PARIS!!

I feel like I should write about Paris right now, I'll write about the incredible trip following Bob later. I didn't go to London after all actually, I was supposed to stay with my second cousin Kara but I couldn't because she is an editor of a magazine and she had an unexpected job in Miami she had to fly to. So I spent the last week of my European stay in Paris! I met some wonderful new friends who were so kind and let me stay with them. I stayed with a lady from the West Indies named Caroline who is also a wonderful vegan cook! I ate really well in Europe! Her friends were so kind and took me around the city to all the places I wanted to go. Sandrine was a wonderful tour guide, she is also from the west indies and we had fun walking down the Champs Elysees in the rain. I went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and to the Louvre in one day. I only saw a fraction of the museum but I'm glad I got to see all of my favorite Renaissance Italiam painters. It was so amazing to see all those paintings I studied in art history in real life and to see all the cracks and brushstrokes up close. I took a boat ride alond the Siene that went by all the major monuments in Paris. It is truly the most beautiful city that I've ever seen. Not that I've been to a lot of major cities but it just took my breath away. I ate the most delicious crepes on the boat. Sandrine and I got salmon and spinach crepes with fresh cream. they literaly melted in my mouth. One of my favorite activities of the whole trip was people watching. There were so many people with dogs and old men wearing berets holding baugettes just like in the movies. it was so surreal...People in Paris are so stylish, I had fun just looking at what people are wearing, they had such a keen sense of style, very polished and put together. there were some funny accessories, especially the many man purses i saw. my favorite one was a knock off louis vutton purse this one guy was wearing. hilarious. there were also a lot of sweaters being worn tied over the shoulders. there was a lot of knock off brands being worn, especially dolce & gabana. i saw a lot of that in italy as well, but i'll get to that later... but overall i envied the style of the french women. i also felt like a giant compared to everyone, they are so small! everything there is small, the people, the cars, the streets, everything. sandrine was also making fun of the way i talked because she said that americans always sound like they are shouting when they talk. i love french, it is such a beautiful language. sandrine and caroline were trying to teach me a little french and i gave them some lessons in english as well. they both spoke english but they really wanted me to correct them if they said anything incorrectly. i felt kind of inadequate to do that because i feel like i always don't know the right grammer like i should. hehe. but we helped each other out as best as we could. there were some really funny moments of me and sandrine trying to communicate with each other. i would say the phrase, "a couple" and she always asked me what i meant. i really learned on this trip how much i take for granted in america how easily it is to communicate with everyone. well, for the most part, just speaking in language terms. but anywho, it was so difficult at times for me to communicate with a lot of people in paris. i really had to rely on non verbal cues. one funny incident happened on the train, i was loading the film in my three cameras and this man sitting across from me started laughing and he started saying something to me in french but he soon learned i didn't speak french. through very limited vocabulary and a lot of hand motions we were able to talk, albeit, very limitedly. i learned that he was a professional p hotographer in paris and showed me his gigantic digital camera. he was very nice and would just laugh when we reached a point where we just couldn't rely on our limited vocabulary and hand motions to get our points across. that only gets you so far.

i am so dumbfounded about how i even survived in paris. without knowing the language, not knowing anyone, i was really flying by the seat of my pants without a clue. but God made a way where there was none and provided for all of my needs and allowed me the trip of a life time.

the "foir de paris" which is a huge market in paris that only happens once a year for about a week was awesome. i only saw a small portion of it because it was so huge. i saw native west indie people make their homemade coconut ice cream which was delicious. i saw many handmade baskets and authentic west indies clothes.

More later, je fatigue...

I'M BAAAAAAACK

I arrived back in the good old USA tuesday May 15th to the sight of that familiar red Georgia mud and I couldn't have been happier. There's just nothing like coming home, eventhough I had the time of my life in Europe. I dare to say I almost feel like a different person after this trip. I know a lot of people say they feel changed after their first trip overseas but in my case it is definitely true. I have too much to say and too little time to say it right now but I promise there will be a series of blogs about this trip coming in the near future. right now i am enjoying being in the mountains and hanging out with my mom and friends here in Dahlonega. Life is truly great.