in Nîmes!

Just a very quick update - I'm in Nîmes!! The weather is insanely gorgeous, it's like I went back to the best days of summer in Chicago. I'm heading out now to the auberge de jeunesse (hostel), where i'll stay for the next 2 nights & then *hopefully* will have a place to call home by Saturday, or even tomorrow! I've met a few other assistants & am looking forward to meeting the rest as we all trickle in. Ha, we already found an English-style pub that's going to be our place :)
It's all definitely stressful, but I know within a week or two it'll all be better & hopefully I'll be on my way to developing a routine & calling this town home. 


More when I can!
xo

paris, je t'aime

"America is my country and Paris is my hometown" 

-Gertrude Stein

8th arrondissement

"Paris is always a good idea" 

-the movie "Sabrina"

guess where!

"...Paris is a moveable feast"

-Ernest Hemingway

locks along a seine bridge

"Paris is a real ocean. Wander through it, describe it as you may, there will always remain an undiscovered place, an unknown retreat, flowers,pearls, monsters, something unheard of."

-Honore de Balzac

musée d'orsay

Needless to say - Paris is a dream. My third time in this city & I fall in love with it more each time as I discover more of the city. For the first time I got to explore le Marais, 8th arr & the northwest area of the city, sit & read in various parks across the city, & take it in strides rather than rushing about. MK & I have walked everywhere...I think we've taken the metro once? It's been so relaxing - I'm finally caught up on sleep & in my travel element. We're getting slightly used to speaking French on a regular basis, even if it's just easy conversational stuff. The croissants, café, pain au chocolate, crêpes & bon vin...c'est parfait. Absolute perfection. Of course, once I get to Nîmes I'll start eating better & working out again :)  All in all this week has been fabulous & I will do a separate post about our day at Versailles! 

As for right now - we've got one more day in Paris: Bastille, Latin quarter, Luxembourg gardens...& more pastries & wine. Could life get much better??

bises

Reykjavík, Iceland

A whirlwind last 48 hours, but we made it to Paris!

Our flight from JFK to Keflavik was smooth, and I am very impressed by Icelandair for how cheap flights were! Each seat has a TV screen, & at the beginning & end of the flight they play Icelandic music & scroll through facts about why Iceland is great. Ex: The prime ministers number is in the phonebook; The most popular restaurant is a hot dog stand; The most popular dish is rotten cured shark meat (even though Mexican seems very popular…there was fajita seasoning in the market we went to), etc. We were able to sleep a little bit, but not until today have I felt well-rested.

Arrive at Keflavik at 5:45am local time, hopped in a taxi towards Reykjavík & had a lovely conversation with the driver. The drive was breathtaking – the calm ocean on one side & rocky hillside on the other. He told us we were driving on the fault line, and that when we left the airport we were on the Eurasian plate & as we got closer to Reykjavík we moved onto the North American plate. Cool! & thanks to my one semester of Geoscience, I understood what he was talking about. P.s. all throughout this drive the sun was rising. It was the most beautiful ride from an airport I have ever been on.

7:00am – Arrive at hostel, where we discover there are no extra beds at the moment & we can’t check-in until 2. New plan: power through it. So we left our bags at the front desk, popped on some walking shoes, and headed out into the city. (pop. 200,000) I will let pictures document our morning:

Funny storefront in a main square

Hello ocean

Hallgrímskirkja (Church)

View of Reykjavik from top of Church - note all the colors in the houses & buildings

More Reykjavik

At 11am we trudged back to the hostel & thank god – there were 2 extra beds. We slept. At 3pm we woke up hungry & went to a café for some amazing hot chocolate & a savory spinach & cheese crêpe. 

The café was reminded us of an Icelandic version of River Road. No frozens, but the decor was artsy & it was definitely a popular place to hang out or do work. I could have stayed there all day, but we picked up our things & headed to city hall. The city hall is on a pond, & on steps nearby there were several moms & kids feeding a plethora of ducks, swans and other birds (so cute). Inside housed a HUGE topographical model of the country of Iceland! I loved it & MK called me out for being a nerd :)

To quickly wrap things up - we walked around a lot more & went to an English pub to watch the Liverpool/Brighton game, had an Icelandic beer, & headed back to the hostel to get a few hours of sleep in before our 4am wake-up call for the airport shuttle. More on the craziness of getting to Paris later or demain!
Plans for today: Musée d'Orsay & French phones
Demain: Versailles!!!

bises

in iceland!

Not my own pictures...yet!

leaving!

"Wanderlust, the very strong or irresistible impulse to travel, is adopted untouched from the German, presumably because it couldn't be improved upon. Workarounds like the French passion du voyage don't quite capture the same meaning. Wanderlust is not a passion for travel exactly; it's something more animal and more fickle - something more like lust." -Elizabeth Eaves in Wanderlust


I'm reading this book now (started it earlier this summer & took a break because I wanted to finish it during my travels)...& I know it's one I'll read over and over again. I love the way she titles each chapter; ex: "on inspiration", "on coming & going", "on promises"..


And speaking of coming & going - I'm going to Iceland! Reykjavik, to be specific, and for a mere 24 hours. MK & I will head to JK this afternoon for our 8:30ish flight. Next post will hopefully be from Paris!


Europe awaits :)

& it truly begins…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Leaving Chicago, off to New York!

For the first time in a very long time I had about an hour of down time to actually think about the big picture. For so long now I’ve been focused on lists, specifics of making sure I was prepared for this. Now that the lists are behind me…I cannot believe this is actually, finally happening. Too soon, yet not soon enough.

I need to thank & send my love to everyone that I’ve been able to spend time with this summer – my amazing friends, family, the families I’ve babysat for, & all those I’ve either met for the first time or reconnected with these past months. This summer has been one of great change & I wouldn’t have been able to be mentally & physically ready for this upcoming adventure without you all.

Keep reading – now the REAL fun begins J

19...

Just had my last training session at L.A. Fitness - hour long, full body = tired but jumping with endorphins & ready to take on these last 19 hours till departure! Had a wonderful & mostly productive packing session with LB & KO last night, including a walk to Hartigans (classic ice cream shop of childhood days) & bottle of wine. Now waiting on UPS to deliver my updated birth certificate so I can then run to Dad's office & scan all my important documents....such exciting stuff! ;)
A nice lunch planned with Mom & then meeting aunt M to pick up some beautifully designed stationary! 
There's more on my to-do list but i won't bore you with the rest...& must get back to running about!
wish me luck!

44

We’re beyond days now, time to count down the hours till I leave Evanston!

44 hrs to go:

Nabbed Italian & Spanish Rosetta Stone from a friend & am obsessed! Probably should have grabbed French, but at this point I’m just diving into that language when I arrive in Paris. I’m doing Italian now though – la donne cucina – the woman cooks! For the first couple lessons I was definitely mixing it with French pronunciation, oops! & the rolling “r’s” are different…I can do the French one but the Italian one is giving me a hard time (like in corre, run). Anyways, it’s awesome.

lake michigan

To catch up, last week I went out to Barrington & said goodbye to the extended Wood fam. I’m going to miss Thanksgiving with the Wood clan a LOT this year! Next day I was off to the Indiana Dunes National Seashore with KO for some camping! My version of camping is not roughing it – we filled her Prius with all of our stuff! 3 sleeping bags, mats, a few blankets, a cooler & a tub filled with food, a bottle of wine (bien sur), bananagrams, 2 tents (just in case), clothes, winter clothes (for the chilly night ahead) & several magazines – including the September issue of Vogue. So yes, we went “camping”! 

tentin' in style

it got a bit cold...

It was soo great to get out of the city & into nature. We did a couple short hikes around park, among the dunes & beaches. Both days it was really windy, but we managed to eat a sandy chickpea salad for dinner on the beach, from where you could see the teensy-tiny Chicago skyline. It was a short 24 hours, but I managed to slightly disconnect from the craziness of getting ready for France, etc & enjoy the moment, being outside, & being with KO.

Since then, I finished working for the summer. Have to admit, a lone tear rolled down my face when I had to leave H, the 1 ½ year old I babysat all summer. Damn cute kid.

The rest of my time has been spent on a mix of working out, working on my room, gathering things to pack, preparing for interviews and running errands.

Oops just remembered one thing I should have gotten done about OH 2 weeks ago – dfjaskfgslkg.

bises