May, June and July

Bonjour Y'all!

First off, can I just tell you how soooo very sorry I am for taking 3 months...3 MONTHS to update my blog! I guess promising a blog every week wasn't the best solution. I realize that if I continue to wait 3 months in between each entry, I'm going to forget a lot of things AND the entries will be super long!! Please forgive me and my procrastinating ways. :)
Alright...here we go. A lot has happened in the last 3 months. At the beginning of May, I went down to Lyon, France to a conference where James Goll, a man who attends my church in Nashville, was speaking. I had such a great time and God provided in so many amazing ways! I met some really nice people and just hearing James speak made me feel like a little piece of home was here in France. My birthday was also in May and I had such a great time with my friends here! We had dinner...and cake!!!.. at my place then we went bowling. We had a lot of fun and it was a great way to spend my 27th birthday. Also in May, 2 friends from Nashville came to Paris for a few days and we had a lot of fun as well.
The month of June is kind of a blur. I do remember that I was getting fed up with Paris. Everything about Paris was aggrevating me and I didn't want to be here anymore. The language was frustrating, the people seemed ruder than ever and the guys, oh don't get me started on them! I'm pretty sure I went through a "Don't talk to me or I will punch you in the face" phase. haha I just needed to get out of Paris. I didn't feel like me anymore and that was frustrating. I ended up going to Italy in July and I had such a great time!! Italy has been on my "Places I want to go before I die" list and it definitely didn't disappoint me. I spent 2 days in Venice, 2 days in Florence, 2 hours in Pisa, 2 days in Cinque Terre and about a day and a half in Rome. I met great people in every city and of course most of them are now my Facebook friends! haha Every city was different, all touristy yes, but each had its own style.
In Venice, public transportation consists of boats that take you to different parts of the city and even to the smaller islands that are farther from the main island. These boats really teach you patience because they only go at one speed(slow) and if you happen to hop onto a boat going in the wrong directions, your 10 minute trip just turned into an hour. Not that I know from experience or anything...wait, YES I DO!! Venice is gorgeous though and I definitely will go back there.
Florence was nice and very different from Venice. Florence is an artsy city and you can see it everywhere you go. It wasn't my favorite city but I'm glad I went. From Florence, I took an early train to Pisa. My plan was to get to Pisa, walk to the Leaning Tower, take lots of pictures, then hop back on a train and be in Cinque Terre by noon; spend less than 2 hours in Pisa. Well, everything except being in Cinque Terre by noon happened thanks to the good ol' Italian train strike. After waiting for 2 hours, the train finally arrived. I had to transfer trains in a smaller city and ended up having to wait 45 minutes or so because some of the trains were being cancelled, including the train I needed. I ended up making it to Cinque Terre by 2:45 then had to wait another hour to check into my hostel. Honestly though, it sounds worse than it actually was. Of course nobody likes to wait, but for me, living with the public transportation system in Europe for 7 months now has really taught me more patience. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING you can do to change the situation, so why get all worked up about it. Just sit, read a book, listen to your iPod and wait until it's time to go.
Cinque Terre was absolutely gorgeous and yes...I will definitely go back there!!! Cinque Terre is made up of 5 small towns, all on the western coast of Italy. For me, as well as most of the people that I met there, Cinque Terre is a place that instantly relaxes you. Everything moves at a slower pace and it's just peaceful. You can go to the water and swim or lay out; You can hike from town to town or you can do both...on the same day. Very cool place and I encourage everyone to travel there! After Cinque Terre, I was pretty much ready to come back to Paris, but I needed to see Rome. So I took the early train from Cinque Terre to Rome, checked into my hostel and went straight to the Colosseum. Honestly, I didn't know if I would like Rome. It was another big city, tons of people, etc. But when I got to the Colosseum, I was blown away by all of the history there. There were ancient ruins all over, but then right beside the ruins there were newer buildings. Definitely a cool thing to see. The Colosseum was huge and very impressive. Just trying to picture what took place in there was overwhelming. That same day, I walked around the ancient city (The Roman Forum) and sat on the Spanish Steps. The next day I went to the Vatican. The Sistine Chapel was extraordinary!! Michelangelo was definitely a brilliant artist. I also went to St. Peter's Basilica. This church is huge, and when I say huge, I mean huge!!! It was definitely a site to see.
I took the night train back to Paris and was back in Paris by 10:30 the next morning. I definitely had a memorable trip to Italy, one that I will never forget. I met some really great people, took TONS of pictures and learned so much. I am hoping to post a lot of my pictures on here so everyone can see them. I also might set up a Shutterfly account so you can see all of my pictures from my time here. I will let you know what I end up doing.

Thank you all so much for your love and support! I am thankful for each and every one of you. I promise I will try and do a better job of updating my blog and posting pictures. I hope all is well and I can't wait to see everyone in December!!!

A bientot!!!

Jessi