Bit cute!

UK-Italy Whirlwind Part 1

Well i havent blogged for an age, and forgive my grammer coz i cant actually find the apostrophe key on the Italian keyboard that im using!! Current location is Venice, and its Carnivale!! Didnt mean to go here at that time specifically, but its great there are people walking around with masks and capes everywhere, very masked-ball-y. Anywho i will try and remember everything from the last week and a half, but since we packed a shitload in dont be surprised if i miss stuff! Went to London last Saturday, and boy that was a day and a half of travel! Shouldnt have been that difficult catching the train from Bordeaux to Parsi then flying from Paris to London, but i didnt count on 3 types of transportation spazzing out on me! 11 hours later and 13 seperate planes, trains, trams and buses later i finally arrived in London and met Mary and Megan, who were so happy to finally be reunited with me that Megan wouldnt even let me pass through the gates before she hugged me to see if i was actually real! Transport issues left behind, we had THE BEST mexican meal ever, and the hottest waiter as well, before crashing for the night. The next day we got up and myself, Megan, Mary, Ben (Megs mate) and Doug (Marys friend) explored London. We did all the touristy things obviously, like the London Bridge, St Pauls Cathedral (where Mary gave a beautiful rendition of Mary Poppins Feed the Birds...), Westminiser Abbey and many other great sights complete with double decker buses in the background!! My impression of London, super-cold, super-expensive and very Amercianized, but on the flip-side it was great to finally be in a country where English is the first language, the fish and chips and home-made lemonade were to die for, and i got to see Megan Stevens, a friend i met in Kenya nearly 3 years ago!!! So good to catch up with her while the others saw Les Mis, and Mary shed a few hundred tears then proceeded to sing the songs for the next 2 days ;) We also saw the new Harry Potter (the 2nd time for me) and then walked down the streets where they filmed some of the scenes!! Pretty awesome actually. Anyway i will continue my update of London, Rome, Florence and Venice tomorrow when i have more time, now off to find some killer spag bol for tea.
Ciao from Italia! xxx

Rolf Harris getting amongst it.

Finance sucks.

So i haven't posted anything in like 2 weeks, there is a reason!! My finance class is a bitch, and so i've been trying not to fail, harder than first thought. But i just had the exam, it wasn't that great but oh well it's over now!! And the next two weeks are going to be amazing, paris then london then rome then florence then milan then venice. Phew! Had to get the first train tomorrow to Paris, a nice early 7:30am to kickstart our first lot of holidays (with plenty to come, i swear we don't actually go to uni), then should just cruise around by myself for the day, will prob go back to the lourve or eat some crepes or something, you know, the usual :) then meeting up with my amigas Mary and Megan in London arghhhhhh!!!! Also get to see my mate Megan whom i met in Kenya nearly 3 years ago, will be great to catch up with her :) and and and watching Fulham play in the Premier League thanks to Mary's buddy. Cannot wait, get to see Mark Schwartzer in the flesh doing his thing, Aussies represent!! Anywho the last 2 weeks have been fairly tame you could say, we went to a kareoke bar the first night back from Paris and Jody showed us all up with the mic, crazy good. Just quietly though our groups rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody should have been youtubed, it was that bloody fantastic! (Cough cough...) Last weekend we went to another Melting Potes party, Leather and Moustaches was the theme, so of course we whipped out the eyeliner, Sara insisted on crafting me a Rolf Harris mo, which to her credit was pretty similar... not sure whether i can pull off the goatee myself but from one Aussie to another it was very managable! Before this though Irish Megan* and i were subjected to a ridiculously long car ride with two random french guys in the hope we would make it into town sooner, what should have been a 20 minutes ride turned into an hour then we walked aimlessly around Victoire for another 30 mins trying to place the damn house!! Pretty hilarious though, luckily we had supplies so we were really stressed, god forbid we sobered up before the party :) Anyway since then just been studying and organising for the trip, tonight we are going out with all the Domofrance people for dinner before we part ways on our adventures for the next 2 weeks, should be good! Hopefully will be able to post some updates while away but if not there will be a mega long post in 2 weeks!!
Adios amigos!
xxx

 The Louvre!!

 Starbucks. Freaking Americans... ;)

 Strolling round Paris, ah the serenity!

Getting all touristy...

Picture Perfect Paris.

Ah Paris! All the stories turned out to be true, it is the city where magic happens! One of the best weekends i can remember was spent exploring all Paris had to offer, with plenty left over for next time. Jody and I arrived by train which took about 3 hours, and met Mary, Megan and Annie outside Gare de Lyon where we went for coffee (5 euros!! so expensive!), then went back to our Hostel to rest before the next day. But 4 excited girls in a room doesn't usually equal adequate quiet time, and so we spent hours talking before we finally crashed at 2:30am. Lack of sleep didn't stop us from waking up at 8am though! First stop was the Louvre, which i was super excited to see, it turned out to be even better than i thought, seeing the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo along with other amazing works of art that are so famous blew me away, i'm going back in 2 weeks definatly to explore some more because it is so huge! We then walked to the Arc de Triomphe and managed to get some shopping in on les Champs-Elysees, amazing shops - i am now a true H&M fan. We walked to the Effiel Tower which had been on the horizon all day and were complete tourists whipping our cameras out at every opportunity, ah well when in Paris!! We went back to the hostel completely exhausted and rested for awhile before having dinner at a little bistro close by, delicious french food and great service :) Then Mary, Megan, myself and 2 of Mary's friends from America went to a bar that brewed it's own beer and chilled out. It was great, we chatted to some kilt-wearing Scots and a guy from the Netherlands who were rich businessmen that owned a Chateau! Jackpot haha! Afterwards we grabbed takeaway crepes from a vendor on the street (which were absolutely amazing!) and headed home on the Metro (totes smells like pee). The next day we were up bright and early again to explore. Jody and I went to Gare Montparnasse to reserve our train for the night then went back to the Arc de Triomphe to get a proper look and be tourists again! We met the other girls at Musee de Pompidou (modern art museum) and wandered around looking at all the crazy things people call art, included the Genital Panic display which we all found highly amusing. After more crepes on the way home we said Au Revoir to Paris for awhile and went back to the train station to come back to Bordeaux, reality and class the next morning (yuck!). It was an amazing weekend spent with great mates, but i feel like i've barely scratched the surface of Paris and can't wait to go back! (Already going on my way through to Italy in 2 weeks!)
A bientot Paris!  

Never go to an open bar in France...

...unless you like to get completely soaked in a mixture of vodka, whiskey, vomit and potentially pee. I was planning to be ultra-responsible and not go to the last open bar of the year last night, but peer-pressure and all you can drink for 4 euros got the best of me. Needless to say i have very little self control when it comes to having a good time. I won't go into too much detail but people literally throw their drinks on everyone as entertainment (which prompts you to throw yours back), everyone makes out with everyone (sometimes you don't even say a curtious 'bonjour' beforehand!), and everyone loses all their shit. Personal win of the night was the fact that i didn't lose anything! (Dignity excluded) My genius plan of putting my key on a chain around my neck proved successful and having a hot shower at 4am in order to wash the vodka out of my hair turned out to be a great end to a spontaneously great night. Went out with the usual suspects at Domofrance, along with the hilarious Irish girls, Sara from Liverpool (funniest person i've ever met) and Dan the Aussie. Great people make for great times. I realise that the majority of my posts revolve around drinking and partying which doesn't hold me in a very studious light, but hey, im in Europe?! No judgement here! My nana wanted the address to view this blog but i'm thinking it's probably wise not to disclose it...
But in other news I'M GOING TO PARIS TOMORROW!!!!! I'm sososo excited!! Going with Annie, Mary, Megan and Jody and it's going to be amazing :) I am happy to do all the touristy things this weekend and save the real exploring for next trip, because i've wanted to see the Effiel Tower and the Lourve since forever. I could literally spend eternity there i think... So my next post shall contain pics and stories from the heart of Europe!
Gros bisous from Bordeaux!!