WeeFee dans France

1 - Caitlin and I with our new coats and boots...
2 - The gang (Jackie, Me, Annie, and Caitlin) in front of Monaco
3 - Tres Tres Froid - mais pas moi. Je viens de Wisconsin...
4 - The village of St.Paul de Vence...tres bonne.

Je suis froid...

January 24, 2007
Cannes, France

Paris – Two days and counting…

Let’s journey back to Sunday. Sunday we slept in for the first time since leaving for Europe. We ate the best food since then as well. For breakfast: Croissants, Pain du Chocolate, café, oeuves, muesli, fromege, and more… Apres ca we went to this cute outdoor market – basically it just made us all really excited for Paris. Then we ventured for une café and free toilets and ended up at the Monoprix. Although I was in desperate of a nap we played beach volleyball instead, because who can pass up beach volleyball on the rivera in the middle of January? We also found La Creperie which has free wifi (weefee in French…)

Monday – class took forever – although I did manage a B on my test. C’est tres bien. Caitlin and I then proceeded to spend the rest of our savings that we did not manage to throwaway at the Heathrow airport, shopping. Actually – I just bought a new shirt, a new coat (Sara Ballou, you would be very proud), and new boots. I’m just becoming so fashionable. I also dyed my hair a chestnut brown (only semi-permanent) to become more “Parisian”. It looks pretty good.

Tuesday. First rainy day since we’ve left. Just caught up on errands today – went to the La Poste and took a most fabulous nap. Dinner was actually very edible – mini pizzas and chocolate mousse, and who could forget potage (some kind of French soup that we’ve eaten every single day since we’ve been in Cannes.)

Finally – today. Class and then a quick trip to St.Paul de Vence, an elevated village on the Cote D’Azur. Another medieval village which was completely surrounded by a wall. We also took a boring guided tour of a modern art museum – c’est la vie. Today it is FREEZING in Cannes. Perhaps not Wisconsin cold – but enough for me to pull out my underarmour. We also got word that Paris got their first snow of the year, which I took as great news, but the kids from Cali found it a bit alarming…

Tomorrow we have a meeting about getting to Paris (imagine 75 students attempting to board the TGV in less than three minutes – chaos – mad chaos). And then we’re heading to La Creperie for some Weefee and of course a crepe avec nutella.

I suppose that’s it for now – this will probably be my last update until Paris – so Au Revoir mes amies – J'adore toi.

I'm running out of good subjects - Desole...

January 20, 2007 Cannes, France

Salut mes amies! Je suis tres bien… Life in france is going well – I actually placed higher on my placement test than I thought I would. We had our first test friday – and although it probably wasn’t the best I’ve ever done – I’m certainly learning a lot! I am really enjoying our class – it’s just three hours a day of intensive language study. This week we’ve covered everything from grammer to anorexia in America and to every French girl’s heartthrob, Johnny Depp. Mon prof actually started the conversation! Other than that, all is well. Mostly we’ve been exploring the city of Cannes. Yesterday I walked into town along the rivera and there were all these sweet, old (and probably wealthy) couples sitting on benches just watching the water, talking to their pets, or playing sudukuo! I even saw one old man on roller blades behind his wife who was using an electric wheelchair. My future I think… The only thing that has been less than terrific has been the food. Although it is very thoughtful of them to cater to vegetarians, today, no lie, we only got scalloped potatoes for dinner. And two clementines for dessert…Breakfast is always good though – cereal, bread, and coffee – what more could a girl want!?

Yesterday was probably the nicest day we’ve had so far – around 60 degrees. We took a ferry over to the island of St.Margurite. It’s actually the home to the prison of the Man in Iron Mask. We spent three hours just exploring and taking some great pictures as you can see…

Today we ventured over to the country of Monaco – which I suppose is actually a principality. Monaco has the highest income per capita in the world because its citizens don’t pay income tax. The country itself is less than 1 sq mile. From the top of the palace we could see France and Italy. In Monaco we walked the streets, visited the tomb of Grace Kelly – who married the Prince of Monaco, walked through an Aquarium (the best in Europe supposedly) which was once run by Jacques Cousteau, and then went to the Casino de Monte Carlo. Lifestyles of the rich and famous times 1,000. Monte Carlo is the stage for tons of movies including Ocean’s 12 and the new 007- Casino Royale. Apres-ca we voyaged over to the little town of Eze, which is a medieval town that you have to hike to get to – there are only 15 families that still live within it’s walls – very breathtaking. We also toured a perfume factory and tested our noses in the perfume capital of the world.

Tonight we dressed up a bit and went out for some wine and dessert. Cannes is also hosting a music festival this weekend (Cannes is supposed to be the city of festivals) and there were some pretty big names here this weekend. I was hoping to run into Justin Timberlake, but no such luck. We did stand outside the red carpet long enough to take a few photos (of ourselves) but alas – more to come I’m sure.

Tomorrow we’re heading to a food market in the middle of Old Cannes and then resting on the beach and preparing for class on Monday. Paris is less than a week away and croires-moi – we’re ready!

Addition – if you would like to make me very happy you can send me packages/letters/card at:

Catherine Hayes

10, rue du Dr.Blanche

75016 Paris, France

And if you just write “Air Mail” on the outside – it will get here a lot faster…

Photo Descriptions...
1 - A quick salute to Axel (and Steven...)
2 - Classy...
3 - Being attacked by a giant plant
4 - I'm changing my major to photography!
5 - Ferry to St.Marguarite
6 - The gorgeous french Rivera...

Last of Cannes, i hope...

Meme...

1 - Pensive...
2 -The prison that housed the Man in the Iron Mask, the Mediterranean, and the city of Cannes (oh, and me!)
3 - A day of photo shoots...
4 - French toliets, yes you have pay for them!

Finally some pictures...

aw...











Hands Down, Best Abbey i ever saw








Can you spot the London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey?














A really cool shot of the River Thames between the London Bridge and the Tate Musuem












Classic Katy in the actual phone booth used by Tom Hanks in the DaVinci Code...

So before I begin this post - please note that the first post was added at 12:xx am - how late for me! Anywho - here we go- i know this is long - please I'm not forcing you to read this, only Harry Potter...

Jan 12^th, 2007 – London, England

Imagine 17^th century England. La de da de da. There are witchy moms and wizardly dads and worried, hurried Katy acting all excited and everything. Arrived in London around 8am this morning – slept for most of the flight –waking only for meals and watched a bit of the movie, “the Queen”. Immigration and customs was the easiest I’ve ever been through – seven AIFS students on the flight from Chicago and then met 9 students from D.C. in Heathrow – took a bus from airport to the Regency Hotel. Although they drive on the opposite side of the street – the people we’ve met so far have been fantastic – very polite and kind. Showered and rested. Met up with two girls from North Carolina and just explored. Went to Harrods - London is the most expensive city in the world and it is RIDIKULOUS. Back to the hotel – good nap for two hours and then drinks with the program.

Jan 13th - London, England

So today was nice - double decker bus tour of the city - saw everything from Westminster Abbey (best abbey i ever saw) to Buckingham Palace. We got to explore the city a bit and then went to the Tate Musuem of Modern Art and out to a nice little dinner. We got locked into both our lunch and dinner cafes because patrons tried to steal and/or leave w/o paying. London is crazy...BUT...so, we tried to see a show (Le Mis) during the evening, but all the good shows were sold out, but i found out that Daniel Radcliffe, yes my love, Daniel (who is currently sleeping in my bed in Oconomowoc thanks to Claude and Matthew) is starring in the play "Equus" which is this crazy and messed up drama that Meyers made us read. I'm going. No questions asked. Also - i need to take the HP tour of London and see all the sights - i did get my picture in the phone booth from the DaVinci Code. Okay - here comes France...

Jan 14^th – Flight from London to Nice

Oh dear lord. So I was all set to take a nice short flight from London to Nice, France and then a bus ride to the College de Cannes. No such luck. I don’t like traveling with large groups – even when traveling with racewalking – the way over is always better (although coming back with John Nunn is pretty awesome… Hahaha) Anywho – so the ride to the airport was fine – our driver was very nice – I woke up a little later than I wanted to (forgot an alarm clock) but got breakfast and got on the bus. However, once we got to the airport we waited in a line to check in with British Airways – all of us get tags for our luggage but no boarding pass because we’re having difficulty with weight allotment. So after two hours and all of us are checked in – they tell us that AIFS booked us a domestic flight and we’re only allowed 50 lbs of luggage (I have about 70) and that it costs 8 pounds per kilo over 23 kilos. Mass chaos. AIFS only paid 25 pounds for our tickets and now people are people up to $600 US to get their bags to Nice, not even to Paris. I had to pay about 66 pounds- or $130. All of us did end up making it on the flight, but dear lord – more to come, I’m sure! Finally in Cannes – everyone is stressed out. We’re staying at the College International de Cannes – which is a college for international students learning French and a Journalism school for French students. They take us to the theatre and it takes about 2 hours to get keys and room assignments (I’m with Annie) and we finally get to our rooms. The college actually used to be a Children’s Hospital and is kind of creppy, no lie. The lights turn off in the hallways without warning. The rooms are nice – although they have weird red/orange covers and have a sink in the rooms. The showers are very strange – we get a nice little breeze through the curtains which come after the doors in the W.C. The bathroom is simply a toilet, the sink is in your room. My luggage has failed to arrive in Cannes yet, it’s still in London, although supposed to arrive at around 10:30 tonite. Dinner was alright – a nice salad bar, but no vegetarian options… Had a nice conversation about Paris and France and all that jazz with the people at my table. After dinner we went back to our room and chatted with Jackie and Kaitlin, we’re all exhausted and just want to get to Paris…

Jan 15th - Cannes, France

Placement test this morning. Ha - hilarous, let's be realistic i haven't taken French since junior year. French 101 please... Not much today - just a nap, some orientation, and a quick venture into the city. All the people have been really nice - they even have a vegetarian table, although it's kind of like the leper table, but we get better food. Right now i'm outside the College on the side of the main street of Cannes (no lie) with five other people connecting to some unknown person's wireless. It's fantastic...