so we just got back from france and it was fabulous!!! so let me try to remember everything from the beginning... we left wednesday morning at 6am and took a private coach to london, where we caught the chunnel to paris. the ride wasnt too bad, about three hours. then we arrived in paris and waited a long time while everyone exchanged their pounds for euros(which is a much better rate for us americans!). then we took the metro(subway) to our hotel, which was on a canal. but it was on the "bad" part of town... after we dropped our luggage at the hotel, we went to see sacre coeur which is a huge white cathedral, it was cool. then we decided to eat at this little place across the street and unfortunately got ripped off, everything was extra cost but our waiter decided to not tell us that... then we walked down to the moulin rouge.... YIKES!!! that was just about the most uncomfortable i think i have ever been! pictures of naked women everywhere and sex shops galore. we took some pictures and then decided to go get dessert somewhere near our hotel. well we got lost. we walked around for about two hours, asking millions of people for directions, none of which were right... but we finally got back and completely crashed. then on thursday morning we were out of paris, on a bus to caen, at 7am. at caen we visited the WW II museum which was really neat. it was all about d-day, but we were all so exhausted from the day before and from not getting much sleep. so after spending about three hours there we got back on the bus to go to bayeaux which is on the north coast of france and where our hostel was for the next two nights. after we left our luggage there, we all went to see the bayeaux tapestry which is 70 meters long and depicts the story of how william the conqueror took over the throne of england. it was cool to see because we have been talking about it in my oxford thru the ages class. then after that we went to see the bayeaux cathderal which was ok. once you see a few cathedrals, youve just about seen them all... then we went to dinner at this little cafe/bar and had some pizza... it was interesting. i have definitely become a lot less picky when it comes to eating : ) after that we went back to the hostel and played mafia(a game where people get "killed" and you try to figure out whos in the mafia) with a big group of us. this is where the night gets interesting... and somewhat scary. so we were playing mafia in this stone room below ground thats sort of a commons room for all the guests. then about half way through a bunch of sixteen year old drunk high french guys come down... well one thing you have to know is that just making eye contact with frenchmen is considered major flirting... so we didnt look at them and kept playing the game. well they came over and tried talking to us, acting crazy and so dustin told everyone we should go. so as we are getting up to leave, sorta jogging towards the stairs, someone grabbed my arm. well i thought it was a girl in our group but when i turned around there was a french boys face. so i sorta got scared but told myself it was just someone in our group bc dustin and someone else were behind me. i grabbed kellys arm as we sprinted up the stairs. we were all kind of laughing, i think bc we were nervous. well kelly had a little accident. so the rest of the girls were on the opposite side of the hostel as me and kelly. so i was making sure i stayed with kelly so i didnt get caught by myself. she ran into the bathroom on the opposite side of our room and i screamed at her not to leave me so she told me to come in. well we heard the boys coming as i ducked into the bathroom and the other six or so girls decided the bathroom was a closer and therefore safer place so they ran in too. now this bathroom is really really tiny, enough room for a sink and a toilet. so kelly decides to go to the bathroom so it doesnt get worse even though we are all in there. well lara was trying to lock the door when we hear someone outside the door and then the door flings open and a french boy shoves his head in. all girls scream and smush themselves into the farthest corner which happens to be where kelly and the toilet are. i was scared out of my mind!! so the boys finally leave but a minute later we hear a knock on the door and our reaction was to scream. but it was only dustin and nathan, there to take us to our rooms. well me and kelly went with the rest of the girls up to their side of the hostel along with the guys as our protectors. kelly went into the other girls room but i was the last one and i didnt know where to go bc i couldnt see where they had gone. so i went with dustin and nathan into their room bc it was close. then brent came down with kelly and all three guys walked me and kelly back to our room-such sweethearts. then later they walked denyce over so she could shower in our shower(otherwise she would have had to shower far away, possbly by the french boys). thats when me and kelly heard what had gone on while we were in our room. well first i found out that some french guy had grabbed my arm and dustin got mad and told him to stop and the guy asked if he wanted to fight and dustin just said no and went to find us. that freaked me out!! but i definitely thanked God for dustin a million times that night!!!!! then after me and kelly were in our room, the french boys went up to jordan and jennas room, which was not locked. they said "the pretty french boys are here" and opened the door. jordan ran and slammed the door shut and told jenna who had ear plugs in to scream. so jenna screams bloody murder and dr morgan who was in the room right next door comes out and talks to them and tells them to leave them alone. well then they they went down and knocked on dustin, brent and nathans room wanting to know where the girl was(me!). dustin decided to just talk to them so they would calm down, they kept asking for beer and weed and wanted to go dancing with american girls. so after they taught dustin some french words all was well. so then the next morning we got up and went on a guided tour of d-day all over normandy. it was probably one of my favorite things on the trip. i love history but our guide was really awesome. he was a good storyteller and he not only told us about what happened in the big picture, he also shared personal stories which made it much more meaningful. so we did that for about seven hours. we went to utah, omaha and gold beach, plus a few small towns. then we ended the tour at the american cemetary. the whole experience was just amazing! then after we got back to our hostel me and sarah and denyce went shopping in bayeux. i bought a few things and then we went back to the hostel to eat a free three course meal. it was pretty good, some weird stuff but i actually liked it! like i said im much less picky!! : ) then after dinner a big group of us went to a bar and had drinks(i didnt get anything) and hung out there for about an hour. on our way out we somehow started talking to some american army guys(it wasnt me, i dont talk to strangers!) they seemed pretty nice. well after we left one of the guys noticed that the army guys were following us... so the guys were walking behind us girls and they hatched a secret plan that was supposed to be unknown to us girls, but i knew bc i was at the back of the clump of girls and right in front of the guys, they were so funny. its nice to see the warrior come out in guys when they know they have to protect girls : ) well all that planning was for nothing bc the army guys turned down some road right before we turned down the street to go to our hostel. but some of the guys still stayed behind on the corner to "make sure" : ) so thus concluded our friday night in bayeaux. saturday morning me and sarah and denyce and beth ann and erin got up and went to the market a few blocks down. it was cool, we got some really good fruit. then i bought the two yummiest croissants in a nearby bakery. they were heavenly!! then we loaded up our luggage onto the private coach and traveled about twenty minutes to arromanche which is on gold beach(d-day british beach) and spent about three hours there. its so pretty! but it didnt smell so great... we walked on the beach for awhile and then we shopped in the little stores and ate some lunch. then we hiked up to a cliff that overlooked both gold and juno beaches and it was so pretty!! i got pictures but who knows when i will actually find time and effort to put them on here... sorry! so then we got back on the private coach and headed back to paris. but this time we stayed in a much much nicer part of town. once we got there we left our luggage and went to free dinner at a "sister" hostel. it was pretty bad... i ate barley with alot of salt and some spinach and cheese quiche... then me and sarah and beth ann and denyce and lisa went to the eiffel tower!!!!! it was so awesome!!!! we met two au pairs that were about our age, one was from australia and the other one was from austria and they had been in paris for about four weeks. we didnt know which metro to take and they were going to the eiffel tower too so we just followed them. it was about 9:30pm when we got there and the lights lit up on the tower every hour for about twenty minutes. we went all the way up to the top and got to see the entire city, it was so cool. then it took forever to get back to our hostel because we went to the wrong metro station and had to do all kinds of crazy stuff to get back. we ended up hopping over a few ticket turn stiles... we were so tired!! then sunday morning we got up at 7am(having only five hours of sleep.... on top of not getting sleep in general the entire trip) and went to mass at notre dame. it was pretty cool. of course it was catholic and in french. then after that we went to a market that was sorta far away but totally worth it. we had some really good potatoes and bought some fabulous chocolate thats from brussels(i want to go to belgium just so i can get some chocolate!). then about noon me and sarah and kristin and hannah and rachel and amanda and shelbi and brian and todd went out to versailles. it is HUGE!!!!!!!!! and the gardens are even BIGGER!!!!!! we split up once we got there-me and sarah and rachel went to the royal bedrooms, the state rooms, the hall of mirrors(only part of it though because they are working on it) and some other rooms in the house. (everyone but us three went back earlier to meet people for dinner) on the train back though we met some girls from the design school in ft lauderdale, they were really nice. then rachel made friends with a little four year old girl that was sitting across from us. she was so cute! then we went back to our hostel and me and sarah decided to go out to champs de elysee(a ritzy street with ritzy stores that has the arc de triumphe at the end). almost all the stores were closed even though it was only eight oclock. we bought some stuff at sephora and then we went to mcdonalds to get something to eat really fast. we were planning on going on a boat ride down the seine river before we met lisa and beth ann and denyce to go get some drinks. well we ended up talking to a french man named louie. he was very sweet, about 22, studying to be a lawyer. he ended up sitting at a table with us bc the only table left for me and sarah to sit at had six chairs so when he got his food after us, the only open seats were at our table. so we talked to him for a good thirty minutes. it was really cool. then we got on the metro and met the girls at the hostel to go out. we decided to go to a bar with salsa dancing that was over by notre dame that the girls had seen before they had gone back to the hostel and on our way there we ran into brent, kyle, lara, kathryn, susan and lael and they decided to come with us. so the place was pretty small and we had to squeeze into this small corner booth. but it was SO much fun! they actually had margaritas and i tried sarahs sex on the beach and it was really good too! and our waiter was awesome! denyce taught me how to salsa and we just had a good time shaking it on the dance floor : ) but it was scary bc there were a few old creepy men... we ended up saving each other more than once! ; ) after about an hour there we went back to the hostel so we wouldnt be locked out and bc we were SO exhausted!! then monday morning me and lisa and sarah got up to go to the louvre(im not much of an art person but i figured it would be cool to see the mona lisa and stuff). on the way i got two crepes with butter and sugar in them-they were SO good!!! then we stopped at a little store and we all bought a cute purse : ) mines a little clutch with a brown sequin background and varied colors of purple sequined flowers-so so cute! then we finally got to the louvre-it is SO huge!!!!!!!! we saw the mona lisa(you arent allowed to take pictures but sarah snapped a shot without getting caught) and the statue of nike and the statue of venus de milo and alot of other famous paintings that i actaully recognized. we just hit some major points and only stayed for an hour and a half but i really enjoyed it. i definitely appreciate all those pieces after seeing the real thing, it was really amazing!! then we walked down the street and went shopping! oh but before that we stopped at mcdonalds and grabbed something to eat real fast. so we went to h&m and zara. i didnt get anything a zara although i saw a ton of cute things. but at h&m i got a thing of ten eyeshadows for only 6 euros which is still about 6 dollars and a pair of huge earrings that are grayish purple and gold and a matching hair thing. im just not sure what to wear them with... probably black shirt, jeans and black heels-the old stand by : ) anyways then we went back to the hostel to get our luggage so we could leave for the metro. then after taking the metro a little bit we got off to get on the chunnel. the chunnel ride was fine, slept a little, talked to dr and mrs morgan a bit. then we got to london and took a private coach to oxford-that was pretty relaxing, i sat by myself and just listened to music. then once we got home i got online.. and thats about it. now me and sarah and kristin and denyce have to plan our trip to spain which is in about two weeks. and this weekend we are all going to greenwich and i think most of us are staying there for the evening too-texas embassy and good margaritas here we come!! : ) and i think some people are talking about going salsa dancing!!!!!!!!! im so excited!!! i love it here! we are always doing something fun and exciting! and i have really grown in so many ways!! for one thing i eat alot more stuff than i used to, which everyone will be happy about : ) i cant wait to go back a different person-traveled and experienced. well i better go... so much to do! love you all!! ~jen