Hello family and friends! So it has been a long while since I have updated you on anything that is going on but instead of my updates from this weekend I'll let you know what has been going on in my classes and around me!
So after moving and trying to figure out apartment and roommate situations, Elise, from Australia, Jasmine, from Boston, and Amanda, Iowa, and I will be staying in a decent sized three person apartment. We saw the two person rooms and pretty much it would be like sleeping, eating, showering and doing homework while literally sitting on top of each other. The pictures of the apartment are in a blog post below this one but it is a decent sized apartment and we like it here. Thursday night is pastry night and we trade off buying pastries each week! Definitely something to look forward to!
The grocery store is about 3 blocks away but you have to buy a bag to take your groceries home so I bring bags from home and then I don't have to buy a plastic bag for like $0.40 cents or walk home covered in milk, cereal and fruit. Food here doesn't seem to be that expensive but then I take my total times 1.3 and then it seems more like the cost it is back at home. The difference between euros and US dollars is usually around 1.33? But for Tym in England his exchange rate is almost 1.6 US dollars to 1 British pound. So traveling around Europe is interesting because I have to split my wallet up into dollars, euros and pounds. Taking money out of an ATM I have to remember what the exchange rates are and when/where I am going next for what amounts I can take out and use in which countries. Confusing, right?
My classes are really good, interesting but really good. We barely use sewing machines because everything is done "Haute Couture" which means doing everything by hand, the old fashion French way. I have several big projects that I am working on. One is a dress made only out of squares and triangles. No other shapes and they must be perfect squares and triangles, not rounded. Definitely not as easy as it sounds! The other dress is using my inspiration, the double Ferris wheel at the Iowa State Fair, and using the shapes I find to create a "camouflaged" garment. "Camouflaged" as in using the shapes and colors to mimic the environment. Also not as easy as it sounds! Two of my teachers speak no english so they use lots of hand signals and rely on myself and two other girls to translate what she is saying to the class. Definitely not something that would happen in Iowa! I have class from 9 to 6 on Mondays and Thursdays and 9 to 4 on Fridays. Tuesday I only have class from 11 to 1 and Wednesday I don't have class. Having relatively nothing on Tuesdays and Wednesdays gives me time to prepare for class on Thursday/Friday so then I can travel on the weekends!
After looking at my calendar I have almost three full weeks off for spring break!! Magically and thankfully Tym has the same spring break time period so we are starting to make plans to travel together! The first 9ish days we are hoping to cover several countries and big cities. Some on the list are Frankfurt/Berlin/Munich, Germany, Rome/Florence/Pompeii/Pisa, Italy, somewhere in Switzerland to see the Alps and buy some chocolate for mom and my sisters....If they're nice to me :)....Southern France is a possibility and Barcelona/Pamplona, Spain. That is our tentative list and we're trying to narrow it down and purchase tickets for the train or bus! After those first nine days, we will come back to Paris or Birmingham to meet Logan, Tym's younger brother, and Kirk, Tym's cousin, to travel with them for a week. We're planning to tour Paris, London, Stonehenge, Warwick Castle in England and then head up to Scotland to see Glasgow and Edinburgh. I am hoping to spend my last few days of break in Holland when the tulips are starting to bloom! Sounds like a crazy three weeks to me but I am so excited to just be traveling and seeing as much as I can! I tell myself I can't think about it because I can't focus on anything else! If anyone has any ideas or opinions about where to go, please shoot an email my way!! cainew@iastate.edu or cwestergard03@gmail.com! I would love any feed back or ideas of things to see or places to go!
Paris Fashion Week is February 27th through March 7th and we are getting all kinds of calls from big designers for interns and back stage helpers. I got a call about an internship through Gareth Pugh and Rick Owens fashion shows to prep their show rooms and work backstage preparing for the fashion shows. I have my interview tomorrow with their consultant to confirm that I am free and am willing to work for them! Should be interesting but I am excited! Fashion week is starting to fill up with working days prepping for shows and nights dressing models for the runway. I won't be able to travel during those two weeks unfortunately but I am excited to say I was a part of Paris Fashion Week! Maybe one day I will be back with my own clothing line!
Things here are good and at the end of this week I will have already been here a month! I finally had a chance to talk to mom and Cali today because they had a snow day! Jealous, completely jealous but it was wonderful to talk to them! I got all the news about our pets at home and what the family is up to. I sent out postcards to my sisters, parents and grandparents and some friends and I am starting to hear that everyone is finally getting them! Mom and Dad sent me a package in the mail last week and it was nice to have a little something from home! I just sent home a package today for Valentines Day so it is going to be a bit late but it is better than nothing, right?
I really like my roommates and the girls at my school but I was lucky enough to meet a new group of people that I am excited to tell you about! The girls I live with are the same girls I have class with all day are the same girls I spend my free time with, so it is nice when we can all have our own space sometimes. Last monday I was in the grocery store and I saw a boy with a Sigma Chi hat on. Me, being friendly, asked him about his hat and we hit it off pretty quickly! Turns out he is here with 15 other students from George Washington in Washington D.C. and half of them are Greek! They all live in the same building that I do and they are housed through the Paris American Academy even though they go to a different University. Turns out one girl is a Pi Phi, the same sorority I am in, and I am excited to meet her and the others! They seem to get along really well and are a tight group of friends! It is nice to have a group to start spending time with and getting to know! I am planning to head down to their rooms to visit them tomorrow night!
I cannot think of anything else right now to update you on but look for a post tomorrow with my pictures and videos from this weekend! Miss you all so much and can't wait to hear from you!
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