merry christmas

Merry Christmas (I know I'm over a month late)! It's going to take me awhile to catch up on the blog especially with work being crazy, but I'll add some while I can. My Christmas was amazing. The best present was the surprise I got at the airport. Mom & dad were going to be picking me up (which don't get me wrong, I was very excited about), but when I walked out I could see mom and then out popped Kaylynn (my niece) screaming "Jenna, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna, Jenna!" and then she ran and jumped into my arms. It was adorable. Dad was holding Eli and Lainey was there too! It was great to see all of them.

Our actual Christmas celebrations took place over several days at Lainey & Josh's, Grandpa Blasdel's, Grandpa Schaefer's, and Mom & Dad's houses. Here are a few of my favorite pictures:

Kaylynn, Eli, Hayley & Hayden

Grandpa B. with Eli

Eli opening presents

Me and Kaylynn

Jared and Kaylynn

Grandpa Schaefer and the "kids"

Mom & Eli

Kaylynn and Eli opening presents

I love this goober! Her new pajamas Grandma made her, rainboots I got her, and princess headphones that are plugged into nothing...



rennes

Well, I had to take advantage of my weekend in Jersey. Since there isn't much going on in Jersey, especially in winter, I took the ferry Friday evening and spent the weekend in France!

The ferry took an hour and 20 minutes and unfortunately it was storming really bad the entire time. I sat in my seat and closed my eyes hoping we would get to St. Malo soon and hoping I wouldn't throw up. I made it, barely. I got a taxi and checked into my hotel without having to speak english and was pretty proud of myself. The woman at the hotel said told me there were a bunch of restaurants just on the next street, so I walked down and saw this sign from God: 

My french was not so successful at the Creperie because the woman asked if I wanted an english menu almost immediately. I took the menu but ended up not using it because I didn't want to order "pancake with ice", I wanted crepes!! I think it was because I haven't had good french crepes in about 5 years, but these were amazing!!! I actually laughed to myself at one point because I was so happy.

So, crepe with ham and cheese and egg for dinner:

And chocolate crepe with almonds and vanilla ice cream - oh yeah it was delicious!!

I headed back to the hotel with my stomach fully content. I woke up early the next morning and walked to the train station at 7am to catch my train to Rennes. I was extremely early, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss it and that I could figure out how to buy my ticket. I went next door to a patisserie for a pain au chocolat. My stomach was really happy with me at this point and was almost wondering why I didn't do a GDP in Bretagne just for the fact that I could eat croissants every morning and crepes every night!

After the 1 hour train ride, my train arrived about 10 minutes late in Rennes (that would never happen in Switzerland!). I walked outside looking for Julien, but couldn't find him. For those of you that don't know, Julien is my "french brother". When I studied abroad for a summer in France in 2002 (wow - 10 years), Julien and his parents were my host family. I hadn't seen Julien since 2004 (I think) when my family went to France and visited my french host family. We've kept in contact somewhat sporadically through emails and letters, but I emailed him on Monday telling him that I was in Jersey and how close I was to Rennes (where he lives now) and it worked out that we could meet up over the weekend!

Anyway, Julien spotted me and starting rattling off questions in french and I was completely overwhelmed. It started to come back slowly (and I think he started to talk a little more slowly for my benefit). We spent the morning running errands. We went to the gym where his 3.5 year old daughter takes gymnastics and I met his wife, Laurence and his 10 month old son, Tybalt. Julien and I took Tybalt and we then went to the patisserie to buy bread and pastries for lunch and then to the grocery to buy fish for lunch and then met Laurence and their daughter, Cassandre, back at their house which is about 30 minutes outside Rennes. We ate lunch (with wine of course - God I do love France) and then hung out the rest of the afternoon and evening. I played Barbies, read Little Red Riding Hood and Peter Pan in french, took a walk to see their 2 horses, and really just enjoyed everyone's company. I had bought Cassandre a Sleeping Beauty dress which came with a crown and she loved it. She threw a fit after her bath when she had to put her pajamas on!

When the kids went to sleep and Laurence was sewing a Christmas present for Cassandre, Julien and I played French Taboo and French Scrabble to practice my french! I almost beat him in Scrabble thanks to some greatly placed 2 letter words, but taboo was a different story!

I had such a great time. The funniest part was when Cassandre looked at me after having been around me all day Saturday and said "Porquoi tu ne parles pas normal?" (why don't you talk normal?). We managed though, and boy is speaking another language when you are out of practice tiring!!! I woke up with a major headache on Sunday (and no, it wasn't from the wine).

Here are a few pictures from Saturday and Sunday hanging out at the house: 

Julien and his princess crown:

Me and Cassandre:

Julien's adorable family:

Sunday after lunch, Julien drove me back to Rennes to take the train back to St. Malo. We took a quick tour around the city. We walked through the beautiful park and through a Christmas market and saw the main sites that the city has to offer.

Here is the view from the ferry leaving St. Malo:

I definitely hope I make it back to Bretagne again to visit Julien's parents and see his family again soon!

jersey

I'm spending my last two weeks in Europe before Christmas in Jersey for a work project. And no, not the Jersey Shore! Jersey is the largest of the channel islands in the English Channel. It is not part of the UK, but everyone speaks english and british pounds are the currency (technically Jersey Pounds, but they are equal in value and both are accepted). See map below - its just off the coast of Normandy France. When I got assigned on the project, I definitely had to do a google search

I arrived on Sunday afternoon and went for a run along the beach (after lunch at TGI Fridays, sometimes nothing but American food will do).

Then I went into town and walked around a bit. There was a large Christmas festival going on and then a Christmas parade!

For such a small island, the parade floats were very extensive!

curling

Our team at work went curling last Friday. It was a lot of fun. None of us had ever played, but there is a curling rink just on the outskirts of the city and the owners taught us the basics and then let us have at it. It was a lot of fun! I don't think any of us will be curling olympians anytime soon, but its a fun game because anyone can do it.

The winning team with the trophy

zurich christmas

The past couple of weeks Zurich have been absolutely beautiful (but cold)! All the Christmas lights are lit on the streets, the shops are staying open late, and it snowed!

Jelena, Daniela, and I had dinner one night followed by glühwein (mulled wine). It was so good - definitely hit the spot on a freezing cold night!

Peanut butter Christmas cookies I made:

The courtyard in the Deloitte office covered in snow: 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

I didn't have time to go to Germany for the German Christmas markets, so I went to the Zurich Christmas market which was at the main train station. I perused the stands, but didn't buy much. The Swarovski Christmas Tree is beautiful:

Credit Suisse Christmas Tree: 



minneapolis

I had to go to Minneapolis for a few days at the end of November for one of my clients. It was weird going "home" where everyone spoke my language and the road signs and restaurants and stores looked familiar, but not being home.

I was travelling with my boss and we went to the Mall of America one night to do some Christmas shopping (I mostly bought stuff for myself - woops!)

Thursday night, we met up with my cousin Janelle and some of her friends for drinks. I didn't get any pictures with Janelle, but it was great catching up!

Friday, I got chipotle for lunch - yum!!!

 And Friday night I met up with my college roommate Jordan. We had dinner, went for a drink with her friend, and then went to see Janelle's improv show, which was so much fun! Saturday Jordan and I did more shopping and had a great time catching up :)

six month mark

I feel like I keep saying this, but time is flying! November 29th marked 6 months since my family dropped me off at the Cincinnati airport. I really can't believe it. Here is a recap of the countries I've visited in the first 6 months:

1. Switzerland
2. U.S. (2 trips home and Minneapolis for work)
3. Germany (Konstanz and 2 trips to Munich)
4. Liechtenstein
5. Holland (Amsterdam)
6. Ireland
7. UK (Belfast)
8. Czech Republic (Prague)
9. Spain (Barcelona)

I'm sure this travelling will slow down over the next few months due to work and winter and the holidays, but I will definitely continue to take advantage of this opportunity to travel throughout Europe while I am here!

barcelona

Thanksgiving is just not the same when you (a) have to work, (b) aren't with your family, (c) don't get to run a Thanksgiving morning race with your friends, (d) don't go out partying the night before knowing you will regret it when you have to wake up and run 6 miles, and (e) don't stuff your face with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and of course pecan and pumpkin pie!!!

Needless to say, I was a little sad/bitter/hungry all day at work. My fellow American expats commiserated with me (Alayna and Kristin). The only thing that got me to 3pm was knowing that I was going to be able to leave then and meet Candice at the train station and head to the Basel airport to catch our flight to Barcelona!

I'd never been to Spain before so I was really excited! We spent our first night in Barcelona at a nice restaurant with our own Spanish version of a Thanksgiving feast: chorizo croquettes, paella, and sangria!

Friday morning we went and toured the city.

We went on a gondola ride over the bay (which of course Candice freaked out on because of her fear of heights). We walked along the beach a little bit and saw some truly amazing sand castles.

My favorite was the Sagrada Familia (Holy Family) Church. I think it is the most beautiful church I've ever seen (and I've seen a lot of churches during my travels). The church was started in 1882 and is still under construction. It is expected to be completed by 2030. The one side of the church is the passion scene:

Rick Steves told us about all of the symbolism built into the architecture of the church which is really cool.

The other side of the church is the nativity scene:

Barcelona is just so pretty, I couldn't stop taking pictures.

Our next stop was the Picasso museum.

Then we went to Olympic stadium:

We walked Las Ramblas many times during our weekend. I liked it best in the morning (less creeps and pickpockets).

Saturday morning I got a 10 Euro manicure which was amazing. Then we spent the day relaxing on the beach.

Unfortunately, I had to prepare to facilitate training on Monday morning, so my beach time was more work than relaxing...

 

For our last night in Barcelona, we went for some more paella and more sangria (its just to yummy). The restaurant we went to was really lively and they gave us free champagne, so we couldn't complain.

So, not my typical Thanksgiving weekend, but I really can't complain! A tiring, but awesome week and a half travelling with Candice. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends (and ate some turkey and stuffing for me!). I have so much to be thankful for this year.