Bonjour!
Each month keeps getting better. ?The weather is really starting to warm up in Nice making it difficult to focus on school with the beach in such close proximity. ?Me and my study abroad friends have spent many sunny days on the beach in Nice and on the nearby beaches along the Cote D’azur. ?The experience thus far has been incredible. ?The change of scenery from College Station to the Cote D’azur has been a seamless transition.
My second class, Excel/VBA, has come to an end this month which has left me at five remaining classes. ?For my excel class we had to do semi-weekly excel projects that were taken as a participation grade and then were graded on our final project. ?With the final project being?very meticulous?and lengthy and counting for the majority of our grade, I was very stressed. ?However, once I had finished the project it allowed me the luxury?of more time to travel more around Europe.
On March 11 my parents and my two youngest sisters came to Nice to come and visit me. ?My dad and two youngest sisters planned to stay a week for their spring break while my mom booked her trip for two weeks to wait for my third sister to arrive on her spring break from Arkansas. ?It was awesome to have my parents arrive at the halfway point to experience familiarity and to help alleviate?my spending?habits. ?They had rented a nice villa in Ville-Franche Sur Mer which was the town over from Nice. ?I got to take a much needed break from my crammed apartment into a spacious villa. ?I had?four days to show them around the French Riviera before heading to Paris for two days with them. ?We hiked Eze, traveled Monaco, and enjoyed the beaches of the riviera.
On March 15 we arrived in Paris. ?I only had two days to tour the whole city because I had purchased tickets to Dublin on the night of the 16th for St. Patricks Day weekend. ?Paris was one of my favorite cities in Europe. ?I saw the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, St. Germaine, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elys?es, and more in my limited time there. ?The thing I loved the most about Paris is the architecture. ?Every corner you are greeted by a beautifully architected building or monument. ?Me and my roommate Garret left for Dublin on the 16th to meet up with some friends and stayed there until the 20th. ?On St. Patrick’s Day we got dressed up in green and visited the parade as well as a couple bars. ?The next day we toured the Guinness Factory which was fascinating. ?The Irish have a lot of pride in their beer. ?On Sunday Garret and I took a bus tour from Dublin to the Cliffs of Moher. ?It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. ?It was a foggy and misty day so when we arrived to the cliffs we saw the fog?creeping up off the cliffs. ?We saw some castles after touring the cliffs as well and made our way back to Nice the following day.
When I got back I had to get back into the school mindset because I had three classes coming to a close the next month. ?However, that was tough to do with my mom and my sister coming to visit from Arkansas. ?I took them to see the same things I showed my littlest sisters and dad. ?We also enjoyed some french food I could not afford without the help of my mom. ?We tried escargot, frog legs, and oysters.
This past month has been incredible. ?It is one I will always remember and it makes me a little depressed knowing I only have about two more months left in Europe. ?However, I am slowly getting ready to come back home to Texas and enjoy Tex Mex, my car and many other things I can’t get here.
A bient?t
