Last weekend.....FRANCE!

So Saturday morning we got up at the crack of dawn (9 am) and we all boarded the bus to France. Now this is four hour bus ride with a bunch of people that just got back from the clubs and bars like 2 hours before.....so basically its just a ridiculous bus ride! And I always have so much fun on these Saturday planned activities, just because we are all in the same boat. Half the people just want everyone to be quiet so they can sleep and the other half just want to continue the party from the night before (I of course belong in the second half....along with Margo). I just had fun exchanging stories from the night before and what everyone else did.

Four long hours later we arrived in Carcassonne, France and checked into our hotel for the night. All of my girls and I were all put on the same floor and Margo and I were put together, so it was bound to be a great weekend! We then took a guided tour of the "Old City" of Carcassonne, which is this old fortress and castle from the middle ages that is surrounded by two thick walls. I guess its like one of the only fortresses in Europe that still has both defensive walls still intact.

The tour was long and hot but the castle was really beautiful and it was huge! We took at least 100 pictures that I will eventually post on Facebook. (one of my friends here broke my camera at the castle during one of the photo shoots so I may start to be slacking on the pictures but I am trying to steal a bunch of memory cards from people) It was really really beautiful and at night it is all lit up and you can see in on top of the hill from anywhere in the "New City". All of the people that live in Carcassonne live in the New City. It was a really quaint little French town and I kind of felt bad that they took us there on 4th of July weekend because the town did not know what hit them when 80 "Dreamers" took over!

After the tour we ate a traditional French meal in the hotel, took a little napper and then got ready to take over for the 4th of July!! We hit up some traditional French bars and an Irish bar with everyone from our program. It was just really cool because since the town was so small we pretty much just overtook each bar. And it was nice to be to just talk to everyone and have room to walk around and not be packed into a club with a thousand other tourists like we are here in Barca. So after our mini bar crawl and a pit stop to play in one of the fountains we headed back to our hotel and made it to bed just before the sun came up!

Sunday, on the way back to Barca, we stopped in Figueres, Spain to see a Dali Museaum. It is called the Teatre-Museu Dali and is the world largest collection of Dali originals. Figueres was were Dali grew up and so many of the showcased works were from his own private collection. This was definitely my favorite tourist thing I've seen yet in Barcelona and the coolest museum I've ever been too! The building itself is a work of art...really look it up its so cool! Its all built to reflect the surrealism that's inside. Besides paintings there were unfinished pencil and pen drawings, 3-D sculptures and this living room furniture set that, when viewed from a certain spot in the room, looks like the face of Mae West. IT WAS SO AMAZING! I could have spent so much more time in there. I just wanted to stand in front of every single piece and just think about what could possibly have been going through Dali's mind at the time.....he must have been completely insane! Teatre-museu Dali was one of the things that I wanted to see the most in Spain and I was definitely not disappointed!

This short weekend trip to France was so amazing not only just for the sights that we saw but it was just a really good bonding experience for all of us. I finally feel like I have my 'crew' here all figured out and its really pretty amazing how well I feel like I know some of these people. Like I can say right now that there are a handful of people here that I feel I will keep in touch with the rest of my life. Like Margo is for sure coming to my wedding!

Now I finally get it. I finally understand why traveling abroad is such an important and fulfilling experience. You just have no choice but to put yourself out there, keep an open mind and embrace all these new friendships and relationships that come from it. I love it. And that is why, since France, I have been a lot worse about calling everyone back home and keeping in touch. I just don't ever want to be out of the moment and miss even a second of time with my friends and the city here. My time here is winding down and of course I miss everyone at home but for right now I feel like I just have to live each moment to its fullest. I will be home in just over a month!

Time needs to slow down..........