Officially Over

My Blog is Officially complete. All of (well most of) the stories have been told of my year abroad. It was an amazing experience where I learned A TON. About myself, about many different cultures through my travels, about my own culture, about languages (French, English and Italian!), about people, about school, work. You name it, I experienced it in some form or another on exchange.

I met some of the most amazing people whom I will never forget, and already hope to visit in the near future. I can now say I have friends from almost all of the continents. Europe, Asia, North America, Australia - Not too bad if I do say so myself. And the best part is, each and every single one of the people I met on exchange helped me have an amazing experience. One that isn't over just because my exchange has finished. I'm still in touch with most of them, and will continue to be.

Almost 4 months have passed since I left France, and I'm back in school at McMaster, and back to real life. My time in France seems like a surreal dream. Did I really do all of those things? You bet I did.

I've come back me, but better. And perhaps most relevant to the point of my exchange, My french has improved!! My confidence is higher, my vocabulary better, my accent, pretty much everything.

So what does this tell you about the exchange experience? IT WORKS!!! Not only am I spending a year abroad in a new place, I traveled, I met amazing people, I learned NEW languages, I tried new things I would have never gotten to had a stayed in Canada. Most importantly, I gained life experience. I went somewhere new on my own. I tried something completely out of my comfort zone, and I didn't give up.

Being on exchange is an AMAZING opportunity that I would recommend to everyone. This is the time to do it! Before you settle down, before you have a real career, before you run out of time. The time is NOW! If you're thinking about it, just go for it. You won't regret it.

Until my next adventure.........

Venizia, Italia

After hearing all about Venice from my parents, and how much I would love it, I was SUPER excited to get there and figure it all out :)

We flew into the Venice airport, then took a train to get to our hotel. We were staying just outside of Venice in Quarto D'Altino. A quaint little town about 30 minutes outside of Venice. It was quite the trek to find out hotel, and I was a little worried about how far it was to the train station. When we got there, it was absolutely beautiful! The people were so amazing, nice and accommodating, and there were even bikes to rent! We could take them to the train station, lock them there for the day, then bike back.




Everyone at the hotel spoke English, but Adrian was impressive with his Italian skills! I even learn a bit myself :)

We had 4 days before we had to head back to Lyon, so Adrian and I decided to explore out Quarto D'Altino for the evening. We biked around a little, and went to a real Italian Pizzeria for dinner! We each had a MASSIVE delicious pizza. Or so we thought.....



Unfortunately that night, Adrian woke up in the middle of the night with a pretty bad case of food poisoning..... He was up most of the night puking :( and in general not feeling well. Definitely not feeling up to going into Venice that day. I wasn`t too worried, as we still had the next two full days to visit it!

I had an amazing breakfast from the hotel, and lounged by the pool in the gorgeous Italian sunshine all day long :)

The next day he was feeling a little better, so we headed into Venice! We got out of the train station right onto the edge of the Grand Canal. Venice isn't that large, so we decided just to wander around on our own and explore the canals and tiny shops. Venice was full of mask and glass shops. They were EVERYWHERE!







Venice was absolutely beautiful. I loved just wandering through the alleys, watching the people on the gondola`s (which were 80 euros for 30minutes, so we unfortunately did NOT go on one :s).





Gondola Jam!

We wandered through the shops, purchased some souveniers and gifts for people back home. Of COURSE I got Gelato :)








We wandered past the bridge of sighs although it was mostly covered due to construction which continued to plague me throughout my treks across Europe.

We went to the Piazza San Marco, and saw St. Mark`s Basilica. Waited in the huge line, and wandered through the beautiful church.




The Rialto Bridge was cool, but PACKED with people, so you couldn't enjoy it to it's fullest.






We stayed for the afternoon, but Adrian wasn`t feeling up to eating real food yet, and was also pretty tired so we headed back to our hotel. I got a sandwhich at a restaraunt in Quarto D'Altino, and then it was my turn to feel terrible. I wasn`t as bad as Adrian, but not fun. So our last day in Italy I spent in bed all day :(

We left early in the morning for our flight back to Lyon. And despite the unfortunate bouts of who knows what kind of sickness, we both had an AMAZING time throughout the entire trip :) Defintely a good way for Adrian to spend his time visiting me!!

Paris Take 2

And I'm back in Paris! This time with a different crowd :) Adrian and I from Morocco to meet up with Giacomo, and Hannah and Pasan just before they left for Dubai.

Adrian and I arrived in Paris pretty late, so headed straight to our hotel. It was a really cute place in the Latin Quarter.

We met up with Hannah, Pasan and Giacomo at the Eiffel tower in the morning. We tried to walk there, but it ended up being slightly farther away than we (ahem.... Adrian) thought. Unfortunately that was the day for things being closed. We headed to the Catacombs, which were closed due to flooding. Luckily I had already been a few years ago, so I wasn't too disappointed, but my friends were. It`s pretty creepy with all of the bones set up decoratively underground, but definitely something everyone who visits Paris should see!

Next we headed to the business district where we wanted to go up la Défense, but... as our luck would have it that day, was closed as well!




Next stop was Hannah`s pick of Moulin Rouge, once again, we saw all of the crazy sex shops and clubs, and were happy to just be visiting during the day. We walked from Moulin Rouge to Sacre Coeur and checked out the many tourist shops along the way.








We spent lots of the time on the metro!

We wandered around the city for awhile, relishing our last evening together. We had a fantastic dinner, and headed to la Champs D'Elysses for an evening stroll. We stopped at one of the bars to get a drink on the patio, which ended up being SLIGHTLY more expensive than we expected! A lot to begin with, but after 9pm, they added on 2 extra euros per drink!! Insane, but pretty funny.



After our pictures with l'Arc du Triomphe, Giacomo headed back to his couchsurfing host, and Adrian and I walked our Hannah and Pasan back to their hotel. We go to see the Eiffel Tower at midnight all lit up, a perfect goodbye to two of my favorite friends that I'd made during my time in France, Hannah and Pasan. I`ll miss them, but they`re only in the states! North Carolina really isn't THAT far away.... compared to France anyways....



After some tears (on mine and Hannah`s parts anyways) Adrian and I headed back to our hotel. Sad to see our friends go, but happy to head to Venice the next day!