barrrrrrcelona

today we are in barcelona! it´s ben quite non stop since we left lucerne. we arrived in paris around 11 and then went out to the bars there. it was really fun but nearly exactly like going out in america except good music was easier to find and fewer people were speaking english. we stayed out til around 230 and then slept in a bit. then we got an all day metro pass and went around paris seeing the sights. i saw the eiffel tower again, the champs elysees, the hotel d´invalides, and other inportant stuff. i missed speaking french. it felt so good to be back. me and brady proabbly walked about a thousand miles. oh i forgot to mention our lunch!!!! it was DANKKKKKKKK. we went to this little hole in the wall that was super cheap and had super amazing food. i got a crepe and it was unbelievable. whoa. so then we got on our night train. night trains are dumb. the hallways are big enough for a half of a personh and you can´t walk a straight line...therefore you´re constantly bumping into a wall and looking like a drunkie. brady and i had separate rooms and so we were siting together in the seat area (tip: dont waste money on a bed....the seats are a lot better because you can sit by who you want and they lean back far) but then we got kicked out because we sdidn´t have seats in that cart. so we went to the back of the train and sat on the ground. we were pitiful. haha it was great.

we got in barcelona t 8:30 found a hotel (hotsel) went to the beach, walked around, got lunch, showered, and flooded the bathroom,which led to flooding the entire room. it was crazY! there was water all the way to the beds and all our luggage was wet. we were freaking out. i think the shower has a leak. mmk i have one minute left of internet, so im going!
ill be back in america thurs!!!
woooo!

lion lyon lion

hello!
it is 8:11 here in lyon, france. i've been up since about 5:50. why you ask? well our hotel room doesn't have air conditioning and that's not so conducive to sleep in the summertime. brady's not having any problems. i went out for a nice run and then went to the bakery and fruit stand, so im munchin on some bread. mmmmMM. today's france's national holiday. me and brady were originally planning on heading to lucerne today, but how cool would it be to be in france for their national holiday?! plus, lyon is absolutely gorgeous. it is very under-the-radar. we got here, and everyone was so friendly. i'm not sure if it's easier for me to see the friendliness in people because i have brady here or if it's because they're nicer. yeah, so we got out the train station in lyon and then took the metro, then we went looking for a hotel. every street was a mini masterpiece. so gorgeous. we happened upon this bar that had electro djs and they drew us a map and everything for how to get to a hotel. the hotel they had in mind doesn't exist anymore, but the thought was nice and we went back last night to see the djs! it was so fun.

hyeres was AMAZING. i could live there. everyone loved me and brady and after walking around the first night, everyone recognized us the second! we went to this bar to watch the world cup game and i was rooting for spain and the whole bar was too, except brady. and then spain won, so the guy gave brady his drink free as a sympathy gift! at the suggestion of the front desk people at our hotel (run by the family...either the wife or the husband is at the front desk, the cat prances around, and the little boy hangs out there too), we went to the neighboring island called portoquelles (something like that). it was AMAZING. we packed a picnic lunch and went to the beach and it was so relaxing. hahah except when we were in the water and a seagull attacked our food and brady ran out the water to chase it away and the people next to us were just watching and taking pictures. the little birdie ate our bread and got salad dressing all over the towel. it was funny. we walked around the little town and heard some more of the jazz musicians (there was a jazz festival there). it was greeeaaaat. oooh but when we got back to the hotel we had to explain that the key broke (we left out the detail that it was when we were trying to use it to open the wine bottle....we can't afford a wine opener. haha) it wasn't a big deal and they were really nice. oooh and also in hyeres, brady saw a record shop so we went in and the owner lived in the shop and they were having a birthday party for his friend and they were already drunk so they gave us 2 free records! and we just chilled and talked to them for a while and listened to music and tried their moonshine and we took pictures with their american flag. haha that was great. alright well instead of writing about my adventures im gonna go initiate another!
a bientot!
chelsea

i DID IT

brady's here! o my. it was such a relief to see someone that knows you and could give me a real hug. i forgot that i haven't been hugged by someone that loves me in so long. it was so great. i can't wait for a mom and pop hug. mmmmmm it's amazing how you forget how important those little things are. i had someone to tell my stupid jokes to and to share my bread with and to tell me that i smelled when i farted.

i also feel like brady coming is like my trophy for having done this. i did it. i lived in a foreign country in an itty bitty town with a family i'd never met that speaks a language that is not my native and took care of their kids. i did groceries in this foreign place, took yoga, travelled, and took painting lessons. i made friends without having known a single soul. i tried new foods and wines and adopted new customs (brady says i eat more proper now! mom....can you BELIEVE IT?!) i listened to real opinions of americans, regardless of if i agreed with them or not. i saw local news and learned the history of this place that's not my own. i learned how to navigate the bus and train systems, and after being fined 35 euros, learned that it is never okay to get on a train without a ticket. my french is at a point where i can communicate and joke with people on the street and the person that taught me all of this is now my friend. i did it! in two months! don't think it was easy. i missed my mom, my dad, my DOG, walmart, my jeep, my loud family who says what they want and does what they want at our meals. i missed english, i missed my friends, my family, brady, food that was artificially colored, splenda, everything being open at every hour, but too bad. that was two months without it. i can look back and know i did it. YEAH!

so after brady wakes up from napping, im gonna show him around the town. last night we ate awesome indian food and listened to live music for a bit. today, we did a bit of shopping, and being the savy consumers we are, we opted for pizza from the bakery next door to the pizzeria instead of eating at the pricier pizzeria. and we took our 2,80 euro bakery pizza and ate in a park and it was delicious. then brady met perrine, my french tutor friend, and now we're here!

alright. keep it cool kiddies.
chelsea

the end of this road

helllllllo!
brady will be here in 2 hours and 15 minutes if all goes well. i am soooo excited.

yesterday was a good day leading up to today. another au pair contacted me to meet up, so i suggested we have a picnic. she's from germany, and she's been here since april. im sorry. i couldn't concentrate. maybe it was just me being unable to concentrate because i knew that the next day i'd be free, but i just kept staring at my watch. she hates being here, and i felt really bad for her. i tried to give her some good advice and really listen because i'd want someone to do the same and she needed comforting. she's really nice but just really shy, so i know being an au pair must be really difficult for her because you really have no comfort zone. i did really like talking to her though because we could relate on a lot of things.

then i packed more! and talked to the cleaning lady. she's awesome. i'm gonna miss her. then at night i went to the waxing lady's house for aperitifs (pre-dinner drinks and snacks) and it was so fun. god that's a family i wish i was working for. they reminded me of my family and mr. brian's. on a whim, they would just invite people over for beers (NOT wine!) out of the BOTTLE( i can here my au pair people gasping) and appetizers. and we just laughed and talked about everything...from dogs to eyguieres to cheese to marseille. everything. the kids were so cute and just so fun. it was such a warm atmosphere. i wish i would have met them sooner. we went on google earth and i showed them around new orleans. i felt so special that someone was so interested in where i came from. the family never asked me anything like that. yeah these were really great people.

alright. again the excitement is kicking in. i need to return library books but i don't wanna. blahhhhhh that'll keep me busy for a bit though.
later gators!
chelsea

fleaaaaa market

today was kinda like a holiday would be if i had grandparents that lived in france and i was visiting them. it was a very local, non-touristy sort of day. i went to the flea market in the morning (it was GLORIOUS...all the markets i'd been to were farmer's because the flea is on wednesdays and i had the kiddies) and then i went shopping (70% off La Halle dress? um YES), then i ate the lunch i packed and did laps at the local pool, then i went to the Nostramus museum for FREE because i'm under 25. it was splendid. i also talked to the hotel that me and brady are staying at to tell them what time we'd be there. they're so great. got home, cooked some veggies packed a little and planned the upcoming vacation a bit too. i just can't wait until brady gets here. god. tomorrow's my last day as the only american! tomorrow im going to eat lunch with a german au pair who called me. ok i can't write anymore. im too excited for friday
chels

van gogh gogh gogh!

today was cool. i was thinking that because i did a lot of stuff all weekend and monday too that i'd sleep really late, so i set an alarm for 11. um i woke up at 8:55. what?! haha so i had a nice little breakfast outside and then worked out and then got stuff to pack a lunch for me because i wanted to go to arles. i did go to arles and it was super cool. i bought a walking tour map from the office of tourism and saw so much. it was definitely worth the 1 euro. all these things that i wouldn't have been able to figure out their historical significance were explained and mapped. i went to the hospital where van gogh was hospitalized and painted some of his most amazing pieces! i walked the garden that he painted and then bought a postcard of the painting. i saw the ursuline convent from the 1400s and the jesuit college! i saw the gladiator arenas, the square where van gogh painted "cafe under a stary night." i also had a really great coffee. it was a great day, but i walked so muchhhhhh. im sleeeeepy! i think i;ll watch a movie or an itunes tv show. tomorrow i want to go to the flea market in salon and then maybe the museum there, but i don't really want to wake up early for anything (not that im really capable of sleeping late it seems), so i'll just decide when i wake up.

i'm gonna van gogh now. hahahahaah
chels

ni forchette ni couteau

life is so funny. let me illustrate this for you:

sunday evening.
me and lauren are sitting at a cafe listening to a band called "the nashville cats" sing blues and country, drinking the local aperatifs.
here are the stipulations:
1. this cafe is in salon de provence, a place where neither of us have been before this summer but has become quite familiar territory for me
2. it's me and lauren, who met through our friend rebecca and the first time we had a legit conversation was when i went all the way to maryland to stay with her
3. the local apperatifs are cassis and kin vin blanc...things local to the region
4. the band is singing blues and country, which is local to new orleans, but we're in france, listening to our region's music being sung by french people


what a strange combination. it was so great. this whole weekend was so fun. me and lauren were just so relaxed and had a lot of fun. being with lauren is good. she's a lot shier than me, so when i picked her up from the train station, i noticed me talking double time. i do that around people that don't talk as much as me. i talk to make up for their lack of talking, but then i was like "yo chels...chill" and after that, it was so great. i blew out the electricity and internet on the first floor and lauren broke their wine glass! hahah this probably didn't help america's reputation. sorry! i loved our dinners because they were so simple and delicious and enjoyable. i didn't have to worry about eating correctly or anything and our mix was just so great. jambalaya served with provencal haricots verts with lentils and a side of olives? um of course that's the winning combination!

so lauren left today and i went for a run, a swim, did some groceries ( i felt like it was necessary for me to replace a tomato because we ate half of their tomatos....2), finished my wax (the wax lady invited me over for an aperitif thursday! she, my friend, is so awesome), had a french lesson (i am getting gooooood!), and got back to the hizzouse. i left a note saying not to wait for me for dinner. i didn't want them to be held up, but they thought i'd eaten so they set the table for 2 and i was like um...can i eat with yall? a bit awkward. also i haven't gotten my salary for the week, which is a touchy issue because i asked if i'd be paid this week a while ago when we were talking money and i think they said yes, but i don't know and i'd feel super dumb to ask again. grrrr money and language barriers are not so fun.

my momma told me about the 4th of july and she celebrated it with my real favorite babies: josie and mia. if it was that family and those kids, i'd be loving every second of this. when i was walking the street with lauren yesterday i was telling her " god i bet everyone in america is bbq-ing big slabs of meat and eating copious amounts of food, with improper etiquette, standing up. i'm so jealous." my mom confirmed this.

anyway america, i hope you enjoyed yourself. tomorrow i think i'm going to arles to look around. i hope my money's on the shelf in the morning.

si l'argent n'etait pas la, je ne serai tres contente! qu'est-ce que je ferrai?! je mangerai avec ni fourchette ni couteau.
(if the money isn't there, i won't be happy. what will i do? i'll eat without a fork and knife!)
HAHA

Chels