Who says you can't do London in 2 days?

Talk about two full days.  London is huge without actually seeming enormous - not really sure how that works out.  But take NYC, with its grandiose buildings or Paris with its pure sprawling size.  London somehow seems relatively small - maybe its because the buildings are tall but not as tall as NYC and the city is spread out but you can't see it like you can in Paris.  Who knows.  But it's both easy and difficult to get around, easy given the great public transport but difficult because the streets don't always go in an orderly manner and also, it is a big city haha.

Pictures!

Plus, there's so much activity right now because of the Olympics.

But here's a break down of London in two (very full) days:

Tuesday - Brunch + a bit of browsing at Harrods, walk through Knightsbridge to Victoria and Albert museum, explore V&A, then Natural History museum, walk past the Royal Albert Hall, stroll through Hyde Park, visit Buckingham Palace & Green Park, see Parliament, Big Ben, the Supreme Court, Westminster, the Thames and the London Eye, and finally eat tapas at Barrica in Fitzrovia.

Wednesday - grab tea and a croissant in Fitzrovia, Tower of London (audio tour + crown jewels), Tower Bridge, Trafalger Square, lunch at the Cafe in the Crypt of the Church of St Martin-in-the-Field, explore the National Portrait Gallery, attempt (and fail) to get tea at the rooftop cafe The Portrait, get lost trying to walk to the British Museum, eventually arrive and explore the British Museum (and get kicked out when you try to stay longer), walk through Soho, get lost AGAIN trying to get back because the Tottenham Court Road Tube station is closed, and then get drinks at Sawyers Arms with the lovely Maggie Day :)

There are definitely good and bad things about traveling alone.  Positives? Can go wherever you want, can walk as fast as you want, don't have to wait for other people or coordinate etc.  Negatives?  Looking like a complete loner when eating at nice restaurants.  Tuesday night, when I got tapas in Fitzrovia, I made a reservation and the guy looked at me like I was some poor creature.  You know me, sitting alone in the corner of the bar during rush hour; casual.  But the food was phenomenal so I don't care! What I love about tapas is that you can get 4 or 5 different things, and then you get to try a little bit of everything.  It's like splitting dishes with yourself.

I also realized that, honestly, I would loveee to be a food or restaurant critic.  Seriously, so jealous of people who get to eat amazing food for a living...

It's also remarkable how French has started to ingrain itself in my brain.  Every time I want to say Thank You, I start saying Merci; Yes becomes Oui.  And when I bump into someone or go to pass them, its Pardon.  And that was just after 6 weeks.  Hehehehe I can't wait to see how natural it becomes after a year :)

Alas, this Euro adventure has come to an end, and the countdown until Paris begins - just over 4 weeks till I'll be back.  

Le fin

« Qui a l’habitude de voyager sait qu’il arrive toujours un moment où il faut partir »

- Paolo Coelho

Ah the end of a trip.  It's always difficult when things get down to the end - the tug and pull of two different lives trying to win you over.  Bien sur, I'm looking forward to going home and seeing my family, but then again, I literally can't get over living here.  After spending quite a bit of time speaking English Friday, I actually started getting upset that we weren't speaking French - I wanted to switch back instead, continue the amazing process that we've been mustering through the last six weeks.  The food, the wine, the people, the shopping, the weather, the atmosphere, everything mixes together to create this allure that draws you in and won't let you go.

All the final projects are in, the exams taken (though one of our teachers might think I'm a bit insane - I wrote a redaction about fairies and disappearing women, casual).  Might have slept a total of 16 hours in the last 4 days haha but I guess it happens.  As I always say, you can sleep when you're dead ;)

Today has been super relaxing though, spent some time in town, walking around.  Had lunch at a cafe at the Place de l'Archeveche, tried a scrumptious crepe from a creperie underground, sat on the steps of the Musee Granet etc.  After going out Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night, I really just needed a relaxing last day, and the weather was so beautiful that it really made it perfect.

I think the most impressive part of this day is that I managed to pack all of my things into one bag - even though I bought two jackets, a pair of sneakers and 4 bottles of wine.  I just hope the airline people don't find it necessary to open my bag for any reason haha.  Not sure it will close up again.

Instead of saying goodbye, I'm only saying so long for now, and a bientot - I'll be back when the rain in Paris gets unbearable :)

Now, on to London for a few days, then home sweet home, California.

Bisous!

"J'aime le travail...

"... il me fascine.  Je peux rester des heures a le regarder." - Jerome K Jerome

M. Jerome's quote seems quite apt for my situation the last few weeks here.  Despite knowing for several weeks that I had an immense amount of work, I frankly had a difficult time motivating to do it.  Instead, I would write down all I had to do and set aside a few hours to do it, and manage to get very little to nothing done.  And normal me, for example, would have only gone out maybe this past Friday and stayed in the rest of the weekend in order to make sure I got everything done on time.  But nope!  Instead I had one of the busiest weekends of the trip, visiting Cassis and going out Friday, spending the day and night at a friend's house outside of Arles on Saturday, spending the day in Avignon and then attending a Bach concert in Aix on Sunday.  There are just so many fun things to do and so little time to do them!  Maybe it's summer laziness or possibly just lack of motivation given the fact that I'm not getting credit for this program, but minor work ethic problems are definitely coming back to kick me in the butt.

In other news, had my first real bad scare walking home alone last night after the opera (and a tiny excursion to Mistral).  Even after changing into sandals, still had a car follow me for a few turns and another car full of guys backing up and trying to talk to me in the street.  Had to take a few detours which made my trip 15 mins longer (and 15 more minutes of stress).  Lesson learned? Do not walk home alone while wearing only a dress and jacket, and definitely not while wearing heels...

The opera was amazing though!  We saw an adaptation of Les Noces de Figaro by Mozart, and my gosh, it's truly incredible what some people can do with their voices.

Since I'm not trying to make this a negative post, going to say that I'm feeling both happy and sad about the end of this program.  Sad, because of course I don't want to leave - life here doesn't always feel real, with the beautiful weather and people and culture.  I feel really comfortable here, and it's become such a joy to speak French.  And the people here are really so fantastic, so generous and friendly that I feel like I'm constantly blown away by each person I meet here.  I sincerely hope that I can come back and visit sometime during the year to see some of the friends I've made here (if I haven't sufficiently weirded them out haha).  But I also feel happy, not necessarily about leaving, but about having some time in between this program and Paris - the four week break allows me to be even more excited about coming back in the Fall.  And I guess I can't wait to see my lovely family and teach them all about wine :)

But now, I must finish my final paper.  Shoutout to the gorgeous Aidan, who is officially 21!

Bisous!! xoxo