Rain, rain, go away...

It's been pretty cold and wet around Tours lately.  And then on top of that, I hear from mutti that it's 99 degrees in Chicago, with a heat index around 113!  I think France could use some of that summer heat!

But besides the weather...yesterday I found out my favorite patisserie will be closed from today until August.  I was quite depressed.

BUT THEN!

At the MSU and famille d'accueil party, there were trays and trays and trays of minis of all the patisserie's best treats!  I even found the last minis of my favorite croque monsieurs!  Madam Norris with the save!  So needless to say I ate everything in sight.  Even brought some left overs for my roommates.  But it was nice to meet some of the other host parents and families and also a nice way to thank them for such wonderful hospitality.  Below is my host mom and I and the lil fête.

Only about 9 days left of my study abroad program and I am definitely ready to get back to Chicago.  But not before I take a side trip to Toulouse to visit Thomas and his hometown this weekend.  Getting very excited for that!  I leave on Friday =)

Liberté

I was a lil upset when I didn't get to spend the 4th of July with my family on the beach, eating hot dogs, and watching fireworks.  Although I didn't get my hot dogs, I'd say spending Bastille Day in France was an experience I wouldn't trade for anything. 

First of all, in all good American fashion, I overate to extremes on Thursday.  We started the day off with a pique-nique at a park near the train station.  I treated myself to a Nougat de Tours.  So delicious.

Then after eating a ridiculous amount of food for lunch.  I ate soo well with my host family.  After a wonderful meal, I headed out to the Loire for some feux d'artifice!  They are my absolute favorite part of 4th of July and so glad France has the same tradition we do on our Independence Day!  They were by far the BEST I've seen.  My mouth was wide open the entire time.  I hope I never lose this childish wonder.  I also hope I never forget my first Bastille Day in France.  I doubt I will.

Anticipation!

It's Bastille Day Eve and I just can't wait until tonight/tomorrow.  I'm still sad I missed 4th of July back in the states because it's only like my 2nd fav holiday or something.  It's just so summery and iconic.  But anyway, I can't wait to see what Tours has to offer as for celebrating the French Revolution! (Stay tuned for some pics I'm sure)

Also today, Marisol took me to a cheap stirfry place for lunch!  STIRFRY IN FRANCE! Oh mon dieu! I was so excited!  Put anything in a wok and it tastes 10x better.  The place is called Wazawok and it is parfait.  I was so excited I knew I had to blog about it. 

C'est tout for this one.   I just love food.

First Week of REAL Classes.

WOOF.  Is all I can say.  This week felt like I went back to middle school, except you have the same two profs and the same 15 people in your class All. Day. Long.  Although classes were rough, I managed to fit some fun into the week.  On Monday, we went to Chateau Chenonceau and les caves de Vouvray.  At the chateau we got to row some bateaux!  It was sweet because we could go under the castle.  Then we went to the wine caves of Vouvray!  There we took a brief tour of the caves and the bottling building.  Après all that, we got to try 3 wines that the caves bottle.  They were très delicieux.

 "H" for Henri II and are those "Cs" for his wife Catherine de Medici or "Ds" for his mistress, Diane de Poitiers?  The world may never know.

Monday was also 4th of July!  It felt strange not to be laying on the beach somewhere with a hot dog in hand.  But we managed to find a way to celebrate.  I mean, if it weren't for the French, Independence Day may not exist!

Then on Tuesday, my class had a Wine and Cheese Tasting Class!  I learned what to look for, smell for, and taste in both white and red wines!  It's all about to jambes when it comes to the whites.  They tell you sugar content within the wine.  With reds, you look at the robes: more purples means younger I believe, while a more orange color means it's been aging for a lil while.  The wine guy also taught us the term millésime: a wine year.  Just so everyone knows, 1990, the millésime I was born in, was a WONDERFUL year for french wine. 

This upcoming week I will spending most of my time reading La Place and Vipère au Poing.  Should be a good time...

Double Homesick All the Way

The double rainbow YouTube vid inspired my title today.  (I have to give a shot out to my best bud Joe Allen for showing it to me a lil while back)  While I was in Italie I of course was homesick for the states, my fam, and my friends, but what was weird was that I also homesick for Tours and my SA crew.  I absolutely adore them and this city!  But here's a quick rundown and a few pics of my trip to Italy with Elise and Mike!

We decided to start off the week in Florence!  Our hostel was about 5 minutes away from the Piazza Michelangelo which is set above the city.  So needless to say I woke up each morning with an absolutely breath-taking view.  I died every time!  We saw all three Davids, including the real one, the Duomo, and of course Ponte Vecchio!  So gorgeous.  There was also a mini Fête de la Musique the first night we were there and so we stuck around a lil while to listen to a few bands and DJs.  Not quite as good as the one in Tours, but still fun to shake my booty a lil bit.  I also met up with my roomie, Ali!  We grabbed some breakfast before I left for Venice.  I think it's the coolest thing to see friends abroad!

 
Then we were off to Venice!  One thing we wished we did was spend another day in Venice.  The city was absolutely gorgeous and one you just want to get lost it.  We of course ate some more gelato and took a lovely gondala ride.  We also bought some lovely venetian glass!

 My beautiful, fellow Italy travelers (and the gondala driver in his stunna shades on his cell phone)

 After Venice we headed to ROME!  Oh my gosh Rome was a good time.  We went to the Vatican the first day and didn't realize it was closed!  We waited in line for the special Mass that was scheduled for the day without tickets and felt silly after we found out what was actually happening.  Since there was a special mass the entire museum and basilica were closed so we moved on to the Pantheon, Piazza Nuvona, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Colosseum.  The next day we then did the Vatican Museum and Sistene Chapel.  Which, was kind of overwhelming.  Pictures are definitely better than the real thing...except I did like the Final Judgement.  We also treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner complete with a shared bottle of wine.  Mike and I split this delicious pesto pasta and chicken with roasted potatoes.  I died!  It was delicious and of course we grabbed some gelato before we went to the Trevi Fountain at night.  That was definitely my favorite part of Rome.  So romantic (take hints guys) 

All in all it was a great trip with some pretty awesome people.  I am so blessed to have these opportunities to travel to some pretty cool places.  One thing I wish I did was take more pictures of the food I ate.  I could just kick myself for not doing that!

Little boxes on the hillside...

This past weekend I spent a day and a half in Paris!  The weather was kinda dodgy but I had a lovely time.  A few of us went on the Musée d'Orsay/Notre Dame excursion with the institut where Prof Gaverny gave us a rundown of French Impressionism and a brief history of Notre Dame.  She is truly amazing.  What I didn't know was she has a degree in Art History!  She had so many amazing things to say at the museum as well as at Notre Dame.  Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pics in the museum, but I did get to see some awesome Renoirs!

Later in the day we caught up with the rest of the Staters and grabbed some dinner and went to experience the Eiffel Tower at night.  Which I must say I preferred it at night.  Much more romantic and less...metaly.

The next day we woke up early to catch a walk through of the Catacombs!  I was scared at first, but when I finally got used to being 40 m under ground and in a small space, I was in awe.  The opening song to Weeds popped into my head as we reached the bones. 

After the catacombs I planned on eating somewhere near the Eiffel Tower and meeting up with some friends.  We wanted to head up to Sacré Coeur, but since our train left earlier than others, we didn't make and just walked up and down Champs Elysées.  All in all it was a good weekend, but I definitely plan on going back!  Much more to experience.   Did I mention riding the métros was probably my favorite part?!

The Stakes Have Been Raised

Well, more like my standards...if that was even possible.  The other day we took a trip to the châteaux of Azay-le-Rideau and Villandry.  So far Villandry is my favorite and you'll see why in a minute.

But first a lil schpeal about Azay.  This château was home to the François le Premier.  His symbol was the salamander, which I think is SO cool!  Except they were portrayed a lot more vicious back then.  Above one of the fire places in the château there was a carving that had a salamander breathing fire with an inscription in Latin I believe that translated to something along the lines of "I take in fire and breath out water."  But don't quote me.  I really like this saying because it's him trying to create peace within his land as King.  Here are some sweet pics!

NOW onto the GOOD stuff!  I. Am. IN. LOVE. with Villandry!  I don't think I will ever be satisfied in life because I won't ever live there.  I guess the best I could do is either get proposed to or get married there.  A girl can dream right?  I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

I'm off to Paris tomorrow morning for an excursion to the Musee d'Orsay and Notre Dame.  Then I'm spending the night with some ladies and sightseeing some more on Sunday. 

A bientôt!