relax.

11:00 PM Thursday August 28 - Not going to Hossegor
11:30 PM Thursday August 28 - On the phone with Matt Cochran and looking at train tickets for the hell of it
12:00 AM Friday August 29 - BOUGHT A TICKET
5:45 PM Friday August 29 - ON A TRAIN TO HOSSEGOR

So some friends from my old internship, Fuel TV, were filming the Rip Curl women's surf contest in Hossegor, France this weekend. I had known about it for a while and had been considering going down to visit them for a while, but never got around to actually getting a ticket. So my decision to go to Hossegor this past weekend was probably the most spontaneous decision I've made in quite some time. One minute I wasn't going, the next, I had a ticket! I'm so glad that I made it there though!

I took a train to Dax, a town 30 minutes or so from Hossegor. Matt picked me up and we got back to the hotel around 11:30 PM on Friday night. We met up with Shannon and Sean and headed down to the beach for a party. The contest had just finished and they were free pretty much free for the rest of their stay. There was a Latin music festival going on that night so we found some live music, tons of people, and ohhhh a lot of alcohol.





Highlights of the night:

1. Shannon getting mistaken as Gustavo Kuerten, the famous Brazilian tennis player, all night long. GUGA!
2. Speaking drunken (yet better) French with Bastien, a scrawny french kid who claimed he worked security for Rip Curl.
3. Bottcher, Cochran, and Shannon all thinking that "BON SOIR BITCHES" was an appropriate way to pick up girls.
4. Being the perfect amount of intoxicated all night long
and oh so many more.

We got back around 4 AM and passed out till 10 AM. The boys had to film some interviews for around two hours. I tagged along and watched them work. Afterwards we had lunch in Hossegor, got some ice cream (delicious!), picked up some stuff at the store, and then back to the hotel for the pool!




After that, Bottcher and Shannon went golfing (!) and Matt and I went to the beach. It was so great to the ocean again after so long. It started to get really cold and then it rained a couple of hours after that. Lame, but actually still kind of nice. We went out to dinner at this sea food restaurant. Cochran and Shannon shared a rather large plate of deliciousness. Then we went out to the same area we went to the night before and did a little bar hopping.







Highlights of night number 2:
1. Shannon being SO SO SO excited during dinner.
2. The return of GUGA.
3. Bottcher getting dirty looks from an old lady.
4. Bottcher taking pictures through his drink.
5. Being the perfect amount of intoxicated all night long
and oh so many more.

The next day we took a drive down to Biarritz! It was a gorgeous day out and Biarritz is such a great town! Had lunch on the beach, Shannon and Matt went in the water and surfed a bit. Sean and I sat on the beach and chatted.








Highlights of Biarritz:
1. The beach!
2. Getting in trouble with the hotel man for sneaking in on ping pong.
3. The ridiculousness of how much the boys loved France's topless beaches
4. Bottcher, aka the encyclopedia of random facts.
5. not being intoxicated all day long
and oh so many more.

Took a train from Biarritz to Bordeaux and then Bordeaux to Paris. Jean-Marc picked me up (yay!). Got home, showered, DID FRENCH HOMEWORK, passed out at 2:30/3 ish and woke up at 7:30 for class.

Train tickets: ~165 Euros
Drinks: 25 Euros
Seeing people from home that I absolutely LOVE: priceless!

It was truly an amazing weekend. I was so grateful and so happy to see some familiar faces from home. I'm not homesick, and I love my friends here in Paris, but it's definitely not the same as having my friends from home around. It was good to hang out with the guys. They're all such wonderful individuals that are so talented at what they do and have so much to offer the world. It was such a rejuvenating weekend!

Back in Paris, ready to conquer the world!


En Fin