pictures and videos:)

Here are some more pictures of the trip and a video that I took of street dancers in Cannes:)

This is the video of the street dancers... they were pretty good!

This is a picture of the concert that we went to outside of the Hotel de Ville (the mayor's office). The singer was a French man named Johnny Vegas, and even though I couldn't understand his lyrics very well, he sounded great!

This is a clock tower that I drew the first day in my art elective. I loved the classic old French architecture.

MONACO!

Here's a picture of the two keychains I bought from the gift shop at the oceanography museum...more to add to my collection!

This is the oceanography museum that has the bottom two floors underwater! I took this picture when we were walking up from the parking garage to the museum... it's a pretty side view.

(this picture was taken from the roof of the oceanography museum, it was an incredible view!!!)

This was by far my favorite day of the trip. I had heard about Monaco and Monte Carlo, but I never knew what they looked like, until now. The staff planned an excellent day for us, with free time to explore, and also a tour of the palace and a visit to the musee d'oceanographique! I love seeing aquariums, and this was especially a great experience because the museum was right on the ocean, literally! The bottom two floors were actually underwater because it was so close! The palace was exquisite, and the historical value of it was amazing. I love learning about history, and seeing where it happened was one of the coolest experiences of my life. Monaco is the most beautiful place I have ever been, and I will definitely be going back as soon as I can!

Nice, la vieille ville

One of my favorite days was when we went to Nice, in the old village and had the whole day to shop around and do whatever we wanted. I went with my host family's daughter, Lucie, and four of my roommates and friends. We went and had lunch at a little cafe, and it was delicious! I never had a bad meal the whole trip. Then we decided to go shopping and walked around the streets, which are full of interesting people and sights to see. One of the quirkiest things were these statues in the main square. They were giant poles with men sitting in yoga-like positions on top of them. It was so strange, but very interesting because I had never seen anything like it! We loved walking down the main road and stopping in the different stores to see how they differed from home. Instead of a bunch of huge department stores, there are a ton of little boutiques that all seem to be unique in some way. I had a great time exploring the village; another great day in Nice, France!!

Nice for drawing elective!

Last wednesday we had the coolest day of the drawing elective! We took the train to Nice from St laurent du Var as usual and then we walked about 30 min straight up stairs to get to the top of le vieille ville de Nice. We walked up to this huge waterfall at the top of the hill and the view was gorgeous! I took a ton of photos and i couldve stayed up there for hours drawing the landscape! Wr got free time to draw whatever we wanted and i really had a great time. The weather was a little hot but other than that it was an amazing experience!

St Paul de Vence, Sunday July 8th

After our trip to Cannes on Saturday, I didn't think that another day trip could surpass it, but St Paul de Vence definitely matched it in some ways. There isn't a beach there, but it is one of the cutest little towns I have ever been to! First we went to a modern art museum that was a little too far out there for me, but it was enjoyable to see a different style. Then we walked up this huge hill to a small city that looked like it was all packed into a little wall surrounding it. It is an old old place with a lot of historical architecture. We got to look around and shop a bit, and I found the cutest presents for my family. It was a great place to find the definition of a true "French Boutique". I wish we could have spent more time there, but it was beautiful none the less!

Cannes, France: One of the most beautiful places on earth!

This past saturday we took a day trip to Cannes. It is such a gorgeous place that I wanted to stay there forever! First we ate lunch in the park, which was relaxing. Then we went down to the beach and decided on a meeting spot so we could have free time and check in every two hours. A couple of my friends and I went shopping on the main road and got delicious ice cream and postcards for our families. Then we went to this antique outdoor market and found a ton of cool stuff! They had everything from jewelry to old leather books and gourd lanterns! There were some very interesting people there who loved talking to us and helped us practice our French! After that we went down to the beach and swam in the beautiful ocean. I love swimming, so I was in the water most of the time! There were little paddle boats that we could rent and a little island not too far out that we were able to swim out to and climb on! It was be of the coolest days ever! I love it and I know I will be returning as soon as I can!

French food!

J'adore la nourriture francaise ici! Nous sommes alles a "La Cigale" (une cafe) deux temps et le pain au chocolat la bas est tres tres bien! We have eaten at a lot of cool French places and I love trying the new food that our family prepares for us! It's a great learning experience! We're going to Cannes tomorrow to explore a bit so I will take lots of pictures and post them then! Au revoir!

See you all in France:)

Cool Painting of the Promenade des Anglais

So Excited for France!!

Hi, my name is Alexandra Bennett and I am participating in the St. Laurent program in France for summer 2012.  I am 16 years old, and I’m going to be a senior next year in high school in Aurora, Illinois. It is so surreal that I am able to study abroad when I am only 16. I can’t believe that I am traveling halfway around the world without anyone that I know, and staying with a family that may be completely different from my own. I have never traveled out of the country alone before, so this will definitely be a new experience. France has been on my mind since I started learning the depths of the language three years ago, as a freshman. Traveling to France has been one of my dreams for a while, and this program is really helping me see that if you put your mind to it, dreams can come true.

Finding the right program was so easy for me. One of my good friends from school is also participating on a similar program in Spain this summer, and told me about Abbey Road. After looking online and researching the St. Laurent program, I knew that this was where I wanted to go. I immediately applied for the Chris Meyer memorial Scholarship, sent in my essays and recommendation forms, and hoped for the best! After about two weeks I found out that I received the two-week scholarship, and I was headed to France. The coordinators of my trip and my student ambassador were so friendly and they made me realize that I had definitely made the right choice.

Now that I am preparing for this trip, I realize what lies ahead of me. What I am most looking forward to is to completely change my lifestyle and to see what I have to change to adapt to my family’s way of life. I have no idea how different it will be, and that is what excited me the most. I can’t wait to travel to France and have an adventure every day. New food, new people, and new places are all waiting for me to discover them.

I looked at all the electives that I could choose, and I thought that a studio art class would be the most enriching, and also it is my favorite elective that I took in school. What better place to improve my artistic ability than in France? Also, I hope that this trip will help me improve my fluency, and also my conversation skills. The best way to learn a language is to only speak it for a period of time, so here I go! I’m off to discover what this program will offer, and what I can take back from my amazing trip to France.