I’ll start by apologising – I know it’s been a long time. I’ve now been in France for almost 6 months!!! I can’t believe how fast it’s gone – I’m almost half way through my exchange already.
Since I last posted, many many many things have happened. I went on Euro Tour, I changed families, I got bronchitis (for five full weeks), I went to Île de ré for the first time, I finished the school year, which means Summer started (FINALLY), which means I got badly sunburnt (twice already), and most importantly – I said goodbye to some of the best friends I’ve ever had.
I’ll start with Euro Tour, but I’ll make it short, because I know if I go into too much detail this will become a multiple-post blog post. I went on Euro Tour for 12 days from the 13th to the 24th of April, and they were the most incredible 12 days of my entire life. I met people who in those 12 short days have become my closest friends, I went to 6 different countries, and I got to experience something that very few people in this world get to experience.
We started off in Paris, France. We didn’t get to stay long, however, I did fulfil my dream of seeing the Eiffel Tower. I also saw the Notre Dame exactly 24 hours before it caught fire. I still cannot believe how lucky I am for that. From there, we went to Strasbourg, saw the Cathedral, took a tiny train tour, and got to roam around in the pouring rain for two hours. I will never forget the waffles in Strasbourg and I hope the people that were with me will read this post, because they’ll understand 🙂
A day later and we were in Munich, Germany. Sadly, we had a lot of driving ahead and didn’t get to see much, but it was fun while we were there. Jump ahead about 18 hours and we were getting off the bus in Prague, Czech Republic. Prague was definitely one of my top two places we went, and I was so grateful to get to spend two days there instead of one. It was just gorgeous. Again, won’t go into too much detail, because we’ll be here forever. After Prague, we spent a day in Vienna, Austria. Saw some absolutely amazing buildings, had a bus sing-along to The Sound of Music track (because what else are you gonna do in Austria?) and caught up on a bit of sleep.
After Austria, it was a full day’s drive to Lido de Jesolo, Italy. We spent a great night down at the beach, taking photos, playing games in the sand and just hanging out, singing songs and dancing. Italy day 2, we took a boat across the water to Venice, which is officially my favourite place in the world so far. Venice in the morning: I ate gelato. Midday: went on a walking tour. Midday part 2: Pizza. Afternoon: shopped and ate gelato. Evening: Pasta dinner, Espresso and Gelato. Personally, I think I did Italy right. Jump to Italy day 3 and we’re in Milan for Easter! I ate no chocolate that day, however I did have more pizza and gelato so it’s ok.
INTERMISSION: Remember when I said I’d make it short about Eurotour? I lied. Sorry. But realistically, you have no idea how much I’m leaving out.
And we’re back! Out of Italy and back in France for a day. Chamonix, to be exact. Turns out, no matter what season it is in France, there is always somewhere you can find snow. We took a train all the way up a mountain, and spent a few hours in the freezing cold being reminded of how glad we were that winter was over. That’s a joke (sort of) – from where we were, we could see Mont Blanc, and that was exciting!
After a brief return to France, we were out of the country again and heading to an extremely important building in Switzerland. Walking through the United Nations was a very different experience. Everything felt so important, everyone you saw, every room you walked through, all the things you couldn’t touch (because let’s face it, all the Patek Philippe clocks in that place probably cost more than my house). There was a tour, an incident with a door handle (I sincerely hope you will read this, Liam) and all in all, a very fun day.
And finally, we have come to the end of Euro Tour. We spent our final night in Dijon, where we had a celebration party I’ll never forget. It was the perfect way to end a perfect Europe trip. We drove back to Paris the next day, said goodbye to the people who had become so important to us in such a short space of time, and returned to our respective districts and cities. The next few days, weeks even, we’re not easy.
I’m going to make an Update Part II, so I’ll finish part I here. Hopefully you read part II too! (Though I’ll understand if you don’t – this is one LONG blog post)
Grace
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