darrrlin', danke schoen.

[my elbows make my arms look like legs. deer legs. also, disregard the reindeer pjs. ahah oh, iiiirony.]

she's aliiiiiive!

yes, i'm alive.

hi, my name is michelle, have we met?

yes we have.

it's been a little while since i've last blogged on account of the fact that i've been working my butt off at nordstrom to pay myself back for some unexpected expenses in paris.

and by unexpected, i mean that i had no idea i could fall so hard so fast for a pair of shoes or a sweater.

i guess i did find love in paris.

ANYWAYS,

i'm going to try and bang out the last month of my study abroad [i need those memories people, deal with it.] before school starts again. 

hooooo boy, let's go.

october 28th started off early.

we got up earlier to go grab some breakfast downstairs, which was fab by the way.

who knew that ham and cheese panini's with salt and pepper for breakfast could be so d good?

i did. deep down. i just had to prove it to myself.

then, brynn's old family friend brother williamson came to pick us up.

he was going to show us around all weekend, since he had lived there for a few years and knew the area.

well saweeeet!

once he picked us up, we headed out and got on the autobahn.

for those of you who don't know what an autobahn is [don't worry, i had no freakin' idea], it's basically a freeway where you're allowed to go as fast as you want. i'm not kidding. i'm pretty sure we stayed a consistant 90 or 100 mph the whole time. and of course, i was fearing my life the whole time. i'm surprised i didn't put all three seat belts in the backseat on me.

sad thing was, we were all talking and i could not stay awake. like literally, it was probably the hardest thing in my life going on in that moment. and it was always right in the middle of him talking to me [whoops? i dgaf?].

one thing that i loved was that i kept seeing a sign on the autobahn saying "ausfahrt" and sounding it out in my head over and over and laughing. i am just not mature enough for this country. finally, brynn got the courage to ask him what it meant and it means "exit" basically. hahahahahaha i love it.

we finally reached our first destination, which was neuschwanstein. that's the castle that the disneyland castle is modeled after. how cool, right? a real castle. for a real princess like me [head tilt and smile].

we headed up to it and bought tickets for a tour, and it was in the line waiting, that i found myself getting guilted into singing a solo on sunday in church. yes. because he happened to be the branch president, and i happened to be singing "danke schoen". cool beans.

we found out that you could either walk up to it, or do the fat person thing and take a horse carriage. well, of course we're smart, because we decided to walk up it. let's just say, that baby challenged me. and by baby, i mean those freaky huge 11 pound babies that you only read of in national inquirer [you know.....if you read those...]. luckily, there was an absolutely gorgeous view to distract me [sometimes]. i seriously felt like my mother taking a bazillion pictures. or a chinese tourist. but how could i not?

[seriously. it doesn't get any better than this. also yes, i'm the nerd wearing my paris shirt in germany. judge me.]

we arrived a little early for our tour of the castle, so bro. williamson took us a secret way where there was a bridge over a waterfall/river way down below to see the castle from the back. and man, baby got back, because that thing was just unreal looking. i couldn't believe how high up we were. and how many dang fine german boys were around me. hallo, ist was Ihr Name? but seriously. 

after our tour, we headed back down to the car, but not before picking up our first brat on the way. ohh my daang, that thing was delicious. something about the mustard here is just not fair. i regret not toting away a quart or two of that stuff. oh well, all's well that ends well. and right before we got to the car, we stopped in a little shop, just to see what was inside aka buy delicious expensive candy and a pretty scarf. ehh when in germany, right?

[the hanuta was definitely not as good as it looks. and the giotto was definitely waaay better than it looks. and the gummy bears are always a good time. i craved them non-stop in germany.]

next was the linderhof palace, which was another, but smaller, castle built by the same king that built the first one was saw. but not before we drove through austria for a bit!

a video for your viewing pleasure.

[of course, we sang this the whole time.]

the palace was even more ornate on the inside than the first one, even though it was way smaller. i hadn't been to versailles at this point, but it felt a lot like versailles would feel like. everything inside was gold or red velvet, and the art on the ceilings was unreal. i need art on my ceilings. and a canopy bed. stat.

[the one of williamson taking a picture of brynn planking kills me everytime. i can just hear him trying to figure out her camera..."okay, let's see....did it work?"]

then, we started to head back to where we were staying that night [with some members in bro. williamson's ward], but it took a whole four or five hours because of traffic. one, of which, i slept [surprise surprise]. and another spent at the fabulous and german-originated burger king. i know. classy and trashy, right?  but williamson loves burger king and it was late, so we settled. it was probably the dirtiest and messiest burger king i've ever been to [out of the what, three?]. and most confusing. my and brynn spent the longest time trying to decide if we should share fries or not, and finally decided to, and she ordered her sandwich, and then i went up to order mine [with the fries to share], and mine was less than hers. so she asked him if he had given her the whole meal, and he said no. and then two seconds later, called out her order number and handing her a tray with a whole meal on it. i busted over laughing.

[we go to sit down, and literally, every table had trash allll over it. like piles and trays and everything. sooo gross, but such a funny memory.]

fun story: i really wanted salt and pepper for my fries. i was on a salt and pepper kick, and haaad to have it with my fries. burger king decided to be out of it, and as we were walking by the trashed tables, i saw some leftover salt and pepper packets on the left-over trays. well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. you bet i fished those babies out and used them. and i'm proud of it.

once we get around the city we were staying in, we decided to hit up a grocery store to buy some candy to send home [williamson said he could ship things for us for real cheap]. ummm, this might have been the most embarrassing grocery store trip of my life. me and brynn pounced on that candy/cookies/everything. i think i bought at least 40 euros worth of stuff. please don't do the euro to dollar conversion for that. but hello, when is the next time i'm gonna be in germany! thank you very much.

[those bottled sausages are sooo wrong. and that cookie was sadly disappointing. and that cart was the heaviest thing eva.]

and then, we were dropped off at our very nice german host family's house. coolest house ever. i don't know what it was, but everything seemed kind of futuristic. okay, not really. but they had those shades that go over the windows electronically and the windows like popped out and tilted toward you when you opened them. and they had a towel warmer in their bathroom. and everything was super clean and shiny and silver. i'm sorry, 2066? yeah, i thought so too. maybe it's just because i was used to living in the pig pen of madame percin? probably. i still loved it though.

[my shmany suite. that's german for "my fancy room". not really.]

what time is it? munich time.

[i know, i look reeeal excited. but it's because that guy behind us was checking me out. how could you NOT be excited?]

happy day for me, daryl's class was cancelled. i know, it was a christmas miracle. 

i actually had time to shower. so yeah, it was a happy day for everyone in france that day. 

and oh, i should've had no school that day, but lucky us, we had french 201 again. it was because it was cancelled the week after, so we got to have it twice this week. yay........................

but we got to leave early again so we could catch our train. almost not early enough. the freaking metro broke down halfway there and i about peed my pants. one thing this study abroad has shown me is that i do not do well cutting it close to deadlines with serious consequences. like missing a costly train to germany. 

eventually, it started up again, and when we got there, we booked it straight for our train and made it just in time. like got on and it left right after.

munich, or munchen, here we come. 

 [oh, so that's why their chocolate there is so dang good. they put beer and yogurt in it!]

[hollaaaa.]

unbeknownst to me, i was about to fall in love. with a country.

the day i gaffed my pants off aka had the freakout of a lifetime.

[i'm happy. really.]
note:the first chunk of this was written yesterday [or the day before, given time zone crap] and i'm too lazy and jet-lagged to re-write something clever. you're welcome.

welp, i'm exhausted. i'm at the airport right now, and i think i'm running on about an hour of sleep.

why only an hour, you ask?

maybe because i was terrified of the thought of sleeping past my alarm and not making my shuttle to the airport.

literally, that would be the worst kind of nightmare.

funny stuff is at 3, i decided to maybe sleep until 5 when i was supposed to wake up, and that is when my hostel mate starts coughing up a storm for one entire hour. i am not joking. and i was two seconds from screaming "my gosh, go drink some water already!!" but i didn't want to be rude. 

or get beat up [even though i'd totally win]. 

or have my things stolen [which i so carefully made a crib with around my bed].

so i played nice.

and now, i'm at the airport, wearing two coats and a bazillion other layers that you don't want to know about. 

fun fact: everything i'm wearing is at least two weeks past it's due date for being clean. makes for a good time when you're a walking garbage.

i know, i know, tmi michelle, tmi.

but at least i'm saving a boatload of money on luggage, with which i can go shopping.

itwillbeworthit. ithink.

just get me home, air france.

alright, let's pass some time and blog for real now.

wednesday, october 26th.

so here's the deal sparky, me and brynn wanted to go to cannes because it's actually right next to grasse, where all the perfume museums are. one, specifically, where you can make your own perfume. yesss.

anyways, so we woke up early in cannes and took a bus out to grasse for the day [yes, this was a wednesday. no, i wasn't skipping school. my only class that day was cancelled. yippeeee meee].

the day was quite eventful. first off, we almost missed the bus going out to grasse because it was around the corner from the actual bus stop. because that's normal. it was a gorgeous ride though.

[the windows were suuuper foggy, so that explains the fogginess of the pictures. obviously.]

then, when we got there, we didn't know what stop to get off at and we asked the bus driver and he's like "oh, i know where you're supposed to go", and insisted it wasn't the stop we thought it was supposed to be, but up the hill. turns out you were wrong, buddy. it was the stop down the hill. although, the view from the top was not bad. not bad at all. 

[so gorgeous. also, we went up those stairs and they literally led us up to a wall....??]

since we were 15 minutes from our perfume-making appointment, we ended up having to hail a taxi. yup, we're rich.

luckily though, we got there on time. on time for the most stressful few hours of my life! seriously though. the reason why it's so stressful is because they have you smell a million smells, and you're supposed to only pick a few to mix from there, and how do you know that they're going to smell good when you mix them? and you can't really start over. and what if it smells like an old lady and not a designer-like perfume? because for some reason, you don't really mind the smells of old ladies [their perfume, you weirdos]. yes. these were the questions that haunted me for hours. 

[1. me looking asian. 2. my table set-up. 3. me and brynn on our "smell break". 4. our perfumerie certificates. 5. me being pretty. and stressed. 6. just doing my day job. mixing perfume. no biggie.]

it was so stressful. you had to pick heart notes, head notes, and base notes. one of them was the smell you smell first, the next was the one you smell next, and then the other was the smell that stays on forever. for the rest of your life. okay, not really, but it might as well have been.

i just wanted it to be perfect. and something i would actually want wear. and something that smelled like a twenty-year-old girl and not a deceased/formaldehyde-smelling old lady.

and i'm actually really happy with it! i called it "michèle chèrie" because that's what my daddy would call me when i was little. cute huh? i like it at least. 

then, we backpacked alllll the way back up that hill [emphasis on the freaking backpacks]. hotter than heck, people. heck. but we made it. and then we chose a random cute little street and wandered.  flâneused [wandered, strolled], if you will. and what did we find? this adorable restaurant. with a delicious cordon bleu. how fitting.

[the cordon bleu had the yummiest tomato-ish sauce on top. and the salad had this yummy lemon-y dressing. ohh, and don't get me started on the fries. fries always=heaven. but the dessert...blechhh. it was such a letdown. like can't-even-finish-it letdown. so unlike me, i know.]

after that, we found the church we were wanting to see, with some of rubens originals inside. it was really pretty inside, but we didn't get to stay that long because we were running short on time. we came out and saw this gorgeous view and had to stop and take it in aka take pictures.

after we died from the view, we decided we should probably figure out where the bus stop was from there so we could maybe shop around there. we walked to the place where the bus dropped us off, but i was thinking that maybe it was in a different area. we decided to go down to the tourism office to ask, and when we were close, our freaking bus passed us. we were jumping and screaming, trying to get the driver's attention, and all he did was shake his head and point up the hill, which we didn't understand at the time. we went to the tourism office anyways and they told us the bus stop was way up the hill, past where we thought it could've been at. so thaaat's why he pointed up. it was all just so frustrating though.
anyways, we take the bus bake to cannes and decide to walk the small bit to the beach aka the mediterranean sea, just to see it and touch the water for a bit.

then we booked it back over to the train station to leave, but realized we were an hour early. so we bought a pizza for the train ride. then we get to the train station and asked like two different workers where our train was, just to make sure we were in the right spot. they pointed us to the same spot and told us it was the train after the next one coming. so we waited. and that train came. it was at the right time. but nobody was getting on it. it was super weird. why wasn't anyone but us getting on? we were debating if we should get on or not, and at the last second, decided to stay on and not follow the crowd. the train started going. it was going along the beach and all pretty, and we ate pizza as we looked out at the view happily.

[yes, that is salmon. no, i did not know it was going to be on there. yes, i still ate it. blechhh.]
then all the sudden, the train stopped. we figured it was just at the next stop. but then the train driver got off and left. yup. we started freaking out, big time. we didn't really know what was going on and were super frustrated. brynn ran out and asked the driver where our train was [the one going to paris] and he pointed at a train passing us by. GREAT. but then he told us if we stayed on this train, it would eventually go back to the station where we could catch the next one. the reason why we were so worried though was our train wasn't going directly to paris. we had a connecting train in marseilles that we were supposed to catch too, so we didn't know if we were gonna be stranded in marseilles if we caught the next one. plus we had a test in our class the next day. yeah, can you say screwed? i was trying so hard not to freak out and cry. especially because it was taking forever for the driver to come back to the train to drive it back to the station. we should've just stolen that freaking train and driven it ourselves to paris! who needs train tracks all the way there? we'll just make our own.
eventually, it went back, and we ran off and ran to the ticket booth to try and get tickets [for free] for the next train going to marseilles. and lucky us, the line was butt long. again, i had a gaf attack. but all the sudden, everyone started leaving the line. the church is true! we ran up to the worker and started explaining our situation and he said that the direct train to paris [that they previously had told us was completely booked] was there in the station and about to leave if we could make it [and for free!]. i grabbed my bags and brynn's and booked it. i can't even tell you how frantic i felt. the train was right there in front of me but the doors were closing. i got there and pushed the button to open the doors over and over, but they wouldn't open. and then the train started leaving. and then, things got ugly.
something snapped inside of me and i started banging on the train as it was leaving. i was screaming [yes, it's true] and i'm pretty sure i also kicked it too. seriously, i was freaking out. what the heck were we supposed to do now??
oh, and about two seconds later, a lady came up to us and told us that wasn't the train to paris and that the next one was. oops? yeah, looks like i ruined my reputation for nothing. right when she said that, i cried and laughed my butt off. and wished so badly that i could've had a video of how i acted, because it was absolutely hilarious.
from there, we got on the train to paris, which had tons of extra seats [stupid ticket office that told us bs about it being full], and we played uno to relieve our stress that we [aka me] could not let go of. this is also when i realized that brynn is the only person besides my sister jit who knows all of my random ridiculous movie quotes. yess, finally someone i can work with! i love that girl.
i never thought that in just one day, i would experience so many different emotions. mostly stress. but also gratitude to just be on a train when we could've been stranded in cannes or even having to switch in marseilles to go to paris.
and right then and there, we made a pact to ask at least 14181204701 people if the train we were getting on was the right one. because apparently two experienced workers are not enough.

cannes you get through this post?

[best picture of this post. sporadically taken, of course.]

at this moment, i'm stuck in a very ironic position.

not physically, like my body, although that is really funny.

the thing is, i have to pee. also, i'm freaking thirsty. 

and neither of them can be satisfied because a) i don't know where the bathroom is in my hostel/i'm too lazy and tired to go look, and b) the stupid bar downstairs charges 3 euros for a soda and i only have 2. and they don't accept cards. wtf stupid expensive hostel that i officially hate now?

whatever, i'll move on. there is a sink in the room. that could fulfill both needs. pretend you're not reading this.

also, tomorrow i leave to go home. as in to america. i know, i'm more than a month behind in my blogging. i officially fail. i'll get caught up real soon though. it'll happen. that's what i keep telling myself, at least.

 back to leaving, i still can't believe it. it's surreal. i feel like i'm just starting to understand the city and now i have to leave it. tonight, i went and visited the eiffel tower for the last time and almost cried. part of me is so ready to leave, because i really am exhausted, especially lately. my feet are the most deformed things since sliced bread from all the walking. and i know, poor me, living in paris, why am i wanting to leave? it's because every day, you have to be out and doing something because you don't want to waste your day sitting around [even though i've been so craving one of those days]. plus you're walking everywhere. plus that diminishing bank account takes a toll on your heart. plus you miss your loved ones more than anything. really though, there were so many times while i was here that i would think "man, so-and-so would die to see this". and i loved meeting all the new girls and getting to know them and having 24 new best friends, but i really miss the people that just know me. i'm just excited to go back. and guess what? my daddy's picking me up :] probably the best person ever to pick me up. i'm going to cry and drop my bags and run, just like in the movies.

i am really sad to leave though. i know in a few days, i'm gonna be thinking "where the heck are all the boulangeries?" and "wait, when did the beach replace the seine?" and "i have to drive instead of stand on a metro?" and "why am i eating eggs instead of a baguette and gelato?" and the list goes on and on. i know i'm going to regret ever wanting to leave. but i feel it. it's time to go. for now. i'll come back. but next time, with a loved one.

ANYWAYS,

okay, october 25th. oh my gosh, it's all coming back to me. remember my unwanted boyfriend? yeah, he wanted to get together again with me on this day in between my classes before i left for cannes, france. why boy, why?? [what is his NAME?] i emailed him that morning saying that i couldn't hangout anymore because i was just too busy with errands and hw, which wasn't completely a lie. i did have stuff to do. but naturally, if i wanted to see him, i could've made it happen.

so, class happened. and life was good. me and tiff focused the whole time most of the time. i was happy. then, i looked out the window and what did i see? freaky, creepy stalker boy waiting outsiiide for me [you have to sing "waiting" really fast and then you can sing "outside" a little slower. what, you didn't know we were singing "popcorn popping on the apricot tree" on this blog post? now you do.]. yeah. he was outside. i literally almost fainted. luckily, tiff came to my rescue and told me to go hide in the closet. so i did. and she went out with the other girls and he happened to ask her where i was and she was like "oh, i think she left...i think she's going to cannes, so she has stuff to do..." and then he left. i still was super nervous that i was gonna run into him later on that day and have to explain myself because that always happens to me. the thing that i don't want to happen happens. 

still, i grabbed some food: 

 [always gotta eat, i'm not that insane. also, this is a part de tart aux pommes.]

and saw an interesting machine on the way:

[yep. this is a condom machine. out on the street. totally thought it was tampons and laughed my butt off when i saw it was for condoms. sick! because everybody just does it on the streets here.]

then, i skadaddled to my next class, which was french 201. my favorite. not. the only good thing that came from this class was that it rained harder than anything and produced a double rainbow all the way, which i gaffed about, of course. first-timer. and then me and brynn got to leave early so we could make our train.

here's our photoshoot, naturally:

 yes, it shows the whole night of us being happy at first and then getting crunk and drunk off our evians by the end. with a little will & kate magazine reading in the middle. always a good time.

when we arrived in cannes, our hotel was luckily just down the street from the train station. happy for that because it was way dark and a little sketch.

this is our cute room [brynn posing, of course]:

we stayed up for hours just talking about life and boys and school, whilst over-eating petit ecoliers [little cookies]. it was the best. next day was grasse!

all that comes out is butterfliessss.

[my headphones are in parce que some lady's watching "the devil wears prada" in eye-talian. sad thing is is that i basically know exactly what is going on and what they're saying because i'm obsessed with that movie.]

what's waaay better than blogging in silence?

blogging to your sister's song "never know" that you crave oh so much. even more than gelato.

oh yeah, whilst being in rome, italy too. that'll top you off.

that said, i'm gonna try and get a post in before i go watch either "passport to paris" or "one day" via itunes. dream come true people, dream come true. if only they had "the lizzie mcguire movie". then my roman holiday would be complete.

okay, so back in the day of october 24th, i met up with some loves after they finished class and we headed over to invalides aka napolean's tomb. we actually wanted to go to the rodin museum [or "musayum" as bernie pronounces it], but remembered it's closed on mondays. that's okay. napolean was still a good time.

 [rylie, courtney, tiffy, moi, et holly go lightly.]

it's pretty crazy how huge and extravagant the building was for basically only housing some corpses. but hey, guess that's what you get when you're napolean. 

after, i was STARVING, so me and tiff went over to the falafel place i love so much and i flirted my way to tons of toppings, as usual. yummy pita, falafel balls, tons of cabbage, hot sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers, hummus, and cucumber sauce. allll for only 5 euros. it doesn't get better than this people. especially when it manages to fill michelle dastrup up for two meals. that basically never happens.

and then we ditched family home evening and went shopping instead. whoops? i did get an adorable dress shirt at karl marc john though. 

[no, that's not actually me. but there's my shirt.]

karl marc john is this cute french store and it's supposed the first names of three dang good designers: karl lagerfeld, marc jacobs, and john galliano. the store doesn't really even look like their styles, but its still cute and french, dang it.

passport to paris it is! i'm gonna wait til i'm home with jit to watch "one day". now who wants to pay for it for me? [daddy, look away.] i'll flirt in exchange.

you ain't gon' tie me down.

[via cette]

here i am, blogging when i'm supposed to be studying for daryl's final tomorrow morning. have i studied yet? maybe not. am i nervous? maybe alittle. do i care? we'll leave that to the judges to decide.

[i know, i know, it's backwards. but it's the thought that counts. and that's what she said?]

even though i'm a month [and more. it'll have to wait.] behind, i would just like to say that i bought my ticket going to roma ALL BY MYSELF. as in i'm going to rome, italy all by myself. big girl stuff here. and i'm so so excited! not because i'll be on my own the whole time, because i've really realized out here that i don't like being on my own. it just doesn't call to me, like my daddy would say about, say, pizookie. i'm just pumped to have a legitimate experience where i truly am going wherever and doing whatever i want, when i want. i guess the idea of it isn't much different than it is in paris or santa monica or provo, except rome will be 100% foreign to me. yes, they can speak english there. but it'll be up to me to keep myself alive. not that i'll probably be put in the situation where i could die [besides when i swim with sharks in a pool of fire], but really. that's what it comes down to. there won't be a sister that i'm living with nearby or a study abroad director/friends in reach by phone. and i think it's so exciting because it means that those places that once sounded so big and scary to me because everyone's speaking a different language and nobody is around to point the right way, aren't anymore. it's like the metro system. first looking at it, i thought "there is no way in heck that i'm going to be able to learn that. there's just no way!" because that thing had some crazy kinda colors all up in it. but now it's second nature. just like paris. 

i can do 'em now. i can do 'em all now. and i will. and i'm talking about those big and scary places. the countries. i'm done. off to "study" aka dream about what will be at the marvelous brunch i wish was happening instead of daryl's final. 

the day i got a boyfriend from utah. in france. without my permission.

[warning: this post includes an almost kiss. and it's butt long. michelle style. you've been warned.]

 this event deserves a post. and you'll see why. i'm gonna go into the gooey details too, so get excited.

so i go to church on sunday as usual [umm, maybe i was late. by an hour.] and it turns out, a lot of students from school in logan, utah are visiting. okay, sure. cool. so i'm sitting there waiting for sacrament to start and planning my trip with brynn when one of the guys comes up and starts talking to me. so of course, i talk back. he asks me about my trip, and i ask him about his. tells me he came from greece. this gets me all excited because i was wanting to visit greece at the end of my trip here, so i start asking him questions of where i should go, because i honestly couldn't decide where in greece i should go and what places are safe. church happens. after, he pulls the ol' "hey, can i get your email address and i'll email you some more information about greece?". sure pal, sure.

i get home. go to mcdonalds for the internet. i've got an email.

"hey michelle, go to this place, it's known for this, it's really safe, blah blah blah. so a group of us are going down to the eiffel tower tonight if you want to come hang out with us."

i think about it. ask tiff if she wants to go and she's down. surrre boy, why not? i love watching that baby twinkle [the eiffel tower, not the boy].

then we had dinner with our lady, which is always a good time.

 [oh, what's for dinner? random steak bits, leeks, tomatoes, and mustard. that's normal.]

[chocolate pudding for dessert.]

and because i love you, i'm giving you a present. madame percin and tiff talking about tiff's cats. if that's not love from me, i don't know what is.

after dinner, tiff tells me she's not gonna come anymore, because she wants to skype cass, her boyfriend. i figured i'd be fine since we live so close to the eiffel tower, and i'd just go meet up with everyone and if it was a dud, i could just leave and say i have hw.

so i show up, and of course i can't really remember what he looks like [we were meeting directly under the eiffel tower], so i'm like "crap". and then he comes out of nowhere and gives me this big [awkward] hug [one of those one-arm's-on-top-the-other's-on-the-bottom hugs, if you know what i mean]. and i see that he's only with one guy. right away, that one guy introduces himself as married, and apologizes for being, and i quote, "the third wheel". yiiiiikes. say whaaaat? michelle did not know this was a date. where are all the other people?? yup, i was duped by that utah boy [they get me everytime]. got me right under my nose.

anyways, so i just kinda nervously laugh and we walk back so we can see the whole tower since it's gonna be twinkling soon. mr. "third wheel" awkwardly mumbles "uhhh, i'm gonna go find a souvenir shop or something" and runs off. like that wasn't planned or anything.

the tower starts to twinkle. and then, a stupid gypsy comes up and shoves some roses into my hand. and i'm so naive that i'm all confused at first and he says "for you, you're very pretty". and then, he goes up to the boy asking for money. right away, i'm like "nonononononono" because i don't want this boy buying my flowers, and the stupid gypsy is trying to be tricky. i tell him i don't want the flowers and the gypsy refuses to take them back and keeps telling the boy [yes, i know i keep referring to him as the boy. i honestly don't remember his name.] to pay him money. so i chuck them on the ground and step back. and that stupid boy gives the gypsy money for one, picks it up off the ground, and awkwardly gives it to me. ohhhhh, it was bad.

then, he suggests we go sit on the grass, which i'm fine with, where he proceeds to ask me about what i want in my future, and when i get married. yup, hardly even know this guy and he's prepping me for marriage. oh, and did i mention that on the way over to walking to the grass, he grabs my hand. i'm not kidding. of course, i gave him the "dead fish" and acted like i didn't even know what was going on [what can i say, i'm terrible with confrontation]. so, back to the grass. we're talking, and he puts his hand on my leg. i wanted to die. literally, i was living a nightmare. he asks me if i'm cold, and i immediately say no, because i know what happens when you're cold. we keep talking and i forget that i actually am cold and shiver. he goes "ohhh you are cold! awww, you poor baby, come here" and scoots over and puts his arm around me and is basically so close that he's sitting on me. WHY?

finally, his friends come out of nowhere [where were you guys for the last hour?] and say it's time to go. i jump up, try to say good-bye, and he goes "wait, i'll walk you to your apartment". and i go "oh nooo, i'm good, i live really close so i'm fine". wonderbread doesn't get the hint and keeps being persistant, so i let him walk me over to my area, and try to drop him off at the nearest metro stop, where he [again] persists to walk me to my door. i say "but what if you can't find the metro again from where i live?" and he says "but you said it's so close, right? so there's no way i can get lost". and i realize i'm stuck. so i let him walk me to my dang door. homeboy gives me the longest hug of my life [or so it felt], and starts to pull away slowly and puts his face in front of mine to go in for a kiss. say whaaaat? no thanks, mister i-just-met-you-hours-ago [okay, maybe that wouldn't stop me if it was a reeally hot french boy. don't judge me, i'm young], i'm good. i quickly backed away, barked a good-bye, and ran inside. still carrying that stupid gypsy rose.

all i'm gonna say is you get what you get, because right around this time, i was getting way boy hungry [for the hot french kind], and being all mopey. yup, definitely cured me of that sickness. i'm good to go for the rest of the season!

blasted utah boy gettin' all up in my biiiness. it was way funny though how it happened, and definitely a good memory for the books. the online books. the blogs, if you will. i'm done.

sometimes you've just got to go to the cirque.

[in front of notre dame with reesie's picture.]

well well well. long time no see. 

thought i died, did ya? thought i fell off the face of the earth, did ya?

well news flash: here i am. alive and well. alive and kickin'.

i've been traveling alot lately/finals are coming up/we moved to another host family and their internet sucketh, so blogging hasn't exactly been privileged to be at the top of my to-do list.

and i should be taking a nap right now so i can be rested enough to study for my art history final [running on four hours of sleep here], but for some reason, i want to blog right now. 

here's to the fact that i know i'm gonna regret this in a few hours.

saturday [october 22...don't laugh, i know i'm a month behind, DEAL WITH IT], me and tiff slept in big time. staying up late watching friends can really take it out of ya. plus disneyland. all those rides with no wait eventually caught up with us and we just really wanted to sleep it off. we woke up to the internet still not working. notre dame [our lady, keep up] said she’d show us where the mcdonald’s was by her house so we could use the wifi [pronounced “weefee” over here, and yes, i get a kick out of it everytime] there. oh. gee. thanks. glad my money that i’m paying you to use your internet is going to good use. kidding kidding, it was fine.

so we get to mcdonalds and get on facebook and see that a bunch of our friends are going to the circus. the circus? in paris? ummm YES PLEASE. first off, i have never even been to a circus. i am a circus virgin. second, how perfect is a paris for going for your first time?

needless to say, we were way excited.

how good can it get in one weekend?! we buy tickets immediately and race off home to go get ready. and because we are speedy gonzales’, we had enough time to go shopping first around notre dame.

don't worry, all i got were scarves. well, they're all the same, just one in many colors. quatre euros each, people. 

we met up with our friends going to the circus [kelly, morning, hollie, anna, riley] and took off.

it was so much fun! i really didn't know what to expect, but right at the beginning, all the lights turned off and the music started playing and all the little french kids starting clapping and singing and i died and went to heaven. there were really cool acrobats, lion tamers, jugglers, people balancers [okay, that's not what they're called, but that's what they did. balanced people on other people. like cirque du soleil, i think.], and funny clowns. it was so worth it to go and i'll always remember the circus in paris! plus, i got caramel corn. so yeah, that was definitely a win.

 [outside]

 [tiff can't contain her excitement]

 [don't question this photo. it's just me with my niece's picture. it's natural.]

[i don't know what my deal is in this picture, but i look totally latina or something. it's all that caramel corn.]

and me and tiff would've gotten a picture together, but we were too nervous to ask the usher lady who made us pay her just for showing us to our seats. what a rip-off! 

still amazing though.

probably one of the best weekends i've had in paris.