Ma Vie est Belle: day and night.

My last post I talked about Eastern Europe, traveling, and the cold. My life at the moment could not be more different: I haven't left Rennes in over a month, I have had some pretty important visitors, and the weather has been painfully perfect. For the past two weeks we have nothing but sunshine and summer weather meaning drinks outside, a sunburn and lots of park time.

Very shortly after I got back from vacation, my parents came to visit for a few days before they continued to Mont Saint Michel, Normandy and Paris. We had such an amazing time. We ate a ton, rented a car and traveled to a nearby town for the day (in the wind and rain), hung out in my apartment, they attended a class (an advanced debate on prostitution nonetheless), and spent some time with my friends eating cheese and drinking wine. Pretty ideal. As always, I'm feeling a bit lazy in my description of what we did so here are some photos to give you a good idea of our time together ...

ok so not really having to do with my parents visit, but i made
dates stuffed with goat cheese wrapped in proscuitto with dates
lindsay brought back from morocco. bomb.com doesn't even begin
to explain how good they were.

we had a little cocktail party so my friends could meet my parents

there was lots of chat

and inevitably a bit of dancing in the end ...

on sunday we drove to dinan which is northwest of rennes.
it is the cutest town - super picturesque.

mom and dad at a crêperie in dinan.

view from the top. absolutely beautiful.

hello wind.

basilica in the center overlooking the valley.

A little less than a week after my parents left, my friend Allison came to visit. We have known each other since our first days at Elkhorn and we have remained extremely close despite the fact we have never lived in the same place. Al isn't completely keen on traveling, especially overseas, so it was a big deal to have her here and we had the most amazing time here. The weather behaved itself the whole time and she was able to see all aspects of my life. We ate at some of my favorite restaurants, we had a game night so she could meet my friends, we sat for endless hours in the sun both in the park and drinking coffee outside, she came to school for a whole day with me and then we were able to spend three incredible days in Paris where we lounged and caught up on bad TV. Her visit was such a tease as it was the most time we have spent one on one and I wish she could have stayed longer! We are all very excited though because her new HBO show 'GIRLS' is coming out on April 15th so don't forget to watch! Here are some highlights from our trip ...

the best ice cream in rennes in the sun.

game night gets competitive.

my team. the best team.

the other team. their affection for the dog soon became an
obsession. yet they still won ...

berit explains her drawing.

soon to be birthday girl!

I was sad to watch my parents and Al go, but I don't have much time here and the weather has been so gorgeous so I have definitely been taking advantage of it spending as much time as possible outside and with my friends. Plus, vacation is coming up in one week (yup, that's right ... another vacation.) I'm going to stay in Rennes for the first week to hang with friends and celebrate Easter, afterwords I will go to Montpellier and Toulouse with Helen and Lindsay. Hopefully the south will be nice enough for some beach action?

Je vous laisse regarder les photos. A bientôt!