Head over heals

So I guess I have not written a blog since Milan- dangs. Milan seems like it was years ago- lots has happened. I think I have officially fallen head over heals IN LOVE with Angers, France =)

I have not gone on any big trip since Milan. But I don’t know why I would want to pay to go somewhere when the town I live in is so amazing. Not to mention the people I live with are even more amazing.

I think I have mentioned before that we do a lot of family dinners here. Family dinners started out as being for our class (23 people). EVERYONE in my class loves each other. We do almost everything together. It is quite a challenge to cook for 20+ on a budget, in a SMALL kitchen, without an oven. But we manage. So far we have had Swedish meatballs made by Liza from Sweden, Federico from Italy made pasta, Megan from Orlando made pasta too, Kim from Orlando had taco night, all the Asian students made us sushi, the Fins and Texans have made spaghetti, and they hosted a crepe dinner, and I had nacho night. We just all really love each other and love being together. Out family dinners now include other people not from our class that live in the building, I think we have had over 30 people a few times. It’s crazy but so fun. Everyone brings a few euros to help cover the cost of the food. I really thought I would miss my communities I have back home, mainly Wesley, Phi Lamb, and my Family. Don’t get me wrong- I miss everyone A LOT. But the community over here is AMAZING. It is just so diverse and everyone is so different, yet we all get along beautifully well. It’s beautiful.

I think I have talked about the park that I run at, but I am going to talk about it again. Every time I go to the lake there is something new to discover (a photo shoot will happen there soon- don’t worry). It is just so peaceful and natural there- Just dirt paths up and down hills, trees, animals, AMAZING views, waterfalls, little bridges….ooooo I just love it there. I love it so much that I’ll go run there when it is below freezing. There are sometimes when I can just sit on a bench and stare out at the lake forever and think about how great life is.

Last weekend we went to a near by town called Nantes. It is west of here on the coast (only 45 min by train). They have a really nice castle that we went to right away. We are taking a Loire valley castle class at school, so it’s nice visiting castles now and understanding them a little better. Nantes was big in the slave trade and sugar, and we learned all about this in the museum at the castle. It was really interesting and we could have spent hours there, well we did because it rained all day, but we still had fun. Nantes is famous for theses little cookie things. So I bought a tin- and we ate them on the train home =)

I’ve realized that I never want to leave- ever.