I spent the first week of the trip getting lost in London, fighting off sickness, trying desperately to catch up on sleep, familiarizing myself with this city and getting to know the two hundred or so other students that were going through the exact same transitions...well, I'm guessing none of them were filed as a missing person in downtown London...but the other transitions were probabley pretty identical.
Not that the first week was BAD, just rough. Last week however...
:)
I celebrated Bastille day down at the Loire (that's the river that runs through Tours), took my first test, had lunch with a friend's mother from Franklin, went on a date with a french guy, visited Le Clos Luce, comitted a felony and spent every evening drinking cheap wine on the sidewalks of the town square.
It's been a good week.
However, I now have no visible floor space in my room or any clean clothes or any sanity left to speak of.
Still, it was worth it.

Monday night Sarah, myself, Paula and Pam went out with some other friends for Indian food. It probably took us around an hour to make the ten minute walk to the restaurant because we kept getting "shoe distracted". The Europeans know their footware! You can spot an American so easily by their shoes. I have two new pair...thank you kindly.

I walk by these everyday and comtemplate not eating anything the rest of the trip so that I can buy them. If anyone wants to contribute to my European shoe fund, feel free.

Indian food in France...???


Charles (American) and Francesca (Italian)

At the Gingette, the beach bar down by the Loire. Everynight there is music and dancing and they don't seem to mind that we bring our own wine which saves TONS of money.

We joked that we have almost every major region of the world represented. Five people from five different areas with different religious beliefs and histories who can all bond over music and wine.

The evening of Bastille day. Celebrations at the Gingette again. The three of us in the front attend L'institut, the others are local.

Wednesday, I went to the train station to meet my friend Logan's mom. Our families have lived only a few miles from each other my whole life and yet I had never met Mrs. Bedford. She happened to be in Tours for two days last week and was SO GENEROUS to treat me to lunch. It was the first hot, heavy, quality meal I had since leaving the states. It was ironic to meet someone from Franklin for the first time in France, but I had a great time and it was nice to see a face from home.

A family of five was traveling through France for the summer on these three bikes!

City hall...beautiful day or night.

Remember the Basilica tower I had pictures of in a past entry? Thursday night we hopped the fence and went down underneath the tower. It was REALLY creepy at first but once I got used to it it was fascinating. We hung out down there for an hour or so...I can't help but cause trouble everywhere.

These Persian women are going to kill me. We spent most of Saturday night hanging out with some local kids, playing music in front of a cathedral. I like getting to know the local scene more than just doing all the touristy things. I feel like I am getting more out of this experience when I do that.

We played spin the bottle ;)

Sunday, my friend Fabrice, who lives in Tours took another student, Dane, and I took the neighboring town of Amboise. There is a chateau there that used to house kings but we went instead to La Clos Luce. This picture is taken from the garden of la Clos and you can see the chateau in the backround on the hillside.

My friend Fabrice who grew up in and around the Tours area was kind enough to drive us to Amboise and show us around the town.

La Clos Luce is the house that Leonardo da Vinci inhabited during the last years of his life. He died in the upstairs master bedroom. We wandered around all afternoon in his gardens behind the house.

Playing in a model of one of his inventions.

I had never seen one of these before but it was SO FUN! You grab onto the handle and run as fast as you can until you just pick up your feet and SOAR!

The house from the outside.

And again.

The castle. After we walked around town we stopped in a historic bakery/coffee shop and I had the BEST cafe au lait of MY LIFE!

Statue of da Vinci.

:)

Dane and I on da Vinci's shoulders.

Beer with grenadine...so gross but we were told we had to try it. The tap is called "a giraffe" and its 25 euros!

I ended the perfect week by hopping the fence (once again) and walking down to the Loire to put my feet in. The weather was clear and I lay down by the water just thinking about where I had gone and where I wanted to go until the wine had gone and the sun was arriving.