TravelStream™ news feed for member beccx on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/beccx en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:14:03 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1194243000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1194243000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1194243000/tpod.html Sat, 16 Feb 2008 01:14:03 -0500 One Night In...

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Amsterdam, Netherlands

More to come shortly, but for now here are the pics~!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1194245280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1194245280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1194245280/tpod.html Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:50:45 -0500 One Night In...

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London, United Kingdom

Info to come, however here are some pics!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1192254900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1192254900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1192254900/tpod.html Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:26:35 -0500 One Night In...

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Marseille, France

What can 60 euro get you? At our school in here France it will get you a great weekend. So a bus ride down south, a place to stay, a couple of meals and an awesome party, with an unlimited drinking supply. What a killer weekend. It was Thanksgiving weekend back home in Canada, and apparently we were having some crazy weather there. It was like 30 degrees where I was, but I think my view was a little bit nicer. It was down at the Mediterranean Sea and it was gorgeous. The first day that we got there, we walked around a deserted town looking for food. There were two coach buses full of students and no one had anything for lunch so we drove around and parked in this deserted town to look for food once we got there. It seemed like a resort/cottage place to me that had closed up for the season. I don't think the weather is usually as nice that time of year down there, but hey, whose counting. We had left at 5am from Vichy, and stopped for breakfast along they way, so by the time we finished the six hour journey south we were starving. Eventually we found a grocery store. We stocked up a little since we weren't sure if we were being fed again. We headed back for our camp, which can only be described as that. It was a camp ground with hundreds of small cottages, complete with kitchen, washroom and two rooms a piece. Once we were settled we headed back down to our beach. It was just so pretty down there. I could have stayed there forever. Once we had a little R and R on the beach we went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. I bunked with Kate and Chelsea, and a couple of random French guys, which proved to be nice the next day when we were cleaning our place. That is one thing I have really noticed about a lot of the Frenchies, they really know how to clean. Weird and random, I know. There was a rugby game on that night, I think it was France vs New Zealand, so that was our dinner time entertainment. They prepared a great meal for us. Lamb and rice with some veggies. The wine was cheap and terrible, but they had so much other alcohol for the rest of the night it didn't even matter. After dinner and the match, they had like a dance thing for us. It kind of felt like grade8, Tansely Woods/CYO dance. However, we had a blast. I can't believe how much alcohol they had. They didn't even run the entire night. There was still plenty to drink the following day on the bus ride home.The night was great, lots of drama, but hey, what do you expect at a CYO Dance? I won't get into details, but all in all what a night. The following day we had a rough start and just layed on the beach. Everyone just chilled at the beach the entire day. I walked along that shore for a good hour. We saw a jellyfish that had washed ashore. It was enormous! I think it died...but that was the first time I had ever seen one that close before. It was neat. So basically, after that lounging day on the beach we headed home. All of the Frenchies were ready to go on that bus. They sang and cheered they whole way home. I honestly couldn't believe it. They just kept drinking more and more. They were tough to keep up with that day. We all just wanted to sleep, but they just kept going and going. I don't have any pic from this weekend...I don't think I had my camera, or I just was scared to bring it to the beach. I will try and dig some up somewhere...but no promises.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1192511580/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1192511580/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1192511580/tpod.html Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:23:34 -0500 One Night In...

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Vichy, France

On Le Weekend we met a group of the French kids and clearly they fell in love with us. So shortly after that weekend they wanted to party with us again as soon as they could. And did we ever. Quentin had a number of us over to get to know us a little better. A couple 40s later we were much better acquainted. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1191360060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1191360060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1191360060/tpod.html Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:55:38 -0500 One Night In...

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Dublin, Ireland

So, two weeks into school we realized that Oktoberfest was in September, not October, and most people would believe. A few of us really really wanted to go. We tried so many major cities in Germany to find a place to stay, and looked at countless trains to see if we could get there. After days of research we realized that it would not be feasible for us to go. We thought that it was a priority to go to Munich, since that is where the main festivals takes place. There were no hostels, no hotels, no where for us to stay. Plus on top of that, it would have been hella expensive for us to get there. During my research, I found some info on Dublin, Ireland. So I asked everyone and yep, decided to go there instead. If we couldn't be at the world's biggest beer festival, we would go to where they love to drink, Ireland. Seven us were off to Dublin, Kate, Chelsea, Stacie, Ashlee, Victoria, Katie and of course me. It's a little bit of a mission traveling with so many people, but its also a blast as well. Furthermore, this would be the first time we were in an English speaking country since we left North America, and that was pretty exciting for all of us. Our flight was on Thursday night, and it was a little bit of a mission to get there. First there was the 3 hour train ride to Paris. We just ate so much on that train ride, we scarfed down like a huge bag of peanut m &m's and everything else that we brought for the whole trip. Then the Metro to get to the place where the airport shuttle picks you up, then an hour long ride to the airport. Now, we flew with Ryanair, which is a discount/no frills type airline in Europe. And all I can say is you get what you pay for. The airport was so far outside of Paris and its quite small. So we had a few hours to wait in the airport which wasn't too bad. I paid 5 euro 80 for an English magazine, however it did have Mary Kate Olsen on the cover so, the price really didn't matter, plus it was in ENGLISH! Another feature of the discount airline is paying to put your bags underneath the plane, instead of carry-on. Since we are cheap and it cost like ten euros or so to put you bags under we opted for carry-on only, since we were only going to be gone for the weekend. Chelsea and Stacie kill me, seriously. These two girls show up with a couple bottles of wine, and a box of Sangria. Seriously, lol. You can't take that on a plane, they have the same restrictions as in the US. SO Security just loved us. We polished off the Sangria on the train ride, but the bottles of wine, just made security laugh. It was hilarious. We continued to drink at the airport. Luckily we got to sleep on the flight. Arriving in Dublin. SO EXCITING. We took a shuttle to downtown to find our hostel. This was all of our first hostel experiences. None of us really knew what to expect. We got there around 2am and our booking was just a such a mess! I don't really know what happened when I booked it, but it was literally the most complicated thing of my life. It took about an hour before we could even get to our room, because they had to figure everything out. We were one bed short, not quite sure how, and they over charged me! I was a little ticked off, but too tired to try and figure it out then. In the morning though, the manager was great, returned what they over charged me, and ended up upgrading us for our last night. It was awesome. And she wrote me a huge letter apologizing for the mess and inconvenience. Anyway, the night that we got there Ashlee, Chelsea and I were starving after the whole booking mess. The other girls went right to sleep but we wanted to go check out the scene. And there was actually a night life! Unlike in the Vich, where everything shuts down when the sun goes down. It was awesome. We ate at the Irish fast food place and then went home and passed out. But the food was soo good! I had a ranch chicken sandwich. I miss Ranch soo much. I can't even describe the taste it was just fabulous.The next day we were off to explore the city. We had booked the Dublin bus which is a double decker bus that allows you to hop on hop off to explore the city. We also got the Dublin Pass which cost around 30 euros and gave you entry to various sites around the city. The Dublin bus was such a great investment. The drivers were hilarious. We stopped around the various sites around the city. We went to see the Book of Kells which is the first edition of the four Gospels, Christ the King Cathedral and St. Patrick's Cathedral. The churches there were really spectacular. Then we started to get into the good stuff. We first stopped off at the Guinness Brewery. It was pretty interesting to see how they make their beer. I was even chosen to start a new batch. Batch 1756 is label Rebecca Kiczma on their computer. So that was pretty neat. I started the whole brewery process. So the next time anyone enjoys a Guinness, it could be mine. We were also given a free samples. No dice for me. That was the worst thing! We then went to the Jameson Whiskey Factory. Which was also pretty cool, but by that time we were dead. While we were waiting for our tour, some of the girls passed out while sitting in some huge leather chairs. It was Victoria's birthday so we voted her to take the whiskey test. Kate also volunteered with her, since that girl just loves her whiskey. It was a great time. I tried whiskey and cran, it was fantastic. I usually just stick to my vodka and rum, but I could definitely drink that frequently. We went home and took a quick break, showered and got ready for Dracula's Maison. This was free with our pass so we went. The building that it was in was so bizzar. It has an athletic centre, with a pool, a club, an arcade and this haunted house. Now this was one of those cheesy haunted houses, like the ones in Niagara Falls, but with seven of us girls, and us being the only customers there, it was super scary. Kate and I held onto each other for dear life the entire time. Ashlee video taped it, and its soo funny. Kate and I screamed and jumped at everything. At one point she dropped her coat, and seriously considered leaving it. haha. In the end that corny thing was such a blast.Some of us were hungry, and others not so much. So we separated and I got to eat my fish and chips, which I was throughly disappointed with, but whatever. We ended up having some miscommunication and didn't meet back up. Katie, Victoria, Ashlee and I decided to go the Temple Bar area. It was absolutely insane. I thought that Hess Street in Hamilton was a sweet place to go drinking, until I saw this place. Literally a labyrinth of streets lined with bars and pubs and other watering holes. Some of the bars were 21 plus and not everyone we were with was 21 but there were so many other options that it didn't matter. The first pub that we went to looked pretty neat, but it ended up being a bust. However, we did grab a quick drink there. We tried to call the other girls but it didn't really work out. So we decided to find another bar that was more of our scene. As we were walking through the area there were some cool street performers. The nightlife there was sweet. We walked around for a bit and found another bar that was more suited to us. They played some awesome music and the crowd was just better. I went up to get our first round at this bar and I ended up meeting this guy. He bought my drinks and we were chatting and found out that he was there with all his cop friends for one of the guys stags (bachelor party). So I grabbed the girls and we danced all night with these guys, they bought all of our drinks it was a blast.One of the guys bought me a Guinness shot, I really don't know what was in it, but let me tell you, SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE BEER. Then they wanted to go to "their bar". So we walked down the street to Coppers which was such a pumpin place. The line was crazy long and there was a 20 euro cover charge. Since we were with the cops we just waltzed right in and didn't have to pay. Then we got more free drinks for the rest of the night. It was just so much fun. We totally felt like celebrities. It was awesome. We finally made it home around 5 am. So worth it.The next day we were off to Cork and Blarney. We finally made it out around 12. Our bus wasn't ready to leave until 2 so we decided to grab some lunch. We went to this Begal Place and I had the best begal ever. It was a poppyseed begal with chicken Caesar and tomatoes on it. So good. When our bus was leaving I feel asleep right away. But I woke up pretty early on into the trip. The Irish country side is exactly what you would picture it to be. Lush green rolling hills. Small farms, sheep, cows and horses. It was neat. The ride was a bit long but worth it. When we made it to Cork it was the cutest little town. It was along the side of a hill and the houses were pretty cute. We made it to our hostel and decided to go out for dinner, and the best choice, fish and chips, again. I introduced the girls to malt vinegar, and they loved it, so thats pretty much what we had the whole trip. However, I don't really know what is wrong with Europe, but when you ask for condiments they give you the smallest amount ever. For a whole meal of fish and chips, only give you one packet of ketchup, I'll never understand. Anyway, guess what happens while we are sitting there finishing up? Another stag party walks in. The groom was dressed up as Batman. So, the girls dared me to go ask what they were doing for the night, and of course I did...sober. So I got chatting with them, found out where they were going and they invited us to come. We kept chatting and I was explaining the what a Jagger bomb was. They thought that it sounded sweet and that they better buy me one at the bar. Two of the guys said that I would only get a free drink if I could do push ups. So in the restaurant I sadly attempted push ups. And yes I failed miserably, so now I was responsible for buying them a drink. They went off the watch the rugby game. And we went to get ready.We took a quick power nap before we went to get ready. It was soo good. So we started to head out. The town was similar to Dublin in terms of nightlife, but definitely not as extreme, however, plenty of choice. The bar that Batman was going to was packed and had a huge line. So we scraped that idea, and went to another bar. The bar that we went to was pretty neat, however, it was 23 plus, and considering none of us were 23 it was weird that the guy let us in. The bar was pretty classy. It was definitely an older crowd, but the bartenders were amazing. They were making the most insane drinks I've ever seen, using flare. Flare is something bar tenders do, like tossing bottles around kind of like juggling, so it was pretty neat. So the bar wasn't that great and we had to get up early the next day we decided to go home early, 2am. The next morning we were off to Blarney to kiss the Blarney Stone and visit the castle. This place was amazing. It was too bad that we didn't have more time to explore the grounds. It was such a beautiful park. Legend says that if you kiss the Blarney Stone you will become eloquent and acquire the gift of the gab. You must make your way to up to the top of the castle, lay down and kiss the stone backwards. This castle was obviously hundreds of years old and the staircases that you have to walk up were so narrow, and winding that its quite the task to get up there. The stairs were also really steep. There was a seniors tour group there along with us, and I could not believe how these old people were keeping up with us. All of them made it to the top of the castle, got down on the ground kissed the stone, and made it all the way back down. I was in shock. I wish we would have had time to have a picnic at this park it was so gorgeous, but we had to catch our bus back to Dublin. The ride back to Dublin was just as pretty as the way there. We passed some castles on the route home though, which was amazing to see. Its just so amazing how there is so much history and that the castles and walls have lasted over the hundreds of years. We rechecked into our hostel and met back up with the other girls. Kate, Chelsea and Stacie sounded like they has the greatest night ever. They were upgraded to an 800 euro a night suite/apartment since there was nothing else available in the city. This place was spectacular, with such a great view. I wish that I could have stayed there for the night, but Cork was sweet too. So we all went out for dinner for our last night in the city. That night we had tickets to do a Haunted Bus Tour. This was really neat. The driver and the host were absolutely hilarious. We learned a great deal about Dracula, since its author was Irish. We also went to a haunted church and Dublin's 12 haunted steps.  It was really neat. They also taught us how to snatch a body from a grave and heard some good ghost stories. All in all it was a great night. Our flight was leaving early the next morning. We had to catch a bus at 3:45, so instead of sleeping for a short period of time, we decided to hit the town and not sleep. We went back to the Temple Bar area and met up with some people and actually went to The Temple Bar. It was so much fun. Stacie and I went back early to shower and pack, but staying out was a good idea? We were so dead by the time we got to the airport we all passed out. Dublin was such a great place. The night life was the best, the food was pretty decent, we just had a blast.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190720400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190720400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190720400/tpod.html Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:32:45 -0500 One Night In...

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Paris, France

Alright, so we had our first week of actual classes this week. We received a quick orientation and then jumped right into our classes. Our schedule was pretty sweet. Monday mornings off, then French from 1-3 and Negotiating in International Market from 3-5. Tuesday is pretty early with International Business at 9-12 but we are done after that. Wednesday is the longest day, French 10-1 and then Doing Business in France from 2-6. Thursday mornings are free with another Negotiating class from 2-4. Oh and Friday's off which is great.The teachers are all interesting and diverse. My French teacher is very young and a very cute little French girl. She's probably in her mid-20's. She doesn't speak very much English, but she understands us very well. Hopefully this will be the best way to learn French. Geoff is the creator of this program and he is pretty good. He speaks French, but he is a Brit. Hans Van Berendonk is from the Netherlands and is a typical business man. He's very tall, and loud, and you can just Tell he is a business man. His English is very good, he also speaks Dutch, German, French and I don't even know what else. He does mix up some English words, for example, one of the first things that he said to us, Maybe I learn you something (meaning that he will teach us something). He is really interested in emerging economies (such as Russia, China, Brazil and India) as well as Ecology and the environment. He is very knowledgeable. Mr. Barrier is from Canada, I think around Ottawa since he always asked me about that specific area. He is a really nice teacher. Its nice to have another Canadian around though, but he has lived in France for over ten years. Madam Vaisse is from France and is also a business women. Her English is also pretty good. So after a hard week of classes it was time to party for the weekend. We wanted to go to Monaco, however our plans didn't work out. Thursday night started pre-drinking at Katie and Victoria's house as per usual.The nights end up being pretty random here. Maybe nights are random anywhere, but especially here since not everyone speaks the same language and everyone is from a different background. So obviously, we went to La Goulais after our pre-drink. Thursday night is karaoke night which in France pretty funny. First let me describe this pub to you. Its typical pub style, random stuff on the walls, wooden tables etc. There are a couple of tables shaped like a ship in the middle of the bar, then there is a room in  the back with some benches and again tables...behind that is a room with a couple of pool tables and a decent patio outside, complete with bar. The main bar is always surrounded with the regulars, older French people, usually men. Karaoke night brings out lots of people. The bars here do get pretty smokey, which is such a change for me. Apparently though that will stop January 1, 2008, when you can't smoke in bars anymore. I wonder how the French will take that. One of the regulars always brings his dog. Its a huge German Shepard. He is pretty chilled all the time, and he doesn't bite or go crazy or anything. Another one of the locals brings a rat. It just sits on his shoulder. I think that is soo bizzar, but lots of the French girls seem to find it interesting, so maybe its his way of getting girls.In regards to the karaoke, most of the songs are in French. Surprisingly a really popular one is "In the Jungle" en Francais. However, they do have their American songs. Queen, We Are the Champions, Oasis- Wonderwall, Bryan Adams (woot a Canadian)- Summer of '69 and then a ridiculously amount of U2. There are some others but you get the picture.So we met up with some French people and decided to head to another bar. Shooters. We walked here, had a drink and then were invited to another club in Vichy called Nikita. Now, this bar is a little fuzzy to me, and I don't really remember the details. All I can really tell you is, some trannys work there, there's a stag and some couches. The bartenders that were working at Shooters also came to the club when the other one closed. They were giving Kate, Chelsea and I free drinks all night, (from what I remember). The next day I was completely taken out. Kate and I slept all day, watched some movies and went to bed really early. So Saturday we decided to go to Paris for the night. We caught the train in the early morning and coincidentally met up with Naz who was also going to Paris to meet a friend. He lived there during the summer working on an internship and had some time before he was meeting his friend and decided to show us around a little bit. Paris is suppose to have the easiest Metro, but it seemed really confusing. I don't think I would be able to find my way around that thing. He took us to Sacre Coeur. The area isn't the greatest here, for example, you can find people selling D&G sunglasses, belts, and wallets on the side of the road, lots of Gypsies again. Then there are the guys that start to make a bracelet on your arm and then ask for money. Its a little scary but if you ignore them, its not so bad. The view from this place is spectacular! It's at a higher point than the rest of the city  so you can look down on everything.  The  cathedral itself is very nice, similar to all the other churches that I have seen in Europe so far.After that Naz had to leave us and Kate and I were starving so we grabbed a quick lunch somewhere in the touristy area. We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champs de Elysees, and all the way to Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. By this time we ate some delicious crepes and looked for a place to stay that night. We ended up at a discount motel paying each around 25 euros, so it wasn't too bad. Then Mac Dos again, lol Kate's favourite. We bought some vodka and peach iced tea and pre-drank in our room. We were dead tired, but damnit we were in Paris and we were going to party if it killed us. This vodka drink is my new favourite thing to drink...I always get it. So delicious. That night we partied in the Latin Quarter. Crazy fun. Its the area where the students party, so there are tons of international kids and lots of French ones as well. Its this never ending series of alleys with little touristy shops, small restaurants and kebab stands, and of course, many many bars and pubs. We picked the most pumpin place that we could find. Free to get in which was great, but the drinks ended up being like 10 euros each. Hella expensive, but they were kinda fancy drinks, like sex on the beach, daiquiris etc. Fruity and girlie. Just how I like em. The beer was just as expensive so I didn't feel so bad. We danced a bit, drank our drinks and it was onto the next bar. Here we met a group of guys and they bought our drinks for the rest of the night. They were pretty cool, older, but they weren't creepy. They were there for the rugby world cup. They were from Ireland and England and had just gone to the game. They said it was great. Their one friend was super creepy, but I avoided him and ended up talking to some fashion designers from Chicago. They were pretty cool. They were on an all expenses paid trip to Paris for some show, and they bought the rest of our drinks for the night. They were pretty cool. They said that they were the only straight male fashion designers at their convention. The one kid was Polish and a wicked dresser. The other kid was brown, and hilarious. So it was about 5am or so and Kate bolts outta the bar. Whenever she gets intoxicated she likes to run home, so we ran home. I kind of like this since it sobers you up. Makes for a fun trip home from the bar. Kate had kind of a rough night, and a rough next day. We finally made it out of our room around 12. Grabbed some paninnis for lunch, delicious and cheap. It was only like 3 euros for the sandwich and a can of coke. Our mission today was to go shopping and see the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately most of the stores were closed on the Sunday in the Latin Quarter, well the stores that we wanted to go to anyway. So we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower. On what seemed like a forever journey, we made our way from the Notre Dame, along the Seine River to the Eiffel Tower. This was seriously the never ending walk. I totally didn't think that Kate was going to make it. So funny, I just kept telling her we were almost there so she would keep going. Finally, when we were about 2 minutes from the thing, I'm like Kate, were seriously almost there, don't worry. She starts freaking out, like where is this thing, I don't see it anywhere blah blah blah. Literally, this giant 320 meter high tower is next to us. I like tell her to look to the left and its right there. Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny. But we were finally there! It was so exciting. I enjoyed a delicious crepe, obviously and she ate a nasty looking hot dog. The French, well all of Europe for that matter don't really get hot dogs. After that we were so dead, we didn't want to wait in line to go up, and we headed on a bus to Gare de Lyon and came back to the Vich.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190056500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190056500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190056500/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:34:06 -0500 One Night In...

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Clermont Ferrand, France

We had another entire week of French classes, all day every day that week. We thought that we would take it easy and only go to Clermont for the weekend. Clermont is like the big city near my city, think the Toronto to Burlington, well maybe even the Hamilton to Burlington. It has the home university and it is a much bigger city, since we live in a very very small town, I think only 28,000 people in the city alone. Anyhoo we were partying on a nightly basis, whether it just be at someones house or at La Goulais, which was our home for the beginning of the year. Friday night we went to the discotheque, The Loft in Vichy. It was a pretty fun night. Their drinks are so weird here...when you order say a vodka seven, or a rum and coke, you pay for the shot, and then the mix. It can get pretty expensive. It's time like this I really wish I drank beer, but I just can't do it. Its about a 45 minutes train ride away to get to Clermont. Thais, a girl from Brazil who is in our class invited us to her house for the weekend in the big city. We went shopping during the day at an actual mall : ) and ate some delicious Mac Do's. (McDonald's). We pre-drank, tried some Absinthe, drank some vodka, pigged out on some pizza and all of us girls got ready. I think everyone was there, Kate, Stacie, Chelsea, Katie, Victoria, Ruby, Ashlee, Jutta and Thais. We then went to a small party with Thais's friends, drank some more and headed to the club.The BBOX:Now, this club is crazy. On a busy night over 3500 people go. It's all euro-techno music, crazy lights, intense security, like when you pull into the parking lot, they have huge German Shepard dog's wearing mussels and giant guys holding onto them. Oh, and one more thing, it doesn't open until 1 am and closes at 5amIt's about 12 euro's to enter, and drinks cost about 8 Eur but it is so much fun! Really, I wasn't a big fan of techno music before I came here, but I have come to really like it. So we met up with some friends at the club that we had met in Vichy, and been hanging out with since we got here. Kate, Chelsea and I decided to go back to their house to drink some more around 4 am. We just sat there chilled, and drank some more. Its funny to have conversations with them since they know little English and we know little French. We finally passed out around 8am. By noon everyone was up and ready to go. We headed back to Mac Do's for some lunch...I don't think I've ever eaten as much Mac Do's in my life. The guys then decided to take us to the beach for the day. This would have been such a fun and awesome day, if we were prepared. We had some snacks, but we didn't have our bathing suits, shorts or anything. We got about knee deep in the water, and that was about it. It was such a cute little spot though, would have been a great day if we could have grabbed our stuff. The boys played some rugby (most of them are swimmers at a school in Clermont, so they are really athletic). And we watched and laid there on the beach. We then went back, showered and got to go out for the most interesting meal I have had since I have been here. The restaurant is the Brasseau. Great food. We ordered everything. I think there was about nine or ten of us and everything got something different. Kate got salmon and rice, Chelsea sausage and sauerkraut and I had duck and fries (yes a weird combo, but the French seem to love it). We shared the best appetizer ever, tomato and mozzarella salad. Some of the French guys got some traditional french dishes that we got to try. Steak tar tar, which is raw hamburger with a raw egg on top was the most adventurous thing I have ever tried in my life. I tried a really small bite and I think I threw up a little in my mouth but, I am glad that I got to try it. It was such a great weekend, everything was so random, but alotta fun. I just wish that we were more prepared.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190664000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190664000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190664000/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:43:46 -0500 One Night In...

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Carcassonne, France

So, my first week in Vichy was such a great time, but I was definitly ready to go explore more of what France had to offer. In one of my geo classes, urban history I think, we learned about Carcassonne. I thought that it was pretty neat, and always had wanted to go see something like it. I really did think that I would see Quebec city, as it too is a fortifed city. Friday night, we had a TOGA party. Hilarious because most of the European kids had never heard of or been to a toga party. But my American friends were totally down and threw one for us. So we drank and toga'd. Anyway, talking to Ashlee she mentioned that her and Alberto were going to rent a car and go visit Carcassonne. The nerd that I am, came out, and I decided to go with them.So early Saturday morning, EARLY after my vodka enduced toga party, four showed up at my door ready to hit up a chateau. Ashlee (American), Alberto (Spanish), Naz (Norway) and Thomas (England) and my bad Canadian self set off in Vichy to rent a car to travel about 500km south to hit up the beach and a castle. Every car place turned us down. We finally got to the last one and we had a car for us to rent. We had to get a bigger model since Thomas missed the train to Lyon (where the rest of the international kids were headed) so three of us could fit in the back seat. Luckily we had two Europeans driving with us, since niether Ashlee or I could drive as crazy as the French people. Futhermore, they don't have too many automatics. So we set off. The French country side was quite nice. It was a really sunny day so all the mountains and fields and small towns looked so cute. It really is from a movie. We first went to the plage (or beach). It was in Montpellier, which is in the south of France (obvivously) :p)So we found a good spot and decided to chill on the beach for an hour. It was so nice and then we finally went into the water. It was freezing cold, kind of reminded me of Lake Eeire. A little while later Ashlee and I decided to head out for a walk. We walked down the beach for about 45 mintues or so, and then all of a sudden, EVERYONE WAS NAKED! People in the water were naked, people were laying on beach naked, and people were just standing there, naked. It was crazy. There was even a naked man, building a sand castle with his kid, naked. CRAZY. So after that intense moment, we decided it was time to head out to Carcassonne. We drove there, and it was so spectacular. It is a fortified city in the south of France that was built centuries ago. Complete with wall, castle and cathedral. We found a nice little place to eat a delicious dinner. Something very french, crepes. I had a Popeye, which was eggs, ham and spinch in a crepe. And then the dessert, which was probably the best part. Crepe avec nutella...I think that this is one of my favourite things since I moved here. Then it was time to find a hotel. This was a mission and a half. Everything was complete (full). So we drove and drove and drove and found a little motel on the side of the road around 11pm. It was a little bit creepy but still kind of nice. They made us get 3 rooms since there were 5 of us, and only 2 per room. Ashlee and I in the middle room, and the boys divided on the outsides. It was just really nice to get a hot shower. That morning the made us such a huge breakfast spread. They literally had everything from quiche, to croissants, to ham, to cheese, milk, coffee and about a million other things. Spectacular. It was actually pretty cheap, it worked out to just under 30 euro a person for the room and the giant breakfast. It was time to visit the Carcassonne again. The fortified city itself is just a tourist hot spot. Very cute on the inside, many little shops, cafes, restaurants etc. The actual castle you can go inside and walk the walls which was kind of cool. They had information on all the of the various rooms inside the castle and the history of the city, who it was built by, who invaded etc. \We sat down for a quick drink, grabbed a crepe and decided to go home. It was a kind of a long drive since it was a tight fight in the car we rented. All in all my first weekend here was such a hit.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190153400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190153400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190153400/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:42:23 -0500 One Night In...

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Vichy, France

So, on September 1 we headed to the Gare de Lyon and made our way down to Vichy. Its about 3 hours by regular train south to Vichy. When I got the station a girl from my school met me and took me right to my dorm. I was super nervous about this. I really wanted something nice to live in, and thankfully my dorm is perfect for me. It was super clean, had a shower, with pressure, toilet, and kitchenette. Very cute, very clean. That night I met up with some people from my class, very randomly and we went to the Horse Races at the Hippdrome. It was pretty neat, and everyone was pretty cool. They had a heard of begals come out too, with guys on horses dressed in traditional English hunting outfits too. It really made me miss Kosmo. That night we headed to Le Gloulais. That's our pub. They love us there.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190134080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190134080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/beccx/vichy0708/1190134080/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 15:41:31 -0500 One Night In...

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Paris, Île-de-France, France

So, Paris is fabulous. I think so far it is my favourite place. Everything is just so grand. I arrived in Paris the last week of August with my parents. We stayed a Best Western with the tinest elevator. I mostly used the stairs since it was tough for the three of us to fit into it. :) I am so glad this summer Jess and I spend out Monday nights running up and down the stairs of the escarpment, it really did prepare me for this trip...The first night we headed to Notre Dame. This was definitly one of my favourite things in Paris. Everything about this Catherdral was just so detailed. I can't believe that a building could be so detailed. I mean, whenever I went to church at St. Stans in Hamilton I would always be so amused by the detail, such as the ceiling, but Notre Dame, my goodness, it was just amazing. Of course there were some street performers outside etc. The next day we ventured into the city. We grabed some fresh bread and fruit from market ally near our hotel and started our day. We took a double decker bus tour of all the famous landmarks, The Eiffel Tower, The Arc De Triompe, Champs de Elysse, The Lovur etc. Absolutely loved it.
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