I returned to England on Tuesday 8/23 and headed back to the shire. That week was so bittersweet, I was so glad to be back with Rich and to be back in an English speaking country, it it was also my last week in England for awhile, so depressing. It was nice to just hang out with Rich, since I don't get to see him until next summer, it was kinda crucial. But we didn't do anything crazy, just hung around in Newbury. Luckily I was able to finally work out with a free week pass so that was cool. Later on in the week I got my hair done by one of Sue's ladies and she did a wonderful job! :) Friday, (8/26) Rich and I saw the Inbetweeners movie which was soooo hilarious! And after we went to Grandma's for a nice roast :) We had lamb and veggies and of course, steamed pudding! My favorite. His family is so nice it's ridiculous, and that made it even more hard to say good-bye. Sunday, Sue and Trev came in from the airport from their holiday from Greece and Sue got me some really lovely pressies! That weekend, of course was the whole Hurricane Irene dealio and I seriously wanted my flight to be cancelled since it was on Monday. I even had Sue call up Virgin to ask them if someone else seriously needed my flight on Monday and I could fly out another day because it wasn't urgent that I got back to NYC that day.
Of course they said it would actually be easier for me to fly out on my designated day, but that was THE nicest thing they have ever heard and no one had ever offered that before. So I felt special :)
Going to the airport sucked. It was so hard to realize I was actually leaving England and my boyfriend for a year and it made me realize all the cool things I was able to do while I was in Europe. Luckily when I got to Heathrow, Virgin upgraded me to an window exit seat on the upper level! There was so much room I didn't know what to do with myself.
The good-bye's were really hard, obviously had to do a bit of crying, but at least getting through the airport and security was really easy and there wasn't any difficulty. But after the flight, once I landed at JFK, it was such a weird feeling, I literally didn't want to be there, I wanted to go back so bad. Europe has made me think that the way the country is run in America doesn't really make much sense, and they still have a lot of catching up to do...
Besides the point, I'm still not used to it, I've already left my bank card in the atm on accident because I forgot you need to take it out, or dip it shall you say.
I miss already, Pret, Eat, Marks and Spencer's, percy piggies, Tesco/Sainsbury's 3 pound lunch deals, driving on the other side of the road/car(now it seems normal), fish n' chips, chips in general, crisps, biscuits, puddings, ghetto phones, top-up's, vodaphone, bbc, RADIO 1 and 2, British television, being able to drink legally, CIDER, Sue's food, really good butter and milk/cream, GREEN GRASS, the spastic rain, the tube, the oyster card, sweating out in the tube, cream tea's, tea all together, brown sugar in tea, lemon in tea, full cooked english breakfast, HP SAUCE, English people, english accent and but what I really miss the most is, obviously, Richard.
Thursday, 1 September 2011
The best is yet to come
Starting back off from the 16th of Aug. Tuesday my cousin and I went into Privas, the town to walk around and get some macrons and coffee's. It's such a cute village, something you'd expect in the movies from the late 50's or something.
Wednesday we headed to the beach. It was so amazing! The Mediterranean Sea is so freaking fabulous, so clear and no waves. I absolutely loved it. It wasn't my first time in the Med, I went when I was in Italy. But this time it just seemed better because it was in the south of France!! After getting crispy, we went to my cousin's husband's mom's house for dinner and to stay the night. Later on, we went to this small village to get ice cream, it was served in a giant shell bowl! And it was so deliciousssss! The next day we went to Nimes, which is known for having a lot of Roman architecture left in the city. There's a ton of statues left. We went to the Roman gardens first, and where they had the old Roman Bath's. It's amazing that most of the architecture is still intact. Unfortunately, the pipes are a little clogged, so the water doesn't run as smoothly through it, so it's a bit flooded. None the less, AWESOME. After that little adventure we went to lunch at a cutesie cafe and had a nice frenchy salade. Later on, my cousin and I went to the colosseum like thing in Nimes, it's not as big as the one in Rome, but it served the same purpose. It's so amazing how old these things are and that they are still standing and still in use. This one in Nimes holds concerts and performances still.
On our way back home, we stopped at the Pont du Gard. Which is one of the oldest aquaducts still standing in France, and it's phenomenal! They've now made it more into a tourist attraction where you can go swim and lay on the "beach." But it's really expensive. A few years it used to be free and you could walk up on the upper levels of the aquaduct, not anymore.
The last few days in France were very relaxed. Friday, (8/19) my cousin had friends over and she was cooking all day for them. It's crazy how much effort they put into meals for guests. Everything has to be perfect and organized or the guests will think it's rude. And they eat so much bread it's ridiculous!!! Literally if you don't have bread with a meal, the world will end. Oh, and sliced bread is not an option, baguettes only please. So all day was made for eating basically. Lunch was a full 3 course meal and as for dinner, it was the same. I probably should have gone for a run in between those meals to fit them in!
The next day my younger cousin and I went to the river. We took the quad down to where we needed to go. That was treking! And for the first and last time in my life I wore crocs. We treked to the spot where were going to lay out and on the way, we almost fell into the water, my cousin lost her dress and we almost ruined our cameras. So it was really fun. :) But after we finally got to the spot it was really nice and peaceful. No one was around and it was filled with rocks and streams. Later on we headed back up to the quad, this time we took the less dangerous route. Except for when we decided to get back home we took the long way, and little did we know, no one took that route anymore and it was all covered with trees and shrubberies. Of course we tried to get through it. I tried to rev it and get it over this pile but instead it slide almost down the mountain and I almost went with it. Let me tell you, it was quite an adventure! Finally we survived and got it home. After that I had so many scrapes from the bushes.
Monday was my last day in Privas and my cousin and I went into town. Little did we know that the entire town was shut down for people taking holidays! I wanted to get some macrons and little stuff, but couldn't because literally nothing was open but some cafe's. It was unbelievable! But it was ok, I lived.
I learned so much being in France for 10 days, the way they lived and how the people were. It was so different from the US, people don't have a sense of time, they do things when they want and it really doesn't matter when. They care more about family then they do about making money, maybe America should get some tips about that. They take 2 hour lunches so that they can be with their families. And they eat dinner really late, I'm not a fan of that one. But basically I really enjoyed my time spent there and it would be lovely to go back.
Wednesday we headed to the beach. It was so amazing! The Mediterranean Sea is so freaking fabulous, so clear and no waves. I absolutely loved it. It wasn't my first time in the Med, I went when I was in Italy. But this time it just seemed better because it was in the south of France!! After getting crispy, we went to my cousin's husband's mom's house for dinner and to stay the night. Later on, we went to this small village to get ice cream, it was served in a giant shell bowl! And it was so deliciousssss! The next day we went to Nimes, which is known for having a lot of Roman architecture left in the city. There's a ton of statues left. We went to the Roman gardens first, and where they had the old Roman Bath's. It's amazing that most of the architecture is still intact. Unfortunately, the pipes are a little clogged, so the water doesn't run as smoothly through it, so it's a bit flooded. None the less, AWESOME. After that little adventure we went to lunch at a cutesie cafe and had a nice frenchy salade. Later on, my cousin and I went to the colosseum like thing in Nimes, it's not as big as the one in Rome, but it served the same purpose. It's so amazing how old these things are and that they are still standing and still in use. This one in Nimes holds concerts and performances still.
On our way back home, we stopped at the Pont du Gard. Which is one of the oldest aquaducts still standing in France, and it's phenomenal! They've now made it more into a tourist attraction where you can go swim and lay on the "beach." But it's really expensive. A few years it used to be free and you could walk up on the upper levels of the aquaduct, not anymore.
The last few days in France were very relaxed. Friday, (8/19) my cousin had friends over and she was cooking all day for them. It's crazy how much effort they put into meals for guests. Everything has to be perfect and organized or the guests will think it's rude. And they eat so much bread it's ridiculous!!! Literally if you don't have bread with a meal, the world will end. Oh, and sliced bread is not an option, baguettes only please. So all day was made for eating basically. Lunch was a full 3 course meal and as for dinner, it was the same. I probably should have gone for a run in between those meals to fit them in!
The next day my younger cousin and I went to the river. We took the quad down to where we needed to go. That was treking! And for the first and last time in my life I wore crocs. We treked to the spot where were going to lay out and on the way, we almost fell into the water, my cousin lost her dress and we almost ruined our cameras. So it was really fun. :) But after we finally got to the spot it was really nice and peaceful. No one was around and it was filled with rocks and streams. Later on we headed back up to the quad, this time we took the less dangerous route. Except for when we decided to get back home we took the long way, and little did we know, no one took that route anymore and it was all covered with trees and shrubberies. Of course we tried to get through it. I tried to rev it and get it over this pile but instead it slide almost down the mountain and I almost went with it. Let me tell you, it was quite an adventure! Finally we survived and got it home. After that I had so many scrapes from the bushes.
Monday was my last day in Privas and my cousin and I went into town. Little did we know that the entire town was shut down for people taking holidays! I wanted to get some macrons and little stuff, but couldn't because literally nothing was open but some cafe's. It was unbelievable! But it was ok, I lived.
I learned so much being in France for 10 days, the way they lived and how the people were. It was so different from the US, people don't have a sense of time, they do things when they want and it really doesn't matter when. They care more about family then they do about making money, maybe America should get some tips about that. They take 2 hour lunches so that they can be with their families. And they eat dinner really late, I'm not a fan of that one. But basically I really enjoyed my time spent there and it would be lovely to go back.
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