La Praix et L'amour

That means "Peace and Love"

My teacher taught me peace and love in French because of an AOII shirt I have that instead of the O it's a peace sign and it's tie-dyed. She referenced Vietnam in explaining my shirt...but I didn't expect her to know what AOII means anyway. Anyway, I thought it was cool since that's the phrase I practically live by and because I sign all my blog posts "Peace, Love, and ...." Way cool.

Well, my suitcases are out and almost filled, and all I really have left to pack are my toiletries. I can't believe it's already time to leave! These past 4 weeks have gone by SO fast. I leave around 5 tomorrow night and will be in Paris for 2 nights. I have all day Saturday to explore the city and that excites me greatly. I plan on hitting up the Musee d'Orsay, perhaps the Catacombs, and Notre Dame since I've only just passed by it but never actually gone in it. Then Saturday evening I am determined to find a nice restaurant that serves duck for my last meal in France! I can't wait! I splurged on a pretty nice hotel, since it's PARIS, and I'm pretty excited to just chill out and be touristy before heading back home. My flight leaves Paris at around 11:40 Sunday morning and I should get in to OKC at around 5 something Sunday night. I'm sure I'll be a super happy camper by then too!

Not much else to report on around here. We've all just been chilling out for our last week. We had a "family dinner" last night - the "dorm kids" - me, Katie, Ashley, Sean, William, Matt, and Diana. We all cooked our own dinner, set up a table in the middle of the hall, got all dressed up, and shared good food and laughs. Then we headed outside to the fire escape (it's a cool spiral staircase) and took some group pictures. Some were successful, some not so much. Then we just hung out and met up with some other students at L'Academie later on. L'Academie is a cool bar/pool hall across from the Gare. They have some pretty delicious 1664 blanche (blond beer) and it's just classy. Tonight a group of us are going out to dinner since it's our official last night as a group, and then we'll probably hit up the infamous Tahiti Bar down by the river. Oh how I will miss that place. Then tomorrow Katie, Ashley, and I catch the train to Paris, William and Matt hit up Clermont, and the rest leave Saturday. :-/ I'm excited to get home but I'm going to miss all the crazy kids I've met here. Thankfully the good majority of us go to OU so I'm sure there will be many a reunions in store.

Well time to head out and finish packing/get ready for dinner.

La Praix, L'amour, et Fun Times in Vichy

Puy de Dome

I climbed up a volcano...and this is what I saw...


Hangliders at the top...


You can't really tell, but that is Matt and Tjanna climbing up the side of the mountain. They decided it would be faster than taking the trail.

Ancient Roman ruins at the top - the Temple of Mercury. I thought the random cartoon guy with random facts was entertaining.

View from the top.

All those white dots are a flock of sheep being herded into a different pasture. It was pretty cool to see.

Me at the top

My attempt at being artistic.

View again. I like the shadow of the cloud.

Me contemplating life at the top of a volcano/mountain. :-)

Overall it was quite fun, and I am very proud of myself for climbing all the way to the top, as it was not easy, especially since my asthma has decided to hate me this trip. And then on the way down, it was so steep you had to practically run, so Ashley, Katie, and I decided it would be fun to frolick and sing all the way down. And that we did, my friends. Good times. Pretty sure Sean caught it on video.

There's my daily update. Clermont is next! I know I'm a few days behind on everything, but you have to admit I've been doing a pretty good job of catching up, eh? Only 6 more days until I go home! Scary, yet exciting, thought!

Peace, Love, and Climbing Ancient Volcanoes.

Nice is Nice [Neece is Niice]

And now...I give you pictures from Nice. :-)

Flags on the beach, rocky beach, actually.

Beautiful water. :-)

Many people on the beach.

Me with Nice in the background.

My attempt at a panoramic view of Nice and the sea. We climbed up this mountain/chateau type thing and saw this.

Waterfall at the top.

Trying to get a picture of the cool fountain in the plaza.

My yummy dinner that night! Mm salmon.

A street in Nice.

Barack Obama!! He's everywhere, and since he was in France a few weeks ago the French became even more obsessed with him. Which is fine with me! :-)

The plaza had these cool statues of people that lit up in different colors at night.

A fish market that Ashley and I passed on our morning walk. There was also a farmer's market across the street. Very cool.

That's it for now. I'm off to Cleremont today! I'll update soon with that and the Puy de Dome.

Peace, Love, and Nice.

Geneve

Finally, for your entertainment, I bring you pictures of my trip to Geneva...2 weeks later. :-) Enjoy. Nice is next! Get excited.


The creepiest place in all of Geneva. What we walked through trying to find our hotel.

Beautiful Geneva street.

Me in front of the home of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. I am so pleased. :-)

" Ou est la chat?" A cat sitting in a windowsill! I thought it was cute. :-)

The girls with Geneva in the background - Katie, Diana, Ashley, et moi.

A cute old couple feeding the swans and ducks.

The largest fountain in the world!

Cool statue.

Me with Geneva in the background. :-)

All of us in front of the United Nations Headquarters - Diana, Ashley, Matt, William, Sean, moi, et Katie.

The U.N. :-)

And finally...a glimpse of some scenery from the train back to Vichy. :-) I love the mountains.

That's all for now.

Peace, Love, and Swiss Chocolate.

French Food is Divine

As my time in France is coming far too quickly to an end, I have been thinking lately about what I love and will miss terribly about France, and also what I don't love and won't miss terribly about France. And the one thing that keeps sticking out that I will miss terribly is....the food. Now, unfortunately, the fact that I am just a mere college student with not much income limits my abilities to eat out at super fancy French restaurants, but that does not stop me from trying even the small things - like cheese...cheap wine...fresh tomatoes and fresh baked bread...kebabs...eclaires...crepes...croque monsieurs...and random pasta concoctions made using a hotplate. And oh how I am going to miss these things when I return to the land of hot dogs, hamburgers, greasy fast food, and processed cheese. Even my recreations I know will not be the same, and how sad this will be, but I shall try.

Some highlights that I have discovered and some I have made are as follows:

1. "The Ultimate French Sandwich:" (I just now named it that) This is a sandwich I first made Monday, and have had every day since. It is simply a baguette with ham, tomato, and Camembert cheese (Monoprix brand). My secret is I didn't just use any old cheese...I used Camembert....and it is oh so delicious. I actually just now finished one. And I my stomach is satisfied, and I am content with life. From the first bite to the last, this sandwich is simply divine...if I do say so myself. :-)

2. Pasta: I have been experimenting lately with different ways of making pasta, and one such pasta I have been attempting to perfect this week is bowtie pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms. A very simple dish that goes as follows - I boil the pasta in water and EVOO (extra virgin olive oil for those unfamiliar with the term coined by Rachael Ray), set it aside, then sautee some mushrooms in EVOO, and salt and pepper if available, and then pour it on top of the pasta. I then cut up a tomato and add that. Stir together, add some grated cheese (not sure what kind, it was in an unmarked bag at the Monoprix and it looked good so I tried it out) and some basil and stir it around and Voila! Pasta. It is quite delicious, however I must note that this still needs some work. I'm thinking less pasta, more mushrooms and tomatoes, and maybe even more basil next time. It's a work in progress. Next I plan to try pasta with mushrooms and a red pepper. Yum, yes? Katie made something similar one night and I found it to be quite tasty, so I'd like to give it a shot.

3. Camembert cheese: I don't remember ever really liking Camembert when I was younger. Similar to brie in texture, color, and taste, I didn't think it'd be a favorite, but it is turning out to be just that. I eat it everyday, either in my sandwich, or just with some bread. It is quite delicious. That is all I can say about Camembert cheese.

4. Chardonney: I've always been a white wine girl, and although I have branched out in France and tried some red wines (red wine and coke is also not so bad), I find myself always going back to white wine. Back home I usually enjoy a nice glass of Reisling, but alas I have not been able to find much of that here in France, and if I've found something close to it, it usually doesn't say what kind of wine it is, so I just assume it's Reisling. But one such wine I have had time and time again and grown to love is Chardonney. To me, it's similar to reisling, a little dry, but not too dry, and I don't really like wines that are too sweet, so to me it is a perfect blend. I have an unopened bottle in my mini-fridge, and I'm thinking of having a glass with dinner tonight...it sounds quite delicious...

5. Eclairs: There's this little boulangerie/patiserie type stand next to the Monoprix that does a 4 euro lunch deal - your pick of a sandwich, quiche, piece of pizza, etc., one pastry, and a drink. All that for 4 euro? Not bad! Well, when I go there, I've recently been getting the eclairs. I first tried the chocolate eclair. Very good, no lie, but it was a little to rich and I couldn't finish it. So the next time I went I got a eclair cafe - coffee flavored, and oh is it so good!! I really want to learn how to make one someday. It is the perfect blend of coffee flavor, pastry deliciousness, warm on the outside, cold on the inside wonderfulness. I am obsessed with eclairs. I actually really want one now...

6. Crepes: This will be my last one for now. Let me tell you about crepes...they are divine! Whenever I go to this cafe that has free wifi, I always order a chocolate crepe and something to drink, and although I have not had it often, each time I do eat it, it is like heaven. The crepe is so thin, and the chocolate is this thin syrup that they just pour over the crepe so it's completely drenched in this chocolate-y goodness. It's definitely a melt-in-your mouth treat.

There you have it, an explanation of some of my French cuisine discoveries. My last food goal while I am here is to have some duck. It is a French delicacy and so yummy-licious that I just couldn't possibly leave the country without having one. I'll let you know if my quest is successful.

I plan on creating at least 3 posts in the next 2 days - one with Geneva pictures, one with Nice pictures, and one over my Puy de Dome visit. Get excited, and stay tuned. I regret to inform you that I am not going anywhere super exciting this weekend. We were planning on going to Bordeaux but that plan fell through due to monetary funds running low and no place to stay because of the Fete de Musique (another blog-worthy explanation I'm sure). And so we decided since we were running out of time, energy, money, and everything else, we're just going to hang around Vichy for our last weekend and head to Cleremont-Ferrand on Sunday for the Fete de Musique and to do some exploring. I'm actually really excited though. I was a little bummed at first since my goal was to go somewhere every weekend (which I guess technically we are) but now I'm excited to get to relax, do some shopping, maybe go lay by the pool, and then for Cleremont, because I have wanted to see it. So that's that. I'll keep you updated on how the weekend festivities pan out. Only 10 more days in France! I try not to think about it too much, just gets me sad, for as much as I miss home and friends and family and cats and car and movies and Oklahoma accents, France is great, and I am thoroughly enjoying my time here. But all good things must come to an end, just not quite yet. :-)

Until next time...

Peace, Love, and French Cuisine.

Sunburns and Delayed Trains

So for this past weekend a group of us decided to go to Nice, France on the Riveria. It was so much fun! We left Friday afternoon and arrived in Nice at around 9pm, thanks to our train deciding to stop for 30 minutes at each stop for smoke breaks and who knows what else. After checking into our hotel, we walked down to the beach and put our feet in the freezing cold Mediterranean. After walking around the city for quite some time, we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday we got up and went to this beautiful Russian cathedral, and I paid 3 euros to go inside. The entire alter was covered in gold and relics, it was beautiful. Then we headed down to the beach where we swam, despite the cold water, and laid out, all of us managing to get sunburned despite wearing sunscreen. Later that afternoon we left the beach and headed up this mountain to some waterfalls in this old chateau-type place. It was gorgeous up there and we had an amazing view of the city. I'm also pretty sure I saw at least 3 wedding parties that day. Nice is apparently a very popular place to get married. After going back to the hotel to shower and rest up, we headed out again to find some seafood and gelatos. I had my first full, completely filling and satisfying meal on the trip - grilled salmon!! It was delicious. Then we walked around some more, found some gelatos to enjoy, and sat in this plaza where a woman was doing some sort of poetry reading and there was some kind of book fair going on. We were all so tired by that point that we all just pretty much crashed in our hotel rooms.

Sunday was the long train ride back to Vichy. But first, Ashley and I got up earlier in the morning and walked around the city center where I bought my signature souveniers - a scarf, some postcards, a mosaic turtle, and a magnet which is a shopping cart with wine, cheese, and bread in it - pretty much the only groceries we ever buy! I thought it was cute. After about an hour we walked back to the hotel, met up with the others, and we headed toward the train station. I happened to find some playing cards in the souvenier shop that morning, so thankfully we at least had some cards to entertain us on the 4 1/2 hour train ride to Lyon. Lyon to Vichy, of course was delayed, and we didn't make it back until after 9 last night. Overall, though, it was a fantastic trip! I highly suggest Nice to anyone who is interested in traveling to France someday. Such a beautiful city! I wish we could have stayed longer.

Next weekend I'm thinking of heading to Bourdeaux. It'll be my last full weekend in France. That is so strange to think about. I've already past the half-way point and it's all almost over. I'm trying not to think about it too much. :-)

I know I haven't really updated that much. It's hard to find the time, and since my internet is so slow I haven't gotten to update with as many pictures as I would have liked. But I plan on going to an internet cafe sometime this week to upload pictures to the blog and to facebook, so just get ready. It'll happen. Hopefully!

Much love to you all. I miss everyone back home, and hope everyone is doing well. :-)

Peace, Love, and Nice beaches.

Why, Yes, I Have Been to Switzerland

Alright, a legitimate update on Geneva, Switzerland and all it's glory. Here is a basic synopsis of how the weekend went, and I promise to keep it as short and sweet as possible. :-)

Day 1, Friday: We left Vichy on the 12:45 train to Lyon, and the train was totally something out of Harry Potter. It was awesome! Then from Lyon we took another train to Geneva, arriving there at about 5. Here's where the excitement begins...somehow we either missed our stop in Geneva or we misunderstood and our train never went there to begin with, because we ended up on the outskirts of town and had to take another train from wherever we were into the city. But I would consider where we were more suburbs...clear on the other side of town from our hotel. Great. So we decided to first walk to the city center and find the main train station, because a local told us it would be about a 10 minute walk. 10 minutes in we realized that was going to be more like another half hour walk. So we find a map and decide to catch tram #6 because it looked like it was heading in the right direction for our hotel. Well, we're riding on it for a while, and we keep getting farther and farther out of Geneva. So one of us asks a woman sitting on the tram who seems to speak English pretty well where exactly our hotel was. She had no idea, but thought we were way off track. So we get off the tram and start walking. We find this random guy covered in tattoos working on what looks like a dishwasher? He gives us directions in French, and we start heading toward the airport. Yes, we were that far out. After walking another 20 minutes or so, we walk into this nice looking building and ask yet another person for directions, while also having a better map. He points us in the right direction, explaining it will be another half hour walk. Awesome. So finally, at 8pm, we arrive at our hotel...needless to say we were tired, hungry, hot, and only slightly irritated. Note to self: mapquest hotel in advance. So after we checked in we went back down to the city center (Taking a bus this time and knowing where to go thanks to the awesome concierge.) and had some too-expensive but equally delicious pizza at the first restaurant we saw. Thus concludes day 1.

Day 2, Saturday: We wake up early that morning, get around, and head back to the city center where we saw the Cathedral of Saint Pierre, Rousseau's house, the tallest fountain in the world, the flower clock, English gardens, and other random sitings. After stopping in a souvenier shop where I purchased a Swiss bell, coffee mug, and postcards, we headed to the train station to exchange some Euros for Swiss Francs, as well as grabbed some lunch. Then we made the extremely long treck to the United Nations headquarters. (It would be very interesting to know just how far we walked total that weekend...oh well). After taking some pictures and sitting on a bench in a daze, we took a bus back toward the city center. And as we were making our way back to the hotel, we stopped at this festival/fundraiser type place in a park. Random place with food, music, and lots of "junk" to buy. (most of it was quite frankly junk) However, I did find a Leonardo da Vinci drawing for 10 swiss francs. (Later realized his name is spelt "Lionardo da Vinci...." oh well, you win some, you lose some.) We then chilled out at the hotel and watched some MTV Movie Awards in French...interesting...and then headed out again to find food and a bar. We stopped in 2 different bars and just chilled out for a while, and finally made it back to the hotel around 11....11:30...and crashed. Good, fun-filled, adventurous day. It's amazing how you can cram one European city into a 48-hour visit. Trust me, it ain't easy.

Day 3, Sunday: Got up late, tried to go to the Art and History museum, realized we didn't have enough time to really enjoy it, and headed to the train station to catch the train back to Vichy. We spent the remainder of the day on a train...but the view was beautiful so it was all good. We made it back to Vichy at around 6:30, where we had time to find food, chill out, and finish our homework. Good day.

Overall it was an awesome trip, and I will definitely be going back to Geneva someday to see all the things I missed this last weekend.

As for Vichy - I'm getting moved up a class this week. I'm excited but also a little nervous. I don't like having to leave my comfort zone, but we'll see how this goes. Then today after class, we bought train tickets for Nice this weekend, and then Katie and I did some much needed French shopping. :-) I bought 2 shirts, a skirt, a scarf, a necklace, and some artwork from this cool little art store. Now I'm just chilling out before going to a movie later tonight. Good times in Vichy.

So yes, this weekend we are all headed to Nice to enjoy some much needed R&R on the beach. :-) The weather is supposed to be upper-70s and sunny all weekend, so it'll be nice to just relax. Gosh I love France.

Peace, Love, and Weekend Trips to Switzerland

PS - I know there aren't any pictures in this post either. My internet here is AWFUL and is being really slow in uploading pictures, so I'll do a separate post today or tomorrow that is strictly pictures. Promise. :-)

In Switzerland, Places Stay Open Past Seven

My post just messed up and deleted itself. BOOOOO.

Basically it said I've been adjusting to life in Vichy, and just spent an amazing weekend in Geneva, Switzerland. I have +200 pictures which I will upload to my computer soon at which point I will post highlights from the trip.

I am now going to finish homework and go to bed, and let go of the building frustrations at my beautiful blog post having been deleted. BAH.

Peace, Love, and the Geneva Convention.

Very Little in Life is Free

I am happy to report that I do now have Internet in my dorm room, and can now upload pictures onto my blog! I know you are all beyond thrilled! :-) The only problem? I realized it cost money...how lame is that? 14,90 euros for one month. Not bad considering an hour is 3...I'll take 14,90...People are saying we should have a username/password, but it's all hearsay...the French are not very good at communicating such logistics to us crazy Americains.

Today was our first day of classes. After taking a placement test and filling out some paperwork, I was moved into my class. Wasn't sure what level it was, no one from my group was in the class, I was somewhat apprehensive since a Japanese girl tried to talk to me but unfortunately I didn't know what she was saying. My teacher, looking over my paper, goes, "Emily...Debutante?!" "Oui..." I reply. "Oh non, non, non...you have had no French before?" I said, "well....some" "Oh non, non, non, we will fix this." Apparently this class was too advanced for moi, so I am now in the beginners class....that's cool. It's like a review session! Not bad. And now Ashley, a girl from my group, is in there with me so I'm not totally alone. :-)

And now...pictures!! :-) :-)

My dorm room...it's not exactly homey, but it works.

The view from my window in Vichy.

We went to the supermarche as soon as we got to Vichy, and I loved the fact that they had some American brands...like Honey Nut Cheerios (my favorite!!), Barilla pasta, and Fanta....my life is complete.

My first meal in Vichy...homemade pasta and some Chardonnay. :-) Cooked it myself on my hotplate!!

The rest are all pictures of Vichy. Enjoy!



Peace, Love, and Vichy.

Bonjour Vichy!!

I made it to Vichy! I got in yesterday evening-ish and met up with people from my program and we did some exploring. It was nice! I bought my first bottle of wine, a small one that I did finish in one night (I'm telling you, it was small.) Wine here is so cheap!! I can see this being a future problem in terms of my bank account...oh well...

I don't have internet yet in my dorm room, because apparently we need a special password which we don't get until tomorrow. Today we had the day off because it's some sort of French "Labor Day"-ish holiday, so we went exploring this morning, and now Katie and I found an outdoor cafe with wi-fi and are enjoying some nice lunch in the warm afternoon! Very nice, indeed.

I've taken pictures, and I PROMISE I will put them in my next blog as soon as I can get them on my computer and get Wi-Fi in the dorms.

The dorms are nice, by kitchenette they actually meant hotplate and sink on top of a mini-fridge, but I'm not complaining. Whatever works!

Just wanted to write a quick blog to let everyone out there know I made it safe and sound! I hope all is well back home! Happy Monday everyone!!

Peace, Love, and Making it to Vichy in one piece.