Month long trip through....who knows where...

İm back on the road through Europe! We started in Athens and then from there we hopped on a flight to Istanbul whıch ıs AMAZİNG!! We are here for one week and then off to Brussels then Croatıa (Zadar, Split, and Dubrovnik), then jet off to Parıs from there back to Brussels and then home.

I dont really have a lot of tıme rıght now to catch everyone up BUT when I get a chance I will wrıte about everythıng that ıs goıng on! Sadly I wont be able to post any pıctures untıl I get home but they are comıng No Worrıes! I have enough to go around!

I already have some fun storıes from havıng to get a vısa ın Istanbul, to eatıng some kınd of mystery meat all the way to meetıng really frıendly locals who have helped us so much already. Ill get back to you as soon as I possıbly can!

Back in Aix

Just wanted to write a quick post that says we are back in Aix after the longest spring break of my life. It was amazing but I am worn out from all of the traveling. So just as a quick overview of what we did:

I started my Spring Break about a week before everyone else while the family came to visit which was refreshing but I didn't realize how much time everything would take up! That week I had an exam and a paper due that really weighed down on me. Luckily though, I got through everything and we were off the Barcelona which included a taxi to the bus station in Aix which took us to the train station in Marseille. We then got onto the train on the way to Montpellier where we went to find our next train for the 2nd leg of the journey that would take us to Barcelona. SURPRISE! Instead of getting onto another train we were on a bus because there were strikes in Spain. Finally we made it, Barcelona is a beautiful city and I'm so glad I got to see it with my family. From Barcelona I hopped onto a plane to Brussels to meet up with the "family" [my group of friends]. I was in Brussels for a few hours; after flying into the wrong airport I found my way to everyone and waited for Phil to pick up the car and we were off to Rothenburg where we arrived late and stayed in an adorable little hotel. The next morning we woke up and walked around the city walls and then off to Munich for 3 days where we wandered the city, beer gardens, and took a bike tour. Next we were off to Salzburg which was gorgeous and we stayed for one night and then off to Hallstatt/Obertraun which is a little city on a lake between the mountains [absolutely gorgeous]. After an early morning walk the next day we were off to Prague for two nights including wandering the city and going on a free tour. The next leg of the journey took up to Amsterdam after a 10 hours drive into a horrible hotel (which was a great location). By this point we were all really tired and ready to head home after two nights in Amsterdam. We set off as early as possible for Brussels the next morning where we were SUPPOSED to catch a plane. SURPRISE a volcano in Iceland had different plans for us. So after staying in the airport until 5 am and talking to the Ryanair desk, we decided it would be easier to get to Paris and then from there we would be closer to get to Aix. SURPRISE it wasn't. We got into Paris and wandered the city to find ourselves stuck for a few extra nights. Which put us into the position to wander the city and have a calm last few days of Spring Break how horrible....and then today we just got back to Aix. Fantastic Spring Break!

Next to come: pictures and details on all the entire trip (it might take a little bit to get everything put together but it is coming!)

The Alps

This weekend ended up being so different than I thought it was going to be. I was planning on staying home this weekend, catching up on some homework, studying for upcoming tests, but no. This weekend I went skiing in the Alps!!! On thursday (during the day) I got a text from a friend asking me if I wanted to go skiing and telling me I needed to decide by 4pm that day. I mulled over it for a good portion on my day and finally decided to go. I figured when am I going to get the chance to go spring skiing in the Alps again?

SO, on Friday we left at about 5pm by bus (which took 5 hours instead of the 2.5 that they said it would) and made it to Pra Loup by 10pm. We had dinner and went to bed. The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn and down to the ski rental and up the mountain. It was amazingly warm; I had to send a layer (or two) home with one of the girls who went back early. We got to ski for 2 full days and then back again for a 5 hour bus ride.

We stayed in an apartment that was owned by a family and they rent it out for weekenders to use. It was a great trip and I'm sooooooooo glad that I was able to go skiing in the ALPS!!

Spring Break

So, it looks like spring break is in the works. As of right now we have a rough outline of where we will be going and what we will be seeing including...:

April 2- Fly to Brussels
April 3- Full day in Brussels
April 4- I arrive in Brussels international from Barcelona and meet up with the everyone else to pick up the car and cruise off to Heidelburg Germany
April 5- We drive the lower half of the romantic road and see some sweet castles, then head all the way down to Innsbruck, Austria
April 6- Full day in Innsbruck to explore and enjoy the picturesque mountain landscape
April 7- Drive the short 1.5 hours to Munich
April 8- Tour Munich for a full day
April 9- Take the train to see Neuschwanstein in the morning, then enjoy Munich for the rest of the day
April 10-Drive to Prage
April 11-Tour Prague all day
April 12-Again... tour Prague all day
April 13-Drive to Amsterdam
April 14-Amsterdam
April 15-Leave Amsterdam, drop car off in Brussels
April 16-Catch flight out of Charleroi at 6:30 am.

As for me, so far I have a return flight and I still need to get my flight to Brussels and I also still need buy tickets for a bus leaving from Aix-en-Provence to Barcelona (for the fam). AH! So much to do so little time!

Other than that I'm pretty swamped until Spring Break. I have 4 tests and 1 paper including the family visiting and Anna coming for a weekend. So me even writing this right now is time that should be spent doing homework; but I figure keeping everyone updated should be a top priority anyways (plus i have 3 weeks to complete all of this so I'm not too worried about it).

The weather here is dropping (last week it was in the 50's and 60's) and this week its down in the 40's. Which does no good for the cold I feel like I've been getting for the past month BUT luckily the markets are still up and running and so are the patisseries (bread stores)! Specifically our favorite bread placed, called la fournaise, where the guy who works there knows us by face which makes the bread that much better (plus my roommate has a little crush on him so we get more bread than we should probably be eating)!

I've been trying to figure out a time to make a skiing trip but sadly all of my weekends seemed to be booked up. Or at least all of those that I know other people are going. So, I was thinking about trying to make a trip this weekend (maybe a day trip or two day). Or, I was going to go and climb Mount Sainte Victoire to test it out for the family and see if they can handle it. Here's a website from the office of tourism in Aix that tells a little bit about the mountain. I've heard it's a little difficult and quite the climb so I figure I need to test it out for myself before settling on that as a Sunday activity for the fam.

Hope all is well at home and that everyone gets over the flu (Matt and Mom).

Italy Road Trip

Sorry for the delay in my blog updating but here’s what’s been going on :

Last week I got back from my week-long road trip in Italy. I had an amazing time. But it was also probably the most tiring week I’ve had since I’ve been abroad. The only time we really got a chance to rest was when we were in the car between destinations.

Day 1: We were all supposed to meet at the bureau (program office) at noon so that we could hope in the car and get started because we had to be in Bonosolla by 7pm and it was only 4 hours away. We being: Amy Luck, Melissa Jennings (planner), Nate Delong (entertainment), Jarell Skinner-Roy, Anne Raks, and Phil C. But we thought we would get a head start incase there was traffic or we got lost or anything else went wrong. So we were all at the office at noon (with our luggage and food). Two people went to go and pick up the car (the driver Phil and Jarell). But, they ran into trouble getting the car because it was going to be expensive than thought, and then there was a limit on the credit card, and then they didn’t have the car that we had originally rented. SO! FINALLY! Around 2-3pm they arrived in Aix in front of the office to pick us all up and to our surprise it was a tight squeeze. So, after packing ourselves and jamming our luggage in, we were off. Our first destination was Bonosolla (through some large cities, up some hills, down some others) and we finally found our house! But…we were 1-2 hours late. Luckily, Melissa had called ahead and told them that we would be late, so they left our key for us and we were in for the night!

Day 2 : We woke up early and took a train to le Cinque Terre which are five old villages connected by train or hiking paths. The houses are all painted bright colors and the hiking between the five towns was breath taking. Not to mention the gnocchi and pesto I had for lunch could not be topped. The five towns names are: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. It would be a great place to go once it gets a little warmer. When we went half of the day was cold and rainy and the other half was sunny and beautiful. Sadly, we did not move fast enough between the 5 villages because we had to take the train from Manarola to Riomaggiore (which wasn’t too bad considering we were all extremely tired). So, we headed home for another relaxing night.

Day 3: Again, up early. But this time we were off to Florence (or Firenze) with a stop in Pisa in between. We found Pisa without a problem and only stay for about 2 hours. Just enough time to take the usual pictures with the tower and a quick stop at McDonalds (which as a demand from the boys). Pisa was actually a lot more interesting that I had thought it would be. Granted that’s the only thing to see in Pisa. We parked our car, hopped out, took pictures, bought postcards, hopped back in, stopped at McDonalds, and then we were off to Florence.

Phil drove through (and with) the crazy Italien drivers and all of the sudden we hear, “Uh Melissa, I’m off the highway. Where do I go”. Somehow Phil had dead-ended into a busy residential street. So we all jumped awake to try to help him find his way. From the very back seats (or rumble seats as we called them) I pointed out a hotel called Hotel Firenze. We had somehow managed to end up in Florence (without realizing it).

With the help of Rick Steve’s we found a parking garage and then made our way into the heart of Florence. We found our hostel without a hitch, went out to a nice Valentine’s Day dinner, tooled around for a little and say some sights, and settled in for the night.

Day 4: Florence was a whirlwind. We woke up early (at least the girls did) and started our day. The girls went out and got a cappuccino before 10am because supposedly you’re not supposed to get a cappuccino any later than that. We ended up finding a café right next to the Duomo—a beautiful cathedral in the center of Florence. Then, we met up with Jana Kritz (a friend from Wisconsin who is studying in Florence for the semester). Once the boys finally woke up and met us she gave us a tour of Florence and took us to the best sandwich place I’ve ever been to. We walked all day and took in the sights then we went to the top of a hill in Florence and looked at Florence from above. That’s when my camera died…Don’t worry though because I ended up getting 4 times the amount of pictures as I would have after taking them from my friends on the trip. Again, that night we went out to dinner, went out for a little, and then back to bed.

Day 5: This was mostly a traveling day from Florence to Rome (which we figured traffic would be horrible in Rome anyways). The girls woke up at the crack of dawn to go wait in line at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence while the boys slept the morning away. Sadly, we had to do the Uffizi at a run because of the time constraints that they have (if you plan on going buy your tickets in advance!). The museum was interesting but smaller than we had anticipated and so we ended up getting to take another quick stroll through. After that we had to rush home because check out was at 10am and it was already 9:50. Of course, we get back and the boys are not even awake yet (it was after 10). Finally, by 10:30/45 everyone was up and ready to go. We got a sandwich and cappuccino on the way out and we were off to Rome. When we got into Rome our first idea was to find a parking garage right away (sadly Rick said nothing about a parking garage). So, we stopped at a nearby hotel and asked them if they knew of a parking garage. And as it happened there was an underground (small) garage right behind the hotel that wasn’t too expensive and that was close-ish to our hostel. So, we dropped off our car and got into our hostel. In our hostel we got a free pasta dinner every night so we had that and then had to go out and get a pizza on top of that.

Day 6: First full day in Rome (at a run). We started out by heading to the Vatican to see the Pope speak (it was Ash Wednesday). That took up a fair part of the morning and so after that we had lunch and went to the Piazza Nivona and then to the Patheon. Pantheon was extremely interesting (especially with a little instruction from Rick Steves). And it was drizzling a little bit so we got to see the rainfall through the ceiling of the Pantheon. From there we booked it over to the Colosseum thinking that it was going to close at 4pm and it was already 3:30. Luckily we were able to get tickets in time and able to see the entire Colosseum, but we had to save the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill for the next day. We went home to rest our feet a little while because of all of the walking between all of the tourist sights and to eat our free pasta dinner. After dinner we took a walking tour and went to see the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps.

Day 7: Again up relatively early and out to see more of Rome. We saw the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill in the morning. Went out to lunch and then off to the Vatican for the rest of the afternoon. (seeing St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel). The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were really interesting because we got to see all the ruins up close and personal. St. Peter’s Basilica was amazing with its massive sculptures of past popes. It was the largest church I’ve ever been in (granted I think it may the one of the largest in the world). The Vatican museum was interesting but I thought it was mostly interesting for the Sistine Chapel which I could have looked at for hours and hours. From there we hopped on the train (after walking Rome again) and stopped at the Trevi Fountain at dusk before getting back onto the train and heading home for some good Rome pizza and cozy bed.

Day 8: The girls (of course) were up and ready to get going on our way to our next destination. But of course, the boys struggled to get out of bed and get ready (despite our timeline that we had all set prior). So, after saying we were going to be at the car and on the road at 10am around 12/1pm we were in the car and on the road. We made a quick stop in Montepulciano (not sure on the spelling) for Anna—one of our travelers—who wanted to go there because it’s where one of the scenes in the movie New Moon of the Twilight series was filmed. So we made a quick stop to capture some pictures and videos of her reenacting the scene. From there we made a stop in San Gimignano (or St. Jimmy Johns as we referred to it). There, we took a few pictures, had some lunch, and were back on the road on our way to Albenga (a nice meeting spot between Rome and Aix. After getting immensely lost we finally found the hotel and stopped, had dinner went to bed and then early rise to get the car home in time.

Day 9: Early rise and pile back into the car on the way back to Aix (finally). We didn’t quite make it back in time but luckily didn’t get charged a late fee. That day, I stayed home and napped all day.

This was an amazing trip but also one of the most tiring trips I’ve ever taken. It was a whirlwind trip through Italy. Great times, great laughs, great people and AMAZING food! It was definitely worth all of the stress and “fatigation” or fatigue that we all experienced upon our return.

Hope you enjoyed my account of everything that happened on our Italy visit and I’m sorry for the delay. I’ll catch everyone up soon with anymore exciting news!

Soon to come: A few pictures and miniature description (comparatively) of Arles, France.

Italy Road Trip Itinerary

So, we've decided on when/where we are going. Where we are staying and when we are staying there. Here's our itinerary:

Here's a link to the map of where we are going and when.

Simplified Version:

Friday February 12 - Aix-en-Provence --> Bonassola
Saturday February 13 - Day trip to Cinque Terra
Sunday February 14 - Bonassola --> Pisa --> Florence
Monday February 15 - Florence
Tuesday February 16 - Florence --> Rome
Wednesday February 17 - Rome
Thursday February 18- Rome [Optional Tivoli daytrip]
Friday February 19 - Rome --> San Gimignano --> Albenga
Saturday February 20 - Albenga --> Aix-en-Provence

Detailed Itinerary (thanks to Melissa!!!):

Friday February 12 -
Depart Aix-en-Provence, France at 12:00
Drive 4 hours 53 minutes to Bonassola, Italy
Check into La Francesca 4-room house

Saturday February 13 -
Hop on the train to Cinque Terre, five gorgeous coastal cities connected by a 12km walking path
Return to Bonassola, Italy to stay in the same house

Sunday February 14 -
Happy Valentines day!
Depart Bonassola, Italy: 9:00
Drive 1 hour 30 minutes to Pisa, Italy
Depart Pisa, Italy: 13:00
Drive 1 hours 20 minutes to Florence, Italy
Check into Hostel Greci: for 2 nights in a private 7-bed room

Monday February 15 -
Free day in Florence, Italy
Stay in same hostel

Tuesday February 16 -
Depart Florence, Italy 12:00
Drive 2 hours 49 minutes to Rome, Italy
Check into Hostel Alessandro Downtown: 3 nights in an 8-bed mixed dorm

Wednesday February 17 -
Free day in Rome, Italy
Stay in same hostel

Thursday February 19 -
Free day in Rome, Italy
[optional 3 euro train to daytrip to Tivoli, Italy]
Stay in same hostel

Friday February 20 -
Depart Rome, Italy 8:30
Drive 3 hours and 18 minutes to San Gimignano, Italy
Enjoy a sweet Medieval walled city
Depart San Gimignano, Italy 14:30
Drive 3 hours 57 minutes to Albenga, Italy
Check into Hotel Residence Sole:
4 bed room and 3 bed room

Saturday February 21 -
Depart Albenga, Italy by 9:00
Drive 2 hours and 49 minutes to Aix-en-Provence, France
Return Car in Aix-en-Provence, France by 12:00

This is all thanks to Melissa Jennings who wrote all of this up and I just got lazy and copy and pasted it.

So, I know that I haven't written on my blog for almost two weeks so I figured I would write a nice long blog post to update everyone as to what I've been up to for the last few weeks!

Classes started last week and I think I have finally finalized my class schedule. It's going to look something like:

Monday: Anthropology of France from 10h-13h

Writing class 15h-17h

Tuesday: Language, Culture, and Society 9h-12h

Wednesday: Morphology and Syntax 9h-12h

Mythology class 14h30-17h30

Thursday: Oral Expression class 17h15-19h15

Friday: No class

So, 16 hours of class each week. It's going to be a tough week but it means that I get to have most of my Thursday off and all of Friday. This morning I went to the market for the first time. It was so interesting and I'm so glad I finally got to go. I didn't buy anything too big because I figure it's open every single day! Even Sundays, which is a huge deal in this town considering nothing is open on Sundays.

Two weekends ago we ended up going to Avignon which is where there's the Palace of Popes which is the picture on the left. It was amazing to see. I've never in my life seen larger rooms! Although like one of my travel books says "the interior is strangely empty after the devastation wreaked during the Revolution, where it was used as a prison and barracks...". Yes, I am reading all of my travel books so thank you! I also used Rick Steves to do a walking tour which some people made fun of my for and other people thought was great. So thanks again for those books they really are coming in handy.

We also went to the Pont St-Benezet; which was honestly just a broken bridge that you walk to the end and then back to the beginning. Walk downstairs and then walk back upstairs. Honestly, not the most interesting sight to see...but it's better than nothing! Plus, we paid to see both the palace and the bridge so I figured we should go. Although, we did get lost trying to make our way from the palace to the bridge LUCKILY I have Rick to show us the way.

Other than that it seems like we are going to be going on a road trip through Italy. We will be going as much of Italy as possible. This is the trip itinerary so far and we will be trying to keep it as cheap as possible:

Friday February 13 - Aix-en-Provence --> Bassanoa

Saturday February 14 - Day trip to Cinque Terra
Sunday February 14 - Bassanoa --> Pisa --> Florence
Monday February 16 - Florence
Tuesday February 17 - Florence --> Rome
Wednesday February 18 - Rome
Thursday February 19 - Rome [Optional Tivoli daytrip]
Friday February 20 - Rome --> San Gimignano --> Albegna
Saturday February 21 - Albegna --> Aix-en-Provence

So, I will keep you updated on everything that's going on once we finalize our plans and where I go next. We have a trip to Antibe this weekend which will be fun because it's with the entire study abroad group.

Hope everything is going well at home!