The End of Life in France

I got some great news the other day! :-) After MUCH waiting, I finally got the news that my visa application in Japan was accepted. YAY! So, now I've paid for three semesters of tuition at the Yamasa Institute in Okazaki, Japan, I've paid for an apartment until December, I've got a visa in my passport, and I've got a plane ticket that has me leaving on March 31. I am SO EXCITED!!!!, but also quite nervous (and sad that Guillaume is not coming with me).

Before I leave, I thought I would try to do a quick catch up in here as to what I've been up to lately (i.e. since Christmas).

I think I've mentioned before that Guillaume and I have taken up Viet Vo Dao, which is a Vietnamese martial art. I absolutely LOVE it, and I am sad that I won't be able to continue in Japan. I might have to take up Aikido or something in the interim. Anyhow, in January, we had our first test to move up a belt, so now I've got the really nice dark blue belt. YAY! :-)

Before and After

If you want to see us in action, click here and then under the videos section, look for Viet Vo Dao. I think this was during our second or third class, before Guillaume and I even had our uniforms.

Towards the end of January, Guillaume and I FINALLY got to celebrate Christmas together.

We both got tons of fun presents! My favorite is a puzzle he had made specifically for me of a picture we took in Australia.


Me with my new stufties, Ponyo and Thomas the Skelanimal, whom I have decided to call Morty!

In the beginning of February, I headed back to the states for a little while to watch the New Orleans Saints win the super bowl with the family. It was AMAZING! I think it was the first football game in my entire life that I actually enjoyed. I think that it might have been the happiest day of my sister's life.


Kristen and Russell are Super Bowl ready!

The Who played at half time, and they were amazing. They then came and sat RIGHT behind us. Also behind us were Bradd Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who spent quite a bit of time making out. Especially after the Saints won. :-) And speaking of famous people, I also saw Taylor Lautner, aka the Jacob the werewolf from Twilight.


Have I ever seen my father more excited? Possibly not!



THE SAINTS HAVE WON!!!!

Thank you SO much, Dad and Tina, for making this wonderful trip possible!!!! :-)

Then, for Valentine's Day, Guillaume and I took a little trip up to Mont St-Michel.



It's this really cool castle/church surrounded most of the time by water.




On our way back, we passed over the Pont de Normandie, which was the longest cable stayed bridge in the world when it was built. It's quite long.



Then we went to Etretat, where there is this HUGE cliff overlooking the water. It's got a hole in it from so much pounding water. Seriously, you should have seen the waves at this place. They were ENORMOUS! It was amazingly beautiful, even if it was grey and rainy. It reminded me of the Harry Potter books (when Harry has to go with Dumbledore to find one of the horcrux).

It was super fun walking up to the top of the cliff. Even if I did alip and fall and scrape up my hands and legs. And camera.


I'll try to post pictures of this trip on Picasa and then come back and leave links.

Last week, Pat came to Paris from Quebec for work.

Ohhhh, oui! It was super cool to see him, even if I was incredibly busy moving out of the apartment while he was here. I therefore didn't get to spend nearly as much time with him as I would have liked.

So, I think that's about it. There was also the Viet Vo Dao competition that Guillaume and I went and watched that was SUPER COOL! Someday, I hope to be amazingly great like the people at the competition were. Oh, and we had our going away party, but most of my friends were out of town, so it was more Guillaume's going away party.

That's all for now, folks! I'm going to try to take better care of this blog when I will be in Japan. It's going to have to undergo some changes, though. Like a name change, for starters. :-)