Wonderful Easter Weekend

This weekend my host parents went away for Easter to a friend's house. I was invited but you know me, I would never miss a chance to get some much needed me-time. And boy, am I glad I did!

I took pictures of anything and everything wonderful so there's an abundance of info on my daily life in this entry.

 For breakfast on Sunday I had yummy granola cereal with dried raspberries and strawberries and earl grey tea.

Then Tanya and I went out with some friends! We went to a milkshake shop but were disappointed to hear that here in France, a milkshake is actually just milk flavored with what you choose, shaken with ice. Cold flavored milk? Doesn't sound exactly appetizing. Or worth 3.5 euro! So instead i got un cappuccino amande viennois (almand flavored cappuccino with delicious whipped cream on top mmmmm).

This was my dinner on Saturday. Monique had homemade meals frozen for me.
Notice the cheese on the right! I wanted to show you all the way that the French eat cheese.
This one isn't a stereotype! And I'm so glad for that. Yummy yummy.

After our drinks, we decided to go shopping. We both bought some new headbands! I wore mine in "hippie-style" as joke :p You can't see in this picture, but there's also a little metal feather glued onto my headband. I love it! And Tanya's is a flower. That's a super popular thing here in France. Our resident director wears them all the time, it's so adorable.

And before bed on Saturday I had tisane. Delicious herbal tea that is so calming...I've actually been drinking tea (herbal or otherwise) nonstop all weekend. It was really great and I feel hydrated and calm! I think when I get back to America herbal tea drinking is going to become part of my daily routine. I just need to buy myself a cute little teapot and I'm set! (Hint hint, someone buy it for me...I'M LOOKING AT YOU, JAKE.)

And for lunch on Sunday I had paella. IT WAS SO FREAKING GOOD. There was salmon, muscles, octopus, and sausage all in one dish. And all of the seafood was from Bretagne (Brittany, my region). If only you could taste how delicious it is...And there's my special Easter meal for all of you out there who were wondering :)

For dinner I made myself a little salad!
Avocado, tomato, lettuce, some leftover sausage,
and balsamic dressing that I made!

Then Tanya, Kelsey and her boyfriend Mike came over! Tanya slept over but Kelsey and Mike weren't there too long so I didn't get a picture. Tanya and I are both wearing our headbands in this picture! If you look close you can see them. (Yes, I bought something with a flower on it. But it isn't too girly so don't get too excited.)

I decided to wear a dress yesterday because it was Easter and that's always what I do...even though I didn't leave my house all day...Tanya found that pretty funny :p

We also Skyped with almost my dad's whole family. It was fun to see them all again and my grandma recognized Tanya from all of my pictures which was funny and nice too.

And we also drank some Belgian beer. You can't really tell in this photo but this kind was "Ruby" so it was red and fruity tasting. I liked it a lot! And don't get your panties all in a bunch people, I'm well above the legal drinking age here. You didn't seriously think I was coming here to study, did you?




APRIL FOOLS.
I actually did.

For lunch we had pizza and beer...
SO AMERICAN.

Then after lunch we went out for a walk and met up with Amanda. We wanted to ride bikes but we couldn't because we didn't buy a code in advance on the internet...so we just sat on them attached to the stands, depressingly immobile, fiendishly ringing the bells pretending we were riding through the streets of Rennes. It was actually terribly disappointing...But at least now we know how to rent them in the future!

And last but not least, my host parents got home...I was both happy and sad. Happy that I don't have to take care of Pépère the cat anymore and to have French interactions again but sad to lose the freedom that I've missed so much. But on the bright side, Morgane (my 13 year-old host sister) gave me the white chocolate eggs that she doesn't like. For some reason they tasted like chocolate covered cherries...but hey, I'm not complaining.

Oh and earlier today I heard this song on the radio...it's from 1998 but these guys are rapping about the history of Bretagne and the video is filmed in this incredible region and the music is influenced by traditional Breton music. I just think it's really cool! Give it a listen if you're interested. I know it just sounds like a bunch of babble to most of you but take comfort in knowing that it sounds like that to me too if I don't pay attention! Anyway, I find it sort of relaxing to just listen to music for the musical aspect without having to worry about the meaning of the words.

Oh and I have yet to mention on here (but I have just about everywhere else) that I've been published! On HelloGiggles! One of the more exciting moments of my life :D