Luck

I feel really lucky after this past week. So many awesome things happened and I just wanted to share them with all of you!

On Monday, I found out that I will be interning at the Whitney Museum of American Art in the city this summer. For the past three or so months I have been freaking out about finding a summer internship and so to have been offered a dream position like this was the best way to start my week. 

On Wednesday, I had my first final exam of the semester and it wasn't too bad so that's always good news. Only one more to go! (It's in 3 weeks - France is weird)

On Friday, I found out that I have been tapped to join Dickinson's senior women's honorary society, Wheel and Chain, also know as the Blue Hats. It's really hard to explain to people who don't go to Dickinson but it's a group of 10 or so women who can be recognized on campus by their (our - weird!) signature blue hats. It's a huge honor and I feel so lucky to have been chosen to continue the legacy of such incredible ladies. I remember when I was a freshman thinking that all of the blue hats were some of the most amazing girls on campus and now I'm one of them! Crazy!

To top it all off, yesterday Meri and I went on a tour of Airbus! For those of you who know me pretty well, you know that I have this really weird obsession with planes and basically all things aviation. Needless to say it was one of my favorite days of being abroad thus far. Airbus is headquartered in Toulouse so we went out to their campus and got to see where they make the A380, the largest plane in the world. It's the one that has two full passenger decks. It's like a double decker plane and it's SO COOL. I really want to fly on one. All of the parts of the plane are made in different parts of Europe and then they get shipped to Toulouse for assembly. We saw the huge hangar that can house 4 of them inside and then the area where they get worked on outside. I could have stayed there all day. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the facility so enjoy this super cool photo of me being really lame:

I'm currently sitting on the bus going to Aix-en-Provence for Dickinson's spring break trip. I'll be back in Toulouse on Wednesday night and then I leave for more travel on Thursday.

May 22nd is just around the corner, it's insane!

Home in 25 days!

Nice is Pretty Nice

This weekend I took a trip to the French Riviera where I met up with my favorite weirdo, Chelsea, after 8 months of being apart. In our 13-year friendship this is the longest time that we haven't seen each other. Bizarre! Needless to say, we had such a fun weekend exploring Nice and venturing to Monaco.

Friday we stayed in Nice and explored everything that this amazing city has to offer. My host family was skeptical as to why I was going to Nice. They said that there isn't really anything to do there and that the population is really old. I don't know what they were talking about because Chel and I found so much to do and had an awesome time wandering around the city. First of all, the Mediterranean. The water was such a bright blue and even when it was cloudy it was beautiful. Nice is famous for its "Promenade des Anglais," a really long boardwalk-type path along the rocky coast. The beach in Nice isn't sand but little rocks and pebbles. While it's not exactly comfortable to sit on, it's definitely a sight to see and explore. Nice has so many different vantage points for taking in the incredible views of the city and the surrounding regions and we tried to hit them all. Our exploring was obviously broken up by numerous food and snack breaks and the food options in Nice were endless. The part of the city known as "Vieux Nice" or old Nice, is filled with tiny, winding streets and vibrant, colorful buildings where restaurants and cafés (and ice cream shops) are to be found all over the place. Let's just say we ate well this weekend.

Nice is just down the coast from Monaco, the second smallest country in the world, so on Saturday we decided to take a day trip to see what it was all about. Monaco should just be synonymous with money. At least in the Monte Carlo area where we got to see the world famous casino, every designer store you could possibly imagine, and cars. My god the cars. Parked on the street, driving down the famous Monaco grand prix track, or just waiting at a stop light, the worlds priciest cars were everywhere and it was definitely a sight to see. Monaco is a beautiful country built right into the mountainside along the Mediterranean. After admiring the Casino and the Monte Carlo region in general, we made our way down to the port, scoped out our future yachts, then climbed up the hill and explored old Monaco where the Grimaldi family palace is located. The Grimaldi family has ruled Monaco since 1297. So cool. Up on the hill, the views of Monaco were absolutely breathtaking. After visiting the Oceanography museum, which is literally built on a cliff, we headed back to Nice to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather.

The famous casino

Grand prix grand stands

Zee palace

Chel left early on Sunday morning, so I wandered around for a while on my own, did some shopping, and plane watched for a majority of the day before my 5pm flight. The Nice airport is really close to the city of Nice and sort of sticks out into the Mediterranean so I was sliiiightly obsessed with watching all of the planes go in and out all weekend. Cause I'm a super cool human.

This was probably the best weekend trip of the year and I was so bummed when it had to come to an end. Especially because it was rainy and gross when I got back to Toulouse.

Home one month from tomorrow.

Firsts and Lasts

This past weekend was filled with both of them. It's strange that after seven months in France I could still have new experiences and even weirder still that all of my "lasts" are beginning to happen.

About a month or so ago, I made a list of all of the things I wanted to do in Toulouse before I leave to go back to the States. One of those things was to go to the ballet and so on Friday night, Ayse and I went to see "Pâques Russes" - translates to Russian Easter though I'm not sure how that's related to the ballet we saw. It was incredible. And incredibly cheap. Only 10 euros for student tickets! Things I will miss about Europe. Even though the seats were partial-view I was still mesmerized. The way that these dancers do what they do with their bodies is incredible. Makes me really want to go see the New York City Ballet when I get home.

Couldn't take pictures at the ballet so this poster will have to suffice

Another thing on my list was to see a rugby game, so on Saturday a bunch of us went! Here in southwestern France rugby is king, not soccer. My only experience with rugby was going to see my cousin Kristin play at Gettysburg last year so I wasn't (and still am not) too familiar with the rules. We got our tickets from the international student group at our university so we ended up going with students from all over Europe which was really fun! We were also surrounded by a group of drunk of irish guys so of course that was entertaining as well. Maybe more entertaining than the rugby? Maybe equally entertaining? Tough call. Going to a professional sporting game in France definitely made me miss football (as in real football), hockey, baseball, and all of our glorious professional sporting events at home. It's much more fun when I can understand what the angry drunk fans are yelling (this includes not being able to understand the irish guys because let's be honest, it's practically a different language). Toulouse won the game which was the icing on top of a great night.

Dickinson ladies do rugby!

Then on Sunday I had the first of my lasts. Throughout the year I have eaten dinner on a bunch of Sundays with a family who lives just outside of Toulouse. They would love to be a host family for students on our program but they don't live close enough to the center of the city. Thus, I go and share my American culture and help them with their English! It's a family with three kids all of whom study english in high school and who have traveled in the US, so they love learning all about us strange Americans. Well, the mom does at least and she forces her kids to, which I appreciate. We always have an "apéro" where we snack and have drinks, then have dinner together, then hang out either looking at photos, playing board games, or watching movies. Every Sunday that I spent with them was so much fun and I really will miss them! When Martine, the mother, drove me home it was so sad saying goodbye because I honestly don't know if or when I will ever see them again. I must prepare for saying goodbye to my actual host family because that is going to be rouuuuugh.

Sundays in the country

Their dog Cannelle (Cinnamon)

They have an amazing garden - these smelled like honey and mint, no idea what they're called

So strange that I have to start thinking about things like saying goodbye. Today I chose the dates for my end of year meetings with our program directors and this week is my last week of classes. Have I mentioned that time is flying by?

Home in 38 days.

Amsterdam

First of all, my apologies for the delay of this post. I got back from Amsterdam on Monday and since then I feel like it has been nonstop work. Gotta love the end of the semester. Anyway..

This weekend I went to Amsterdam! I was there from Friday afternoon until Monday morning and it was just lovely. I met up with my friend Lexie from Dickinson and it was so much fun to see a familiar face! Amsterdam is a beautiful city. I for one didn't realize just how gorgeous it would be. Winding canals, bikes on bikes on bikes, funky architecture, everything about it was amazing. In my head I guess I thought that the city where weed and prostitution are legal wouldn't be as nice as it was. Who knew!

On Friday, before Lexie got there, I went to the Stedelijk museum (pronounced Stead-a-like) which is Amsterdam's modern and contemporary art museum. I had studied the architecture of the building at Dickinson and seeing it in person was incredible. It looks almost like a giant white bathtub fused together with a Dutch castle. I for one loved it, though I know it's highly debated. I'll let you form your own opinion. After walking around for a bit I met up with Lexie! We grabbed dinner at an Indonesian restaurant (Amsterdam is known for its Indonesian cuisine - thanks colonization!) and caught up on what we have been up to these past seven months. As we walked back to our hostel we decided to go to the Van Gogh museum since it was right across the street and since it was open until 10 on fridays. There was a Dutch band playing in the atrium of the museum which was really fun. The museum was great because it really showcases Van Gogh's early years and how he developed the style that he would come to be known for around the world.

Stedelijk

Stedelijk

Stedelijk

Stedelijk

Museumplein - Gorgeous park surrounded by museums

On Saturday, we started out the day with some pancakes - a must when in Amsterdam. Absolutely delicious. For the next three hours or so we went on a bike tour of the city which was awesome and if you're ever in Amsterdam I would highly recommend it. Our guide took us literally everywhere in the city. We explored all of the different neighborhoods, including the red light district which was probably the weirdest experience of my entire life. These women just stand in doorways staring at you. Freaky. The sun came out during the second half of our tour so when we were done, Lexie and I walked around and explored some more. We visited the house where Rembrandt lived and saw his studio and cabinet of curiosities and found a cute little café and had some cake to refuel. We walked back to hostel, took a break for a bit, then headed back out to dinner at this organic/local foods restaurant that we had found earlier in the day. We sat outside which was lovely as the sun was out really late.

Biking selfie!

My trusty steed

There are several of these in Amsterdam - who knew!

Rembrandt's studio

Rembrandt's paints

Have to have a Heineken in Amsterdam

Delicious dinner

Sunday morning we got up really early to get to the Anne Frank house before the line was insane. Even though we got there around 30 minutes before it opened, we still had to wait for close to 45 minutes. Nonetheless, the museum was well worth the wait. We got to walk through the secret annex where Anne and her family hid for two years and we saw her original diary! Truly an incredible experience. Made me want to re-read her diary, considering the fact that I read it in middle school and definitely don't remember everything. From there, we walked over to another awesome restaurant for breakfast. I had eggs florentine and it was probably the most amazing breakfast I have ever had. Everything was fresh and home-made, aka super delicious. Next on our list was the Rijksmuseum (pronounced Rikes-museum) which houses the national collection of Dutch art. We again had to wait on a long line but it was definitely worth it because not only was the collection amazing (Vermeer, Rembrandt, Frans Hals, etc.) but the museum was recently renovated and the architecture is incredible on the inside. And yes I am aware that I am a loser. Whatever. We ate some stroopwafels after that (two super thin waffles sandwiched together with caramel.. I mean come on) and then walked around Dam square and other areas of the city that we had yet to explore. Lexie left that afternoon to head back to Copenhagen and I met up with James, one of my friends from high school! We grabbed dinner at an awesome burger place and walked around for a while exploring the city.

Anne Frank Museum

Her family hid in the annex attached to the back of this building

Amazing breakfast

Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum

Rijksmuseum

Insanity surrounding Rembrandt's The Night Watch

Inside the museum

Stroopwafel!

Wantagh in Amsterdam!

It was such a fun weekend and a great way to kick off all of the traveling that is about to unfold in the coming weeks. My next destination is Nice for Easter weekend!

42 days until home.