Vive la France!

Well not much has happened yet so much has happened since the last time I posted.
Time seems to take on a whole new meaning here. I fell like I have been here forever, but in a good way. At home I live in the middle of nowhere and therefore I don't do much. Here is a completely different store. Everyday seems to be get up and go, go, go, and I love it.
We finally started our classes this week. Our canadian profs. classes seem pretty good, but their will be quite a bit of work to do. The french profs. seem to underestimate our level of french, and therefore we have a very easy work load.
Last night I went to Ikea to do a little bit of shopping, and you guessed it Ikea here is the same as ikea anywhere. Looks like I'll have somewhere to go if I ever get homesick! One trouble area I have noticed is that books are extremely cheap here in France, and I can't seem to stop buying them!!! My lugage was not overweight on the way over, but I can tell it will be on the way home!
Well, I don't have much more to say, so ta ta for now
Tara

IM IN NANTES!!!!!!!!!!!

Well actually i'm in Clisson right now writting this message. Things are great I've decided I love France, but I hate their keyboards! Today I visited the castle here in Clisson, it is amazing the town is cute. Yesterday we were swimming in the Atlantic Ocean, it's like a dream. The flight was pretty good, we had a night flight which means in theory we should have been able to sleep, but of course I couldn't. The first day was terribly long I was up for well over 35 hours straight, after about 2 weeks of hardly being able to sleep. All in all, I am extremely happy, I absolutely love it here! I haven't quite figured out the whole picture set up, once I do (some time in October) I will post some stuff.
Anyways I feel like I'm in a dream right now and I hope the whole year doesn't go by as fast as the last few days have.
Until next time,
Love Ya'll
Tara

Gotta Love Redneck Weddings!

Well last saturday was interesting to say the least. I went to my first ever redneck wedding and it was a blast.

Requirements for the wedding:
BYOB and lawnchair
no dress code - jeans preferable

The groom has the best mullet I have ever seen! The bride looked beautiful and the ceremony was great - except for the drunken guy screaming out "don't do it moose" and "now you've gotta cook me breakfast woman...I want bacon and eggs" (addressed to the bride after the vows by the same drunk)

My friends son was the ring bearer, he dropped one of the rings but found it again, then he started to shake the tent/canopy that the bride and groom were under - her daughter was the flower girl (she's 2 1/2) she decided she wanted to run the show and started screaming out "Ladies and gentlemen..." right when the justice of the peace started to talk.

The ceremony was followed by lot's of beer and Karaoke (I managed to do some dixie chicks, third eye blind and kenny rogers! while my sister sang some New Kids On the Block)
All and all it was a great wedding, I had a fantastic time and the bride and groom had a great day too (minus the screaming drunk during the ceremony).

After the ceremony I attended a lovely Keg party at my friend Joe's house followed by a 4 am drunken breakfast at the 5th wheel truckstop! all and all an eventful saturday night

This weekends agenda: Camping at North Sable Sands, should be a good time.

I'M DONE MY SUMMER COURSE - and other random happnings

I went to the Counting Crows/Goo Goo Dolls concert last night...AMAZING! Thank you Meighan for the birthday present. I never realized how many good songs the Goo Goo Dolls have written. The piece de resistance for me was definetly the Counting Crows - they have been one of my favorite bands since I was in grade 7. The only shocker was that they didn't play Mr. Jones - but they still played a bunch of their other greats: hanginaround, Mrs. Potter's lullaby, Big Yellow Taxi, Round Here etc. It was such a good show.

The ride home was eventful - I had a few drinks at the show (dont' worry I wasn't driving) - on the 401, we heard a funny sound - Meighan noticed the car was driving a little funny. Sure enough once we get out in the middle of nowhere (between Milton and Acton) we pull over and realize we have a flat. It's 2 in the morning and me and Meighan are trying to figure out how her jack works so we can change her tire - Long story short: Creepy truck drivers pulls over to help us, changes our tire and then says "you come in my truck for 10/15 minutes" I look at Meighan and Yell "get in the car and lock the damn door" - Creepy truck driver was at Meighans window and we booted out of there. One of the top ten scary/funny moments of my life.

Back to buisness:
I am finally finished my essay and can say that I am done school for this term!!!!!!! That final essay violated me, I have never had so much trouble writing an essay in my life - I must have re-written the thing 8 times before deciding layout, and quotes etc. I had about 22 word documents going on for this essay and the final product was only 8 pages long!!!! I must be the worst essay writer ever!
But now that my course is finished I can start focusing on my trip. I still have so much little crap to do before I go. I bought (or I should say my parents bought) my lugage set the other day. I think I am going to have a big problem with packing. I jam packed a hockey duffle bag for my week in the Dominican, and now I am supposed to pack for my year away in France in two little suitcases!?!?!?!? I'm sure I'll figure something out. But the biggest thing I am going to miss, that I can't bring with me, is all my books!!!!! I love my little library that I have going on, and it comes in handy when I'm writing essays etc. Oh well. I guess my problem in France will be restraining myself from starting a new library while i'm there - I definetly won't be able to get everything home if I do that!

till next time

Dominican Rum = Bad!!!!

Note to self:
after drinking all day in the sun with crazy family members DO NOT feed yourself or the people around you shots of Dominican Rum.
I figured out this out the hard way by having my uncle threaten (he was really drunk!!!!) everyone (even imaginary people) around him! lol. At least we all had a really good laugh, especially the next morning when he didn't remember a thing from the night before. Once we told him what he had done he apollogized but still resented me a little for having fed him the booze in the first place.
All in all it was a good day - we were celebrating my Grandma's (Mémère's) birthday. She is just the cutest! She had on these hip pink, Hawain print shorts and a cowboy hat that said Beach Babe, so cute! She is the coolest grandma ever...I even managed to talk her and my mother into getting tattoo's with me a year ago!
Anywho - it was a nice day, but sort of sad too because I know I probably won't see many of them again before I leave...at least I'll have some really funny memories to take with me, and some great pictures too!
well, that's all I have for now
cheers

destress day

Well I decided that I wasn't going to let a little thing like the french consulate stand in the way of my drinking/fishing/camping/relaxation gettaway. So I decided to book my appointment with the consulate for the day I get back! My appointment is already going to be late anyway, so what's another day!
I went into work today for my big 3 hour shift and besides that, all I have been doing is reading!!!! I swear when i am done this essay I'm going to give myself a night out with no limits. I'll just have to pick a town Waterloo or Guelph? Acton just doesn't really cut it for the night life. I do have my bar/office here at home, but combining the two was a huge disaster because I can't disassociate the room from work! so besides the odd night cap and being able to bring the bar home with me on occasion, I have started to look at this place like it's my prison.
Well, I guess procrastination time is over. I better get back to work.
ciao
Tara

Already a bump in the road

Note to anyone and everyone who plans to go to another country for an extended period of time - DON'T PROCRASTINATE! Today I encountered my first bump in the road during my pre-departure check. I went online to book my appointment with the French consulate and the following happened:
1. they advise to book your appointment for at least 6 weeks before your departure, my departure is september 19, everything is booked up until the end of august.
2. I find the earliest possible appointment - it just happens to be right smack dab in the middle of my vacation. I'll be in Quebec and the appointment is in Toronto. Guess who get's to drive back to ontario for a 10 minute appointment and then back to Quebec!!!!!!!
My next problem lies in the fact that for some reason my long form birth certificate did not go through. So I have to hope that if I go down to the appropriate office in Toronto, and wait a million hours to get help, I can get it same day or at least faster, because I can't risk not having it before my august 22 consulate appointment!
I completely realize that this little entry is full of run on sentences, but at least you'll get the full effect of my little rant.
Although it is very stressfull (I still have the 4 jobs and an essay due!) I know that everything should pan out and that once september 19th hits i'll be on my way.
Until then I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best!

The countdown begins!

Well the time is fast approaching - i'm moving to France!!!!! My nerves and my excitment are constantly battling each other for supremacy, but above all I can't wait to start this new adventure. The countdown stands at 2 months and 7 days, but I feel like I'm so unprepared. I haven't even started to think about packing, I'm still waiting on very important documents and I have 4 jobs and one course to finish! No rest for the wicked, i'm sure the next couple of months will be a blur.
Until then I have an essay to finish!
Welcome to my blog...stay tuned for the travel countdown and to hear about my random adventures.