Still in the process of catching up on blogging since my vacation, so here's an update on my ski trip a few weekends ago.
The trip was organized through our program, so about 30 of us went, plus three of our program coordinators and their daughters. We took a five hour bus ride on Friday night to the hotel and went to bed pretty soon after we arrived, but not before taking in the gorgeous nighttime view of the mountains all around the hotel. Even in the dark, it was easy to notice the huge mountains on each side of us.
The next morning we got up early for breakfast and headed to the ski slopes to get fitted for our equipment. I assumed it would be pretty cold, so I borrowed a hat and mittens from friends and brought as many layers as I could to make sure I wouldn't get cold. As it turned out, I started getting hot before I even got my skis on, so shed most of my layers before we started skiing.
Some of our group split off for ski lessons, and the rest of us decided to start out on the easiest hills to get some practice runs in. The first time I ever downhill skied was four years ago, my junior year of high school, in Montana and Alberta, Canada, and that was also the last time I skied, so it had been awhile. Fortunately it wasn't too hard to pick back up, and I got increasingly confident throughout the weekend.
After spending the morning on the easy slope, stripping off layers after every run, we decided to head up to try more difficult slopes. We tried out the blue trail a few times, not too bad, but significantly harder than the first hill, before breaking for lunch. I hadn't realized how much I have been missing wheat bread until I ate the sandwich that was provided for us with three pieces of delicious mountain home-made bread.
After lunch we went up a little bit higher on the mountain to try a new slope. It was pushing 70 degrees and hadn't snowed there in awhile (both my parents were shocked by the lack of snow in my pictures when I showed them the mountains) so the fake snow on the slopes got increasingly slushy and difficult, but the views were still beautiful and it was nice to have warm weather.
After skiing and some relaxing time, we took the bus into the adorable little ski town of Vallouise to do a little bit of touristy shopping. It really consisted of a few streets with two gift shops, a church and a bar, but it was cute to see a very different French town from the ones I have visited so far.
We ate a delicious, though cheesy, mountain dinner and then I spent the evening getting to know some new people in my program, which was a lot of fun. Then we went to bed pretty early since it had been a long day and we had another one to wake up early for.
On our second day, we brought many less clothes and more ambitions. By the early afternoon, a few of us were ready to venture up to the very top of the mountain and brave the red and black trails (there's an extra color in French trail difficulty levels). A few of the boys in the program who are much better at skiing than us, took us up to the top and helped encourage us to get back down again. The view at the top was absolutely stunning. It was amazing every time that we got a little bit higher, but after flying up the steepest part of the hill with just a metal pole to hold between my legs (I was holding on for dear life) the view was absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I was blown away. I can't even fully describe how crazy it was. Pictures can't even capture it.
After we went down the red trail, we decided to go back up to the top to take a snack break there. Then, my crazy friend who had never skied in his life until the previous day, decided that we really needed to go down the black trail so that we would be able to say we had done it all. Although I did make it down that hill in one piece, it was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done. It was sooooo steep. We were basically just going sideways back and forth across the hill, gaining a little bit of ground at a time. My legs were killing me from holding me in the same position for so long. I actually had to fall a couple of times just to slow myself down and get a little bit of a rest. We did make it down the steepest trail though, so now I can say that I've done it, although definitely not very gracefully.
So all in all, probably the best weekend that I have had in France so far. I got to be outside for two whole days taking in absolutely breathtaking scenery, making new friends and just having a wonderful time. I slept for a lot of the bus ride home - it was a pretty tiring weekend as well - and arrived in Montpellier to similarly warm temperatures!
Day 11: On arriving in Paris, I had a number of up-in-the air plans about where I would be spending the night. I made my way to Montmartre to try to meet up with some friends while frantically contacting everyone I knew in Paris as all of my plans fell through.
It was a spectacularly gorgeous day in Paris, slightly marred by the fact that I had no idea where I would be spending the night. I explored the funky streets of Montmartre, trying really hard to appreciate everything and take it all in, while trying not to be too stressed about my sleeping arrangements.
I eventually made my way to the Gare de Lyon to try to change my train ticket home, without success, before I finally got in touch with my friend Dominique from my program. Fortunately she had an extra bed in the hotel she was staying in with her mom. I was so relieved, after a lonely stressful morning during which I had to carry my bag with me everywhere, I had a place to stay!
That night we stayed in the hotel room since all of us were tired from traveling, and we had a little picnic and watched French tv.
Day 12: Dominique and her mom had to leave early for the next part of their travels, so I slept in, and once I left the hotel I made my way to the Louvre, which has a free baggage check and is free for students in Europe! I also had never been, so I felt like it was a pretty important tourist attraction that I should probably see.
Like in Rome, it was a really cool experience to see the actual paintings of a lot of artists that I learned about in my class last semester. I explored a lot of the Louvre before I realized I was starving, so I left and ate the remnants of our dinner from the night before.
En route to meeting up with a Brandeis friend for coffee near the Eiffel Tower, I stopped for awhile to read in the Tuileries garden, even though it was raining a tiny bit.
All in all, a pretty nice day in Paris, even though I spent the majority of it by myself. It was cool to know that I could navigate around myself and figure out the metro maps, aided by a tiny map I had brought from my Frommer's guide to France.
Day 13: On my final day, I walked around Paris a little bit more, but was really just ready to head home. I had managed to change my ticket to an earlier time, after dealing with another complicated train station debacle, so I got back to Montpellier around 3:00.
It was the most wonderful feeling to step out of the train station in to the 65 degree weather and onto streets that I recognized. It was also amazing to come back to my own apartment and to be able to wear different clothes!
Traveling was amazing, but 13 days of travel was way more than I ever had imagined it would be, and it took a lot out of me. I spent the last weekend of break re-cooperating and relaxing and enjoying Montpellier. Even discovered a few new restaurants when Jálynn's mom, who was visiting, took us out for two delicious dinners!
My apologies for how long it's been since I last posted. I wanted to leave some time between my looooong vacation updates, but then I got sidetracked by life and haven't gotten back to blogging in awhile.
Day 7: After a great week in Italy and a long sleepy day in the Marseille train station, I said goodbye to Mary and Ali (they were going back to Montpellier that night) and headed to the airport to fly to London. When I arrived, I went through the first customs/passport check of my trip. Apparently they're pretty lax when you're traveling between some European countries, so I don't have many passport stamps to show for the places I went to. I took a train into London, where my friend Hilary met me. At this point it was around 11 pm and I was still running on no sleep, so we just caught up in her dorm and then went to sleep.
Day 8: On my first full day in London, Hilary and Rachel, friends from Brandeis who are studying in London through the BU internship program, took me to see the sights. First, we went to Old Spittlefields Market, a huge covered markets with booths selling everything from jewelry to vegan salads.
After an awesome lunch, eaten standing up, squeezed between everyone else at a tiny counter in the corner of the room, we headed out to see the big, London touristy spots.
They took me across the Tower Bridge, although we didn't see the London Bridge, because apparently it's not very exciting or nice looking. Then we headed towards Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye. After some confusion on Hilary's part over which was which, we took a bunch of pictures and enjoyed the sights with all of the other tourists. It was pretty cool seeing all these places that I've heard about and seen in pictures and movies. We didn't go inside anywhere, which was fine with me since I did plenty of touristy things in Rome as well.
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| Tower Bridge |
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| Westminster |
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Big Ben/London Eye
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That night we made dinner in Hilary's dorm (much cheaper than eating out) and streamed The Blind Side online, since I was still recovering from my exhaustion and Hilary had a final exam the next day.
Day 9: After sleeping in while Hilary was at her exam in the morning, she sent me to see Buckingham Palace, since she had to study for another test. It was cool to navigate London by myself and figure out (with Hilary's directions) how to get to Buckingham. I took a ton of pictures and walked around Saint James Park. It was just starting to show some signs of spring, so it was fun to see all of the little crocuses and snow drops as well as the biggest variety of birds I have ever seen in one place.
That night we explored Piccadilly Circus with some Brandeis friends of Hilary's and went to the famous M&M store, which was pretty exciting, although expensive. We went to a drug store as soon as we left to find cheap chocolate.
Day 10: After sleeping in again during Hil's next exam, she took me to get lost in Herrod's for awhile. We talked about how American department stores can't even touch the fanciness of Herrod's. It was fun to see all of the intricate rooms and very very expensive merchandise. Hilary's favorite part was the pet shop with two adorable puppies playing around. I had to drag her away from them. After another fairly relaxing day, we met up with Rachel and her friend in Chinatown for dinner in a Korean restaurant. I didn't end up having any traditional English food, just Asian. Interesting how these things work out.
My last night in London we went to bed pretty early, because the next morning, very early, I was leaving and Hilary and Rachel's break was about to start, so they had to be to the airport bright and early as well.
Although I probably didn't absorb as much of British culture as I should have, I had a great time hanging out with Hilary and Rachel and doing "drive-bys" of all of the popular London tourist destinations. It was also nice to get a lot of sleep after my whirlwind Italian adventure filled with too much walking and not enough sleep.
The next morning I was off to Paris for the last few days of my vacation to meet up with my friend Marielle who was visiting Europe for her spring break, although I would have been just as happy to head back to Montpellier.
