All that she wants

So I'm sparing you all of the horrendous details of the long meetings, never ending paper work and administrative crap that I had to sit through and deal with during the first few weeks I arrived in Nice.  Instead I will show you pictures of the gorgeous Rothschild villa I visited located in St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, about a 30 min bus ride from Nice.  

      

The view taken from the bus

This is the villa (apparently the lady Baronne Ephrussi de Rothschild loved pink : )

I know right!?

Had to stop for a café before leaving : )

gros biz

xoxo

sunday morning, rain is falling

When it rains here it pours!  Apparently Nice receives an amount of rain comparable to cities in England however the amount is spread over far fewer days...c'est très impressionnant à mon avis!


 Last weekend I had about 10 of my teaching assistant friends over for dinner followed by a game of scrabble (french and english words accepted haha).  I have an absolutely amazing apartment!! 


Judge for yourself : )

Living room and little tv

The living room : )

The kitchen

kitchen plus the hall

 It is spacious enough to comfortably fit our group of friends.  The best part is the HUGE balcony that wraps around the entire back portion of the apt.  

the door on the far right is from my room, then the one from the living room

I live up a very steep hill (I should be in great shape in no time!) which makes for a stunning view of the entire city and sea!! 

 When my friends were over it began to lightly rain.  Some of my friends started to complain and were worried to walk home in this drizzle, however the fun had yet to begin!  Huge cracks of lightning momentarily lit up the entire city which were followed by the rumbling thunder that literally shook the apt building.  At this point we almost started to laugh at how hard the rain was falling.  I yelled over the loud noise of the rain for everyone to look down my street, where a small river was forming!! It was unbelievable! It was getting late and I could tell they all wanted to leave.  Some suggested to wait it out, but others convinced them it was now or never.  I handed out plastic bags and my one umbrella and wished them all good luck!  I watched them leave all huddled together, letting out squeals when the thunder hit.  I sure was glad to be warm and dry in my own apt that night!  After they left, my roommate and I made tea and sat back to enjoy the storm.  How i do LOVE thunder and lightning storms.  It reminds me of being in Montana when I was young.  I remember one particular time when a storm woke me up while I was sleeping in the living room of my grandparents condo.  There was a large window right above the couch, so I only had to sit up to watch the lightning take over the town.  Montana me manques.  


just a quick little schpeel about the rain...


xoxo

so i guess i'll start from the beginning...first stop, PARIS

"Well my flight gets into Paris at the Charles de Gaulle airport at 9am so I'm sure i'll arrive at Danny's apartment no later than 10:30am.  If I can't figure out how to get into the building i'll just sit outside until you come outside and find me. OH MY GOD I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOUR ASS IN PARIS!!!!!"

Neither I nor my friend Alex had working cell phones at this point so, we came up with the plan above (with added enthusiasm).  Everything worked out, as it so often does, and i arrived safely at the curb of Danny's apartment.  Danny is Alex's friend who offered to house Alex until she found housing in paris, and to house me for a few days while I visited!  I was greeted by a 'sleepy, yet ready to party and have a good time,' Alex.  We slugged some coffee and decided to venture out on the chilly streets of Paris.  

I had a great time catching up with Alex.  She and I became really good friends when we studied abroad together in Grenoble.  Over the summer we met up with our two other friends from studying abroad and had a great little reunion together in Los Angeles.  When we parted ways it was fun being able to say, "I'll see you in Paris!"  We talked a little bit about our teaching program and both kind of nervously asked each other questions about all the various paper work we had to turn in.  She and I both just laughed when we didn't know what the other was talking about.  I think we both have the same "ehh i'll just wing-it" mentality lol 

That night we shared a bottle (or 2?) of wine and wandered around the eiffel tower at night.  So strange to think about how an iron structure can have such a strong effect on my emotions.  Every time it makes me so happy that it almost makes me feel sad. weird.  

If you know me, then you know i love techno music and it just so happens that a techno festival was jumping on the streets of Paris.  Alex and I took the metro  to the boulevard St. Germain stop and the second we got off the metro we could already hear the music coming from the streets above.  After saving alex from stepping in a fresh pile of puke we made it to the street level.  IT WAS AWESOME!

 The streets were packed and there were different floats going by with different styles of techno.  We followed our favorite floats up St. Germain and Henri V. 

 The parade ended and we started to head back to the apartment to take a much needed nap.  I finally met the generous host, Danny, that evening, when he returned from traveling with his band.

  All three of us went out together that night and had a great time.  

Alex and I at Danny's apartment

Danny and Alex

Danny playing the paparazzi roll in the metro station

The following morning I woke up early (not so fun) and hauled all my bags to the train station.  

I waved goodbye to the rainy parisian weather, and said hello to sunshine and the french riviera!!! 

wooo hooo!!!

gros bisous a tous (kisses to everyone!)

xoxo