Remember that one time I went to France?

Look how appropriate my footwear is! Actually I brought those target sandals and my sandal crocs I know, so fashionable and not at all American, right? because my feet hurt a lot from walking and those are my most comfortable pairs of shoes. Sad, I know. What I discovered when it started raining is that my crocs are completely worn on the bottom, which = no grip. 

Side note: We were totally looking for something else when I decided it looked like something was a couple of blocks over. To our surprise it was the Louvre! So we went with the flow and switched our game plan around.

(In the Tuileries)

I nicknamed this statue Despair. It really spoke to me. And I love it. Haven't we all felt that way sometime? I just love the emotion captured there. 

I really, really love ducks. They were pretty much my favorite part when we visited Paris when I was nine. So I was pretty much obligated to stop and feed them for a few minutes. 

Can you see the hunchback??

Side note: We were attempted to find the aforementioned site- that turned into a Louvre tour- again when we stumbled upon Notre Dame. I don't think we ever made it to the place we were looking for. Mainly because I can't remember what we were looking for.

I really loved seeing how intricate and ornate the floor originally was. 

Aaaand Sacre Coeur.

Unfortunately we took the metro here and unexpectedly walked up a never ending spiral staircase to the street level- seriously, people were stopping to rest- and then took a I-want-to-die ride up the hill cause I sure as heck wasn't going to walk up more stairs, up to a very crowded and touristy area. I'm not a fan of huge sweaty touristy crowds. Not that I was touristy. Or sweaty. 

But I do like that picture. 

PS. Just because I know you are chomping at the bit to see more of my trip, I took a video of under the Eiffel tower, which isn't exciting in itself, but I love the dirty look my mom is giving me at the end.

Under the Eiffel Tower from Michelle Mann on Vimeo.

And of our boat ride on the Seine. Especially because all of our pictures were super blurry. 

Seine boat ride from Michelle Mann on Vimeo.

Aaand the light show on the Eiffel Tower. Because my camera wasn't capturing it well as a picture. And please ignore my ridiculous video skills. And voice. {Does anyone else haaate their voice how other's hear it? It's fine in my head. "

Eiffel Tower light show from Michelle Mann on Vimeo.

I kinda wish I got a video of the nasty nasty HUGE rats scampering to the trash on the side of the park after we watched the light show. Reminded me of Ratatouille?

HP Numero Uno

I'm taking French semester. Level two. Even though I took four years in high school. And it's hard guys.

I have a hard enough time pronouncing english words and remembering them and how to spell. So adding a new language.... C'est très difficile. 






Since I pretty much learned how to talk and the english language besides the constant language around me..... through reading, I thought maybe I was approaching French wrong.




I know it'll take a long time to trudge through- since I'll have to look up a lot of words and think a lot more than normal, but I bough Harry Potter And the Sorcerer's Stone in French!!

Made me very happy to get it in the mail.

Isn't the cover cute?!?






PS. Is the fact that I put the post title in spanish an indication of my French proficiency? 

I kinda need to move now.

To France. Because, I mean, just look at these pictures. And we only saw/ captured a fraction of the beauty in France. More pictures later. I didn't want to burn your eyes out with all the menial pictures we took. (You know, all at once.)

Oh and blogger is cutting off the sides of my pictures because they are big. If you are so inclined, clicking on them should give you the whole image. 

Taken the night of our arrival to Paris. Our hotel was a five minute (or less) walk away.

The Chateau we stayed at in Amboise. Except we didn't stay in the actual chateau but across the way...

...Here. It was so beautiful!

This chateau was my favorite. The gardens are unbelievable. I'll post more pictures of it another time.

Have a fantastic labor day weekend!

I have returned

from France.  Pictures to come.

Still recovering from jet lag as I have to wake up at 5:30 for my classes two days a week (that made it sound wimpier). So tonight, which may or may not also be my birthday, I am in my pjs, eyes already squinting from being tired, watching the nanny and blogging. Guess the 20s really are the most exciting time in your life.

Buuut I did get sushi. And chocolate ice cream. So I'm good.

And I did get a chance to read Mockingjay in between my classes. You guys read it? That series still reminds me of the Twilight series even though people say it isn't the same at all. Same with the Uglies series.



PS. Any advice to convince my parents that The American University of Paris is where I need to be? (Though it is *quite* a bit more expensive than BYU... anyone want to support me and my dream?)

PS.PS. Any tips to help me convince my mom to get an English Bulldog or French Bulldog puppy??

{naomi's ever-adorable Kingsley}

I mean, just look at those cute faces!!

Home at last.

Went to bed at two something Tuesday night after studying and cleaning. 

Woke up at eight to resume the chicken-with-it's-head-cut-off running around of the night before, and proceeded to take my finals until 3. 

Clean clean, pack pack till 4:30 where I was checked out and passed the clean test.

Proceeded to drive 9 hours home.

Home at last, home at last, thank God Almighty, I'm home at last!

.... for about 28 hours until I leave on vacation.

wait, did I not mention that?

Okay so yesterday I was here

Right now I am here.

And on Friday I am leaving for here for a week.

Guess I better brush up on my totally forgotten high school French.

An Ode to Tongue in Cheek:

Oh wait, I just realized an ode is a lyric poem. Guess the title is just a tad misleading. Oh well you get what I meant hopefully.

So I realized after that last post that I have never gushed about Corey from Tongue in Cheek. She is such an amazing woman. She was a nun, then met husband in a gay dance club in San Francisco and moved to France with him.

To get a little sample of her blog, these were two posts that really touched me. But she always has cute stories about her transition to living in France, the treasures she finds at brocants, and just life in general. Her and her French Husband are ADORABLE.

This story is about her love John. I'm not sure if he was her boyfriend or fiancee, but that story makes me tear up every time I even start looking at it. I can't even imagine what that was like.

Then she wrote this post about how she was able to move on from her loss, and met her husband and how she knew he was going to be someone important to her.