NCAA Championship

So last night UNC beat Illinois by 5 points to claim the National Championship that SHOULD have been KU's if only that hadn't CHOKED on Bucknell in the first round.  I've got nothing to say...UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH...props to Roy Williams, he finally won his stinkin' championship...shoulda won it with us, we shoulda won this year, but still...UGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH

Weekend in Normandy

This past weekend in Normandy was AMAZING!  (really long, too!)  Friday morning we got up at about 6:30, got on the bus and drove 3 hours to Caen to see the Peace Memorial Museum there.  The museum was really interesting, we walked through it for about an hour, then saw a film from the soldier's point of view: half the screen from the German side, half from the Allied side.  It was about the D-Day invasion at Normandy(obviously) but it was cool.  After lunch we got back on the bus to drive about an hour to Omaha Beach.  (for those who don't know/remember...it was one of the American Beaches from WWII).  We got to actually walk down to the beach which was AWESOME.  It's quite a hike...you basically walk through all the brush that the German's would have been sitting and waiting in, and then you get to the beach and it's bare.  It's so calm and serene and you can't even possibly begin to imagine that there were thousands of people that were invading the beach and you are standing the exact spot where probably many of them died.  Afterwards we walked up to the American Military Cemetary(it was in the movie Saving Private Ryan) and just walked through and looked at all of the gravestones.  What is interesting that I never knew, was that there are something like 9,371 graves at the cemetary and those are just the bodies that were unknown or not requested to be buried in the states.  Also, France gave the land to the U.S. when they decided to re-do the cemetaries and build one large one(that's there now) so the soldiers are buried on U.S. soil.  The names on the tombstones are all facing west too...symbolizing that west is where the U.S. is.  I thought that it was really touching to know that they purposely place the names on the tombstones like that.  I thought the cemetary was really emotional.  I don't know why, but it just got to me.  Before I left, I took the stone that I had stolen from the beach earlier that i was going to keep as a souvenir, and I placed it on one of the tombstones.  
Friday night for dinner, Marli, Kevin, Nicole and I went to this cute little restaurant right next to our hotel in St. Malo.  When we asked the waiter to explain the menu, he told us there were clams on it.  Marli and i both ordered clams as our first course and guess what we  got?  Raw oysters.  WHAT?  Yeah, so I ate all 6 of mine and one of Marli's (against my will, she did not eat hers and didn't want it to look like she didn't eat them, so we all "pitched in" to help her out...yuck).  Let's go with I will NEVER eat raw oysters again, eeww.  I like clams...those were definitely NOT clams.  We also got crepes for dessert which were AMAZING, they were chocolate, hence the amazing.  
Saturday we went to Mont St. Michel and got a tour of the little island/church.  It was really interesting.  We also got a walking tour of St. Malo when we got back and it is really pretty.  It's basically an Island surrounded by defensive city walls and we were walking on top of the walls.  the ocean was cool :)  Saturday night Liz, Marli, Nicole, Kevin and I went for crepes for dinner and then had ice cream! :)
Sunday we went to Bayeux to see a 200 ft.(or something like that) tapestry...woohoo for the excitement, next...
Afterwards we went to Giverny to Claude Monet's house.  It was really cool to see, but probably would have been nicer if the flowers were ALL in bloom and the trees had more leaves on them but still we had really REALLY  nice weather and so it was cool to see.
After that, we had a nice long bus ride home.
So I've been writing down everything that people say on this trip, dumb stuff, funny stuff, things we've just caught onto saying or doing...I told all of my friends about it and it's SO FUNNY now because they (mainly kevin) are just saying stuff to try and "get in my book."  Then there are those that don't realize yet that I AM listening, and I AM writing down EVERYTHING.  What was that Jeff?  "Attention mortals, I'm now exiting the shower?" yeah...don't ask.  
Well, we're in about the 8th inning, bases loaded and only one strike.  (nice right?) The last two weeks are going to be action packed.  By action packed I do mean homework and class, but still.  Intinerary for the  next week(tentative of course):
Today: no class because our professors love us: aka free day to catch up on reading and homework.
Tuesday: Class, papers due, more work...one last visit to the Musee d'Orsay.
Wednesday: More class, no homework due, visit the Picasso Museum.
Thursday: Class, (ditching out on western civ) Kris comes to PARIS!!!!!! Night one of the party weekend...
Friday: Day off...being a tourist showing Kris around the city, most likely going out friday night
Saturday: Same as friday, going out at Night to celebrate my 21st!!!! (we have class on monday, so the drunken fiesta starts saturday night)
Sunday: MY BIRTHDAY...aka a day of hopefully being hungover and loving it!  Dinner @ the Eiffel Tower.

As far as calling me goes:  I am pretty sure I lost my cell phone, so my dorm room number is all you've got.  I will post an entry later in the week so you'll know when I'll be aruond...
Lots of Love!  Gotta go to homework.

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