What Would You Do?

Yesterday, I got back from a week-long vacation in sunny Orlando, which included a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas! It was my first ever cruise and let me tell you, it exceeded my expectations! Everybody needs to try out a Disney Cruise at least once in their lives. A beautiful, ocean-view balcony from your private room, all you can eat food at no extra charge, maids making your bed in the morning and turning down your bed at night, quiet bike tours of Disney's private island, entertainment that never ends, fireworks over the ocean...sigh, it all went by too quickly.

So, we had a few interesting experiences while on vacation. I want to know what you would do in these situations. Last Saturday, we had dinner at my favorite, authentic French restaurant in the Epcot Center. I have yet to find a more savory French Onion Soup. While at the restaurant, my mother, aunt, uncle and I enjoyed delicious dining and conversation. My aunt happened to overhear the lady at the table next to us as she discussed why she liked charter schools. My aunt, being a public school teacher, chimed in on the conversation. Before leaving the restaurant, that lady told us that we had to try out the strawberries and vanilla pudding dessert. It was to die for, as she put it. Well, that lady left more than half of the dessert right on her plate! My aunt scanned the room once she was out of sight. I dared her to taste the lady's remaining portion before ordering one for herself. I didn't think she would really do it. To my surprise, my aunt took me up on it! She grabbed a fork and scooped up a tasty bite.

She happened to get it into her mouth before the server came and quickly cleaned up the table. My uncle shook his head, "What a perfectly good looking dessert, gone to waste." I guess he would have tried it to, had there been time. So, if it were you, is there any way you would take a bite of perfectly good leftover food from another customer? Any chance at all?

Back to our Cruise: the first morning, we docked at Nassau in the Bahamas. When we got off of the ship, we saw all sorts of merchandise up for grabs. The thing that really intrigued my mother and I was a huge selection of hoodie sweatshirts. They were $35 each. The lady said she really needed business that day and would offer them for $30. We weren't sure. My mom told her that we would keep looking and maybe come back. She didn't want to let us go, so she offered them for $25. Bartering can be fun--getting good deals--but difficult as well. You want to feel that you weren't ripped off but also that these people made some money. We ended up buying three for $75 total. I tell you, it is sure nice to have a warm sweatshirt to wear now that I am back home. Do you enjoy bartering hard-core for good prices?

Lasagna Soup

I have been on Pinterest for less than a month now. I don't know much about it besides the fact that it grabs my attention each time I login, with so many colorful pictures of food and ideas that I can see all at once! It is fun to scroll through pages and pages of cool holiday decorations and tasty-looking dishes. I click on them and then they get pinned to my bulletin board for future reference. Last night, I actually had some extra time being Fall Break and all, so I chose to pull up my recipe board and make this delicious-looking Lasagna Soup. This picture to the left comes directly from my Pinterest Board. You can compare it to my own pictures below.

It turned out to be tastier than I could have even imagined. It wasn't hard either! I substituted whole wheat lasagna noodles and bought the low-fat Ricotta cheese to add a healthier twist. I put all the ingredients in a big pot--garlic, onions, chopped tomatoes and chicken broth. I let it simmer for nearly an hour.

I boiled the wheat lasagna noodles separately. I then filled them up in a bowl with Ricotta and Parmesan cheese.

Moi, j'adore le fromage; therefore, I put more cheese on top. Now this little bowl is just waiting to be drenched.

Alongside a salad and fruit smoothie, this turned out to be the perfect dinner for a special dinner guest! I really think you should try making it. I am going to make it again and again.

Next recipe for the list: Nutella Hot Chocolate! Doesn't this look perfect for a French Teacher?! Maybe we could even make it in class!

Inventions of the Future

Sometimes I think it is fun to have conversations with friends and colleagues about new products that have come out or will be coming out in the future. It is interesting to think that when I grew up, there were no words in my vocabulary like blog or youtube or google. Now, all of these important words and concepts are part of my every-day life. This causes me to wonder what life will be like 10 years from now...20 years from now. How will the world be different?

Some inventions come and go while others are here to stay. Something that I heard about only recently was the Google Car. This car is able to drive without a driver, so I hear. It has proven itself to safely drive through obstacle courses, using thousands of mini-lasers to help guide its every move. It can get on the freeway. It can drop you off at the front door of work and then go and park itself. Would it be exciting for you to jump into your car each morning and tell it to wake you up once arriving at your destination? For many people, I think it might be a bit scary to give up the controls, but these cars could possibly be safer and more efficient once the bugs are all worked out. Are you willing to give up the steering wheel to a machine? Does this sound fun and practical or terrifying and unnecessary?

Another great idea that a set of two guys came up with is combining lip balm flavors. These are called Kisstixx and you should be able to pick them up at the cashier's aisle of the grocery store. Think how exciting it sounds to put on some raspberry gloss and kiss somebody who is wearing lemonade? Or what about sweet caramel and sour apple? Anyone for fire and ice? What other flavors might go well together? Talk about adding some sparkle to those kisses!

I was teaching my AP French class the other day, when my French foreign exchange student spoke up. He told me that in his modern high school, they used 3-D Printers! Now what could you possibly want with a contraption like that? It takes any real-life object and produces it, to scale, in some other material. Sounds intriguing, but I am still trying to figure out how all this expense would really be practical in the end...maybe I just don't know enough about it yet.





Any other cool inventions you have seen or heard of?

Recipe for a Perfect Day

What turns a regular, run-of-the-mill work day into something spectacular?! Well, I think I figured that out today. To begin, I woke up this morning at the regular 5:15am time. I quickly got ready and made it up to work by 7:00. So far, a regular day. But it was all about to change. Today was the scheduled PLAN test for all sophomores. Juniors and seniors didn't even have to show up until after lunch. What did this mean? While those kids were filling in bubbles, I got three extra hours to plan lessons and organize papers. Nice. As a teacher, we rarely get any downtime. It is so exciting when these opportunities come our way. Thank you, standardized testing!

At lunch, I pulled out some French cheese, boursin, to share with the other teachers. It was so fun to have something exciting like that to contribute. The teachers cut off small pieces of this delicious and creamy cheese and put it on everything from their potato wedges to their apple slices. I must have opened the door to sharing because soon everybody was trading food around the table. "I'll trade you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich square for two peach slices." I feel so much more bonded to my lunch crowd now.

As I was pulling out of the parking lot just after 3:00, a really cute English teacher, Bonnie, waved at me. I naturally pulled to a stop. She asked me when we were going to start our carpool! I have been excited to carpool with her ever since I heard that she lived in American Fork and figured out at lunch that she loves all the juicy gossip as much as me. It has seemed too busy to plan out, with all the student government activities, but I realized that our calendar is a bit empty for at least the next few days, so it is time to get started on this! We made a plan to carpool tomorrow! Fun! Saving on gas money as well as getting in a good early morning chat before school will definitely beat listening to the repetitive traffic and weather on the radio.

I was a bit tired tonight and not super anticipating an AATF planning meeting. AATF is a group of French teachers that I am a proud member of. We plan activities and get-togethers for French teachers and speakers around Utah. What I forgot to notice was that this planning meeting was scheduled for the hot tub of another French teacher's club house! All right! Planning time and hot tub time all at once! How often do teachers get time to share ideas in a hot tub?! Well, okay, I didn't actually get in the hot tub tonight, but it was sure nice to look at while we planned our upcoming Halloween Social. And I think I am going to put relaxing in a hot tub on my monthly To-Do List.



The moral of today: if you have to do something monotonous, figure out a way to spice it up!

You Turn my World Upside-Down

Wow! It has been a while since I have written. For me, the first few weeks of teaching each year completely wipe me out. Training myself to, once again, wake up at 5:15am, and now commute 40 minutes from Lehi to Copper Hills, has definitely taken some getting used to. My evenings usually consist of crashing in front of an episode of MasterChef or So You Think You Can Dance with a bowl of cereal and a nice pillow. Anyway, good news is I think I am getting into the swing of things again. Next week, I hope to get out and exercise after work. I actually found a really cool Hula class to try out at the local gym--but I guess I am getting sidetracked.

Anyway, I am really loving my students this year and most of the days, I have a super fun time at work. Last Tuesday, I went to Mentor Training at the District Office. It was a long day of learning techniques to help these new teachers want to stay in the profession. I found a really fun, retired French teacher substitute for my students that day. I was happy to know that they would be learning French in my absence and that everything was under control.

When I arrived on Wednesday morning, there was a sign in my classroom window. It was in broken French and read something like, "Miss Van Wagenen, you turn my world upside-down." How sweet. I always like getting notes. You don't get many of those in high school. I opened my classroom door...and what did I see?! Oh yes--everything was turned upside-down!! Every single desk. My tables. My clock. My computer. Many of my posters. I scanned the room and my mouth just dropped completely open. Seriously?!! My initial reaction was to be upset at the sub. I thought to myself that he must have told my last class period of the day to play a trick on me and turn everything upside-down right before leaving. I was furious. Why would he do that? A second later, I noticed an student body officer's sweater, sitting on a chair in front. Of course! This is something that the SBOs would do. They love pranks. The other SBO advisor loves pranks as well. I don't. I am not a prankster at all. I knew he must have put them up to it.

My mind reflected back to two years ago. I was called down to the principal's office during class. When I got down there, the secretary said, "Oh, he doesn't need to talk to you anymore." I made the long trip back to my classroom to see a sign on the door: We love you so much that we all pitched in to get you a new chair. I thought to myself, "How sweet. I could use one of those." I opened the classroom door to see...a free-standing toilet, right behind my desk!!! Really?! The SBOs burst in, laughing hysterically. "Open up the lid!" one boy shouted. I opened up the lid to see a Baby Ruth candybar sitting at the bottom of the toilet bowl. Gross! Who picks up toilets and hauls them into schools?!

Back to last Wednesday morning: I tracked down the SBOs. I brought in those smiling, guilty faces and had them help turn every desk and paper back right-side-up. The only thing that wasn't mentioned was my LCD projector screen. The French 1 kids came in and when I wanted to project some pictures of my trip to France for them to see, they were all upside down!!! The student officers forgot to mention that they had put my projector in upside-down mode as well as everything else. I took a deep breath and told myself that, even though this is not my personal love language, I think that picking on me, somehow shows that these students care. So, what about you? Do you enjoy planning epic practical jokes for others? Do you find things like this amusing or annoying?

What can you get for 3 Euros?

I'm home! Home sweet home! There is something so exciting about coming home from a vacation: flying over those majestic Rocky Mountains at sunset, opening my closet to find those beautiful clothes that I have been missing over the past few weeks, finishing a batch of laundry and putting it neatly away in my drawers, sleeping in my own familiar bed (this bamboo bed picture is NOT my bed, but I think it would be a nice bed)...this lasts for a couple of days and then I start remembering all the fun times I had on my vacation. I pull out my camera and relive all the good memories. The hard moments where I felt like crying (see "More than Turbulence") don't seem so bad in retrospect. Here are some of my last memories:

On Thursday evening, our professor booked us tickets for a dinner cruise of the Seine River. This was the most picture perfect evening! We floated by all of the lit-up monuments of Paris, beginning and ending with the Eiffel Tower.

They gave us all of these crazy appetizers that I would never order on my own: Foie Gras (goose liver) spread, tomato stuffed with goat cheese, something unrecognizable wrapped in salmon...a cold tomato soup is in the middle. Very unique. I appreciated the gourmet flavor and tried to soak up each second of the luxurious ride.

My airport shuttle dropped me off at Charles de Gaulle on Saturday afternoon to catch my flight. After passing through security, I decided that I was pretty hungry. I had a 10 Euro bill that I wanted to spend. I started looking for some yummy lunch food in my terminal. Soup? Salad? All that was there were two gourmet pastry shops and this Caviar Seafood House.

People sit on these fancy bar stools and order wine and caviar.

Don't ask me why, but I decided to glance at the menu. I love that France always has their menus posted for all to see. Why don't we do that in the states? My jaw dropped: what?! 106 Euros to 495 Euros?! For a plate of caviar?! Are people crazy?! This is food, people!

I was just about to leave when I glanced at the side dishes. Were my eyes seeing right?! Mashed potatoes for just 3 Euros!

I called over the server. I asked her if I could order just the mashed potatoes. She looked at me with eyes that said, "Seriously, weirdo?" I kept my smile and confidence up. She nodded and said I could get whatever I wanted. I then watched her make me the most delicious mashed potatoes. She displayed them so nicely and included gourmet dipping sauce. She asked if I would like anything to drink and I said, "Non, merci." When I was through enjoying each and every bite, I handed her by 10 Euro bill. She gave me 7 Euros change (that's right--the price in France includes tax and tip) and included two dark chocolates as well as a beautifully packaged hand towel. Now I call that a super deal!




Awe! Trips are so great (I will just forget that Delta lost my suitcase once again--I did get it back last night)! Now I have to plan another one someplace else!

Magical Moments

My three and a half weeks in France will be ending this Saturday! On one hand, I don't want to accept that this huge European adventure is really about through; on the other hand, I am honestly ready to go home to my regular life. Isn't that crazy to say? I am in the most romantic, fast-paced city in the world and yet I am excited to get back to the humdrum of my everyday life! Go figure. Being here, each day has honestly been jam-packed with adventures. I have gotten up early, pulled out the map of the metro system and filled each moment with new discoveries and tasty treats. Amidst all of this busyness, I have also had a lot of time for self-reflection. I have realized that most of the time, life's best moments are not in the events we are living, but in the people that we are sharing them with. My best memories from France this year will not be racing up and down the Eiffel Tower (I did wait in a two-hour line for that today and it was pretty fun, overall) or admiring the lavish gold plating on the Palais de Versailles, but in the quiet scenes that I was able to be a part of and the people I was able to meet. So even though I am excited to get back to my friends and family at home, I will definitely be a changed person because of the great people I have met here and the experiences I have had.

For example, every day on my walk to the metro, I see a really cute family. They are living in a tent on the side of the road. In the early morning, the tent is zipped up and you can only see their sandals, lined up nicely by the door. In the evening, I always see the two little boys playing with mini toy cars outside the tent while the parents are cooking Ramen noodles in a small pot. They are always talking and laughing as a family. I honestly wonder what their story is. What got them into this situation? You can tell that family is everything to them and they are trying to make the best with their resources. I ask myself if I am trying to make the best with my set of circumstances in life and really enjoying the journey or if I focus on the things I don't have.

On Monday, Janine and I were really craving some Italian gelato. They have some really good flavors out here like praline and nougat or cherry and chocolate sauce. This guy was outside of his gelato shop, talking with another guy when he saw us approaching. "Hello!" he said in English. Do people just look at me and think I am American? Is it my shoes? The way I smile at strangers as I walk down the street?! He didn't even give me a chance to say anything. I told him, in French, that we were so excited for some gelato. He told us that the delivery wouldn't be for another 30 minutes, but that we should definitely wait and it would be worth it. He saw me taking pictures of his shop and so he went up to his delivery car and posed for a picture.

We ride the metro everywhere here and it can be tiring--especially when you have been walking around all day and then you get squished in rush hour traffic--body to body, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Last night, after most of the masses had gotten off, a really energetic guy jumped aboard the train. He started playing this upbeat tango-type music on his violin. He also had a boombox that played background music at the same time. It instantly lifted my spirits. I felt like dancing! He was smiling and soon the whole train car was smiling. I forgot for a moment that I had been walking around Paris for hours. I don't give money to every beggar and musician I see here--I'd go broke! I did give him a Euro, though! It was worth it!

I am trying to take pictures of different professions that people have here, so I can bring them back and show my students. Sometimes I ask for their permission and sometimes I don't. This guy was painting some front door frames in Montmartre. He was one of the few French who was actually flattered to have his picture taken. He posed for a few of them and gave me a winning smile. He then told me that he was Picasso's grandson. Fun guy!

I really like the saying that life is not measured in how many breaths you take but in the moments that take your breath away. There are so many good people in this world. We can meet them anywhere. I am so blessed to have been able to meet such great people out here, even if just for a moment. I am even more blessed to have wonderful people to go home to, making the trip home something I am very much looking forward to!

The Land of Butter

What are the three secrets to French cooking, you ask? Butter, butter and...you guessed it: Butter!! That is right! The French overall are known for their delicious pastries and desserts. This past weekend, however, I got to visit the butter capitol of France as I traveled to the province of Brittany, located on the western coast. This was such a fun diversion from what I have been experiencing in the busy city of Paris. Life in Brittany is quieter, more peaceful and relaxed. Brittany is known for their gourmet butter cookies and rich crepes of every variety. I was excited to try out some of the region's specialties and see a part of France that I had never been to before!

My friends, Emily and Allen, are living near Lannion this summer. Allen is doing an internship with a university here and they invited me to come out and stay with them for the weekend. To make this trip, I bought a ticket on the TGV: France's most powerful and high speed train. I had never been on one of these before and I was a bit nervous and excited for the experience at the same time. I packed my backpack and arrived at the train station 45 minutes early. When I got to the train station in Paris, I joined a crowd of hundreds of people, also carrying luggage. You sit in front of the huge Departure board and wait for it to show you which section of track that your particular train will be departing from. About 15 minutes before my train was set to leave, it came up: Voie #8. Everyone grabbed their bags and started running towards the train. Once we got there, we only had a few minutes to punch our train ticket and then jump aboard. It was a bit stressful, but I made it! I have a short-term memory in France and forget that the weather is always changing: super rainy one day and then hot hot the next day. I didn't bring a jacket on this mini-excursion because it had been so hot at Euro Disney the day before. When I got on the train, it started pouring rain. It was fun to watch the water droplets slide across the glass from inside the warm train. The only problem with this was that due to the inclement weather, the train had to stop several times on the track. They kept coming on the speaker and announcing floods ahead. I got so worried because this train was headed to St. Brieuc and I had two more trains to catch to make it to Lannion. As it turned out, I missed the connecting trains. We arrived in St. Brieuc an hour late. I wasn't the only one, thank goodness. We were left in the cold at St. Brieuc's train station for over an hour until another TGV could pick us all up and take us to Lannion. I was wishing I had remembered my jacket. I arrived in Lannion at 11:00pm--just two hours late. Emily was there to pick me up. It was so fun to see her!

I was exhausted from traveling and crashed in the bed they had set up for me. Saturday morning was filled with so many fun adventures. I surprised Emily by bringing her bagels from a specialty bagel shop in Paris. She was so excited to see them because they don't have bagels in Brittany and she had been missing them. We had bagels and cream cheese for breakfast and then we took off to see four different beaches, all very close to their home. They were all so beautiful! We tasted some of their buttery pastries that were being sold along the beaches. They were rich and tasty.

Emily and Allen were the best hosts. They said I could choose anywhere I would like to eat for lunch. They gave me some options. One of those included a Patatarie--gourmet baked potato restaurant. Potatoes are my favorite food! I chose that one. It was so fun! They had every option to choose from on the menu. Some interesting-sounding ones were a Boeuf Bourgignon with Bacon Potato and a Mussles with Roquefort Sauce Potato.

I ordered a Four-Cheese baked potato with salad on the side. It was so delicious.

At night, they had something special planned for me, knowing how much I loved folk dancing. I was a folk dancer at BYU and teach my French classes several dances throughout the year. They planned a visit to a Festival Breton. There, we got to do all sorts of fun folk dances in circles and with different partners. It was such a memorable night! Afterward, they made me some homemade wheat crepes with ham, egg and cheese. The time few by so quickly. I really had an amazing time! Thanks to you both!

If you want something, ask for it!

I have recently realized that we can have such great experiences in life if we are just not afraid to ask for them. If we don't ask, the answer is always no. If we do ask, often times the answer is yes! Let me give you an example: on Monday, the other teachers and I were doing another walk entitled Time Travel, Tricks and Treats around Saint-Sulpice. We began at one of France's ritziest hotels, l'Hotel Lutetia. Our book informed us that this hotel has housed several famous guests including Picasso and Matisse. Charles de Gaulle also spent his honeymoon there. If you are interested in the nicest suite, it can be yours for a mere 2,500 Euros per night! Janine, from our group, decided that she was going to ask if we could take a tour of this hotel. In our grubby tennis shoes and backpacks, we walked past the finely-dressed guards and up to the reception desk. She asked if we would be able to see any of the rooms. The Armenian guy who worked there was so friendly. He said that not only would we be able to take a tour, but he would show us the famous suite where Charles de Gaulle spent his honeymoon. We rode up a high-class elevator and he let us into this enormous room. There were stairs leading everywhere inside the suite, beautiful paintings and mirrors on the walls and a breathtaking balcony that framed the Eiffel Tower. Now wasn't that worth asking for?

We walked down a few streets and we were at one of the most famous ice cream sandwich shops in the world: Pierre Hermé. He is always inventing new things from triple chocolate crunch to rose petal dream. I ordered a marbled pistachio and cherry macaron treat. It cost nearly 7 Euros ($9) which could have bought me a box of Fat Boys at home, but each bite was definitely something to be remembered.

On Tuesday, we took a mini trip to the medieval city of Provins. This is a place I had never been before. It was so fun and interesting. We took a tour of the castle tower and museum. We also watched a show where actors, dressed in all sorts of Renaissance-looking dresses and gear, galloped around, doing tricks and singing old tunes.

Wednesday, I spent the whole day with a French friend Laetitia. I have been in touch with her sporadically for the past three years. We found each other through epals, looking for a penpal exchange for our students, but had never met in person. She teaches English here and we are planning on doing a big penpal exchange next year with our students. Here we are in front of her new, gated private school that she will be teaching at in the Fall. She was the best hostess I could ever have stayed with. She showed up at the train station to pick up Elizabeth and me. I didn't know exactly what she looked like, so I just smiled at a really cute lady and it was her! She had a whole day of excursions planned for us. She took us to see some castles, churches and a fun city called Meaux in the countryside. We visited a library there and they were giving out free books! She had never seen that before and neither had I. Elizabeth and I filled our arms with all sorts of previously-used books, written in French. I got one called L'Aventure de la Pomme de Terre (The Adventure of the Potato)! I love potatoes! I was so excited!

At night, she invited us to have dinner at her friends' home. It was a typical French dinner with a really dynamic French family. It began at 9pm, just like the French usually do, and lasted until nearly midnight. These people were so friendly! Their house was filled with animals, which was a little different for me and not typical of the French. Many of the French I have met have one or two dogs or cats, so this was a unique experience. I am not a huge animal person, but I reminded myself to have a fun time and not worry too much. The lady of the house picks up strays off of the streets and gives them shelter. There were 13 cats and several dogs that came in and out of the house at will. One sickly-looking cat sat the whole evening on a pillow right next to me. I tried not to look at it too much. Everything on the bookshelves and mantle was glued down with super glue. This is so that when the animals roam around the house, nothing gets knocked down. Great idea. The husband said, when his wife was out of the room, that he wished they weren't glued down. He wanted them to break so he could get rid of all those trinkets. They were very fun people and they loved to laugh.

They made us a several-course meal with drinks, appetizers, fried steak, baguettes, and vegetables. Dessert consisted first of salad, then a gourmet cheese platter, and finally a berry-cookie crumble. We had fun as we all laughed, told stories and stuffed ourselves, not knowing how many courses remained. For example, the man of the house was wearing a t-shirt, advertizing some marathon somewhere. I asked him if he had run a marathon in the past. He and his wife laughed and said that somebody else ran the marathon and he got the shirt. Haha. We even got to play some board games afterward. This is what I do with my family at home. I believe it is really true what they say: it is hard to get into French social circles, but once you do, they are your friends for life. Laetitia really knew how to show us a good time and share with us an authentic, day-to-day snapshot into the life of a French family. Thanks, lady!

My Castle is Better than Your Castle

Over the last two days I have visited some of France's most famous castles. For the most part, I like hanging out in the gardens, by the fountains and flowers, more than being in the dark and stuffy interiors. However, I do find their histories to be quite interesting and love listening to the specific stories that accompany the castles. Friday morning, we took a mini road trip to Vaux-le-Vicomte. This is a fascinating chateau. Fouquet, the superintendent of finances for Louis XIV, built it back in 1661. He spared no expense: he purchased and demolished three villages to get enough land to build the grand castle and expansive gardens.

Once finished, he invited King Louis XIV to dinner so he could show it off. How exciting! The plan backfired, though. The king was not too pleased to see the golden eating utensils, lavish furniture, gardens and trees for as far as the eye could see and a residence that was bigger and better than his smaller living area at the Louvre (The Louvre is the largest museum in the world, by the way. Still not grand enough for the Sun King). Louis arrested Fouquet on the spot. There was a trial that lasted for a few years and then he was eventually sentenced to life in prison. Served him right for trying to outdo his king! Louis XIV then hired those same architects and landscape architects to build him the Chateau of Versailles. Poor Fouquet. I actually feel bad for the guy. Why is it human nature to be so envious of another person's good fortune? Anyway, it was so peaceful to arrive at this castle early in the morning and have a few hours to walk around and mediate on the quiet grounds as the sun was rising. There wasn't much traffic when we were there at all. I wanted to stay longer.

Friday afternoon, after a three-cheese panini and lemon sorbet, we took off to the ancient castle of Fontainebleau. This castle has existed since the 12th century. It served mainly as a summer home for the kings of France. Louis XIV was actually staying there when he got invited to Vaux-le-Vicomte. It also had beautiful gardens and fun forests that you could go exploring in for hours. We took a walk up some rocks and hills into a forest that the kings used to use to go hunting and watched the sun set.

We spent all day Saturday at Versailles and I felt that I still didn't get to see everything. Again, inside the gold-plated castle were all the impatient tourists, speaking many different languages and pushing us from place-to-place. I swear that we must have been several thousand people over fire code. I just wanted to get out. I didn't even stay a minute in the hot and stuffy chamber rooms to hear the descriptions of all of the king's tapestries and statues. I can read about those on wikipedia on my own time. I loved being outside in the fresh air. Our professor rented a mini car for us to drive around the gardens in and hear the audio tour. I volunteered to be the navigator. For some reason, I was looking at the map backwards, though, and started leading us the wrong way. We went around a little lake, when, all of the sudden, the car immediately stopped working. It started buzzing loudly and shouting that we were out of area. Everyone stared at us with annoyed eyes as we tried to push the car back into the zone where we could make it go again. It took a bit of effort and we couldn't get the buzzing to stop. The keys were locked and the peddles wouldn't move. Finally some workers came up and helped us out, as we were annoying the public. So embarrassing! I didn't give up being the navigator, though, and we eventually had a great tour of the gardens and musical fountains.

My all-time favorite experience from France in 2009 was renting bikes and riding all over the gardens of Versailles. I wanted to do it again this year and I was not disappointed. You feel so free, riding a bike in the peaceful summer air. We visited Marie Antoinette's little village, where she would come to escape the stress of ruling France. I can see why she liked it there. There were dozens of cute houses, vegetable gardens of lettuce, rhubarb and onions as well as a small petting zoo. I would rather be in those little cottages than in that big castle, if I were the queen.