One more time.

Bonjour de Cannes, France one last time! This has been one crazy ride, but one that I am thrilled to have taken. We've been talking a lot lately about our first days here way back in August, and how we've all grown and changed throughout the semester. In many ways, that first day seems like just yesterday, and in others, it seems like another age entirely. I remember waking up in a hotel room in Nice on my first morning here, hearing the maids speaking French just outside the door, and groggily thinking, "Oh NO, I have to get up and use all my energy to translate that noise all day." Then I thought about this past Tuesday night when I was able to jump in at the last second and direct a choir of kids for a French song on the spot in front of an audience. The language is so deeply rooted in my brain now that I can't help but understand it without even trying. I have so much more confidence speaking and navigating, and that's really exciting to realize.

This has been a hard day for everyone here. We had our last class with Sylvie this morning; it finally began to hit home that you can't spend three hours a day, five days a week with the same people for four months and not miss them. Luckily, I will be able to see most of my friends from CSB/SJU next semester (although it won't be the same), but I don't know if I'll ever see my friends from France, Germany, and those with the AIFS group from all over the United States. This afternoon, Mickey and McGhee left for Nice for the night, and a group of us will walk Katie to the bus station at two o'clock this morning so she can make her early morning flight. There are so many goodbyes to be said and everyone is getting sick of it; I already had to leave my students and my flute teacher at the Conservatory earlier this week.

Studying abroad is one of those experiences that has dozens of unforseen consequences and outcomes. The hardest thing about it for me is the finality of leaving and not knowing when I'll be back to this place that I've called home for the past four months. After wandering around Cannes this week, I realized that I also don't remember a lot of things that struck me about France when I first got here - or I don't remember why they struck me, because everything about France is so normal to me now. I guess the last part of this adventure will be the reverse culture shock stage, where I stare, dumbfounded, at green, same-sized currency and scream and run away in fear of giant SUVs that just might eat me. I'll have a phone again, no need for a plug converter anymore, and the waiters at restaurants will bring the check right away after the meal without my asking for it. Also, people will give me strange looks when I try to order my food or respond to questions in class in French without noticing.

I also want to say merci mille fois to all of my family and friends who have supported me through this semester in so many ways. Thanks for the cards, emails, Skype dates, Facebook messages, and for giving me motivation to keep up with this blog throughout the semester. Thank you for putting up with me missing and craving Chipotle from time to time (even though I'm in France, for heaven's sake) and complaining of the "cold" here. And thank you especially to Mom and Dad for working so hard to get me here, worrying incessantly for four months straight, coming to visit, and for taking good care of Johann Sebastian in my absence.

I will see all of you soon on the other side of the Atlantic where I see a snowstorm has been arranged as a welcome back gift. Mais avant de partir, je voudrais dire à la France: C'est pas "au revoir", c'est "jusqu'à la suite". Tu me manques déjà.

Happy Tanksgeeveeng!

So, I'm back to "regular" life in Cannes. It's been a strange couple of weeks not traveling, so I feel as though I don't have much to write about, but I guess we've had some excitement here and there. As many of you know, I didn't make it to London last weekend because I was sick; I think it was a good decision because Katie told me it was very cold up there. Plus, I was able to go to Thanksgiving dinner here at the Collège; it was actually very good! Because there are so many Americans here, I sometimes forget that things are different in Europe and they don't have holidays like Thanksgiving. But the culinary staff put forward a great effort to make us feel at home for the holiday. They had a grand display in la salle à manger (the dining room), compete with a tepee and Playmobile pilgrims. We got to explain to our German, British, and Australian friends the purpose and story of Thanksgiving. ("Why do you celebrate all the Indians you killed?" questioned one of our friends from England. Fair enough.) The Nice Matin (the newspaper of Nice) even showed up to take pictures for a small article about Americans celebrating Thanksgiving in France.

Anyway, the food was fabulous. It far exceeded our expectations (which were low to begin with, let's be honest), except for the pumpkin pie. Apparently, year after year, they cannot seem to grasp the concept of the consistency of pumpkin pie filling. For them, all pies are like les tartes aux pommes (apple pie), where there are chunks of the fruit or vegetable in the pie.

They also put up red, white, and blue table decorations, so it was a kind of bizarre mix between Thanksgiving and the 4th of July. Still, though, everyone dressed up and we all took pictures (in front of the tepee, bien sûr). Afterwards, everyone moved into the café for a karaoke night! It turned out to be a lot of fun; I was going to skip out and go to bed, but I decided to go listen and ended up dancing until it ended at around one in the morning.

Then came maybe the most bizarre part of all of this: Waking up and going to class on Friday morning after Thanksgiving. Luckily, we could introduce our professor, Sylvie, to the effects of tryptophane.

On Friday night, I went with Mickey, Regina, and Andrew to the Sushi Shop one last time. It was only the four of us and Evans who were sticking around Cannes for the weekend. Saturday, it poured. I took Mickey and our friend Lauren to the American diner, which was all decked out for Christmas! They were also playing "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and we enjoyed watching that while dismembering a gingerbread man. It's still rather funny to see Christmas decorations here in the south of France with the beach only a block away and palm trees everywhere. It's also funny that all of the Cannes natives think it's freezing cold here, and while it's true that it's a colder year than usual for them, I would say it's decent St. John's football weather.

This week was rather busy. I had my Monday and Tuesday nights at the Conservatoire, which is getting hectic because of our fast-approaching concerts next week! Next Tuesday, the kids are going to sing the 12 Days of Christmas (except, since the words are difficult, they're getting the first four days of Christmas). They're doing so well! I'm not going to be directing it, though, because I'm going to be singing the verses into a microphone and they'll repeat after me. Régine and I modified the song so it works. Then, the middle-schoolers have written an accompaniment on their instruments and they'll finish the song. There's another French song they learned that I might be directing (at least, I've been directing it for the past week in class, so you never know what they're going to throw at you for the concert). I am definitely going to miss my students (especially les gamins - the little ones!) when I leave. It brightened my day on Tuesday when I walked into Régine's class and they all yelled "LEAH!!!!", and one girl gave me a little coupon she clipped out of a magazine with the name "Léa" on it. They are just too cute.

I also finally had another flute lesson with Caroline, and we decided that I will be playing in the recital on Wednesday. I threw together my piece with an accompanist in ten minutes and we are good to go...as long as both my accompanist and I practice a ton this weekend.

I had two final exams this week, in Cinéma and Histoire d'Art. They both went well. Now, all that's left are two papers and one final. Our grammar class has actually been very fun lately. Sylvie is an excellent teacher. We've been looking at French music videos/artists, some conventional grammar, and French texting abbreviations (like LOL - which they use here - and biz - bisous - kisses). There is also a type of language called "Verlan", which is kind of like gangster-speak; a lot of rap artists and people in big cities use it. Verlan is kind of abstract, but it is created by taking a word and switching the syllables; for example, they would say Céfran (say-frahn) instead of français (frahn-says).

Hmmm. Well, it feels kind of crazy that there are only eight more days here in France! On one hand, Christmas sounds lovely and it will be nice to be home; on the other hand, there is no snow here in the south of France. And there are Christmas markets everywhere in Europe! I went to the one in Paris a couple weeks ago, and the ones in Cannes and Nice opened today. I walked through the Cannes market earlier this afternoon; it is so funny. There are tons of tents set up along the harbor; people are walking around with long coats, furs, gloves, and earmuffs; right next to them is the ocean and a port full of yachts.

I plan on going back tonight with Regina and Andrew, and tomorrow, Mickey and I are going to Nice to see their big market! It should be a fun way to spend our last weekend. That art history paper will write itself...at some point.

Paris... and that's a wrap.

When you stay somewhere for a four-month period (even if it is a lovely place like Europe), you are inevitably going to hit a rough patch somewhere. And it might just be during the one weekend you are on an adventure by yourself. Luckily, I was not exactly in a strange city; this is technically my third (third and a half if you count my layover between Tours and Cannes) time in the city and I know the layout and Metro system pretty darn well. Things started out...in typical travel fashion: I left school at 6:40A.M. on foot for la gare to catch my 7:05 train. In my defense, this was my seventh straight weekend of travel and proper sleep has been a struggle lately. So has packing. Anyway, I sprinted through the dark streets of Cannes (the homeless people we know all too well by now were all cheering me on) and arrived at 7:01, much too early for any further excitement - the train had not even arrived yet.

When I arrived in Paris around noon, it was grey and cold, but still the same old Paris. I had unfortunately grabbed the wrong map of Paris in my packing haste - I at least had the bus and Metro maps, but not the streets - and so I took the Metro to the general area of my hotel and hoped to find it on the street maps of the arrondissements (quarters) posted in each Metro station. No such luck. About an hour into my stay in Paris and I was already bumming free WiFi off of the McDonald's across the street from the Gare du Nord to get directions. Hôtel Lorraine was conveniently right across the street from the Gare de l'Est (which, incidentally, is only a few blocks away from the Gare du Nord). At first glance, my room looked decent - it had its own bathroom, a double bed, and a TV; woo!; the only sketchy part was that the wood floor sunk when I stepped on it - so I left to do some exploring. I went to the Latin Quarter, which is my favorite area, to listen to some of the soundtrack of Notre-Dame de Paris (a French musical that follows the story of the Hunchback of Notre-Dame) in front of, oui, the real Notre-Dame de Paris. Then it was on to the Champs-Elysées, the upscale shopping street of Paris that leads to the Arc de Triomphe, a massive arch in a the Charles de Gaulle city square. There, I hit the jackpot - while Americans are preoccupied with Halloween and Thanksgiving during the fall, the French have decided in the past ten years that Halloween is pretty much out of style and what's all this about pilgrims and Indians? They go straight from the summer tourist season to Noël! There was a huge Christmas market along a huge part of the Champs-Elysées, complete with endless booths of food, hot drinks, and homemade gifts. They had real fruitcakes (you know, the ones made out of brick-like material), le vin chaud (hot wine - no cider in this country), and "magic" heating pads.

I walked all the way up the street until I got to the the Arc de Triomphe. I had business to do at that Arc. When I visited Paris after high school, I wasn't allowed to go up to the top of the arch because I wasn't yet eighteen (I was, in fact, two weeks away from turning eighteen) and I didn't have a parent with me. Well, I was determined to go up to the top of that arch this time. The only way to get up to the top is by climbing a tall but thin spiral staircase inside of one of the legs. There were people stopped, heaving and huffing, at several points during the way up. It was quite the climb. The top was worth it, though; even though it was cloudy, I got to watch the city dim and all the lights come on while I was at the top, and it wasn't crowded at all. There's also a great view of la Tour Eiffel from there.

When I finally dragged myself away from the view, I went down to the Louvre because students get in free after 6P.M. on Friday nights. I really love that museum; it is way too overwhelming when you think about trying to see the whole thing at once, but I have focused on the French and Italian paintings for my last two visits and I really enjoyed the evening. Then, since I had a big day planned Saturday, I decided on going to bed early. After about an hour of watching French TV in bed, I started to notice that my hotel room had kind of a strange aroma/feeling to it. The no-smoking rule had obviously not been followed, and I had to ball up my comforter and ban it to one corner of the room. Still, around the second or third time I woke up during the night, I decided that there were remnants of the Black Plague still lingering in my room. It just felt weird. And I was becoming increasingly worried that the floor was going to snap when I took a step and I would end up in the room below me.

Early Saturday morning, I had a train ticket from the Gare Montparnasse to the city of Rennes. It was a nice ride; I enjoyed seeing the style of northern towns. The scenery was all very green and the houses up in the area have black roofs instead of the typical southern red roof. I had about an hour and a half to wander around Rennes (and grab a quick café). It's an adorable town, much bigger than I had expected, and in true French fashion, there was very little open on a lazy Saturday morning in the off-season. It's also very cold up in the northern region, although the sun was peeking out in Rennes, and I was kicking myself for forgetting to bring a few scarves. The bus was easy enough to find, and it was only about an hour to Mont Saint-Michel, a medieval fortress isolated on the northern coast of France. Nearly as far from Cannes as one can possibly get and still be in France. Mont Saint-Michel was one of the sites that I really, really wanted to see in France, but it's difficult to get to and takes a full day (with train and bus time), so I was so happy to finally get there. I'm still milking my position as a European Union student and I got into the Abbey at the top for free! It was fabulous; the Abbey was constructed by Benedictine monks in the dark ages and also served as a military stronghold over the years (one that never fell to enemies, at that) as well as a prison at one point. The architecture was almost closer to that of castles in England (after all, it's not very far from the United Kingdom) than the rest of the French castles I've seen here. The Abbey was freezing cold (the only heating was in the gift shop, of course).

After my self-guided tour, I walked back down the mountain. Just below the Abbey is a tiny town with narrow streets leading back to the base. You can see it pretty clearly in the pictures. The view from the top was breathtaking (much different from the Mediterranean) and the view of the mountain from a ways inland is also quite the sight. It's indescribable; you just have to see the pictures. Even more indescribable were the flocks of tourists bumbling through the town, cameras first, snapping photos of every sign of every shop (OMG! It's all en français! Is that how things are in France?), blocking the entire width of the itty bitty street. I am not kidding: One man was videotaping his ENTIRE journey up the front steps of the Abbey and through the roped-off line to the ticket counter. How exciting. I made sure to get in the way a lot and make some interesting faces so the video is a little more bearable for his poor family and friends to watch.

After walking inland to get some pictures of the Mont in its entirety, I grabbed some food and sat on some rocks by the bus stop to eat and make friends with some hungry brown chickadee-like birds. I had quite the following. More tourists took pictures of me, like I am Dr. Doolittle or some magical girl who has communicational power with avian species.

Back in Rennes, I had a fantastic salade de chèvre chaud (warm goat cheese salad - it is one of my favorite French plates) and tried the NOUVEAU BEAUJOLAIS!!!! (new Beaujolais red wine that just been distributed everywhere in France - there are posters on the streets for it and everything) which was also amazing! This was my favorite meal of the weekend. Then it was back on the train to Paris and to bed.

Sunday morning was grey and dreary and a little bit sleety. I tried to sleep in a little, and I made it until nine when the plague started getting to me and I had to get out of there. I did watch some weekend cartoons in French while I was getting ready - all six main stations were broadcasting different cartoons. Interesting. Outside, I wandered down toward the Châtelet area where I had seen a plethora of cafés on Friday. It took a lot longer to walk than I thought it would; Paris is so big that it can take ten or fifteen minutes to walk what looks like only a block on the map. It was okay, though; I got to do some people-watching and admire the Parisian-style buildings all around me. I found a café with a heated patio (not heated enough) for a crêpe confiture framboise (a raspberry jam crepe) - it was lovely. I took a walk to the Bibliothèque Nationale (French National Library). Unfortunately, it is in the middle of a huge renovation, and I couldn't even get a picture of the front of it because of all the ugly temporary offices sitting in front of the main entrance. I went inside, but you have to pay to actually see anything at all (even the library itself - you have to pay for a locker to store your coat and bag because they're not allowed). I didn't want to see the inside THAT badly, so I warmed up for a bit and then headed back out to find somewhere to sit and people-watch. Two really great things happened as I was walking in the direction of Notre-Dame: A French woman asked me if I was from Paris (Score! - even though I couldn't understand what she was trying to find) and I found a pet store right across the street from the Seine! It had parakeets and puppies and a couple of terrifying Persian kittens and - yes - pigeons for 39 Euros apiece! (Personally, I would just grab one off the street if I wanted a pet pigeon that badly...)

I had a less-than-lovely dinner experience nearby. My quiche was burnt and generally unappetizing, my waiter kept giving me weird looks, and on the big screen, we were watching - not sports as you would typically imagine at a restaurant/bar - but an Animal Planet special on les loups (wolves)! It opened with a peaceful scene of a squirrel eating an acorn in a snowy forest and graphically displayed the squirrel's final hours at the hands of Mr. Wolf. When the wolf's prey became larger and we finally arrived at a scene showing him rolling around in bloody snow, I decided it was time to be done. I went in search of a poster I had seen earlier for a gospel choir concert at one of the churches in Paris; I thought that might be a fun evening activity. Unfortunately, I suddenly started feeling horrendously sick and had to return to the plague hotel where I was sick all night with food poisoning or a flu bug or something. When 7A.M. rolled around, I couldn't even dream of getting up, hopping on the Metro, and transferring to a five-hour train, so I stayed in bed until I had to check out. I forfeited my train ticket and had to buy a new one when I got to la gare, and waited in the ice cold Gare de Lyon for two hours until the next train left, still quite sick. The end.

So, I have been in bed for the past two days. My room and bed have never ever been more amazing than after the plague hotel, and I have never been happier to return to Cannes after a weekend away. I'm supposed to leave for a weekend in London in twenty-four hours... We shall see.

Happy Thanksgiving to all; enjoy your feasts! If I make it to London, I will bee-line it to the nearest Chipotle, rest assured.

Also, here's a kick-off present for the holiday season - I want to experience one of these!:

Christmas Food Court Flash Mob

Sound of Music / Central Station Antwerp

It's just not in the stars for this group.

It's very strange seeing everyone's Facebook pictures of snow in Minnesota! It's actually warmed up a bit here in France; it's been t-shirt weather here for the past few days. All the more reason to hop on a plane and come visit me, right? ;)

Early Thursday morning, we departed on our final (!) CSB/SJU group trip that was made possible by last summer's awesome exchange rate (dollar to Euro, 1.2). Lyon is the second-largest city in France (next to Paris, of course) and it is the capital of French FOOD. "Lyon" also means "lion" in French, so there were lion statues everywhere throughout the city. I stopped there on my way to Tours a few weeks back, but I didn't get to see much of it. Thursday morning was filled with a photo shoot of massive proportions on the train; Mickey and I were alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic while Katie and Evans were sleeping next to us, so we had quite a bit of fun. Upon arriving, we all went straight to our hostel, which actually wasn't bad. You never know what to expect when you're staying in a hostel, but Katie, Regina, and I had our own room (complete with bunk beds) and shower (but the toilet was down the hall). The hostel was actually an interesting experience; it's the first one I've stayed at and it wasn't bad at all. It was in Vieux Lyon (the old area of town) on a hill, and we had an amazing view of the city from the balcony.

We had some time to explore Lyon after we arrived; basically, we were on a mission for lunch. Katie, Mickey, and I found a small 24/24 (24/7 - weird for France) café where one of the women working didn't know what a café au lait (coffee with cream) was! There was much confusion, but the other woman working had her thinking cap on and poured some milk into a cup of straight coffee. (20 minutes later, Beth and I found a place that knew what real coffee was. Phew.) While we were searching for a place to eat, I found this epic FAIL AT LIFE pictured to the left. First of all, the "apostrophe s ('s)" is never EVER EVER used in French, ever. This is bolded and highlighted many times over in my French I notebook from high school. Also, just...what??? "Le banana's"? It just has no meaning in French! English! Anything! Blah!

Moving right along. After finding real coffee, our group met up again and we started our tour of Lyon with a guide from the city. It was actually an excellent tour; it was a shame that it started to rain and everyone was chilled to the bone half-way through. She talked a lot about the Roman influences on the architecture of Lyon (which was surprising because Lyon is pretty far north of the coast), les traboules (passageways between streets in Lyon that were used for hiding/escape purposes during the Revolution and other eras - we got to go through a couple of them!), and the Cathedral. There was an astrological clock inside the Cathedral that sounds four times per day most days, and we got to watch it - it was actually really neat! There was a rooster on top that "crowed" at 4 o'clock, mechanical figures that moved, and a complicated face that gave much boggling astrological information.

After the tour, we all needed a little break, so we returned to the hostel for a bit to nap (and post my Rome blog). We had dinner reservations in Vieux Lyon and it was fantastic. Beth had to explain most of the French to us (she knows a lot about food) with the help of my pocket French dictionary which has a section of terms specific to dining! Perfect! I got French onion soup, a chicken and rice dish, and crème brûlée, which was all fabulous. It's hard to explain; food in Lyon is at a completely different level from all else in France and the rest of the world. Every bite you take is accompanied by a sigh and much deep thought on how you ever survived without this food in the past. This also brings up a great French invention that I haven't really talked about much before: Le menu. This is a great option that most French restaurants give their customers; the "menu" is a specific list of a few options for the appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Sometimes, there are a few different menus, each at a specific price. It's a great deal because you can get several courses for 12-20 Euros (typically - but if you eat at a very fancy restaurant, it can of course cost more). Usually, though, it's a great idea to take advantage of le menu. Sometimes, it's not available on Sundays and holidays, like much else in France.

Friday morning was spent at the Deportation Museum; this was a very somber but well-done WWII museum. The parts about the Holocaust and concentration camps hit everyone especially hard. I noticed this before at museums in Paris, but again, it was very apparent that there was much suffering happening in France and surrounding countries during the war and everybody turned away from it. When you see the videos and pictures, it's hard to understand why people were not as informed and disturbed as they should have been if they had understood what Hitler was doing during the time.

Luckily, lunch was another great gastronomical experience that day. We went to a restaurant that is popular among locals; there are several places like this where you sit down and they give you only a couple of options for your meal depending on what is fresh or good to eat that day. A few of us chose the "wrong" appetizer: The pâté dish (consisting of a "slice" of meat and fruit in a bread crust) was just okay (I'm sure it was wonderful by pâté standards, but it just wasn't my thing) but the fish was excellent - luckily, we all share dishes.

The main course was across-the-board amazing. There were two options; one was a seafood soufflé and the other was steak-and-potatoes. I got the steak; it was...AMAZING. I can barely describe it. Everything is just so fresh. There is a little taste of ratatouille (a vegetable stir fry) and spicy pear besides the mashed and baked potatoes...and the steak was PERFECT. And the SAUCE! If you love food, Lyon is definitely the place to go. They know what they're doing.

After lunch, everyone broke up and did their own thing. I went back to the hostel for a bit to relax; that's okay on the sixth straight weekend of travel, right? It gets kind of complicated with the room keys; Katie and Regina went with others to a miniatures museum nearby, so I had to wait until they got back to leave myself. That wasn't bad; I went for a nice walk across the Saône river (not far at all) to a teddy bear shop (!) and then back. I actually went to the miniature museum myself; it was really cool! The man who works in the studio on the top floor is very famous; he makes the miniature sets and props for many movies including V for Vendetta (the mask from the final scene - to the left - was actually at the museum!), Indiana Jones, Batman Begins, and many others. He also had a bunch of random little scenes on display in the museum, which was incredible - musical instruments, chess boards, food - I can't imagine spending my life making such tiny things! It was really cool to see how someone could make a living out of creating small things like that; there was a display of food that reminded me a lot of my "micro food" presentation from English class in middle school! It was a very interesting display, and I was glad I went.

Afterwards, I decided to walk by the river for a bit (the Saône). Turns out, a building right across the bridge was on fire - tons of people were standing near the bridge, watching. It's scary when there's a fire like that because all the buildings are hundreds of years old and they're all connected; there were people poking their heads out of the top floors of the buildings next door and I couldn't believe they hadn't evacuated yet! If one building starts burning, every other building next door, on the same block, and in the same neighborhood are at risk.

The fire kept burning all evening, long after I returned to the hostel. I hope no one was hurt. It was a lovely evening, and Katie, Laura, and I decided to head out for a real dinner (when everyone else opted for Pizza Hut - WHAT?!?!?!? Yeah). We wandered around Vieux Lyon until we found a restaurant that served something other than liver, brains, and intestines (all of which I sampled from other people's plates and liked but of which I could never eat an entire dish) on le menu. We found a great little place with delicious salade de chèvre (goat cheese salad - it was fantastic), poulet et riz (chicken and rice), and mousse au chocolat (chocolat mousse). We returned to the hostel and the Laura and I decided to go out for a little while. There was an Irish pub very close to the hostel. We met a girl from Atlanta, Georgia and a guy from Ohio who are working here. It was a very fun time! We moved on to another Irish pub and I met five French guys who didn't speak English. We carried on a conversation for awhile and then I turned in for the night.

The morning was beautiful! A few of us went with Beth to the ancient Roman ruins nearby on the hill, and then to the Cathedral. It was a little bit of a walk, but gorgeous all the same. There were many pictures taken on the ruins...

That afternoon, I wasn't feeling particularly well, so I spent most of my time resting. I wasn't too surprised or upset; I have been going for five weekends straight now (plus normal classes during the week) without a break so I needed a little pause; so did Andrew, who has a bad cold. It was hard to lay down and do nothing in a city I've never been to before but it was necessary. By evening, I was feeling better. Everyone dressed up to go to L'Ouest, a famous restaurant in France. The food was excellent (but maybe we were a bit detached because we had dined at fantastic places for the previous days). I'm glad we went, though; it was a great experience to eat at a modern but famous place.

The dinner lasted about three hours and we didn't get to bed until around one-thirty. We did have some great dinner conversation, as usual... This time, the highlight for me was probably Liz talking about previous study abroad groups who were very close and always hung out together, and then she said, "It's just not in the stars for this group." I don't think I've ever laughed harder. She then proceeded to invite all of us to her apartment next semester.

This morning consisted of packing and leaving: Another train ride full of pictures and homework. We are now back in Cannes, ready for another full week. It's interesting because about half of our group is begging to go home right now and half of us are counting our days and focused on making the most of them! (I am definitely part of that group.) It's hard to believe there is less than a month left, but I'm ready to soak up the rest of my time in France without wasting a second!

You dress like you speak English!

Obviously, my plans of keeping up with my blog have failed as my life in Cannes has suddenly become just as busy as music ed major world at CSB. Luckily, I am feeling very fluent in French at the moment (aside from a few glitches...) or life would be overwhelming.

Friday afternoon after class involved running around like a chicken with its head cut off to finish errands and throw clothes in a suitcase before hopping on the bus to the Nice airport with Katie, Regina, Megan, and Meg. It felt so weird to be at an airport for the first time since August - the train is so much easier here! No security and no tiny liquid bottles! We also discovered why everyone hates the company EasyJet: Not only are they huge sticklers on the gate closing time, they also inform you (just before boarding, mind you) that each passenger is allowed une seule valise (only one bag) to carry on...and a purse counts as your one bag. Also, if you bring a coat, you have to wear it - you can't hold it on your lap. Luckily, I was able to shove my purse in my travel bag.

Upon landing at the airport in Rome, the first thing I saw out the window was a giant "Emporio Armani" building. We were definitely back in Italy. It took us awhile to get to the train into the city; we were trying to call our hotel from a payphone that kept eating our coins to let them know what time to meet us and open the door. We gave up and soon found ourselves in an Italian train next to a smelly, dirty, drunk homeless man who later got in a dispute with one of the train employees (complete with animated hand gestures) and was kicked off for not having a ticket. Yep, definitely in Italy.

We soon met up with Evans, Andrew, and Ryan, who had flown out on Thursday, for dinner. I wasn't actually impressed with my pizza; the cheese and sauce were mixed into a spaghettio-like consistency, but the crust was at least thin and delicious.

Saturday was our one full day in Rome, so we split into small groups and Katie and I (as usual) covered as much ground as possible. We started by walking to the Colosseum to see the outside (the line to get in was too long and it was expensive - American passports mean zero student discount in Italy, even with proof of residency and enrollment in school). So we walked around the nearby Roman ruins and dealt with the annoying, persistent tour guides and souvenir vendors pestering us every thirty seconds. What struck me right away about Rome were the winding streets that opened up in to city squares with beautiful fountains and architecture. Everything is very close together and we literally ran into the Colosseum that morning.

Unfortunately, the streets are also very confusing when you're trying to get to a specific place (they change names every other block and often connect differently that the map leads you to believe) so it's easy to end up in a completely different place than you thought you were heading toward. Katie and I discovered this when we tried to get to the Trevi Fountain next; we were about a five minute walk away when we headed down some street (still can't figure out which one) that took us partway across town to the Ministry of Arts and Culture, a very beautiful government building that we hadn't previously known about. After spending a little time in that square, we finally made our way to the Trevi Fountain. Megan, Andrew, and Regina were there, so we spent some time admiring the fountain and taking pictures. Then it was time for Katie and I to meander over to the Vatican, where we had bought tickets ahead of time for 1:00 admission.

The Metro in Rome is très facile (very easy) to navigate. There are two lines, A and B, and because Rome is a small city, most rides are only a couple of stops and no more than five minutes long. We arrived early and peeked into St. Peter's Square for a few minutes before going around to the back where the museums were. I liked the area around the Vatican, except (bien sur) for all the people selling tour and trinkets on the streets. It completely cheapens the experience of seeing something like the Vatican for the first time; no, I do not want to buy a "I love Pope" t-shirt or pay for a scam tour. Katie and I decided to try speaking in French to avoid the people hounding English-speakers. When I told one man I didn't speak English, he replied with, "You dress like you speak English!" as we walked away. Funny - nearly my entire ensemble (minus my jeans) was bought in France.

The Vatican itself is, like so many other things I've seen this semester: Overwhelming. The museums are around behind St. Peter's Basilica. We went through a couple exhibits and then decided to head straight to the Sistine Chapel. It was a walk through ten or so elaborate halls to get there; they were filled with thousands of pieces of art (including a piece we studied in art history). The Chapel itself was much larger than I was anticipating; the ceiling was high and Michelangelo's murals covered the entire hall - it was so colorful. Katie and I spent a little while just sitting, admiring, and listening to the music of the guards yelling "SILENCIO!!!!" and "NO PHOTO!!!!" every minute...and yes, I got a few good not-quite-legal photos.

By this point, we were about to faint so we shlepped down to the Vatican pizzeria for some delicious thin floppy slices and wine (or, more likely, just crushed grapes) in a juice box. Then we went back to St. Peter's Square and into the Basilica. Wow. That's all I can say. Indescribable. The Basilica is massive. And dark. It took awhile to wander through the whole place. I tried to take a video to capture how huge it was, but it's impossible. Everywhere you look, there's something elaborate and...well, huge. It was really cool, but still a bit touristy - I couldn't get over the people posing for pictures as they dipped their hands in the holy water. Just bizarre. I loved all the candles surrounding the tomb of St. Peter in the center - that was a truly gorgeous display.

From there, we went to see the Spanish stairs (a lot of stairs in a small square) and we ran into Megan, Andrew, and Regina again. There was a military band playing on the steps and a lot of artists set up in the area, so we relaxed there for awhile and watched the sun set over Rome from the top of the stairs. This was one of the best moments of the day for me, seeing Rome turn into a night city. I think I would have enjoyed going out in the evening for a little while if we hadn't been so tired and pressed for time. Then it was off to see the Trevi Fountain at night (AND eat a cannoli at the Trevi Fountain!), and back to the hotel to relax before dinner.

One of Megan's friends knew of a good restaurant that was reasonably-priced, so Katie, Megan, Ryan, Regina, Andrew, and I took the Metro there for dinner. It was FANTASTIC. Bruschetta, spicy penne, the best sauvignon of the semester, tiramisu.... Oh, it was fabulous.

Sunday morning was spent relaxing. Regina, Andrew, and I took turns guarding luggage in the courtyard of the guys' hotel until we got kicked out onto the street and were homeless in Italy. Eventually, everyone straggled back to our street curb and we ate at a nearby restaurant (the pizza was DELICIOUS this time - I stole some of Megan's) and were off on our return journey to Cannes. Hooray for France!! (And thanks, Italy, for the pasta, pizza, gelato, and cannolis!)

This week has been quite the endeavor - eight and a half hours of internship, one hour of flute, nine hours of grammar class, two hours of Beth's class, two hours of art history, and four hours of cinema. Plus homework and packing for a trip. All crammed into three days. This is why France is the most academically-intense study abroad trips. I'm really excited about the internship now - I started teaching my seven- and eight-year-olds the "12 Days of Christmas" which they're going to perform at their Christmas concert! My middle-schoolers are going to write and perform and accompaniment on their instruments, and I'm going to direct it on December 7th. It's really fun now that I'm getting the hang of French music vocabulary and expressions, and starting to get ideas of how to teach and explain things. I even met some friends who are students in the adult class - two women who give me a ride home after class (who are probably in their late 20s) invited me to go our for crêpes with them soon. One of them spent a year studying in Maine and now she's an English teacher in France. It's exciting getting to spend time by myself speaking with native French speakers in a context like that; it's a shame the internship didn't get going sooner!

Now, I'm in Lyon with CSB/SJU for the long weekend. Lyon is the second-largest city in France (next to Paris) and the gastronomic capital of the country...so we're here to eat. Yum!