Rebonjour
After an amazing trip through the south of France and Lyon, I got back into the swing of a schedule and work. Working with these kids and my french colleagues has truly been an amazing experience and I do not think I could have been luckier with my schools. It has been fun to improve my french and teach these kids lessons from when I was younger; a real trip down memory lane for me!
With the weeks filled with work, exploring Angers, lesson planning, and more, my friends and I took advantage of our awesome location and did a couple of weekend trips. Luckily, we are an hour and a half train ride from Paris, a city that you can't get enough of. We spent a couple of weekends there (yes, casually went to Paris for 2 weekends and also some day trips because, why not) exploring new streets, restaurants, and less-touristy sites. We also took the 45 minute train to Tours, France. Tours is a cute quaint town with a beautiful cathedral and breathtaking chateau just outside the city. We spent the day walking around the city center and going on a tour (in Tours, lol) of the Chateau.
Following our French trips, Thanksgiving was approaching. All of the assistants got together to make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was such a good way to celebrate an American holiday away from home while also giving a few french people we invited the American Holiday experience as well. However, of course I was in charge of brussel sprouts, my boyfriends least favorite food... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After our traditional Thanksgiving in France, I hopped on a plane the next day to Barcelona, Spain to celebrate a late Thanksgiving with my cousin, Emily. She had planned out an amazing menu and we cooked, took a break to go to the Barcelona Christmas Market, had amazing food, wine, and a great time. I was nervous that having my first holiday away from home was going to be hard, but I wouldn't trade my 2016 Thanksgiving(s) for anything.
The new adventures continued as I ventured back to Paris (yes again). However, this time I was alone and running my first international half marathon. With more focus on my wine and chocolate consumption than my training, I was interested to see how my third race was going to go. However, thanks to adrenalin and the interesting french snacks they had along the race, I was able to make it to the finish line (the view of the Eiffel Tower also helped push me through). I finished off the day with a trip to Versailles as well! The half marathon also fell on the same weekend the French Christmas markets started, so at least I was rewarded with endless chocolate truffle samples and Vin Chaud.
December really turned into more of a Christmas Market tour than anything. I was able to experience the Spain Christmas market at the end of November, then moved onto the Paris Christmas Market, Angers Christmas Market, and the London Christmas Market and Winter Wonderland. Yes, London. Unfortunately I cannot put London into words because I love it so much and want to live there for probably the rest of my life and they have an amazing christmas market and amazing food and they have a whole foods and a lot of gluten free food and yes this is a run on sentence because I am ranting in my head just because I am so excited but yes, that is what I will say about London. It also helped that I had an amazing tour guide of the non-touristy spots, Lauren Gray, a friend from Wisconsin! (I couldn't even begin to choose which pictures of London to do...neighborhoods, buildings, the Parent Trap House, Winter Wonderland, etc. So I chose random ones)
But any-who, back to Christmas markets, I think I am meant to live in Europe just for the Christmas markets...
So France and Christmas go together like peanut butter and chocolate (or peanut butter & jelly, whichever you like better). Each city has their own little elf-like towns set up throughout the city center and squares. By elf-like town, I mean there are literally cute little shacks set up with food stands, wine stands, drinks, toys, candy, macaroons, clothes, etc. I did a lot of eating and shopping at these places. The biggest benefit to Angers was that it was the same as every other city, minus the tourists and minus the touristy prices. Our Christmas Market rivaled Paris but we with thousands of people less (so we could move), and we could also return every single night because it didn't make us broke...#blessed. And it also helps that every street had their own light display in the sky and the entire city was wired with speakers playing Christmas music all day every day for over a month :)
Now, from Christmas markets to Christmas...I WENT HOME. I got my good dog fix (even though I wish they were still with me). I had an amazing time at home for the holidays, laying with my dogs, my family, watching AMERICAN football, meeting Jordy Nelson, seeing snow, seeing friends, and just relaxing. While I love life in France (probably better than the States), it is nice to come home to what you know. But, before I knew it I was flying back to France and back in Angers. (Slight issue with no electricity and having to stay in a hotel and a lot of stress when I got back for the first 48 hours but it was resolved and now all good).
So now, here I am, back in France for about 2 or 3 weeks now. My friends and I have been staying in Angers to save our money for our February break where we will be going to Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Greece! Yep, I am literally counting down the days...I will be able to visit 2 countries I have never been two, four new cities, and be reunited with my one true love: FIRENZE, ITALIA.
The only exception to us leaving Angers was yesterday. Yesterday, we made another day trip to Paris, however it was not just because we were bored. We were lucky enough to have a Women's March on Washington right here in Paris. There were three throughout France and over 700 throughout the entire world that covered every continent, even Antartica. It was such an experience to be a part of such a historical event and meet people of multiple cultures who felt so strongly about it. I even met a couple from Wisconsin who has lived in Paris for 34 years (I spotted the husband because of his packer hat). But hearing chants between Italian, French, and English was truly an experience and I was happy I was able to participate alongside so many amazing people and participate in another country as well.
Well, this was a very long post but I think I got the gist of my last 3 months as short as I could! Hopefully I'll be better about updating this more often, especially with our upcoming trips, but now I have to try and figure out how to stream the NFC championship game on my shaky wifi! Au revoir!
Bisous xx
Libby
(morning apartment views)
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