Cheers from London! I am visiting my cousin Tara for the Valentines Day weekend! Tara is studying at Westminster and she lives in a residence hall in a very good location. Tara and several of her friends came to visit me in Paris two weeks ago and I had a blast showing them around the city that I am so lucky to call home for 5 months. 
I took a train from Paris to London at 7:43 this morning, which was very early for a college student like me. It is raining here per usual but we will still spend the day walking around and visiting some of Tara’s favorite spots in London so far. I don’t mind the rain but it might be a little difficult when I have to do my long run on Monday. (Training for the Paris marathon has been going very slowly because I do not have a lot of time in Paris.)
I thought that I would dedicate this blog post to my famille d’acceuil (host family). I am very fortunate to live with such a nice family. The mother, Margot, is an excellent cook and I always enjoy our conversations around the dinner table. She works at a retail store on Rue de Rennes 2 days a week and is part of an association called Bienvenue à Paris in which she gives cooking lessons to the wives of ambassadors who visit Paris. The father, Pierre, was a member of the French military and I love to hear about his travels to Germany, Africa, and other places around the world. Gaelle, age 12, is my little host sister whom I adore. She loves to listen to American music and we play Just Dance on her Wii very often. I also help her with her English homework sometimes. Gaelle loves American Apparel, Instagram, and hot chocolate. Last night she left me a note on my pillow and this morning she woke up early to give me a good-bye kiss.
Last weekend, Gaelle’s niece Agathe stayed with us because her Mom, Anne-Laure went to visit their sister Christel in Ireland. Agathe is two years old and unbelievably cute. We spent most of the weekend playing cache-cache which means hide and seek. It was very fun to have the baby in the house!
Last week I also spent time with my real family- my cousin Pietro lives in Italy and he is staying in Paris for two weeks to take a course at the Alliance Française. We went to the Cartier exhibit at le grand palais on Monday afternoon and it was packed! There were hundreds of expensive yet uniquely beautiful items on display.
I am looking forward to spending more time with the Rusconi family next week as we are heading to Sion, Switzerland to ski! I was very lucky to be invited and I can’t wait to hit the slopes in Europe. After I spend a few days in Switzerland with my family I will fly to Brussels to meet up with my BC friends for three days before we come back to Paris together. I have a lot planned and I promise to update you on my travels!
XO,
Hannah
P.S. Don’t worry Dad- School is going well.
La vie de "French Hannah" 