studying abroad - nice, france

our first trip to Nice! what a beautiful city

"aperatif" - a drink before dinner

sante!

we found this little restaurant called chez memere, everything was fresh and organic

i love the french style of leaving a bottle of water at the table

spices

studying abroad - l'anfer

And this was the first night going out with all the exchange, along with the french students from the international club at school. We went to a club just a few stores down from my house call l'Anfer (which means hell). As a meet and greet promotion, they have 1 euro shooters. SO dangerous, it became the end of all of us. And the next morning was definitely "hell". We all slumped-it and discovered that kebabs were our new hangover food.

quite happy to find jameson over there

the death of us (i know it looks like mouth wash, especially in that cup too, but i swear it didn't taste that bad!)

sue

me, sue, lisa, michela, taylre, whitney

this is raphel, a frenchie. we called him andy roddrick

loic, a member of the international club at Skema. i scoped him on the first day of orientation and thought he was adorable

max has dance moves

victor (who later became my friend's lover, who happened to also be my lover's friend)

and then i took him home and the rest is history. he became my french lover

studying abroad - let's get together

This is the first party with the exchanges. It's quite funny to look at these photos now and to think we were all strangers, and in the end of it all, we've all changed each other's lives.

whitney and i had to take our wine to-go, so this is how we decided to cork it

this is moncief, my first french kiss (ha)

max and scotty were nice enough to host it at their beautiful house (with 12ft ceilings)

we stayed there until the early morning playing endless card games from all over the world. some familiar, some new. all fun and a great time.

then david's party socks came out to play

taylre found herself stuck with the beer box hat from a failed game of cards

it was a perfect first night meeting the crew

studying abroad - just the beginning

I studied abroad in the beautiful South of France, in a quite little getaway town called Juan-les-Pins. Often associated with it's neighboringtown (only about a 10 min walk through town to the next), Antibes.

my first meal, a crepe of course with egg, sausage, cheese and bacon

macaroons of course. my favorites

all coffee is served in tiny little expresso cups and there is no such thing as take-out cups.

the french are very leisure, let me tell you..

there are honestly carousals all over france.

a secret spot in the billionaire's dock in Antibes. these boats at this dock were ridiculous. they've sailed the world and are fully equipped with a helicopter, jet skis, and sailboats ON the boats.

a statue at the Picasso Museum

my roommates who are also from San Francisco. Megan and Whitney

studying abroad

Around this time last year, I was returning from an indescribable experience studying abroad. I honestly don't know where to begin to describe my experience. Of course, upon return, the repetitive question of "so, how was it?" was endless. All I could seem to say was "It was amazing", but did that underplay it so much. Lately, I've been reminiscing about my experiences, the places I was able to go and witness, the things I learned about myself, and most importantly, those that I've met. So in the next few post will completely be dedicated to my study abroad experience through visuals and stories (some may only be understood by few). Since I never posted photos from studying abroad, let's make this blog more "personal". Consider this a really late update or a trip down memory lane. So take a walk with me as I share to you my studying abroad experience..

This was taken on my first walk around town in Juan-les-Pins / Antibes