Nimes and Halloween

Good morning, lovelies! 

So today is my last day of vacation, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited to go back to school tomorrow morning. I feel so simply happy this morning, and I think that is because I had a very full two week vacation, and now, back home in Asnieres, I am looking forward to getting back into my “normal” schedule.

I was so grateful to be invited to Bretagne and Nimes, and I am certainly glad that I accepted the invitation. I was able to see many new cities and speak in almost only French for two whole weeks, and I certainly feel lucky to have been able to see and learn so much after only being here for a little over two months. While in Nimes, I tried really hard to not think about all the fun my friends were having without me, but I still missed them quite a bit! I got to see them yesterday and it was soooo great to hug them and be around people my own age after a week with Prune and her grandparents. My first day back in Asnieres, I was so happy to walk by the metro again and meander along the familiar streets. It didn’t matter if people weren’t as smiley as they are in the South of France, I was HOME. So after officially feeling at home here, I sit on this couch on a Sunday morning feeling so content about the fact that I won’t have to have a vacation for another couple months, and I can peacefully live the working Parisian life I love hahah. 

 

 

So I am guessing you are interested in hearing about my week in Nimes! Well, you’re in luck because I took a lot of pictures, and it would be my honor to share them. 

Before I do so, however, I want tell you how amazed this week has left me with the generosity of my French host family. You see, we au pairs have contracts, and depending on your contract, maybe all your family has to do is provide you with enough food to stay alive, somewhere to sleep and use the restroom, and of course whatever money you earn for the work you do. What they don’t have to do, is pay for your train ticket to the South of France. And aside from the parents of the child/children you watch over, the grandparents of the child/children owe you absolutely nothing. Prune’s grandprents didn’t have to have me come live with them for a week and cook all my meals. They didn’t have remember that I like to run and find a nice little park for me to workout in. They didn’t have to take me somewhere new every single afternoon just so I could see as much as possible, and they certainly didn’t have to pay my entry for every single place we went. But they did. This isn’t Rotary Youth Exchange where the families agree to have a new “daughter” for a year, this is people being overly generous out in the real world and expecting nothing in return. I cannot believe how lucky I am to live with such amazing people. I really lucked out. 

So, yes! The week was spectacular. I spent the mornings running to the park to do Crossfit workouts and then working with Prune and trying to teach her to recognize numbers. She knows numbers 1-7 now! Like she can count, she just needs to remember what the numbers look like. In the afternoon, we did something different every day! 

(OMG ADULT MONKEYBARS)

One day, we went to the circus.

One day, we went to the center of Nimes where I got to explore a lot of Roman ruins, including an arena and the public baths which are now a beautiful park! 

Another day, we went to this village made of only rocks and then got to go into this big cave and see art projected onto the walls! It felt like being inside a painting.

One day we saw a famous windmill!

Ugh, I thought I took more pictures...

On the day before we left we spent the whole day at the zoo which was super fun! One of the animals Prune loved the most was the Bison, which I thought was hilarious because its a Bison. I liked the zoo a lot more than the circus because at the zoo you can learn things, which is sad for the animals but a good thing for young minds. The circus however disgusted me with what they did with the animals. Nobody was learning anything when they made six different tigers stand on their hind legs. For me it was just a horrible demonstration of the power humans can have over things, and how sad it is that other humans find that useless power impressive. 

I apparetly took zero photos of the zoo, and I apologize. I guess I was having too much fun! 

 

 

Before taking the train home, Mari, Prune’s grandma, took us to a park to enjoy our last few minutes of wonderful Nimes weather. We made her some flower jewelry to thank her for everything and she liked it hahaha.

 

On the train ride home, Prune became friends with two twin four year olds who were sitting right in front of us and I took a picture because it was such a cute little 2 hour friendship. She introduced me to them as her big sister, which was pretty cute too. 

Since it was the day before Halloween, they had a witch on the train who went around giving out candy and taking pictures. Prune and I didn’t miss out on that festive opportunity! 

 

Last night I went out to a couple Halloween parties with Olivia and Maira. We wore all black and then painted leapord spots on our faces and it was an okay last minute costume I guess hahaha. We had so much fun! Words cannot describe how happy I was to see them again OH MY GOODNESS. Last night, I also went to my first club. We had to wait outside in a line, JUST like in the movies, and then once we were inside there were just a lot of people and really loud music! The decorations were pretty cool, and we danced for quite a while, even though I remember feeling like a blade of grass while danceing because there was nowhere to put my arms because it was so crowded! 

I am glad I faced my fear of going to a club! I’m growing up here a little! 

 

I have been writing this blog for over 2 hours now, so I am going to go eat lunch with my family. I hope you all had a great halloween and have a super awesome first week of November! Good byeee. :)