The City.

London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down.

No, London Bridge isn't that cool. Tower Bridge is where it's at. Anyways, I had a lovely time staying with a Miss Strupat over this past week and I was able to do all the possible touristy things London has to offer to a student with limited financial means. I began reading Great Expectations on my train ride over and am now almost finished. I have to say that it is a great book and it was made so much better by the fact that the main character arrived in London and was continually mentioning the places I was right by. Literally, he described the dome of Saint Paul's, and I happened to be sitting in a Tea Shop across the street looking at it. Possibly the best way to read a book.

I will post pictures of my London journey as soon as I develop my photos. Which could possibly take some time.

A long post about my first two days in London. Not a creative title.

So you know all those photos I was promising with my snazzy new camera?

My camera was stolen/lost today and now I am bummed and now there will be no nice photos of me with the Tower Bridge or with Peter Pan's statue. But I have already complained to my mother, my best friend and now my blog so I am officially moving on.

Other than that, my holiday has been going splendidly. I have been staying at Lizzie Strupat's and it is so nice to be with someone from home. When I first saw her I almost screamed. She has been keeping up her creative spirits (I mean, she is going to school for that purpose) and she has been coming out with great work.  I arrived late Saturday night and we stayed up late talking and catching up. Sunday we went to the vintage area to go shopping and we ran into the weekly street market which was very, very cool. Hipsters were selling things out of suitcases and people were selling DVDs for 2 pounds each. We walked past a picket line to go into a vintage store where I bought an adorable dress that hopefully will fit my sister.

Today was my second day in London, and yet I still expected it to be like Paris. I still said "Pardon" on the metro and I still call it the "metro." Yet, it is, obviously, very different from Paris. For example, the metro is called the tube... why? Because it is literally a tube and the car we ride in looks like a giant tube worm. Other differences that are very apparent yet not expected: London is much dirtier, the Thames is mud colored and my eyes sting after a day of tube traveling and walking. London is much bigger, four times the size of Paris. This may be the reason it is so much dirtier and definitely why it takes so much longer to get places on the tube than in Paris. There are many more large buildings here, whereas in Paris, there is one, and it stands out like a sore thumb and everyone hates it. People dress in brighter colors here. People dress warmer here. People speak English here.

Now these might all seem like obvious statements, but all of which have taken some getting used to none the less.

Tomorrow I do a tour of the major sights in London, which I guess I will buy a disposable camera for the occasion. :( and yet :)

Oh hey.

This week has been genuinely awesome. I tried blogging mid week but the post didn't save so I got frustrated and gave up. Great things have been happening this week.

My package arrived from the states bringing me Jelly Bellys, more black flats ( I go through about a pair a month because of all the walking), my new camera (which is awesome by the way, pictures will be up soon), and the Harry Potter movies, thank you Jones family. After the arrival of the package everything has been workign out great. I won't write in more detail because I have to go meet my friend at the Luxembourg Garden and we are then heading off to a museum.

Cheers.

The Shower Thoughts.

Life is what happens between showers, and you think about it during showers.

Love you Mom.

The Champ des Mars.

You see the most interesting things on a daily basis in Paris. I saw these two interesting things (people?) while reading the firts Harry Potter to one of the boys I watch.

Now, it's difficult to see because I took this with my phone and then cropped it buuuuuutttttt: look closely. There is a very old woman wearing a hat worthing of Gaga on a sunday in the red oval. In the yellow circle you'll see (maybe not) a woman in a full ballgown doing a fashion shoot.

Just another day on the Champ des Mars.

Friday Night.

As I promised a Miss Goodman that I would set an alarm to stop ready at 11:00 so that I would get some sleep, I have stopped reading and will now blog. :)

This weekend was my first weekend off, and it was delightful. One Friday night we went to the Pont des Arts and shared some wine with some good au pair friends and met some new friends. Tipsy, we got onto the metro to explore some pubs. It was really funny for us. I am sure anyone around must have been pissed, but regardless we ran into one of the cars as the doors were slamming shut only to realize we left two people behind. We adventured around like this for a while, laughing our heads off the whole time when Meg and I decided to head back in order to not miss the last metro.

Waiting for metro as we waited for the rest of our party.

After we got back we sat down on a corner to chat for a minute before returning home and we had two french boys come up to us and hand us a DirectSoir, a free newspaper from the metro. They were bored and handing them out. We goofed around and passed them out as well when we got tired and sat down once more. At this point we had someone offer us marijuana. (Prop 19). We politely declined and shortly after we had several different groups of people ask us to come clubbing. We decided it was a little late for us and we headed on our way home.

Saturday was great as well, but now it's time for me to sleep for Monday.

The Plage.

Cuuuute. I have a sore throat, and blister like sores on my hands and feet which make walking around Paris very uncomfortable. Apparently I  caught the bug that only children are supposed to catch and adults with low immune systems. I am going to assume this is because I was still getting over my last cold. So tonight I am staying in, drinking fluids and sleeping.

The OFII.

After waiting for three hours to get my papers process for five minutes I found out that my trip to London is canceled because I can't leave the Schengen Area until after I have had my medical appointment which is scheduled for November. Run on sentence? Maybe. Regardless: sad day.

I can still travel because I have a week off at the end of the month, but now I don't have a destination or friends to visit. Looking for a travel buddy. :)

Last Set of Versailles Photos.

Camera camera camera.

Mother dearest sent me a package in the mail that I am very excited to receive. I should probably wait to blog about it gets here, but I am too excited because it has my new camera in it! The Sony TX5. Waterproof, shockproof and still cute. I will be able to put up more photos once I get it and I can bring it with me when we going skiing this winter or take pictures even whens it is raining out. YAY!

The rooftop, the phone and the Playboy Bunnies.

This is an exciting post for me. It's the first time I have blogged on my rooftop where I eat lunch because of it's superior view, and it is the first time blogging from my phone. Very exciting.
As I walked to the local Carrefour to buy my favorite trailmix cereal and soymilk, I sas this woman with a cheap looking blue dress that defined hips that were too large for paris and black heels. I walked on to the store. When I walked back from the store with my favorite trailmix cereal I saw this woman sitting in a cheap car with another tacky woman and playboy bunny stickers covering the car.
Unfortunately hookers actually exist here so I have not worn my red lipstick that I was becoming so fond of before I left.