Days 81-85 (Loire Valley & the fabulous encounters with my host...)

Thursday night was a blast. I don't think I'd been "out" in Paris since before I went to Ireland.  Though I am in a country where I could go out and go to bars every night if I wanted to, it hasn't changed the fact that I'd rather curl up on the couch and watch a movie than be out till 5-6 in the morning.  But going out occasionally is definitely necessary. Maggie and I met up with Will, Adrian, and their two friends at Le Bar 10. I will miss that bar when we leave next month.  We hung out there for a while and Maggie and I split 2 pitchers of sangria.  From there the 6 of us went to Chatlet to check out Cafe Oz.  Everyone has talked about great night there so I guess it was about time to check it out.  I expected a bar.  This might as well have been a club.  Maggie and I got there monthly special cocktail, Just Dandy I think it was called, it had gin and orange juice along with something else.  We found a table and looked around at the crazy Paris dancing...on the floor AND on the tables. We hung out for like 2 hours I think? Then the others got food across the street, Will bought all of us girls (plus a random girl) flowers and Maggie and I made sure that they all safely got in a cab before we went venturing off to find the night bus.  I'm paying for my naviGo therefore unless it's an extreme circumstance, I'll wait for the bus and save the money from a taxi.  We made it home sometime around 3. Sasha had a date that night and was shocked she made it home before us.  Overall, a successful night out.

The next day was neither successful nor fun.  It was in fact horrible.  Dany does not know what she wants from us.  The dishwasher broke weeks ago, clearly because she stuffs the entire contents of her dish cabinet into it before running it, but she blames us.  So we're not allowed to put things in the dishwasher, really I'm 20 I swear, not 6 like she apparently thinks.  Well, she told us to leave our dishes the sink and she would put them in the dishwasher, so that's what we had been doing.  Thursday we get a note saying to wash our own dishes and not leave them in the sink because she isn't our maid, so Friday the three of us are in the kitchen washing the dishes and Dany comes in and YELLS at us for being in the kitchen and washing our dishes.  1. REALLY?!?!? 2. So basically we're not even allowed in the kitchen anymore? 3. REALLY??!?!? Every other family the students are allowed in all areas of the house.  Now we're not allowed in the kitchen OR the living room?  Okay so our rooms and that's it...yet she'll complain to the cleaning lady how we're always in our rooms?  Anyway back to Friday.  She spent the whole afternoon with a friend in the living room bitching about us.  She said how she can't wait for us to leave and complained about me being vegetarian, as if she didn't know I was MONTHS before I got here. They assigned us to her because she agreed to cook vegetarian.  I just hate how she'll talk shit about me/us in French KNOWING that I don't know enough French to defend myself back.  Basically I spent the afternoon emailing ISA that enough is enough.  I did not pay $14,400 to be treated like this. And if I hear one more time about how we were "clearly raised American" I might flip out..even in English I think she'd get the point.

ANYWAY that night Maggie and I stayed in and watched The Italian Job and I packed and went to bed. But beforehand did talk to Ellie while she BOOKED HER FLIGHT TO VISIT MEEEEE!!!! She's coming May 9th and going to Denmark with me...then flying home the 25th. I could not be more excited. It was a terrible day and I needed some good news.  We haven't worked out any of the details really from there...but what matters is that she's coming.  27 days.  I'd been kind of bummed that no one could come visit so I couldn't be more excited that she is.  Paris won't know what hit it ;)

I went to bed way too late so getting up at 5:45 to head to ISA was not fun at all.  But it was worth it. This weekend was absolutely amazing and more than needed.  We had a two-three hour bus ride first to Chateau de Chenonceau.  It was beautiful there. The castle was pretty, the problem was all the restoration going on.  There was a fake front put on it since they were redoing it. Sad day. But the gardens were amazing.  I've needed to get out of the city smog. Even spring break we were still in the cities. I miss fresh air. And I miss the space. After the guided tour of the chateau, which mostly revolved around tales of all the mistress of the various kings, we were let loose.  We grabbed lunch, the weirdest veggie burger I've ever had, went through the labyrinth, easiest one EVER I think, took some cute photos, and then I wandered off.  A twenty minute walk in the woods was exactly what I needed. I got some pretty pictures too. From there we went to Le Close Luce, Da Vinci's mansion.  The inside was cool architecture-wise, but once again the outside was what I loved. There were streams and bridges, examples of his inventions, a playground, and more. We didn't have nearly enough time to see it all. But already this trip had been much more laid back than the first to Normandy.  We had a "surprise" next which of course involved alcohol, a wine tasting. First they showed us how it was made.  It's stored in these caves made from when they removed the lime stone from the cliffs to make the chateaus.  Then we got to sample like 5 different kinds. It was delicious and not badly priced at all.  We took some lazy cute pictures outside and then all passed out on the bus due to the wine.  Our hotel was a Holiday Inn and Sasha and I continued our nap once in our room. It was already 7:30 but sleep was necessary. Poor Sasha has been terribly sick since late last week.  If the guys hadn't called I don't think we would have gotten back up. We headed to dinner. Sasha and I split a salad and mussels. The salad was amazing; corn, beats, lettuce, carrots, and more.  I miss corn a lot. The mussels were under cooked and we had to send them back once. I wish it had been more filling but it could have been worse. The guys got pizza and they didn't look so great, all of the toppings were just in the middle. I grabbed a McFlurry and then we headed home. I read Odd Thomas for a couple hours and fell asleep.

The next morning we grabbed an iffy breakfast at the hotel and headed out.  It was about 2 hours or so before we got to Chateau de Chambord.  It was again beautiful and there was no restoration going on at this one.  We got to do a self guided tour which was nice but I think I would have preferred a tour so we would have learned more about it's history.  Seeing it is great, rushing through it isn't, these places are amazing.  Sasha and I saw a good chunk of it.  The rooms just lead to more and more rooms, over 400 of them.  In the middle is a double helix staircase. The architecture was just amazing. After Sasha and I grabbed a two person bike, the side by side ones (kind of looks like a go-cart), too bad it was the hardest workout either of us had done in a while. It was still fun though. We grabbed lunch and ice cream and then set out on one of the motor boats. I love boats. So relaxing and a great opportunity for pictures. From there we had our second "surprise" for the trip, another wine tasting, this one paired with cookies. We tried a white wine and then white wine mixed with chambord liquor, once again delicious.  The bus ride home was only 2-2 1/2 hours but it was enough to sleep for a bit.  We also got to talk to one of the resident directors about our issues at home. I was impressed and felt like he actually really did listen to what we had to say.  He made no excuses for her and recognized the fact that we were trying.  We'll now have to see if anything comes of it. He said he was going to call her today to talk to her and since we haven't been yelled at yet, I don't think it's happened.

It was an amazing relaxing weekend.  It made me miss the farm back home...just getting out into the middle of nowhere and not worrying about anything. Too bad we were snapped back to reality. Dany was nasty from the start. She told us she was "too tired" to eat with us so we said okay and went to our rooms. An hour later she went to Maggie's room and yelled at her wondering why we weren't eating.  Well, considering dinner isn't usually ready till 7:30 and we had walked in at 6:30 and she never said it was ready....I really haven't gotten very good at reading minds.  But anyway we went to eat. No more than 5 minutes later she comes it yells at us for being too loud and slammed the kitchen door. Apparently we're not allowed to speak either. She claimed she was watching TV and we were disturbing her..I walked by the living room a few minutes later and yes the TV was on but she was sitting at the computer not even watching it. Then we closed the microwave and she came in to make sure we hadn't broken it...haha. We gave up on being quiet. There was no point. And then we're just sitting there talking and catching up about the weekend and Dany comes in and clears our plates while we're still sitting there. Clearly dinner was over.  I can't do this for another month.  Yeah "just a month" that's 4 1/2 weeks of hell with her.  I didn't come to Paris to be treated like shit.

Basically, this weekend was amazing. It was the getaway I really needed. But we weren't even allowed an hour to reminisce before Dany ruined it.  I just hope that issue is taken care of this week. Loire Valley was beautiful, another place people should really see, I wish, however, that I'd been able to keep the peacefulness of it with me for a bit longer. This week is just school and then a weekend in Paris.  But who knows what adventures might unfold.

Au Revoir.