Prime Minister lives (and therefore the Italian equivalent of the British 10 Downing Street), the Piazza Colonna where Parliament meets, and the Via del Condotti, where all the designer-name shops are. One of our last stops for the night was at the bottom of the hill where the Trinità dei Montei church is located, right in front of the Spanish steps. Our final stop for the night was the Piazza Barberini, and then we got dinner to go and ate in our hostel. After dinner and a quick chat, Rob headed to bed, since he had already woken up ridiculously early to catch the shuttle and the flight there, but Walker and I got one last gelato and then we decided to call it a night as well. What a long and intense day!

The Colosseum, one more time :)

The Pantheon at night (Mass was in progress!)

Via del Condotti - where all the $$$$$ shops are.

We got up bright and early Sunday morning to catch the bus to take us to the airport, and then we had an hour or so to wait for our flight. (I took advantage of this time to get some duty-free limoncello and freshen up.) Then before I knew it we were back on a plane, playing cards and talking, and then we touched down at Brussels Charleroi where the temperature was much colder. We hopped back on the shuttle to get back to Lille, and our trip to Rome was officially over. What a blast!

With all the excitement these past two weeks have brought, I think it will take me at least another week or two to actually recover from it all! Along with traveling, birthday and holiday celebrations, and keeping up with school, I’ve also been continuing my preparations for Spain, and I’m also getting more and more excited for next semester as well. Some exciting news that I have for you all is that I am officially staying with Amandine over Christmas break, which is so exciting!! I cannot wait!! J and in the meantime, I just have to finish out the semester strong, study for my classes, and of course enjoy the friends I have while we’re all in one place. I think that about does it for this week, and so I’ll see you next week – à bientôt!

P.S. Check out all my photos from Rome on Facebook! - Click here!

Week 13: Joyeux anniversaire!

I have been waiting all semester (and all year really) for this week – my birthday week! J I mean, it’s not technically the week of my real birthday, that’s next Monday, but I decided to celebrate my birthday this week/weekend before the actual day rather than the following week. After stressing a little bit about plans for what to do to celebrate my 21^st birthday, it all turned out wonderfully, and it was a great party!

To start off the week, I had Monday off, which is always a great way to start out a week. I woke up a little late, but I did manage to get some errands done, including signing paperwork for when I would move out of my residence (now officially December 22), and the rest of the day was another opportunity to relax with nothing on the agenda. Tuesday afternoon, I almost had my intercultural communications class cancelled, but then the French students came back from a conference they had been at, and so we had class for only one hour instead of two. Both days were pretty chill in general.

On Wednesday, I went on a little bit of an adventure with Amandine - to Paris for the morning! I was originally supposed to go to the Spanish Consulate this day to submit my paperwork and start the process of getting my Spanish visa for studies next semester, but unfortunately the package from St. Norbert with the original paperwork necessary for the visa process ended up getting lost in the mail, and so I just ended up accompanying Amandine on her way to the U.S. Embassy to get her U.S. visa (she will be studying in Louisiana next semester!).

We got to Paris with some time to spare, and so once we made it on the bus to the stop right by the Embassy, we walked a few minutes down the road and got some of Angelina’s hot chocolate (which was just as good as the last time!), and then I left Amandine outside the Embassy and headed over to the Louvre. I had been looking forward to going since the last time I had been in Paris with Corrinne and Laura (when we had tried to go on a Tuesday and it had been closed). I had heard that students of French universities got free admission to the world-famous art museum, and lo and behold, I soon found out that all I had to do was flash my French student ID at the ticket control counter and I got in to the permanent exhibits and most of the museum for free! It was an amazing experience, and I will definitely be going back soon!

Inside the Louvre!

The Mona Lisa! She even has a whole room with her name on it.

Mona Lisa selfie!

In the evening, Rob, Walker, Fatima, Ellen and I made our way to the very first day of the Christmas Market in Lille! It’s pretty small, but it’s a pretty sight nonetheless, and it’s a great way to experience an important part of the Lillois culture. Fatima and I ran right over to the giant Ferris wheel in the middle of the Grand’Place and hopped on to get some amazing views of the whole of Lille! Walking through the actual market area afterwards, we enjoyed some mulled wine, hot cider, a Coquille de Noël – a loaf of brioche bread shaped like the infant Jesus – and of course, some wonderful Christmas music. It was a great way to start getting into the Christmas spirit (albeit a week early)!

Spotted: a lovely Nativity scene, right in front of the huge Ferris wheel!

A view of the Grand'Place from high up on the wheel.

Looking out over the entire city of Lille

And of course, a view of the rest of the Grand'Place and the Christmas market!

Thursday was a long day, but it was so amazing! It started off with 19^th Century Literature at 8am, and then a class called Interculturality, where a guest speaker came in who was a real-life humanitarian worker, and he brought a case study with him that we were supposed to work on finding a solution for. The coolest thing was that this case study was actually a real-life situation, and the guest speaker was going to take our solutions right to the Moroccan village people involved. Talk about motivation to participate in and think about that class! After that, I had English to French Translation, and then French as a Foreign Language, and so my day just in classes finished at 6:40pm. After that, I went with a group of friends to the university restaurant/cafeteria, had some laughs and fun, and then came the party!

I invited a bunch of friends to join me in my room for some pre-gaming before going out, which ended up being really fun! (Shout-out to Milan for bringing me a birthday shot of Slivovica from Slovakia! J) After we all got warmed up, we headed out to the Rue Solférino, which is the center of student life on the weekends, and eventually made our way into a place called the Latina Café, where they play all sorts of fun Latin music, and we danced the night away. The night was certainly one that I won’t forget!

Birthday decorations to welcome guests

Birthday banner! (Thanks for sending it, mom!)

Friday I purposely didn’t plan anything because I was anticipating having a massive hangover, but in fact it was okay. I had drunk water in between alcoholic drinks, so I basically had no hangover, and so it was just another chill day (because clearly I haven’t had enough of those yet, lol). I did start a new series, Lie to Me, on Netflix, which I now have to finish… (thanks to the recent arrival of Netflix in France, of course.)

Saturday was the real celebration! I put on my adorable black sequin party dress that my lovely mother had just sent me as a birthday present, primped and got all pretty, and then we once again pre-gamed in my room. This time we played Kings, a fun drinking game, and had great fun laughing and talking, and I even baked a cake for everyone and blew out some candles to celebrate the occasion a few days early. I took another (different) birthday shot and finished my bottle of wine from Thursday, and tried to let go just enough but not too much. (I think I did a pretty good job of walking that line – I was certainly having fun!)

Explaining Kings...

Me with my cake :)

We had lots of fun!

Blondies! :)

We headed out to the bars around 11pm to make sure they weren’t too full. I had originally wanted to do a bar crawl one of the two nights, but then it was pointed out to me how expensive that would be, and so I just made sure I got my favorite cocktail that I’ve had so far here in Lille at a bar called the Zeppelin (called a “Ninou” and which includes crème de pêche). I heard a few tales in the days following about just how hilarious I can be when I’m under the influence, including apparently trying to dance while sitting on my friends’ laps…and failing miserably, haha.

At the Zeppelin with friends :)

We eventually made our way to a club called Smile, where I was told I was a little too intoxicated to come in right away and then had to wait a while, but eventually we all made it in, and we ended up dancing the rest of the night away. At the end of the night, Rob and Walker were nice enough to have stayed, and they made sure I got home, where I simply collapsed into bed and slept very well until later in the morning. I was so happy everyone came out to celebrate - it was an amazing night, and a perfect way to celebrate turning 21!

SURVIVORS - we made it til the end of the night!

The next day was a little rougher than Friday, but I still managed to have not too huge of a hangover. I took it easy in the morning, and then in the afternoon, I was invited to a German brunch right in my residence. Chicken, dumplings, and red cabbage made for a wonderful meal, and it was a great reason to actually get out of bed on a Sunday and spend time with cool and interesting girls – there were two Brazilians, a Portuguese, a Japanese, a German, and me, and we all had a great conversation over a delicious meal. After brunch, I took some more time to relax and get my life together, and before I knew it, it was time to go to bed. Altogether, I don’t think I could have asked for a better 21^st birthday weekend!

German brunch!

As it starts to actually get cold here, I’m starting to bundle up and buckle down for the semester. I have my last “midterm” exam tomorrow (yes, on my actual birthday), and then the race begins to study for finals before they arrive in just a few weeks. Along with getting all my studies together, I have also been continuing to get all my stuff in order to go get my Spanish visa in Paris. I have now officially booked the ticket to go to Paris on December 1, so hopefully all will go well. I will most certainly keep you all up to date on here about how it all goes…until next time - à bientôt!