Serenity now!!!

So, once again my internet was on the fritz...however, none of this surprises me anymore as I am learning to cope to some extent. I also haven't watched tv in weeks! I feel like my soul is being cleansed and purified of all evil technology!...well, for the most part anyway.

It's offical!! Andy and I are going to be heading out to Marseilles for the first weekend that he comes in! We are both super excited and can't wait to spend some time together. I hope to have several pictures to post!! Speaking of which, I FINALLY finished posting all of my Paris pictures (it only took me about a year and a half with our lovely internet connection!)!! I hope everyone enjoys them! I had loads of fun taking them!

Oh yes, one last bit of information. Tomorrow is my birthday!! YAY ME! Oh, turning 23 is the highlight of...well, turning 23 I guess?!? Anyway, I'll be thinking of all of my friends and family and I'll be wishing that I could spend my day with everyone in style....at the Shout House! Much love~

PARIS!

I just got back from Paris yesterday! I am completely exhausted….we managed to pack basically EVERYTHING into two full days! Paris was absolutely amazing. It was so beautiful and picturesque! I went with my friends Kelly, Lauren, and Elise. Among the four of us we managed to navigate around Paris pretty easily with none of us knowing a word of French! We all had quite the adventure…I’ll start from the beginning:

Friday, February 2nd
We woke up at the crack of dawn….or rather before the crack of dawn (3:30am!) to catch our taxi over to the Waterloo station. We had a 5:30am train ride on the Eurostar. I don’t think any of us really managed to sleep on the train. We played card games and read our books for most of the way. When we arrived in Paris we were a little bit confused as to how to get to the Metro…everything was in French!!!...hmmmm…I wonder why?!? Finally, we managed to get ourselves down to the Metro and bought 2-day passes. We figured out the stop (Anvers, in case you wanted to know) that we needed to get off at to go to our hotel, Hotel le Regent Montmartre, and asked someone at an information desk how to get there. After walking for what seemed like an eternity we still couldn’t find our hotel!!! We traced our steps back and realized that it had been right in front of us and we had walked right past it….ummm….we’re all degree-seeking people….we’re smart, really! So, we dropped our luggage at the hotel, found a quick bite to eat, and made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. We took several photos there and tried to get a better look at Paris, but it was pretty foggy! We headed over to the Eiffel Tower where we decided to climb the steps to get to the 1st and 2nd floors….we were pretty out of breath at that point, but managed to have a spectacular view of the city! We took a short elevator ride to the top of the tower (a little bit scary considering how far up we were!). The view from the top was really awesome, a little too foggy, but still worth it! All of us were pretty famished at that point from climbing the stairs, so we ate a nice meal on our way to the Louvre. THE LOUVRE…..something I had been waiting so long to see. When we finally saw the glass pyramid I have to say I almost started to tear up. I remember seeing pictures of the Louvre so many times in books or on television, but I never envisioned myself being there….it was truly an out of body experience! We made our way inside and hit all of the main attractions: the Mona Lisa (that was a no-brainer!), Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, Napoleon’s Apartments, some Rembrandt self-portraits, and my personal favorite, two Vermeer paintings!!! By that time we were so completely exhausted that we couldn’t even stand to take the Metro to our hotel…we all opted on taking a taxi home where we had a nice “conversation” with the French speaking Chinese taxi driver. He taught us the proper way of saying Anvers! We pretty much all crashed when we got to our hotel…which was much nicer than our flat in London. We all had our own beds and a private bathroom…I felt like I was in paradise!!

Saturday, February 3rd
We woke up early to eat our FREE breakfast at the hotel, then we walked to the area around Sacre-Coeur. The views were absolutely beautiful!! We walked to the top of the hill by Sacre-Coeur and went inside for a while. It was so quiet and peaceful inside so I decided to take a moment and reflect. I thought about how fortunate I was to be there and how appreciative I am of everyone and everything for getting me to this point. The area outside was so picturesque…nice cobblestone streets with little shops and cafes lining either side. We did a little shopping and then made our way over to the Opera Garnier! This part of our day really got me excited because I LOVE the Phantom of the Opera story, so it was really great to see the opera house where the story takes place. It was everything I imagined it would be…and more! “The Phantom of the Opera is there…inside your mind!” Errr…something like that, but yes. We ate at a nice café by the opera house and then went over to Notre-Dame. The only thing I could think of when we saw the cathedral was Quasimodo ringing the big bell, shouting, “Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” We decided to take a tour of the towers which required us to walk all the way to the top on very long sets of spiral staircases…I’m never going to look at stairs the same way ever again! However, in the end, it was all worth it. We got to see the huge bell and we went to the very top to get the most amazing view of Paris. From the top we could point to all of the major attractions we had been to. The gargoyles at the top of the cathedral really reminded me of my dad (he really likes gargoyles!!...I took some pictures for you!). The climb back down was slightly nauseating and made us all a little dizzy…but again, the things we do just to say we did them! We were all pretty beat after Notre-Dame so we went to the hotel and chilled for a bit. After a while we ate dinner near our hotel and ate chocolate crepes for dessert! Since we had been to all the nice parts of Paris, we decided that we needed to see the more gritty side…so we made our way to The Moulin Rouge! It was pretty neat at night…everything was lit up, including the many neon “Sex Shop” signs lining either side of the street! Alright, so it wasn’t the classiest part of the city, but at least we can say we were there! We finally went back to the hotel after that where we all proceeded to pass out. We woke up early this morning…had our FREE breakfast…..and made our way back to the train station. We waved goodbye to Paris and took our 3 hour train ride back to London.

Long story short (hahaha), I really enjoyed my time in Paris. I definitely want to go back before I leave Europe to just take some time to relax and enjoy, now that I’ve done all of the tourist things. I will never forget my first (hopefully not last) trip to Paris! Enjoy the pictures (I'm working on posting them!)!!!

I FEEL LOVE!

We FINALLY have our internet back....it's still just as slow as ever, but at least it works! So...this weekend I saw The Blue Man Group! It was one of the wierdest, most awesome things I've ever experienced! I don't even know how to describe it properly! I felt that through the whole show I was just sitting there with my mouth open thinking, "Can they really do that?" If you haven't seen them perform, it's well worth it to go. My favorite part of the entire show was an audience participation part. Several rolls of toilet paper folded down from the walls and the audience collectively had to wind the rolls all the way to the stage....I'm not even describing it to its fullest! They had this loud music..."I FEEL LOVE"....and strobe lights going on while the entire audience was unrolling toilet paper to the stage. I looked up at one point and all i saw was a sea of white! Now, I've never taken drugs before, but I'm pretty sure if I ever did...that's what it would be like: Loud music, strobe lights, and people running rolls of toilet paper to three blue men at the front...pretty psychedelic, eh???!!!

Anyway, this theatre that The Blue Man Group performed at just so happens to be right across the street from my internship! I kept walking past it everyday thinking, "I should really go see that Blue Man Group show." Now I am really happy to say that I have! So if you ever want to experience what taking drugs might feel like..without actually taking drugs...go to a Blue Man Group performance!!! You'll totally trip out!

Oh internet, how you mock me...

Unfortunately, our internet has not been working for the past 3 or 4 days in our flat (I am at the CAPA computer lab right now). No one seems to be able to give us any sort of an answer as to when it will be fixed....sadly, I won't be putting anymore pictures up until they can get things up and running again. I know that all of you are SUPER disappointed about this...but have no fear....you will all live another day! ;)

However, I'm getting really excited about next weekend.....PARIS BABY!!! So, hopefully after I get back they will have the internet all fixed! Oh yes!! I saw Wicked last night at the Apollo Victoria Theatre...it was SO amazing. This was my third time seeing it (I saw it in NY and MN) and I was still blown away. This musical ranks really high on my scale...almost as high as Phantom of the Opera, which I will be attempting to get tickets for this weekend!

Anyway, I hope things are going well for everyone else! Leave me a message...I love coming on here to check what people have written!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

It's my mom's birthday today! I wish I could fly back home for one day just to celebrate with her! I can't wait for my mom and my dad to come out here and visit me...it will be a blast!!! I miss you guys!

So, if you read this and feel so inclined to post a comment, please give a shout out (or maybe just a "happy birthday" will suffice!) to my mom, Darlene!

LOVE YOU!!!

I miss Andy!