castles castles everywhere

I was extremely excited about visiting the Loire Valley—who doesn’t like castles. My excitement was increased when our tour guide turned out to be the most wonderfully entertaining and one of the most knowledgeable women in the Loire Valley. She was just perfect for our group.
I loved that she told us about the people of the castles and châteaux, because when you simply hear about the buildings or the furniture or the artwork your mind begins to run together but when you hear about the people that is when the stories come alive.
The people and the history of Europe have always fascinated me. I particularly love imagining life as it would have been for the people of the middle Ages, and it was awesome to hear about some of the very people that have always interested me—Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.
With this background of people and history I was able to really appreciate the castles more. I was able to imagine all of the work and the life that was conducted in these huge homes.
My favorite castle was probably Chiverny—Francois I huge hunting lodge. I loved it because of its grandeur and the intricate design that you could look at forever but held a certain harmony that pleased your eye at the same time. The winding stairs were particularly wonderful (however I do not see how plays were held on them).
The entire Loire Valley holds a sort of mystery and amazing since of the past it just makes your heart come alive with imagination and the beauty pleases your senses and leaves you breath taken.
I <3 the Loire Valley.

monet's garden aka heaven on earth

When I read on our calendar that we were going to Giverny I had no initial excitement or extreme interest, because I had no idea what or even where Giverny was. When I found out that it would the place of Monet’s gardens I was very pleased: I like Monet it would be nice to see the garden’s that he painted so often.
If I had only known in that moment—when we walked up to Monet’s house you could not help but fall in love with everything around you.
The colors of the flowers were magnificent, and as our tour guide told us, were very particularly planted by Monet. He mixed certain warm and cool colors together to create a feeling or to draw your eyes in a certain way. Monet would love to see how the light played off of the different mixtures of color—it was just amazing to hear all of the specific detail he placed in his garden.
When we crossed the road toward the Japanese water garden my mind was still on the rows and rows of flowers back at the house, but when we came upon the water and the weeping willows my heart was stolen again. Monet really knew how to capture the imagination through natural beauty. He saw how humanity grows and can really live through nature. He was a little eccentric (a little more than most) but his genius has left the world with beautiful works of art and with a garden restored to its original beauty to again tempt the public as it had tempted him.

notre dame de paris: quasie wasn't home

When people all over the world hear the phrase “Notre Dame” most minds automatically go to the qwentisensal cathedral that is Notre Dame de Paris.
It is a beautiful cathedral with history and characterizes in an ideal form the Gothic style of architecture, but I do not personally believe that is it the “best” or most exciting Gothic cathedral of its kind. I have a personal soft spot for the Notre Dame de Reims—which exhibits the Gothic style at a higher stage but also in a larger scale. It is not as famous as the Notre Dame de Paris but it defiantly can compete in the “looks” department.
While visiting Notre Dame de Paris I could not help but think about Victor Hugo’s fictitious tale: “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. I continued to picture Quasimodo climbing the great tower to ring the bells to announce to Paris a celebration or a religious event. It was just amazing to be sitting in and looking at the building that inspired the story that is so well know throughout the world.
I enjoyed the Notre Dame; it has some of the most beautiful stain glass I have seen in France. The brilliant colors illuminate onto the stone pillars that hold up the structure—they are defiantly a highlight of the cathedral.
Notre Dame holds history and stories—it may not be my favorite but it is defiantly a “must see” in Paris.

the GRAND Louvre

Thousands of pieces of artwork; masterpieces housed in a single grand palace built for kings—the idea is humbling.
I have always heard that the Louvre museum is extremely overwhelming; not only because of its sheer size but also because of that small fact I mentioned—thousands of works of art and ancient artifacts that are just waiting to be looked at. It is overwhelming if you try and completely soak up each and every piece—which could take a lifetime if done correctly; but I personally found the Louvre intriguing and wonderfully “whelming”—I was neither under nor over whelmed.
As I searched through the halls and floors I found myself stopping at certain pieces and just walking past others. I found those pieces and artifacts that I could appreciate and understand and drew myself to them; I soaked them in, I thought about the hands that painted or made the piece. I imagined what was going through the artist’s head when they painted, sculpted or “mummified”. I took a step further with the pieces I identified with or could find a deeper appreciation for.
There were some pieces that I did not find myself drawn to; not because there was a lack of appreciation or recognition of genius, I just did not want to dig further. And that is the most wonderful thing about art—it doesn’t have to speak the in same way or form to everyone. One person can be completely touched by the Mona Lisa and another (me) can simply see it for a second and walk away filled.
Art is personal and can be interpreted and appreciated in every mind—this is why art is eternal, because at one point, even if it was just for one person, the art meant something deep to someone.

so we went to see the HUF kids

(SO as you might have noticed have been going back and writing about things that have already happened....yes well since i have not done a good job at keeping up along the way i am GOING BACK and posting some journals i had to write for a class! ENJOY)

France to Italy—it was a switch but it was made smoothly. I had never appreciated the little French I knew until I found myself in Italy, without any significant knowledge of the language. It was very humbling to find myself basically dumb to what was going on around me; I was extremely glad that there are a large number of American students in Florence along side thousands of tourists. I was not alone in my ignorance.
Florence is home to the Italian Renaissance and it is completely evident when you look out onto the city—after we arrived on our night train (we were looking good) Robbie Shakelford took us to a point where we could over look the entire city—the view was awesome. The Dumo stood out amongst the other buildings but once your eyes surveyed the mass that floated about the Dumo you could not help but let your mind wander to what used to take place in those streets. The ideas and the men (and women) that walks the streets of Firenze changing history while they lived their lives day to day as they saw fit.
Santa Croce—is an amazing sight in its own accord. Almost every major writer, philosopher or Renaissance man is buried underneath this church. Including: Dante, Alberti, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo; just knowing that these great men of thought and art were buried in this place made the building that much more alluring. Architecturally it was not my favorite but the people of the Renaissance defiantly make this church amazing.
Florence was awesome because of its history and art—but I would prefer the land of the Franks to the land of the Italians any day.

strasbourg NOT salzburg

Near the border of France and Germany, Strasbourg showcases an amazing mixture of French and Germany culture. It can be seen immediately in the architecture, which savors strongly of timber framed houses, generally associated with Germany, and built closely together along the Rhine River. Strasbourg was one of my favorite cities that we have visited this semester. The harmony of the German influenced mixed with French heritage is so smoothly spread throughout the old city that it just mesmerized me, and I fell in love with everything about Strasbourg.
One building that made my interest in Strasbourg peak was the amazing sandstone cathedral that towers over the city. It is massive; and has a uniquely “pink and deep red” color that distinguished it from the many other cathedrals we have seen. We I walked into the cathedral I literally gasped at the size of the nave and was in awe of the domed alter at the head of the nave. It is defiantly my favorite cathedral in France, next to “ours” in Reims.
The boat tour we took of the city was extremely memorable; not just because of the sights and the history or even going through the “lock and dam” system that is essential for life on the Rhine—no it was memorable because of the audio guide. The translation from French to English was well done, but literal and hilarious in many ways. Language is amazing in the ways that it translates and then doesn’t. Many phrases were said or stories were told that did not make a lot of sense in our native English; and the speaker was not as “chipper” as he could have been—none the less we were entertained and enjoyed our trip to Strasbourg immensely.
oh yeah and we got to sit in on a session of the EUROPEAN UNION which is based in strasbourg....too cool, huh?

i love paris in the spring time

dun dun dun

we have ARRIVED in paris!!!!!

three more weeks of school....well "school" hahaha and THEN three weeks of free travel! (the last week my MOMMA WILL BE HERE!!!)

details to come. do not fear.

forgive me for my lack of blogging. oh blogging will commence very soon dear ones. hahaha ;)

untill then.

xoxoxox

je suis desole

je suis desole=i am sorry

that i have not updated in so long...my computer is no longer "reading" the internet hookup in my apartment...so it is difficult for me to get pictures from my computer to another persons computer with internet...so for the moment this short message and a plea

if anyone knows anything about macs and internet PLEASE assist in anyway you can...

for the mean time everyone else can join with me in praying for my computer to begin accepting internet again. ;)

you are all loved

carol <><

p.s. france is GREAT hahaha in a week and a half we finish our stay in REIMS wow so fast! AND we are going to italy for a week to hang out with the harding program kids there!!!

THEN after a week in italy we have EIGHT COUNT THEM EIGHT free travel days!

tabitha, sally, allsion and myself are going to naples, venice, rome, chinqua terra (sp?) and THEN to the french riveria!!! including nice, cannes and monanco!!! TOO EXCITED and we might get to go to marseilles! hopefully

THEN after freetravel it is to PARIS for about three and a half weeks....then dudes we are DONE with the semester and it's onto two weeks free travel with tab, al and sally THEN A WHOLE WEEK WITH MY MOMMA!!!! yesss

wow it has gone by VERY FAST...so i am for the moment trying to enjoy it and just soak in this awesome awesome awesome place

love

la suisse

oh yes it has been about two weeks BUT here are the AWESOME amazing pictures from our trip to the ALPS!!!! whoo hoo

we went skiing! and it was allison, tabitha, marisa, andi and jennifers first time to ski! THEY DID GREAT THOUGH....once they got down the mountain....hehehe but they did do really great....ended up with some bruises....tabitha had a HUGE purple and green one on her thigh!!! but in the end WE SKIIED IN THE ALPS! HELLO

one of the funniest things of the day was allison and me were going down the mountain (i was trying my hardest to teach her the little i know) and she would just ZOOM down the mountain! and then i would see this PUFF of snow from allie smashing into the snow.....she was such a good sport! and would just laugh it off (but it did hurt)....the best fall though was when i saw the puff and came up over the hill and there was tabby just sitting on the side of the run laughing at allison....allie lifted up her head and was like "tabby!? is that you?" hahaha it was classically amazing! tabby had been sitting there for a few minutes because she'd been going down the mountain BY HERSELF!!!! her first run down!

it was funny funny funny

and the mountains were BEAUTIFUL so great! there is no way to describe them!

here are a few pictures to document this awesome experience!




here's allie, anna and tabby--oh looking good girls!!!


here's some people on a ski lift......i thought they were sally, tabby and allison.....but i was wrong




this is where allison was most of the day....in the snow....hahahaha



sitting just BASKING in the mountains!.....oh allie what is that face?!? she is so silly.



the SUISSE flag!!!


THERE ARE MORE PICS COMING!!!! the internet is spazing out!

love for the moment!

the swiss kiss the cheek THREE TIMES! haha

soo switerzland was AWESOME we left last thursday and just got back tonight---MONDAY!!!! wow it was crazy and random and frustrating and awesome! not all at the same time (wow what a moment that would have been!)

but it was amazing

and do not fear more information/poems/stories/laughs will follow
AND don't forget pictures!

for the moment i MUST take a shower....trains are not the cleanest places! especially the paris metro....ewww hahaha

you are all LOVED and i LOVE your comments! they seriously make my day! (remember EVERYONE even if you don't have a blog can leave comments!!!!)

love and kisses (three of them!)

--carol <><

LYON.....wow going straight definatly has a different meaning in france

(inside the basillica in lyon, france)

hello all of my loves, hope you are all doing well: here's an update from across the big BLUE!

SOOOO we took a trip to Lyon this weekend which was AWESOME and a real experince haha

we took the train from Reims to Paris THEN had to go through the Paris metro to the other train station to catch the train to Lyon......we did this with our packs....so there was like a huge line of 14 kids running through the metro with these AWESOMELY HUGE PACKBACKS ON! i bet we looked pretty sweet! hahaha

so to tell you about the weekend i am going to use simple and amazing phrases from this weekend....a bit of a poem really.....here goes:

trains, fast, homework....yeah right, tabby got sick....not fun, french infomericials are the best, the paris metro is crazy nasty yet sorta fun, small showers, and small hotel rooms, biology at night--blah, french coffee yes please, lyon has alot of hills, the bascillica in lyon is AWESOME....alas no pictures inside....well ones with flashes anyways, jumping pictures are FUN...but can hurt your back OUCH!, hearing madame sing opera in a old roman ampatheahre=awesome, having your friends sing and dance so much that other people take a video of it=priceless, singing "eldewiess" from the sound of music (again in the ampatheathre) with asaian tourist snapping photos....again amazing.

ferras wheels....fun...but high, scary workers hitting on you in french...so you pretend to speak spainish.....hahaha, sandwiches, paying to use the bathroom...or cheating the systerm---anners, being tired and grumpy, asking for directions--way more than once, finding the opera house FINALLY then staying only a second to do what--watch break dancers and talk to french teenagers, starbucks! yes please....long lines....ummm no.

french church members awesome, staying in a french home with sally, anners and marissa UMMM NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE, dinner amazing...and large...unexpected, speaking only in french....wow i feel dumb, chocolate is a MUST when we go to switerzland, french comercials are really weird, trying to go to sleep ahahaha yeah right, watching marissa climb up on a bunk bed--amazing, A TWO AND HALF HOUR LONG SERMON/LESSON ALL IN FRENCH---exhausting, lunch with the church members so humbling, they are wonderful, train=sleep and frustration stupid packs are so big, paris metro WOW THAT WAS FAST, train to reims, HOME amen

sally+carol+little sleep=the best conversations EVER!

hahaha hopefully you got some of that....atleast you got the feeling of how crazy and fun packed our weekend was! hahahaha now for a few choice pictures to mirror the weekend.





waiting to get on our FIRST TRAIN...with our good ole packs!!!



on the train from reims to PARIS....with a man ready with his ticket lurking behind us hahaha



the good ole group in front of st. john's cathedral in lyon
LOVE the big red doors!



we stopped to look at the view on our way up the hill!!!! we are SO CUTE hahaha



still walking up the HUGE HILL to see lyon from an AWESOME point in the city.....and me and allie are "pulling" tabby up the hill hahaha sorta



this is lyon from the top of the HUGE hill by the basillica....really smoggy....third largest city in FRANCE



good ole jumping pic at the basillica!!! whoo hoo go me, anns and sally!



the roman ampatheathre where we sang!!!! and madame sung opera for us!



about to get on the ferras wheel....this is about when those worker guys started talking to us....hahaha



the ferras wheel!!! whoo hoo fun times fun times




freaking OUT on the ferras wheel...notice my strong grip....and marissa and allison are doing JUST FINE! hahaha



yeah i DID IT I DID IT!!! I RODE THE FERRAS WHEEL!!!!



the "six of us" just a hanging out in lyon...this is a bridge over the rhone river....pretty sure



laughing at everything at our host families house!!!!! we are so crazy!



our "family" in lyon......issac and his wife mirland!!! they were AMAZING....and he preached the sermon that morning! (i'm sure it was awesome....only got about 1/3 of what he said!) hahaha



walking in the metro somewhere (aren't we SO CUTE)....ready to be home....our home away from home atleast!!!!

hope you enjoyed!!!

love, kisses and prayers

caroline <><

the days we will know as Reims

soooo living in a foreign country is cool
hahaha it isn't as different as i thought it would be...but then it is TOTALLY different from my life in searcy/arkansas.
you aren't as ready to get up and go--go eat go play go to the movies because everything is in a different language...not that i do not understand but i am not confident in my ability to respond hahaha SO i am hesitant to actually go into places...esp. restaurants.

meals are interesting...we cook our own meals WHICH is awesome but we more just kinda snack and then during dinner have like pasta hahaha
perhaps we've discovered a new diet plan---study abroad.....or we will get better at cooking and eating more healithy....hahaha

classes are interessant....we ride the bus to this international students facility like 5-8 minutes bus ride (not long at all) and we have classes in this little room. three of my classes are in a row...so i sit in the same seat for three hours in a row...hahaha but hey you push on!

the hardest class is biology...which i don't even have a real teacher for!!! we do it on a cd, that has slides and vocal explanations....THE LESSONS ARE LIKE AN HOUR PLUS LONG!!!! then you have to take an online quiz! it is just crazy.
and we have these extra supplimental materials that we have to read....but when.....we have NO IDEA....hopefully it will change and we will be told when to read them

hahaha anywhoo i think it's high time for some PICTURES SO we went and explored some of reims today after church (which was at 2 o'clock because long story short john, our only boy, had trouble breathing last night and went to the emergency room so we moved church back...he's fine now!!! just a fun experience in a french hospital)

AND originally we were going to go all together after our group church to MASS AT THE CATHDRAL....so that was out....BUT they were like you can go only if you want to....so me and 5 other girls went! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! so cool ok...

here are a few pictures of that exploration ENJOY




we bought crepes YES you have to THIS IS FRANCE...mine had nutella....a french staple!!! hahaah it was WONDERFUL...messy but awesome



there is this amazing two story carousel in the middle of town and we walked over to take some pictures (crazy americans always taking pictures) and this nice french man asked if we'd like him to take it....(SEE FRENCH PEOPLE ARE NICE!!! hahaha)
so me, tabitha, allison, sally and anna were like OUI OUI....MERCI



classic shoes, a must have picture....yeah we're definatly not from america
haaha

love and hugs and kisses to everyone!

the FLAT

we've ARRIVED in reims! after some crazy crazy flight stuff

we were supposed to leave the 29th BUT our flight to detroit was cancelled SO we MISSED our connection to Paris....SO: tabitha, allison, andi and marissa all came over to my house to spend the night so we could just hang out and then wake up in the morning to go to the airport....for basically the same flight plan.....520 to detroit then to pairs.....it was AWESOME but CRAZY

so NOW after an hour and a half car ride (which i slept through) we arrived in REIMS!!!! it's a really small like town...haven't really seen much of it BUT hopefully we will in the next few days!!!!

i took a few (not very good) pictures of me and SALLY'S (my new roomie) FLAT!!!! it's so cute!!!! we make our own meals and we went shopping today with the other girls and it was so fun! and weird!

so here are some pictures ENJOY



our little kitchen!!!



our little tv....watching FRIENDS of course....who KNEW they had friends in france.......

or that sally brought season one.....



well well the reflection is a little bad BUT this is outside our little window looking out onto this street!!! AND across from tabitha and allison's flat there is a little dance studio so you can see the cute little girls learning ballet!!!!

alrighty......WELL i was plugged into the wall so i couldn't take my computer into our room to take a picture....BUT SOON

hope you enjoyed!

love love and more love

almost here...

it is SO VERY CLOSE to our departure...i am freaking out a bit, but so are my parents so it's ok

it is just beginning to hit me how far away i'm going and for how long i'll be gone; it is just scary and a new experience and so much can happen...but then again that is the awesome part; God is going to grow me so much and teach all of our group so many things. I am ready to learn and absorb what God has for me, but i'm still a big scared...haha don't like flying too much and hey who likes change? hahaha

but it is going to be amazing and i won't forget anything...hopefully and it's going to be an adventure of a lifetime.

about a day to go.....let's start the count down.

coming soon

the time is almost here for the france adventure to begin

are you ready?

oh i am

sorta