I think I can, I think I can....

Well, as I start the 6^th hour on this plane, I needed something new to distract me. My original plan was to sleep. But well within the first 4 seconds of sitting down and realizing I was next to a 3 year old, I came to the realizations that I would need a plan B.

Ok, Plan B: stay awake, watch movies…time will fly. Well after 2 movies, a tv show, and some Taylor Swift of course, time has not quite flown. The good news is, the 3 year old has stolen my plan A, and has been past out for about an hour now. Good for her.

So, now I blog and post when I have Internet! In America! Where they speak English, and I don’t have to pay to go to the bathroom, and I can get all my fav foods again, and where my puppy is, and where my big bed is. I’m ready!!

(Just typing, too tired to edit…sorry in advance for spelling errors… or rambling.)

So we’ll start the update with Friday:

We decided to just wander the city. Steven had a few places in mind and well we all just trust Steven. We went to a little market and it was really cool to see all the different things there that people were selling….and all the crazy, bizarre things too. WE then just continued wandering, and by wandering I mean walking, and by walking I mean dying. Ugh, miles and miles. Although it was rough and I had DM flashbacks with the pain in my legs, I decided it was needed...we have buffet breakfast every morning, and well the food here is just soooooo good!! So yea, I could use a few million miles to walk off my breakfast….But anyway. WE walked all around the big dome where the senate takes place in Berlin. It was an adventure for sure. Well you see, we had to make reservations, and they did not email us the reservations till the day before. With out dumb 1 hour a day internet we didn’t get this email till it was too late. So we gave it a shot today. We walked up and one woman told us we wouldn’t have a problem, it was fine. Well as we walked up the man goes hmmm, ill have to ask the police officer (who btw, doesn’t speak English.) Well we get to the police officer and he asks for ID…which me an my mom don’t have. (Let me preface this by saying, I never leave anywhere without my ID. I always have it. I never drive without it or anything. It’s always with me. But well, in Europe, you never need your ID!!! Ever!!! Pretty sure they’d give alcohol to the 3 year old next to me.) Yes, so I didn’t carry my passport around because if I got pick pocketed or anything, I’d be worse off. So after looking at us, and repeatedly telling us we always need to have ID (literally repeating like a broken record.) The policeman finally told the guy we were ok. And he had to escort us in. Scary!!! But we made it, and it was pretty cool. And then we had dinner and headed home to crash.

Saturday: Well the crew had differing views for today. So we split. My mom and Steven wandered the city again and went to a few places Steven was interested in. My dad and I went to a concentration camp. It was something we both wanted to do being we were in Germany, and may never get the opportunity again. I don’t really know how to describe it correctly. It was an amazing learning experience and well just that, an experience. That’s all I’ll get into on that, so st night. We all met back up and went to a beirgarten…if you couldn’t get that one, it’s a beer garden J It was actually the very first on in Berlin and has been there since the 1800s! It was such a cool little outside area. Steven and myself finally got these beers we had been hearing about that were a specialty to Berlin. His was bright, lime green and mince was red. They were soo good!!  IT was a great way to end our vacation.

Well, by the time I post this, I will actually be in America!

I’ve currently got an hour and 24 minutes until Philli. Where I will fight to stay awake, make to it Tampa, and continue to fight to stay awake. I’ll hopefully adjust better to the time difference than I did going to Paris.

Plan on taking a small coma of a nap!

Until then, thanks for reading all my European adventures! 

Hallo Berlin!!

Wednesday

Well going into today, I knew it would be a long day, but never though it would be this long. We got on a 9 AM train from Paris and would switch to another train once we crossed over into Germany. We were only given 5 mins from the tome we arrived, to the time our next train departed. Steven kept assuring s that it would be ok, but of course, it was not. Our train was late and also full of a group of kids that were getting off at this stop as well and were in no rush. At all. they stood there. Shuffled off, and thn blocked the door, and i pulled/dragged/pushed...did everything it took to get my bag through the door. We got off and, well our next train was gone. So we had to wait about 45 minutes for the next one to leave for Berlin. When it finally arrived we jumped on, being sure not to miss it. But, well, we got onto the first class cars and could not move very far. The isle was small and our bags are big. Think of a big bag…and think bigger…that’s how big my dumb luggage is and it is so hard to maneuver around. So we decided we could wait till the stop in Frankfurt to try and get down the train. It was a mess and so hard to get through, and once we made it to the next cars 9one hour of stading on a moving train later), there was hardly any open seat…so we all split up. Six hours later, we were finally in Berlin. We met my Dad at the train station and made our way to our hotel. Once settled, we went to an awesome steakhouse and I had my first legal beer with my brother and dad! We had a great time. Much better ending to a long day.

Thursday

Today we went on a walking tour and I hate to admit it, but I loved the history in Berlin. I generally hate history, but it is just so cool here. At one point our tour guide brought us to a parking lot and we were all quite confused. This was until he informed us that we were standing above what was at once time Hitler’s bunker and also where he eventually committed suicide. It was so weird to see in person and see all the life and apartments all around it and actually be exactly where he ran everything. Quite eerie, but cool. We saw the pieces of the Berlin wall that are still up and went into a few museums. We did so much walking, my poor legs are not happy. But it really was so cool and interesting to learn all about everything that happened right here. 

I only have 1 hour of free internet a day. Rough. So I'm trying to use it wisely. 

I'm exhausted. Permanent exhaustion. But I guess that's how it's supposed to be on vacation :)

More adventures to come!!

Last few days...oops

So here we go. I'll just do the highlights since I'm way behind.

Thurs- Jordan and I got way lost lookig for Ice Bar. We made it with 2 mins to spare and just ran upstairs and in...expecting to find the 10 people we were meeitng there. But it was just us. We ended up having a great time!!! Everything made of ice, even our cups! We were freezing but it was quite an experience.

Fri- It was out last day in class, and was kinda weird. The 2 weeks flew by. A few of our teachers took us out to lunch. They first asked us if we wanted wine! Wine!! on a lunch break! They said they do it all the time. So, wine it was! Then back to school. How cool! We need to adopt this in the US. Fir night was our administration dinner with all the teachers. We had a great time!! Jennies teacher was sure that our wine glasses were filled at all times! Out table was amazing! This dinner turned out to be over 4 hours! Goodness!

Sat- We woke up very early and headed to the airport. I said bye to all my friends and then started the trek to find my mom! We then headed to our hotel- via the metro- with our huge bags, ahhh. A little stressful but we did make it! I'm such a good guide. We wandered our area and waited for our room to be ready at 2. We then waited for Steven to get here! So fun to have my family here.

Sun- We started the day with dessert crepes for breakfast!!! and then headed to the Eiffel Tower. Climbed up it and and then went to sit on the lawn! It was beautiful out and amazing to just sit in the sun. We even saw some gypsies get arrested! Quite eventful. We then went to the Arc de Triumphe and headed back for some dinner.

Mon- We went out to Versailles for another beautiful day. I couldn't believe how pretty these two days were, considering for the past 2 weeks I've hardly seen 2 full sunny days. We got some snacks (I got ice cream, of course!) and we sat out on the lawn there too.WE then headed back and went to the Louvre until it closed. We ate dinner outside at a little cafe (great for people watching-facing the street.)

Tues- Ew the rain is back. Well kinda. Then the sun. Then the rain. It's the bipolar weather all over again. WE headed to Sacre Couer (one of my favorite places here) and it was sunny!!! For the most part. We went all around the church and the town, until the rain came. We headed home and then to Luxembourg Gardens.

I'm getting sick :( so we went to the pharmacy this morning. It was quite an adventure to get medicine from a french speaking pharmacist. It was a game a charades of my symptoms. But we got some weird mix for water and hey, it worked! I hope this cold goes away though, sucks being sick on vacation.

Well, my short little highlights seem to have grown into a novel.
Off to Germany tomorrow!!!!

Basically all about food...

As I said in my last post, we went to climb the eiffel tower....over 700 steps!! Ouch! I'm a little out of shape but once we made it up, it was so worth it. You could see all around each side. We took lots of pictures, and then I decided that I deserved a reward for all that exercise. So, once we got to the bottom, I got the nutella crepe that I have been wanting sooooo badly. And omg!!! It was absolutely amazing!!! So worth however many hundreds of calories it was. I will be getting at least 1...or 7 more before I leave.

Shout-out to my mom!!!! Today is her 25th Birthday!!! Happy Birthday!!!!
So to celebrate my moms birthday, me and Jordan started out our day with chocolate croissants! So yummy!!! Another thing I will be getting more of :) We were then going to try and go to the very top of the Eiffel tower (went to level 2 yesterday) but when we got there the top was closed. Sad.
So we made it back towards out hotel and went to the four-story mall...yes dream come true! Four-stories! I got myself a longchamp backpack for a birthday present to myself. They are so cheap here, it was great!!! We had a lot of fun venturing around and getting lost on the four floors!

We just went to dinner at a restaurant right in front of the Arc de Triumph. We got these sandwiches that are basically French Staples, they are so good. Croque monsieur and croque madame, which are toasted Ham and cheese sandwiches with a ton of cheese melted on top! Yum!! And we had a great view and got to people watch too!

Now back to school tomorrow!

Weekend!

Sorry I've been failing at this blog thing....

Well saturday we went out to Versailles! It is huge and soooooo pretty! We did it all. The palace, the gardens, and even Marie Antoinette's house. It was a really far walk, but all worth it. I was beyond exhausted after that though. As we got on the train to go back it was taking forever to leave. Then, all of a sudden these official looking people came on and yelled something in French. Everyone immediately started rushing around and ran across to the other train. Someone then politely translated that this train would not be going to Paris, so we followed to crowd and rushed to the other train. Made it, but it was packed. Then that night we went out for dinner. It was pouring rain and everything was soaked so I coudn't wait to get back and just be dry and warm.

On Sunday we were going to go to the Lourve, but the line was hours long so we instead went to this huge outdoor market place that one of our directors had told us about. But when we were getting back onto the Metro, it was so crowded that we wer all rushing on and the beeping sound started, meaning the doors would be closing. Jordan wasn't on yet. Out of instinct I threw my arm out to open the door...these are not doors like the Subway, or an elevator though. They close no matter what. So, there's Jordan's foot in the clear doors infront on the metro, and my hand slammed in the metro doors. Just stuck there. All I remember doing is wiggling my fingers and then somehow pulling them out. We then shouted through the door and used hand symbols to try and tell her where to get off. It was super scary but in the end we were all reunited.

The market we went to after was kinda cool, but it was soooo gloomy out and freezing and I have never squeezed my purse so close to my body ever...so I was unsure about the whole situation. You had all the creepy guys there selling all the fake things and being all weird. By the end, I was pretty uncomfortable. We then headed to lunch. After lunch me and Jordan were soooo ready to be home. We came back and passed out for 2 hours. Amazing! We woke up did our lesson plans and some work, got mcdonalds for dinner (lazy problems) and then were in bed by 10:30. We needed sleep sooo bad after that long weekend.

Then today in school the kids were pretty rowdy but the day went pretty well. I really enjoy how much the teacher allows me to do and how comfortable I already feel in the class.

Tonight me and Jordan are making dinner again...always an adventure, and then were going to climb the eiffel Tower!

It's Friday, Friday!!!

Wooo we survived a week in the schools. And a week since we started out venture to Paris. It's been amazingggg so far!! Although, I'm still exhausted and do not believe people ever get used to this time change.

Today at school was teacher appreciation day. And omg! My teachers got dozens and dozens of bouquets of flowers an chocolates, cards, everything. Then the teachers had a big lunch with a huge buffet line of foods that parents made, and a huge dessert table (my fav!!) To put this in perspective, I've been there for 4 days, and came home with 2 cards and 6 roses! It is amazing how much parent participation there is here and how highly respected and appreciated teachers are.

I gave my first spelling test today! It was fun but scary ha. I had to thinking of sentences to fit th words into on the spot. ANd just wanted to help them. It was also kind of hard to keep an eye on everyone and get them to respect me like they would the teacher. I'm also planning the lesson I will teach next week. Math...which I'm terrified of, but have to do it at sometime, so why not now.

Today was kind of hard day. We have a few ESE students ranging from aspergers/autism to brain trauma issues, and each one of them had their own indivividual breakdowns. It's hard because I'm not really trained for any of it, but it is an amazing experience to see what they do for the children and how inclusion really is so big here! It is great!

Now random thoughts that I have forget to say...

My kids call me Miss. C. It's precious. And when they do say my name, most of their accents make it sound so strange.

I have been asked 4 times now if I wear fake eyelashes.

I constantly stare out our hotel window and have an "Omg, I'm  in Paris" moment when I see the eiffel Tower.

I eat like no other and I love it....hey were walking a lot, and calories don't count on vacation.

That's all for now, I'll keep thinking.

Tuesday, Wednesday, And Thursday...oops

Soooo I've been  little behind, so catchup time!!

Tuesday was a French Holiday so we had the day off. I slept in, which was much needed. Then me and Jordan kind of just explored the La Defense area. We were going to go to Mcdonalds just to try Coca-Cola Light, and we came out with meals. #fatgirlproblems. We used the "Easy order" kiosk, which was awesome. Its a touch screen ordering where you pick the language. It went really well, until the started calling out the order numbers in French. Embarrassing. We just stood there and showed them our receipts. Then after that we went to Sacre Coeur, which is a beautiful church on a hill in Paris. It was Amazinggg!! Such a pretty view and we went inside of the church too. We just shopped around and then came back before going out to eat, and I may or may not have gotten 2 ice creams that day. But they're so good here!! As we left Sacre Coeur, we had to be smart girls. There are the creepiest people ever here that come up and grab you and try to distract you and steal your stuff. So we came up with the idea to walk really close behind a family so they wouldn't come up to us, worked like a charm!!

And Wednesday was my birthday!!!! My lovely little and Jordan tag teamed so that I had a little birthday girl ribbon to wear and a tiara while I was here! It made it so fun! We went to see the eiffel tower Sparkle the night before my birthday, and that was amazing to soo up close! At school that day, the first thing on the agenda was "Happy Birthday Colleen!" I loved it! During snack time this sweet girl brought in cookies for my birthday and the kids sang happy birthday (including cha-cha-chas!!) When we got back we got ready and want to an early dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Bastille. We then did what I called a Metro crawl, and got off at random stops on our way back for drinks. Can't believe I'm finally 21!!!

Today was our class field trip to The Louvre. Yes, a field trip to the Lourve, makes our field trips seem soooo lame! One of the kids in the class has the chicken pocks to his mom could not chaperone so I got my own group. I was responsible for a group of kids, in a hugggge museum, that I've never been to, and where everything is in French...sounds perfect. The entire time I just kept asking the two french speaking kids in my group what the signs said or what people were saying. The Egyptian exhibit was pretty cool and I had fun playing mother goose just repeatedly counting to be sure I had everyone in my group. As we made our way back to the school, the kids were soooooo hyper, so we played the silent game. Which was beautiful and resulted in many of the kids falling asleep....as well as myself, oops.

Later we're going out to dinner as a big group and then I plan on coming back and passing out. Still not used to this time and need to catch up.

First Day of School

AMAZING!! Today was so much fun! The school is so so different than any American school I've ever been in. For starters, its beautiful. Picture a mansion...but really it's actually an old mansion turned into this school. I'd put up a picture but apparently there's high security and privacy rules with this school because important peoples kids go there. For example, Demi Moore's kids went there. Lots of UN people and such too.
The classes are soooo relaxed. Discipline is not an issue at all and it was amazing to see a lesson completed without behavior interruptions. The lunch for the kids was like a meal I could get going out. It was served on glass plates and they used real silverware! It was insane! So much better than the mush they serve kids in the US.

My teacher is originally from Germany, but speaks English perfectly. The kids are from all over and it is so cool to see many of the ELLs and other students speaking a number of different languages.

At one point the teacher had to assist one of the students out side of the classroom, and I ran a little bit. On  my own!! It was sooooo coool! And it was great to see a full day of school for the first time too!!

Idk if I can go back to the American school system, this is so nice. The teachers and students have so much freedom and learn so much more! The kids are so advanced..I was working with a small group during reading and told my teacher I was impressed by them, she then told me they were the slower group and I was shocked!

It was an amazing day and experience!! I can't wait for the rest! Already a break tomorrow! It's a French Holiday, so back to school on Wednesday (aka My Birthday!!!!!!!!) I think one littler girl may be making me muffins and jam for my birthday. She told me she had a surprise for me and then later asked if I liked muffins and jam and said okay good. So maybe some birthday muffins?! :)

And my teacher said Field trip on Thursday. I'm expecting a rando place....oh no were going to the Louvre!!! So excited! Free trip to the Louvre with my class!! egyptian exhibit here I come!!

Sleepy in Paris

The rest of yesterday we took the metro as a group to learn how to use it. We went to the Eiffel Tower first and it was awesome!! It is huge!! Once we did that we were on our own to do whatever we wanted. We decided to get some lunch and then we headed back to the hotel. Getting lunch was terrifying. I had no idea how to order or anything. I had no idea what the waiter was saying to me, kinda played a smiling and nodding game and relied on who I was with. Once we got back to the hotel, it was a battle to stay awake. We lasted till about 8 pm and passed out. We woke up at about 3:30 and were wide awake. The wind was just whipping past the window and it was hard to fall back asleep, but eventually happened.

Today we took an open bus tour of the city. It started out cold and rainy and just blah. We were on the upper open deck with our hoods on and freezing. They gave us little headsets so we had a guided tour. We saw a ton of things. Arc de triumph, Eiffel Tower again, The Louvre, Notre Dame, and everything along the way. The bus tour was a hop on hop off kind of thing so you could get off anywhere you wanted and stay and just wait till the next bus came. The sun eventually came out too!! So it got a lot nicer! We ate lunch at a little cafe and I obtained my first legal drink with my lunch!!! We had little toasted sandwiches and a glass of wine. Yum!! Once we got to Notre Dame we were on our own and split up. We walked back to the Louvre area and went to the Jardines de Lourve. Huge area of gardens, it was sooo pretty!!

Now were back at the hotel resting and plan on going to get dinner later.

Only slight culture shock. Really wish I understood and could speak more French, that's the hardest part. I've got bonjour, merci, and Au revoir down. Still learning...

First day of school tomorrow!!!

WE MADE IT!!!! And it is absolutely amazing!! I don't even know where to start. My mind is all over... granted my body feels like it is 4:40 AM.

Well our plane was delayed an hour. But once we got off it went great. As they began to give directions, we understood toilet and U.S. Airways, and decided we may be in trouble. But that's what French speaking friends are for! The meal was well interesting, but you would have thought they were serving us gourmet, fresh, food in these small, plastic, microwavable containers with how excited me and Jordan were. We hit hour three, watched a movie and I started to feel like I had been on that plane forever. Tried sleeping, no that didn't work. So just played a number of sudoku games, solitaire, and anything else the little screen had. Around 11 I fell asleep for 45 mins, but when I woke up I was far too excited to sleep.

Landing and getting around the airport was well interesting. 8 American girls making their way through a foreign country, you can only imagine. Customs terrified me and all I had to do was say bonjour and hand them my passport for a stamp.

Now were unpacking and trying to stay awake and alive!!!
It's foggy here but we have an amazingggggg balcony so I can't wait for it to clear up!!

I am beyond excited, and obviously chugging on 45 mins of sleep.
Paris is amazing so far. We're going to venture out soon!

Au revoir for now!!!!

Oh and everything on my blog now shows up in french. Lost. So cool though!!

Well I didn't think that I would be posting so soon...first update... 45 minute delay. Ughhh. I just wanna get there so bad!!!! They said maintenance is on the plane and we have to wait. We were so close! Boarding was supposed to start at 4:05. But I guess it's for safety... Just get me there!! NOw they are saying we will depart at 5:15. Hopefully this is my last post from America.
Au Revoir!!!

So, I decided it's be a great idea to blog while in Paris. I'm currently in the Charlotte airport waiting to board my flight! I am beyond excited!! I have so many amazing opportunities to look forward too. Plus, my 21st Birthday!!!! I promise to blog as often as I can, and will do my best to keep up with pictures!!
So check back for my Parisian adventures :)