so, Iceland exploded....

Iceland decided to have a ginormous volcanic eruption yesterday. This is all well and good, but the natural powers that be could not have chosen a worse day to send thousands of tons of volcanic ash into the sky-- it was the first day of SPRING BREAK! So basically, everyone is trying to leave their part of Europe to visit another part of Europe, and anyone who was planning to do this by way of plane is royally screwed over. My host sister, Chloe's flight was cancelled to Scotland, so now she's trying to find trains to London then to Edinburgh that don't cost five thousand euros (which they all do at this point). Meanwhile, my friend Alec, who was supposed to fly into Paris today, is stuck in Dublin at least another day or two, though rumor has it that Dublin's airport will be completely shut down for five days. This would be bad, since in five days Alec and I have train tickets to Switzerland in four days. Eek!! If anyone has a small boat they would like to shuttle people between Ireland and Paris with, lemme know. We may be in need of such a thing.

Meanwhile, I've had a great week in Paris and plan on having an even more exciting weekend. I went with Sweet Briar to Matignon on Monday, which is where the Prime Minister lives! We saw him in the window, and we saw his small children playing in the yard (speaking of, quite a nice backyard they have, no? <-- ). It was soooooooooo cool. We sat in the conference room where all the foreign dignitaries (sp?) sit, and my friend Craig sat in the chair of the PM himself!! Cool, no? I thought yes.

And then today, seeing as I won't be playing tourguide for Alec, I'm going to Giverny with Brit and Brianna. We're training there, renting bikes, biking to Monet's house, and spending the day exploring the gardens and picnicking there. Should be absolutely lovely! Pictures to be posted soon! I'm also going to try to see tourist sites that I haven't made it to yet while in Paris this weekend. The goals are: Rodin Museum, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, and Cimitiere Pere Lachaise. I can't wait!