One more day until I go back to school! (And start using more French)So that gives me some time to reflect on what I've been doing this vacation :) Here's an excerpt from my mass email, because honestly I don't know how to encapsulate five days in the Loire Valley:
As for my vacation, I just got back from five fabulous days of wine-tasting and castle-touring in the Loire Valley, in the city of Tours. The weather was very cold and chilly, but it's a nice break from the sun-drenched weeks we've been having here on the Riviera! I was finally able to use my large coat and scarves. But once I returned back to Antibes, I sadly put them back in my closet where they've been hiding since I unpacked a little over a month ago. And the castles themselves were all so amazingly intricate, large and beautiful.
The first day I visited Chenonceau, the Clos de Lucé (where Leonardo da Vinci lived out the final days of his life after an invitation from King François... which I think is what the movie "Ever After" is all about) and the château at Amboise, where we tasted very delicious regional Chinon wines. For the second day of castle-visiting we saw Chambord and Cheverny -- which inspired the castle in the Belgium Tin-Tin comics! I guess I could blab all I want about these places, but you really need to see them for yourselves. I did get a little camera-happy and took over 400 pictures.... but just in case, here's the site I'm keeping all of my pictures from France/European travels:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mmoyal85
The first two albums are from this weekend. On the train back, we had a two-hour stop in Paris, so I was able to get a few shots in of the Gare de Lyon (train station), the river Seine, and of course the most famous church on that river -- the Nôtre Dame. We didn't have enough time to get super close or go inside, so most of my pictures are of some neat little park and the long-distance view of Nôtre Dame.
It was all very breath-taking and beautiful. Look at the pictures, I just finished putting up captions under most of them.
But now that I'm back, I'm here afraid of my roommate again. I don't think I've written much about her, but she's super intense and psycho. So after letting me drive her to the train station last week, she's now accusing me of having broken her car. Luckily, she's not saying I need to pay or anything, but I have this disgusting feeling that she's going to give me the bill once her car comes back, functional. Pray for me that DOESN'T happen. But yeah, that's the story of my life here. I use something (old and already broken before) and it works fine, but once Karina uses it, it's suddenly broken beyond function. And she conveniently doesn't remember that she took her car to the shop two weeks ago anyways. So now I'm spending more of my time away from the apartment or locked up in the privacy of my own room. It's a weird, hostile feeling, but hopefully it'll die down very soon.
And finally, my dad has an interview today with a company based in Geneva! I really hope he gets the job, because he'd be over here beginning next week until May. That means my mom would come visit more, and I could have something to do on the weekends! I think his company would pay for travel so that would be AMAZING. Plus I'm beginning to get a little bit homesick now that I've been here for my longest stay ever.
Although this weekend our family friend invited me over to a large luncheon at his house. So on Sunday I'm leaving first thing in the morning to catch a train to Toulon so that I may go visit Jean-Claude, Patrick and Yvonne -- my 98 year old great-aunt! I can't wait for that :)
Weight/exercise tracker, 06/11/07:
Weighing in at 60 kilos today :(, hiked 2.8 miles and did 75 sit-ups.
But now that I'm back, I'm here afraid of my roommate again. I don't think I've written much about her, but she's super intense and psycho. So after letting me drive her to the train station last week, she's now accusing me of having broken her car. Luckily, she's not saying I need to pay or anything, but I have this disgusting feeling that she's going to give me the bill once her car comes back, functional. Pray for me that DOESN'T happen. But yeah, that's the story of my life here. I use something (old and already broken before) and it works fine, but once Karina uses it, it's suddenly broken beyond function. And she conveniently doesn't remember that she took her car to the shop two weeks ago anyways. So now I'm spending more of my time away from the apartment or locked up in the privacy of my own room. It's a weird, hostile feeling, but hopefully it'll die down very soon.
And finally, my dad has an interview today with a company based in Geneva! I really hope he gets the job, because he'd be over here beginning next week until May. That means my mom would come visit more, and I could have something to do on the weekends! I think his company would pay for travel so that would be AMAZING. Plus I'm beginning to get a little bit homesick now that I've been here for my longest stay ever.
Although this weekend our family friend invited me over to a large luncheon at his house. So on Sunday I'm leaving first thing in the morning to catch a train to Toulon so that I may go visit Jean-Claude, Patrick and Yvonne -- my 98 year old great-aunt! I can't wait for that :)
Weight/exercise tracker, 06/11/07:
Weighing in at 60 kilos today :(, hiked 2.8 miles and did 75 sit-ups.
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