Bon Soir! I don’t think we ever believed we would make it to this day, but today is our last day in Antibes, France. We leave for home tomorrow, bright and early! We spent the whole day today packing and trying to squeeze everything into our suitcases. We wish Mom would have been here to help; she did a great job helping us fit everything in coming over here! At one point we decided we would not be able to fit everything and went looking for another suitcase, but everything was closed because today is a holiday in France. We decided to leave some stuff here in our apartment, threw out some stuff, ate the rest of our food and somehow managed to get everything packed. We have a few extra carry-ons and we two of our suite cases may be overweight but at least it will all make it back to Pennsylvania! Our next-door neighbor, Grandmom, came over to say goodbye and our CEA advisor Kristin also came over to check our apartment before we left so we got to say goodbye to her as well!
We have had a great last week here with lots of beautiful weather and tried out a few different beaches before we left. We spent one day in Nice and went shopping and had Panini’s on the beach for lunch. We went to two beaches in Antibes and one day took a boat to St. Marguerite Island that left from Cannes. The water was the bluest we have ever seen and extremely clear, we had fun exploring the island for part of the day. Our favorite beach was in Juan les Pins, the next town over. They have beautiful beaches there with tons and tons of restaurants and cafes right on the beach. Yesterday we rented lounge chairs from one of the restaurants and spent the day relaxing right along the water. (The best part was that there were no topless women or old men in either their underwear or Speedos in front of us!) It was a great week, the perfect ending to our semester in France! We are SO excited to come home and see everyone even though we will miss being here! Our ride to the airport leaves at 5:00am tomorrow morning and our flight takes off at 7:05am. We have a layover in Germany and in Denmark and then arrive in New Jersey around 2:45pm in the afternoon. We are glad that we will be home just in time for Mother’s day! Hope everyone is doing great and things are going well at home! We will see you very soon! Have a great day!
Love, Jen and Em
Friday, May 8, 2009
Always an Adventure!
Hi everyone! We are so close to being done, only a few more days! We can’t wait to come home, we will definitely miss France but we are so excited to see everyone! We wanted to just quickly update you on our trip back to Antibes from Venice. We wrote our last blog on the train headed back to France and soon after we finished writing it we once again ran into trouble! Traveling to and from France always seems to be an adventure for us for some reason! We had just gotten on our last train in Ventimiliga around 9:30, we made it with only a minute to spare, and a few minutes after leaving the station the train came to a stop. An announcement came over the loud speaker and once again the only thing we could understand was that they were experiencing technical difficulties. The power then went out in the entire train and after waiting a few more minutes another announcement was made. Even though we couldn’t understand what was said we decided to follow the others on the train and headed a few cars down. (We weren’t going to make the same mistake again of not following the crowd when an announcement was made on the train!) Everyone on the ten car train crowded into one car and we all sat together in complete darkness waiting for another announcement to be made.
A few minutes later a train attendant came and told that we had to get out of the car we were currently in because it was too dangerous. There were no stairs leading out of the car, but thankfully two nice French guys took our luggage for us and caught us as we jumped out of the train and onto the side of a cliff with the ocean far below. We then had to walk two cars down and get into a different car. Thankfully the same two French guys helped pull us into the car since there were once again no stairs. (Walking alongside a cliff on train tracks at 10:30 at night seemed more dangerous to us than sitting in the original car they told us to go to!) We all crowded into the car with only one flashlight for about forty of us and we waited about an hour before we were told we had to move a third time. This time we were told to leave the train completely. With our luggage we all had to climb a hill alongside the train tracks up to a highway above the cliff.
Once we finally all made it to the road we then had to wait for taxis to arrive to drive us all to our destinations. We were told that all power from Italy to France was out and no trains were able to move. The problem then was that they only have four taxis to drive everyone who was stuck on all of the trains, and they were starting with the people in France first. Since we were still in Italy we were the last ones to be picked up so we ended up waiting almost four hours on the side of the road in the dark and cold. Thankfully we met two very nice guys from Australia who took good care of us! They kept us entertained and gave us their jackets to wear and their sleeping bags to sit on and made sure we got in the first taxis available. Thank goodness we met them because Italy and the people still awake at 3:00 in the morning can be very scary!
After taking a taxi to Nice and then another taxi from Nice to Antibes we finally arrived back at our apartment around 3:30 in the morning. It was quite an entertaining evening to say the least, but it was still fun and we were able to meet a lot of nice people and we even got reimbursed ten Euros each from the train station! Hopefully our flight home won’t have any delays or problems! We are looking forward to seeing everyone; we will be home very soon! Hope everything is going well at home! We love and miss you!
Love, Jen and Em
A few minutes later a train attendant came and told that we had to get out of the car we were currently in because it was too dangerous. There were no stairs leading out of the car, but thankfully two nice French guys took our luggage for us and caught us as we jumped out of the train and onto the side of a cliff with the ocean far below. We then had to walk two cars down and get into a different car. Thankfully the same two French guys helped pull us into the car since there were once again no stairs. (Walking alongside a cliff on train tracks at 10:30 at night seemed more dangerous to us than sitting in the original car they told us to go to!) We all crowded into the car with only one flashlight for about forty of us and we waited about an hour before we were told we had to move a third time. This time we were told to leave the train completely. With our luggage we all had to climb a hill alongside the train tracks up to a highway above the cliff.
Once we finally all made it to the road we then had to wait for taxis to arrive to drive us all to our destinations. We were told that all power from Italy to France was out and no trains were able to move. The problem then was that they only have four taxis to drive everyone who was stuck on all of the trains, and they were starting with the people in France first. Since we were still in Italy we were the last ones to be picked up so we ended up waiting almost four hours on the side of the road in the dark and cold. Thankfully we met two very nice guys from Australia who took good care of us! They kept us entertained and gave us their jackets to wear and their sleeping bags to sit on and made sure we got in the first taxis available. Thank goodness we met them because Italy and the people still awake at 3:00 in the morning can be very scary!
After taking a taxi to Nice and then another taxi from Nice to Antibes we finally arrived back at our apartment around 3:30 in the morning. It was quite an entertaining evening to say the least, but it was still fun and we were able to meet a lot of nice people and we even got reimbursed ten Euros each from the train station! Hopefully our flight home won’t have any delays or problems! We are looking forward to seeing everyone; we will be home very soon! Hope everything is going well at home! We love and miss you!
Love, Jen and Em
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Italia for Two!
Hi Everyone! How are you? We hope everyone is doing well! We are currently on the train on the way back from our last excursion in Europe! We finished our finals on Monday and are glad to be done! We left for Italy around 9:00am on Tuesday April 28 and after stopping in Nice and Genova we finally arrived in Rome around 8:30pm. We took the metro to our hotel from the train station and collapsed in bed after traveling for over eleven hours. On Wednesday we woke up bright and early and took the metro into the heart of Rome. We stepped out of the subway at our first stop, the Coliseum, and we were instantly overwhelmed at how large and magnificent it was. It literally took our breath away! From there we made our way to the Roman Forum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, Piazza Venezia, the Spanish Steps, and finally to Saint Peter’s Basilica and Saint Peter’s Square. Unfortunately we were not allowed into Vatican City, but we were able to have a tour of Saint Peter’s Basilica. We stopped at a cute outdoor café for pizza for lunch and finished the day off with some gelato and shopping before heading back to our hotel.
On Thursday we checked out of our hotel and walked around the area around the train station. The train station in Rome was one of the biggest ones we had seen; it was several floors and even had an airport in it! Our train to Venice left at 10:45am and arrived around 5:00pm. It was by far the most train ride of this entire experience. We ended up sitting next to two very nice guys, one from Argentina, and one from Italy. The one from Italy just happened to be the number one dancer in all of Italy and was even on Italy’s version of Dancing with the Stars last year! He is friends with all of the dancers on American’s Dancing with the Stars. We didn’t stop talking and laughing once for six hours straight which I’m sure was annoying for everyone around us who was trying to sleep! We weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived in Venice and were completely shocked when we stepped out of the train station and were surrounded by boats and water!
Our hotel was on the outskirts of Venice so we had to take a bus there. The driver told us to get off at the wrong stop and we ended up walking over one and a half kilometers with all of our luggage! We loved our hotel though and it had a nice breakfast for us so it was worth it in the end! We went to bed early and woke up early on Friday and spent the entire day sightseeing, crossing bridges and taking pictures of canals. We saw many interesting sights including Saint Mark’s Basilica, Saint Mark’s Square, Doge’s Palace, Santa Maria di Nazareth, San Simeone Piccolo, SS. Apostoli, and Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and many others. Our favorite part was just walking around the tiny streets and exploring the town surrounded by water. It was crazy seeing police, ambulances, and taxis as boats. They could parallel park better than we can on land! The gondolas were very neat to watch but we were too hot and they were too expensive. We decided to put our money to better us and went shopping and got gelato! The weather in Italy is even hotter than it is in France and we were so hot we felt like we were going to pass out and yet the Italians and Europeans were still walking around in their winter coats. It blows our mind!
Today we took the bus into Venice early and spent the morning relaxing and walking around before catching our train at 1:50pm. We have stops in Milan and Ventimiligia and should arrive in Antibes around 10:45pm. Overall we loved everything about Italy! The sights were beautiful, the people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the accent was one of our favorites! We had a great time but felt bad that Mom and Dad couldn’t be here to enjoy it with us! At least now we can help them plan their own trip here and tell them the best places to stay and see! We are spending the week in Antibes relaxing, going to the beach, and seeing a last few minute things before heading home early Saturday morning. Only six more days and counting, we never thought we would make it this far! We are so excited to come home and see everyone! Hope everyone is doing well at home! We miss you and love you tons but we will see you SOON! Ciao!
Love,
Jen and Em
**1: Jen eating her last real Italian gelati! 2: Em standing in front of the main canal in Venice. 8: Standing in Saint Mark's square. 12: Jen standing in front of St. Peter's Basilica. 13: Spanish Steps. 14: Em throwing a penny over her left shoulder at the Trevi fountain. They say that if you do this you will have a quick return. 14. Em standing in front of one of three statues in the Piazza Novanna square. 15: Jen sitting at the cafe where we ate lunch in Rome. 16: Us inside the Pantheon. 17: Em in front of Piazza Venezia. 18: Jen in front of the Roman Forum. 19: Us in front of the Coliseum.
On Thursday we checked out of our hotel and walked around the area around the train station. The train station in Rome was one of the biggest ones we had seen; it was several floors and even had an airport in it! Our train to Venice left at 10:45am and arrived around 5:00pm. It was by far the most train ride of this entire experience. We ended up sitting next to two very nice guys, one from Argentina, and one from Italy. The one from Italy just happened to be the number one dancer in all of Italy and was even on Italy’s version of Dancing with the Stars last year! He is friends with all of the dancers on American’s Dancing with the Stars. We didn’t stop talking and laughing once for six hours straight which I’m sure was annoying for everyone around us who was trying to sleep! We weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived in Venice and were completely shocked when we stepped out of the train station and were surrounded by boats and water!
Our hotel was on the outskirts of Venice so we had to take a bus there. The driver told us to get off at the wrong stop and we ended up walking over one and a half kilometers with all of our luggage! We loved our hotel though and it had a nice breakfast for us so it was worth it in the end! We went to bed early and woke up early on Friday and spent the entire day sightseeing, crossing bridges and taking pictures of canals. We saw many interesting sights including Saint Mark’s Basilica, Saint Mark’s Square, Doge’s Palace, Santa Maria di Nazareth, San Simeone Piccolo, SS. Apostoli, and Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari and many others. Our favorite part was just walking around the tiny streets and exploring the town surrounded by water. It was crazy seeing police, ambulances, and taxis as boats. They could parallel park better than we can on land! The gondolas were very neat to watch but we were too hot and they were too expensive. We decided to put our money to better us and went shopping and got gelato! The weather in Italy is even hotter than it is in France and we were so hot we felt like we were going to pass out and yet the Italians and Europeans were still walking around in their winter coats. It blows our mind!
Today we took the bus into Venice early and spent the morning relaxing and walking around before catching our train at 1:50pm. We have stops in Milan and Ventimiligia and should arrive in Antibes around 10:45pm. Overall we loved everything about Italy! The sights were beautiful, the people were friendly, the food was delicious, and the accent was one of our favorites! We had a great time but felt bad that Mom and Dad couldn’t be here to enjoy it with us! At least now we can help them plan their own trip here and tell them the best places to stay and see! We are spending the week in Antibes relaxing, going to the beach, and seeing a last few minute things before heading home early Saturday morning. Only six more days and counting, we never thought we would make it this far! We are so excited to come home and see everyone! Hope everyone is doing well at home! We miss you and love you tons but we will see you SOON! Ciao!
Love,
Jen and Em
**1: Jen eating her last real Italian gelati! 2: Em standing in front of the main canal in Venice. 8: Standing in Saint Mark's square. 12: Jen standing in front of St. Peter's Basilica. 13: Spanish Steps. 14: Em throwing a penny over her left shoulder at the Trevi fountain. They say that if you do this you will have a quick return. 14. Em standing in front of one of three statues in the Piazza Novanna square. 15: Jen sitting at the cafe where we ate lunch in Rome. 16: Us inside the Pantheon. 17: Em in front of Piazza Venezia. 18: Jen in front of the Roman Forum. 19: Us in front of the Coliseum.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Finals: Last Week of School!
Hi! How is everyone doing? We hope you are all doing great! We are doing well; we are currently in the middle of finals. Our finals began on Tuesday and we have already taken three, one on Wednesday, one on Thursday and one today, Saturday. Our last and final one is on Monday night. We can’t believe how fast the semester has gone by, it seems like we just started school a few weeks ago! School was one of our favorite parts about this whole experience. The kids in our classes were great, always very friendly and helpful to us and we loved hearing them try to talk in English! We have realized that they understand English a lot better than they speak it! The students here do not take school as seriously as they do in America so they were fun to have class with! We are going to miss the hot chocolate vending machines that helped get us through our 8:30am classes, the half hour smoking breaks in the middle of class, the baguette sandwiches we would get for lunch after class, our teachers who were always checking to make sure we were doing well and eating okay, listening to the French students talk about America and hearing about their way of life, and of course all of the friends we made! (Plus the two kisses on the cheek!)
Finals is a completely different process here than it is at Millersville or most schools back home. We were completely shocked when we arrived at our first one! All of our finals were in the masters building instead of in the building where we normally had class so we got very lost looking for our classroom the first day. Even though we arrived about fifteen minutes early we were still two of the last ones to arrive for the exam. (This was a big surprise since the French students usually arrive exactly at the time class started or a little late!) We were required to show our school IDs in order to get into the room to take our final. Once we got inside we were asked what final we were taking and then we were told what color test to look for. There were about four different finals all taking place at the same time in the same room and each final had a different color test. The finals were all mixed together and spread around the room so that the closest person was sitting a few seats away from you and no one was sitting in front of or behind you. We weren’t allowed to have anything with us, all of our bags, purses, and phones had to be put against a wall away from all of the desks. One of our friends who was taking his first final did not know this and he was looking through his notebook reviewing before the test began. One of the proctors asked him in French to put it away. He did not understand what they were saying to him so he asked them to repeat it in English, but instead the proctor grabbed his notebook and threw it against the wall! Once we all found our correct finals the proctors gave directions (in French so hopefully they weren’t too important!) and then they began handing out the tests. It was good that a bunch of us Americans were sitting some what close together so that we could work together to figure out what all of the different papers were for and try to interpret what the proctors were saying! It took a little while to hand out all of the tests since everyone was taking different finals and we were all spread out!
We then had to sign a contract before we could begin the test stating that we would not cheat, leave early, talk to others, etc. while taking the test. (This was another surprise since EVERY French student cheats! I guess it didn’t matter though because most of them already had the answers to all of the questions! None of the Americans could figure out where they always got the answers from for each exam!) There were some proctors walking around and others standing in the front of the classroom to make sure no one was cheating. All of our finals except one are all essay. Usually we don’t mind all essay tests but it is especially hard to write essays here because the paper they provide you with is graph paper instead of lined paper. It is hard for us to read our own handwriting on graph paper; I don’t know how the teachers can read it! You also have to write in pen. The French are all always prepared with about four pens and two white outs on their desks during tests. For the Americans this means lots of crossing out since none of us have white out! You aren’t allowed to hand your test in before a half hour is up, and then once it is you can leave when you are finished. We are anxious to finish finals and be done with studying and school, but we are definitely going to miss going to school and all of the kids in our classes.
When were not studying or taking finals we have been spending time at the beach, shopping, and walking around trying to see some last few things before we leave. Tomorrow we are supposed to go on a boat trip leaving from Cannes with our CEA group, but it is supposed to be very windy and rainy so we will see how it turns out! On Tuesday after finals are over we leave for Rome and Venice, Italy so we will be sure to blog and keep you updated on that! We return back to Antibes on Saturday and then we leave the following Saturday to come home! We are getting more and more excited each day to come home and see everyone! We miss you guys so much and can’t wait to see you! We will talk to you soon, love you!
Love,
Jen and Em
** 1: This is one of the lounges where students can study or use their computers in between classes in the master's building. 2: The hot chocolate and coffe machine which we are going to miss! 3: Ceram 2 - master's building where we got lunch and studied/used the computer lab before and after classes. This is the main building of Ceram.
Finals is a completely different process here than it is at Millersville or most schools back home. We were completely shocked when we arrived at our first one! All of our finals were in the masters building instead of in the building where we normally had class so we got very lost looking for our classroom the first day. Even though we arrived about fifteen minutes early we were still two of the last ones to arrive for the exam. (This was a big surprise since the French students usually arrive exactly at the time class started or a little late!) We were required to show our school IDs in order to get into the room to take our final. Once we got inside we were asked what final we were taking and then we were told what color test to look for. There were about four different finals all taking place at the same time in the same room and each final had a different color test. The finals were all mixed together and spread around the room so that the closest person was sitting a few seats away from you and no one was sitting in front of or behind you. We weren’t allowed to have anything with us, all of our bags, purses, and phones had to be put against a wall away from all of the desks. One of our friends who was taking his first final did not know this and he was looking through his notebook reviewing before the test began. One of the proctors asked him in French to put it away. He did not understand what they were saying to him so he asked them to repeat it in English, but instead the proctor grabbed his notebook and threw it against the wall! Once we all found our correct finals the proctors gave directions (in French so hopefully they weren’t too important!) and then they began handing out the tests. It was good that a bunch of us Americans were sitting some what close together so that we could work together to figure out what all of the different papers were for and try to interpret what the proctors were saying! It took a little while to hand out all of the tests since everyone was taking different finals and we were all spread out!
We then had to sign a contract before we could begin the test stating that we would not cheat, leave early, talk to others, etc. while taking the test. (This was another surprise since EVERY French student cheats! I guess it didn’t matter though because most of them already had the answers to all of the questions! None of the Americans could figure out where they always got the answers from for each exam!) There were some proctors walking around and others standing in the front of the classroom to make sure no one was cheating. All of our finals except one are all essay. Usually we don’t mind all essay tests but it is especially hard to write essays here because the paper they provide you with is graph paper instead of lined paper. It is hard for us to read our own handwriting on graph paper; I don’t know how the teachers can read it! You also have to write in pen. The French are all always prepared with about four pens and two white outs on their desks during tests. For the Americans this means lots of crossing out since none of us have white out! You aren’t allowed to hand your test in before a half hour is up, and then once it is you can leave when you are finished. We are anxious to finish finals and be done with studying and school, but we are definitely going to miss going to school and all of the kids in our classes.
When were not studying or taking finals we have been spending time at the beach, shopping, and walking around trying to see some last few things before we leave. Tomorrow we are supposed to go on a boat trip leaving from Cannes with our CEA group, but it is supposed to be very windy and rainy so we will see how it turns out! On Tuesday after finals are over we leave for Rome and Venice, Italy so we will be sure to blog and keep you updated on that! We return back to Antibes on Saturday and then we leave the following Saturday to come home! We are getting more and more excited each day to come home and see everyone! We miss you guys so much and can’t wait to see you! We will talk to you soon, love you!
Love,
Jen and Em
** 1: This is one of the lounges where students can study or use their computers in between classes in the master's building. 2: The hot chocolate and coffe machine which we are going to miss! 3: Ceram 2 - master's building where we got lunch and studied/used the computer lab before and after classes. This is the main building of Ceram.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Aix-en-Provence Day Trip!
Hi Everyone!
On Saturday we travelled to Aix-en-Provence for the day with CEA. Only a few of us went but we had a great time and beautiful weather! We met at 7:45 in the morning and it took two hours for our bus to arrive in Aix where we met our tour guide for the day. Like most towns in France, Aix is separated into an old and a new town and our tour started in the old town and finished in the new town. Our guide showed us where the famous post-impressionist Paul Cezanne attended school, showed us the cute cafes and shops, took us to the famous church in Aix and the main squares, showed us the famous Saturday markets, and the famous university located in Aix. Aix-en-Provence is a very large college town with more than 60,000 students. After Sorbonne in Paris, it is the second best university in all of France. Aix is known as the Paris of Provence and separating the new and the old town is a road similar to the Champs-Elysees with expensive restaurants, cafes, shops and boutiques. After our tour was over we had a few hours to ourselves and we got Panini’s for lunch and walked around, did some shopping and got ice cream before meeting back at the bus where we drove a quick five minutes to Paul Cezanne’s house.
We were very interested in seeing his house because in our art class we discussed Cezanne for many classes and Jen even did her project in that class on some of his paintings. Cezanne lived in the house for forty years with his parents and we were amazed at how pretty and big it was. Three families total had lived in the house, Cezanne’s family was second, before it was turned into a historical site in 2006. Once at his house we were given a tour of the house and the property and we also watched a slide show of some of his paintings. None of his paintings are left in France; even the plaster on the walls in the house on which he had painted had been removed. We sat in the largest room in the house and his paintings were projected on all of the walls around us. We then went to the backyard of his house and were given a paper with the paintings he had done at the house on them and the tour showed us where he had painted each painting and we could line it up and look exactly at what he had painted. It was very cool to see the exact trees and buildings that he had painted and to stand where he stood to paint them.
We then got back in the bus to head back to Antibes. It was perfect timing because as soon as our bus pulled away the sun went behind the clouds and it started pouring and thundering and lightning. It is amazing how fast the weather can change here! All in all it was a great day and along with the tennis tournament it was a great weekend! Twenty days until we come home so we are trying to see all of the last minute things that we can before we leave! We are more than excited to see all of you in person and tell you all about it! Hope everyone is doing well! Love and miss you tons! Talk to you soon!
Love,
Jen and Em
On Saturday we travelled to Aix-en-Provence for the day with CEA. Only a few of us went but we had a great time and beautiful weather! We met at 7:45 in the morning and it took two hours for our bus to arrive in Aix where we met our tour guide for the day. Like most towns in France, Aix is separated into an old and a new town and our tour started in the old town and finished in the new town. Our guide showed us where the famous post-impressionist Paul Cezanne attended school, showed us the cute cafes and shops, took us to the famous church in Aix and the main squares, showed us the famous Saturday markets, and the famous university located in Aix. Aix-en-Provence is a very large college town with more than 60,000 students. After Sorbonne in Paris, it is the second best university in all of France. Aix is known as the Paris of Provence and separating the new and the old town is a road similar to the Champs-Elysees with expensive restaurants, cafes, shops and boutiques. After our tour was over we had a few hours to ourselves and we got Panini’s for lunch and walked around, did some shopping and got ice cream before meeting back at the bus where we drove a quick five minutes to Paul Cezanne’s house.
We were very interested in seeing his house because in our art class we discussed Cezanne for many classes and Jen even did her project in that class on some of his paintings. Cezanne lived in the house for forty years with his parents and we were amazed at how pretty and big it was. Three families total had lived in the house, Cezanne’s family was second, before it was turned into a historical site in 2006. Once at his house we were given a tour of the house and the property and we also watched a slide show of some of his paintings. None of his paintings are left in France; even the plaster on the walls in the house on which he had painted had been removed. We sat in the largest room in the house and his paintings were projected on all of the walls around us. We then went to the backyard of his house and were given a paper with the paintings he had done at the house on them and the tour showed us where he had painted each painting and we could line it up and look exactly at what he had painted. It was very cool to see the exact trees and buildings that he had painted and to stand where he stood to paint them.
We then got back in the bus to head back to Antibes. It was perfect timing because as soon as our bus pulled away the sun went behind the clouds and it started pouring and thundering and lightning. It is amazing how fast the weather can change here! All in all it was a great day and along with the tennis tournament it was a great weekend! Twenty days until we come home so we are trying to see all of the last minute things that we can before we leave! We are more than excited to see all of you in person and tell you all about it! Hope everyone is doing well! Love and miss you tons! Talk to you soon!
Love,
Jen and Em
**1-2: The clothes and food markets in the old town. 3: The main road of the town that splits off of the giant fountain in the centure of the giant round-about. It is compared to the Champs-Elysees. 4: Instead of mimosa (the bright yellow flowers) that were everywhere in France, we now have these pretty purple flowers! 5-6: Jen in front of the main fountain and round-about. 7: Em in front of Cezannes house. 8: Cezanne's famous pond that he painted a lot in his backyard.
Rafa Run In!
Hi everyone! How are you doing? We hope you are all doing well; we are getting more and more excited to see everyone as the weeks start to wind down! We are done with classes and only have finals left this week and then two more weeks after that before we come home. On Friday we were lucky enough to have gotten tickets to the quarter finals of the Monte Carlo Rolex Tennis Masters. Each year this tennis tournament is held in Monte Carlo, Monaco and brings with it the best tennis players in the world. The matches for the day were set to start at 10:30 and after catching the train we arrived shortly before 10:00. We decided to watch practice for a little bit before the first match of the day started, and were surprised to see Novak Djokovic walk right past us into a court to warm up! After he was done practicing one of the men working there gave us each two balls that he had used to warm up with. We also saw Nicolas Kiefer and many others practicing and as Kiefer was leaving one of his trainers gave us each one of his autographed players cards. The matches were about to start so we decided to head to our seats. A few of the matches from the day before had been rained out and were rescheduled for Friday.
The first match of the day was one that had been rained out and it was between Rafael Nadal and Nicolas Lapentti. Rafa crushed Lapentti 6-3, 6-0. The next match was the start of the quarter finals and it was between Novak Djokovic and Fernando Verdasco and Djokovic won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. The third match was between Andreas Beck and Stanislas Wawrinka and Wawrinka won with a score of 6-2, 6-4. The fourth match was between Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic and Nadal won 6-3, 6-3. It is incredibly rare for one player to have to play two matches in one day and every one was very impressed by how well Rafa played even though he had already played earlier in the day. The last and final match of the day was between Andy Murray and Nikolay Davydenko and Murray won 7-6(1), 6-4.
It was so incredible getting to watch some of the top players in the world play. Nadal is ranked number one in the world, Djokovic is ranked number three and Murray is ranked number four. The only player we weren’t able to see was Roger Federer since he had lost his match the day before. We have always watched the tennis matches on TV, but we had never dreamed that we would be able to watch it one day in person! The courts were beautiful and the players were so talented! In between matches we were able to walk around and watch other singles and doubles matches that were taking place as well as practice.
The highlight of our day came after Rafa’s second match. We have always been a fan of his and after he won his match we walked down to where he was being interviewed hoping to get a closer glimpse of him. As he was walking past signing autographs Jen called out for him to come over and take a picture and he walked over and stood right next to us while Jen quickly snapped two pictures. We were on cloud nine! Em had her arm around his shoulder and Jen had grabbed a hold of his arm, but unfortunately she was quickly asked by security to remove her hand! Haha! We each also got one of our tennis balls signed by him! The picture didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped because it was dark and we had to take the picture ourselves, but at least we still have the memory! Rafa doesn’t look quite as excited as us in the picture, but I think he was just tired!!!!
All in all it was a great day and a privilege to have been able to go, we will never forget it! We were extremely lucky to be able to see four different matches, two of which were played by Nadal. (12 hours of tennis!) We miss you all so much but we will see you soon! Hope everyone is doing well at home, take care!
Lots of love,
Jen and Em
The first match of the day was one that had been rained out and it was between Rafael Nadal and Nicolas Lapentti. Rafa crushed Lapentti 6-3, 6-0. The next match was the start of the quarter finals and it was between Novak Djokovic and Fernando Verdasco and Djokovic won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. The third match was between Andreas Beck and Stanislas Wawrinka and Wawrinka won with a score of 6-2, 6-4. The fourth match was between Nadal and Ivan Ljubicic and Nadal won 6-3, 6-3. It is incredibly rare for one player to have to play two matches in one day and every one was very impressed by how well Rafa played even though he had already played earlier in the day. The last and final match of the day was between Andy Murray and Nikolay Davydenko and Murray won 7-6(1), 6-4.
It was so incredible getting to watch some of the top players in the world play. Nadal is ranked number one in the world, Djokovic is ranked number three and Murray is ranked number four. The only player we weren’t able to see was Roger Federer since he had lost his match the day before. We have always watched the tennis matches on TV, but we had never dreamed that we would be able to watch it one day in person! The courts were beautiful and the players were so talented! In between matches we were able to walk around and watch other singles and doubles matches that were taking place as well as practice.
The highlight of our day came after Rafa’s second match. We have always been a fan of his and after he won his match we walked down to where he was being interviewed hoping to get a closer glimpse of him. As he was walking past signing autographs Jen called out for him to come over and take a picture and he walked over and stood right next to us while Jen quickly snapped two pictures. We were on cloud nine! Em had her arm around his shoulder and Jen had grabbed a hold of his arm, but unfortunately she was quickly asked by security to remove her hand! Haha! We each also got one of our tennis balls signed by him! The picture didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped because it was dark and we had to take the picture ourselves, but at least we still have the memory! Rafa doesn’t look quite as excited as us in the picture, but I think he was just tired!!!!
All in all it was a great day and a privilege to have been able to go, we will never forget it! We were extremely lucky to be able to see four different matches, two of which were played by Nadal. (12 hours of tennis!) We miss you all so much but we will see you soon! Hope everyone is doing well at home, take care!
Lots of love,
Jen and Em
**1: In front of the casino, every player had a giant picutre and tennis ball! 2: The court in Monte Carlo which overlooked the water -- very pretty! 3: Em watching practice before the games. 4: Jen in front of Nadal's lifesize picture! 5: Jen in front of the main court. 6-8: Rafa Nadal! 9: Andy Murray. 10: Novak Djokovic. signing autographs. 11: Us with our tennis balls signed by Rafa! 12-13: Us with Rafa!!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Getting Closer to the End!
Hi Everyone! How are you? Today we had our last real class in France! We had a pretty easy week, our class Art on Monday was cancelled for the holiday and then when we got to our English class on Tuesday we learned that we didn’t have class because our teacher was having contractions and wouldn’t be coming in! (A very nice surprise!) Since we had the day off we decided to go to Nice to lie at the beach for the day since it was sunny and warm outside. We are so used to Wildwood’s sandy beaches that we are always surprised at how much it hurts to walk and lay on rocky beaches! Em barely made it back to her towel after she walked down to the water! During our sociology class we just listened to six presentations since for our final project we could choose to do either a five page paper for a twenty minute presentation. (The French students don’t like to write in English so they choose the presentation!) Afterwards we walked around Antibes and went down to our beach for a little bit before it got a little cloudy outside. In today’s film class we watched Fight Club – an easy and relaxing ending to the week!
Last week Kristen and six other students from CEA and us went to Biot, the next town over, to make pottery. We had a lot of fun! We were able to choose any objects to paint, we each chose a vase and little jewelry dish. We sent them to be glazed and will pick them up sometime next week. We are anxious to see the finished product! Not too much else is new, we are very excited for the master’s tennis tournament tomorrow! Afterwards we are going to get ice cream with a friend from our sociology class! We also wanted to wish Jul a happy 24th birthday! We miss you and love you and wish we could have gone to Nashville with you, have a great time! We miss the rest of you as well and can’t wait to see you in a few weeks! We love you!
Love, Em and Jen
**1: Em in front of the old town of Antibes. 2: Our beach in Antibes. 3: The harbor in Antibes. 4: Em (and Jen!) on the beach in Nice. 5: The rocks on the beach. 6: The beach in Villefranche. 7-10: Villefrance. 11: Jen and her pottery in Biot.
Last week Kristen and six other students from CEA and us went to Biot, the next town over, to make pottery. We had a lot of fun! We were able to choose any objects to paint, we each chose a vase and little jewelry dish. We sent them to be glazed and will pick them up sometime next week. We are anxious to see the finished product! Not too much else is new, we are very excited for the master’s tennis tournament tomorrow! Afterwards we are going to get ice cream with a friend from our sociology class! We also wanted to wish Jul a happy 24th birthday! We miss you and love you and wish we could have gone to Nashville with you, have a great time! We miss the rest of you as well and can’t wait to see you in a few weeks! We love you!
Love, Em and Jen
**1: Em in front of the old town of Antibes. 2: Our beach in Antibes. 3: The harbor in Antibes. 4: Em (and Jen!) on the beach in Nice. 5: The rocks on the beach. 6: The beach in Villefranche. 7-10: Villefrance. 11: Jen and her pottery in Biot.
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