En bref, since the last post.
Wednesday, Nov. 22 - Wednesdays suck, I have six hours of classes spread out over the day so I have no time to actually get anything done, just a little bit of time to sit around and grab a bit to eat here and there.
Thursday, Nov. 23 - It started off the most uneventful and busy Thanksgiving day ever. I did homework all morning, then went to another university here in town (basically the MIT of southern France) where the kids in my program were paired up with French kids to have conversation partners (a.k.a. my program consisted of almost all American girls having coffee with a school of nothing but French engineer boys, basically international speed dating). My partner is Olivier, he's 19, from a poor little village in the French Alps, and his opening line was, "My English teacher tells us that to go to university in America, the student must be rich, and it's very hard for poor to go to university. Is that true?" Jesus. After that I wandered around with Lindsey and Amber for a bit eating Nutella until it was time for our program's Thanksgiving dinner. They pay a restaurant around the corner from my house to cater the most amazing five-course Thanksgiving meal I've ever eaten in my life. Most of the typical Americans Thanksgiving items don't exist in France so it's a big deal that this chef learned how to make it all and does it for us. When our director brought the chef out and we gave him a round of applause. After dinner, a bunch of us wandered around town looking at the Christmas decorations being put up, discussing the rest of the year, and just enjoying the holiday.
Friday, Nov. 24 - I had a class in the morning and then skipped my second class to get ready for Madrid. It's so weird, now that I am in the EU there's no customs or anything so flying to Spain was like flying to Florida in the states, no passport stamp or nothing. Emili met us at the airport (thank goodness) and shuttled us around on the metro to our hostel (which was amazing) and then showed us her place (which we were all jealous of) and we finally made it to bed at 3 a.m. that night.
Saturday, Nov. 25 - Lindsey's alarm went off at 8 a.m. because she was bound and determined to make the most our of 36 hours in Spain. We got up, had breakfast, then went to Emili's to get directions to the nearest Starbucks. We got lost, gave up on Starbucks, and went shopping instead. Emili met us on the shopping strip, and then we all went to lunch at T.G. I. Friday's!!! IT WAS AMAZING. The menu was in English! We ordered in English! Madrid is AmericaLand. Afterwards Emili had some things to do so we all wandered around exploring the city. We visited the Reina Sofia which is one of their big important art museums, I liked it very very much. Then we saw some church and the King's Palace and all sorts of other fancy buildings. After all the sightseeing, we managed to buy 12 bottles of wine and find our way to a friend of Emili's house for the Madrid kids' big Thanksgiving dinner. We were kind of the weird French kids sitting in the corner, but it was fun and the food was great. We headed out around midnight and then stopped at out hostel before going out for drinks. Of all things, we find this great Irish pub playing the Notre Dame and USC football game on the big screen, the place was full of Americans, and it was the first time in three months that we had walked into a bar and not been attacked by lecherous foreigners. Crawled into be at 3 a.m. again.
Sunday, Nov. 26 - Got out of bed at 8 a.m. again. In a rush to get around because we had our flight to catch at 6 p.m. and many more things to do. We ate at the Churro shop, went to the largest outdoor market in Europe, then wandered around soem more to the other major art museum in Madrid, the Prado. I did not like this one. After that we finally ate real Spanish tapas! They were fantastic, but made me sick, so the entire metro trip to the airport I wanted to die. Also on the metro ride, Lindsey and Michigan both got their wallets stolen. Blargh. The flight home was easy as pie, and then once back in Aix the christmas lights had been turned on!! It was so pretty.
Monday, Nov. 27 - Still hadn't caught up on sleep, wanted to die in my classes, spent the evening catching up on homework I was behind on.
Tuesday, Nov. 28 - Slept in late to catch up on sleep, finished up delinquent homework and had gnocchi for dinner, Good day.
Today, Nov. 29 - Back to Wednesday, the worst day of the week. If I can end this month under budget, I just may buy something from amazon.com for myself and have it shipped here as a Christmas present to me. We'll see.
Thursday, Nov. 23 - It started off the most uneventful and busy Thanksgiving day ever. I did homework all morning, then went to another university here in town (basically the MIT of southern France) where the kids in my program were paired up with French kids to have conversation partners (a.k.a. my program consisted of almost all American girls having coffee with a school of nothing but French engineer boys, basically international speed dating). My partner is Olivier, he's 19, from a poor little village in the French Alps, and his opening line was, "My English teacher tells us that to go to university in America, the student must be rich, and it's very hard for poor to go to university. Is that true?" Jesus. After that I wandered around with Lindsey and Amber for a bit eating Nutella until it was time for our program's Thanksgiving dinner. They pay a restaurant around the corner from my house to cater the most amazing five-course Thanksgiving meal I've ever eaten in my life. Most of the typical Americans Thanksgiving items don't exist in France so it's a big deal that this chef learned how to make it all and does it for us. When our director brought the chef out and we gave him a round of applause. After dinner, a bunch of us wandered around town looking at the Christmas decorations being put up, discussing the rest of the year, and just enjoying the holiday.
Friday, Nov. 24 - I had a class in the morning and then skipped my second class to get ready for Madrid. It's so weird, now that I am in the EU there's no customs or anything so flying to Spain was like flying to Florida in the states, no passport stamp or nothing. Emili met us at the airport (thank goodness) and shuttled us around on the metro to our hostel (which was amazing) and then showed us her place (which we were all jealous of) and we finally made it to bed at 3 a.m. that night.
Saturday, Nov. 25 - Lindsey's alarm went off at 8 a.m. because she was bound and determined to make the most our of 36 hours in Spain. We got up, had breakfast, then went to Emili's to get directions to the nearest Starbucks. We got lost, gave up on Starbucks, and went shopping instead. Emili met us on the shopping strip, and then we all went to lunch at T.G. I. Friday's!!! IT WAS AMAZING. The menu was in English! We ordered in English! Madrid is AmericaLand. Afterwards Emili had some things to do so we all wandered around exploring the city. We visited the Reina Sofia which is one of their big important art museums, I liked it very very much. Then we saw some church and the King's Palace and all sorts of other fancy buildings. After all the sightseeing, we managed to buy 12 bottles of wine and find our way to a friend of Emili's house for the Madrid kids' big Thanksgiving dinner. We were kind of the weird French kids sitting in the corner, but it was fun and the food was great. We headed out around midnight and then stopped at out hostel before going out for drinks. Of all things, we find this great Irish pub playing the Notre Dame and USC football game on the big screen, the place was full of Americans, and it was the first time in three months that we had walked into a bar and not been attacked by lecherous foreigners. Crawled into be at 3 a.m. again.
Sunday, Nov. 26 - Got out of bed at 8 a.m. again. In a rush to get around because we had our flight to catch at 6 p.m. and many more things to do. We ate at the Churro shop, went to the largest outdoor market in Europe, then wandered around soem more to the other major art museum in Madrid, the Prado. I did not like this one. After that we finally ate real Spanish tapas! They were fantastic, but made me sick, so the entire metro trip to the airport I wanted to die. Also on the metro ride, Lindsey and Michigan both got their wallets stolen. Blargh. The flight home was easy as pie, and then once back in Aix the christmas lights had been turned on!! It was so pretty.
Monday, Nov. 27 - Still hadn't caught up on sleep, wanted to die in my classes, spent the evening catching up on homework I was behind on.
Tuesday, Nov. 28 - Slept in late to catch up on sleep, finished up delinquent homework and had gnocchi for dinner, Good day.
Today, Nov. 29 - Back to Wednesday, the worst day of the week. If I can end this month under budget, I just may buy something from amazon.com for myself and have it shipped here as a Christmas present to me. We'll see.
posted by Adrienne Dye at 12:48 PM
1 Comments:
Two Questions:
1. You seriously found an Irish Pub in Madrid with the USC vs. Notre Dame game on?! AND there were Americans in there?
2. What's up with that girls name. Did her parents really love the state of Michigan, or is it a French name?
SAM
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