Spring Break Part 1: Santorini and Athens

Although Spring Break is about one month removed, and I head home in about two weeks, here are the highlights of the best spring break of my life. It is hard to cover everything, so bare with me on the briefness.

Spring Break commenced with a flight to Athens International airport, where after sleeping in the McDonald's for about 8 hours, we caught our connecting flight to Santorini. Since I figured we would right away be landing in a gorgeous paradise, I was sorely surprised to see us landing in a barren desert, but it wasn't long before the great views appeared. We stayed at Stelio's Place while on the island, and it was by far the best hostel I have staid in while abroad. Not only was it really clean, they provided breakfast, beach towels, suntan lotion, and were all of twenty seconds from a black sand beach. We ended up frequenting this beach quite often to work on our tans.

 


One day we rented ATVs to explore the island. They were mildly scary going around the curves on the side of the cliffs, but they are truly the easiest, and most fun, way to get around. It may be a tourist thing to do, but I'm pretty sure most locals own them too. One of our locations for the day was Ammoudi Bay, so we strapped on our helmets and zoomed our way there, stopping along the way in Thira for lunch. The main goal of Ammoudi Bay was to go cliff jumping. Not so keen on plunging into water from 15 or 20 meters high caused some stress, especially once we saw where we'd be jumping from. Getting to the mini cliff also proved to be a problem - you had to swim across a mini channel, then scale the island around and up to the landing - keep in mind this is all barefoot and in a bathing suit, so cuts and bruises were inevitable. We did eventually make it, and nerves started getting the better of us, but backing down now was not an option. It may have taken an extra ten minutes or so of mental debates, but eventually I was the first girl to jump off - scariest and best feeling ever. Dropping for that long and not knowing when you'll hit the water is awful and exhilarating. Finally bobbing in the salt water though and knowing it was over with was a huge relief. Later that day we went to Oia to watch one of their famous sunsets and get a good and cheap meal (one nice thing about Greece being in a fiscal downward spiral is that we ate very well for very cheap). After finding a comfy place among all of the cute white and blue houses, we watched, and applauded, as the sun set behind islands on the horizon.

Another day, we took a boat from Thira to an active volcano. It was about a twenty five minute hike up to the top, but it was an amazing view of the rest of the island and the surrounding water. I imagine this is what being on top of the world feels like, or at least close. After the volcano we went to the hot springs. Although much dirtier and colder than I expected, it was still neat. The water was red/brown, murky, and it smelled, but apparently it is great for your skin - nevertheless, we couldn't get back to the boat fast enough. Another adventure was to the red sand beach. Santorini has black, white, and red sand beaches, and despite all of them being scalding hot on your feet, they are all beautiful. The red sand beach was the most unique beach I have ever seen. It was a straight drop off from red dirt cliffs, and mini rock slides would occur behind you as your sitting looking out into the water. This was the beach where we really found out just how buoyant the Mediterranean is - no effort was needed whatsoever to float, just lay back and enjoy.

 

Our next stop after having a wonderful time in Santorini was Athens. We took a very long ferry back to the mainland, arriving around 11:30 at night, grabbing a taxi to our hostel, which looked like I imagine it did in perhaps the 60s..The next day we planned on visiting the Parthenon and other big monuments in Athens, but there just so happened to be a strike. Apparently this was common knowledge to everyone but us, and therefore these monuments were all closed. We climbed all the way to the top of the acropolis to find that we couldn't enter into the actual Parthenon. To say we were bummed is an understatement. We didn't have much to do in Athens than this, so we climbed yet another mini mountain to get another view of the city - fun, but exhausting in the heat. The shopping in Athens proved to be really fun, but the actual city itself was rather grimy, and not exactly a place I see myself visiting again in the future unless I know the parthenon is indeed open.
 
 

Overall, Greece was a great experience. The people were more than willing to help you out in every way possible, the food was amazing (I literally will put tzatziki on anything now), and the sites were gorgeous. Although the mainland wasn't all that I hoped it would be, I would still love to go back to Greece and do some more exploring.

Preparation for Spring Break: Amsterdam

To start, let's clear up some geographical and cultural questions that nagged us on our 8 hour bus ride to Amsterdam: Amsterdam is the capital of The Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland; they speak Dutch; and they were ranked the happiest people according to OECD in 2011.

Like I said, Paris to Amsterdam is an 8 hour bus ride, including stops in Brussels and Antwerp, and the cheapest way to get between the two cities. Although it was a very cramped half day, we did indeed finally make it to this capital city. Since we were taking a night bus back home on Sunday night we had almost two and a half days to explore the city. The first thing that I noticed was the sheer number of bikes. There were entire parking garages of just bikes - seriously don't know how anyone finds their bikes at the end of the day. The second thing was the cones of french fries covered in who-knows-what that everyone seemed to be eating. Although we weren't adventurous enough to try riding bikes in a city where  bicycles are used more often than vehicles, we did try the fries. We ordered the "special", which meant fries covered in ketchup, mayo and onions - not something you would ever crave, but it was delicious nonetheless. At the end of this very long Friday we got back to our hostel, and even though all I wanted to do was go to sleep, to my very loud shock and surprise there was a man sleeping in my bed. We woke him up, got the front desk, and he was thrown out into Amsterdam at midnight, but hey I wasn't about to share with him.


Along with very unhealthy food this weekend, we also experienced Keukenhof - it was truly an experience. Keukenhof is also known as the Garden of Europe because it is the largest garden in the world. We went to see the tulips (which luck would have it weren't blooming for one more week) but ended up seeing so much more. There were fields of daffodils and red tulips, as well as huge planted beds, a windmill, and also an indoor greenhouse where we got to finally see some tulips. Luck would also have it that this was the single most popular day to go to Keukenhof - there is an annual, national flower parade that winds its way through the country, Keukenhof being one of the stops along the way. It was interesting to see the floats made out of flowers, but not worth the crowds.

 Along with just wandering the very interesting streets of Amsterdam, we also hit up a few tourist stops along the way, including the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum and The Heineken Factory.

We had to wait in an hour long line to get into the Anne Frank House, but it was well worth the wait - it was crazy seeing the rather small space that two families inhabited for two years, never being able to go outside, or even open the windows. When the space was being turned into a museum, Otto Frank (Anne Frank's father, and only one who survived WWII) insisted on not replacing any of the furniture that had been taken from the apartment - this gave the entire tour more of an eerie, or perhaps somber, effect, as well as reinforced everything most of the visitors had read in this girl's diary. At the end you got to see Anne's actual diary and other pages she filled during those two years - seeing the red checkered journal and the scrawl of a thirteen year old really made the entire experience that much more chilling.


Next we checked out the Van Gogh museum - definitely one of my favorite exhibits visited while being abroad. Although Starry Night was absent, The Bedroom and Sunflowers were present, along with several other gorgeous paintings. I didn't realize how much of Van Gogh's work I recognized, or how much his style changed between black outlines, brush strokes, Japanese influence, and his use of color.


Now onto the Heineken Tour - I have never taken a beer factory tour before, so therefore I have nothing to compare it to, but from what I can imagine this is the best it gets. For the 18 euros we paid, we got the entire history of the brand, saw the tanks where the beer is made (and for that matter just how in general it is made), the bottling process, took the "beer ride" (virtual video that turns you into a bottle of Heineken), learned how to properly taste beer, made a music video (mildly embarrassing) and then received two half pints of their finest beer. We had quite the afternoon. Once we made it out of this gigantic green maze we took the free Heineken boat to their souvenir location to receive our free bottle opener (and it just happened to drop us off closer to our hostel so we didn't have to walk!)

It was a great weekend, but once again, it was very nice to get back to Paris and the comforts of "home". Classes are still breezing by - had my first and only test today in one of my classes, and one of the questions, literally, was "True or False: Couples attach locks to bridges in Paris as a symbol of their lasting love for each other" C'est vrai.

The host family is as good as ever - dinners are extremely fun, especially when my host mom is constantly making jokes about her husband, the husband and I are talking about the difference between his favorite cheeses, or the daughter is telling me about great flea markets. They haven't served me anything too out of the ordinary, my host mom did eat cow tongue last night though, but I know I will miss the plethora of fresh bread and brie. I really lucked out with a great set up here!

Spring Break is only two days away, meaning it is finally time to ask my host family what the heck they did with my luggage, and purchase some sun tan lotion. For the next two weeks I will be covering 3,955 miles, 7 cities, and 2 countries; encountering new people, foods, and cultures; here goes nothing!

The Alps to the Mediterranean

Despite two back to back weekends of only mildly nice weather I can now check two more locations off of my "to see" list. Last weekend we trekked to Grenoble, and to Barcelona this past weekend.

We chose to visit Grenoble (little town in France, near Lyon, hosted the '68 Olympic Games) to be able to experience the Alps while being abroad - Mother Nature didn't really like our plan though so our trip consisted of viewing only the base of the Alps, and therefore going and seeing the new Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper movie. Nevertheless though, we stayed in an adorable apartment for the weekend and got to explore a new French town. Fort de la Bastille is right in Grenoble, so our first day we took la telepherique up the mountain to hike around a bit, and see the city from above. It was a great view- it almost felt like you were in the clouds. The city was pretty much surrounded by mountains on all sides, and you could see some houses a little ways up some of the mountains (kind of begging the question of what do they do when they need to go grocery shopping?) Anyways, Grenoble is pretty small compared to Paris, so it was nice to get away for the long Easter weekend. One thing about being abroad that is less than ideal is when holidays roll around (granted I've only missed one thus far) - you can't really celebrate Easter properly when you are 4,000 miles away from your family and eating home made fajitas as your dinner while your family are all at a massive brunch.

I got back this morning from Spain, where I was visiting a friend from school who is studying abroad in Barcelona. I absolutely loved everything about this city - if I didn't love Paris so much I would wish I studied there. When I arrived on Friday it was raining (not typical Barca weather of course) but despite the rain Hannah managed to show me around to her favorite spots, including Las Ramblas and an amazing market, the Gothic neighborhood, the beach, and the Gaudi houses. It is quite amazing how different the architecture was in Barcelona compared to Paris. It was so modern, practically shocking. So, once we worked up enough of an appetite we ate one of the best sandwiches of my life. The place was called Bo de B (or something along those lines) and it was something like a burrito/kebab on a baguette. Although you'd have juices running down your fingers and sauce all over your face after each bite, it was so satisfying. Saturday we made our way to check out Parc Guell and the Sagrada Familia - two of the most amazing sites I've been to since being abroad. The fact that both are, practically, completely made up of mosaics is just mind blowingly beautiful. Compared to Paris, everything was just so colorful and luckily this was the time of day the sun decided to cooperate, making everything pop even more. These may be the tourist traps of Barcelona, but I completely understand why now, and they are 100% worth it. 

On the homefront, Paris has been pretty good the past few weeks too, despite the uncharacteristically cold weather. My host family just received/welcomed another exchange student - she is from Japan, speaks very little English, and even less French, making communicating difficult. It is rather funny though hearing my host family speak English - oh how the tables have turned. No longer am I the one asking about correct pronunciations and sentence structures. (Who knew vinegar was so hard to pronounce in English?)

The countdown is officially on until Spring Break (I leave for Santorini in 16 days) as well as when the family arrives (33 days) - so for now, no complaints from Paris!

Castles and Cooking

The idea of travelling 9 out of the next 10 weekends was a little daunting, but considering I have only 13 weeks left and about 27 different cities I want to see, being busy is my main goal. I have made it through one of these weekends, and although getting up for class on Monday was a little rough, it is something I am going to have to get used to. As a program this past weekend all of us Illini toured the Loire Valley, visiting three chateaus and one adorable city in all. We reported to our coach bus at 7:45 this past Saturday so as to get to Chateau Blois by about 10. Although this was my least favorite castle of the weekend, it was a good "starter" castle - wouldn't want to visit the best first anyways. This castle was built at three different times, meaning that there are three different and distinct styles of this castle (Gothique, Renaissance, and Classicisme). The most memorable aspect of this castle though was definitely the massive and ornate staircase on the outside of the building. If I heard Dr. Costello correctly (considering it was in french), it was so that common folk could see the royals walking around and such. This wasn't your stereotypical princess castle, but it was still a great use of a Saturday morning.

After about 2 hours of exploring, we hopped back on the bus and headed to Chateau Amboise. We followed the river, La Loire, and saw other castles from the bus along the way, and eventually arrived at our next castle. By this time, the sun was coming out, and it was turning into a gorgeous day. Chateau Amboise is located in the center of a thriving city, and as we wound our way towards the castle, along with it already being a cute quaint French town, there was confetti covering the cobblestone streets. We don't know what we missed, but it just made the entire experience that much more memorable. We ate lunch in the city center, and then made our way to the chateau. Out of the three castles this weekend, this was my second favorite castle. It was a bit smaller than Chateau Blois, but much more beautifully maintained - the lawns were super green, the beds were planted, and it just had a happier feel to it than Chateau Blois. This is where Leonardo Da Vinci is buried, so we started our tour by seeing his grave (which is in a mini church) and then onto the castle. Chateau Amboise had a lot of tapestries on the walls, and intricate wood work. At the end of the tour, we ended up on the top of one of the towers with a great view of La Loire, the gardens, and the surrounding town.

We spent the night in Tours, a very "college" town for French standards. Once we were done with all of the tours for the day a bunch of us grabbed a beer in this large plaza that was completely buzzing with people our age. It was completely packed and alive, complete with bachelor and bachelorette parties. The following morning we departed Tours to visit Chateau Chenonceau. This was everyone's favorite castle of the weekend by far, and is perhaps the most well known when people think of the Loire Valley. Even though it was not originally built as a castle for a king (unlike the two before) it was just as gorgeous, elaborate, and orante. The most interesting aspect of it is that it is built directly above the river connecting the two sides (this ended up playing a vital role for the survival of several people during WWII). The entire grounds were very peaceful, and with the fog coming off of the water it was almost eerie. Once inside, compared to the other chateaus, this one was truly made to look like it was lived in, including lit fireplaces, pots and pans set out in the kitchen, and flowers everywhere (granted it was Palm Sunday). Along with several gardens on the property, there was also a labrynth and a donkey farm. After some more exploring, we had a group lunch, consisting of about five courses, and followed by a three hour bus ride back home.

 To cap off a great weekend, I went to a cooking class with six other people in my program. Going into it, we had no idea what we were going to make, but it ended up being fantastic. In all, we prepared an avocado, kiwi and sun dried tomato salad covered in lemon juice, honey, and salt and peper, followed by a leek, bacon, and gruyere cheese quiche, and finally chocolate mousse. I was allowed to measure the sugar, cut the leeks, and butter the quiche pan, and managed to screw none of it up. The entire thing was in french, and the woman taught us in her own apartment. Thankfully she gave us copies of the recipes in English so hopefully I will be able to recreate this masterpiece for my family when I get back to the states.

Heading to Grenoble this weekend, and Barcelona the first weekend in April - time is truly flying.

S/O to my sister, KL - Happy 26th Birthday!! So sad I can't be there to celebrate, but I can't wait to see you in 5 short weeks :)

One Month In

Can I start by complaining about how differently French people eat meals? Although this is a rather small annoyance, it is something that me and my friends have decided is an instant give away that we are American. For the most part, they are very very graceful eaters, but they also have their quirks. For instance; why would you eat the bun and patty of a hamburger, and then eat the other half of the bun with the lettuce and tomato? Wouldn't it be more delicious to eat it all together..at the same time? Apparently not.

So, I have officially passed the one month mark as of a few days ago here, and the things like eating habits and where to stand on the metro are becoming routine things (thank goodness). Ever since Dublin, nothing too riveting has happened - went to the Lumineers concert, took a shot that was on fire, and tried to find meaning in Dali - just the usual life in Paris.

The Lumineers were hands down the best live concert I have experienced. Between the fact that I was in Paris, knew every word to every song, and the concert hall had the "chillest" vibe ever, it made for a good night. I was surprised how many more songs than just "Ho Hey" most of the audience knew - and listening to the entire crowd sing Dead Sea with a french accent was rather amusing. They played almost their entire album and even covered a little Dylan. For their encore they brought chairs to the middle of the audience, all of 4 feet from me, and played a new song off of their next album. It was completely acoustic, no microphones even, and it was a great way to end it all.

As for the shot, don't worry Mom and Dad it was supervised, and it was one of those once in a life time things that I wasn't allowed to say no to without regretting in twenty years.

In regards to interpreting art, I also visited the Centre Pompidou this week. This museum is quite a lot to take in. The Louvre is Realism, Musee d'Orsay is Impressionism, and the Centre Pompidou is just all over the walls. I'm not the best at interpreting what hanging panty hose really means, so it was an interesting visit. Also, considering I see the Haussmann architecture style (which is quintessentially Parisien) every single day as I make my way through the city, it was nice to see something so modern and unlike the gorgeous cathedrals and cafes that line every other street - even if I didn't quite understand it. All I could think was, "I'm in Paris, surrounded by work that looks like it was made by Aleksandr Petrovsky - that must make me Carrie! Now where's Big?" Alright, maybe not quite that, but close enough.

Apart from the exorbitant prices, I am loving living in this great city, but I can't believe how quickly it is flying by. Weekends are filling up with adventures to other countries, and days are packed with taste testing macaroons and pain au chocolats, or just even people watching. It's weird knowing I'll be back in the states in just three short months (at least finally eating Chipotle) and no longer have 24-hour access to crêpes and gaufres - 'spose it's time I learn how to cook.

Until next time -

Illinois Invades Ireland

This past weekend, in true Illini spirit, hoards of proud U of I students took over the streets of Dublin. To start everything off, it was a 4am wake up call last friday. We needed to catch a bus to take us to the airport at 6, and considering the metro doesn't open until 5:30 this proved to be a bit of a hassle. I scarfed down an espresso and a pre-packaged, yet delicious, panne au chocolat, and ran out the door to fetch a taxi.

After a long, yet smooth running, morning, we hopped off our ryanair flight, wound our way into the city, and ate the most "traditional" Irish food we could think of - fish n' chips and Guinness. Granted I'm not a fan of Guinness I opted for a Smithwicks (much more enjoyable, but don't worry I did indeed try a Guinness while in Ireland). Not being a huge lover of seafood crossed my mind as I ordered this deep fried meal, but it was delicious! Blame the fatigue, hunger, or even peer pressure, but I loved it.

After checking into our hostel and doing some exploring we found The Temple Bar, listened to some live music and enjoyed the rest of our Unofficial. Saturday morning we walked around Dublin center a bit, getting to see Trinity College and other landmarks before we took a bus that dropped us off in the Wickelow Mountains. It's located about an hour and fifteen minutes outside of the city. We hopped off the bus and trekked through a gorgeous cemetery, church/cathedral, monastery, past a couple lakes, and even to a waterfall. For being the beginning of March I was surprised how green everything was - but then I thought to myself, "You're in Ireland...duh." It's technically a National Park, but it doesn't even compare to any other national/state parks I've ever been to (don't get me wrong Door County lovers, Peninsula State Park is really great, but the only history I know about that place is that my dad and aunts camped there in the 60s..) The lakes were so serene where the mountains converged, and with the low hanging clouds and fog, but still bright sun, it was inspiring. And of course we saw some sheep grazing in a green pasture on our walk towards the lakes (how irish!) 

It was an exhausting day, but we got back to Dublin in time to meet up with some other U of I students and go to (supposedly) the bar from PS I Love You - Flannery's. Having never seen the movie, I'm going to take everyone's word for it. What I will say about the bars, or pubs rather, we experienced was that they are exactly what you would picture an Irish pub would be in all of the best ways - good people, good (live) music, and good beer. 

When Sunday rolled around we decided to get a hearty Irish breakfast, do some shopping, and catch a flight back to good ole Paris. It was a long weekend, but it was nice to hear english for a change and not have to mentally translate everything for 12 hours straight. I can't believe I've already been here for three and a half weeks, time is flying. 

Until next time - 

P.S. - As you read this post, I ask you that you put this song on in the background. It has been stuck in my head since arriving in Dublin, and I feel that it is only fitting if you listen to it as you read about my adventures :)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFlfSeh-Ts8

Pi Phi tries Escargot

Having your friends from home visit you while studying abroad has to be one of the best times had. ever. Although there were ups and downs of all sorts I'm glad to report that myself, Hannah, and Shalyn made it out alive. But lets rewind.

Classes started last week. Mind you, every single one of my classes is three hours long. Although there is "une pause" for fifteen minutes about half way through, I am finally grateful that U of I classes are only 50 minutes. The area where my school is, all of a stones throw from St. Sulpice Church and the Luxembourg Gardens, is amazing, and its giving me a chance to really explore. Everything is old, in a good way, and whether or not you know it, it has some interesting historical fact to offer - the more time I spend here the more I love it. Any who, classes are really easy, meaning no homework and no stress - c'est superbe.

The home stay is arguably getting better every single day. The more I talk to other people who are also with les families d'accueil I'm learning how nice I've got it - dishes, laundry, and coffee is all done for me! Along with getting to play with a dog everyday, I'd say I've got it made.

I digress - Hannah and Shalyn landed in France on Friday but with very little planning on our parts as where to meet up once they wound their ways into the city. Hannah and I were to meet at Porte Maillot around 1 and luckily enough found each other rather easily. (Keep in mind we don't have phones were we can call each other and just be like 'Oh hey! you're in Paris, where ya at?') We proceed to grab some lunch and head towards our "meeting place" with shay. Considering I had just facebook messaged Miss Wismer only a few hours prior, throwing a name of a metro stop at her, I'm surprised we ever found her at all. After walking around in the frigid weather for a solid two hours, in circles, asking for directions several times, and looking like Americans more than once, we logged onto WiFi and surprising had a message from Shay saying she was sitting at a McDonalds (eating a croissant and nice and warm..) Our frozen selves made it to the correct Macdo eventually (she had gotten off at a different metro stop after taking the wrong train to the suburbs, then back to Paris - but she made it eventually!) and reunited LPP.

We proceeded to do what was the most logical idea - buy wine. It was great to catch up with friends and sip some vino. Even though it was not our smartest idea to stay out until the metro re-opened, we (practically) made it, and Saturday we filled our day hitting 7 of some of Paris's most renowned sites: l'ard de triomphe, champs elysees, tour eiffel, notre dame, le louvre, et moulin rouge. I've lost track of how many metro transfers we had to make (along with Hannah getting stopped by French police at one of them asking for her ticket which she threw away resulting in a 30euro fine - still super sorry Hannah! Hope that crepe made up for it a little!) but it was enough to make anyone never want to take public transportation ever again.

Exhausted we slumped to the closest restaurant and ordered some hot wine and escargot. Yum! Who knew something iconically deemed "gross" would be so tasty? We mustered enough energy to make it home and convince ourselves that it was a good idea to go out, even when Shay had a 7AM flight. Needless to say we went back to the bar where we made friends with the bartenders the night before, my iphone got stolen (perhaps lost, I'm hoping its only lost at least), we shoved Shay into a cab around 5, and Hannah missed her later flight but did manage to navigate her way to Orly to grab a different plane back home.

 I don't know about my friends, but I'm still exhausted from this weekend, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Heading to Dublin this weekend with almost the rest of U of I to celebrate a little Illini tradition.

Until next time -