France Day 20

This day is dedicated to Maxime because he hasn't been in the past few days and it's making him sad. Today was my last day in France :"( Marion and I woke up and first went to the bank and then the grocery store to take photos with the alcohol selection.

When we finished there, we came back to the house and left to go to Jessica's for lunch. It was a lot of fun. Helene, Mathilde and Marine met us there. We had a Chinese food feast because Jessica is from China. It was sooo good. I have been wanting an egg roll for the past two weeks. We talked and ate and had a nice time. Saying good bye was very, very sad! I am going to be back to see everyone as soon as I can.

After lunch, Marion and I got on the train and went to Paris one last time. We first went to the Eiffel Tower so I could get some gifts from the street vendors and an "I Love Paris" bag. Before we got on the subway, I got a Nutella crepe and ate it in front of the Eiffel Tower at the Tracadero station.

The last stop of the day was at Sacre Coeur! Finally, I got to see it!! :) It was the most beautiful church I have been in on this trip. I think the inside was better than Notre Dame. Sadly, you can't take any pictures inside, so I only have ones of me in front of it. I really recommend everyone visit there if you are in Paris or France in general. I loved. After we walked around the church, we went outside to walk around and go to some of the souvenir shops. If you didn't know, Sacre Coeur is on a huge hill surrounded by shops and the court yard type place where all the artists hang out and sell their original pieces. It is a wonderful place to be and might be my favorite in all of Paris.

Leaving Paris for the last time was a very sad event. At least I know that I will see it again. SOON. Next summer.

Thank you everyone for reading my blog and looking at my pictures! I am so glad you at least some what enjoyed it, which if you made it this far you must have. Tomorrow I will be back in Texas :(

If I met you on the trip, I am so glad I did! It was so fun getting to experience what life is like in another country.

Marion, I'm going to miss youuuuu!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing you friends and Summer with me. :) <3 (and I guess I'll miss you too, Maxime.)

France Day 19

Today Marion got her results for her national exams. She did very well! :) Go Marion!

A few of Marion's friends came over for lunch. We ate and talked and had a nice time before we went to the bus stop to go to the mall. When we got there a few of the girls had to leave so we said good bye and walked in. I bought SOOOO much stuff! Yesterday was the day that I bought almost all of the presents and a ton of clothes for myself. I ended up with way more that I thought I was going to get. I even found the shoes I've been trying to buy since I got here. I love French stores. The clothes are so classic and aren't cheaply made in China. We shopped all afternoon and got back around 6:30.

I started packing. It's not going to be fun. My suit case is filled to the brim and I am sure I am going to have to get a second carry on. Tomorrow we are going into Paris one last time to walk around Sacre Coeur and to get some little gifts from the street vendors. I am going to miss France so much. I don't want to go home!

I'll update later. I'm sorry this is going up late again. My computer died and my power converter wasn't working properly.

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 18

Today was my 18th day in France and my 18th birthday! I woke up around ten and got ready to catch the bus to the train station. We rode the train into Paris with Marion's sister Justine and friend Marine and found a park to eat our lunch. I had a prosciutto, goat cheese and tomato sandwich that was amazing.

After we ate we walked all the way down the the Champs-Elysees to L'Arc de Triomphe. Along the way I bought a dress from H&M and a skirt at Zara, which is now my favorite store ever. We then walked down to the Abercrombie and Fitch where we got our picture made in front with the Abercrombie models. After we stopped by the Sephora where we all got our makeup done. We walked and shopped all the way to the end and went into the Louis Vuitton store. At the end of the Champs-Elysees, we visited the L'Arc de Triomphe, which is absolutely beautiful and one of my all time favorite things I've seen here.

We finished shopping around five and got back on the train to go home. Marion and I ended up going to Marion's good friend Marine's house for dinner. Her dad planned a special dinner for my birthday. It was amazing. We had all different types of ham and since I am in love with cheeses and breads we had a bunch of different types to eat. For dessert we ate a wonderful fruit salad. The fruit here is the best. It's so fresh and it just tastes so much better than what we have in America. After dinner, I came back to Marion's house to go to bed because I was beginning to get a horrible migraine.

I had an amazing birthday and am so blessed that I got to spend it in Paris! Only 2 more days left :(

Sara

France Day 17

Today was an amazing day and probably one of my favorites so far. We woke up at about 9 and ate breakfast before we headed to Versailles to go to the open market! The open market is really really cool. They have everything. While I was there I took about 50 or so photos of all the fresh produce, meats, spices, cheeses and pastas. While I was there I picked up a few things for my mom and then Marion and I went down the the best bakery ever. This is where we went a few days ago when we went the the gardens at the palace. Their pain au chocolat is to die for.

After the market we went home and had lunch outside again because the weather was amazing. It was cloudless and the high today was about 73. This is the most amazing summer weather I have ever had. Today in Texas it was over 100. When we finished lunch we got everything together and went to the train station and went to Paris!

The train ride is about 30 minutes long. We got off the train at the station closest to Musee D'Orsay. I looooveed this museum. It is a lot smaller than the Louvre. The building is actually a converted train station. Musee D'Orsay, if you don't know, is the modern art museum that houses paintings from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. So impressionism and post-impressionism. With Monet being my favorite artist of all time, this is the perfect museum for me. Marion and I got there around 3 and had to wait in a very, very long line because we totally forgot that all the museums are free to the public the first sunday or every month. Inside the museum you aren't allowed to take pictures so I didn't get one of me with any of my favorite paintings, which is very sad. I did get to see it a huge collection of Monet's most famous paintings and that made me feel better.

After we finished looking around the museum, Marion and I walked around Paris for a few hours. We stopped at these little booths next to the Siene that sell paintings, old books, and random souvenirs. It was soooo much fun! I love Paris so much and was happy just to walk around and soak it all in. We walked all around and took so many pictures, ones that I am actually in this time! We also went to an a sidewalk cafe that had the best ice cream I have ever had in my life. I had pistachio and dark chocolate and Marion had caramel and pear. Seriously, best ice cream everrrr.

Around 7 Marion and I got on the subway and headed to Champs- Elysees to meet everyone else for my birthday dinner! We went to an amazing Italian restaurant. I had Spaghetti Bolognese that was sooooo good. Marion and I shared a Mousse du Chocolat for dessert because we were so full. IT WAS FABULOUS! After dinner we drove around Paris at night. <3 We went to Sacre Coeur, which is on a huge hill on the outskirts of Paris. If you go to the top of the hill and look down, you have the most amazing view of all of Paris. It is breathtaking. After we looked around there and took pictures, I got my picture taken in front of Moulin Rouge. We drove around Paris for a while longer and then stopped at the Eiffel Tower to get so photos of it all lit up. Paris at night is the most enchanting place in the world. If you have never been, you MUST go at least once in your life. I promise, you won't regret it.

Well, I've officially been 18 for almost 2 hours now French time!! Tomorrow we are going to spend the day in Paris again and go shopping on the Champs- Elysees and then go see L'Arc de Triomphe! :) I am so excited. This is going to be my best birthday ever.

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 16

Today I realized something that made this trip so important and life changing for me as a person. Before I say what it is, I need to tell everyone right now, especially if you are my age or younger, that if you have never had a chance to study abroad or have an exchange student or pen pal, get one right now! It is the best thing I have ever done in my entire life. It has opened so many doors and I have learned so much from it.

So my great realization of the day is that the French have one thing that is more important than anything else and it completely makes their culture what it is. Everything revolves around food. Food here is not like anything in America. The appreciation of food is just so different. The food is everything.

In France, meals aren't rushed. Everyone sits down and eats slowly and sometimes dinner can last for over an hour and maybe even longer. I absolutely love this. Usually, at my house, we eat dinner in separate rooms or in the car on the way to something. Sadly, we rarely take an hour to just sit down and eat together. In France, we eat together at least for lunch and dinner.

Food is also a very import part of everyone's social lives. While I've been here, there have been may occasions where either we have gone to someone's house, people have come here or we've gone out to a restaurant and just sat around and talked and ate and enjoyed each other's company. I feel like we don't do that anywhere near enough in America. Everything is rushed because we are trying to get to baseball practice or swimming lessons or study group. If we would just sit down and have meals together, we would be so much closer as families and our relationships would be so much stronger.

I have also learned that by completely immersing myself in another culture, people do things differently and that's ok! Not everyone does things the way it's done inside my little Woodland's, Texas bubble. I love this. I feel like I am a much more well rounded person because I have done this. I am very blessed to have gotten this opportunity. I would not be here right now if I hadn't have stepped outside my comfort zone and hosted Maxime 3 summers ago.

Again, I cannot stress enough how amazing it is to do a cultural exchange. In Europe everyone always sends their kids to other countries to do exchange programs. I think that if we did this more in America, we would have people who were much more open to different cultures and foods and people. I hate to say this, but I think American's are just too closed minded.

So, I hope you enjoyed this because I didn't really do much today. I slept until almost 2 and then we ate lunch outside on the patio. After that I updated my blog post that I didn't have time to do yesterday and then I watched a movie on my laptop. After that Marion and I planned the rest of my trip out and discussed what we will be doing for my birthday on monday. For dinner some of the Louage's old neighbors came and at with us. It was absolutely lovely. We ate and talked and dinner lasted for almost two hours. This is the way it should always be, wonderful food, nice company and just relaxing and living in the moment. This is a huge lesson for me as well.

Love you all,

Sara

France Day 15

I'm sorry this is up a little late, but I didn't get to sleep until after 5:30 and I just woke up for lunch. Last night there was a huge party here for Helene, Marion's friend. Her 18th birthday is today and she decided to have it at the Louage's house.

We woke up and left for the market around ten. We met Helene there. We bought all the food and stuff to make the cupcakes, quiches, and brownies. I bought some chocolate to try so I know what I want to bring back with me. After we left the market, we came home and started baking the sweets and made the quiche and then we had lunch with a few other friends that came to help get ready for the party. At about 2:45 I decided it was time to go get a pain au chocolat. When I got the the bakery it was CLOSED! They decided to close up 15 minutes early. I guess because it was friday, but still! Not cool. At all. I really wanted to get a pain au chocolat!

When I got back from the bakery fail, Maxime, Marion, Marine and Helene went back to the grocery store to get the rest of the stuff for the party. I decided to stay home and read a book and watch a movie on my laptop.

Around 6:30 we got dressed and ready for the guests to start arriving. By 7 most of the people were here. It was really nice to meet some new people and talk to them about how my trip is going or about Texas. I find it very hilarious that the first thing people ask me after I tell them that I am from Texas besides if I own a horse is whether or not we have guns. I, as well as the rest of my family, are members of the NRA... They also think it's very interesting that I attended Christian school because when people thing of Texas they automatically assume we are all cowboys that carry guns and regularly attend the local Baptist church. In some parts of Texas this is not just a steriotype, but in The Woodlands, it isn't the case at all. They also find it very interesting that I don't drink at all. When I tell them that the drinking age is 21 most people are shocked. This is another very huge cultural difference.

Later on in the evening, things got very interesting... There was a quiche fight in the kitchen that I just happened to walk in on right at Guillaume threw quiche and hit me in the head. That was just splendid. I also met some very nice guys that were very curious about American culture and shocked by my fear of horses. I ended up staying up until almost 6 a.m. because I couldn't go to sleep with all the super loudness going on in the entire house. I don't feel like telling all the stories of what happened so I will just give a few bullet points:

- They don't have rainbow fluffy socks here because I got like 10 compliments on them and someone even wanted a picture, which I thought was really creepy...

- Mama, one of Maxime's good friends apparently loves Bohemian Rhapsody and thinks it's the best song ever.

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow's part two comes out here three days before it releases in the U.S. This is just wrong.

- Maxime has a friend that I think looks exactly like a blond version of Rupert Grint.

-Guillaume kept telling me that he was going to pour water on me while I was asleep and that it was going to be "so fun"... This afternoon, I learned that he actually attempted it, but Jessica and Mathilde, who were staying in my room, stopped him and now he gets to live another day.

- I met Marion and Maxime's cousin, Julie and she is very nice and I enjoyed talking to her.

- The kids that come to these parties are pretty much all going to be either engineers or doctors...

Ok that's enough for now. I am going to go read Harry Potter.

Love,

Sara