January 19, 2009
Finally the long-awaited post has come! :) As you probably assumed, Christmas vacation was a blast with Sabrina being here. She arrived on Wed, Dec. 17th, and for the first couple of days she got over her jetlag while I finished my last two days of school before Christmas vacation. Those two days, however, were somewhat eventful because there was a "blocus" (blockade) of students at the entrance of the school both days. This was all in response to some change in curriculum that would be effecting the "secondaires" (french equivalent of the freshmen class) in high schools across the country. I'd seen the teachers, buses, trains, policemen, and ems drivers "en greve" (on strike), but never the students! Silly French....
The two-day blocus was convenient, though, because I was able to skip classes the second day and go to Tourettes-sur-Loup and St. Paul de Vence with Sabrina and two of the English profs (Anne-Marie and Paule). I'd been to Tourettes-sur-Loup before, but St. Paul was totally new to me. It's considered a very chic artsy town where rich people like to live. And Chagall, a famous French painter, is buried in the cemetary there!
Since everyone was leaving for the holidays, Sabrina and I made a point to have dinner with the roomies and go out to Wayne's Bar, a popular hangout in Old Nice, before we were left all alone in the apartment. The night we went to Wayne's we met some really cool guys--Jeremie, a Frenchie who works in Cannes, and Moreno, an Italian friend of Anne-Sophie (French friend) who works in Monaco/Nice. They were both very sweet, cool guys, so we ended up hanging out with them a lot over break.
As for traveling, I can now check Ventimiglia (Italy), Monaco, and Cannes off my list of places to see...
In Ventimiglia, there wasn't much to do, despite the fact that it was a Monday. Apparently the city's about the size of La Rochelle, with even less things to do. So Sabrina and I concentrated on eating some Italian food (spaghetti/gnocci/gelato) and finding as many photo-worthy things as possible so I could create a photo album on Facebook. :) We managed to find three or four churches, have random conversations about columns with clergymen, and make it home in time for a much-needed nap. So all in all, it was a good trip. Oh yeah, and we looked desperately for decent postcards to send home, but they were all either really plain and boring...or not suitable for children. So nobody's getting postcards from Ventmiglia. Sorry, guys...
The trip to Monaco was a lot more exciting. We saw the palace, spent like two hours in the Museum of Oceanography, walked around a lot, visited a small zoo, and went to a museum that showed off Prince Albert 1er's huuuuuuuge car collection. I spent a lot of money, but I really liked that trip. That was probably the most fun-filled day I've had here so far. And I even got to have a McFlurry (oh yeah!) at the end of it.
The day we went to Cannes, I was feeling really crappy b/c of my sinus infection and a headache. We got a late start to the trip, and didn't leave Nice until 3pm-ish. Once in Cannes, we got slightly lost but soon found an interesting museum (Musee de la Castre) where we saw lots of old stuff. :) We took really pretty pics from atop an 11th century watchtower, had a snack in a little cafe, walked around a bit taking more pics, window-shopped as usual, and met up with Jeremie (the French guy) at the train station. We ended up having spaghetti, having an in-depth discusssion about penguins, and watching Harriet the Spy in my room before we all conched out.
During the vacation, Sabrina and I regularly slept in...but we also spent A LOT of time running around outside of the apartment. In Nice, we did a lot of window-shopping, saw the Russian church, climbed up the hill to the Chateau (a good place to get panoramic shots), visited two museums (Musee Massena & Musee Chagall), saw the Salvador Dali exhibit in the Hotel Negresco, and watched two movies--Madagascar 2 and Australia--at the cinema. We also went out a lot with those boys I mentioned earlier... :)
As for the holidays, we didn't plan much for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to midnight mass at a nearby church, which was kind of cool. Christmas day we stayed inside, made pizza, called loved ones to wish them a Merry Christmas, and watched movies on my computer. On New Year's Eve Sabrina, Jeremie, and I went out to Checkpoint, a bar in Old Nice. We couldn't be too crazy because Sabrina left early (6:30am!) on New Year's Day. But I managed to snag a kiss from Oh Henry (the penguin I made for Sabrina last year). Oh Henry's been to Italy, France, and now he's going to Mexico with Sabrina in May! :)
All in all, Christmas vacation was freaking awesome. Would've been a drag if Sabrina wasn't here. I wouldn't have gone to so many places or met such cute boys(!) or had such a random holiday. I came out of my shell a bit, let down my guard, and learned to live a little. Because despite being here in France and having the world at my fingertips, I haven't taken advantage of it. I've realized, however, that I'll always be a homebody, no matter where I'm living. I'll always be someone who's content snuggled up in bed all day with a good book or texting with a bestfriend or enjoying a comfortable lifestyle without taking too many risks and living on the edge. And that's okay.
Oh, if you want to see all of my pics, you can look at my albums on Facebook!
Ventimiglia, Italy:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156575&l=23e2f&id=21300057
Cannes, France:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157777&l=1d41e&id=21300057
Monaco:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157766&l=ab431&id=21300057
Nice, France:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156569&l=4c301&id=21300057
The two-day blocus was convenient, though, because I was able to skip classes the second day and go to Tourettes-sur-Loup and St. Paul de Vence with Sabrina and two of the English profs (Anne-Marie and Paule). I'd been to Tourettes-sur-Loup before, but St. Paul was totally new to me. It's considered a very chic artsy town where rich people like to live. And Chagall, a famous French painter, is buried in the cemetary there!
Since everyone was leaving for the holidays, Sabrina and I made a point to have dinner with the roomies and go out to Wayne's Bar, a popular hangout in Old Nice, before we were left all alone in the apartment. The night we went to Wayne's we met some really cool guys--Jeremie, a Frenchie who works in Cannes, and Moreno, an Italian friend of Anne-Sophie (French friend) who works in Monaco/Nice. They were both very sweet, cool guys, so we ended up hanging out with them a lot over break.
As for traveling, I can now check Ventimiglia (Italy), Monaco, and Cannes off my list of places to see...
In Ventimiglia, there wasn't much to do, despite the fact that it was a Monday. Apparently the city's about the size of La Rochelle, with even less things to do. So Sabrina and I concentrated on eating some Italian food (spaghetti/gnocci/gelato) and finding as many photo-worthy things as possible so I could create a photo album on Facebook. :) We managed to find three or four churches, have random conversations about columns with clergymen, and make it home in time for a much-needed nap. So all in all, it was a good trip. Oh yeah, and we looked desperately for decent postcards to send home, but they were all either really plain and boring...or not suitable for children. So nobody's getting postcards from Ventmiglia. Sorry, guys...
The trip to Monaco was a lot more exciting. We saw the palace, spent like two hours in the Museum of Oceanography, walked around a lot, visited a small zoo, and went to a museum that showed off Prince Albert 1er's huuuuuuuge car collection. I spent a lot of money, but I really liked that trip. That was probably the most fun-filled day I've had here so far. And I even got to have a McFlurry (oh yeah!) at the end of it.
The day we went to Cannes, I was feeling really crappy b/c of my sinus infection and a headache. We got a late start to the trip, and didn't leave Nice until 3pm-ish. Once in Cannes, we got slightly lost but soon found an interesting museum (Musee de la Castre) where we saw lots of old stuff. :) We took really pretty pics from atop an 11th century watchtower, had a snack in a little cafe, walked around a bit taking more pics, window-shopped as usual, and met up with Jeremie (the French guy) at the train station. We ended up having spaghetti, having an in-depth discusssion about penguins, and watching Harriet the Spy in my room before we all conched out.
During the vacation, Sabrina and I regularly slept in...but we also spent A LOT of time running around outside of the apartment. In Nice, we did a lot of window-shopping, saw the Russian church, climbed up the hill to the Chateau (a good place to get panoramic shots), visited two museums (Musee Massena & Musee Chagall), saw the Salvador Dali exhibit in the Hotel Negresco, and watched two movies--Madagascar 2 and Australia--at the cinema. We also went out a lot with those boys I mentioned earlier... :)
As for the holidays, we didn't plan much for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to midnight mass at a nearby church, which was kind of cool. Christmas day we stayed inside, made pizza, called loved ones to wish them a Merry Christmas, and watched movies on my computer. On New Year's Eve Sabrina, Jeremie, and I went out to Checkpoint, a bar in Old Nice. We couldn't be too crazy because Sabrina left early (6:30am!) on New Year's Day. But I managed to snag a kiss from Oh Henry (the penguin I made for Sabrina last year). Oh Henry's been to Italy, France, and now he's going to Mexico with Sabrina in May! :)
All in all, Christmas vacation was freaking awesome. Would've been a drag if Sabrina wasn't here. I wouldn't have gone to so many places or met such cute boys(!) or had such a random holiday. I came out of my shell a bit, let down my guard, and learned to live a little. Because despite being here in France and having the world at my fingertips, I haven't taken advantage of it. I've realized, however, that I'll always be a homebody, no matter where I'm living. I'll always be someone who's content snuggled up in bed all day with a good book or texting with a bestfriend or enjoying a comfortable lifestyle without taking too many risks and living on the edge. And that's okay.
Oh, if you want to see all of my pics, you can look at my albums on Facebook!
Ventimiglia, Italy:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156575&l=23e2f&id=21300057
Cannes, France:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157777&l=1d41e&id=21300057
Monaco:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2157766&l=ab431&id=21300057
Nice, France:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2156569&l=4c301&id=21300057
posted by ashley at
10:12 PM
2 Comments:
:-) good blog. very detailed. this sabrina chick must be cool.
yeah, she's pretty awesome. you'd probably like her. :P
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