Bittersweetness

So, as you know by now, (if you don't then i dont know you) my beloved Mavericks lost in the first round of the NBA finals. It's kinda bittersweet for dirk, because not only did he have the worst post season, but he had the best season of his life along with winning the MVP. My life is also bittersweet right now. I am living in this amazing and magical city, while at the same time, I'm trying to prepare myself to leave it and re-enter America-a familiar yet very foreign place to me right now. Although I'm ecstatic to come home, I am at the same time so sad about leaving what has been my home for the past five months--bittersweetness. All that being said, I wouldn't count on there being many more postings, if any, due to my mixture of emotions and lack of want to email, post, or anything of that sort. I will, however, inform you of my past week and what I have been up to. Last weekend, a couple of friends and I ventured down to the south of France where we stayed in an incredible house in Les Arcs, thanks to James and Cinne. It was marvelous and relaxing. We also got a taste of Nice while we were in the south, which I must say is not so nice....but that is a story for another time. Upon my arrival back in Paris, I had two french exams, which I think went well, and I turned in a Research paper. This last weekend, we celebrated another friend's birthday, and then hung out on the champ de mars for the rest of the weekend (that is by the eiffel tower fyi...) I'm also trying to get all of the things done that I need to do before I leave like going to random museums and exhibits and french movies..in french...random adventures comme ca. I'm also training for a half marathon, so if anyone is interested in joining me and running one with me back in the states this summer, just let me know! Also a little side note: Usually Europe is a little bit slower in getting things than the States, BUT I'm pretty sure that the third PIRATES of the CARIBBEAN comes out 2 DAYS EARLIER in Paris!!!! woo woo!!! That's right, I get to see it on the 23rd while all of you have to wait until the 25th! Ok just thought you should know. A bientot

Grand Adventures of SWISS LAND!!

Pictures of the amazing adventures skiing in Zermatt-Matterhorn in the background without fail
If you don't already know, I CLAIRE CLIFT, will be moving to SWITZERLAND after I graduate to become an extreme sports practitioner. There I will live for an unmarked amount of time. Please make your plans accordingly!
Ok so the second half of our amazing spring break adventures is about to unravel!! And of course I must give KATY all the credit as she has told the story o so cleverly.
LA, Caitlin, Katy and I made our first stop in Switzerland in Zermatt and we checked into our hostel, ate a quick dinner, and went straight to bed so we could wake up early for our skiing adventures ahead. The next morning, after renting skis and buying electronic ski passes (for each lift was manned not by people, but turnstalls that only let valid ski passes through), we rode two gondolas to the middle of one of the many many mountains. Zermatt is situated on the border of Switzerland and Italy and thus both countries were skiable for us!! So after skiing Switzerland for the first half of the day, we ate a quick lunch atop the Swiss/Italian boarder and then decided to try out the Italian slopes...

The rest of the day was filled with fun adventures of some of us getting stuck atop the mountain, skiing, and working on our sunglass tans. After a quick (and interesting) pizza dinner we discovered that Zermatt cemetary is full of graves from the brave and daring adventurers who have attempted to climb the Matterhorn mountain, Zermatt's most famous peak.
Day two of skiing started by taking a train and two gondolas to the top of what looked like a pretty good run to us. HOWEVER, Upon entering the second gondola the we realized that we were the only girls heading to what was labelled a "downhill run". After getting off the gondola, we found ourselves at 13,000 vertical feet and with skiiers who seem to be attaching their skis to their backpacks and/or stepping into special combination bindings. So of course, we picked up our skis, and followed a group of 5 Italians who seemed to know where they're going. After walking along a ridge which dropped into nothing on either side for about thirty minutes, we ran into our Italian leaders (all the while coming to terms that, much like our Matterhorn companions, our gravestones will say, "at least they died doing what they loved..."). At this moment two Italian/Swiss jets go screaming past our heads - we all looked at each other and took a deep breath.....Nevertheless two hours later we made our way to the first avalible T-bar - newly aquainted with the term, "glacier skiing". Katy and I decided to take the first T up the hill followed by LA; now mind you, this particular TBar is the scariest, most intense lift I have ever encountered. 1/2 up the lift something happened to katy and my skis and we were eventually sprawled across the snowy terrain. Sore from the descent LA continues up the TBar to meet Caitlin for lunch WHILE Katy and I attempted to make our way through some moguls to try the TBar AGAIN. This time the we decided to take seperate T's but naturally this didnt really matter for a clumsy person whose name will remain unmentioned at this time. Upon nearing the stop of fall no.1 Katy heard her name being screamed like bloody murder behind her. I, yes ME, was pole-less, skis dragging, being pulled up the slope, yet holding on for dearlife. To make a longstory short - we finally made it down to ANOTHER lift (pretty sure we have both banned T-bars for life) - finally make it to Caitlin/LA for lunch, and we skied the rest of the day uneventfully. Zermatt ended with a nice train ride to Interlaken for the continuation of the adventure.

Wednesday morning the we awoke in the infamous Balmer's hostel. Upon waking we found a rafting outfitter who took us canyoning. Although unsure of exactly what canyoning is, we knew we wanted to do it and upon meeting two of the coolest swiss people ever we put on layers and layers of tight, protective wet suits, traversed the swiss backcountry, and arrived at the "canyon". For the next three hours we did everything from swim, to float, to walk, to rappel, to hike, ooo AND jump off waterfalls through this swiss canyon. After a wonderful four hour birthday dinner for Caitlin the week continued.
On Friday Katy and I adventured over to Lucerne where Mt. Pilatus sits and we climbed to the top and had a lovely lunch atop the mountain.
Thus ends the incredible adventures of my Spring Break 2K7. I am so glad you could join for the rest of my stories. And please tune in quite soon for the LAST month of my time in magical and unforgettable PARIS.

AND MORE PICTURES!!!
#1: Cinque Terre Town
#2: A little italian boy took our picture-did a pretty good job!
#3: another view of the town
#4: the last town of Cinque Terre, called Manarossa...it had a beach!
#5: look at all the terrain I've covered! I was pretty joyous of our accomplishments

A Story Book Spring Break

Picture 1: me in Sorrento with the beautiful clear water behind me
Picture 2: the blue grotto cave in Capri
Picture 3: Us at the top of the island of Capri
Picture 4: beach at Capri
Picutre 5: Cinque Terre-view of the second of the 5 towns
I just arrived home from my two week spring break, and I really don't even know how to describe it. My words can never explain clearly enough how amazing the past two weeks of my life have been. But just to give you a hint of what I experienced, there really wasnt anything that I DIDNT experience. I did everything from being on a beach, to seeing islands, hiking mountains, boating, skiing, canyoning down waterfalls, climbing, repelling, ziplining, chair lifting, falling....you name it, I did it.
Although my words will never suffice for my experiences, I will attempt to retell the fairytale life that I led for the past two weeks.
LA, my roommate, and I began our marvelous adventures in Sorrento, which is in the south of Italy. From there, we toured the ruins in Pompeii, toured around the beautiful and spectacular island of Capri, and ate some really delicious pizza! The island of Capri was my favorite of our activiities in south Italy, not only because it was so beautiful with all the flowers, but the views from the island are incredible, and the boat tour that we did was so fascinating. We got to see this cave called the Blue Grotto, where the sun reflects on the water and it turns it this shiny turquoise blue color-so beautiful.
After two days in south Italy, we took a train up to Florence, where we met up with UGA friends and hung out with them for a couple of days. When we arrived, it was our friend, Neeley's birthday, so we went to this amazing italian dinner at a really nice restaurant, and then danced the night away. I really enjoyed just getting to relax and hang out with friends from home! Must note that the gelato in Florence is REALLLY good!! especially at this disco type gelateria...soo many flavors, mmm good. While visiting Florence, we learned that the trains in Italy were going on strike, so sadly LA and I had to leave early early Friday morning so that we could ensure ourselves transportation in getting to our next destination: Cinque Terre. This place is DEFINATELY my favorite place in all of Italy. Cinque Terre is off the coast of the Italian Riviera on the western coast, and it consists of five different towns along the coast of the Mediterranean that span across seven miles. Each town is so unique in its own way and each so very cute!!! LA and stayed in the first town called Riomaggiore. I really liked the first town because there weren't as many tourists staying in that town, so we didn't feel like we were surrounded by tourists. While in Cinque Terre, we hiked from the first town to the fifth town (seven miles of intense mountainous hiking!!!!), laid out and relaxed on the beach, and then hiked the seven miles back to Riomaggiorre. All along the hike, there are lemon vineyards, and orange vineyards and beautiful gardens of all the locals who live in the towns. It was such an amazing view during our entire hike. It was hard to stay focused on how tired you were because the Mediterranean was on your left and then these amazing vineyards and gardens would be to your right, and above you and you really couldnt think about the pain your body was going through. Another pirk that I love about Cinque Terre is that it is the place where foccacia bread and pesto originated!! So naturally those two items of food are quite popular there, and naturally, I was in heaven!! If you havent ever been to Cinque Terre before, I highly recommend going there at least once in your life, because it is so incredible and serene and beautiful. It's a great vacations spot. After our lovely traveling of Italy, we left for Switzerland early Sunday morning, where we met up with our friends, Caitlin and Katy for some hardcore extreme sporting activities. Let me just point out that I want to live the rest of my life in Switzerland, ideally, but somewhere else with lots of mountains and nature would suffice I guess. I will give you the juicy details of good ole Switzerland tomorrow, as I have run out of time for today....until next time....stay posted!!

Picture 1: beautiful flowers
Picture 2: famous bridge in Monet's garden
Picture 3: VanGogh's Tomb
Picture 4: Annie and I in the gardens
Picture 5: Monet's pretty pink house, and more gardens!!!
This place is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

1 week till spring break!!

I can't believe its already APRIL 1st!!!! It makes me so happy though that spring has finally decided to show up in Paris. I thought Athens had pretty sporadic weather, but Paris is even worse!! One day it is magnifique and the next, it's 38 degrees and raining outside.
This past week was not too eventful for me. However, on Tuesday evening, I attended an amazing concert, with an orchestra who played pieces by Beethoven and Mozart. It was so wonderful despite the awful seats that we had. It amazes me how talented Beethoven was even though he was deaf! On Wednesday, Madame Richer, my homestay mother, planned a little surprise birthday party for LA, and invited all her grandkids over. We all played in the apartment for a while, and then had cake and ice cream, followed by piggy-back rides to the park to play there for a little while. I had so much fun playing with the little children and conversing with them in French and they conversing with me in english. I absolutely love our homestay family as well and I really could not have asked for a better situation.
This past weekend was my roommate, LA's 21st birthday!! So for a celebration, we went with some friends to our favorite little mexican food restaurant and had margaritas!! It was quite fun.
On top of the fact that it was April 1st today, two other things made my day exquisite as well: the beautiful weather, AND going to Giverny!! We went on a group trip first to see where Vincent Van Gogh spent his last year painting before he killed himself-which was a neat, small city in the countryside right outside Paris. Then we went to Giverny and ate a little lunch, hung out in the Monet's amazing gardens, and saw his beautiful pink house. I absolutely LOVE Giverny and the gardens. It might be one of my favorite places on earth. The flowers are so beautiful and the pond-the pond with the lilie pads!!!-is so peaceful and serene. I just wanted to stay there forever!!! I can only imagine how nice it would have been for Monet to live there and be able to paint with such peace and quiet.
So there is only one week left until I adventure into Italy and Switzerland for Spring Break. I'm so excited to finally be exploring Europe on my own a little without a tour guide and without any schedule. I'm pretty pumped!

Pictures!

PIc 1:This is a Paris sunset from the Seine River (picture by billy)
Pic 2: Sometimes traffic can get a little chaotic!! This was taken from the Arc de Triomphe
Pic 3: Billy and I at the top of the Eiffel Tower
Pic 4: This is why I love this place! I live in a city that sparkles with diamonds!! What more could you ask for