Thursday 26 July 2012

Welcome Back

So, as planned I finally arrived home last Friday evening. We drove from the airport back to my parents' house, where I stayed for two days, before heading back up to college.

We had a formal dinner on Monday evening and it was nice to see everyone again (though strange being back in the boarding-school like environment after living independently for so long). It is what it is and it's only going to be another few months.

Here are some pictures from the 'Mid-Winter Dinner'

Me with Hayman

Isn't Julia a darling!

We've missed having a good belly laugh!


Classes have been alright so far. Some have been interesting, some have been less interesting - but hopefully things will mould together during the next few weeks. They usually do. I've had a week full of catch ups and early nights (apparently that's what jet-lag does to you... But it means I'm off to a good start)!


I've come back home for a few days - as here it's all things wedding. Poor Jordan has been busy all week moving house and organising the things that go along with that... But we're venue-hunting, as December fills up fast. We visited one today and are off to see another one in the morning.

Here's a picture driving into the town where I live. It was taken between rain showers.




Enjoy the weekend!


- Alice

Thursday 19 July 2012

Farewells to France

The last few days have been a flurry of squashing belongings into suitcases, several trips to the post office/bank, saying goodbyes to friends and trying to appreciate Europe for all it is before I leave it for what could be a very long time...

Emmanuel and Rock came round yesterday and we ate instant noodles (because we didn't feel like being more inventive). We then went and explored Lyon one final time...
We walked along the Rhône river, across 'Pont de l'Université', over to Bellecour and then to Vieux Lyon. We got ice-cream at the best ice cream place in Lyon (which is at Place de la Baleine) Click here to see the ice-cream shop's website.






So I've been pondering what I will and won't miss about France....

Five Things I'll Miss About France


1. Being able to walk aimlessly through old, historic streets and take in views such as this one



2. Obviously, the food



3. The public transport (Australia, seriously - everyone knows that yours is bad)


4. The Castles


5. The wonderful people I've met!


Five Things I won't Miss About France

1. The queues.... EVERYWHERE



2. The sub-zero temperatures



3.  France's Higher Education System


4. All of the paperwork in France! AHH!




5. Passers by (in their masses) stopping suddenly on the middle of roads, streets, in front of stairs.




So there you have it! WOW! What a year! I'm now in Doha, Qatar and am Melbourne-bound. I should arrive home in a mere... Well... 18ish? Hours? And I've only been travelling for over a day now... But hey, how AMAZING is it that we can travel so quickly around the world? It really is such a wonderful blessing.

I'm so grateful for every experience that I've been able to have while being abroad...

I've visited Denmark 6 times, been to Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, England, Hungary, Switzerland... The United States, All over France, but now it's time to go home (well, for another 6 months at least - then Jordan and I plan to live in America).... But home really is where the heart is!

I'm excited for the next chapter and have decided to continue blogging (though the Melbourne blogs may not be quite as exciting for most of you)


See you SOON!


- Alice


Tuesday 17 July 2012

Before it's Time to Go

Foreword: Jana posted the pictures that she took of Jordan and I onto her photography blog. 
You can see them HERE


I've been trying to make the most of my final days here in Lyon... And in Europe, too - as I'll soon be gone for an indefinite amount of time. Who knows when I'll be up here next. On Saturday I caught up with Sarah, a friend from church. First, we bumped into some missionaries. One is from Adelaide! He knows people I know from Melbourne.

                               This reads 'It's cool to be mormon' - we think that's true!



We saw a movie and ate some delicious 'tartines' at a gourmet open toasted sandwich joint. It's an extremely popular place, tucked away from Rue Mercière. There are old cobble stoned streets and many restaurants in this area. They had some sugar cubes with conversation starters written on them. It was cute. We took some photos of these... I'll write the translations as headings.

                                                Shall We Eat Out?


                                          Do You Want to Marry Me?

                                                        (Jordan, this one's for you)                               

                                             Ouch, that's my foot!



                                           A Little, A Lot.... Passionately!



Top Left To Bottom Right: Call me on:, What are you doing afterwards?, Meet at:, My email address:, Enchanted, Do you live with your parents?, I miss you, A little, a lot, passionately..., may I get you a drink?


We enjoyed walking along the streets of this beautiful city and then visited Sarah's place. She lives in an apartment from the 18th century! It was really lovely. I was able to meet her parents, too!

On Sunday evening I had a friend from JCH come by for the night with a friend of hers. They're travelling through France at the moment and had a night to kill in Lyon. I was happy to have them stay and even got to show them around briefly.

Monday I managed to (nearly entirely) pack up the contents of my bedroom and squash it into 2 suitcases and 2 boxes. At present things are seeming to be correct (in terms of weight... Though borderline. We'll see how that goes). I made a mistake! I'm arriving in Melbourne this Friday evening, not this Saturday evening like I thought (luckily I realised this early)!

In the evening Caroline and I visited the apartment that she and Aziz (her partner, and my other house mate) will be moving into shortly. It's a beautiful old French building, in the nicest neighbourhood in town (at a very reasonable price)! It's also very close to the Métro and to the park and downtown Lyon. It's a winner! I'm excited for them. We then picnicked in the park.





So I'm leaving for Geneva on Wednesday and leaving for Melbourne on Thursday! AHH! Crazy. I'll be home in 3 days time.

Over and out,


- Alice

Friday 13 July 2012

That Nordic Place

Early on Saturday morning I had an early trip out to Charles de Gaulle Airport to drop Sophie off there. She was going on to visit a friend of hers in Norway. I then went back into Paris, saw the new Woody Allen film (which, by the way was very good) and fought my way through crowds at the Louvre, where I tried to soak in some culture (but I actually spent most of the time doing personal anthropological analysis on the crowds).

It was back to the airport on Sunday morning, where I caught my flight to Copenhagen. It was sunny in Denmark that day. Now, if you haven't ever been to Denmark - I can tell you that there is no place nicer than Denmark when the sun shines. That said - it isn't often that the sun does shine here. I played outside with Johan and then we spent the afternoon at the beach with the boys.







On the Monday we spent the day at Tivoli (an amusement park in Copenhagen) for Micha's birthday. Tuesday we went to Roskilde. This time we didn't visit the viking museum, but strolled along the pedestrian shopping strip. We ate a reallly good lunch and then browsed what was on offer.

On Wednesday we went to a quaint sea-side town where Micha works occasionally at the hotel. We went there for lunch. It was SO good! The streets there were so pretty, too and we looked at the church.



                                                       Lunch...






In the afternoon we went to Copenhagen and I filled in some time while Micha had an appointment. I walked around the harbour. We then went out for dinner, talked, talked and talked and then to the cinema. We were actually very disappointed with the movie, though and ended up leaving early... We were so tired though, it was good to go home.

Yesterday we went for brunch in Køge, another really lovely Danish town. We then went back home and I put my things together to leave for Lyon.

So here I am back in Lyon - for the last time. It's crazy that I leave in a week's time to fly home to Australia...

There's so much to do!


I'll write soon!



- Alice

Friday 6 July 2012

Speeding Through the Country

We caught a train early yesterday morning from Nice back to Lyon. We were able to enjoy a nice lunch at my apartment before I took Sophie out on a tour of my city.

Here are some pictures of what we saw in lovely Lyon (yesterday was a little gloomy)






We had originally planned to spend two days in Paris (and not return to Lyon), though these plans fell through when something went wrong with Chloé's apartment (where we had intended to stay), so had to sort out accommodation (which, just so you should know - is expensive in Paris to begin with, but if you'd like to stay somewhere central and are booking at the last minute, it costs a small fortune). There were no hostels left, so we sweet talked our parents and convinced them to pay for us to stay at a hotel. It's not in an ideal location, though it is close to the train that leads to the airport (so minimal luggage hauling required).

I took Sophie on a one day high speed tour of Paris (which was mostly on foot). Luckily I knew how to get around, so we didn't waste time getting lost. The crowds were tedious, though and it was all so big and Paris-like. I don't think I'm such a big fan of this city anymore. Anyway, we saw the sights. Here are some Paris snaps.



Here's the obligatory shot...


We treated ourselves to some macarons from Ladurée (Gran, you would be pleased to know this. Thank you for purchasing them for us! They were very much enjoyed). This is the best commercial patisserie in France.



Ladurée's site is HERE

So tomorrow morning my time with Sophie will draw to a close as she departs for Norway and Denmark. I have another day in Paris (solo) before flying back to Denmark for a couple of days (though Sophie won't arrive there until after I've left).

So tomorrow is my last day here for what will probably be a long time. Paris, we've had our ups and downs and I know I often feel frustrated with you... But you really are a beautiful city.



- Alice

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Adventures in Nice

So - you can probably imagine how I felt when the plane touched down in Paris. Horrible. It felt so incredibly wrong to go back to France. I felt like I was abandoning my sweetheart (which of course, I wasn't) - but if I had a choice, I would still be in Utah. It looks like I'll be headed back there mid September, though... And that really isn't too far away now. It's funny how being in one place for just 6 weeks can feel so much like home. I suppose home really is where the heart is. And I love everyone there so much!

The rest of the week was spent on Pinterest, looking at ideas for the wedding, sulking and trying to overcome jet lag.

Sophie arrived early on Sunday morning and I went up to the airport in Paris to pick her up. It was so nice to finally see my little sister after what's nearly been a year. We were excited, but she was exhausted from her trip. I'd been hoping to drag her around Lyon, but on arrival it was absolutely pouring with rain and the lightning and thunder didn't allow for many exploration adventures - in fact, we decided to spend the day indoors.

Early Monday we departed for Nice. We travelled first class and besides almost freezing from the air conditioning (who could have known), it was very pleasant. Nice was quite a change from Lyon. There was only sun, sun, sun! The beginning of our stay began by hopping into a taxi at the station, where an incredibly rude man drove us up to our hostel. After leaving our bags and feeling overwhelmed by the number of Australian people there, we walked down the hill to the town centre (which we were told would take 20 minutes. It took 2 hours). Once there we checked out the stoney beaches and felt swept up with all of the hype going on around us...


The hostel didn't exactly turn out the way we thought it would. I'd booked a 5 bedroom, girl's dorm, thinking it would be tucked away and full of quiet Asian girls (but I was so wrong). It was located next to an old chapel that had been converted into a night club - so the music was pumping all night. The atmosphere was complimented by a door that we couldn't lock and did not have a key to and the smell of marijuana wafting through the open window (that the British girls insisted we leave open) and the constant chatter of passers by. Needless to say, I marched on up to reception, told the person there that our plans had changed - and booked us a private room in another hostel downtown. We were relieved to find an air conditioned room here that even has an ensuite! We were in luck.

Yesterday we explored nearby Antibes and took a dip in the Mediterranean in the village of Biot where there were fewer people and enjoyed the novelty of lying on pebbles and not sand. The pebbles were actually smooth. Deb, you would have loved this beach! No sand!





Today we were able to get up early again and down to the train station. We headed slightly North up to the cute provençal town of Grasse. Now, Grasse is the world's perfume capital. Apparently when you're driving in, there are fields and fields of lavender and jasmine (though unfortunately we missed this, as we arrived by train). We made our way up to the old part of the town, poked around shops which were situated on ancient cobble stoned streets that weaved their way around and up and down. Sophie bought a cute scarf and I found some earrings. We ate lunch at a crêperie (sort of - from a street vendor) and thought it was pretty cool that every few minutes, the entire street would be sprayed with perfume from above (they had perfume sprinklers somehow attached to the power lines).

Dried flowers for sale
We went to the Fragonard perfumerie, where we were able to enjoy a free visit to the perfume museum and also learn about the process of perfume making during a free guided tour. Apparently people who compose perfumes are called 'Noses' and they are able to recognise the scents up to 3,000 different extracts! That's amazing. No wonder there are only 1,000 Noses worldwide.


A brief train ride to Cannes, where we ate an ice-cream by the beach and then made some summer sale purchases (which were of course non negotiable), then back to Nice.

So - tomorrow it's back to Lyon (where it will be raining again - but we'll go out anyway)! And then on to Paris this Friday.

Over and out!




- Alice