Little Corner of Ania

Ahh. I think I’m starting to stress down. A little bit. I’m practically done with my exam (well ahead of the deadline, yay me), and I just got my MA proposal approved (double-yay). I’m so looking forward to relax (or maybe freelance a little bit) & really get started on the Christmas-preparations (and to sit down and scrap – it’s been too long!!!).

But first – I’d like to share a few of the images from my trip to Paris :)
I believe most of them are shot with my iPhone (all the square ones are) – I did lug my huge camera along, but often it felt delightfully deliberating just whipping up the iPhone instead of the big cam from the bottom of my bag. I’m curious about the quality of printing now, as I did not check that in advance before I left. GUess I’ll find soon enough!!

Xmas at the airport in Amsterdam, where I had to swap flights.

I didn’t realize until after I left that I had snapped a piccie of the sugarfree chocolate. It still looked delicious! I purchased a huge chunk of the white chocolate one – and ate it last night – yum!!

I always knew the Netherlands were below water. When I was little I found that fact truly mindboggling. I imagined you could walk along the seashore and it would be like, a steep hill high, high above you where the water would threat to spill down on you. It must be scary to live there, I thought. Nevertheless, the little I saw of Netherland while flying in and out, was like, lots of water in between the land. Maybe it was just the area we flew above, Wiki says  only 18,4% of the area is water, but ohwell.

In Paris, I was met by Mari, my husbands cousin. She truly took good care of me, showing me the city the way she knew it (She’s been living in France for like 9 years or so, most of them in Paris. For the moment being she lives in Montpellier and we can’t wait for the day when we can visit her and her husband for real. Hopefully soon!)

First we needed to put away our luggage safely, before we could explore the city and stuff. Random images from the day:

Then we had some margaritas (well, I had)

I really love this image, I put the iPhone low on the ground to get the leaves in the foreground too.

And this row of bicycles!

Mari and her friend fetchin’ us a taxi (so noisy, yet I love this image)

Big Brother is watching you…

The next day we rented the city-bikes and biked around – such a wonderful, awesome way to explore the city! Lovesit

My bike!

One last thing to note. I’m glad I had Mari as guide. I did download some free apps in advance, like Paris guides and stuff, but apparently most of them required being able to connect to the Internet, which’s like, darn expensive abroad. So they were not used at all. I also had most of my notes and stuff on my iPhones Evernote (like flightnumber, information on how to get where), which – you guessed it – also req. Internetconnection. Ugh. (If I’m wrong about the latter do let me know though).

Then it was time for me to go to Malesherbes and PACS. It took longer than I thought to get there, and it was dark when I did.

Here are some of the images from my classes. I think I took most images the first day, then some the second, and by the third I was too exhausted and too mellow to take any pictures *blush*

I had the best time at PACS.

My helpers were the best. They put up with me even if I had to send them back to the kit-room twice or more because I forgot to add some instructions about the things I missed for my classes. They helped me explain things I wasn’t even sure how to explain myself. They made me sound more eloquent in French (I hope ).

My students were the best too. They put up with me and my instructions & suggestions. They worked hard and excellent at all the projects we did. And if they found me boring they made the best of the situation (I’m not the most chatty teacher out there, which worried me slightly. My students the last day seemed to appreciate that though, as it was a bit of a “the day after” day and everybody was exhausted ).

The other teachers. Oh my, what a bunch of amazing ladies. I’m so glad I got to go there and meet them, some whom I’ve only like, stalked around online. They were such great company. Julie and Nathalie, both of whom I’ve admired and stalked for a few years. They were just like I imagined them, really. And too darn funny together, they kept bouncing off each other all the time, like an old couple. Loves ya. I truly hope I get to meet you girls again. Mou, whom I shared my very first manufacturer-DT with years ago (Luxe Designs ). Too sweet and makes you want to really look after her. Oh, and she hadn’t seen real snow until PACS! Vicki, my bighearted roomie, whom had to endure me sighing while asleep (sorry! Apparently I keep making different noises when asleep, like laughing and singing and whining…this time I just sighed, she claims). Linda, who kept me company Caroline, Safo, Erin, Isabelle and Lydia (technically not a PACSteacher per se, but still ). I’m so glad I got to meet you all

And to Celine and PACS, thank you so much for having me, and for making sure things went smoothly .) And to Caroline and Celines father, my drivers…thank you so much for your extra help!

And now, stealing some pictures…I think it’s from Celines camera (or the one used for the group-pictures):

Adding this one because I actually looked somewhat decent & slimmed down in it…it’s the angle <3 Me and my helper Ariane

Right – long post once again. I think I need sleep now then I’m ready to start scrapping again!