When mid-May hit, I started to countdown the days until my
return to the U.S. I’ve been anxious to get home to what I’m used to, see
family, friends and the boyfriend, get back to the world of customer service
and efficiency and have good weather. After a talk with my dad, I had a
different mindset about taking advantage of the next few weeks abroad. He said
to look at things and appreciate how I live in Nice now versus how I struggled
before when I got here. He said to take advantage of all the things I can do on
the Cote d’Azur and all over Europe that I can’t do anywhere else.
So then it began.
On May 15, the Cannes Film Festival kicked off its 66th
year with the premier of the Great Gatsby. My roommate and I decided to go to
Cannes to check out the scene and we were hoping we would catch a glimpse of
Leonardo! Cannes was not the Cannes I’ve grown to know- it was crazy and there
were people with Press Passes running around with giant cameras everywhere. And
it was awesome.
We had to leave early to meet our friends in Monaco, so we
didn’t get to see Leo (but my friends did!) We did get to see Cindy Crawford
though, which was pretty cool anyway. Plus just the excitement of knowing that
every black car could have some celebrity in it was just an incredible experience.
That weekend, a couple of my friends were hanging out in my
apartment talking about how my roommate and our friend Melissa were headed to
Amsterdam on Sunday. So that Saturday, me, Irina and Maya all booked our
tickets and hostel and flew to Holland about 12 hours later.
There really is not way to describe Amsterdam. I’ve been
saying it’s the most interesting city I’ve ever been to. The people are beyond
friendly, they bike everywhere, plus the canals with Dutch houses … its an
awesome city.
We didn’t have too much time there, but we did a lot of
walking around and exploring the city. We ate a lot of cheese (they have these
awesome cheese shops there where they just have a billion samples and mustards
to try it with…yum). We went to the Heineken Factory, Vondelpark, the I
Amsterdam sign, and the Van Gogh museum. We really wanted to see the tulips but
it was 45 minutes away and we just didn’t have the time since we really only
had one full day there.
And then three days after Amsterdam, we were off to Monaco
for our first day of the Grand Prix. Our amazing friends who live in Monaco
have an apartment overlooking the port, and they were generous enough to invite
us to the Grand Prix because they could see 70% of the track from their
balcony.
It was one of the best experiences ever. I’m not into car
racing, but this was the GRAND PRIX!! On Friday, it was only F2 races but
Saturday was the qualifying day for Formula One and Sunday was the big day.
The starting grid was right in front of the apartment, and
there was a restart so we got to see them twice! (I don’t know much, but I was
told that Red Flags at the Grand Prix are pretty rare…) I had my money on a guy
who won at the Australian Grand Prix and came in second at a few other races,
but he let me down and finished 5th. Regardless, it was awesome.
Apparently, it is better to have rainy weather for the Grand
Prix because it makes the races a lot more unpredictable. The drivers actually
have to “make weight” a lot like wrestlers do because the cars are so tiny
(three-four people can easily lift them). And even though they’re tiny, they
have to be super strong because they’re getting thrown around the track. Also,
they can hardly see anything! They can really only see the walls around them. Just
a few tidbits that I learned.
My ears are still ringing from that weekend.
And that was all within 10 days. So, I think I did a pretty
decent job of taking advantage of my last few weeks in Europe. I just finished
finals, I have three friends visiting from the U.S. and packing starts tonight
in preparation for heading home on Sunday.
Its weird how fast time flies.
A
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