Hiking in France

Every weekend a group of us would go on a hike or two. Hikes are a great way to get to see the country and every time we have been able to take a different hike and see different things. I love the hiking group. We have become so close and I really hope we can continue doing hikes when we go back to the states. The core group consists of Eric, Aaron, Beth, myself, and of course Chuck and Marie. We always seem to have too much fun, and something unforgettable always seems to happen. On one of the last hikes we were walking along an electric fence. I jokingly told Chuck to touch it and see if it was on. Well didn’t he fall as soon as I finished asking him. His feet went right out from under him and he landed right on top of the fence, using it to try to catch himself but he ended up just lying on top of it, resting his head on the bottom wire. I think I laughed about it for a good ten minutes after it happened, maybe twenty. I just kept picturing it happening in my head and I couldn’t stop laughing. Luckily the fence wasn’t on or I never would have stopped laughing.

Besides all the excitement that goes on during the hikes, I really just loved the peace and quiet.  I felt like a little kid again, spending all day outside in nature and not having a care in the world.  I had so much time to think, about all the things I wanted to do that day and in the future. Hiking really is so relaxing and a major stress reliever for me. Plus, hiking is such a good work out! Our shortest hike was probably about 3 hours so we normally walk a lot, going up, down, and around mountains multiple times. I feel like my legs (and butt) got so toned from all the walking. We never did a hike that was even close to being flat; I don’t think Marie would have allowed it. She is the one who organized our hikes, she is always up for a hike and we are always up to doing them with her. Chuck did wimp out on our last hike though; he didn’t want to get wet from the rain.

Me, Beth, Aaron, and Eric

                The picture above was from a hike that we went on when Chuck and Marie left for break.  It shows a great view of Ambialet with the Monastery in the middle. The hike that day was perfect and the weather was even better. That’s the best thing about hiking, even if you would go on the same hike twice it would be completely different each time because the view and the weather is always changing. One of the coolest hikes we went on was one morning when everything was covered in fog that lasted all day. That happened a lot here actually. Since we live right on a river it gets really foggy and sometimes the sun never comes out because it will stay damp and foggy and the sun goes down by 5.

                I wish there were more places back in the states to hike. Here they are seriously everywhere! I don’t even know how many different ones we went on this semester. And they all varied in distances. The longest one we went on was about 15 miles and it took us a good 5 hours but it was so worth it. We packed a delicious lunch of bread and cheese. We also had a nice treat of honey that we bought fresh while hiking, which was amazing. I loved going on the hikes but I don’t think I would have gone if it wasn’t for Marie’s dedication.  She made sure we went on at least one a week.  Also her and Chuck arguing is hilarious, I think he stays up late at night thinking up new ways of teasing her. Oh young love! They always laugh when I tell them that. I don’t call it young love because they act like young lovers, I think its cause they find new ways of showing their love and keeping it fresh, which isn’t really the word I was looking for but it will do. I know she is going to read this too. She kind of has to because she is grading me on it, but I don’t care they are too cute. And I am going to miss them both like crazy. They have been much more than professors to me, and I will always be extremely grateful to them for that. And I am not just saying that so I will get an A in their classes either, even though an A in art history would be really nice Chuck…just kidding, kind of.

                I can’t believe I only have three days left here. Depressing. 

Thanksgiving, Ambialet style.

This was the first time that I spent Thanksgiving away from my family. Usually Thanksgiving is a chance for me to see all my favorite people in one location in good old West Virginia. This year I didn’t get to be a part of that celebration, but we did have our own thanksgiving festivities here in Ambialet. The day started out early with Art History class, yeah we didn’t get off because Thanksgiving is not a holiday here. Right after class French tv came to interview us and get a glimpse into our lives here at the monastery. Luckily I didn’t get interviewed or really have to say anything in French, I can’t speak it that well yet, but they did film us making pies. Once they left we ate lunch and figured out teams for our backyard American football game, blacks vs. white. I was on the black team. We all got dressed up and painted our faces (war paint) and headed down to the field, which was Margret and Peter’s yard since we live on a mountain with no flat land. We had a fun game, but sadly my team lost, even though we had Christophe who probably could have taken their whole team by himself if we were playing rugby, but he never played American football before and didn’t quite get the concept of two hand touch, let’s just say Hillary’s ribs hurt. He asked me before the game if he was allowed to grab people’s legs and tackle them that way, I said no, that could have been bad. It was really hard trying to explain the rules of football to him because we know little French and he knows little English, and how do you explain football anyway? It’s just football. But we all had a lot of fun and both Christophe and our chef Bernard, who also played with us, really want us to play with them again. Hopefully it will stay nice here so we get to play another game.

Black Team(:

                After the game we got washed up and ready for dinner. Students that study wine at a local University came and gave us a wine tasting lesson before we ate. Fun fact: the slower the wine runs down the side of the glass after tilting it, the more alcohol it contains. I also learned that the reason why you are supposed to spit it out is not only so you don’t drink too much before you taste the last glass of wine, but also because there is a secondary flavor that you get as it touches your lips. The students were really nice and they stayed for dinner. Some of them spoke some English but for the most part communicating was hard, but it was fun using the French that we know and trying figuring out what they were saying. We had an American style dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry sauce (thanks to Uncle Tim!), and pie! Even though I really missed not being with my family on Thanksgiving, I still felt very much loved and happy with the family I have here in Ambialet(:

Its been way too long.

So I need to start blogging again. So much has happened I don’t even know where to start.

Let’s begin with Paris.

 Paris was great! Good food and good people made for a really good experience. I only ran into one man who gives French people their stereotype of being rude, and this man definitely had something wrong with him. I was walking with the girls, we were going shopping of course, and he walked up to me while we were crossing the street and he got all up in my face and yelled something in French which I did not understand so without even thinking I said what. Well he turned around got back up in my face and told me that I was not welcome here. He seemed really on edge and sketchy so I just walked away as fast as possible praying he did not have some sort of weapon on him. But other than that incident I had a really great time in Paris. The Eiffel tower is amazing, especially when it is all lit up at night and sparkling. My favorite part of Paris would either have to be the art district part or the area across the river from Notre Dame. I loved seeing all the artists and their paintings and the view of the city from Sacre Coeur. But I also loved the vibe and the liveliness of the shops and restaurants near Notre Dame.

After Paris I traveled with Hillary and her parents to Krakow Poland. It is so beautiful there! The town is so small and it looks exactly the same as it did 50 years ago. We went on a tour of the city and learned all about its famous legends the first day. The second day we went on a tour of Auschwitz and Birkenau. That was a pretty depressing day. Being in the gas chambers where Jews were killed, and walking through the camps made it very real. Our last full day in Krakow we went on a salt mine tour which was really cool because it took you three levels down into the mine where there were huge chapels carved out of the salt, which is still used every Sunday and for weddings. It was pretty amazing down there, and we only went to the third chamber, there are nine total. We then met up with my parents at my uncle Tim’s in Germany. It was so good to get to see them! We visited a couple of beautiful churches with them and did some shopping before dropping Hillary’s parents off at the airport. The next morning we left for Paris!! We took a train which wouldn’t have been bad except I had a lot of luggage! If you ever decide to take a train in Europe, make sure you pack light because there is not a lot of room. Our apartment in Paris was kind of small but I thought it was rather cute and cozy. It was about a ten minute walk from Notre Dame, we were about a block away from the Luxemburg Garden. We were able to go to mass at Notre Dame that night because it was All Soul’s day, my parents seems to really enjoy it except they almost fell asleep a couple of times. They weren’t use to all the traveling. The next day we went up the Eiffel Tower, ate banana/nutella crepes (delicious!), and went on a boat tour of the city. The tour was really nice, it was a beautiful view of the city and since we went after dark it was all lit up on the water. The next day we took another train to Toulouse which is about an hour and a half away from where I live in Ambialet. From there we were able to rent a car and drive to Lourdes, which was incredible. We didn’t get to see everything but what we did see was amazing! The town was beautiful, and my parents really liked driving through the Pyrenees Mountains. We did some more shopping the next day before it was time for them to take Hillary and I back. They were amazed by the monastery where I live and it was really fun showing them around.  I wish it would have been nicer and that we would have had more time because there is so much here that I wanted them to see. I guess I will just have to bring them back here someday so they can see it when it’s not raining because this place can seriously take your breath away, and pictures just don’t do it justice.

Parents, on the boat tour.

So there is a really brief summary of Paris and my fall break, but I am going to blog again this week, hopefully tomorrow. I want to try to keep everyone updated, plus blogging helps me remember everything, and I don’t want to forget any of my experiences here.

Barcelona!!!!

Barcelona was amazing! The food was to die for and the atmosphere was incredible! I did so much I don't even know where to begin. We went to a couple museums, including Picasso, Miro, and Dali. I think I preferred Dali over the other two. His work was so unique. I like how some of his paintings had so much detail in them it was crazy, and then others could be so simple, but still the lines were so intricate and strategically placed. His painting of Lincoln is genius. He has a way of making a painting inside of another painting, unbelievable. Gaudi wsa another good artist and architect that we learned about. We visited La Sagrada Familia Church, Park Guell and the apartment he designed. I don't know how he did it. Each one was amazing, special, and just so Gaudi. His style is completely different from anything I have ever seen before.  

This is a picture of the entrance of the park that Gaudi designed , Guell Park.

Beach with Hillary!!

Even though we did visit a bunch of museums and historical sites while in Barcelona, we also had a lot of free time when we were on our own and could explore the city as we wished. On Saturday, after seeing the park, we had some free time for lunch and to explore before we were to meet to see another museum. Since we had to take the metro across town anyway, Hillary, Eric, Aaron, and I decided to get off a stop early and walk to the beach. I was so excited!!!! We didn't go in, but a wave did hit us pretty hard while we were walking, getting us all soaked, but it was worth it. Later that night some of us took the metro back to the beach so we could go swimming cause we brought our suits and we wanted to be able to say that we swam in the Mediterranean. Eric, Laura, and I ran and jumped into the ocean because we were expecting it to be cold. The water was actually really warm! I was really surprised because it felt freezing when we put our feet in it earlier. We swam for at least a half an hour, till about eight. Then we decided to walk around since it was our last night in Barcelona. Eric had seen on a map that there was a pretty big park near by with a mammoth statue and he wanted to go see it, so we wandered that way. The park turned out to be huge and we stumbled upon an enormous temple looking structure with a waterfall. We think it was Greek because it depicted the scene of one of the goddesses being born, not sure which one, but the one that was said to be born from the water. It was really cool, partially because we found it on our own and it was dark out making it seem mysterious in a way. We found the mammoth right next to the temple. We all climbed on it and got our pictures taken. We named him Manuel. We thought it was appropriate since he is Spanish.

On Manuel with Aaron, Eric, Laura, and Beth

On our way back to the metro to get to our hostel, we got a little lost. We couldn't find the metro anywhere! We even had a map, but somehow we couldn't get to a metro and every time we thought we were close it ended up being a tram station, not the metro. We eventually found one but it took us 2 hours to get back. And then when we were getting off the metro, there was a skirmish next to us. We were jogging up the stairs next to the escalator, when a man on the escalator started yelling and pushing his way back down it. I had no idea what was going on because they were yelling in Spanish. I just ran off as fast as possible because all i could think of was that the guy had a gun or something. Afterwards I was told that the man that was yelling had been pick pocketed and when he realized it he turned around demanding his wallet back. When the other guy denied that he took the man pushed through and reached into the other guys pocket and took his wallet back. That is one of the bad things about Europe. There are a lot of pick pocketers, especially on escalators because they can get crowded. 

But all in all I had an amazing time! It went by too fast.

Hillary & I in Toulouse!

Toulouse!

Today we got to spend the whole day in the city of Toulouse. It's a huge city that can be compared to Pittsburgh, but it's really probably larger. I found out that Toulouse has a lot of history, and was once a Roman city. We went to a museum where we learned about its Roman past. In the museum we got to see lots of Roman artifacts, including remains of sculptures, bowls, sarcophagus', and mosaics. The city is located along a river, the Tarn I believe, and was fortified during its prime. It wasn't fortified for protection, but rather for prestige. It was amazing to see a wall in the middle of town that was still in very good condition, I mean people were sitting on it like it was nothing special, but it is like two thousand years old! You don't get to see that kind of history back in America. That's what I love about it here, everything has a story.

Internet!

The internet here has been completely out since Saturday, so I have so much blogging to catch up on! From Friday through Monday so much has happened here in little Ambialet, but not really. Friday was Monica's birthday so Hil, Marie, and I made cakes and pies, so much fun! After dinner we went down to the cafe to celebrate, but it was closed so we walked through town to the bar. We had so much fun just chilling, talking, and drinking (Hillary and I stuck with water, we were not climbing back up the mountain, in the dark, with alcohol in our system. Not a good idea.). Laura, Hil, and I went back up around 11 before everyone else. We had a super bright attack light Laura's pap gave her though so we were perfectly safe. We were still in town, behind the houses heading toward the path to the castle when dogs started barking and running toward us. Laura completely forgot our attack flash light, turned it off and ran full force up the hill in front of us leaving Hil and I to chase frantically after her. Once we reached the top of the hill we learned the dogs were fenced in and we all simultaneously collapsed on the ground from  laughing so hard. We made it the rest of the up safe and sound. Saturday morning, as a group we had to literally build two bridges on a trail for a guided tour that went on Sunday. I smashed my index finger on the first rock I picked up that morning. The first rock of like 3 million that we had to find, pick up, carry, and strategically place across a river. Marie said it is going to fall off, my nail not my finger, so upsetting. But the bridges turned out well! Sunday after Church we went down to Nadine's Cafe to study. It was freezing outside, so we got hot chocolate while we studied and she helped us with numbers and our pronunciation, she is so sweet. We had movie night after dinner. We watched a French movie that Marie brought, "Amelia." It was really good! Yesterday we just had classes and relaxed most of the day away. I missed the internet.


The picture is of the second bridge we built.

Brousse village and chateau!

Yesterday we visited a local Chateau in the village of Brousse. It wasn't at all what I had been expecting. When I was told "castle" I just immediately thought Kings and Queens, royal ball rooms, elaborate bed chambers, the works. I was imagining a fairy tale princess castle. When we reached the village it was not that at all, rather it was a small, lovey, French style village, with a chateau in the center. The village was so quaint and old, but I absolutely adored it! The chateau was more of a fort and was not in its prime condition. When we entered I thought we would be going into the inside, but it was basically just a big courtyard surrounded by walls. We could walk around into the rooms but it was nothing at all like I had imagined, not that that had made it any less exciting. The purpose of the chateau was more for protection than it was for luxury. It added so much history to the village, and I was amazed that people still lived in the same old houses that had been built right up against the chateau walls.

Another day in Ambialet.

Today went by so fast!! This morning was our first french class and it was so much fun! I feel like i really learned a lot already. After class Hillary and I went for a run down to the village and then hiked back up to the castle through the path in the mountain. By the time we got back it was about time for lunch. We had this seafood rice dish with clams, mushroom, shrimp, and octopus! It was way different from anything I have every had, but it was really good none the less. After our art class we all went on a hike up to the local chateau ruins. It was such a long, hard hike but the view from the top where the chateau was is amazing! It took us about two hours but it was well worth. Can't wait to see what's in store for tomorrow!

Ambialet

I love this place.

The things you see in France.

So yesterday was amazing! I am so sore right now. We kayaked for over eight miles, went swimming, and then hiked back up to the castle. The view we had of France from the river was gorgeous, and kayaking was so much fun even though Hillary Wertz and I almost flipped like a million times! We saw a naked French man while we were kayaking too! He was swimming ahead of us and decided to get out right in front of us. He couldn't have waited five minutes and stayed covered in the water, and he was butt naked. He acted so casual about it too, like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Oh the things you see in France.