The sun is finally shining in Paris and all things summer are appearing in the city. Happiness :)
Most interestingly, I just returned from a ten day spring break! My roommate Jenn and I bought Eurail passes to travel by train through France, Italy, and Spain during break. First,
we took a 12 hour night train to Barcelona. In Barcelona we took a day to see all the sights and wonder around the city. First impressions- Barcelona is much more beautiful than Madrid. What Jenn and I were most looking forward to was the beach. We headed down to the beach and lounged around looking out across that beautiful Mediterranean all day. This was my second time seeing the Med, but it was still so amazingly blue and clear. The beach seemed more party than classy (as did much of Barcelona) with its various illegal salesmen selling everything from messages to cerveza. Our hostel had free tickets to a club on the beach, so we checked that out one night. It was a lot like clubs in Paris except that the patio looked out onto the ocean. Very nice :)
After 4 days in Barcelona, we headed off to Cannes- an 8 hour trek. This train ride was actually quite enjoyable since the train went almost entirely along the ocean. We saw just amazing views! We got into Cannes, looked for a taxi and what we found was a line of very expensive cars (think mercedes, bmw...) with tinted windows.. that we all taxis. Ha! Feeling very glamorous, we got in one and a few minutes later we arrived at our hostel. It was by far the nicest hostel I've ever seen. We had a studio apartment with a kitchen and bathroom and best of all, an ocean view from our balcony! It was nice to be back in France where I can actually communicate with people and we know the customs and culture. Our hostel was a little walk from the city center so we rotated between town and beach. The town was rather glamorous- all the designer stores, bien sur. The beach in Cannes was sooooo beautiful. Our hostel was literally like 3 minutes from a secluded little beach and about 7 minutes from a more populated beach. There were palm trees and families and ice cream stands everywhere. It was sooo enjoyable. A few things separated Cannes from a typical Californian beach- topless tanners and speedos. Jenn and I decided on our last day, after soaking up that Mediterranean culture, that we should do a little topless tanning ourselves. We finally got brave and did it! I felt oh so French :)
Originally, we had planned on going to Verona and Venice after Cannes but we had a little train booking trouble and ended up on another night train to Rome. This ride was about 10 hours and horrible. We had pretty bad seats that did not recline at all and old snoring Italian men as cabin mates. After what felt like forever, we arrived in Roma, settled into our hostel, and set out to explore. We got one of those tourist maps and basically saw everything on it within the 3 days we 
were in Rome. I really enjoyed seeing the Coliseum and Trevi Fountain was my favorite site in Rome. I think by the end of our time in Rome, we had walked that entire city. Jenn and I both decided that we would like to live there one day. It just seemed like a very livable city, plus the food was AMAZING. I am proud to announce that I have now tried 12 different flavors of real Italian gelato :) The Italian people where very friendly but we both missed the 'Frenchies' after a few days. We left Rome on another night train- this was our longest ride yet, 15 hours. This time we got smart and paid a little extra for beds and it was SO worth it. We had a fabulous trip overall but after 2 weeks we were glad to be back in Paris.
This past weekend we got to celebrate our French friend's birthday. He and his family own the bakery down the street and we have all become good friends with him. We got to his house to drink champagne with him and his friends before we went to his favorite club. Anyone who thinks French people aren't that friendly should meet Anthony's friends. All of them were so nice and welcoming. The only thing I still can't get over is the kissing thing. Every single person who came over had to kiss one another on the cheeks. It's like a kissing line. You can't get out of it! We all really enjoyed being a part of a French birthday celebration.
Since the weather has been nice lots of people go to the park and have picnics or just lounge around. We have a park right near our apartment so we have been going and it is quite enjoyable. Paris in the spring really is very beautiful.
Well, I'll be home in less than a month now and I'm having mixed emotions. 8 months has been too long to not see my family and Honey and I really miss them, but Paris is Paris- it just doesn't really compare to Galt. Haha.