Update about me!

So, I have been having a really good week here in Pau! I was really busy with classes and such. I also have been going out a lot with Missy and the French students. I have pretty much not hung out with any of the USAC people (except for Missy) because they are all on my nerves! On Friday there was a party (u might have seen the photos I put on the other post). It was kinda fun but also kinda boring. It wasnt as good as i expected, but nevertheless i still had a good time! Then on Saturday I slept until about 2 because I was so tired from the night before. I didnt return home until 4 Am, so i was tired! Once I got up and got dressed and everything Missy sent me a text that she was bored. Since i was bored as well we decided to meet downtown and go shopping. She bought a lot of things. I only bought a cover for my laptop and a CD (Sean Paul, because EVERYONE here is obsessed with him). Then we decided to see a movie. The only one that was playing at that time was a kids movie. I think, in English, it is called Open Season. It only had the French title and i cant remember what that was. Anyways, it was kinda cute! We also chose a kids movie because we knew we would be able to understand it better! After the movie we went back to Lons, where we both live, and decided to get some Nems. In case u havent realised this yet: Nems are probably the best food in the world. They are egg rolls, but better! We went back to the same place we had gone 2 nights before! The waitress remembered us! Then I walked home.

On Sunday, I got up about 11:30ish and my host mom asked me if i wanted to eat lunch with her. I said sure! She made me chicken and potatoes! And she bought me some coke (it is coke light, but thats alright!) because she thinks i like it so much! Shes so sweet! Then she asked me if i wanted to go with her to Gan (another city near Pau) to meet her parents and sister! I said sure! So, we went there. she said it was about 30 km away from where we live. Her dad answered the door! He is so cute! He's 80 and isnt in the best health! But, he's so nice! His name is Firmin. He is Spanish, so he has a really thick accent. I didnt understand him all that well, but i think hes so cute! Bego (my host mom) then said she was going to go to her sisters to look for her mom and asked me if i wanted to come or stay. I decided to go because I didnt want to stay by myself. She said we were going back anways. Before we left she wanted to show me the garden in the backyard, and lo and behold her mom was back there! Hahaha So, I met her mom! Her mom is so very talkative! I helped her carry in 2 huge pumpkins from the garden and she said i had to eat with them for dinner because she wanted to make me pumpkin soup! So, then Bego said we were going to her sisters house. Instead of going there we went to a sort-of rummage sale type thing. It was at a church/castle turned into a school. Its where Bego's nephews go to school! Her sister was there! i bought a smurf stuffed animal for 50 centimes! Then we went inside so i could see the school! It was cool. There were people inside who started talking to me and they were very nice! Then we deiced to leave and go to Bego's sisters house! Her nephew, Yan, is so cute! He is 5 years old! On the way over there my mom called, so i was talking to her for awhile. After i got off the phone Yan wanted to show me around the house! He was so excited! We ended up in a playroom where his 2 brothers (ages 9 and 12) were playing with some car type thing that lit up and spun around. It hurt Yan and he ran crying. He said the only thing that would cheer him up was to have a picture taken with me! Haha So, we took our picture together! I dont have it on my computer yet, but i will soon! After that we ate come chocolate cake and then decided to go back to Bego's parents house. It was 7pm. Her parents usually eat dinner at 7, so her dad was starving. Bego told him that we werent going to eat there though. He was sad. He said i have to come back to have a meal there. He also said he wants me to spend christmas with them. I told him i dont know what i am going to do for xmas, but that i would think about it! He was so sweet! I really wanna go back there! They had 2 cats and 2 dog! the dog was named boy! haha So, ya..Sunday was a really fun day!

When we got home, Bego made the pumpkin soup that her mom sent us home with! And then we both had work to do so i said goodnight! I did my homework and then went to bed!

This will probably be a boring week. I have nothing planned. This weekend i might try to go to either Bordeaux or Toulouse, whichever is cheapest, with Missy. We havent decided for sure yet though. This was supposed to be the weekend where we were going to go to Nice. Oh well! We could always go back to Paris because there is a concert there that her boyfriend can get us tickets to because he knows the band (its for Gnarles Barkley). I dunno though! I will keep you all posted!

More pictures of the French students, taken by Missy

Ok, so these were taken by Missy, but I like them a lot! I was not there this night because I was somewhere else, so i missed all the fun! But, I figured I could still put the pictures on here to show everyone a typical night at the Garage!

This is Seigfrield, Roman (with his number 3 shirt on!) and Christophe. Seiggy stole Missy's friend's (Andrea) purse. Andrea was visiting from another city in France. She is studying here as well and also goes to WSU!
This si Seigfrield, Julien, and Christophe. I dont really know what to say about this one though...
Seiggy with Andrea's purse! He's just so adorable!
I LOVE Seiggy's eyes in this picture! Now u can see how gorgeous they are! I mean, just look at them! hehe
Julien.
Julien, looking like a loser, Seigfrield, Roman, and Christophe. in the back u can see some of the decorations in the Garage!
ya.....I dont know how to explain this photo except to say that they were really, very very drunk! ya...
Julien. U can see his tongue piercing.

The party this past Friday!

So, I figured I should put some pictues of my French friends on here! They threw a party for us on Friday and I took a lot of pictures, so I figured this would be a good time to show you who I've been hanging out with! They are all really nice and very fun to hang out with.

This is Seigfrield. I like to call him Seiggy though because he's just so cute! He has the prettiest eyes I've ever seen, although I dont think u can see them in this photo of him! He didnt want me to take his picture but I took it anyways, which explains why hes not looking! I love this picture though!
This is Eli (pronounced Ellie) and the girl is....well, lets just say i forget her name. I think it's Veronique, but I'm not certain! They are both really nice! Eli gave me a ride to the party because I didnt know how to get there!
This is a funny picture because we took about 5 of them and they are al different! JP was taking it and he kept taking it when we werent ready! Anyways, in this one is Carolina (from Peru, but living in Florida), Me, Terrasia (from Marryland, but going to WSU), Roman (a french student) and Helene (another french student). Roman and Helene are really very nice! Roman walked me home from The Garage (the bar we go to a lot) and he will never let me forget that we got lost! He's really funny though! Helene is nice. Shes probably the only girl that I remember her name! Terrasia (who we call T-Rock) is super sweet too!
Ya...so this was supposed to be a picture of JP but he didnt want me to take it. He turns into a child when someone takes a picture of him. Thats him bending down with Carolina, Robin, and Helene trying to make him take the picture. It was kinda funny..but kinda not.
This is Christophe and Seigfrield being DJs. the music sucked though. Missy and I took over because they kept playing horrible songs.
This is Roman and Christophe. Roman seems to wear that number 3 shirt everytime someone takes his picture because I have more photos (which I stole form Missy) and he's wearing the same shirt. Christophe always wears white.
This is Me, Missy, and Helene. I was trying to take the picture but, as u can see, I cut off Helene's head! I have another one where her head is in the picture, but its not as good as this one!
Helene and Missy drinking Red Bull (which is apparently illegal in France...why? i dont know!) and some apple schnapps! It tasted like a caramel apple sucker! It was good!
Me and Missy! I like this picture of the two of us!
This is Julien. and Missy. Julien CANNOT take a normal picture! He really doesnt look this goofy in real life. He's actually pretty cute! He works at McDonalds though, so me and Missy asked him if u pronounce the McDrive as McDrIve or as McDrieve. He said it was McDrrrive! hahaha ya...so instead of McDonalds having a drive-thru it has a McDrive! I think thats one of ths funniest things ever! hahaha but, ya...Julien really isnt this goofy looking! I promise!
Ok, so..again I forget the girls name. I know it starts with a C but i dont know for sure. I'm not even gonna guess! And she is with Roman, who we were calling Thomas all night. (dont ask why...its a long story)
This is me, Seigfrield, and some guy who i dont know. I like Seiggy! He's so much fun! He put this whole party together for us! He also invited other study abroad students (like Erasmus students) but they all left after the 1st hour. It really ended up being just the french students who I know, Missy, JP, and Carolina and Robin there. It was much more fun after everyone we didnt know left!

Hiking in the mountains

So, I figured i should put pictures online from the hike in the mountains. It was a beautiful hike there! I enjoyed it quite a bit but was exhausted! I didnt take any close up pictures of the waterfalls/cascades because i didnt want my cameras to get wet. So, enjoy:

This is me and my friend Melissa! She is from France and is going to school here in Pau to study English. She's very nice!
This is the little town where we ate lunch before the hike. Gavarnighy was the name of the town...i dont know if i spelled it right, but i think u get the drift! It was a cute little town!
A little house/cafe on the river that we hiked along! I thought it was cute!
It was such a beautiful day! Can u see the cascades in the back of this picture?
Look at the cascades! how pretty!!
The view down from where we hiked up to. If u look way far into the distance in this picture u can see where we started! it took almost 2 or 3 hours to hike up to this point! I was so tired!




Me at the Beret museum! I bought this beret! How chic am i?

Just an update

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about school and such. I have decided that I am not going to stay here for the year like I had originally planned because I need to go home and finish school. I have decided that this will be the best thing because I will be able to graduate (eventually...) and will then be able to essentially grow up and get a "real" job. Who knows whether or not I will be coming back to France, but I will certainly come back to Europe eventually! I know that some people will think that I will regret coming home early and others will think that thats the best thing to do, but I am not doing it for anyone except for myself. I hope everyone can understand!

As for right now though; I am enjoying my classes. My french classes have begun and are quite difficult. I am learning a lot. There are a lot of interesting people in there too! There is one guy from Iran, 2 girls from Korea, and a lot of people from China. And then there are the americans. Its fun though! My professors are very nice. They get mad if they hear anyone speaking any other language though. As for the living situation; I have moved into a different host family. My new one is just a lady. She lives in a nice little house right on a river. Her name is Marie Begonia, but she likes to be called Bego. I just moved in there yesterday, so i'm still getting to know her. Her house is really far from everything, but at least its nicer there! Its very quiet and serene, and its a good place to relax. It is also close to Missy's house! Missy is probably the one i get along with the best!

Tomorrow the USAC group is going hiking in the Mountains, so hopefully sometime soon I will have more pictures to post on here! It is hard to get online here because the computers on campus are really old and do not support and programs, but it is hard to bring my computer as well.

I have also decided to change my major, for anyone who cares! Right now I am an art history major but I plan on changing it to international Studies when i return. I think that I will hopefully be able to get a better job than if i continued with Art History. I can still minor in art history or in photography or something though!

I also got a box from my mom yesterday! It was nice to get the box because it had a lot of things that I needed! It also had a disc from Ben which had a movie on it of the family and Manon! It was very nice to see that! It made me miss everyone more though!

Well, I hope everyone is doing well back home! I still miss you all!

More pictures of Pau

So, 2 days ago I went for a walk in Pau because it was such a beautiful day and I decided I needed pictures of the Chateau de Henri IV!! The one above is of the courtyard on the boulevard. I started walking along the boulevard and ended up at the chateau!
So, here is the castle. It's really pretty nice there. I would have to say it is probably the prettiest part of Pau. There are about 3 different arcitecture styles in this castle. You should be able to see all 3 in this photo if u look closely!
This was on my way down to the train station to buy my tickets to go to Lourdes the next day. I thought it was a pretty picture, so i included it!
This was on my way to the chateau. I dont really know what it is...its probably some type of government buildings...I dont know!
this is the view you would have if u were standing right in front of the chateau. Pretend it is on your right and you are looking towards the mountains. If you go down below where this is taken you would be in the gardens of the chateau.


So, i figured you all wanted to see more pictures of Pau. These ones are actually kinda pretty too! ;-) I met a guy this day and he showed me around a part of Pau i had never seen before. He was really nice and told me a lot about the city and showed me some parts of it i didnt know existed. He only spole French too! So that gave me a great chance to practice my french! I was amazed because I actually understood what he was saying (for the most part) and he seemed to understand me too!! So, i was pretty much hating my time here but now that i have seen other parts and realize there are nice people here i am kinda liking it more! We'll see how it goes. I also had a talk with Ryan (one of the USAC directors) and he said he would try to find out if there are art classes in town that i could take and whether i can switch host families or not. He is very helpful and i am happy he is here! Our french classes will begin this week as well, so that is going to be nice. I will meet a lot more students and will be able to actually speak more french! hopefully the guy i met the other day will call so i can hang out with him and practice my french again!

Lourdes and Cauteret

These photos are of Lourdes and Cauteret. I went there yesterday because I didnt want to spend the day in Pau because I am not liking Pau so much right now! It was really fun! i went with my friend Shana because neither of us had anything else to do that day! This is me standing in Cauteret in front of the Mountains!!! It was so beautiful there! It is supposedly a resort town that is really only popular to go to in the winter when there is snow. A lot of people go there who want to go skiing or rock climbing. It is so beautiful though! And very peaceful. To get there from Pau it only takes about an hour and a half and only costs about 20 euros total!! It was totally worth it!
These are some rocks that I felt like taking a picture of! They were in a really pretty river-type-thing!
This is the cafe where I had a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate)! You could see the mountains really well here! It was pouring rain, but it was still worth it to go! I was soaking wet and freezing, but it was still fun!
This is the water/river thing. It was so pretty.
a BEAUTIFUL picture of the mountains! I love this picture! It was so pretty there! I could see myself living in a town like this!
A view of the street in Cauteret.

This is in Lourdes. Its a town where people go for Catholic reasons. This is a picture of la grotte. It was cool, but not really that exciting for me because I am totally not catholic. It was really pretty though! Can u see how wet it was there? I probably would have had more fun if it hadnt been raining!

Spain Pictures

It was so much fun in Spain! We spent one night and it was fun! We started the day by getting on the bus at 8:30 am and went to Bayonne first. We spent 2 hours there on a tour of the city. Then we ate lunch as a group in a really nice restaurant. We are Basque style chicken and fries and for desert we had basque cake. It was delicious! After lunch we all got back on the bus and went to Spain!!! San Sebastian is beautiful! When we got there we had 2 hours to get settled and then went on a walk around town. before that I walked with Ryan (the USAC person) to the beach and walked with him until our group walk. Then, after the group walk, I just came back to the hotel. On the group walk we saw just a small part of town and then stopped in a square where they used to have bull fights. It is now all apartments and restaurants and shops, but it was really neat! After I went back to the hotel I saw Jeff and he said he was going down to the beach and I asked to join him. He, Lindsey, Jennifer, Cassie and I went down to the beach and everyone had a glass of Sangria! It was not so delicious but it wasnt so bad either! Then we hung out there until about 10 pm (b/c the spanish people dont eat dinner until then) and tried to find a restaurant. I got really mad at everyone I was with because they were being losers and decided that they were just going to go back to the hotel. So i found JP and decided to join him and the girls he was with. Im glad i did that because JP speaks Spanish! And he's much more fun to be with anyways! We ate tapas for dinner and then went out to a few bars. 2 of the girls he was with met 2 italian guys (who i thought were very sketchy) and so they took us around. We ended up at some type of discotech. There i found my french friend Melissa!! So i hung out with her and we all ended up going upstairs because it was getting too smokey inside. Everyone I was with was so drunk! i only had 2 drinks over a LONG period of time! We ended up staying out until 4 am though! it was fun! I had to walk JP back b/c he was too drunk to walk on his own. The other girls refused to come with, but i made JP leave. So, JP, Melissa, Melissa's 3 friends, and me all started walking home. but we stopped at the beach and hung out there for awhile. It was really fun! I like Spain much more than I like France right now! But hopefully I will get over that!

So, these pictures are of San Sebastian. The one of the church has a statue of San Sebastian on it. I thought it was cool. The others are just basically of the beach. i have more, but i couldnt load them on here! I hope you enjoy the photos! :)