TravelStream™ news feed for member k1thomas on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/k1thomas en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:21:54 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1246234892/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1246234892/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1246234892/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:21:54 -0400 Studying in France...

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Los Angeles, California, United States

I'm home!!

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Nice, Provence, France

We had to go back to Nice to get our bags and wait a day for our plane trip home. This entry is mainly to make the map show where I've gone on the whole trip.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245226380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245226380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245226380/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:09:46 -0400 Studying in France...

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London, England, United Kingdom

On our first day in London, we saw the National Portrait Gallery, Trafalgar Square and the British Museum. We also saw Billy Elliot, the musical.

The next day, we visited Buckingham Palace and started our double-decker bus tour. After getting sushi, we wandered around Harrod's, where we got macarons at Laduree and my necklace cleaned at Tiffany's. Ten we went to the Victoria and Albert's Musuem and the Natural History Museum. Then we got off the bus at Westminster Abbey, but it was closed to tourists on Sunday so we saw Big Ben. The London Eye was too expensive, so we rested in a park and walked around the National Gallery while we waited for our walking tour about the ghosts in London.

On our last day in London we went to Westminster Abbey, where we saw the graves of Shakespeare and Newton. Then we walked all the way to the London Tower after lunch and wandered around there.

Then we had a flight that night to Marseille. Now we are back in France, waiting for our flights back to LA. We are really excited to get back home and can't wait to unpack. See you all soon and I hope you enjoyed reading my blogs.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245225551/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245225551/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245225551/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:08:58 -0400 Studying in France...

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Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

This will be a much shorter blog and much less detailed because Spain was way more awesome.

In Edinburgh, we stayed with Ross' cousins, Tom and Sheena. They have three kids, Hamish, Ed and Katie. We had our own room with a view of Edinburgh. During the day, when everyone was at work or school, Ross and I toured the city. We went to several museums, the palace, the castle and different gardens. My favorite was Arthur's Seat, a short hike up a huge hill with great views of the city. There was great weather, with only a little drizzle. We also enjoyed playing with the kids after they got home from school. They brought us to a great sushi dinner and ordered everyone's favorites.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245182040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245182040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1245182040/tpod.html Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:07:45 -0400 Studying in France...

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Denia, Valencian Country, Spain and Canary Islands

Before setting off on our after-studying travels, our good friend Erik came to visit us in France and travel with us to Spain. We picked him up at the airport where we found out that he had trouble getting onto the plane because his bag was 81 pounds!!! He had to buy an extra duffle bag to distribute the weight. I have to tell you that he didn't bring 81 pounds of clothes for a two week trip, he had to bring all of his luggage from Orlando, Florida where he had an internship at Disneyworld.

When he arrived in France, he found out that they had lost his bag! This turned out to be a good thing because we didn't have to lug it all the way to Antibes, we had it delivered that night!

I showed Erik around Antibes and then we went to Cannes for dinner at our regular pizza place. Ross was done with school, so we all slept comfortably in my apartment. This was my last night in the temporary apartment that I got in Antibes for the few weeks after school ended. Ross and I left most of our luggage at his college in Cannes so that we could travel with just one bag each.

The next day, we woke up early to clean my apartment, pack our bags and take our luggage to the train station where we left it in lockers while we toured Monaco and had dinner in Nice. Erik was really excited to see Monaco and I think he really enjoyed it. That night we left Nice at 11pm for Barcelona.

We arrived in Barcelona around midnight and took a taxi to our hotel. It wasn't very expensive because the three of us could share the cost. We slept well that night and woke up early to do a whirlwind, one-day tour of Barcelona.

We started with the Sagrada Famiglia, a famed cathedral that they started building one hundred years ago and are not finished yet. It was designed by Gaudi and we spent hours there, looking at the inside, climbing up inside the towers, perusing the gift shop and exploring the museum. Then we had lunch nearby at a small restaurant where Ross and I really enjoyed a taste of food not known in France.

Then we walked around the old part of the city, the harbor and Las Ramblas, the busy street with lots of shopping and restaurants. After a great dinner, we slept well for our next big day, traveling to Valencia.

The next day we woke up early to catch a 9am train. We went to the wrong train station, so we missed our train and had to take one an hour later. We were met at the Valencia train station by Alexa's mom, Ilona, her friend from Germany, Michaela, and one of her daughters, Tamara.

Alexa studied in Manhattan Beach at Mira Costa for a year and stayed with Ross' family for a few months. We became good friends before we left and planned to visit her family. Ilona, the mom, and Jaime, the dad, live in Denia where Jaime grew up. They received an exchange student from Oklahoma and their other two daughters, Tamara and Patricia, go to school in nearby cities.

Ilona, Michaela and Tamara, who is studying architecture, showed us around Valencia, a large city an hour away from their home in Denia. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the car accidentally while we walked around. It was a beautiful city and we enjoyed being showed around.

Ilona speaks Spanish, German and English because her family is German but they lived in Argentina for most of her life. She now lives in Spain with her husband and family where she has a successful graphic design business. Jaime owns his father's store.

Illona's three daughters all went to school on Saturday's to learn German and they all speak English well. Alexa got much better while she was living in California. Tamara lived in North Carolina for a year and is fluent. Patricia didnt' study in the US at all and her English is surprisingly good. Ross, Erik and I all have taken a few years of Spanish and we could understand a lot if they were speaking to each other but we didn't speak very well, so we stuck with English.

The best "lost in translation" moment was when Erik asked Ilona if she had a lint roller as he made a motion over his chest because he had dog hair all over him. Since Ilona is the nicest person in the world and we had become close over the few days that we were there, she looked confused but asked him if he wanted to do it "right now" since we were leaving on a car ride. She said she had to warm up the "oil." We were confused and thought this was some Spanish way of getting hair off clothes. Erik told her not to worry about it, so we got in the car and about 20 minutes later Ross figured out that Ilona thoguht Erik wanted to wax his chest. We all had a big laugh, Ilona included.

Their house has five bedrooms plus the whole third floor where we stayed. There is also a large backyard, garden, outdoor oven, pool, several eating areas and another whole house where Ilona's mother lives.

That day, the other daughter, Patricia, took a break from studying for her final exams to show us around Denia. We drove around in their Mercedes Benz convertible and ate breakfast near their family store which sells tobacco products AND purses and jewelry. We also saw their aunt's store with expensive clothing, the market, the castle, the old part of town and the beaches.

Then we had lunch with Ilona's mother and Alexa's boyfriend, Clemente, among the others I've already introduced. Next, Patricia brought us to her friends house where we picked Valencian oranges and mandarines in his personal grove and gathered eggs from his chickens.

At about 8pm we went for a walk up into the hills with Ilona and the dogs, Kit and Kat. We lost our trail and the dogs a few times and were a little worried about getting back by sundown. Luckily, the sun didn't set until 10pm! It was weird. Then we ate a light dinner of wine, bread, cheese and fresh, local tuna.

The next day, Ilona took us along the coast in the convertible and we stopped in different towns or for pretty views along the way. We had lunch with tons of seafood and ate tiny fried fishes, head, tail and all.

The next day we went to a flea market, hung out by the pool and went for a swim in the ocean, which was very warm. We had dinner with Tamara, her boyfriend, Sven, Patricia and Clemente, Alexa's boyfriend. Afterwards, we went for drinks at a cool outside bar.

The next day we went with Tamara to a candy store because Ross had a craving. We got huge bags of candy and visited the family store again. The store was originally just a tobacco store and Jaime's mother, Teresa, added bags and jewelry. Now it is split into two separate stores by a glass partition, but it's really cool! Most of the bags and jewelry were too expensive, but I found a pair of earrings that I really liked. Teresa wouldn't let me pay for them and she gave them to me as a present. She said (in limited english) that it was because Alexa said such good things about us and we are good friends. :)

After, we went to Teresa's house for a huge paella lunch with a lot of the family. It was fun watching Teresa make it and her house is amazing. She had a nice old house that she had lived in since her children were little with a huge backyard and the beach right at the end.

On our last day, Ilona took us for another drive in the area around Denia. We brought a picnic and ate it in a dry river bed. For dinner, we went to an authenti Spanish restaurant with great tapas. It was very sad leaving Spain.

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242988380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242988380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242988380/tpod.html Wed, 27 May 2009 04:47:38 -0400 Studying in France...

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Antibes, Provence, France

Well, I'm back in Antibes in an apartment that was kindly found for me by my study abroad adviser, Kristin. It is a one bedroom with kitchen and bath in the old town of Antibes. I am very comfortable, although I haven't been there much to enjoy it. Ross is working at his internship at the Film Festival, writing blogs about what is going on.

His college gave its students the opportunity to volunteer for the biggest event at the festival. The AMFAR gala is an exclusive party that includes red carpet, cocktails, dinner, live auction and an after party as a fundraiser for AIDS. Ross brought me along to the volunteer meeting and they asked me to join them because they needed all the volunteers they could get.

Since I don't have another internship like a lot of the students, I volunteered to help out setting up for the event the day before and the whole day of the party. Most of the other students would show up right before the dinner and act as greeters during the event. Luckily, I was placed inside the tent for set up instead of doing manual labor outside. The tent would hold the dinner and auction. I spent all day working on the tables, which were all different sizes, tablecloths, which were all different sizes, and plates which had to be put on the correct tables (because there were different color plates that matches the lights and flowers, of course) and then rearranged because the production staff kept on changing the numbers of people at the tables when the important guests called.

When my boss, the decorator in charge of the tent, was busy with different things, I took the seating chart from her and told her I would handle it. I orchestrated a group of people (some who only spoke french, some italian) to rearrange all of the tables and place settings. This took ALL day. I was there from 9 until 6. Since all of the other student volunteers were from Ross' college, they had a bus as transportation. I had to walk there and back, although it is the prettiest route around here, right along the water.

The hotel where the party was held was the Hotel du Cap. It is one of the best hotels in the world and the grounds are amazing, with tons of nature, private cabanas right on the beach and views of the whole harbor. The minimum stay there is 10 days.

So, the first day I worked really hard, and it was noticed. Sandrine, my boss, Alan, the creative director of Versace and Campbell, the director of volunteers constantly told me how hard I was working and how impressed they were by my leadership skills. I was told I would be one of the only volunteers allowed in the tent during the dinner and I got to choose who could come with me. Since Ross already volunteered for another job, to shuttle the press from Cannes and back in buses, I chose a girl who I worked with all day and also spoke French well.

The next day, I arrived at 9 and got straight to work. We had to rearrange all of the table again and we wouldn't stop adding and subtracting places from the tables until well into dinner, hours later. My boss had other things to attend to, so I was again put in charge of the entire tent, volunteers and workers. Since the decorations were donated by Donatella Versace, her creative director was there to help me out, but he mainly just gave me suggestions like facing the table numbers towards the entrance. Alan was really nice and we became friends, he called me "LA" because I'm from Los Angeles. Before he left, we have me his card and said he would call me if he ever needed help for a party in LA and if I needed a recommendation, he would gladly write me one.

Finally, after a long day, I got to eat dinner, provided by the hotel and very good! I walked back into the tent after two long days of feeling like I'd never left it and it was full of people! Not just people, though, celebrities in tuxedos and gowns. It was awesome. During the auction, I even got to stand in the crowd and signal a buyer who wanted to pay for a kiss with Robert Pattinson (from Twilight) for 20,000 euros! I saw President Bill Clinton, Sharon Stone, Diane Kruger, Joshua Jackson, Josh Hartnett, Dita Von Teese, Donatella Versace and Hayden Panetierre. There were also other very important people in fashion and film. Everyone was wearing way to much cologne and perfume, it made an interesting smell in the tent of 900 people.

Around midnight after most people had left the tent, I finally found Ross at the entrance to the after party. He was "greeting," but mostly just commenting on what everyone was wearing and being bored. I was told by my boss that I had to find the volunteers to help us clean up the tent but we were told that we would be done by midnight. I had worked long and hard and my feet actually wouldn't let me walk anymore. It was a lot of stress, but I think I got a lot of experience and now I know that I can decorate a room for a dinner of 800. Ross is really proud of me and I'm proud of myself, maybe I've found what I want to do!

A few days later, I got to dress up again. Apparently, if you go to the Palais before a premier, it is pretty easy to get in to see a movie at the Cannes Film Festival. Ross, a few friends and I walked to downtown Cannes in our best clothes (Ross wore a tuxedo) with signs that ask for tickets to that night's premier: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. I didn't really think we would be able to get in. After about 15 minutes of waiting in front of the red carpet, a very nice french man asked me if I was looking for a ticket. His name was Benjamin and his daughter was unable to come with him because she had school. He offerred to walk me into the Palais if I would be his date. I waved goodbye to Ross and we walked down the red carpet!

We were a little early in the theater so we chatted about the people coming down the red carpet, since they were projecting live footage onto the screen. He told me who all the French celebrities were and I asked him about his work. He is a TV, book and movie writer, mostly of children's stories. He was very kind and it was a nice night. Ross and our friends also got into the premier with extra tickets they were given but I definitely had the best seats in the orchestra. I wasn't very impressed with the movie but it was interesting seeing the last film Heath Ledger did and how they finished it without him. It was a very fun experience!

The next day Ross, friends and I went to the island off of Cannes called St. Marguerite Island. We relaxed by walking around the island, swimming and laying in the sun.

In a few days, Ross and my best friend, Erik is coming to visit us. We are going to go to Monaco (not Morocco) and then travel to Spain to visit Ross' foreign exchange student's family. I won't have my computer, so this is the last entry before I come back home, but don't worry, I'll put up pictures and tell you all about my travels when I have the chance at home. I can't wait to see you all!

]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242125460/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242125460/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242125460/tpod.html Mon, 18 May 2009 12:16:47 -0400 Studying in France...

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Carcassonne, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

SO! I have lots to tell you all. I finished my finals and they went fine. I only had to pass my classes to get credit for them, I don't think that will be a problem. I went to the beach a few times and hung out with Ross at his college where we have made some really great friends. Ross and I have really gotten into badminton but I have to go easy on him because he played so hard that he pulled a muscle!

On Saturday and Sunday we had visitors! Tom and Sheena, who are on Ross' dad's side of the family, came down to the South of France for a weekend away from the kids. I met Tom, Sheena and their three kids when they visited California two summers ago. I fell so in love with the kids that I almost studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, where they live.

It turned out Tom and Sheena were staying in a friend's apartment only two blocks from my own. As I was packing up all my stuff to move out of my apartment, they helped me bring my bags to Ross' college in their car. It would have been much more difficult to bring them on the train, so I am very grateful.

We went to dinner together in the old part of Cannes called the Souquet in a small restaurant that looks like a cave and had really great mussels. Ross and I updated Tom and Sheena on what we've been doing and we asked about the kids. Hamish, the oldest at 11, is becoming an accomplished pianist, with his first song ever being The Entertainer. He was also just accepted into a private school. He was in the top four boys to get a full scholarship. Edward, who is about to turn 9 is looking forward to next year when his mom said he could get a dog when he turns 10. He LOVED JoJo, Ross' dog when they visited. And Katie is six. We had a great connection when she visited California. I helped her learn how to swim and she can't wait until I can visit so that I can braid her hair.

The next day, we met up with Tom and Sheena again who took us on a tour of the towns up in the hills behind Antibes. We visited St. Paul de Vence, Vence and Tourrettes sur Loup. Sheena's grandmother used to live there, so she showed us two houses (more like villas with million dollar views) that her grandparents built and we went out to dinner. Seeing them really made me excited to visit Scotland where we will stay in their house, babysit the kids and go to all their favorite restaurants. We also planned to visit some other family who live in Pitlochry. We're going to drive up in Tom's Porsche with the top down!

On Sunday, I moved out of my apartment, sadly. Right before I left I was stopped by my neighbor who is a really nice older lady that never stops talking. She tried to sell me her shoes (some were Chanel, but too expensive for me) and she also gave me a shirt. It's cute but I have no idea why she gave it to me! That night I stayed in Cannes at a hotel because I was planning to stay at Ross' college but they didn't have any empty rooms.

For the next three weeks, while Ross has an internship at the Cannes Film Festival, I planned to do a program where you live on a farm for free in exchange for helping out on the farm. I thought I would be able to meet new people and practice my French. This didn't end up working out because the farm didn't have running water, a toilet, shower or electricity. Instead, I stayed in Carcassone for a week.

Carcassone is a small medieval town that is enclosed by huge walls and is on the top of a hill. It is very pretty but also very touristy. It rained most of the time, so it was hard to walk around and explore. For the weekend, I went to Perpignan which is a beach town. Too bad it was overcast. I still went to the beach, though, and went for a long walk on the beach while listening to music and then laid on the sand reading and drawing.

Now, I am back in Antibes! My study abroad adviser gave me one of the apartments that students had stayed in. It's a great one room in the middle of old town and very close to the beach. I'll stay here for two weeks, go to the beach and check out the Cannes Film Festival. My fancy dresses that I brought won't have gone to waste! I also offered to help Kristin, my adviser, any help that she might need since the semester just ended. She said she could use some help cleaning the apartments and would pay me for my help!

I'm looking forward to Erik coming on May 30. Ross and I are going to show him around Antibes, Cannes and he really wants to see Monaco. Then we head off to Spain, Scotland, and Morocco!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242125400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242125400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1242125400/tpod.html Tue, 12 May 2009 06:50:58 -0400 Studying in France...

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Antibes, Provence, France

This in a filler entry, please go to the next blog.
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Cinque Terre, Italian Riviera, Italy

SO, I haven't written a blog in a few weeks because I haven't had a ton to talk about. I'll fill you in. The weekend after Corsica I went to Aix-en-Provence as a day trip with my study abroad group. We had a guided tour in the morning, had lunch and then walked around the town. After, we went to the artist, Cezanne's house. Right after we got back on the bus, dark clouds rolled in and a huge thunder storm started. That week I had half of my finals, which went well. The weekend after that Ross went on a trip with his study abroad group to Provence. I planned to study and lay on the beach all weekend but it rained. That week I finished my finals and had my first day of summer, right before heading off to Italy.

Ross and I went to the Italian Riviera this weekend and more specifically, the Cinque Terre. We spent a while traveling by train to get there and back, but it was a nice weekend with good weather and great food.

The Cinque Terre is a group of five tiny towns on the Italian Riviera that have become really popular with tourists because they are beautiful and you can hike between the towns, take the train or a boat. We stayed in a small town outside of the Cinque Terre called Sestri Levante because we went on a holiday weekend, there were NO rooms available in any of the five towns. This turned out to be good because we got to spend time in a beautiful town that wasn't crowded with tourists.

We got to Sestri Levante by train around 3 in the afternoon. We had to walk about 2 miles to our hotel, a walk that we would do several more times over the next two days. I actually liked the long walk because we got to work off all the pasta and gelato. Our hotel was nice, although way out of town. It was the first time Ross and I decided to get a room based on money instead of good reviews and it showed. It was comfortable enough but now I have four bug bites on my face and more on my feet.

In Sestri Levante we explored the small town and found a blues and jazz festival. There were also a million people on the beach until at least 7 at night. We also watched old men play lawn bowling for a while. We found dinner by walking through the small streets and a man telling us they had a menu dinner for only 15 euros that includes beer or wine. It turns out there were several courses with this yeast-less bread in oil, red sauce, pesto, with ham, with cheese, with prosciutto and finally nutella. It was a very carby dinner and a little ridiculous with all the different courses.

The next day we were going to take a boat to the Cinque Terre but we decided we would stay in Sestri Levante for the day and go to the beach. We didn't bring our towels and didn't want to walk the 2 miles back to our hotel so we rented beach chairs. This turned out well because the beach was very rocky. We tried going in the water but it is still very cold all along the riviera. We also had a picnic lunch on the beach that we picked up at the market.

That night we decided to take the train to the first town in the Cinque Terre, Monterosso, for dinner. It was a cute, small town where we had great seafood pasta and white wine. We left the restaurant after sunset and got some really nice pictures.

The next day we packed up our stuff to go to the Cinque Terre where we had booked a hotel room for one night in the town of Riomaggiore. Before checking into the hotel we climbed on the breakwater and found a nice spot to take pictures and get some sun. After dropping off our bags at our very comfortable hotel with its own bathroom, balcony, and mini-fridge!

To see the other three Cinque Terre towns, we hiked in between them. It wasn't too challenging but I'm glad we waited until after noon when the sun wasn't so hot. We got to see each town and great views in between. For dinner that night we had seafood pasta again with an ocean view. It wasn't as good as the night before so we decided you should choose either good food or ocean view.

The next day we woke up early, had breakfast and left to go back to France on a long train ride.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1241523000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1241523000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/k1thomas/1/1241523000/tpod.html Tue, 05 May 2009 07:31:41 -0400 Studying in France...

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Antibes, Provence, France

Please go to the next entry to read about the cinque terre!
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