Turning 20 in MIAMI !!!

Salut tout le monde! 

Je rentre juste d'un super cool weekend avec mes amis Yasu et Yuki à Miami. Malgré le temps (il a plu de temps en temps) on a passé un bon moment dans cette ville chaude!

On a décidé d'aller là bas pour le weekend de mon anniversaire, et oui, je viens juste d'avoir 20 ans!!! Plus qu'un an et je pourrais enfin aller en boite aux States haha. 

Vendredi 15 Avril: 

On est parti de New-York le matin et sommes arrivés à Miami dans l'après-midi. Nous sommes allés à notre auberge: "Bikini hostel" pour poser nos affaires. On a été surpris par la chaleur et l'humidité, on est pas habitués à ça à New-York haha. On était dans une chambre pour six mais quand on est arrivés on était les seuls donc on espérait être seuls mais malheureusement trois autres personnes sont arrivées plus tard. Après, nous sommes allés faire quelques courses pour le séjour (on a acheté un pack de 24 bouteilles d'eau pour survivre à la chaleur haha) et nous sommes allés dinner. Plus tard, nous sommes rentrés à l'auberge. 

Samedi 16 Avril: Dernier jour dans "ma vie d'ado" haha. 

On s'est réveillés, avons pris le petit déjeuné et avons décidé d'aller voir la mer et marcher le long d'Ocean Drive (une avenue connue à Miami). Après, on s'est baladés dans Miami Art Deco District. On a mangé dans un restaurant français: "Otentic Restaurant", Yasu et Yuki ont été aventureux et ont essayé les escargots, bizarrement, ils ont aimé! J'ai commandé une salade et un gratin dauphinois, c'était très bon et plutôt similaire du français. Après le repas, nous sommes retournés à l'auberge pour se reposer un peu car nous n'avions pas bien dormi la veille. 

Plus tard, Yasu et moi sommes allés à un restaurant appelé "Yardbird Southern Table & Bar". Yuki est allé rencontré une de ses amies Japonaise. Nous avons mangé du poulet frit avec des gaufres salées et de la pastèque, intéressant mélange... On a fini le repas sous la pluie, la moitié de mon corps était trempée haha. Heureusement la pluie s'est arrêtée et Miami est une ville chaude donc mes habits ont séchés vite. Après le dinner nous sommes allés marcher près de la plage, il faisait tellement de vent! Après nous avons rejoint Yuki et sa pote sur Ocean Drive et sommes allés boire un verre ensemble sur Lincoln Road. A minuit, nous avons célébré mon anniversaire et sommes rentrés à l'auberge. J'ai eu une surprise de mes amis d'EF et de France, Yuki a fait une vidéo avec eux me souhaitant un joyeux anniversaire, j'étais vraiment contente et émue. 

Dimanche 17 Avril: Jour d'anniversaire!!!

Le matin, nous sommes allés aux Everglades, c'est un parc national où l'on peut faire un tour de bateau et voir des crocodiles dans des marais ainsi que des plantes spéciales et d'autres animaux. On a aussi vu un spectacle avec un gars surnommé "Gator boy", sa spécialité est d'attraper les alligators à mains nues, plutôt impressionnant. 

Dans l'après-midi nous sommes retournés à Miami et sommes allés à Downtown pour visiter "Little Havana". L'ambiance est sympa là bas. Après, on a repris le bus pour aller à "Bayside Marketplace", on est restés là bas un moment et après on est allés à un restaurant près d'Ocean Drive connu pour ses spécialités de crabe "Joe's". Malheureusement j'ai été un peu malade, probablement à cause d'une allergie alimentaire mais je me suis sentie mieux après une nuit de sommeil. 

Lundi 18 Avril: Dernier jour. 

On était sensés se lever tôt pour aller à la plage mais Yuki et moi n'avons pas pu se lever car on était trop fatigués. Nous avons quitté l'auberge vers  11h et sommes retournés à Downtown pour aller à Wynwood, c'est un endroit où il y a plein de street art, j'ai adoré! C'est l'endroit que j'ai préféré à Miami. Après, nous avons mangé à "SuViche Lynwood", un restaurant qui mélange la nourriture Japonaise et Péruvienne, plutôt intéressant. 

Avant de quitter Miami, nous sommes allés à "Vizcaya Museum & Gardens" et avons marchés dans les jardins et le musée, c'était sympa. 

Vers 16h, nous avons pris le train pour aller à l'aéroport à Fort Lauderdale, nous sommes arrivés à NY vers 23h et je suis arrivée chez moi vers 1h30, j'étais super fatiguée! 

J'ai vraiment passé un bon moment avec Yasu et Yuki pour mon weekend d'anniversaire, merci à eux d'être venu avec moi!

Spécial remerciement à mes amis géniaux qui ont participé à ma vidéo d'anniversaire et à Yuki qui les a amené à moi. 

A très bientôt, bisous,

Margot! 

Hey y'all! 

I just came back from a really nice weekend with my friends Yasu and Yuki in Miami. Despite the weather (it was raining sometimes) we had a really good time in this hot city. 

We decided to go there the weekend of my birthday, yes, I just turned 20!!! Just one year and I will be able to go to club in the States haha. 

Friday, April 15th:

We left New York in the morning and arrived in Miami in the afternoon from Fort Lauderdale international airport. Then we went to our hostel: "Bikini hostel" to let our stuffs. We were suddenly surprised by the heat and humidity, we are not used to that in NY haha. We were in a six beds room; when we arrived we were the only one so we hoped we will be alone but unfortunately three other people arrived later. After that, we went to do some grocery shopping for our stay in Miami (lot of bottles of water to survive haha) and went to have dinner. Later, we came back to Bikini hostel. 

Saturday, April 16th: Last day in my "teenage life" haha. 

We woke up, had breakfast and decided to go to see the beach and walk along Ocean Drive (a famous avenue in Miami). Then we walked around Miami Art Deco District. We had lunch in a French style restaurant: "Otentic Fresh Food Restaurant", Yasu and Yuki were adventurous and tried snails, strangely, they liked it! I ordered a salad and "gratin dauphinois", it was really good and pretty similar from the French one. After, we went back to the hostel to take some rest because we didn't have a really good night before so we were tired. 

Later, Yasu and I went to an American style restaurant called "Yardbird Southern Table & Bar". Yuki went to meet is Japanese friend. We ate fried chicken with salty waffles and watermelon, interesting mix... We finished our meal under the rain, half of my body was totally wet haha. Fortunately, the rain stopped and Miami is warm so my clothes could dry pretty quickly. After dinner, we went for a walk near the sea, it was so windy! Then we joined Yuki and his friend on Ocean Drive and we had a drink on Lincoln Road. At midnight we celebrated my birthday and went back to the hostel. I had a good surprise from my friends from EF and from France, Yuki made a video with them wishing me happy birthday, I was so pleased and touched. 

Sunday, April 17th: Birthday day!!!

On the morning, we went to Everglades National Park. It's a place where you can have a boat tour  in a swamp and see crocodiles, some special plants and birds. We also saw a show with a guy nicknamed "Gator boy", his speciality is to catch alligators, pretty impressing. 

On the afternoon we went back to Miami and went to Downtown to discover "Little Havana". The atmosphere was nice there. Then, we took the bus to go to "Bayside Marketplace" , we stayed a while there and later went to "Joe's" a famous crab restaurant near Ocean Drive. Unfortunately I got a bit sick probably because of a food allergy but I felt better after a night of sleep. 

Monday, April 18th: Last day. 

We were supposed to wake up early to go to the beach but Yuki and I were too tired and couldn't wake up. So we left the hostel around 11am and went to Downtown again to go to "Wynwood". This place is surrounded by street art, I loved it!! It's the place I preferred the most in Miami! Then we went to have lunch in "SuViche Wynwood", this restaurant mix Japanese and Peruvian food (such as sushi and ceviche), pretty interesting. 

Before leaving Miami, we went to "Vizcaya Museum & Gardens" and walked around the gardens and the museum, it was really nice. 

Around 4pm, we took the train to go to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, we arrived in New York around 11pm and I came back home around 1:30am. Such an exhausting time! 

I had a really good time with my friends Yasu and Yuki for my birthday weekend, thank you guys for joining me in that trip and for celebrating my birthday with me! 

Special thanks to my amazing friends who participated in my birthday video and to Yuki who brought them to me. 

See you soon, xoxo,

Margot!

Six months in the States!!!

Hi guys!

It's been already half a year since I came to New York; we don't see how time flies until we realize that only two months left before we go back to our country... I already had to say goodbye to a lot of friends who already went back to their countries, saying goodbye to people you've been with for a while is so hard, I think I will never get used to it. Now for me, going to the airport represents saying goodbye to another friend again, I recently hated going there.
Since I wrote last time, as always, I did and saw a lot of things, I want to enjoy everything as much as possible!
First, about school, I have been in Neil's class for about two months (January and February) but then I decided to take the TOEFL preparation class so I had to change my class. So now I'm in Shane's class again since three weeks but I think we will have to change again after the holidays.
Last month, people who were leaving in February/March had their EF graduation, we all went there to see them.
As I said last time, my friend Hiroki left more than a month ago now, we spent time together before, we went to the city, went to party in White Plains...and then went to the airport to say goodbye to him. He was the first of "my Japanese group" to leave so it was kind of sad.
Few days after Hiroki, we had to say goodbye to our classmate and friend Vera, after six months with us, she went back to China.
Our teacher Neil organized a carnival like a fundraiser to earn money for a children's hospital, we helped him to organize the event, we had to draw some posters and prepare some games.

On week after that, as you saw in my last article, my friend Anaïs from high school came in New York to visit me for a week!! We had a good time together and she could meet my friends from EF so I was happy. I'm not going to talk about that more in detail because there is an article and a video only about this week just before. 

By the way, during that time, I decided to try something different and I dyed my hair with Jessy's and Anaïs's help. First I had to bleach them and then I dyed them in green. I kept the color for a month but I just dyed them black again. 

After Anaïs left I wanted to enjoy time with Yusuke because he was leaving exactly one week after. We went to the city, did shopping in SoHo again and again, walked around Central Park, went to Top of the Rock to see the view (Yusuke went there when he arrived in NYC so he wanted to go again before he left), went to restaurants, went to party in White Plains (Jessy also came with us, it was our first party together!!)... We spent really good moments together, so that was even harder to say goodbye after that aha. 

Now, he left since three weeks already, I still feel weird to don't be here with him and Hiroki anymore, our group is getting smaller. Shoya is also leaving really soon so that's pretty sad but the only thing to do it's to enjoy and have fun until the end! We have this joke with Yuki, we say that him and Yasu will be "The last samurais" in EF because they are the last ones to leave.

Recently we are just hanging out with Shoya and Yuki, spending time together at school or in the city.  About two weeks ago, we had a crazy sneakers adventure, we woke up at 3h30 to go to the city and get really rare sneakers in a shop called KITH, we had to wait five hours under the snow and the cold but it worth it haha. 

Last weekend, we decided to visit another city together before Shoya leaves. We went to Philadelphia for a day with Yasu, Yuki and Shoya. Yasu planned our day trip. We woke up early to take the train to New York City and then take the bus to Philadelphia. We walked around the town, ate the famous "Philly cheese steak", went to see the statue of Rocky, visited Penn University and had dinner... We came back home pretty late so it was an exhausting day but we had a really good time! 

These days I just spend a lot of time with Shoya and Yuki, I just want to enjoy as much as possible with them. We went to party in White Plains, we went to a place I never went before in New York City, Chelsea Market and then walked around Highline. We randomly met Jennifer and her mom in Grand Central. Actually I didn't realize they were there, Yuki saw them, that shows how small is the world haha. 

Yesterday, I spent my last day with Shoya, we had a really nice time together. We went to Central Park with Yuki and him, walked around and took some nice pictures. He is leaving on Sunday but my mom is coming today so I won't be able to hang out with him anymore. Fortunately I will see him on Sunday to say goodbye. 

As I said before, today my mom is coming, she will stay with me until the end of vacation (April 3rd). We are going to Boston tomorrow until Sunday, then we will come back to NYC because I want to say goodbye to Shoya at the airport and then after that we will go to Toronto until Friday. At the end we will spend a few days in New York City.

See you soon,
xoxo, Margot!

Margot & Anaïs in New York

Hi everyone!

My friend from high school Anaïs just came for a week to visit me. We spent a lot of time in the city trying to enjoy as much as possible despite of the freezing weather. 

We did a lot of sightseeing and shopping in a short time. She had the occasion to meet my friends here and also spend time with them. We decided to film a video during the week, it was pretty fun. 

I went to the airport on Friday 12th to take her and she just left few hours ago. 

Last Saturday we went shopping on Fifth Avenue and then to Central Park to ice skating with Shoya, Yusuke, Yuki and Yasu. Then we went to the restaurant Planet Hollywood. The guys are bad for ice skating, it was so funny! 

On Sunday we spend the day with Yusuke and Yuki, walking around Brooklyn, having good lunch and taking some pictures.

On Monday we went to an outlet to do some shopping, at the end of the day it started snowing but fortunately we still were able to go back home. 

On Tuesday Anaïs came with me to school, she realized how relax is my teacher haha...

On Wednesday we went to the Metropolitan Museum, we took pictures like Serena and Blair on the steps of the Met in Gossip girl and then we went to Top of the Rock. We had to wait for around one hour but the view was really nice though. 

On Thursday I just went to class and then we had lunch in Osaka, the Japanese restaurant in Tarrytown. 

On Friday we spent the whole day in the city because its was Anaïs's last day. First we went to the Statue of Liberty, the weather was pretty nice so we could enjoy it. Then we went to Soho and then we met Shoya at the MoMa. After that we had dinner with the guys on Times Square. 

Today we just took rest at home and then went to the airport. 

We had a really nice week together, as always time flies, I realize how fast days last. I three months I will be back in my country. 

See you guys soon,

xoxo, Margot! 

Des nouvelles des Etats-Unis / News from the USA #2

Salut, c'est moi!

Oh mon Dieu que le temps passe vite! Je sais que j'avais dis que j'écrirais plus régulièrement et je reviens finalement après plus de deux mois. J'avoue que je suis très très occupée ces temps ci et que je ne ressentais pas le besoin d'écrire. Je n'ai pas trop eu de retour à propos du blog, que ce soit par EF ou autre donc je ne voyais pas trop de raisons d'écrire. Le temps passe à une allure folle tellement que je n'en reviens pas, j'ai juste envie de profiter autant que possible de mes moments ici. Bref j'ai finalement un moment pour écrire donc me voici!
J'arrive pas à croire que nous sommes déjà le dernier jour de Janvier. Dans quatre mois je serais de retour en France et en Septembre je ferai mon entrée à l'université. En ce moment je dois décider ce que je veux faire et où je veux aller l'an prochain. Honnêtement j'ai pas vraiment envie de rentrer en France pour faire mes etudes. Je me sent tellement bien ici entourée de gens différents de différents pays. Apprendre à propos de différentes cultures, parler une autre langue, j'aime vraiment ça. Après ça ne signifie pas que ma famille et mes amis ne me manquent pas, bien au contraire!
Ces temps ci je pense beaucoup à ce que je veux faire, ce que je veux être. C'est super dur de me décider, je suis sure de rien, j'ai peur de pas choisir la bonne voie. Je pense que je vais demander les mêmes universités que j'avais demandé l'an dernier mais ma mère veut quand même que j'étudie toutes les options possibles.
Bref, j'ai fait et vu tellement récemment c'est fou! Je me sent tellement chanceuse d'être ici, certains de mes amis m'ont dis que j'avais l'air vraiment heureuse, c'est vrai, je suis contente qu'ils puissent le voir. Je me sent un peu triste parfois car c'est dur d'être loin de ma famille, surtout de ma grand-mère, mes amis me manquent beaucoup aussi mais je me dis que je vis une expérience fantastique ici et que je ne devrais pas perdre de temps à être triste.
Ça fait tellement longtemps que je n'ai pas écris que je ne peux même pas exactement me rappeler de tout ce que j'ai fait ces derniers temps pour vous le raconter.
Je profite autant que possible du temps avec mes amis du monde entier ici, comme j'ai dis le temps passe très vie et on a déjà eu à dire au revoir à certains d'entre nous. Malheureusement après les vacances de Noël EF a changé les classes et nous avons été séparés, ce qui m'a contrarié car nous étions un très bon groupe et que j'aimais bien mon prof Shane. Quoi qu'il en soit je suis heureusement toujours avec certains de mes potes et mon nouveau prof, Neil est bien aussi.
Il y a du semaines on a du dire au revoir à Suki qui vient de Chine, elle est partie à EF Hawaii, je suis trop jalouse quand je vois ses photos, la plage, le beau temps... C'est la première du groupe depuis Septembre à être partie. Comme vous savez je déteste les au revoir. Mon pote Rick de Taiwan est aussi parti, aujourd'hui, du à quelques contre temps je n'ai même pas pu le voir pour lui dire au revoir. Hiroki, mon pote japonais va aussi partir dimanche prochain, trop triste!! Tout le monde va partir l'un après l'autre.
Depuis la dernière fois que j'ai vraiment écris j'ai fait tellement de choses, d'abord Thanksgiving, puis la Black Friday et enfin Noël!! New-York est tellement beau durant les périodes de Noël, j'adore l'ambiance (à part les milliers de touristes!). Mes parents sont venus me rendre visite, c'était super sympa de les voir et de passer du temps avec eux et ma famille d'accueil réunis. Après ça, j'ai passé des bons moments avec mes amis, suis allée au musée, ai mangé des bon repas, suis allée à la patinoire, au cinéma... J'ai fête le nouvel an avec Jessy ma coloc et Sarah et Jennifer mes deux potes francophones. On a mangé un bon repas à la maison puis sommes allées au Brooklyn bridge pour voir un feu d'artifice (on la raté car on était en retard) et rencontré Hiroki et une amie à lui. Le lendemain on a fait une soirée avec les camarades de classe, on a beaucoup ri, on a appris des chansons et de jeux d'alcool japonais, c'était vraiment drôle. Pour conclure les vacances en beauté, je suis allée voir un ballet avec Hiroki et Yasu, Casse Noisette par le New York City Ballet, c'était génial!
Récemment je suis allée voir la comédie musicale Le Roi Lion à Broadway avec Yasu, Yuki et Hiroki, c'était génial, je peux aussi dire YABAI!! (expression japonaise qu'ils m'ont appris). Le weekend dernier il a neigé, j'étais trop excité, c'était trop beau! Malheureusement j'ai pas pu sortir car j'étais malade. Vendredi dernier je suis allée voir un concert de Elle Varner, c'était un showcase près de Times Square. Je ne la connaissais pas avant, j'y suis allée car Hiroki voulait qu'on y aille tous et franchement je regrette pas car c'était vraiment bien.
Ce weekend j'ai passé un peu de temps avec Hiroki (et Yuki) avant qu'il parte. On devait aller à un endroit où ils font des énormes milkshake et burger mais il y avait 4h30 de queue (WHAAAT?!) donc on a pas pu y aller. Aujourd'hui je profite d'un jour sans rien faire pour me reposer, et faire mes devoirs (je viens juste de m'en rappeler, zut...).

Ohhh, j'ai oublié de vous dire une super nouvelle, ma copine Anais va venir me rendre visite dans deux semaines!!! Je suis en train d préparer un peu programme sympa, j'ai trop hâte de la voir ici!

À bientôt,
pleins de bisous, Margot!
(ps: j'ai la flemme de me relire, excusez les fautes...)

Hello, it's me. 

Sorry I've been absent since a while. I know I said I'll try to write more but honestly I was pretty busy recently and I didn't really heard back from anyone about this blog, I mean from EF or anything so I don't really feel the need to write, I don't really see a reason. These times I'm not really enthusiast about writing, I just want to enjoy as much as possible my moments here. But I finally have a moment to write so here I am!

Time flies I can't believe we're already end of January. In four months I'll be back in France and in September I'll have to go to university. Now I have to decide what I wanna do next year and where I wanna go, I can sent college application until March I believe. To be honest I don't really want to go back to France for studies. I feel so good here, being with different people from different countries, learning about others, talking another language... But that doesn't mean I don't miss my family and friends, I miss them so badly! I will come back anyway and these times I'm really thinking about what I wanna do, what I wanna be. It's so hard for me to decide, I feel a bit lost because I'm not sure about anything, I'm scare to choose the wrong way, to not be able to do it well. I think I'm going to apply for same universities I asked last year but my mom still want me to check all the options as possible. 

Anyway, recently has been crazy, I did and saw so much. I feel so bless to be here, some of my friends told me I look happy, that's true, I'm glad they can see it. Sometimes I feel a bit sad because it's hard to be far from my family, my grandma in particular, I also miss my friends so much but I tell myself that I'm living an incredible experience and I should not waste my time being sad. 

I didn't write since so long that I can even remember everything I did to tell you guys. 

I'm enjoying as much moments as possible with my friends from around the world here. As I said time flies, we already had to say goodbye to some of us. Unfortunately after Winter vacation EF changed classes so my classmates and I were separate. I was upset because we were such a good group and I liked my teacher Shane. Anyway I still can be with some of my friends in my new class and my teacher, Neil, is also nice. 

Two weeks ago we had to say goodbye to Suki (from China), the first of the group since September leaving. She went to Hawaii, I'm so jealous by the way, I see all her pictures, the beach, the sun...I'm dying of cold here in NY haha.  As you know I hate to say goodbye. My friend Rick from Taiwan is leaving today and I couldn't even say goodbye to him. Hiroki (Japanese) is also going to leave next Sunday, so bad!! Everyone is going to leave one after another.

Since last time I really wrote I did so many things, first Thanksgiving, then Black Friday and the finally Christmas!! New York City is so beautiful during Christmas (except the thousands of tourists...), I like this feeling.  My parents came to visit me for a week, it was so nice to see them and to spend time with them and my host family reunited. Then I spend some good moments with my friends, went to the museum, ate good meals, went to ice skating, to see a movie... I celebrated New Year's Eve with Jessy my roommates and Sarah and Jennifer my French friends. We had a good dinner at home and went to the Brooklyn bridge to see a firework (we missed it haha) and to meet Hiroki and his friend. The day after we had a party with the classmates, so much fun! We learned some Japanese alcohol songs and game. To conclude the holidays I went to see a ballet: The Nutcracker by The New York City Ballet with Hiroki and Yasu, soooo nice!  

Recently I went to see the musical The Lion King on Broadway with Yasu, Yuki and Hiroki, it was awesome or I can say yabai!! (Japanese expression they taught me). I strongly recommend this for people who are in the city.  Last week it snowed a lot, I was so excited like a kid, it was so nice! Unfortunately I couldn't go out cuz I was sick. I also went to see Elle Varner in concert, a showcase to be specific. It was near Times Squares, I didn't knew her before but I really liked it, she has a really nice voice in real. 

This weekend I spent some time with Hiroki (and Yuki) before he leaves, we were suppose to go to a milkshake place but the line was 4 hours and half (OMG!!!) so we couldn't go. 

Today I'm just taking a day off to take some rest. 

By the way, I forgot to mention a super news!! In two weeks my friend Anais from France will come to visit me, I'm planning some stuff to do with her, I'm looking forward to see her here, so exciting!!!

See you soon, 

xoxo, Margot!