Time's a flyin'!

Salut tout le monde!

Since I've been slacking off on my blog updates, this post is going to be a whirlwind tour of the past month. Ready, set, GO!

Weekend of November 21st (cough the best day of the year cough)
Place: Londres, Royaume-Uni (London, UK)
Pourquoi? My 21st birthday!

Still a tourist, whichever country I'm in :)

Yes, I went to the country of HRH and Harry Potter! With the world in a wedding frenzy over William and Kate, we explored London and faked Bri'ish accents. Seeing Harry Potter was a must, of course, but here are a couple other things we did:

1. Ate a traditional meal in the Russian restaurant below our kind of sketchy hostel

2. Went to Oxford for the day (FYI: Oxford=six hundred years older than Willamette... damn, son!)

3. Stumbled across one of the cutest Christmas markets ever, as well as

4. A super badass underground skate park down by the river

5. Struggled with silly non-Euro coins

Weekend of November 28th

Place: Paris-- Catacombs, Montmartre, Louvre, Ile-de-la-Cité, Petit Palais

Pourquoi? My aunt visited me for Thanksgiving

In the catacombs--DUN DUN DUN!

My aunt's visit let me revisit some of my favorite touristy places in Paris--like the catacombs (above). Over six million Parisians are stored there, their bones arranged in decorative and chilling patterns. 

It was very nice to have family in town for Thanksgiving. Paris was embracing the holiday spirit; the first snow of the season was when my aunt and I were walking around the Christmas Market. 

Weekend of December 4th

Place: Angers, France

Pourquoi? To visit my WU friends studying at l'Université Catholique de l'Ouest

Angers (a snowy, adorable, traditional, small French town)

It was so fantastic to see WU people again--especially such awesome WU people :)
[Rachel, Casey, and I at their favorite hangout spot downtown]

Even though I could only go for two days, I had a blast just hanging out with my (WU) friends again. The more I travel and the more people I meet, the more I realize that Willamette really does attract my sort of people (not to say that I don't love the rest of you, too!). It was also interesting to see what my life would have been like had I done the Angers program instead of CUPA. I'm still happy with my choice, and I'm happy that I know that for certain now. Paris will always have a piece of my heart. 

Alright, y'all. Now you're updated! What's up next for me? Two more weeks of classes/finals/papers/etc, then Christmas with my parents in Germany. Then two more weeks of goodbyes and nostalgia in Paris and then (and this deserves capitals) IT'S WILLAMETTE DAMNIT!

Happy late Thanksgiving, merry early Christmas, and happy premature New Years :)

Over and out,

Anna