homesick.

my entirety is stretching.

body in one place.

mind and soul in another.

i miss home like none other.

being with my family eases the yearning,

but it's just as if its a little teaser;

playing with me, taking me one way or another.

sometimes it hurts.

it hurts every day.

to see and hear what all my friends are doing at home.

the memories they have together.

all the good times.

i miss that more than anything.

you know something, yes i do get to do all these big things and have all these big things sometimes,

but i would almost rather have the smaller things.

i want to get my license. yes, i am 16 and passed my test with a 98%.

i want to have a tan and not be embarrassingly white when school starts.

i want to be with my friends, and have no worries.

i want to sleep in every day, and read.

i want to go to movie premiers. or actually see them when they come out.

i want to be able to text and call my friends.

i want to be able to walk over to my best friend/next door neighbor's house and eat Oreo's with her.

please, don't take what you have for granted. i value these things so high and would trade them for anything.

quickie quickie.

oh my heavens.

i love internet, people.

so after some thought (and a few kind words from dad), i decided i am done talking about my summer. well. bragging wise. because i totally was. and...... i hope you will all forgive me.

because, i have much more important things to write about, don't you think?

anywho, Rome is great. That's all i'm going to say.

and one the dirtiest city you will ever go to.

dirtier than NYC.

here's a few lessons that i've learned:

- family is more important than you think. you rely on them more than you would believe.

- bring more than one pair of shoes for a month's wearing. you may have to buy another pair.

- if you do buy another pair of shoes, make sure you have the correct pair of socks to wear with them.

- if you don't, you will have blisters.

- if you walk around an entire city, be sure you bring WATER.

- water is good for survival.

- it's always nice to have clean underwear. (don't you think otherwise)

- don't think that just because you are in a different country that no one speaks english around you (ahem. mom.)

- it feels good to shave your legs after a few weeks. (grosssss. i know.)

and that will be all.

I'm off to Paris again tomorrow. Maybe internet in the hotel? who knows.

I'll let you know. Sunday is Africa. that means no internet for sure.

anywho. hope you are all doing well :) ta ta for now.

the gameplan. and EVERYTHING left to say.

Alright kiddos:

Tomorrow is the last day in France. Well. Kinda.

Tomorrow is the day that I SEE MY FAMILY.

I have been waiting for this day since the very day I got here.
That was a month ago.
I can't believe it's finally here. I am so grateful it is though!
But, this means i need to go pack... uh oh. BIG mess.

So anyway, here is the gameplan of the next MONTH. in one post. with almost no detail.

Tomorrow, Sunday, July 10.

Hopefully make it to church? Who knows, it's almost impossible for me to. Then at about 2, MY FAMILY COMES. Heck to the yes. Then we get together with the French fam, have a big dinner, yahhda yahhda yahhda. The whole welcoming drill. Then I leave to go sleep with my family at the hotel.

Monday, July 11.

Spend the day doing the same things I did with my cousins and grandparents; so see my great grandpa's WWII story things. Then that night, go to a show for France's Independence Day (which isnt until the 14 but its that night).

Tuesday, July 12.

Leave for Normandy. Normandy is where Mont Saint-Michel is. I PROMISE you, if you could see a picture, YOU WOULD know what it is. It's the most famous château in the world. It's a castle on an island.
Then in Normandy we will do more WWII things. Go to a couple beaches (where Utah Beach is, ps.) And that will commence the whole first half of the day. Then that afternoon we will drive to Paris, and FLY TO ROME. Yes, Rome. I leave for Rome, Italy that day.

Wednesday-Friday

In Rome. Doing who knows what. Eating gelato and pizza and pasta.

Friday

Fly back to Paris.

Spend a couple more days in Paris. Do some shopping, eating, sightseeing, etc.

Then fly to Africa. Kenya, to be exact.

Please, go watch this (if you want the short version)
and/or this (if you want the whole thing. i recommend this one.)

WARNING.

before you watch, be prepared for MATURE MATERIAL. This isn't "funny" stuff that we talk about. It's mature and that you need to have an open mind about, and it concerns the lives of millions of people in 3rd world countries everywhere.

This is the reason why my mom and I go to Africa.


The reason why I'm telling you all this now, is because I WILL NOT HAVE COMPUTER ACCESS UNTIL I AM HOME FROM AFRICA. Yes, it is going to be a very long time. Until August 1, to be exact. I am terribly sorry for this. But, what can I do about it?

I promise you all that I will have PICTURES when I get back!! From France, Italy, and Africa.

Oh, and the day after I get back from Africa, I go to Girl's Camp. Cool. Another week without blogging. It's okay though, I promise again to have pictures :)

So, this is one of my last posts for a whole entire month! Please take it seriously, go watch the videos I posted! They are extremely intruiging, important, and exciting if you would like to get involved :)

So, besides that, I think I have everything covered. Oh crap. Besides what I even did today, which was a fantastic day.

Okay so for today!

Went to the largest aquarium in Brittany. It was pretty cool. Definitely enjoyed it. It was far out though, in St. Malo.

This, my friends, is the city of lovers.
One day, I WILL take my lover here. It is absolutely perfect, in my eyes. Too bad google images does it no justice.

Still, everyone, just please go look it up. It's one of the oldest cities in Brittany. It is surrounded by a protective wall, and all the streets are buried in between huge, tall, houses. It's absolutely beautiful. It's a tourist's dream city to be in. Full of little shops for clothes, accessories, crêpes, restaurants, ice cream, etc. Not to mention absolutely STUNNING views of the ocean, an amazing beach, and full of history. LOVE IT. It also happens to be where several explorers came from, including Jaques Cartier (who founed Quebec, Canada.)

Then, the second city we went to was over to Dinan. Again, another very old city in Brittany. I put it second best to St. Malo. Same sort of thing.

Then, we got home late, and now I'm ready for tomorrow to come :)

I know I won't sleep. I guess that's fine with me.

Sorry everyone.

I just have the constant desire to change EVERYTHING about my blog.

I don't have the patience to get it perfect; just close enough.

This feels a little cluttered to me, but it looks a little cleaner.

Not boring. But, clean.

But be expecting a change in about... one month.

for the Brittany girls.

Alright, all your girls out there named BRITTANY, listen up!

Here's some background on what you were named after.
Because yes, no matter what you say you were named after,
the place came first. I can PROMISE you that.
It's been called Brittany since Pangea.
Now, let the facts commence.

*In French, it is spelled Bretagne. It sounds beautiful with the accent.

*Bretagne was originally independent from France; its own country.

*They had their own culture, and their own language, very different from French; called Bretonne.

*500 years ago, Bretagne was forced by France to become part of their country. They unwillingly consented.

*100 years ago, French government forbade the language of Bretonne to be spoken, and completely forbade its existance. They changed every city and town name from Bretonne to French, translated every NAME from Bretonne to French, got rid of the language completely, or at least tried to. It was so looked down upon. Natives of Bretagne who lived during this time period had a very hard time telling the younger generations of families about this experience because it was so incredibly hurtful. They liken it to Hitler's Nazism. (Straight out of the mouths of the Bretagne natives themselves. Primary source. No wikipedia or internet was used in gathering this information.)

*But, the good news is that the culture of old Bretagne was kept alive, and is still preserved today (which I have gotten to experience). They have plenty of song, dance, food, etc. still around. Although the language is close to dead, the culture is still preserved.

*Because of this former independence, the region of Bretagne has a very strong nationalistic group of people. They love their region, and would almost put it before France. Everywhere in Bretagne you see their flag; they bear it proudly. They also have a regional symbol. I have yet to ask what it stands for, but I bought a little silver ring that has the symbol on it, so I will always remember Bretagne.

You girls who live with this name, show it proudly! You have an amazing history behind your name, please live up to it! Learn more about it, too. Discover where your name came from, and soak up the knowledge :)

Some of you may have already done so, and may have some words of disagreement on what I have said! I don't know where you got your information on your name, but hey, it would be safe to say that none of you got it from a native of the land themselves.. let's be honest.
You can't always trust Wikipedia.

Oh, and you're welcome.
That will be all! Have any questions or comments, please let me know. I would love to hear :)
Also if you want me to ask the natives questions about Bretagne/Brittany, PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I only have a few more days here!

realizations; and then castles.

I had a sudden realization today:

I only have 2 more full days in France alone.

This brings joy and sadness to me.
The joy is the sweet news that this means my FAMILY is coming.
My real family.
My mom.
My dad.
My brother.

My small little family of 4. You may say that it would be awful to only have one sibling; I disagree.
I believe it is perfect.
They are currently on their way to Germany, as I write. I am completely and totally 100% JEALOUS.

The sadness of this news, however, is just the fact of it coming to an end.
This has almost become my second home.
I know where everything is now, I know how to get to grandma and grandpa's house, I know how to get to the beach, I know how to get to the store. That's all I need.
I love the feeling of being on the other side of the globe from everyone you know.

It's a rebellious kind of feeling; one of excitement.
Except I'm no rebel, obviously.
I thought going and getting my hair cut without anyone knowing was rebellious.
Quite lame, isn't it.
Anyhow, that is besides the point.

I am excited to see my family. More than these simple words can tell you. Nevertheless, it will be bitersweet.

As for today, it was an eventful day.
The morning was slow, which was good. I like that.
Then we left for the market.
I love markets.
So, expectedly, I loved this market.
I bought a typical Bretagne sweater.
I won't tell you what "typical Bretagne" is, until I have pictures. Ha.

Then we drove out to Cap Fréhel and spent the day out there.

Cap Fréhel is an area in Northern Brittany. In this area there are two lighthouses; both of which we visited, and plenty of château's, where we visited one. The entire area was absolutely beautiful; loved seeing every second of the landscape. The beautiful aspect of it besides the actual landscape itself was the fact that it was threatening to rain the entire drive there. Then, of course, it DID rain on us. All in the experience, though! I loved every second of it. It made the entire experience more beautiful to me.
The lighthouses were really neat to explore; we went up in one, and it had...
140 steps.
yes people.
140.
one of the shorter lighthouses, too.
Man, it's so awful that I was actually tired after ascenting that sucker.
Of course the view from the top was amazing. Looking over the rolling hills that dropped 70 feet of cliffs straight into the ocean. Beautiful.
To top that off with some cream, there were PENGUINS.
yeah. out of the zoo.
I didn't think I would ever see them unless I went to Antarctica.
But noooo! I did, everyone! From far away.. but hey, binoculars do their job.

Then we drove a bit farther down to the château. That was an experience to remember. It was built in the 1300's, and is one of the oldest in France. It was rebuilt in the 1920's. We got to go through the entire thing; it was an exciting castle to get to see.

Don't worry, I took lots of pictures.

As for tomorrow, who knows? We will just have to see.

Here, I just live my life day to day. It's more exciting that way.

the tour and some.

reading new blog posts is like eating candy or getting a present; it's that exciting, bubbly feeling you get inside.

and writing is like giving a present; it's almost like sharing a talent with someone, because writing is a talent.
some people have it, however; and some people don't.

anyway: for the events of today, i will continue.

Had a nice morning of sleeping in, and breakfast.
Then, some reading.
I am getting towards the end of the second book of The Lord of the Rings.
Please, if you LOVE the movies, YOU WILL READ THE BOOKS.

There are SO MANY THINGS in the books that the movies don't include!
You would all be so incredibly disappointed, let me tell you.
It's extremely eye opening, and I thoroughly enjoy reading these books.

And now. Coming to you LIVE FROM FRANCE;
please enjoy....
the rundown OF..

LE TOUR DE FRANCE!
so if you are religious watchers of the tour, you know the rundown of how it goes. they talk about the stage, the difficulties of it, blah blah blah, then they interview some racers and get the show on the road. they sometimes get shots of the team cars with all the spare wheels and bikes on top, publicity, and some other cars, but thats usually it.

what they don't show you....
is that there is actually a PARADE before the whole thing.

yes. here's how it goes:

they close the roads off about 2 hours before the cars come by.
spectators by then have already got their places all parked out.
(us included; we brought a picnic for lunch.)
then, after about an hour, cars come by selling souvenirs of the tour,
t shirts, umbrellas, hats, pens/pencils, etc.
i bought a t shirt and a hat, and some other things. all yellow. all adorned with "le tour de france".
then, after about 20 minutes, what they call "publicité" comes through.
this, my friends, is the parade.
they have cars, a hundred cars, flying by at probably 40 mph throwing things out that they are trying to publicize.
from this little parade, i accquired quite a few little prizes including:
two boating hats
candy
packets of brioche
nesquik
a newspaper,
and a beer can opener.

haha. it was great. i felt like a little child at home again.

then, after a hundred cars passed us over the course of an hour,
THEN the celebrities started coming.
yes, like real celebrities. Movie stars, politicians, etc.
of course we didn't get to see them. that would be mayhem.

but then after THAT, FINALLY, off into the distant sky, YOU COULD SEE THE HELICOPTER.
the helicopter filming the peleton, and the racers.

the leaders came, they were 3 minutes ahead.
there was so much going on, and they were going so fast, it was hard to let it all sink in.

then, the peleton came.

man oh man, was that exciting!
but, as soon as they came, they left.
it was then all over.
but,
then came along a few stragglers.
then,
several minutes after,
another few stragglers.

Turns out, (we found out later on the news)

there had been a huge crash in that stage. (Stage 5, for those of you following)
so sad for those racers.
you could see the blood running down their legs.
i thought that was kind of cool.
still sad though, painful too.

then after that, it was over.
the thing i find most interesting about this whole experience is the fact that there was so much going on,
and it was so incredibly hard to take it all in at once.
you can't follow one person with your attention the whole time, like you can on T.V., and slowly shift your gaze to other racers,
within 25 seconds, they are there and gone.
it's quite interesting.

so, that was my day of the tour.

then i went shopping afterwards for about an hour. bought 3 things.
but that's not exciting now, is it? see what i mean? (see post below).

good night to you all.