Okay so I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's start with our trip to Giverny, a little village outside of Paris where Monet lived and worked (and home of the famous japanese garden with all the lilies and bridges that he painted).

The trip was organized by EDUCO (which was nice of them, because in terms of finding classes and figuring out the whole going-to-the-University-of-Paris-thing they haven't been much help, but at least they are doing something). It was nice to be out in the countryside and to see some rolling hills and farmlands. Reminded me a lot of central new york, especially this time of year. Everything is very open and spread out, although the little village itself is kind of crammed together in this little space. It is very small and cute, exactly what you'd expect. The "museum" is basically comprised of two gardens, his house, and his "atelier" (workshop). The japanese garden was my favorite, that one had the pond with all the lilies and willow trees and the cute bridges. It was so peaceful, seemed very well kept but at the same time a little wild and free. The other garden was much more like a regular garden, with rows of flowers. Everything was so vibrant and colorful, the flowers were beautiful. Then we moved into his house, which had a great view of the gardens and was filled with lots of his paintings, which I have come to appreciate as one with no artistic talent or background whatsoever. We finished the visit with a trip to the local cafe where we got hot chocolate (which by the way is one of those things that is SO MUCH BETTER in france than in the U.S.) and crepes covered in hot fudge. Success.