Today, the day commenced with some random sightseeing around the Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. I am starting to become an expert when it comes to this area. I feel like I know many good places to go to and hang out there. It is very nice to feel that way about a part of Paris.

But the main part of the day, well it was dedicated to the Rugby game preparations. First thing we needed, france colored shirts or jerseys. If you look below, you can see Meaghan sporting one. How lovely.

Meaghan all excited at the Eiffel Tower

 Before the game, we went to the eiffel tower for a dinner/picnic. We all got either panini’s or crepes for dinner and then Emma surprised us by bringing a huge picnic: cheese, baguetttes, fruit, cookies, and wine! It was amazing… and of course we ate almost everything. 

Our picnic before rugby!

 Our little group, just hanging out… attempting to speak french. 

  Please note the guys in the background, interesting.

Thank you Laura for laughing so

 The game was actually pretty far away so we left a good hour or so early so we could make it there. It was in a different part of town then we had been before, it was actually right by where the French Open takes place. So it was interesting to see that.

When we got to the game, we met up with Bertrand, one of our French administrators in our program. He went to the game with 16 of his students, talk about a weekend break from work, eh?

Anyways, I discovered that France too has marching bands.

French Marching Band, yes they have those too

 The Rugby game was amazing, and we were in the first row so it was even better. Our view was incredible. It would have been awesome had France been able to put up more of a fight but they lost horribly, by around 50 points to England.

But all in all, the game was very interesting and action packed. I think I may even like it more than football.

Rugby game

Rugby

After class, a large group of us wandered over to the Latin Quarter for Happy Hour and dinner. Our first stop was a Piano Bar, evidently it was an American Piano bar because all of the music played was American. Am I assimilating to the French culture? I am trying but America is tagging along wherever I go. Andres, Jaclyn, Laura, and I went to dinner at a nicer French restaurant where we had an appetizer, entrée, and dessert for 11 Euros. However, Andres in his tricky ways got us all a free glass of wine with our dinner too, which always helps. I had a salad, roasted chicken (which came with fries much to my dismay) and caramel crème. A very good meal if you ask me, which you just did.

After dinner, we swung by the Monoprix to get some cups and wine. Our plan was to kick back and relax on the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower for awhile before going home. It was a nice end to our night. We somewhat ended up playing 20 questions about random things: favorite Christmas present to 5 places in the world you would like to live. And that is how I will end this post, if you could live anywhere in the world. Where would it be? Top 5, go!

Vendredi Friday morning

I woke up early and met up with Meaghan at Parc Monceau for a run. Let me tell you about how awkward it was taking the metro before and after the run. The French do not wear sweats, the French do not wear T-shirts, and the French rarely wear tennis shoes. I was wearing all of the above. Everyone was staring at me, I could just tell they were judging me. I needed a sign that said “Je vais faire du jogging, maintenant” (I’m going jogging now). Most of the French are dressed nicely 24 hours a day for 7 days a week, with no down time. It was interesting.

As we were running, Laura met up with us. It was cute a very cute park because a school must be nearby and there were tons of little French kids having their PE classes. Meaghan and I tried to run as much as possible but we kept on being lapped by very-in-shape French people. They are crazy, decked out head to toe in the running gear while I am in my T-shirt and shorts.

After running and changing, I met up with Jaclyn, Laura, Andres, Harrison, and Martin for lunch at the local Resto-U, a name for any university Cafeteria. The lunch was pretty good, I had bread (of course), pasta with marinara sauce, some vegetables, and yogurt. All in all a pretty good lunch. Following lunch we wandered to a neighborhood where I attempted to give everyone a tour (earning me the nickname “Tour Guide Barbie”, using this Paris Walking tour book that was left with my host family. However, the book was about 5 years old and things had changed a lot in that area. But I did get to point out some cool things: – The Church at St. Germain des Pres – It’s bell tower which is the oldest in Paris – A Statue of Guillame Apollinaire by Picasso.

Oldest piece of original building in Paris... so interesting

Guillame Apollinaire by Picasso..... sweet

After wandering around the neighborhood, we again hopped onto the metro to go to Montmatre and the Sacre Coeur.

Hey there Sacre Coeur

The area that we ventured to is the highest point in Paris, and after running for an hour.. Climbing a ton of stairs wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. Oh well. While we were working our way to the top, we stopped to sit on the stairs and watch this man perform a routine with a soccer ball. It wasn’t just any regular routine, it was incredible. He stood on top of pillar of sorts and did all kinds of tricks: balancing the ball on his head to climbing the pole while having the ball spinning on top of a pencil/straw while the pencil/straw was in his mouth. Once again, it was incredible.

Soccer man

This man is crazy, he is balancing like mad

Another picture of soccer fun

Another soccer

After watching the performance, we went into the Sacre Coeur and sat down in the pews to take in the beautiful cathedral. We also got to listen to part of the Vespers that was going on, I found it quite interesting.

View from Sacre Coeur

Another view of Sacre Coeur

We wandered back to the metro and once again, we returned to the Latin quarter for dinner. This time we went to a Mexican restaurant, where I had some incredible Mexican food. Some of the best that I have had yet! I had arepa de pollo! Yum and nom nom nom.

Following dinner, a large group of us went to the pedestrian bridge at Pont des Arts. At the bridge Laura, Jaclyn, Harrison, Andres, Martin, and I sat down and different types of wine. Note to self, do not purchase Greek wine, it tastes like a Christmas tree= no good. We sat on the bridge for a couple of hours, we would occasionally talk to a group of young French sitting next to us about random things. Also, every hour on the hour we would all turn to watch the Eiffel Tower to light up for a couple of minutes. Another successful night.

Pont des arts

Summer in Paris is supposed to warm, or at least somewhat warm. Right?

NO! It is not or has not been very warm here, the highs in the 50s with cold rain all day long, so dreary. Its like London but everyone speaks french, drinks lots of coffee (they way we drink water), makes no eye-contact, and every street there are strong wafts of bread. Of course, the rain and cold makes class even more difficult because all I want to do is climb under my warm comforter and go to bed!

Anyways, after class today a group of students and I walked down the street to a nearby café. I mean what better way to spend a cold, damp day in Paris than in a Parisian café? It would have been perfect if I hadn’t reaffirmed my dislike for coffee, especially black coffee (which is how most Parisians drink their coffee).  I, of course, added 3 mini sugar cubes (yes cubes, sugar only comes in cubes no fake sugar packets here kids)and then I took from “crème” from the top of Meaghan’s café so I could make it taste better. I failed.

Coffee fail.

After the café, Harrison, Andres, Jaclyn, Laura, and I went to Monoprix (and if you are like me and you attempt to say words in your head as you read them, you pronounce Monoprix as Mono (like monopoly mono) and pree, you don’t pronounce the X, it’s not like twix) to purchase some groceries in an attempt to live cheaply here in Paris.

I purchased a baguette, brie cheese, cherry and blackberry yogurt, nutella (amazing), and cherry jam. All in all, not a bad purchase; I could have jam and bread for breakfast, cheese, bread, and yogurt for lunch, and then nutella for dessert. I would a real meal for dinner, obviously.

Speaking of dinner, I had the experience of heating up my own dinner. My family went to a pool (somewhere in Paris, I have no idea where though) for the evening and wouldn’t return until after 9pm. They knew I didn’t want to wait to eat until 9pm, that’s crazy! My stomach starts making war noises around 6.

Anyways, I had detailed instructions on where to find each part of the meal whether it was first shelf, second, third, and etc. Following that I had detailed instructions on how long to heat up something, what to cover it with, and etc.

And it was a good meal! Ah Nom Nom Nom.

Mardi/Tuesday June 9

I packed my lunch with my groceries I bought yesterday at the Monoprix, I was trying to be all conservative.  And then 30 minutes into my last class, I was drolling at the art pieces featuring food or “nature mort”. It was embarrassingly. So needless to say directly following class, Meaghan and I went to the Boulangerie (or bakery) and purchased a baguette to split. That was a good decision, I must bring more food for lunch.

While we chomped away on our baguette, we discussed our travel options to Barcelona: whether to fly June 18-21 or July 2-5. Right now, I feel like we are leaning towards over the 4^th of July, it will be a little cheaper and a good way to celebrate the 4^th! The only problem is booking everything. Blech, so time consuming and aggravating. I am not looking forward to that one.

Anywho, we sat in the student lounge and chatted about our different options until the cleaning lady kicked us out.

It appeared that almost everyone had dinner with their family that night except for Harrison, Andres, and I. So we took the Metro to the Latin Quarter for some cheap good food.

Where do we go? Oh to a Greek Gyro Sandwich place for some yummy gyros, I mean a gyro and fries for 4Euros, not bad at all if you ask me. After we finished our dinner we decided to wander around the area. Some of the things we did:

-          Walked to the Sorbonne, sat down and did as the Parisians do. People Watch, my new favorite activity and of course, a running commentary. I learned many things. 

The sorbonne!

-          Bought some gelato. Yes, gelato (Greek food, followed by Italian Ice cream, in the heart of Paris. Good mix)

-          Ate our gelato in front of the Notre Dame and people watched again.

• Saw many tourists
• Pigeons who have no self respect, stupid weird pigeons.
• French men dressed up as American gangsters, with the chains and all. Interesting.

-          Walked to the metro and saw a fight break out. What does one do in that situation? If you are with Andres then you follow the fight because it is interesting and is bound to only get more interesting.

Then the police came so we went home. And then I found 5 Euros.

The End.

Mercredi et Jeudi June 10

Another wonderfully cold and rainy day, and this time we had a class trip to the Opera; The same opera where the Phantom of the Opera is based, so I was pretty excited about it, to tell you the truth. Our art teacher took us on a tour of the building, pointing out different styles of art and Haussman’s influence on the development of the city. Unfortunately, the actual part of the opera with the stage and seats was closed due to a rehearsal. So we just wandered around the magnificent hallways and took in the building.

Grand Stair Case at Opera.... pretty lights

OPERA!!! La la la la

My crazy teacher

After the Opera, our teacher took us on a more in depth tour of the area surrounding the opera. She would point out this and that about buildings, streets, or even random pieces of art found on the street. But it was hard to hear her as she walked through the busy and packed Paris streets. I often became distracted from her speech and simply took in the scenery and did some people watching.

Ceiling

What did I find? Oh a large group of teenage, American tourists. Half of the group were sporting “I love Paris” shirts, or scarves, or purses, or sweat shirts. Really? Oh really? Do you think you blend in like that? I mean its hard for you to blend in anyways in a group of 40 but seriously. What made it even better, you ask? The fact that they went to Hard Rock Café.

HARD ROCK, you are in Paris. And you go to the Hard Rock Café. Good Idea.

Obviously I found that annoying.

I started off the morning with Mass at Notre Dame. Not your normal way to start off the morning but I wanted to experience the mass and see how it is different or similar to masses in the United  States. I met up with Laura, Meaghan, Jaclyn, Andres, and Martin for 12:45 mass.

Notre Dame

My answer? Completely different in the sense that while you are praying hundreds of people are milling about in the background snapping pictures, talking loudly, and buying “Notre Dame”  coins or CDS. Really? REALLY? Is that necessary? It would be different if it was after mass was over but no, it was during the whole entire mass. I couldn’t believe it.

After Mass I joined of the hoards of people milling about Notre Dame, I took in the true beauty of the Cathedral while remaining quite annoyed with all the other tourists.

Rose Window

Inside Notre Dame

After Mass, we walked to the Latin quarter and had some food just the way I like it: cheap! We all got panini’s and a drink for 3.50 Euros. A true steal in Paris.

After the lunch: the Louvre! Which is free every first Sunday of the month. And it was incredible! I spent 5 hours there and I saw so many things and yet, I barely made a dent!

I need to go back so badly and see more of the impressive art work.

KD Sign at the Louvre... actually at the foundation. We are cool

Awesome Sculpture of St. Michel killing the serpent

Old Man reading a book.

Laura, Meaghan, Harrison, and Jaclyn at the Louvre

Jesus... really, it is Jesus or a sculpture/statue of him. A lot of the art in the Louvre is very religious

Inside Louvre

Check out the evil dog!

MONA my girl!

My favorite was the Egyptian section, I just love that part of world history.

Sphinx!

A Mummy!

Anywho, last Saturday I was invited to have lunch with my host family. What I didn’t realize was that it was a huge family lunch to celebrate someone’s confirmation.

Family make up: The grandparents (My host parents), three of their kids and their spouses, and five of their grandchildren (four of whom were teenage boys).

Before we started lunch, we had some aperatifs (drinks before the meal), everyone enjoyed a small pouring of whiskey or two. Of course, it was necessary to pour me two glasses (about shot glass size but you sip the whiskey). Then as we are sitting in the “Salon” chatting about the Mass, weather, Obama, and whatnot my host father pours me a glass of port.

Really? Port? Is that necessary after two glasses of whiskey? Especially since this is my first meal of the day, obviously I preferred to sleep through breakfast; it was my first day to sleep in all week! So back to Port. It was very, very good. Just very, very strong also. It is a type of italian wine, I believe, but quite strong.

So after the whole family outdrank me, even the 14 year old, we sat down at the table and began our 5 course meal (please remember that this is lunch! lunch!)

1st Course: The salad with a balsamic vinegar

2nd Course: Vegetables: carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, peas, and more potatoes.

3rd Course: Steak with Pasta (but pasta here does not come with a marinara sauce, it normally comes bare or with a little butter on the side, its very interesting)

4th Course: Cheese. I tried Four different types of cheese, it was quite good.

5th Course: Dessert! It was hazelnut and raspberry icecream with strawberries and raspberries with a waffle-cone-like cookie on top. Delicious!

However during lunch, the 16 or 17 year old finds it necessary to flirt/hit on me. Oh fantastic. He tried getting my number so we could hang out later that weekend because one of his friends was having a party and that would be a good time. It was shocking having him do that during a family dinner but then again, the french are very open with their PDA. It was difficult to get used to but when you see it everyday, it becomes part of the scenery.

After lunch, I went to the cementary Pere Lachaise . The same one where Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison and Balzac and alot of other famous people. I start walking in the cementary as I call Jaclyn, only to learn that they are on the complete other side of the cementary, and this cementary is huge. So I start walking to the somewhat middle to meet them. Of course, in order to do that I had to climb roughly 300 stairs only to learn at the top (and close to the middle of the cementary) that it is closing and I must get to the nearest exit.

Tombs At Pere Lachaise

Hmmm…. I’m in the middle of a cementary after wandering and finding a whole bunch of stairs, there are roughly 10 exits. I have no clue where any of them are and I don’t know where I am. Doesn’t that sound like an awesome experience? It took me about 20 minutes to find my way out, and an additional 20 for Jaclyn, Harrison, and Laura to meet up with me.

Another Tomb at Pere Lachaise

So what to do after meeting up?? Oh well, Harrison went to dinner, Laura and Jaclyn went home to change, and then Meaghan and Emma met up with me and we went to eat at Place de la Republique. We wandered about for quite a long time, trying to decide on something cheap for dinner and eventually settled on a Panini place. These panini’s are starting to grow on me a little more each day. Anyways, after eating we attempted to find a cheap bar/restaurant to hang out at for the night: we failed miserably.

We took the metro back to the Bastille and went to small cafe/bar to hang out. We started to watch a rugby match as Andres met up with us. Its always nice when the waiters know you are american but continue to speak to you in French anyways. It makes me feel better anyways that way I can practice my french. I am quite good a professional french, the kind I speak in class and with my host parents. But I am horrible in conversation/everyday french. The French (as do Americans) speak with lots and lots of slang, and other words that I haven’t learned or learned to use in such contexts. So unfortunately, my conversation french is lacking unless we converse about the school system in france or the government.

Moving on, Laura and Jaclyn met up with us again at this small cafe. However, there was just no room due to the popularity of  the game. Thus we left and continued on our lovely journey for a place to hang out.

A solution you ask? Done. The indian connection (yes that is the name). It was a very nice Indian restaurant/hang out and I ate my first naan. Delicous, I prefer cheese Naan. Actually, anything with cheese I like. That’s probably why I look forward to eating dinner with my family, they make me try at least 4 types of cheese. Its fantastic. Feel free to be jealous.

My side of the table at the indian connection, please note the Bollywood movie in the background. They do a lot of singing and dancing in those films. So I am told

Another attempt at a picture once again with bollywood in the background. From Left to right: Jaclyn, Harrison, Me, and Laura

Andres really likes to make friends. Left to right: Martin, Meaghan, Andres, Emma, and Jaclyn

Anyways, we stayed at the Indian restaurant from 9 to about 1 or 1:30 as we hung out. Our group grew to add Harrison and Martin. We just sat around chatting, occassionally in french but mostly in English. It truly is a relief to speak in English when you have been thinking about all the different verb conjugations, tenses, vocabulary, intonation on words and what not.

How does one pass the time on a bus ride to Fountainebleau?

Play MASH of course. You know what I’m talking about: Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House game where you plan your life from who you will marry to your profession. 

My life

- I am a lumberjack married to Steve Urkel

- I live in the swiss family treehouse apartment complex

-I drive a segway and I have 4 kids… and a pet worm.

What a great life! Be jealous.

We got many people to play with us, including one of the teachers Bertrand. It was hilar.

So anywho now, we got to Fountainebleau where our tour commenced. Our tour guide must have been starving or had to pee on something; the tour was on fast-forward french style. It was pretty difficult to follow everything she said but the castle was pretty.

However, during the tour I wandered off in thought and the group started to leave without me and I got stuck behind a large group of french children. I felt like a giant American, they totally knew I was american too. And if I keep typing and saying ‘totally’ I will seem even more american. Wow.

Anyways, I kept on bumping into them and they bumped into me too, it was like they didn’t know how to walk in straight lines, they literally circled me while knocking into me. It was a bumper-car nightmare featuring children from france.

Check out this overly decorated bedroom... blech

While we toured, we wore ear pieces and listened intently

stained glass at Fontainebleau

Found a round table... sweet! Like King Arthur

On the tour we went through the Chateau and saw: pretty paintings, pretty rooms, windows, and etc. Basically, it was a throw in the face of all French opulence throughout history. I couldn’t help but think as the French royalty were living on these great estates so many commoners were starving. But then again, they got their revenge with the revolution; one word: guillotine.

Sweet wall

check out the sweet tapestry

My favorite part of these great Castles are the ceilings and the tapestries. First off, the royalty would hire famous artists to dedicate hours and hours to creat masterpieces for their homes on the walls, on the ceilings, floors, windows, curtains, basically everything in the room. So in a way, the artists were personal decorators of the royalty. Resume check: Artist and personal decorator of excessively wealthy people.

So obviously necessary in your house

overlooking chapel, yes the chapel

Trivia: Why are the walls covered with grand tapestries?

Answer: As a way to keep the room warm, the castles are obviously made of stone, marble, and brick… all of which do not insulate well despite fire places. So the tapestries were used to soak up and keep the heat in the room.

However, I did really enjoy looking at the grounds of Fountainebleau. They had some incredible gardeners back in the day. As I stood overlooking the lake, I looked out and saw a flock of swans (I don’t know if they come in flocks but I would imagine so). Anyways, it was adorable especially since there was one ugly duckling!

my friends checking out the swans

OH how precious

Flock of swans...

Then we did senior pictures over looking the garden, good way to end the tour.

I'm a model

Emma's senior pictures

—–LUNCH— What’s up dejeuner?

where we ate

After fontainebleau, I had seafood. If you know me, I somewhat have a large aversion to things that swims (thank you Harrison, you makes me feels all sorts of smart). I think that fish should be kept in fish tanks, oceans, streams, mounted on walls so they can sing to me about filet-o-fish, or should be made from chedder as in gold fish.

My meal ft. fish:

Drinks: Orange Juice and Water

1st Course: Salad with Cucumbers, tomatos, and mystery meat (maybe a sort of ham) with lettuce of course.

2nd Course: Salmon with a white fish on top of it (Sandre in french… don’t know the english name of it), a warm-cooked tomato, and rice. All topped with this delicious creamy sauce. I ate about half of the fish, gave away my tomato and dominated the rice.

— and don’t worry I had lots of bread in between courses

3rd course: Dessert. Hazelnut ice cream with a little cake topped with chocolate. Amazing.

4th Course: The coffee, its so freaking small here like the size of a shot glass.

Vaux le Vicompte—

 Absolutely beautiful chateau built by a man named Foucault (who was the Minister of Finance in France… so I may have a chance to have a chateau in my future considering I am a finance major.) Who actually was the inspiration for Versailles aka the roi (king) was overly jealous of Foucault’s castle thus, he implicated Foucault in a grand embezzlement scheme (which Foucault had nothing to do with, he was just rich from his many wive’s dowries). So the king had Foucault thrown in jail (and put in an iron mask… so the story is true, but it wasn’t Leo DiCaprio and he wasn’t the twin of the king). After imprisoning Foucault, the king had all his architects or designers or painters, basically everyone and built Versailles.

Something interesting is that the tour wasn’t only led by our personal tour guide but a virtual tour but real tour featuring the real Man in the Iron Mask. How you ask?

They had mannequins staged in the different apartments, and videos were projected onto the mannequins…. WHAT? It was freaky. At first I thought they were robots that mouths moved and what not. But after obnoxiously staring at it and conversing with roughly 5 other students, it was determined it was a video. Still weird.

vaux le vicompte... it had a moat.

Staged People within Vaux le Vicompte

Most importantly, at the end of the tour we went through the dudgeons and I got to see a replica of Fourcault in his iron mask. Sweet!

huge garden

The grounds of Vaux le Vicompte are incredible! Almost better than Versailles, I’m going to need to go to Versailles and compare. Jaclyn and I wandered through the grounds to the different fountains, different trails, and mazes. It was ridiculous. As I was wandering the grounds, I couldn’t help but remember that Vaux le Vicompte is actually privately owned… the family lives in a smaller house on the side of the Chateau. How crazy is that?

Me and Jaclyn at the chateau

BUS RIDE HOME….

I fall asleep in cars or buses very easily, anything over 20 minutes and I start to get sleepy. We had about  an 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive home…. needless to say I took a very uncomfortable nap in which I’m sure I looked ridiculous while my head lolled around my shoulders. How did I become so awesome?

The very non-descript building of IES. Doesn't it look like fun? I mean you can imagine so many awesome things lurking behind those doors. Can't you? Ha, not really.

Big head, we tried to not smile and be serious like it, too. God knows what the guy who took the picture thought of us

Monday was the day of Ferrier in France (the day after Pentacost) and in a country of 60% Catholics that means almost everything is closed: schools (not mine), stores, bakeries, cafes, and pretty much everything. In fact, my friend Colleen’s host family didn’t believe that she had class and they took her to the Loire Valley and she was unable to attend class, lucky!

So, contemporary france… fun and all; discussing french politics and government is very interesting. — Ok, thats a lie, it is really boring. I don’t completely understand politics in English thus I really don’t understand them in France with their 10 different parties and 100 different ministers. So I struggled to pay attention in class, why you ask?

Let me set up the scene for you:

1. It was very early in the morning

2. In a dark but very warm room

3. Listening to a teacher talk about politics, in french. Even though she wa………. sorry, I fell asleep there. What was I saying?

Anywho, I force myself to take a ton of notes but I fear that they slope off into scribbles as I fell asleep.

So after that class it is exceedingly necessary to move about and get some exercise. So why not go exploring! Laura, Meaghan, and I searched for something to be open and we nearly almost failed. Thankfully, a Monoprix (a more expensive version of Target) was open and I was able to purchase two notebooks for my class. After that, about 10 other students and I went to a Cafe, Cafe Naguerre for le dejeuner (lunch) before our next class.

I am taking a class on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism Art, it is an incredible class and get to learn so much about the painters and the pieces of art themselves…. but it is very difficult to follow along in French, directly after lunch. It truly is a challenge! Luckily its only an 90 minutes long, so directly after class I had all the intentions of talking a nap…. but my family was watching a documentary on D-Day. What’s a girl to do? Join them of course.

Documentary on D-Day:

- Originally in German

- Dubbed into French (badly)

- Incredibly fake and awesome battle scenes.

- I understood about 1/3 to 1/2 of the documentary. I kept on getting distracted by the German undertones…. It would be something along the lines of: The young boy was working for the Restistance when he was captured ich ne wein der tortured and sleep zen da uch uber….. It was difficult to understand, as you can guess.  Luckily dinner was ready before it ended.

My host mother is a fantastic cook! Monday’s meal included a quiche with meat, Bread, salad, peas and carrots, wine, more bread and cheese, and then chocolate mousse. While we ate, we chatted about a variety of subjects: politics (american and french), their visit to a museum, tolls in the US and France, Parking within the United States, and their love for the card game Bridge. A wide variety but very entertaining nevertheless. Dinner started at 8pm and ended about 10pm, needless to say I went to bed not too shortly after dinner. I’m pathetic. Oh well, sleep is good.

The day of Tues:

My one class got a little bit more interesting, we learned more details about french politics and the 5th republic that they are in. It was very informative and I’m glad that I paid attention to it. However, what I really want to talk about it my visit to University Cafeteria.

A large group of students and I visited a local college cafeteria. We paid 2.85 euros for one huge meal, one large enough to feed a football team! It consisted of  A large helping of green beans and carrots (I couldn’t see my plate), a Large chicken breast (not boneless though which beyond made the meal a challenge), bread, 1/4 of a watermelon, and chocolate mouse. I was so full, it hurt! Which was not fun for my art class.

More importantly, after class I went to le Jardin de Luxembourg (Garden of Luxembourg). Where we say a huge head, ducks in a fountain, lots of people and lots of PDA. The french do not understand the concept of PDA or should I say they understand all too well the concept. They are very friendly with eachother in public, it takes sometime to get used to, just to warn you.

Jaclyn and I, in front of a big head. Just hanging out, making the KD sign.

Well, Harrison, Laura, Jaclyn, and I stayed at Luxembourg and finished our homework in the park. It was very picturesque: looking out into the plants, seeing the trees and birds, and a 50 year old couple making out, so nice. No but seriously, the park was amazing and I plan on returning to do my homework there more often. After Luxembourg, we wandered around searching for a very cheap place to eat. That didn’t quite work out, but we did stumble upon some major monuments:

1. The Sorbonne

2. Saint Michel

3. Notre Dame

4. Invalides

5. The Seine

We decided to eat around Notre Dame and St. Michel, I have never been heckled at so many times before in my life. There are these little, overcrowded streets surrounding both Notre Dame and St. Michel that are filled with restaurants. The restaurants Maitre’D will stand outside and try to convince bystanders to come in, I was offered free drinks, free dessert, free entree, more free drinks, a bottle of wine, and more. It was madness, I think I had a little panic attack walking through those very small streets!

But we decided to stop a little Greek restaurant for Sandwiches before getting some Gelato! It was a very diverse dinner. After dinner, we walked across the street and hung out at the Notre Dame! It truly is amazing and I look forward to going back again so I can go inside and take pictures!

Oh hey there Charlemagne, lookin' fine. You hold that pose. Fierce, like a tiger, outside of Notre Dame. Alright.

Wednesday: Day of Movies and a birthday

Wednesday was Meaghan’s 21st birthday! And it just so happened that both of my classes played movies for us to watch! It was that great kind of feeling you used to get in gradeschool when you would go on a field trip or watch a movie. Truly fantastic!

Following class, Martin, Harrison, Andres, Jaclyn, Laura, Meaghan, and I all went to Invalides (it is where Napoleon is buried and currently is a war museum). Something that I found to be very interesting is that the flag was raised halfway, I think it is because of the AirFrance plane that crashed. Anyways, it was very interesting place. We went into the building, into the church, and right as we were going to buy our tickets to see Napoleon… it closed. So I will have to go back to see and chat with Napoleon another time.

After Invalides, we walked to the Eiffel tower for a picnic and some wine to celebrate Meaghan’s 21st birthday! It was fantastic. The park behind the Eiffel was like one big party! A couple of the University’s finished with exams that day, so many students were celebrating and we met quite a few of them (they all wanted to practice their English on us, they speak English better than I speak French, that is for sure). Anyways, we sat down and ate our paninis, crepes, chocolate, and wine. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable night.

—–Thur-nes-day—–> Marco Polo with a grave= very difficult.

Following classes on Thursday, a group of us walked toward Cimentiere de Montparnesse where Baudelaire is buried.  But wooohieee, is it difficult to find one little grave in the midsts of hundreds maybe even thousands.

However, we did see many nice tombs and graves of people from the 18oos to now. So it was very interesting to see the difference between that and the United States graves.

But we did find some interesting people like Baudelaire, a french philosopher, Larousse (from the Larousse dictionaries, holla).

Grave at Montparnesse

Another Grave at Montparnesse, there were many like this: almost like little houses (not on a prairie) and shrines to those departed.

An artistic tombstone at montparnesse... I don't know how to describe it besides artistic

Street sign/marker in montparnesse

Following our excursion in the cementary, we all went home to prepare for a day of castles. I love castles, all types of them: sand castles, disney castles, french castles, italian castles, american-fake castles, white castles…. etc.

Through my program I eat 10 meals a week with my host family (7 of which are breakfast and 3 are dinner) and the other 11 are on my own.  So on this past Sunday May 31st, my friends and I had plans to meet up Port Royal for lunch at one of the local university Cafeterias, the theory of this is: meals are 2.75 Euros (aka cheap). So we all commuted 10-30 minutes (depending on host family location) to meet up at this cafeteria….. it was closed. Evidently, it was Pentacost.

Almost everything was closed. Save for Cafe Harmony, thankfully. Let me describe Cafe Harmony for you, it looks just like a regular cafe. As we stroll up to it, we notice the waiters wearing white T-shirts with CAFE HARMONY written in Rainbow colors, interesting… yes indeed. We all are taking in the Cafe and looking at the menu (not talking), when one of the waitresses approches me and says, “Menu in English, yes?” which I promptly say no to.

What I don’t understand is how on earth did she know I spoke english. I am not wearing a T-shirt or anything saying, “ENGLISH”  on it. I’m still baffled, she must be the French Miss Cleo of English speakers or something. Anyways, I believe I ordered my 20th “Sandwich Jambon”, I think when I get back to the States, I never will want to look or be near a “Sandwich Jambon” or ham sandwich again.

Shortly after lunch (which we ate sitting on a bench while people watching (very Parisian) we decided to do a walking tour found in one of our guide books to Paris.

“River Droite Walk”, a walk through two ‘stately’ gardens and many historical monuments in the heart of paris. Literally the heart because we were in the 1st arrondissement (like a neighborhood, there are 1-20 arrondissements in Paris 1 being in the heart of the city and 20 near the suburbs).

The book informed us the walk was 2 miles and should take about an hour and a half, not bad at all. So we took the metro to Place de la Concorde. 

The Directions:

1. Cross the death-wish stream of traffic with roughly 100 other Tourists to look at the obelisk in the heart of Place de la Concorde.

Warning: Quick history lesson about Place de la Concorde

- The square was originally laid out in the mid-18ths century for the Statue of King Louis XIV, then under the new name of Place de la Revolution, the square witnessed mass executions of the French Revolution until 1795 when revolutionary zeal ebbed away and it was renamed Place de la Concorde.

Obelisk, a 3,000 year old Egyptian obelisk which is framed by two fountains. Photo-opp in front of one fountain!

 After seeing the obelisk and taking touristy pictures we re-crossed the busy street.

Step 2: Cross to the Ornate gates of the Jardin des Tuileries and stroll through this vibrant public garden (aka public sunbathing place, so many people were laying out tanning). At the end of the park, turn left to reach Rue de Rivoli.

Warning: Quick history lesson about Jardin des Tuileries

- Originally laid out in 1564 but was replanted to match the adjoining Louvre.

Picture of the sign for au jardin des tuileries

jardin de tuileries

Jardin de Tuileries

Jardin des Tuileries

What I didn’t know was that the park contained a ton of statues. So of course it was very necessary to take pictures of them! Where else can one find statues??

 

Statue of Hannibal

 

Cesar

After taking tons of pictures and wandering about. We continued on

Step 3: Turn right onto rue de Rivoli and walk alongside the Louvre. Cross rue de Rivoli into Place du Palais Royal. From here, cross rue St. Honore and bear left…. Or ignore those directions and walk up into the Louvre to see the big, glass pyramid and to find Andres.

Warning: Quick History Lesson on the Louvre

-          It is the world’s largest museum. Since 1981, it has undergone a radical transformation that crowns 6 centuries of eventful existence. The star attraction is the Mona Lisa and it has now been moved to a room specially refurbished to make viewing easier.

Pyramid

 There were so many people there just look at the building and the pyramid, I had absolutely no desire to go in; because if that many people were outside, I don’t want to think of how many were inside, eck.

Anyways.

Step 4: Go to the Comedie Francaise. Enter Jardin du Palais Royal through a discreet arch on the left of the Palace and walk the length of the Garden to rue de Beaujolais.

We would have done exactly that but a small band started an impromptu concert so of course we had to stop and listen to it for a bit!

Random playing of music

Then we continued into Jardin du Palais Royal.

Warning: History lesson

-          Jardin du Palais Royal is an elegant 18^th century garden and palace (now the Conseil Constitutionnel and the Ministre de la Culture).

Jardin Palais Royale

palais royale

Me at Palais Royale

Flowers at Palais Royale

Climbing a tree in the Jardin de Palais Royale

Also, there was a bit of an art exhibit within the garden so we perused the art and the garden at a very leisurely pace.

 Step 5: Take rue Vivienne for a short distance, then go left onto rue des Petit Champs.

It was on that street that we saw a demonstration on the most recent strikes in France, it says “College/Universities are not businesses”.

Steps 6 and 7 (easier to combine these two): On this road you will reach avenue de l’Opera.  Cross the avenue and walk up to the Opera House.

History: This opera house was inaugurated in 1875, it marked the end of Haussman’s ambitious urban facelift. Competing was a series of provocative lamp-bearing statues. Underneath the building is a small lake, which provided inspiration for the phantom’s hiding place in Paul Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera.

Opera House, academie nationale de musique

Opera from a distance

Step  8: Continue to place Vendome, a very expensive and extravagant area where Frederic Chopin died and were the first Ritz was.

Within the Center there is a tall pillar with Napoleon on top, at first we thought it was Cesar but no, its Napoleon dressed in Roman Clothing.

 

verdome with napoleon on top!

As we walked through we could easily see the opulence here: Dior, Mercedes Cars, little Mercedes for little kids to drive in for 20 Euros. No big deal.

DIOR Store

 

20 Euros to ride in these little cars

Needless to say, we didn’t stay there too long.

Step 9: Cross the square, walk down rue de Castiglione and return to Jardin des Tuileries.

We stumbled upon the original House of Cardinal Richelieu (The Cardinal in the three musketeers, he really existed)

We returned and all decided to get some gelato after our very long walk. It was supposed to be a 2 mile walk but I think we doubled it because we kept on wandering off track, especially since it took us at least double the time to finish it! Oh well.

I found Puss N Boots from Shrek! (Actually it is a big statue dedicated to the author of Puss n Boots)

Sunday night, I had dinner with my host family. While we ate (Oh, they treat me so well! I had steak, pasta (without any sauce), peas and carrots, wine, bread (of course), and salad. Then before dessert, they always have me try at least 3 new kids of cheese from 3 different areas in france, I liked two of them but not the other. But it is an interesting experience, that’s the only thing that matters. ) we discussed many different things in French: the Opera, the French Open, Highway Tolls, gardening, gardens, and so much more!

But the best part of all…. They had a chocolate éclair for me, oh mon dieu! It was very very good!

Well I was going to wake up early and go for a run with Jaclyn and Harrison in Parc Monceau but… I thought their phone calls were part of my dream, so I didn’t answer.  However, as I was eating breakfast with my host parents they realized that I had an international phone and not a local cell phone, thus prompting them to tell me that they can’t receive international calls… so I couldn’t call them or they call me if there was an emergency. As a result, I now have a French cell phone! Woo, exactly what I wanted to spend 60 Euros on! Oh Well, at least I can stay in contact with everyone that I need to and that’s the only thing that really matters, right? Right?

So after going through the excruciation of buying a cell phone (and it was excruciating), my friends and I was wandered about the Champs-Elysees.  THere is a lot of good shopping in this area though: Lacoste, Gap, Etam, Cote a Cote, Louis Vuitton, etc. Not that I can afford that but nice to look at. However, I do notice a definite difference in the style of Parisians. For example:

1) Most fashion conscious americans would not sport the Fanny Pack but it is acceptable here.

Here is a Mannequin at Lacoste sporting a white Fanny Pack, woof.

2) Overalls are making a comeback here, why yes, yes they are. 

Laura, Jaclyn, and I showed Meagan and Harrison the Arc de Triomphe and the area around the Champs-Elysees while pointing out random things about our neighborhood.  As we walked we debated meeting up with friends at the Eiffel Tower, going to the Andy Warhol exhibit, eating food in the 10^th arrondissement, or exploring a new area.

Arc de Triomphe

Jaclyn and I in front of Arc de Triomphe

Where did we end up? Oh the Eiffel Tower again, for the third time in a week. Oh well, it’s beautiful.

Eiffel Tower

It just so happened that Jaclyn’s friend’s phone died right as we were getting to the Eiffel Tower so we had no way to contact them, or to find them. There are a lot of people at the Eiffel Tower, a lot! Over a couple hundred, so needless to say, we didn’t find her friends.

So we decided to walk around the city and explore. We walked through two arrondissements which is quite an accomplishment. We saw the Military school, the place where Napoleon was buried, numerous churches, and lots of cafes.  Then we happened to notice that we were starving! Starving because people in France don’t eat until 8-10pm, when you eat lunch at noon, it is quite a while to wait for food.

We traveled to the 10^th arrondissement where we sat down to eat at “Au petit Duc”

Au Petit Duc

I went with the formule for an entrée + dessert for 13Euro, my most expensive and yummy meal yet. I decided to go with gratinee tortellini aux trois fromages (tortellini in three cheeses) and water. If you ever come to Paris or France in general, always order “Une carafe d’eau” or a carafe of water, otherwise you will have to pay big bucks for bottled water. Our table of 5 went through at least 5 carafes of water, we were quite thirsty. The French just don’t drink as much water as we do. They drink very small amounts in pretty wine glasses. So basically every time the waiter came to give us our bread, or salad, or wine, we would always say “Une autre carafe, s’il vous plait?” Another carafe, please. But what can you do, if you’re thirsty, guess what you’re thirsty.

Once the food came it was amazing! I ate so much! I had to! They do not do take-home bags or boxes here, it is rude and impolite. So you must finish your food!

gratinee tortillini aux fromages

No matter how good my food was (and it was amazing) I could not finish it. I had to get help from everyone else to finish it. However, I did find room to try mussels…. I don’t like them.

Mussels: A type of clam. Harrison ordered the clam-like item and needed help to finish it, everyone helped but me (because clams or clam-like things should stay in the ocean). Under peer pressure I tried one out… first I had to determine a couple of things:

1)      Was it cooked correctly?

2)      Was it supposed to look like that?

3)      Does someone have a washer for me? Something to wash it down with?

4)      I obviously couldn’t wash it down with my leftover tortellini; tortellini is more of a dryer.

5)      What does it taste like? If it’s like bad sushi, I’m out

6)      And so on

So I tried it. It doesn’t taste like tuna; it doesn’t taste like anything really or at least anything really good. In the end, I didn’t die but I didn’t become a fan. And I still had to wash it down with some of Meagan’s wine.

Shortly after this Harrison had to leave to call his family, moments after he left Andres showed up. Shall I sum up Andres? Shall I? I think I shall

Andres: A Venezuelan (with an accent and everything) going to school in Indiana but currently studying French in Paris with many Americans. He has some of the best luck in the world:

1. Thursday: Haggled with a crepe vendor to get a free crepe if he convinced everyone to buy one (I must have missed this part when I bought my crepe). So he trots over to us, and convinces Harrison and Laura to buy crepes, and Jaclyn and I to split a crepe. Then he got one for free. Lucky.
2. Saturday: We try to get in touch with him all day with no luck. Then around 6, we get a text from him… where is he? Visiting one of the many museums in Paris perhaps? Nope. He is at the French open, his host father invited him. What?? What??? Who does that happen to? (if you can’t tell I’m a tad jealous)
3. Saturday night: Dinner at “Au Petit Duc”, right after Harrison leaves, Andres comes and takes his spot. Normal, yes. Not normal: waiter doesn’t recognize that Andres is not Harrison, so Andres gets the beer that was supposed to come with Harrison’s meal (thus a free beer (which normally costs between 5-8 Euros)).
   1. That’s all I have so far.

Anywho, where was I? Oh, my Chocolate Mousse came right after that! The French understand Chocolate. It is very good and very rich here; the mousse was so incredible that I literally could not eat anymore after 5 bites. Imagine God (the God of your choice, it could be Zeus if you want it to be) cutting a slice of heaven (or Mt. Olympus) and smothering it with a bit of paradise and a dash of “wow” and you get my chocolate mousse.

It was good.

But what wasn’t good. We finished dinner at midnight. MIDNIGHT. Dinner is quite an even here. So after dinner we once again got on the metro with all the drunkies and returned home.

And everyone lived happily ever after

The End.

So my first class of the day is Contemporary France at 9:15 to 10:45 at IES (IES is located in the 15th arrondissement in Paris, directly down the street from a large outdoor market of fruit, vegetables, fish, and so much. Of course, there’s also 3 or 4 boulangeries (Bakery), a couple characuries (butchers), patisseries (Pastries), Cafes, and brasseries (similar to a restaurant). It is a very typical Parisian environment).  

After our first class Laura, Meaghan, Colleen, and I went exploring to find one of the local Caferterias, this one was located off of Cite Universtaire in the 14th arondissement (Latin Quarter). We navigated from the Metro to the RER successfully and found the cafeteria! It was great, they had “formules” which are meal options basically; formule 1= sandwich + boisson (drink) 3 Euro or formule 2= sandwich +boisson +dessert for 5 euros. I’m starting to like these formules, they are very easy to understand and order!

The Cafeteria is located within the University of Paris, so as we sat we looked out onto the grounds and saw people doing a plethora of things: jogging (faire du jogging), playing soccer (jouer au foot), people watching (regarder les gens), and so much more. It was very much like school at home, so in a way, it was very comforting. 

Huge lawn in front of a university in paris

We found it necessary to pose under art on buildings

Completely necessary

our attempt at picture taking

After our meal we explored the neighborhood and wandered about some, just taking our time because we had a lot of it to kill before class (about four hours). So we took pictures and did touristy things before returning to IES to hang out. 

Our next class was Impressionism and we met our very nice and informative teacher. Once again, I am very excited about seeing and learning all about these artworks and actually seeing them in person! So needless to say that class flew by for me and I was done for the day. 

What is one to do?                  Why wander around of course.

We wandered to Avenue General le Clerc which is a main street off of rue Daguerre where IES is located. A bunch of us students (Andres, Harrison, Meaghan, Jaclyn, Laura, and I) have become very good at wandering and stopping for long periods of time just to chat about nothing, we do try to chat in french but it ends up being something like this:

Je voudrais un …. uhh….. umm… piece of gum?Oh, I don’t know how to say that in french.

Thus creating a tangent of english before someone finally switches us back to French. So as of right now, I speak Franglish very well. 

Moving on. Friday was one of the days designated for dinner with my host family. So I arrived back home just in time to sit down and watch the French Open with my host parents. While watching the tennis match, I learned a lot not just about tennis but other country, french advertisements, and perfected my french some. 

Dinner here normally is served between 7:30 and 9pm, it takes at least an hour, so they eat very late here and its taking me a while to adjust to it. Dinner was delicious; we had salad, bread (of course), duck with apples, radishes, I tried three different types of cheese originating from three different parts of france, a little bit of wine, and some chocolate mousse.

During dinner I described prairie dogs to my family, they had never heard such a thing. Let me tell you, it was a struggle to describe it; they thought it was a real dog, a canine, so I had to describe it as more of a rodent. Then somehow I mentioned Ted Drewes to them, so I then had to describe frozen custard, it was a mentally challenging dinner but I learned new words, so at least that was good!

Shortly after dinner, I met up with some friends in another arondissement as we wandered around searching for a good bar/restaurant to hang out at for the night. However, the area really wasn’t catering to our age group so we hopped on the metro and went to the Bastille! There we found a couple blocks filled with bars to go to, we ended up at “The Hideout”, most the people were french however they played almost all American music (from the YMCA to Temperature by Sean Paul) so it was a very interesting experience. However, beer here is very expensive, so we need to find a better place to relax at because I wouldn’t want to go there all the time.

Rue du Pot de Fer, where the hideout is located

Jaclyn and I decided to go explore and we found the dance floor as soon as the YMCA began. Of course it was necessary for us to dance to it because we know the dance (I’m sure you know it too, where you point across yourself, then switch sides and point again). Moments after we started dancing, two frenchmen approached us and asked us to dance. Normally it would be ok, if they were at 40. So we informed them that our “boyfriends” were upstairs and they quickly backed off. However, we had to do that at least 4 or 5 times within the 20 minutes of dancing. Let it be known that the frenchmen are very outgoing. Also, not only do the french love american music but older american music like Grease Lighting, YMCA, Its raining Men, etc…..

Very interesting.