Kristin's European Adventures!

Road Trip to Pontarlier, France and Neu Chatel/Lausanne, Switzerland

Decided, last minute, to go on a road trip with Omar, Youseff, Kathy, and Felicity! The first day we went to a day festival in Pontarlier which included various types of dancing and mostly african music. We met these french highschoolers who we hung out with. That night we got a camp site and made a fire then went to a reggae concert (in Pontarlier). I was very tired so I called it a night at 12:30 and slept in the car and waited for the others. We all left around 2 and then went to the campsite. The next day we drove to Switzerland which was gorgeous! It was raining but we made the best of it :) I learned how to drive a stick-shift car also!! When we arrived in Lausanne it was sunny and hot. There was a huge carnival going on so we joined in and got a few beers and chilled. We left and tried to camp but it being Switzerland, it was too expensive. We drove home that night back to Besac. 

Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp

by le Courbusier

Went here on a trip with the CLA :D 

Really interesting way that he did the interior, only a small amount of light was let in by these small windows with stained glass. The exterior speaks for itself. 

Bâle/Basel - Switzerland

Oh Switzerland, so beautiful yet so expensive XD

Stayed at the YMCA hostel which was so nice! I went on a nice walk on the day we left and saw a lot of the city, actually pretty much all! Everything was so green and neat. I sat by the river for a while, crocheted, enjoyed the view, and soaked up the sun. Went here for an afternoon before my flight to Amsterdam, then after Amsterdam returned for a night at the YMCA. 

Amsterdam!

Went here for a week during my 2 week holiday from school in Besançon with Allison and Sasha. Went to the Anne Frank house, experienced Queen’s Day, wandered a ton, rented bikes, went to parks, did a walking tour, saw tulips, went to markets, and went coffee shop hopping :D Met some high schoolers who showed us some ropes and met some street performers in a park from Spain, one who tried to show me and sasha how to use a tricycle. 

1st hostel we stayed at was Bob’s youth hostel, it was really chill but there were mice in the rooms that ate my bread! In spanish it said bewared of the rats on the wall…XD met a guy there from Canada who was staying in Amsterdam for 3 weeks and hung out with him  

2nd hostel we stayed at was Hostelle, an all female hostel in the ghettos of Amsterdam. Chick flix constantly played in the common area but the kitchen and rooms were very nice! :D 

My 21st birthday!!

It was so wonderful :D My birthday was on Wednesday and I wanted to have a bbq but it was supposed to rain. I had the bbq on Tuesday (it rained anyway but we still had fun :) ) and so many people gave me gifts I was so surprised!! A lot of my classmates came in with presents! <3 and my dad got me (through Sasha) flowers and a cake! and Sasha made me a really awesome card :3 On my actual birthday I went to a bar with a bunch of friends and then went to someone’s apartment until 4 in the morning! I had a test at 9:30 the next morning, I took it and then passed out in class…luckily my teachers were ok with it due to it was my birthday party the night before xD

Tour de monde en 80 plats!

So people got together from their countries and made plates of their nationality. For the United States we cooked at a French lady’s house (who was super nice) and we made:

Mac and cheese, Grilled Cheese, Cupcakes, “Puppy-chow”, Meat loaf & mashed potatoes, banana bread, and root-beer floats :)

It costed 20 euros for a case of root-beer b/c its imported!! 

I tried a lot of different kinds of food from all over the place :) it was two nights long with 4 sessions of eating. We made enough money to have a pizza party a few weeks later :D It was a lot of fun but very tiring! I got to miss class because of it as well, it was an excused absence :) People also danced or sang songs from their countries. We had two guys play guitar and sing American songs