Montpellier

I went to Montpellier with Fatma, from Turkey, on Wednesday and it was awesome! Even though it’s a tourist city it’s still on the smaller side and it has an authentic atmosphere. The weather was absolutely perfect for the few days that we were there. We got there in the early afternoon, found a hotel, and started wandering around the city. We came across a medical school which we initially thought was a cathedral. Jardin des Plantes was wonderful. My favorite part of the garden was a tree called "un arbre à souhait".  People write their secrets, wishes, or secret wishes and hide them in the tree. I don't think I have any secrets, so I wrote a wish instead. Next we went to the Promenade du Peyrou- a gorgeous parc with amazing fountains and a great view of the city. Maybe it’s just because it’s more of a student city, but we felt like everyone was paired off and making out haha. After wandering around centre-ville for a while (we saw the elders there!) we were starving, because we hadn’t had lunch, so we got dinner at le café 1893 at like 6, which got us a few odd looks because the French don’t usually eat dinner before 7 or 8.

Random Doors- Love them!

Super cute pizzeria! We wanted to eat here, but didn't have the chance :(

The next few photos are all part of this, which is the Medical School.... I'm jealous.

Jardin des Plantes

Fatma

L'arbre à souhait

Moi

We went into Swarovski and this was my favorite :)

Elders!

In the morning we got croissants at another café in the plaza in front of La Comedie. We got lost trying to find different sites, but it was fun! We went to Tour de la Babote, L’eglise Saint-Roch, Le Corum, Polygone (shopping mall!), Esplanade d’Europe, and Antigone. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately my camera died once we got to Antigone, so I only have a few photos of that. We saw some guys playing hockey on bikes- I think I might want to try it someday! A very sweet 84 year old woman took a picture for us, and was telling us about how she was born in Montpellier and how much she loved it- total sweetheart. By then our feet were feeling abused, so we went to the hotel and crashed for an hour before meeting up with Fatma’s friend, Paul, by the fountain in front of La Comedie. 

Look closely- click on it even! It's a painting :)

My admirer is a painting too... haha

Inside Eglise Saint-Roch

Another painitng! Isn't it so cool!?

On top of Le Corum

Behind the Polygone, by Antigone?

Bathing men founting... Nice haha

He took us to a tiny restaurant with delicious pizza, a pub where we got drinks (hot cocoa for me) and played Uno, then to a bar that had all sorts of pirate décor. It was awesome! They were playing lots of American music, so I was singing along most of the time. All of a sudden this guy came up to me, started kissing me and asking how I was doing. Of course, I had never seen him before in my life haha! I thought I had a pretty unique face, but who knows… Paul pushed him away a bit and told him he must be confused, etc. and I think that the guy thought we were “together” and started apologizing and bolted. It was rather hilarious! We had to head back to the hotel shortly after that (because there are no attendants after 11pm, and we’d have to ring the bell and wake them up) so Paul walked us back. But, once we got back to our room Fatma and I discovered we were still hungry (didn’t eat lunch again, and only had one piece of pizza) so we ran and got some delicious Chinese takeout. In the morning we grabbed paninis and Madeleines for the train ride back to Toulouse. We met up with Gokhan, went window shopping, got kefta kebabs, and hung around the train station for an hour, since the train we had wanted to take got canceled. Overall, wonderful trip! And, I even got some of my homework done on the train! On the train back to Albi some girl was sketching everyone in the car. It was really cool to watch!

Rainy Days

"And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow." -Jerry Chin

 "Persistence is the element of human nature that daily moves us closer to our dreams."
"To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did."

"One does what one is; one becomes what one does." -Robert von Musil

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning." -Albert Einstein

“It’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you.” -Batman Begins

"To avoid situations in which you might make mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all." -Peter McWilliams

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll always be what you've always been, and you'll always get what you've always got." 

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Gandhi

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Arbre à souhait- Jardin des Plantes

Listening to Mat Kearny, Telescope, Matchbox 20, and KT Tunstall while watching the rain lightly falling outside couldn't get much better. While this isn't totally about France, it's part of my experience here and being here has helped me realize so many things I might not have otherwise, so I think it pertains. There are a lot of quotes, but I promise they're all worth reading! 

I love stormy weather. It's the best for curling up on the couch with a good book, cuddling, watching movies, sketching, and reflection (a few of my favorite things). I spend two days in Montpellier this week and it was absolutely wonderful. I'll write more about it later, but in the Jardin des Plantes there is a tree called "un arbre à souhait".  People write their secrets, wishes, or secret wishes and hide them in the tree. I don't think I have any secrets, so I wrote a wish.

I only have one, maybe two, semester(s) to finish before I get my Bachelors degree. Then, it's on to graduate school. I have to start my application for that in less than a month. Another best friend is getting married in 5 months and I turn 21 in 6 months! I can't believe where I'm at in my life right now. Truth is, I always knew I'd grow up, but I never wanted to be a grown-up! And I'm almost there... Scary! I used to laugh at my mom when she'd say she didn't what she wanted to do when she grew up, but everyone is "growing up" in some ways. We are always changing. I know I've a very different person than I was at 16, last year, or even last month. Life is an accumulation of normal days in which we make seemingly small decisions. But, it is the daily decisions which shape our lives. Your decisions determine your direction and your direction decides your destiny. So start by deciding what you want to be, where you want to be, and how you can get there. Each day you wake up is the start of the rest of your life and each day you get to decide where you want the rest of your life to go. Dream. Make goals and work to reach them. Wishes are only unattained goals. Don't fill your life with empty wishes. Your entire life is simply a sum of "todays." Make each "today" count. 

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Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen. -Michael Jordan

 All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. -Ellen Glasgow

All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. -Anatole France

Always remember that the future comes one day at a time. -Dean Acheson

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -Leo Tolstoy

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction” -Winston Churchill

If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it. -Mary Engelbreit

If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. -Maya Angelou

Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed. -Irene Peter

Things do not change; we change. -Henry David Thoreau

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. -Harrison Ford