So it’s Friday night and I haven’t blogged all week! That’s quite a long time – it just goes to show that this week was SUPER busy! So, I will try my best to recap everything! Monday I skipped phonetics and instead went on the Seine boat ride that AIFS had arranged. It was frigid cold so I ended up staying in the inside, heated part of the boat for most of the trip. Luckily there was still great views through the glass paneled room and I got some great pictures. The boat took us up and down the Seine past all the famous sites: the Notre Dame, Musée d’Orsay, the islands, the Eiffel Tower, etc. It was cool to see everything from a different perspective, as well as go under all the beautiful bridges. While we floated along we all chatted inside being as it was one of the last times we would all be together because all the quarter students leave tomorrow! John handed out our little AIFS “yearbook” that was a compilation of all the hilarious comments we had written down at Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great token and we all used it to exchange our American cell phone numbers.
Tuesday we got out of literature early, thank goodness, and Simone and I rushed home in order to change before we went to the Opéra to see the French Ballet perform Paquita. The opera house was gorgeous, so stunning, I felt like I was in a dream. Our seats were pretty high up but we could see the entire stage – all the beautiful dancers and their costumes and their perfect formations. It was amazing – one of the best parts of my stay in Paris so far. The ballerinas were freaking incredible. Their technique was perfect and the choreography was flawless. The story was lovely as well – it’s basically about a gypsy dancer who falls in love with a prince. The ending sequence was awesome – tears were brought to my eyes! It made me remember how much I miss dancing and ballet and pointe… I wanted to be out there on the stage dancing the pas de deux in a sparkly tutu and satin pointe shoes! It was truly magical and something I will never forget!
After the ballet, I unfortunately had to go home and stay up half the night studying for my two finals – Franco American Relations on Wednesday morning and Fashion on Thursday afternoon. For Franco American, I just had to organize my notes and documents since, like the midterm, it was open note. The test went fairly well – it was a lot clearer than the midterm and I answered the questions the best I could. I was SO glad to be done with that class!!!! After it was finished, before French, I rewarded myself with two chocolate croissants!
The entire rest of my Wednesday was dedicated to memorizing 100 years of Parisian fashion history. This was not an easy feat. One of my friends Maria had to go home before the final on Thursday so she had taken it Wednesday morning – she let me know the format and told me that it was really hard. Great. So I studied my twenty pages of typed notes, made a review guide, AND made a billion flashcards. It was tiring and I finally fell asleep that night, notes in hand. The next morning I didn’t go to French or phonetics, but instead went and met up with my fashion class at the Yves Saint Laurent archives. We paid 8 euros to get a small private tour of his archives – it was incredible. They have all his clothes stored in these huge pressurized, air conditioned vaults and our tour guide had to wear white gloves when touching the pieces. We got to see a bunch of things included his original Piet Mondrian dress, his homage to Van Gogh jackets, his Russian collection wedding dress, the original A-line pea coat, safari dresses, and much, much more. It was amazing – I felt like I was in the presence of something sacred and I found myself holding my breath! It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience and something not many people get to do – I am so lucky! I was sad I wasn’t allowed to take pictures (for good measure), but of course I got a postcard to commemorate the experience.
For the rest of the day before my Fashion final at 3pm I crammed! The final did turn out to be quite tricky, especially the second part… and it took me almost 3 hours to complete! The first part was just 27 “short” answer questions (more like long answers for me) about material we had covered in class. The second part consisted of 8 pictures of silhouettes – we had to name the trend or designer, the approximate decade it was inspired from, two characteristics about the picture that make us know it’s from that trend, and the one characteristic about the photo that makes it clear that it is a modern version of the trend. Ug – it was so hard! About two hours in, a good majority of the class had finished so our teacher brought out our surprise – champagne and cookies. It was a lovely gesture, but I was really upset because I was trying to concentrate and finish my test successfully when all around me my teacher and classmates were being loud and getting drunk. It was really disrespectful and I almost said something. Instead I tried to tune them out and finished my test as fast as I could. After I was done, I drank and ate!
After everyone was done we went over the test together. I actually did pretty well – I got most of the first part right (even though I don’t know how much lee-way she is going to give us) and I only got one completely wrong on the second part (however I got certain parts of certain pictures wrong as well)… I hope it turns out ok! She said we could email her in January for our grade.
After class I finally went home after a very long day. I went over to Zoe’s for dinner – she made excellent pasta, chicken, and salad. That night we met up with all the girls at Café Oz for one last hurrah – it was super fun and I had a blast! There was hardly anyone in French class today (Friday) – most people had taken an early vacation. Class went on like normal, however, though at the end our teacher whipped out some wine and pretzels and Christmas music – it was a nice touch… minus the fact that she gave us A TON of homework for over break!
After phonetics I went over to Zoe’s to use the internet because the office closed early. We hung out for a bit and then I went home to shower and nap. Simone, Zoe, Jill, Catherine, and I all met for dinner in the Saint Michel area. We went to a great French restaurant – I got onion soup, steak, and sorbet for dessert. Yum – French food is seriously the best thing I’ve ever had! After dinner we walked around for a bit and went into some tourist shops for some last minute shopping for the girls (since they all leave tomorrow)! We then had to say our goodbyes which were super sad – it’s hard saying goodbye to people that you’ve spent the last couple months with and who have shared the study abroad experience with you. I really hope I get to see some of them again because they are a part of my life now. Thank goodness for facebook – it will allow us to keep in touch!
It’s crazy that they are all leaving – it’s quite sad and all of a sudden I felt very lonely… I still get to be in Paris for over another month! But I’m really alone just for one day (which will actually be quite nice). School is over for two weeks and on Sunday I get to see my mom and my sister and go to Madrid! It’s Christmas time!
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Saturday the slight loneliness continued but I kept myself busy by sleeping in, doing a month’s worth of laundry, and packing for Spain. The next morning I finished up packing and showered before heading off to the airport. Madame wished me a nice trip and I declined her breakfast offer…. I was too antsy to get to the airport! I took the metro over to St. Michel in order to catch the RER B. I had learned my lesson from going to Charles DeGaulle last time and I went to the ticket counter to buy a supplemental ticket because I would be traveling outside of Zone 2. However, the ticket lady proceeded to tell me that, for some reason, that day all metro and RER tickets were free. So instead I just bought three return tickets so that we wouldn’t have to wait in line to buy tickets when we came back from Madrid.
I got to the airport early without any hassles. I stopped and got a sandwich and Orangina for lunch and proceeded to wait for mom and Rebecca. Their flight ended up being about an hour late, so I was waiting for quite a while. They finally got there and we checked in and went through security. Our flight went by without any problems. Upon landing in Madrid we hopped on the metro. It wasn’t too tricky, but just annoying because we had to change lines twice and it was hard, especially for mom and Rebecca, hauling their big suitcases up many flights of stairs. We finally made it to our stop and sought out our apartment. No one was there to meet us and the only option we had was to call the number mom had from the rental people. Luckily I had my cell phone, so we called her. She picked up and told us she had been waiting for awhile… we had been late and she got worried so she went to an internet café to see if we had emailed her. Anyways, she came over and let us in after we hung up.
The apartment was quite small, but cozy – it was like the attic of the building. The only problem was the slanting ceiling because Rebecca and I had to duck in parts of the room to avoid hitting our heads. But the beds were comfy and the kitchen was quaint – the bathroom was nice minus the fact that there was never enough hot water. That night, Sunday, after unpacking and drinking some rum and cokes (mom had bought a huge thing of rum from duty free – awesome!) we set out in search of food. We found a restaurant down the street a ways. I got this amazing sandwich – bacon, chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, egg, and more. I was sufficiently stuffed as we walked home, stopping briefly at a little grocery store to buy some cereal and milk for the next morning.
Monday morning we slept in and headed out to explore the city. We scoped out Plaza Mayor which was right up the street from our apartment. There were all these stalls selling wigs and masks and costume type things. I guess on December 28th in Spain it’s their equivalent of April Fool’s Day. Throughout our stay there we saw tons of people in crazy wigs. I then directed my family towards the Prado museum, Spain’s equivalent to the Louvre. After making it there we found that it was closed on Mondays… it would have to wait until another day. Instead we walked through the botanical gardens which were right next door. They were pretty but nothing super exciting. Next, we tried to go to the Reina Sofia museum, the home to Picasso’s Guernica. However, that too was closed… it seemed that most things would be closed December 24th and 25th due to the holidays.
We were hungry so we stopped at an Italian restaurant for lunch. We shared three dishes – a Marguerita pizza, pesto pasta, and pasta Bolognese. Yum yum yum. After that we hopped a bus (first going in the wrong direction) to the modern part of the city. We passed some great architecture on the way. The modern part was interesting to look at but we really only stayed around for about 15 minutes before hopping the metro to go check out the movie theatre. At the movie theatre, we picked out the movies we wanted to see and decided to come back for the 8pm showings in order to see our annual Christmas Eve movie. We were all very tired so we went back to the apartment for a nap.
Around 7:15pm we headed back to the movie theatre on the metro. Mom was not feeling very well and she actually ended up throwing up on the metro… lovely. I felt so bad for her! We should have gone home then, but she said she was okay. We went the rest of the way to the movie theatre only to find that it had closed after the 6pm showings due to Christmas Eve. Discouraged again, we walked halfway home looking at all the Christmas lights and then metro-ed home. We snacked and played games before going to bed.
Christmas morning we slept in and opened presents. I got the Jingle Spells CD from Rebecca plus some other small gifts (including refried beans!!!!!!! I’ve already had three bean burritos now to date). From mom I got the traditional goodies in my “stocking”, plus she told me she had deposited money into my account…. Yeah!!!! Mom and Rebecca both liked what I had gotten for them so I was happy! After presents we headed out into Madrid again. We took the metro to the North of the city and slowly walked around back in the direction of our apartment. We went through a park, some an ancient pyramid, some cathedrals, the royal palace and gardens, and other historic sites. We had a late lunch at this cute café. I had coffee and split a salad and a pizza with Rebecca. It was a perfect Spanish Christmas lunch!
We tried again to see a movie that night – this time we were successful! Rebecca and I saw the movie Michael Clayton with George Clooney… it was really good! Afterwards, we had to wait a bit for mom to get out of her movie so we went to Starbucks for some lovely refreshing Frappacinos! So American of us… but they were dang good!
Wednesday we did two museums – the Reina Sofia (with Picasso’s amazing Guernica and some great modern art including some Motherwell’s!) and another modern art museum just down the street. They had the most comprehensive modern collection I had ever seen – seriously a little bit of everything: Modrian, Picasso, deKooning, Rothko, Chagall, Matisse, Delaunay, Louis, and much more. It was great – it was refreshing to see some amazing modern art after being immersed in so much impressionism and classical art in Paris!
For lunch we went to a Thai restaurant where I was able to order Pad Thai! It wasn’t as good as Cha Thai’s in Orange or Sri Thai’s in Fort Collins, but it was still delightful. In the afternoon, Rebecca and I split up from mom because she wanted to go look at another park. Rebecca and I walked home stopping through Plaza del Sol and Plaza Mayor for some shopping. We ended up both buying some really great scarves, the perfect Spanish souvenir.
Thursday morning mom made us get up early to get to the Prado museum. It had been way way too crowded the day before and there was still a pretty long line on Thursday, but we toughed it out and waited. Overall, I was not super impressed with the Prado – I think the Louvre has the same quality and scale of work, plus more. But maybe I’m just a biased Parisian! Anyways, I saw some interesting works by Goya and after I had had my fill, I waited in the café reading and sipping on coffee waiting for mom and Rebecca. After we met up, we headed over to the Atocha train station in order to catch a train to Toledo. After waiting in line forever, however, yet again, mom was told that all tickets were sold out to Toledo for the day due to it being the holidays. We were all very disappointed, but there was really nothing we could do… next time we will know to plan better!
So instead, we had lunch in the train station, which actually turned out to be really good. I ordered a tortilla, which in Spain is a sandwich with potatoes, egg, and green peppers. It was soooooooo good! I got another the next day at the airport!!!! After lunch we headed back over to the park we had visited on Tuesday to take this thing called the Telefrico – a gondola ride that gives you great views of the city. We took it one way and got off for a bit on the end to stroll around and soak up some sun. After taking the return trip, I split up from mom and Rebecca to get in some quality alone time. I walked around for a bit, shopping, but not buying anything. I took the metro home and waited for the family to get back. The evening was spent packing and getting ready to fly back to Paris. Overall, a lovely visit to Madrid.
We left for the airport the next morning at 9am. Our plane ended up being delayed for over an hour which sucked… I bought a Vogue and tried to waste time. Landing in Paris, we took the RER to St. Michel and then took line 10 to the Ségur stop. We waited for a while for the landlord to meet us… I guess he had been waiting at the apartment for us but since we hadn’t had internet access for the past week, we hadn’t gotten any of the information. So he finally came and got us at the metro stop and we went to the apartment. His entire family was there waiting for us – three little boys and his wife. He went through the entire apartment showing mom anything and everything. It took him a good half an hour. Finally, the left and we were alone!
The apartment is really nice – two single beds and a double pull out couch, a nice big bathroom with a separate toilet, a TV, a nice big kitchen table, a nice kitchen, and also a washing machine!!!! However…. NO INTERNET!!!! I almost cried when I found out… you have no idea how much I was looking forward to having internet… what a horrible let down. But life goes on I guess.
After we had somewhat settled in, Rebecca and I went over to my apartment to pick up some things for me (pillow, laptop, clean clothes, etc.) while mom went and explored on her own. We decided to walk around our area to find a place for dinner that night after we met back up at the rented apartment. We found a lovely little café, a typical French place about 10 minutes away. We ordered a bottle of wine (most of which I ended up drinking) and I ordered onion soup and tomatoes and mozzarella. Mom got steak and potatoes which were yummy and Rebecca got this fabulous cheesy mashed potato dish. A wonderful first meal in Paris.
This morning (Saturday) Rebecca and I slept in. We didn’t head out to do things until about noon after we had taken our time waking up and eating baguette, nutella, and tea. We took the metro over to the Pompidou. There was a line – I have never seen any lines in Paris yet… this will be interesting being here during a holiday season. We waited the line out and finally got inside. It was a great experience – they have a superb collection of modern art. My favorites were the Mondrian and Rothko pieces and…… they had some Pollock’s!!!! It was my first time seeing actually pieces by him and it was freaking amazing!
After spending a good 2.5 hours there, we stopped by some touristy gift shops as we walked through the Marais towards the Jewish quarter. For dinner we ate falafels standing on the side of the road. We browsed through a second hand clothes shop before splitting up… I headed back to the apartment to get my laptop and go to an internet café. Rebecca and mom continued to explore Paris for the rest of the day. I went to the internet café that we used for Café Abroad meetings. I got there at 7pm hoping to get in a good two hours of internet usage, only to find that on Saturdays they closed at 8pm. I got done as much as I could… my computer turned itself off twice which didn’t help. I will definitely be needing to go back there again at some point. I am behind on Café Abroad work and I had so much homework!!!!
Tomorrow we are planning on going to Notre Dame and St. Chapelle – two sites I have not been to yet. It is tiring, being a tourist in Paris! I am so glad I have been here for 4 months and have been able to spread out all the sight-seeing because cramming it all into a week is hard work! I am going to have to let mom and Rebecca go out on their own one or two days so I can get some things done before going back to school! Under a month left in Paris now… it went by so fast! I got some great Facebook messages and posts from some friends, though, which makes me so excited to go home and see them! But I plan on soaking in as much Paris as I can until then!
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Sunday we got an earlier start… we were out the door by ten! Mom went and found some fresh chocolate croissants for breakfast – amazing as usual! I don’t know what I am going to do back in the states without pain au chocolate and French baguette! We took the metro over to the Notre Dame… there was a line, but it moved fast because entrance is free. There was a Sunday mass going on while we visited which was very cool. It was SO beautiful in there – the stained glass and the architecture are extraordinary to look at. We took our time walking around, listening to the singing and the sermon, and writing messages of peace at this little table they had. It was a very cool experience… I can’t believe I’ve waited this long to go to the Notre Dame – I mean I do walk by it at least once a week!
After the cathedral we browsed some nearby tourist shops as we headed over to Shakespeare & Co. bookstore. I bought some more postcards – I’ve decided that I think I want to collage all of the tons of postcards I have gotten and frame it and hang it in my room… I think it will be the perfect souvenir of my wonderful time spent in Paris. Rebecca and mom also bought some souvenirs. They are being so good about buying gifts for their friends! It’s making me realize that I should probably start doing that… my current idea is to buy chocolate and scarves for everyone. I hope they like what I bring back! I am the first out of all of us at Chapman to study abroad so I don’t know the gif bringing back protocol! I have to set the curve!
We quickly browsed through Shakespeare & Co. Simone would be proud that I finally went there! We also browsed the bouquiniste stands along the Seine as we walked towards Saint Chapelle. We waited in line for quite a long time in order to get into Saint Chapelle. Thankfully it was very beautiful inside – it is over 800 years old and the walls are made out of these huge stained glass windows. It is a historical gem! There was no heating there and we got freezing cold, so on or departure we headed straight to a café across the street for lunch. It was a great meal – I got coffee, a croque monsieur, and had bites of mom’s quiche and Rebecca’s lasagna. After lunch Rebecca and I split up from mom and headed over to the Ile de la Cité to get some Maison Bertillion ice cream. Mom wanted to go to the Conciergerie, which I had already been to with AIFS.
Rebecca and I ate our ice cream as we headed over to rue Rivoli to window shop. I got white chocolate flavor again – so freaking good. Unfortunately, it was Sunday, so pretty much all the shops were closed. We went into all the open ones, however, as we made our way towards Chatelet metro stop. I bought one shirt at the last store we went into – it’s an oversized button up in a flowery print. I really liked the store I bought it in – I think I will go back soon! Tonight I’m not sure what the plan is – I think we might go over to Place Concorde and ride the Ferris Wheel!!!!
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Sunday night we did end up going to the Ferris Wheel once mom came back to the apartment. It ended up kind of being a rip off though… I mean its 8 euro per person and we didn’t even get our own ride – we shared our module with a couple from Serbia. Plus we went around like twice before they made us get off. The views were still very pretty, however, and when we got off we treated ourselves to Nutella crepes. After that, Rebecca and I went home and left mom to wander around on her own.
Monday morning we got up, had a lovely breakfast of chocolate croissants, scones, and tea, and headed to the Louvre. I went around on my own for two hours because I already had my student pass. I visited two sections that I hadn’t gotten to yet – the Egyptian antiquities and Napoleon III’s chambers. Both were very interesting! I met back up with mom and Rebecca at 1pm and we headed outside for a quick photo-op beside the glass pyramid and then over to rue Rivoli. We stopped at some tourist shops along the road and I finally bought some souvenirs for my friends at home! We went over to Angelina’s for lunch… we had to wait in line, but only for about 15-20 minutes. Their world famous hot chocolate was well worth the wait! After lunch, I walked through the Tuileries briefly in order to show mom and Rebecca where l’Orangerie was. I then went back to the apartment by myself to possibly get some homework done before New Year’s Eve!
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While mom and Rebecca were at l’Orangerie checking out the beautiful Monet’s, I went back to the apartment where I updated pictures and my blog and started working on some homework. I made a little dent, enough to make myself feel productive. Mom and Rebecca weren’t gone for very long and when they came home around 6pm we all went to Monoprix for a little bit of shopping. I got the rest of my friend’s presents shopping done and bought some wine to take home for myself (and share with my roomies)! We also bought some champagne! Back at the apartment we all took short naps. We made dinner at home because we weren’t super hungry and snacked a bit while we drank champagne (and rum and coke as well)!
At 11pm we headed out to the metro to go over to the Eiffel Tower. The metro was insanely packed – pretty much as bad as it had been during the strike! Luckily we only had a couple stops until we made it to Trocadero. I had had no idea what it was going to be like at the Tower – I had figured it would kind of be like how it had been during the Rugby World Cup games… crowded, but I thought we would be able to get down to the Champ de Mars under the Tower. Coming out of the metro station I couldn’t believe my eyes… I don’t think I have ever seen that many people! It was wall to wall packed bodies all the way from the Trocadero circle, through the Trocadero square, down the stairs on each side, across the bridge over the Seine, under the Tower, and all the way to the Ecole Militaire. It was millions and millions of people! There was no way we were going to be able to get across to the actual Eiffel Tower and it was fast approaching midnight so we climbed up onto one of the sides of the Trocadero square. It turned out to be a really good spot – we had a perfect view of the tower and we were high above all the crowds of drunken Parisians.
The actual New Year was sort of anti-climatic. There was no countdown but at midnight the Eiffel Tower started sparkling like it does every hour and the crowd went CRAZY! There were no official fireworks but anyone and everyone seemed to have brought them and they were being set off left and right regardless of the millions of people standing around. It seemed a bit dangerous to me, but luckily we avoided the line of fire and simply got to enjoy the colorful displays! We waited for about an hour on our perch letting the massive crowds disperse a little. We watched the Tower sparkle one last time at 1am and then got down from our ledge and waited in line for some fabulously warm Nutella crepes.
Rebecca and I had planned on going out, but we ended up just walking home through the revelry, getting back about 2:30am. I didn’t know exactly where the best place to “go out” would be – it seemed that anywhere and everywhere it was going to be insanely crowded and the metro was going to be impossibly hectic as well. Plus, Rebecca is only 17 so I don’t know which places IDed and which didn’t. And catching a taxi home would not be possible in the slightest. In all honesty I was also a bit scared – there was SO many people about and it would have been very easy to get lost or hurt or harassed. I’ve never really had that feeling in Paris, so Rebecca and I resolved to go out on Thursday or Friday night in order to guarantee a good going out experience for her!
Overall it will be a New Year’s I will never forget, simply because it was a once in a lifetime experience! Each year I have had very interesting New Year’s experiences… I wonder what next year has in store for me. The cool part is that it will be my first New Year’s as a 21 year old! WOOOOO!
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The morning after New Year’s we slept in finally! It’s hard because I am on my vacation and I want to relax and sleep in, but mom and Rebecca want to be up early to go see everything in Paris. But we all slept in Tuesday which was nice. After we finally managed to drag ourselves out of bed, we went over to my apartment so I could show mom where I live. She said it was nice to finally see it, even though there wasn’t much to see! We hopped on my metro stop and rode over to Cluny so I could take them up to see the Pantheon. While they were snapping pictures, I ran over to my favorite Thai restaurant to see if it was open. It wasn’t – a lot of things were closed that day because it was a national holiday in France.
After the Pantheon we walked down in the direction of the Luxembourg Gardens. We got side-tracked at MILK, an internet café because Rebecca really wanted to use the internet. We purchased some time and used the internet for a little under an hour. I got caught up on internet things as well which was nice. After we had each checked our email, etc. we continued walking towards the gardens only to get there just as they were closing. It was already 5pm and we were sort of at loss as to what to since so many things were closed. We ended up deciding to go see a movie at 6:45pm over at Montparnasse. Mom walked there and Rebecca and I took the metro.
We bought tickets at the theatre and then had some time to kill so we went and got some food. We met up with mom right before the movie – we saw Elizabeth, The Golden Age, one that I had been wanting to see for a while now! It was really good – I love period pieces and I love Clive Owen! There was also a preview for a movie called Dancing Queens, an English movie about the world of girl’s dance competitions! It looks awesome and it comes out next week so I will definitely be going!
After the movie we just headed home to read, relax, and go to bed. Wednesday will be another full day of Paris sightseeing, but I think I might sleep in and meet up with the family later!
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Wednesday morning I slept in a bit while mom and Rebecca left early for Musée Rodin. I had wanted to go, but resolved to go another time on my own schedule since it is only two blocks from my house and AIFS will refund me anyways. Instead, I slept in and had a nice leisurely morning only. I met up with mom and Rebecca outside of the museum at 11am and we walked over to Invalides together. It was cool to finally get inside… its funny because it is right down from my apartment and I have never been! We saw Napoleon’s tomb first which is located directly under the golden dome and then saw parts of the rest of the building. There are several different exhibits that make up the Musée de l’Armée… I visited just two – one on the French Resistance movement during WWII and another on WWI and WWII. They were interesting… a typical museum.
After Invalides we metro-ed home together for some lunch and relaxation. I made an excellent tomato and cheese baguette sandwich and we all snacked on cookies. Rebecca and mom left around 4pm to go over to the Arc de Triomphe. I sat that one out since it was freezing cold outside (and I had just been last week) and instead took a short nap, did some homework, and watched Star Academy. After they got back to the apartment we left for dinner about 7:15pm. I took them to my favorite Indian restaurant over in the Latin quarter for a great dinner of naan, rice, and spinach curry. Thoroughly stuffed we headed home in order to prepare for another day tomorrow which I believe will include Musée d’Orsay, shopping, and possibly the Eiffel Tower!
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This morning I actually forced myself to get up early with mom and Rebecca because I wanted to go to Musée d’Orsay with them. Rebecca and I stayed there for a little over an hour – I went and saw the things that I hadn’t seen the first time I went since that time I had spent over two hours just on the fifth floor with all the Impressionist pieces. This time, I started at the Hodler exhibit which was still going on. I had ran through it before but I wanted to go look at his pieces with a fresh, rested eye. It was a very good exhibit – I love his landscapes.
I then explored the ground floor… all the pre-Impressionist pieces including some of my favorites by Tissot and Manet. I had about 15 minutes left after this so I ran quickly up to the fifth floor to get another glimpse (because it will probably be my last L) of my beloved Degas’. They were no less phenomenal the second time around, both his paintings and his pastels. After a quick browse through the gift shop (I got a Degas inspired pad of paper for my purse), Rebecca and I left mom at the museum – she had only just gotten through the ground floor! We took the metro over to Concorde to go get some tea at Laduree.
I hadn’t yet been to Laduree and I was so glad we went! It was a cute little tea room and we got a table for two by the window. I ordered vanilla tea and Rebecca got a fruity flavored kind. We split a chocolate éclair and a citron tart. It was sooooo good! I felt very posh and I thoroughly enjoyed my sweet tea and our little treats! After we had paid, I quickly showed Rebecca rue Saint Honoré with all the designer boutiques… Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Hérmes, Lanvin, etc. We then hopped the metro to Chatelet to go do some shopping in an area we could actually afford! We walked all the way from Chatelet almost to Saint Paul and back doing shopping… Rebecca made some great purchases as did I. She got a trench coat from H & M, rain boots from Texto, and a leather bag from the 2nd hand store. I also got a leather bag (only 5 euros!), some new black boots (since mine are literally falling to pieces), and a brown belt from Texto. It was quite a successful shopping trip!
On the way back to the apartment, we stopped at Franprix for some groceries… yogurt, tomatoes, and some yummy Brie and Camambert cheese! The food made for a lovely late lunch!
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Mom got home a bit later and she and Rebecca left to go climb the Eiffel Tower. I sat it out since I had already done that hike and wasn’t super interested in freezing to death. Plus I don’t think you can beat the magic of the first time! Instead I stayed at the apartment, did some homework, watched TV, and painted my nails. Some good old fashioned relaxation – one of my favorite activities!
Rebecca and mom got home about 8:30pm and a bit later we left to go get dinner in the St. Michel area. I took them to a creperie and we got crepes and cider – ham and cheese AND a chocolate one for dessert… so good! I’ve been perpetually full ever since mom and Rebecca got here – I have decided to go on a diet once they leave so I don’t look the least bit chubby on my return to the states. We went home after dinner since it was already pretty late… I had talked to Courtney earlier that day – she had just gotten back from home – and we decided to go out on Friday night instead of Thursday.
Friday morning we got to sleep in a bit because we had to wait for Julie to get in from the airport. We had a nice leisurely morning eating and reading. Once Julie got to the apartment, we chatted together over some tea for a bit and opened the presents she had brought. I got a beautiful necklace and some Cadbury chocolate. We headed out to Montmartre shortly after to go see the Sacré Coeur. Since it was my third time in Montmartre, I decided to finally ride the Funiculaire, a little gondola type ride that takes you up to the Basilica. It was fun and I avoided some stairs!!!! We went into the church and then climbed up the millions of stairs to the dome. The views were as spectacular as the first time I had gone, although it was a lot windier!
After climbing down from the dome, we walked over to Place du Tertre. I really wanted to get my portrait done but it was 40 euro! Not exactly in my budget. Instead, we just looked at the beautiful art and got pestered by the artists. We popped into some tourists shops and then decided to get some lunch. We went into one of the restaurants in the square and all got onion soup and coffee. The French onion soup was very good, of course! It was nice to be nice and warm inside! After our small lunch we walked down to the main street of Montmartre to see the Moulin Rouge and all the sex shops before hopping the metro home. Mom and Julie got off at Concorde to go to the Tuileries and the l’Orangerie before they closed… Rebecca and I went the rest of the way home, stopping off at the grocery store quickly for some ice cream. Tonight we are planning to go out…. Finally!
Two more full days of “vacation” before I have to go back to school… this was the shortest and busiest winter break I’ve had in a long time. I freak out whenever I think that my next break isn’t until Spring Break! But it is exciting to think that I will be heading home to Chapman in just three short weeks! My Paris experience will be over so soon… and oh how amazing it has been!
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Julie and mom came home and we just hung out for a bit. They decided to go out to eat but Rebecca and I weren’t that hungry so we just stayed in, ate baguette and cheese and watched the Star Academy prime (Jeremy didn’t go home – woot)!!!! We got ready to go and did a little drinking around 10:30pm and headed out half an hour later after mom and Julie got home. We were planning on going to Café Oz (the one that I normally go to) but Courtney called me right as we were leaving, telling us to go to the other Café Oz (I guess there is two) over on Grand Boulevards. I figured why not so Rebecca and I metro-ed over… we had to switch twice which sucked. We got to the exit where Courtney had said she would be waiting for us and she wasn’t there. It was starting to rain and she wasn’t picking up her phone. Finally we connected and she told me she was at the other Café Oz, the one that I was originally going to go to!!!! It was a sucky miscommunication I guess… she felt really bad.
So Rebecca and I had to get back on the metro and switch twice more to go over to Chatelet. We finally got there and then ended up having to wait over a half an hour just to get in! And it was raining! Grrrrrrrrr. Finally we pushed our way in and checked our coats. They changed it so now Friday’s are Ladies Nights which is cool because we got in for free! We went straight to the bar and found Courtney. She felt really bad for making us roam all over Paris so she bought us each a drink and a shot! What a sweetheart! The rest of time there was really fun – it was so great going out with my sister (even though technically it was illegal for her to be there because she’s not 18 yet J)!
The night went great until we were in a taxi home and I realized that my money pouch has been stolen YET AGAIN… A SECOND TIME!!!! I was soooo pissed and the night ended in tears over my losing 40 euros and my handmade money pouch. I’ve lost almost 100 euros now and I’m sick and tired… I can’t afford to be just losing money! It better not happen again in the next three weeks. Three weeks – that’s so soon!
This morning Rebecca and I dragged ourselves out of bed and she helped me take my suitcases over to my apartment where we met up with mom. They went off to Versailles and I stayed in Paris to pack up the extra suitcase mom is taking home for me and to nap, shower, read, relax, etc. I’m sad that mom and Rebecca are leaving tomorrow and that I had to go back to classes on Monday! It’s going to be study study study from now until forever! Except that I am going to Amsterdam next weekend! I’m so glad my family came out for Christmas (besides dad)… we had some rough spots but it was a great time overall!
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When Rebecca and mom got back from Versailles they were very tired so we spent the majority of the evening hanging out at the apartment together reading and relaxing. Mom went out after a bit and brought back falafels for us! They were marvelous as usual. We played a game together over tea and cookies before heading to bed. The next morning we all got up about 8am in order to be out the door to the airport at 9am. Everything went very smoothly, although I have a hunch that my extra suitcase was over 50 pounds because mom kept stuffing things into it! We had one last chocolate croissant together and then I left them at the RER B to head to Charles deGaulle. I got really sad as they were leaving and when I got back to my apartment it really hit me that I was alone! I only have about 18 days left in Paris and I really hope they go well… and they will probably go by fast!
For the rest of the day I cleaned my room, finished my French homework, read, napped, and watched a movie. My computer is still turning off on me which really worries me. It gets SO hot on the bottom, like its literally burning. I really need to get it fixed the moment I get back to Orange so I don’t have to limit my computer usage to 2 hour intervals! I also can’t wait to get back to the internet… I have a feeling that I am going to be at the AIFS office every morning and every afternoon this week!!!!
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Monday morning was day one of going to the AIFS office in the morning. I used the computer, using the internet to upload pictures, my blog, internship stuff, check facebook, and do some research. I also had a bunch of stuff to take care of with Danika. As always, my interaction with her sucked – it turns out that I only get 8 meal vouchers (instead of 12) to last me for my last three weeks. Great… I guess my diet starts now! Also, the newsletter had said that there would be old French tests for us to look at and study to help us prepare for our final in two weeks. I asked about them and lo and behold she looked at me like I was crazy. She went to ask John about it and it turns out that they might, maybe, possibly will be able to get some for me. Thanks guys. Seriously, AIFS cannot get its shit together! Excuse my language…
French class went fine, minus the fact that I almost burst into tears I am getting so stressed… I seriously don’t know how I am supposed to pass this final! I think I am going to try asking Katie again if I can take it pass/fail. The likelihood is that the answer is no, but I’m on the verge of a breakdown. I just keep trying to tell myself that everything will be ok – in the long run this semester won’t matter to my GPA… after French I went back to the office to do a bit more research for my Literature paper. A bunch of the other students there and it was fun catching up and hanging out.
I went home and stopped at Franprix on the way to pick up a few odds and ends. For the rest of the afternoon I worked on my essay and got a good chunk of it done – almost 6 pages! Only two more to go – go me!!!!
Tuesday morning I went to the office again to do the same things as Monday pretty much. It was really good to hear from some of my friends back home – I am getting so excited to come home, even though it will be so bittersweet leaving Paris! It’s weird that I barely have 2.5 weeks left! It’s also exciting that I am going to Amsterdam on Friday – I got in touch with Josephine and it looks like she has some awesome stuff planned for us. Plussssss Ladan is coming in a week which will be so awesome, minus the fact that she comes right before my huge final. But I will make it work, I don’t care! French went by as usual again – just more notes and more review… pretty soon I am going to have to start cracking down on making review flashcards!
After lunch at and more internet usage at the office, I went to literature class where we took lots of notes. It was our last class which means next week we have our final and our paper is due. I am confident that I will do okay (at least more so than with French)! I was supposed to meet up with a friend tonight for drinks, but I cancelled because I really want to finish my essay and start studying…
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Wednesday morning it was back to the office for day three of catching up on internet… I accomplished a lot in an hour and a half! I found out where Ladan is staying… actually on my same metro line about 6-7 stops away! I’m so excited to see her! Bad news is that I’m not going to see June when I get back because she leaves 2 days before I get back. Talk about shitty timing! In other news, Dani is in Scotland and I’m hoping she might be able to visit, because I don’t have anytime to make a trip up there before I leave. And if she doesn’t, that’s another person I can add to my list of people who I don’t get to see for a year! French class was fine – more review and more stressing. I’m trying to adjust to the fact that it will be near impossible for me to get an A – to do that I would have to complete my text with perfection and I know I am not at that level… its just impossible. I had a quick chat with my mom after class who tried to reassure me to not stress anymore. I know in the long run its just a couple credits and that not everyone gets straight As in college, but I really thought I could do it! I really wanted to graduate with Honors! I guess this kind of screwed me over and I will just have to work extra extra hard for the rest of the time at Chapman. I know myself and I know I am a good student and I guess that’s what really matters. To bad that doesn’t show up on paper! I emailed Katie at Chapman one more time – one more effort to see if I could take French pass/fail. I doubt it, but it was worth a try!
After talking with my mom, I was hoping to go do a little shopping before heading over to the office, but I didn’t have time. The “soldes” (sales in French) started today in pretty much every single store in Paris and it was torture watching every person on the metro have shopping bags except me! I have resolved to go tomorrow morning for a little peek – I am trying to save all my shopping until my last week when I don’t have class. I went to the office because they had arranged for a little post-Christmas celebration with a tradition French galette. There is a ceramic object in one of the pieces of cake and whoever gets that piece gets to be the king or queen for the day. Since I was the youngest person there I had to decide who got which piece of cake… Paul got the king piece! We had champagne as well and talked and hung out for the afternoon – it was quite enjoyable! I left around 4:30pm to get back and do my homework. I’m hoping to take a break tonight to go see the new Keira Knightly movie!
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I ended up going to see that movie with Paul last night – Atonement. It was soooooooo sad! But wonderfully done – beautiful costumes, music, cinematography, great acting… and of course James McAvoy who is utterly gorgeous! Paul and I were both crying – I guess it was a good cathartic release (even though I have been doing enough crying lately out of stress). I went home and went to sleep after that.
This morning, Thursday, I got up to go browse some of the sales around 10am. I went to Le Bon Marché first because I had never been there. Turns out there’s a good reason why I’ve never been there – it wasn’t exactly in my price range. It was like Galeries Lafayette – all amazing name brand items that even on sale, we still hundreds and hundreds of euros. I left quickly so I wouldn’t spend my entire life savings on one purse. I really want a cute, smaller, going out type purse – I think I will try BHV next to see if they have something more affordable!
I went down to rue Rennes for a bit after that, checking out my usual stores. I wasn’t super successful, but it’s always good when I don’t spend money – it means that I will have more money on my return to the US where I can go shopping for less. And plus it turns out that I might have to buy a new laptop, so I need all the money I can get. I’m stressing hard about a new laptop – not only do I not really have the money, I also can’t afford to spend the time when I get back researching them… I need my laptop for school which is basically the day I get back! Ugggggggggggg. So much for an easy transition back to America.
French class was hell! She went over what our oral exam is going to be on. It’s on January 24th, the day before I leave which means I will have to be studying French up until my departure. We have to be able to explain and talk about in-depth 7 different pieces of text that we covered during the semester… and we won’t know which one it is until we get there. Then, she proceeded to give us two more practice tests to do, 3 sets of grammar homework problems, and oh wait… a test tomorrow (which she never told us about, despite her insistence… trust me I would have written it down)! That class seriously frustrates me sometimes. Plus, Katie emailed me back with no help regarding grades. I am going to try and get Danika to send a note along with my transcripts regarding the issue.
After French I rushed over the office to use the internet and tried unsuccessfully to have a phone conversation with my dad. My French phone is slowly dieing on me – I just need it to work for two more weeks!!!! It’s tough… I think it will make it! I got some bad news from Kaely – she wasn’t able to sign me into any dance classes. So I have to go on the first day and pray that there is still room left! If I can’t take at least one dance class I will be severely depressed. I’ll end up having to take at Leann’s studio, which means I would have to pay, which is not really a possibility for me right now. I’m hoping she’ll let me in because I’ll probably just be auditing and she knows me. Fingers crossed. Now I’m off to spend the rest of the day, and probably part of the night cramming French into my brain – what fun!
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Friday morning, guess what I did? Went to the AIFS office of course… my new second home. I really like going in the mornings because no one is ever there and I can peacefully use the internet and get homework done. I checked email, facebook, etc., updated my blog, and quickly looked into new laptops – its amazing the advancements they have made in just three years! For the price I paid for my current laptop I get a much cooler, much better one. It’s still looking to be about $1000, though, because I’m definitely buying the 3-year extended warranty this time!!!! I also had a quick chat with Danika at the office about grades (what else). She is going to be sending a note to Chapman with my transcript about the grade discrepancy, etc. I got a reply email from Katie about grades and she mentioned that students had had this problem in the past. Thanks for warning me…. Uggggg!
French class was better than Thursday, besides the test. However, I felt pretty confident about it so I’m keeping my fingers crossed! I hurried home in the rain (after getting a baguette sandwich of course – ham and cheese) so get back to the apartment and pack for Amsterdam! I’m excited even though I should be spending this entire weekend studying. But I have 8 hours in the train (4 each way) to get things done, so that should help!
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So I just got back from my weekend in Holland at about 11:30pm. It was a lot of traveling, mostly in the train, but it was a great weekend! I got to the train fine on Friday evening at Gare du Nord and settled into my seat. I had my row to myself, so that was really nice. The majority of the 4 hour train ride I spent making flashcards for my literature final on Tuesday. I took breaks every now and then to read my book and snack. The time flew, and before I knew it we were in Amsterdam! It was a shame that the train was during the night, however, because we went through all of Belgium and I couldn’t see anything!
I was sort of nervous getting off the train in Amsterdam because I didn’t know if I would be able to find Josephine. However, I literally walked off the train and she was standing right there waiting for me! We hugged and quickly got onto the train right on the other side of the platform that was heading to Leiden where her parent’s house is. That train took about another half hour and we spent most of that time just chatting and catching up. It was really good to see her! Her parents met us at the train station and drove us home to their house. I didn’t really remember much, since I hadn’t been there in over ten years, but they really do have a beautiful house in a wonderful area. They brought out wine and cheese and crackers and we had a nice snack and chatted before all heading to bed. I slept in Pauline’s room and had a lovely sleep. Also, I was so excited to see that they had a cat! She was very, very friendly and I played with her all weekend!
We got up at around 9am the next morning, got dressed, and had a lovely breakfast of tea and toast. I got to have Dutch peanut butter and my favorite Dutch chocolate sprinkles! Then, Antoinette, Josephine and I drove back to the train station to catch the train into Amsterdam. We got there around noon and it was horrible weather! Cold, windy, and rainy… however, we braved the conditions and set out to see Anne Frank’s house. Amsterdam was amazing! I’d never pictured it as such a beautiful city! I loved all the wonderful canals, the beautiful houses, and all the different kinds of bikes. We got a little lost trying to find Anne Frank’s house because the map that we had gotten at the train station was wrong – so we made a short stop at a little bakery and got sandwiches for lunch. We finally found the house, but there was a line. While Antoinette waited in line, Josephine took me to this store across the street called Kitsch Kitchen. It was such a cool store! My sister would have loved it – it had all sorts of quirky stuff and also really cool things for the kitchen and these awesome hand made bags. I got a blue polka dot pencil case that I love.
We went back to see where Antoinette was in the line and we had perfect timing – she was just two people behind the ticket desk! We got tickets and took the tour of the house. I’m so glad I got the chance to go there – it was a very touching experience and it opened my eyes to the reality of Anne’s life. I would recommend anyone to go there if you are ever in Amsterdam. To imagine living inside such a small space for over two years is mind boggling. It is so horrible that despite all their efforts to survive, ¾ of the Frank’s died in the concentration camps.
After the house, we walked some more about Amsterdam. By then the sun had come out a little bit and it was much nicer! They showed me around all these cute little side streets filled with shops and cafes along the canals. It was wonderful! We stopped into a little shop for tea and cake which was also wonderful – a nice chance to rest and warm up! For the rest of the day, we walked some more around the city – we went to an outdoor flea market (I bought some gloves), went down into the Chinese district, and also glimpsed the red-light district. After all this walking we were all pretty tired and caught a train back to Leiden about 5:30pm. At the train station they made me try this Dutch type of food (I forget the name already) – it’s like a fried batter outside with meat on the inside. It was different, but actually pretty good!
When we finally got back to the warmth of their house, we made dinner – Pad Thai! We all helped and it turned out pretty good… not as good as Cha Thai or Toys Thai of course! We had pudding for dessert as well. After dinner, Josephine and I bicycled over to the movie rental store to grab a movie. We got this kind of independent film called Me and Everyone We Know. It was verrrrrry strange and I still can’t decide if I liked it or not. Definitely not what I typically watch! While we watched we snacked on these yummy Dutch marshmallow candy things and my favorite Dutch cookies, Stroopwafles. I was able to use their internet before going to bed which was very nice of them!
The next morning we woke up at about the same time for another lovely breakfast. It wasn’t raining as of yet, so Josephine and I bundled up and took a bike ride to the beach. It was a bit challenging for me as I haven’t ridden a bike since probably last May, but I survived the ride, hills and all (even though I was a bit sweaty by the end and my thighs burned)! We got to the beach and even though it was overcast and gray, it was still beautiful and so great to see the ocean… I’ve missed it! We had a nice stroll along the beach talking and enjoying the sea.
After we rode back to the house, we packed up, had a quick lunch, and Josephine’s parents drove us to the train station. We took the train to the city where Josephine lives and stored our bags in a locker before setting out into the city. It was kind of disappointing because it was Sunday and all the shops were closed, but she gave me a great walking tour of her city – the sights, where she has classes, etc. It was similar to Amsterdam with the lovely canals and amazing houses, just on a smaller scale. It had more of a village-like feel with all the cobblestone streets and the boats lining the canals. We had tea and coffee at a little café and played board games as well. We then had a meal (it wasn’t lunch or dinner, kind of in between) at a pancake restaurant right on the canal! You had to walk down these stairs into the canal to get inside. I got a pancake with apples in it – it was phenomenal! It reminded me of the apple pancake my mom normally makes at Christmas… so good. Josephine also ordered poffergies which are these miniature dough pancakes that we shared. They are covered in powdered sugar and also extremely yummy!
After a bit more strolling, we headed back to the train station to pick up our bags. Josephine helped me buy a train ticket and we said our goodbyes before I boarded the train back to Amsterdam. I was very grateful for her spending time with me during the weekend and being so hospitable! I’m glad I came! Anyways, I took the train to Amsterdam and bought some snacks before the train back to Paris arrived. It was another 4 hours back, and I finished my flashcards, read, ate, and napped. I didn’t get any French studying in or even that much Literature studying in, which I feel very guilty and unhappy about. But over the weekend I realized that I only have barely 12 days left in Paris and I will not spend my last days here studying the entire time! I love it here, in Paris and in Europe, and it’s going to be harder than I thought to leave. I’ve grown accustomed to the incredibly wonderful lifestyle I lead here and the surroundings that I am so lucky to be in! Anywho… it was an awesome weekend and I’m glad I got one more trip in before I head back to the states!
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