Prague: a "forced star" experience!

Hello all!
Just got back from visiting Prague this past weekend with my two friends; what a gorgeous city! I think it may be my favorite place that I have visited for the first time this semester :) The city itself was my favorite thing about the weekend; the architecture is so distinct, and absolutely beautiful.  It didn't hurt that the weather was perfect, high sixties, bright, bright blue sky without a cloud in sight the entire time we were there.  The sun shining off the bright yellows and tans of the buildings, and tiled roofs, as well as the beautiful greens of the copper domes was stunning! Saturday we hiked up the largest of the six "hills" that surround the city of Prague, to then climb the observation tower that offers spectacular views and pictures of the city! It was breathtaking in multiple ways, both from being overwhelmed by the beautiful view, as well as literally being very out of breath from the twenty five minute uphill hike and a little shaky from climbing the open-structured spiral staircase to the (very high) top of the tower!  I was glad I made it through my discomfort with the height and got to the top :)
We ate a lot of delicious food like goulash, apple strudel, bread pudding, and lots of potatoes, including lunch on a boat on the main river, within view of the Charles Bridge, although unfortunately I am still not sold on beer (be it Irish, Czech, etc...other than pear beer of course!)
We also took a two hour "free" walking tour around the city, with a tour guide, Jana, who I can only say was a little bit quirky!  She was a bit sassier than we expected, and spent a good part of the tour swatting at other tour guides "encroaching" on her space!  She gave us a good tour of the city though, which we really appreciated since we knew very, very little about Prague and its history when we got there, and thanks to her felt we got at least a grasp of the basics!  We also went to the Franz Kafka museum, which was a surprisingly good experience, based on the fact that I knew nothing about Kafka other than his name prior to this weekend.  The exhibit was relatively small, but set up in a really interesting way, so that you almost felt like you were in the writer's mind at times (and his mind seems to be a bizarre place to be).  It also established him within the context of his Czech, and Jewish roots and background, also within the context of the time (early 20th century Prague).  I hope to get the chance to read one of his books now!
All in all, possibly my favorite weekend travel trip thus far, and I would love to go back to Prague one day! Now back in Paris for the next few weeks, friends coming to visit from Spain, parents arriving in a week and a half (!!!!), possible second viewing of the Hunger Games movie with my cousins, nighttime picnic this Thursday! (Oh and daylight savings happened and now it stays light until about eight thirty, which makes me just about the happiest person alive :)
A bientot, j'espere (really trying to keep up to date with this blog, but sometimes it just slips my mind for a while...it really is rather busy here, which is good I guess!)
Bisous xoxo, Gillian

Hunger Games Premiere in Paris!!

Last night turned into one of the coolest nights ever! One of my dreams came true and I went to the HUNGER GAMES PREMIERE in Paris!! The main cast was there (Liam Hemsworth, Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, and Elizabeth Banks, as well as the author Suzanne Collins and the director!) My friend and I (due to being scrappy) were right at the barricade so we were able to get great pictures of all of them, and say hi to them too! Josh Hutcherson even signed my hand because I didn't have anything else to sign!!(note to self: signing hand is better than signing a poster or something, because even though it ultimately washes away, the person has to physically HOLD YOUR HAND while they sign it....which is OBVIOUSLY a plus!!).  We made it known that we were from the US because we figured they would appreciate english speakers amidst all those pesky frenchies with badly written signs :)

Now I am SO excited to see the movie when it comes out on Wednesday (funnily enough it comes out here two full days before it does in the US...not really sure why-that NEVER happens, and it is the most popular by far in the US, so I'm confused! Not complaining though!)

A bientot, Gillian xoxo

La vie en rose :)

Today was one of those "first beautiful and warm day of the year" days, where I immediately put on shorts for a few hours, even if it was inside, where I start to get giddy about the spring and summer....oh and I get to be in Paris for this beautiful day, which makes it just the tiniest bit more beautiful.  Someone was saying that being in Paris (or any other new place) makes us so happy because we want to do everything because it is new.  This is so true.  While there are undoubtedly a millions thing I have yet to do and see in Boston and Baltimore, it is so easy to fall into a groove of doing the same things over and over again, and not always taking the time to stop and go that extra five blocks out of the way, just to see what the new streets look like.  Here, (especially in the last week that it has been gorgeous outside), every time I go to descend into a metro station, I ask myself why not just walk to the next one and see what I see? today I walked around a bunch and took a round about way home just so I could find a few delicious macarons.  I have been wanting them for ages but today I decided to just go for it.  They gave them to me  tied up in a pretty bag, and I held it gently all the way home-by the time I got there I may have been drooling just a little bit!
I keep having to remind myself that I only get to live this life for a little while, relatively speaking, so why not explore? I'll never be in this moment again, even though it is easy to forget that.  This is such a unique experience and I think the first experience that I have ever been fully invested in from the start and each moment, if that makes sense?  So it makes me want to do and see everything, but also just sit on a bench and eat a macaron (I'm nothing if not a savorer of food:) The city is so beautiful; I keep saying this to people, but it almost spoils me when I'm traveling around, because even though every city I have been to thus far is beautiful and unique, I still feel like nothing rivals Paris (even the sound of french is intoxicatingly beautiful).  
It makes me wonder where life will take me...being back here makes me simultaneously want to live in Paris, and never leave, but also makes my stomach ache a little bit sometimes with how much I love home and especially summer in the US.  I can't imagine leaving here in a few months, which again is the first time I have ever felt like that about a place other than my house, but sometimes a song on spotify or the smell of warm breeze twists at me and reminds me how much I love my life at home. Like I said, being here makes me savor many more moments, and also memories of how lucky and happy my life is in general.  I think Paris will always be an enigma for me; full of memories that hop back into mind at the most random times, but also containing so many things unexplored; fitting into the city and language like an old glove, but knowing inside that I'm not really from here too.  I do feel like Paris and days like today will be hard to ever really get out of my system.  

Lovely weekend "en famille" a Lyon!

Le weekend dernier....I spent a wonderful three days in Lyon with the Cayrol family, my distant cousins ("cousins eloignés") through my maternal grandfather.  In short, the weekend was full of wonderful, delicious, spectacular food cooked by my cousin Lucie (whole fish, homemade sausage tomato sauce, TIRAMISU, delicious tartine breakfasts with homemade peach jam and cafe au lait, you get my drift!), sightseeing in Lyon (and having the great fortune of seeing many of the beautiful churches light up as the sun went down), spending time with family (and learning pre-teen french slang/"argot", and playing policier games with the neighborhood ten year olds haha).  It was a great weekend, and my french definitely was given a run for its money trying to maneuver through the southern france accent of the husband, as well as the "kid talk" that I wasn't used to!  I did learn new words, for example for a scooter, and for a hair-tie :) And I was kind (read stupid) enough to give my email address to the ten year old!  Needless to say, after a mere two hour train ride back to Paris, I opened my computer to find three funny, short emails from Mathilde; I take it I will probably continue to receive them at this frequency, she said something about even emailing her next door neighbors!  It's ok, it's cute :) I also came back with two pretty drawings from Mathilde and Perrine, and a silver key chain from their parents, as well as some perfume from Lucie (and even better, a jar of the peach jam!) They really were so nice and welcoming, just as I remembered from when I was younger.  Also my french definitely improved since this was most likely the longest I have gone literally speaking not a SINGLE word of English at a time!  I had an amazing time, and I especially enjoyed my chats with Lucie which lasted late into the night :) She was really a wonderful hostess!  I hope to visit them again in the future, hopefully before the next ten-year mark!
A bientot xoxo 
Gillian

Slainte!

My weekend in Dublin ended this morning VERY early, as myself and my two friends had to be at the airport before 5:30 am! I had an incredible weekend in Ireland, and didn't want to leave; this was surprising as Ireland really wasn't very high on my list of to-visit places until my friend invited me to take the trip with them.  Nothing personal, I had just already been there a long time ago and remembered it as being really pretty, but really slow-paced, and not much to do.  There did really end up being a lot of things to do and see, but the pace was slightly slower than the previous few trips I had taken.  This turned out to be EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED!  I really enjoyed spending time in Dublin, and interacting with the locals, who were really nice, and helpful! We had random strangers asking us if we needed directions, suggestions for dinner, etc... Although we decided that as a whole, the men were much nicer than the women...that could have had something to do with the fact that we were a group of four girls...two redheads :) The guys we met were certainly interesting let me say!
The day-long bus trip that we took on Sunday was definitely the highlight of the trip! Although it also left outrageously early in the morning (we really didn't have any sleeping in days), it was a relaxing day filled with beautiful sights of the countryside, small towns, sheep, the gorgeous Cliffs of Moher, where we had a stroke of luck and the wind blew all of the thick fog away for us! Our tour guide was really nice, funny, and had a great accent; he even sang for us along the way!
I ate some delicious food, first of all including "flapjacks" sort of a granola bar but chewier, with chocolate, and nuts and toffee etc on top of it! Other than that, the stews, sheperd's pies, Guinness (must admit had to choke that one down on the Guinness factory tour!), and irish breakfast were the icing on the cake of a wonderful weekend! 
The last day, my friend and I went to the famous Kilmainham Gaol (jail) outside of Dublin, and although we were too late for a tour of the actual jail, we were given free tickets to the museum of the history of the jail, which was really interesting for my friend and I after taking a course last semester at BC that included discussions about prisoner justice.
We also stopped by The Church, and beautiful old church that was converted into a bar; the melding of the two is really interesting and pretty! Pretty much every restaurant that we were in there was some type of live music going on, and it was really cool to hear a mix of contemporary and very traditional songs played, and to see that the locals knew all the songs and sang (and danced) along!
The final biggest surprise was that we stumbled upon Boston College's office in Dublin! We were strolling around the Saint Stephen's Green area, taking pictures of one particularly pretty rowhouse with relaly cool ivy/roots (?) growing along its walls, when I noticed that the window shades said Boston College! We rang the bell, and went in where we met a really welcoming women who works as the BC Ireland liason, who gave us a tour of the beautiful old historic house, told us about BC's Ireland program, and then gave us suggestions of places to eat, and visit, and shop!  It was such an unexpected treat, and made us feel really at home in Dublin!
All in all it was an incredible weekend and I now feel like I have quite a different image of Ireland in my head! I hope to go back again, and hop from inn to inn, and have more time to wander around the countryside!
Back in Paris/land of french :) couldn't be happier...
A bientot!
xoxo Gillian

Off to Ireland :)

This Saturday morning I am leaving for a weekend in Dublin with BC peeps :)! I can't wait for the city, which I have only been to briefly before, the beautiful countryside, which we will see on a day-long bus tour to the cliffs of Moher on Suday, and THE FOOD (aka irish breakfast, shepherds pie, etc...you get the picture!)
I'll post again once I get back from the "Emerald Isle"!
A bientot,
xoxo Gillian

What a beautiful Paris afternoon

Today was one of the warmest days we have had so far in Paris! After my morning class, and a leaisurely lunch with two friends, we wandered over to the Jardin de Luxembourg where we took some sunny day pics and then lounged and chatted on a bench for a couple of hours, watching kids run and play on the playground, and couples sit and read in green chairs by the huge fountain...what a great Tuesday! It got all of us reallllly excited for the warmer weather to come; springtime in Paris :)
A bientot,
Gillian xoxo