feries

ferie=holiday in french and there are a lot of them. they are called bank holidays when translated and in american english it just means a federal holiday, one that everyone should be given.
so the french don't take a holiday for Easter because they are on holiday during Easter, well, the French students are...its a 2 week break similar to the American spring break but its not because its called Easter break. So instead of taking a day for Easter they choose to take a day for Ascension; the day when Jesus went back to heaven after having risen from the grave at Easter. So that day happened to be this past Thursday. When the French have a holiday on Thursday, a lot of them take the Friday as well. There is a name for this but I don't remember right this second, forgive me. Basically, they just take the Friday as a free holiday, because who wants to go back and work one day after having one off? Right. So guess what that means? It means Kara gets another holiday! Yay!

Ok, so for this holiday I actually did something. As if I don't do anything for my other holidays, but lately no, I have not. Sad me, right? Ha ha. My life is a holiday so I can't complain. But anyways, 2 of my girlfriends and I decided to go on a roadtrip to Vannes, France. Vannes is in Bretagne (Brittany for those who don't know). Vannes is about a 4 hour drive from Paris and we had a friend there we were going to visit. We left on THursday morning bright and early and arrived in time for a late lunch and left Sunday after lunch and arrived back in Paris for the major lightning storm that greeted us late last night.

This weekend rocked! In many ways! It was awesome. It was awesome to see another part of France as I have not traveled any in France yet. It was awesome to see where someone else lives. It was awesome to have a holiday where there was little traveling involved and lots of rest and relaxation. It was just a great weekend.

Our friend Kyle, who we went to visit who lives there is an American who has been doing his PhD for the past few years. He is finishing up and will be moving to Paris in January which is super exciting for a few reasons, I will get to those soon enough, but lets just put it out there: This guy is one super duper host! What I love about living abroad is that you are constantly meeting new people who become your best friend immedietly, and not in the American kind of way where you quickly put them in the "aquaintance" file only to be brought out again when you need something or see them in passing. Thats not how it works here. Us foreigners are so tight its crazy. I mean, I had met Kyle once before, actually at my birthday party a few months ago. He is friends with the other 2 girls I traveled with, and he's known them a bit longer but he opened his home to us for 4 days and we really enjoyed each others company.

Kyle is an incredible cook. And when I say incredible I mean that when he handed me a plate I almost always finished everything on it. Now, for those who know me know that this is a bit deal because I have a stomach the size of a peanut and eat next to nothing on most days. But the food was gourmet style and just absolutely to die for. Not once on this trip, except for the ride back home, did we eat out. We cooked (or should I say, kyle cooked) 3 meals a day. Yum.

So what did we do when we weren't eating? A lot! I said it was relaxing which it was, but we really did do a lot as well. The first day we explored the town and there was a fete this past weekend which I can't really explain except to say that there were a lot of people. Vannes is on a porte so there were a lot of boats and interesting things to see. The second day we went to this island and road our bikes around for a few hours and had a picnic. It was incredible, to see so much water (the only water in Paris is the Seine and it reminds me of a toilet so you can see how excited we were to see fresh clean water) and be on a beautiful island and having a picnic under the sun. The third day we went on a road trip down the coast a little ways and go to visit some cliffs with beaches, a petit ville where Franklin Roosevelt landed when he came over to make negotiations with the king of France for independence (i think) and then we ended up at a beautiful beach where we all changed into our maillot de bains (swim suits) and laid under the sun for a few hours. The final day we were there we visited Kyle's church which is what you see in Little House under the Prairie type and was absolutely amazing as well.

I took some pictures and have been looking at them throughout the day and remembering all we did. It really was incredible. Some of my favorite memories from the weekend were when we were back at Kyle's apartment making dinner or enjoying each others company and we played games one night, what I call car jamming but really cranked up the music and danced into the wee hours of the night the 2nd night. And then the final night we put on a 90's chick flick and enjoyed that.

It's the moments like these past weekend that really require me to sit back and soak it all up and remind me to enjoy every last second because I am so blessed to have the friends I have and be able to create the memories I do. My friendships here in France have far exceeded anything I could've ever imagined and I feel so blessed to have the friends I do. With those friendships come some awesome experiences such as my Christmas in Vienna, my neighbors who invite me over, roadtrips and much more.

Anyways, the work week has begun again. Don't feel sorry for me, I don't have to work tomorrow! ha! And then in 2 weeks I have a 3 day work week again as well because in a few weeks we have another ferie (holiday) and the same week I am headed to Istanbul for the weekend.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial day weekend, just imagine this was mine a week late... miss you all!!!

Love, me