Friday started off by me falling in the metro. Guess that's what happens when you try to read the metro book and don't realize there is another step...Good thing Danielle caught me, so I only have a bruise on one knee!
We went to this one restaurant called AU P'TIT GREC. One night when we were out in the Latin Quarter, there was the longest line ever for this place. We figured it had to be good, and we were right! It was sort of a Greek place, but more like a crêpe stand. These aren't just your ordinary crêpes, however. They had so many different kinds and they looked delicious! Next time, I am definitely trying the feta tomato one. I saved money and got a panini for 2,50 and it was still delicious. Next, we were off to find a bakery! We bought little desserts called Marie Antoinette. It was a raspberry macaroon, but in the middle had some sort of cream and real raspberries. When we walked in the bakery, there was a camera crew filming and taking pictures in the kitchen. Guess it's pretty well known! The pastry was good, but I much rather prefer the chocolate ones. Since it was so cold out and we had no where to eat the pastry, we went into Starbucks. I had to splurge and order a drink...It's beyond expensive here but I guess if I went to any other cafe and ordered a cappuccino it'd be about the same price.
Next we were off to Sainte-Chapelle. A visit to this chapel was our homework for architecture. The due date is flexible; the paper, not even sure if i should call it a paper since it's just one page, is due in a few weeks or whenever we get around to it. Gotta love study abroad. We had to wait in a line because there is so much security. It's basically the same security you have to go through at the airport. These older French ladies were behind us and I can't tell you how many times the one bumped into me. She even stepped on my foot! I don't understand how they have no concept of personal space...
We finally got into the chapel and it was beautiful! This chapel was built between 1242-1248, Louis IX's command, to house the relics of the Passion of Christ. It was very colorful; all the walls inside were painted all different colors. We found out in class that Notre Dame used to be colorful as well, but they repainted it for some reason. C'est dommage! I really liked all the different colors! We entered into the basement of the chapel, which used to be used as a place of worship for the palace staff. The upper part was beautiful as well. There were so many stained glass windows, and since it was a very small room, it was very bright, even on a cloudy day! Being that Notre Dame is so big, that the stained glass windows don't let too much light in.
Since we were close by the Conciergerie, King Clovis' royal residence that ended up being turned into a prison during the French Revolution, we stopped in for a visit. Walking in, we didn't know what we were looking at. There were tons of strange animal exhibits, and no descriptions....we decided to keep walking and then found the signs leading us to the prison cells. We had to walk through a little book store and saw that the title of the exhibit we saw was called "Bêtes Off" and the word Bêtes in French means something like beast, dumb, silly...things like that. We figured we'd just look it up when we got home. The cells were pretty interesting. They had replicas of what Marie Antoinette's cell looked like and some other replicas. There was a lot of information and explanations on the walls, so I learned a lot. As we were walking out, we had to walk back through the weird animal exhibit. Danielle went to take a picture of a dead unicorn, so I sat down on a bench. This man approached us and our conversation was as follows:
Man: "Parlez-vous francais?"
Me: "Oui, un peu. Nous sommes etudiants"
Man: "Where are you from"
Me: "The United States"
Man: Oh would you guys be able to answer some questions, in French, about this exhibit?"
*We look at each other in astonishment...
Danielle: "Well, to be honest, we don't really even know what this exhibit is about. We kind of just stumbled upon it..."
*The man sort of explains the exhibit and said he just wants to know the public's view of it. So we dumbly agree to get filmed
The interview basically was us messing up words here and there and saying silly things like "The horses are flying in the sky" when there was no sky, just a ceiling...and the other thing I said translated into English was something along the lines of "This exhibit is called silly (I forgot the other part of the name) and yes, I think it's silly. So basically, whoever sees this is going to laugh at us and name the video "Dumb American Tourists." Look for it as the next big Youtube sensation!
After literally bolting out of the museum, laughing for 20 minutes straight, we did a little souvenir shopping and then headed home for the night.
Saturday afternoon we went to the Galleries Lafayette to try to find white dresses for our concert on St. Patrick's Day. If you aren't completely dressed in white, you aren't allowed in and don't get a refund. It should be awesome to see everyone wearing white! But we can't find anything good yet. We still have time, so hopefully they will be putting the new season's clothes out soon! After giving up shopping, we stopped at a place to have lunch and then walked in circles to try to find a bakery! Usually, they are all over the place, but we couldn't find one yesterday...But eventually, we found some macaroons and were happy! I got a coconut one and was surprised when the lady pulled out a blue one, so I guess blue is the color of coconut flavored things here? One will never know...
And then we were off, with our macaroons of course, to see Mamma Mia! I guess it was on French Broadway, not really sure. Our tickets were reasonably priced, but we were in the 2nd to last row. When we got to the theater, the lady was nice enough to move our seats up! Don't think that would ever happen in New York....We had a really good view, actually, even though we were still far back! The play was adorable, probably because everything was in French...even the songs! It was hysterical to listen to the French words and realize they are not even close to the English words in the songs. It's probably hard to get the correct French translation to rhyme. There was one song in English at the end, and it took us a good few minutes to realize that it was actually in English. Overall, it was a really fun experience! I can't wait to see Mamma Mia in NYC now!
When I got home, I sat down for tea with my host parents and host sister. My host sister invited me to go to a party with her at her friends house. I was so excited to go out with her and meet her friends. And in the same conversation, my host parents suggested that my host sister throw a party next weekend when they are at a wedding. Cough cough, Mom and Dad? this is a good lesson from the French! So anyways, we left a little after 9:30 and my host dad drove us to a different suburb. In the car, my host sister told me that I speak French very well and the student that they hosted last semester didn't know any French so they had to speak to her in English. I thought it was mandatory to speak in French in the host families, but I guess not! It was funny to listen to the French GPS; And like my dad, my host dad didn't follow the route that the GPS wanted him to go. We got to the house in a little over a half hour and when we walked in, there were just to guys there. Then a lot more people came and it was really fun! All of them were so funny and sweet. Most of them knew English, so once in a while we'd talk in English. It seemed like they liked to practice their English just as I like to practice my French. My host sister explained to me that they all study economics and a language. She studies Spanish, but the rest of her friends study English. They all complimented my French and one boy told me he was glad I was speaking French because it's such a difficult language and mostly everyone just gives up and talks in English. He also said he loves America and all the people are so much nicer than the people in France. I found that to be an interesting observation. I had the best time just talking to them and answering all their questions about the states. One of the girls was even trying to teach me the French accent, while one of the boys was attempting to teach me some dance called "rock." Both weren't too successful, but made us laugh! Overall, I had such a great night! We didn't get home until 5am, so that should tell you something!
I opened my curtains this morning and there was a little snow in the courtyard!
Made me happy! Shortly, I am going to mass with my host mom. Then, two of her nieces are coming over for lunch so I was invited to have lunch with them. Besides that, I think I'm just going to stay here today. I only slept for 5 hours and have a bit of homework to do. I'll unfortunately be missing the Superbowl since I will probably be asleep before it even starts! I only like it for the food and commercials anyways, so I'll live.
Il n'y a que les montagnes qui ne se rencontrent jamais
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