2009 in pictures*

So, needless to say, 2009 has been quite a year. It was filled with big moments, good as well as bad. Instead of focusing on the bitter moments, which are not lacking in '09, I decided to create a post with some of my favorite pictures from this year. (*note, I obvi don't have access to all my pictures, so I had to steal them from FB. Sorry)

2009
started of with some of my favorites. This is a picture from visiting Leila with Ginny in Fairfax in January. Yay best friends!


This spring was my last semester at the University of Maryland. Sadly, it was time to say Farewell to college life and college friends. But, we had a heck of a time doing it! Spring semester shenanigans consisted of: playing Hide and Seek in CSPAC, visiting President Mote's house, muumuu party, smoothie nights, roadtrip to Raleigh to see the girls play bball, family dinners, one last hurrah in the View, and (pictured here) swimming in the fountain on McKeldin. I love my Ellicott 8 Fam <3


Oh yeah, there was still school work. I was a student-teaching intern from Jan-May which had ups and downs. Plus, I juggled at least 2 more classes and an Honors Senior Thesis Project. Amy, Katlyn and I co-wrote 80 some pages about Financial Incentives that matter to future teachers. It felt great to be done with such a huge project! Woohoo!


Graduation! Graduating was a bittersweet event. But, what an accomplishment! I now have a Bachelor's Degree. Good thing I'm still putting off the real world. This pic is my 2 year roommate, Emily!


Then came SUMMER! My absolute favorite 3 months of every year. I got to spend one last summer at my favorite place ever: Camp Westview on the James! I became instant besties with my other support team members: Meredith, Daphne and Collin (or as we lovingly called each other: Courtney, Daphanondrea, and GUUUUUUURL). There were many good times at camp this year including countless youtube clips, many trips to Bdubs, and so many laughs. The last weekend was Daphne's birthday and she invited us out to her lake house. We spent the full day out on the water and then had a huge delicious bbq feast that night. It was so much fun! Here's a pic of Lingerfelt, Daphne and I on the tube :D


October brought about the biggest adventure as of yet. I moved across the pond to teach English to little French kids, my dream of 3 years at least. Things have been great so far and I'm lucky to have found a wonderful group of friends. Sure, they're mostly Americans, but what can I say, we're the best :) haha. This is from the Thanksgiving celebration at my house which was so much fun!


Well, Farewell to 2009, its highs and lows. I am already aware that 2010 will have its own challenges. Et's going to be another major transition year which includes buying a computer (wait, I thought I did that last year...), finding a *gulp* real job, finding an apartment, etc etc. But, 2010 definitely has potential and will hopefully bring more happiness :D

Holidaze

Ahhh... the sun finally came out on Christmas day and it was upper 50's, which was the only thing I really wanted on Christmas. Hooray. I had dinner with Oana and her boyfriend Dan that night. I got there just as they were beginning preparations, and because of her incompetent microwave/oven, we didn't really eat until 10. But, what a good dinner it was! We had Duck a l'orange, pissaladiere (Nicois specialty, kinda like a pizza only with caramelized onions), roasted potatoes (weren't ready until later) and eggnog. It was really delicious, and I had great company. Then, we ended by watching Elf.

Yesterday I did not do very much, but I did go to the Christmas markets and I finally bought myself the Nativity santons (figurines) that I've been wanting. There are 2 booths at the market dedicated to santons, and I wanted to get more, but they are expensive. I did end up buying a baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the 3 wise men figurines, and they are hand painted! Definitely something that I will have for years to come, and therefore a good investment.

Today was another beautiful day and so I went for a walk/jog. Everyone in all of Nice was on the promenade today, it was so crowded! And, even when not exercising, the French saunter, and it gets on my nerves. I've been rushing to class for 4 years now, so I'm just conditioned to fast walking. Luckily, by sticking to the edge of the bike lane I could avoid most of the annnoyances. I speed-walked to the Colline, went up the steps and walked around a little (whew, those steps were the worst part), then I jogged from the Colline home. I was proud that I was able to run that far without having to stop because the rain has made me lethargic and I have not gotten any exercise in a while.

Also, while walking around, seeing the beautiful views, the first thing that came to my head was I feel like I haven't been living in Nice for the past 2-3 weeks. I haven't been to see the sunset/ see the beautiful parts of the city in a long time. It felt good to be back to walking around outside seeing the sun and the Med. The second thing to go through my head was how excited I will be to show my Dad all my favorite parts about Nice in person in February!!! I know that he's seen all my pictures and heard the stories, but he's coming to see it for himself and I'm psyched!!! :D

ps. I finished the last 3 episodes of Glee-- SO GOOD! And, I'm about to finish My Sister's Keeper, which is SO GOOD too. Then, I'll probs start some David Sedaris.

Bleak Midwinter

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

There's nothing like the bazillionth day of rain to get you in the Christmas spirit (can you taste the sarcasm?). Yep, it is still absolutley miserable outside. I can't remember the last time I saw the sun. It has been raining non-stop since after the snow last friday. Before the snow, it was windy, cold and cloudy for days. Spring needs to get here, Pronto!

I started catsitting yesterday. Bootsey has warmed up to me a lot, but I don't think she's a lap-cat or very snuggly. Also, I'm now realizing that it's not the most comfortable of environments, living in someone else's house. I think I will try to split my time between, although Bootsey gets fed 2x per day. No exciting discoveries yet. I think my apt is generally warmer, and I had a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep because their window is on the first floor (rez-de-chaussee) and its so noisy. Oh, and I'm finally using an American QWERTY keyboard again, and it feels so foreign (har har).

Tomorrow's festivities include dinner with my one friend who will be around, Oana, and her boyfriend. She's making a wonderful menu of duck a l'orange, roasted potatoes, etc. I feel a bit intimidated, so I'm offering up some sugar cookies and maybe eggnog if it turns out alright. Then, we may convene to my apt to enjoy Love Actually or Elf, my personal favorite. Tonight, I'm baking(!!!) a quiche lorraine. Mmm.

There will be no Bah Humbug tomorrow, although I do quite wish I were at home celebrating a White Christmas. But, I acknowledge that this will merely be one lackluster Christmas among many spent with my family. I have already thought about people who are not as fortunate as I am, who never get to spend the holidays with their family. Next year, hopefully all will be back to the norm.

Merry Christmas, Ya'll!

Snow among the palms

Friday after school I invited several of my friends to come over as I tried to make crepes. We had so many toppings, and my crepe-making had somewhat of a learning curve. We were going to head out afterwards and all of the sudden we heard rain outside. I was surprised and opened the door to look. Only, it wasn't rain, it was SNOW! This is Nice, on the French Riviera, and its snowing. I was told it never snows here! So, at first it was really hard snow/sleet mixture which eventually turned into real, fluffy snow.

Mari Carmen and Sandra walked home in the snow, but Lauren and Tom's bus quit running, and Oana did not feel up to walking in the snow, so I had company for a sleepover! I was actually really happy because my roommate left on Thursday and I want to take advantage of my friends while they're still around. We watched Scrubs in English until around 2 and went to bed, it was lots of fun :) The next day I went out and there was only a little bit of ice on the sidewalk, but no other signs of the snow.
I do have to admit that I'm disappointed to be missing such an epic snow at home. I know snow sucks when you have to go somewhere, and my mom is probably still stuck at work, but so much snow is magical. And, I'm such an anti-winter person that the only time I tolerate the cold is if its snowing. The last time VA had such a snow (22") was in '96 and I wish I had been there for blizzard '09. Plus, it might be the first white Christmas in my 22 years. Oh well, I'm going to pretend to be snowed-in today- watch some TV, look at others' snow pics, and not go out in the cold.
Here's another picture for you, taken from Place Massena (the main square in Nice) where there are lights and decorations everywhere. Maybe later I can add some more pictures from the Christmas markets.

Story time, part deux (sans photos)

A few anecdotes from recent:

°First of all, I told Mme Letzter (the program director for Maryland-in-Nice when I was here last) about the incident with my computer. She is lending me an old laptop to use for a while. Ive already been calling it my dinosaur because it even has a floppy disc drive and it is really slow. I dont think Ill be able to watch TV on it, but at least I can check my email, etc. Also, it has no sensor pad for the mouse, so I had to go buy a wireless mouse instead of dealing with the horrible finger joystick thingy.

°Last night my TV was absolutely possessed. It wzs acting like it was resetting the channels, but it lasted for at least 2 hours. I would turn the TV off, it would turn back on. I would put it on digital, and it would switch back to fuzzy and set a timer for 5 minutes. It was very strange. I guess eventually it finally stopped because it's fine now.

°They showed a commercial for American Pie 5 which was going to be on TV later this week. I was really surprised because it showed topless women, and the commercial was on at like 6pm. I guess their view on nudity really is different in Europe.

°I was doing my lesson on replacing teachers with computers in which my students debate their side. As with all my lessons so far, I've had some pretty good reactions, and then some classes that just don't want to work. The other day I had a class that really didnt want to work. This one girl was writing her argument on the board and I couldn't help but laugh at her horrible grammar. She wrote "No, because with the teacher we understand more, and too for speak with you in the face. But, the computer not interesting for student just for distracting, game, msn, etc..." I really wanted to laugh out loud, but I think I held it in okay. And, I felt okay taking a picture of the board to laugh at it later because they were being annoying.

°I had a really nice weekend. The christmas markets are really nice. Im going to try to not spend all my money there... but then again I still dont have any grand Christmas plans save probably baking and playing with the Bootsey, who Im catsitting.

°Addition: I remember that I did not want to get up on Tuesday morning, and so between snoozes, I convinced myself that if I got up and got ready quickly, I could go get Starbucks. Too bad there are no starbucks in Nice... I was disappointed when I realized this upon actually waking up.

Méfiance

So this is the story about how I will have a hard time trusting anyone from now on.... This week with the grey weather and ants raiding my apt, I began to feel fed up with Nice. I'm just a bit bored, feeling like I've done all of this before. Then, a friend is upset because her boyfriend was cheating on her, and its just not a good week for believing in humanity.

Yesterday, while I was at school, I got a text from my roommate asking if I had a virus on my computer. I was a bit confused, thought maybe it was making noises. I got home an hour later and my roommate tells me that a man came to the door saying my computer had a virus and he had come to fix it. The man said "your blonde roommate" and "her white computer" so Hessina took him as legit. He left the apartment with my computer.

There was no problem with my computer, and so we were scammed. She described the guy to me, and I'm 90% sure it's this man who came to our apt twice while I was there. The first time, he asked if the apartment was to rent. I said no, that I'd be there until april, and he left. The second time he asked the same question-- which struck me as weird. Now, I know that he was following me; he knew the color of my laptop, he knew I was not at home. He knew that my roommate would practically give him my laptop.

The kicker is that we turned down theft insurance because we were poor and it was more expensive... so now I'm up the creek without a paddle. Its been a long year with technology with my cellphone getting stolen, my old laptop dying and a month and a half of picking out a new one. I know Im lucky to be safe and whatnot, but Im just bitter that I cant seem to catch a break. Hrmph.