i hate endings!!!

ok so before i end this blog forever, lets catch up.

my finals all went really well! expecting good things from this class. we went to the carnival in the tuileries yesterday to celebrate... SO FUN. i rode the swings, the rainbow, and that ejection ball bungee cord thing. then we went to our end of term party at school where they had prepared hors d'oeuvres for us and a photography exhibition of photos students had taken during their stay in paris. quite pleasant. that night we went out to Social Club again and of course had a late night to celebrate. and now here i am... 

i leave paris tomorrow :(... sads. haven't started packing... must get around to that at some point today.. my shit is all over the place. mom?? help me?? 

oy. i don't know where to begin.. so in the mean time i'm going to make a list of all the things i'm going to miss about paris (the city, the program, etc)... so here goes:

-first and foremost, the people in my program. seriously. i lucked out with them. 

-having a chill roommate. 

-the excellent and cheap vintage shopping

-the way the city looks like artwork at night

-drinking by the seine

-navigo passes

-my freaking cool professor

-speaking french to strangers (if poorly)

-70 degree weather (but not the bipolar weather.. just better than the 102 degree weather i will be going home to)

-being able to have a glass of wine with my meal

-knowing the names of wines

-my RAs

-though there may not be an ATM on every corner, i'll miss that when you ask to get out 40 euro, it'll give you a 20 and two 10s. 

-the way people dress

-the cobblestone streets of the marais

-sleeping with the windows open

-the sun going down at 1030pm

-GOOD BREAD

-the boulangerie formule (a sandwich/quiche, drink, and a dessert for 5.50 euro!)

-the museums (particularly the pompidou and the picasso)

-being a short bus ride away from other cool european countries

-actually using a map to get around (it's an escape the the age of technology!)

-having my facebook in french

-the guy in my dorm who is constantly playing the piano and can be heard all throughout the building

-not watching TV. at all. (however, in my dvr at home, there awaits many a "So You Think You Can Dance?" episode.. much catch up)

-letting my hair air dry because i blew out my hairdryer the first night

-MACAROONS 

-and of course, blogging about all of these experiences here in paris :(

oy is this really the end?? guess i'll see y'all across the pond tomorrow! 

paris plages and outdoor cinema

i had a somewhat eventful tuesday. i've pretty much checked off most of my paris to-do list now. I'd been wanting to explore the "Paris Plages"--which is basically a "beach" on the Seine. it was actually kind of funny... they had random patches of sand along the river bank with chairs to lay out on and big pots of palm trees and ice cream stands scattered about the area. it looked kind of bizaree.. because people don't actually swim in the Seine.. they just wear bikinis near it. I took a healthy walk from the marias all the way to ponte des arts as i enjoyed a refreshing cone of coconut ice cream. 

that night we all migrated to the parc de la villette where the famous outdoor theatre is--or "cinéma en plein air"... didn't know about this before the blog, i swear. they were playing Mulholland Drive--a psychological thriller by David Lynch. movie blew my mind. no joke. i haven't seen a movie that good in a long time... i would highly recommend it. i can't really talk about the plot or anything like that.. because it will ruin it for you.. but trust me. just see it. 

what made it more enjoyable, of course, was the good company and good pic-nick food--the usual baguette and goat cheese with wine. mmmmmm... 

(the crowd was MUCH bigger than this when we were there... it filled the entire lawn)

the way i see it

                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                              my brother was kind enough to share this link with me, today, via facebook. it's an article in the new york times about the general museum crowd, and how no one actually takes the time to stop and look at the art anymore. too busy snapping pictures of pictures... 

it's worth reading if you have the time. if you've kept up with my blog, you'll know that i haven't taken any pictures of my own on my digital camera--and it's for the exact reasons mentioned in the article. i suppose that this blog is sort of like my way of having a  sketch book. my way of remembering what I actually experienced... without loosing some of the experience through the lens of a camera. so there.

all photos on this blog have been stolen from the google... credit given. 

the day a macaroon changed my life

so when you take a bite of a Pierre Hermé macaroon, you don't just taste it... you experience it. after touring the Musée de l'Orangerie (which we'll get to later, macaroons take priority), i stumbled upon this pastry shop i'd been hearing about from everyone. i ordered a set of 7 mini-macaroons, all different flavors, and headed on my merry way to the subway station where i planned to take my first bite. this was a bad plan of action... upon sinking my teeth into the delicate texture of a rose macaroon, i gave a little gasp and frantically looked around the metro car for someone who i thought might understand what i was going through. i was waiting for someone to look at me and nod his head, but i was never given this sort of comfort. i had to put the macaroons away until i got back to my dorm room--a more secure place to experience such a masterpiece of pastries. 

once i arrived i took a bite of every other flavor i got-- cassis, chocolate, vanilla with olive, passion fruit with chocolate, mint, peach with safran and apricot, and finally... jasmine. jasmine was by far my favorite. you have not experienced a macaroon until you have tried this one. i WILL find a way to bring some home with me.. this kind of experience needs to be shared. 

pop culture reference: in the last episode of season 2 of gossip girl, when chuck comes back from europe to bring blaire her favorite stockings from germany, her favorite macaroons from france... these are the macaroons he is talking about. i'm not joking. these macaroons are mentioned on gossip girl... they're THAT good.

so back to the l'orangerie... it's probably one of my favorite museums in paris. the top floor rooms consist of monet's massive water lily paintings, les nymphéas as they are called. the cool thing about these rooms is that they were designed according to monet's specifications. they're basically big ovular rooms with natural lighting, and the paintings form to the curve of the wall.... it's like monet in-the-round. 

downstairs consists of more artists from around that era: gaugin, modigliani, rousseau, picasso, cezanne, matisse, renoir, soutine, utrillo, and sisley ... it had a lot of stuff for a relatively small museum--a high concentration of just... really good art. apparently, most of the art downstairs came from two really major art collectors-- Jean Walter and Paul Guillaume, and there were a few rooms dedicated to recreating how these collections looked in the homes of these two men. paul guillame's wife was fortunate enough to have posed for many of these famous artists.

since my final exam schedule is so crazy, i sat at a cafe near the bastille for dinner and studied for a little while. i have an oral exam tomorrow, a written final exam on wednesday, and an oral presentation thursday.... !!!! help. me. i shouldn't even be blogging right now. not going out tonight (four nights in a row would be a little excessive)... but i only have 4 days left! don't remind meeeeeeee :(

début de la fin - deux

ok sorry about that… I just had a moment where I realized I was just too tired to type on a keyboard. I had to go to sleep right then and there.

Where did I leave off? Thursday night… Cuban jazz club was about it. I was pretty tired from the festivities the night before. BUT FRIDAY was pretty cool… went up to the little touristy neighborhood of montemarte near sacre-coeur where Picasso used to live. Lots of little shops and café’s… there’s a little square where a bunch of “artists” ask you to pay a stupid amount money for a portrait that doesn’t look like you. Do I sound bitter?? Don’t ask.

Other than that, the view is exceptional. You can pretty much see all of paris from there.

After that, we ventured off to explore the Ile-de-St-Louis… the more quaint of the two islands on the seine. You can pretty much see the whole thing in a span of 20 minutes. We sat at a café with a view of the notre dame  and then headed back to rest up for a night on the town.

We went to a very student oriented bar area near Odeon, and managed to get free drinks the whole night because a friend of mine somehow stumbled upon a tiara somewhere and pretended that it was her birthday. That usually doesn’t work, but I think the tiara gave it a more realistic effect.

Saturday I went to the pompidou to see the Kandinsky exhibit I’d been dying to see. I’m happy to say that it lived up to my expectations… the exposition was very ambitious. It followed practically his ENTIRE career. They had many famous pieces of course, but also some interesting, smaller works I never even knew existed. They had an entire room of these old newspapers where he had published extensive exposés on art alongside woodblock prints. who knew?

And that was what lead up to Saturday night's festivities… this would have worked out better logistically had I finished this post last night.. but here we are.

Right now I’m sitting in the Luxembourg gardens… blogging on location!!! hadn’t been until now, and I must say it’s quite breathtaking. The grass is so lush, I wish I could sit in it L… there are multiple statues, little ponds with fountains, and so many flowers that the park is actually fragrent. To top it off, there’s an orchestra concert going on in the background. “the young orchestra” it’s called… looks like high school students, but they sound pretty good.  

I can’t believe it’s my last week here. There’s so much that I still want to do.. must prioritize. 

début de la fin

i just completed my last saturday night in paris :( but it was super fun! we went salsa dancing on the Seine... it was really hot but then it started raining! somehow outdoor salsa and rain go together really well. it was like i was in a shakira music video. a nice frenchmen taught me all the moves, but i'm still no expert. 

after that we went to a club in the 2nd arrondissemont called "paris social club"... apparently it was some of the best techno music in paris.. idk what that means, just more arbitrary dance motions for me... but we had a really good time. at one point the dj made a mix with some piccolo music. there were many a neon light and the place was packed with trendy europeans. apparently ray-ban opticals have caught on here, too. 

BACK TRACK. where did i leave off before?? thursday. went to a free outdoor cuban rap concert at the jardin de belleville (belleville gardens)... they were actually pretty good! "rap" is a little bit of a stretch.. they were more reggae/reggaeton than rap, but i don't know if that translates in france. we picnicked on the grass and then got up to dance a little bit for their last set. i wanted to be best friends with the lead guy... he had dreads down to his butt and he utilized them well in his dance moves. i was very impressed. 

oyyy i'm tired.. will finish this post a little later. we have much to catch up on! 

the paris underground

sssssso. life in paris after amsterdam.. not too shabby. 

class was rough our first full day back. but we made ourselves a fancy night at "le 138"--a nouveau chic bar near the bastille with mismatched victorian furniture and vintage stevie wonder in the background. we certainly enjoyed ourselves. 

the next day i met up with a friend at the Institute du Monde Arabe (the Arab Institute, basically). she's a middle easter studies major and i was intrigued by the contemporary palestinian art exposition... and i had every reason to be. as with a lot of contemporary art, i didn't understand a lot of it. but the really excellent pieces made up for that. to the left is a still from a video installation by artist Larissa Sansour. the opening line of the short film was "Jerusalem, we have a problem" as she takes off in a spaceship towards the moon. very powerful. 

the architecture of the building was also very impressive (pictured below is a shot from the interior of the windows that make up the facade... interesting mix of traditional arab art and modern industrial materials)

that night we were all feeling a little rowdy so we had an american nostalgia night at the dorm... beer, beer pong, and flip cup. it got pretty intense. the only problem is that they don't sell red solo cups or any equivalent in france! our plastic cups were too small for beer pong, but flip cup worked out pretty well. i'm not used to playing games like that but it was actually pretty fun. 

"what is this?" you ask. they're bones. six million bodies worth of bones. a few centuries ago, the french government was doing work on the left bank of the seine near a cemetery. however, all the water work was washing up all the bodies... so they decided to move them all to one place underground--the CATACOMBES were born. they've been there this whole time, and now you can tour the mystique underworld for 4 euro... which we did, of course. it was kind of a gimmicky tourist trap, but the eeriness of it all made it kind of exciting.  

that night we ventured to the "bateau concorde atlantique"... a boat party club to make a long story short. it was a cool crowd... euro-hipsters and the occasional famous dj lurking in the corner trying not to be seen. i wore my new amsterdam leather mini-skirt--it was definitely a leather mini skirt night. fun music, but the drinks were expensive. we didn't get home till 4am.. so you know it was a pretty good night. 

ughhh can't wait for the weekend!!

amsterdam - snack food capital of the world

so amsterdam is basically my new favorite city. everything is SO CHILL there. and trust me, i'm not one of those stoner-types that went for the pot and prostitutes in the red light district. no.. the city is actually extremely beautiful--canals on every street lined with bicycles and cheerful low-rise apartment buildings that remind me a little of the west village. their specialty food is pancakes--an obvious plus. the people aren't pretentious and everyone speaks english and nobody cares that you don't speak dutch. also, it's so clean! since everyone rides bikes the air feels smooth and the streets look nicer. and of course, i'm not going to complain about the laid back drug laws. it all seems to work in the netherlands. it's a very movable, doable city. i thoroughly enjoyed my time there.

now what did we do? in a nutshell, the van gogh museum, anne frank's house, tour of the red light district, shopping, and walking around seeing the sights in general. 

the van gogh museum was excellent, of course. though many of the pieces were almost too famous to really appreciate, seeing them in person makes you understand why they're so famous. for example, the nuances of the texture and shades of yellow in his sunflower paintings. they also had a special exhibit on redon... one of my faves!! his paintings have a way of looking like an archaic, science-fictiony dream. i love it when you can't quite figure them out. 

anne frank's house gave me the sads. i can't say that physically being in the frank dwelling gave me better insight into what their lives were like at the time, but it's a good way to recall the history of everything that happened and to remind yourself that treachery like that is never really over. 

moooooooving on. red light district. hmph. kind of disturbing. just as my mother described it to me... it's just.. women in windows. selling themselves. i wasn't quite shocked by the way they looked--it's not like you can't see that shit on any given spring break in panama city, florida. it was just so blatant. we just had some food there and then we left. 

saturday was all about pancakes, walking, and shopping. bought a vintage leather mini-skirt and for some reason i thought it was perfectly appropriate to buy a leather mini-skirt in amsterdam. some things just go together? 

hmmm how to explain the food situation? so basically, because all the tourists smoke pot in amsterdam, every place near one of the famed "coffee shops" (it has to be a coffee shop, not a cafe, for it to sell mj apparently) advertises SNACK FOODS HERE. brilliant marketing or just practically meeting a market demand? all i know is that i was basically eating every step of the way. 

our hostel situation worked out well, also. we had 8 people traveling together and we got one big room to ourselves with 9 beds and our own bathroom to share with each other. i slept on the top bunk because i just like that and it wasn't too uncomfortable. i've learned that if you don't expect much going into a hostel you'll wind up being pleasantly surprised. 

whoaaa this post is looong. had to cram all the exciting amsterdam stuff into one post! tough. i probably forgot stuff but i'll add it later if i have to. 

only two more weeks?!! 

baby bottle wine

i thought i'd really experienced something new with the juice box wine... until i went to the fondue place last night. they served wine out of BABY BOTTLES (i love a good little bit of irony every now and then... and then pointing it out later). no joke. and it was good wine, too! it was kind of funny how unnatural the suckling feels to you.  but it works. something works. 

as for the fondue-- très magnifique! we got a cheese and a meat one and by the end of the meal i was definitely feeling the kick of a food baby. i'd never had meat fondue.. it's basically like cooking your own personal bite of meat. you pick up a piece of raw meat on the prong and then you let it sit in the boiling liquid (??) until it's cooked to your liking. i'm a fan. 

the restaurant itself was pretty cool. rugged in a sort of been-around-awhile kind of way... long communal tables and writing all over the walls. a fun, loud atmosphere.

wanting chocolate fondue now... anybody know of a place?? 

tonight. TONIGHT. i went to alvin ailey at the theatre du chatelet. one of the best dance performances i've seen in a long while. the dancers are so powerful... the women just as strong as the men. i didn't have great seats either... peering through the heads of two very  burly men can sometimes detract from the impact of the performance... but this made it all the way to the back row for me. they did an amazing set of ottis redding songs and the last set was their famous "revelations" sequence with "wade in da water" and "fix me jesus" (my personal favorite... it was a duet and it brought a tear to the eye). and modern dance isn't my favorite either.. i'm usually a diehard ballerina fan. but i'll have to make an exception for this.

off to amsterdam for the weekend tomorrow! never been before and i'm really excited about the group of people i'm going with... always makes it better. i'll update when i get back... but i'll proooooobably leave out a few details to ensure the dignity of all parties invovled. au revoir! 

wine and sculptures

yesterday was low key. after looking for a certain hookah bar that never appeared we settled on a wine bar 3 minutes from our dorm but had somehow never seen. 2.50 euro for chardonnay and they played good wine-drinking music... if that makes sense? 

today i woke up a little earlier to go to the bakery i'd been wanting to try (also a 3 minute walk from my dorm... what am i doing here?) and it was so excellent. the beignet's had just enough sugar to make them sweet and cooked so that they were soft but not doughy. raspberry jam on the inside sealed the deal. 

after class i headed for the musée rodin. i didn't know what to expect, but i really liked seeing picasso's single-artist concentrated museum so i wanted to check this out. the facility was beautiful... if i knew more about architecture i would tell you what century this building came from but all i can tell you is that it's not from this one... it's feels like your wandering around someone's mansion and huge walking gardens. 

the works there include the thinker and la porte d'enfer (a portion of which i pictured to the right)... really wishing i could upload pictures from my phone right now :(

i've alwasy been a big fan of rodin... his sculptures look like they're hurling at you and when they're more violent it looks like they're being thrust out of water or something. 

they had a bunch of his smaller works i had never seen. he did a whole study on dancers that i personally enjoyed. the way they were sculpted they had to be suspended by prongs so it looks like they were dancing on air. 

TONIGHT we going to a fondue place... restaurant review to follow :)

another good weekend..

so dinner was AMAZING. went to this place called "le hangar"-- i wordreferenced.com-ed it and it means "the shed"... appropriate because it's a french country food restaurant. SO good. and hearty. i had roasted duck with creamy mashed potatoes and a house salad. the bread they brought out beforehand came with an amazing black olive spread... and of course the bread was freshly made. "pain artisinal" as they call it. for dessert we ordered a plate of cheese and a raspberry cream parfait. delish. 

one of the coolest things about this place was its location. in the marais near the pompidou center, it stands at the end of an "impasse"(dead end street) that i couldn't even find on the map... a cobble stone walkway for pedestrians only. very quaint. 

the duck i ordered is a nod to my father--the last time we came to paris he tried duck for the first time and fell in love with it. he ordered "le canard" practically every meal after that and every time i eat it i'm reminded of that wonderful family trip :)

corns. anyway. 

today we were reeeeeally touristy and took a bus tour of paris! anja had never been here before and it's a really great way to see the city. one of the sights i hadn't seen before was the grand obelisk... and i never knew exactly what the hotel de ville was before (it's like a city hall or something? or the mayor lives there?)

we then had a quick lunch and headed strait for the picasso museum. sooooo wonderful. i'd never been to a museum that focused on only one artist, and it really shows you how broad his style was--from his bizarre cubist sculptures to more classically influenced paintings... even some impressionism and pointalism. what i really enjoyed was that they had a lot of his "studies" for famous paintings in the permanent collection. they had many for "les demoiselles d'avignon"... it really shows you the thought process he used to come up with the shapes of the distorted women in that painting. very cool.

then we went to a creperie near the museum... i had apples with caramel in mine. sooo good. the apples were warm and soft like an apple pie. unfortunately, we had to head back to my dorm because anja had to catch her train back to germany :( it was great seeing her this weekend.. hopefully we wont go another 4 years without seeing each other! 

very glad that midterm week is over. but sad that i'm already half way through... this is zooooooming by. can't believe it. 

must catch up on some shut eye. the work week begins...  

the germans are coming!!

...well, they've already come but the title sounds more exciting that way and i always love a good sound of music allusion. 

anway, so yeah, anja's here! and we've already had so much fun. went to the cool jazz club again last night with a bunch of people from my program. it was slow-jazz night... very sultry and smooth. then we went to QUEEN... which wasn't as great as i'd heard, but then again it wasn't ladies night. will have to go back. must see the male strippers i've been hearing about. 

anyway, today we went shopping at the flea market and i actually bought something! i took care of gifts for my family today... feeling very generous. the flea market's so great. it's like a labyrinth of tiny treasure shops. you never know what you'll find. 

i realized that i left out about a week ago that i went to the victor hugo museum! i don't remember exactly when i did that.... but it was very cool. the museum is at what used to be his house after he came out of exile. it holds his family's private art collection and a lot of his first editions. i opted for one of those headphone tours where you press the number and it tells you all about it. it was helpful to know the context of all the archives and what not... really wanting to read les miserable now. 

tonight we're going to dinner in the marais... expect a full restaurant review in the next post :)

vive la france

the french know how to spend their tax money. i'll say. 

basically bastille day festivities include some of my favorite life moments. ummm where to begin?? 

we began "celebrating" at around five on monday. us americans taught the french what it means to "pre-game." we ate food and drank wine for a few hours and then headed out to le bal des pompiers, or firemen's ball, if you will. i didn't get home until around 4. 

here's how it works:

every arrondissemont throws a major bastille day bash the night before as well as the night of bastille day. the party is run by the firemen of the arrondissemont--they get to play bartender for the night--and they have live music, a major crowd, and lots and lots of booze. a good combination for a good time. i will say that the cover band playing had some interesting selections. at one point i heard a shania twain song with a mild french accent... ??? everyone from my program was there (we went to the one in the 11th) and we were all just dancing together having a good time and meeting people. all in all a perfect night :)

the next day was recovery day. sat around... watched the fireworks... came back... and it was back to reality :(

class the next day. essay due. i have a midterm tomorrow and an oral exam friday... ouch. what to do what to do? 

exciting news: i have a visitor coming this weekend!! my german exchange sister, anja, is coming down to Paris for a fun little holiday (as they call it here). wonder what we'll be up to? 

gooey goodness

I just bought some peanut butter at the Monoprix. For 6 euro. The night before Bastille Day.

Getting a little nostalgic. BUT I'm so pumped for Bastille Day that my American pride has been overridden. Festivities start tonight AND we have off from school tomorrow. Apparently the fire works at the Eiffel Tower are supposed to be amazing this year because its the 120 anniversary of the structure. We're going to check out the fireman's ball as well... not so sure what that means exactly, but I'll let y'all know when i find out :)

bam bam

woo haven't posted in a while. everyone seemed to enjoy the last post quite a bit though :)

let's see... where did i leave off? the juice box wine was for a birthday festivity on tuesday... just to explain that. 

i went to the ballet on wednesday... "la fille mal gardée." i enjoyed it because i enjoy ballet in all ways possible. though i do believe the best ballet you can get is in america. the national opera house kind of stole the show. it's probably the most beautiful building i have ever been inside. every thing was gold and marble and red velvet. 

i had visitors on thursday night! some friends from wimberley were passing through paris and we hung out for a bit. we went to this AWESOME jazz club in the latin quarter called "caveau des oubliettes" aaaaaaand it was probably the coolest place i've been to. you walk in and its this tiny room with a staircase. so then you descend this staircase into (literally) a dungeon of jazz. it's small but there's room. free admission but you have to buy a drink.. no complaints there. will definitely be going back.

friday we hung out in the marais again. it's always exciting. went into a neat cafe called cafe richards... mismatched leather chairs and wooden tables with posters--vintage and new--covering the walls. love. 

TODAY we went to a flea market in theee... 9th? 10th? i don't know.. no man's land really. but it  blew my mind. like... this was the real deal kind of flea market. vintage chanel jackets and such, old photographs, and tea sets galore. legit. couldn't buy anything because i was so overwhelmed because everything was so incredible. will be going back there again as well. 

so basically i'm still doing cool things in paris. what do you know? 

real low

i went went to a whole new level, tonight. 

juice box wine. yep. 

mmmm paris

i went to the pompidou after class today... it's always quite lovely. the view from the top of the skeletal building is amazing. to your right, sacre-coeur; to your left, le tour eiffel and notre dame; strait in front of you, la defense. and of course the art is incredible. matisse, picasso, calder, modigliani, chagall, etc, etc. 

here's a kupka i really liked:

there's a really (supposedly) nice calder and kandinsky exhibit there right now... i'd wanted to go to the calder exhibit when it was at the whiteny but never had the chance. i'll have to go back soon. 

i must apologize for the lack of pictures on this blog. it's not that i'm not posting them... it's that i'm not taking them... at least not on my digital camera. i find that constantly shooting pictures at what you see keeps you from actually seeing things and experiencing them. but i have been taking out geoff's old canon film camera. learning has been fun--though i completely ruined my first roll of film. it's all in the experience. 

yesterday was lovely as well. a big group of us organized a picnic at le parc floral on the very eastern side of paris. they have a jazz festival there every sunday so we thought we'd go check it out. wine, cheese, baguette, nutella, and jazz. doesn't get better than that. 

must go find a sandwich to eat for dinner. it's CARBS galore here in paris. i'm not complaining. 

i do stuff

oooh my goodness where to start?? 

so i've finished my first week of classes... they were very nice. mmm i have a quiz on monday and an essay due tuesday. things are moving quickly and i like it so far. only 8 people are in my class. 

there's this place we've been going for lunch after class... a baguette sandwich, a drink, and dessert for 5.50 euro. their bread is made fresh and they have reeeeeallly great macaroons. i've probably eaten one macaroon a day since i've started classes... probably not such a good pattern. 

went shopping in the marais yesterday!!!! such good vintage. i looooove the marais. everyting looks so classic, great shopping, and amazing falafel. good combo. 

last night i went out to this club called "showcase" located under a bridge on the champs-élysées. it was a veryyyy... "unce-unce-unce" type of club.. definitely an experience that needed to be had. i fit in with the europeans when i dance. i'm more of just.. an arbitrary ass shaker. it's not really based on any sort of beat or direction.... idk trust me it works. 

ummm just went to versaille today... ya know. we didn't get to go inside :( but the gardens were beautiful and the fountains were running. i sipped some versaille-made jus d'orange as we canoed in the pond. THAT was an experience. we basically had no idea what we were doing and just canoed in circles for like half an hour as we recited fake poetry and pretended to be romantic. 

but seriously, after today... my feet are about to quite this bitch. 

tonight? toninght? 4th of july baby!! we're heading to an irish pub for some good old american nostalgia. i'll update you guys again soon. 

and so classes begin...

yesterday was my first day of class and i have the COOLEST teacher ever. his name is Yasser and he's Egyptian but he speaks english, french, and arabic fluently. he has a crazy curly afro, a curled up mustache and he always wears wingtips. my class is extremely small... only 8 people. perfect for learning. so far i have a grand tradition of french professors who like to incorporate celebrities into the french dialogue and activities :)

the school itself is gorgeous... on the right bank across from the Tour Eiffel, it's a 19th century town house with a little courtyard

this is a bird's eye view i found on google

went to my first parisian night club last night... it was a blast. on a tuesday night. the people in charge of the dorms i'm staying in threw us a party last night also... the head cook made us quiche and hors d'oeuvres and refreshments. it was amazing.

i'm loving how "together" this program is. like everyone in the program does things together. i mean we all get up together, go to class together, etc. it feels very connected and friendly. all the people i've met so far have been awesome. it's going to be a great month and a half. 

getting acquainted.

my first few days in paris have been excellent. 

yesterday, we all went on a batobus tour on the seine. it's such a great way to see all of the city's biggest landmarks. we sat on the top of the boat, and the sun was really hot that day so i got a tad sunburned. lesson learned! then we walked to the eiffel tower because there was a massive organized michael jackson tribute going on there. i'm pretty sure they set the record for most people doing the moonwalk at once. there was a michael jackson impersonator and they blasted all of his greatest hits. everyone was singing and dancing in remembrance. that's how he would have wanted it :). oh and i had a nutella crepe there, too. it was magic. 

i want to post pictures on here, but the ones i took yesterday i took on my phone and my stupid service provider here won't let me send anything outgoing :( i'll work on it and get it out to y'all later. 

last night we went to this irish pub across from our housing and made friends with the waiter. he gave us free champagne! so worth having a chill night. 

today we went on a tour of the building where we will actually be taking our classes and stuff. it's SO BEAUTIFUL. like quintessential paris. quaint and full of little details everywhere (will post pictures of that later). 

then we walked around that neighborhood in the 16th arrondissmont and looked in some stores. i had my first real croque madame today. loved the fried egg on top. 

it's been so hot here! i was expecting it to be a lot cooler so i brought a bunch of jackets and such, but i certainly won't let the heat beat me. 

tonight i think we are just going to rest and maybe plan a weekend trip. barcelona? amsterdam? we'll see :)

1st night

i don't think it would be hard to believe if i said that paris is magical. i spent my first night drinking wine on the seine river with some girls i met in my dorm. i used my broken french to ask a security guard where "le marché pour du vin" was! i was proud, though it took some fudging to understand each other. we met all kinds of people and had a blast. we wound up at this club that is on a boat on the seine... it looks like a light house and there is an awesome dj there. its been great so far. i'm soooo jet lagged and am looking forward to some shut eye.

tomorrow the study abroad gang is taking a bato bus tour... should be fun. 

i can't believe i actually made it here! lets just say that my cute little itinerary didn't go as planned...

...off to paris

ugh i JUST finished packing.. 2:43 am. 

i'm officially taking two suitcases (one weighing 45.5 lbs the other weighing 35 lbs), a back pack, and a large tote. i'm gonna be gone for 6 weeks.. don't judge! 

my itinerary for tomorrow:

8:30am-wake up

9:45am-leave for Austin airport

11:45am-depart from Austin

????pm-arrive at Washington-Dulles

????pm-depart Dulles

7:30pm-arrive New York JFK

9:30pm-depart JFK

11:00am, 27 Juin 2009-arriver à Paris! 

wish me luck for traveling! two connecting flights. noooo fun. the next time you hear from me i'll be in Paris! 

oy

i've done some preliminary packing preparation.

... this isn't looking so good. 

preparation has begun

i need to make a list of things i need to pack:

-clothes

-shoes

-jewelry

-some purses

-book bag

-toiletries 

-prescriptions

-notebook

-pens/pencils

-french pocket dictionary (do i really though? there is wordreference.com...)

-last semester's french book

-nail polish

-nail polish remover

-bandaids (safety first!)

-ipod and headphones

-laptop

-laptop charger

-my books of choice (infinite jest and LA candy.. i like a good juxtaposition)

-towels

-washcloths

-laundry materials

-shower shoes?

-dorm decorations?

-PASSPORT!

-TRAVEL DOCUMENTS

-oohhhh i'm forgetting something....

if you think of anything i'm missing or that you think i could use in paris.. PLEASE let me know!

Bonjour!

i'm really trying hard not to make this cliche... but all the french is kind of ruining that, right? what are you gonna do. ANYWAY, i made this blog so that friends and family can keep up with me while i'm in the city of lights (i can't help it) and so i don't have to repeat it twenty thousand times to everyone i know. yay!

so i don't have any news yet... just that i'm REALLY REALLY REALLY EXCITED. i leave this friday, and though i am not looking forward to the journey as much as the destination, there is definitely something in that build up before i step foot on the other side of the pond that gets me giddy. i LOVE packing. i've been mentally preparing myself for weeks. which dresses? how many shoes? towels? etc? should be fun. 

i'll try to post pictures on here and whatnot, but i'm not making any promises on how thorough this will be. i'll try my best. have fun with it! post comments and stuff and let me know how you're doing/what you think. though i'm hoping to be so caught up in my jetsetter parisian lifestyle that i'll hardly notice you friendly followers, it's still nice to hear from home :)

Salut! (you have to stop me)