Tuesday, March 24, 2015

UPDATE FROM ME

Hi everyone! I'm really sorry for keeping you all in the dark. With all the stress surrounding school and college right now, I am going to be taking a month-long hiatus.

That being said, my Twitter and Instagram will still be updated regularly, but my blog will not.

Thanks for understanding.

xoxo, Leena

Thursday, March 19, 2015

SPRING BREAK PART 3

Day 3 was a day of travel.  We just kept stopping and visiting places when we could. Our first stop was Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye in Poissy, France.  



After spending time there, we got back in the bus and drove to Bayeux in Normandy to visit one of my personal favorite piece of art, the Bayeux tapestry.  This 70-meter long tapestry tells the story of the Battle of Hastings.


We continued our day with a trip to the D-Day beaches and the American Cemetery and Museum.



We finally got to Caen for our night there. We went to dinner (which was really weird) and then were allowed to have some free time.  This basically meant that we could wander the streets for an hour at night.  We ended up meeting a woman from Texas, and managed to get on the roof of our hotel.  Definitely a fun day :)

xoxo, Leena

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

SPRING BREAK PART 2

Day 2 in Paris was an interesting one.  We started off with a fascinating bus tour (that I slept through) followed by an educational trip to the Pantheon (which we weren't allowed to go into) and then lunch at a cafe (the highlight of my day).


We then headed to Notre Dame Chartes, the first cathedral to use flying buttresses. Aside from the hilarious name, Chartes was really cool.


After Chartes, we drove back to Paris for dinner and a night at the famous and wonderful Eiffel Tower. 


We also met Rico from Hannah Montana (he has really long fingernails)

xoxo, Leena


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

SPRING BREAK PART 1

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so lame! I just returned from my spring break trip last night and I've finally gotten around to writing a blog post.  

I went on a trip over spring break with my AP Art History class.  We visited France and London and spent the whole time looking at art and architecture. It was an amazing trip.

I decided that y'all would probably enjoy going through the trip day by day with me (or at least I thought that would be fun) so I'll start that today.
 We landed in Paris at 5:15 in the morning.  Definitely not ideal, but a few Redbulls and a nap on the bus made it not that bad.
 We dropped off our bags and headed over to the Louvre, where I was the token American and pulled out my selfie stick for a picture with the Bieze fam (my teacher and his family) and my friends Annie and Sarah.
Us and Bieze kids (they are freaking adorable)

 Once we finally got into the Louvre (which took a beautiful hour and a half), we walked around, found some really cool stuff (aka the Rubens hall and the Stele of Naram-Sin).
Here are my friends. The guy is Callen, and the two girls are Annie (brunette) and Sarah (blonde).  They are close friends of mine and the people I spent the entire trip with :)

A lot of the art was really cool, but my favorites would have to be all of the sculptures. Annie thought this one looked like a selfie :)
We then popped over to the Pompidou, France's biggest modern art museum, to see a Jeff Koons exhibit. (For those who don't know, Jeff Koons is an awesome sculptor and artist who creates these killer pieces that comment on American society and values.)
But we had to stop on the way to ride the Carousel.  



When we were at the Pompidou, we had to do this meeting in front so that we knew when to meet back and some information about the art. So picture like 38 American tourists standing in a big huddle.  This guy in these drawstring pants comes over, and decides its a great time to flash us! It was admittedly funny but also really really weird and our tour guide and our teacher started yelling at him in French. It was hilarious.

So after the Pompidou, we went to Notre Dame Paris, which is this huge Gothic cathedral in Paris. 
 Overall, my first day in Paris was exhausting but fantastic, and I loved it!

xoxo, Leena