It has been way to long since I have last posted on my blog. I have wanted to and needed to, but it is hard to sit down and take the time to write sometimes!
So, the past 2 weeks I have been out of school on vacances. In french school their system for vacation is, 6 weeks on school 2 weeks of vacation! So my next vacation will be in december. The last 2 weeks for christmas!:)
The first week of vacances I didn't have any plans really, I was just playing it by ear! The only thing I knew I had to do was buy a coat! Hahaha! I ended up doing something everyday the first week of vacances. It was a very full week to say the least, but it was really fun, so who cares! I went shopping, bowling, horse back ridding, I went to a birthday party and Hiking! I literally got to do 3 of my favorite things 3 days in a row! It was fabulous! The horse back ridding and hiking were definitely the high lights of my week!
I rode english saddle when I went horse back ridding because I am in europe and western saddle really doesn't exist here! Hahaha! Before I went I was super nervous because the last time I rode english saddle it didn't go so well! But it ended up going WAYY better than I expected! I got to gallop, trop and canter and it was just really amazing! The girl who I went with is named Floriane. The horse I rode was her horse. She jumps horses in competition and I am very jealous of her! The stables were very beautiful in a rustic way! I really enjoyed that day! Even though I was sooo incredible sore after! Hahaha!:)
Hiking was also really amazing, it was just me, Renata, Wojtek and Isador which was nice! We drove up into the voges to the trail where you can see the swiss alps! I was completely mind blown over the whole thing! I tried to take so many pictures of the view and I will post one, but it really is nothing like the real thing! It was incredible! There was also snow up on the mountain and on the trail! when Renata and I were walking together at one point, she all of a sudden bent down, grabbed a hand full of snow and threw it at me! Then she laughed and laughed until I got my revenge! Then she didn't think it was so funny!:) The view up on the mountain was amazing and I hope I get to go up and hike at least one more time while I am here!
SIDE NOTE:
Renata my host mom likes to play tricks on me and just mess with me in general!
Here are a couple stories of her messing with me that I have forgotten to put in other posts.
- one day I got home from school and sometimes instead of using the front door I walk around to the back of the house! Also, everyone knows when I get home because my school schedule is on the fridge and isador starts freaking out! So this day I decided to walk around back. Right when I walk in the house Renata comes back from the entry hall with the chair cushions from outside and she's laughing super hard. I asked her what she was doing and her answer was this, " I was going to hit you with the pillows when you walked in the door and scare you!" I was so shocked and happy that she was going to try and scare me that I started laughing too! It made me happy that she was trying to play tricks on me because back in texas, that's "the thing" that me and my brother and occasionally my parents do! We play scare pranks on each other! So that made me smile!
- This one was just funny! At night Renata and Wojtek watch tv and most nights I watch one or two shows with them and sometimes lea comes too! A lot of the time I lay on the floor with isador to watch tv! I don't know why, but I like to sit on the carpet with him! This night though, I was laying on the ground beside the couch. Renata was sitting on the couch above me! I was texting one of my friends from school when all of a sudden its raining on my face and renata is dying laughing! She had poured the rest of the water that was in her cup on my face while I was laying down! once again I was so shocked and happy that she was playing pranks that I started laughing too! Wojtek and Lea didn't see it happen, but when Renata told them, they started laughing too!
Basically I have no idea when she is going to get me because she just does it whenever the feeling strikes her! LOL!:)
Okay now back to vacances! The BIG event of my vacation was my trip to Bergen, Norway! My host sister Olivia and I went together and we stayed with family friends who live in Bergen! The family we stayed with has 3 children who were all exchange students! 2 of them, the boys, were hosted by my aunt and uncle! So that is how I knew the family! Norway was absolutely beautiful! As my uncle always say's, "It's a place of natures raw beauty!" Even though when we were there it was rainy pretty much all day everyday except our last day, it was still amazing!
We walked up the mountain and got to see all of Bergen, and each day Britt, the woman we were staying with would go to work, so olivia and I got to spend some good time together! I was really happy that Olivia got to come with me because she doesn't live near Wittelsheim and we never really get to see each other!
For 2 days olivia and I went around and shopped and found little churches and places around town that we wanted to see! It was awesome because I am pretty sure we managed to walk all of downtown Bergen! There wasn't anything we didn't get to see! Wednesday we had planned to go on a boat tour of the fjords! That was like the big event that we had planned on doing! It was definitely the highlight of my trip! The fjord was breath taking!
Each night we would eat dinner with britt and then talk and Britt would show us pictures or we would watch a movie! One night we went to Cathrine's house, Britt's Daughter and another we walked up the mountain to see Bergen by night then we made home made blueberry muffins! It was really fun!
Then last night was halloween, no one really dresses up and goes trick or treating in France. Little kids do, but I didn't really see anybody out last night! Me and 4 of my friends decided to get together and we ate candy, played just dance and then watched saw 7, which is the nastiest movie ever! It was a different halloween then I am used to, but it was still very very fun!
Over all Vacances, has been absolutely amazing!
David my host brothers birthday is tomorrow and I think I am going to make pancakes for everyone for breakfast tomorrow also! A good end to a fabulous vacation!:)
PICTURE TIME!!!!!!
Beware there are about 10000
These are from our hike
Seeing the snow was really cool
The swiss alps in the distance! You can't really see the clarity that you see in person! But you get the idea of the awesomeness that came from this view!
Cows on the grazing on the mountain! Its funny because in Texas you don't see black and white cows as much as you see like brown, white, black and some other mixes of colors! But here I have only seen black and white cows!
NORWAY
this is the top of the mountain that britt lives on, the view behind me is downtown bergen and the harbor
These are from our hike
Seeing the snow was really cool
The swiss alps in the distance! You can't really see the clarity that you see in person! But you get the idea of the awesomeness that came from this view!
Cows on the grazing on the mountain! Its funny because in Texas you don't see black and white cows as much as you see like brown, white, black and some other mixes of colors! But here I have only seen black and white cows!
NORWAY
this is the top of the mountain that britt lives on, the view behind me is downtown bergen and the harbor
Olivia and I at on of the museums we visited! we were standing in front of the table that the king and queen of norway sit at! For those of you that had no previous knowledge of this, Norway has a royal family!
from right to left, Britt, Me, Catherine (britt's daughter), Ingred and christian (Catherine's kids)
This was the road we walked down to get down the mountain and into town
This was the park that was to my right in the picture above ^^^
The Harbor
The Center of downtown
There were about a million churches in Bergen, we were told that pretty much all of them were protestant. This was just one of them. However I am pretty sure that Olivia and I managed to visit all of them!:)
Little gazebo that was by this lake that you could walk around and sit at! But I am pretty sure this was just for show, because I didn't see a place for people to actually walk up and go inside.
There was a little market going on in front of the lake and it was like different countries food at each one. This was Italy.
Candy Haribo is like the candy brand of europe, like wonka or hershey's in the US
Belgium waffles! With NUTELLA <3
The walk way around the lake
The Fish Market
The huge black chunks are whale, Olivia and I tried it and I thought it was pretty good!
The welcome man at the fish market
This was an amazing cake that britt's friend made! <3
This is an iconic spot in Bergen, it is from the old bergen before everything new was built! Its really cute!
The fjord tour!!!! <3
This was like the entrance to the big big fjord
They called this Norwegian whiskey, this man reached out with a bucket and got water from the water fall in the fjord then we got to drink it! :)
Double rainbow on the way back home, we actually saw 4 different rainbows on the way home
I forgot the name of this bridge, but half of it is just floating because the fjord is too deep to anchor it
Bergen by night! This was when we walked up the mountain to see the view of bergen at night!
This is a very old church that was moved to Bergen after being rebuilt. The original was burned by a french man that worshipped the devil. we couldn't get closer because there is a big fence with security and cameras around it! It is open from like may to september!
It is in a huge forest!
The walk up to it was crazy steep though! Hahaha! My butt was definitely feeling that walk at 9am in the morning!:)
This is the castle were the King and Queen stay when they are visiting Bergen! You can go on the grounds and walk around, but you can't go in, except for a few days during the summer!
Our hike up the mountain
This is a little kindergarden up on the mountain! Britt said the little kids have to take the cable car up each morning to get there!
The restaurant at the top!
We stopped and got hot chocolate, the view was awesome!
Olivia and I stopped for lunch one day and of course out of everything we could have ordered we got burgers! Hahaha!:) We were really hungry and burgers sounded awesome!
This was a joke during the trip because I hadnt seen one starbucks since getting to France and so I joked that I had to come to Norway to get one! So I obviously had to stop at Starbucks and grab a coffee! But it was way to expensive! hahaha! I am going to stick to little cafes from now on.
More from the Fish market
This was the fish market from the outside
That building was the starbucks and I just had to take a picture because it was the most beautiful starbucks building I had ever seen!
Being artsy with the umbrella! LOL!
More from the Fjord tour
More from our hike! this was the Troll park on the mountain for kids!
We just had to take a picture with the troll
Britt and I!:)
The cable car
The view out of Britts living room! Just gorgeous!
Okay I know that was a ton of pictures and I even have more from the previous week but I won't post them because this post is crazy long! LOL!
I hope everyone had a great halloween and has a beautiful week to come!
À bientôt
XOXO
Grace <3
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