Day 4 Air Force Academy

Alright so here we are on day 4 and what a day it was. We started out with a trip to the United States Air Force Academy. Before I go any further I just want to state that this place is enormous. We met with Buck Blackwood who is the head of the Strength and Conditioning Department. He took us on a tour throughout the athletic facilities and showed us what the athletes of the Academy had at their disposal.
Stat-wise there are 4,000 cadets at the Academy ad roughly the male to female ratio is 3:1. The cadets have a course load of 20-23 hours on top of military priorities and then athletic practices. These athletes are extremely devoted and have a lot on their plates. The Academy also doe snot give out scholarships and competes in Division 1 athletics.
On their grounds they have three athletic weight rooms, a ice rink, two basketball courts, wresting room, indoor track and football practice field, and a human performance lab. These are the main rooms on the complex. they have numerous smaller rooms but this blog is not big enough to contain all the different rooms and services that the Academy offers.
We also got a tour of the athletic training facility and our AT students were blown away. The part that I got the biggest kick out of is that they had a hydro-recovery pool on site and it was bigger than our pool that we had at the hotel. I thought that was funny. The AT's here operate on a more laid back environment than most other AT's do. This is a good thing because they have more time for individualized attention for the athletes and they can provide the best services for athletes from fencing to football regardless of skill and talent.

The last place we stopped was the human performance lab. Here we talked with a coach who trained the vision of the athletes. This was probably the most interesting part of the training. The instructor told us that by training the vision the athletes performance increased dramatically and it showed on the field. We were able to play with the tests the athletes took. One of the boards resembled something you see in a doctor's office but you had to hit the lights and they gave you feedback on your strengths and weaknesses. This was a fun but educational experience and opened our eyes to other forms of training that maybe considered "outside of the box".
Overall we gained a lot of useful information from Buck himself when we had a question and answer with him. The most interesting part of the discussion was how the athletes train. A lot of the the training that Buck does with his athletes requires the use of water filled implements. They had specially designed dumbbells, strongman logs, and kegs filled with water that the athletes do various exercise with. The method behind this was that by lifting the water-filled implements the athlete has to balance them and use more of their core and stabilizer muscles than if they lifted with a stationary weight.
After talking with Buck we were able to take numerous training methods and exercises to incorporate into our conditioning programs. As the days go on we keep adding to our knowledge base and this is crucial to us because a majority of us want to go into fields that require a knowledge in the strength and conditioning field. The more exposure we get to these professional settings the more we feel that we want to go into this field and contribute something to the field once we are there.
In the end we enjoyed ourselves at the Air Force Academy. A couple of us were jealous of what their athletes had to work with and others were envious of the laid back attitude of the coaches and AT's. Nonetheless we learned a lot from them and looked forward to our exploration of Pike's Peak later that day. So until then talk to you later!

Day 3 Garden of the Gods

Back again with more blogging from Colorado. So i might have mentioned this before but just in case I didn't, each day we are in Colorado we do an educational experience and an exploratory trip. This was the exploratory part of our third day in Colorado. The first picture is how we looked and felt after the day.
So the Garden of the Gods was a state park that was discovered by Zebulon Montgomery Pike on his way up to Pike's Peak. As they went through the garden there were large red rocks throughout the park and plenty of trees and other vegetation throughout the park. The explorers who discovered the park felt that this place was a garden "fit for the Gods" and so the name Garden of the Gods was given to this park.
So overall we hiked a little over 10 miles and were out in the park for 4 hours. While this was a lot of hiking we enjoyed exploring the park. A major reason we hiked so long and were out there so long is because we were going off the paths marked and exploring the rocks and climbing all over them. As you can see in the pictures we did stunts and other things on these rocks that provided for great photo ops for Jen.
The funny part of the rock climbing was when we would get to the top we realized how high we were and it was scary at times. Also as we went through the park we would see people professionally rock climbing up the larger structures and it was crazy to see them dangling hundreds of feet above the ground.
We walked through a majority of the park and saw many of the major rocks structures throughout the park. Some of the structures we saw were the Siamese Twins, Balance Rock, and Giant Red Rock. Overall this park was gorgeous and my words do no do the beauty of this park justice. If you are ever in the Colorado Springs area I would say that Garden of the Gods is a good idea of a place to stop.
After the garden we went to a mexican restaurant called Amanda Fonda and the food and service was great. After a long day of hiking and exploring we enjoyed a good meal ad sat around the table and talked and shared stories until ti was time to go. The next day we went to the Air Force Academy in the morning and then went to a train that took us up Pike's Peak. I look forward to sharing Day 4 with you until then, see ya!

Day 3 Carmichael Training Systems

Here we go, look a live! On day 3 of the trip to Colorado we went to the Carmichael Training Systems lab for testing. The center is owned by the Mr. Carmichael who is world-renowned for training endurance athletes, mostly cyclists and some triathletes. The one thing Carmichael is known for is training Lance Armstrong the 7-time Tour De France winner.

So before we left for Colorado, Katy offered to do a blood lactate test and a VO2 Max Test. Pretty much these tests allowed for endurance athletes to see how far their body can be pushed before it reaches exhaustion. I felt tired watching Katy go through about an hour and a half of tests. She was spent afterwards and during the testing we learned how they train athletes, what protocols were taken, and how they communicating with their athletes.

Surprisingly a lot of athletes talk to their coaches via email because they train all over the globe. They get athletes from all aspects of the endurance sports. They get mountain bikers, cyclists, marathon runners, triathletes, etc. and they are serious about their training. Lance Armstrong is currently training again for another Tour De France and our guide told us about the preparation that goes into Lance's training.

Overall we learned about a different variation of training but we still picked up some information. Even though endurance training may not be what I am interested in it is importance to have knowledge in all aspects of training. In my profession i want to teach people about fitness, if I only know about some aspects of fitness I would not be as successful if I would have common knowledge in all aspects of fitness. This was the shortest portion of the trip but we still learned a lot, next I will post about our trip to the Garden of the Gods. See you later!

Day 2 Cave of the WInds

OK back again, here is the second half of day 2. We drove up into the mountains to take a lantern tour of cave of the winds. This was a pretty cool deal. The view from the top of the mountain was gorgeous and we were amazed.

So you can imagine how this expedition went imagine this. We are let to this wood door with a 4 foot by 3 foot hole cut out. Our guide told us that there were numerous passages in the cave like this so if you have knee or back problems, the tour is not for you. We were also told that their were steep inclines and lots of ups and downs so you needed to be in some sort of shape to complete the tour. Next we are led to a wooden set of stairs and railing and are handed a kerosene lantern. We were then told that after the stairs there was no more concrete and no more electricity.

So on the tour we definitely got a workout in. At one point I was duck walking through a tunnel and my heart rate was up to 160. The picture below was me trying to fit through one of the holes. I legitimately almost got stuck in this hole. Throughout the tunnel it was hard to see Jen, our head chaperon would always turn around and take a photo op. FYI a really bright flash in a dark cave is not cool, But we wouldn't have pictures so it's a Catch-22.

The caves were discovered in the mid 1800's by two entrepreneur/explorers. They would charge tourists $1.50 to take a tour of the caves. One of the owners was stealing money and the other ended up splitting and buying another set of caves in the area. Eventually He got a hold of the cave of the winds and died protecting the cave from his crooked partner. They say his ghost still wanders around and it made the tour a little more interesting.

The one thing that creeped us out on the tour was the owner that died had a wife and she always wore a rose smelling perfume. Well as you go through certain parts of the caves you could smell the aroma and it was kind of weird. There were certain areas that it was really strong and some of us were creeped out by it.

There was also this part of the cave were it was significantly warmer than the rest of the caves and it was kind of weird too but we just went with it. There were points in the tour where we would put out the lanterns and it was pitch black. You could not see the person standing right next to you and it was creepy.

After we got back from the tunnel we took some goofy pictures on the surface. Overall it was a great experience and we loved getting out and exploring some of the nature that Colorado has to offered. After the caves we went to a pizza place in Colorado Springs and they had a slide in the building that we were only allowed to play on once we finished our food. That is all for the day 2 hold on because there is plenty more from Colorado.

Some PICS

The 4 girls that were lucky to experience PARIS!!! this is at our last diner in Paris with Carol, Terri, Professor Sawyer and his wife!!

This is me at the Musee D'Orsay!!! I love it sooo much!!!

Yup CHICKEN IT IS!!!! I seriously think I ate chicken every day in Paris!!!

Noheli and I at the Louvre Pyramid!! AMAZING!!!

4 girls in a 9 story mall!!!! wow!!!!

Day 2 Olympic Training Center

OK so here is the next installment of the Colorado trip. Our first stop on the trip was the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The site we visited is one of three Olympic Centers across the country and they specialize in swimming, rifle, judo, wrestling, weightlifting, and a few other sports.

We ended up with four tour guides on the trip and the first guide took us on a tour of the facilities. He explained to us what went into planning the facilities and how to create an environment that your clients/athletes would be productive in. We were told that Michael Phelps was in the building but that he would not see any groups so we could not get a picture or anything with him.

The next step we made was in the athletic training facility. We first met with the director of the department and he explained the model that the AT's follow at the Olympic Training Center. In a "nut shell" their model is that that everyone involved in an athlete's development should be on the same page and know what each other aspect is doing. For example the Mr. Phelps will have a strength coach, a doctor, nutritionist, massage therapist, and a swimming doctor. Now if the physical therapist is working a problem in his back all the other involved in his training will know what is going on and will be contributing to getting him back to 100% as fast as possible. This was a good model to have and it was good to hear about the treatment that the athletes were receiving and to see the teamwork it takes to make an elite athlete "tick".

The next person we met with was the head AT and he showed us around their facility. The highlight of this mini tour was when they took us to a brand new complex that was built called the Recovery Center. In this building there were massage tables, recovery nutrition, cold/hot whirpool, aroma therapy, and any other method of healing that you could think of was available to the athletes. Any athlete would die for these services and this center will be crucial in the training and progression of the Olympic athletes.

The last tour we took at the OTC was the strength and conditioning center. Here we met with three of the strength coaches and talked to them about the facilities and there methods of training the athletes. Basically the coaches want to make the athletes better athletes. They all train primarily the same systems and one athlete does not have an advantage over the other. We also talked about supplementation and learned that at the OTC the athletes are strictly tested so they have to be extremely cautious with what they take. Overall the athletes respond well to the coaches and the coaches work hard to make sure that the athletes are in the best shape possible at all times.

Overall the experience at the Olympic Training Center was great. We learned a lot about the people behind the scenes and how hard they work. The one thing we took away from the OTC was that egos need to be checked at the door because everyone involved, coaches, ATs, and athletes are in this together and that is the only way they will succeed. Well that is all for now, stay tuned for more from Colorado

France and Germany

Since Luxembourg isn't exactly the biggest country on the map (unless your map excludes every country on the planet save for maybe Malta, Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein and a few tiny island nations) there is subsequently not a whole lot of geographical area to be explored. While this is not to say that we have seen every square inch of the country, you can only pack so many exciting adventures into one tiny nation. Because of this, yesterday we stepped (or, more correctly, rode a train) across international borders into France, and today into Germany.

In France, we visited a town called Metz. This was located in the once German region of Lorraine, and is a remarkably historical city. I believe, if my memory isn't completely incorrect, this is the region from where part of my family (the Selles) are descended --Grandma, if you're reading this, correct me if I'm wrong. The town itself was gorgeous, and the Gothic architecture was remarkable, especially in one particular cathedral with what I have been told sports the most extensive collection of stained glass in all of Europe. We also saw a museum dedicated to a host of ruins from the area and a contemporary art section to blow your mind, including one of the coolest sculptures I have ever come across (pictures will be posted as soon as my technological incompetence stops impeding my ability to get pictures onto this computer). Later in the night, Keith and I took a trip down to a small English pub in a valley called the Grund to watch the Champions League final, FC Barcelona vs. Manchester United, which was an awesome game with an exciting crowd, just an overall good time.

Today, we did the same thing, only to a town called Trier in Germany. This was perhaps one of my favorite things so far, as it just so happened to be the birthplace of my --and everyone else's-- hero, Karl Marx. We had the wonderful opportunity to visit his house, and the entire thing was awesome, I learned so much I had never previously known. It was a really great exhibit, although there were some interesting flaws in some of the information provided that were clearly intentional --i.e. the contemporary applications exhibit failed to mention that Salvador Allende's 1973 overthrow by fascist right-wing paramilitary soldiers led by Augosto Pinochet had been U.S.-backed. I also had another fun time at a small restaurant we went to while we were there; the waitress was from Spain, and so only spoke Spanish and German. As I can only speak Spanish and English, it has been frustratingly difficult at times to communicate with many of the locals. It provided me the first real opportunity of the whole trip to communicate with someone in a foreign language. Robyn had done the exact same thing at a small restaurant in Metz the day before (only her performance was far more commendable, even trying to pronounce those French syllables is way more of a challenge than I am willing to tackle), and got a pretty friendly response from the waitress we had.

Only one more day left in Luxembourg, and then it will be on to Brussells (or Bruxelles as they spell it here, which is infinitely cooler) for us. Keep checking back! Pictures soon... for real this time.

Day 1 in Colorado

So we have been in Colorado for three days and I was looking at all the pictures so I decided to do a blog on each of the places we visited. So this first day is the airport. We got to the airport at 9 to catch our flight that left at 11:18. We then flew out to Colorado and got in around 12:30. They are in mountain time and are an hour behind. So here are some pictures. Here is us at the airport:

So the guy in the middle of the picture on the right is Will. He had never flown before so this was his first plane ride. So you know the guy on the left is John and on the right is Mike. In the picture on the left going from left to right is Katie, Megan, Heather, and me. On this plane this is the seating arrangements:

OK so when we got to Colorado we could feel a difference in the air. Denver is called the mile high city due to their high elevation above sea level. because they are higher there is less oxygen and for us coming from the Midwest it took some getting use to. As we were waiting for the our transport the guys noticed that if you could take successive deep breaths you could really feel the effects of the air. As we drove through Denver to Colorado Springs where our hotel was we were amazed at the view of the mountains. Will pointed out that it looked like they were not real and were more like a picture. Even with the clouds hanging low we were still amazed at the beauty of the mountains. I will get some pictures up from my phone of the mountains but words can't really capture the view. One of our chaperons said that she liked their skyline a lot better than Chicago's and the group agreed. Well this is all I have from Day 1. The next blogs to be posted will contain pictures and information from the Olympic Training Center, Cave if the Winds, Carmichael Training Systems, and the Garden of the Gods. But until then stay tuned for more of this trip.

Less than a week to go...

It's unfortunate that there's less than a week to go here, time has flown by fast. We have been spending so much time doing so many things, that its hard to really just kick back and relax, and I haven't had much time to post on this blog --and, admittedly, when I have, I have had trouble remembering. In the past three days, we have done some pretty exciting things. A few days ago, we went to an American military service for Memorial day, presided over by the American ambassador to Luxembourg and a few other officials at the American war cemetary where General Patton himself is buried. That entire day had been quite interesting; before we went to that cemetary, we went to a German one so that we might experience firsthand the contrast between the two, and it was remarkable. The crosses in the German cemetary were not religious in nature, but were Nazi crosses, and needless to say there were of course no Jewish headstones. They also featured 3, 4, and sometimes even 5 names per headstone, each of which was made of weathered (but natural) stone. The only large monuments on the whole premises were a large stone entryway, and a ten or fifteen foot cross at the end of the cemetary signifying the location of a mass grave. The entire thing was niceley shaded, and almost ominously serene.

Meanwhile, at the American cemetary, nearly every stone surface was made of white polished marble, and there were a number of huge monuments dedicated to the soldiers buried there, including an outrageously tall marble tower engraved with words describing it as a "humble tribute" to the American casualties of WWII. There were also two giant murals, one describing the direction of offensives in the West, and another describing solely the Battle of the Bulge in the Ardennes. The landscaping was unbelievably well kept, and the entire walkway surrounding the marble tower was lined by a tall green hedge, with not a single branch uneven. There was also only one soldier per headstone, and to each unknown soldier was written a small epitaph describing the nature of who was buried there, something along the lines of "here lies a fallen soldier known but to god" or something (the german graves had been "ein deutsch soldat" or "zwe deutsch soldaten." Later, we came back to the house to have a small party with many of the people who had attended the memorial service, and were given a chance to meet the Ambassador herself, who had been a hold-over political appointee from the Bush administration. After meeting her, I can say that I am thankful she is on her way out, and that we as a nation are no longer being represented by someone such as her.

The following day, we went on an all-day cruise down a river to a winery, which was a lot of fun. The cruise itself wound its way down the river marking the Luxembourg-Germany border, and we were able to just sit and relax and talk while enjoying the absolutely beautiful (and apparently extremely unusual) sunny, 85 degree weather. The winery itself was interesting, very dark, and very cold, and the tour guides spoke only Dutch and French, so we had to piece together what was being said as we went along, but it was still a nice experience.

Yesterday was perhaps the coolest day yet, we went to a castle in a small town called Vianden. It was seated up in the mountains, which was strange to me because prior to coming here, I had no idea there even were mountains. Through each of the rooms, there was a small model documenting the progression of the castle as it was expanded upon throughout the years. It would be difficult for me to adequately express the regality of the building in words, and I'm a little crunched for time at the moment, so later tonight or early tomorrow morning I will upload as many good pictures of the castle as I can, keep checking back frequently; I just need to go through the hundreds that I took and find only a few I can post on here.

I'll post again by tomorrow morning at the latest with all the pictures.

Velocity Trip

So I know I said I would post about a week ago, but I had outdoor nationals for track and field and getting my stuff packed for this trip left me with little time to post. So the trip for Velocity was a fun. Since I was leaving for nationals the next day I did not particpate in the workout. But the rest of our class did. I also work at Velocity part time so I knew all of the drills and practices that they went through. Here is a phot of the group before they started the workout.

We started out with a dynamic warm-up which was a little longer than usual. When athletes come to train at Velocity they train in one of three areas. Multi-Directional is practicing moving in different directions and being able to cut and pivot and other related movements. Acceleration is when the students work on building up from 0 to 100 % as fast possible. Maximum Velocity is the ability to maintain 100 % fro as long as possible. Each dynamic warm-up is tailored to it's individual discipline. Since we were there just for a sample we included parts of all three disciplines into the dynamic warm-up.

We then did specific drills that pertained to each discipline and this is a picture of the group doing an acceleration drill. After we did drills in each discipline we went into the weight room where the classes at Velocity focus on the Olympic movements (snatch, clean, jerk, etc). Our class went through a tutorial on how to do a hang clean and each person in the group demonstrated the movement. The next picture is one of the students performing the exercise.

We then ended the workout by stretching and the performance coach answered any questions that we had that could be used to for our conditioning programs. Overall the experience was a great one and the group seemed to benefit greatly from the session. We are leaving for Colorado today so I will have another post shortly about our first two days in Colorado. Until then talk to you later!

I AM HOME!!!!

I am home!!! We got hear yesterday but I was soooooo exhausted that I had to energy to even turn on the computer!!lol... oh and the hour change is horrible... I seriously went to bed at like 6 pm and then woke up at midnight... Its about 7 am and I feel like it should be 2 pm. It was a smooth flight and I have to say that it was a lot more comfortable then the one going to Paris. The eight hours were not that bad...

Well anyways before I tell you guys about our last night in the magical city of Paris, let me say that I had miss my family so much and I'm so glad i get to see them!!!

Ok well we couldn't have end our wonderful trip in a better way. After going to the Louvre which is by the way incredible. I mean seriously knowing that you are in there looking at the real paintings gives you a little goosebumps. Seeing the Mona Lisa is kind of surreal. I was also excited that I recognized some of the painting from the once we study in my Art class. But anyways after the Louvre Professor Sawyer invited us over to his house to meet his wife before our "last" dinner. Mrs. Sawyer needless to say is a wonderful lady.

Our last dinner was great. We ate a a little but expensive restaurant. We sat outside in a high balcony that overlooked the surroundings. The weather was great so we could enjoyed every minute of it especially the delicious food and dessert!!!! I like usual had chicken but everything looked delicious. What really got me were the desserts.... mine had rose petals on it!!! yup that's right rose petals!! crazy right?? They looked gorgeous and tasted even better!! I have to upload some of those pictures... I promise I will do that tonight!!!

Our first night out!

Yesterday was really cool. We began the day somewhat early, with a walking tour of the city from a tour guide that seemed as though he spoke every language in Europe; both a help and a hindrance when considering that he had to repeat everything he said in more than one language to ensure that all the tourists he was catering to could understand exactly what they were seeing. We saw one of the first fortresses ever constructed in this city, which has stood since (I believe) 923, and a really cool multinational winery that was located --for the most part-- underground. It's interesting just how international the atmosphere is here, it seems like just about everyone who doesn't live in this city is a foreigner, and nearly every sign everywhere is in more than one language. They also have a lot of foreign restaurants simply called "Snack [insert foreign country name here]." So far, I've come across a Snack Brazil, Snack Portugal, Snack Istanbul, and Snack New York, and there's no doubt a number of others that I have yet to come across.

We also had our first opportunity to go out on our own last night, which was a lot of fun. We trekked down a gargantuan hill on a cobblestone street into a small neighborhood packed into a valley known as the Grund; we were advised that it was where the majority of European kids our age liked to hang out. We found a small place called Oscar Wilde's, which was awesome as well because it was run by English-speaking management, so we were able to actually converse fluently with our waitress, something that has become quite rare to us here in Europe.

We have a lot of pictures from the last three days, either today or tomorrow we will all sit down and get the good ones off each of our cameras, and post some up! Keep checking back.

El Final

Our last night in Puerto Rico has come so fast. The time has seemed to just fly by while we were enjoying ourselves and learning down here. On Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit a local university, University Sagrado Corazon. It was quite an adventure getting there and figuring out the public transportation system. We used our Spanish skills the previous night to ask some local university students directions and the correct buses to take. Luckily, they didn't steer us wrong and we made it there. This university reminded us all a lot of AU, especially since it was a small campus which gave it a similar atmosphere. The staff there was extremely welcoming and helpful and gave us a tour of the campus. We even had an opportunity to have a taste of student life and see the inside of the dorm rooms and eat in the cafeteria. After that, we ventured off to one of the larger shopping centers to converse with native speakers closer to our age. While walking around, we observed and compared the surroundings to those back home. It was a lot of fun and we were able to learn a lot about the people, language and culture.

Wednesday, we had class in the morning where we read the local newspaper, along with other materials, and continued in our pronunciation proficiency of the language. Afterwards, we began our adventure and long trek back to Old San Juan to visit the San Cristobal and do some souvenir shopping. The San Cristobal, like El Morro, was used to protect the island from the pirates..Arrg! This fort was set up much more like a museum with tons of replicas and explanations. We even had the chance to lock up Dr. Hatcher in a dungeon! :) Afterwards, we got something to rehydrate and were off to shop. While shopping, we had the opportunity to converse with the store owners and ask them about how life is in Puerto Rico. The true test of our language proficiency was using it to get directions back to our hotel. Luckily, we all made it back and even learned a lot while doing so.

Yesterday, was Mackenzie Kerby's birthday so we helped her celebrate it. We had some class time in the morning followed by the long walk back to the grocery store to stock up on some snacks for the plane ride back home on Saturday, as well as a delicious birthday cake! On our way back, we got caught in a downpour and had to wait it out for a little while. This gave us the opportunity to really observe the neighborhood and see all the differences in the houses and the beautiful vibrant colors they were painted. We learned that their houses have to be painted once a year due to all the wear and tear from the salt water. We had a really fun excursion planned for Mackenzie's birthday to the bioluminescent bay, where the organisms glow when the water is disturbed. This would have involved kayaking, in the dark, out to the bay. Unfortunately, it got canceled because of a thunderstorm and lightening. :( We were all pretty sad about it, but we made the most of it.

Our last day here we adventured off to the Camuy Caves in the west side of the island. The bus ride there was quite lengthy, but it was amazing to see a different area than where we are staying. The land here was hilly, mountainous and very green. There were cows, horses and chickens everywhere! The cave system was so unbelievable and slightly treacherous in rain. Our guide was able to call the bats out of the bat cave and we even saw some ginormous spiders. Next, we went to the Arecibo Observatory, which is the world's largest radio telescope. They use this to gather radio signals from the atmosphere, far off galaxies, planets and stars. In order to help us all remember this trip, we even got matching glow in the dark Einstein t-shirts. We can't wait to wear them!!

For tonight, we are going to eat some authentic food for the last time as a family. We are all sad to have to leave this beautiful island tomorrow filled with amazing, extremely kind people. The information and experiences we have had will never be forgotten. As a group, we have grown together and become more proficient in the Spanish language we all love so much. Adios! :)

Our LAST DAY!! :-(

So this is officially our last day in Paris... we leave Saturday morning!! and you have no idea how sad I am... I really really love Paris!!!! I have come to the conclusion that I will move to Paris one day! I have to cause it really is amazing!!! With us leaving there is sooo much things we still have to do... today is a busy day for sure!! First we just finished our final test and well lets just say that a little more studying would have helped.

Yesterday the girls and I were sooooo tired after our long day at Montmartre ( a part of Paris). We were to meet our professor at a metro stop in Montmartre at 3 pm but omg!! when we were on our way the Metro people made everyone get out in one station that was about 4 stops from where we had to meet Dr. Sawyer. We are still not to sure why we all had to get off I think it had to do with an "accident" but anyways you could just imagine how not fun it was...there we were in the middle of Paris and not exactly sure where to go to or how to get to Dr. Sawyer. I am so glad that Noheli is a genius in terms of map reading!!! She figure out where we were and how to get to our destination... but it was not easy we had to walk like a lot!!!!! We found a pay phone and called the professor just to let him know and then started our long journey!!! By the time we got to Montmartre it was like 4 pm. We were very tired but we had to keep going.

Montmartre is located at the highest point of the city which means that there are sooo many hills and yup we had to get up there!! Let me tell you guys that it was the first day that my feet really did hurt!! ;-(. The walk was crazy but Montmartre is a beautiful place. I love the way it has a village feel and it is very relaxing. Noheli and I had to do our presentation on the Sacre Coeur Cathedral and I think we did great well hopefully!!!

Well this is the last post that I will be able to write from Paris!!! ;-( IT'S SOOOOOOO SAD!!!!!
As soon as I get home I promise I will upload some pics!!!

but for now bye!!!! Au revoir!!!!

We're Here

Well, the day has finally come, and we're in Luxembourg. After an extended (and probably unhealthy) stint of not sleeping, it's safe to say we're all exhausted. The hop across the pond to Heathrow wasn't bad, we flew Virgin Atlantic and although I've never flown before, I'm under the impression it was a particularly nice airplane. In the back of each seat was a small television screen that played a wide selection of newly released movies and television shows, from some outrageous film entitled Lesbian Vampire Killers to Seven Pounds with Will Smith to the newest episodes of Family Guy. The food, however, was unfortunately not up to the same standards as the airplane, and I think it's safe to say that airline food is not my cup of tea.
The rest of the day was interesting as well; we had a three-hour layover at Heathrow where we were stuck in an area that really seemed to be a kind of international holding area for foreigners waiting for a connecting flight. Luckily for us, they accepted all major forms of currency and we were able to get some breakfast at a pretty cool restaurant, and grab a beer at a small pub. After killing some time, we boarded our next flight on BMI to Brussels, which was extremely turbulent at the beginning and much more relaxed as our altitude increased and over in less than an hour. From there, we boarded a train from the Brussels Airport to the Brussels North train station (and were yelled at in Dutch for putting our feet on the seats), and then switched and hopped another almost immediately to Luxembourg. Unfortunately, because 24 hours of unbroken conciousness is incredibly taxing, I wasn't fully awake to enjoy the beauty of the European countryside during the ride.
At the moment, it's about 8:15PM here, making it around 1:15 back home, which means it's been over 24 hours since any of us have really had a nights worth of sleep, save for short napping on either flight and the three hour train ride to Luxembourg, and I think everyone is probably equally exhausted. I will update this tomorrow, as we spend our first day out doing things that don't involve simply getting from point A to point B.

Check back soon!

what? what do you mean only one more day in PARIS????

We only have one more day in Paris... :-( I feel like I waited so long to come and the 2 weeks have passed by sooooooo fast!!!!

I really wish we could stay a few more days!!!!!

The real Van Gogh, Monet, and Manet!!!!

OMG I love the Musee D' Orsay!!!! There are so many paintings that I recognized from my Art Appreciation class that I took at AU. I new that I liked impressionist painters but actually being there and seeing the really thing its amazing!!! Van Gogh, Monet, and Manet were definitely my favorites!!!

After the great time at the Musee Me and the girls when up to see the Sacre Coeur Cathedral. Let me just say that its soooooo beautiful. We went up because Noheli and I have a presentation about the cathedral today so we wanted to go see it before the presentation. The church is built on the highest point of the city. From up there we had a perfect view of Paris!!!

Class, shop, food!!!!!

Yesterday we went to visit the History of Paris Museum, it was very interesting and I think that Professor Sawyer does such a great job keeping us interested. We got to see some paintings that really helped describe some of the history of Paris during the first Revolution.
After the museum our assignment was to look at the hotel des Invalides and see the tomb of Napoleon. Let me tell you that the tomb is huge and the Hotel' des Invalides is beautiful.

Me and the girls like always wanted to continue our shopping so we went to the little vendor shops by Notre-Dame. I got a few more things and I think that I am finally getting close to getting things for everyone back home.

We had dinner at a very cute place called le Petit Pont. I order what I have order in all the places we have been CHICKEN!!!! as I tell the girls you can never go wrong with chicken. And i was right the food there is really good. But not only the food was great just the atmosphere was great. There was a man playing the piano right behind us and we ended up staying there for a few hours. We all agree that we want to go back before we leave!!!

When we got back to the rooms we all called home. I talked to my Mami and she can't wait till I get back. As I said yesterday I miss my family soooooo much!!!!!!! But I kind of wish we could stay a few more weeks!!!

oh today we got our test back and I am happy to say that we all did really well, i guess studying all night pays off ehhh??? lol!!!

Today Musee D'Orsay!!!

Weekend in Paris!!!!

My first weekend in Paris was great!! We did so much and everything was great! On Friday we went to see the Hotels Particuliers. This hotels were built by Kings in the 1500's. They are like everything else in Paris just beautiful. After that we went to the PAMPIDOU center. This building is crazy. We went to the top of it and had a great view of the city.

Saturday we went on a boat trip on the Seine River. We had a good time and it was very relaxing. After the boat trip we spend some time shopping around and we ate at a really nice restaurant right by the river. We also went to the Piccaso Museum. The museum was not very big but the collection was impressive. At night we went to see the Effiel Tower and the experience was amazing!!!! The Effiel Tower looks so beautiful at night.

Sunday has been one of my favorite days in Paris. We took a trip to Versailles. The train ride was a little long but worth it. We went inside the chateau. The chateau was the house of many kings between the 1600's. The inside of the chateau is so elegant and beautiful. But what I really enjoyed was the Gardens. The weather was not the best but I enjoyed the gardens so much. They are huge and so green. I can just imagine how beautiful they must look in the summer ( I might just have to come back to Paris in the summer to see them) lol...

Monday in class we had our midterm test... the girls and I stayed up till late studying so hopefully we did great!!! I must say that our professor is great and has explained things. After our test we got to go to a 9 level department store. The Galeries Lafayette is really cool. I got a few things and we are already planning to go again!!! jajaaja 4 girls and a huge department store!!! yup it was amazing!!! After the Lafayette we went to see the Pont Neuf which is the oldest bridge in Paris. We also go to see the outside of the Louvre. Let me just say that it's impressive how large the Louvre is. I can't wait until we get to go inside.

I really wish I could upload pictures but i can't so I promise that as soon as I get home :( i will upload some because you guys have to see how beautiful Paris is!!! There is sooo much I want to tell everyone but really I don't get a lot of time in the computer we are always doing something.

Oh by the way only 4 more days in Paris :-( I wish i could stay!!! but I do miss my family!!!!

Pictures!