Birthday in Paris

Before I begin, I invite you to listen to this song while you read. It has been the soundtrack of my last two weeks and every time I listen to it, I will always remember the memories I made in this time period of my life. Don't worry, the lyrics have nothing to do with what has passed, I just am kind of addicted to it (thanks to Harmony), and I think it's beautiful.

So it was my birthday last week. I've hit the big 20. I guess now I'm supposed to be an adult or something. As if I haven't been an "adult" since I was like 5 or anything. Ask my parents, they'll attest. To be honest, I was kind of afraid for this number. I'm no longer a teen. I am officially an adult. Like, the kind that pays bills and has a steady job and...well is just not a teenager. I don't know how to explain it really, it was just scary...

Luckily I was not alone in a strange land for my birthday. My best friend, Harmony, finally gave in to my pleadings and bought a plane ticket out here for two weeks. We started off our trip by spending a weekend in Paris. Without an adult...Holy cow. I remember being 16 and my mom wouldn't let me leave the state and now here I am vacationing in Paris by myself. To be honest I felt kind of rebellious. Yes, I've lived on my own for the past two years, but I'm still getting used to this whole adult thing here ok? 

IT WAS FABULOUS!! We only had two days so we had to cram everything in! SO. MUCH. WALKING. Oh la la, by Sunday, our feet hurt SO bad! We did everything from the Arc de Triomphe to The Eiffel Tower to the Louvre to Sacre Coeur. If you remember a few posts back when I posted my bucket list, I mentioned that I want to get ice cream on the top of the Eiffel Tower. Well, I finally got to cross that off my list! Harmony and I went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa and a lot of naked statues. We ate at a bagel place with a rude store owner who got mad when I accidentally ordered something I didn't mean to. He told me if I don't speak French fluently, I shouldn't be speaking it at all. Lame-o. Then during a nice walk in the park, Harmony and I passed some lovely statues...even one that was just a little too realistic...Now I know what they mean about nudity in Europe (#shudder).  

We stayed at a hostel which by the sound makes you kind of cringe. Freaky right? It actually wasn't so bad. Apart from the fact that there was only 1 outlet that was about 7ft off the ground and nowhere near the beds. Oh yeah and the fact Harmony and I shared our room with a 40 year old woman that snores louder than a thunderstorm (#nosleep). It was nice and close and I was proud of myself because I was able to navigate the metro flawlessly (#almost). 

Here are some pictures before I continue. (Sorry, no pics of the naked man/statue though)

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
                         
 
                                    
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The rest of the week was spent in Lyon, and boy did we have a blast! Again, we went to all of the tourist sites and bought tons of souvenirs. We spent the day with my friends from church on Saturday. We walked/rode bikes all around the park and on the quai. Then we ate lunch and rode bikes again. It's finally starting to warm up here so I brought out the tee shirts and capris! Now I just need some sandals to go with...


Harmony got a henna kit because she know how much I love henna. We spent an afternoon marking ourselves up..This was the product, all courtesy of her, she is such an artist!


 
 

 
 

                        
My birthday was small but I liked it. Mariette made me a chocolate cake (#ofcourse) and managed to fit 20 candles on it. They sang to me in both French and English and gave me a raclette machine as a present. I have no idea how I am going to get it home, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.
 

Overall, it was a fantastic birthday. Probably best one yet. Who else gets to spend their birthday in Paris with their Best friend?? I loved having Harmony here, I got good practice in at being a translator. I thought that maybe I would make it a profession once, but after the headaches it gave me, I am rethinking that career path.

I was sad to see her go, Harmony. But I will see her again soon at her wedding, where I will be the Maid of Honor!

That's all for now,

Abigail.

Au Ski!

The second week of Les Vacance was a week of skiing. A. Whole. Week. Now, I've been once or twice before, and let me tell you: I was scared. This family sounded like a bunch of pros they way they talked about their past skiing vacations. I was worried that I was going to hold them back and make myself look like a fool. 4-5 times down the bunny slope, that's all the experience I've had.

We started skiing on Sunday and it actually wasn't as bad as I thought. Gilles stayed with me and was very patient with me. He was a good teacher too, even though it was all in French. I don't exactly know what virage and plie mean in English, but after a while I learned that this word means do this. That being said, I only fell a couple dozen times. We skiied from 9-12, went home for lunch and then went back out from 2-5 to do some more skiing. I knew from day one I was going to get so tired of this!

Day two was much the same. Little background info, I broke/cracked my knee a few years ago and I am convinced it never healed right. Every time I do some strenuous activity, it acts up and gives me a hard time. I learned the second day that going out skiing twice a day was not something my knee agreed with. Thankfully, they understood and I got to stay in for the afternoon. After that, it became clear that skiing was not obligatory :P For the rest of the week I went skiing when I wanted and stayed in when I wanted. I am proud to let you know that I went skiing four out of five of the days!

By day three I was already going down the red slopes (not a good idea) which yes, I did not like. I decided I prefer the easier slopes so I can just slide down at my own pace and just have fun. I also really liked the ski lifts. Those were peaceful and a good break from all the activity I was doing.

 

 
 

"Not to touch and up" Yes, that makes sense. (that was directly translated from French to English, probably by google) 

 
 
Then, Thursday night we went out to dinner. I had been looking forward to this all week because we were going to eat Raclette, which is one of my favorite dishes in the world! It's potatoes with melted cheese and ham. YUMMMM!! I ate SO much I actually still felt stuffed the morning after. It was so delish though. I even want one of those raclette machines to take home with me to keep making it in America. Sigh, just so yummy....
 
Oh yeah, and then we stopped by a farm and saw how goat cheese was made. The sigh said we could pick the baby ones up, so why not?
  

So overall it was a fabulous week! I loved being away for a time and just had a lot of fun. After a full week of skiing I can definitely say that it is not my favorite pastime, but at least I can say that I know how to ski. Plus I went skiing in the French Alps, at least that's super cool :)