We had a very busy weekend! Saturday, we had to get up very early and meet at the train station by 8am. We were off to Metz. It was about an hour and a half ride from Paris. Not too bad! We visited the Pompidou center there, which is similar to the Pompidou center in Paris. This particular center opened in 2010 and had a lot of different modern art. We had a tour guide who rushed through everything, so I didn't get to look around as much as I would have liked. We learned about the architecture of the building and saw videos and pictures of it being built. After that, we went to a restaurant for lunch with the whole group. As our entree (which is equivalent to an appetizer in the states...who would have thought?) we had quiche lorraine. Yup, I tried it. It wasn't too bad, but I wouldn't order it out if I had my own choice. We had veal and potatoes for our plat (main course) and surprisingly, I ate it. It was very good! And for dessert, we got some sort of tart with red grapes on top. Not too bad either. After lunch, we got a tour of the town of Metz. We went to this BEAUTIFUL church, Cathédrale Saint-Étienne, which is a gothic church but has the most stained glass windows in the world. I thought the inside was prettier than Notre Dame! Definitely worth the visit.
We were so tired when we got back, but decided to go out anyways. I left my house about 9:45 to meet Danielle and try to find this bar called "The Student Bar." Original, I know and not even in French! Instead, we found two of the guys from our program and decided to hang out with them. We couldn't get into The Student Bar since it was too crowded, and a lot of other bars had a cover. We finally found this bar and decided to go in. It surprisingly turned out to be a lot of fun! Upstairs, it was just like a regular bar so we ordered drinks and then decided to try to find a place to stand/hang around. We walked downstairs and there was a dance floor, a DJ, and cool lights all over. So it turned out to be a lot of fun!
This morning, we went to Notre Dame for mass. Everything is fine up until communion time. The French are so aggressive and push and shove just to get in line. I thought Catholics were supposed to be kind...guess not. It was supposed to be an international mass, but only one small prayer was said in English. It was still a good experience.
An older French woman mistook me for a French girl! I was happy. I even knew what she asked me and responded. Making progress!
After mass...and a crepe, we were headed off to go find the biggest flea market in the world. Of course, it took us forever to find it, but we finally got there. It was intimidating at first because people were EVERYWHERE, pushing and shoving. It seemed like occupy flea market street because there were even cops! So we tried to get out of that spot and headed down a side street where it was much calmer. It was a very interesting experience, but I wouldn't do it again...
Then we finally headed over to the Champs-Élysées! Classy at its finest. What a beautiful area filled with beautiful shops. Did I mention I can't afford a single thing? Oh, well I can't. We walked in to Louis Vuitton and the cheapest thing I saw was a mini coin purse for 122 euro. The clothes and purses were all over 1500 euro. I was astonished and felt like crying when I walked out of there!
We found a cute little Italian place to grab a bite to eat. It was down one of the side streets off the main drag, and was actually affordable. The pizza was great, as well! Overall, it was a nice walk! We even walked down to see the Arc de Triomphe! We have to go back one day to see the tomb of the unknown soldier and climb to the top!
Officially got my class schedule and the only day that is going to be terrible is Thursday. I have Wednesdays off, and everyone in the program has Fridays off. But Mondays, I have my education class form 12:30-3:30 and then my history class from 5-6:30. Tuesdays I have grammar from 9:30-11 and conversation from 11-12:30. Those are our required French classes. Tuesday afternoon, I am free! So Thursday...let's see, I have grammar/conversation in the morning. Then right at 12:30, I have history again until 2. And then from 2-5 I have an architecture class that will count for my art history requirement at school. 9:30-5 straight through with classes!? Can I handle it? At least for the architecture class, each week we go on a visit to a different architectural structure. So it should go pretty quick :) I sure hope so....
On another note: I am officially addicted to Nutella. End of story.
Well, who knows what tomorrow will bring... :)
Les jours se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas
No comments:
Post a Comment