Spring Breaks Starts Tomorrow!

Hi Everyone!
How are you? We just wanted to say hi, today was very nerve wracking for us; we had our big presentation for our sociology class. The teacher likes us and picked us to present first so we were a little unsure of what to expect but we think we did pretty well. We are just happy to be done and now only have one more day to go before spring break begins and then Mom, Dad and Jul come! We are sooo excited for that! We have gotten all of our midterms back and did pretty good, receiving all A’s and B’s! The weather is continuing to get nicer, it’s been sunny and pretty warm, some days we do not need our coats during the day. The flowers are starting to bloom especially the mimosa which is similar to forsythia back home. It is bright yellow and blooms all over the Riviera. Not much else is new; we leave Friday afternoon for Barcelona so we will be sure to keep you updated on that adventure! We did receive a wonderful surprise from Granny and Pop-Pop, a package full of goodies including candy, chips, soup and nail polish! Thank you so much Granny and Pop-Pop, we loved it and really appreciated it! We have been craving Doritos! Hope everything is going well at home, we miss you and love you! Talk to you soon!

Love you,
Em and Jen

** Here are some pictures from throughout our trip that we have taken. The first two pictures where taken in San Remo, we saw a store called "Juli" and automatically thought of you Julie!! The second picture is of a banana tree, we see lemon and orange trees everywhere but this was our first time seeing a banana tree! The third picture is of Jen in front of the fountains in Nice. The fourth picture is of Em in Italy next to a little truck. We saw these trucks driving eveywhere and couldn't believe how small they were! The next picture is from the train station in Antibes, it's graffiti that is in the stair-well that you take to get to the plateform on the otherside of the station. The sixth picture is of mimosa and was taken during a trip to Cannes. The seventh, eight and ninth pictures are also from Cannes. The next picture is of Jen overlooking the harbor and boats. The eight is a picture of a flower that Em took and the ninth is a picture of for Pop-Pop of a Coca Cola table! The final two pictures are from our beach here in Antibes. It is still so strange to look at the beach and see mountains of snow behind them!

One Week Til Spring Break and a Visit From Home!

Hello everyone! Today is Sunday and so far we have had a pretty relaxing day! We went to church early this morning. It is located about ten minutes from our apartment in the old town of Antibes along the beach. We had never been before so we were anxious to see what it was like. The church was pretty big and made of stone and was beautifully decorated on the inside, but it was freezing! The mass was only about a fourth full of all older women and men who were bundled up in big coats, scarves and gloves. They were better prepared than we were! The service was nice; unfortunately we couldn’t understand a thing that the priest was saying because it was all in French. It was pretty similar to our mass except there was no kneeling and the gospel and all of the songs were on a handout we received once we entered the church, they didn’t have any books. The host also tasted different and was a lot thicker, made of three layers, and was served without wine. The mass lasted an hour and afterwards we stopped for a few little donut-like pastries for breakfast and then came back and did a little bit of homework. For lunch we tried to make crepes, but two hours and four burnt pans that required the chiseling off of burnt crepe mix later we decided to give up and instead had cookies for lunch – we learn from the best Granny!

Yesterday we had a CEA trip to Italy. We were so surprised by how warm it was! In Pisa we had been freezing so we dressed in a bunch of layers for this trip, but in a short sleeve shirt we were still hot! Our tour guide told us that for some reason that one area is always very mild. It is known for its flowers and fruits and vegetables that it grows. Through the bus windows all we could see were rows and rows of green houses. We left on the bus at 8:00 and arrived in the seaside town San Remo located on the Italian Riviera around 9:15. We met our tour guide there and he gave us a tour of the new town, the old town, and the Russian Church of San Remo. We then had free time to walk around its famous Saturday market which attracts hundreds of visitors every Saturday for its bargains. The market was huge and all types of things for sale including clothes, accessories, jewelry, scarves, and food. It was similar to Rice’s except twice as big and three times as crowded! We saw some cute purses but we couldn’t bargain a good enough deal so we ended up not buying anything. We had lots of free time so we walked around the town some more and had delicious pizza for lunch (out of all the pizza we have had it tasted the closest to the pizza from home!) and gelati for dessert which was also very good. The San Remo Music Awards were taking place that night so we saw lots of paparazzi and girls screaming and running around with paper and pens for autographs. Em of course had to join in on the fun but we didn’t recognize any of the singers!

We then took the bus about twenty minutes to the Ligurian village of Dolceacqua. This town, located on a hillside, was very small and very pretty. Some of the medieval houses in the old town were built six stories high. There was a single-arched bridge that was 33 m long connecting la Terra to Borgo, the new part of the town built in the 15th century. The bridge was very famous and had been painted by Claude Monet many times. We walked around the town for a little bit but there wasn’t much to do and most of the shops were closed. We dropped off our tour guide near San Remo and returned to Antibes around 6:15. It was a nice but exhausting day with lots of walking!

We have a busy week of school coming up with lots of homework due and two presentations. But we are anxious for the week to be over because on Friday we leave for Spain and then the following Thursday we fly to Paris to meet Mom, Dad, and Jul! It feels like forever since we have seen them, we are so anxious for them to get here so we can show them around! Hope everyone at home is doing well and staying warm! We love and miss you more than you know! We think about you every day! Talk to you soon and can’t wait to see you!
Love, Jen and Em

***The first picture is of Jen standing of the bridge that Monet painted in front of the town of Dolceacqua. The second picture is of Em in San Remo. We had extra time so we sat by the water, some people were even swimming! The third and fourth pictures are also from Dolceacqua. Jen is standing in the castle on top of the hill looking down at the town. The fifth picture is of Em standing on the steps leading up to the town of San Remo and the sixth picture is of Jen next to an orange tree. Kristin told us that while we are allowed to pick the oranges, they are not sweet are used to make wine and jam. We always get so hungy when we pass them but no so much any more after learning this! The next picture is of Em on the steps leading to the casino in San Remo and the eight picture is of the markets we went shopping at! Very, very crowded! The ninth picture is from the town of San Remo and the tenth picture if from the town of Dolceacqua, it was dark but you can somewhat see the many floors of the houses.

And The List Goes On...

Hi Everyone!
It’s a cloudy day in Antibes and we are taking a break from homework so we decided to write down some more difference and weird things we have noticed about the French since our list is getting pretty long! Here we go:

1. Doors: every American noticed by the second week that the French only go in and out of one door even when there are two! This can get to be very annoying and crowded especially at school when large amounts of students are coming in and out of the building. We also have a hard time knowing if we have to pull or push the doors, the American’s get it wrong every time!

2. Crossing the street: at red lights where there are crosswalks, the French will not cross the street unless the signs says walk even if there is not a car in sight. They would rather wait ten minutes than cross when it say’s don’t walk. They look at us like rebels when we are late and running for the bus and have to quickly run in front of a car when it says don’t walk or j-walk!

3. Typing in word on the computer: in our classes since they are taught in English, when the few French students who are actually taking notes on their computers type their notes in word, every word is underlined meaning it is misspelled since their computers only recognize French words. Every English word is misspelled! The red squiggly lines would drive us nuts!

4. Dogs: they are everywhere! In the food stores, malls, on the buses, banks, post offices, you name it - they are there! While most of them are very cute, their poop is not and we have to be very careful to watch our step when walking!

5. Foose ball: they are obsessed and EXTREMLY good at it! There are foose ball tables at both schools and the French play it at all times of the day. It cost 50 cent euro a game to play. Having a table in our basement I thought I would be pretty good at it but after taking on some French students I realized just how terrible we are!

6. American music: the French love it! The first time we walked into school someone asked if we were at school or a club! They blast American music really loud and sing along even though we know they don’t know what half of the words mean! Their favorites seem to be Jason Mraz and Britney Spears. The girl next to Jen on the train on the way to Pisa last weekend listened to the same two American songs for two hours straight on her phone loud enough for all of us to hear it. Brutal.

7. Roller blades and roller skates: the popular item or kids and adults! Instead of skateboard and bikes, everyone here either roller blades or roller skates, even adults! They also love the razor scooter, it seems as though it just became popular over here! They even roller skate in the grocery store!

8. Listening to music on their phones: no ipods, mp3 players or CD players. The French either play music out loud from their cell phones or plug head phones directly into their cell phones. We still can’t figure this one out!

9. The Man Purse! This one speaks for itself but every man here wears a purse around his neck, usually in the font! Most of them are leather and we have even seen a few top brands including Louis Viton and D&G. I don’t think guys from American would get away with this!

10. Personal space: there is none! When talking to the French, you can practically touch your nose with theirs; they get very close to you and are constantly touching you! Also on the bus when it is very crowded they do not care that they are on top of you, sometimes sitting three to a seat with strangers!

As you can see, it’s an entirely different world over here! We will post a few pictures of these items but there will definitely be more to come! Hope you are all having a wonderful day; we miss you and love you!
Love, Em and Jen

P.S. Jen asked one of the French why they all carry around rulers and she replied “because the school gave them to us for free.” When Jen looked at her paper everything was underlined using the ruler!

** The first and second pictures are two examples of man purses- we will try and get better ones! We were trying to be sneaky when taking the pictures so they came out dark! (Notice how close the two guys are though!) The third picture is of a guy riding a dirt bike on the road. The French ride dirt bikes and mopeds everywhere, even on the sidewalks! Everyone here also wears tight sweatpants which he is wearing! The last picture is of a guy we were sitting across from on the bus. We guess he wanted his jeans to be tight on the botton so he tied a piece of string around them! We didn't really understand why! More pictures to come soon!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Italy!

Ciao everyone! Today is Sunday and we got back late last night from a quick trip to Pisa, Italy. We left Antibes on our first train at 6:15 in the morning on Friday, switched trains in Ventimiglia and then switched trains once again in Genova before arriving in Pisa nine hours later! Once we got to Pisa we found a hotel only a few blocks from the tower for the night and then quickly walked to the Leaning Tower of Pisa before the sun went down. The tower was amazing, we were so impressed by how big it was and how far it was leaning. There were a bunch of tourists there, all trying to take the same famous type of picture trying to hold the tower, and of course we joined them! It was very cold it Italy, especially compared to the nice weather we have been having in Antibes where during the day we don’t even need our coats on. We were very underdressed and freezing! Once the sun went down we walked around the town for a little bit and then got some pizza for dinner at a local café. We then walked back to our hotel and headed to bed early. Our hotel room was pretty cheap, but not the greatest! The room was small with a barricade over the only window and a tv the size of a shoe box that once turned on you could not change the channel or the volume. We were lucky though to have a toilet seat on our toilet since all of the bathrooms at the train stations did not have them.

We woke up early Saturday morning and walked back to the tower to take more pictures before other tourists arrived. We walked around for a little bit but then headed back to the hotel for hot chocolate and to pack since we were cold and check out was at eleven. We then walked back to the tower once more once it was open to go up it. We bought tickets for fifteen Euros each and were able to go up to the top for just under a half an hour. We were surprised how difficult it was to walk up because of how much the tower was tilted. The steps were very narrow and spiral and when we would be on one side of the tower we would be thrown to the left and when we were on the other side of the tower we would be thrown to the right. There were foot indents carved into the stone steps on either side depending on which way the tower was leaning. The view from the top was beautiful, we could see the whole town and the mountains.

After checking out of our hotel we stopped for some more pizza for lunch and also got gelato which was delicious! We headed to the train station only to find that our train was delayed for an hour and a half due to inclement weather. We were worried that we would miss our next train, but thankfully we made it by running without a minute to spare! We had stops in Genova and Ventimiglia once again and arrived back in Antibes around 8:45. It was a fast and exhausting trip with lots of traveling but it was definitely worth it! Going to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa was one thing we both wanted to do after deciding we were going to study abroad. We only wish all of you could have been there to see it with us! We miss home and everybody so much but we are very thankful for this incredible experience!

All of the people in Italy were very friendly and every single person we stopped asked for help spoke English which was very helpful and nice for a change! Many strangers came up and offered to help us with our luggage and helped us find the correct car and seats on the trains. For two Jonas lovin country girls who don’t speak French or Italian we were pretty happy and surprised with ourselves that we were able to get to and from Italy and get off at the right stops and on the correct trains without getting lost! We are quickly becoming pros at public transportation (but miss having our own car!)!

We hope everyone had a very nice Valentine’s Day! Phillies start spring training today; we are missing them terribly but Dad and Aunt Lynnie and keeping us up to date with the latest news! We are glad midterms are over; it was a brutal week that didn’t end to well. It seemed that the tests got harder as the week went on, but I guess we will find out for sure how we did when we get them back this week! Hope everything is going well at home and everyone is keeping warm! We miss you all soooo much and love you! Talk to you soon! Ciao baby! (Saying ciao and grazie was Jen’s favorite part about Italy! We said it to everyone!)

***The first picture is of Em eating our gelato! We loved it but miss our gelati's from Rita's! The second picture is of Jen pretending to lean on the tower. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth pictures are from on top of the tower. Jen is standing on the steps leading to the very top. In the fifth picture you can see the row of venders selling t-shirts and things from Pisa just after the grass. The seventh picture is our Valentine's Day treat! Mom sent us candy hearts and hot chocolate in one of our packages, we loved it! Dad also sent us choloates but we couldn't resist and ate them before Valentine's Day! The eight picture is a picture of Em in front of the Duomo, the medieval cathedral and the ninth picture is a picture of Jen in front of The Baptistry Cathedral. They are both located right next to the tower on the The Piazza del Duomo or "Cathedral Square." The tenth picture is of Jen holding a pastry dessert that we had for breakfast, it has a sugar coating and a lemon filling! The next picture is of Em on a vespa- it was early in the morning and we didn't see anyone around so we quickly got our picture with it! The twelth, thirteenth and fourteenth pictures are us with the tower! We had a hard time lining our hands up to look like we were holding it! The next picture is of Jen on the bridge we had to cross to get to both our hotel and the tower. In the background is the Santa Maria della Spina. (The little white church!) The sixteenth picture is just outside of the train station, everyone is Italy rides bikes so there were bikes everywhere! The final picture is of Em and her pizza that we had for dinner, the resturant was very pretty inside, decorated in red for Valentine's Day!

One Down... Three to Go!

Bon Soir Everyone! We hope everyone is doing well! We just wanted to send you a quick update on our midterms. It's 8:30 pm now, we just had a quick dinner (eggs, not the best but quick since we were starving by the time we got home from class!) after our first midterm - Artists of the French Riviera. We have been studying since last week and were not sure what to expect. When we asked our teacher the format of the midterm she explained to us that it would just two essays; not multiple choice since we are not in American and this is not the SAT’s! As soon as we got to class we were told to take our four pieces of paper (we were to use front and back) and a pen for just two essays! This left us a little uneasy but after seeing the prompts we knew it wouldn’t be too bad. The first essay was on the history of impressionism and the second was analyzing a painting. We’re hoping we didn’t do too badly! The weather has stayed nice here, sunny and pretty warm; we are hoping it continues! Tomorrow we have another essay for our English class, this time we are writing 1,000 words for three hours straight!

We better get a little studying in tonight. Hope the weather is staying nice at home as well! We missed the Grammy’s last night but got caught up a little on youtube and people.com; what a night! Hope you are having a great time in Las Vegas Mom, Dad and Jul! We were very glad to hear that the Phillies signed Ryan Howard for three more years! Hopefully Philly can do it again this year! Miss you and love you all!
Love,
Em and Jen

P.S. Thank you SOOO much for the Valentines Day cards Mom and Dad, Nanny and Pop-Pop and Donna! They were all great surprises and all help to make our day extra special! We are so lucky to have so many people care about us! We LOVED them and love hearing from you!

It Has Stopped Raining… and The Sun is Out!

Hi Guys! Hope everyone is having a nice weekend! We heard the weather at home was nice yesterday, so that’s good and hopefully it continues! After seven straight days of pouring rain the sun is finally out in Antibes! We went to the market for a little this morning for some bread and yogurt but have spent most of the day, and probably the rest of the night, studying for midterms which start tomorrow! We are very nervous so we are keeping our fingers crossed that they aren’t as bad as we think they will be. Yesterday we went to Nice with about ten other kids in our program and had a very nice day! Nice is only a short train ride from Antibes. We met at the train station at 8:30 and arrived in Nice before 9:00. We had the same tour guide as we did in Monaco and she met us at the train station in Nice and then gave us a great tour of both the old and the new town in Nice. We started off by walking down Avenue Jean Medecin which led us into the old town. This road was filled with very popular clothing stores and little cafes as well as a small mall. We also saw where the Nice festival will be held in a few weeks, they were setting up the stands and lights. Once in the old town we arrived first at the flower market. The flower market is very popular and well known and is known as the most colorful flower market in all of France. Besides flowers the market also had all types of breads, pastries, desserts, fruits, vegetables, chesses, and a few vendors selling paintings and other things. Our guide told us that the market was famous for using the five senses: smelling the flowers, tasting the food, hearing the vendors yelling what was for sale, touching the products for sale, and seeing all of the beautiful and colorful items. The key is to arrive early because when we passed through later in the day everything was put away and the vendors were gone.

We then walked to the Promenade des Anglais which is right along the water and filled with runners, rollerblades, bikers, families out for walks and people just enjoying the view and fresh air. From there we hiked up a giant hill that gave us the best view of all of Nice. It was many steps to get to the top but it was definitely worth it once we got there! There was a small park at the top and a restaurant. On our way down the hill we stopped at Catholic cemetery called Petit Cimetiere. This cemetery was extremely extravagant and all of the tombs had huge statues, sculptures, flowers and designs. It included the grave of the creator of Phantom of the Opera. From there we made our way back into the old town. All of the streets were built very narrow and tall in order to keep the pirates out. Only mopeds could fit down the streets which were very beautiful and filled with houses with their clothes hanging out to dry and small cafes and stores. We stopped at one café and our tour guide bought us all some socca to try. Socca is made of chick peas and flower mixed with water and olive oil and comes out of the oven looking similar to a crepe. It is very nutritious and filling and is very popular in Nice but cannot be found in any other part of France. Everyone seemed to enjoy it except for the two of us, but we are very picky when it comes to food! It reminded one student of a biscuit from KFC! I think the two of us were hoping it would remind us of something more along the lines of a dessert from Mom’s kitchen! We were still hungry so we stopped for a Panini which was more our speed!

We toured two beautiful churches that were filled with lots of detail and beautiful designs and then finished up the day with a tour of the Museum of Modern Art. The tour guide for the museum was our advisors teacher who taught her French so it was nice to meet her! She was a very interesting lady but seemed to go too much into detail on all of the pieces of art so by the end of the tour of the museum there were only four of us left who had only stayed because we felt bad leaving early like the rest! We were very tired and were more concerned with catching the last days of the sales than we were with what the artist was thinking when he or she created their paintings! We stopped at a few stores on the way back to the train station but didn’t find anything that we liked or could afford!

We better get back to our studying; hope everything is going well at home, we miss everyone so much! We hope the weather continues to stay nice both here and at home! Enjoy your week, we love you, and we’ll talk to you soon!
Love, Em and Jen

***The first picture is of a rainbow we saw after a thunderstorm we had during the week long period of rain. It stopped raining for about five minutes and the sun came out and a giant rainbow formed right out of our window! The second, third, fourth and fifht pictures are all from the market in Nice. The third picture is of fruit that is coated in a syrup like sugar coat to help keep it fresh. The man selling the bread gave us all a sample of a donut like dessert which was really good! The sixth picture is a picture of everyone who went on the trip- the tour guide took the picture and cut one person off to the left. Not a lot of people went on the trip since Nice is so close and so many people have already visited it before. (A lot of people were also still asleep!) The seventh picture is a picture overlooking the new and old town and the beach that we took after climbing the giant hill! If you look closely you can see the markets - they are the row of tents after the line of palm trees just before the city begins. The street along the water near the palm trees is also the promonade that we walked along. The next picture was taken in the cemetary and is just one example of how giant and detailed the graves are. The ninth picture is of the man serving the socca to us and the tenth picture is from the Modern Art Museum and is a dress made of water bottles. The eleventh picture is another picture of Em overlooking Nice. The twelth picture is of Jen during lunch eating a panini and the final picture is of one of the streets of Nice. All of the streets were very clean and many had Christmas lights!