My First day as Mike Ross’ Intern!!! July 1, 2008

Today has been so much fun thus far!! I had to be at the Hot Springs office this morning at 9:00 and Sonya (the staff assistant at the office) showed me around and introduced me to Donna, the Medicare, social security otherwise known as Mike Ross’ answering service. She is the nicest lady, and people call for her ALL the time. Sonja is about 27 or so and she is really nice. Donna is super nice also. There is one more person that works in the office names Jeff, but he isn’t here today. He seemed nice on the phone this morning though.

This internship was perfectly made for me. I have a desk and computer with the internet (obviously) and there is a refrigerator full of cold coke zeros at my disposal, and Melissa is working about 1/2 a mile down central avenue from me!! It’s perfect.

Basically, I sit here and take constituent’s calls and write down their messages and problems. I pass those along to either Sonja or Donna. Sometimes I can just talk to people and they are appeased that their issue was heard, even though I can’t do anything about it. I feel like I am doing a civic duty. I will do a little bit of filing once a week, but not too often. I will also get to attend any events or lunches that the office has, so that should be fun. I told them I could write press releases if they needed they, so we will see if that works out.

I am so glad this internship worked out, and I don’t have to work too many hours a week. Only Tuesday-Thursday. Very nice!! Hopefully I will be able to spend the rest of my time at the lake!!

I met Melissa at Rolando’s for lunch and it was really good. It’s about half a mile down the road. It was really fun to see Hot Springs from a different point of view. I have lived here for 21 years, but I don’t come downtown to eat or walk around. It was fun seeing all the little restaurants and stores that we have down here. Me and melissa are going to meet for lunch twr. It feels like we live in a different city and have jobs downtown and just meet up for lunch. It’s really fun. It’s such a blessing to be in the same town with her for the rest of the summer. So much catching up and fun times we have!!

 

HOME SWEET HOME!!! June 29, 2008

I am back in the United States of America!! YAY!! This is going to be the best Fourth of July ever!!! hahah…I am very excited!

Dad and Jenny picked me up at the airport yesterday, I had to go through customs and stuff, but I have never walked so fast to see anyone! When I saw them, I was so excited!! Then we went to eat at Joe’s crab shack!! It was sooooo yummy!! 

After that we drove home in a crazy thunderstorm, but we made it back about midnight!! I was really glad to see mom last night! I was super tired though, so I headed to bed shortly after I got home!

Jenny and I went to Sonic today and I got my Route 44 Diet DrPepper with Vanilla. It was delightful!!

We just got done eating an early dinner at a BBQ restaurant in Hot Springs that was great!

I have to say…it’s amazing to be home! I miss my host family in Besancon, but it pales in comparison to my mommy, daddy and sister!!!

I am gonna go see Melissa tonight and just hang out!! SO EXCITED! So much to catch up on!

Thank you all so much for keeping up with my adventures during this trip! I am going to continue blogging every so often, but don’t feel obligated to read!! Thank you all so much for love and encouragement throughout my time in France, it really made the time pass more quickly!!!

 

A spectacular ending to a wonderful experience! June 27, 2008

Even though the de Russe family is not reading this, I have to say thank you. They have been the most hospitable host family I could have prayed for. Tonight we had my going away party, and all the little girls were dressed in matching dresses so that we could take pictures together. We ate and had a nice time outside, and at the end of dinner, they family presented me with a gift. All the kids were so excited, and Hermine handed me a pamphlet of stapled together papers. On the front it reads “Some French Recipes.” Arnaud typed all my favorite recipes and printed them off the computer, and then the kids all decorated different pages of the book! It is absolutely amazing! And of course I started crying when they gave it to me. I just told them I was so thankful for their family and it had my my trip better than I could have ever expected! It was a wonderful evening.

Class went really well today also. We had class in the morning, and then after lunch we went up to the outdoor terrace as a class and had tea and coffee! It was so much fun! Our teacher even picked up the tab! He said we were the best class he has ever had! So much fun! We got to chat with him outside of class and learn more about him!

I took a little nap this afternoon in hopes that I can stay awake until the plane in the morning! I really want to be able to sleep on the plane this time! It makes it pass so much more quickly. And your heinie doesn’t start hurting nearly as soon!!!

Alix brought me a scale to weigh my bags on and it looks like I am going to be okay! I bought a bottle of wine for someone and it’s the only thing I am worried about! We shall see!

Jaclynn and Eriha are both coming over tonight to hang out until it is time to head to the CLA. They should be here in about 30 minutes. I am gonna take a quick shower before they arrive so we can watch movies and such!

I love you all so much. I really appreciate you reading my blog (although comment participation has been lacking) haha. And I can’t wait to see you all soon!

I will see some of you tomorrow!! YAY! I can’t believe this experience is ending. I am so thankful to have had this opportunity and know that it has made me a stronger person overall!

Love,

Ashley

Our Last Night Out!! June 26, 2008

Well, we are all still really excited to come home…but it hit us today that we won’t all be together everyday anymore, so we decided to go out tonight as a goodbye party! We all met downtown at 9 and just hung out. There is this Irish Pub in the Centre Ville that a lot of people like, so we just went there and chatted and talked about our trip!! It was really funny! I just got home at it’s 1:30 here. Four of us took a taxi because the buses stopped running before we were ready to leave!! But I am safe and sound in my room now!

Today was okay in class, mainly because we didn’t pay attention because we are all so excited to head home! Tomorrow we are only going to have class in the morning, and then we are going to hang out on the terrace for our afternoon session! Our teacher is the best!

Tomorrow night the de Russe’s are having a little going away party for me! We are going to barbecue in the backyard! I was thinking about it today, and I really am going to miss them! They have all been so great to me and I just am so thankful. I got all their birthdays from Ines, so I am going to send them birthday cards! I think that will be a great way to stay in touch!

Well, that’s all for now. I am going to head to bed, and I will write on here tomorrow night before we leave. We have to leave at 2:30 AM on Saturday. So basically Friday night!!

I love you all so much

The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round! June 25, 2008

We rode the bus for nearly 2 hours today! We were waiting at our stop, and the bus we usually take to class came before the one we take home so we decided to hop on! BIG MISTAKE!! It took us to the boonies and we had to sit on it forever waiting to get back to our neighborhood! It stank, but we were able to see lots of other parts of the city that we hadn’t seen before.

Also, the nationwide sales started today in France, so the centre ville is bustling with people trying to buy so much stuff! There was a ton of cute stuff on sale, but I just don’t have the space for it all. Neither in my bag, or at the Pi Phi house!!

It was more of the modern area, with bigger stores and restaurants! It reminded me of the USofA and made me even more anxious to get home! I am still having a great time here though. Class went by much more smoothly with Ange today than with the lady teacher! He is so much more entertaining!

After I got home from the bus riding fiasco, I came down to my room to read and hang out til dinner time. About 10 minutes later Ines, the super cute little girl who is 8 came down to say hello to me. (and she wanted some of my gum…I gave them some last week) It was probably mostly that, but it was still fun! She sat down here and we chatted for a while. It was really neat. She asked me when I was leaving and said she was really sad. I told her I would write and send pictures and what not, but she was just so cute about it! I also got all the children’s birthdays from here so that I can send cards when those roll around! That will be a great way to keep in touch!

I also showed her lots of pictures on facebook of my friends and roommates. And she couldn’t stop talking about how pretty all of you were. (Kelsey, Alli, Laurie, Heather, Amanda) She kept making me go back and make them big so she could see you all! It was adorable! And it made me miss you all even more!!

There was a little party going on the backyard to celebrate the end of school. They get done this Friday! Ines is trying to get me to stay one more week so we can go to the pool next week! She’s just so precious!

We aren’t having dinner til 8:30 tonight because the mom has some sort of end of the year school party to go to. I think I am going to go out in the garden and read and then take a shower before dinner!

I am gonna try to start packing to make sure I don’t need to purchase another bag before I come home! Jeff only checked one bag on the way, so he has promised me that he will check an extra for me if I need him to! YAY for that! Anyway, I am about to head outside to soak in the beautiful weather!

I love you all and am getting excited about home!

From cold to HOT HOT HOT!! June 24, 2008

Well the weather we have been praying for has arrived, and I’d like to send it back please! No, I’m just kidding, but it was really hot here today! I got up this morning and went to class, and the CLA was sooo hot! We had the windows open and the fan going and we were all still sweating. So, needless to say, I am glad that the warm weather arrived as we are getting ready to part!!!

Today was a fine day in class. It was our last day with the lady teacher so that was very very very exciting!!! We had little oral exams in class, and that took up alot of our time. I am so happy that I only have 3 days of school left and they are all with our favorite teacher!! YAY!!

After class, Jaclynn, Ben, Eriha and I came back to my house to watch a movie. I introduced them to my host mom, Alix, and then we headed to downstairs to watch the movie. About 5 minutes later 2 of the little girls came to my room with a pitcher of ice water, 4 glasses, toastlike crackers and jellly for us to have as a snack! I thought that was the sweetest thing of her! Everyone is so jealous that my host family is so nice and great!! They really have been a blessing!

After everyone headed home, I called mom and then had dinner! We had radishes, ham and cheese croissant hot sandwiches (so yummy) and then a almond cake with cherries to go along with it. The cheeries arrived to the house about 5 minutes before we ate dessert. They were from the neighbors cherry tree, and they were soooo yummy!!

Now I am in my room and I’m going to read a little bit and then go to bed!

I feel like I have seen what there is to see in Besancon, and I am ready to start packing and get back to the United States!! I have included a list of things I miss and am looking forward to seeing/eating/talking to etc:

My mom, dad and sister!!

Ben Thomas

Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper with Vanilla Easy Ice

Outback Steakhouse: tangy tomato dressig

Cracker Barrel: everything there, home cooking american style sounds amazing

The lake in Hot Springs

MELISSA SMITH: my bff for life! I can’t wait to see you oh so soon!

Church: never take for granted getting to worship with a group of believers speaking your same language. I am so ready to get back to it.

Driving a car whenever and wherever I want

The dollar and what you can buy with it in the US!!

The fact that a sonic drink during happy hour is like .40 Euros!!! (exchange rate stinks)

MOST OF ALL, this trip has made me realize how much I love and am blessed to have the people in my life that I do: my friends, family and so many others. I am so blessed by so many things, and this trip has allowed me to reflect on those and be thankful for them!

I love you all and will see you in the USA very soon!

 

A lazy MONDAY!! June 23, 2008

My day has been consumed writing blogs!! HAHA…jk! But not really.

I decided to skip class today because I was so exhausted from the weekend and I don’t want to be tired for the rest of the week. We didn’t sleep to much this weekend, and I needed to catch up to ensure a nice few days in the Bizzy!

I slept til about 11:00, got up and ate breakfast. Took a Shower and did my nails. Then I watched JUNO (that Aunt Deb sent me) and then I have been working on my blogs.

Jaclynn came over around 5:00 to chat and hang out for a bit. It’s going to be weird not seeing her all the time!! But I miss you all, so maybe it will balance out!

I just got done with dinner. We had a really good salad and this beef stew type meal with cooscoos. It reminded me of Jenny’s Vegetable Beef Soup, which is amazing, so that was yummy.

I am about to call mom&dad and then head to bed!!

I love you all so much! Thanks for keeping up with me!

A Parisien Sunday!! VERSALLAS!!

Well Sunday was our day to head to VERSALLAS PALLAS!! HAHA! Ms. Sally took the whole group to the Palace and it was lovely. I talked in the miss Sally accent for a while, but after waiting in line in the sun for about 2 hours, Ms. Sally ended her funny time. We had to wait in line about 30 minutes to buy tickets and then another hour and a half to get in! OMG…but it was worth it!

Just to imagine that I was standing in the building that caused the French Revolution. It was amazing. And I have never seen so much gold. Everything is gold, and you just have to keep reminding yourself that it’s not paint! Really amazing to see. And the gardens behind the palace were amazing. With fountains and symettrical shrubbery! Ahh! I loved it. Also, you were able to see the King’s quarters and the Queen’s Quarters where 17 royal births took place. We also saw Marie Antoinette’s bed room and the secret door (hidden by a tapestry) that she escaped through when the mobs came to kill her and the rest of the royal family. 

AND THE HALL OF MIRRORS!! Immaculate. It is the room that the Treaty of Versailles was signed in to end the World War. I stood there! So awesome!! I decided it is the perfect venue for wedding receptions…they should look into renting it out! HAHA! We all decided they probably make more money charging people 20 dollars to see it!! The place was packed, but the room was gorgeous and I took so many pictures. Speaking of pictures…my camera is inoperable at the present time. I handed it to a girl to take my photo at the end of the day at Versailles and she dropped it. I am going to take it in when I get home, but I am just thankful we had made it through Versailles and this week doesn’t have too much exciting to take pictures of. I am going to have Jaclynn come take one of me with my entire hostfamily on her camera before we leave. Luckily I have all pictures saved onto my memory card so I was able to take that out and will be able to have all those pictures!!

We left Versailles and had lunch and then went and did a little shopping on the Champs Elysees. Alot of places were closed….but not the DISNEY STORE!! For those of you who don’t know, I love Disney World with a passion, but we weren’t able to make it to the one in Paris because there is so much else to see. However, I did get to make a couple purchases for a couple cousins at the DISNEY STORE!!

After that we had dinner and headed back to the hotel to grab our bags from the baggagerie and walk to the train station. The train ride back was really funny….for us, maybe not the people around us. We weren’t being loud, but I think they would have preferred silence. The seating arrangement worked out perfectly. It was Jaclynn, Ben, Michael and me sitting at one of those table things on the train. It was great, but we wished we would have had cards to play! Oh well, we all chatted and had a great time. (Aunt Deb, the suckers you sent me have been a hit with everyone, we enjoyed them last night on the train ride)

I got home at about 12:45 and was so so so tired. That’s why I wasn’t able to finish my blog! But the weekend was amazing and I hope you have not been bored reading about it!

I love you all and will see you soon!

SATURDAY IN THE CITY OF LIGHTS…and an amazing dinner!!

 

This is the amazing restaurant you will read about! Everyone toasted the evening here…I made the toast, they drank the champagne!!

We got up this morning and were surprisingly reenergized! We grabbed some breakfast at the Monoprix by our hotel (it’s a grocery store with yummy, cheap pastries), then we headed toward Notre Dame. It was really busy, but we were able to get in and around the church in a reasonable amount of time! I had been to Notre Dame before. That with the combination of blisters on my feet gave me the idea to just sit and be in the Cathedral. It turned out to be a really neat experience just to sit and think during all this crazy tourist time. It was great!

When we came out of Notre Dame there was a military brass band playing in the courtyard. We stood around and listened to them for a bit and then headed to do some shopping. We wanted to go into St.Chappelle Cathedral, which is suposedly ridiculously gorgeous, but the line was forever long. So we just headed to the shops. We went to H&M, a really awesome clothing store in a lot of big cities. I could have spent hours in there, but only stayed about 1. I did buy some really cute things though!!

After that we split into two groups because 5 of us wanted to do a boat tour on the Seine and the others wanted to go do more shopping. So the 5 girls in my group had lunch at McDonald’s. I have never been so happy to see a hamburger, fries and a coke zero WITH ICE!! It was really yummy! The funny thing is, I don’t usually prefer McDonald’s in the US, but here it just felt like home! (Doesn’t speak well for the USA’s image, but it’s true).

After lunch we hopped on the metro and headed to the boat tour launch. The boatride was great…it was sunny and warm so we sat on the top open deck. Almost all of the famous revolutionary time period buildings and such are on the river so this was an amazing way to see the city. Among other things, we saw: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, mini Statue of Liberty, Palais de Justice, Musee D’Orsay, the square where the guillatine was during the revolution and a ton of other things. The guide was in English so we could understand the significance of everything!!

After the boat tour we were going to go to Musee D’Orsay where all the impressionist art is: Van Gogh, Monet etc. But it was closed for the music festival. But we saw an artist on the street outside the museum and I bought 2 gorgeous oil paintings from him! I have to show you when I get home! They are great!  Instead of going to the museum we headed back to the hotel to rest a little and get ready for the evening on the town. We had a dinner reservation for 8:30 at George’s restaurant in the Centre Pompidou. Melissa ate there when she was here, and recommended it to me, and I am sooooo glad she did.

We got to the Pompidou Centre and rode the elevator up 6 flights to where we could now see the city landscape below. The Eiffel Tower right in the center! It was breathtaking! Then we were greated by a hostess with the reservation checklist and she guided us to our table. Originally we thought we would have to sit 6 and 7 because they didn’t take reservations for such large parties, but thankfully they were able to seat us all together. The building and restaurant are ultra modern and everything is clean lines, with white and silver! I LOVED IT. There were also about 6 silver domish shaped pods around the room with small entryways. They were all 6 different colors: pink, red, yellow, lime green, blue etc. It was gorgeous. Well, we got to sit in the yellow pod at this horseshoeish shaped table that was so cool. There were tall vases with roses on the tables and gorgeous waitstaff everywhere! And to top it off, when you looked outside through the all glass wall there was the Eiffel Tower sparkling. It was by far the coolest place I have ever been.

And the food was divine. 3 of us split a fois grois for an appetizer. It is some sort of duck liver/pate, but it’s really yummy. My meal was called Le Tigre qui Pleure (The Tiger who cried)…but it was a filet with a thailandese sauce and it was amazing. Then to the dessert menu…OMG! I couldn’t decide so I asked the waiter what his favorite one was on the menu..he told me the mango soup. Which I wouldn’t of chosen becuase soup for dessert is not my fortay, but I ordered it anyway and I am so glad I did. It came in a big class, with white tapioca/icecreamy pudding on the bottom 3/4 and mango pureeish amazingness on the top. It had a sprig of mint and pieces of mango in the puree. Honestly it took me 30 minutes to eat it because the flavors were so amazing! Our reservation was at 8:30 and we didn’t leave the restaurant until 11:45. It really was amazing and everyone of us loved it so much. It just felt like we were doing Paris the right way!  All together our bill could have paid someone’s semester tuition, but it was well worth it!! HAhA!    And Melissa, everyone says thanks so much for the suggestion.

After dinner, we headed back here to the hotel to change clothes and potentially find something else fun to do. But after we were all in more comfortable clothes at it was 12:30 we knew the smartest decision would be bed! So here I am writing in the back pages of my planner so that you I can remember and you can all hear about this amazing day! I love Paris and I love being in this city!

Goodnight Everyone!!

 

FRIDAY…Going to Paris and Starting the Weekend

I got up at 5:30 this morning and headed to the train station about 6:30. It was so hard to get out of bed that early, especially when I spent all of last night up packing and getting excited. One of our guy friends lives near me and Jaclynn so his host dad picked us up to drop us off at the train station for our 7:05 departure. When we got the the station we discovered that our train was going to be 1 hour late!! ARGH!! 7:05 is far too early for such news!

Anyway, we waited around for about an hour and then our train finally made it. We knew this would throw off our itinerary, but we were still excited. The train ride took about 3 hours, and as soon as we got into Paris we walked to our hotel (about 15 minutes) to drop off our bags and try to check in. It was still really early! Luckily, Jaclynn and I were able to check into our room and put our bags in there! After getting all of us settled into the hotel, we went and bought our Metro tickets and headed toward Sacre Coeur!

We ate lunch in the Sacre Coeur district, I had a ham and cheese crepe and a coke zero!! SOO YUMMY!! All over Paris there is this group of African men trying to sell random nick nacks at all the major sites. They just set up at a random place in the street and start selling. And for some reason, they feel that the best technique to sell women is to say things like “Hello Lovely Lady” and “Sexy Mamas”. It was really bizarre and the group of 10 of us just walked by and pretended not to speak English. It was nice being in Paris, because we felt like we had a leg up on all of the other American tourists…being that we could speak some French.

After we made it through the African salesmen, we were able to go in and look at Sacre Coeur. It was absolutely gorgeous. The stained glass was immpecable. 5 people in our group wanted to climb the 300 stairs to the top of it, but it is already situated on a hill so we could see most of the city from where we were. I opted out on paying 10 Euros to climb 300 spiral stairs in a tight space!! No Thank you! I did send my camera up with a friend, so he was able to take some shots for me from up there!

Sacre Coeur is in the Montmartre district which is home to lots of painters and artists. We decided to wander around this area for a little while to see all the cool stuff around there! We all wanted to see the original Moulin Rouge and we found it. We took pictures in front and everything. It was pretty cool. Then we hoped on the Metro to head to the Opera House and do a little shopping.

When we got the Opera House (the one that Phantom of the Opera is based after) we were disappointed to find out that tours had ended because of a rehearsal!! But we did go into the lobby and could see the beautiful staircases and architecture! It was amazing! Then we went to Galleries Lafayette, which is a sort of department store. It was the hugest most amazing shopping experience ever! The main building was 9 floors tall and was all women’s. There is a men’s building next door that is 5 stories and a home store that is 5 as well! RIDICULOUS!! We snapped a lot of photos and all loved the experience.

After doing this is was about 4:30 and we were supposed to meet a few girls at the Louvre at 6. (There train left later than ours). So we decided we had time to see the Arc de Triomphe because it is at one end of the Champs Elysees and the Louvre is at the other. We got on the Metro and rode to the Arc de Triomphe stop. It is so cool to get off of the Metro at a stop for such an amazing site…you will be riding the escalator up out of the Metro and turn and look and there is the Arc de Triomphe. Really amazing!

After we took pictures of the Arc and us with it we decided we would save a Metro ticket and walk down the Champs Elysees to the Louvre. BIG MISTAKE!! It is a cool story to say that I have walked the entire length of the Champs Elysees, but my feet don’t want to hear it! I mapquested how far it is from the Arc to the Louvre…3.3 miles!! That’s right 3.3 miles after walking all day!! It was lovely.

We we finally made it to the Louvre, we were able to get in free because we were students..exciting. And then we all kind of split up an headed to see the things we wanted to see. As much as I appreciate the talent and skill of past artists, I cannot look at art for hours. I hoped around to the most famous works: Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Code of Hammurabi, Venus de Milo and a couple others. I also went to look at he Coronation crown of one of King Louis the (?). He was 5 when he was crowned so I thought that would be really interesting. I entered in to the Royal Room and was gawking at all of the jewels and place settings and other things, anticipating how gorgeous the crown would be if all of this was so beautiful….as I am approaching the gold encrusted case at the end of the room I look inside to see a light beaming down on the smallest………white piece of paper reading “sorry for the inconvenience, this exhibit is under repair.” Not as exciting as anticipated!! It was fine though, I still saw a lot of great things. After this mini letdown I kind of pieced out of the exhibits a little early and headed to one of the gift shops to grab a beverage. After the 3 miles hike I was a bit famished! I grabbed some water and a little chocolate and sat in one of the lobby areas by the big triangle/pyramid thing inside..it’s famous pretty sure! It’s where we were planning to meet.

After we all got to the pyramid we headed to the metro so that we could have dinner and then do the boat tour of the city. The metro station below the Louvre had finished running, so we had to hustle to another stop. We got off at Trocadero which is where you always see people’s pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower from! We snapped some pictures and then headed to dinner. We ate at this really nice place “Trocadero Cafe”. It was really good. I got feta and spinach ravioli! It was delicious. We also drank  about 10 gallons of water. The Cafe was so nice, and I could see the Eiffel Tower from my seat at dinner. It was an open air restaurant with some seating outside, but we sat inside because we had such a large group. About midway through dinner the Eiffel Tower began to light and up and when it was almost dark it started twinkling!! It was gorgeous. I took a million pictures of it after dinner! It was surreal being there and just having dinner while watching to Eiffel Tower in Paris sparkle!! It was amazing!

Our dinner took longer than anticipated so we decided to postpone the boat tour and just enjoy the evening. We finished dinner and walked down to the Eiffel Tower. We all stood under it chatting for a little while and then decided to walk through the grassy area toward a metro stop. Apparently these grassy areas are where teenagers hang out on the weekends. There was literally about 20,000 kids out there hanging out. (This was also that national music festival weekend, so that probably contributed). We hopped on the Metro after walking through the party and headed back here to the hotel. Our metro station is less than a block from our hotel so that is really safe and convenient!

I, nor my feet have ever been so happy to see a bed. I just got out of the shower and am about to go to sleep! We are all so tired, but I am so glad that we have seen so much of Paris in only one day! It will make the next 2 days more relaxing!

I love you all. Hugs and Kisses from Paris!!

 

(I am obviously not at class right now…we have 3 days to miss, so I took today as my 2nd to relax and get untired from Paris!) I will type in my blogs about Saturday and Sunday later today!