Sunday, December 22, 2013

Semester One: Complete!! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


Hello everyone!!

This past week I finished my fourth sequence, which means....I have completed my first semester as an exchange student here in France!! Holy crap...where has the time gone?!

I had another presentation to give for my last class, and our group rocked! Then we took the final on Thursday and for the first time, I am positive that I did really well.  That was a good way to end semester one.  That night, some friends and I went out to eat raclette to celebrate.  This is a French cuisine.  You melt cheese in a little fire and put it over your food.  It was very good!  We had some drinks and went back to Ale's to hang out.  We had some good laughs and then went to a club where most of the exchange students were going to party that night as our last big event, and so we could all say goodbye!  It was a fantastic day, I laughed harder than I have in a long time, made a lot of memories, and by the end of the night we all had had so much alcohol, just walking was a serious project.  But man did we have fun!


Now I am sitting in my room, all packed and ready to go!  I am writing this and reflecting on the last four months of my life.  It is truly incredible how much my time here has changed and living here is now normal.  (Don't worry, not that I am going to stay, but in the sense that I am no longer completely lost!)  I have learned so much about myself, life, how to survive, France, business, and the world in general.  

Saying goodbye to friends these last few days has proven to be very difficult, especially with having a high probability of saying goodbye forever.  We all came here, most of us in very similar situations, and immediately friendships were born.  We were in a foreign place, without friends and family, so the other exchange students you are with really become family.  You lean on one another, support one another, and really mature together.  We have vowed to keep in touch and have made plans to visit each other and travel the world!


I leave for the airport in about an hour!  (So this post is going to be a lot shorter than I had wanted...I have so much to say!)  I fly out of Bordeaux and then go to Madrid, London, and then Chicago.  It is going to be quite the day, but soon enough I will finally be home!  I am super super excited to see family and friends! I have missed everyone so much and wouldn't have been able to do this without them.  I cannot thank everyone enough for all of their love, support, and kind words.  I AM JUST SO EXCITED TO COME HOME!!

Thank you everyone for reading, and for most of you, I will see you very very soon!

Joyeux Noel! (Merry Christmas)

-Krysta

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle."
-Albert Einstein 

"It's okay to be homesick.  It means you come from a good home.  There are plenty who would envy that."
-Downton Abbey

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Disneyland Paris!


Bonjour Everyone!

This past weekend, I ventured north to Disneyland Paris!!  Just so everyone knows, I am a HUGE Disney fan!  Most of my family even calls me "Belle" or "Krysta Belle." (Although, I am pretty sure most of them don't know where my nickname actually comes from.)  I got that nickname because I was obsessed with Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" when I was younger, and that name has stuck with me ever since.  Even as a 20 year old, and I love it! ; )  And if anyone wants to take me on in the game "Disney Scene It," bring it on! The only person who I know that can beat me every time is my older brother Justin, there is just no winning against him...darn you! Ok, yes, but my point...I LOVE Disney!!

*Little Fact: Disneyland isn't actually IN Paris.  It is 32km (about 20 miles) away from the city.  So I wasn't able to see Paris yet, but that is another trip for a different time!

This trip was organized by my school and most of the students that went were exchange students.  In total, there were 100 people that went.  We met close to the train station in Bordeaux, at 10:30 p.m. on Friday night for our departure.  We rode in two coach buses.  Yes, that was our "hotel" for the night.  We arrived at Disney at 7:30 in the morning, and we hit the ground running!  We all put our bags in the baggage room, had about sixty girls in one bathroom brushing their teeth and hair, and then jumped back on the bus to be transported to the parks.  We got there before they opened, so we ate a little breakfast in the parking lot while trying to find our roommates for later on that night.  We were randomly assigned and the girls in my room were all strangers to one another.  We said hi, and then everyone split up into groups and started to rush towards the gates to get in line.  In Disneyland Paris, there are two theme parks: Disneyland Park, and Walt Disney Studios Park.


None of my close friends came on this trip, but I really wanted to go.  So it was time to jump outside the box/comfort zone once again!  As our group was making their way to the park, I found my friend Marine.  I joined their group for the day.  There was seven of us, and two of them are exchange students who are also staying the entire year!! ( I believe there are less than 10 of us.)  So I was really excited to get to know them this weekend.  Once we entered the park, it was run run run all day long.  We went to as many rides as possible, grabbed a ridiculously overpriced lunch, went to more attractions, and watched the daily Disney parade, which of course is now Christmas themed, so we got to see Santa also!  After the parade, it was about 5:30, so we all walked back to our hotel, Hotel Cheyenne, and took a break.  Once we got there, we discovered that most of our keys didn't work, so we had to get that sorted out.  The hotel was cool, themed to look like the Wild West.  It was, however, incredibly spread out.  It took forever to walk to our building!

We went back to the parks to have supper together and then we pushed our way through the packed crowds to get a good view of Sleeping Beauty's Castle for the show.  The light/water/firework show that they put on was incredible!  I thought they did a great job, I was very impressed.  That was probably my favorite part of the trip!  Then we made our way back to the hotel around 11.  Everyone was extremely tired at this point! Once we got back, we discovered that there was a problem with the rooms.  Everything had gotten messed up and people were getting moved around and trying to find their lost luggage, it was a complete mess and quite the ordeal!! It provided for some good laughs and stories though.  The three girls I ended up staying with were all different people than who I was originally supposed to stay with.  Two of them were from Quebec in Canada and the other was from France.  They were all very nice and we ended up getting along very well and spending the next day together.  Late, late at night, with sore, aching bodies, and very heavy eye lids, we finally got some rest.  Then ring ring ring, the alarms went off at 6 and we were back up!  We got ready, packed, put our luggage back in the luggage room and were at breakfast at 7.  We ate, formed our groups, and it was back to the park to do as much as possible before we left at 3!


The weekend was very tiring, but completely worth it!! I had such a fun time, and met a lot of new people!!  The parks were pretty much what I expected them to be like.  I have also traveled to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneyWorld in Florida.  DisneyWorld is by far the best, and I believe it always will be.  It is also a lot larger than the other ones.  I think my next favorite is Tokyo and then Paris, but that is a very close call!  They all have a lot of similarities and many of the same attractions.  On another note, the hotel that we stayed at this weekend was not very impressive.  It honestly looked as if it hadn't been touched since 1965.  It definitely was not what I was expecting for a Disney hotel on Disney property...but hey it was all for the experience!  No matter where you are in the world, and regardless if you are a Disney fan or not, DisneyLand/World is an experience everyone should do at least once in their life!

Leaving the Wonderful World of Disney was very hard to do, especially because homework and an intense group project and presentation awaited my return.  How thoughtful of them.  There they were, all too eager to greet me when I finally got back to my apartment around midnight on Sunday night.  I had to wake up at 6 for class on Monday and was there until 4:45, that was rough.  Tomorrow my team and I present our half hour presentation, but I feel good about this one!  Wish me luck! : )

My countdown: 10 days until I leave...11 days until I am home!!!!!

Thank you everyone for reading!

-Krysta

"Today's special moments are tomorrow's memories."
-Genie, The Return of Jafar

"I am on my way, I can go the distance.  I don't care how far, somehow I'll be strong.  I know every mile will be worth my while.  I will go most anywhere to find where I belong."
-Hercules 

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Saint Emilion, France

Bonjour Everyone!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I sure did! My family sent over a little package with all of the ingredients to make a wonderful, and proper, Thanksgiving meal.  On Thursday, some of my relatives were at my house for a party, so I was also able to Skype with a group of them and see their lovely smiling faces. Words cannot describe how much I love and miss them! They are so loving, supportive, and well...awesome!  I am so thankful for them.  I also got to watch my Packers play, but after that game, I will not dive into details.

Last week, I finished my third sequence!!  I had to give a presentation with another student.  It was very nerve-racking, but I think it went well.  We had to look at a case study for a company, and then explain through a power point how the company used a sub brand to target new emerging customers and how they changed and adapted their industrial marketing segmentation techniques in a business-to-business environment.  Then we had to defend our case in a Q&A session.  Super exciting stuff right? haha No.  Then it was final time.  I think my final went well also, but I won't get my grades for a few months...so let's hope it was good! 


To celebrate the end of our sequence, some friends and I went out to eat and get a few drinks.  After, we went walking around town and ended up at a very cute Christmas Bazaar.  We shopped around for a while, got some desert, hot wine, and sat under the Christmas lights.  We then decided that the next day, Saturday, we should venture out of the city and into the country.  So we made plans to head to a very famous little village, Saint Emilion.  


On Saturday morning, we all met at Gare St. Jean, Bordeaux's train station.  It was about a 45 minute train ride into the country.  When we got off of the train, we were kind of surprised at first.  There was literally just a little shelter, and a sign that said "Saint Emilion."  My friend Alejandra said "Oh my God, we are literally in the middle of nowhere..."  There were a few other people that got off at that stop also, and they too looked confused.  The strangers started to walk down a road and we followed them.  We didn't know what else to do.  After a little bit, we could see the little village in the distance and we were at ease once again.  It was about a twenty minute walk from the train station. 

Saint Emilion is a small medieval town that produces a lot of wine and is a popular spot for tourists.  While we were there, we did a lot of exploring and sightseeing.  It is such a pretty town, exactly what I pictured an old French town to look like.  It is built in the hills, so all of the buildings are close but on different levels and the little stone streets wind and curve.  The architecture is captivating and you really feel like you are in the Middle Ages.  I loved it!  We decided to grab a late lunch while there, which was delicious, and looked at a few shops.

On our hike back to the train station, we ran into some exchange students that we go to school with.  Our group then grew from 6 to 8.  When we reached the train station, we realized that it is so remote, you can't even buy tickets.  We panicked a little at first, but others said it was normal to just get on the train at this station.  Alright, I guess.  There were about 20 other people waiting for the train, which happened to be a half hour late.  Another time of minor panic.  We just kept saying "Stranded in France." 


On the ride back, we decided to have a party at Alejandra's.  We all went grocery shopping together and headed to her flat for a fun filled night.  There were 6 nationalities, and conversations in 4 languages.  There was a lot of alcohol, laughter, and games.  We tried playing a card game where you have to count numbers out loud.  We thought it would be fun to give the game a twist and count in 3 mixed languages.  Let me tell you, trying to play a game and count "Uno, two, trois, quatre, five, six, siete, huit, neuf, diez" is a lot harder than you might think!  We also learned some phrases and words in Polish, and taught the little Dutch we learned from Amsterdam.  Once the alcohol got to the right level, there was dancing, so much dancing...but it was such a fun night! 


This week has been pretty good so far.  I started my 4th sequence yesterday!  I am now in "Decision Making for Supply Chain Management."  I have 3 really close friends in this class, so this class shouldn't be too bad.  Last night, Alejandra and I went out for some crepes, a French desert.  Very yummy, and a good way to start our last sequence together.  

Something else that has just been a bundle of fun is that my bank accounts decided to have a mysterious problem this week.  Conveniently right when I needed to pay my rent.  I sent a message to my mother that my newest adventure could be "Homeless in France."  She didn't seem to find the humor in that statement.  So I guess it is a good thing that everything was straightened out and I am still allowed to live here. ; )  Just another notch to put on my "What Else Could Possibly Go Wrong While Abroad" list.  That list seems to continuously grow...

Now that we are in December (already?? yikes!!) I have allowed myself to officially have a countdown until I come home for Christmas break!! Here it is: 19 Days Until I Leave...20 Days Until I am Home : )

This weekend I am off to Disneyland Paris and I am super excited!!!!! I should have some fun stories from that!!

Thank you all for reading!

-Krysta

"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
-Lao Tzu