La Fin, ou le debut???

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Hi Guys,
Well finally the last installment of my exciting semester of travels. What a lot of fun!

All in all I was away for 5months and had such a fantastic time I really can't wait to travel again. It was a great thing to do before starting the med school marathon, and it was very special to meet up with old friends, and certainly to make some new ones. So to all you wonderful people out there, I hope you're all well, happy and smiling, cos I sure am, every time I think of you 😊 Thank you all for reading about my adventures, and huge thank yous to all those who helped me get there, those who I had great and memorable times with along the way and those who made this trip so much better than I could ever have imagined. You're all awesome and amazing 😊

Lots and lots of love and hugs,
Samara xxoo

Thought I'd just put in a few photos that didn't make it into the rest of the journal through lack of space (or more usually cos I hadn't written an entry to go with them! slacker :p)

The photos won't all fit in the text body, so I'll just put them and their explanations in order.

We had an awesome christmas in our little appartment in Cour des Muses 1, Lyon, which involved a very drawn out cooking process (helped by the fact that the only cooking apparati we had were our two electric stove rings...and the copious amounts of cheap french alcohol we had purchased perhaps....😉)

Torse's 'friend' Keiran and his friend Mick from Oz were there (having been living and working in cold dreary London and in the middle of travelling), as well as Esnes (from french at Otago who had been on exchange in Belgium), Jo (a fellow Otago-Lyon exchanger), this random Aussie guy Jake (who was very sweet and bought us all presents embarrasingly) Eamonn, Torse and I.

Maddie (another melbournian from uni at Lyon), Cass (aussie staying with Maddie) and their friends also came over later, having just returned from the mountains, but noone was in a best state to socialise by that point!

Jo had decided it was of upmost importance to have a christmas tree, but they seemed impossibel to get for less than 50euros. Torse tried to to improvise......

Somehow Jo managed to find one on Xmas eve and sent us many excited texts trying to make us guess what she had procured for a xmas surprise. here we are with the famed object.

A day or two after xmas we all went ice skating in the middle of Lyon, Place Bellecour, me carrying a very large H&M bag full of puffy jacket - try ice skating with a giant bag sometime....its tough!

The ice skating place was in a fantastic location, in the evenings you could see Notre Dame de Fourviere all lit up on the hill. This evening it began to snow, adding to the surreal magical atmosphere.

Our last day in Lyon, before having to pack up the appartment, Eamonn and I visited the snow covered fourviere and the Parc once more to say bye 😊

New Years was spent up in a mountain house with Mallory (my old host sister), her boyfriend and his friends. there was a lot of food, a lot more champagne and great hilarity....but then this is france....

The corks went flying at midnite, much to the boys' delight.


And just to finish up, a charming photo of me at the colosseum in Rome. Thanks Eamonn!!

If I hadn't had something to look forward to when I got home, it might have been very sad finishing the trip. As it was, this little bundle of gorgeousness arrived on the 27th of February. Meet my niece....Allaya J. 😊

Love to you all as always, Samara xxoo

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Photos

Xmas with the Gang
Keiran, Mick, Jo, Me, Eamonn, Esnes and Torse (Jake is playing photographer).

The REAL xmas Tree
Torse, Maddie, Me and Jo

Ice Skating
Note the snow in our hair

Torse and I and the giant bag
See Notre Dame up behind us?

Comments

[Emma]

Thanks
I hope you get this Sam, but I just wanted to say Thanks for taking the time/effort to write your blogs. I've loved them! You have made me excited about travelling. I can't wait to go to Italy. You're fantastic and I love you heaps, Mwah Mwah