Perhaps we should spend ONE weekend in France...

We've been to Paris on five occasions this trip...FINALLY we got to see it!

First stop, Le Tour Eiffel! The hardest decision of the day for the group was whether or not to take the stairs. We (partially) opted for YES, and after 668 steps, those of us who did were a bit winded. The view was spectacular, though! We could see for miles. We didn't realize how big Paris is until we could see it all. Paris is special that way; a long time ago, they passed a regulation that no buildings could be taller than six stories tall in the inner city, so nothing blocked our view. Beautiful! We also returned to see it twinkling the next night. =)

Friday night = Maroon 5 and Sara Bareilles! We'd waited so long and it was better than we could've ever imagined. YAY!

What do you do when you're King Louis XIV, crazy and rich? What else?! Build the Palace of Versailles, duh. It just has like a bazillion rooms and fountains. Saturday morning was spent exploring this beautiful estate and its gardens. We thought it was ridiculous - all the extravagance. Fun still.

Later we walked all over the city. We saw Notre Dame, St. Chapelle (680 square meters of stained glass), the Arc de Triomphe, les Champs-Elysees, and all the neat buildings. AND tasty ICE CREAM, aka glace Berthillon. This was a very full day as you can see. But hey, we're tourists, that's what we do. Dinner was delightful and sitting down for it was all the better.

So, we saw the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Nike, and bunches of other things just as artsy but not famous. The Louvre itself was gorgeous too! We definitely got the full view...(meaning) we went through the whole thing, which is a feat if you've ever been there! All of Sunday morning was spent here. Speaking of Sunday...HAPPY FATHERS DAY to our dads! Thanks for paying for all of this! =)

To wrap it all up, we are officially done with class. We finished our last of three final tests this morning. We know we passed History, but the rest is up in the air (haha j/k...kinda). It's weird to think that we're leaving in two days after being here six weeks. Just think, one more week and we'll get to see your smiling faces! Friday we train to Switzerland, then it's off to Italy until next Wednesday! We're sure it will fly by like all the time here has.

Au revoir to all of you and to France.

With love,
Danielle and Kely

So this is summer...

We were asked the question, “so what is Barcelona known for?” Truth is, we didn’t know. We heard it had some neat architecture…and maybe…a BEACH. We were convinced.

This time we got to share our weekend with some fellow Sooners. We met up with Jordan Carlton and two girls who are studying with him in Madrid. Also, a friend studying with us in Clermont, Erin, came too. Add all that up and you get WAY too much fun.

If we had to describe Barcelona in one word it would be architecture; more specifically, Gaudi. No, not “gaudy”, even though Kely tried way too hard for that pun multiple times. The people there are obsessed with him, and with good reason. Pieces of his were all throughout the city: the cathedral, Sagrada Familia, even random lampposts and fountains. Even though we only got to spend two full days there, we definitely tried to take in as much as we could – most of which happened on Saturday when we saw all those structures. In the morning, we went to the beautiful Cathedral where we took an elevator to the roof! After that, we rode the metro to a local park that was dedicated to the display of Gaudi’s work throughout the city. We never expected to have to climb some 5,382 (give or take) steps to get there. Okay maybe not…we didn’t actually count them…but it was way up there. It was so worth it, though. The view was spectacular! Plus, we got to sit on the world’s longest bench. Then we walked back downtown toward the Sagrada Familia – the most famous of all Gaudi’s works. The pictures say more than we can, but here’s a little of what we learned about it. It’s a massive Roman Catholic church with every little thing representing some aspect of Christianity. Gaudi himself worked on it for forty years, pretty much all he did the last fifteen years of his life, and has been carried on since his death consistently, minus a few years for a civil war or something. Construction began in 1882, and it is set to be completed in 2026, a lofty goal! Um, wow.

The next thing on the to-do list was hit the beach! After stopping by the “supermercado” for some jamon, queso, pan, y bebidas (ham, cheese, bread, and drinks for you unilingual folk) we brought our towels and picnic to the Mediterranean. After lounging for a bit, working on our tans, we had to see how cold the water was. The verdict is in…it’s cold. Of course that didn’t stop three of us – Danielle, Jordan, and Kely – from playing in the salt water. Being in France, we really haven’t had much of an Oklahoma summer, aka sun, so this was perfect!

We now know the answer to that question. There are countless things that make Barcelona memorable. Things like: its distinct Catalunian culture, architecture, beach, etc. But also a lot of things that you can’t begin to describe unless you’ve (not seen) felt it. Honestly, we didn’t realize what made Barcelona the unique city it is until we, well, left – the little things: plazas every two blocks, street performers, flamenco dancing (which we watched…and Kely tried), and LATE nightlife.

Barcelona – a city that never sleeps! At least we didn’t.
Danielle got a chance to use her Spanish, though! All in all, we had another fabulous weekend!

Those words are LONG...

Together, we speak a lot of English, some French, and some Spanish. Notice how German is NOT listed!

This past weekend, we traversed to Tubingen, Germany, which is in the southwest corner of the country. It was a perfect example of a quaint German town: timbered houses, a river flowing through it, coffee shops everywhere, a castle, bratwurst and schnitzel, and polka music...aka splendid! We took a paddle-boat ride down the river (Jody's amazing idea)! Saturday, we ventured downtown where there was a traditional German festival going on. There were people dressed up in the funniest clothes! They were there a LONG time...dancing. We ate (what we guess was) the German form of a hot-dog and watched from a picnic table. We did so much, but it was still really laid back.

What made it such a great weekend was the fact that we spent it with some of Danielle's family - whom Kely now considers his own. They showed us everything! We had a blast playing with the little girls, Izzy and Allie, too. They were sad to see us go; we were sad too. Uncle Jamie even took us up to the hospital to show us the lab where he does research. Both of us were extremely interested! Danielle found it thrilling, thinking about how one day she might have her own lab. Seeing it all made her ambitions more of a reality. For Kely, however, it just reassured him that he has NO IDEA what he wants to do with his life. Let us explain - Kely changes his major (in his head) weekly; he's interested in so many things that it's hard to dedicate to just one. Being in the medical atmosphere made aspirations of medical school resurface. Back to the point, Danielle was so grateful to have gotten to spend the weekend with loved ones.

Miss/Love you all.



P.S. You can never have too much coffee and ice cream.
P.S.S. Danielle bought those aforementioned shoes today = exciting!

Our Royally Insane Adventure....

For whilst thou proceed northward
to a land filled with merriment.

Sound like Shakespeare? Maybe? Anyway, on the topic of being British, this is our trip to London!

THE William Shakespeare was a regular at this very pub.

There's no way we could possibly recount all the AMAZING things we did and saw, but here's a pretty good recap.

So we didn't get to meet the Queen like we intended...she must have been out on holiday...but we did see Her Majesty's home, or one of them. Buckingham Palace was enormous and the guards were funny looking. We walked up expecting to see the famous guards in their little red get-ups, right? Well, they weren't the only ones there. Some random (non-Caucasian) guards in green uniforms were parading away from the Palace and guarding its doors. We found out that it was the Royal Malay Regiment - Malaysian and Indonesian men sent to guard the queen to signify the close ties between the countries. But then, the other guards were back the next day. Whew.

Here are the real ones:

London Eye = The biggest ferris wheel IN THE WORLD. The pictures speak for themselves (wow).

Once a castle for King Henry III and then Charles I, then eventually a prison notorious for torture, the Tower of London was a grand visit. Now it's home to the Royal Jewel House (the collection of all past royalty's crowns, swords, etc.). Who knew so many diamonds, ruby's, sapphires, and other rather expensive stones could be in one building at the same time?!?

Fortunately for us, London Bridge didn't fall down while we were there. Especially since our hostel was like two blocks from it! Even though Danielle sang the song every time we even mentioned it (which was a lot).
The Tower Bridge (pictured below), however, was much prettier.


Obviously we had to see the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. Luckily, they're all within a quarter mile of each other. They definitely are famous for a reason. Some of the "Londonesque" things we just had to do were: see a West End Play (the British equivalent to Broadway), eat fish and chips, take the underground everywhere, visit one of the largest parks in the world, Hyde Park, home of Peter Pan (monumental if you know how much Kely loves Peter Pan), eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, and use our umbrellas.


Speaking of...

Not to dampen the mood at all. But we officially had our first transportation mishap of the entire trip. And boy was it a big one! SoWeGotToTheBusStopOnTime, Actually, EARLY!, OnlyToHaveToWait IN THE RAIN ForAnHOUR JustHopingToCatchTheFirstTaxiOrBus. WhenWeFinallyDid, ItGotUsThere TEN MINUTES LATE AndOurGateHadClosedAlready. ThereWereNoMoreFlightsToFranceThatDayExceptForTheOnesWhichCostUs 300 POUNDS (that's $600, fyi). Something about the trains being closed and Great Britain being bloody lame...


Kely's a little bitter toward the Queen for this. Thank the Lord for the Sound of Music and American programming (aka Friends and Gossip Girls) on British T.V.


Whew, glad we got that off our chests. You can see how big of a deal that was to two people who think of themselves as somewhat on top of things. So we just spent the night in a hotel and caught a flight back this morning. We're now safely back in Clermont-Ferrand. Even after the blast we had in the UK, it's good to be back to somewhat normalcy.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROSS (tomorrow)!! We love you. =)

Lastly, we'd like to know if there's anything exciting going on back home. A comment or an email would be delightful for, say, a tornado or whatnot. But that's all for now. We're still having a ball and still missing all of you. Until next time!

We ate at a McDonald's in France...

The days are blowing by here. Despite our plans to visit some of Danielle's family in Germany this weekend, we had some trouble getting reservations on the trains. No worries, though, we rescheduled for the end of May! Since we spent the weekend here, we got to experience some things the students do. FUTBALL!!! Soccer for us Americans. For those of you who know Danielle well, she's absolutely in love with the game. It made her weekend. We played with a group of students who are still being extremely nice to us - driving us places, cooking us dinner, taking us bowling, downloading illegal copies of this week's Grey's Anatomy, and other essentials. Weirdest thing, on Sunday we had the hardest time finding any stores or restaurant (other than McDo) that was open - definitely not America.

Today we didn't have afternoon classes, so we went into town for a little shopping. Despite going into numerous stores for the both of us, Kely is the only one who bought anything, haha. HOWEVER, there are some promising brown shoes just waiting for Danielle to return to sometime soon. The perfect ending to the day was sharing cheese fondue at a local restaurant. Perfect.

We'll have another post after we return from London this weekend. Have to admit, an English speaking nation is sounding very appealing about now. Love you all.

Our First Week!

Sorry for the delay!! It feels like we're going and going every minute. Today we didn't have class; so, we slept in, then went into town for a few photo ops. Let me tell you, the chocolate eclairs are to die for. Be jealous.

The city of Clermont-Ferrand is gorgeous. You might wonder why the huge cathedral is black. The region we're staying in is built on a series of extinct (hopefully) volcanoes, so a lot of buildings in the town center are made of volcanic stone. A lot of people thought Clermont was cursed for a long time because the church was black. We thought that was funny. Black or tan, the city is very beautiful and picturesque - not like anything we see in the US.

We are staying in the dorms on the Isima campus. The Universite Blaise Pascal is comprised of a bunch of different little colleges, but Isima is the engineering and computer science school (aren't we smart?! haha) Our rooms are tiny, but not too bad. We each have a sink, but the toilets and showers (les toilettes et douches) are down the hall. We've learned that taking showers at night = hot water. In the morning, well, it's risky.

Our legs (and butts) hurt! We both stay on the fourth floor - the highest floor in the dorms - which is really the fifth floor in America, and there are no elevators, naturally. The French students here are VERY nice. They picked us up at the train station and brought us here in their cars. We meet them multiple times a day to eat lunch or just to hang out. Speaking of lunch, the food is amazing! We'd both get fat if it weren't for all the walking. And hills. And stairs. But we're not complaining! Class isn't too far away. We go to French class in the mornings from 10 to noon. Then, we go to either French History or Economics in the afternoons from 1:30 to 4. Our teachers all speak English well. I (Kely) am getting much better at speaking French...and practice a lot. Danielle is learning a lot too! But she doesn't practice quite as much.

We have to toss in here a little something about Jilly Bean (Danielle's sister)! She graduated from Owasso High yesterday and is on her way to becoming a SOONER!! Jill, we're so excited to spend the next few years with you and are sad we missed the big day. You know we love you a whole bunch, and we'll both bring you presents. :-)

This is long enough for now. We'll definitely try to post more often in the next few weeks, due to popular demand. We're getting the hang of things around here, so it'll be easier to. We miss you all, but we're having a blast here in France!

Day 1.... Well, Almost

11 May 2008

Can we really call it an early morning when we didn’t even go to bed the night before?? OU graduation + Charleston’s + last-minute packing + a 2 AM Wal-Mart trip = no sleep for us

The flight to Chicago was a little rough provided the itty-bitty plane, but we managed to get a few winks of sleep, even though the bumpy descent made Kely a little queasy. Given our extremely long layover, we took a subway ride and both got our first taste of Chicago mixed with rain but still magical!

Our long layover has given us the time to write our first blog of many. We can’t express how excited we are for the next few weeks of traveling and learning!

To our moms, we hope you had an amazing Mother’s Day and know that we love you very much.

So this is our lovely little trip to rainy Chicago, the Sears Tower, and us just hanging out in the airport!!