Blogger: Jillian L MacMath

Salut!

Long time, no post! (Do I say something like that at the start of every blog??)

The past few weeks have FLOWN by. It's officially two months into my time here. There's only about a month and a half left -- I'm trying to find a way to cram a few more trips in, but still see the rest of Paris.

Two weekends ago, I made my first trip outside of France for the weekend. Thursday afternoon after class I hopped on a train to London for a stay with my best friend Ashlyn for the weekend. She's studying in a Temple University program and put me up for a few nights. I got off to a rocky start when it took me 15 minutes to understand what the E-ticket machine was saying to me in French, followed by an hour-long train delay.. but it was well worth the stress. I arrived in London late Thursday night and stayed for two nights. The first night we went to a bar called Archangel within walking distance of Ashlyn's flat and had a blast. We didn't get home til roughly 4 a.m. and still managed to get up for sight seeing around 10 a.m. the next day. What a long day, that was. We stated with Big Ben then made our way out to the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, a local pub for lunch and Cider, Trafalgar Square and some excellent shopping. 

Early Saturday morning (still friday night to most people, 3 a.m.), I took a cab to the train station and got on a train to London Heathrow. From there, I hopped on a plane and flew to Manchester to stay with some family for a night. Saturday afternoon my cousin Bryan gave me the grand tour of Manchester and around 3 p.m. we were off to Old Trafford for a Manchester United game. Bryan's dad has been a season ticket holder for 20 years, so he somehow managed to get his hands on two extras for Bryan and me. One word to explain ManU fans: Ridiculous. ManU played the Bolton Wanderers.. it wasn't a real anticipated match, but the fans were ridiculous nonetheless. Chanting and singing the whole time. After the game (and after some shopping in the ManU mega-store), we headed home for dinner with my family. That night was much more relaxed than London -- hung out with Bryan and his friends, taught them some American card games (King's is definitely an American pastime, but I'll tell you, they loved it), and went to a pub a bit later on.  

That Sunday I slept in and was on my way to the airport by late afternoon. I had ANOTHER delay for my flight home, but it was all well worth the hassle. If I was staying through December (as some of my friends have decided to do), I would be back to England for sure.

I'm looking at a calendar now, realizing how few weekends I have left. This weekend I'm staying in Paris, and then Wednesday marks the start of fall break. My boyfriend is coming for a visit from the States, and we're headed to Amsterdam for two days. I can't wait. I'm also taking advantage of this time by catching a show at Moulin Rouge and maybe doing a wine-tasting boat ride on the Seine. 

I can't believe how much more there is to see in Paris, let alone the rest of Europe. Time is flyyyyying. Speaking of the time... It's already 10:30 p.m. here, and I've got 20 pages of french to translate for my Francophone Paris class. Eeeeks! Despite what it seems, this isn't allll vacation (though my parents still seem to think I'm on one).

So I'm off to start that... But I WILL update later this week. I'm determined to break this once-every-three-weeks posting habit. Besides, I've got a ton to say about midterms --- But because of my current good mood, I figured it was best to avoid the topic. 

Au revoir,

Jillian