My Last Month in France

It has been so long since I have had the opportunity to write a blog. I have been "tied down" with anatomy exams, a lab practical, and paper writing. I have four out of 5 anatomy exams completed, and have my last one tomorrow. I finished anatomy lab up last week after our last practical! I have also typed 3 papers on top of all the anatomy I have been doing. Now you can see why I haven't had time to write a blog lately. However, I needed a study break right now so I decided that I would take time to  fill everybody in on what has been going on in France. Enjoy, because this is probably the last one I will be writing before you talk to me in person!

Since the last time I posted a blog, the president of Saint Francis University, Father Gabe, Dr. and Mrs. Powel, the provost and his wife, and Erin McCloskey, and her husband Kevin came to France to visit us and see what the Study Abroad in France program is all about. They arrived Friday evening to the monastery and had dinner with us that night. It was great getting to meet all of them. Saturday we did a presentation on our semester in France and what all we have done while we have been here. We also had put together a book of our time in France that we all can take home to remember our time here. 

Sunday morning I went to mass at the church here at the monastery. Father Gabe helped Pere Jammes do the mass, so it was in both French in English. The mass was a big deal and was a good celebration of our guests joining us. After mass, we had a huge celebration lunch at the monastery. About 50 people came here for lunch including the mayor of Ambialet, the deputy mayor of Albi, the president of the university in Albi, and Marie, my French professor. 

Our lunch was a four course meal. We first started with salad that had duck on it. It was very fancy looking because Bernard, our chef, arranged everything on the salad in a certain way. Every salad looked alike. I felt like I was back at the Springs at work. After salad, we had our main course, which was lamb, and vegetable medley and of course - French bread! After that, we were served a cheese platter with 5 or 6 different kinds of cheese. Oh and of course - more French bread! Last of all, we were served dessert, which was chocolate cake and a fruit tart. The meal was delicious and needless to say, we were all stuffed full. The meal lasted over 2 hours. That is one thing that the French do differently than Americans. They like to spend much more time at the dinner table and eat in courses. 

After lunch, I went for a walk with Katie, Father Gabe, Erin, and Kevin. We showed them one of our favorite views in Ambialet. After that, I spent the evening studying for anatomy for the upcoming exam, which is what I did for most of the next week. Father Gabe, Kevin, and Erin left on Tuesday, but Dr. Powel and his wife were spending the whole next week in Ambialet. 

The next weekend was a free weekend for us. I chose to stay in Ambialet with some of my friends instead of traveling again. On Saturday, all 10 of the students who stayed in Ambialet went kayaking down the Tarn River along with Dr. and Mrs. Powel, Tim, and his two daughters, Olivia and Sophia. We kayaked 13 kilometers down the river, stopping several times along the way to swim.The water actually wasn't that cold! It was a lot of fun and was one of the best times that I have had in Ambialet. 

After kayaking, we came back to the monastery, showered, and got all "pretty" for the dinner in Ambialet that night. It was a dinner and music festival and it was the first time that I have seen that many people in the village of Ambialet at once. For the rest of the weekend, I relaxed and started studying for the upcoming anatomy practical. Not only did I have an anatomy practical that week, but I also had a French final on Friday. 

Wednesday of that week, after French class, we went on next to last excursion in France. The first stop of the excursion was a Church in Alban. The second stop of the day was Roquefort, which is tho town where Roquefort cheese is made. We toured the caves that the cheese is fermented and produced in. We also tried Roquefort at the end of the tour. YUCK! I do not like Roquefort cheese at all! It was still interesting to see how the cheese is made. We also got some very pretty views of the mountains in Roquefort, so I enjoyed that!

After Roquefort, we went to Millau, where we saw the tallest bridge in the world! What a sight to see! After visiting the gift shop and getting pictures of the bridge, we got on our bus and headed back to Ambialet. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was dedicated to anatomy. What's new?

We celebrated Easter here in Ambialet. I woke up that morning and found an "Easter Basket" outside our door that one of the students here put together. After church, we had a late lunch. Peter and Margaret had set up a nice dinner table for us with candy and spring colored decorations. After lunch I studied and did some school work until I Skyped with my parents, grandparents, and brother at their Easter get-together. I watched them have an egg hunt. No one will ever be too old for an egg hunt! It was great to Skype my family on Easter. It was sad not being home since before France, I have never missed being at home with my family on a holiday. 

Today (Wednesday) was our last excursion during our time in France. We first had French class this morning. We got our exams back and then played the French version of "Pictionary." After class and saying our final goodbyes to Marie and Elizabeth, our French professors, we went to Notre Dame de la Dreche, which is a Franciscan Church near Albi. We met our professor Eric there so we could see him for one last time before going back to the U.S. After viewing the inside of the church, we had lunch there with some of the people of the Franciscan community. We had a four course meal of soup, veal and noodles, cheese, and then a pastry for dessert. After lunch, we were toured the museum there then we were allowed to go up into the bell tower of the church and ring the bells, which was the best part of the day and something I have never done before. 

After that, we said our final goodbyes to Eric and headed back to Ambialet. I have been studying for anatomy once again. Tomorrow is our final exam for the semester!!!!!! After tomorrow, I will officially be done with all my classes as a sophomore! Friday I am going to spend the day packing to head home, which is going to be a lot of work. Leaving Saturday is going to be bittersweet. I am so ready to go home and see all my family and friends, but I realized today just how much I am going to miss the people that I have met here in France after saying goodbye to Marie and Eric. I am not only going to miss all the people I have met here, but also Jay-Z and Shaq, and the environment of Ambialet. I love getting up every morning and seeing the view that I do. However, I am so excited to see my mom and grandma in Washing D.C. on Saturday. Our plane is scheduled to land a little after 6PM in the U.S. I am hoping that everything goes will with our flights and the airports arent too crazy. We are flying out of London airport the day after the Royal Wedding. I know, I know, hoping that the London airport won't be busy is probably useless because of that. Oh well, it will just be great to land in the U.S. no matter what!

See you all VERY soon!

Alicia

I was so busy during my final week of Spring Break with my parents that there wasn’t time to post any blog updates. So here is a quick summary of my final days of Spring Break.

My plane landed in Rome just 10 minutes before my parents’ plane landed and we met in baggage claim around 12:15 PM on Tuesday, March 22. Of course, my mom cried! We found a driver of a multi-passenger van and he drove all 7 of us right to the front gate of our apartment building for the same price as we would’ve paid for the Metro – with no walking and transfers!

Since my parents had not decided to come to Europe until a few weeks before, I already had plans for an apartment in Rome with my five friends, but after extensive searching, we were able to find a room for my parents on the same street as my apartment, which was great.

We got settled in the first afternoon and then went out the first night for our first authentic Italian Pizza. They have the different kinds of pizza pre-made and you tell them what size piece you want and they weigh it to determine the price. No two pieces are ever the same size! We also got our first Gelato, which is just amazing in Rome. Our apartments were only about a 15 min walk or less to the Coliseum, so we walked there to see it lit up after dark. You might say we got a little lost on the walk home or you could just say we were “touring the area”.

Our first full day in Rome started with my parents coming to my apartment for breakfast. They had real milk in Rome YEAH! and we had bought a box of Kellogg’s Frosties – Italian version of Frosted Flakes. I was so happy to have cereal and milk! My mom had also bought a loaf of fresh Italian bread and some special jelly.

As we started our walk that day to the Coliseum, we passed a huge building and took pictures across the street of it. My mom said that there seemed to be a lot of people going in it that we should go check it out. It turned out that it was one of the 4 big churches (or basilicas as they are called) in Rome – the San Giovanni. The origin of this structure goes back to the year 324. There were statues of the Apostles along the sides of the central area and there are “Holy Steps”  which they say Jesus actually walked upon.

We passed several interesting shops and little Italian places to eat along our walk to the Coliseum and just took our time and had a relaxing morning. Our first purchase was a Roma Pass – good for 3 days of Metro and buses and entrance to two main attractions plus discounts at many other sites. We used our first entrance to go inside the Coliseum. My parents had purchased a Rick Steeves European Tour Guide and my dad had downloaded audio tours to his cell phone so it was great to learn about all the things we were seeing inside.  After lunch – amazing bruschetta and pasta – we went to the Roman Forum and once again used my Dad’s downloaded walking tour guide to get details about each thing we were seeing. The tour of the Forum would not have meant much without this information. Thanks Dad!!!! We got to sit on rocks where Julius Caesar had been and see where he was burned after his death. I learned so much on this walking tour with my parents.

My mom was so excited about the “Siestas” that the Italians take each afternoon and she attempted to schedule that into our daily itinerary. So, after taking a break to rest we went out for dinner at a small restaurant just down from their apartment. It was fabulous! We had amazing Eggplant bianca and Suppli – which is a native Rome snack consisting of a ball of rice and tomato sauce around a ball of mozzarella which is soaked and dipped in breadcrumbs then deep fried. Our waiter could not speak English but he was so friendly and would greet us the rest of the week when we would pass the restaurant.

Our next day in Italy, we took the Metro to Vatican City to see where this Pope guy lives. We toured St. Peter’s Cathedral – which has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. After that we roamed the streets of Rome, went in some shops and ate some more great Italian pasta and gelato. We hopped off the Metro to see the Spanish Steps and threw some coins in the Trevi Fountain.

The people where my parents were staying were super nice and I got to spend that night with them at the Bed and Breakfast place they were staying at because they had a vacant room for the night.

Our final day in Rome, we spent doing some shopping at a street market and also in some of the stores that were close by Via Carlo Felice. We rested a little that afternoon – my mom and her siestas!!!! Then we ventured out to Trastevere – one of the neighborhoods of Rome. We ate  a traditional full course Italian dinner – which has an appetizer,  pasta as the first course and then a meat and vegetable for the second course and dessert. We then started a Night Walk across Rome – compliments of the Rick Steeves Tour book again.  We saw many sites of Rome that we had not managed to get to during the days. Although, it was a long walk, every couple blocks was another Piazza (Plaza or Square) with different things happening and the walk didn’t seem long at all. We walked across the Ponte Sisto bridge and walked to Camp De Fiori – a neat little square with a lot of outdoor dining areas. From there our next stop was Piazza Navona – stated to be Rome’s most interesting night scene with street musicians, artists and fountains.  Yeah, the artists were in love with my mom and she was in love with their paintings!!!! After a few purchases, we continued on to the Pantheon where we stood under the 40-foot tall granite columns at the entrance. From there we walked through Piazzas Capranica and Colonna. Our Night walk took us to see the Trevi Fountain which we had already visited during daytime but it was so pretty lit up at night. Our final stop was at the Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps. From here, we took a taxi back to pack up because our flight to France was the next morning.

It felt good to return “home” to France. It truly has become my home-away-from-home. We landed and stayed the night at Toulouse. I took my parents to the town square where I had been not too long after arriving in France. We had tea and cappuccino at an outdoor café and then ate dinner in an authentic French creperie.  We had amazing crepes. For dessert, my dad’s was mint and chocolate and I had apple and caramel.

Sunday morning, we went to a brunch buffet with wonderful crepes and pastries plus fresh squeezed orange juice, eggs and meats and cheeses.  Unfortunately, not too long after breakfast, it was time to head to the train station in Toulouse and say good-bye to my parents. And yes, my mother cried again! After they put me and my friends on the train to Abli where we would meet the bus back to Ambialet for my final 4 ½ weeks of classes before I go back to America, my parents took the train to Carcassonne to explore the Castle City that I had seen in February. After two days there, they took the train on to Barcelona for a day and a half before they flew home from there.

I am now studying anatomy like crazy. I had an exam yesterday and have another one in a week. After that, I have an anatomy practical and anatomy lecture final. The final is two days before I return home, so the rest of my time in France is going to consist of studying anatomy. I also have a French final and several papers to write before coming home. It is going to be a busy couple of weeks.

As much as I am going to miss France, I am getting excited to go home and get back into an “American” daily routine. I am very excited to see all my family and friends again as well as my two furry friends at home who I know are excited to see me! I will miss Jay-Z and Shaq when I go back to the US. Having them in France really was a big help when I missed home and Macie and Sadie. I am also going to miss the weather here so much. While everyone back in PA is still experiencing snow storms, I have been laying out while studying since I have returned for break. It is just like summer here and I already have a tan!! Sorry to everyone at home that is sick and tired of snow. Just come to France and visit me!

I just went outside and took some pictures of the sunset, which was really pretty tonight. Now I am going to study anatomy for the rest of the evening. I hope everyone has a great week! Miss you all!

A Couple More Days in Greece

Yesterday, I pretty much spent a day in paradise. We took a ferry boat to the island of Aegina, about an hour boat ride from the port in Athens. We sat on the boat deck on the way there and I got a tan. It was very sunny and felt like summer outside, although the wind was chilly on the boat. We got to the island around noon, so we got lunch at a little restaurant right near the place where our boat docked. They had really good gelato there! While we were eating, Katie and I saw a sign that advertised a place where you could rent mopeds/4-wheelers/cars to get around the island. The whole trip to Europe we have been talking about how we thought it would be fun to rent a moped, so we decided to do just that. However, the owner of the business told us that he thought it would be a lot easier for us girls to drive a 4-wheeler around, and we could fit two of us on it, so we got two of those for the day. Katie and I had a bright yellow four-wheeler, and Jen and Morgan had a blue one. Brady ended up getting a moped because they only had two 4-wheelers available.

After getting our instructions on how to operate and start the vehicles (which Katie and I didn’t pay attention to obviously), we were on our way to exploring the island. We rode along the bluest and prettiest of water that I have ever seen. The island was absolutely gorgeous, and we got to see so much of it by driving around on the 4-wheelers. Katie and I had to find a gas station to put gas in our 4-wheeler, which was interesting. The man where we rented the 4-wheele told us that there were gas stations all over the island. I don’t know what he was talking about because we had to drive to Timbuktu to find a rinky dink gas station. Needless to say, we got lost a little bit. We stopped 3 times to ask where a gas station was located. Thankfully, mostly everyone on the island spoke English and was more than glad to help us. The third man we asked got on his moped and actually drove us to the gas station. When we got to the gas station, we were on empty and pretty much coasting into the station. Notice how I said MOST everyone spoke English on the island. Well, of course the gas station Katie and I end up at, the guys that worked there did NOT speak English. We had no idea what we were supposed to do. We think that we were supposed to pump the gas by ourselves, but eventually a man came over and helped us. To communicate, we pointed and nodded, and did everything but spoke the Greek language. By the time we had gas in our tank and we were ready to leave, I’m pretty sure the guys at the gas station thought we were the two dumbest people ever. They stood there and laughed at us. To make matters worse, we couldn’t get the 4-wheeler started back up and the same man that pumped our gas had to help us do that too. Whoa, what an experience!

After getting gas, I drove the 4-wheeler. Katie had driven up until then. We found Morgan, Jen, and Brady and rode around the island some more and stuck our feet in the sea. There were small beaches along the island, but the sun had gone behind clouds and it was not as warm outside, so we did not swim in the water or lay out on the beach. We mostly just drove all around the island, which was exciting because we got to see so much of it. Eventually, it started to rain and was very cold driving the 4-wheeler, so we turned them back into the guy in the late afternoon. By that time, we had gotten to see a lot of the island. We stayed on the island just a little while longer before catching another ferry back to Athens. We were all very tired from the day and wet and cold from the rain. Four of us fell asleep on the boat ride back. This time we rode inside the boat because we were cold.

We came back to the part of the city where we are staying, got dinner, and then went back to the apartment. We actually had decent internet connection last night, so we took the time to call our families and upload pictures from our day to the internet. We were all in bed before 11 because we were tired from the day and had another busy day planned for today.

Today, we got up early and went to the Acropolis. The Acropolis is the symbol of Athens and its monuments date back to the prehistoric era. First we saw the Propylaea, which is the grand entrance of the Acropolis. We saw the Parthenon, which is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. We also saw the Temple of Hephaistos and many more of the Ancient Greek buildings and temples. The Acropolis was so cool to see and I really enjoyed spending the day sightseeing.

For lunch, we went to a sit down restaurant in Monastraki. I ordered what was called a Gyro plate. It was a plate full of pork, tomatoes, onions, French fries, gyro sauce and four pitas. That had to be the most delicious gyro ever! The ones at the Bedford Country fair will never be able to compare to this one.

After eating, we walked for a while through the famous flea market in Monastraki towards another part of the city, where The Temple of Olympian Zeus was. Once we found it, we did a lap around it. There are 16 of 104 columns that have been preserved and are still standing. We also saw Hadrian’s Arch, which is located right near the Temple of Olympian Zeus. After walking around this area, we walked around the city to find the closest metro. While walking toward the metro, we accidently stumbled upon the National Gardens. We walked around there just a little, but did not stay long because we were all tired and ready for a break from walking. We actually didn’t know it was the National Gardens until we saw signs after leaving. Another thing we saw while walking back to the metro was one of the ancient baths.

We got back to the apartment and I took a nap. We are now starting to make dinner for the five of us tonight. We are using up some of the leftovers that we have since this is our next to last night in Greece. We don’t know what we are doing tomorrow yet, but we just talked about walking around the city and exploring some more. 

Living Life, One Greek Beach at a Time!

Today (Friday) we woke up and it was raining again, so we were worried that we were going to have another bad weather day. However, the rain quickly passed and the sun came out. It was so warm outside too! After getting ready this morning, we took the metro to the port because we wanted to see how much it would be for a boat ride one day to the Greek islands. We found this really nice business that helped us decide what we wanted to do. Tomorrow, we are taking a boat to the Greek island of Aegina for the day which we are all looking forward to!

After figuring out stuff for tomorrow (Saturday), we got some lunch, and then we were headed to the beach for the afternoon. The beach we wanted to go to was a ways from the port and wasn’t accessible by metro, so we got a taxi. Miraculously, we fit all five of us plus the taxi driver into this small taxi. I sat partially on Katie’s lap and partially on Jen’s….what an interesting ride it was. We did get to see the professional soccer stadium of the Greek team. It was so cool, because I have never seen a big soccer stadium like that before! Morgan, Brady, and I (the soccer players) were pretty much in our glory. The taxi driver also pointed out the basketball and volleyball arenas.

I was extremely excited to finally see the beach! I have never seen water so clear and blue. The water temperature wasn’t too bad either, just a little chilly. The water was very shallow and we were able to walk out to a really big, pretty rock island. I laid out on the rock for a little while, and even got a tan line! Needless to say, it was a very good day! After lying out in the sun all day, we came back to the apartment, showered, and made dinner. We had spaghetti and salad. It is fun to cook together! Last night we had chicken salads.

We are meeting up with some friends who are also in Greece for Spring break for the rest of the evening. I am having so much fun in Greece! We have so much more planned for the next couple of days! I am also very excited to see my parents in just 4 days!

Have a good weekend everyone!

After some minor problems getting to the airport, made it to Orly Airport around 11:30 Tuesday night. Our flight was not scheduled to leave until 6:30 AM, but we had to get to the airport at night so we didn't have to call a taxi in the middle of the night. We slept in the airport for several hours before waking up around 4:30 AM to check our bags and go through security. Luckily, we made our weight requirements with our luggage and no one had any problems.

We boarded the plane around 6:00 AM and I was so exhausted that I fell asleep immediately. I even missed most of the safety demonstrations that they did before the plane took off because I was already half asleep. I slept almost the entire flight, and before I knew it, the captian was saying that we were preparing to land. I looked out my window, and I saw the bluest and prettiest water and islands that I have ever seen. I am looking forward to visiting some of those islands and going to the beach! It was exciting to finally be flying over Greece!

We got off the plane and had to find where the apartment is that we are renting. We had to take several metros, and then walk at least 10 minutes to the apartment. On the first metro, we did not know that our luggage had to go on the luggage racks on the one part of the train. Well, some Greek lady came up and started yelling at us, so that wasn't the best start to our time in Greece. So far, most people here haven't been very friendly or helpful. We did have one man that helped us find our way on the metro to get to our apartment, so we were thankful for that because the one metro line was shut down and we got confused as to which one to take. 

Once we arrived to our apartment, the owner of the apartment wasn't too happy that we were a little late getting there. She showed us our apartment and where everything was. We have a really nice covered outside porch that we slept on last night. However, we didn't have hot water for our first showers here. We had a guy come to look at it, so now hopefully it will work the rest of our time here. Our landlady told us that we would only have half an hour at a time of hot water, so quick showers are in order. After showering yesterday, we went and got something to eat. I got a chicken gyro and it was amazing. We just hung out in the apartment for the rest of the evening. We were all so tired and went to bed a little after 10. 

Our plan today was to go to the beach, but when we woke up this morning, it was raining. Also, the metro system is shut down today due to a strike. We slept until almost 11, then got up, got ready, and went to the grocery store to get some food. We are cooking most of our meals here in the apartment since we have a kitchen. It has stopped raining, but is still very cloudy. It is kind of a disappointing day, and not what we had planned for. We will probably just go walk around the part of Athens where we are staying for the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully the weather will be better in the upcoming days, although it was supposed to be nice today. It actually just started pouring rain again as I type this sentence, so disregard my sentence that said the rain had stopped, unfortunately. 

MILK!!! They have real milk in Greece! The five of us went through a carton of milk in just a few hours, because we are all so excited to have real milk! I have never had a bowl of cereal taste so good! My favorite part of the day so far is probably having milk to drink. You have no idea how much I missed milk!

 The language barrier is so hard here though because it is so different from English. You you can't even look at a word and know how to pronounce it, like you can in other languages. Less people speak English here than we thought would. Hopefully once the metro opens back up, it won't be too hard to get around Greece. I will keep everyone updated on our Greek adventures when I can. Our internet is horrible in the apartment and doesn't work most of the time.  

Day Six in Paris - What an interesting Day!

Today we had the whole day to ourselves to visit the assigned museums that we were given the first day here. I spent the day with Morgan and Jen. My assigned destination was La Conciergerie. It was an adventure finding it, to say the least. Let me tell you the story. The first day here, John gave us directions to get to our museums. Well, obviously there were some mix-ups and miscommunications because we ended up getting a little lost.  We spent at least two hours trying to find La Conciergerie, and we ended up taking the metro, RER, bus, AND walking a long, long, long distance to get threre. It turns out that the metro stop that we were told NOT to get off of was the one stop that we should have gotten off of. Thanks John! We ended up seeing some really cool things on our adventure to find La Conciergerie that we wouldn't have seen had we not been lost. So literally, thanks John! Anyhow, after asking numerous French people for directions and visiting some new parts of the city, we found La Conciergerie, just two hours behind schedule!

La Conciergerie is a former residence and prison and it is famous for its role in the French Revolution. Anyone who was thought to be an enemy of the Revolution was arrested and put into prison in La Conciergerie. They were kept here until those sentenced to death were taken away to be beheaded. This is where Marie-Antoinette and Robespierre were sentenced to death. We got to see Marie-Antoinette's prison cell and a scene that depicted her in her cell and the two policemen that guarded her. This is where her actual dungeon cell was located. We also got to see the different types of cells and scenes that depicted life in the prison. It was very interesting to see, although the environment of the prison was very dreary. I learned a lot and it something that I am very glad that I had the opportunity to see.

After going to La Conciergerie, we went to attempted to find Morgan's museum. Once again, we had a little trouble finding it. At first we got on the wrong bus, but luckily we realized it right away and got off the bus. We the backtracked on the metro after getting some lunch. From this mistake, we got the best ham and butter baguette that we have had, so it was a successful mess-up! We ended up riding the metro for many stops to find Morgan's museum, but we eventually found it. The funniest part is we actually had walked past it earlier on in the day and commented on how cool the outside of the building looked. We even took pictures of some of the statues that were outside and didn't even realize that it was her museum. Morgan's museum was the Museum of Modern Art. After we eventually found it, we walked around the museum and got to see some of the coolest art displays.

Jen's museum was the easiest to find. We got on the metro from Morgan's museum, and found it very easy. Of course, when we got to the museum, it was closed. Figures that the museum we find the easiest is closed. So, needless to say we did not get to visit her museum, so we came back to FIAP. We had to put a presentation together for class on where we went.

After our session of presentations, we went to dinner. I am now doing laundry here at FIAP in preparation for spring break. We have to check out of FIAP in the morning, then we have most of the day in Paris. We are going to put our luggage in a friend's hotel room for the day while we spend our last day in Paris. Then tomorrow night, we are taking a bus to the airport, where we wait for out flight to Greece to depart early Wednesday morning. I will let everyone know when I am safely in Athens. We have an apartment for 6 nights there and I will have internet access at the apartment.

Day Five in Paris

Today we went were going to an international mass at Notre Dame. Before going to Notre Dame, we went and met Francie's parents at their hotel. I am glad they made it to France safely and we all know Francie was really excited to see them! After meeting them, we went to Notre Dame for church. It was a really beautiful church inside and out!We first walked around the church before sitting down for mass. Mass was confusing because it was all in French even though it was considered an international mass. However, I really enjoyed seeing the church and it is cool to say that I went to mass at Notre Dame.

After church we went to a Moroccan restaurant, where we got couscous to ear. Couscous is similar to rice and the dish includes meat, vegetables, and a sauce. I enjoyed it, but once again, it is something that I could not eat very often. For desert, I had a pastry that was similar to baklava, and it was very good!

After lunch, we went to the Musee D'Orsay, an art museum in Paris, for my art history class that I am taking in France. I got to see another painting by an artist that I have studied for that class. I thought that the museum was neat. It was once a big railroad station that has since been turned into a museum.

After the museum, we were done with the scheduled activities for classes, so we had the evening and night free. We met Francie's family and went to the Eiffel Tower while it was still daylight, since we had only seen it at night. I liked it at night a lot better, but it was still interesting to see during the day.

We were all very tired from walking, so we came back to FIAP, had dinner, and I am now relaxing in my room. I want to get a good nights sleep tonight so I can enjoy my last full day in Paris tomorrow. Technically we will be here on Tuesday, but we have to spend that day doing laundry, packing, and get to the airport to fly to Greece Wednesday morning for spring break. So tomorrow is our last day here to explore the city.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!