Ten Days in France

Our 10 day, Loyola sponsored trip to France was awesome. While our days were jam packed with tours, travel, and bus riding, it was very informative and was nice having someone to keep us on a schedule. We spent 4 days in Paris, 1 in Avignon, 3 in Montpellier, and 2 in Nice. We went on a walking tour of Paris the first night we arrived which kicked off at Notre Dame cathedral. Our tour guide was from America originally, but has lived in Paris for the last 20-something years. We went and saw the Eifel tower at night and watched it sparkle magnificently, contrasting the midnight dark sky.

            We drove about three hours south to Avignon, and we were introduced to our French, semi-English speaking tour guide, Xavier. I had been to Avignon in 2009 with my dad. It’s famous for its half-bridge, which was never completed. Also it has a famous Papal Palace, which we took a tour of. I could write a book on the free meal we all got, it was out of this world. They didn’t tell us what we were eating but it’s a good thing they didn’t because I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much.

            We traveled to Montpellier, which was where our program coordinator, Liz, studied abroad when she was an undergraduate so she knew the city pretty well. It wasn’t too touristy which was a nice change and we stayed in an actual hotel rather than crappy hostels, which we were unfortunately getting used to.

             The weather in Nice was beautiful! It was what I pictured when thinking of the French Riviera. The beaches were interesting as there was no sand, just fist sized rocks, which made it pretty uncomfortable to sit on, but we did anyways. We took a day trip to Monaco, one of the wealthiest countries in the world. We walked along the yachts with our jaws pretty much rubbing along the concrete on which we were walking. When we got back to Nice, we did a 30-minute Segway tour along the Riviera, which was pretty awesome.

            I feel like our study abroad group definitely bonded over these ten days and I’m already looking forward to when we all go to Berlin together in May.