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