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...