A Pictorial Update

It's been a while since I've updated, and actually I've been up to quite a bit in the last week or so.  In recent news, I'm officially on "Winter Break" and my friend Lucy is in town for a visit.  Rather than explaining everything, here are a bunch of photos to liven things up:

Last week a few of the girls came to Blaye to meet me for lunch.  Here we are at the citadel, before we started climbing all over potentially unsafe stone walls/archways.

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to the Dune du Plya in Arcachon.  Probably one of the best days ever - here's the dune, which is the tallest in Europe. 

Pretty steep...

View from the top = totally worth the struggle

So pretty!

Luce and I at the top of the dune

The whole group - isn't this place SO COOL?

Emily had the good sense to stick to the recommended path on her way down the dune.  Kristina and I slid down on our asses/rolled in spirals/sprinted (you wouldn't even believe the amount of sand I found in my pants later) and ended up going towards the forest instead of the exit.  Oops.  

Today (Sunday) after a lovely brunch at my favorite cafe in Bordeaux, we climbed to the top of the Tour Pey-Berland, which is right in the center of town and has a pretty sweet view from the top.  Another beautiful day.  

It's starting to look like Spring here, and combined with the fact that I have the next two weeks off (and during those two weeks I'll be going to Rome, Milan, and Prague) my mood has been somewhere in the realm of "absolute bliss."  Can't complain.