...

Of course by "here" the national anthem, I mean "hear"...and I forgot to mention that the bar sets up everything outside in a plaza area. Okay ciao ciao for reals!
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Quick update

Hey all! I had my placement test and an orientation at my french school today (its called france langue and its in nice...google it maybe?) and I landed myself in intermediate french with two girls from my group. After school, we went to out local english pub called Akathor to watch the euro cup for the third night in a row. Last night we watched germany beat poland, and tonight there were two games: france vs. romania and italy vs. holland. France and romania tied (so sad...we all bet a euro that france would win) but I don't know how italy and holland did. Its so fun watching soccer games here! The bar sets up plasma tvs and tons of seats so tons of people can come. I also got to here the french national anthem today before the game, what a lovely tune. I'm not sure who is playing tomorrow, but we are going to provence after school on the train and will be there for the rest of the night, so we will find a place to watch it there. My host family has been making great food, last night was mexican rice with chili and tonight was a quiche with mushrooms, ham, cheese, and eggs. Mom: they have the same steak knives we do...the ones with the bees! I've been pretty homesick but am still having a good time...12 more days seems like a long time but I know it will go by fast. Well I have to get to sleep so I'm not a late mess tomorrow--i woke up late for school today (typical) and nearly missed my placement test. Ciao ciao!


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Cannes/Antibes

Today we took the train to Cannes (about 30 min away) and Antibes (about 15 min away). They are both beach towns, and both super great! I definitely loved Cannes--we are thinking of going there for our long weekend next week instead of italy, since its cheaper and wonderful. There are restaurants everywhere, the beaches have sand instead of the rocks that the Nice beaches have, and the water is gorgeous. Its so good that I actually went in the water today (I have photo evidence if you don't believe me--i just have to find a computer in order to post it :)). The sand sparkles and the weather is fantastic. I came home for dinner with my host family (steak and french fries) and learned a lot of stuff about them, such as:

-the brazilian students are married and expecting their first baby in september, it will be a boy named antu. They wanted to study in a foreign country for fun.

-the little boys name is kevin, he likes david beckham, wwe, and hates apple ice cream (our dessert today).

-the baby's name is amelia and she likes a show called "la petit princess" on the tiji channel

-the brazilians speak spanish, portuguese, italian, and as much french as I do, and andrea (the wife) speaks english...thank god.

We talked about politics and sports and popular names and tv/movies today, all in french, for about an hour...I guess I'm learning?

Tomorrow our group is going on a hike but since I got blisters in between my big toe and the toe next to it today on both feet from my cheap flip flops, danielle and I are spending the day at the beach. We may also go to the mark chagall museum if we can find it.

Provence after school on tuesday, monaco the week after next. I have a placement test on monday morning to determine what french class I will be in, but real class starts at 9:30 on tuesday.

Ciao ciao (equivalent to bye bye around here)--b
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On the way to Nice!

Right now I'm on the train to Nice and we should be there in about two hours. We are right along the coast right now and we stopped in provence along the way. So pretty! The weather is beautiful, a few little clouds and about 85. We ate at a fabulous resto called pizza momo and I had 4 cheese linguini. Yesterday we went to the top of the eiffel tower (the elevator ride was scarier than than actually being up there) and I ate fabulous pistachio ice cream on a huge cone. We fit in the last few things to see on our list last night, which was basically the champs-elyssees, the louvre, and the bastille. Oh, and versailles. That was probably my favorite site of the whole trip so far besides sacre coeur. I tried to walk down to the bottom of thlake from the palace, but after about an hour of walking, I gave up and turned around since the lake is actually t-shaped (I had no clue). it sounds like we are headed for the beach tomorrow, then cannes on saturday. Ill be at my host family's house for the rest of the time we are here, so hopefully Ill be able to post a few pictures. Au revoir!
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More reasons you can all be jealous of my life right now (in case you needed some)

I have to write quickly since my phone has to be charged and the computer in the basement of our hotel is straight from 1998. Bullet points for everyone!

Today:

-had a chocolate croissant and a baguette for moi petit dejeuner (the french love their carbs)

-heard about 1,587,965 whining ambulance sirens

-went to the pantheon and saw victor hugo and louis brailles tombs

-went shopping at montprix and had a lunch on the seine that was too fabulous to describe...pictures forthcoming. My lunch included a chocolate beignet--yay carbs!

-saw my life flash before my eyes while crossing the street - a peugeot almost hit me. I hate crossing the street here even more than I do in the states.

-went to the museum of modern art--the top floor is one of the tallest viewpoints in paris.

-ate a chocolate banana crepe with whipped cream while watching the light show at the eiffel tower, followed by the worlds best french fries. Literally the WORLDS best.

-finally bought shampoo and other toiletries. Garnier ultra doux with henna and blackberry is my new favorite shampoo, along with the african brand of fig body wash that starts with a u. Ill bring home as many bottles of all as possible!

I have to go write in my journal now but I am having so much fun. Pictures probably won't come until I get to nice on friday. :( miss you all!

xoxoxo-b
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A little more about where I'm staying-

We are staying in the MIJE hostel on rue de falconnier in the 4th arrondissment (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). The 8 of us girls are sharing a cozy two story apartment on the second floor of the building where we have two private showers and sinks, and one private toilet. We also have plenty of closet space and a little desk area! There are 6 beds upstairs and two below and red velor carpeting! My bed is actually pretty comfortable--if it wasn't so humid here I probably wouldn't have woken up. Our hot water wasn't working yesterday, so I've been opting for cold showers while everyone else is using the showers of an unoccupied room that the hostel gave us a key to until our water gets fixed today. Today we are going to Franprix (a grocery store across the street from us) and Montprix (basically French Tarjay) to pick up basic toiletries and neat souvenirs. We are planning on picking up some crepes and a bottle of champagne (sorry Mom--when in Rome, right?) later tonight and camping out on the lawn by the Eiffel tower to see the lights sparkle since we weren't standing still long enough to see them much last night. They have some crazy cheap stuff here--the light up Eiffel tower statues for €1 have been my favorite street sale so far, with the bottles of wine and champagne being sold on the street (literally--the bottles are sitting on the ground under the Eiffel tower until they're sold) but lucky me has only spent €2,50 on a cold bottle of Evian from a vending machine on La Seine and €8,50 on a metro pass. I'm gonna go spend some more money now at Fran/Montprix (eat your heart out Eric)--au revoir!

xoxo- b
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Day 1

Hi everyone!! I'm currently sailing past the Louvre on a cruise tour down the Seine. My flight was great, barely slept but had good food. No jetlag so far! France is humid and warm. Oh, and its almost 10pm here and the sun is just starting to set. We ate at our hostel for dinner and I think I ate coleslaw? I also ate chicken cordon bleu that was super yummy. We saw the Eiffel tower before our cruise and we are going to Notre Dame tomorrow. I think Versailles is Thursday. I've been having a few small problems with my phone--my emails and texts come in hours after they are sent. No big deal though, they come through eventually! Internet on my phone has been working fine--I saw pics on cnn.com of the fire at Universal Studios. The sun is setting and I want to get some pics so au revoir!

xoxo-b
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