It's kind of funny how seemingly inconsequential experiences can change us so drastically.  I've had an insane summer.  It's been nothing short of ridiculous.  Not in a bad way though; it's been eye-opening.  It's just strange because things have happened in series; series of short little moments that, when I'm older and looking back on my life, will seem trivial and insignificant.  Yet, for me, they've taught me so much about life.  I think in life, people try to force things too much.  Sometimes, when you think you want something, you'll convince yourself that you want it so much that you don't take the time to sit back and figure out what you really need.  I think it's really important to let life take you wherever you're supposed to go.  Instead of fighting so much against the current, sometimes it's best to relax and let it wash you downstream.  Because sometimes where you end up is so much better than where you think you want to go.  You just have to let go long enough to figure out where life is taking you.

Man, I love being a kid.  I know I'm 21, but I get so much enjoyment from acting immature most of the time.  I just wonder, are we ever going to grow up? 

I see my friends getting into increasingly more serious relationships, even some getting married, and I wonder if I'm ever really going to be at that point.  I think that, of course, I'll find the right person some day and it'll just make sense.  But I don't want my life to make sense right now.  I want it to be completely ridiculous and do things that seem completely unnecessary at the time.  This is the time in my life when I'm going to look back and laugh at how completely stupid I could be at times.  Not stupid in a bad way; stupid in the ridiculous sense. 

There's nothing more that I want in life but to be ridiculous and do ridiculous things.  I'm not really sure when I started being so obsessed with being ridiculous.  A while ago, I just started looking at the people who've been really important in my life, and I noticed one thing: the people who've been the most important or who've had the greatest influence on me have been completely and utterly ridiculous.  And those are the kind of people I want to surround myself with for the rest of my life.

I always get annoyed with guys because I feel like they have no idea what they want.  They say one thing and do another.  They claim to be on board with something one day, and a week later, they've completely changed their mind.  But then again, I guess I can't blame them because I'm the same way.  For example, right now, I feel like it would be nice to be in a relationship. 

It's been almost a year since I was in a serious relationship, and I think I would be ready to start seeing someone again, provided it not be a very serious relationship.  At the same time though, I have grown so attached to my independence that I don't know if I could handle being in a relationship in any form.  I love doing whatever I want to do and not having to accommodate anyone else in my plans.  And I love hanging out with different people all the time.  The other thing is that I want to go abroad in a year, which means so much to me, and a serious relationship would seriously complicate things.

So what do I really want?  I don't know.  But I guess the nice thing about life is that it doesn't really matter what you want.  It just kind of chooses for me.  I thought I didn't want a relationship but then I found someone that I had a great connection with, and I started considering the possibilities.  But then just as quick as that started, it ended.  What is that supposed to tell me?  Maybe that I'm really not ready for a relationship and that it's not the right time.  Sometimes, I feel like I don't really know anything when it comes to life.  But it is kind of nice when I don't have to deal with the guess work.  That's when I appreciate life; when it seems to make decisions for me.

I really do wonder though if I'm ever truly going to be ready to get married.  I just want to be a kid forever sometimes.  The other thing is, I'm so selfish at this point in my life that I can't imagine accommodating someone else's needs.  Which I guess is probably a sign.  But will any of us really be ready to stop acting like idiots and grow up?  I guess only time will tell.  I feel like I always end on that thought, but it's just so true that I don't feel like it should be anything else.

I think if you take a look at the television culture, you can start to understand something about the human race.  I find it striking the rate with which people lose interest in shows.  People will be enthralled with a show for a while, but then they'll start to get bored as the character has less and less going on in their life.  I think it says something about humanity.  We can't stand consistency.  As soon as something becomes even and balanced, people start to get bored.  Our attention span just isn't enough to be okay with routine.  I think it's funny too because there are people all over who would kill for consistency; people caught in wars, people who don't know where they're going to sleep at night or what they're going to eat tomorrow.  But once we've found it, we find it exhausting.  I guess life is just too long for some people.  They need to break it up into these little chunks in order to feel at ease.  Maybe it's just me and I'm just restless right now in life.  But I don't think so.  I think people are more scared of boredom than anything else.  I think people prefer catastrophe to tranquillity.  Maybe that's why they turn to the fictional problems of television and books.  Because anything's better than facing your own normal, stable life, right?  I just don't understand why people can't just accept the normality of their lives.  I think that people get themselves into ruts thinking about life.  They get so worried about how their life's going that they forget to just sit back and look at all the opportunities surrounding them.  That's why it takes people so long to get excited about life.  Only when you think you're almost done with life will people give it a chance.  But I guess that's the age old irony of life: you never know what you had until it's gone.  It just seems a shame that life has to be like that.

Life is a series of contradictions.  Complete and total contradictions.  I'm starting to figure out little by little that nothing in life makes sense.  Absolutely nothing.  Just when I feel like I'm starting to figure out what's going on in my life, it gets a little crazy again.  Not bad crazy, but just enough to throw me off a little.  I'm a firm believer in everything that happens in life having a reason and I think that sometimes it takes a while to figure out just what those reasons are.  I think, too, that it's ridiculously hard to be patient.  It seems like when you're waiting for something to happen to give you one of your answers to the many great questions of life, the more anxious you are to find out what happens, the longer it takes for anything to make sense.  I know it may seem like I'm talking a whole bunch about nothing, but I guess that for me, when nothing in life seems to make sense, writing helps me figure things out.  Even if I don't really know what I'm writing about. 
To me writing is something that just makes sense.  I never really saw that coming.  My whole life, I kind of hated writing.  I never really felt creative or verbally interesting.  Plus I was much better at math and science.  But the older I get, the weirder it is to me when writing isn't a part of my life.  It's just a huge part of who I am, without me ever realizing it.  It's kind of weird how things work out like that, but then again, it's just another part of life that doesn't make as much sense as you'd think.

So I came to a pretty big realization yesterday.  I went to see this speaker for the sole purpose of getting much needed extra credit for my journalism class, but it actually ended up being pretty relevant to my life.  He spoke about how he combined his interests in technology and African studies and was able to use it as material as a journalist.  It was such an inspirational speech.  He spoke about living in Senegal for a while and all of these other accomplishments he's already made.  It just made me feel like I haven't done anything.  I know it's not true--I've accomplished a lot, and I should be thankful that I've had all those opportunities, and I shouldn't downplay them.  But just hearing what he's done really made me want to get going in my life.  I always get nervous that I'm not going to be able to see as much of the world as I want.  It's completely logical.  I want to go everywhere.  Literally everywhere, except maybe Antarctica. And there's just no way that I would have the time and especially the money to do that.  Plus, I want to actually spend time in other countries.  Become part of the community, you know, so I can actually experience what it's like to live in that country.  Because if I have learned anything about traveling, it's that living and traveling in a city or country are two completely different experiences. 
I just feel like I'm wasting my time just sitting here in Madison.  I'm young and I have the opportunities to travel.  But at the same time, I do really like my life here.  I like the day-to-day routine and everything I do in Madison.  I like my classes, my job, my roommates.  But I just feel like, not that my time is running out, but just that I only have so much time in my life to travel.  So at the end of this speech, and let's be honest--I was daydreaming about it during like I always do, I started thinking about teaching English abroad when I graduate.  I mean, when you think about it, I have been endowed with one the best advantages--I speak English fluently.  Well most days, anyway.  But seriously, the language that's most in demand in the world is by far English.  And I just so happen to speak it!  So why not use it, right?  I can't just take for granted one of the things that could give me so many opportunities to travel.  People go abroad and teach English all the time and just make their living by doing it.  And they get to live in their country of choice.  Plus, it would give me more time to put off either going to grad school or getting a real job.  And that sounds like a really great thing to me.  And maybe, just maybe, I could develop my skills in journalism before I try to break into the business.  It sounds perfect, right?  Yeah, it does. 

so this is my first entry from back in the states after getting home.  man, is it weird to be back here.
i definitely miss it.  france in general, speaking french, traveling, going out with my friends....don't get me wrong--it's great to be home.  but life was just so easy over there.  i had no real obligations, there was hardly any drama, i got to travel all the time.  it was basically just a  four month long vacation.  it's weird though.  i do really miss being over there, but at the same time, i'm not in any real rush to go back just yet.  everyone keeps telling me that now that i've gotten a taste of traveling and europe that i'm going to want to go back all the time.  and i think i will, i just definitely need a rest.  the past couple months have been exhausting.  i know--poor me.  it's just nice to be able to sit around.  plus, i'm really excited to go back to school.  i have been looking at brochures for a summer program or an internship in spain though.  or latin america.  i guess maybe the travel bug has bitten me.
so anyway, i'm back home for a little while longer.  maybe another week or two.  it just depends on when i have time to move in and when i can start working.  i'm really excited to get back to school.  i have a feeling that this next semester is going to be a lot of fun.  before i left, i thought that the last four months were going to change my life a lot.  but if anything, i think the next couple are going to change it a lot more.  i guess i'm a different person now.  i'm not really sure if i've really changed all that much--like if i'm more adventurous or outgoing or open-minded.  i think i'm still basically the same.  but i guess i am happier than i was when i left.  and more carefree.  and waaaay worse with money.  and all the experiences i had definitely shaped my life a little bit.  all in all, the past four months were...

amazing.

well here i am--3 days away from coming back to the states.  i absolutely cannot believe how fast these past 4 months have gone.  in the words of a friend, it's weird how this has been simultaneously the fastest and slowest semester of our lives.  sometimes it feels like we've been here forever and i can't imagine how my life was before france.  and at the same time, it feels a little bit like i've been on vacation for a few weeks.
i'm really going to miss everything about this experience.  it's going to be so weird (and boring!) to go around speaking english all the time.  it really makes me happy going into a store here and interacting in french.  i'm really going to miss that.  i'm also going to miss the traveling.  being here has made me realize how much i love to travel.  i know my dad would tease me and say that he's always said that, but i didn't realize the extent to which i like it until i started doing it on a larger scale.  the only thing that sucks is that i'm going to have to redo most of the places i visited because a weekend just wasn't enough.  but i guess that's not such a bad thing!  the people here are great too.  i went out with my friends last night, and it was one of those times when i just sit back, look around, and take in how happy i am.  the friends i've made here will always be different.  we've been through so much together.  i'm really going to miss them. 
now, so i don't start tearing up here at the computer, i'll talk about this past weekend.  i went to strasbourg with 5 of my friends.  every christmas, strasbourg hols these giant christmas festivals.  they have stalls upon stalls of cookies, candy, chocolate, lights, ornaments.  you name it--if it's christmasy, they have it.  it was really cool.  freezing though.  i felt a little bit of a heavyness when i was there though.  not from eating so much--i think it was from knowing that it was my last weekend in france for a while.  i think i'm preparing unconsciously to leave, which is making me sad.  i've been in kind of a bad mood all week, and i think it's because i'm leaving.  it's better today--i'm happier, but it's still kind of weighing on me. 
i will be happy to get home though.  there's a lot i'm looking forward to--friends, family, food, christmas, school, and just the comforts of home.  it will be very weird though. 
so i guess this'll probably be my last post from france.  i might do another before i go, but realistically, i probably won't have time.  i'm not sure if i'm going to continue writing here when i get back--i guess i hadn't really thought about it.  we'll see.
so, i guess happy holidays and i'll see you all soon!!

so i just got back from amsterdam!!   well, two days ago.  it was a lot of fun.  i went with one of my friends from the program.  it all started out pretty stressful--like usual.  on our way there, we had to change trains in paris and we had about an hour to do it.  the train from rennes left a little late, which didn't help, but i didn't realize that it took a half an hour to get from one train station to the other.  so i wait in line for about a half an hour, which means we only have about 25 minutes to get somewhere that's 30 minutes away.  we were pretty sure we were going to miss the train to amsterdam, but we ran anyway--all the way to the other train station.  when we got there, we ran around for a while trying to find our train, and finally we did!  it ended up leaving 5 minutes late, and if it hadn't, we would've missed it.  so we were really lucky.  then it was about 4 hours to holland.  when we got there, we headed to our hostel, and it turns out i had booked the hostel for the wrong two nights, and i had to pay for the night we missed.  so that kind of sucked.  but i was just happy to actually have made it there.  then we headed out into the city.  we had some coffee, went to a museum, and then went to an indonesian restaurant, which was really, really good.  afterwards, we were completely exhausted, so we went back to the hostel, watched part of a movie, and just went to bed. 
the next day, we got up pretty early and headed out to find a walking tour.  we met up with the group in dam square i think it was, and walked for about three hours all around amsterdam.  it was really cool--actually my favorite part of the trip.  we got to see lots of tucked away places that we wouldn't have seen otherwise.  then we met up with a friend from school and got some lunch.  or more like breakfast.  we had pancakes, which were actually crepes.  then we headed to the anne frank house.  the line was pretty long, so we had to wait out in the cold for a little while, but it was worth it.  it was really cool.  and little eerie as well.  it was just so weird to be standing/walking where anne frank and her family/friends had spent two years in hiding.  afterwards, we did some shopping and then headed to a restaurant for some dinner.  later that night, we did a pub crawl!  it was my first time doing one, and it was a lot of fun!  we met a lot of people, all english-speakers, from holland, ireland, argentina, the states, england, argentina, etc.  i even got to dance (salsa?) with this guy from argentina.  we were having a blast, but my friend started to feel really sick.  later that night, she came down with the flu!  it was awful--i felt really bad for her. 
so the next day, my friend stayed at the hostel, and i ventured out to find the van gogh museum (i found out that basically every language pronounces van gogh differently).  it was really cool.  i guess i never realized how much i liked van gogh.  and not to sound like a nerd, but i actually learned a lot about him too.  it was cool because they had a lot of van gogh's work, and then they had some other artists' work who were painting at the same time to show how van gogh's style developed and influenced other artists.  afterwards, i met up with my friend again and we headed to the train station.  our train ended up getting into paris about an hour late, so of course we missed our train back to rennes.  we were scared that we were going to have to stay overnight because it was pretty late by this time, but luckily they had a train leaving a few hours later.  so we finally got back to rennes at around 11:30 at night.  it was fine, except my host mom had no idea where i was because i had lost my phone in amsterdam (oops!) and i couldn't call her.  luckily she hadn't started worrying too much yet.
anyway, amsterdam was gorgeous.  it has so much character and so much history, and it's a very different city than a lot of other european, and american, cities.  this weekend, i'm headed to strasbourg (close to germany) with my friends for a giant christmas festival that they have every year.  i've been to the christmas festival in rennes, and it was awesome, but this festival is probably a hundred times bigger, so i'm pumped!  i'm also doing a theater performance with my program this friday--which is going to be very, well, interesting.  and then exams next week.  and then home.  where has the time gone!?

sometimes it just hits me--one day i'm going to wake up and not be in france anymore.

as you all know, it was thanksgiving this past thursday.  well here in france, they don't celebrate thanksgiving--not much connection to the celebration of  the end of the first winter.  luckily for us americans, however, our program put together a little meal to make us feel a little more at home, away from home.  so last thursday, most of the kids in my program met at a pretty fancy french restaurant at around 8 pm.  that was the first weird thing--not eating thanksgiving dinner in the afternoon.  the second weird thing was that we had school as per usual.  it didn't really feel much like thanksgiving for those reasons--plus most of the other people in our program weren't getting excited about it because they don't celebate it.
so anyway, we all met at the restaurant and started with an aperatif, which also kind of different.  the only bad thing was that we all had assigned seats and everyone kept moving their name tag because they wanted to sit by their friends, since it was a holiday, and i ended up getting stuck in a corner of a bunch of older french women that i didn't know.  i shouldn't say stuck--they were very nice and fun to talk to.  i just wanted to be by someone that i knew.  so my name tag got moved as well and i got to sit by a few friends.  the food was pretty good--we got a lot a traditional american thanksgiving food (turkey, stuffing, cranberries, sweet potatoes, corn bread, some kind of spicy corn) and lots of red wine.  it was nice.  not really like an american thanksgiving--but a thanksgiving a la francaise.  i think thanksgiving was the first time that i really wished i was at home.  it was weird to think about everyone back home eating and celebrating together.  but i think that if there was anywhere else i would want to spend thanksgiving, it would be france.

i hope you all had a very happy thanksgiving!!

this weekend, i definitely had my favorite experience in europe so far--i went with some friends to a fest noz!!  this might take a little explaining.  i'm not sure if i've really mentioned the prevalent celtic culture in bretagne yet, but now it's kind of essential. 
so the region that i'm living in right now, called bretagne (or brittany in english), has had a prevalent celtic culture for centuries.  it's more common in the western part of bretagne (and i'm in the east), but throughout the province, the breton presence can still be felt.  the language is still spoken to an extent, the festivals are still celebrated, and if you're lucky, you can still see traditional breton fashion.  the breton people are also very proud of their culture--there are french people living in bretagne who consider themselves first breton, and then french.  so anyway, my friends and i heard about a traditional breton festival being celebrated this past weekend, and we decided it sounded like fun, especially considering it was the largest of its kind in our province.  so we went not really knowing what to expect, but we were not disappointed.  when we got there, we saw what looked like bleachers for a concert.  when we went up to sit down, we looked down at the floor and were completely stunned!  there were over 6 thousand people there that night (not all at the same time obviously) so the dance floor was reeeeally crowded.  and everyone was doing the same dance.  it was ridiculous seeing hundreds upon hundreds of people doing the same dance, all of their heads bobbing up and down at the same time.  so we ventured out onto the floor to try and get the real experience. 
in bretagne, the traditional dance is kind of like a line dance.  you find the end of a line and hold pinkies with the person next to you.  and you go around and around in giant circles moving your arms up and down.  and the bands that played were amazing too.  it was all traditional breton music, complete with bagpipes, harp, oboe, etc.  they even served cidre at the refreshment stands.  it was really cool to get to take part in the whole thing.  the event was pretty much the epitome of breton culture.  just to get to be part of that was really awesome.
so that night was great.  i also had a not so great night last week that is worth writing about.  last thursday, i went out to italian with some friends, and afterwards, several of us decided to hang out for a little while.  we met up with some friends and then went to our usual bar, madison avenue, and just kind of hung out.  well we were having a lot of fun, so we decided to stay out a little later and take a taxi back home.  so we ended up going to a night bar, which is a little more like a club.  it was a lot of fun--we met a lot of characters that night.  so anyway, it's about closing time, and i'm standing in the middle of the bar with a friend.  so this guy starts making conversation with me, when all of a sudden, i see this larger woman falling at me.  so i try to catch myself, and i almost did, but i lost my footing and fell too.  it would've been fine, but i was standing pretty close to some stools, and i hit my head.  i thought i was fine, but then i get up and see blood dripping down my arm (i'm sorry if this is freaking anyone out--it wasn't as bad as it sounds and there is a point to the story).  so my friends decide that i should probably get seen by a doctor just to make sure that i didn't have a concussion, because i fell pretty hard. 
so we call the hospital to have an ambulance come (they're free in france).  but they tell us that they don't have any free ambulances.  so we call a taxi and it takes us to the emergency room.  when we get there, there are about 5 paramedics sitting around at the entrance. so we go the welcome desk and there's another group of people sitting around.  they ask me for my papers--including my passport, which was odd because who goes to get their passport first when they have to go the emergency room?  the woman was pretty rude but we finally got everything in order and i went in to see a doctor.  after describing my symptoms in french, the nurse proceeds to speak to me in english, which bugs me a lot.  then i got led into a room with nothing in it.  the intern, or whatever she was, brings in a folding chair for me to sit on.  another thing i should mention is that, in france, healthcare is free.  sounds great--but from my experience, is not all it's cracked up to be.  the paint was peeling off the walls everywhere and everything was pretty dirty.  so then she rolls in a hospital bed and she has me describe my symptoms.  let me tell you, it's a lot of fun to have to speak a different language and describe an event and your general health at 4 oclock in the morning.  it definitely tested my french--which was actually kind of cool.  the whole check-up was kind of a joke.  they asked me a few questions and poked at me several times and then told me i was fine and i should go home.  so thankfully i didn't have a concussion.  it was just very interesting to see the differences in healthcare between france and america.  i know it sounds weird but i'm kind of glad i had that experience, just so i could see how different they are.
so anyway, that was my weekend.  i'm staying in rennes again this weekend, but hopefully it'll be a little less eventful!

so!  i'm finally sitting down to write about ireland.  it's been a busy week!  it's crazy how much i always have to do when i hardly ever have homework.
anyway.  so i got home monday morning from ireland after pulling an all-nighter in order to avoid paying to stay in a hostel for 4 hours.  it was actually kind of fun.  we hung out in a restaurant in paris until 5 in the morning, which was surprisingly busy considering the time.  however, i'm still recovering.  ireland was great though.  it was cool because it was exactly what i pictured it to be.  the trip started off a little poorly though.  we took a train to paris from rennes friday afternoon, which went very smoothly.  our train from paris to the airport, however, was a half an hour late, and we had timed the train to shuttle to airport perfectly, so by the time we got the the train station the shuttle was long gone.  so we called every single taxi number we could find, but we couldn't get ahold of anyone who would take us.  so finally a random car pulled over and the guy offered to drive us to the airport--kinda sketchy but we figured it was okay since there were so many of us.  the only problem was that he wouldn't take more than 4 people--and there were 5 of us.  so we have about 15 minutes before check-in closes at the airport, and if we miss it, we're stuck in france.  so we split up and the 3 of us got the airport barely on time.  luckily the other 2 found a ride with a really sweet girl and her boyfriend and also made it to the airport--2 minutes before check-in closed.  so we were pretty stressed out, not to mention already exhausted.  so we go get some soda and sit down to wait for out plane to start boarding.  we're waiting in line for a while and it seemed like they were boarding pretty late.  finally the name of the destination comes up on the computer for the line we're standing in--and it's the wrong place!  so we run to another gate, where out plane was actually boarding, and run to the plane.  so we almost missed our plane--twice.  i still can't believe that we actually made it to ireland.
the plane ride was actually fun.  we were sitting by a huge group of irish guys, who were reeeeally rouwdy.  then we got a little rowdy too.  basically the entire plane hated us by the end of the trip.  but it was fun.  and on our flight home, guess who welcomes us on board?  none other than the flight attendant who flew us to ireland.  so he pretended to be all upset.  but he secretly liked us.  anyway, we flew into shannon, dropped our stuff off at the bed and breakfast where we were staying, and went out.  it was pretty uneventful though, but still fun.  the next morning we woke up to the most amazing breakfast.  it was an irish breakfast (sausage, bacon, eggs, cereal, toast, coffee and orange juice) minus the potatoes.  fantastic.  then we headed over to galway, dropped our stuff off at the next hostel, and headed out to explore the town.  it was really cool.  and it actually reminded me a little bit of rennes.  we didn't have anything planned, so we pretty much just shopped and explored all day.  for lunch we went to this awesome pub where they were playing a football (soccer) game and ate fish and chips with traditional irish beer.  it was soooo good.  that night we went to another pub, where i had my first real guiness, and got to hear a traditional irish band.  it was so cool!  it was also really weird too, because the majority of the people at the pub consisted of really overdressed girls.  they were all wearing really fancy dresses and high heels, and it was so out of place because we were at this normal, unfancy irish pub. 
the next day, we got up early and got on a bus that took us on a little tour of the irish countryside.  two of my friends and i only got to do about half of the tour because we had to catch an earlier flight than our other friends.  it was really cool though.  we saw some old buildings and a lot of the countryside and ended our tour at the cliffs of moher.  the only bad thing was that it was realllly foggy, so we could hardly see anything.  i wasn't too upset though, because i realized about halfway through our trip that i would need to do ireland again and stay for a longer period of time.  i definitely want to go back.  so we ended our tour, took a cab to the airport, and stayed up overnight in paris.  it was a lot of fun.  i'm actually really excited though because i'm taking a little break from traveling this weekend and actually staying in rennes.  it's been a long time since i've done that, but i'm really looking forward to it.
well, that's all for now!

finally back home in rennes after another crazy week.  i got home last wednesday afternoon and left for ireland friday afternoon.  it was so hectic!
i put off writing about italy though, so i should probably catch up.  italy was pretty cool.  i think i had it built up in my mind as being this awesome place with tons of culture, which it was, but i felt like i didn't get to see the real italy.  my friend from high school and i ended up meeting in milan, spending a couple hours there (it was way prettier than i had heard), had our first taste of real italian pizza and gelato, and then took a train to venice. 
we got into venice pretty late at night, but it was really cool.  we ended up staying in this really nice hotel, which was really close to everything, including a water bus stop.  so we took a water bus the next morning (which we kind of counted as our gondola ride because they're crazy expensive) to san marco's square.  we went to the doge's palace and spent a few hours inside, which was pretty cool, checked out the basilica, and then walked around the square a little.  then we started shopping.  the shopping in venice was really cool.  they have stands all over the place with real souvenir-type things (masks, postcards, shirts), as well as tons and tons of murano glass shops.  the jewelry was awesome and there was so much of it!  i can say without exaggerating, that i went in over 100 glass shops in venice.  so we pretty much just shopped all day in little shops and open air markets, had a huuuuuge pizza for lunch, checked out another basilica where titian is buried, did some more shopping, and then had chinese for dinner.  cuz we had to, you know, get the real italian experience.  there were, however, spaghetti noodles in my friends dish, instead of the traditional chinese.  then we had some more gelato and called it a night because we had an early flight.
the next day we got up really early and waited for our bus to take us to the airport.  it had seemed a little foggy since the night before, but we didn't really think all that much of it.  so we got to the airport, and after a while, our flight was delayed due to weather conditions, and then cancelled.  it didn't seem like a big deal (except that i had to send a letter via snailmail to the airline to get a refund), until we found out that there was a 24-hour complete transportation strike (minus the taxis).  to make things worse, not everyone spoke very good english and weren't very helpful with giving us information.  so we took a taxi to a nearby train station, took a taxi back to the same airport when we found out that we had to take a shuttle to a different train station, waited for 4 and a half hours in a freezing mcdonald's in the train station, and finally paid 60 euro for a 4 hour standing room only train to rome.  so we ended up losing an entire day in rome, but we were so happy to finally be there!
rome was pretty fun too.  when we got in, we dropped our stuff off at our hostel and went out to a traditional italian meal of spaghetti, tiramisu, and red wine.  it was fantastic.  then we hiked our way over (because the transportation strike was still on in rome) to the colosseum and the fountain of trevi.  both were gorgeous, and it was nice because we got to see them without all the other tourists and the people harassing tourists.  so we went to bed around 2 and got up around 7 to start all over again.  we did the vatican city, including st. peter's basilica, which was awesome.  then we did the vatican museum and got to see the sistine chapel.  we actually met some canadians there too, which was nice because we got to hang out with some english-speakers for a little while.  then we grabbed some pizza and did the spanish steps, the colosseum again, the fountain of trevi again, and the roman forum.  and some shopping too of course.  it was a lot.  by the time i got back into rennes at 1:27 pm on wednesday, three minutes before class, i was exhausted.  but it was a great trip and i'm really glad i got the chance to go. 
the only things i didn't like were the amount of tourists and not being able to speak the language.  obviously we were in very touristy cities, but if i were to go back i would rather had a more authentic experience.  it was funny too how many times i tried to speak spanish.  not being able to express yourself whatsoever is so frustrating!!
anyway, i think i'm going to leave ireland for the next entry because this one's already really long!

so i just got back from 5 days in italy.  what a crazy trip!!  there's a lot to say about it, but i'm really just exhausted.  i think i'll write about it later.
it's just so funny how it always feels so good to get back home.  and how france feels like home now.  i'm just always so relieved to be back
in a place that i know in a country where i can speak the language.  and i've really gotten used to the little apartment i'm staying in.  the only thing different about this trip was the feeling i had coming back.  i'm really trying hard to stay positive, but i've started thinking about the fact that i only have about a month and a week left here.  it's such a bittersweet feeling.  i know that going back to the states is going to be awesome.  i'm going to get to see all my friends, who i miss like crazy, hang out with my family a little bit, go to a real school, get back to work--there are a lot of little things that i miss too.  like noodles.  and football.  but thoughts of them are so few and far between that it doesn't really get to me all that much.  i just know that i'm really, really going to miss france and this whole experience in general.  this is like the greatest vacation/adventure of my life.  and the thought of it being over just sucks.  i know that i'm going to go back to school and have a great time.  but it's not the same.  it's just hard to stay positive when i know the inevitable is coming.  but i can't let those thoughts get me down because then i'll just spend my last few weeks here depressed.  and that would just be a waste.  it's just hard thinking glass half-full sometimes. 
anyway, chin up--i'm going to ireland in less than 48 hours with some really cool people.  it's going to be amazing!!

well!  finally back in rennes after about a week and a half of traveling with the fam.  it's crazy how much coming back to rennes felt like coming home.  and how relieved i was to be speaking french again instead of very, very broken spanish.
so about our vacation, i ended up meeting my parents at the madrid airport after a very short and stressful night in paris.  it was pretty cool being there at night though.  when i first got off the train, i went outside to try and find a bus stop, and i ended up turning around to head back into the train station because i couldn't find it.  and right as i turned around, bamm!  there was the eiffel tower, lit up in blue.  it was awesome.  i tried to walk there that night, but it's good i didn't, because it was waaay further away than i realized and it was already around 11:00 pm.  so in madrid, after i met up with my parents, we took a taxi back to our hotel.  our first experience with a real spaniard was very similar to the rest.  he didn't speak any english whatsoever, but that didn't stop my parents from trying!!  i ended up having to use my year and a half of spanish knowledge for most of the trip.  we got lucky several times because a lot of people spoke french!  it was weird--i went to madrid expecting it to be a lot like paris, where everyone speaks english to you, even if you don't want them to.  but hardly anyone spoke english.  so i became the translator.  my parents and i ended up staying really far outside of the city because it was cheaper, so we had to make about an hour commute whenever we wanted to go into the city.  it wasn't all that bad though.
the first day in the city, having no map or guide book, we decided to just take the metro into the city and see what we could find.  so we just got off at the plaza de epsana, which ended up being really cool.  there was this awesome market there with scarves, jewelry, watches, etc.  it was fantastic.  we ended up just walking around the city, walked to the prado and through some botanical gardens, and had some tapas. 
the next few days, we went to the royal palace, the royal theatre, a movie (vicky cristina barcelona, which was perfect), the reina sofia, and attempted to go to a flamenco show, but it was too expensive.  it was a lot of fun.
the next day, we had to leave for paris pretty late, so we hung around in ikea for most of the morning.  we got into paris pretty late, and had to make a pretty long trip again because our hotel was really far outside the city.  we ended up staying in this cute little town though.  it was way better than actually staying in paris.  the only problem was that our cab driver from paris had no idea where the hotel actually was, so we drove around in the city for a while trying to find it.  he wasn't supposed to be driving outside of paris and ended up getting pulled over, but he didn't get arrested.  he just asked the cops for directions and they told him that they had no idea where it was either.  pretty ridiculous.
in paris, my parents and i went to the eiffel tower, the arc de triomphe, versailles (which was awesome!!), the moulin rouge (which, if you know me well, you know that i have been wanting to go there for about six years--so it was amazing), macdo, the louvre, the conciergerie, and notre dame.  it was definitely a packed trip.  and i didn't even get to see everything i wanted to see!!
my parents came back to rennes with me as well.  i showed them around the city and ate most of my meals with them, which was nice.  they also got to come over and meet my host mom last night over dinner.  it was really fun.  i had to translate most of the time, but they actually understood each other pretty well, which was cool.  i took them out today (well, let's be honest.  they took ME out) for a classic lunch of galettes, crepes, and cidre (which are specialties of the region i'm staying in) and we did some shopping.  and then we said goodbye and they were on their way! 
it was a really fun couple of weeks.  it was weird though having them in rennes because rennes is such a different experience and having such a huge part of me here kind of messed with my head a little.  it made me a little homesick too.  but then again, by the time i got back, it was already november, and i leave in december!  it's so weird.  it feels like there's so much time left but i know it's going to go by crazy fast because i'll be traveling most weekends.  plus, things are getting a little more stressful here.  i just need to try to let go of my stress and enjoy every moment, because i don't have many more left!  it's so crazy.  anyway, i'm sure i'll have more to write about soon--i'm spending four days in italy soon, so hopefully i'll come home with a lot to write about!

my host mom is such a mother.  it's funny.  she's always saying, "you should do ______, because _______ is going to happen."  and i just kind of agree. 
anyway, life has been completely flying by!  it's crazy.  i don't think i've written in here since before cornouaille and valencia, which was probably over two weeks ago.  and i wasn't going to have time to write in here today, but i overslept (shocker), and now i'm just waiting to use the bathroom.
so cornouaille.  it was awesome!!  we visited my favorite french city so far, which is this little town in the south eastern part of brittany called pont aven.  it was just so cute.  and i just felt so good, so relaxed there.  it had been a while since i had felt that way.  all the stress just gets to me sometimes.  so anyway, we went to this really cute litte town and ate, then got back on the bus to go to quimper, where we took a tour of the cathedral and did some shopping in the town.  we stayed overnight at this gorgeous hostel in concarneau, hung out on the beach, and got some great pictures.  the next day we headed to pointe du raz, which was also awesome.  we climbed these giant cliffs (me in flip flops) down to the water, and then back up again.  i kept joking that it didn't matter that i didn't get into the escalade (rock climbing) class, because i was doing it in real life!  our last stop was in another cute litte town.  not too much to say about that one--it had a cute church and some cute shops, but they were mostly closed because it was sunday. 
so then i came home, had another crazy week, and then left for valencia on saturday.  it was really exciting for me, because it's only the third foreign country i've been to.  the other two are canada (so that doesn't really count) and france, which is already starting to feel like home.  so for me, it was like a real foreign country.  beforehand, i went to eurodisney with some friends.  we only got to be there for a few hours and only got to go on two rides, but i'm really glad i went.  i hadn't been to disneyland since i was four, so it was pretty cool.  however, we cut it too close getting back to paris for our train, and missed it.  that started a chain reaction of stressful traveling for us last weekend.  lots of stuff went wrong.  but i know that not every trip is going to go perfectly and that you have to roll with the punches.  if you can't handle some flexibility in traveling, you should just stay home.  or take a guided tour.  but i like a little more adventure.  so anyway, valencia was really cool despite the stress.  it was beautiful!  and people actually spoke spanish to us.  i was expecting it to be like france--i speak some french with a thick american accent, and you respond in english with a thick french accent, and me being the stubborn person that i am, continue to speak in french, until there's this language battle going on.  but the people in valencia spoke spanish with us.  it was awesome.  some highlights of the trip included: dancing in a spanish club, going to starbucks, seeing the amazing arhcitecture, going to one of the coolest (and i've heard largest) aquariums in europe, eating tapas, seeing someone from madison randomly, and shopping.  while i was there, i decided that if the us doesn't really work out for me, i'm going to move to spain, buy a moped, and live happily ever after in a cute apartment with a cute puppy.  so we'll see.
tonight i'm leaving for paris so i can catch my plane to meet my parents in madrid.  i've been in rennes for less than two days, and i'm already leaving again.  it's seriously ridiculous.  i can't wait though!!

today officially marks the tenth day of my cold.  it hasn't really been all that bad, and it's mostly my fault because i'm too stubborn to buy medicine, but i'm just starting to get sick of it. 
it's kind of strange.  we're really starting to settle into everyday life here.  i know i've probably said that before, but it's true.  it's just strange because it feels like we're settling in, but at the same time, we're only here for two and a half more months. 
it's also weird how much of an impact this experience has already had on my life.  i don't think i've really changed at all--i'm definitely still the same person.  but already, i can't imagine my life without this experience.  it all just made so much sense. 
that's really all i had to say.  in other news, i'm going to cornouaille with school this weekend.  i'm excited--it should be a lot of fun! 

i'm finally sitting down at my computer after one busy weekend. 
this friday, i went with some friends to see mamma mia on friday.  it was amazing!  but better in english, i have to admit.  the whole french speaking/english singing was just a little weird.  i also met with some friends and got some vacations planned, or at least partly.  i'm going to spain in two weeks!  i'm going to go to valencia with some friends, then come back to france for three days, and then head back to spain to meet my parents.  it's a little ridiculous, but it's going to be a lot of fun!  i also planned a trip to holland with some friends, which should be fun too, except that it's during the first weekend of december, so it's going to be freezing!
saturday was the big party.  it actually didn't end up starting until around 8 at night, so i basically did nothing during the day.  then i headed over to the restaurant with my host mom's son and his "friend," who is actually his pregnant girlfriend.  i think they're doing the whole not-getting-married-but-living-together thing.  so we got to the restaurant and headed inside, and it was just straight-up awkward.  i knew a total of three people, and they were all on their own talking to other people, so i just kind of stood awkwardly in the background for a while.  then some people said hello and we talked for a while, but it was still kind of weird.  after about a half hour, we sat down to dinner.  the food was fantastic, and considering it was my first real french meal at a restaurant with multiple courses, i was stoked.  there was some reaaaally really good wine too, which was a treat because the stuff i buy is usually not the best.  so everything was still kind of awkward because everyone was having really intense conversations with their neighbor and i was just kind of sitting there half spacing out/half trying to understand them.  then the dancing started.  and it was hilarious.  i know they had been drinking a little bit, but i've never seen adults dance like that before.  it was awesome.  this was mostly coming from this random guy in another group, but the adults in my group were all dancing the madison and the macarena.  it was awesome.  the only other downside is that the party ended up lasting until 3.  fortunately we all slept in until noon.
today was more family stuff.  my host mother had her son and his "friend" and her daughter and her husband and two kids over for lunch today.  we had seafood.  and it was real seafood.  the kind that still has eyes.  it was sooo weird!  they all had to show me how to open the crab legs and eat the shrimp while avoiding the eyes and legs.  we also had some delicious cheese and cake two, plus coke, which is a rariety for me here, so all in all it was a great day.  plus my host mom's grandkids are quite possibly the cutest things ever, and i got to play with them all day, which was exhausting, but a lot of fun.
and now i get to start a whole new week in france!