Une Baguette, s'il vous plaît

The rest of my week went well. I had classes again Wednesday and Thursday. I’m still not sure what I think of most of my classes and I haven’t really figured out how difficult/ easy they will be. It seems to me that they will be mostly reading, except for my French language class. My reading for my PoliSci. EU class was extremely long and would have been challenging in English, so it was definitely a task in French. But it seemed like most of my class felt about the same way.

I didn’t have class today (Friday) so I spend the morning running errands. I bought a new book to read for pleasure since I finished Harry Potter. They didn’t have the seventh Harry Potter book in the cheaper pocket size, so I bought the second book in the Golden Compass series. If that goes well I’m thinking about buying Anna Karenina next sine I never got around to finishing it this summer. We’ll see how ambitious I’m feeling – it might end up just being Le Petit Nicholas (children’s book for 7 year olds – very cute and amusing, nonetheless). After Fnac I went to Monprix to do my grocery shopping. I’m hoping it will last me two weekends (besides maybe a new baguette and some more lettuce). I was better about healthier items this time, now that I wasn’t feeling quite as overwhelmed. Buy bread still causes problems for me. For some reason whatever type of bread I decide I want is never labeled with a name – all the other one’s are, just not mine (and I did try the walk up to the counter and ask for a baguette idea, the baker looked at me and was like which type?). What I want is probably never labeled because it is like one of the most basic types and every French person knows what it’s called. But for me this leads to a very complicated process of me trying to tell the baker guy which loaf I want without just pointing. I sounded especially like an idiot today. But I finally ended up with a batard (yes they call a type of baguette “a bastard” here). So maybe I’ll just stick with that for now on to limit my mumbling descriptions.

So after running errands I was ready for lunch and made myself a salad and had some hummus and little toast crackers with it. Then I headed over to the Louvre for a couple of hours. I figure since I have unlimited access to the Louvre I can take it slowly so I just chose a section and walked around that, it was almost all sculptures. I had so little time last time I was in the Louvre, I didn’t really have time to admire the building itself. You see this amazing, huge building from the outside, but when you get inside you’re distracted by all of the artwork. The building itself is amazing!!! I really wish I could take a tour that talked about that and not the art. I tried to make a point of really taking in each room as a whole and then looking at the sculptures.

I decided to mail some postcards from the post office in the Louvre because I was feeling too tired to find one of the post offices in my suburb. While in there, this American couple came in and asked about buying a phone card. The guy behind the counter offered them a 6 euro phone card, but the guy just wanted to call a restaurant to make a reservation. The post office wouldn’t sell them anything less, so I offered to let them borrow my cell phone (I figure I could always use a little extra good karma).

By the time I decided I was tired and should head home, I was really hungry and it was only 4pm so I figured I could get a crêpe somewhere as a snack. I refused to buy my first crêpe in Paris from the Louvre food court, but sadly the Louvre is surrounded my touristy shops and then super chic and ritzy areas (literally – I stumbled upon the Ritz in my search for food). So there were sadly no crêpes for Devon (the only ones I could find were pre-made and then the guy would just heat them up and add filling – not authentic!). I headed home, even more tired from my crêpe search, and made dinner. I should really start thinking about doing some of my homework, but I think that will just have to wait for tomorrow…

Is that French or Italian I Hear??

Well I had my other three classes today. It was a VERY VERY long day. I left the house at 8:10 and didn’t return until 6:20. My literature class seems like it will be a little dull – but maybe that will also translate into not too much work? One can hope! I think I will really learn a lot in my politics class about the EU – that is as long as I can understand my prof. He’s Italian, and French spoken with an Italian accent is about the most confusing thing my brain has ever heard!!! I felt like I was listening to someone speak in Italian except for the fact that a large percentage of the words sounded familiar. Hopefully I will grow accustomed to his accent and it won’t take quite so much brainpower to comprehend.

Other than that I spend my two two-hour breaks reading, mostly for class – a little of Harry Potter. I also got lunch at my favorite Boulangerie (a chicken panini) and I returned a couple of hours later for my first French éclair. It was coffee flavor and pretty yummy although a little too sweet and large for me.

I forgot to mention in my blog yesterday that I was once again asked for directions, this time in the shopping center in my suburb. I was wearing my bright yellow shirt, which is basically a large “I’m not French sign” considering everyone here wears neutral colors with the occasional shade of teal, eggplant or pale pink. Yet this lady stopped me and asked me where a store was. Luckily I had walked around the shopping center enough to have seen in before and was able to point her in the right direction. I should really get a start on my reading that needs to be done for Thursday, but I just don’t want to do anything tonight but read or watch a movie.

Continuing Love Affair with Falafel and Fnac

While Sunday was the second day of the “Journés du Patrimoine” Abbey, Brad and I were all feeling a little less ambitious after our rather full Saturday. We decided on going to Victor Hugo’s house at the much more reasonable hour of 10am and then perhaps another sight in the area. Victor Hugo’s house was a nice change of pace after the Elysée the day before. No line! There were people there, but it was much more manageable. I wasn’t really sure who Victor Hugo was before Saturday night when I read in a quick Google search that he had written “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” upon getting to his house I also discovered that he wrote “Les Miserables.” I have fond memories of watching the musical movie version during many of the summers I spend at my Aunt Therese and Uncle Peter’s house.

A bookcase in Victor Hugo's house.

A cool chandelier.

Victor Hugo's desk.

After Victor Hugo’s house we decided to go check out the Picasso Museum, but unfortunately when we got there we discovered that it is closed for renovations until the 24th of October!! Slightly disgruntled we decided to give up on more sightseeing and head for the delicious falafel place only a couple of block away. With our craving fulfilled, we all headed home for a quiet relaxing afternoon. I spend the afternoon in bed: reading, watching Something’s Gotta Give in French, and doing a tad bit of my homework.

Today (Monday), I had my first day of real classes. I started with my France/US comparative politics course. I really like the professor; he seems genial and interesting. I hope the class continues in that direction! After that I had my Architecture of Paris class. I think I can really learn a lot in this class, not only about architecture, but also Parisian history. I was really happy to discover that I don’t have to buy any books for either class! Both teachers put together a course reading packet with photocopies of all of our assignments. This afternoon I did the rest of my French homework and went and bought a USB hub at Fnac, my favorite 2 in 1 combo of Border’s and Best Buy! Tomorrow I have my other three classes (the first one starts at 9am and the last one ends at 5:30pm) so it’s going to be a long day. I’m off to bed now.

Large and Shiny Objects

Friday I woke up feeling the start of a cold, but wouldn’t let it get the best of me. We had our IES “Welcome Lunch” on the Eiffel Tower at Altitude 95 (The restaurant on the first landing). It was very delicious! After that, Abbey, Brad and I tackled the stairs and climbed up to the second landing – it was a little more than I had bargained for, but we all survived. The view was excellent and we decided we didn’t need to pay 4.20 euro to go up to the top (the school had only bought us tickets to make it up to the first landing…). IES had also given us tickets to take one of the tour busses that go around the city and stop at all of the famous tourists sites. In theory you get off at each one and then get back on when you’re done looking (the ticket is valid for 2 days). We were feeling to lazy to get off at any of the stops, but sat on the top level (they’re double decker busses with an open upper level) and took lots of pictures and listened to the descriptions of all the sights. By the time we got off the bus we were hungry again and decided to do dinner together and pick what sights we wanted to the next day for the “Journées du Patrimoine.”

*** The Journées du Patrimoine is a weekend where all of these national sighs are opened and entrance is free. Not only can you go to your normal assortment of museums and old buildings, but also some sights that are closed to the public the rest of the year are open especially for this weekend.

Today I woke up at 6am to try to get to the Palais d’Eylsée (Presidential Palace) before the crowds. The building is not normally open to the public, so everyone wants to see it this weekend. I got there a little before 8 and found a long line, but not as long of a line as it was 40 min. later when Abbey and Brad arrived. Luckily they were both able to cut in line with me so we could go in together. I spend an hour and a half in line outside the gates and then a little more than 2 hours in line in the Palace gardens. It was quite the wait, but people had told us we would wait in line 4-5 hours and we made it in under 4 so I was proud. We also got quite the surprise while waiting in line. President Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni showed up in the garden! I made it within 4 feet of him and got a pretty good picture of the two together. When we finally made it into the building, it was quite lovely – well except for the one room and hallway that had been redecorated in 1970’s modern fashion. The palace reminded all of us of a miniature Versailles. We made our way through the many rooms, including the President’s personal and official offices and also got to see a display of presidential vehicles throughout the years.

After the Eylsée, we headed to Les Invalides and took a break on the lawn to ease the pain from standing for so long. After that we got some lunch and Abbey and Brad went to the Army Museum while I went in search of a toilet and then Napoleon’s tomb. Last on my list for the day was the Bacarat Museum, which was very sparkly and made appeased my affinity for shiny objects. It was then time to head home and rest as I could feel my cold resurfacing. Tomorrow is another day of braving lines and people to enjoy the last day of the Journées du Patrimone!

Pictures linked to title of post!

Le Marais

Wednesday was a pretty blah day. I didn’t have class until 1:30 so I slept in a little that morning and then changed my sheets and tidied my room up. I read some more of my book and ate a leisurely lunch of bread, cheese and hummus. After class I returned home because I had an essay to write for my French class as well as a test the next day that I wanted to review for. During dinner my host mother started talking about Thanksgiving and we decided that I would make Thanksgiving dinner for her since she wanted me to make authentic American food and I was not making hamburgers!

Today was much more interesting. I turned in my paper and took my test and then did a little bit of research/ reading in my guidebooks before setting off for the Marais section of Paris. Marais is one of the oldest quarters in France and is now a mixture of trendy boutiques, the Jewish quarter, and old architecture - could it get any better for Devon? I decided to do both walks #5 and #6, which looking back I probably should have done separately and taken more time to enjoy them, but I will definitely be going back to the quarter again soon! So anyway I started out at the Hotel de Ville of Paris (this is where the mayor work – and may or may not live, I’m not sure how it work here). From the Hotel de Ville I had an amazing view of Notre Dame’s size on one hand and on the other I could see the extremely modern and colorful Georges Pompidou Center (I will be going there soon and you’ll get more explanation then). From there I walked past an amazingly large department store called BHV – shopping trip anyone? (BHV had an annex store a block down that was dedicated solely to items for dogs, well at least pets – ‘Rents: tell Whisky he’ll be getting a present). I meandered around a couple of streets, walked by St. Gervais (well technically I sat down and ate gelato in front of it) and then continued on to the Holocaust Memorial. I didn’t go in today, but there was a wall with plaques full of names along it called the Wall of the Righteous and it lists the names of people who helped Jews while the Nazi’s were in France. From there I continued on down a road that ran parallel to the Seine and past the Hotel de Sens which according to my guidebook is one of the few remaining examples of gothic architecture in Paris. Across the street was a section of the wall that used to surround Paris in the 12th century and now guards a playground for an elementary school. I then continued on my walk through a series of courtyards that were once a part of Hotel St.Pol and then past the church of St. Paul. From there I started my next walk.

My first main stop on this walk was the Place des Vosges. It was build as a country retreat for Henry IV. In the center is a park, which is contained on all four sides by “town homes.” My guide book says that each side is 9 homes… I definitely want to own one of them one day! Next I headed to the Carnavalet Museum, which can be found in two connected mansions. One the homes originally belonged to a Mme. de Sévigné who was part of Louis XIV’s court. The museum consists for the most part of salvaged rooms from historic homes that were torn down in Paris and some amazing artwork. By this time I was more then ready for lunch and headed to the main street of the Jewish quarter to get some falafel, it was sooo delicious!!!! The pita tasted fresh and it was filled not only with falafel and tahini, but shredded cucumbers, cabbage and grilled eggplant. If it was so out of the way I would be eating there all the time, but I expected to go back a fair amount nonetheless. After thoroughly enjoying my falafel, I went into one of approximately four Jewish bakeries on the street and bought a small Challah and a huge baklavah. Challah in France tastes different from its American counter-part, but I enjoyed the bit of both I ate and now have the rest awaiting me tomorrow. I then continued on past the Museum of French History and skipped the stop at the Picasso Museum (I want to save that for a day when I have energy to fully appreciate it) and headed towards the Temple Square. The Temple Square was once the site of castle of the holy Knights of the Templar Order and was where Marie Antoinette and her son were held prisoner, but it was destroyed during the revolution. By this time I was thoroughly exhausted and my shoulder was killing me from carrying my school bag all-day so I headed for the metro and went home.

I basically spent the rest of the evening curled up on my bed reading at watching The Family Stone dubbed in French. Tomorrow IES is having a Welcome Lunch – a little late I feel – on the Eiffel Tower and I haven’t decided what I’m going to do afterwards. I still have to figure out my weekend plans too. All my classes start on Monday and I won’t have the free time during the week like I do now.

Click the title of the entry for the photos!!

The Bois and More!

Monday I had French class from 9-11am. After that, Shaina and I decided to venture over to the Bois du Vincennes, which is within walking distance of where she lives. We made a quick stop at her apartment so she could drop off her things and take a quick shower (she was in Spain all weekend and took a sleeper train back to make it to class that morning) and then we were off! We entered the woods from what appeared to be a very unused area and had to meander around for a while using the map from my guidebook to find the populated pretty part. There was a beautiful lake, which we walked halfway around until we saw the zoo and decided to take a detour there since Shaina is a biology major. The zoo was pretty quiet as it was a Monday afternoon, but we wandered around and got to see Giraffes much closer up than you would ever be in the U.S. There was only a small ditch and a rope fence between us. The zookeeper did have to come out once and yell at the Giraffe for getting too close… The monkeys also provided a great deal of entertainment and there were a couple of baby monkeys that were extra cute to watch interacting with the adults. I would guess we spend a good 20 minutes just staring at the monkeys. After we were done at the zoo we continued our path along the other half of the lake and then I headed home for dinner.

My host mother made zucchini mousse (aka soup) and a chicken and green bean dish. It was rather delicious! I took a picture of the table because it just looked so cute and French! We tried this new red wine last night that my host mother really liked and I found interesting. Red wine here seems to have a lot more flavor than in the U.S. I had tried a red wine from Spain that Shaina ordered at lunch last week and it also had a lot flavor – almost spicy!


Today I went to class again… oh the repetition! And then I decided to go buy tickets for High Holiday services. Well first there were metro problems… there was some sort of technical problem at the Montparnasse station (really big – has like 4 or 5 lines through it) and it was backing up trains 3 stations away. So after sitting around for like 10 minutes and changing train 2 or 3 times I finally found one that was going somewhere and made it work for getting to the synagogue I was trying to find. I got off at the metro spot, picked a street that I hoped was the street I saw on Google Maps a day earlier and hoped I was headed in the right direction. Luckily I was, and I found the synagogue without too much of a problem. The secretary was really nice and printed out maps and hours and everything for me so I’m all set to go now, I still can’t get over how expensive tickets were though! After that I headed back to the metro, but it was lunchtime and I was hungry. I sat down outside at a café next to the metro stop and ordered a kir (white wine with crème de casis liqueur) and a sandwich with goat cheese. Both yummy, but I’m still trying to get used to the fact that the French put butter on their cheese sandwiches… it’s slightly strange and I can feel the extra calories!

This evening I went to see Mamma Mia with my host mother and her friend, tickets were only 3.50 euro because of a special “back to school” type promotion!! The movie was cute, but I felt guilty listening to so much English. I did however have to read the French subtitles a couple of times when I could understand/ hear what they were saying in English! For dinner we had Farsi tomatoes (hollowed tomatoes stuffed with a beef and herb mixture with eggplant and squash on the side – all baked). Now I’ve just about finished my homework and am debating between just going to bed or reading for a little while. I don’t have class until 1:30 tomorrow!!

One last thing. I was just talking to my dad on the phone and looking at the schedule for High Holiday services and I noticed that this synagogue does Tashlich (for all my non-Jewish readers: a symbolic purging of sins by throwing bread crumbs into flowing water) on the Seine by the Eiffel Tower… how amazing is that?! I’m definitely going!!!

Five Times Over the Seine

I set out for Paris this morning and decided to take bus #72 instead of the metro. My host mother had recommended it to me my second day but I had yet to feel adventuresome enough to take it. Anyway the bus goes through my suburb and then through the 16th arrondisement and follows the Seine into the heart of Paris. This basically means that you get awesome views of all the big tourist sights, aka amazing Eiffel Tower photo opportunity. But alas I wasn’t feeling touristy enough to start snapping photos in the bus, but maybe next time.

I got off right by the Pont d’Alexander III, a really ornate pretty bridge. Walked across took lots of pictures of the bridge and the Eiffel Tower from the bridge. From the other side of the bridge you are smack in front of les Invalides, so I took pictures of that as well. Then I went back across and walked by what I thin was the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, but haven’t verified that. There was a huge line to get into one of them and I saw a sign that said something about biannual antiques… I will have to investigate further. My walk along the Seine took me to Place de la Concorde and many more pictures ensued between the Obelisk, fountains, Champs Elysée and la Madeline. It just wasn’t the same there without my French group from high school and Mme. Sowar though. After that I took the Pont de la Concorde across the Seine and ended up at the National Assembly – think our capital building. Took some more pictures and wandered back behind it and down a side street and then back up to the Musée d’Orsay. I didn’t really have time to actually go in the museum, but I figure I’ve got all semester to go at least twice. I then went back across the Seine and into the Tulleries Gardens, which are in front of the Louvre. I made a quick detour into the Louvre to use their “facilities.” I tried to find the entrance that take you directly to the “Carousel du Louvre” – the shopping part instead of museum part – but sadly I couldn’t remember where the entrance was and only found the entrance for special groups. So alas I had to wait in line and go through the main entrance at the pyramid. After that I deviated from my guidebook’s instructions slightly and went around the other side of the Louvre on the rue de Rivoli and around the backside. I then headed back to the Seine and took the Pont des Arts back across. Next time I will have to actually take the Pont de Neuf, but the Pont des Arts gives you the ability to take pictures of the Pont de Nuef and the island. After stopping to admire the Institute of France (now on my short list for the Jour du Patrimone) I took a street that was lined with art galleries (sadly not my preferred style of art, but none the less made interesting window shopping) and headed towards my metro shop.

This afternoon I accompanied my host mother to the event at the Mayor’s office. They have two days where all of the clubs and organizations in town set up tables and people can come and get info about the activities. Her golf club had a table and she needed to go collect the checks they had received. We meandered around a little and I saw there is at least one if not two places to take figure skating lessons, so I might look into that. The evening was quiet… I did my homework finally and read a little more. Now it’s time for me to go to bed, I have class at 9am which means I have to leave at 8:15am!

If you click the title of this entry it will take you to an album of my photos from today!

Walk #19

Since I bought laundry detergent yesterday at Monoprix, I decided to do some hand washing in the sink this morning. Boy was I glad I did!! The water was disgustingly dirty after letting my clothes soak for a couple of minutes!! Between traveling and the big city, they are really getting worn. After hanging stuff up to dry around my room I went into Paris and finally did one of the walks out of my Frommer’s 24 Great Walks in Paris. It was pretty fun! I did walk #19, entitled “Following the Rose Line.”

I started off walking down Boulevard Saint-Michel and saw the Sorbonne and the Pathéon (which is in Paris, not the Parthenon in Greece, father!). Then I walked around the Luxembourg Gardens for a while taking in the flowers and fountain and pond. I even helped some lost tourists from New Zealand who had no idea where they were in Paris. After leaving the gardens I went out to see the front of the Palais du Luxembourg and then headed towards St. Sulpice. It’s a church that plays an important role in the DaVinci Code for all you fans. They’re doing restoration work on the outside, but the inside was very pretty and I took a picture of the meridian line. I really liked the surrounding neighborhood and decided if I had lots of money that would be where I would hang out (when I got home my host mother told me that it was one of the most expensive areas of Paris, I had a feeling from the shops I saw…). After St. Sulpice I strolled down a couple more streets, bought a fabulous gelato ice cream cone and wandered through a mini shopping mall. The family in front of me at the gelato place was from some other European country and didn’t know French, so to communicate with the guy serving gelato both parties were trying to use whatever English they knew. It was quite interesting to listen to them both trying to communicate in a third language! My route then took me past the Odéon Theater, and a big medical school before ending up at Boulevard St. Germain. Boulevard St. Germain has lots of shops and people and I meandered down it for a while, finally coming upon Les Deux Maggots and Café Flore, literary hotspots back in the day. I was going to sit and have a kir and perhaps lunch at Café Flore (I ate at Les Deux Maggots last time I was in Paris) but alas, there were no seats available. I decided that it was probably better just to head back home, eat there and save my money for another day during the week when I have to eat out.

Tomorrow I’ve decided to do walking tour #15 which will take lead me over a couple of the bridges that traverse the Seine. Tonight I’m going to try to do my homework and perhaps watch some French TV now that I have it working on my computer!

If you click the title of this entry it will take you to an album of my photos from the walk today!

Ikea and Versailles: All in a Day in Paris

Today was quite the day. I was just about to go out and run some errands when my host mother asked if I wanted to accompany her out the “compagne” (countryside) to run some errands. Her car had been at the mechanics since before I got here, but was finally fixed and needed to be re-broken in. So off we went! Apparently our errand was going to Ikea… I couldn’t complain; I love Ikea. Anyway, on our way there I saw lots of signs for Versailles and asked if we were close, Marie-Claire said that we were really close. Then like five minutes later she was like oh by the way there is Versailles over there. Low and behold there was part of the gorgeously huge castle just down the hill from us. Much cooler than anything I have ever seen between Tacoma and Ikea. Anyway we meandered around Ikea, bought a couple of things and ate lunch. I discovered that the orange and elderflower marmelade I love so much in the morning is from Ikea, haha! On our way back home my host mother asked if I’d like to see Versailles, which of course I did, so she took me on a little detour to get a good view of the castle, it was more amazing than I remembered it by far!!! It’s such a beautiful building and so ornate, I can’t wait to go back and tour it again, this time I will definitely make it an all day thing. We also drove around a really little, cute, quaint French village that was just adorable and I would love to one day own a little cottage there. Many of the buildings dated back to the 17th century according to my host mother!!

The afternoon I spent running errands. I went back to the mall and tried on some clothing. I think I found the dress I want to by for my sorority preference night in January and also a cute shirt and some boots. I might go back tomorrow and buy one of them. I finally bought something from Paul, the bakery; it was delicious! Then I went to a paper shop and bought some school supplies (some notebooks and some folders). Last on my list was Monoprix. I had to take a detour by an eyeglass store because while driving out in the country I discovered a screw had fallen out of my sunglasses and I could no longer wear them. Lucking a local store put the screw back in for me, free of charge. At Monoprix I bought some bread and wine along with some other necessities, like laundry detergent!

Tonight my host mother took me to the synagogue that is only a kilometer from the apartment. It’s a very pretty building and is on property that used to belong to the Rothschild family before WWII. We had to sit up in the women’s gallery, which I found rather awkward and it made it very difficult to see what was going on bellow. Services were quite different from those I attend in the U.S. Everyone walked around, chitchatted and had a side conversation with the Rabbi during services. People even walked on and off the Bima (pulpit) as they pleased. We started with Mincha and no one every announced a page number or prayer, so you really had to be educated to be able to keep up with where we were. I found it rather difficult! Services were quite quick though, probably due to the fact that they kept a pace about twice as quick as what I am accustomed to and there was no reading in French. There seemed to be a competition among the men as to who could read/ sing the loudest so that was rather amusing compared to the lack of participation I often see in the U.S. There is a conservative synagogue in the 15th arrondisement I want to try out, I looked into High Holiday tickets there and they cost 90 euros for students! We’ll see about that. Tomorrow I’m planning on going into Paris and doing something, but I’m not sure what. A bunch of the metro stations are closed because of the Pope being here so I have to find something that isn’t in the area of town…

20 Meters Below and Sustainable Architecture

Well class started and my blog immediately went by the wayside. I have a feeling once I’m taking all my classes I will only be posting entries once every two or three days. So Thursday we began our French class. We’re basically doing intensive grammar review for the next week to make sure we’re all up to speed and have good French when we start all of our classes on the 22nd.

We were divided into French classes based on our scores from the placement exam. The schedule we were given at the beginning of orientation said my group was supposed to meet at 1:30pm on Thursday but the paper we were shown Wednesday afternoon and all the teachers said 9am. So Abbey, Shaina, and I all showed up for class yesterday at 9am… guess what, class didn’t start until 1:30pm! We were then left with lots of time to kill since none of us felt like trekking back to our home stays just to return in a couple of hours. Since Abbey is still on crutches it wasn’t practical for her to try to go meandering around, so she installed herself at a table with one of the school’s laptops (with a French keyboard – it took over 5 minutes to figure out how to type her email password correctly!). Shaina and I decided to venture over to the catacombs, which aren’t far from our school and then come back and get Abbey for lunch. Shaina and I walked the 10 minutes or so from our school to the catacombs, peering into all the cafés and boutiques on the rue Daguerre along the way. We took the 90 steps down and meandered along the pathway for a while wondering what we were supposed to be looking at. It probably would have helped if I had read the guidebook a little more thoroughly before going down, but I hadn’t been planning on doing this an hour before. We finally got to the catacomb part and it was pretty interesting. It was very weird to think about and see the bones of 6 million people being piled up in designs and special arrangements. We continued on, avoiding – for the most part – the dripping water of “dubious origin” as Shaina’s guidebook had put it. As we were walking and discussing, a guide/ curator dude stopped us and asked us if we knew the history, we said a little and he offered to explain it to us. Shaina asked him to tell us in French so he did, somewhat reluctantly and spoke much to quickly for me to understand more than half of what he said. Afterwards he told us we could take a picture with the flash even though we had been told not to, so I took one of the bones that were 50 m deep. He then took one of the two of us and then offered to go drinking with us sometime. Great!! We told him we’d come back to visit and continued on as quickly as possible. Ascending the 90 stairs was much more of a challenge than I had anticipated but we succeeded and headed back to IES to get Abbey.

The three of us decided to do lunch at the café that is next door to the school. Our waiter was very genial and I ordered ravioli while Shaina and Abbey decided to split an item called tartare cru, which Shaina believed to be an open faced sandwich with French fries and salad. When it arrived Shaina and Abbey were surprised (to say the least) that their plate contained a pile of raw chopped meat artfully mixed with onions and herbs along with fries and a salad. It turned out Shaina had the words tartare and tartine confused! Luckily the waiter was very nice and understanding and took the plate back and brought them a large salad with toast instead. He did however make Shaina go back and explain to the chef that it was her fault and not the waiter’s so that the waiter wouldn’t have to pay for the dish out of his wages. At the end of the meal he gave Shaina his email address so we could keep in touch and perhaps have a drink and try tartare… oh these French men!

We finally went to French class and then I had to wait around for another hour after class for my academic meeting, so I didn’t get to head back home until close to 5pm. We had a homework assignment to do for class and I was so tired that it was the only thing I did last night.

Today we did actually have French class at 9am and then I had to wait around again because I was going on a tour of the Pavillion d’Arsenal at 2:30. Abbey and I went to get pain au chocolat for a mid morning treat and then we sat with Shaina and read and chatted until lunchtime. I found a gelato store on the rue Daguerre today that I somehow missed yesterday, so there will definitely be future posts revolving mostly around my ice cream consumption! For lunch we decided to go to the boulangerie (bakery) that is just across the street from our school since they have sandwiches and salads for a very reasonable price. We enjoyed our meal and Abbey tried Orangina for the first time!!

A group of about 20 of us took a tour of the Pavillion d’Arsenal. It’s a museum that basically talks about the construction of Paris since the 1100’s , the city’s design and layout over the years and some of the changes in architecture. The building is in an older part of Paris, really close to the Seine and all the architecture around it is really pretty and older. It was such a contrast to then walk into the museum and see the stark modern appearance with metal floors and unadorned wood accenting. I'm sure there was a point to all this modernity in an antique area... All I could think of was Sarah the entire time and how she should be there because she would really appreciate it and be able to explain it to me. But alas, the tour guide was pretty good (the tour was all in French), and afterwards Brad and I ventured to the second floor to look at the temporary exhibit. It was all models of buildings (once again I thought of Sarah and her hours of studio last year) that are being built or are planning on being built in Paris and the surrounding areas. They are all sustainable architecture and some of the designs and ideas were really cool. By this time my feet were killing me, so I decided to head back to the ‘burbs for the evening. I made myself risotto for dinner (I was pretty impressed with how it came out for the limited number of ingredients I had available) and now I’m just taking it easy. I think I’ll put on my PJs and read some more Harry Potter (en Français) for the rest of the night. Tomorrow I need to run some errands, and who knows what else…

Fishy Mashed Potatoes, Literally.

Yet another day of orientation… We started with our language placement test in the morning. Abbey and I both ended up in the same class, although we’re not sure what level it actually is. I guess at least you can say the French department at UPS is consistent. The rest of the day was filled with learning that there are cultural difference between the U.S. and France and that we might get a little depressed because of all of those cultural differences. Mon dieu! It’s not like we’re in a third world country; it’s Occidental Europe!! I’m really not that worried by the fact that the French don’t smile as much as Americans. In fact I did such a good job at not smiling or making eye contact on the metro this evening that two different people asked me for directions. I could understand and respond to one of them.

For lunch today we had mushroom soup, Brandade Morue (think cheesy mashed potatoes with cod that has gone through a food processor) and a fruit and egg dessert item. It was interesting, but I definitely ate more than yesterday. Tomorrow we start our language classes: I have mine at 9am. Then I have a 4.5-hour break between that and my academic advising meeting, so I am going to find something interesting and at least somewhat touristy to do in the intervening time. I’ve come up with a couple of possibilities and just have to narrow it down. I also have to finalize my class choices.

For dinner tonight we had leftovers from last night but the salad my host mom made was a little different tonight. It had palm hearts in it; I’d never heard of them before. They were interesting and by the time I’d eaten all the ones she’d given me, I’d grown rather accustomed to them. I think I’m going to read a little Harry Potter tonight and go to bed early. Having to set my alarm clock these last couple of days has really worn me out. I should have some pictures to post tomorrow night hopefully.

What I Learned Today: You don't eat nutella after the age of 16.

Another day of orientation. It was really almost all useless. Well unless I had been planning to get super drunk every night and be rowdy around police officers, then perhaps it would have been informative. I am considering taking a class at an outside university after the academic lecture though. I’m not sure why since all she did was discuss French bureaucracy and inefficiency in action. I am still undecided at the moment. For lunch they gave us crab profiteroles, young duck with turnips and chocolate mousse. While the crab did not actually taste like crab, it was still not very appealing to me so I ate a couple bits of the profiterole part, a couple bites of the duck, some turnips (which were too sweet) and most of the mousse (but that was also too sweet).

After orientation, Abbey and Brad decided to venture out to the ‘burbs because that was the only place I knew of off the top of my head for Abbey to buy her cell phone. We had a great example of French inefficiency in action while trying to navigate the metro stop with our beloved and crippled Abbey (she’s on crutches at the moment if I haven’t mentioned that before). We took one elevator down a level and then had to change to a different elevator to go down another level (this was kind of miraculous in itself for France considering most metro stations only have stairs). We hit the elevator button and waited for it to come from below, waited some more and some more. Finally it headed up towards us, and kept going! Ok, we thought, it will catch us on the way down. So finally it comes down to us and we get on. We push the button for the level below us and watch the count down above the door for the requisite 30 seconds it remains open. Finally the doors close and guess what, we’re heading up again! We stop at the upper level, pick up some more people, make another stop at the level where we got on at and then finally down to the level we wanted in the first place.

We eventually made it to my suburb, got Abbey her cell phone and then Abbey and Brad agreed to accompany me to Monoprix so I could purchase a couple of forgotten grocery items and some tissues. After much debate I settled on some Kleenex with some sort of additive, though I don’t think they’ll be as good as my Puffs Plus Lotion and Aloe that I love so much. I’ll survive somehow (Abbey is rolling her eyes reading this, I guarantee it!). I then headed back to my apartment because my host mother was making me dinner for the evening and left Brad and Abbey planning a picnic in a nearby park.

When I got back to the apartment I collapsed on my bed and watched some more of the DVD my host mother gave me yesterday to help me improve my French. It’s a fairly recent movie called Une grande année (A Great Year) in French and has Russell Crowe in it. I’m watching it with the French dubbing and subtitles, and it’s quite enjoyable. We had dinner around 7:30 and my host mother served a delicious salad with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado with her homemade salad dressing. Then we had a casserole type dish that was cauliflower and hard-boiled eggs in a béchamel sauce with cheese on top. I ate the double scoop she gave me with a piece of bread and had an apple for dessert. We’re apparently having the leftovers for dinner tomorrow and she also made veal with carrots and onions for another night this week. During dinner my Marie-Claire spoke some about her family and also told me great stories of her and her friends sneaking out of their rooms during the summer holidays late at night to go running around with friends (notably boys – which was definitely not acceptable at the time), it was quite amusing. Apparently her father caught her and her sister once returning home at 4 o’clock in the morning!!

I have my language test in the morning so I should probably head to bed so I can get a good night’s sleep and not disappoint Michel by being placed in a remedial French course. I had wanted to review some grammar but I’m feeling too tired, perhaps on the metro tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Some Requisite Touristy-ness

So my host mother and I went to the market this morning. I got the tour of good chunk of the area while walking there and back and found a couple of places I definitely want to go back to. The market was awesome: fruits, vegetables, spices and herbs, and fresh pasta!! I think I will go back next Saturday and buy some of my groceries from there. There were also some stands with some cute sweaters and jackets, so who knows… maybe a trench coat too so I can be a real Française! On our way back we stopped in the smallest Sephora I have ever seen because Marie-Claire is looking for a new perfume. Marie-Claire also showed me the most expensive clothing store in town and the chicest butcher-esque place. We walked by a pastry store that looked out of this world; I should have taken a picture. I will definitely be going back there soon!!! We also walked past what appeared to be a kosher butcher.

My host mother was bugging me to go into Paris and Abbey was nice enough to invite me along on her adventure this afternoon so we met up with Brad (not Brand as I called him in a previous post) in front of the Church Saint Ambroise in the 11th arrondisement. After deciding that Sunday was not the day to meander around a church, we took the metro to the Trocadero/ Palais de Chaillot for one of the best views of the Eiffel Tower in town. After doing the requisite touristy things like posing in front of the Eiffel Tower for pictures, we headed to a nearby café for an afternoon coffee.

Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides (the gold dome on the left) from the Trocadero.

The Palais de Chaillot with the Eiffel Tower behind it.

My evening was pretty quite, chatted with friends online and read some more Harry Potter. I think I’m going to watch a movie my host mother wants me to see (I think to improve my French). I also need to figure out how to get to the building where we’re having orientation tomorrow. A bientôt!

Fnac and Glace Italien

This morning I had something called “Le Petit Suisse” (the little Swiss) on my bread. It tasted like a cross between cream cheese and yogurt; it was pretty tasty and was lighter feeling than cream cheese, though the container said it was 30% fat. My host mother and I discussed the rising costs of food and the overall cost of living and also paying for school with scholarships, grants and loans and how the French are having to do more of that like Americans now. We also discussed Ikea and I think taking a trip there when her car is working again!! We’re going to the “marché” tomorrow morning and I’m hoping to buy some fresh fruit and perhaps a vegetable or two ☺.

Apparently Saturday late morning is the time for all the French to take a walk with their children as I observed while walking down to the mall, which is less than 10 minutes from the apartment. It’s amazing! I will definitely be going there again. I walked all around to see the different stores; there are quite a few that I want to explore. There is one that looks like the French version of Pottery Barn, some clothing stores, a purse store, and many others (Maren - they have a Paul bakery!!! I'm definitely going to get something from there next time!). I had actually gone to the mall to buy the 6th Harry Potter book in French and to grocery shop. My host mother recommended that I go to a bookstore called FNAC, it’s incredible! Imagine Border’s and Best Buy combined in to one store! Anyway so I wandered around for a while trying to figure out where one finds a Harry Potter book in a bookstore because I always buy them on the first day when you trip over them walking into the store. Eventually I found it and then headed to Inno (a grocery store) to get some food.

Inno was also incredible! It was really big, like the size of an American grocery store almost, and had a huge selection of items. I wandered around for at least 5 minutes before I decided to finally put something into my basket. They had a “world foods” section that had things like ramen, fluff, peanut butter (6 euros!), a bunch of British stuff and some Old El Paso products. I finally decided on pasta, tomato sauce, cheese, yogurt, bread, chicken, hummus and of course some chocolate. Hopefully I’ll more creative with groceries I stop feeling overwhelmed by the French versions of items. (BTW tomato sauce comes in MUCH smaller jars here, I bought the biggest one they had and it would take at least 3 of them be equivalent to an American jar)

After I finished my grocery shopping I decided to go back the Chocolatier that I saw while meandering around the mall. It’s called Jeff de Bruges and apparently it’s Belgian. Anyway, they had soft-serve ice cream, which is called Italian ice cream here, in amazing flavors! I finally decided on the raspberry and passion fruit combination to keep me going while I walked home. It was delicious!! For only 2 euro I will definitely be doing that again soon!!

My host mother and I talked while we ate lunch, she shared her salad with me and I ate some of my bread and cheese. Apparently she knows something about Oriental rugs too, so we discussed them for most of lunch. After lunch I just hung around the apartment and talked to friends and family online. Then my host mother’s friend Skype’d me and helped me set up French TV on my computer so I can watch it. I’m still having some technical difficulties and trying to figure them out, but it’s pretty cool! Talking to someone over the phone in French though is not easy and she was correcting me whenever I made a mistake, but I guess that’s good for learning… My host mother has also offered to help me improve my French by giving me dictations from Harry Potter if I’d like. I know I should take her up on the offer. For dinner I made myself some soup and ravioli and had some yogurt for dessert. I’ve started reading my Harry Potter book and I think I’ll do that ‘til I decide to go to bed.

Photos of My Host Mother's Apartment

Here's a link to the photos I took of my host mother's apartment.  They're on facebook, but you don't need an account to view them.  Just click the title of this post and it will take you to them.

Paris Needs More Taxis!

Marie-Claire wanted me to have a “real French breakfast” today, but apparently after this I just get full access to the fridge for breakfast, which is fine with me because it was delicious! I got bread she bought at the bakery yesterday (a baguette, a croissant and these rolls with chunks of really light, airy salt on them), butter, 2 types of jam (apricot and this really yummy orange and elderflower – anyone know what that is? – jam from Sweden), honey, yogurt and tea (Sarah – it was Earl Grey).

When Marie-Claire was showing me around the apartment yesterday, she showed me where I could keep my food in the fridge and also a cabinet where I could keep non perishables and said something along the lines of “like ingredients for cake” but I was thinking things you need to make a cake like bundt pan and knives and all I could think was I don’t want to go buy a bundt pan in France!

I decided to head into Paris early before going to orientation so I could check out the famous “Pomme de Pain” that Sarah had recommended. I ended up not finding the one I was looking for and went into a Monoprix instead. This one was much more impressive than the one near my apartment and fulfilled all my expectation and more, including and ready-made food section, from which I selected an Indian Chicken Wrap.

The first day of orientation was not so much orienting and more just being spoken to about not being stupid. Oh well maybe Monday will be more interesting. They double booked my schedule and gave me two classes at the same time on the same days, so something will have to change there. I did find out that we get a pass that gives us unlimited, free visits to the Louvre the entire semester, which I am quite excited about. That almost makes up for only getting to spend an hour and a half exploring the museum the last time I was here. Also, apparently the famous French transportation strikes usually happen in October and the lady said sometimes the metro kind of works but we should be prepared to walk. I just Googled the distance between my apartment and my school, there is 8.2km between the two and Google estimates that to be a 1 hour and 50 minute walk. Can’t wait! After orientation Abbey, Brand and I headed for a lunch/ snack and then proceeded to spend a very long amount of time waiting for a taxi that would take Abbey to her apartment since she in on crutches. Paris really does need to hire more taxis.

I also bought my Passe Navigo today, which gives me unlimited access to the Paris metro and bus system. It will be nice not to have to buy a ticket every time I take the metro, but goodness plunking down 60 euros at once for transportation is hard, especially knowing that I have to do it every month! I had wanted to go grocery shopping this afternoon since I need to start providing some of my own meals soon, but by the time I finally got back to the apartment, I was just too tired, so that will be on tomorrow’s to do list. I figure Saturday is a good day for that anyway.

For dinner tonight we had ratatouille with veal, a green salad and some red wine. We discussed various fruits and vegetables and the new hybrid mixes they are coming up with. Marie-Claire once again tried to make me eat more and I was able to get away with just taking a little more salad and turned down the fruit or yogurt, but maybe I’ll have some tea in a little while. Sadly I think I’m going to try to catch up on my American TV right now, I know I’m terrible!

Getting Here

On less than 4 hours of sleep I groggily followed the steps at the American Airlines self-service station and only narrowly avoided the threat of a $10,000 fine for misread a 6 as 5. After navigating through security, I took advantage of the Sunport’s free WiFi and to my delight found Emily C. online, sitting comfortably in her hot family’s home in Nantes. Relieved and excited that one of us had already made it across the Atlantic, I was ready to start my own adventure.

The excitement faded quickly after the reality of having another 3 hours of sitting at O’hare after an already long first 2 hours. A girl about my age had asked me to keep an eye on her luggage for 2 minutes. Assuming that she was making a quick trip to the restroom or grabbing a drink at Starbuck’s, I happily agreed. Thirty minutes and one annoyed text message to a friendly face later, she finally reappeared with only a quick thanks. Desperately needing to stretch my legs, I went to buy a smoothie, what a disappointment! I could only stand a couple of sips before I threw it out and headed for Starbuck’s to make up for it. As I took a sip of my first (and quite possibly my only) Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season I spotted my fellow traveling companions from UPS: Abbey and Brad.

Time passed much faster after that between discussing living arrangements, telephone calls to friends and trying to figure out how to surf the web. Just as our flight was supposed to begin boarding we were told we were changing gates and our flight was delayed over an hour because of mechanical difficulties. After slight confusion and a minor detour we made it to our new gate and eventually on the plane.

The flight itself was non-eventful, I guess as one would hope a transatlantic flight to be. The highlight was when the pilot got on the intercom and said to look out the left side of the plane because you could see the Northern Lights!! All of the passengers jumped up and or leaned over so quickly I wouldn’t be surprised if the pilot had to readjust his steering because of a change in weight balance. The sky was gorgeous!! Shades of green in three layers reaching high into the night sky.

After landing, going through customs and collecting my baggage I proceeded to wait for my shuttle for 45 minutes after the lady had told me only 15, but oh well what can you do. I had a lady from NJ and two 20 somethings from Toronto on my shuttle and got quite the driving tour of Paris while dropping them off at hotels and apartments. Finally we made it to my apartment building, which is very cute from the outside (pictures to come soon). My suitcases and I barely fit in the elevator together and I thought for sure I was going to knock something over walking to my room with everything I was carrying. My room is small but nice, it has a wall of book shelves and a decent sized closet which easily hold all of my clothes (the hanging rack isn’t quite long enough for my dresses though). I have a small wood desk/ table. My host mother and I share a bathroom and the toilet is across the apartment and doesn’t have a sink with it.

My host mother made us lunch which included a gallette (think darker, bigger crepe) with somewhat cooked eggs in it and shredded carrot and tomato salad. She also offered my yogurt or fruit or coffee afterwards but I couldn’t fit another bite. Despite the fact that I was really only hungry enough to eat about half of my lunch, I worked hard to almost clean my plate and she later told her friend on the phone that I had a very small appetite. We then set up her internet on my computer so I could get WiFi and she left me to unpack. After unpacking I took a short walking tour of the neighborhood just to make it to Monoprix to buy some shampoo and bodywash and then to the cell phone store to buy my new phone! I was so tired from only getting 7 hours of sleep in the last 48 that I was hoping I wouldn’t faint in Monoprix. There was guy wearing a kippah in the cell phone store and I almost asked him where I should go to synagogue but I was too tired to get into a conversation.

After getting back I caplopped on my bed and talked to my mom and surfed the web until dinner. For dinner we had chicken thigh/ leg from a new butcher and potatoes au gratin that had the most wonderfully cheesy sauce (I thought of you Dad! ;) ) and a tomato, lettuce and avocado salad. Marie-Claire made me eat two helpings of the potatoes even though one was quite enough and then again tried to get my to eat yogurt or fruit or coffee!! What happened to moderate French portion sizes?! She said something to me like you should eat lots of this now because you don’t get to eat every meal with me. I guess she’s afraid I’m going to starve myself when I have to make my own food? I went to bed almost right after dinner, about 8 o’clock and slept until 6ish so I guess that’s not to bad, I would have preferred 12 hours, but what can you do? Ok that’s way too much for now, I’ll write again when I have something more relevant than my trip here to write about, and I’ll try to take some pictures soon! Love to all!