Spain Trip

After my two weeks of school holidays I had the rotary bus trip to Spain. Wow, this was probably the coolest week of my life. It is amazing how well you get to know people after spending a week in a bus together! There was only one other girl who had also just arrived in January from Argentina, the rest of the people were from America, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, Ecuador, Venezuela, Japan, Chile.. and yeah I think that was all! By the time it came to say goodbye we were all really sad as we had made some really good, most probably life long friends.

Day One
Paris. It was kinda dissapointing as it was raining and we hardly got off the bus to take photos. I am so pleased that I went with my host family the week before otherwise I think my impressions of Paris would not be very good. We just drove around on the bus and it was raining so all the photos through the windows aren't very good as there is water drops everywhere. We drove from Paris to the Futuroscope Hotel.

Day Two
We went to the futuroscope theme Park and it wasn't that great but it was something to do. The first ride we went on was the best as it is the newest. The other rides weren't that fun. We did this one ride and it was so dangerous I am surprised it is legal "it was like watching TV and getting beaten up at the same time" and "the only thing that would have made it more like a mugging would be if my handbag got stolen!" Haha those quotes pretty much sum the ride up I think!! It was also raining at the futuroscope which didn't help the situation. But lets put it this way- it was a day that I will never forget!

Day 3
We drove for ages (over 8hours) to Carcasonne which is this castle. We were also delayed for a couple of hours because we weren't allowed to drive anywhere due to that huge storm that killed 50 people, I don't know if you heard about it. Carcasonne was so pretty, we stayed in a youth hostel there which was really nice.

Day 4
Crossed the boarder to Spain! It was so nice and sunny! We were all so excited to be able to say the weather is hot! Nothing like the weather in France. We stopped for lunch in this amazing city called Géronne, lucky there were some spanish speakers in the group who could help us order our lunch!! We stayed in this hotel in Lloret de Mar which was not far from Barcelona and it was real nice with good breakfasts and dinners!

Day 5
Tour of Barcelona. It is truely an amazing city with awesome architecture. Theres this place from this movie ccalled Auberge d'Espagnol which I saw with my host families which we went to its where there are hundreds of mozaics everywhere and its called the "Serpentine Bench" We also did a bit of shopping in Bracelona which was nice.

Day 6
we visited the picasso museum which i really enjoyed it was raining a lot in Barcelona but we still had an awesome day. There was also this museum of this football stadium apparantly its the biggest in europe we went there it was pretty interesting. We did some more shopping and returned back to the hotel. That night we had a "soirée animée" and we all just went to the discotheque in the hotel it was a lot of fun and very tiring.

Day 7/8
Day 7 and 8 were pretty much just one huge day because no one really slept as we were travelling from Spain all the way back to paris. It was a long, uncomfortable ride! Our last stop in Spain was the Dali museum it was pretty cool but I was so tired from the night before that I didn't understand much. Me Lucy and Cassie (2 girls who I stayed with the whole time from America who are in my district) had the best lunch and it was nice to finish off in Spain with such great food! When we were back in Paris I took the TGV and arrived in Angers at around midday. I was so super tired that I ended up sleeping for almost 18hours once I had arrived home!

It was truely the week of a lifetime and I can't wait for the Eurotrip which is similar, if not better than the spain trip. It was definitely worth the money and I now have some of the most amazing memories and photos which will be with me forever. =)


everyone in the group =)


Carcasonne Castle


some of the group chilling at carcasonne


Lucy Cassie and I at the beach in Lloret de Mar


amazing cathedral


luisa and I at the serpetine bench place


i love Brazil =D

Paris

I know its been ages since my last post but I have been super busy!
On the 19th of Feb I finally got to see the city of my dreams. Paris. It was better than everything I had imagined. I went with my host parents and I also met up with Emily the other NZ girl who lives close to Paris and she came around with us for the day. Emily coming was only a last minute plan and I'm so pleased she came =) Its crazy to think that two girls from New Zealand can just spend the casual day in paris together. We went to Montmarte which is where the Sacré Coeur is and that was just amazing. It was a beautiful day in Paris with not a cloud in the sky, we couldn't have asked for a better day! Montmarte is where "Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain" has some scenes filmed. It was cool to be able to recognise that- Merci Monsieur Lynch! After Montmarte we had lunch at this restaurant by the notre dame and then we went to the Louvre museum which is where the painting of the mona lisa is, that was awesome to see. It was much smaller than I expected! The Louvre is huge and you need about 4 days to get around the whole thing, we were there for maybe 2 hours so didn't get to see much but it was still really cool. Next stop- le tour eiffel! We didnt climb up it but seeing it was enough, it is such a mindblowing monument and i took heaps of photos. It's something that you have to see in real life to understand the beauty of- the same with all of Paris really. After we had finished there Emily left and so Alain Veronique and I went to do some shopping at the Galerie Lafayette which might aswell be a museum itself because it is so huge with beautiful architecture. By the end of the day I was shattered we arrived back in Angers at 23h45 (that morning we left at 06h45!!). It was truely a day I will never forget and it was spent with a very good friend and my awesome host parents =)


me and emily at the eiffel tower


about to take the metro for the first time!


at the Sacrée Coeur


me at the Louvre =)

As you can see it was an awesome day in paris and we saw a lot of things =) I can't wait to return one day soon hopefully!