Hot hot hot

Oh my goodness, la chaleur! It's too much. If only I could spend the entirety of my days at the beach, but alas no. There's class and a research paper I need to start writing. Friday a bunch of us decided to venture out to the zoo after class and boy was that a mistake. To be fair, the rhinoceroses (rhinoceri?) were very cool (not in the cold sense of the word) - much larger than I expected. It was also fun to watch the three bears swim and play around in their pond. And there were giraffes, and I do like giraffes. But aside from the animals, which were far and few, it was basically just like a nature walk with a serious lack of shade. I suppose when I look back at the visit from an air-conditioned environment, I won't be as negative. I did enjoy myself though, even though it felt like I was melting.

Le Weekend

Cloisters

I was so excited about sleeping in on Saturday, but it turns out that I'm unable to sleep in. It seems like a waking-up-early habit has developed. So I was up at 8 AM on Saturday and I decided that today would be the day that I would get my packages into the system (i.e. mail them home to avoid excess baggage fees at the airport, hopefully). Well I carried them there, and they were heavier than I originally thought they would be so that was a tad difficult and I was a bit out of breath by the time I arrived at the post office. I was able to fill out the customs forms and shipping forms easily enough, but then things got difficult. For future
reference, in France a driver's license doesn't count as a form of identity and when shipping overseas you need valid proof of your identity so I ran home to get my passport. The post office was only going to be open for 45 more minutes so I had to be quick. Thankfully I returned with time to spare, but then their card-swiper machine thing wasn't able to read any of my credit/debit cards so I had to withdraw a large sum of money from the ATMs with 5 minutes left until they closed. Luckily the ATM worked and I was able to successfully send my packages on their way. Hopefully they'll arrive. Fingers crossed!

Tour de France

USA!

Phew, I'm glad this second week is over and I finally get to sleep in. I said I liked how active this trip has been, but I need a recovery period. Anyway, there's something about being out of the US on the 4th of July that makes you even more patriotic than you would have been in the US, or that could just be me. In any event, I was feeling the patriotism on July 4th, especially when the Tour de France came through Montpellier. USA! I actually did get a picture of one of the Americans on the Tour, though I didn't realize it at the time. The cyclists sped by so fast it was difficult to take pictures, but for real.

Nîmes & Pont du Gard

Nîmes arena

This trip was the start of the never-ending week and by that I mean I would really like to sleep in. I've been up before 7AM too many times for a person my age. Anyways, griping aside, Nîmes was a very interesting place with a lot of Roman influence. It was a very hot day though. We climbed to the top of La Tour Magne where we were greeted with great views and we also saw other Roman

Montpellier - Week 1

You know your in France when...

I have too much luggage. Way too much luggage. When did I realize this you may ask? Well, I really knew it all along, however I was made aware when I had to carry it up to the top of the train we took to Montpellier. Oh my goodness. Anyways, we arrived in Montpellier and it was a beautiful day. It had started to rain as we left Paris and in Montpellier there were blue skies, a bit of wind, and a nice warm temperature. In other words, completely different from Wales. Each place has its own charm though, don't get me wrong. So, I get off the train and meet my host-mother and I am all at once immersed in French. She is apparently super sporty, having hiked mountains in Peru and is one of the people you see skiing up the mountain. There is a bit of an accent though: un accent du soleil :) Overall though, this first week has been super busy and it's hard to believe that barely one week ago I arrived in Paris. It feels like I've been here for months!

Paris

Definitely in Paris

So, relatively speaking my journey to Paris from London was uneventful. I got to St. Pancras, realized I have a ridiculous amount of luggage in comparison to everyone else, and boarded the train. I'm pretty sure I passed through the Chunnel, but it was dark so there wasn't much to see in the transition from England to France. The sky got grayer and cloudier as we approached Paris and right when I walked outside to stand in line for a taxi at Gare du Nord, it started pouring. Of course my umbrella was packed somewhere in the depths of my suitcase along with my rain coat, so I got rained on. One of my bags isn't waterproof so some things got damp, but it wasn't too bad. Nothing disastrous thank goodness, knock on wood. So I made it to Paris and took a taxi to the hotel. Thursday was a free day so I decided to head to the catacombs. Unfortunately the line was super long and I was told that I wouldn't be able to make it in before they closed at 4PM. So I journeyed over to the Pompidou Center to see some more modern art. Also, this is pretty accurate :)

So long, Cardiff

My minuscule hotel room

I've officially left Cardiff and it was a little saddening to think that I probably  won't be returning anytime soon. It feels like just yesterday I was walking through the slush looking for my flat and now it's June and I'm about to start the second part of my studies abroad. Before heading to Paris though I have three days in London, but I don't really have any plans. Last time I was Harry Potter focused and this time is more of a what seems interesting/is free. Free being key. The hotel room I'm staying in is so basic it's comical. Oh lordy, a pigeon nearly flew in through my window. No need to worry; I'm quick-thinking and was able to clap my hands to scare it away. I feel like all city pigeons, Venetian pigeons in particular, are a tad unstable. I'll try to recap my adventures thus far:

Reflections

As my time in the UK nears its end I find myself reflecting on the past five months I've spent in Cardiff and now I'm going to try to write down this semi-mental list of things I've noticed that are different here.