http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/CurlieL17/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from CurlieL17 en-us Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:11:07 +0000 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:11:07 +0000 So this has to be the longest Irsquove waited to write a blog Irsquom about to recount my Provence road trip from the beginning of November hellip but better late than never As yoursquore about to see I took A LOT of photos on this trip which of course added to the delay of this publication. Before I get to all of that Irsquoll bring everyone to date. I just went back to work thi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Provence-Alpes-C-te-d-Azur/blog-236511.html For those of you with whom I didn't get a chance to talk before I left I'm back in France for another school year I got here October 1st and so it's been a month and I'm already back in the swing of things. I'll give you a quick run down on what's been going on . . . I'm in the same apartment from last year I've attached some photos this go round so you can visualize me here I have 7 clas http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Chartres/blog-211003.html Middle East 2007Lisa Two months later I'm finally getting around to posting the final blog in my Middle East series. I believe I last left off on the night bus from Egypt to Jordan a night which made its way to the list of Longest Nights of my Life. Running a fever and still recovering from my bout of food sickness I was not exactly feeling my best so when the heat on the bus died despite th http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Jordan/South/Petra/blog-154196.html Herersquos number two of my Middle East tour travel blog series which will cover Luxor and Cairo. An 18hour bus ride from Dahab brought us safely to the Luxor bus station on Friday where Joseph our hostel owner met us. We received a similar ldquowelcoming ceremonyrdquo to the one in Dahab at Josephrsquos hostel just less ocean resort theme and a lot more Bob Marley because nothing s http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Upper-Egypt/Luxor/blog-142827.html Hello After lots of requests and many weeks my latest travel blog is now up Irsquove decided to jump around and go ahead and publish the Middle East ones prior to the Christmas break one the photos are done but not the writing Irsquom working on it things have been busy. To give a brief summary for winter break in France winter break takes place during the last weeks of February I http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Egypt/Sinai/Dahab/blog-141816.html No I havenrsquot flown back to US without telling anyone I spent a weekend in Normandy and visited the American Cemetery which rests on official American soil. With the five other English assistants we rented a car and embarked on our first driving adventure in France which with the exception of a speeding ticket that I was not responsible for went well. We left Friday night after everyone http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Lower-Normandy/blog-122419.html More than a month after my weekend trip to Strasbourg I'm finally getting around to publishing the blog in my efforts to catch up to my most recent trip to Italy and Northern Spain. By the way MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone I hope that you've all had a great holiday Now to get down to business . . . the last weekend of November is the start of the Strasbourg Grande March de N http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Alsace/Strasbourg/blog-111822.html In contrast to the epic novels I usually end up sending out this blog will be a short one I promise. I had a computer adapter problem nothing a visit to www.ebay.fr couldnrsquot fix though so I havenrsquot had computer access couldnrsquot go through the hundreds of photos Irsquove been taking until this past week. So my weekend in Strasbourg at the giant Christmas market is coming http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Chartres/blog-106457.html Irsquom Suffering from Gelato Withdrawal. . . Finally here is the muchawaited Italy Travel Blog. Due to high public demand Irsquom putting out this one before the Chartres ldquo1000th Anniversary of the Commissioning of the Cathedralrdquo Medieval Festival that took place the week before I left for vacation so stay posted for the Medieval Blog to come out probably next weekend. I rea http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Italy/Lombardy/Milan/blog-103298.html This second edition of my travel blog finds me halfway through my 3rd week in France and Irsquoll go ahead and warn you this is going to be a long one as Irsquove been a busy girl this past week so for those of you who want the quick version just look through the photos Irsquove got some fun ones . . .I still havenrsquot started teaching classes but that will come soon enough starting http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Ile-de-France/Paris/blog-93808.html So as you can see I arrived safely in Chartres France last Tuesday to begin my 9 months as a teaching assistant for the French Embassy in two elementary schools here. I've been here less than a week and it's already been an action packed several days. I was met at the Chartres train station by my contact person Catherine Ferant at 230 after 19 some hours of traveling 3 planes 2 buses 1 m http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/France/Centre/Chartres/blog-92281.html My long overdue Easter Vacation Blog. . . which should be a fairly short one. Mom asked to see lots of pictures of the house so I did my best.I spent Thursday through Monday of Easter Vacation at my Spanish family's country house located 45 minutes away in the town of Al Baida. The house is over 300 years old and Juan my Spanish father owns 23 of it and his brother the other 13. Marga Jua http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Albaida/blog-7388.html Well this past weekend was a busy one for me. Friday I went on the SPU trip to Pescola a beach town an hour and a half away from Valencia then the next morning I headed with my jiu jitsu teammates to Madrid for the Campeonato de Grappling de Espaa.In Pescola there's the beach and the castle and that's about it so if it happens to be a rainy day like it was the beach time is not as great http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/blog-7381.html Well as you can tell I'm all safe and settled in Valencia Spain. Hope you're ready for a long email . . . After quite the flying adventure and three days without my luggage me and my bags made it to Valencia. I am living with a Spanish family and housemte from UVA about 5 minutes walking distance from my university. I'm very lucky because some people have to ride a bus for 30 minutes to get http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-3319.html Saturday January 15 2005As part of an introduction to Spain I went with the entire Spanish program here on a short bus tour of Valencia and then spent the afternoon climbing to the top of an old castle located in a town 45 minutes away from Valencia called Xtiva. We made our way through tiny streets to the mountain road up to the castle. Upon making it to the castle we all sat on the steps an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-3475.html Well after my first real weekend in Valencia I can now say Irsquove been in the Mediterranean Sea and to the beach in January J The weekends start early for me here as we have no Friday class so I spent my Friday running some errands. I now have a cell phone and the nice thing about cell phones in Spain is that incoming calls are free to the recipient wink wink . . . feel free to call me 01 http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-3476.html Well this past weekend found me once again in Valencia but this Friday Irsquom headed to a pueblo outside of Valencia City called Bocairent and then the next weekend Irsquom planning a bigger trip to Madrid or Barcelona.My exciting news from the past week is that I've found a jiu jitsu school here in Valencia that's about 10 minutes walking distance from my house. When I first went to the c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Valencia/blog-3802.html Hola to everyone hope you're ready for another long oneThis past Friday I went with the Spanish Program to Bocairent a town an hour and a half away from Valencia for the day. Friday was the last day of their Cristianos y moros Christians and Moors festival for which Bocairent is famous in the Comunidad Valenciana. As soon as we piled out of the bus we got the feeling we were in the midd http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Valencian-Community/Bocairent/blog-4071.html Well I have officially taken my first EuropeanSpain trip this past weekend and survived no I was not near the fire in Madrid. Three other girls and I piled on a bus at 8 AM Friday morning headed to Madrid. Half way through the ride they put in the movie Hidalgo which was nice but they didnrsquot put it in soon enough because right as we got to the most exciting part we arrived in Madrid an http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/District-of-Madrid/blog-4308.html This blog arrives a little late because the internet has been down at school this past week I've been recovering from lack of sleep as a result of my amazing trip to Sevilla and as well as midterms being this week but hey better late than never. there you go everybody a reference to classes and school Somewhat in celebration of my 21st birthday and really just because I wanted to go I sp http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-4811.html