A Biento! And then there were two.

With tears weld in their eyes, I waved as the navette pulled off with 5 of them. They disappeared in the distance so fast and then I realized tomorrow was my day to pull out.
Ambialet, France has made such an impression on me. The sweet sound of silence, fresh air and a loving community has become so natural to me that I have no idea how to go back home. In fact, I still don't believe I'm leaving tomorrow. My suitcases are, but I'm not. That's exactly what I told my mom after I confirmed that she would remember what my suitcases looked like if I were not holding them. She hasn't responded to that e-mail yet, so I'm taking that as a yes.
However, today was quite adventurous for a last day. We saw some painting and sculptures done by Marie (our housekeeper) and her friend Willy. It's amazing how talented they both are. The funniest part is that they have a perfect sculpture of our soon to be former President George W. Bush Jr. I wish I would have known sooner how talented she was. I guess that will just be a big part of my incentive to come back.
We also became apart of the family of Le Prieure, of 50 years. Their reunion was held here today, followed by a mass. At the end we sang Cantical of the Sun for them and they sang a song in their native Occitan. It was great. It sounded like a fight song for their native language. You can tell that they were so proud of us coming in to save le Prieure, which was quickly decaying. They all lived here, with no heat and cold showers, in their younger years, only returning to home three times a year. This is home to them and now it's home to us as well and they accept that and love us for being here. We are valued so much them and I will never forget that. To me a home holds a legacy, whereas a house can be knocked down without regrets.

A Biento my home of Ambialet, France.
Love Always,
Alexia Shashara

Easter Break

A moment to break away and center myself, is exactly what my easter break was. 3 days and 2 nights well spent in Marseilles, France in a hotel. After traveling Europe and staying in hostels, the hotel was much appreciated and luxury as well. The cable television was a great add in as well. I have never experienced bad weather on Easter and I didn't this year either. With the great weather from the entire weekend made it a perfect time for the beach.
Tim and I came up with an ingenious idea to go into the water with our regular clothes and climb the rocks without getting wet. I almost plunged in several times staggering back and forth due to the force of the waves going in and out to land. Finally I made it to the top of the rocks and had my Debut as Ariel from The Little Mermaid. It was quite funny. The waves splashed up in perfect timing. Tim however wasn't successful in not falling into the water. Just as he shouted "there's no way I'm getting I'm falling in now", he fell in completely. Too bad I didn't get that on camera.
The cutest moment of my Easter break was being in the Boulangerie and a little girl ran in and shouted "Je voudrais un baguette, si vous plait?" She got her roll of bread and ran out to her mom if a big smile of accomplishment on her face.
The most memorable moment was watching "Be Kind Rewind" starring Jack Black, Mos Def and Danny Glover, all in french. As the movie started we realized it was all in french and there were no subtitles. I think the only reason I stayed is because I payed 8 euros. It was so worth it. I didn't need to know the french language in its entirety to understand the concept of the movie. It was great. That movie is definitely a must see. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it. If you want a brief summary of what it was "Be Kind Rewind" was about, google is the best option.
My proudest moment was the entire trip. I felt free and stress free and with people I enjoy myself with and love to enjoy adventure on an as it comes basis. My last break in Marseilles, France was definitely a moment to remember.

Until Next Time
Love
Alexia Shashara

75 degrees in Ambialet, France!!!

OOOOOOO my o my was this weekend beautiful starting from the day break of Friday. 75 degrees compared to snow in Loretto is a major difference. This is the type of weather that when you wake up in the morning just puts a smile on your face. I'd rather be woken up by the sun in my eye and the chirping of birds, than by a snow plow going pass my window.
After class we took advantage of the day by going for a really long hike in the mountains. It was so much fun. I love those adventures that you just get up and go. 6 of us all carefully climbing down the rocks, over the fallen tree and up some more rocks stumbled across a beautiful spot along the river. We sat there for a while skipping rocks and joking. We even pretended to find ancient rocks and act like television explorers from the discovery channel. We didn't realize how far we went and all of a sudden we realized that we did a complete loop of the river. The loop brought us to the road that leads back to the monastery.
So what started out as a day for tennis (unfortunately the courts were closed) ended up being a great discovery of our surroundings and still getting to enjoy the beautiful weather.
On Saturday we got to some water rapids where people learn to do kayaking. We climbed the rocks in the river and luckily no one fell in. We're definitely on a mission to go back with some tubes to pretend we're on a lazy river. From there we headed out to some ancient ruins. We climbed ALLLLLLLLL the way to the top. Centuries ago, when in war, they were used to see when the enemies were approaching. You could see from days maybe even weeks in a advance when they were coming. We stayed on top for a while to soak in the view and then back down we were. Our adventures never cease to amaze me.

A demaine
Amour
Alexia Shashara

Hopping the fence to Budapest!

William, a kid we met in our hostel in Prague, Kristin, Bridget and I walked out of the hostel at about 6 am hiking towards the station to pick up the bus to go to Budapest. With backpacks on our backs packed for 3 days and 2 nights we went uphill and downhill and in a dark alley. The gate was open so I preceded to walk. As we continued to walk is when we noticed the disappearance of light, but we were too far along and too determined to turn around. All of a sudden the barking of a dog broke the silence of the city. We all stopped and looked in that direction. The dog was fenced so we weren't bothered. William immediately hopped over the wall as that was the only way to get out of the yard. Bridget hopped thereafter as I stopped unable to climb the wall because I was laughing so hard. I saw how William hopped it by stepped on a lower wall first, but Bridget somehow scurried to the top of a flat wall with the same American Chucks I was wearing. I laughed talking to her saying how did you do that when all of a sudden I saw a man coming our way yelling. I quickly stopped laughing and hopped over the wall. There goes a little inspiration.
However, I turned and noticed there was no Kristin. About 2 minutes later she came along with a big smile on her face. The man immediately looked at her and started yelling. Seeing as none of us speak czech we have no idea what he was saying. It sounded like he was yelling "You all are polish", which confused us even more. Then he kept repeating and he might have said something along the lines of police. Anyway, he started tugging at Kristin's bag as she kept talking to him in english saying "let me go". He clearly wasn't going to open the gate for her, so she too had to hop the wall. I'm shocked he didn't let that dog go on us.
She went to climb the wall and made the situation even funnier. She was gripping the wall and wouldn't let go shouting she didn't want to fall. Seeing as it's a wall the only way to get on the ground is to let go and fall. After gripping on for what seemed like forever she finally let go with battle wounds left on her wrists and somehow on her knee.
Finally, after getting over we all proceeded to the station.
"There is only one ticket left" the woman tried to explain through a ticket window in her czech accent. Somehow Bridget's ticket got cancelled. Bridget bought the ticket. William's ticket went through and so did mine that we bought ahead of time. Then Kristin's ticket was canceled as well. Unfortunately after hopping the wall Kristin was not able to get on the bus to go to Budapest with us. We looked to meet her later as she would have gotten on the next bus as we agreed.
After a 6 hour ride stopping in Bruno and Bratislava, we arrived to Budapest. Absolutely breathtaking. The smile quickly appeared on my face as we rode through and got a glimpse of Budapest. Soon after we arrived to our hostel, "Imperio Max". I didn't feel like I was at a hostel at all. In fact, I felt like I was at a friends house. It was so homey and they were so welcoming. We talked on a first name basis and stayed up all night playing games together and making jokes and watching movies.
Did you know that Budapest is two places in one? We stayed on the Pest side. We crossed the bridge the first two days to go and explore Buda. The place was really nice. We climbed to the top of a mountain and looked down and soaked up the beautiful view. You could see all of Buda and Pest from the top.
The last day we were there William left really early that morning so we didn't get to see him the last day, but Bridget and I went searching to get her a bathing suit and then off to the thermal bath spa we were. Budapest is famous for its healing waters. The thermal baths were great. The place has 13 pools all together, saunas, whirl pools, hot tubs, jacuzzi's and pools for regular swimming as well as water aerobics.
After the spa we headed over to the bus station and back to Prague for one more day and night we went.

A demain
amour,
Alexia Shashara

RAWWWWWWWWW... Queen of the London Jungle!

The first time we went to London about a month ago, I didn't get the chance to climb the lion. With determination I made it to th etop of the lion located in Trafalgar Square in front of the national museum. Getting up was funny, but the getting down was even funnier. Unfortunately, it took 2 hours to upload the one video, so uploading two would be to much. To give you a visual of coming down, I almost went head first over the right back side of the lion. I would rather say the lion began to come to life and almost through me off. ENJOY!!!

Thermal Baths of Budapest

Tomorrow or should I say later on today I will be in Budapest, Hungary. I am so excited. Budapest if you ask anyone whose been there will say it is absolutely beautiful in every aspect. No one has anything negative to say about it. Budapest is also known for its many healing waters. I bought a bathing suit today and am looking forward to the God given sun and healing waters and relaxation. O and yes the Spring Break continues...

A demaine
Amour
Alexia Shashara

Loving Prague

I have learned that the best things in life are not planned. This entire trip so far we would wake up and walk. We have seen the castle of Prague as well as many churches and even gone to a museum on Communism. The best was sitting out in the sun and thinking of how exactly where we sat 20 years ago were street riots. Even more shocking is I was 1 year of age in 1989.
...to be continued