Monday, May 26, 2014

Done like Dinner :)

I'M DONE!! This morning was my last exam, so that means my semester here is officially over! As much as I am super excited to come home, I will also miss our class and the friends we made here in Paris. Saying goodbye at church yesterday was harder than I expected. Overall it's been such a great experience and I am so glad to have met so many wonderful people and to get to know the other Redeemer students better.

Our last day in class we took some photos with our class and our prof. This was such a great group! We also all received a poem our prof wrote for us thanking us for the semester together.

Almost all of our class :)
And a photo with the Canadians and the prof. He was so touched we wanted a photo with him, but how could we not after such a great semester?

The poem he wrote for the class :)

And a thank you card for the maple syrup we gave him :)

So that's it for school! I should get my certificate in the mail by the end of June (as long as I passed all my classes of course).

But I'm not coming home until Saturday, so what on earth could I possibly do to distract myself from all the waiting to go home? Go to Marseilles!! Tomorrow evening Tiff, Mindy and I are headed south for a few days of relaxation after exams. We'll be back Friday night and then leaving for the airport bright and early Saturday morning!

See you all soon!

Friday, May 9, 2014

Mitchell's Visit

It may be slightly old news to you now, but Mitchell was here visiting for a whole week! (Not gunna lie, I'm feeling a bit spoiled from that, but I'm totally ok with it). We both had a fantastic time!

The week basically consisted of lots of walking along the Seine, visiting a fair number of Paris' museums and monuments, and doing some day trips out of the city. Here are some highlights of the week (we did a lot, so prepare yourself for a lot of photos!).

 Hanging out in Paris:

The first time we went to Notre Dame the line to go up the tower was massive, so we toured the outside instead. And worked on our selfie-taking skills.

But then later on in the week we climbed the tower :)

Mitchell saw this really cool tower so we went to investigate. Turns out it's Tour Saint Jacques and there's a pretty little park around it.

We went to check out l'Arc de Triophe too, also on a bright sunny day.
We also went to the Louvre and saw the apartments of Napoleon III. They were pretty extravagant! I think this was just a sitting room.

For trips outside of Paris, we spent a day doing a chateaux tour, which was really really cool. I would highly recommend this kind of trip!

The first stop was Chateau de Blois.

There was a great view of the town from the grounds!

Then our favorite, Chateau de Chambord (which looked like a castle, so obviously it was the coolest!)

Obviously the only appropriate pose for a man standing outside a castle :P
This is the view from the open walkway on one of the upper levels. So much grass to mow!
And the Chateau from the other side. Too bad part of it is covered up for restoration work, but it's something you just have to get used to around here.

And then the third stop was Chateau de Cheverny. Which was a less impressive house after seeing Chambord, but the gardens were amazing! We had a nice picnic lunch by the river :)

The Chateau

We found a waterfall and cool bridge that looked like wood but was made of metal.
And lots and lots of flowers!
Which made us both happy, but mostly me haha.
Then there was the trip to the Palace of Versailles. It's hard to get photos there because there are just so many people pushing you through from room to room, and then when we were out exploring the gardens it was raining. Quite a lot. We were pretty thoroughly wet by the time we got back to the train station, but it was still actually a lot of fun. I guess that's the difference good company makes :)

The main gates. You get to see a lot of these because you stand in line here for a super long time waiting to get in.

The Hallway of Mirrors. Definitely my favorite room in the palace!

The gardens. They're for sure big enough to spend a whole day walking through them, but we more just wandered through some parts on our way to visit Marie Antoinette's residence.

Best looking mirror I've ever seen!

The chapel at Versailles

More of the outside of the palace.

Checking out the fountains!

We also went to Chateau de Fontainebleau, which has a long history of housing royal families and was used by a ton of nobility and royalty as a hunting chateau. Although the website didn't list it, the chateau was closed on the day we went, so we hung out in the gardens instead (which is the main attraction anyways, so it all worked out great).
The chateau from across the canal. In case you're wondering, yes, there are fish in there and they are huge!

This handsome guy standing by the pond :)

And I was there too!
So that's basically how our week went. There are a ton of pictures on Facebook that you can check out if you'd like to see more :)

On a sort-of side note, since today is May 9, I'll be home in 22 more days! Exams are coming up fast and furious and I'll be on my way back to Canada before I know it!

See you all soon!