This is a post about EVERYTHING or at least me touring lots of France...well five cities.

Guys, traveling is hard. I know, I know, I was on vacation for two weeks traveling France, so I shouldn't be complaining. Well, this is my blog, and that's my number one trait, so you can scat on out. Traveling was a blast, that ain't no lie, but it is very tiring. There's so much walking, trying to find things, catching trains here and there, getting lost, waking up early, going to bed late. It's all completely worth it for sure, but I am excited to have a few days to myself to do nothing. Alright, enough of this stuff now, on to the actual travelings. I'm gonna try to do it day by day with lots of pictures, so make your buns comfy, warm up a bagel or something, and get ready. Here's my blog.

Day 1 - Started off just really great. There was vomit everywhere in the elevator I took after leaving my friend's place and I had to ride with it for six floors. And it was 5:45am. Just wondrous.  Really day 1 went better than the morning foretold. I made it to my 3-hour train ride without a hitch and even napped a bit. That's when I saw this beaut.

Alex, strong like bull.

So I met Alex at the Sorbonne, where she has class.  We had coffee at a little café, and I got to meet all of her amazing, foreign friends and speak a bit of French.  Then we had delicious, delicious galettes and crêpes. I think. Or we went to a cemetery. I really can't remember the order since its been about two weeks, but the crêpes were delicious and the cemetery was beautiful. 

I'm about ready to destroy font formatting.  I hate everything. Nevertheless the cemeteries are beautiful

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That day we did a bit of wandering too.  I think we saw the Luxembourg Gardens, the Panthéon, and a lot of really cool stuff I can't think of off the top of my head. Here are some pictures, though.

 Now I remember, we also saw Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur both great big, absolutely beautifully stunning and gorgeous churches.  Like f'real guys. I couldn't get enough of these places. Just, just gaze in awe.

Aren't they something?

So Sacré Coeur is located at Montmartre, which is just way up on the hill overlooking Paris. The sight from up here was stunning, especially at, but good golly frick frack, it was such a tough walk up there.  Especially since I was starting to feel sick. I thought I'd just brush it off.  So when we got back we had yet another lovely evening of a bit of cooking, some drink and lovely chitchat.

Day 2 - This is going to take a while. Golly.  So day 2 was a bit of a more lax day.  Number one reasoning was, little did I know at the time however, I was coming down with freaking bronchitis.  Who else but this kid right?  So today we met some friends again, had some delicious noodles and soup at Alex's favorite restaurant and then went to another beautiful cemetery. This time to see some famous graves and because we're a little weird and love cemeteries. Voila, Edith Piaf and Oscar Wilde.

They had to put up glass around Oscar Wilde's because there was a tradition to kiss his headstone with bright red lipstick.  Cause he was a playaaaaaaaaah. Actually I think he was gay. Idk.

Side note:  Between all these different sightseeing-touristy spots, let it be known that I did divulge in a very French and Parisian lifestyle and shared plenty of wine and coffee with my friend Alex. You can never have too much wine and coffee in France.  

Autre side note:  The thing I missed  most about being with Alex was cooking and shopping for food and hanging out in a kitchen, so while we did not make any fancy feasts, let it also be known that we ate well, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  

Day 3 - This was one of my favorite days of Paris, and it technically wasn't even part of Paris. The Palace of Versailles.  Man oh man, was it beautiful.  The sun was out and shining, the weather was great, and me and Alex went rowing on the Grand Canal. Let's have a look-see.

Oh yeah.  Get it, get it Shawny.

So rowing. It was a blast, and it was beautiful but me and Alex didn't really think it through. Namely that I have a janky wrist and wasn't the best of help rowing. Also that the wind would be against us rowing back in. Alex was really good at steering and knowing which way to go, but after rowing most the way out she was kind of tired, I mean rowing is hard work. So I set about with my lame scaphoid. I made good progress rowing, but my right arm was definitely stronger and it was hard to grip the oar with my left hand so we kept going diagonally across the canal, almost running into everyone as I tried to navigate the little boat, screaming and hollering at passers-by and swans to get the frack out mah way.  Totally worth it, but man oh man.

Then we went into the actual Palace. And let me tell you. So much gold leafing.  Everywhere. It's like the French's solution for any problem in the country was to add more gold leafing to the Palace of Versailles.  Very pretty but not that practical.

I'm not sure if you can actually see all the gold everywhere in these pictures... Idk. Just trust me.

 Gold. Er'rywehre

After the palace we went to some amis of Alex's for dinner. They were American which was delightful and refreshing.  An older couple, Betsy and Charlie, havebeen living in Paris for a couple of years, traveling all over.  They were so funny, with tons of amazing stories: growing up in Wyoming, working in ER's or as a flight hostess, and writing music and leading groups, and so much traveling. And Betsy cooked the most wonderful shrimp curry dish.  A wonderful night!

Day 5 - Day 5 was another fun day of touristy things. We hit up the Eiffel Tour, ate some macarons, the L'arc de Triomphe, and maybe one of the gardens? I can't really remember. I know that we had a lot of fun and ended the day with more crepes and a soiree at a friends house.  Let's look at some pictures.

The Arc and the Louvre

So lemme tell you guys about the Louvre. You gotta go. Not necessarily in it, but just to see it.  You see, people-watching here is prime.  Especially around 5ish pm.  Everyone at this point in the day is tired from a full day of walking, and hungry, but it's not quite yet for dinner.  So everyone just looks discontented and snappy.  Which is perfect because the tourist photos here are priceless.  From parents making their 4 year old daughter take cute couple photos of them to teenager takings "photo shoots," everyone is running around trying to stay out of other people's photos and get the perfect angle.  Me and Alex just sat and watched the chaos and tried to get into every photo we could. "If I'm gonna be in their photo, I'm gonna be the best thing in it," I kept saying flashing my most winning smile.  People gotta just haaaaaaaaaate me.  

Delicious macarons and the obligatory Eiffel Tower selfie.

All in all, Paris was a pretty bangin' place.  I'd definitely go back. Especially if it meant seeing Alex again! Huge shout out to one of my best friends, she made Paris the great city I heard it was. Thanks Al for the wondrous week!

FRICKIN FRACKIN PIECE OF GATDANG SOFA CUSHIONS. AAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I'M SO MAD. PISS!

So this blog has been taking awhile, especially since I've had a lot of homework this week, so I've been working on it here and there and just saving it as a draft, but THE DAMNABLE SAVE BUTTON DIDN'T SAVE MY PROGRESS ON THIS STANKING BLOG. BOY HOWDY I AM UPSET. 

I've got plenty of stuff I'm procrastinating and people are asking about this blog. I know, I'm shocked they are too.  But to satiate the precious few who want to know whats going on in my life, I'm going to post this as is and finish the rest of my trip later this week.  HAVE AT IT YA VULTURES.

This is a post mostly about my friends and animals.

Aaaaaaye.  So this'll be my last post for a couple weeks guys.  I'm about to go on vacation and tour around France.  Most importantly I'll be in Paris and will see Alex Schluter.  Can not freaking wait.   Yesss. So this is my winter break; it starts tomorrow, March 3rd, and goes until I think March 19th. Paris is my starting point, after which I'll be meeting up with my friend Kelsey in Caen.  There, we're going to see the beaches of Normandy, notably D-Day.  After we'll go to Tours and see a giant, pretty castle.  Then its off to Nantes to visit a French friend and after that, down to Bordeaux for a wine tour! Here's a map.  I was going to open the picture up in paint and circle the places for you, but I'm lazy. Pretend it's a find-it game. 

I hate this blog. I can't make the pictures the right size.  Eff everything. Anyway, on the left is a cool picture of me drinking a beer on the beach with Kels. Classy.  She's the girl I'll be traveling with. We like Kelsey. On the right is the map.  Paris, Caen, Tours, Nantes, and Bordeaux. Montpellier isn't on it, but its between Beziers and Marseille.You get the picture.... Get it? Not funny. Anyway.

So lets talk about what I've been doing with my life.  Not much.  I've mostly been hanging out with my friends, having a good time, going to class, loving the weather, and wishing break were already here. 

That's my friend James. He's pretty neat too.

My internship has been going pretty well too. This week we talked about gun regulation laws in the United States.  All the pointed questions my students asked really made me realize how backwards of a country we live in sometimes.  I love America, but dangit we are pretty stupid sometimes.  I also got the chance to eat at the school, in the professor's dining room.  The food was good and I even got to cut ahead in line, but then when I sat down it was like middle school all over again. None of the other teachers wanted to sit with me or invited me to sit with them. Maybe its because before that, during my free hour, I fell asleep on the table in the teacher's lounge.  Or because I was wearing my American Flag t-shirt.  Probably mostly because I'm intimidatingly handsome though. Idk.

This weekend I went to the zoo with some friends, Alysa and TJ. Alysa is the best human being ever. Disgustingly crude and incredibly sweet.  We shouldn't be allowed in public together.

     

Left: My amie, Lyser. Right: Some giant head creeping out children in the city plaza.

So me and Lysa arrived to the Comedie early (that's the name of the plaza).  Apparently it was National Rare Illness Day or something like that. I didn't understand because some weird guy was lip syncing to Michael Jackson and that large face was running around.  It was very strange. When Teej showed up, we left to go to the zoooooooo.  It was free and fun. Also, we like TJ a lot too.  I just don't have a photo of him on here. The zoo was pretty great, we saw giraffes, and lions, and maned wolves which look like giant foxes. We saw weird looking birds, wallabies, rhinoceroses, and a bunch of African deer/gazelle like creatures.  Most importantly there was a tapir exhibit. My favorite animals.  But we freaking missed it on the circuit we made, so Tj and Liss said we could double back at the end and see them then, so I was content. EXCEPT THE FRICK FRACKING THINGS WERE HIDING AND I MISSED THEM. So I went home and googled pictures of them for about 20 minutes instead. 

Majestic creatures. What's not to love?

You know what another majestic creature is? My friend Stephanie.

 The essence of beauty captured in 8 frames. Proven fact: Stephanie and I cannot take a nice photo together.

Alright folks.  I'll tell you all about my voyages and adventures in two ish weeks.  Be insanely jealous.  Until you remember that I have a broken arm and probably whooping cough. Go in peace and love and have the time of your lives.  Seeyer.