Paris Paris Paris (: je t'aime.

I really love Paris. Its a lovely city.

My trip started at 4:00 am Saturday morning. We had to be in Liege at 5:45 for a 6 ocklock take off. I was a sleepy, dishevelled mess. But things quickly picked up as soon as we got on the coach. 5 and a half hours later we arrive in Paris (: after a quick stop at the hotel to drop off our luggage we head to the first event, the Centre Pompidou to see some modern art. I don't love art, but it was still cool. And we had an expert among us, my host aunty is an art teacher.

Here was my fave piece of modern art, nice and abstract (:

The Centre Pompidou from the outside; fun fact: they put the elevators outside to maximise the interior space.

So after the lovely art we went to get a drink, honestly we do that like every five seconds here. It's like the European equivilant to going to maccas. except you do it like multiple times in the space of a few hours. Then we walked to le bon marche which was the first big store in Paris, now its this super nice place where rich people must shop. Then we strolled on over to Notre Dame, it was all clean looking with massive lines inside. I'm pretty sure Ive been into it on previous trips so I was content with just a pic outside (:

So there I am. Little ol' Kim from little ol' NZ standind infront of two of the most well known monuments in the world.

As you can see from the photo, we had a spout of bad weather as we were walking the streets of Paris. It rained really, really a lot. my jumper, jeans and shoes were so incredibly soaked i couldn't wear them the next day - luckily, the weather was nice enough so that I didnt have to.

After the Eiffel tour we rocked back to the hotel, i was soaked and tired. Slept like a baby that night. I enjoyed a lovely Parisian breakfast the next morning, pain au chocolat et crossiants (:

We then headed to see the Louvre which was cool because I dont think I've been there before. Even though I potentially have and was just too young to care.

We didn't go inside but i wasnt that phased. Art is art (little did I know, we were on our way to an Art EXPOSITION!!)

This is my mummy host and me at a cool thing which i duno much about, it was like cool candycanes that had been chopped down. I was into it, the others not so much.. haha. Anyway so after that we went to the art expo, an artist called Turner, i duno him but that's probably ignorant of me. Anyway after that we tried to go to a picasso museum (art, encore!) but it was closed for renovations till 2012, so we went instead to the museum of hunting and nature! It was totally cool, im actually stoaked we did that instead of picasso (ignorance, encore) haha. But there were cool stuffed animals like polar bears and stuff, I thought it was really cool (child at heart maybe?)

So then after that we got back on the coach and came home to belgium at the happy hour of 11:50. I did NOT go to school the next day, because nobody likes a sleepy exchange student (:

Much Love (: Kimi

Update (:

So.. It's march now. Actually today is St Patricks day, so that's where i'll start.

St Patricks day pretty much is a big deal for exchange students. So we all went down to Liege and had a merry old time, i left early though because I was supposed to do to a fashion show but then my train was late so that's why I'm blogging instead. St Patricks is the same as it is at home, people dress in green and overconsume (:

Yesterday (march 16th) we went to the Opera. It was Rigoletto. It was cool for me because I had never been to an opera before, and my super savvy host mum got me to read the story before watching it which turned out to be a make-or-break factor for the show, lots of the exchange students couldnt follow and so they didnt really enjoy it. It was cool cause we got to get all dressed up and whatnot.

Sundayyy the 14th i spent at Stavelot. A wee town renounded for its Carnaval et blanc moussis (: It was really cool to see the culture there, i was shocked at how behaved everyone was. Nobody was walking along with the parade or anything. And at the end when the main event came there was SO SO SO much confetti, its still all through our house almost a week later. It was crazy but really cool. Here are some pics:

Thats me and Marie-Eve it the confetti storm, she's having a blast evidently haha.

The typical Stavlot thing, blanc moussi, they smack everyone in the face with those pig bladder balloons and then throw confetti at you. They also have old fish guts on the end of a pole that they dangle in your face, i dont get it either, dont worry. Haha.

The Saturday before that I went to Luxemburgh. It was a rotary trip and we spent two hours on the bus, then a couple of hours at some sort of butchery, and then back on the bus, then a sightseeing trip on the bus, then back on the bus to come home. It was a very tiring day but Luxemburgh was nice, we couldnt take many photos though they were all rubbish through the windows of the buses. Dommage...

The friday night before I went to a school friends birthday drinks in her garage, there was a dessert buffet so I was like in heaven practically. It was a really nice little atmosphere (: I left at half-past midnight so i was a bit tired at the 7:30 start for Luxemburgh the next day!

Tuesday the 9th my Aunty Prue and Uncle Brian were in Belgium for a visit. They were in Antwerp to buy diamonds, (oh, what a hard life) but they popped down to Vise to see me. We went with my host grandparents to the Hautes-Fagnes to show the Dargavillians the snow. They were playing around like kids in the snow. After that we all ate together, my host grandparents, parents, me and my aunty and uncle. We had Boulets de Liege and frites - it was nice to see the family. I got a bit sad because Aunty Prue reminds me of my dad a tiny bit ):

This is me and Danielle and Marie-Eve on the canals of Brugge. Its really pretty in Brugges, and i cant remember whether or not I already blogged about it, so there you go, a photo hah. Danielle is cool beans, we get on like a house on fire. Im glad she's here else rotary events would be a bit of a mission, she's Australian, but I've forgiven her for that. (: