Surprises from Kit-Kat and friends!

Salut tout le monde ! C'est Sabine, et j'ai été occupée avec lycée.

Recently, I received a package from Kit-Kat and friends in the mail. It was a nice surprise, especially in the midst of a crazy school week! The day I got the package started out as a great day, though; the package just made it better. I wore my new sandals, new tank, and new lace shirt to school and received many compliments. I love wearing new clothes to school!

Here I am with some of the items in the package I received. Not everything is pictured. A pretty purple dress was also included; I just know Julien's sister will love it! A pretty black and pink Eiffel Tower gift bag is also not shown in the photo.

The first thing I will show you are fun hair accessories for Sandrine. Sandrine was at one of her dance classes when I opened the package, but she saw them when she returned, and she loves them! Purple is her favorite color, she wears a lot of black, and she loves sparkles. They are perfect for her.

The next thing was for me. They are cards with bikes on them. I love to ride my bike, so these cards were a perfect choice.

I literally freaked out about the next item- a Hannah Montana shirt! I can't wait to wear it. Isn't the print cool?

The next thing was wrapped securely in a striped bag. I wonder what could be inside?

I pulled out a cute Chinese figure!

They must have gotten her for me when they went to Vancouver! I have the perfect place for her in my room.

Special thanks to Kit, Kat, and their friends for the thoughtful surprises! It was nice to come home from school to a package.

~Sabine

Une nouvelle amie

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine, et cette semaine était folle!

For those who didn't read my last post, I began school on the 3rd. Since I'm in lycée now, I have even more work in order to prepare for le bac, the big end-of-lycée exam. I realize I've been bad at blogging, and I'll probably continue to be bad at blogging until I have more free time (which most likely won't come until any of my breaks).

On my first day of school, I decided to wear this cardigan, lace tank, jeggings, and boots. I am not a fan of the boots, but Sandrine wore the shoes I wanted to wear. Of course, I wore her boots as my way of getting revenge.
The first day went well; I felt super confident in my new outfit, my cartable wasn't geeky, and I got a new cell phone. Plus, I was going to meet Julien at the park after school. He told me he wanted to discuss something important, and I was anxious to hear what he had to say.

I plopped down by the only tree at the park. My mom was probably going to kill me for sitting in the mud, but hey. There was nothing I could do about it. It was so nice to relax after a long day of learning. Plus, it was actually sunny for once!

As I went to text Julien back, I realized I couldn't because I couldn't find my phone. I freaked out! It was brand-new! Not only would my mom flip about the dirty jeggings, she'd seriously lose it if I told her I lost my new phone! My dad would even flip out on me! 

Before I could get up to look, a girl with long, dark hair approached me. In accented French, she said, "I think you dropped this."

She had my phone...she had my phone!!!! I was ecstatic! That was one less thing to worry about!

I asked her where she found it, and she told me she found it on the gravel path. It must have slipped out of my hand without me realizing it.

The girl sat down beside me, and something about her looked extremely familiar. When she introduced herself as Julieta Alonso Morales, I knew that she was Carlota Alonso Morales's older sister! They are from Sevilla, Spain. I completely forgot that she was staying with Aurélie this year! Like Carlota, Julieta is a flamenco dancer. I began to tell her about meeting Julien here, and that led into a huge discussion about my guy problems. Julieta laughed and insisted that she would be Julieta sin Romeo (Juliet without Romeo) until she finished colegio (Spanish equivalence to lycée/high school). Therefore, she said she couldn't really help me since she's never crushed on anyone or had actual guy problems. 

Julieta was super friendly and social. As a rule, I've noticed that most Spanish people are. She's nothing like her sister, though. I'm glad I won't have to worry about her crushing on Julien. She seems like she doesn't want to deviate from the whole Julieta sin Romeo thing she has going on. It sounds like she has too much of a life for a relationship, anyway. School and flamenco take up a lot of of her time, plus she's learning how to play the guitar. She also likes to cook for her family and sew her own clothes. In her free time, she likes to do things with her friends. Oh, and she's teaching herself Arabic. See, I don't really have that much of a life. I have school, homework, voice and flute lessons, friends, and obviously enough free time for boy problems. 

Julieta is what my best American friend Lilly would call "chill". So, my new goal for this school year is to make la senorita Julieta Alonso my role model! I'm going to strive to be as collected and awesome as she is. Let's hope I can do it...

~Sabine

La rentrée!

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine! Aujourd'hui, j'ai acheté beaucoup des nouvelles choses pour l'école. C'est ma première de lycée, et j'ai un peu de peur !

As many of you may know, I will be starting lycée (the French equivalent to high school) this year. In France, we have four years of collège (middle school) and three years of lycée. The education system in France is highly centralized. It does not work like it does in the US. You know how schools in the US differ on when students go back to school? In France, every student goes back on the same day. This year, our first day is September 3rd. Every student in France has the same break for Toussaint and Christmas, but our winter and spring breaks vary by zones.

We call our back-to-school period la rentrée. During la rentrée, everybody does their back-to-school shopping and prepares to go back to school. My mom took Sandrine and me shopping today. I saved a lot of money throughout the year, so I was able to buy a lot of cool, new stuff! Sadly, I'm now broke.

For my books, I bought a nice cartable. It's like a backpack, only more rectangular. We don't do backpacks in France. You have to carry a cartable to school...no "if"s, "and"s, or "but"s! Remember how I said that the education system was very centralized? Well, it's even like that when it comes to school supplies! In America, students can express their individual personalities with fun notebooks and binders and so in. In France, you get an extremely specific shopping list. This list gets as specific as the weight, color, and dimensions of notebooks, etc! We use gray pencils without erasers. We use pens WAY more than pencils. Don't even think about turning something in if it isn't in pen (and in the right color of ink). The most famous pen we use is the stylo à cinq couleurs. You've probably something like that before. We don't erase: we use white-out. EVERYBODY has the exact same school supplies as you do. There is no expressing individuality. Everybody's school supplies are the same. 

Now...onto the fun stuff...clothes! I bought this awesome belt to go with several outfits. It's definitely an investment piece since it'll go with a lot!

I love this cream lace tank I found! I got it on sale for a fraction of the original price! I can't wait to wear it!

I got a new basic black tank and an off-the-shoulder lace top.

I found this pretty white tank on sale, too. It will be a great piece for layering.

I'm IN LOVE with the short-sleeved black cardigan I bought! It is perfect for the weather now!

I also found this adorable striped tunic. I've been wanting something like this for years!

The infinity scarf I'm wearing now is also new. I love it! 

So, dear readers, when do you go back to school? Have you finished your back-to-school shopping? What do you think I should wear on my first day?

~Sabine

Accessorize it (and follow Sandrine on Pinterest)!

Salut, tous ceux qui lisent ce blog! C'est Sandrine!

When I attended the Global Outreach program in the US this summer, my friend Chrissa and I went shopping. There is a cute accessory store in America called Icing, and some of the items I saw looked enticing. I suggested to Chrissa that we go check it out. Needless to say, a few minutes later, I came out with new earrings and a hairbow!

My new earrings are sterling silver dangles with faux diamonds. I love that they go with almost everything.

For those of you who don't know me by now, I am obsessed with fun hair accessories! They really spice up the fun hairstyles that I find on Pinterest. 

Speaking of Pinterest, did you know that I have my own Pinterest account? FOLLOW ME to catch a glimpse of the things I love. If you have a Pinterest account, too, let me know your URL so I can follow you. 

Do you like hair accessories? What types of hair accessories are your favorite?

Gros bisous,

Sandrine

The Chance of a Lifetime

Coucou, c'est Aurélie!

Last month, from July 8-July 18, I had the time of my life dancing at l'école de danse de l'Opéra National de Paris's first summer ballet intensive. 

This is the first time that the school has ever really opened its doors to the general public. The school is typically very private, which is definitely more French in nature. It's so common to hear of elite ballet schools in the US, for example, hosting summer intensives, but that isn't the case in France. I considered it to be a great honor to step into a "private" world. 

It was nice to be surrounded by people who were just like me. Everybody who was selected to attend seemed to want to have a professional dance career someday. At first, I was worried that I wasn't going to have anybody to hang out with. Sandrine was definitely not an option. She's deemed me as serious competition since we first started dancing together, and that is one of the reasons that we were never and can never be friends. Sandrine doesn't like to befriend competition, and she saw the other attendees of the intensive as competition, so she mostly kept to herself and pushed herself to be the best. Rooming with Sandrine wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, either. She kept to herself and didn't talk to me. I was fine with that. I really wasn't sure what to say to her, either.

Overall, I had a wonderful experience. It was nice to work with the school's instructors and improve upon technique that would prepare me for a professional career. It was an eye-opening experience inside a world that has intrigued me since I was a little girl, and it confirmed that dancing professionally is what I want to do. Even though I had fun, it was challenging, which kept me on my toes (figuratively AND literally). 

Have you ever had a life-changing experience? What was it?

Bisous,

Aurélie

My vacation in Nice!

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine! Je dois vous dire à propos de Nice!

I arrived at my grandparents' vacation home in Nice in the late afternoon. It was so nice to finally stand after sitting on the TGV for so long!

After I greeted my grandparents with la bise (four kisses on the cheeks), I immediately unpacked my stuff. Since Sandrine was at her ballet intensive, I got a room to myself. I was thrilled about that, since I have to share a room at home. Any time I get my own space, I'm happy...even if it's just for a week and a half!

Before eating, I sprawled out on my bed and took a quick nap.

By the time we finished dinner, it was nighttime, so my family thought it would be fun to walk around Nice at night. Excuse the lower quality images; I used an old hand-me-down digital camera, and the quality isn't the best. We first headed to the Place Masséna, the main square of the city. The architecture of the buildings is more Italian than French, which is understandable since there is a large Italian influence in Nice. Actually, you can find many signs written in French, Italian, and local languages! 

Here is a photo of the square that I took the following day when it was light outside:

Nice is probably most famous for its Promenade des Anglais, a walkway along the shore. La Prom, as we call it, got its name from the multitude of English vacationers that visited years ago. Nice is not only a popular vacation spot to us French. Also, the beaches along the Côte d'Azure tend to be rockier instead of sandier. 

Have you ever wondered why the Côte d'Azure is called the  Côte d'Azure? Just take a look at the breathtaking blue Mediterranean Sea!

Here are some beautiful homes that are similar to my grandparents' vacation home:

One night, my family and I ate outdoors at a restaurant in a square filled with shops, an outdoor market, and many delicious places to eat dessert and real food, of course. There were live street performers, which is quite common in many places in France. They sang some American oldies music to lighten the mood. My favorite song they sang was "Brown Eyed Girl". I liked to pretend they were singing about me, though they probably weren't!

Afterwards, we got ice cream at a specialty ice cream shop. I had Nutella-flavored ice cream while my brother devoured some rose-flavored ice cream. We also bought some fresh raspberries- or les framboises- from a vendor. 

My brother pointed out this parody painting of the Statue of Liberty. It was pretty funny, considering that it was a gift from the French, after all....

We also saw the cutest dog in a pet store window. I wanted him to come back to Lille with us, but my parents kind-of foiled those plans.

One day, we went to the principality of Monaco, which is basically a hop, skip, and a jump from Nice. It's so close that when my brother and I went for a walk, we almost ended up in Monaco. French, Italian, Monégasque, and English are spoken and understood there. Monte Carlo is one of the largest quarters. It is home of the famous Hôtel de Paris and a grand casino. If you have seen the movie Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez, you got to see some of Monte Carlo. Although I'm not really a Selena fan, I had to watch the film to see my favorite vacation spot in the world. 

Below is a photo of Le Palais de Monaco, where the price resides. You could tour part of the interior, but you weren't allowed to take photos. Security was too alert for me to even sneak some pictures of the inside. Still, after seeing it, I realized I could handle being royalty. It wouldn't be too shabby of a life at all. 

We also visited Cathédrale Notre-Dame-Immaculée, where Princess Grace Kelly's mass was held before she was buried in the Grimaldi Family Vault. For those who aren't familiar with Grace Kelly, she was an American actress who married Prince Rainier of Monaco. Princess Grace suffered a stroke while driving, which caused her to drive down a steep cliff. She died instantly. Here is where she was buried:

I hope you enjoyed the photos! I'm currently attending a summer program in the US, and I hope to write about that soon. Sorry I procrastinated with writing my vacation post. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Nice, take it!

Did you go on vacation this summer? If so, where did you go?

~Sabine

(HUMAN NOTE: These are my actual photos from my trip to Nice in 2009.)

How to pack for vacation: a tutorial by Sabine

Salut, tout le monde! Comment allez-vous? C'est Sabine, et je suis maintenant à Nice!

My mom, dad, brother, and I left for Nice on le 8 juillet, the same day Sandrine left for her summer intensive. We took her to Nanterre via the TGV and Paris metro. Then, we headed straight to Nice. Sunday was what we French call la fête nationale (what Americans know as Bastille Day). We French don't celebrate it like Americans celebrate their 4th, though.

Obviously, I am partial to my hometown, so Nice is the second-best city in France. We go there every summer because my grandparents have a home there. That isn't uncommon in France; many people own a vacation home. Since we French are granted more vacation time than Americans, we aren't pressured to stay for just a week. Though, it's a little different for me this year. I'd stay longer, but I'm actually returning to Lille in two days. Then, I'm going to a summer program in the US; I'll be reunited with my favorite American, Lilly!

So, I'm obviously slow at posting things. My grandparents don't have the best WiFi.

My first post in my vacation series is a packing tutorial. I spent the entire day before my trip packing. I tend to over-pack since I never know what I'll need. Not a smart idea.

Before you actually try to organize your mess of clothes, you should always have good music playing in the background to make your task less daunting. I chose to put Miley's latest single, "We Can't Stop", on repeat. 

What happens when you've packed all of your stuff and can't get your suitcase to close? First, try closing it like this:

If that fails miserably, sit on it!

If that fails, you should probably jump on it:

If THAT fails, you are either out of luck or should ask if bringing an extra bag is OK. Remember, you'll probably be doing some shopping during your trip!

Fortunately, I was able to pack mostly everything in the suitcase. Nice, here I come!

I'll be posting more about my vacation in two upcoming posts. Stay tuned! You definitely want to see pictures of Nice!

~Sabine

Le premier stage d’été de l’École de Danse de l’Opéra national de Paris

Salut, tous ceux qui lisent ce blog ! C'est Sandrine. Où suis-je ? Je suis au premier stage d’été de l’École de Danse de l’Opéra national de Paris !!!! 

That's right, everybody. I am at the first summer intensive of the Paris Opera Ballet School! The intensive marks the three hundred year anniversary of the school, and it is located at the Paris Opera Ballet School, of course. Contrary to popular belief, the school itself isn't in Paris. It is outside of Paris in a town called Nanterre, and Nanterre is connected to Paris by métro. 

I feel like the luckiest girl to have gotten accepted! I was thrilled to stay in an actual dorm room, though if only I could stay in one of those rooms as an actual student. I brought some posters and a pretty rug to make the stark, white walls of the room brighter. Before I unpacked, I sat on my bed and daydreamed about my future career (because I WILL make this happen) as a dancer with the Paris Opera Ballet.

Then, I heard a knock on my door. It was my roommate. I hated having to share a room at home, so what made anybody think I wanted to share a room here? I was hoping that my roommate would be decent, but it turns out, she wasn't. It was Aurélie. I had almost forgotten that she got accepted to the summer intensive, too. 

"As-tu super envie de danser ?" She asked me in her usual, pathetically quiet voice.

From that point on, c'est la guerre. I am Sandrine Giselle Bouchard, the brightest star in the sky. Nobody will take my shine, especially Aurélie Faubert. I'm going to dance until my toes bleed and my leg muscles hurt.

We will be here until the 18th, and I will keep you updated on my wonderful, life-changing experience that NOBODY will ruin for me.

Bisous,

Sandrine