Hi everybody!! I’m back in the good ol’ home country now after 3.5 months away! It’s super to be back minus my severe jet lag. My time in London, Paris (LOVE) and Italy was super. I’m so happy to be done au pairing; it was probably the worst & the best thing I have ever done to/for myself. I learned a lot, grew a lot and gained quite a bit of confidence throughout my entire time in Europe.
I ended on a bit of a sour not with the family in England but that’s in the past now. London was pretty super but I wasn’t overly wowed by the city (sorry all you London lovers). I made it to almost all the touristy places and bought loads of Union Jack items and a Harrods pen (only thing I could afford in that mega store).
Trafalgar Square and the studdly lion
Big Ben
I took the eurostar to Paris and pretty much fell in love the city instantly. I was only there for 2.5 days but I managed to get to le sacré coeur, le moulin rouge, the louvre, jardin des tuileries, notre dame, les champs d’elysées, Les galeries lafayette, the opera, l’arc de triomphe and of course the Eiffel tower. I found the best bread ever… pain aux noix, so good! I am so proud of myself for visiting Paris all by myself and finding my way around the city – such a huge boost of confidence. I’m already planning a trip back there for hmm January… kidding but hopefully within the next two years I will be back in the city of love.
Sacre Coeur... Montmartre was probably one of my favourite parts of paris
View from on top of the Arc de Triomphe
Me and Eiffel 😉 The light show is amazingly gorgeous
After my short time in Paris I went back to italy to stay with my cousin. I went back to visit the au pairs I met before we all parted ways. We made it to Florence for one afternoon. We drove up to Piazza Michelangelo and saw the city of Firenze from afar and it was breathe taking. It snowed while I was in Italy so I made a pretty sad snowmen while I was there to.
view from piazza michelangelo
Finally the day came for me to fly home. I had a good flight home except for a drunken Ukrainian who had to be de-boarded from the plane. I arrived at the Vancouver airport all excited to finally see my family and low and behold they weren’t there!! Yay my brilliant parents thought I was coming in the next day so I had to find 50 cents in my luggage to call them to see where they were. My mom was so upset with herself she started crying… poor mom. But all is well now that I am home. I’ve already got myself used to being home (bought a new blackberry yeaa!) although it was so odd sleeping my bed for the first time in over a hundred days. Now its almost Christmas, my gifts are wrapped and I am waiting for the fun holiday times. Happy holidays to you all and your families!
the optimalist 