Beamers, Benz, and Seagulls - Monaco

Early October, we took a bus to the country next door, Monaco. Monaco is known for how rich and small it is, Monte Carlo car race, casino, and obviously where Blair is going to live with Prince Louis (GG reference). So when we arrived, we had some free time to wonder the city and have lunch. We also waited around for the changing of the guards near the palace. So the twins and I decided to sit on the curb and eat our bagged lunches. Within literally 3 minutes of eating, a HUGE seagull swooped down from behind us, almost brushing Bridget's head. I don't know what's up with Europe and its birds but they can always sense fear from the twins and then attack. Just the shadow of a seagull made us flinch. Monaco's seagulls make pigeons look like swans. Birds are scary. So then we moved to a bench and after we were done eating/to paranoid to finish eating, we waiting for the changing of guards. Fun fact: police officers and guards are supposed to be good looking, based on height and whatnot, so a lot of creeping was involved. Another thing, in front of the palace, there is a small parking lot thing where some of the nicest cars are parked. I don't even know a lot about cars, but when the car has lamborghini doors and asians gather to take pictures around it, something's gotta give. Eventually, we made our way into the palace for a quick tour. Palace's don't even phase me anymore because I've seen so many beautiful buildings and whatnot. Whatever, it's still cool. Then we went to a Napoleon museum, which I didn't care for but they had a section with cute figurines. After, we took the bus down to the super cool part, Monte Carlo.

First, we went into the casino. You had to check your purse because no camera's we allowed. Inside, the casino resembled a palace, however, you had to pay to get into the actual casino part. One can only imagine how much it cost to play at a table. I did get to use the bathroom! The toilets were cool because there was a machine that washed off the rim and dried it before you used it, which is like any germaphobe's dream. Also, the parking lot outside of the casino also consisted of BMW'S, Benz, and Bentleys. After the visiting the casino, we walked around town where the shops where. Instead of the Buckle, Abercrombie, Urban Outfitters, there was Cartier, Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc. Hence, the reason why we didn't go into any stores.

After Monaco, we made our way to Eze, a small town in France, passing Tina Turner and Elton John's homes. Eze is a city built on top a hill, which was a B* to walk up, but had amazing views of the sea, small cute antique shops, and a pretty chapel.

THEN, the bus dropped off Bridge, Shan, the Katie's and I in Nice for some good ol' shopping. However, it was ridiculously busy but damage was done. After struggling to find the H&M, Bridge, Shannon, and I decided to grab dinner in old town. We went to a very interesting restaurant. When we say, there were legit wooden spoons, knives, and forks. At first, I thought it was a joke until my beef came out with no other silverware. Somehow, we managed to use our caveman silverware. After, the original plan was to grab some drinks in town, however, at the end of dinner we were all struggling to even keep our heads up. So we went down to the train station to buy some tickets and get back. Too bad we couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket. I don't know what the consequence of getting onto a train with no ticket is, but we got pretty lucky and no one found out. The free train ride worked out because when we got back to Cannes, we stole someone's cab and paid to take it back to the college. Side note: Always buckle, especially in Europe, because my face nearly smashed into the windshield. Oh, GT's.

Coming up: Golden 21'st in London and Paris. Haaaaaaaay. xoxo.

Provence: Eating and Icing

Last weekend the group took a road trip to Provence. A lot of motion sickness happening but well worth it :) Also, it is amazing how well my body adapts to sleeping in vehicles. The food was definitely the highlight of this trip. Typical Bennie abroad.

Day 1: Best Salad EVER.
On Friday, we left extremely early. Good thing I got blackout the night before and didn't pack until the morning of leaving and had no alarm clock. It was struggle-city, population: me, even before getting on the bus. Unfortunately, the twins had to go back to USA for a week for a funeral, leaving me to fend for myself. Anyways I managed to get comfy on the bus, pass out, and before we knew it we were in Avignon. Avignon is a very cute town. Our first touristy site was the Palais des Papes, which was the Pope's Palace. It was actually very cool, the only thing I learned was that it was built in under 20 years and that the Pope was the only person allowed to eat with knifes. The Pope's chamber was beautiful, with colored mosaic tiles and paintings on the wall, however we weren't allowed to take pictures of it. After, we left for our next site, the Pont du Gard. The Pont du Gard was amazing. A lot of jumping pictures were taken on the bridge. We explored more and found an old grotto where cave men lived. We ventured to play in the water, where I learned I am the world's worst rock skipper. We were entertained by throwing huge rocks in the water to try and splash Mark, which got really sketchy when they got really dangerously close to him. After playing at the Pont du Gard we left for our hotel in Arles. We stayed at Hotel Constantin and watched some weird commercials before dinner. By the time dinner arrived, we were starving. I don't think anyone realizes the extent of our hunger. We went to a small restaurant, le Saxo or something like that. We were given the BEST SALAD for the appetizer, and I kid you not it was the best salad ever. We literally cleaned the plates. After dinner, we wondered through the town and went to an Australian-type bar where I iced Mark once again. Sucks to suck. 


Day 2: "Something's Happening"

The next morning, we wanted to explore Arles for a little so Katie, Rachel, Kayla, and I ate breakfast and left the hotel. We had crossed the street and a shopping frenzy came over me when we spotted shoes for only 5 EUROS. The market was great, I got a blazer, shoes, and a top for only 25 euros. Shopaholics dream. After shopping, we got back on the bus and headed for the next site, the Arena and Theater. There's not much to say about it besides of how old they are and the amount of planking done at the sites. Then we got back on the bus and headed to the town of Aigues Mortes. It's a town that is walled in. We got lunched and wondered around the town. Then we all got on a boat for a tour around the city. No one told us how hot and boring it was going to be. It was like taking a boat down the Mississippi, with the occasional wild horse or herd of bulls. Then the boat stopped in the middle of nowhere and we had to get off and were welcomed by 3 cowboys/girl and waited for some show to start. The show consisted of the cowboys rounding up bulls into a yard and then escorting them out one by one... Then we got back on the boat and headed back to the port. On the way, we saw a bunch of house boats which reminded me of the Chad in Charlie's Angels.  After, we got settled into our hotels, got ready, and went out to dinner. Side-note about the hotel, the keys were impossible to figure out. They really need to fix that. At dinner, I sat with Katie, Rachel, Emily, and Lizzy. I decided to try some weird stuff at this meal so I had oysters and mussels for the appetizer and a as raw as it gets piece of bull meat. Emily, who is a vegetarian, also tried something fairly new because her dish had meat in it but it definitely wasn't suppose to. Whoops. After dinner, we headed to a park and played some drinking games. Turrets was played and also 10 fingers. A little tipsy, I was trying to think of a never have I ever statement when all of a sudden I felt something in my hand... A Smirnoff Ice. Thanks Mark. Then we went back to the hotel where we hung out in one of the rooms. Being the typical Bennie, I wanted to eat some chips. When I grabbed it, there was an Ice in the bag. Twice in a night, very impressive Marky.


Day 3: Giant Playground

On our last day in Provence, we stopped at Les Baux, which was one of the coolest sites. It's kind of like France's own Grand Canyon. We hiked around the castle, climbed up huge stairs, and took in some breathtaking views. At the top of a tower, I wanted to attempt to do a planking picture so I gave my purse to someone. When I got my purse, SURPRISE, yet another Ice. Definitely not mad about getting Iced at the top of a tower though. After, we shopped around town. The Provence region had the cutest blankets and there were stores and stores full of them. We ate lunch at a restaurant, where I had my first savory crepe. Then, we made the bus ride back to Cannes. 


Overall it was a great trip. Traveling has been probably my favorite thing to do while in Europe, obviously. I've been really bad updating my blog sooooo coming up next is stories of Monaco, Eze, Nice, London, and Paris. xo, jennifer

When in Rome...

Sorry about the late blogging but we've been very busy with classes starting this week and just getting back from ROME! But as for classes, it kind of blows having 3 hours of french every day plus 3-4 more hours of our seminars. It's like working overtime in but in class hours. However, homework is very minimum. So over all, school-wise, it sucks but what's new. Now for the interesting part. When in Rome...

... Stay in Chinatown.

Friday afternoon, Bridget, Shannon, and I packed our bags for a weekend trip to Italy. We were told by some people to buy things last minute so that's what we did. I think we did it too last minute though, meaning don't book your hostel two days before you leave, or better yet your flight the day before. Rookies, I tell ya. After having major credit card problems, we took the express bus to the Nice airport. We safely landed at the Vinci di Fiumicino airport and were lost puppies as to how to get to our hostel. After paying 50 euros (yikes), we got in the Benz shuttle bus and were off to our hostel. Once we got into the city more, things got really sketchy and it looked like we were entering some sort of India/African/China town. I think the twins and I were all thinking the same, please don't stop the car here/what a weird shortcut. Finally the driver stopped and so did my stomach. It was about 7pm, which seems like 11pm in Chinatown, and we had no idea where our hostel was. After asking another hotel about where our hostel was, we located some Chinese writing and the letter B&B on the wall. We buzzed in and a very nice asian lady brought us up to the 4th floor, our home for the weekend. It reeked of egg roll vomit, no exaggeration, and the showers were as clean as a homeless man's ass. Despite our situation, we left our home for the weekend, which was only a 15 walk to the Colosseum, for some dinner. At dinner, we realized if we could tough it out in the hostel, we could do anything ; ie. Balls will be dropping.

In front of the Trevi Fountain

... Spend all of your money.

After dinner on Friday, we did the fastest speed walk back to our doinky hostel and slept on our dresses and used our shirts as blankets.  The next morning, we showered, and headed out to explore Rome for the day. We started at the Colosseum, wondered down the street to Roman Forum/Ruins, made our way to Piazza Navona, Campo de' Fiori, explored different churches, hung out at the Trevi Fountain, stopped for gelato, drinks, and food. I wish I could tell you everywhere I went, but I don't, and even if I did I wouldn't know how to spell anything. But I can say that Rome is absolutely beautiful, from everything between the architecture to the random fountains everywhere. After hours, and I mean HOURS, of walking we headed back to Chinatown for a quick snooze and to get ready for the night!

@ the Vatican 

... Go get dressed. 

Earlier during the day, Bridget and Shannon had talked to their sister who recommended a pub crawl she did when she was abroad a couple years ago. So after dolling up for the night, we went to go pick up our VIP tickets at the office. We managed to get into another awkward situation. We were chatting with the man who was working and he was telling us the basic information, where to meet, what bars we would be going to, etc. As we were about to leave he said go get dressed and we were nodding yes, sounds good, ok. Then the awkwardness hit when we realized that he was implying that we weren't dressed yet, but we were... So then we asked oh is what we're wearing not ok for this and he looked at our shoes (I was wearing TOMS, Bridget flip flops, and Shannon flats) and said are those your shoes? Do you have heels? Feeling really awkward, we took our tickets and booked it out of there. There was no way in hell, after walking all day, I was prepared to wear heels on that dumb, bumpy, dangerous cobblestone. Thanks but no thanks. 

... Say No to the damn Roses.

After dinner we went to the Spanish Steps for the Spanish Steps Pub Crawl where we were bombarded by those dumb vendors trying to sell things. They would give you a rose, say you were beautiful, and when you would walk away with it, they'd try to make you pay for it. At one point, I'm pretty sure Bridget told the guy "what am I going to do with this dumb rose." Just say no, seriously. Finally, the group headed to the first bar, Highlander Pub, for an open bar and little did we know a chugging contest. This girl, I kid you not, had chugged her beer in literally 10 seconds. When we were halfway done with our beer, she was done. Unbelievable. Also, we surprisingly meet many Minnesotans who were kind enough to buy us beers at the next pub, where they played Teach me How to Dougie, and at this weird club with police-dressed dancers. Then back to Chinatown for some sleep.

Washing poop out of her hair.

... Get Shit on.

The next morning, we woke up a little hung and sore but that didn't stop us from venturing over to the other side of the river, although we did have to stop periodically for gelato and water. We went to the Vatican, where we stopped to get more water and I took a catnap on the sidewalk. Nobody's mad. After admiring the Vatican, we headed down the river to stop at Trastevere, where Shannon and I ordered water downed Pina Coladas... At least the town was cute. After, we headed back home, exhasted and sore by then. However, on our walk we did manage to have a slap happy moment when we realized that a pigeon had pooped in Bridget's hair. So natuarly, we had to stop and Shannon washed, or attemted to wash, shit out of Bridget's hair. So not only was Bridget, tired and sore, she was also wet. 

... Learn how to get a taxi.

This photo isn't staged...

After the day's events, we decided we needed to get a taxi. I don't know what happened, if we were in a bad spot or not, but we failed miserably to trying to wave one down. We would stop and stand on the side of the road for 10 minutes. No one would come. Then walk 5 minutes down the road and trying again to wave one down. Repeat that for about an hour and finally we managed to get a cab. That evening, we decided to have a chill night at Scholars lounge. We meet some nice people there studying abroad in Rome, watched a drunk blonde try to steal the microphone from everyone during karaoke, and had the drunk munchies, which resulted in more gelato. 

Bad taste themed beach party

... Learn how to use the lifejacket on an airplane.

The next day, we packed our bags and headed back to Cannes. On the flight back, things got really sketchy when the plane started getting a little topsy turvy and I had Shannon on my right slightly laughing and Bridget on my right who looked pale in the face and scared out of her mind. Thankfully, the plane landed a little bumpy but safely. But seriously, I thought we were going to have to pull out those life jackets from under out seat. 

An exciting weekend in ROMA, I'd say. Also, while you guys are freezing your butts off in Minnie, we're still breaking a sweat and throwing beach parties. After this week's classes, we will be heading out to PROVANCE. So excited to do more traveling. I hope all you Johnnie and Bennie's enjoyed homecoming weekend and go hard on Johnnie -Tommie. Missing you all. XO.

What's up Grasse

On Saturday we went on a little excursion to Grasse, France. It is considered the world's capital of perfume. However, getting to Grasse was not so fun because the heat of the day and the motion of the bus left me feeling a little pukey. We were welcomed in Grasse by a group of frenchies line dancing to save a horse, ride a cowboy. That was really nice. Then we started off our day going to the International Museum of Perfume which ended up being very cool. First, we went into a dark room with beanie bags and nice views of mountains and whatnot being projected on the wall while a scent was being sprayed into the room. It was very relaxing and much needed after feeling sick. The museum also had crazy things that you could smell and bottles of perfume from all over the world and dated way back to ancient times. After, we stopped at a little cafe for lunch and shopped for a little. They had the cutest shops but if you ever come to France and shop, be sure to say hello and goodbye to the storeowner or they'll give you some dirty looks. We went back to our group's meeting site and waited for everyone else to return. Bridget really wanted ice cream so we walked to a weird ice cream store and in the fridge I saw a Smirnoff Ice and couldn't help but scheme to ice someone. Poor Mark was the victim and he ended up finding the bottle in my purse when I asked him to grab me a hair binder and got down on one knee in front of the whole group. GT's. After, we went to the Molinard Perfumerie, where we got a tour of how they made various perfumes and soaps. After the tour, we got to make our own little perfume mixture but by this point, my nose was overwhelmed by the amount of smells that I just needed to get out of there.

Beach Party - 2 ; Jennifer - 0

On Thursday, there was another beach party. We knew we weren't in St. Joe anymore because one of the guys from the college had dropped 400 euros on champagne, beer, wine, hard liquor and snacks and in St. Joe you'd have Philips. The theme this time was hawaiian and assuming that no one would really have anything to dress up in, Bridge, Shan, and I went very casual. Boy did we feel like boys. Girls were wearing dresses and mini-skirts. Such a huge joke. When we got to the beach there was a hobo laying by the place that we usually go so we had to move farther down. One of the boys had fireworks, but that was a disaster waiting to happen because some of them would go off sideways near the ground and it was just bad. Some of the French journalism students joined the party and obnoxious american music was played (did we really have to play soulja boy?) Then we continued to have a few drinks which turned into one too many and we know how the story ends. Sorry Bridget and Shannon for stumbling in, I'll work on that.

Other things I learned:

1. sushishop is my new favorite place to go when they serve us snails at the cafeteria. For desert, gelato. Nummy.

2. Don't try to click your heels when your wearing heels. Drunk or sober. It hurts HARD.

3. Four mixed drinks for 36 euros is a one time thing. 

4. Talk to people that own/live on yachts. You can muster up a free beer or two. Then leave when it gets weird.

5. Meet bartenders. They are the nicest people and give you free shots.

6. "I didn't come abroad to get a good GPA." - Shannon Jessen

7. Slushies here are soooo good. I still can't get over it.
8. Watch where you walk in France because there is dog poop everywhere.

9. I don't drink as much as it seems. Seriously.
10. But seriously.

Next stop for the weekend - ROME, ITALY. bye france :) xoxo

1st week down, 3 months to go

One week down! I'm slowly but surely getting use to the way of life here.  So much has happened within this past week that I need to be updating this baby more before I get my days/nights mixed up or forget great times. 


Sketchy situations

This story needs its own little section. So the first Friday we wanted to go out, and so we did the normal routine, pregame on the beach, hit the town. Expect we hadn't really explored so we didn't really know where we were going. We were trying to find a certain bar, but of course things wouldn't go smoothly, and I'm direction-challenged and we got lost. Finally, when we get there, we went in and it was a little small lounge with purple walls and a 40 woman was djing. Shannon and Bridget had a weird feeling about it but we were trying to be open-minded about it. Finally, we knew we were at the WRONG place when we looked at the menu and realized we had stumbled into a gay bar. Whoopsies, see me never.


Screw the pony, I want a yacht

Last Saturday, our group headed down to the pier to take a boat to the Île Sainte-Marguerite. I love living on the beach here in Cannes, because there are boats EVERYWHERE and when I say boats I mean sailboats, speedboats, and YACHTS. Huge yachts. On our way to the island, a yacht pulled out and literally it was never ending. Get on a yacht - putting that on the bucket list. On the island, we took a tour of a fort and then went to the beach there. There was a sandy beach and a rocky beach, and we decided to go to the sandy one. Little did we know, the "sandy" beach wasn't so sandy and God knows what the rocky one was like. Also the water was very clear and perfect but not the dead jellyfish everywhere. Thanks but no thanks, I think I'll stick to the beach in Cannes.

Lesson learned in the roughest way possible
We have french for THREE hours in the morning everyday. It's a lot easier to pay attention in class knowing that you have to learn the language to use outside of the college. In my class, there are students who are from Switzerland, Holland, Sweden, and then some Americans. The worst thing about being American in class is that everyone can do that weird thing with their throats but when I try, I feel like I'm gonna hawk a loogie or choke to death. A typical weekday here starts with breakfast, class, lunch, beach/town, dinner, courtyard, sleep. We only have 2 classes but in 3 weeks our other seminars start so we are taking advantage of our free time to nap on the beach. Also, if I don't lose some lbs something's wrong because it takes 75 stairs to walk up and down to our room with no elevator. They're worst than the quads and my view that spiral staircases are cool has taken a complete 180. Wednesday night there was a beach party that one of the Swiss boys organized so around 10 we all headed to the beach and sh*t got real reaaal fast. The main lessoned I learned this week is do not get bombed during the week because it's impossible to focus on french when you have to puke. However, it was great time meeting people from literally all over the world. ALSO, I have a weird urge to jump in the sea when I've had a little to drink. Thanks to all my babysitters for not letting me drown ;) 

Antibes - control your pigeons
Saturday we took our first excursion to the city of Antibes. It's a 20 minute train ride from Cannes. When we arrived, we hiked to a castle when I realized my body is not made to live in hot weather. I could turn pages in a book using just my arm, THAT's how sweaty I was. The castle was cool, beautiful views and whatnot but damn it's hard to enjoy history like that when you know nothing about it and you can't read the plaques. After, we wondered the small town and grabbed lunch an outdoor restaurant. Our table was outside in a huge tent and I feel like the twins have never been so scared eating a meal in their lives. Why? Because an old lady kept feeding the pigeons by our table and they would come swooping down in this tiny tent. Not okay. Kate, this would have been the perfect situation for your "does this look like a circus? back offff" rant. Then we went to a Picasso museum which was great because it was air conditioned but I question some of the pieces Picasso has because a lot of them have cute smiley faces that resemble the ones I use to send to my crushes in 2nd grade. When we went outside, Bridge, Shan, and I were trying to figure out which scupture to take a picture with. Bridget pointed to one saying we should take a picture with this because Picasso is known for it. Then we read the plaque and it wasn't even made by Picasso. Seriously, I question art sometimes.


Real life Coyote Ugly

Finally the weekend came and now that we knew more people and places to go, we were very excited to go out. Friday, we pregamed at the beach. As we were hanging out, a pizza man, or so we thought, walked by and of course being the fat Americans we are, we had to try and take his pizza. He wasn't really a pizza man, but a Parisian, and gave us his pizza and conversed for a little bit. Then we all headed to Au Bureau, and five seconds later I was being carried onto the bar by a huge bouncer. I've never been so boggled in my life but this bar was something straight out of a movie. I'd turn to my left and there was shots being poured into people's mouths and I'd turn to the right and somehow the bar would be on fire. Way to crazy but definitely entertaining. Saturday night, we went to La Station with the group. I seriously apologize to everyone in that bar for Shannon and I's Celine Dion performance. I was intoxicated and still knew we sounded like nails on a chalkboard, but worst. Afterwards, we managed to find a sandwich place, ride some parked bikes, and of course I had to jump into the sea. It's literally always a beach in my bed. Why do I do this to myself? Sunday, things got sketchy when we tried to take a bus into town because the bus driver wouldn't take my money but wanted me to pay and it was just another awkward encounter. We had lunch at McDonalds and they have these cool kiosks ordering machines outside which I will be using all the time so I don't have to look like an idiot trying to order fries in French. Later that night, a group of us went to Morrison's pub for ladies night. There was a drunk 40 woman dancing on the stage but her dancing looked like she was having a seizure with every swag she made. Another girl was kicked off of the stage, that was humorous. And the boys here dress sooo cute I can't even take it and the women here are so beautiful even I catch myself doing a double take. Yup, that about sums it up.

Everyday in Cannes, Antibes, or where ever we may be, is something new. I hope everyone is enjoying themselves at home, going to football games, working, and whatnot . I'm definitely missing and thinking of you all. Sorry for making such long posts but I'll separate them so you can kind of pick which part you want to read about, if anyone even reads this. But who knows, maybe one day this blog will be printed and have its own museum, along with my hand-traced turkeys I made in 4th grade. xoxo 

hello france

Hello everyone! I am finally in Cannes and it's more beautiful than I ever expected. So I will just update you on the journey so far.

My flight: Flying alone to Europe by yourself is one of the scariest things I've done. I checked into MSP airport around 1:30pm. Saying goodbye to my parents was very hard and the sight if my mom bawling didn't make it any easier. I only had 30 mins until I boarded. The 8 hour plane ride to Paris was decent because I had movies and stuff but sleeping was not happening for me and one of the most frustrating things. In Paris, I felt so lost and I went to wait for my luggage but little did I know they had sent it straight to Nice. So with my extra hour and a half I shopped around in the Paris airport. An hour later, I was at baggage claim in Nice waiting for my luggage. Funny story is that it wasn't there ( the aiport did send it to the college after they found it). So luggage-less, I got on a bus the college sent and shared stories with my roommates, Bridget and Shannon.

Thursday afternoon: We arrived at the college and were brought to our rooms. Decent size, amazing view. Chuck, our program director, took the those who arrived into town. We are literally a 10 min walk from great restaurants, bars, shops, etc and a less than 5 min walk to the sea. I am in slushie heaven here because they are slushie shops where there are literally 10 different flavors of slushies. When we got back to the college, jet-lag hit me HARD and I knocked out until dark. (Picture is the view from our room)

Thursday evening: In the evening, half of our group had arrived and we all met in the courtyard. After talking about everyone's flights and pre-travel stories we decided LGW. So we got ready and went into town looking for a liqour store but everything was closed besides this broke down conveience store with less than what my mom has in our kitchen. It had to be a cover store. We bought wine and beers and headed to the beach and hung out. After we walked to an Irish pub and had more. Kayla and I managed to speak some french to some locals sitting next to us. There's no shame in trying to speak a foreign language when you're intoxicated. After, Bridge, Shan, Eric, and I went to another bar (no one knows the name) and enjoyed the d.j and drinks. After we were starving and I managed to ask a rando where the Mcdonald's was and then we somehow found it. I tried ordering chicken nuggets buts instead they gave me three McChickens. I wanted to fix my order when the security guard told us we were being to loud so we went outside and sat with some London guys and decided to go for a swim. It's weird but we couldn't stop talking in British accents around them and it came so naturally. Finally, we ended the night back at the college and I slept like a baby.

Sorry this is a long post, but there's so much to do and so many great stories I don't want to forget them all! Pictures will be up later but they probably won't do it any justice. I'll be back with more stories! Until then. xoxo.

time for takeoff!

After a long process of applying, shopping, and packing it is finally time to leave America and head off to Europe! I've had an amazing summer relaxing, traveling (Madison, WI, Nebraska, Chicago), working, and visiting St. Joe as much as possible. My plane takes off at 3:55pm, stop in Paris, and arrive in Nice. Rough, I know. I'm hoping it's not to hectic at the airport and easy to find other people from school. And not to mention my luggage makes it with me.

Packing is the biggest buzzkill in the world. I tried to drag it out as long as possible but I figured the day before is the latest I could. Packing for four months in one suitcase and a carry on was almost impossible. It took a lot of rearranging, taking things out, weighing, and bickering with my mom to get it to the weigh the right about. I'm still nervous for the baggage check though. I swear I'm not smart enough to make a bomb out of my contact solution and hairspray so please don't take them from me. On a side-note, those giant packing compression bags that suction air out are AMAZING for packing and thanks again Katherine for the gift :)

SOO Europe here I come! I just wanted to thank everyone for an awesome summer and I will be truly missing you all. I am so blessed to have an amazing family who keeps me on track, friends to support me, and God for giving me both family and friends and this amazing opportunity. Feel free to skype me, e-mail me, or follow my blog for updates on this wonderful journey. Thank you so much for your good lucks, be safes, and have funs. I won't let you down ;) xo