leaving france.

sadly i only have hours left in france. 

an early flight tomorrow morning + so many connections & layovers that we'll be traveling for 23 hours.  ugh. 

i have to admit, i'm not loving that i have to leave.  

but, canada will feel like home again soon enough.... i hope!

if only ontario was on an ocean.

no photos with this post, but i have a lot to catch up on ;)

my new hobby

fr9536, originally uploaded by melaniegodecki.

is being here.
why doesn't canada have a place like this for me!?
(and not for only 2 weeks in august and july)

language assistant no more.

i've officially had to say goodbye and turn in my keys. 

my contract with the school is over and my time in france is winding to an end!

here's a peek into what my school year was like. 

things always in my bag:

my classroom :)

the view from my class on the 4th floor.  yes, it is a school and not a palace.

in my final class, a student wrote me a poem and recited it. 

it was in french, and i had to translate it at home later - let's just say i'm glad i didn't understand it while sitting in class! i would have been really embarassed. :P

then we moved our lesson to the nearest cafe

other language assistants at the school - carolina from chile and ida from italy :)

and a pic of me in the bookshelf, just because. haha. 

i'll miss you lycee carnot! it's been a great year!

missing in action/having the most insane week of my life

hello bloggers. 

i'm sorry this won't be a very well prepared post.  

i am having a blast in cannes right now.  

the film festival is in full swing.  

celebrities and parties are everywhere.  (russell crowe, cate blanchette, woody allen, eva longoria!)

my friends and i will be leaving soon, and are trying to take advantage of every last second.

there are photoshoots, movie screenings on the beach, themed dinner parties, hikes, swimming in the ocean and

last night - partying at a VIP club where michelle rodrigez was the dj, p diddy the host, and cuba gooding jr and donatella versace were guests. oh and me and my girls!

we still can't believe we got in!

i only have 9 days left, and after all of this, how can i go back to real life?! haha

see you soon - loads more time to blog when this all settles.

i'm off to the beach.

'au revoir france' - a french themed party

sadly my time in france is coming to an end.  our language assistant contracts ended with april and the friends i've made over the past year are starting to leave.  and so, i present "au revoir france" our little good-bye party on the last day of our jobs. 

 i'm really pleased with how my cupcakes turned out :)

i modified elsies' dowload  for the mustaches and bubbles so they'd print better on white and made the french flags with some markers. haha.   the phrases on the bubbles include some new ones we learned since moving here.  (pls don't be offended if you speak french! ha ha)

a photo backdrop was a must, and what better than a french flag made of balloons to go with our french outfits?

 oh mr silly.  love you!

 we also enjoyed a fair amount of french wine.  dancing followed.  

a great time with some awesome friends!

thrift shopping - things i didn't buy

 another edition of the treasures at cannes' flea market :)

crazy marionettes

every war and battle imaginable

this doll would scare me as a child! she scares me now!

if these weren't so expensive.... *le sigh

p.s. happy mother's day all!

flashback - learning from the domincan republic

i propose a new feature - flashbacks.

when i can, i'll post an old photo - something from the archives of my hard drives.  maybe something from my childhood, from when i started photography, my high school life, college, or even just from before i started to blog.  you can learn a little bit more about me, and soon i'll be leaving europe and having less big adventures to tell of anyway :P

 this is one of my favourite pictures i've ever taken.

in 2000 & 2001, my high school organized "experiential learning exchanges" during spring break.  

i went twice, fundraising all year to be able to make the trek with about 6 others and a chaperone to Consuelo in the Dominican Republic. 

we didn't go to build a school, bring medicine or educate the locals.  

we went so they could educate us.
we stayed with host families who were 'middle class' in the DR, which is a developing nation.

we spent our days communicating in broken spanish, and sometimes with local translators, getting to know the people and their way of life.  

we toured sugar cane plantations and talked to people who had no food and water. it broke our hearts. 

incredibly, and the thing i remember most, is how happy these people were. 

this mother, holding her newborn son marcos, was so proud and hopeful for his future.

i haven't kept in contact with them, and i have no idea if marcos has even made it to his 10th birthday.

i look at this picture and it brings me back to earth.

it makes me realize i have it pretty damn good.

lovely berlin

here it is friends - the last installment of the northern europe trip april 2010.

after a brief moment of not thinking we'd get there, buying a really expensive train ticket, + riding 7 hours while reading orwell's nineteen eighty-four, we arrived.

it's an amazing city.

so much history and so much change.

we needed to see checkpoint charlie and the wall - of course.

the bricks run through the city showing where the wall was.

it was interesting to see damage from the war that has never been repaired.

this church was bombed as well.

the jewish memorial and holocaust museum were moving, unsettling and sombre.

the monuement is huge, full of layered rows of unmarked pillars.

the city is full of all kinds of history, but also is filled with some of the most interesting modern art and architecture in the world. it's a great juxtaposition.

resting my feet at the top of the parliament building.

our favourite activity was the hamburger banhoff museum. (not only because it was warm inside)

this 'piece' was steve's favourite. a huge room, filled with the overwhelming sounds of a football(soccer) match, complimented by the game on the little tv.

my fave was dancing displays of shadows made from random objects as they spun.

this was an unexpected surprise.

berlin we loved you :)

(and your great beer and pastries)

more pics on flickr

happy mail meet-up in london

i'm not sure if i've mentioned before that i'm involved in happy mail

but it's a lot of fun and i've 'met' some great people so far.

and there's nothing better than meeting a penpal in person!

charlotte and i were happy mail partners a few months ago, and decided to meet when i mentioned that i'd be traveling to london.

the mailboxes are cool aren't they?

first we went for lunch, then for a little window shopping.

liberty of london.

the store was massive and filled with loads of character.

i loved this mirror. and sadly this is where my camera battery died. such an amateur mistake, for me to not carry a spare. thankfully charlotte had hers and let me take some snaps.

heart-shaped tufted buttons on this loveseat!

i could never handle eating on these plates! *shudder

the little section in the back that had the stuff that's at target... love the sign.

the back entrance on carnaby street

we continued shopping along oxford and regent streets and wandered into the huge anthropologie store. beautiful!

check out the giant living wall - all real plants :)

& i know london is known as a fashion capital of the world, but there are some clear strike-outs.

(this was not at anthro. haha)

charlotte, i'm so thrilled that we were able to meet up and hang out! i had a blast.

maybe we'll meet in asia next time? need more curry.