I guess no one is dying to know what happened after Taize.... Fine, I won't tell you all the amazing things (well, there actually were some moments...)!

The day after tomorrow...

dumdumdummmmmm....
my life ends...errr... begins....

AKA I go "home" or wherever you call the place with all your worldly posessions (I'm flying back to Chicago on Saturday night)

Taizé

Another great little (well, this one is a bit bigger than L'Abri) religious community. I was only able to come here for the weekend, most people stay at least a week. Appartenly this was not a normal week as there were an overwhleming amount of high schoolers because it was a holiday weekend (which further complocated other things for me as you will read in an upcoming blog...). This is a place to come and think, meditate, pray, or whatever God calls you to- a number of people even spend the week (or few days in silence). I aarived late on Friday night because the fast trains were all full because of the holiday. I stayed in a room with some French med students- no, not in those tents in the picutres. I spent the next day in 3 times of prayer and contemplative songs (repitative and in various languages), crazy meal times, some workshops (where I was put on display for being the only person with English as a first language), and time to walk around the area. It was all very lovely and simple. I hope to go back for a longer time...

Nice

Ok, I think it's the Riveria in general that is so great because I loved the French side as well. I traveled with a girl I met in Cinque Terre to Nice. The first day we took day trips around the French Riveria. I have always wanted to go to the tiny country of Monaco and finally had my chance! It actually wasn't terribly exciting, but I am glad I got to go- we looked for a "Bienvenue à Monaco" sign, but the only thing we found with "Monaco" on it was on the pay phone, so we took pictures by that (Clare, the girl I was with, said she was going to take a Mikki-style photo and smile big... is it that obvious?). The next I did something very cool: rockclimbing overlooking the Riveria! Oh man, this was intense, but soooo amazing. I definetly want to do that more. Oh, it was Halloween during my stay in Nice and the hostel was kind of a party place, so a lot of people (no, not me...) dressed up and a big bash was thrown.

P.S. I will be impressed if I come out of these posts with few typos, because the French keyboard is difficult. At least I will have an exuse....

A few words...

Here is something that is on my mind: being an American.
People often ask me if I have had a hard time traveling as an American and I have been very fortunate to not received any grief or mistreatment because of my nationality (yes, even here in France...). I am not a "God bless America" t-shirt wearing American, so that makes me less of a target. I am also very apolagetic for only knowing English (I don't really count the little phrases I know of French). The things people have problems with America and Americans, I generally agree with. However, I am who I am and I would never lie about being Canadian. This is a trend I am hearing about and it is actually making me sad to hear how much it is done. I have not met any, but I have met a surprising amount of Canadians... My thing is, if people blindly hate Americans, I really don't need to be bothered with trying to not be myself for them. I know this might come as a shock for those who think I am anti-American myself, but I am America and people do not need to judge me personally for things other people do and for things that the "leader" does (and it is not my fault he is there to begin with...). This is not to say that I am "proud to be an American" or that I yell it out, but I am just not going to lie about it.
For the record, this is has nothing to do with Canada- it is a great country and I wish I were from there at times...
**In addition... If you are an aware person and respectful traveling American, try to give us a little better name by letting people we have some good people instead of making Canada look better and better. Ok. I am done.

Cinque Terre, Italy

Ok, I love the Italian Riviera. Who wouldn't though? This place really redeemed Italy for after some ok times. I met a few people in Como who were heading to Cinque Terre and was able to meet up with them at the hostel. We met during the next day to go swimming- oh, this was so nice. It was terribly hot, but the water wasn't too cold (although, I am used to Puget Sound). It was just so lovely to hike around these beautiful towns and land. For those who don't know, Cinque Terre is made up of five towns along the Mediterranean sea. There are hikes between the towns and the towns themselves are just nice to relax in between. I did some hiking along the coast and among the vineyards. The weather was also back to the nice weather that I have become used to out here. Overall, just a wonderful time enjoying this country as I know I should.
For those who don't know, I have been to Italy before and loved it, so I knew everything would work out, in the end.

Lake Como and Milan

If you haven't heard of Como, I'll tell you it's so nice that George Clooney has a house here (one girls I met found it- that was her goal). Still rainy, but had a better time than Venice. Spent a morning on a boat to Bellagio, then hung around that town. Took a bus back as the sun was coming out. In the town of Como I finally found pants! This was terribly exciting for me.
I had one goal in Milan- buy some nice Italian high heels! I am way under my budget, so I decided to treat myself. However, after wandering the streets, I couldn't find anything worthy of the money I was willing to spend. Things were either too expensive or too cheap. Perhaps in France...