Loire Valley Trip part deux

So at the end of the first day we stayed at this 11th century abbey. Still a little confused about what it was now, but something about how a rich American bought it recently and is trying to get some kind of program for American students going there. It was really nice, kind of like a dorm, probably nicer than GT dorms. Oh, and it was pretty.

church at the abbey, and that tree on the left was planted in 1776. same age as the USA! cool.

The next day we headed to the Chateau Chambord. AMAZING.

Front...? maybe the back.

Back.. maybe front.

This was Francois I's Hunting Lodge. sweet life right? He only spent 72 days there and he died before it was even finished. It has 77 sets of stairs and over 400 rooms. The roof is so crazy.. we got to go up...

check that out.

cliche christy-and-alyssa picture! loves it.

detail of one of the 400 something rooms. woo

Next we went to the Chatres Cathedral. It. was. awesome. The front was being working on though.. so not very good pictures of the whole thing...

rude.

We got to climb allll the way up to one of the towers though. the one on the left. SO INTENSE. so high. it was so scary, because we had to climb up and down this tiny little spiral staircase... but awesome!!

so. high. up. ahhhh!

simply stunning.

The interior was pretty fantastic too. This cathedral still has the original stained glass because during the World Wars, they were taken down and hidden in various churches and abbeys around France, so that they were never all in the same place... check it out...

so pretty... Since the front was being worked on it was hard to get enough light in the space for pictures without a tripod... sad :(

loved the candles!!

one more exterior shot.. boo that construction/restoration!!

Jack and I!

We got back around 730ish Sunday night. Exhausted!! But we went out to eat at a restaraunt on our street.. SO GOOD. We had the fixed 3 course meal, pick an app, an entree, and a dessert! yum. Apparently thats the thing to do in Paris!! Christy got the creme brulee.. probably the best I've ever had! Fave part of the meal for sure!! :)

YUM.

Monday was our first day of real classes, studio included. It went pretty well.. pretty excited for the semester! Today we have a walking tour with the studio teacher at 8 p.m. Should be fun!! Oh and I got a French phone today!!! exciting stuff!!

xoxo,

-A

Loire Valley Trip.. Part 1

Wow. So much to catch up on!! This weekend has gone by so fast!! Friday night we went over to the Cite Universite (where a few of GT kids live) and had some wine/partying over there.. pretty fun and we wanted to take it easy because we had to be at the train station (luckily right near our apartment) at 9 a.m. for our trip to the Loire Valley! It was amazing.. we got to see 3 different chateaus, stayed in an 11th century Abbey and also got to see the Chatres Cathedral.. we got to go all the way up into one of the towers...!!  Seriously so scary though.. not a fan. But it was awesome.

I took about 500 pictures you guys. No joke. This is starting to get out of hand. Might need to invest in an external hard drive in case my computer freaks out one day... just saying, Nance.

The first one we went to was Chateau de Chenonceau, or The Ladies' Chateau. It was given to Diane de Portiers, who was King Henry II's favorite lady, by the King. When he died in a simple jousting tournament, his wife, Catherine de' Medici, took it over.

Chateau de Chenonceau.. pretty!

This chateau was also pretty cool because it served as a hospital during both World Wars and also during WWII it was on the border of German occupied France and neutral France, so people were shuttled through it.  Little history lesson for everyone!

The Five Queens Bedroom

The interior was stunning.. but probably the best part was the exterior and the gardens.. soo pretty

love this shot!!

A bunch of us, being adorable.

Next we went to Villandry, and we didn't go into the actual castle, just got to see the gardens. All 7 of them. They were HUGE and soo pretty.

Chateau!

The Ornamental Garden: Each one of the squares represents a different "stage" of love! cute.

wine grapes growing on the paths.. YUM.

So that was day one of our trip. I have WAY more pictures on facebook too.. so check those out!! I love reading everyones comments too :) but I'll have to do day 2 tomorrow since its 1 a.m. here and we have French class at 10! 

Tonight we went over to the other apartment and had tacos (yum) and also walked to the Sacre Coure? (Spelling has never been my strong point. Especially not in French.) Church on the highest point of Paris. It was an amazing view! I tried to take some pictures, not sure how they turned out. Will update tomorrow! So tired!

Miss and love all of you back home! Atlanta and VA :)

xoxo,

-A

SHOPPING!

went SHOPPING in the so-called art district today! Not sure its actually called that .. a girl in our group told us that! But we had school off because of the supposed metro/rer/train strike. We took the metro, granted only 2 stops and at non-rush hour times.. but seemed to be pretty normal to us!

No pictures.. but these stores were AMAZING. Cute little boutiques, some more expensive than others, all adorable. You all would DIE. I made my first purchase: a dark grey sweater dress with tan leather covers over the elbows. Kind of like an old fashioned mens suit? LOVE. Can't wait to wear it.

Also.. another thing. Everyone says the weather here is supposed to be dreadful.. its been absolutely gorgeous every single day so far. Its raining now.. but its also almost 2 a.m. (What can I say, I've always been a night owl!)

Tomorrow we have class at 9.. earliest yet! and then hopefully doing something super fun tomorrow night..

This weekend we have a field trip to the Loire Valley! Pretty excited about that :)

Just some random thoughts I thought I'd share!

xoxo,
-A

second week!

Sorry I haven't updated in a few days! The past few days have been pretty uneventful. I've had a bit of a cough/sore throat so I'm trying to take it easy! Monday, Tuesday we had French class in the morning at 10 am. Tuesday the metro train we usually take was down! so Christy and I were about 30 minutes late to class! yikes! We had 3 hours of French, then were off for the afternoons. We pretty much did some shopping but I still havent bought anything!!! I'm seriously debating getting a Louis Vuitton bag though because they are about 200 dollars cheaper.. and then when I go back to the States I think i get a tax refund! Not sure how that works but it would be about another 100 dollars I think..!! Might wait for Nance to come because she'll probably want one too! Love you, Mom!

At nights we've been taking it easy, the boys came over one night and we had some wine.. but again trying to not go too hard because of my throat!

studs.

We also came across this wall that says "love" in every language... neat.

Today we had French again, 10-1 and then History of Paris Urban Form class at 2. We learned about the growth of Paris via the walls of the city, and then went to go see some of the remains that are still evident! Kind of boring to just look at walls.. but also kind of cool to learn about something and then go see it!

Philippe Auguste wall from the 12th century!

another part of the wall in a different location.. also a part of a tower!

Anyways. Kind of boring but we got to see some cool spots in the city! Tomorrow the Metro workings are on strike? So that means basically the whole city shuts down. No metro, busses or trains. So.. we don't have class!! Christy and I are going to walk to some boutique type stores in the "art district".. pretty excited!! heres some random shots from our walk...

pretty city :)

I have a thing for the iron balconies w/ flowers.. love.

xoxo,

-A

la première semaine :)

That means "the first week" for those of you who don't speak French! (haha joking..) But this weekend has been great. We finally got some time to just relax. Friday night we did the Eiffel Tower, Saturday we got to sleep in! Christy and I tried to get lunch at the boulongerie? (spelling, but it means bakery) but they were closed! the only thing on our block open was SUBWAY!! but we got that and it was super cheap, 4 euros for a demi sandwich et un boisson (half sandwich and a drink!). Like Christy said, "Even Subway is better in Paris!"

Then we went SHOPPING!! BUT... I didn't buy anything! huge surprise right?! Well we had a slight delay, our friend got lost on the metro on the way to our apartment, and we didn't even leave here till 4:30. We just went to the big department store block, which was probably a mistake because it was PACKED and everything was so expensive! I'm talking 1 floor of just shoes, one of just make up, one of just accessories, and about 6 floors of just clothes... ALL designer. (this was just the women's building, there was a whole other building for men and home!)

The stores close mostly at 7, so we didn't get to stay very long. There were some affordable stores on the street too, like Zara and H&M but it was SO crowded we didn't even try anything on, much less buy anything.

Also on the street was....

my first Guerlain Store!!!!

As most of you are well aware of my make-up obsession, Guerlain is my latest find. Its my Holy Grail of make up at the moment and I was so excited! there are 5 of them in Paris :)

Today, Sunday, was a really fun day. We woke up at like, noon (had to catch up on our sleep still!), and then Christy and I went to the franprix? supermarket. We got some stuff, made lunch and then met everyone over at the Opera House. 

pretty!!

We were supposed to be there at 3 but we were late! of course. we got there at like, 3:30... so everyone went in without us, and they closed at 4! We just sat on the steps...

cuties!

We then just walked around towards the Louvre, passed the Palasis Royal? Cant spell. But they had the Buren's column instalation...

And also some pretty gardens...

flowers!

fountain!

Then we walked over to the Louvre, but didn't go in. It was soo nice to just walk around!!

jack, me, christy and zane

woohoo :)

Anyways, that was our weekend! We think we have class tomorrow at 10? but were not really sure. Guess we'll find out soon! Miss you all!

xoxo,

-A

Eiffel Tower and Wine!

Last night we went to the Eiffel Tower to drink some wine and hang out.

soooo pretty!

Christy and I met Paul, Zane, Jack, Crimson and Alex there around 10:30ish... Theres a light show every hour on the hour.. which was so cool! I took a few videos.. but I cant find my little camera's cord and the big camera doesnt read them.. hopefully soon though!

yayyyy

obviously so excited to be there!

Jack, Zane and I.. and lots of wine...

Paul and Crimson!

It was really cool to be out that late.. we haven't really yet.. but there were way more people our age out and about and they were for the most part excited to speak English, and something about the wine made us better at French :) We met some crazy Polish people who came over and had a few drinks.. Overall, it was a good night! We're thinking about making this a weekly tradition (maybe not on Fridays though.. we werent confident enough in our French to go to bars/clubs yet!)

ahhhh :)

xoxo,

-A

Fridayyy!!

I officially have a French bank account! With HSBC (hint hint nance and bruce!! kidding. kinda. love you!) We all met up with Anja, (she's also our French teacher, and also kind of like our little mom here.. not sure if I've mentioned her before. Her husband, Damien, is going to be our Visual Arts teacher. Side Note: at Libero's the other night we met her daughter and they are just the cutest little French family!)

After the bank, we walked around the block a bit....

pretty sunflowers at a little flower shop on the way!

..... and ran into an old castle. Pretty standard stuff.

castle and keep

It was in this complex..

We all just grabbed some baguettes and such from the market and ate lunch on the streets. Then we met Xavier, who is going to be my Studio teacher, at Le Cite d'Architecture...

supposed to be a really cool place..

we also go a look at this little beauty...

panorama of the building complex!

Unfortunately, we waited in line for an hour and a half, something about them not wanting to give out 13 student passes, and Xavier only had until 4 p.m. (he's kind of a big deal architect kinda guy) and a bunch of us were tired! We did get yearly passes to it though, so we will definitely be back. Christy and I came back to the apartment, and now were just hanging out.  Just got to skype with my WONDERFUL dad and boyfriend! (not at the same time.. we'll see if Jay even reads this.. haha kidding.. kind of.) Miss you both!

Tonight I think were going to try to go to the Eiffel Tower again to see the light show... since we got bomb-threated out of it last time! We'll see how that goes!

xoxo,

-A

Notre Dame, that's whats up!

Sorry I havn't updated in 2 days! We were SO busy yesterday.  French from 10-1, then lunch, then we met with out Paris Urban Form teacher, had a lecture then a boat trip on the Seine!!

Christy and I being cute on the boat!

there are like.. 32 bridges that go over the Seine.. this is one.

pretty sure this is l'hotel next to the Notre Dame

That was yesterday. After our tour we went to a party at the program director's house.. we sampled wine and cheese and it was fun and delicious.

party spread. yum. idk if I'm a fan of goat cheese though.

Today we had French at 10-1 again, and bought some baguette sandwiches for lunch. They were so good! and only like 3 Euros! Then we went on a trip to the Crypt of the Notre Dame.  I thought it was going to be like an eerie-cool kinda thing where they burried people but apparently that happens in the actual cathedral not underneath where we were. It was still pretty neat coming from an architectural standpoint, considering thats what I'm here for. The city keeps building upon itself, and the isle where Notre Dame is was the original site of the city. 

old houses.. I mean REALLY old houses under the Notre Dame

we also got to see the exterior up close and personal.. but didn't get to go in. sad.

typical shot

typical tourists

Today was great. I have SO many pictures I'm going to make a fb album soon with all the rest of them. Can't even fit them in this blog and I'm exhausted!! Try to not be too harsh on my photography skills. I'm trying :) But I am exhausted! Christy and I went to the dorms tonight, after moving our rooms around bc one of our roommates wanted her own room (annoying) and a group of us cooked dinner. Chicken pasta something. It was so good :) We also met some other cool kids from Sarah Lawrence! Hopefully we get to see them soon! 

Love to all of you!!

xoxo,

-A