I'm back!!

Okay guys, I'm back!! I know. You were all super worried about how I've been out of the country for super long and wondered if I would ever make it home. Well good news: I made it! After 27 hours of traveling from Europe and a wedding in San Luis Obispo, I'm back in the OC. Phew! That was a close one :)

It turns out A LOT has happened while I was away and since I was pretty much out of touch, I had NO IDEA it was all going down. This led to many shocking surprises upon my return, followed by many "You didn't hear about that?!" comments after.

Here are some things that happened:

1) The MS1's got free iPads. Okay, yeah, so my reaction is a little late, but WTF?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I couldn't contain my disbelief/mask my reaction appropriately when I first heard this news (which of course came from a group of my classmates who had all heard when it was actually going down). To be honest, I'm still having a hard time dealing with this. And yeah, it stung a little when a random business professor from UCI asked me and K how we liked our iPads while we were preparing our Honduras poster as Starbiz earlier today. Whatever. I chose My Precious (Kindle, for those of you not in the know) over an iPad earlier this summer, so those MS1's with their free iPads can suck it. That's right. You heard me.

2) There was a Salmonella outbreak. "How random that you got Salmonella," I said to classmate, J, earlier this week, "I mean, who even gets that?!" "You didn't hear?" She said, "Actually there was a national outbreak and they're recalling a bunch of eggs." Oh. My bad. Sorry I didn't keep up with the Salmonella Outbreak News while I was abroad.

3) Quizno's has a new commercial with cute little kitties in it.

Both of my roommates felt the need to tell me FIRST THING about this commercial that "reminded them of me." Ummm... thanks?

But even better, while I was looking up the video just now, I found a video called "Quiznos Kittens Turbo Techno Jam!!!" AWESOME!! I see that I've missed a lot while I've been away. (Also, I would like to add that this is not the first time I've blogged about a Quiznos commercial. I hope you all remember the classic, "Toasty Torpedo" commercial).

4) Actually, that's all that I can think of right now. But seriously, free iPads?!

Torture on the TGV

OMG you guys. I've been stuck on the TGV from Dijon to Lausanne (Switzerland) for the past hour and a half. Cool! You must be thinking; TGV's are sweet! Well, they are sweet. Unless you are stuck behind a disgustingly intellectual British couple who feel the need to read poetry out loud to each other in their annoying british accents. In between lines of a poem, they will kiss and then discuss punctuation. "You know, a comma in this decade can be interpreted so differently from last decade." *kiss kiss*

Are you kidding me?! I think I'm going to be sick.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

100 k!

Yesterday we did a 100 k ride (actually, it was 103 k) from Nolay to Cluny. We celebrated with a pizza feast afterwards.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Continental Divide

Yesterday we had a super intense/awesome day. We concluded out first week in Burgundy by cycling 90 k and crossing the continental divide. We also stopped at a local swimming pool along the way (super random but perfect because it was such a beautiful day). We ended up spending over 2 hours at the pool where we picnicked, swam, and lounged in the sun. We even rented an inner tube to float on which mostly ended with N and I trying to get in a relaxing position while guide L did cannon balls next to us. "Best euro I ever spent" says L. Agreed. Oh and after the pool we climbed a mountain (it actually wasn't that bad since it was so steep at parts that we had to walk).

We spent the morning in Dijon and now we're at some hotel chateau place just outside. Yay!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I'm on a bike!

Yeah, I know. I haven't been updating this very much. Sorry. The thing is I've been pretty busy lounging around French hotel rooms in fuzzy pink robes. No time for blogging, suckers! Oh wait. No. But I have been busy riding around the French countryside enjoying the sights, the food, wine, and of course the café.

We just got back from a sick ride through the hilly Parc du Morvan. Not sure how many k we went because guide L gave me and N some suggestions of extra hills (this is because we are "athletic" which is a lie; N is athletic and I'm the fatass trying to recover from my first year of medical school). Maybe 70 k (about 42 miles) but it was ALL rolling hills! The scenery is super beautiful: it reminds me a lot of Northern CA with rolling hills of farmland with forests mixed in. We even saw some banana slugs on the road!

As for the past few days, here's a (super) brief recap:
Monday: cycled through the hills of Chablis. It was hot and I almost died (not true). N and I got a little lost and ended up off-roading through vineyards to get back to a main road. We also had a good photo shoot at a vista point overlooking the Chablis valley that involved me trying to set up the self-timer on my camera in a tree. In the town of Auxerre, we went to an amazing chocolatiere who sold all sorts of macaroons and caramels and icecream. Yum!
Tuesday: umm I don't remember where we went (sorry, no route sheet on me and I'm in bed and I'm tired). BUT! It was a super great ride complete with a photo shoot on rounds of hay and a picnic next to ruins of an old fort (pictured). We ended the day riding along the river.
Wednesday: we left our hotel in Cravant (of fuzzy robe fame) and made our way to Avallon. We stopped in Vezelay, which is on top of a hill (mountain: I had to walk my bike up and even then I was panting and out of breath). Vezelay also has a basilica with relics of Mary Magdalene (I'm just going to say it: relics are weird and most of the time I don't understand them or they are gross... like the time I saw some saint's hand (HAND!) in Budapest). The town was touristy but still very cute and reminded me of a lot of the hill towns in Provence.

Okay. Obviously there is tons more I could talk about, but as I said before I'm tired. And my hands are kinda falling asleep from holding my phone up in bed.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Burgundy Biking Day 1

Hey guys! Today N and I started our cycling trip around the Burgundy region in France. This week it looks like we have a pretty good group. There are seven of us total: me and N (fellow polar bear), the A's (AN and AY) who are 30-something friends who met on a previous blue marble trip, the J's who are a newlywed couple on their honeymoon, and our guide L who I had last year for the provence trip. Overall we're a pretty young and lively group. The A's and L will be with us for the whole 2 weeks.

Okay. Unofficially our trip started last night with a pre-trip outing in Paris. We met up with L and the A's for a delicious meal at an old Brasserie (over 130 years old). We had typical French / Alsacian cuisine; my meal included a rabbit terrine and choucroute, a delicious sauerkraut with many pork products. After dinner we hit the bars and ended up at a random club in Northeast Paris. The music was mostly techno (boo) but that didn't stop L from boogying down. We met some special French characters who didn't hesitate to show off their "moves." N and I ended the night with a 1/2 hour walk home across Paris and weren't in bed until 3:30am.

Good thing we had to get up early to start our bike trip! We met up at the blue marble office and rode our bikes through Paris to the train station. Highlight of riding through Paris: we rode around the Bastille! (N: "just like on the Tour!"). Our train took us out to Laroche (Northern Burgundy) where we started our trip.

Today was a pretty easy day (only about 40 k and pretty much flat). We spent most of the ride along the Canal du Nivernais which was very serene. We were all so tired from the night before that we all stopped at a park along the canal and napped... Then jumped in the river for a quick dip.

Tonight we're staying in Cravant (church outside our hotel pictured). Our room is super cute! N and I even got matching pink robes! The hotel has a restaurant which was delicious: dinner included potato crusted vegetable puree, gespacho, salmon tartar, trout with lobster gelly, chocolate flan, and strawberry million layer cake. Of course dinner was accompanied by Chablis, which is the wine of the region. Now I'm stuffed, laying in bed with a food coma combined with a day of riding and 3.5 hours of sleep the night before. Time for bed! We have Chablis and hills tomorrow!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry