Giverny

Today my friends and I decided to visit Claude Monet's garden. To be honest I was a bit hesitant about visiting at first and I wasn't really into the idea. I know who Monet is, but I didn't see what the big deal was about seeing his house and his garden. Clearly I am not educated because once I got there I finally understood why.

I got to admit, I am so happy I decided to go in the end, yes getting there took us a few hours since we decided to take the cheaper option which meant we had to take like 2 different trains and then a bus. But it was SO worth it. It also served as an escape from the usual hectic Parisian life. It's crazy to see that just right outside Paris there are houses, gardens, trees etc. I had forgotten how there is more outside the city.

I unfortunately didn't have my camera with me that day since I decided to go last minute, after my host mom told me it was beautiful and really worth it, and it was the worst time to not have a camera. The garden was beautiful, and I could see where Monet got his inspiration.

There where different kinds of flowers, and they even had a few chickens in one area. We also got to see the famous lilly pond, and it was so beautiful and peaceful. We just stayed there for a couple of minutes admiring the view. There was something so serene and inspiring about the garden that I cannot describe it with words. I felt as if I was a fairy surrounded by beautiful flower and their bright colors and their scents.

We also got to see his house, which was pretty big and had an amazing view to the garden (of course). It was pretty cool because not only did you get to see where he lived, but also see how houses back then were. I always find it interesting to see old houses, to see how people lived and how different they are from today. The biggest changes of course being the kitchens!

I wish I could share with you some pictures, but since I didn't have my camera on me I couldn't take any. But if you are in Paris, have a day to spare and are a big Monet fan or love gardens or simply curious, you should definitely visit Giverny. There is an express train that take you there but it costs around 26 euros. If you are on a budget, there is another way to get there cheaper, but it is much longer, (on our way back it was much faster for some odd reason) so it's up to you to decide if you rather pay more and get there quickly or pay less and take more time to get there.

"I am only good at two things, and those are: gardening and painting."-Claude Monet

Hunchback of Notre Dame

Today I went with two of my friends to Notre Dame to climb up to see the view and those famous gargoyles. After waiting around half an hour to get in ( you should get there early in the morning if you don't want to wait too long in line since they only let around 20 people at a time) and climbing what seemed to be the most claustrophobic stairs ever, we finally made it to the top and the view was just amazing. I honestly think that it doesn't matter where you go, from which building you're looking at Paris, the view is beautiful because Paris simply is beautiful.
This view was very different from the top of the eiffel tower though, because you got to see the gargoyles and the detail of Notre Dame itself, which is quite impressive. As I looked at the beautiful city that is Paris, I couldn't believe I was there standing on top of Notre Dame and not only as a tourist, but as resident. I lived here, no matter if it was only for 6 months, I got the chance to be in this incredible city, a city many dream about visiting, a city many people come and visit for 3 or so days and here I am, getting to see the city with plenty of time and being able to see it every single day for 6 months. It was so unreal. Just thinking about this made me want to never leave. To think that at the beginning of this trip I kept telling people that Paris was nice but I could never live here. I don't know what changed my mind, maybe the fact that I fell in love with this place or maybe it grew on me, or maybe I just got the hang of living here....I have no idea but I clearly think different than 4 months ago.
Okay so I am going to stop talking about my love of Paris, since this post is about Notre Dame, I'll save the gushy talk for another post haha.

So the main thing to see on top of Notre Dame is the gargoyles, the architecture, and the view. You got to see the details in the ceilings and walls that you normally wouldn't from far away. You also got to see the famous bell known as "Emmanuel", that is only rung on special occasions now. I was kind of hoping it would be a little bit more like this...

 The bell in the Hunchback of Notre Dame 2
(Picture taken from google)

Full of jewels instead of this...

But I guess I'm going to have to settle for a jewel-less bell, that's alright it was still pretty impressive since I've never seen such a big bell.

The gargoyles where pretty cool too, I couldn't help to think about the gargoyles from the movie though.

Look! I found Laverne!! 

Laverne
(Picture taken from google)

Here are some more pictures of the view and the Cathedral

Bretagne

I came back from a vacation in the amazing and beautiful Barcelona and I got to go on another wonderful vacation. This one was a bit more different since I left with my host family for a week to the french region of "Bretagne".
At first I was a bit nervous since that would mean I would be in the middle of nowhere with the kids for an entire week without being able to see my friends. I know I have been living with my host family for 4 months now, but I have never been with them for an entire week with them only without being able to go out at night with friends to wind down. I was also nervous because I wasn't sure if they were expecting me to help them with the kids or not.
After our 6 hour drive and getting lost and not being able to find the house my host mom had rented, we finally made it to our destination. I wasn't sure what to expect, she had said that it was a house in a farm that the farmer rented out and that we could go see the cows, the horse, the donkey etc.
We got there and I really felt cut out of civilization. I don't know how people can live in small towns! It was such a big change from Paris to a small town near the city of "Pornic". I was trying to stay positive and open minded but I had no idea what to expect of this vacation. What were we supposed to do here besides see the farm animals? There was beaches nearby but in April it's not still the warmest time to be at the beach all the time.
I started those vacations with pretty much not knowing what to expect and thinking that it might be really tough with the kids, but my experience was completely different. I had a great time!
We were able to see the farmer milk the cows and try FRESH milk. I'm a big milk lover so this was pretty cool for me. However the second time we tried it I didn't quite like it, it had a really weird smell to it. We also got to see just born calfs! They were so cute. There was also this donkey who was soooo cute! Everytime we would go outside and he would see us he would come up to us! He loved being petted and he would follow us everywhere, it was so adorable.

We also got to go to the beach and oh my God, I fell in love. I love the beach, always have...I mean who doesn't? But this beach was different, much different from the ones I'm used to, beaches like Cancun. First of all the weather was completely different. It was April so of course it was still a bit cold, but not only that there was so much wind! I hate wind, so this was one of the things I did not like about the beach, but the view won me over at made me forget about the wind. The beaches in this area where filled with gigantic rocks, I don't know what they're called or how to describe them so I'm just going to include pictures so you can see for yourselves. I can't even describe the beauty of the beach, and maybe you'll be like okay it's not that nice, but for me there was something different, something special about these beaches that stole my heart. At the end of this trip I just knew that I wanted and needed to move to a city that has a beach. I would love to have that view every day. Here are some pictures....

Another great thing about this trip was the food. I ate SO much food, and I have to blame the grandpa for that. I seriously think I gained 10 lb in this trip with all the food. Worst part was that I knew I was eating too much but I just wanted to try everything and it was hard to say no. Also, the meals where very different from what I'm used to, here they actually have the full 3 course meal. (I should not though that this 3 course meal (4 if you include cheese) was for special occasions because back home we  only eat the main course and dessert. )We first had an appetizer, either salad or some kind of vegetables. We then would have the meal and after that we would have dessert and oh of course cheese. This was where everything went wrong. It was so hard for me to choose between cheese or dessert. I fell in love with cheese, and they had so many different kinds of cheese and I wanted to try them all, but then again they kept ordering typical "breton" (from the region) desserts that looked delicious. It also didn't help that the grandpa kept asking me if I wanted cheese, and then he would offer me dessert. I wanted to say no and I did sometimes, but he just kept saying "oh c'mon" and would give me the cutest smile that made me feel like it was okay if I was eating that much. But then I would look at my host mom and she made me feel the complete opposite. I would get this vibe from here saying "oh my god you're eating way too much", and this is what I don't understand about french women. As you can see from my description of our meals, the french clearly love their food but at the same time I feel like french women don't eat anything and that ladies is how and why french women are so skinny. Then again maybe it was just my host mom that was like this? Because I had a friend who said that her host mom ate a lot and was still pretty skinny... so I am still perplexed by this question every woman asks herself "why are french woman so skinny?" I mean how do they do it? They eat so much bread, wine and cheese. I don't understand. Anyways going back to the food...I tried a several different desserts and I can't remember all of their names but my favourite was the Kouign Aman.

(Picture taken from google)

It was so delicious, it was crunchy and sugary what more can you ask for?!














By the end of this trip I was really happy I had had the chance to come it was a different environment and different interaction with the kids. First of all the second eldest ( I won't say their names for privacy reasons) was like in love with me. He wanted me to sit with him all the time at the table, he asked for me all the time, it was so random but so adorable and it made me very happy. I got to play soccer a couple of times with the eldest and his cousin with the soccer ball I brought them from Barcelona ( I shall point out how that ball ended up destroyed by the end of the trip! Those kids really like to play soccer) which was fun but at the same time very tiring since they were playing 2 against one and well they're pretty good and I'm quite out of shape so it was hard for me to be running around all the time. Plus it's crazy how those kids can go on for hours playing soccer, me on the other hand I can only play one match and that's it haha.
To all those au pair's out there reading this and are going to be going on vacation with the family and are a bit scared about the experience don't be. In a way I think this is much better than a regular day back at home because you actually get to play with the kids, so its a different interaction. I also feel like everybody is more relaxed making the kids easier to handle. You can actually do all the activities they/you want unlike when you are back home and you have to give them their bath, dinner get them ready for bed etc and are more limited with time. However before you go on vacation I would suggest that you ask your host family what your duties will be. For example I didn't have to work, I just helped with the table, if the mom needed help I would help with the bath and of course play with the kids. That's pretty much all I had to do, but I had a friend who went on vacation with the grandmother and the kids and well she pretty much had to work so for her it was a different experience.

For all of those who are thinking of traveling around France I would really recommend visiting the french region of Brittany (Bretagne), it is such a beautiful region!

Vicki,Cristina,Barcelona

***** This is an old post from April that I never got around to posting.  As you can see my last post was in April and well we're now in August... Yeah I'm only 4 months late. But I've been so busy and as you can see when I write posts they're quite long so I never have time to write/finish them that same day. I know I said I was going to post everything that was going on with my life in Paris, but instead of writing I got a bit busy with enjoying my time in Paris and therefore never really had time to post all my stuff. However, I in the following days I will continue posting the other posts I never got around to doing so when they should've been posted lol. So I'm just letting you know so you don't feel confused****

I went to Barcelona!! My first trip outside of France and I am so happy I got to go see this beautiful city. It's crazy to think how after only four days I had gotten so used to being there and seeing the same people in the hostel, that when we had to leave it felt so weird. It felt as if we were leaving behind good old friends. I was so sad leaving specially because I just thought about how who know’s if I’ll ever get the chance to go back to this beautiful city. Just thinking about not ever being able to come back, how this might be the only time I visit Barcelona...well I felt very strange, I cant describe the feeling. Have you ever thought about how if you visit a place, for example Bali, or China, how you might never ever be back? How if you didn’t enjoy your trip to the fullest, you might never get a chance to do so again? I’ve been lucky enough to travel and I've never thought about this, and I don’t know what made me think this way on this trip, but its quite a sad thought realizing how that might be the first and last time you see a place (if you really like the city)...

My friend and I left on April 13th (yes, I took an airplane on a Friday 13th and survived!) morning and got to Barcelona around 10am. It took us like an hour to find our hostel but finally found it in the end after asking like 10 people for directions (thankfully I can speak Spanish, it made things so much easier). For our first day we took it quite easy, we didn't do any major sightseeing. One of the first things that surprised me though was how everything was written in Catalan (language spoken by all of Catalonia)  and not in Castellano (Spanish). I knew that people always told me that in Barcelona they spoke a different language and that it wasn't exactly part of Spain because it was a separate community, but since I never really understood this I never really paid much attention to it. In fact I had even forgotten about this, that on my way there I was so happy that I was going to be able to understand everything but to my surprise all the metro signs, names etc were in Catalan. It is very similiar to spanish but it is more like french, a mix of both. So in a way I was still able to understand since I speak both languages. So if you are planning a trip to Barcelona and you only speak spanish, don't worry everybody speaks spanish so if you need to ask questions don't be scared. In fact besides the fact that all the signs are in Catalan you would've thought that they didn't speak Catalan, all I hear was spanish.
Okay so moving on... The first place we went to go visit was a Mexican restaurant my dad had told me to go check out because it is owned by   a famous Mexican soccer player. I know, I was in Spain and I was going to going to eat Mexican food, you must be thinking what is wrong with me but hey, you have no idea how much I miss Mexican food! I just had to, I needed my dose of Mexican food and trust me those tacos were so good! We then headed to the beach but unfortunately it was too cold to go in the water or even to wear a bathing suit (there was of course some crazy people surfing! I don't know how they weren't freezing). Note to self, if I ever get the chance to go back I am definitely going to go during the summer.

However it was still nice to get to be at the beach and enjoy the sun.  Oh and I got to touch the mediterranean water! Well... it was a bit of a fail haha. I wanted to put my feet in but I was wearing boots and I didn't want to go through the hassle of taking them off and then having to take off all the sand off my feet and wait for them to dry so I can put my socks back, so I just touched the water with my hand which resulted in my boot getting wet. Smart one.

We then headed to Parc de la Ciutadella.  It's a very big park and it's quite nice. It has different buildings inside which didn't really make it feel as a "sports park"(it's full name is Centre Sportiu Municipal Parc de la Ciutadella, which translates to Municipal Sports park). One of my favorite parts of this park and I guess it was mostly because I've never seen this in a park, making it random but unique at the same time was that they had a giant mammoth. Yes, a giant mammoth statue!! As you can see quite random. I also enjoyed the big fountain they had next to the mammoth. It wasn't working but it is still pretty with all the different sculptures.

Me trying to climb the mammoth

We then walked to the Arc de Triumf, which I guess it's the equivalent of Paris' Arc du Triomphe, but of course Paris' is much prettier. 

The next day we  went to go see the Sagrada Familia and two more Gaudi buildings. I was surprised when I found out that   the whole church itself is not Gaudi's design and that only one side of the church is. I think this was due because the plans were either lost in a fire and then he died. I'll be honest I forgot the story behind this, so if you're really curious you might have to google this to verify my story haha. We wanted to go inside but it was quite pricey to go in (it was around 12-15 euros) and when you're a budgeted traveler like we were, you have to choose and pick what you get to see, unfortunately.  So we didn't get to go inside but we at least got to see the outside, which is one of the most impressing structures I've ever seen. I would say of architecture but that is more than architecture, that building is art.

The church is not finished yet

This is the side that Gaudi designed

We then went to see Casa Mila, otherwise known as La pedrera  and then to Casa Batllo. At the end of our trip we decided to go inside Casa Batllo, and the inside was insane. The walls were all full of curves and you thought that you were in a playhouse. I couldn't imagine an actual family living there, but yes people used to live there.

We then went to see Casa Mila, otherwise known as La pedrera  and then to Casa Batllo. At the end of our trip we decided to go inside Casa Batllo, and the inside was insane. The walls were all full of curves and you thought that you were in a playhouse. I couldn't imagine an actual family living there, but yes people used to live there.

After our Gaudi sightseeing, we headed to a free walking tour. I will recommend to anybody who is traveling around europe to look up free walking tours in the city you are visiting. Usually every city has one and they are great because they are tip based only, instead of paying the 15-20 euros tour agencies charge you and the tour quality is still pretty good. After our tour we signed up for a "cooking class". This cooking class was AMAZING and I recommend everybody who is going to Barcelona to take it (the bar that offers it is called "Travel Bar"). For those who don't really like cooking like myself, do not panic you are not actually going to cook. I gotta admit I was a bit disappointed when I found out that we are not actually cooking, but instead watching the chef cook, however the quality of the tour was so great that I didn't care. The cooking class was going to teach us about the tapas and how to prepare paella the famous spanish dish (if you don't know what Paella is, shame on you go right now to your nearest Spanish restaurant and order it! But beware, it is rare to get a good paella without it being expensive). The chef took the group to the Mercat La Boqueria which is Barcelona's very famous Market. This market is insane, it's so big and has everything you need. The chef gave us a tour, not only describing how the ingredients need to be but also a little bit of facts about the market. If you are in Barcelona, and you don't want to go to the cooking class, you must at least go to the market. It's pretty hectic there, but there's so much to see, and they sell fruit juices for 1 euro and they're delicious and refreshing. We then headed back to the bar/restaurant for the class. The chef started bringing out a bunch of tapas and explaining a little bit the history behind the tapas and how they're prepared etc. By the end of all the tapas I was quite full and we still hadn't gotten to the paella! Oh and did I mention we got served sangria?? yum yum yum.

That night we went out with a big group from the hostel to a club called "Catlwalk" right by the beach. I personally liked the club, it was pretty big and it had a terrace with an amazing view but my friends didn't like the music and they wanted to leave so we left after only being there for an hour I think. We headed to the beach and just hung out for a bit, we then headed home around 4:30 am because I was pretty cold. It's weird to think of yourself feeling cold in a place that has a beach but fun fact, Barcelona's beach is artificial and the sand is from Egypt! So yes, it's possible to feel cold.


 The next day we visited Parc Guell which was designed by Gaudi and it is so beautiful. The main entrance is the most beautiful part but there's also a part were you get to climb up a little hill and you get an amazing view of Barcelona.

On our last day in Barcelona we went to Mont Juic which was something one of my best friends recommended we went to go see because of the fountains but when we went the fountains were off. However the view from the top of the hill was beautiful, so I do suggest you go see it. One thing I suggest not going to is to Pueblo Espanyol. The concept of this place is to show different spanish regions and their different architecture, but if you are not in the guided tour you don't really understand and all you see are pretty buildings that are shops. So you basically pay to get in to shop.

So there we go that was my trip to Barcelona. It was an amazing experience and I hope I do get to come back in the future (and of course in the summer). I recommend to everybody to go see this city, it truly is beautiful and there's so much to see. One of the things that I didn't like about it was how a lot of the Gaudi buildings were so expensive to go in. They all cost at least 12 euros. Maybe it's because they're so famous, I don't know, but I think they shouldn't be so expensive so they can promote culture. At least have some student prices/ european union prices just like they do in Paris. I guess I got used to pretty much getting in for free to a lot of museums in Paris.  Another thing I do recommend to all of the fashionistas out there is to go shopping in Zara. Since it's a brand from Barcelona I found that everything was so much cheaper here than anywhere else! Another store that I liked their style and prices was Lefties. Oh one place I forgot to mention is the Ramblas. There's not much besides a bunch of people and little shops, but it's still nice to see and it's one of the most famous tourist places in Barcelona.

Clarification

Okay, just to clarify. My birthday was on april 5th, but I didn't have time to post anything until now (omg I can't believe it's almost been a month since my birthday!!). So just wanted to clarify that in case it got people confused. Im sorry I haven't written more often as I had planned to, I'll try to post more often, specially since I only have 2 months left here in Paris! Sniff, sniff.

It's my birthday b****

That was a phrase I kept repeating in my drunken state. How embarrassing now that I am sober enough to realize how rude and annoying it is. Ah the things alcohol makes us do.

I had a whole plan for how I wanted to celebrate my 20^th birthday on Saturday. I wanted it to be special and different, to do something I cant do anywhere else. So I had planned to have a “apero”/picnic next to the Seine with my friends. One day I was hanging out by the Seine in Ile-St.Louis, next to Notre-Dame, and I saw a group of girls preparing a picnic for a friend’s birthday. They had food, wine, cake and to make it even cuter/romantic, candles. Yes ladies and gentlemen, candles. How cute is that?! I right then decided that I wanted that for my birthday. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans for me. We weren’t able to do it because it was cold and raining! The week before my birthday was so sunny and warm and of course for my birthday it decided to get cold and rainy, so typical.  Therefore we were only going to meet up to get dressed together and then go to a bar for pre-drinks before going dancing. 

Before meeting up with my friends I ended up going to the theater last minute with the kid's grandmother and her sister to watch a play called “ Un stylo sur la tete” (a pen on the head) with this famous French actor. It was a last minute thing because the grandfather wasn’t able to go and they didn’t want to let the ticket go to waste, so they invited me to go with them.

I was a bit hesitant about going to the theater since I had been invited to the theater once by this guy as a date and it was sooo boring! It ended up being a tiny tiny theater, for probably max. 20 people, it was a monologue and I did not understand the story at all. However, I really liked this play! I was able to understand what was going on and it was a comedy, unlike the other sad and serious monologue.

I then headed to my friends house to get ready. We were supposed to go to a bar called “Long Island” because they too have cheap cocktails for 5 euros. But again we ended up not going, because one of my friends didn’t have much money and well we all couldn’t afford to spend that much money, so we decided to buy drinks and pre-drink at my friends house. I bought a bottle of rose wine for myself thinking that that would be enough since I am so lightweight and specially with wine. However, I was almost done with the bottle and I was not tipsy at all! We were all trying to drink as fast as possible because it was almost 11pm and we weren’t tipsy yet, hadn’t finished our drinks and had to leave soon to get to the bar on time (we were heading to a bar called “The Financier” that has a dance floor). We were just goofing off and being silly taking pictures when suddenly it hit all of us, we were suddenly really drunk. We must’ve given people a very interesting show on the metro: 3 girls being so loud and just, well, drunk. I guess I was the worst of them. You know those girls you see on the metro who are so wasted and haven’t even gotten to the club? You know those girls who are so loud and annoying, and get looks from everybody inside the metro/public transportation? Yeah? Well we were one of those, and want to know my excuse? I even gave my friends a speech about this. My excuse was “It’s my birthday, I get to do what I want” Here's my speech:

"Shh, people are looking at me...well us. But you know what? I don't care because it's my birthday and you only turn 20 once. It's like...like a full moon which happens every..when does a full moon happen?"

Yeah... I can already see everybody doing this face:

Haha, I know I was so stupid and such a brat.

Anyways, after disrupting people’s calm train ride, we got off and I being the only one who had been to the bar before, was the guide, except that I guided us the wrong direction. Thankfully I was conscious enough to realize that we were walking the wrong way and I managed to find the bar. We got inside the bar and were waiting for our French friends to get there and another American friend. I will just sum up the rest of the night because even I don’t know in which order everything happened and I am still questioning if all of this happened.... I have no idea how much more I drank after my friends house, but Im guessing more than I thought because I apparently finished the bottle of vodka with orange juice we had brought (I had no idea I had done this until my friends told me the next day), I had some of my friends mojito and I finished my friends glass with redbull and jagger. For crazy stuff that I did, well I kinda ended up making out with 4 different people, and they were all somehow connected to each other haha. I almost got into a fight with a girl, okay no I'm exaggerating, but I did get quite angry at this girl and she was lucky enough that Im too nice/I was too drunk to defend myself. Here's what happened...I had a friends hat on, and honestly I had completely forgotten that I still had it until I felt somebody take it off my head as I was walking into the bathroom. I then I took it back saying “Hey, its MY hat” and put it back on but then this girl took it off again and said “No honey, it REALLY isn’t yours”. Oh my god! I couldn’t believe her attitude, she was so rude! I just kept thinking, “Its my birthday! I get to do whatever I want” (I know, how annoying is this? But hey I was drunk!) The worst part was that she was friends with one of my friends, so there was no need to be rude to me. We’re all friends!

Anyways, we stayed at the club until it closed, which I think was too early because I could’ve kept on dancing (and making out with a super cute guy hehe). We then met 2 of my friends who had left earlier because one of them had been kicked out (apparently she had spent way too much time in the bathroom since she was feeling a bit sick. Since when is that a crime?!) and waited until 6 am for the metro to start. We finally got the metro home and let me tell you something, I am so glad we got the metro at that time.  We took the line 6, which at one point gives you the view of the Eiffel tower and the Seine, and it is the most beautiful view ever. Yes, the best view is at 6 am when everything is still quiet, the lights glimmer on the Seine, Paris is full of peace and quiet and you can see the sun slowly rising on the horizon.  That view seriously left me speechless and with my mouth wide open. It was the best way to end an amazing night.

20

I woke up the morning of my birthday hung over. I just kept thinking to myself as I crawled to my closet “Never again, bad bad idea”. I had to stop for a minute to just sit down and breathe because I honestly thought I was going to throw up. It was my body’s way of saying “You’re a year older now, sooner or later you wont be able to handle alcohol the same way”. I never get hangovers, unless I drink lots and lots, but for 2 drinks and 2 shots? I wanted to stay in bed all morning but instead I had to chase around a 2,4, and 7 year old, get them ready for school and take them to school. Trust me, it is not the easiest thing to do when you’re hung over and feel like any slight movement will make you throw up. But after giving them breakfast my body decided to give me a break and I felt so much better. By the time I was done taking them to school and the daycare I was no longer hung over. I then met up with my friends to go to the Mosque for some tea. If you’re in Paris and are looking for a cute place with cheap pastries and tea, the Mosque is the place to go. I love this place, its so cute with their 3 different tea rooms (2 of them are terraces), their mint tea is delicious and they have pastries for 2 euros, which are quite yummy too.  We then all went our separate ways to go pick up the kids and at night my host mom brought a chocolate and raspberry cake for my birthday. The kids sang happy birthday and helped me blow out the candles and then the family gave me my presents. I got a birthday card from the kids grandparents inviting me to “La duree”, a store that makes one of the best macaroons in Paris, to try the macaroons. I got very excited because I’ve tried some when my friend got a box of macaroons from a guy she was seeing, and trust me they are delicious! I have been meaning to go, but I know they are quite pricey. But now I get to go as a birthday present,yay! The family then gave a me bunch of small things. I got a pocket mirror, a small bag that can be used as a makeup bag, a headband with small white roses (I love this) and also got a cooking workshop as a present from the parents. I found this very funny because just a few days before I had screwed up cooking some ground beef for the kids haha. I kinda burnt it....lol. I guess they saw the mess of a cook I am and figured that cooking classes would be better than macaroon baking classes haha (the mom had said before that they would give me macaroon making class for my birthday). But I am quite happy they got my the cooking course, I do need help with my cooking! 

I then went out with the friend who wasn’t able to come out on Wednesday, and we headed once again to Crocodile so I could show her the place. We didn’t stay though, because it was even more packed than Wednesday and there was no place to sit or to move around for that matter. We headed to a café and she got some coffee and I got a glass of rose wine and a crème brulee. It was a quiet night compared to the night before, but that’s alright because we were going to go all out on Saturday. At the end of the night it felt so weird knowing that my birthday was already finished. The day had gone by so fast and I wish it could last a bit longer, well technically it was still my birthday back home haha, just saying! I can’t believe I am already 20! I never thought that I would be here in Paris at this point of my life. I feel so grateful and blessed to have this opportunity to be here.