The Eiffel Tower

Ahhhh...
One more week down, crazy.  Yesterday we did what every single tourist in Paris does: go to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  No, we did not climb the stairs like we did in Florence, are you nuts?!?!?  After we stood in line forever, we took the elevator to the top.  Let me tell you for a person afraid of heights, it's some scary uh, stuff.  It's about 4X the height of the Duomo, and only about 50-100 feet shorter than the Sears Tower.  Didn't like the top of the sears tower then, didn't like the height of the Eiffel Tower now.  As scary as it was, I did it, I'll probably do it again with Kris and or my parents, but the fact is, I did it.  WOW.  It was really cool to see Paris from the top of the tower...but scary.  I got a few pictures, I accomplished yet another goal here, GO ME! :) haha.  
Last night I did the unthinkable...I went to be at 8pm.  Man, I was TIRED.  I haven't been sleeping too much here for lack of silence after about midnight, cuz the girls next door think it's funny to keep me up at night.  Not a big deal, I showed them...slept for 12 hours last night, woohoo.  I think that's at least 3 nights of sleep in one!  
Tomorrow we get to get up at the CRACK of dawn to get on the long 6 hour bus ride to Normandy.  Yeah!  We aren't going straight there...you know, a 3 hour bus ride here, a 3 hour bus ride there...We are stopping at Omaha Beach and the American Memorial tomorrow--me, the history major...WHO'S EXCITED?!?!?  I think it's going to be the coolest thing ever to be on the beach...kind of intense!
I finally got my cell phone to work, so I am going to have my parents do a test run to make sure it really works before I post the number...hopefully it will work and anyone that needs to call me on that...not too early in the morning please!!! HAHA
I will write back after our fun weekend excursion to Normandy.
Lots of Love!

the countdown begins!

London was amazing!!  I had such a good time doing absolutely nothing touristy with Laura!  We did go to Abbey Road on Friday and walked across is while taking pictures...gotta love it.  Surprise, my dad knows a)who the beatles are and b) knows that abbey road is from their album cover...who knew????  We went shopping on friday, but didn't buy anything(which is fine).  Friday night we went out with her friend Susan from Cornell who is really cool, and we got a little tipsy but had SO much fun!!! Saturday laura and I went to the Portobella market and walked around,  bought different color matching rings and hats(yes, we are LOSERS) but we love it!!  Other than that we pretty much just hung out, did some homework and enjoyed hanging out because we haven't seen each other in 3 months.  Half the clique back together again, YEAH!!  
Ok, so the official countdown has begun around here in Paris, so I'll fill you all in back at home.  As of today, March 29:
9 days until my best friend comes to visit me in Paris
17 days until the worlds greatest parents come to Paris(woohoo their first time in Paris!)
18 days until my 3 months of amazing adventure comes to a close
26 days until I make my appearance back in the states(lines are now open for booking of appointments to see me! LOL)
and the best # of the entire countdown:
12...why 12 you ask?  Because of two reasons:
a) think dyslexic-ly...
b)that's how many days I have until I'm 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
not that I'm excited and not that I'm counting...
lots of love!

Laura ROCKS

Hey Hey everyone...thought I would drop a line and say CHEERS to everyone! HAHA.  London has been amazing in the 20 hours I have been here!!  I LOVE Laura and missed her like CRRRRAZZY...Going in style tonight to some club, drinking is definitely on my list of things to do tonight!! HA.
I will write again after my weekend and update y'all on how much fun I had! :)
LOTS OF LOVE

Happy Birthday

First things first: HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!!  It's official, you're still old!  C'mon, I'm in Europe, but I've gotta give you some crap otherwise it wouldn't be your birthday!  Hope you had a nice "relaxing" day golfing(golf...relaxing?  HA).  
Things have been going ok here ever since the day of bad news.  :)  We're all recovering quite nicely.  I've been doing MASS amounts of homework, writing too many papers in 1 day, and sleeping is not even on my priority list...let alone "things to do."  It's finally getting to me, and I'm losing any sanity I had left, but hopefully I will regain some of it when I go to London this weekend to see Laura!  I finally...8 years later, got my valentine's day package from my mom...and I'm so excited because now I can go a whole 2 extra days without having to do laundry because I have extra socks!!  They're adorable though :)  I've been here 2 weeks, going on 3 and it's going by faster...but still REALLY slow, mostly only when it comes to school though.  I found out today I got an A- in Western Civ I...like we had any doubt that I'm intelligent, I AM my mother's daughter(um, and I guess my father's too...he doesn't really count though! JUST KIDDING).  
I don't have much else to say...life is good, the food sucks(except for pastries, after all it IS france) and I'm sleepy! :)

quote of the day:  "what do you do now that you've conquered the world? (in reference to Napoleon)"--Kent...his answer: "You try like hell to hold onto it"  mine: "I'm going to Disneyland!" :)

LOTS OF LOVE

Eulogy

18.03.2005:  A day which will live in infamy.  I'm sad to report that I'm officialy resigning myself as a Kansas Jayhawk Basketball fan.  I do, however, send my greatest sympothies to Big Dub, Langford, Miles(aka Carlton Banks/Rudy Huxtable), and Lee.  Those 4 seniors worked their asses off to leave their senior year with nothing but memories.  It's a shame that our beloved boys lost to Bucknell, a school no one's ever heard of, in the first round of the NCAA tournament, by 1 point nonetheless.  I'm officially sad that I will never get to see Big Dub play again, unless he joins the NBA...those boys were the best thing after Collison and Hinrich to hit Allen Fieldhouse.  I had some great times sitting front row, a  member of the Phog Phanatics...don't bitch that you don't like the Phog, you're just jealous that we sit in the front row! :)  As for my freshman Sasha Kaun...Sarah and I will still be your soccer mom(or sake bomb!)  It's a sad day in L-Town...I'm kind of glad I didn't get to see it and it's too bad we were not there to help the town riot til the break of dawn.  To the four seniors who royally screwed up:  We love you, and we'll miss you.

Peace Out

St. Patty's Day Bar Crawl

Riddle: What do you get with 7 Americans, an Italian, 2 French guys, 3 Irish Pubs, 2 not-so-Irish Pubs and a lot of beer?? 

Answer:  St. Patrick's Day here in Paris.

Ok...so Last night was insane.  After an awesome day at Versailles, which other than not seeing the Hall of Mirrors because it's closed for renovation, ROCKED.  Totally fun...we had a night of drinking and bar crawling.  I went to The Frog and the Princess with Lindsey and Sarah for a drink(note: this frog bar is where they show the NCAA tourney...) It was fun, but packed like a sardine can.  Afterwards we went back to the dorms and I ended up going out with Marli, Jeff, Lauren, Abby, Bridgette, and Mel to another Irish pub near the Bastille.  After a drink there we went to this other bar and had a drink there...then to another bar and another drink and some pizza at 2 a.m.  Not to mention we had all been drinking pre-going to the bars and drank at the bars...lots o' fun and lots o' funny pictures!!!  HAHA.  I got home at about 4 a.m. but definitely had a good time.  I got to sleep in today because we had no class, and who knows what tonight will bring.  I'm attempting homework, we'll see. 

Anyways, not much else to write about for now...OH WAIT...question for everyone:

Does 'exit only' mean you can't exit because you can't get off there??  (yes Dad, 'screw you', I know...but c'mon, you can't say something THAT stupid and not get shit for it, and you can't expect me not to do it even though I'm in another country.  I'm SO glad you taught me how to drive!)

NOTE:  TONIGHT @ some eastern time...KU JAYHAWKS v. Bucknell(who by the way, has ever heard of them)...first round of MARCH MADNESS NCAA  KICK SOME ASS HAWKS!! :)

LOTS of LOVE

The H&M Experience

Hi Y'all!
Ok...so it's been a few days.  Let's see:  The past few days have been the LONGEST ever, lack of sleep--packed full of all sorts of class.  Monday after class, I had the pleasure of having my very first trip ever to H&M(it's a big clothing store over here...that they have at home too).  I have to say all that hype from Jeff, um I mean Professor Dr. Brown, was definitely deserving...I bought 2 shirts, 2 headbands for my unruly hair, and an AWESOME army green denim purse that rocks :)  I have a purse fetish...I know!  Yesterday I was home for about 3 hours total...I woke up at 7:30 to leave at about 8 for class, had class until 12:30, a small break for lunch, then a 2 hour walking tour through part of Paris with professor Sprecky...the Touileries Gardens ROCK...talk about a perfect picnic/chill with a book and or friends spot!!!  Not to mention that the weather was GORGEOUS!  I definitely did not even  need my sweater jacket.  I got home around 4:15, rested til 5, showered, got gorgeous for the opera/ballet that went to last night...pretty entertaining.  I had absolutely no idea what was going on because I had never read Wuthering Heights, but it was cool. The seats sucked because there was NO leg room and sitting in the last row was oh-so fun!  After the ballet a bunch of us went out for a drink, yeah for being legal to drink it europe! I had a glass of Sancerre, my mom's favorite french wine! YUMMY. :)  i got home around 11:30 talked to my parents til 12, and then went to bed at 12:45...A.M.  So yesterday was LONG.
Today we had our site visit(finally) to Notre Dame and Saint Chappelle.  Saint Chappelle was awesome, the stained glass in all of the Gothic Medieval churches is pretty.  The weather today is even better than yesterday, no jacket required!  :)  I'm wearing a t-shirt and let me tell you, I LOVE SPRING.  It's supposed to be about 65 tomorrow for our AMAZING visit to Versailles.  SURVEY:  who's excited about going to Versailles??? ME ME ME ME ME ME!!! :)  I'm a dork, I like history--besides, how COOL is it going to be to sit in the room where they signed the Treaty of Versailles to end WWI??  Probably cooler than I think!!  
OH--so we're learning all about the Henri's and the Louis's that ruled France...yesterday we talked about Louis the XVI...the biggest idiot of them all and for an hour in European studies I kept thinking to myself(only grandpa irv will get this I bet):  "Louis the XVI was the king of France in 1789. He was worse than Louis the XV.  He was worse than Louis XIV.  He was worse than Louis the XII...he was the worst, since Louis the first."  "If you had been a nicer king, we wouldn't do a thing but you were bad you must admit.  We're gonna take you and the queen down to the guillatine and shorten you a little bit..."  anywho, I think Allan Sherman rocks.  :)
Today is gorgeous...so after I buy my tickts to go to London over Easter weekend...I'm outta here to roam the city, go to the market, and whatnot...
ALL MY LOVE

And it's Sunday

Happy Sunday???  Not really...the Jayhawks lost to Oklahoma State yesterday in the Big XII tourney.  Seriously, those Hawks need to pull their heads out of their asses, get it together, or March Madness is going to be Bill Self ripping into them with a large butcher's knife because they're RETARDED.  What happened to Langford?  Who knows...but if my boys lose in the first round of the tournement, I am officially giving up my love of Jayhawk basketball because that's pathetic.  :)

Anyways, I slept in today (until 11) and have been reading since...it's 5:30 here.  We have uber amounts of reading to do for western civ...and it's not fun.  No offense, but John Locke just doesn't spark one ounce of curiousity in me...it's BORING with a capital and emphasized, italicized B.  YUCK.  Marli found this awesome little cafe that is near our classroom, but it's smoke free (which in Europe is something unusual) and they speak fairly good english...so we went a read there for a few hours.  Now that I'm only on page 70 of the 150 boredom that is John Locke, my brain is fried and I'm no where near done because after Locke, I have European Studies to read, and Art History because tomorrow afternoon we hit up the Louvre for our first visit(there are 2 since the place is HUGE...and even 2 only covers about a millionth of what's inside!!!)  AHHHHHHHH homework is great...Marli and I are going to dinner later, assuming it's open there's a little place down the street that sells Gyros(yummy).  It's sunday so a lot of things are closed...woohoo.

Anyways, life is going by and my hair is now reddish brown...woowoo!!!  I love coffee and my new pillow from Chartres!  :)   oh...p.s.  Yesterday on our little visit with professor sprecky, it started hailing/raining ice/what looked like street salt, and he handed marli and i his umbrella so we could have shelter on our way underneath a building...and after it being in my hand for like 12.2 seconds, it snapped in 2!!!  Crap, I broke my teacher's umbrella...oops! :)  sorry...

Lots of love

1 down, more to go...

Ok, so I finally found an internet place near the dorms that I can use, and change the fonts on my journal...so some days you'll get lucky and see bigger fonts.

This first week in Paris has been an interesting one...Thursday we had no class because there was a strike on the metro, and since that is really the only way we can get our 45 minute commute in for class, we got up to find out we had a "snow" day.  It was nice, I got a lot of homework done...and a nice nap at around 1.  So far the dorms are good.  I really like having everyone around so I can talk to people, and it's fun to have people barging in your room just to see what's up again...ah, freshman year.  On the other hand...there's no where to really be alone because you're always around people.  So I've confided in my mp3 player and a lot of matchbox 20 and other things to drift off into my own little world.  It's nice...you know me, I love my music!  Yesterday we went to Chartres.  It was nice, a gothic cathedral to add to our list of 20 million churches we've already seen.  It was really cool actually because stained glass is a big thing in gothic churches and it's pretty. :)  Then Liz, Marli, Nicole and I went to a little restaurant in town for lunch...I had vegetable soup sans any actual vegetables in it, but it was still really good and hot considering it was freezing out.  Then for dessert, bring on the crepes!  I had never had one and Liz had crepes for lunch, so the rest of us decided to get dessert crepes.  I had mint ice cream with hot chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  OH HEAVEN...it was good!!!  We went walking around a bit, and found ourselves at the Monoprix(the grocery store).  Liz and I invested in some pillows because the one long hot dog shaped pillow on our tiny little smaller than twin sized beds just doesn't cut it...it was nice.  I also bought some hair dye...a nice red/red-brown...don't stress--I'm one of those people that when life gets dull or I feel bored or something,  I dye my hair.  Ashour's not here...so I bought some color in a box...it's not like it won't grow back or I can't cover it up...live a little, right???  Maybe the reddish hair will spark some adventure, who knows. 

Today I am meeting with Kent(our European studies prof) and Marli to tour the Marais area for our "group" project...I say group meaning me and marli, everyone else is in a 4 person group, we opted not to go that route for a million reasons...    Professor Sprecky(his name is Sprecklemeyer, hence, we have a nickname that he doesn't know about...) is going to get us started on our research for our little presentation.  Woohoo...

Next weekend I am going to London to see Laura...who's excited??? ME!  YEAH :)  Liz is probably coming with, oh man, good times! 

Anyways, I'm out of here to hit the store before I meet Mr. Sprecky.  Oh yes, and I would like to thank my freshman year of hs keyboarding teacher/also my mother for teaching me how to type without looking at the keyboard because when you're in france and the keyboard is SO NOT what it is in the states and the letters are all messed up, but you can switch it so that when you type it's like you're typing on an american keyboard...it helps that you know where the keys are originally.  :)

I'm outta here folks...

all my love

Bonjour Y'all!

Ok...so for those of you that might just maybe would want to call me...I don't know what my cell phone number is yet because although my phone works, the numbers are spoken in french when you call to get the number so it'll be awhile before I can find someone who can tell me what the number is.  HOWEVER, there is good news!! I have a dorm room phone number that I can only receive calls from and has no answering machine other than my roommate Liz ! :) haha.  But, I enjoy hearing from anyone that might want to call!  Ok ready for it?? the number is:  33(that's the country code) 1 44 16 67 98.  You have to dial 011 first to call but that's the number.  I'm usually in my room after 8 p.m. my time(7 hours difference) so feel free...I enjoy phone calls! :)

Anyways, so far today was ok.  We got to sleep in, went to the Musee Cluny for Art History then came back here to check email and whatnot.  Tonight it is homework and more homework...our journals are due for western civ and european studies and we have like 2 books to read for western civ and stuff for art history...but we don't even know if we have class tomorrow because the metro people are going on strike as of 8p.m. tonight, so they think and the trains might not be running tomorrow, but they might have like 1 in 4 going...but who knows.  So basically, I'll have to get up tomorrow and hope that I got up for not nothing...and go to class.  PLUS tomorrow for art history we're going to see the gargoyles at notre dame!! WOOHOO

I'm out...All my love!
Au Revoir

Welcome to Paris

Hey Y'all...ok, so first things first:  The computers at the ACCENT center is Paris don't allow me to change the font, so this is as good as it's going to get...so break out your magnifying glasses and enjoy.
The rest of my spring break was sadly shaken by the fact that I am not going to Israel--and unfortunately, it made the last couple of days sad.  Yes, I will still get to see Danielle when I come home to the big AH but I won't get to be in Israel for awhile...possibly over winter break, we'll see.  Friday we hung around the hostel in Switzerland--I was not in the mood to do anything...so we watched a bunch of movies: Amelie, Zoolander, and the Usual Suspects.  Saturday we went to Geneve(Geneva) and got to see the outside of the UN--woohoo.  Totally exciting(note the sarcasm).  We were going to stay in Geneve that night but there was no where to stay because everything was booked...so we tried to get to Paris a day early, except all the trains were full.  So we opted to go to Lyon(pronounced Lee-yohn) which was 2 hours away, and 2 more to Paris.  When we finally got to Lyon, we stayed at a hotel across the street.  The next day we booked our seats to Paris at 7p.m. because that was the only train we could get on--and we still had to pay 43 Euros to supplement to first class because all of the 2nd class tickets which our Eurorail passes are for were booked.  It was a nice 2 hour ride.  
So far Paris is alright...I'm DEFINITELY having adjustment issues  but I'll get through it.
Not much else to say for now...
ALL MY LOVE
CIAO

Some bad news y'all

Ok folks so there's some good news and there's some bad news.  Which would you like to hear first?  The bad news...great.

The bad news is that I'm not going to Israel after my trip is over because some unexpected stuff happened with Danielle's dad and he's having major back surgery and she's going home instead to help out her mom...

The good news? There is no good news...just kidding. 

The good news is that I'm coming home April 24 instead of May 6.  So all you crazy people that want to see me will have 2 extra weeks of "Jaime" time.  Woowoo. 

anyways...that kind of made my spring break crap...but I'll fill you in on the rest of my break later.  It's time to pack up to leave tomorrow and then off to Paris on sunday...then more movie time with my friends.

All my love...