Nothing too exciting has been happening in my life...well, besides the fact I am in Paris!
Yesterday, I had Paris' best chocolate eclair at a place called Stohrer, that is a 5 minute walk from school. May or may not be dangerous....
Today, Danielle and I went to see our first French movie in the cinema! We saw a film called Ma Première Fois. It was about a young girl's first time falling in love. I surprisingly followed it all. Although the ending was very unexpected, it was a good story!
After the movie, we did a bit of shopping since today, unfortunately, is the last day of the sales. And of course, like usual, we ended up some random place. Danielle thought it looked familiar and yup, what do you know...we were lost there when we were trying to find Les Champs Elysées the first time. And there you have it, we ended up on Avenue des Champs Elysées today. You know your life is good when the only problems you have are ending up at the Champs Elysées and not being able to find a close metro....
We also booked a train trip for March to go visit a friend from school in Heidelberg, Germany. Pretty excited about that, too! It's crazy to think that after Feb 25th when we leave for Ireland, we have something planned for almost ever weekend up until May 4th. Time is going to fly and I don't think I like it....(even though I can't wait for my parents to come)
Speaking of my parents, my wonderful mother sent me a package today as well. It's the little things that make my day.
My host sister also invited me to go out with her sometime soon and meet her friends. Maybe my French will finally start improving...cross your fingers!
xoxoxo
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Un sou est un sou
It was a very very cold weekend here in Paris! Yesterday morning started off with another visit to the Louvre. I loved seeing Napoleon III's apartment! The furniture was absolutely beautiful. We only stayed there for a few hours since it's so overwhelming, and after getting lost a few times, we made our way out. We ended up going over by school to this little street with a bunch of restaurants and pastry shops!
We grabbed lunch at a Greek place and then stopped at a bakery to get some treats. I got a chocolate coconut macaroon. Definitely give it a thumbs up! My favorite flavor so far! After eating all our treats, we went over to the Marais district to find some vintage shops. We went in to a few of them, but they were very expensive. We happened to walk into this cute little store and the lady to greet us was so friendly. Usually when people find out we are American students, they immediately start speaking English. This lady explained everything to us in French about her store! We talked with her for a bit and I ended up buying a really cool vintage wallet made from advertisements back in 60s. I was happy with my purchase :)
Since it was freezing and we had about 4 hours to kill until our dinner reservations, we headed to find a cafe to sit at for an hour or so. The hot chocolate here is so rich that you need to add sugar to it. It's delicious though! After the cafe, we took the metro over to the visit Moulin Rouge. I was nervous because I heard it was in a bad area, but there were a lot of people around and it seemed more racy then dangerous, anyways! So we still had about 2 hours to kill until dinner so we were looking for a bar to go to that had happy hour specials, but instead we found a little church that was about to have mass. So we decided to go to mass so we could sleep in. Mass is always one heck of an experience. We usually don't know what's going on, but we really were thrown off when all the people started walking up to the alter way before communion time. We followed and the priest had everyone stand in a circle at the alter and say the Our Father, give peace to each other, and even receive communion! At least we weren't getting trampled this time on our way to receive communion. It felt like this church had a good sense of community and it was nice to experience going to mass in a smaller church in Paris, rather than mass at Notre Dame.
Now it was finally time to head over to Refuge des Fondus for dinner! Our reservation was at 8, but we didn't get seated until about 8:35. The place is very very tiny, and people stay for a while so it's understandable. We all were completely frozen, so it was great when we finally got inside to sit. But then, of course, I was sweating. We got appetizers first, which included some cheese, pickles, potatoes, olives, and sangria. Then, we were served wine in baby bottles and had cheese and meat fondu. It was very delicious! I will definitely go back there.
Today, I finally got to sleep in a little later than usual! I was off to the Chinese New Year Parade in China Town (13e). I met Danielle there, and we tried to meet up with some other girls but it was unbelievable! There were people everywhere and they were pushing and shoving, trying to get through. We just wanted to find a place to stand and watch. Of course, the parade was supposed to start at 1, but probably didn't start until closer to 2. Yet again, we froze! Once we finally saw movement, only 2 little 'acts' came by and then everyone started cheering/booing for someone and taking pictures and running after him. We first thought it was Sarkozy, but people were yelling Francois, so we were so confused. It took a while longer for the parade to start up again and it almost seemed like people were leaving. It was an insane environment and I would never go again. The only thing I really saw was a bunch of dragons, obviously, since it's the year of the dragon. Then we just wanted to get out....but that was a whole other story. We decided to take a side street since the main drag was packed. But, on the side streets, many people thought it would be a great idea to set of mini fireworks in the middle of the roads. We felt safer on the main street, so we worked our way back there and basically ran until we got to the metro. Imagine if one of them went off on someone's foot, or shot up into someone's face?! So so so dangerous. I was glad we got out of there quickly!
We headed over by Notre Dame since there are a bunch of cute little restaurants and cafes. We had a late lunch at one of the cafes and I had a delicious rotisserie chicken with french fries! Finally ordered french fries in France! And of course, to defrost, had to get that chocolat chaud. Always a great treat. Then for dessert, we stopped to get crepes. What a hard life I live....
Oh and funny story today (relevant to the title of this blog post meaning 'every penny counts'). I went to hold my card up for the metro machine to head home and it beeped and turned green. Perfect! But, I heard something fling out of my wallet, so of course, I had to go see what it was. It happened to be a penny, so I picked it up and checked to make sure nothing else important flew out. But then, when I tried to swipe again, the machine denied my pass. I bet there is a time frame of how often you can swipe into the same turnstile so you can't pass it along to a friend...But anyways, I had to climb under the turnstile to get to my metro. I am now just like a bum. AH!
It's going to be very cold this week so we're going to try to hit up a lot of museums and maybe go see a French movie, as well!
Vous me manquez!
We grabbed lunch at a Greek place and then stopped at a bakery to get some treats. I got a chocolate coconut macaroon. Definitely give it a thumbs up! My favorite flavor so far! After eating all our treats, we went over to the Marais district to find some vintage shops. We went in to a few of them, but they were very expensive. We happened to walk into this cute little store and the lady to greet us was so friendly. Usually when people find out we are American students, they immediately start speaking English. This lady explained everything to us in French about her store! We talked with her for a bit and I ended up buying a really cool vintage wallet made from advertisements back in 60s. I was happy with my purchase :)
Since it was freezing and we had about 4 hours to kill until our dinner reservations, we headed to find a cafe to sit at for an hour or so. The hot chocolate here is so rich that you need to add sugar to it. It's delicious though! After the cafe, we took the metro over to the visit Moulin Rouge. I was nervous because I heard it was in a bad area, but there were a lot of people around and it seemed more racy then dangerous, anyways! So we still had about 2 hours to kill until dinner so we were looking for a bar to go to that had happy hour specials, but instead we found a little church that was about to have mass. So we decided to go to mass so we could sleep in. Mass is always one heck of an experience. We usually don't know what's going on, but we really were thrown off when all the people started walking up to the alter way before communion time. We followed and the priest had everyone stand in a circle at the alter and say the Our Father, give peace to each other, and even receive communion! At least we weren't getting trampled this time on our way to receive communion. It felt like this church had a good sense of community and it was nice to experience going to mass in a smaller church in Paris, rather than mass at Notre Dame.
Now it was finally time to head over to Refuge des Fondus for dinner! Our reservation was at 8, but we didn't get seated until about 8:35. The place is very very tiny, and people stay for a while so it's understandable. We all were completely frozen, so it was great when we finally got inside to sit. But then, of course, I was sweating. We got appetizers first, which included some cheese, pickles, potatoes, olives, and sangria. Then, we were served wine in baby bottles and had cheese and meat fondu. It was very delicious! I will definitely go back there.
Today, I finally got to sleep in a little later than usual! I was off to the Chinese New Year Parade in China Town (13e). I met Danielle there, and we tried to meet up with some other girls but it was unbelievable! There were people everywhere and they were pushing and shoving, trying to get through. We just wanted to find a place to stand and watch. Of course, the parade was supposed to start at 1, but probably didn't start until closer to 2. Yet again, we froze! Once we finally saw movement, only 2 little 'acts' came by and then everyone started cheering/booing for someone and taking pictures and running after him. We first thought it was Sarkozy, but people were yelling Francois, so we were so confused. It took a while longer for the parade to start up again and it almost seemed like people were leaving. It was an insane environment and I would never go again. The only thing I really saw was a bunch of dragons, obviously, since it's the year of the dragon. Then we just wanted to get out....but that was a whole other story. We decided to take a side street since the main drag was packed. But, on the side streets, many people thought it would be a great idea to set of mini fireworks in the middle of the roads. We felt safer on the main street, so we worked our way back there and basically ran until we got to the metro. Imagine if one of them went off on someone's foot, or shot up into someone's face?! So so so dangerous. I was glad we got out of there quickly!
We headed over by Notre Dame since there are a bunch of cute little restaurants and cafes. We had a late lunch at one of the cafes and I had a delicious rotisserie chicken with french fries! Finally ordered french fries in France! And of course, to defrost, had to get that chocolat chaud. Always a great treat. Then for dessert, we stopped to get crepes. What a hard life I live....
Oh and funny story today (relevant to the title of this blog post meaning 'every penny counts'). I went to hold my card up for the metro machine to head home and it beeped and turned green. Perfect! But, I heard something fling out of my wallet, so of course, I had to go see what it was. It happened to be a penny, so I picked it up and checked to make sure nothing else important flew out. But then, when I tried to swipe again, the machine denied my pass. I bet there is a time frame of how often you can swipe into the same turnstile so you can't pass it along to a friend...But anyways, I had to climb under the turnstile to get to my metro. I am now just like a bum. AH!
It's going to be very cold this week so we're going to try to hit up a lot of museums and maybe go see a French movie, as well!
Vous me manquez!
Friday, January 27, 2012
Une belle journée
The sun was finally shining today and boy did we accomplish a lot!
This morning, we went to visit the Cluny Museum. There were tons of ancient artifacts from the early days in Paris and many different tapestries. We spent maybe a little over an hour here, but it was pretty interesting. I'm still trying to find out why the lady and the unicorn is so famous. I'll have to google it.
After that, we went over by school to buy train tickets to Belgium for St. Patricks day. There is this huge concert called Sensation that is going to be in Hasslet, which is close to Brussels, from 21h on St. Patty's day until 6am the next day. Yup, so we don't have a hotel room and are just going to hang all night. It may be crazy, but you only live once, right?
While waiting to buy train tickets, I read one of my Paris books and happened to find a bakery near by that was recommended. We headed over there and I got a delicious pastry. I can't ever leave France. Everything is just so good. Us Americans need to get it right...
We aimlessly walked around and ended up in a small park so we sat and ate our treats. Then we wondered some more and ended up in some mall. If you don't know where you are in Paris, you'll always find something interesting to do. That's what I love about it! We did a little bit of shopping and of course, had to stop for a macaroon. They are SO good. We also spend a lot of time in a store called FNAC. It's basically a huge Barnes and Noble combined with Best Buy. I bought a French cookbook about making macaroons and a calendar so I can document what I do each day/plan my weekends!
After going through 3 metro station swipes and finally finding the metro line, we ended up at the Eiffel Tower. We were all ready to climb to the top. And yes, we actually walked! It was a lot of fun, especially when we reached the first floor. There was tons of music and free ice skating! It was great. Not many people can say they ice skated in the Eiffel Tower....
Since we decided to climb at 17h, we finally got to the top an hour later as the sun was setting. Breathtaking. And starting at 18h, the tower sparkles every hour. It's an unbelievable experience. So far, this was my favorite thing I've done in Paris.
Bon soirée le monde
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
This morning, we went to visit the Cluny Museum. There were tons of ancient artifacts from the early days in Paris and many different tapestries. We spent maybe a little over an hour here, but it was pretty interesting. I'm still trying to find out why the lady and the unicorn is so famous. I'll have to google it.
After that, we went over by school to buy train tickets to Belgium for St. Patricks day. There is this huge concert called Sensation that is going to be in Hasslet, which is close to Brussels, from 21h on St. Patty's day until 6am the next day. Yup, so we don't have a hotel room and are just going to hang all night. It may be crazy, but you only live once, right?
While waiting to buy train tickets, I read one of my Paris books and happened to find a bakery near by that was recommended. We headed over there and I got a delicious pastry. I can't ever leave France. Everything is just so good. Us Americans need to get it right...
We aimlessly walked around and ended up in a small park so we sat and ate our treats. Then we wondered some more and ended up in some mall. If you don't know where you are in Paris, you'll always find something interesting to do. That's what I love about it! We did a little bit of shopping and of course, had to stop for a macaroon. They are SO good. We also spend a lot of time in a store called FNAC. It's basically a huge Barnes and Noble combined with Best Buy. I bought a French cookbook about making macaroons and a calendar so I can document what I do each day/plan my weekends!
After going through 3 metro station swipes and finally finding the metro line, we ended up at the Eiffel Tower. We were all ready to climb to the top. And yes, we actually walked! It was a lot of fun, especially when we reached the first floor. There was tons of music and free ice skating! It was great. Not many people can say they ice skated in the Eiffel Tower....
Since we decided to climb at 17h, we finally got to the top an hour later as the sun was setting. Breathtaking. And starting at 18h, the tower sparkles every hour. It's an unbelievable experience. So far, this was my favorite thing I've done in Paris.
Bon soirée le monde
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Thursday, January 26, 2012
La première semaine de cours
First week of classes. CHECK! Time is already flying by. Not sure how I feel about that...
My classes are so wonderful. School would be so much more entertaining if all classes were as great as these ones. I even enjoy my history class! What has the Parisian culture done to me? I eat different foods, enjoy visiting museums, and even like history!? I'm so cultured :D
My favorite class has to be Paris Collage. It's an art history/architecture class and after a lecture, we go out and explore what we just learned about. Beyond fascinating. We went to see the remains of the ancient Cluny baths that were constructed in the year 200 and our teacher gave us a lot of interesting history. After seeing the architecture of the baths and visiting the outside of the Musée de Cluny, we walked to what is left of the Arenas of Lutetia. This was an amphitheater with a stage for plays and an arena for different games. What I found very interesting was that it had room to fit 17,000 spectators but Paris didn't have nearly that many residents in the 1st century! They think many people from all over came to meet there for different occasions. Today, there is not much left of the arena. There is the general outline and a few rows of seats, but besides that, you wouldn't know that it was something so famous if you just walked by. That is why I find this class fascinating. So many things are right before our eyes and we could never know.
The Musée de Cluny has a lot of tapestries, and the famous one being the lady and the unicorn. Since we didn't get to visit the museum today, we're going to go back tomorrow.
Back at school, there was an information session on volunteer projects that we could participate in. I am going to teach English to the preschoolers for a half hour each week starting in a few weeks. It should be a lot of fun!
Well, we have a lot of fun plans this weekend! I'm leaving this blog post in a cliff hanger. Oh la la
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature
My classes are so wonderful. School would be so much more entertaining if all classes were as great as these ones. I even enjoy my history class! What has the Parisian culture done to me? I eat different foods, enjoy visiting museums, and even like history!? I'm so cultured :D
My favorite class has to be Paris Collage. It's an art history/architecture class and after a lecture, we go out and explore what we just learned about. Beyond fascinating. We went to see the remains of the ancient Cluny baths that were constructed in the year 200 and our teacher gave us a lot of interesting history. After seeing the architecture of the baths and visiting the outside of the Musée de Cluny, we walked to what is left of the Arenas of Lutetia. This was an amphitheater with a stage for plays and an arena for different games. What I found very interesting was that it had room to fit 17,000 spectators but Paris didn't have nearly that many residents in the 1st century! They think many people from all over came to meet there for different occasions. Today, there is not much left of the arena. There is the general outline and a few rows of seats, but besides that, you wouldn't know that it was something so famous if you just walked by. That is why I find this class fascinating. So many things are right before our eyes and we could never know.
The Musée de Cluny has a lot of tapestries, and the famous one being the lady and the unicorn. Since we didn't get to visit the museum today, we're going to go back tomorrow.
Back at school, there was an information session on volunteer projects that we could participate in. I am going to teach English to the preschoolers for a half hour each week starting in a few weeks. It should be a lot of fun!
Well, we have a lot of fun plans this weekend! I'm leaving this blog post in a cliff hanger. Oh la la
Tous les goûts sont dans la nature
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Le Louvre
If I had to describe my first experience of Le Musée du Louvre in a few words, they would be: breathtaking, overwhelming, nerve racking and gorgeous. Le Louvre is one of the world's largest museums, with 4 floors broken up into 3 sections each. So much to see! Starting with the outside, the museum is in a great location, right next to La Seine! There are many gorgeous buildings surrounding the huge pyramid (and the smaller ones, of course). Once entering the Louvre, you realize the true power this museum holds. The architecture is so detailed that besides the displayed exhibits, each room itself takes a good few minutes to look at. We started at the Italian Paintings. This section felt like walking through the Bible. It was beautiful! Of course, I also got to see the Mona Lisa. Besides paintings, we also visited the Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities. These included small sculptures, jewelry, utensils, vases, etc. We also got to see tombs of the Egyptians and a lot of hieroglyphic stones. Everything is so well preserved that it is unbelievable that these articles came from years and years ago! It's also very interesting to observe the people that come to the museum. There were many school groups with very young kids, as well as Asian tour groups holding up flags? Whatever floats your boat, I guess. Overall, it was great and I can't wait to go back, especially at night when the pyramid is all lit up!
And of course the day I was prepared for the rain, it barely rained. C'est la vie. I can't wait until it's springtime here, though! I need the sun. It's been overcast since I can remember. I really hope the weather holds of for this weekend! Planning on climbing the Eiffel Tower and ice skating on the first floor :)
I love the Parisian lifestyle. Who else can say they visited Le Louvre after class? Not many are as lucky as me!
And of course the day I was prepared for the rain, it barely rained. C'est la vie. I can't wait until it's springtime here, though! I need the sun. It's been overcast since I can remember. I really hope the weather holds of for this weekend! Planning on climbing the Eiffel Tower and ice skating on the first floor :)
I love the Parisian lifestyle. Who else can say they visited Le Louvre after class? Not many are as lucky as me!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Le jour des morts
After my grammar class, Danielle and I headed over to find the catacombs! They were not what I expected at all. It was a pretty good experience, though. I also found out why CIEE gave us all student cards that say our majors are art history. We now get in every museum for free! Yay!
So the catacombs were so far under the ground, below the metro and sewer system! We had to walk down tons of stairs to get there...the French really like spiral, narrow staircases. We first got a little history of the catacombs and walked through narrow, dark passage ways. It was straight out of a horror movie, but luckily my blackberry has a state of the art flashlight! Phew. When we finally arrived to the door that stated: "Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ('Halt! This is the Empire of Death'), I didn't expect there to be skulls and bones ALL OVER the place...I walked through the door and turned right back around. I needed to brace myself. There were more than 6 million bodies. It was unbelievable! By after the 5th room of the skulls and bones, it barely phased me. Besides the security guard asking Danielle and I for our phone numbers, nothing too interesting happened. Don't worry, I told him we didn't have French phones. Guess they are right when they say French men are aggressive...
After the catacombs, we took the metro over to the Panthéon. This is a gorgeous building, but because of the rain, we didn't get to see much of the outside. Besides housing Foucault's pendulum, it also is a burial ground for some of the most famous French people; Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie. It was a quick visit, but still pretty cool. I would have liked to walk around more outside, but the weather hasn't been in our favor lately! I think Friday and Saturday should be pretty decent, though and a possible snow shower on Sunday!?! I'd love to see Paris covered in snow!
Un malheur ne vient jamais seul!
So the catacombs were so far under the ground, below the metro and sewer system! We had to walk down tons of stairs to get there...the French really like spiral, narrow staircases. We first got a little history of the catacombs and walked through narrow, dark passage ways. It was straight out of a horror movie, but luckily my blackberry has a state of the art flashlight! Phew. When we finally arrived to the door that stated: "Arrête! C'est ici l'empire de la Mort" ('Halt! This is the Empire of Death'), I didn't expect there to be skulls and bones ALL OVER the place...I walked through the door and turned right back around. I needed to brace myself. There were more than 6 million bodies. It was unbelievable! By after the 5th room of the skulls and bones, it barely phased me. Besides the security guard asking Danielle and I for our phone numbers, nothing too interesting happened. Don't worry, I told him we didn't have French phones. Guess they are right when they say French men are aggressive...
After the catacombs, we took the metro over to the Panthéon. This is a gorgeous building, but because of the rain, we didn't get to see much of the outside. Besides housing Foucault's pendulum, it also is a burial ground for some of the most famous French people; Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie Curie. It was a quick visit, but still pretty cool. I would have liked to walk around more outside, but the weather hasn't been in our favor lately! I think Friday and Saturday should be pretty decent, though and a possible snow shower on Sunday!?! I'd love to see Paris covered in snow!
Un malheur ne vient jamais seul!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Les cours commencent!
Today was the first day of classes! I found out, however, that I was sent the wrong schedule so I do have classes everyday (besides Friday). I'm kind of happy though, since I now have a break on Thursday! And only have one class on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Both the classes I had today went well. The syllabus doesn't seem too demanding, but enough to keep me busy. We have to watch a lot of movies for the history class! It'll be time consuming, but definitely can do that on the plane or at night time.
I figured out how to send some postcards today! It was so different than an American post office. You had to get your stamps from little machines. Then, I had no idea where to put the cards, so I waited for someone else to be done and followed them outside to the little mailboxes. Hopefully they get over to the US soon!
Bought a baguette on my way home from classes! So delicious. I realized that I don't really miss anything about America besides my family and friends. But otherwise, Europe is the way to go!
Autre temps, autres moeurs
I figured out how to send some postcards today! It was so different than an American post office. You had to get your stamps from little machines. Then, I had no idea where to put the cards, so I waited for someone else to be done and followed them outside to the little mailboxes. Hopefully they get over to the US soon!
Bought a baguette on my way home from classes! So delicious. I realized that I don't really miss anything about America besides my family and friends. But otherwise, Europe is the way to go!
Autre temps, autres moeurs
Sunday, January 22, 2012
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