Miss Graduate

I graduated!

After a long 5 years with all these kids, we are all separating. 

It was a sad ceremony, but I think that we all enjoyed it as well. It has been an amazing journey and I am going to miss them all an unimaginable amount, but I wish them all nothing but success in the future. 

Europe Trip- Part Four

Dad and I

Arc de Triumph

Paris

Blurry, but you can see the
Eiffel Tower well

We got on the Eurostar from St. Pancras Station and got off at Gar De Nord Station in Paris. There were a whole bunch of creepy people at the station. One drunk guy started talking in French to us and was probably trying to sell us these wilted flowers. Paris was disgusting and dirty and crowded and smelly. Apart from that there were a lot of thieves and scammers and pickpockets and crazy people. My aunt Marisa came to pick us up from the station. Then we walked with her two kids, Isabel and Nathaniel, to an Indian restaurant where we all ate. Then Neil and Kiren decided to go back to aunt Marisa's house in Poissy while my parents and I took the subway to downtown Paris. The subway stations were disgusting and dirty and covered in graffiti. We took the train down to the Arc De Triumph, after getting lost a few times because no one at the station spoke English. We walked down the Champs Elysess and went into the huge Sephora store and took lots of pictures. There was also a HUGE H&M there too. Then we went back to Poissy to my Aunt Marisa's. She lived right next to a high security prison, which was really cool. The prison we where Carlos the Jackall was being held. 

Mom and Dad in Sephora

Macaroons!

Sacre Coer

The next day we woke up and got ready really early. It was drizzling the whole day, which made for a miserable walk to the train station. We took the train to the Sacre Coer, the church for the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Next we went to the most adorable macaroon bakery. We bought Pista, Raspberry, Almond and Caramel Sea Salt flavors. I liked the Rasperry the best, but Caramel Sea Salt was pretty close :) We also got lollypops. Then we went to Notre Dame Cathedral. We had to wait in line to get in. Next we went to the main attraction....... The Eiffel Tower!! We didn't go in because tick,lllets were all sold out, but it started raining really hard. I just wanted to take a few pictures and leave by that point. Next we took the bus to see the Louvre. The rain had died down a bit by then, but we still were happy to get in and out of the cold. We walked around a bit before leaving and heading to Illy, a coffee shop. The hot chocolate was literally melted chocolate. It was just pure chocolate with some dots of cream on top. Then we went to a Mc Cafe. And guess what we saw! They were selling the most amazing macaroons and flan. I loved it so much and wished that they had one in the US :(

Eiffel Tower

Illy Hot Chocolate

Frankfurt

View of Frankfurt

We left Paris early Tuesday morning to leave for the area that most touched our hearts. Germany was just a well of memories for us. We arrived at Oma and Jenny's house after a few stops. We had hit 200 km/h on the Autobahn, which was definitely fun for all of us. We relaxed for a bit before heading over to Rolinda Grandma and Princeton Grandpa's house. We saw Priya and planned out the next day before heading back to Oma's. She bought two brand new mattresses just because we were coming. Suffice to say, we all slept very well :) 

Oma and Jenny

The next day we ate croissants and jam before leaving to go to my old kindergarten and visit our old house. My old school was closed already, but we looked around a bit. Then we went to a small mall that mom and dad had been to many times when they lived in Germany. We stopped at the grocery store and bought lots of chocolate! Then we went to Grandma Alphona and Grandpa Sorius's house. Then we made a mad dash to the Ziel Mall where we were going to meet up with some old friends. Priya and Bindu took me around to all the shops and we met up with Aunt Jana, Uncle Stephen and Stena. It felt so good to meet up with everyone again.

Kiren and Stena

View from the living room

 Switzerland

Nithika and I

Soooo cute!

I'm going to tell you first, I loved Switzerland. It was beautiful and relaxing and lots of fun, so I might be a litttlllee bit biased :) We left Germany early Thursday morning, making a stop in the Black Forest on our way to Switzerland. The views were breathtaking, like they were taken straight out of a panoramic postcard. We drove the 5 hours and they went by fast. Finally we reached our little HUGE guesthouse! It was fully furnished with 3 bedrooms. Mom and dad slept in one, Nina, Aunt Dula and Uncle Kandiban slept in the other and all the kids slept in the room with 4 beds (two bunk beds). It was so much fun! The next day we went on a waterfall hike and then went into the town of Interlaken. Today we took a train and then hiked up to another waterfall. Most of our time is spent relaxing, and it feels a lot like a vacation, unlike how the rest of our trip has been!


-------------------------------------------------------------

A special thank you to EVERYONE that we met on our trip. The fact that you all came out to visit when we were there for such a short time makes us all feel so special! We love all of you and hope that you come to visit us soon here in the good ol' USA.

Much love,
Yuna