Back for a day

beautiful Marseille

not so beautiful Marseille...

can you tell we miss the sun?

Nate and I had an inukshuk making contest on the beach in Nice (mine won). Canada represent!

Eze Village

Monte Carlo Casino (setting of Casiono Royale)

Me n' Monaco

Our hostel in Nice--looks just like a villa in southern France

You can't go to Pisa without making a fool of yourself in front of the tower

I told a huge lie right before putting my hand in the mouth, and he still didn't bite me; I think it's broken.

Coliseum

Poppies grow like weeds in Italy, it's beautiful!

Ponta Vecchio in Florence

I got home today from my trip down south; what a fantastic way to spend Spring Break!

Saturday afternoon we arrived in Marseille and we enjoyed the sun while walking around the city and the harbour. Sunday we awoke to another sunny morning, so Steph and I decided to take a little boat tour along the coast, through all of the beautiful calanques. The sun fooled us though, and just as we stepped on board, it started to rain. “No big deal”, we thought, and confidently headed to the very front of the boat to tough it out like true Canadians. About 20 minutes later, out on the open sea, we were practically blown off the front of the boat by the wind, so we headed inside where it was a bit safer…and just in time too—as soon as we sat down the waves started pounding over the front of the boat! Our island cruise turned out to be more like a rollercoaster ride, going up and down for 3 hours. I think Steph and I were the only two on board who didn’t end up getting sea sick (thank goodness!).

Nice was another beautiful city, probably my favourite of the whole trip. The hostel we stayed in was ridiculously cheap, and ridiculously fantastic. They had 12 cereals to choose from for breakfast, free internet, huge plates of food for supper for only a few euros, and staff the helped you plan day trips. On the second day we did a day trip up to Eze Village, a medieval village up on the highest point over-looking the Med; Monaco, home of the Monte Carlo Casino, and probably some of the worlds richest people; and finally to a little beach where we finally got to swim in the sea…for all of 10 seconds (it was freezing!).

Then it was off to Pisa, a city which has nothing to offer except its leaning tower. The tower was pretty cool though, it was leaning a bit more than I expected, so I didn’t dare go up it.

Rome, however, was a wonderful place to stay. We were taken in by some of Nate’s relatives, and we couldn’t have asked for a more generous family to stay with. They came to the station to pick us up, gave up the master bedroom for Steph and I to sleep in, cooked us huge, delicious meals, and even did our laundry! The two sons, Yvonno and Jean-Luca each took a turn touring us around the city. Hi-lites include the Coliseum, Saint Peter’s Basilica, and the Trevi Fountain. The line up to go into Saint Peter’s Basilica was ridiculously long, and we didn’t have too much time before our train left, so Jean-Luca told us in his best English: “Sometimes we go in the line.” Nate explained that he meant cutting in line (to get into a church of all places!) so we followed him towards the front, and somehow managed to merge into the line with an Asian tour group. What a wonderful tour guide, eh?

Then it was off to Florence, one nite on our own, and one with more family. The city was beautiful, although too expensive for my budget, so the hi-lite for me was probably staying with the family. They were just as great as the last family, except more “Italian”—loud and hilarious! Nate was always telling us about his grandparents in Canada who always force him to eat until he has to roll away from the dinner table; I have no doubts that they are related to the family we stayed with. All night I was told “mange, mange, mange!” until I had to say in my best Italian: “Io no poso; tu mange, mange, mange!” and handed over my plate to Michele to finish. They also served us some of Antoinetta’s home made liquor, and although I’m not usually one for hard liquor, this stuff was delicious! One was blueberry flavoured, and the other lemon; she even went and hand-picked the fruit herself. They were wonderful hosts, and even after I parted ways with Nate and Steph (they’re off to Venice and Milan yet), Antoinetta and her daughter brought me to my train to see me off.

So after a 16 hour ride, I’m back. Paris greeted me with cloudy skies and rain, but I guess that shouldn’t have been a surprise. The Fondation is the same as always too—I got home to a broken elevator and a broken washing machine. So I lugged my 3 ton bag up 100 stairs and proceeded to do 2 weeks of laundry in my sink. Gotta love the Fondation…

But I get to escape again tomorrow, as I’m headed off to Holland to spend a few nights with Herman and Ypie, a couple of my dad’s relatives. All I really want from Holland is some mashed potatoes, but I’m sure that they will treat me wonderfully and offer me a lot more, so it should be another great trip.

And by the time I get back there will be less than a month left! Can’t wait!

Well friends, I’m finally off for Spring Break, as of 4:30 this afternoon. Tomorrow morning we leave for Marseille, we’ll spend some time in Nice and Italy, and then I’m coming home early for a solo trip to Holland to visit some family. I’m super excited, and although I’m sure this sounds silly, I’m hoping the next two weeks fly by. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to appreciate this trip to the max, but I’m just happy that every day spent completely occupied is one more that I can check off my count-down.

And is the countdown ever on—only 42 days left! I’ve already done all the major stuff in Paris…most multiple times…and now I’m exploring the less-known and less-seen quarters of the city. I wanna see and do everything possible with the time I have left here. I’ve spent lots of days wishing to come home, and I’m sure there’ll be more in the next few weeks, but I know that this is a one in a lifetime experience, so I’m trying to appreciate it all and make the most of it. I realize how cliché that is, but it’s what everyone has been reminding me for the past few months (and rightly so), so I think it’s finally stuck. Keep reminding me though, ‘cause seriously, on the homesick days it’s what I need to hear to keep me from saying “screw it” and jumping on the next plane to Canada. I’m so close though, eh? No sense giving up now.

One of the things I’m most excited to do in May is to find a park bench to read on in Jardin Luxembourg that will be “mine”. I get very attached to in-animate objects…call me materialist, call me immature…but I like to have things or a spot to call “mine”. My spot used to be at my window in my bedroom—every day I spent a few minutes with the windows wide open, rain or shine, and I’d just stare at the sky or the top of the Sacre Coeur (‘cause that’s all I can see from the 6^th floor). It was nice…but then one morning a pigeon left a disgusting present on the ledge right outside my window, and it splattered all over the window, and now there’s flies and…yuck. Even all Paris’ rain won’t wash it away. Anyways, moral of that unnecessarily long story is: my “spot” was taken over by a pigeon, so it’s time to find a new one. I’ll keep you updated on how that goes, ‘cause I’m sure you’re on the edge of your seats by now wondering how it will all end.

In all honesty, I didn’t really have anything to blog about; I just wanted to post some more pictures. So I’ll cut the crap and give you the good stuff. For all of you over 30, I apologize for my language…

I’ll be back in a couple weeks with more great pictures, and hopefully some better stories!

Pont Alexandre III

It snowed here…while you guys were getting sunburns.
PS, Jordan, sorry to speak on your behalf…but I figured it was safe to assume…

waiting early in the morning to get into the Louvre

One of my favourite pieces: “Psyché ranimée par le baiser de l’Amour”

After coming out the Louvre, and having seen Asians giving the peace sign in front of masterpieces all day, I felt the need to do it too. I just don’t understand how they still find that cool…

Louvre at nite

We had spring in Paris for one day! And it was lovely!

Trying to get the last drop out of a Tims cup sent to me byJordan. No luck, he drank it all.

I rolled up a winner!!!

for my aylmer buddies

Hey, do you guys rememeber back in grade 5 when we used to count how many times Mrs. VanderHoek would say "shhhht" in class? Or we'd count how many times Al said "like" at catechism? Well I have a prof that beats all...today in class he said "voyez-vous" 83 times in an hour! And it was a 2 hour class, that wasn't even all of them. Ridiculous. Can't say I learned much that class, I was too busy counting and re-counting all the little ticks on my paper. But seriously, 83?

rien de nouveau à dire

That’s a REAL bacon cheeseburger and chicken club sandwich, with French’s mustard and Heinz ketchup. Are we in Canada? Nope, the Great Canadian pub! We ate real food and watched hockey hi-lights…the world was in balance again.

Nate and I went to check out this little park, and it was fantastic. There’s grass that you can sit on! I’m definitely coming back to work on my tan and read in the sun.

All I need to survive a semester in Paris...

At the Guinness Tavern

Yassir and Nate--the Moroccan and the Italian

The past couple weeks have been nothing too special, just life as usual. We’ve managed to see a bit more of Paris on the weekends. The past weekend we walked around Paris’s oldest quarter, at the very heart of the city. We found some neat shops, even one that was selling a Maggi poster!

Saturday night we went out with a couple of the guys from the Fondation, Yassir and Karaba, and they took us to a Guinness tavern downtown that plays live rock music. It was a blast! In France the bars don’t close at 2am ‘cause they’re allowed to serve alcohol all night, so when these guys usually go out, they stay out til 5 or 6 am! That’s a little to much for me, so we headed home by 1. But it was so nice to finally hang out with some people outside of the Fondation, and also to hear some sweet tunes again. I haven’t heard enough (slash ANY) rock music since leaving Jordan and his ipod behind in Canada.

Sunday we went to the Louvre, because it’s free the first Sunday of every month, and I think I can say I’ve seen pretty much all of the Louvre now. Saw the Mona Lisa; most people say it’s a big let down ‘cause it’s so small, so after hearing that I didn’t go in expecting to see much, and although it is pretty small, it was still neat to think I was standing less than 10 feet away from a priceless piece of art work. The rest of the Louvre was fantastic too—not even just all the art work, but the actual building is absolutely beautiful as well, with lots of arched hallways, marble pillars and painted ceilings. So after 3 trips and countless other museum visits, I think I’m ready to say “no more museums!” If the weather gets nicer, I think I’ll be spending lots more time outside soon.

I keep on saying that I’m going to do all sorts of things once the weather gets nicer—walk around in between classes, go to Versailles and walk through the gardens, eat outside on the patio—but I’m starting to think that I’m going to fly home before the weather here ever gets “nicer”. While you were all getting excited about it being 16 degrees one Sunday afternoon, Paris was being blanketed in snow! Rain every day is annoying, but snow in April…(in Paris!)...that’s ridiculous!

My hands are still freezing as I type, because this afternoon a group of us students were outside in the cold for a few hours, chasing the Olympic torch around Paris. It was making its tour around the city as a relay, but a number of times was stopped and extinguished by protesters, so it ended up on a bus that drove through the city. We tried a couple times to see the torch, even if it was on a bus, so we were running and taking metros back and forth. In the end, I couldn’t even figure out which bus it was on, so that was a bit of a disappointment. I did, however, enjoy seeing the police bus go by, carrying protestors that were arrested who were all in the back waving their flags and banging on the windows. That was kind of exciting! Ah, Paris and her manifestations. We’re hoping to go see another one later this week—there should be about 50 000 students marching down the street protesting the government cuts against teachers. That sounds dangerous and exciting…but really these things happen every week in Paris. And they’ve always got tons of cops around with pepper spray, batons, guns and shields, so don’t worry about me, mom!

I hope you're all survivin crunch time at school! Hang in there, it's almost over! (and you can all remind me of the same a month and a half from now.) Miss you all!

first train ride

Big, fluffy snowflakes outside the hostel window

The French Protestant Church

Beautiful Bern

A Bern bear! They have a couple city "mascots", since Berns name comes from "bear"

In the hills...not quite the Alps

Easter Bunny!

Egg bashing at the Kornhausplatz

Steph's 21st birthday party

Nate cutting the "cake" with his switchblade (they're legal here)

French homies

Joyeux Pâques! [Happy Easter!]

I hope you all had a good weekend and enjoyed fellowship at church and with your families!

I fellowshipped with Nate and Steph...as usual...but we had a great weekend! We had Monday off, and since it was Steph's birthday, we decided to celebrate with a weekend trip to Bern, Switzerland.

We headed out early Saturday, and after a frantic search for the “lost ticket”, we boarded our TGV train and sat down for a relaxing 5 ½ hour ride. Although Bern isn’t in the Alps, we got to see them from the window of our train, and it was an incredible sight. They were huge, snow-covered mountains reaching up into the clouds and sloping down into a big blue lake—absolutely breath-taking.

We arrived in Bern that afternoon and spent the rest of the day wandering Bern and stocking up on Swiss chocolate before the stores closed for the weekend. Our hostel was fantastic (probably nicer than our apartments) and to top it off they played English movies at night.

Sunday morning I rolled over in my bunk to see big fluffy snowflakes falling outside my window, and I felt a little bit like I was back home. We went to church at the French Protestant Church, which we were lucky to find because we were in the German part of Switzerland, and all I understand in German is “danke”. The service was nice and the church was beautiful; apparently it’s part of an old monastery from the 1200’s. After church we headed over to the Kornhausplatz to figure out what “egg bashing” is. We found out that it’s a tradition that takes place every Easter, where everyone brings painted hard boiled eggs to the square and then walks around bashing them against other people’s eggs. First you tap the tops together, and then the bottoms, and whichever egg is still intact at the end is the “strongest egg”, and therefore the winner. And after, to celebrate, everyone drinks beer and eats their eggs. We decided that we’re bringing the tradition to Redeemer next year, so start preparing your egg bashing skills now, ‘cause I plan on dominating.

When we got back to the hostel Nate made a little Easter egg hunt for us in our room and then we dug into our Easter chocolate. I dare say that at the end of the trip, I, Danielle Weesjes, was almost sick of chocolate…probably because we lived off of Nutella sandwiches all weekend to save money. The Swiss chocolate was good though—definitely made up for the fact that I didn’t get an Easter bunny this year. Later on we went to a nite club to celebrate Steph’s birthday, and that was a blast! We danced the night away on a spinning dance floor, and worked off a bit of the chocolate we ate.

Monday we had another relaxing day walking around in the snow and just enjoying the fresh air. We headed back before supper and were in our beds just after mid-night. All in all, a good time was had in Bern!

We decided that Steph’s birthday wasn’t quite over yet, and had a surprise party in my room on Tuesday nite, complete with a little cake from the boulangerie next door, a home made party hat, and some of the cheapest presents she’ll probably ever get. It was a lovely party though, and we finished it off like we do most nights, with tea and another re-run of The Office.

And now it’s back to school for a month! My brain is already reeling from all the grammar rules it takes in every day, so the count down is already on for Spring Break. Three and a half weeks to go!

Oh, by the way, important note about my address: I think I’ve been getting all the mail that’s been sent so far, but I forgot the street number in my address last time I posted it, so here’s the FULL address:

Danielle Weesjes
Fondation Marjolin
Ap. 503, 37 rue Eugène Carrière
75018 Paris, France

i got a love letter

Today, while sitting in the computer lab after class, I had a note dropped onto my lap by a guy heading out the door. It reads:

"I am sorry if I look at you so often but you look like the angel painted by Raffaello in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. If what you have inside mirrors what you have outside, I think that each person on this planet would want to marry you. I really hope so!!" signed, Enrico.

Thanks Enrico, I'm touched. And did you all hear that--you should all want to marry me! Unforutnately, I don't think that would please Jordan too much, and quite frankly I'm very happy being HIS fiancée....so, I guess it's "good-bye Enrico".

Great, one more place I'm not safe from the creepers.

a few pictures of everyone's favourite "tour"

This weekend was quite fabulous!

It didn’t start out looking promising though. I had 2 yogurts explode on me in one day—one all over my floor right before I stepped out the door for school, and the second one in my backpack, all over my wallet, cellphone and papers. And I forgot my umbrella at school all weekend…yup, it rained. And then my metro stopped in the middle of a tunnel and the lights went out and I had a small panic attack because the conductor said something about an “accident”. But in the end I got the yogurt cleaned up, my cellphone still works, I didn’t melt in the rain, and my metro made it safely to the station.

On Friday after school Steph and I went to Starbucks for a coffee and enjoyed an hour of lounging and chatting before heading over to the train station to drop her off for a weekend away in Bordeaux, where she lived last time she was here. I saw some of the TGV trains for the first time and I’m getting super excited for our trip to Switzerland this coming weekend, since it’ll be my first time on a train (besides the Go-Train, which I’m told doesn’t count as a “real” train). Nate and I decided to go out and take some pictures down town, so we went up the Arc de Triomphe and had a fantastic view of the city. In one direction was La Defense, the opposite was the Louvre, and Place de la Concorde (where the obelisk stands), and we could also see all the other major landmarks, like the Sacre Coeur, La Tour Eiffel, La Tour Montparnasse, Notre-Dame and Invalides. It felt like we were on top of the heart of Paris. We walked down the Champs-Eleysées and headed along the Seine towards La Tour Eiffel to get a few pictures of it all lit up and sparkling. That was beautiful too; I don’t think I’ll get tired of seeing that while I’m here.

Saturday the rain finally stopped for a few hours and the weather was beautiful, I’d say at least 15 degrees! We walked up Montmartre again, wandered the shops, sat on the steps of the Sacre Coeur and walked around the quarter a bit more. At nite we headed out to see a couple FREE concerts; the first was a stringed-orchestra playing in a church that is basically a smaller version of the Invalides. They played Debussy and it sounded incredible! Then we headed over to another church for a jazz concert with a saxophone player and pianist. They were really good too, but jazz isn’t so much my thing…or at least not that kind. We stopped at the Franprix on the way back, and guess what I found!? Skippy Peanut Butter! I’ve finally found something that tastes exactly like it should! I’ve already had 3 peanut butter sandwiches since Saturday nite.

Sunday was really chill. We went to church in the morning and then I spent the afternoon on my bed reading a book. Around 5 I got restless, and since it was raining and I couldn’t go outside, I decided to attack my bedroom with a sponge and bucket of soap. And attack I did—baseboards, walls, back of the fridge…I cleaned EVERYTHING for a good 2 hours. And my room looks and feels wonderful. My boss used to tell me he wanted to be able to eat off of the shelves when we were done wiping them. You could eat off of any surface in this baby… I think I’ll make a good wife (not that cleaning is all they’re good for!....)

And now it’s back to Grammar and Phonetics! But thank goodness I get to start the week off watching another movie in class!

I hope you all had wonderful weekends too and got to have a bit of fun, despite the fact that it’s essay season. I miss you all!