nice, france

Hello again, fellow Internetians! I'm in Nice, France right now and it is completely beautiful in every way. Beautiful landscapes and sea, beautiful buildings, beautiful people, beautiful weather. Amazing. I won a bottle of wine today! I was closets to the correct number of tunnels we traveled through today! I guessed 130. The actual was 164! And I went and gambled in Monte Carlo, Monaco! Tomorrow, I'll be on a train (pretty much all day) to Paris. I've got my (ironic) book Murder on the Orient Express, my Nintendo, lots of postcards to write, and a questionnaire to answer on the trip. The train leaves at 9 and I get to Paris around 3. Anyway, just a quick little update. Talk to you guys later. Ciao!

P.S. And a happy 22nd birthday to my brother tomorrow! How awesome is it that he's got a birthday during a vacation in Europe?! Jealousy...

week one in short

So free internet is pretty hard to come by in parts of Europe, especially Switzerland, Germany, and Austria! I thought I was going to be able to post a little more frequently, but in between getting up early, staying out late, and the scarcity of interwebs, you see what can happen. Best laid plans, my friends...

Anyway,I have a few highlights for you!


Big Ben in London, England, on a typical cloudy day

Unique cornices on houses on the canals of Amsterdam

Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany. The most massive cathedral I've ever seen.

Inside one of the spires in Cologne. Yes, we hiked up 533 steps to the top of the cathedral.

Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Ahhh I can see the Von Trapp family now...

Ok, waaaaaaay over on the left, the house with the brown roof, that was Audrey Hepburn's summer home! Yeah! This is also on Lake Lucerne.

Bluebells on Mount Pilatus in Switzerland. The first bluebells I've ever seen.

Another wildflower in the Swiss mountains. No edelweiss, however. Only in early spring.

COWS!!! From the Swiss mountains. If you look close enough, you can see their cowbells. They sound really lovely, actually. And don't worry, these are milk cows.

Venezia, Italia (Venice, Italy)!! By gondola! Favorite architecture in Europe so far.

And just look who I found when I turned around in Saint Mark's Square in Venice!!! I had no idea they were here!!!

Me and the fam. Picture taken by our awesome serenader!! Love him and his accordian buddy that made funny noises and knew he was "bravo." I love Italians...

I have some video, but I think I'm going to wait until I get home and have a proper computer to post that stuff.

Anyway, I hope I get to post again soon! Arrivederci!

london, england

EDIT: So I just noticed I uploaded the wrong video here. So I deleted it. Sorry. It was bad anyway.

'Ello, Gov'nah! This is Melissa, communicating with you from London! Wow!
I don't have the obligatory telephone booth shot yet, but it's ok, because I'll be here for one more day!

PS I totally hope to improve my terrible video communication skillz and make this way more exciting to watch, so please stay with me while I mightily attempt to surmount this obstacle!! And leave me some comments while you're at it! Love you guys!

nearing the end/beginning

This is me after my calculus final. I'm so tired. So much studying. My chemistry final was ok, but my calculus final was absolutely ridiculous! So difficult! Everyone walked out of that test feeling like they just got beat on the head. We all just looked at each other and laughed that "I did what I could, but that was just stupid" laugh. You know what I'm talking about.

But summer is so close! So close!!! Aaaah, I can't wait to kick my feet up and read a book that isn't about engineering for a good while. I've got a ton of crafty, artsy projects to do that I'm so excited about. And working! I need to replenish my savings account. It's looking pretty skinny after this semester. It's all that hair dye that I've been buying. I think I'm gonna stop doing that now, too expensive for my measly college budget.

But my BIG story: Yesterday, my parents came to visit and move some of my stuff home (so my mother and I didn't have to all on Wednesday). We went out to lunch with my brother. My parents were asking me what I was planning on doing this summer. My brother has been looking for an internship, as he is about to graduate, and I said I was going to get a job, but I probably wasn't going to be a lifeguard. My mom had wanted me to be a lifeguard because it pays really well. But that really what the discussion was about. No, no, no. My parents then said "Well, we think this would be a good summer to take that TRIP TO EUROPE we've always talked about." Double take... WHAT?! "Yeah it seems like a good time to yada yada blah blah..." I nearly fell out of my chair! I've been waiting for this trip since I was 12! First it was when Melissa turns 16 we'll go, when Melissa graduates we'll go, but then my cousin was getting married in Mexico, so...

You might have some idea how excited I am, you might not. I went to Paris Spring Break of 2009 (actually the reason I began blogging!) and I absolutely fell in love with Europe. Just the thought of going back over there is giving me butterflies right now. It's still not set in stone, but when my parents mention something to us children, it's more likely to happen.

Two weeks in Europe. I might die.

Yet another reason to save money and lose a little weight: souvenirs and pictures!

january

1. My boyfriend and me at Lake Amistad in Del Rio, TX for New Year.
2. My engineering boy Javi!!! Love him!
3. The Del Rio Crew, plus adorable little Elena and wonderful Jessica.

4. Em, Sam, Tiff, and SJ at the Cathedral of Junk Day!
5. JLew at breakfast before Cathedral of Junk.

6. My ballin' pink ski pants. I know. Not very Meliss. It's my yearly dose of pink.
7. Dan and me, Park City, Utah.
8. Incredible view from the summit.

9. Delicious white chocolate, cinnamon and sugar apple.

10. Schedule for Spring 2010 at TAMU-CS

11. Where's Waldo?! @ Aggie basketball game vs. Tech

Ski Trip!

And I thought I was already chilled to the bone here in Texas!

But I'm really looking forward to freezing my buns off for a little fun! YAY SKI VACATION!

Skiing is so much fun! I'm lucky that my parents took us on trips while we were still young and taught us early. I barely remember learning how to ski. We started off in New Mexico because the mountains are smaller, less chance of us little'uns getting lost or stolen, ya know?

But our vacations aren't just about the skiing. My mom cooks almost all the meals on the trip because food elsewhere is very expensive, so meal time because a family thing. We spend so much time together and sometimes even break out the board or card games. One time, my mom taught us how to play Hearts. Too bad I don't remember anymore. My brother isn't always playing his XBox, my dad isn't always on his Blackberry dealing with work, my mom is constantly trying to clean the house or do laundry, and I'm not always on the computer. We just get so much closer, even as close as getting under each others skins.

Here are some photos from previous years:

These were in Breckenridge, Colorado. One of my favorite trips. Colorado is one of the ultimate places to ski because of the huge open "bowls"at the tops of the mountains. You can criss-cross those things all day. The other thing about Colorado that's nice, I think, is that you can still drive there. Air travel is such a hassle now that sometimes I wish I could avoid it.

The city of Breckenridge is also, like most small ski towns, adorable. Lots of little shops and mom and pop restaurants.

And these are from Park City, Utah. This was the unfortunate trip that I nearly broke my wrist on the first day. I tried to ski the last day but I was just absolutely miserable because it was super cold and super snowy. I'm surprised I was actually smiling. The one thing I did accomplish on that trip: watched all of "The Godfather" movies. Awesome.

Apparently I hadn't discovered makeup yet. Sorry! 

Park City is also a very cool place, no pun intended. It's home to one of the major film festivals in the US, like Sundance. And again, being a seasonal place, small and cute stores everywhere. And it's also fun to fly into Salt Lake City and see that area. It's a really beautiful place. We drove by the Mormon temple last time and it is quite a site.