Where to start........

Basically i haven't written a blog in over a month and A LOT has happened. I am going to just start where I left off last time and work my way forward.

During the break between Ulpan and the semester I went to Paris for a week (October 6 - 13) and spent one day at the end of the trip in Budapest. Paris was really amazing. I went with my roommates Juliet and Diane and we did all sorts of touristy things. On my first day there we went to Notre Dame and then followed our sight seeing with some shopping. The first night there was really crazy. We went out to a french dinner and then to a party at a mansion in Paris. There was a man cutting hair at the party (a man who cuts hair professionally for the prime ministers wives). The party was a little boring so we thought it would be a good idea for me to get my hair cut. Basically, he took out my hair clips and began cutting my hair and speaking to me in rapid French, which I do NOT understand. I finally managed to find a girl to translate for me and essentially he was saying that he wanted to cut my hair into natural layers to frame my face. I had watched him cut some other peoples hair, and once assured that he wouldn't chop off all of my hair, I allowed him to cut mine.
The subsequent days were filled with sightseeing, museums, parks, beautiful buildings and of course shopping. I went to the Musee d'Orsay on October 7th with the girls (Juliet and Diane). The museum is a converted train station. The building itself is amazing. A large portion of the museum was impressionist: Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Van Gogh to name a few. The impressionist paintings are so amazing. The Musee d'Orsay was my favorite museum I visited in Paris.
The next day (10-8-09) we went to the Louvre. Not only did I get to see the Da vinci's Mona Lisa in person, I got to see Rach! We planned to meet outside the glass pyramid (except I didn't know that there were multiple glass pyramids). It was so nice to be with her. We went to the Louvre together and then spent the next two days exploring Paris with her friends and my friends.
The rest of the trip flew by. We visited the Eiffel Tower, a holocaust and Jewish art history museum in the Jewish quarter (a man tried to sell us falafel and there was a sign that said "The best falafel in the world" but i told the man that we were students in Jerusalem and then he backed off". I went to some amazing gardens, wandered the streets of Paris with Diane and ate amazing food and desserts.
By the last day in Paris we had basically done all of the super touristy things we wanted to do so we went to Euro Disney! Juliet and Diane and I met up with two other girls from our program and the five of us spent the day at Euro Disney. It was so much fun! Almost like home. The girls thought it was hilarious that I knew my way around the park because it is the same basic set up as Disneyland. After a magical day of fun we went back to the center of Paris and had an amazing dinner right next to the Eiffel Tower which sparkles with twinkle lights at night. The week in Paris ended with a walk around the Eiffel Tower and then a morning flight to Budapest.
Budapest was FREEZING! All we managed was an afternoon nap and then dinner with Rachel and Ashlyn. The next morning, October 14, we headed back to Israel. When we left Budapest it was 6 degrees Celsius and when we landed in Tel Aviv it was 30 degrees Celsius! I had an AMAZING time in Paris but i was very happy to be back in Israel. The trip really made me realize that i picked the right place to study abroad.