Done with Europe pics, Moving On to Life in the US Now.

Sarah defying gravity




What country are we in?











Local Austin artist I have befriended. He is from Trinidad and invented those people in the painting he calls "Bydee people." "Bydee" stands for "BYDEE- Bringing You Delightful Entertaining Experiences" and "their philosophy transcends all races, cultures and political beliefs because they involve the relationship of man to man, woman to woman, man to woman, parent to child, children to children, human beings to nature and one to self. Their philosophy involves family, friendship, diversity, love and happiness." source: http://bydee.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=65





The artist with his art. Lovely window lighting.





In local art book store called Domy for a story.




So I really should be keeping up with this even though I am not longer thousands of miles away because I'm still shooting all the time, mainly for the Daily Texan newspaper. So here are some recent favorites.

more praha

looking for the royal gardens


jumping in a tunnel inside prasky hrad


hazy day


perfect day on charles bridge


loved this day

praha

main square


great architecture everywhere


hymn books in prasky hrad


prasky hrad (prague castle)


cathedral inside prasky hrad

back in america...

Ya ya ya you can hate me all you want for being disappointed for being back, but it's just how I feel---la france me manque beaucoup! Basically I've been back for about a month and a half now and the culture shock is wearing off, but I still miss it terribly...I'm just no longer complete. I no longer say "pardon" or "excusez-moi" in public places and have stopped staring at everyone in awe of how they're AMERICANS (oh my!) and speaking my language, but I miss my friends, my cheese, my wine, my trips and my family to bits. Speaking French is already harder again for me, which is a really depressing and hard fact to accept. I plan on going back in a year, but will I ever be able to spend that much time in a French speaking country again? We'll see. For now though I'll be posting my favorite pictures (starting with the ones that I haven't posted from the end of my trip) again as well as places I'd like to go in the world. So here's the first, and guess where it is?: http://voyazine.voyages-sncf.com/destinations/france/limousin/brive_la_gaillarde/idees_vacances/la_correze_mille_delicieux_paysages/?prex=T_D1P1_0807_37973

My Journey

So, I got back into Lyon last night after my 2.5 week long journey around Europe. I made a little map complete with short explanations with google maps so that you can better see where I was:
<http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113355030386816916635.00044bddb8493e76c68d8&ll=45.282617,6.075439&spn=3.455127,7.426758&z=7>

I'm hoping that works. That should satisfy you until I've gotten the chance to go through my 600 photos I took...YIKES! But yes, although there was some doubt in your minds whether I was alive or not somewhere between Budapest and Milan, I am in fact quite happy, healthy, and tan after this amazing, amazing trip. I will be posting basic summaries as often as I can in the coming days. Post soon!

Les Francais

See the red flag? That's the protest leaving the Place de Terreaux.

Dim and Cristina studying some French

Tables Cafe Leffe. You can also see the pretty fountain in the middle of the Place.

Enjoying a pastry from the boulangerie next to my house.

Janine with her shadown and mine...saturday afternoon photo session taking advantage of some good light!

colocs.

So, it was absolutely beautiful here yesterday. I got out of the house and headed to Place de Terreaux to meet my friend Cristina and her French bf to study some French grammar...woohooo! We have a final exam tomorrow, so we found a nice cafe with tables out in the plaza and looked over our work, with the help of Dim, the French guy. However, I had my camera and did more picture-taking and people watching than studying. The sun was so warm and everyone was out walking around---I just loved it! It was one of those "wow, we are in France" afternoons because we were sitting in the place at a cafe surrounded by people speaking French and witnessed a "manifestation" or protest, which are VERY popular here in France. Also witnessed a parade of different kinds of bicycles persuading people to take bikes more. Also a parade of unicycles. Can you see why I was a bit distracted?

The other night my school organized a pub night for all the study abroaders here with all the French people that will be studying at their schools next year, and I met two girls, Elodia et Charlotte, that will be studying in Austin. They're both so sweet, and I'm looking for to hanging out with them and hopefully speaking French as much as possible :) I also really enjoyed bragging about Austin and UT for a night :)

Really though, as my "sejour" (stay) here is coming to an end, I've been thinking my general opinion of it, and I've decided that I love France. At the beginning of my stay here I had a lot of issues getting used to the culture, especially the people and their ideas of doing things here. In fact, I pretty much went through a "I hate France" stage. But now, I know I want to live here again. I just love the people--the things that originally annoyed me (like their strong opinions on EVERYTHING) now amuse me greatly. Of course I've always loved the food, and the country itself is just amazing. So much history and beauty and things just so unique to such a small place. It's coming to the point of "now or never" since I'm really only going to be here for 1 more month (in France specifically) since I'll be traveling so much. It's almost painful to think about leaving, and I apologize in advance for any pouting or grieving I might do for the months following my retour...Just know that if you ever want someone to go to France with, or even just a French film, you know who to call. Tear. Gros bisous de la France!

BARCELONA

Tiles at Park Guell

Place Espana from the top...this was definitely zoomed in!

Enjoying my paella in Barceloneta

Izzy, Josh, and I...Longhorns in Spain!

On a balcony of one of the towers at La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia...just one side...when it's finished it's going to be absolutely surreal!

Lookin out on BCN

amazing view!

Xus (Jesus), me and Izzy

Park Guell


Xus and I at Mojito, the salsa bar.

So, it's actually been nearly a week since I've gotten back from Barc, and I have failed to write this probably because I've been too exhausted from the trip...it was a great time---people don't lie when they say the party starts at 2am there!

Anyways, I stayed with Jesus, my Spanish friend who studied at UT last semester, for the whole weekend. He came picked me up at the airport and we met up with my friends Izzy and Josh a little later...I'm amazed that by taking an airplane for an hour will get you from still winter "foliage" to palm trees! Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great most of the weekend--cloudy and a bit chilly. Luckily though the last full day I was there it was a lot warmer and sunny--evidently the real Barcelona.

While I was there, though, we walked along Ramblas--this long, wide street with lots of shops/restaurants and street performers---tourist central. Also did some beach action but didn't get in of course because it was too cold--what a shame, too. I'd love to go back in the summertime. Barcelona seems to be a very nice, clean city...at least the parts I went to. Other "guiri" things (spanish word for tourist) that we did were go La Sagrada Familia--a church partly designed by the famous architect, Gaudi, that has been under construction for over a 100 years now...it's the COMPLETE opposite from any traditional cathedrale...honestly, quite weird, but amazing at the same time. Also went to the Museu Picasso, Place Espana--it's at the top of this hill called Montjuic and we watched this huge fountain show with lights and music, Park Guell--yet another crazy creation of Gaudi. It's this crazy looking park that overlooks Barcelona, and you can see the whole city nearly and the coastline from certain scenic outlooks.

Really though, a lot of my time spent there was spent eating...haha, perfect for me! I had the best tapas--potatoes bravadas were my favorite, but we also had octopus, squid, fried mussels, tortilla, and many, many more. We also had the most delicious paella in Barceloneta by the marina. Even tried arroz negre, which is black because of squid ink! Another very Spanish drink which I learned to like immediately was called clara--half limonade (carbonated lemon drink) half beer. It's a good thing I'm not living there---otherwise none of my clothes would fit me anymore!

One of the best parts of the weekend though was meeting lots of cool people---we hung out with Josh's exchange friends and his Spanish roommates a couple nights, and they were all really fun, nice people. There were actually lots of French people there, and it's possible that I spoke more French in the first couple of days there than I do on a daily basis here in Lyon---and what I mean by that is long conversations...The last night Jesus and I made it to a salsa club, too, and went dancing like we did back in Austin. Made friends with a nice girl from California and also saw some GREAT dancing! Anyways, I also really enjoyed being reunited with my friends from home, including Jesus. Just a good weekend. Even learned some Catalan! Even though everyone says I should be able to understand it pretty well since it's a mix of French and Spanish, that language is a bit too crazy-sounding to follow. I understood a lot of Spanish though, which was surprising.

Anyways, what's on the plate for the next few weeks? I'm heading out this Wednesday for our 2 week April break, and I'm going to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, Italy, and hopefully Nice! Sounds like a crazy amount, and I'm sure it will be. I'll have to really make an effort to take care of myself so I don't bottom out like last trip...Anyways, must go and study for a final exam I have on Monday. Ciao!

Daytrip to Beaune, France

Cool jars in the pharmacie at Les Hospices de l'Hotel Dieu

The usual jumping picture

Cristina in a little patisserie that we went to to get warm

Beds in l'Hotel Dieu. Very typical Medieval architecture, evidently.

An arche in the middle of the city

Colors=very Anthropologie...

A Rose. On a wall.

Hotel Dieu. These tiles are typical of Beaune and are seen on random buildings around the town.

Well, yes, I did go on a daytrip to Beaune, but first I will tell you about Le Mont d'Or, which means Golden mountain basically...On Sunday afternoon I went to these hills right outside of Tassin, where I live, with my French friend, Ludo who showed me around a bit since he is Lyonnais. The hills are named Mont d'Or for the stones that were used to build walls and buildings that turned a golden color from the sun. It was freeeezingggg though---All day it had been raining and then snowing but it cleared up into a beautiful day in the afternoon and we trudged through the snow and mud along these paths with trees covered in snow--it was beautiful, and you could see all of Lyon from the top. The funniest thing though was that some people had lost their little dog named "Jackie," so about 10 people were wondering around calling its name and asking us if we had seen it...we just laughed and Ludo kept telling me "vas y, vas y!"--basically go ahead, they're calling you...I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but a "jackie" in spoken French is basically a guy who plays techno music really loud in his car, which is usually fixed up really nice, and they also dress kind of euro trash--not a nice connotation to my name, eh? This is why I also introduce myself as Jacqueline to French people. I also found out my name is a bit old-fashioned...basically the equivalent to Betty or Shirley or something, but hey, I don't mind! At least with a name like Jacqueline DeMaret Gilles no one could guess that I'm not French...

Anyways, the daytrip to Beaune. My friend Cristina and I were debating where to go for the past week for a little daytrip and finally decided the night before that we'd go to this little town called Beaune, that her French host father suggested, the next morning. It's the capital of Burgundy country and it's about 2 hours by train from Lyon. When I woke up at 6h30 to get ready to go, I looked outside my window and everything was covered in snow, and it was actually still snowing. I was thinking it would be a pretty miserably cold and wet day, but it actually was sunny on and off and the snow made the scenery quite charming :) We got there and just wandered around the streets with no real plan, and so it was really relaxing. We went to the antique market where I bought like 100 yr old postcards from Lyon for 50 cents, went to a wine museum, a basilica, les Hospices de l'Hotel Dieu, which was an old hospital of sorts from the middle ages, and at the end of the night we went to a restaurant where I tried my first escargots! They were in the shell and everything, and quite delicious. We of course had to have some good wine, too, from the Burgundy region--try a Cote de Beaune--and then headed back in the snow to catch our train. It was a great day--just really relaxing not having any set plans and just letting ourselves get lost in a town...today I am just chillin chez moi and getting random errands done. In two days I leave for Barcelone and am getting more and more excited! Mais c'est tout pour maintenant. Bisous!

It's great being an exchange student.

St. Patty's day at Johnny Walsh's

Me and my Kiwi friends. AKA New Zealanders.

At Rachel's 22nd birthday at a Piano Bar. (me, rachel, carol)

photo credit: rachel

Me and Sergio at Rachel's partay
photo credit: rachel

So besides this week being more work-filled than usual, meaning I actually had work to do, it's been pretty great. Been hanging out with some cool people and exploring Lyon a bit more. Last weekend went to a cool Moroccan tea house/hookah bar called "Orienthe" which reminded me of good ol' Kasbah back in Austin, which is the same thing, but the tea here was a million times better (didn't think that was possible!). I was informed by my friend Karen that I was with that went to Morocco last month that it was authentic Moroccan whisky---no alcohol involved since it's a Muslim country, but it was just tea, mint, and sugar--yum! Also went to Parc de la Tete d'Or again and checked out the elephants and bears this time! It happened to be the prettiest day I've experienced here in Lyon thus far, so it was a perfect day to be there. Saturday was nice, too, and I went to a salon du the (tea room) in Hotel de Ville (cool little neighborhood) that literally had a 20 page menu....there were specialty teas, juices, ice cream, coffees...but I so overwhelmed that I just ordered a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) that I didn't even want. hahaha, oh well. Next time I go there I know I'm getting the vanilla ice cream+fresh orange juice combo...yum!

This week was mainly spent working on a project for my geographie regionale class on the EU--really great class. Me and a German girl, Alice, that I met through my old coloc (roomie) Sarah did our project together. We had to research the relations between Maghreb, basically some countries in Northern Africa (la Tunisie, le Maroc, l'Algerie et plus) and their economic relations with Europe. It was funny to research because Sarkozy, the French president, is proposing this new accord with Maghreb for better trade and relations, etc., but it becomes more and more apparent as you read on that no one, not even Maghreb and definitely not Europe is latching on to the idea...great to do a project on a soon-to-be non-existent idea, eh? It was great though because Alice and I spoke mostly French when we were together (because she speaks English as well---like nearly everyone in europe) and it was amazing the improvement in my French that I felt throughout the week and just the ease of speech that started. Also saw a French movie called "Les Femmes de l'Ombre" about women of the French Resistance during WWII, and it was awesome cause I felt like I understood nearly everything!

On Thursday though we had to present our project in front of our discussion class of about 40 people, which had to have been one of the most intimidating things EVER....presenting in front of all French students in a language that is not my own...I just prepared myself mentally for the possibility of laughing and talking--I mean I'll admit it's funny/ cute when foreigners speak your language...luckily no laughing occured though--Alice said she saw them flinch ever so often at our perhaps atrocious grammar though...There was this one row of guys that I noticed were quite attentive at the beginning, but by the end their faces were turned every which-way staring off in to space...I'll admit it was very boring since we were just reading out of this 10 page document that we had to write for it...I'm so happy it's done with now though!

I suppose my reward for that hard week of work (hours upon hours in the library researching a non-existent topic) and the main reason for the title of my blog is that I realized on Wednesday that I will not have school until the 1st of April...muahahahaha! We have Monday off for Easter, and my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday were all coincidentally cancelled and THEN I'm headed to Barcelona from Thursday morning to Monday morning, so I'm definitely PUMPED about that! Josh, (friend from Texas) and Jesus (Spanish guy who was studying at Texas last semester) are going to show me around the whole time, and Jesus is going to take me salsa dancing! (we went a lot back in Austin)...my friend Izzy will also be there. So it will be a super weekend I'm assuming.

As for other travel plans, I'm looking into going to Prague, Budapest, Italy, and Nice for my 2 week April break....trip of my dreams! Orginally wanted to go to Greece but it was trop cher...oh well, as long as I end up at a beach SOMEWHERE I will be happy...no more of this cold, cloudy business! Although the longer I'm here in Lyon the more I love it---I'm just sad that it doesn't look like anyone is going to make it here to visit me :( Now that it is spring all these beautiful flowered trees are blooming, more people are out shedding their coats for spring jackets, and cafes put out tables and umbrellas in the Place de Terreaux--feels more "European" and it just creates a general atmosphere of "le bonheur" or just having a good time. I will surely miss France and am starting to get somewhat upset whenver I think about leaving. If only I didn't have obligations back home this summer (and the complete lack of money to stay!!!!) I would search for an English assistant job. Ugh, I don't want to leave! I just love Europe! Travel is so addicting--sometimes when I'm here at home in Lyon I start missing the sound and feeling of being on a train or the ridiculous uncomfortableness of sleeping on an airport floor or the ability that one develops while traveling to fall asleep anywhere in any position...good skills to learn. Now my main goal in life is to make/save enough money to travel where I want-next on my list in Australia and India [Aunt Susie...should we talk? :) ]. I feel like it's an attainable thing if one saves enough. Perhaps not as many late-night ice cream/Kerbey Lane runs when I get back home? We'll see. As for now I need to go to sleep because I'm getting up way early to meet a couple friends at the markets on the Saone for Easter. It's suppose to snow, but let's hope la meteo is wrong! A bientot et je vous souhaite de joyeuses fetes de Paques!! (Happy Easter) Bisous a tous!

Days 7-9

Amazing detail work in Sainte-Chappelle

Mmmm ya my jaw dropped when I walked into this room.

Josh et moi a Sacre Coeur in Montmartre!

Perfect Parisian photo? I think so.

Josh and me at the Tuileries right outside the Louvre

Josh, Cristina and me at the Tuileries. It was a perfect afternoon!

Ciao perfect apartment with beautiful, huge, mirrored doors!

Man, I apologize for how this entry has taken me. I've been SO busy with school...but more about that later. For the last weekend of my trip I will just give a brief overview:

So I finally got my flight out with about 4 hours of half-awake sleep in me by the time I got to Paris. It was a bit difficult transition back to the French, but I realized I had really missed it while I was gone. Anyways I made my way from one terminal to another one in search of my friend Cristina to meet her up at her gate since she was getting in from Dublin, but instead a really really rude lady stopped me from going to the next terminal, talking bad about me in French to her friend probably not knowing I understood her...me, with not much sleep or patience was not to friendly to her in French back. But because I couldn't meet up with Cristina I made my way into Paris by train/metro to meet Josh, who was flying in from Barcelona, at the metro stop near the apartment we were staying at. Miraculously we found each other, because I was an hour later than I said I'd be. That mission accomplished, we then had to figure out how to meet up with Cristina whose phone had died and whose minutes had run out. So we found a cafe in our neighborhood and ate lunch, and lemme tell you, this neighborhood was great! Not very touristy, even though it was RIGHT next to the Seine (2 minute walk), and they had all these really nice, really French little cafes and patisseries and shops, and it was just perfect. Miriculously enough again, as soon as we walked up to find the apartment, Cristina walked up with her brother and all was well until they left to get a sandwich while we waited for the caretaker to come and let us in. Bad news. She was this older Portuguese women named Lidia, and she came in and I had to have a 15 minutes long explanation/argument-discussion in French with her about me and Josh being there--evidently she had misunderstood that there would be 4 people and not 2, and she pointed to me and Josh and said in French "YOU staying in hotel. NOT HERE!" Perhaps it was the look of utter shock/disbelief on my face of how much we would've had to pay to find a hotel that day for a weekend in Paris, or perhaps it was that tiny, tiny bit of kindness that existed inside Lidia's heart, but whatever it was she left and came back with a key to the apartment saying "ok, you can stay here, because I'm NICE..." After complementing my French and telling Josh that he spoke bad Spanish (which isn't true---she just would mix her Portuguese and Spanish together!) she insisted that the garcons (boys) sleep on the couches and the two girls in the bed together and NOTHING ELSE...I half expected her to come in and check on us while we were sleeping....

Anyways, we showered up and rested for a couple hours as Josh and I had both sleep at airports the night before, Cristina had flown in with 3 hours of sleep from having to get up so early for her flight, and Jamie her brother had just flown in from Georgia. We walked to the Eiffel Tower and then went to the supermarche to but groceries for the weekend, strolled home along the Seine, and made some delicious, delicious pasta with great wine, cheese and bread. Cristina and I wanted to make it as French as possible (besides the pasta part!).

Anyways, to summarize, we saw A LOT that weekend, but it was one of the best/ relaxing weekends I've ever had at the same time because we just took our time and tried to really enjoy and experience Paris without exhausting ourselves. Finally went to the Louvre for the first time in my life, saw Sainte-Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries, and I'm sure there's more, but I just can't remember. I felt a lot better by the end of the weekend because I rehydrated myself and slept a lot more. All-in-all it was an incredible trip, and now all I have to do is start planning my 2 week long April trip! woohoo! Enjoy the pics and I'll attempt to keep this more updated...Bisous!